#to the asshole empire who likes to backstab everyone anyway

[sword-and-lance]

((…Y’know there are SO many issues with Hien and the writing surrounding him

But uh

“Why didn’t he just give the amnesiac woman to the FUCKING GARLEAN EMPIRE” is not one of them wtf))

[grandinventor]

i really like the loyalists- i find them really interesting. havelock, pendleton, martin. talk about them and your opinions and what went down, i like hearing what you have to say

Oh you are right on time because I am just replaying the first Dishonored and even though I am halfway through I know the rest and I got my memory refreshed on their personalities. I really love the Loyalists honestly, they are in a way both terrible and absolutely compelling characters. I can only talk about Low Chaos because I've never played High Chaos to analyze them there. Thank you though, for giving me the chance to ramble about them now, don't mind if I do~

Havelock - I just realized he has a name now because I was googling to make sure it's spelled with an E. Anyway, not many people do, but I like Havelock. He is a bastard but he is very much convinced what he is doing is for the greater good. They did well in portraying him being a bit older and more traditional than Corvo and the other Loyalists, which is both good and bad. He has this almost tunnel vision loyalty and dedication to his cause, he likes being in charge and since we are stationed in the Hound's Pits Pub, we are on his territory and it feels like it. No matter how much he praises you, you know he is not gonna let you or any of the others challenge his position. And I like that we do see some of his temperament, like him tossing the Audiograph in the sea might seem like a comical moment until you look back on it and realize he grew frustrated with it one too many times and did something rash. You can also see through his journal how he is slowly growing more frustrated when he realizes you won't let him control Emily and you (I say you as in Corvo) are far too dangerous to be controlled. In the end I think he confused his need for power with his loyalty to the Empire because in his mind him getting this power was the best for the Empire. And in Low Chaos he realizes that he doesn't have the hands on the wheel and he can't go against these waves and kind of surrenders, albeit after he has done a lot of damage. Havelock greets you like a serious, controlled and even warm and welcoming older man, but you learn that beneath that there is a very frustrated and paranoid person who is loyal only in words but is willing to betray everyone to achieve what he thinks is right. There isn't a lot of Havelock meta because he isn't as interesting, but he still played his role quite nicely in the story and you don't always expect characters like him to betray you, especially next to characters like Martin and Pendleton. But, then again a salt and pepper haired war veteran switching sides in the third act is a pretty common trope so eeeh I should've seen that coming. Martin - Martin was my fav when I was 16 and also one of the first times a character I liked died in anything, it was really heartbreaking. I kind of forget he dies these days because I follow like 10 Martin fans, so he is alive and well. I like that he isn't doing the whole "I'll be High Overseer because I have to, it's for the best" (cause they could've gone that route), he straight up reads Campbells gossip book and is like "Hell yeah, I am going to blackmail so many people." Also I like his intro scene because as you approach behind Jasper (the other Overseer), he sees Corvo and becomes somehow 10 times more cocky (I think the line that's something like "It isn't so bad, except I miss your wife" is so raw I've been quoting it all week). But if you play Low Chaos he feels more sidelined, he comments here and there about things here and there that show a bit of his laid back attitude and it's that High Chaos ending that really brings forward most of his personality than just his arc ending in being poisoned at a table (I do not like the Low Chaos ending, like even if they died it's a bit anticlimactic). But there is a lot of good Martin meta out there, from my 10+ Martin lover mutuals, however in general I really like the concept of a priest with a dark past because in the context of him betraying you, it feels like he never truly escaped that dark past, he never really changed, he just got better in convincing people he is a better person, including himself. And the fact that he seems so chill and laid back, yet hides something terrible makes me wonder how much of what he said was honest, and how much was him having a silver tongue and bringing your guard down. Also I don't take criticism but criminal turned priest is extremely sexy and I love that trope.

Treavor Pendleton - (gets a full name from me here), I gotta admit I didn't like him when I was 16 because I expected him to turn out evil, he looked like the "I will backstab you" trope, but now that I am older I kinda like him a lot more and even feel bad for him. I feel like Havelock was crazy and Martin was a shady dude, but Treavor just went along with them because he is both very cowardly and very envious. I know it's not disclosed but I do feel like he wasn't the mastermind behind it? Maybe High Chaos says otherwise, but I haven't played it to know. For someone who was so brutally abused by his older brothers his entire life and yet still found it in him to love and mourn them, he would absolutely go with whatever Havelock and Martin would say, either out of wanting to be part of something or out of some kind of deep seated fear of not playing along. This doesn't absolve him of what happened at all, but it is An Explanation, and paired with his excessive drinking, it does make me feel bad about him. He is also an asshole in funny ways like the whole situation with his Audiographs and also Lord Shaw and he is sort of an unintentionally (or maybe intentionally) funny character. I found that he is relieving the more tense feeling you get from Havelock and Martin with his presence which I enjoy more than I did when I was younger. Also he has a lot of typical aristocrat asshole things going on, which is funny mostly, sometimes a little infuriating.

I would like to talk about the rest of the Loyalists too (because Callista, Lydia, Cecelia, Piero and Wallace are also Loyalists even if not the main ones), but you asked for these three and it's getting late. Perhaps I will because I actually love the ladies and they don't get nearly as much love as the male characters in this game.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: Nirvana in Fire, Episode 02

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning: Spoilers for All 54 Episodes!

A Cunning Plan

Let's start by checking in with the in-progress schemes. Nirvana in Fire features many, many overlapping schemes that stretch across multiple episodes.

Princess Nihuang's Marriage: Princess Nihuang is betrothed to a dead guy, and that's fine with her. If she needs tender emotional care she's got Xia Dong. Xia Dong is married to a dead guy so this works well for both of them.  

The Emperor wants to marry Nihuang off, because she's got a loyal heap of troops at the southern border, and he's a paranoid old fuck, who doesn't like anyone to have the power to overthrow him. Marrying her will sort of force her to hand her troops off to her impulsive younger brother, or something.

The Emperor has a soft spot for Nihuang, however, so he's allowed her to set a bunch of impossible conditions on the marriage, including a martial arts contest. NIF is a hybrid palace drama and Wuxia drama, so there are courtesans and backstabbing and sneaky maids and sneaky eunuchs but also, people can fly.

The two main power seekers, Prince Yu and the Crown Prince, have flunkies that they want Nihuang to marry, but their flunkies suck at martial arts, so if they want her to marry one of their dudes, there will have to be cheating.

Note that Nihuang's good friends Jingrui and Yujin are taking part in the contest to marry her, which might be weird, except they both know she can beat their asses so they seem to just be joining in for fun & prestige. 

The fact that she doesn't want to marry either of these loveable cuties means that she's pretty serious about staying betrothed to her first love, despite his apparent deadness.

(more after the cut!)

Recruiting Mei Changsu / Killing Mei Changsu: Team Prince Yu wants to recruit Mei Changsu. Team Crown Prince wants to recruit him or kill him, if recruiting him doesn't work. 

Mei Changsu acts like this is so tedious; all he wants to do is rest. But they only want to recruit him because he and his pal Lin Chen made them believe he is the answer to their problems.  Whenever Mei Changsu acts annoyed at something, it's probably something he actually orchestrated. "Pork chops again?" (secretly buys more pork chops).

The Duke Qing/ Landgrab Case: In Episode 1, the Jiangzuo Alliance protected some witnesses against Duke Qing in an enslavement/land grabbing case. It's difficult for me to find anything about historical land grabbing in China because Google is full of 21st century land grabbing information. Anyway Duke Qing works for Prince Yu, so the witnesses are (whether they mean to be or not) on The Crown Prince's side. The Emperor has an interest in this case, because land grabbing is bad, apparently, even by corrupt-emperor standards. Xia Dong is in charge of investigating.

The Chiyan Army Case: This is the big conspiracy that the entire show is about. 11 years ago, the Emperor received evidence that Prince Qi, Lin Xie (Mei Changsu's father), and the entire Chiyan army were going to rebel. This was supposedly reported by Xia Dong's husband, Nie Feng, before Lin Xie supposedly killed him. The emperor ordered executions for everybody.

Prince Jing thought this was a bunch of bullshit and didn't hesitate to say so, which got him sent off to distant regions to do army things for years at a time, and landed him a place high up on the emperor’s shit list.

The Hazelnut Pastry Scheme: This is a small scale, benevolent scheme, in which Concubine Jing will eventually stop making cookies with hazelnuts in them, because Mei Changsu is allergic to them. 

Ok, that’s the scheme roundup for this episode. On with the show!

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

After a quick expository chat between the Emperor and Gong Gao, laying out the reasons for the Nihuang Marriage Scheme, we go to Prince Yu’s place to watch superhot Meng Zhi, commander of the emperor's guards, whip some ass. Not, alas, literally.  Despite his leather shoulder thingies and his handsome beard, and his commanding ways on a battlefield, when it comes to interpersonal relations he is pretty much a labrador retriever puppy in human form.

Meng Zhi is kicking the asses of Prince Yu’s fighters to determine if they're qualified to compete in the Marriage contest. They are not. He points out to the Prince that they can't put such terrible wimps into the competition because it will make the country’s defenses look weak.  

This beatdown is observed by Prince Yu and by Xie Yu, who Prince Yu thinks is on his side. Xie is 100% on the Crown Prince's side, but is carefully hiding that fact; he has his son working for Prince Yu as part of his cover.

In determining how severe an ass kicking is, everyone talks about how many moves it takes to defeat someone, like it's chess. Meng Zhi can beat literally anyone else in the show. He's number two on the Langya List of fighters & we never meet #1.

Fe Liu Was Fast as Lightning

Mei Changsu is hanging out in the garden at Xie manor while Fe Liu jumps around. Fe Liu wants Mei Changsu to play Roblox with him, and pouts when MCS opts for staying in the garden and reading a book.

Fe Liu is utterly devoted to Mei Changsu; I really love their relationship. Fe Liu’s backstory isn't fully explained in the show, but apparently he was raised from an early age to focus on being extremely lethal, and didn't spend much time learning to talk or other skills, making him the epitome of the asynchronous/ gifted teen. Mei Changsu isn’t who raised him to be like this; MCS and Lin Chen rescued him, which is why he is now Mei Changsu’s personal murder pet.

Fe Liu is both a complete fantasy character and also a really believable teen, beautifully acted by Leo Wu, who DMBJ fans know from Tomb of the Sea, and who Xiao Zhan fans know from Battle Through the Heavens.

Fe Lui promptly gets into a fight with Meng Zhi, who's visiting Xie manor. All Fe Liu was doing was leaping about the rooftops like an assassin, but since Xie Yu is the sort of guy that a lot of people would like to kill, Meng Zhi doesn't think this is so good. They have a hilarious, entertaining fight with many, many wire-assisted moves.

They're pretty evenly matched, and Xie Yu watches them with extreme interest until Mei Changsu shows up and tells Fe Liu to stop. Xie Yu is watching because he needs to know how many dudes he should send to assassinate Mei Changsu. Answer: more. Always more.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately since it’s probably all part of MCS’s plan) Fe Liu's extreme skilz make it obvious that his boss is someone important. Mei Changsu discusses this with Jingrui and Yujin in an open-air setting where Jingrui's brother Xie Bi can totally hear them.  In no time flat, father and son have reported his identity to their respective princes.

Over at Prince Yu's place, Qin Banruo and her awesome eye makeup join the party. She's Prince Yu’s advisor/manipulator, working for the (fallen) Hua kingdom, led by the (deceased) Princess Xuanji . She has a network of spies who work for her, that she deploys for Prince Yu's schemes. Her ultimate goal is not to help him, however, but just to fuck up the Da Liang Empire, which conquered the Hua.

(Nearly) Everybody Hates Jingyan

Xia Dong heads out on her assignment in the Land Grab Case, and Nihuang goes to see her off. They talk about gender expectations and how annoying it is to have to marry a dude, and briefly hang out being WLW goals with their mutual devotion, excellent fashion sense and deadly fighting abilities. Nihuang, in particular, wears the prettiest things and also stands at attention like she's commanding an army; I adore her.

They're interrupted by the arrival of Prince Jing, who is greeted cheerfully by Nihuang and eye-rollingly by Xia Dong.  

He's wearing an awesome brass-and-blue armor that we never see again after this episode. It's too bad - it's a good color for him and it has a cool vampire cloak with a high collar.

Prince Jing takes the opportunity to snark at Xia Dong about her investigation and the Xuanjing Bureau’s penchant for inventing finding conspiracies, and then rides off before she can reply.

This leads Nihuang and Xia Dong to get into their chronic argument about the Chiyan Conspiracy and the Lin family, and then Xia Dong hits the road.

Prince Jing and his subordinates stand around outside the palace waiting to report to the emperor while the emperor ignores him. They get sweatier and sweatier while they wait. which makes me like the Emperor a little bit more.

Prince Yu and CP Xian are busy sucking up to the emperor as they look at a manuscript. They are a bunch of assholes and you can see that Gao Zhan isn't a fan of this bullshit.

Eventually Gao Zhan reminds/persuades the emperor to summon Prince Jing, whose brothers snark at him like a couple of 12 year old girls while he radiates manly vigor and handsomeness.  

Consort Jin is bummed that she can't see Prince Jing for another 5 days, and her maid sidekick says random comforting things. This maid, Xiao Xin, is actually a little snake, who works for Qin Banruo's network. We don't learn that until sometime later.

All of the maids have this same hairstyle. If you are a westerner and you think this hairstyle is crazy, have a look at some Roman and Byzantine historic hairstyles. I'm not saying this hairstyle is NOT crazy, mind you; just that crazy hair was a feature of many, many historical empires.  

Consort Jing has someone deliver her hazelnut cookies to Prince Jing; she doesn’t know about Mei Changsu yet so hazelnut is still on the menu. Nicest mom. Also smartest, helpful-est mom, as the story develops.

Suck-Up Contest

At Xie manor, Xie Bi tries to get Mei Changsu to go meet the Empress, who has stopped by with Nihuang specifically to meet him, as part of the Recruit Mei Changsu scheme. Jingrui says nope, fuck that, he's not going to be a pawn in your political games, fuck off. We get to see Jingrui being steely and righteous, which is both cool and hot. Nihuang should totally marry him.

The Empress is annoyed that Mei Changsu doesn't show up, and Nihuang is like, it's ok, I don’t actually give a fuck about meeting new men. But I did want to meet his murder puppy Fe Liu.

Grand Princess Liyang says they don’t need to bother meeting pugilists, despite her son being one and her supposed best friends/co-parents also being pugilists.

Grand Princess Liyang will probably be glad Mei Changsu didn’t come to her little party, once she realizes what tends to happen when Mei Changsu comes to a party.

Then we go to the suitor tournament, in which everyone more or less sucks.

The princes really want to go over to Mei Changsu’s balcony to meet him, and they have a hilarious silent interaction where they both try not to be the first one to move. They finally cave, and go together.  

Then they compete to see who can be the most cringe and blow the most smoke up Mei Changsu's ass.

They ply him with gifts and flattery, which he mostly manages to resist.

Cookie Time with Granny

Then they get summoned to go meet the grand empress, who is (I think) the mother of the previous emperor, the grandmother of the current emperor, and the great grandmother of basically every highborn character of the current generation, including Nihuang and Yujin, although it’s not clear where they sit in the family tree. Historically, cousin marriage - particularly of maternal cousins - was no big whoop in China, so it's not surprising that a lot of nobles would share a great-grandmother.

The Grand Empress is a sweet lady with dementia. She can’t figure out who the hell anyone is. First-time viewers feel the same way.  

Her dementia is pretty well depicted, unlike a lot of TV dementia, or at least it matches up to my experiences with my own elders. She remembers the distant past more vividly than recent times; when she understands who’s in front of her she connects with them emotionally, but she falls off track easily. And she projects the identities of people she misses onto people who are around her.

Like many other grannies, no matter who is visiting, she wants them to 1. get married 2. produce offspring 3. eat something, you’re so skinny

When Mei Changsu meets Granny she immediately calls him Lin Shu, either because she recognizes him or because she really misses Lin Shu, or both. She calls Nihuang over and joins their hands, and Mei Changsu grabs onto Nihuang's hand and holds it for a while.

Everyone thinks it's adorable that Granny has dementia and is confused about that guy who was horribly killed, except Nihuang, who was already checking Mei Changsu out and is somewhat verklempt. She might have to revise her anti-man feelings a little bit.

Everyone leaves, and Nihuang hits up Mei Changsu to take a walk with her, casually mentioning that she could have his hand cut off for touching her, but since she's not in the mood, he's ok.

She prods a bit to find out what he's doing in town and what he's up to. “Do you have a girlfriend? Like a serious girlfriend or just a stalker who works for you?” She asks him which of the two princes he's going to support, but they’re interrupted by a eunuch beating a slave child. That’s the price you pay for trying to have a date in the palace, I guess.

[gold-eyes-vengeful-heart]

Questions, Answers

((or: Runya is displeased with the situation at large.

Spoilers for the 5.5 Diamond Weapon quests! Contains Runya being kind of an asshole about the VIIth Legion’s Weapons’ pilots.

Also this entire fic line is not going to stop the Spite Train (TM) I have against this fucking ridiculous nonsense writing in the canonical questline, this is your only warning lmao))

===

Runya just idly drummed the fingers of one of his clawed gloves on the stony bench, looking more closely at the datapad he held in his other hand as his thoughts wandered. It was difficult to keep them on-task, as of late; he knew that he should be focusing on finding that bloody last Weapon--the Diamond Weapon, the few files his nodes had managed to scrounge called it--but all the same...

There was Baelsar.

His ears flicked back just at the thought, and his tail lashed. Yes, that was a problem. While he had been recovering, he had heard about what the Garlean was up to--namely, insinuating himself into Werlyt’s burgeoning resistance, all under the guise of being helpful and lending his expertise and just being the man best suited for the job--

And anyone who actually believed that had all the gullibility of a literal child, in Runya’s estimation.

He finally stilled his tail and flicked his ears once, twice, and just squinted down at what scant information he had. No amount of him complaining had fixed that one; even Sorin agreed with him, as far as he could tell, and agreed that it was at the very least incredibly tone deaf of the Legatus. And yet, there Baelsar was, still doing exactly what he had been, despite all of that. Bloody typical. If Runya wanted anything done, he had to do it himself.

“S-Sir?”

The small voice broke him out of his reverie, and he glanced over the top of the datapad before letting it fall entirely. The young Au Ra--barely old enough to be considered a teenager, with ill-fitting armor to match--stiffened under the sharp golden-eyed stare, but he held his ground and only the tip of his own tail twitching betrayed his nerves.

“Ah, S-Sir Damask...” A pause. “That is you, yes?”

“Mmmm, the very one.” He smiled, and that did exactly nothing to make the Xaela’s nerves any better. “I’m honored; I thought only a few people here even knew of me. Blue has far more fame than I do.”

The easy, conversational tone made the boy’s shoulders relax just slightly. “Ah, well, yes, your machine is very well-known, after fighting those awful Weapons--and beating them. We thought no one would be able to...” But he shook his head, suddenly. “Anyway, ah, they wanted to see you. Mister Baelsar and Mister Garlond did.”

“Mister Baelsar.” Runya laughed, lightly, and that tension came right back. “Is that what he calls himself now? I would have half-expected him to demand to be called lord, or something equally stuffy.”

The Xaela blinked. “He’s not...like that right now, at least. Not ever since he took over.”

“And yet he’s still making children do his dirty work,” Runya remarked, waving his free hand as the boy opened his mouth indignantly. “Arguments about your exact number of years aside, I’d quite enjoy to remind everyone what happened the last time Baelsar had access to a bunch of people around your age. And younger, for that matter. One of the more...exquisitely awful things he ever did, I think.”

Now the Xaela was silent, and more visibly torn. Almost like he wanted to say something, but hesitated.

And Runya smiled. “Come now, you can say what’s on your mind. I don’t bite. Only if I’m given good reason to.”

Not that that seemed to reassure him any, but he did finally speak, if reluctantly. “I know. My sister...” He swallowed. “Never mind.”

Ah, so someone else that knew. Really knew, not just claimed they knew when they hadn’t experienced the half of it. So Runya just smiled, and patted the Xaela on the shoulder, despite the way the boy visibly quailed a bit at the strange look in his eyes now.

“And you don’t like it, either, do you?” His voice was low and smooth as oily smoke. “That they’re all just letting him lead again, when we all saw what horrors he committed the last time. Times, even.”

Now the boy wasn’t looking at him. That was enough of an answer for Runya, and so he just let go of him, leaning back.

“Or is it more...those with power before him are just in it for themselves?” the Miqo’te ventured, tilting his head thoughtfully. “The terrible things the Empire did must have barely hurt those with that kind of influence. They don’t care about how you and people like you might feel, if they were to use the architect of your own oppression for their own ends--even when it means letting him lead. All that matters is that being away from the Empire is more profitable than being under it, so they’ll use any tool they have for it.”

“I just...” The Xaela sighed, shaking his head. “It isn’t like I can fix it. That’s what the resistance’s leaders want, so they’re going to do it.”

“And the Alliance assistance certainly doesn’t care,” Runya added with a nod. (He got one back.) “Well, Sorin dearest does, but even someone like him only has so much sway against a crowd. As do I.” He stood up rather creakily, though when he was offered a hand, he took it without too much complaint. “Mmm, much obliged. One wouldn’t think me to be such an old man...”

And yet the Empire had done this to him anyway. But the Xaela had the sense to not really ask; he just nodded back, and let go of Runya’s hand rather quickly. “Are you--?”

“Coming?” Runya interrupted. “Ah, no. I have little of note to say to them, as you might have guessed. I’m going to do what I set out to do, and that does not involve them getting in my way--the only thing I’m interested in hearing from them is if they found that last Weapon, and where.” And he was quite sure that few were going to try and argue in the face of his own Weapon, even if he was just as keenly aware that they would like to.

The Xaela finally dismissed himself, armor clanking as he made his way away, and Runya was once more left by himself. Or about as alone as one could ever get, with Blue in his head...

{Runya-friend.} The faint voice pattered across his thoughts like a light rain. {Runya-friend is mad.}

“Not at you, dear.”

{But still mad.}

He just sighed in resignation, and let the matter slide. “The point more is, Blue, that the sooner we find this last Weapon--and stop being involved in Baelsar’s messes, lest I finally stab him to death ahead of when I intended to off him, just to keep him from making more of the damned things--the better.”

{...Yes.} Even Blue was uncomfortable enough with the notion--it roiled in the back of his mind. {Does Runya-friend want to fly? Go look?}

“Hmmm, in a little while.” He would wait, for right now, just to make sure he was entirely out of any other ideas beforehand. (No use in wearing Blue out, if they could find that other Weapon another way.) And he wanted to make quite sure that Baelsar wasn��t going to simply backstab them all as soon as they got the chance; he wouldn’t put it past the man to try, if he was being granted such power by fools.

And fools they were, no matter what the reasoning behind it. Anyone that would listen to those bleated lies about just not knowing that the Empire was so cruel, from one of the main architects of that cruelty, was enough fool that it was a miracle they remembered how to breathe. And anyone who saw that manipulation for what it was, only to still believe they could use the man’s expertise and cunning anyway and not be bitten by him in the end, was no different.

(Part of his insistence on working alone was, after all, just that set of realizations at play...in addition to him being much more willing to tear his own limbs off than ever work with a Garlean like that ever again.)

He would make damned sure that he wouldn’t fall to that idiocy. He would continue taking out Imperials, one by one, starting with these Weapons...and inevitably including the Legatuses. Even Baelsar. Especially Baelsar, no matter what amount of recrimination Sorin kept throwing at him just for the thought--these idiot children of his were just more of an immediate danger, was all.

And they’d die just like the rest. He’d personally see to it.