#but someone in the guild needs to be able to actually get cryptic hints from the merchant

[musubiki]

Has...Oscar tangled at all with the merchant before? Maybe made an impression that made the merchant think "wow this kid is actually kinda annoying" ? It also makes me think, okay if oscar is mentored by madame springs and he succeeds her, that would certainly be a heck of a way for them to be "worse than her."

Nosy persistent conspiracy theorist who wants to uncover your true nature AND who's also trying to run you out of a business in the healing sector? I'd start losing my patience. Tho this is assuming oscar's penchant for the weird lives on even in older age

you know...this is definitely something i need to explore more because!!!! true!!! he is going to eventually replace madam springs, and that means on some level, oscar will know the merchant beyond "npc guy who sells things with limited dialogue options"

for now (and throughout most of the story) oscar is just "the apprentice." madam springs is always still the one to interact with the merchant, and you see oscar just kinda smiling and listening in the background waiting for them to stop bickering.

BUT when oscar DOES interact with the merchant (in a non-buyer-seller context), he IS worse. but its in the "I'm a better healer than madam springs and also she charges too much for the work we do imo." so hes even WORSE competition. and i think this is the only way to actually irritate the merchant, is if you start interfering with his business in a way where he cant oppose you.

lore fact: the merchant really does have the best goods at the best prices!! hes the kind of npc you would see on RPG guides about "if you need [item] you need to / should get it from the merchant because hes the only one that sells it / he has the cheapest price and refresh rate." and the ONLY one who can beat him (not even for everything, just for healing items) is madam springs. so her business is the ONLY thing that is mildly a threat to him, and he hates it. i dont think you see him get irritated at anyone/anything else except her!!

(and he cant steal her formulas or kill her either. "Her business patented the formula before the fall of the witch king, so I'm assuming he can't legally take it and sell it in his own shop." --Sulluvan about madam springs and the merchant)

on the note of oscar trying to uncover his true nature, oscar is smart enough to not mess with it. its mochi and lime who almost fucking die trying to uncover it, against the advice of EVERYONE telling them to leave it alone. the only reason they didnt die is that the merchant spared them because he knew they both still had a part to play that hadn't come to pass yet. (also i want an episode that delves into who/what he is without my main characters dying LMFAO). so after that incident, mochi and lime both tell oscar and the guild about it, so he leaves it alone

(side note: at the moment, lime is actually the one in the guild who knows the merchant the best, strangely. i think its the black canvas thing about him, that whatever magic the merchant uses that prevents people from questioning his nature, it doesnt work on lime. and by "knows him the best" i mean he gets a bit more cryptic dialogue from him than the others)

#obviously doesnt know him as well as sulluvan does #but someone in the guild needs to be able to actually get cryptic hints from the merchant #lore #text #bpp #i like the idea that all the guild members are slightly close to the crypids #mochi->sulluvan #lime->merchant #oscar->madam springs #evetually coco will get one probably

[theleagueofsupermushrooms]

The Villain Wrangler: Chapter 3

I entered the bar and noticed the party was in full swing already. Honestly if heroes could see this bunch of bad guys now, wearing party hats and chatting like normal adults, they would have sworn they were dreaming. Still there was a comicalness to see toughened criminals enjoying a slice of cake and unique party bags; the contents varied from cute to ray guns and everyone contributed, I did the number 1 villain badges. People saw the humour in it. “You made it!” The loud exclamation from Nate brought me some attention as he launched for a hug, one I happily returned, before Jake offered me a smirk and thrust a party bag into my hands. He was dressed in his casual Matrix attire with an arm flung around his boyfriends waist. “Ahhh Ben is so happy, conversing with kids his own age and conspiring for world domination~” “Yeah. The kid is ecstatic but…” Jake gave an evil grin to me and I raised an eyebrow while I picked up a glass of orange juice. “We want you to be his godmother, aunt or whatever you call a non related female who will be practically family and look after the kid if we perish.” It took me a couple of moments to process what they were saying and even longer to believe it. “Wha…wuh…but you haven't known me for as long as half the people here a-“ “You brought us the one thing we couldn't have and then you didn't judge us for what we are.” Nate responded to my frantic confusion. His smile was warm and genuine and it held promises of welcoming me to this family they were building. Maybe it was the happiest atmosphere in the world affecting me or maybe orange juice affected your ability to think straight but either way I found myself agreeing to this proposal frantically. After that the party was in full swing, party games and all, with everyone enjoying themselves. Some played heroes vs villains, others happily told stories about various encounters with heroes while others boasted about their victories. All in all this was the first party I ever enjoyed, which figures, and I assume that something else changed as well. At some point the party ended and people began bidding their goodbyes around midnight. I happened to come across Boomer, explosives expert, and slipped him his file. There was no need to speak to each other and I'd adopted a little red book to keep contacts in. In the two months I was jobless I had begun the process of complicated, mind numbing code with Nate. We practically created a new language and soon enough he declared we would write our code in code once we sorted out our actual code. The bubbly bartender was a lot smarter and cunning than anyone seemed to give him credit for which made sense as to why he was in charge of a bar that doubled up as a guild for local villains. Heroes nor villains would expect him of anything but a bad choice in job prospects and that in it's self was powerful. Nate sighed happily as he roped me into helping clean up. “Someone was enjoying themselves. I didn't think it was possible for you to smile so much~” His voice gave that sing song taunt and I deadpanned in response. “Who knew I had the ability to smile? I certainly I didn't.” “How was work? You looked pretty pissed off not gonna lie” An aggravated scowl escaped “It started off fine. Got assigned a new case. It was going fine until Miss perfect from perfectville waltzed in and invited me to some party or whatever.” My frown deepened as I thought about the fact I'd stick out like a sore thumb and I scowled again. “That's bad because…” “Then she dragged me along to meet who else but the leaders of the Avenging League. And I'm like woah you guys are living legends and then all they care about is some criminal record and then that grumpy dick has the audacity to tell me I'm putting kids in danger. So yeah. There's that.” My friend hummed in thought and looked as if he was about to say something thoughtful when my mind suddenly seemed to be flooded even more things that pissed me off. “So then of course you ring me and I'm like I really need to take this cause they'll freak if they think I'm missing and she just gives this disappointed look and drags me away. She literally hasn't talked to me since and I'm like well what the fuck? Where does she get off anyway? Her persistence in having a friendship with me makes absolutely no sense at all and her friends are even more cryptic or on edge around me than I was when I first walked into the bar. What's that all about? I know I don't come from the higher social classes but do I really stick out like a sore thumb? Why won't she just tell me what she wants Nate?!” He blinked in surprise at the fact that all came out as one long rant and I was breathing hard because that was all fired out in one long angry breath. But why did she care about me so much and why was he suddenly grinning at me like some Cheshire Cat on their birthday? “Sounds like you two have quite the relationship.” I looked at him in confusion before shrugging. “You could even say it's tense when your around each other~” My confusion turned into a frown as he gave me a knowing look. “Wait are you implying she and I should…” He nodded frantically while I looked at him scandalised. “Ew. No. I mean yes Alexandra is attractive and clever and you can't help but admire her but no. Nope. Noooo.” “She likes you~” If I had a drink I would have dumped it over his head or choked on it. Either way we were lucky I was drinkless. “Look even if I harboured feelings for her, which I don't, or she did me, she doesn't, it wouldn't work. Her friends hate me. She's the daughter of billionaires and I’m still figuring out what I want to do. She dates superheroes and my closest friend is the leader of a villain guild. She's attractive and likes doing girly things and partying and I'm boring.” I finished my rant with a red face of embarrassment. Of course he would call over his kid and bent over to whisper in his ear. I watched the exchange carefully as they both stopped to look at me before going back to talking again. Eventually they both nodded their head in pure determination as Jake patted my head comfortingly “You're fucked mate” Turns out he wasn't wrong. Or rather me getting ‘fucked’ was kinda the plan. Well Ben put it nicer as “We are gonna make you the best suit ever and she won't be able to resist you.” The teen was cute when he was determined though and I expected him to be quite the heartbreaker. How could I say no? Besides I needed clothes and where else was I gonna get a hand tailored suit cheap? After taking measurements I was ushered out the door and came to the unanimous decision they were a pear of devils in disguise. A couple days later the suit was thrust into my hands by the pair of cupids and yet it was Jack who suggested I take a chaperone. Since the invitational a plus one he was clearly hinting at something. “I don't need a body guard Sparkles” I snapped at his insistence. Both of us scowling “no offence but it's a room full of the richest people this side of the country and I like you but I'm not stupid enough to leave you alone with all that opportunity.” His eyes probably rolled behind those matrix style glasses of his and my eyes narrowed. Nate was watching in complete amusement with Ben in tow. Ben was calculating something and Nate just enjoyed a good fight. “Rich people equals heroes which equals interest in getting information out of you. We need to send a strong message about leaving you alone a-“ “I'll go” All of us turned to look at Ben. The teen had finally made his move and I think we were a little surprised at his sudden boldness. That being said I wouldn't be against it. His parents looked less than impressed though and Jake was clearly annoyed that it was even brought up. “Think about it if she gets in trouble I can call you and they won't know who I am plus it could totally be recon and test out my awesome spy skills” The brunette grinned and I raised my eyebrow. “No” “Absolutely not.” “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?” “YOU COULD BE HURT!” I was highly amused as I watched both parents completely break down at the thought of their child doing something they would have done at their age. Actually they probably did worse.

#The Villain Wrangler #villain wrangler #super villain #super heroes #fiction #chapter 3 #parody