#wikipedia plot summary for a fic I'll never write

[taoofshigeru]

Okay, tell me about that Partitio AU. I don't have specific questions. Tell me anything you want to talk about. 👀

[cracks knuckles] Okay, so.

Partitio is now a business tycoon, a steam cowboy who's known the world over. He's loaded with wealth and looking for ways to invest it to benefit people. And he's got world's most competent guy™️ Thurston on some investigations into how he can put that to work. Among other things, this leads him to an interest in canal sanitation, which is how he finds out about the mysterious amnesiac apothecary. Thurston's efforts to locate her only succeed on the day of the attempted mass poisoning at Timberain, where he helps Edmund persuade the guards to evacuate and joins Castti in the rooftop struggle versus Trousseau.

In the course of dealing with corrupt officials demanding bribes, Thurston notices many of the same issues in the judicial system writ large, and reform becomes one of Partitio's civic projects. Pulling on this thread (ala The Court of Last Resort) uncovers some key irregularities in the trial of one Osvald V. Vanstein. When attempts to overturn the conviction stall in court, Partitio takes matters into his own hands. A trip to Terry's shipyards in Toto'haha and a chance encounter with Ochette later, he sails the Grand Terry to Frigid Isle and exposes the brutality behind the system. This happens to be the same day that Osvald and Emerald are staging their escape. They get past the warden, but Partitio stops them on the docks, offering to take both with him and forge new passports for both, on the condition they work for Partitio & Roque. Of course, he praises the innovative nature of their attempt, and the careful planning. Osvald is not candid about his revenge quest, but does use his new job to gather information.

Now Partitio's party is going to help Ochette in her journey to stormhail. The Glacis situation is dealt with, but they decide to linger while Thurston and Floyd try testing some new machinery that works best in cold weather. While stuck there they encounter both Hikari and Temenos. Hikari is met in a bar, and Partitio and Osvald persuade him to not go and persuade Rai Mei alone. Meanwhile, Ochette and Castti encounter Temenos on the day of Crick's death and follow him after Ochette notices something about the cleric's smell.

Castti, Osvald, and Temenos putting their heads together afterwards makes it clear there might well be a greater force at work behind many of their problems. In this AU, Ori has become Partitio's executive secretary. Though conflicted, she still works for the moonshades. Throughout the story, sometimes important calls for help/assistance get conveniently dropped to the bottom of the pile. She gets more and more conflicted seeing Partitio do more good and get upset when he's unable to help his new friends out. Eventually someone who's not Partitio confronts her, and she cracks. Castti, Temenos, and Osvald probably would be close to catching on. But the one who clocks the mole first is actually Ochette, and she confronts Ori about the interference she's been running. Cue Orichette hours.

After the events of Stormhail, everyone needs a break and Partito takes the group down to Merry Hills for the festival. Watching Agnea and Dolcinea's competition from front-row seats, Partitio is smitten with the redhead and the entire rest of the gang prods him to go backstage and introduce himself. She also falls for his dorky cowboy personality, and decides to tag along.

At this point, Ori has been spilling the beans and the gang immediately decide to head down to Lifeseed to confront Claude, one of the chief masterminds behind the conspiracy. They get there only to find he's already been killed at the hands of Throné Anguis, an eleventh hour addition to the team.

…From there, the journey for the dawn unfolds as follows. -Arcanette sacrifices herself once she gets word Claude has died to douse the Flamechurch flame. Ochette confronts Petrichor directly before the night of the scarlet moon starts, but just barely fails to prevent the dark hunter's sacrifice. -Tanzy extinguishes the Crackridge flame, fulfilling Arcanette's last command. -The travelers, now knowing there's only one flame left keeping the seal, race to Ku to find Mugen's troops arrayed outside the tranquil grotto, waiting in a trap set by Oboro. Partitio and his army of mercenaries fight to break through, while Hikari and Ori both end up confronting Oboro at the sacred flame with the darkblood blade ready to slice his stomach. The two make one last, desperate attempt to save him from his despair.

In one branch of the timeline, the Hikari/Ori duo are able to talk him out of it and Vide's resurrection is thwarted.

In the other, Harvey is the one waiting for them at Vidania, and challenges Osvald to a duel with Elena on the line. Elena is trapped by a magical curse that will only be lifted if Harvey dies and will kill her if anyone interferes with the duel. Upon failing to defeat his archrival, Harvey spits and curses with his last breath before tossing himself into the fire pit. Then Vide is fought more or less the same way as in the main story.

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Addenda: The other travelers, ranked by how well they could fit into such an AU after the outcome of their main story:

1) Agnea - She tours all over as a diva and has plenty of time to get mixed up in local affairs like the other travelers' main paths, and she'd be happy to lend her celebrity to their causes. 2) Osvald - There's unanswered questions about why Harvey bribed the judge to spare his life, versus other forces who wanted him dead. And, like it or not, being the wielder of the one true magic makes him a target for the moonshades. It's possible one of the other travelers witnesses an attempted hit on Osvald and steps in to nurse the stranger back to health, leading to them getting mixed up. He's still a man on the run, and that would lead to a dramatic tension when he struggles to decide whether to be honest with another traveler he decided to help. [It's just Urasawa Naoki's Monster. [It's just The Fugitive, created by Roy Huggins.]] 3) Temenos - [Unsolved Mysteries theme intensifies] 4) Castti - There are questions remaining about the man who corrupted Trousseau, but I think she'd be more interested in rebuilding Healeaks than continuing to travel. 5) Ochette - The new guardian of the village, she has responsibilities that keep her there unless some new ill omen forced her to leave again. 6) Hikari - He is now a head of state, confined to a localized region in the outskirts of the map. 7) Throné - She wants to leave the continent, and there's no real attachments left to stop her from doing so immediately. More likely she winds up finding her way to Orsterra and mixed up with the crows. (Throné x Primrose AU: She's tired of murders, she can't get enough. They become queerplatonic travel buddies.)