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therosefrontier · 1 year

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TWST Five-Man Band

Something I was thinking about with @pencilofawesomeness a while back, partially inspired by Idia in book 6 giving the overblotters MMO classes, imagining what their roles in the classic Five-Man Band trope might be, if the overblot kiddos from the first five books were an adventuring team or something like that. Like, an AU in which for some reason, they’re together and they’re off on some fantasy quest or being vigilantes or doing a heist or living just another day as part of the local adventurer’s/mage’s guild. Something of the sort.

In my delineation of these roles, I am largely inspired by Overly Sarcastic Productions’ videos on the topic (link is to the first video in the series). I absolutely love their channel, and so, naturally, they are who I think about with stuff like this. So, without further ado...

LEADER: Vil

—so naturally, this is a bit of a tough call since four out of the five members of this theoretical team are acting as leaders in canon, and one might as well be, and since it is a bit of a vague definition to begin with, but I feel that Vil may be the one who gravitates towards this role the most. He has a vested interest in the advancement, well-being, and excellence of the people under him, whether they want his interest or not (see Epel, and also all the NRC Tribe fun times). He just naturally acts as something between an instructor, an agent, and a parent, seeing to it that no one lags behind.

—He is the one who cares the most about image. He is the face of the team, the diplomatic one, the one who has it all together, more or less. Especially in the case of some vigilante or DnD party kind of action, he will actively try to paint their public image to be a positive one, so everyone sees them as the “heroes.” Of course, given his track record in canon, ten guesses as to how well that turns out. He blames Leona.

—Naturally, he’s going to get on the nerves of pretty much everybody on this team except maybe Riddle with his excessive standards he likes to subject everyone to, so he’s going to have to dial it down pretty early into this adventure to keep this ship from falling apart. At least, canonically, he is not completely allergic to apologizing.

—However, he also is good at keeping a level head, most of the time. He’d be the one consistently giving orders to the rest of the team, keeping his own stress levels at bay. Which is great, as long as he doesn’t go, say, repressing his feelings into a box until one day he inevitably explodes. Sure that won’t happen :)

—Also, he’s got a versatile skillset, probably, which tends to fit well into this role. He��s a skill type with a knack for potions, but he also can judo-flip a man no sweat. He fills the role of whatever part he has to play to get the job done.

LANCER: Leona

—by definition, a lancer acts as a foil to the leader, and I’d say Leona would be pretty much exactly that for Vil. Where Vil sees an emphasis on keeping up appearances, Leona simply does not care. Where Vil focuses on proper form, Leona focuses on practicality. He’s not the type to just roll with a plan that’s inefficient, or which ties their hands in some way. And he’s not about to put as much effort as Vil in his physical appearance, either. He focuses on getting the job done, which is, in a way, a lot like Vil! (Also, according to Idia, they’re both tanks, sooo...dual leadering?) But they will absolutely argue until the end of time on how they should go about it.

—like many a lancer, Leona actively pretends that he does not care about anyone here. He comes across as lazy, which is certainly not wrong, but he also will look out for everyone in subtle ways. Also, foes will be very ill-advised to underestimate him based on his deposition. He is very much a powerhouse, and he will not hesitate to step up to the plate when things go down. Plus, he has very keen senses and is mindful of his surroundings, besides also having good reflexes, which he will definitely use to protect his teammates when danger comes knocking (see, shielding Ruggie in a heartbeat from falling shattered glass, among other things).

—on certain occasions, he could step up as leader for the team. He just usually chooses not to. Again, he acts like a loner. He wins the ‘most likely to up and leave the team one day because he got in a fight with someone’ (probably Vil) award. Classic lancer.

—people-smart in, naturally, the most aggravating of ways. He’ll be the one who, less than midway through some job, figures out that their client is actually some bad character who is definitely going to betray them later, so he will propose with a tired groan turning a whole 180 on their entire plan in spite of all the time and resources they already put into this and in spite of the fact that they probably need the money from this job. Cue more arguing with Vil, and also Azul.

POWERHOUSE: Jamil

(or as per the classic trope, the “big guy” role of the team, kind of, but “powerhouse” runs by a slightly different definition which I think fits him better. Leona and Vil are already the tanks; they got that covered)

—He’s the reliable one, or rather, the one that everyone relies on. He’s keeping this ship afloat by sheer stubborn will, against his better judgment that says he should have walked away from this circus act long ago. He keeps track of all of the little things and makes sure that everybody is fed and not doing anything dumb, while also being the one who ends up at the crux of every operation, trusted to keep a level head and not diverge from the plan on a whim or do anything too risky. And when things do go wrong, he steps in and fixes things like a pro.

—On that note, he is also, indeed, quite strong. He has a ton of power with raw skill to back it up (also in game being the only one of these five to make us fight him in OB form twice since he yeeted us into next tomorrow the first time), even though he tends to be low-key about it. He’s this particular brand of powerhouse that gets habitually overlooked, in part by his own design. He doesn’t have the same commanding presence as Vil or Leona, or so he thinks.

—so yeah, definitely going to be a problem later: he gets underappreciated. People just expect him to do things, and he does them. Doing things is in his instincts, born from his background of probably still being attached to the Asims in this AU. Whatever’s up with that. So yes, could absolutely snap one day. Maybe he’ll join Leona in running off and having a solo arc somewhere else before he inevitably crosses paths with everyone again and maybe bails them out of some situation in the process. Or maybe it would be more thematically impactful if he’s the one getting rescued for once...

—However, all that aside, he probably would low-key enjoy the adventuring. He gets to actually go out and travel, and get a bit of the freedom that comes with being a rogue (which is what I’ve decided these guys are, at this point, much to Vil’s chagrin. They are absolutely operating on ‘rogue’ vibes, whatever they’re doing). He’s just...not exactly on vacation because he’s dealing with an increasingly high pile of problems along the way. He should have a vacation, though. He deserves it.

SMART GUY / THE BRAIN: Azul

—he takes on the smart guy role of being planner *supreme*. He involves himself the least in open fights out of the five, instead relying more on his wits to get through situations as if his life were a heavy Euro board game actually. He’s all about collecting as much data as possible to formulate strategies, and tricking making deals with people to get them to do things and cough up information. He has few qualms about using whatever means necessary to get what he wants. Also, he’s the one to actually pay attention to things like finances and the sustainable logistics of what they’re doing, probably alongside Jamil.

—that said, the theoretical team he belongs to here is actually quite adept at scheming overall, so it wouldn’t all fall to him to strategize. I’m imagining that his role here would be the gatherer of information as well as the manager of the playing board during whatever mission they’re on, seeing to it that everything and everyone is in place and that all of their foes and neutral characters alike are right where they need them to be. He’s the people-hacker. Did the randos trust him? Probably not. But he works with it anyways.

—so with that, he would definitely be prone to way too much stress if things don’t go as planned, which with these guys, is probably often. As much skill as they collectively have, I cannot imagine life treating these guys so kindly. Things will absolutely go wrong. And Azul is going to have to learn to roll with that. He’s also going to have to learn to stop trying to scam his own teammates.

—if the team needs to do reconnaissance work, I think that Azul and probably also Jamil would be the go-to ones for the job. The two of them argue a lot in general, but the two of them work way better together than either would care to admit.

—And lastly, Azul could fall into that sometimes smart-guy trope of being very much underestimated in a fight. Since he stays in the background, people assume that he is weak, and that is true to an extent, as he is certainly not athletic, but he is very strong, actually. He’ll crush your wrist with the grip strength of an octopus. Do not try him.

THE HEART: Riddle

—because his name is Rosehearts no, really, he’d be the heart, by the definition that he is the emotional center of the team. It’s because he’s the passionate one. Whatever he’s doing, he does it for its own sake, not necessarily for some specific self-serving goal. He has the determination to see things through to the end, because that’s the thing to do, regardless of whether or not the act is actually in his best interest. In this way, I think he’d be the least pragmatic of the team. Especially in the heat of the moment, he’s not out there running cost-benefit analyses on whether he should or shouldn’t. If he gets hit by a high-voltage paralyzing energy beam, he gets back up again and sets the whole field on fire like a maniac, before they strike him down yet again. He is absolutely the reckless one out of the five, which will certainly give some of the others grief, but also, in the sense of team dynamics, he balances them out, as the heart does. Sometimes, they need a little bit of reckless.

—But at the core of it, he sticks to his principles and has a strong moral code (the ‘moral compass’ brand of heart rather than one of the peacekeeping varieties, for sure). The heart is the emotional center because they have a strong conviction in why they’re doing what they’re doing, and that conviction spreads to those around them, becoming the reason why they’re choosing to stick together at all. In this case, it would definitely be more subtle, with perhaps no one, Riddle included, realizing that he has that kind of effect at all, but he’s just...very steadily always there. He’s consistent, in his resolve and in his quirks alike. However annoying those quirks may sometimes be, they all know what to expect from him, and that kind of stability could be very good for the team, again with balancing out the others.

—So, I said he’d do what he does for its own sake ultimately, but also, I could absolutely see him having some strong overarching personal mission driving him to be here at all. Maybe he has some task given to him by someone else to complete, like searching out an important artifact or getting a very important sword from point A to point B, or maybe something earth-shaking happened to him to get him to go rogue. Maybe in this AU, he was actually friends with the other four Heartslabyul peoples first, but something happened to them, and now he’s out on a mission to ‘get his card soldiers back’ because that’s the rules he cares about them. (Sorry this is just where my brain goes haha). There are many possibilities!

—On that end, there really could be so much conflict in that scenario. He abides by the rules religiously, but if he goes rogue, then he’s kind of...well...not doing that. He’ll try hard to stick to a very specific standard, even if it doesn’t make practical sense actually, and when that doesn’t work out for him or when other people don’t have interest in the same rules that he does, he goes into a rage. Maybe he gets to have some character development before the onset of this team-up so things don’t completely fall apart on day one, but still, issues to work through.

—And....all of that aside, he fits nicely into this role because the heart is traditionally often the ‘mage’ class type, or in other words, the glass cannon! Riddle has high power but a very poor constitution, naturally making him very reliant on his teammates, although he often does not particularly see it that way. When he gets his sights set on something, he’ll do it with or without them, and to an extent, he can handle himself, but he really is best off in a group.

++++++++++++++

Anyways that turned into a long post but saying all that to say, these five would absolutely be a disaster of a team, but I think they would also have the potentially to be pretty dang cool as a squad. I want to see them do a heist now. Which, maybe I will...? I’m writing this literally right before the release of book 6 part two on the English server, and I have a feeling that we’re about to actually see these guys work together maybe, so I’d be curious to see how well the headcanons hold up. So yeah, what do y’all think? Would you assign their roles differently?

#twst #twisted wonderland #riddle rosehearts #leona kingscholar #Azul Ashengrotto #Jamil Viper #vil schoenheit #twst book 6 #twst book 6 spoilers #not really direct spoilers but I do reference it sooo #playing it safe #specifically referencing part one #curious to see how much material part 2 would add to this #but yeah somehow in the course of writing this I got a very specific vibe in my head #of these guys as rogues of some sort #and now I am stuck on it #I'm thinking of fanfic ideas help #but anyways this was fun #albeit took way too long to write #thought experiment #it's all about the dynamic #how they play into each other #which I find funny because it does differ from the typical a bit #in the most classic version the leader is more likely the plucky reckless hero #and the lancer is the morally dubious action guy #and the heart is getting them all to stop fighting #but in this case the heart is quite full of violence #and vil for all his talk is really just a tired dad half the time #and leona is also tired but in different ways #they're definitely all stuck in this adventure but they are too collectively stubborn to stop

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cheloumita · 5 months

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To the ones who are playing it safe,

Yes this goes to multiple people. To the various versions of men who’ve played it safe, those I’ve encountered in every chapter of my life. There are too many of you to mention, and each of you doesn’t deserve an individual letter. Thus, read this letter collectively.

It’s just ironic that men like you are so inconsistent yet in some inexplicable way I always meet a version of you in every phase of my life. You are the only constant character in every chapter of my book. Among everyone, you’re the one who resided rent-free in my mind. You occupied my mind but never my heart. I spent more time trying to forget you than trying to know you.

Mr. Play-It-Safe, you’re adept at finding the perfect balance to keep that level of mystery and openness to keep me interested, comfortable, and giddy. You’re skilled at making me believe I’m the sole one who felt a connection, and that I alone fuel my delusions. You are so good with words that I replay them in my head over and over again every night until I fall asleep. You are so good at making me feel so special and yet making me feel like trash at the same time.

Days after meeting you, I somehow find myself checking every notification on my phone, hoping for a message, a reaction to my post, or even just a view of my stories. I basically stalk all your social media activity and convince myself that everything you do online has something to do about me. It’s insane right? It’s crazy that I fall for the same pattern each time. That each time I pray that you are different from the rest.

Perhaps I’m at fault for assuming too much, but was the blame solely mine? Because whenever I try to move on or limit my interaction with you, you would work your charm again and be consistent for days, weeks even, showering me with attention but never giving me assurance. You offer just the right amount of attention to keep me longing for you until you disappear again, leaving me questioning reality.

To the ones who are playing it safe, you give a piece of your heart to each girl who got your attention and used that sharp piece of that thing you call a heart to break the girls who were once whole before they met you.

You deceive yourself into believing you’re the one providing affection and attention, but in reality, you’re the one yearning for attention and affection. You suck the joy and the smiles of the girls you prey on. You never stay long enough to see the consequences because you just live for the thrill. You have this sick need of giving love and taking it back, making me question if all of it was just a dream. You leave a trail of broken hearts and each tear from the girl you broke is like trophy. You always get away unscathed because you never made a promise, you never compromised.

To the ones who are playing it safe, I pity men like you. How will you live once the thrill is gone? You don’t know how to stay and you don’t know how to love. All the pieces that you’ve given will eventually run out and you’ll be left with nothing. While all the girls you’ve broken will mend their hearts and meet a man who will love them in ways that you never could, you will be alone in life and regretting everything, wishing that you knew how to be serious and sure. Because while you were busy playing it safe, the one for you has already slipped away.

#open letter #unsent letters #letter #playing it safe #broken heart #Spotify #letter two

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