So many people are so mean to Kingsley and say they hate him simply because he's not Molly and I am fighting them off with a sword. None of you fuckers are true Tealeaf enjoyers. Love my boy or die by my blade; what did he ever do to any of you 😭
Hello! The thing is--I do understand why Kingsley can be upsetting to people, I really do. Especially when we've had Molly for such little time :( And it does make me sad that Kingsley doesn't seem to get the same treatment as the rest of the Nein, or that he's not as loved, so I understand both perspectives.
But honestly to me, a part of the appeal of Kingsley is that...although he's grown and changed, a part of him is still Molly; it's the thought that this shard of a soul was loved enough that it managed to endure, to grow and find its way home.
I love the ending of Lucien's novel, because the thought that Molly felt for Lucien enough to want to reach out to him in the very end, the way they both make peace with each other and decide to be reborn together--it's so heartwarming and cathartic, and it really feels like the final piece to me that King's introduction was missing.
I think, terrifying as the thought is, Kingsley himself is also aware that he's grown from Molly's soul shard (and Lucien).
Kingsley: “Not now, but in the future, I'd like to hear about your friend. Later, once I--once I know me better.”
Yasha: “I would love that.”
Kingsley: “Thank you.”
Yasha: “It's nice to have you back.”
Kingsley: “It's nice to be here.”
Yasha: “You know what I mean.”
Kingsley: “I do.”
The fact that he calls out to Yasha and knows her as Love, remembers the tarot card names he gave to everyone. The moment when Jester casts Greater Restoration, and King is lost in his pretty dream of the circus--"I was having the nicest dream."
And more than that, he keeps asking for Lestera specifically. "There was a--oh. There was a circus. And a...a beautiful woman, in a red coat. She was telling me secrets, showing me how to keep secrets. Show secrets--I...Where's the woman? No, not her...where's the woman--" Molly's heart, the part of him that loved Lestera and Yasha and the rest of the Mighty Nein? It's still there, still feels for all of them. "I get...feelings from you. All of you..." And that to me is such a comfort.
Lastly, I'm still very much struck by the fact that Molly always intended for Mollymauk to be more of a temporary name, one he kept until he was ready to choose another for himself--it feels kind of like Molly was his birth name, and Kingsley is more of a tiefling virtue name. I love the way that King changing his name when he's reborn mirrors Molly's worship of the Moonweaver--and how he incorporated his religion into his tarot cards. There's something nice about how King is still following those tenets of the Mooweaver, even if he doesn't quite realize it. For everything that's changed, there are many intrinsic aspects of Tealeaf that still ring the same.
"Each deck of Moon Oracle cards are different, as each deck evolves with the owner. When a card is weathered or simply no longer speaks to you, replace it with a new card of your own design. Something personal and true. Trust yourself; what is true for you will ring true for others. Some choose to change a card each Lunar cycle. Some decks magically destroy a card when it is replaced with a new one--such decadence!"
One more thing, but--I think that, because we've gotten so little time with King (and haven't really gotten the chance to hear Taliesin really talk about him ;; CR please give us a Kingsley Tealeaf Q and A one day I am begging--) there's so much about him that's open to interpretation or that's left intentionally vague. And the same could be true about Molly's initial soul shard too. "If souls could grow from but a piece..." Even Molly's own goddess is surprised when he's reborn as Kingsley. There's no precedence for this. He's an anomaly, an impossibility...a miracle.
All that just to say, that. I don't think one interpretation of King is inherently better than another, and I'm sure a lot of people aren't happy about my interpretation either. But I understand why King is as decisive a character as he is. He'll always be important to me though--and I'll always see him as being a part of Molly, a shard of a soul that was full of so much love and joy, he got another chance to live again and be reborn. And I'm happy if this little tiefling king is able to bring others the same kind of joy and comfort he brought me.
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I am intrigued about soul magic please expand maybe :)???
hm yes hi Trade I can very much expand on that!!!
caveat that a lot of this info is very possibly stuff I made up literally this month bc I only had the vaguest idea of how soul magic worked before starting on this particular story (ie the box for it in the twinery thing where I keep all my worldbuilding legit just has the world it comes from in it and nothing else lmao ^^; )
The vague in-text explanation we get is thus;
“Users power their spells with their lifeforce,” Jasper said. “Its main applications are healing and interrogation, but it can also be used to create locks and the like that are fine-tuned to a specific person.”
which is very rough but honestly it covers the basics. Jasper knows what he's about
When he says locks, I'm meaning like... biometric kinda scans only I couldn't remember the word when I wrote that. I may go back and write that in actually.
The other thing it can do that is like. the main part of the plot of this story is that the mages can use it to control other people! They're getting other people caught for their crimes!!
Mostly when a soul mage uses their magic, they're relying on their own life to power it. So many soul mages burn out early because they don't get the exchange right, or they just use their magic too freely. If a soul mage is old it means that either
a) they don't use magic a lot
b) they know the best exchange rates for spells (eg smaller spells will take less life)
c) they largely use it via aids such as gems and older spells that have been sunk into items for general use
or
d) they tie their spells to someone else's life.
d is why soul mages tend to have a pretty bad rep amongst the wider mist worlds. They're not as bad as green witches in general but hoo boy.
sometimes!! sometimes tying their spells to something else is useful. This is how you get the healing; you convince the hurt person's body to heal itself gotdamn quicker and if they maybe get a year or so knocked off their life in the process they probably won't notice. Can they siphon off other people's lives to extend theirs? uh. technically. yes. that's the plot of another story (sort of)*.
This is how you get the biometric locks and other fun trinkets that non-mages can use; you set the spell into the lock or the item or whatever and give it a trigger phrase or motion which can be used by anyone. Biometrics will ofc only work for like the one person, but anything else is just dependant on the person knowing the phrase or the motion. Using an item with soul magic in it is obvious - Solaris likens the feeling to a sudden weakness at one point and doesn't like using it. You can fully faint while using soul magic if you're not used to it sort of thing.
This is how you get the interrogation; no one likes having their soul poked at ok. it feels gross. they can and will rifle through your memories. Sometimes they ask for consent first (it could also be a therapy tool, I guess) but holy fuck it's tricky to do without damaging anything. Weirdly this is a fine-wire one that tends to fall more on the mage's life being the one used up because they're still the one using the magic. They could tip it the other way, but then they run the risk of like. killing the subject before they get anything useful.
The controlling-other-people part of the magic is less well known which is why everyone is so fucken stumped by the shenanigans that start this story. It's like. fairytale kinda nonsense. "the soul mage made me do it" to the tune of "the boy who cried wolf", you know?
But that one is tied to the victim's life and can be set as intricately as the mage likes. Most people never know they've even been controlled, although they'll have li'l missing screeds of time where they've just blanked the fuck out and then come to, maybe in another place with no knowledge of how they got there
noticeably it does not work well on fully bonded ferals bc they have two souls and not everyone knows this. The mage that goes after Jasper fucks up by just suppressing his human soul to make him lose the fight and uh. well. buddy's got a lynx soul in there as well, and the lynx has access to fire. That one may have backfired (lmao) on the mage that set the spell, but I'm not sure yet
The other fucked up casefile I have is Elise who is the target the soul mages are trying to get ahold of in this story bc she has a green witch sharing her body who fucked herself over by attempting to use soul magic when she was already dying. There's a timeshare going on. The soul mages stabilised them and would like the experiment back, thank you very much, but because of the stabilisation thingy-majiggy, soul magic no longer affects them. Elise would like the timeshare broken, the green witch is fairly sure she'd die in that case and Does Not Want that, no thank you. They are however both agreed that they're not letting the soul mages get their grubby little paws on them. The soul mages would like her back because literally no one can work out how the fuck she managed to make that happen. like. the only other beings that have two souls are fully bonded feral mages and uh. demons. I think is how Skilkran is classed anyway. but yeah Elise is decidedly neither like damn she's just a girl who turns into a witch when night falls.
(soul magic probably could affect them, the parameters of the spells just need to be set properly but no one's actually thought of that yet. or maybe they have but it's been since they escaped so they haven't had a chance to test the theory)
anyway! yes! soul magery! it was uhhhh it was born out of a dumb joke with brother#2 because the first time I wrote it the magic was set in the saxophone of a dude who was playing um. soul music.
that scene still exists within The Soul of the Party because there are no depths I will not sink to for a dumb joke.
*this is Mint of Red String, they may have had a bad break up with a soul mage in their youth and the soul mage reacted by uh. cursing them to drain the life of whoever fell in love with them? That gets broken with the power of polyamory and also maybe necromancy because fuck yes the gays are winning this one.
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I think I am doing okay, here.
I wish so many things could have been different. My heart aches for it. But I wouldn't have found my voice, otherwise, nor would I have met so many wonderful people and creatures.
I wish the other one would worry less. It's very silly to realize he thought I was the panicked one... now I've organized my mind and honed my edge, and he's the one who keeps feeling down...
I don't entirely understand why... life is very good. Everyone is getting a little better. It aches because I can feel it like a physical creature clawing in the skull, and whispering all of the misery in this world, the atrocities, the tragedies, the possibilities of so many things ending, or of getting hurt or worse for who he is. And being afraid for the people he cares about...
But that doesn't help us sleep right now. It doesn't change that tomorrow morning the sun will rise and we don't have work and we could do anything, within reason of course.
I'm not sure. Maybe I am the stupid one for being so positive. But one of us has to be, now.
Maybe it's just my instincts waking up again. It's so easy to throw my aching heart and memories away when someone I care about needs me. And right now, once more, we just need to rest.
Nothing bad is even happening! We had a nice day. We talked to friends, we played a game and lost track of time because it was so much fun. I liked that game and the name is appropriate, Loop Hero. Ironic but fitting! We helped a friend feel better after a nightmare. And now it's OUR turn to rest.
Nothing is wrong. Everything is alright. Many big steps forward this coming week. I feel his worry creeping into my heart too, but there's no need for it. We were brave and confident before, we can be that way again. :)
- Grist
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