**MASTERMIND

hi there !  i’m cait  &  my pronouns are  she / they !  below you’ll find a set of links to help navigate around, whether you’re a mobile user or not !  if you have any questions, please don’t be afraid to ask !  this blog is currently on low activity !  i highly recommend reading the ‘history’ tab but it is not mandatory !  it’s just a little insight to my ze.mo’s early life/background.

and just a small thing to keep in mind : this blog is completely MCU based.  i am not weaving in anything from the comics at all except for probably family names or weapons along with other Very minor details.  comic crossovers are more than welcome for those with comic based characters, but how i’m deciding to write ze.mo is  completely 100% MCU based.  with the information i current have ( which at this moment is  ca:cw  and tfa.tws )   the ze.mo i write picks  no sides  except his own and he will use what he can to make his ends meet no matter the consequences or sacrifices.  he is his own little corner of villainy.

Strangely enough, her next move is a total divergence- she takes her queen-knight and moves it forward but away- neither a threat to him nor an offense of her own. The move appears nothing but nonsensical, but there’s an almost wicked edge, suddenly, to her eyes, as she watches him. A modified reti.

Her own pawn is a sacrifice in itself- she fully intends to draw him in and let him think he’s had her cornered- but Muninn already Sees the ways the game can play out- without even having to Look too deep. His strategy is all in his eyes. 

She’d rather not demoralize him just yet. 

“Can it?” She muses, thoughtful. “I suppose. So can caution- often against the one relying on them, or plotting to upturn either. Either way, there’s no point relying on any one thing in entirety. Do you think yourself a master strategist then, to look at everything so, then, or simply paranoid?”

❛  IT IS A THIN LINE, ISN’T IT ??  how much strategy is  too much  to be considered paranoid ? ❜   he considers the strangeness of the placement of her queen’s-knight.  the pawn too easy to take if he were to be greedy in the beginning.  but he is not a man of greed.  a queen’s-side bishop is then moved to take the place of his pawn that is further down the board.  a wall lined barricade back in place.  the bishop free to move on either side if needed.    

Looking around the room while Zemo was busy looking at plans, he had come across an admittedly gorgeous looking Russian nesting doll on one of the shelves but his mind provided him with an inappropriate joke that he couldn’t resist blurting out. ❝ Man, I don’t like Russian dolls, they’re always so full of themselves. ❞ He mused aloud to break the silence, a grin stretching across lips as he heard the quiet huff of a laugh from the male near him.

Crossing the distance between them, he stopped at Zemo’s side, looking over the blueprints laid out on the table, eyes skimming over rooms and words. ❝ Found a way in? ❞ If all else failed, just start from the roof and work your way down through vents. It had never failed him in the past. ❝ If you can’t find a way in, find me a vent system and I’ll open it from the inside that way. ❞

EYES CONTINUE TO TRACE ACROSS CONTRASTING WHITE INK AGAINST BLUE PARCHMENT.  all floor plans to the building spread out upon the table in a collage of, while messy, it had a surprising sense of organization.  gloved palms are pressed against the tabletop as his glass of scotch is placed back down upon a corner of a blueprint as a paper weight, body framed and stanced like a watchful entity. treating each room and floor like a puzzle.  except instead of to place it together in harmony --  he aimed to take it apart.  a light nod and a tilt of his head is given before he speaks:

Her gaze flickers over the board, assessing in the way she always is, before she selects a pawn of her own, moving the queen-bishop pawn. It’s a typical move, for her- she’s never predictable, but she does have moves she favors. 

“Waiting until the prime moment,” she says, expression bemused as she lifts that grey gaze up to him, wicked and alight for only a moment, until it fades with a blink. Perhaps a trick of the light, ever-shifting. 

“So one could say in a game of chess you prefer to set up an endgame,” she muses, thoughtful. “If you take the same approach.”

❛  PLANNING THOROUGHLY GUARANTEES A GREAT CHANCE OF SUCCESS ... keeping to the same approach creates predictability --  however, ❜  a king’s side knight is placed forward.  a cautious move to protect the pawn.  a quiet warning that lingers.  a strange but almost logical move to take when considering the opposite pawn.  however, not necessary to protect.  a pawn is a pawn after all.