Hellooo! Oh my gosh you have no idea how excited I was yesterday to hear that there would be a new rose chapter— especially with it being the first of this new arc and time skip !! And it did not disappoint, there’s so much to think about and it will absolutely be keeping my mind busy for a bit.
I have two main first thoughts following this chapter and I may be completely wrong but for now I feel convinced. This’ll be way longer than what I usually write so sorry in advance for that bdhahfb
First off, I think Puffy actively doesn’t want Tommy to be heir. Not because she doesn’t care about him, in fact she’s shown that she cares about him— but because of that. I feel like she sees how much he would have to deal with as an heir and how dangerous it could be (as it has already shown to be and it has been shown that she feels guilty that he was put in that danger under her care) and doesn’t want that for him, especially with how young he still is. I mean, if she wanted him to have a better chance she’d have told him why he was there in the first place. She might not have wanted him to grow up having to have that much on his shoulders and not have to be strategizing to take the throne. Now he might be older, but as Wilbur himself said— she is perceptive. I don’t doubt that she may already see how closely tied Wilbur and Tommy are now and that Phil and Wilbur have full intentions to push him as an heir while having more control over Tommy than they would have with Niki or Quackity. Especially with her suspicions that Wilbur may have gone as far as to murder someone and then being replaced as tutor with Techno. I feel like not only did she likely not want this for Tommy but now she has even less power to keep others from manipulating and using him for their gain. She has no way of stopping them unless she takes away what makes them want to use him and that is mainly that he is a possible heir. It makes so much sense to me that she’d back Niki, clearly also telling her about how to gain popularity where Tommy is most popular. I think Phil is underestimating Puffy and what she can do because they are banking on Tommy becoming heir and supporting him. Yes she has closest ties to him and most of her information that she can’t get herself comes from him but that’s exactly what makes her so dangerous to them. Because with her knowledge of where they come from and Tommy’s information she can lessen Tommy’s greatest strengths and what he has most going for him if Niki also has that going for her. With the rainduo friendship growing apart, Wilbur doesn’t have the confirmation that he will still be Niki’s Consil should she get the throne. Why would she? The plan was that Wilbur would support her and Niki would choose him as her Consil. But now that Wilbur has in a way betrayed her and is supporting Tommy, if she wins, why would she choose Wilbur? I’m surprised Phil isn’t more concerned— or at least I will be surprised if he still isn’t after this chapter, knowing that Puffy has most likely been writing to Niki (although Sneeg will know for sure).
Secondly, I am currently convinced that whoever attempted to assassinate Sam is in support of Niki being heir. No matter what Phil might want, if Sam were to die and a decision had to happen, and angelduo themselves noted how dangerous it currently would be with how passionate some people are if they thought an injustice was done to Niki. Tommy is still young and Niki is currently most popular. Fr when that assassination attempt happened in my brain it was like that assassin “STOP THE VOTE !!!”. Because like. What other plot-relevant reason would there be for someone to try to assassinate Sam out of everyone? Yes he is the king and some people might just want to assassinate the king for personal reasons but if it’s not that then I don’t see any reason why someone would want Sam dead other than to force for Niki to have to inherit the throne? I doubt it would be to make people think it was someone on Niki’s side because it wasn’t obvious enough for that, and it would have to be someone in support of Quackity or someone in support of Tommy. Last arc we already had someone in support of Quackity attempt assassination so I doubt it would be that a second time and someone on Tommy’s side would probably have to be Phil, Wilbur or Techno. Even without the fact we have Phil and Wilbur’s POVs, this feels like it has too high of a chance to not work that way at all for something they might do. Not to say that Niki or Puffy/Hannah knew of it (Though specifically Niki not hiding to look for who it was makes me even more suspicious since that may make Sam favor her— in the sense that she put herself at risk to find who was responsible for nearly assassinating Sam).
I’m probably forgetting or misremembering a lot since I haven’t reread. Either way, I am fully hooked and very excited for what’s to come and what happens next! Really looking forward to this arc and what it’ll bring (although I am still terrified of that MCD tag…) I feel like Wilbur’s support for Tommy will definitely be tested in that he will actively have to do something to lessen Niki’s chances since for not he has just been able to not say he has changed his support even if it’s already known to the both of them.
Great writing as always !!! :)
XIMA I HOPE YOU KNOW HOW HAPPY I WAS TO SEE THIS IN MY INBOX!! I am SO glad you you're having so many thoughts about the new chapter I'm so excited for everything that's getting set up with this new arc
ooooo very interesting interpretation of puffy's actions. as always I can't say whether you're right or wrong regarding her feelings about tommy but very fun for me to read nonetheless. also, to explain why phil is dismissing her so easily, he's thinking about it less like she isn't capable of it and more that she just doesn't have the resources to do it. of course this is still a form of him underestimating her, but he really thinks that she can't really tell niki anything that will give niki a significant edge. whether or not he's right about that remains to be seen. also, yeah, wilbur and phil really both should be more concerned now that wilbur has zero confirmation that he'd be niki's consil should she come to power.
wonderful theories regarding the assassination attempt. again I can't say anything but I like where your head is at (although I will confirm you're right that the assassination attempt has nothing to do with supporting quackity). also I hope you know when you said the assassin was like "STOP THE VOTE" I cackled out loud. the assassination attempt will not be solved for a while so I'm very excited to hear everyones thoughts on it over the next few chapters
i'm so so glad you're enjoying xima!!! it makes me so happy to know you're still enjoying my fics. I don't think this next arc is going in the direction anyone expects so I'm very excited to see what you think as things progress :)))
