👫for four muse's dynamic hc suggestions | lizzie & t'challa. @ofstrife
001. POLITICAL BARTERINGS, NOT PERSONAL TRUST.
lizzie does not trust monarchs. or rather, she trusts too well how easily men with titles grow used to being obeyed. t’challa, who walks “too clean,” unsettles her more than most. she wonders if the virtue is a costume or worse, a mask he’s worn so long he’s forgotten it isn’t his skin. but wakanda is not britain—and she knows that. which is why she’s here.
they arrive not as diplomats, but as unofficial emissaries. the shelby company, or perhaps lizzie alone, seeks wakanda’s cooperation to offer temporary asylum to displaced romani and former british operatives—survivors of fascist purges, too dangerous to protect openly. what begins as negotiation becomes personal.
does she trust him - could he just another two-faced figurehead? does he trust her? considering her associations with the shelby's might be too controversial for a wakandan king to get involved with? or are they both projecting ghosts onto each other, mistaking shared wounds for compatibility?
002: HYENA AFFILIATIONS. SHADOWS BENEATH REFORM.
the shelby company may have once partnered with wakandan exiles. men and women from the hyena clan, offered conditional reintegration by t’challa himself. the plan was reform—not amnesty.
but not all exiles want peace. beneath the guise of rehabilitation, some re-established international crime networks, using the shelby company for laundering, leverage, or legitimacy. lizzie finds herself caught in the crossfire—maybe complicit, maybe naïve, maybe calculating. who knows? it's all under investigation.
t’challa has been watching. quietly. he allowed it to continue. whether out of strategy, grace, or exhaustion, he stayed his hand. but now, something has changed. he means to end it.
this issue is not for the avengers or s.h.i.e.l.d. this is an internal matter. one king. one queenpin. and the question of which one of 'em blinks first in the mess of it all.(reference: your au!). reference to the hyenas here
003. ONE THING THEY SHARE IN COMMON: IS INHERITANCE THAT CUTS FAR TOO DEEP. TO THE POINT NO DOCTOR CAN EVEN PROPERLY ADDRESS IT, NOR ROOTWORKER.
he carries his father death like an open wound. t'challa wouldn't be human if he didn't feel the pressures by ritual, nation, legacy. hers is a different kind of blood—it spilled in backrooms, stored in ledgers, and she was turned sour by men who made decisions for her before she realized she had the fangs to protest her place and take power over her autonomy. she wears her history with the men she's around like a corset—tightened by the living and dead men's decisions, inherited wars, and titles she never asked for but can't seem to get away from, no matter how hard she tries. (reference: your au!).
they understand what it means to live inside expectations that bruise you from the inside out. they understand inheritance might be a source of pride on the outside, but internally, it's a perpetual battle of survival.. and sometimes, in brief moments between battles, they find quiet.
they won’t heal each other. but in a world like theirs, finding others who know their scars can hold weight. one of the things to figure out how does their dynamic shape from that?
004. SHE KNOWS LUKE CHARLES. THE CLOAK, NOT THE CROWN.
she doesn’t meet the king. she meets luke—her son’s teacher, an african immigrant with roots in uganda or jamaica, depending on who you ask. soft-spoken, but intellectually sharp. he's generally perceived as deeply principled. he taught black boys literature, history, and how to recognize when someone was shrinking them on purpose. he challenged tommy without posturing. pulled isaiah aside when he got too close to the fire.
he attends sermons. he plays the role. the polite guest lecturer, always watching from the back, always with a question the pastor can’t quite answer. lizzie notices the way he watches people: not like a man interested in gossip, but one cataloging the way power moves in a room.
he pulled strings to stay close when isaiah drifted from his classroom. not as a spy, but as a safeguard. luke charles (t'challa) first wants to understand the women orbiting the shelby family—especially the ones that seemed to be showing the slightest hint of struggling with having their voices heard and efforts acknowledges, despite the fact they're the backbone who keep the whole machine running.
and lizzie? lizzie might the one who kept the logistics clean. it might be her signature that is signing off on the weapons, coordinating the meetings, and who tommy defers to in private. but no real reward, either, maybe except for the life she puts into her children and vice versa. but luke noticed.
they might relate over the fact that they're the people who do the real work in the background, the ones who are overlooked and underestimated. so maybe when she looked at him, she found a kindred spirit. and vice versa for him.
only to find out that he isn't just luke. he's a man who was born t'challa the black panther. a chieftain. a priest. a king.
and by then, it’s too late to pretend it didn’t matter. our current thread might be playing off of this, but we can talk <3
