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silverskye13 · 7 months

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What is the Tournament story so far? We hear about it in the newest chapter but it gets glossed over and I really like that sort of aspect

Do they different paths it'll go on depending on who wins???

Tell me about it I love this!

The tournament story!

No idea if it'll get talked about in depth in the plot so, yeah sure, possible (very probable) spoilers under the cut [and a very, very long rant about Colosseum lore because I have brain worms.]

First of all, format: The tournaments are basically scripted plays which hinge on set-up fights as payoff for story beats. All tournaments follow the same basic format.

Introduction: Here is the lineup of characters fighting in the arena for this tournament! There are too many gladiators to ever showcase them all at once, and there are smaller more informal productions sprinkled in between the big spectacle performances. Helsknight competes in every big spectacle performance, and will make an honorary appearance in the smaller more contained shows. (The smaller shows tend to feature smaller names and less skilled combatants, so he doesn't compete in them very often for obvious "we all know who's going to win here" reasons. The only reason he competes in those is as a favor, in which case he might show up as a final act Deus Ex Machina to save a scripted winner. This doesn't happen very often -- crowds don't like predetermined winners unless there's a really good story to go with it.)

Major plot: Something happens at the end of the intro causing the "main" characters to pick fights with each other that dictate the rest of the matches. This is when anyone allied to a certain side will also pick that side. This will always result in a deadly match, often times several, where everyone on the individual sides faces each other. Sometimes (rarely) this results in a melee, where a full scale battle is enacted on the field as the climax of the plot. There are a lot of scripted/acted monologues, and the Colosseum is often arranged into a staged arena to fit the theme of whatever the main plot is.

Minor plot: A smaller, lower stakes background plot to add levity to the main plot and break up the story beats. This is where beast masters will compete to show how well trained their beasts are, jousts will happen, feats and contests of martial strength or skill will happen. It's the palette cleanser. It will break up the tournament fighting that makes up the major plot beats. (This is also when sneakier characters might enact plans, try to get combatants to switch sides if that's relevant, or meta characters might explain denser plot beats for the audience.)

Intermission: Go get your snacks!

Minor plot climax: the winners of the smaller feats are announced, and if there was a point tie in any of the competitive categories, they will figure out who wins here, often by doing a last demonstration of skill and letting the crowd decide who has the most pinache.

Major plot climax: The big final fight(s) where the plot line is decided. Whatever the decision is for this fight is often the foundation for the next one. Particularly gnarly finishers will result in grudges that can be exploited later for plot. Sometimes the showrunners will break this by releasing a large monster into the arena halfway through the fight, forcing a "oh now we who hate each other must work together" story beat. This is normally foreshadowed and scripted ahead of time (wouldn't do for the combatants to kill each other before the wither spawns in), but every once and awhile, to keep things spicy, it will be a surprise for the fighters too, just to get more genuine shock from their "actors". Helsknight hates this, and showrunners have been known to face his fury if the fight was particularly harrowing (they're in the habit of keeping gift baskets and competition prizes on hand to smooth things over now, though Helsknight still insists it's the principle of the thing.)

Helsknight has been the reigning Champion for ages, so most of his plotlines have to do with challenges to his title. He's been a heel (bad guy) character for awhile, mostly because EB was the Colosseum's darling, representing the idea of rigorous fairness with a lot of plot points that emphasized integrity and goodness. When Helsknight was up and coming, it was natural for him to take an antagonistic role to that, ousting a paragon from his throne. Now he comfortably fills the spot of Tyrant Lord, clutching his crown with godlike strength, and total disdain for those beneath him -- though he hands out rewards and favors to those who do him good, which leads to plot points where he comes in as a Deus Ex Machina for someone else's losing fight. This doubles nicely with his habit to take very real offense when his honor is threatened, and occasionally breaking script because he's pissed off about something. (The showrunners have learned if they want a long, interesting final fight, they can't write lines about Helsknight being a coward.)

Helsknight vs The Red King

As his title implies, The Red King is a leader whose main character traits involve amassing followers through might and loyalty. His Loyal Hand is the crafty underling who goes about during tournament matches "converting" likely followers to the King's cause. There have been a handful of matches where Red, either because he thinks he can rule the Colosseum better, or because it's his divine right as a king, tries to lead a revolt against Helsknight, often leading to a 1v1 between the two of them that has always ended in Red's loss.

The most recent tournament plotline, Red was given dreams of great misfortune befalling hels, the coming of a monster that would destroy the city and everything everyone holds dear! Oh no! He spends the tournament getting the greatest heroes of the Colosseum to join his cause (with help from his clever Right Hand) in stopping this calamity from falling. He approaches Helsknight once, asking for his help, but the dignified Tyrant, holding a grudge against all the attempts of the usurper, tells him to sink or swim on his own. So Red goes to face his calamity, and a wither is let onto the battlefield, with a small army of wither skeleton minions. They fight, and when the fight hits a suitable high point, Helsknight comes striding in, begrudgingly helping because the world won't end on his watch. A tyrant can't rule rubble. When the fight is over, Red and Helsknight end as shaky allies, with Red swearing fealty to the knight so long as he continues protecting hels, the home they both share.

Helsknight vs Bratwurst

That was until MythicalSausage's hels (the guy Helsknight kicked around like a hackey sack in chapter 9) came onto the scene. He's been dominating the small show fight scene, a pretty decent midrange fighter with cool demon powers that act as a convenient third-act power up during his fights and a pretty charismatic disposition as a heel character. He got good enough to start doing trial runs in the spectacle fights as a minor character. In his second appearance, when he was supposed to challenge Helsknight and establish himself more firmly in the story canon as an ambitious antagonist, he broke script and insulted Helsknight's honor. Helsknight, predictably, broke script in retaliation and kicked his ass, instead of doing what he was supposed to do -- let the new kid get some good hits in to make the crowd happy before humbling him to set up a new story beat for the next match. The showrunners, understandably upset by the debacle, kicked Bratwurst back onto the small circuit, and set about tweaking their upcoming brackets in a way that would redeem some of Helsknight's public image.

The Current Tournament Story:

So, Helsknight, who has firmly re-established himself in the public eye as the tyrant heel, is perfectly set up to be the villain in the next arc. With some string-pulling from the Demon, the story they've crafted for the current tournament arc is that Red, upon hearing of the cruel defeat of one of the new gladiators at the hands of their "I'm trying not to be a tyrant anymore" Champion, challenges Helsknight on the grounds that their bargain was for the protection of hels, and Helsknight has gone out of his way to show that he only cares about his pride. He only fights in battles he knows he'll win (Mythical Sausage's hels) and or for his glory (swooping in to save the day at the last minute in the wither fight). To prove his claims true Red is initiating a trial by combat -- if Red wins, not only is Helsknight no longer Champion, but he is proved guilty of the sin of pride, only ever showing his face in the Colosseum to inflate his own ego. Helsknight accepts the challenge, so sure not only of his own skill, but that he's held his end of their pact, that he will not only face Red, but also his beloved Hand in battle. All who wish to fight in the name of the Champion's glory may do so, and all who wish to dispute his honor may join Red. Thus the sides are cast, and the tournament begins. Any gladiator fighting on Helsknight's behalf will be given a red cloak and plume (if wearing a helmet). Any gladiator fighting on Red's behalf will wear the Dogwarts red-and-white, with a white plume if helmeted. In between the matches, depending on who wins or loses, Helsknight and Red get to do banter, while Martyn connives on the sidelines, giving his teams a hand with weapons and armor. No matter who wins or loses, the final fight is between Helsknight, the Red King, and his Loyal Right Hand.

#rns asks #spectator-moon #this got long but i really wanted to finish it before bed so #[toss!]#i am going to bed now #time to sleep off the evening and regret how long i've been awake

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maxybabyy · 1 year

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I watched two episodes of the newest too hot to handle season and couldn’t stop thinking about a maxiel au. I imagine max stumbles through the casting for ‘love overboard’ and somehow ends up on the boat with no real interest in anyone on it. he tells the producer as much when they ask him which of the girls he would like to smash. Max: “I would of course not smash any of them” quickly followed by one of the british girls, Emily adding, “Max is hot, yeah? But the doesn’t have the bants to keep up with me.”

Daniel is the last person introduced before the boat shoves off, looking hot in his pastel shorts and a wide, fucking smile. Daniel is born for reality television too, jokes falling from his lips as he charms the rests of the cast. by the time they’re pulling into shore, he’s had three offers to share a cabin and helped Bennie, the law student from Bristol, put sunscreen on her bum. his tongue is halfway down Blaire the New Yorker’s throat, when someone from production has to come drag them back for the announcement that hey are in fact on too hot to handle.

cut to the next day: Daniel is getting a bit in his head about the entire. like, he has three weeks before he has to be back in LA, back to grinding for Instagram followers and shitty sponsorship deals, he’s not going to spend it fucking celibate. hes been floating the idea making a pact with one of the guys to make sure no one is really the first one to break the rules, but no one has taken the bait. Max though, Max keeps following him around. but it makes sense, yeah? they’re, like, the two best looking guys, so of course they should agree so they can divide and conquer without butting heads.

Max full of life as he laughs at all of his jokes, cracks his own dumb quips and watches him with this look – so open and exposed and more raw than anything else Daniel has seen on this fucking show – when Daniel laughs back at him. it’s such a stark contrast to how Max acts in around the girls, but Max is here for reason, Daniel reckons. maybe the silent type really works for him.

he isn’t – he doesn’t even think twice as he asks, “Are you trying to be good, Maxy? like, would you pick the sex over the money?” and Max. Max has been a little bit in love since Daniel stepped onto the boat, sun slick skin that Max feels sick with the need to taste. to lick, to bite into soft flesh and feel the muscle underneath his skin. always max would choose sex, any moment with Daniel is of course good. “I need a rule breaker, maxy. I need a partner in crime for this.”

Max just looks at him for a moment and then before Daniel has time to react, he leans in to kiss him. it's a good kiss, a great fucking kiss. one of the best Daniel has had sober and not fucked out of his mind when every touch feels good. Max clearly knows what he’s does, like – the hand on Daniel’s cheek holding him in place as he licks deep into his mouth. Daniel’s brain is barely catching up when Max pulls back. “There, now of course the girls will not the first to break the rules.”

and Dan’s like, “Yeah, for sure,” walking out in a daze to the pool where Geroge intercepts him and agrees to the pact as well. George who has seen all the previous seasons and knows you have to break the rules first before you can have a redemption story. so he makes out with Bennie by the pool while George and Emily kiss a few feet away. But somehow the kiss is kinda shitty? her lips are too small, and, like, the entire kiss is just a bit too dry? Bennie’s obviously having a good time, but Daniel just cannot get into it.

Daniel goes to sleep in Bennie’s bed, and they kiss – a shitty attempt to evoke some sort of spark inside him – and it’s still kinda ‘meh’. It’s definitely not worth the 3000$ it costs them the morning after. they’re charged 9000$, and that seems fair. Daniel had two kisses, and George kissed – until another couple confesses that they kissed on the beach. And Daniel’s not, he doesn’t really know how all of this works, but this means he gets one for free, right?

he kisses Blaire against the wall next to the fire pit because at least this has to be good, but that turns out shitty too. he doesn’t want to share a bed with Bennie, but he doesn’t want to get in with Blaire either, is just about to abandon ship and sleep on the couch for the night, when Max pulls back the duvet, “You can of course stay with me, Daniel.” so Daniel does.

the price for a kiss has been raised to 6000$ for disrespecting Lana, and Daniel has now cost the group 9000$ – should be 12000$ with all three kisses included – when his kiss with Blaire is revealed. Bennie angry as she taps her foot from where she’s perched next to him, obviously waiting for some kind of explanation that Daniel cannot give, too perplexed by the fact hat it should be hell a lot more than that actually.

cut to the tapes from the night before that some poor production assistant had to go through. Daniel waking up in the middle of the night to Max staring back at him. they don’t kiss, breathing the same air for another moment before Max turns around and presses his back against Daniel’s chest. Max’s ass against his dick until Daniel has no choice but to fuck into the hot, tight space between Max’s thighs, strong and warm and just a little bit sweaty from the hot summer heat. Max doesn’t touch him, squeezes his thighs around him until it’s almost as good as the real thing, until right at the end where he cups a hand around the head of his dick so the come doesn’t spill. Licks it off so there is of course no evidence.

(somewhere in the backroom the Netflix producers are having a meltdown. Daniel was supposed to be their golden goose with the funny accent and good looks, a charming lad who couldn’t stop himself from flirting with all the girls but ultimately settled down when faced with love)

to right the wrongs, Lana invites Daniel to go out on a date with Bennie so he can make up his mind. and it’s fine. Daniel’s a good date, and Bennie seems to make the most of life in Bristol, but he’s just not feeling it anymore, hasn’t been feeling much of it since Max kissed him. so Lana offers to switch her out for Blaire, and Daniel’s like, “sure, whatever.”, his mood only salvaged when Max turns up instead of Blaire (much to the surprise of the producers).

Max steals a kiss at the end of the date, and this time Daniel feels it. the curling of his toes, the lick of Max’s tongue into his mouth, the solid weight of Max’s hard dick as they’re pressed against each other. It makes him feel insane, hungry for anything Max will give him. and like, Max is all for blowing it all up, having sex in the showers, on the beach, in the middle of the night like they did before: wherever of course Daniel will have him.

but 200,000$ is a lot of money, and the distance between LA and London isn’t a joke. Flights are expensive, but Daniel already doesn’t know how he would go on without seeing Max after these three weeks? So he convinces to convince Max to be good, to win them the money so they can keep seeing each other, and it works. mostly.

now with a sequel.

#there's a galex subplot #of george trying to pull Maggie the lone canadian when alex is introduced #and george just - abandons ship and goes all in on that handsome lad #netflix is in shambles with no way to produce a heteronormative season #maxiel does win and becomes boyfriends for real #move to monaco together to live out their gay little content creator dreams #maxiel #my writing #too hot to handle au #sideship #galex #i am going to bed now #please excuse the rush :/#ficlet

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