Been too busy holding down the rest of the forts to blog properly through these episodes, which is a shame. So here's my bet attempt to summarise the dynamics on our two new sides, from formation through the Pyrites/Kingsley Switch. Working from memory and whim rather than rest and reflection so I won't apply my usual guarantee of 100% accuracy
![:P](http://images.proboards.com/new/tongue.png)
But here goes!
The Daily Prophet is internally complex, but in such a tight way that it doesn't seem nearly as messy from the outside. Yaxley has a wonderful confessional outlining the various pairs (so great that Crouch asked his permission to repost it in his own confessional), and that's basically what we have here. Lots of tight links between duos who trust one another, but not necessarily the next link in the chain who is trusted by the person they trust.
Lily/Crouch is the center of this Side, in a way that it wonderfully hidden from the rest. They've reconnected and taken off in a way that they never really did on Day 0, Lily going all in on Crouch being her number one just as she'd hoped and promised. Their chat is the nexus for almost all the information flowing through the Side, even with Crouch holding back just a little bit (or at least being more willing to distance himself from Lily in his other chats). Crouch and Yaxley have only grown closer now that Malfoy is no longer a force shoving their faces together but a shared trauma to process, and Wood's schedule has made him more heavily dependent on Lily than ever before - he's even Flicked rather than attempt to save Lucius, after some clever pressuring by Lily who absolutely does not want the ostensible minority that the Order is in to shrink any further, when she began as the third target in line should things break that way, behind Kingsley and Wood.
The others are blind to the tightness of that foursome, the secret of Wood's Item which binds them together, and the sheer volume of their chat. None of them have any real incentive to break away from that structure, especially while their partners seem to be at least tolerating one another on the other side, and helping set up an alliance of three pairs come the merge.
HK has done a good job of using the debacle of the Regulus vote to finally break through to decent Game conversation with Crouch and Yaxley. They're still wary of him and his potential once the game turns properly individual and he potentially reunites with Tonks, but Karkaroff's unpredictability and his shift in tone (back toward the more impetuous Daini we were expecting) since Lucius blew up his spot has been noted and disdained. But for all they've been through thanks to Lucius, none of the DEs have a serious interest in turning against one another while the working relationships subsist. Killer/Karkaroff also aren't super keen to lose a DE and tie up the original Side lines to 3-3, especially when that loss could turn into a Switch and potentially land them down 4-3, with Lily now protecting Crouch rather than the other way around.
That's not to say there hasn't been the potential for a move. Kingsley has notably not been mentioned yet because he simply didn't have any link to any of the others coming in. He and Killer struck up a nice rapport eventually (which was particularly fun to follow after hoping for it, for both of them) but when that turned into exploration of anything that could potentially save Kingsley, even the feelers came back empty. Maybe Crouch and Yaxley would entertain a move against Karkaroff, or (from HK/Kingsley's perspective) even Wood, but it would never move beyond the theory. Theory, mind, that Crouch/Yaxley were still happy to engage in... because once Kingsley is removed, nobody is confident about where things would move next. Probably Karkaroff would be in the most danger, but there are legitimate reasons to target Killer and Wood as well at that point, especially as the Merge gets closer.
So there's an underlying tension even within the pairings and structures, because while everything can hold for a round or two while the Spare is removed without upsetting the rest of the Jenga tower, for all the wonderful chats they don't know who they'll be able to fully rely on to form an enduring majority should the numbers continue to dwindle. Pyrites replacing Kingsley doesn't change that status quo substantially, but will be marked shift from Kingsley's good-natured probing due to his complicated history with the DE majority. So it's a fun kind of tension to see extended, tested, and constantly rising over the course of a few rounds.
All of which means that Kingsley made a shockingly great decision to Switch - not because him realising he needed to get out was necessarily a shock (he didn't really expect a move with HK/Yaxley to work, yet his expectations were still too high to we who know everything), but because the chances of Pyrites going were super slim... to anyone who had actual knowledge about the relationships and dynamics at the DoM. Without being able to see the bigger picture on either Side, Kingsley simply took the DEs at their word that Pyrites was inactive and boring, assumed that he would continue to be so, and decided to test his luck. The payout may not be quite enough to let him into the Merge, but it certainly gives him more of a fighting chance... we'll see.
The Department of Mysteries is less suspense/thriller and more mystery/action. So in a sense we're fortunate to have seen them vote twice now while TDP simmers. Here the lines
ought to be clearer, with four Order Members who've worked well together so far against three heavily fractured Death Eaters, plus Mundungus. Despite coming into the Swap linked by and Item play, even Lucius/Pyrites could easily be turned against one another at any moment, Lucius to sp are himself (as we saw eventuate) and Pyrites if/when he finds out that Lucius was targeting him actively for rounds rather than one weekend, though even without that knowledge Pyrites was quick to note that Lucius saved him to make the power play and burn Regulus far more than for any love of Pyrites.
But the four from the Order... go back a thread for the details but their confidence was completely shattered by everything with the Item links/clues, and each individuals (shifting) certainty that one of the others surely holds the thing. After two rounds on DoM they've almost been able to concede that Lily was the one who initially received the information from the other Side, but somehow nobody has yet connected the dots that as Lucius was the one to find the thing at Malfoy Manor, he likely asked Lily to work with Oliver. He seems too honest and out of the loop regarding the clues (which he completely was, for he'd skipped all that
![:lol](https://i.imgur.com/X4ixXao.gif)
) and she seems so sociable that she could easily have gone to anyone else on the Side to work with... and they suspect one another endlessly before even considering Oliver. It's quite fortuitous really that the core of Grimauld Place split how they did, because this drama is still ongoing and unlikely to stop until Wood finally plays the Item.
So what does that mean for this new Side? The Death Eaters felt like they were on the outs immediately, and that Pyrites had the best in thanks to his partnership with Moody. Regulus connected with Fleur most of all, both grieving the loss of poor Rodolphus (note: even though Regulus has lost his closest connection time after time, their wands have all gone to HK instead of him - even in constant defeat, the guy =can't catch a break
![:lol](https://i.imgur.com/X4ixXao.gif)
) Lucius obviously threw caution to the wind and tried everything with everyone always. Mood/Fleur in particular saw through him instantly, but Tonks has been drawn in to the charisma, open 'honesty' and over-the-top promises - even though Lucius' initial ploy was to form an alliance of six which excluded Tonks and Mundungus. Frankly my stomach is dropping as I read their PM thread, because he's so clearly manipulating her (using the exact phrasing being parsed and mocked in the next thread) and exploiting her willingness to be friendly and give the guy a chance. But for all Fleur's warning, it's working and it's kept working.
So the Mundungus vote was a comfortable one to make. Tonks/Diggle are mindful of their partners on the other side and don't want to endanger Good Oliver by cutting Lucius instantly, especially as brutal and offensive a manner as leaving anyone in over Mundungus seemed to be, to the players who were ready to vote him out a week ago. It appeased everyone, angered no one, almost certainly guaranteed no Switch would interfere, and gave everyone more time to bond and assess the state of the Side.
But then. The four from GP agreed a Death Eater had to go. Diggle backed up Moody (as he now realises, perhaps too dramatically) in asserting it could not be Pyrites, but Fleur was resistant to a move against Regulus, and Tonks resistant to voting Lucius - and for all the ickiness of that dynamic she's not necessarily wrong to hold her ground there, for Lucius is perhaps the only shield in the Game capable of ecliping Hedwig's Killer for attention and threat level. And while in theory there were options to discuss as a group, the cracks between the four of them led them all to conspire and doubt in their one-on-ones, and no consensus could be reached.
Fleur and Diggle pushed for Lucius until they each independently saw it was futile, Moody was satisfied enough with targeting Regulus to leave his prevote but not certain enough that it was so settled he could sleep through the round. By then the group seemed to be leaning Lucius... but behind the scenes Regulus was able to present an option that Fleur and Tonks could agree on (and thus solidify his bond to Fleur in particular): their mistrust for the Diggle/Moody connection, their fear of the enduring pair in Moody/Pyrites, and the opportunity to break the automatic association between Lucius/Pyrites all made a vote for Pyrites an easy way out of their argument between Regulus and Lucius. Lucius was still weakened but not taken out, the other Side would understand as most of them had already tried to target Pyrites, and - critically - nobody had any good reason to Switch with Pyrites.
Regulus was the conventional target just looking at the numbers, if Moody protected Pyrites and Pyrites' protector, and the Side went for another consensus vote like Mundungus. Indeed, Owl Post had gone out suggesting that Regulus was in danger and for all these reasons Killer had put in a Switch for Regulus. And it was assumed that Good Old Wood would want to protect his partner from a situation that was precarious at best, not to mention potential outsiders like Karkaroff and Kingsley betting on a Lucisus vote to escape their own minefield. But this of course brings us full circle to the start of this writeup, for in a wonderful instance of Survivor irony, there was no Switch charm cast upon Lucius - only poor misguided Kingsley, waiting below an escape hatch that never should have been opened but for all the paranoia outlined above.
There was some new drama sparked in Diggle only finding out about the Pyrites plan at the last moment and switching his vote just as Fleur switched back to Lucius and obtained a wonderful degree of deniability for all sides. But all that will hopefully be covered somewhere in the Episode 7 thread.
Overall this has been a really fun phase so far, and I'm glad to see some of the mechanics we put into play bearing fruit - the Item hunt causing paranoia (and a new set of clues/stumbling blocks for Lucius as he tries to trade around for a new set of clues, on a Side when everyone knows that's what he's doing), the Switch/Flick increasing tensions (though I'll admit surprise that fewer people were eager to try out the great unknown of the other Side rather than accept their current target status, up until Kingsley finally put in his Switch) and possibilities (lost in all the action was an impossible Karkaroff scheme to persuade Lily/Wood to Switch to rejoin their old allies), the partnerships and even House Points provoking drama, and the doubt about the merge timing forcing everyone to plan more rounds ahead than they might otherwise. I just wish we all had more time to enjoy it! (That being said I certainly didn't intend to spend so long writing so much here, so... bye!)