#knifekicks

STARTING OFF WITH DAKOTA!!!! In the post before this I kinda went off about his backstory, but here are some details I didn’t mention!!

This is a spoiler!!! -> Dakota Cole isn’t Kota’s OG name in this world either!! Instead, “Cole” was from a comic book Dakota read as a child, just like “Flynn Rider”. The comic books were really the only thing Dakota didn’t have trouble reading, so he found an inspiration in Master Cole- or the hero in the stories. From then on, he used Dakota Cole as a stage name of shorts- or in this case a thief name.

I wanna expand on a point I made in the last post, and kinda more explain why Dakota is ok with stealing in this AU. Well for one, he doesn’t enjoy it. Kota sees it as a need, and frankly it is. Basically living on his own as a kid and teenager, he couldn’t get a stable job to actually get the money to buy food and necessities- so he turned to the one thing he could do to live. That doesn’t mean he likes it- not at all actually. That is why he agrees to steal the crown in the first place. Mark is a bitch of a ruler, letting the crown collect dust for 18 years- and doesn’t even bother to help the people in his kingdom because he’s poured all his resources into finding one person. Dakota hopes the princess comes home safe, but he can’t help but look at every other person Mark has basically left to rot in HIS kingdom.

This is a very vague spoiler (I can’t remember if any of this was mentioned season 1 😭😭) -> That brings me to talk about Vyncent. Without everything happening with the greats, Vyncent actually did follow in his father’s footsteps pretty well. Because of that though, he’s always looking for a challenge. He’s basically the most competent person in the guard, earning him the head of the guard title, but he finds most things boring. Guarding the crown. Walking around town- it’s all busy work when he grew up listening to epic tales of what the greats did- and now he’s stuck guarding a crown all day. Later on in the story, if it goes past the end of the movie (which it probably will, already got thoughts about William after the Tangled plot ends) then I’ll probably experiment with some news coming back about what happened with the greats- but with no Vyncent there- their kinda just fucked? Cue rescue mission probably, PD having to watch Vyncent go through his trauma first hand maybe? Who knows!!!

But with the combined fact that Vyncent is bored by ‘busy’ work at the castle, and Dakota never really being caught- they kinda have a rivals relationship at the moment. Dakota is the one thief Vyncent can’t catch, and it’s finally a challlenge that Vynce needs to keep himself busy. On Dakotas side, it’s a fun chase every single time- something out of the comic books he used to read. With all of the greats gone, the guard isn’t what it used to be, but Dakota also appreciates the challenge. It’s serious business for Vyncent, and just a game to Dakota- but they both have fun in their respective ways.

When Vyncent finds Dakota traveling with Ashe and William, Ashe tries to get them to get along just like in the movie- and it works. Though it mostly is just the promise that as soon as Ashe sees the lanterns, all bets are off and they are back to the chase. That changed by the end obviously- and in contrast to the chase scene in the beginning, Vyncent helps Dakota escape jail and get to the tower.