#i always get nervous about anon asks because it doesnt let the sender know ive answered

[sourdough-morbread]

No pressure but could we get some excerpts/thoughts about master, king, star 😔🤲

OMG HI HELLO! yes OF COURSE you can have all the excerpts! thank you so much for letting me giving me a reason to anon i love you im going to cry. im. hyperfntilating seriously this ask made me so happy! i was having a very hectic week.

I don't really know how to organise this so I apologise in advance that this is going to be a bit all over the place. I think I should start with some stuff about the upcoming chapter because it has been a stupid amount of time since chapter 2. This is the header on my draft on ao3:

Chapter 3: Whose Loss Is It Anyway? (The Bet I) Summary:

Among the mages of Daeho, lost friendships are plentiful, and they all suck at talking to each other.

There's a lot that's going to happen. There's going to be some Seo Yul and more of Heo Yun-ok. And there isn't a lot of time I can breeze through like chapter 2 with the ten day time skip. I'm also setting up some stuff with Heo Yun-ok and how energy works for building out detail in what's going on with Jin Bu-yeon and Cho Yeong later. All of that has to go into the chapter somehow without making it a disjointed slog to read. Its going to be a long one. I'm guessing over 10k. Could be 12k. I don't know. It feels like it's too long but I also have no idea what to cut out.

But anyway! Here's some of what's coming:

"Your Highness," he greets after coming just close enough for the jade to stop nudging at his heart and puts it away. "Jang Uk," says the prince, and does the same with a severe look to his face, just like the one he had in Cheonbugwan. Then he spots the sword in Jang Uk's hand, "Why do you have that with you?" "You called me here at the dead of morning," he states the obvious, "I didn't know what I was going to be walking into." "Were you concerned I was in danger?" he asks, disbelief replacing his severity and scoffs a laugh, "Did you come here to defend me?" He looks so pleased with himself. Like a peacock admiring his own tail feathers. How obnoxious. "I just came prepared." The Crown Prince continues his evaluation, trailing his eyes up and down Jang Uk. Without the jade interfering with his emotions, he is quickly growing very upset about the flippant manner with which he is being made into entertainment. "You look so conspicuous," the prince says with a scoff of laughter. … He can't believe he let himself be concerned over the Crown Prince, of all people!

Go Won and his problems with socialising make me giggle so much. He just HAS to comment on Jang Uk's dishevelled clothes. Just like he HAS to say Mu-deok definitely will lose the race or fail the exam. He has no idea what encouragement is, just like Mu-deok, because they were both traumatised by the same person.

Honestly, the similarities between Mu-deok and Go Won are just… I am unwell about them. They both compensate for feeling affection and compassion by being mean or immediately criticising whatever is going on. And anything real has to have a hurtful side to it to them. If its not mean, it feels like its a lie. Because the only positive feedback they got was cruel and reinforced that they were disposable.

For Go Won it looks like him randomly insulting people when he's trying to make friends and feeling like he has to defend his position as the Crown Prince constantly. For Mu-deok it's her insanely blunt feedback and interpreting affection as a danger to herself. Her own well being is not even a factor in her decisions. Both of which makes them so easy to manipulate and use.

At the point Master, Star, King picks up the story, Mu-deok has moved away from this somewhat, but Go Won still has a long way to go. He will get there, but it's not going to be easy.

Speaking of Go Won and Mu-deok, here's a bit of them talking coming up in chapter 3:

"Have…" she scoots closer, with a dramatic glance at the door, then puts one knee on the floor and leans over the other towards him, "Have you noticed anything else strange like that, Your Highness?" she asks in a half whisper. It's just the right mix of nervous and fascinated, as if there is no ulterior motive to this at all. Just a silly question from a silly maid to serve her own morbid curiosity. He raises a knowing eyebrow at her, "Worried for your Young Master, are you?" Her eyes grow wide and she nods, "Oh, yes, I am, Your Highness! I knew would understand," she said and sighs in seeming relief, "That's why I am asking you. If anything amiss was going on, you would be sure to pick up on it." "Of course I would have," he says, his tone even and guarded, "I'm the Crown Prince." Her focus locks on him, eyes razor sharp. He can imagine them glint like a sword in the sunlight moving into position, but she masks it with her signature kowtowing, "So you did notice something weird!"

He's trying to out-conversation Mu-deok as if that can ever happen. This part is subject to change becasue there is somethig off about this scene in particular, but the dialogue will probably stay the same.

I have other parts from chapter 3, but they are subject to major editing, or huge plot spoilers. The general flow of this I've had worked out since posting the previous chapter but it takes a while for me to be happy with it. That's why it takes me so long to post anything. Also right now I have a lot of IRL stuff to keep up with, that has slowed me way down. But things are starting to settle and I'm speeding up, so fingers crossed.

I don't know what else to say really. This is already way too long of a post lkfjlsdf. If you want more or anything else specific please tell me.

But I have a bit from farther down the line, when Go Won is firmly on their side and all of their feelings start getting very confusing. I've been dying to post this ever since I wrote it like months ago. So I will finish this off with that.

Go Won notices Jang Uk staring at him again, with an expression he can only describe as wonder. A slight upturn to his eyebrows, cheeks flushed from how much they have had to drink and a pout. He keeps eye contact with Jang Uk for just a little too long before looking away. It's enough to make him feel disoriented. Mu-deok is across them, trying to shake out the last little bits of alcohol from the bottle into her mouth. He feels too uneasy to draw her attention. She doesn't like this new habit of Jang Uk's. Him watching Go Won. "What is it?" "You know what you remind me of?" He stays silent. From across the table, Mu-deok sets down the bottle, frowning. "What?" "A tiger." Only after the answer sinks in does Go Won realise he had been half expecting an insult. Why was he expecting an insult from Jang Uk? That's so stupid. "A tiger?"

According to my outline this is coming up in chapter 9 (Three Seasons Worth of Welcome). I know I post very slow but this fic has a fairly detailed outline, beyond to Jang Uk and Cho Yeong getting married. And it should get easier to write the further I get, because right now I'm setting up plot threads and figuring out their pay offs in like 7 or 8 chapters later. When I get to them I will have a lot less to figure out. I will finish this fic if it's the last thing I do.

Anyway, thank you so much for giving me a reason to ramble about this on tumblr! I hope you see this and and enjoy it!