#widomauk

Oo I so so love this. I wonder what that would look like—Matt says at the end of Darktow that Kingsley’s given, "a crown, symbolic as it is." Kingsley being engaged to Caleb...would that be a world in which he's actual royalty? Where he's expected to marry to secure an alliance and ensure Darktow prospers?

Kingsley frees Darktow from a cruel tyrant, ascending the throne in the wake of a bloody battle. He was supposed to be dead—people saw his body swallowed by the sea, and yet—now he reigns as king.

But he does not have the Concord’s blood money in his pockets, nor the Plank King’s powerful allies; no intricate network of contacts to back his claim to the throne. The Empire can scent blood on the water; they know the isle is compromised, vulnerable. And Kingsley can’t afford to fight another battle.

So the Empire offers him a deal. Swear allegiance to them willingly, succumb to their reign. Spare his people further bloodshed. Refuse, and countless innocents will suffer.

It’s not even a choice, really. Gustav and Yasha plead with him to just give in, to save himself. (Even if he’s not Molly, can never be the family they lost, they still can’t bear to let him go, to lose him again—)

But it’s not his own life King bargains for. In the end, the Empire permits him to retain his crown—so long as he agrees to marry a Dwendalian noble of their choosing. Kingsley has no allusions about the fact that he’ll be anything more than a puppet, disposed of as soon as he proves too much of an inconvenience.

But this is Tealeaf; he won’t let himself just bow before the Empire, leave the fate of Darktow in their hands. But as much as he’s a fighter and a romantic…I think he also gets anxious at the thought of being bound to any one place or role. It’s the same reason why I struggle to imagine Kingsley maintaining his position as Plank King--I can't picture him ever sitting idle on the throne. Especially given that the Plank King usually doesn't ever leave, I imagine that would make Tealeaf feel trapped, after a bit. He's always craved freedom, adventure, flitted from one dream to another--

Deposing a corrupt ruler and parading around in their crown are one thing—continuing to rule and watch over the island is another. I imagine he takes to it well at first; the glory, the praise, being hailed as royalty. The charming, swashbuckling rogue who bested the infamous Plank King. I don’t think it would be very different at all from Mollymauk masquerading as the Duke, and I can see Kingsley being just as generous and protective of his subjects.

But stay in one place too long, and I think he just starts to feel caged. Especially when the nightmares begin to return. Otherworldly, primal screams, echoing in the far reaches of a starry sea. Black chains breaking, shattering, his own shackles finally torn asunder. Nine red eyes opening wide, gazing into his hollow soul.

And where would a betrothal to the fearsome Plank King leave Caleb? Is he a powerful archmage at court? Is he still Bren, still a Volstrucker, and thus granted enough standing and influence from the Cerberus Assembly to be betrothed to royalty? I can see him readily agreeing to any engagement if it he saw it as doing his duty to protect and serve the Empire.

And I can imagine him volunteering to be another's suitor if it meant Astrid and Wulf could still be happy, could still be together...I think he would accept a potentially loveless marriage, for the Empire's sake, and theirs.

Or, maybe Bren is told to marry Kingsley with the understanding that he is to ensure the king falls back into his grave, and take sole control of the throne. He's been dabbling in old, forgotten magic, the Cerberus Assembly claims--reached out willingly into the dark abyss of the Astral Sea, until something else reached back. (And Mollymauk's goddess would also brand him a heretic in the Empire--)

Bren taking great pains to carry himself as a prominent member of nobility and an astute diplomat. No one would ever suspect he was once the wide-eyed boy who tended his father's farmlands, someone who'd never even been within the city walls.

He's Volstrucker, he's mingled with wealthy patrons of the Empire and sworn enemies alike, effortlessly seduced and eliminated his share of targets. He knows how to charm a man into total surrender, what words to whisper in their ear, when to slit the knife across their throat--

And yet, Bren being completely thrown by this dashing rogue—his sharp-toothed grin and Devil’s tongue, his burning hatred for everything the Cerberus Assembly stands for and fierce loyalty to his people. He’s a conman, a scoundrel; they’re nothing like the mages and nobles who danced around each other at court, all quietly plotting one another’s downfall.

For every lie on his lips and all the masks he wears, there is still something in Kingsley that feels achingly raw and genuine. A glaring weakness Bren can’t quite bear to exploit—

using all of his 10 strength to pick up (1) molly

“Sorry! Sorry!” Molly shouts and pulls back from the kiss like he couldn’t believe his body had just done that. “I should’ve asked, but god I’ve wanted to do that for so long and I thought I’d lost my chance there so I just-“

Caleb’s numb hands rise to hold him in place. ‘Him’, Mollymauk. Caleb scanned his face, far too lost in his own thoughts to really notice how nervous the other man was, how nervous Molly was. This was Molly, his moonlight had come back; his brain kept saying it over and over and though he could see without a doubt that this was in fact his old friend, he just couldn’t believe it.

Six years had passed since Mollymauk’s failed resurrection and Kingsleys birth. How the hell was he back after all this time? And how did they manage to acquire separate bodies for the two tieflings souls?

Millions of questions swirled around in the wizards head, and yet in the eye of the storm there was only one thought. His hand finally lifted to touch the soft and worn lavender skin, dusted with pink over Mollys cheeks and red eyes snapped to him with a breath held between them both.