#FIRE EMBLEM HEROES PULLED THROUGH

[saviourkingslut]

dimitri beat tiddy woman and in true gauntlet tradition edelgard lost green dream team here we goooo

[theyuseifan]

at last, t4 poison strike

[hashtagdrivebywrites]

Y'all bear with me on my bad phone pictures and excessive notes lmao, but, uh, ask and you shall receive.

Here's my concept art for Jason in my fic Imprint, where he's a halfa and Danny's biological dad and the king father/king regent? of the infinite realms.

Here's the first ever sketch I did somewhere around chapter 2 or 3:

Featuring larval Ghost!Jason, Pit madness/Lazarus Water and little bitty Ghost!Danny.

I was already thinking about the possibility of a crown but didn't know what to do with it yet so I just left a halo as a placeholder DBZ-style, which you'll see in the next few concept stages until I finish the latest one.

Ah, the oldest concept I had for the Pit is that it laid dormant in Jason's mind and would physically pull itself out of his head, which is why it's kind of half melded with Jason's helmet in this one. And I'm still kind of considering that idea, but I'm leaning more towards it coming from the bulk of Jason's body instead, as we see it in chapter 8 of Imprint when readers get to see Jason's ghost nonsense from an outside perspective. They (the Pit) is definitely more tiger-like now, and you'll catch a glimpse of a sketch dump where I'm trying to get a handle on tiger shape language (?). They'll still be water based and colored like the pits/a lagoon. It may be hard to picture- just trust me.

Uhhh let's see....the "lantern ribcage" is a part of the design that's really important to me so you'll see me consistently playing with it as I go through these early concepts. That's his core nestled in the lower part of his ribs, visible but protected behind the iron cage of his bones.

I wanted to incorporate Jason's helmet and other parts of his vigilante/hero uniforms in his ghost form since that part of his life is deeply personal to him.

I also knew that I wanted him to have a very monstrous aspect to his design- and I can't resist slapping pointy teeth on any of my concepts that deviate from being strictly human. So those aren't going away. Nostrils to breathe smoke and fire so Jason can better emote with most of his face being metal.

Danny's default ghost form, opposed to Jason's will still kinda be the one he has in his original dimension- black and white suit and the classic DP symbol on the chest, but probably better armored and with a bat emblem thrown in somewhere. So thats what I drew him with here- though little kid sized, with an added black streak in his hair to complete the inverse of the Lazarus Pit streak he has in human form.

In ghost form, when Jason needs precision, his go-to weapon will be the All Blades, which I have kinda illustrated here.

I may kinda set the bones of this design aside to use as a more humanoid ghost form that's closer to his living form, but that's still up in the air.

Here's concept 2, which I did on chapter...5? I think? Which is when I decided I wanted to make Jason's most comfortable ghost form to be kinda big and outrageous:

This one's got some notes doodled around it- but I'll type them out in case you can't read my handwriting.

Jason was definitely leaning more toward dragon (and I'm still trying to find the balance between dragon and phoenix that works nicely for him, but we're getting there.)

I decided not to put heat pits on his face recently so that the parts of his head modeled after the helmet are smooth metal armor. I tried to elongate the head but still keep the lines of his helmet in the design.

This is also the first time I started messing with horns- which have been bent in just about every direction at this point trying to make them mesh well with the rest of his design. The uppermost notes in the image mention basing the shape of his horns off of one of his weapons. I thought that the flaming all blades would just be overkill at that point and decided to play with using the Kris knife he gets from the League. Which is....still overkill but it's less fire to draw, so we'll call it a even. There is also a note on my decision to make his horns into a pair only because of being Bruce's second son and the second Robin. (I have put way too much fucking thought into this if you haven't figured that out already).

Tried a different look for the teeth and ended up scrapping it.

I also started leaning more into making his back look as messed up as possible at this point and started thinking of the....mountain range in plated rows like a croc's back.

And here's concept 3, which also starts playing with colors and the all-tail, no-legs look that I decided to stick with:

This is definitely the biggest jump between concepts so far and was sketched up while writing chapter 7, which I think is the first time we get to experience his ghost forms (there's 2 that we saw in that chapter).

So I continued to smooth and lengthen the head and tried a different thing with the teeth- which I kept. I also felt a lot better about the lines from the helmet with this concept. I tried curling his kris knife horns forward, trying to play with their form. Those have changed since.

This is the first time I added hair, but it's hard to see. He, like Danny, has an inversed streak of black at the front of his 'do to reflect the Lazarus stripe.

Again with the halo placeholder because I was still on the fence about the crown. Started trying to make the mountains of his spine more volcanic looking. Don't know if I'm keeping that or not yet.

So the three major differences between this and it's predecessors is the 1) mantle of smoke that is constantly being expelled from his body that is supposed to imitate a kinds cloak/mantle; 2) the tail, which has since been changed into a fiery tail instead of a ghostly one; and 3) I slapped his Robin 'R' from the movie UTRH on him to make this form more...him, I guess, and also to make Bruce cry like a baby.

So the things that I have changed is the ribcage, the shape of the horns, the crown (which finally has a rough design and a name based on the fight he has to win to earn it- yes, I already have that arc scribbled out and will most likely be adding it into the story) and I added some extra stuff to the face to match the written descriptions in Imprint.

SO. -Claps hands together- I'd love to hear your thoughts on everything, and I am always interested in hearing how y'all have interpreted these characters for yourselves.

If this is something you want me to do again with other character designs, let me know and I will. I am working on Jason, of course, and the Pit, Frankie boy, Danny's big long boi form, Gotham and some other odds and ends.

(Whoops forgot tags again)

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

Hello. I'm not American, but I followed the last election pretty closely, and it raised a lot of questions for me. I was hoping you could share your perspective on a few things. For example, why does American politics seem so focused on personality and spectacle rather than actual policy? Is this because of a broken system that can't foster meaningful dialogue, or does the focus on "character" reflect a deeper cultural preference for spectacle over substance?

lmaooooo. i assume you are a european? because this ask reeks of european smugness. but it's fine. it's an interesting question and i'm happy to share my thoughts. and boy, do i have a lot of thoughts.

tl;dr: why? because americans are based.

"keep reading" at your own risk (it's gonna be long)....

first of all, i don't know how other countries run their democracies. so it seems like you're suggesting that your country is different from america. that y'all focus more on policy rather than "spectacle". i am skeptical of this claim but for the sake of this discussion, i'll grant it and assume it's accurate. so you come from a policy-heavy democracy. okay. this just further confirms to me that you're a european.

okay. so you live in a country full of nerds and policy wonks. good for you.

here in america? we are men. we are loved by the gods. and we are alive. we like to kill and we like to fuck. there is still red-hot blood in our veins! it's called the political arena for a reason. like the colosseum. arena means "place of sand," because gladiatorial arenas were covered in sand to soak up blood. american democracy isn't some mundane policy debate. boring, lame, and soulless.

no, american democracy is spirited and mythic. it is a place where men do (political) combat. a test of wills and destiny as much as skill. where not just survival is at stake, but everlasting glory too. the (political) arena is a sacred stage. a hallowed ground upon which the fates of men and nations are decided. you cannot even begin to comprehend the power of the american people. count yourself lucky to be able to bear witness to the divine struggle.

yes, yes. it's spectacle. it's theater. it's performance. so what? this is all to say that it is an art form. american politics is politics as art. fuck your spreadsheets. we're mythmaking here! and here, in the land of heroes, the lines between myth and reality are blurred. american politicians aren't policy wonks here to give the people policy briefs. no, they are larger-than-life symbols that represent the very complex and tangled psyche of the american people. they are vessels through which the people's hopes and fears can be expressed. they are an embodiment of the collective soul of the nation at a particular time.

and this is why i take some issue with the idea of it being "spectacle" because the term implies that the people are just passive observers but i don't agree. the people are active participants and co-creators in this mythmaking. casting votes, doing activism, attending town hall meetings, writing legislators, donating, volunteering, etc. these are all deeply engrained in the american psyche. and when they vote they're not just doing some rationalistic cost-benefit analysis of the policies. they are curating a particular national character, an emblem of their vision of what america is or should be. in this way it is literally collaborative mythmaking.

and a great people (like we americans) admire greatness. and so it's not enough for a person to have good policy. they need to be great and inspiring. policy isn't going to get people fired up. but a great leader will. he will ignite, move, and seduce the people's imagination. and truly, i think this is part of what makes america so great.

yes, policy is important. but it's not the most important thing. policy doesn’t make the hair on your arms stand up, doesn’t fill a stadium, doesn’t pull people out of their beds and into the fire. americans understand this. we the people are the directors casting the symbolic figures who will stand at the heart of america’s ever-unfolding story, in a way that is raw and passionately human. american democracy is a never-ending collaborative ritual of becoming.

you want to paint it as something shallow but it's actually the opposite. it's as deep as you can get. it's primal. it's reaching into the depths of the human soul. you call it a spectacle; i call it a mystery play. a dramatic unfolding of archetypes and primal forces, a cosmic pageant where the ideals of freedom, justice, fear, and power are constantly manifesting, clashing, and transforming.

and this isn't to say that every american politician is great, obviously. or that every election will present us with great politicians. it is a sliding scale and there are obviously lulls and low points. but honestly, even at its "worst" it still manages to be very sacral. i mean, just look at kamala. she was a deeply unpopular nobody, painfully banal and unimpressive, and yet she was still elevated to some kind of notability by the dems' party apparatus (again, pageantry and theater is a key part of this) and you had ordinary citizens who really loved and believed in her. i've seen videos of young women approaching her and sobbing with a mix of fear and hope. kamala, like many politicians, was a mask. a ceremonial persona that channels a force larger than themselves. each political figure is a vehicle for the expression of the archetypes lurking within the public psyche.

the "spectacle" of american democracy, then, is not shallow or trivial but profoundly alchemical: a process through which the invisible forces and latent desires of society become visible, embodied, personal. every campaign, every rally, every soundbite is an incantation in this larger ritual, a symbolic offering that speaks to the fears, the aspirations, and the boundless imagination of the public.

and even the controversies and scandals should be thought of in this context. not as distractions from governance but as necessary rites of purification and trial. the political arena is where these figures are tested; subjected to ritual humiliation or exaltation, challenged to expose themselves and submit to judgment by the people.

ours isn't a democracy of facts and figures but myth and memory. like i said earlier, it's politics as art. and art is about redemption. american democracy is about the peoples' need to see itself reflected and redeemed. like in any play.

our leaders aren’t simply decision-makers (though they are certainly that too)—they’re dream-bearers, keepers of the national spirit, actors summoned to embody what is essential, unspoken, even taboo. they’re the protagonists of a public dreamscape where american ideals aren’t just principles but living gods, bending and twisting to reflect the collective will of the people in real-time.

and so this isn’t just a political process. it’s a public initiation, a ritual that binds the people not through rational calculation but through shared mythmaking. policy might structure society, but it’s this ritual of personality, this living myth, that keeps the american spirit alive, forever restless, forever reinventing itself on the sacred stage.

and i think this captures the original, ancient, most authentic sense of democracy. i can't imagine ancient greek, roman, or even germanic leaders going around giving policy briefs. no. they were men of charisma and vision, capable of inspiring and igniting the people. they made promises, sure. "i promise i'll get you, my soldiers, land." but this is different to having a strict policy regime. a promise is so much nobler and sacred. maybe they didn't have all the details of how they'd achieve it figured out. but they made the promise. and there's the expectation they'd keep it. if they didn't, they were doomed. and even their rhetoric was more like a magical spell than rationalistic discourse. i think that's what y'all are missing. the art of rhetoric. appealing to reason is important, but it's only one part.

i think you policy wonk types are too logos-brained. not enough ethos or pathos. and i think america has all three in spades. indeed, i kinda take umbrage with this idea that americans somehow don't care about policy just because it isn't the only thing we're preoccupied with. because if you look at the world, america seems to have a pretty excellent track record. our policies and our institutions have turned our country from a colonial backwater into a global hegemon in a couple centuries.

and that's the other thing. our leaders aren't obsessed with policy, sure. but they do make promises. and yeah many promises are broken. but others are not. but that's all part of the drama. promises made, promises kept, promises broken. it isn't some empty spectacle like you're suggesting. just because americans aren't obsessed with policy like you doesn't mean we don't care about policy at all. we just approach it from a different angle. these promises are sacred to us. the "spectacle" can't just be empty. it has to be meaningful. there has to be something tangible/substantial.

american's aren't just tuning in for the show. they expect very real transformation and change, obviously. it's not always presented in some rigid policy brief, but still. the expectation is there. the promises represent a broader vision. the details are less important. and the execution of this vision is dependent on the greatness of the leader. a great leader will make these promises and present a vision to the people and then carry it out. and they'll make whatever policy changes they need to do so, most of the time. in this way, great leaders are like alchemists who can turn abstract policy into something material, translating the mythic into the real. it gives weight and purpose to the "spectacle".

so yeah i reject this idea that americans don't care about policy. i think we do just in a different, more holistic way than you do.

yes we americans elect our president in a fashion similar to my ancient german ancestors elected their kings; in roaring assemblies of freemen possessed by frenzy joined together through a moment of communion and electing our leader by acclamation; bestowing upon him the responsibility of guarding and guiding the wyrd (fate) of our people. i feel no shame about embracing this ancient spirit of democracy, when our leaders were more than mere soulless administrative policy-makers.

last thing i'll say. american democracy, as mentioned earlier, is a ritual of becoming. because america itself is a nation of becoming. it is not a calculation. it is a movement. from the very moment of our birth america has been defined by dreaming and yearning and creating. a nation of possibility and boundless potential. always asking "what if?" and achieving the impossible. the american ideal of freedom, of freedom of expression, is so deeply romantic. it cannot be understood rationally. we americans have a promethean fire in us. insert "you wouldn't get it" meme.

america is a land of new beginnings, where reason, society, and even government are bent and shaped by human passion, a place where history can be remade because the people are driven by ideals rather than chains of tradition.

i mean, look at our founding document. the declaration of independence. it's a poetic manifesto more than anything else. a titanic declaration of defiance and the promise of a new vision of a new world. and my great-spirited ancestors were willing to die for this. and you're really surprised that americans today are a people driven by passion and heroic ideals and myths?

we are americans. we are men. we still have red-hot blood in our veins and fire in our hearts and i won't apologize for it!

[silentium-symphony]

Now Watch Me Whip III (Link x Reader)

(a/n) ya'll have no idea how many drafts i had to burn through to get here dear god--

it's finally done! it felt kinda all over the place, but it was made w lots of love & effort ♡ if you're curious, the dance is loosely based on Azura's Nohrian dance from Fire Emblem Fates! Please start at 0:51.

i hope you enjoy! :)

Part I \\ Part II

cw: afab!reader, link rediscovering joy :D, he also lowkey horny as HELL, him just getting flustered lol, violence (somewhat explicit), dancing in the forest, gentle kisses

wc: 4.3k

♤♢ ~~ ♡♧

"And... There!" You firmly pinched the metal clasps together, fastening the end of a small rod to the end of a dark green strip of silk. You twirled it in the air and watched the gleam of the setting sun glow through the ribbon and bounce off the golden handle. It was perfect!

The door cracked open and the familiar scent of a hearty homecooked meal wafted to your nose. With a snap of your wrist, the ribbon chased the rod hurriedly tucked under your pillow. Seafoam eyes popped in and crinkled at you happily.

"Link!" You waved the man over and patted the edge of your bed. He gave a curt nod and the rest of his body spilled in, hands occupied with a tray of two steamy bowls of stew. In a few short steps, his body had sunk into the edge of your bed and he handed you the tray.

"How're you feeling?" He muttered, wariness directed at your bandaged shoulder.

"So much better! And I have you to thank for that." You smiled in between spoonfuls, lightly "mm-ing" at the mildly seasoned creme stew. Its delicate flavors reminisced of simpler times, of bygone eras of innocence.

"It's nothing, really." He returned your appreciative look with an abashed one, feeling a heat rise to his cheeks. "Have you been moving it?"

"I'm trying, but it's been... hard." A swell of panic arose in your chest at his crestfallen features. "But! I've made some good progress! Look."

You carefully maneuvered your hot bowl onto your bedside table, mindful to keep its scalding contents within the clay's confines, and slowly outstretched your bad hand towards the sky. Unused ligaments pulled and contracted and protested the simple action, but you kept at it and lowered it back down into your lap with care. Bliss and relief wrought the man's expressions.

"That's amazing! You're recovering so well."

"Yeah! And it's all thanks to you. You've taken such good care of me these past several days..." You motioned to your dinner and the dozens of empty potion bottles lined up neatly on a nearby table. "You've saved my life, Link. Thank you--from the bottom of my heart, thank you."

The Hero gulped, feeling that familiar warmth kiss his cheeks and flutter his stomach. Knighthood was often a thankless job and Link had fully accepted that his heroic deeds would be overcast by the normality of idyllicity most Hylians took for granted--one that he had worked so hard to protect. Seeing you look at him with nothing but pure gratefulness in your eyes... Truthfully, it was something he could get used to.

"You're welcome."

Your heart punched a quickening tempo in your chest, happy that he had finally accepted your thanks instead of brushing it off like what he was doing for you wasn't the most considerate, sweetest thing in the world.

"Are you this chivalrous to everyone?" You laughed, half-jokingly. "Surely I'm not the only injured traveler you've come across. Do you also draft potions, cook their meals, and grant them free lodging at your expense?"

You hadn't realized your little quip would get the battle-hardened warrior flabbergasted, but here you were. Link's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water as his ears adopted a pretty crimson.

"T-Truthfully..." He stammered. "... No..."

"Oh? Then what makes me so different than your average traveler?" You mused, hoping to rile up the stoic swordsman like a little schoolboy. Sure it was a question that's been burning in the back of your mind, but frankly, you were enjoying the scene in front of you far more than gaining the satisfaction of solving your biggest mystery since day one.

"Well--... I don't... know."

That was a lie. He did know.

The thought crossed so clearly in both of your heads, but you decided to drop it before the man in front of you dropped dead from embarrassment. You laughed at his dumbfounded expression and caught his gaze with a softer look.

"I'm... really gonna miss this time we had together. So that's why..." Your good hand sneaked behind you and pinched the thin rod, yanking it out like some sort of magic trick. "Ta-daaah! I fashioned you your very own twirler!"

Oh Hylia, this man was gonna cry.

There was an undeniable twinkle in Link's usually terse look--one that screamed with childlike wonder and innocent joy.

"This... You made this for me?" He reached up, fingers ghosting along the rod's golden sheen. He handled it almost frightened—as if it were to disappear from his grasp.

"Of course! I know I can never repay you for what you've done, but I hope this can be a start." You wedged it into his fingers. "Take it! It's yours now."

The ribbon trailed after his hand as he pulled it to his chest, inspecting and handling the twirler like it was something sacred. He suddenly whipped his hand to the left; unadulterated joy flamed his pupils at the sight of the dark green trail. He snapped his arm to the right and watched the silk flit after his movements. With a mighty downward stroke, the fabric whisped past his ears and sang a gentle chortle.

His sword-swinging techniques mettled under the most ferocious battles felt... beautiful, for once.

"This is..." He said at last, eyes never leaving the ribbon. "The best gift I've ever gotten."

"R-... Really?" A strange twinge of melancholic joy pricked your heart, touched by his sentiment.

Link turned to you with a gaze overflowing with thanks.

"Thank you."

"You're..." You stammered, choking under his affectionate eyes. "You're welcome."

Both pairs of eyes drifted downward, finding respite in the way your blankets folded in on themselves, the gnarled patterns carved into the wooden floor's grain, and the shadows of trees shaking in the setting sun.

"Oh, right!" Your voice boomed with excitement. "Let me teach you the basics!"

♤♢ ~~ ♡♧

As Link settled into the log, he gazed up at the dome of stars that would lull him to sleep for the night. The crackle-pop of the fire filled the empty gaps between his thoughts with a vague sense of comfort as he recounted the memory from weeks ago; if he listened past the flames, he swore he could hear that lyrical melody imparting your lips. You had since recovered from your injury and left the inn, a promise of seeing each other again carrying itself on the winds.

Hylia only knew how deeply he wanted to see you again.

To talk to you, to share meals with you, to come home to you. But a domestic life was not a lifestyle he could so easily achieve, with him being Hyrule's sword and shield against every iteration of evil. A life with you would have to remain a pipe dream, just like the promise of seeing you again.

As he rolled out his bed cot and wrapped his shield with a worn cloak, he kicked off his boats and tucked under the thin blanket, resting his head on the shield-pillow. Staying at the inn was a treat he had divulged in for too long--his neck had grown soft from its feathery pillows and downy sheets. He rolled this way and that, feeling every vertebra in his spine whine at him to find something more comfortable. In the end, he opted to count the residents that dotted the night sky with glimmers of white and yellow.

Were you warm, well-fed, and under a roof? Or were you under the cloak of wilderness, looking at the stars like him? Were you fast asleep, happy and content? Or were your thoughts consumed with him, like he were of you?

The bright glow of the stars began to dull as his conscience finally caught the elusive Sleep, dangling the quick-footed thing in victory. But before his mind faded to softer worlds, he noted how the stars could not compare to the twinkle your eyes once held for him.

♤♢ ~~ ♡♧

A crack in the air and a crazed whinny tore his thoughts asunder and he shot up, grabbing the hilt of sharpened iron with him. A chorus of raspy croaks assaulted his ears and sent his senses into a flurry. He scrounged for his boots and drew his shield; another snap in the air, right behind him, and he whorled around to greet that familiar noise.

"(F/N)--?!"

"Link! Are you all right?!"

He saw the beginnings of a horn prick just behind you, and a blink later he found himself in the heat of battle, repelling an attack that would have otherwise spelled your doom. Your backs pressed against each other as the horde of Lizalfos began to circle you, shrill yips and grunts seeping your senses.

"I-It's good to see you again," you panted. "Though I was hoping it would’ve been under... better circumstances."

Link hummed, effortlessly twirling the readied blade as he waited for the first sign of movement. He felt your shoulders squeeze into his, anticipation baiting your breath.

The Lizalfos to your left was the first to move. With almost telepathic synchronicity, the body of your whip dealt a welt to the fiend's scaly skin while cold steel dug into its flesh, warmed at the blood that spilled forth. The monster faltered slightly, giving Link enough room for a mighty swing at its torso.

Your eyes caught a glint of brandishing metal and you found your thick cord already reaching for it, snapping at the brutish digits with a bitter hiss. A shocked cry left the monster as it dropped the weapon, bending over just in time for the body of Link's sword to puncture through its stretched neck. A wet gurgle popped from its throat as it keeled over and stained the ground it once stood.

The remaining Lizalfos, in a frenzy of bloodlust and rage, threw coordination to the winds and pounced on you all at once. You had barely managed to dodge the swing of a Lizalfos tail before you felt something hard and metallic hit the backside of your head. You felt your knees buckle and saw the ground propel towards you at alarming speeds; you sucked in a breath and gritted your teeth as you spun around and dealt a marring blow to the offender's face (which quickly met its brutal end). A rough arm looped under your armpit and hoisted you up.

"You okay?!"

"Y-Yeah!" A streak of metal graced your periphery. "Watch out!"

You latched onto the man's shoulder and pulled him down, the chill of metal and what could have been sending shivers down your spine. Link promptly retaliated with a swing of his sword and a stab for the chest. Yet another Lizalfos crumpled to the ground, and the remaining monsters fled in a panic.

Your sweaty body pressed into Link's comparatively cooler skin, your haggard pants filling the silence. Cautious (E/C)s lilted about you before finally meeting a pair of blues (that had been resting on your heaving form the whole time, but you didn't need to know that).

"G-Good morning, by the way." You laughed out tiredly.

"Morning." He huffed.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" You were facing him fully now, eyes and fingers scanning his face for injuries.

The rush of battle meshed with the surge of heat your gentle grazes left pulsed his core with butterflies. His eyes naturally fell on your previously debilitated shoulder.

"I should be asking you that. How's your shoulder? And your head? That Lizalfos got you good earlier."

"I'll be all right. I can move my shoulder just fine too. " Your fingerpads tingled with his warmth and you worriedly pressed the back of your hand to his forehead. "You're awfully warm... You haven't caught a fever, have you?"

Link cleared his throat, his brain scouring for a new topic.

"What are you doing here? How did... How did you find me?"

"I stopped by a stable to find out where the next town would be and I was on my way there. Then I… saw a body on the ground and a couple of Lizalfos nearby. I feared the worst." You laughed, drawing your hands away and standing up. "I never thought it would be you."

Link nodded, still starstruck from seeing you dazed from his rudely awakened sleep and the sudden onset of battle. You extended a hand, which was promptly clasped and pulled.

"Well regardless, thank you. If it weren't for you... I would have feared the worst."

"No problem. It was by sheer luck we ran into each other again… Actually..." You hummed thoughtfully. "If you're up for it, would you like to head to town together? We need all the help we can get out here, and I personally think we make a great team."

Link graciously took you up on your offer and you helped him pack his things (which consisted of a bed cot and a beaten pot). As you handed him his tightly rolled mat and his bag, a familiar golden sheen caught the morning sun. Your next exhale lodged in your throat and your heart swelled.

"Is that...?"

Link followed your gaze; his heart performed theatricals against the confines of his ribcage as his brain sputtered an answer.

"Y-Yes. I keep it with me at all times--it’s like a good luck charm, of sorts."

"Didn't really do its job this morning." You chuckled, slinging your own pouch over your shoulder.

"I wouldn't say so. After all, it brought you back to me."

...

...

I want to go die in a hole now

Link mentally pounded his head against a tree as his still-groggy brain worked overtime to make up for his social ineptness. You both looked at each other, dazed and dumbfounded, and all the swordsman could muster was a steady, silent gaze into your eyes.

"That..." You finally coughed out, breaking the spell between you. "was incredibly smooth. Good job, Hero."

You looked away in time to hide the blush on your cheeks and you busied your hands with swatting the imaginary dirt from your tunic. A gentle stream of clops thankfully filled the void between you and Link; Epona had returned!

You both exclaimed a shout of surprise and glee and bounded your way over to her, you hugging and nuzzling your friend's loyal companion and Link checking her for injuries. Once it was made clear she was in tip-top shape, Link mounted first and you handed your bags to him. With some help from Link, you managed to lug yourself onto her back and sit in a mostly upright position. You snaked your arms around his torso and pressed your bodies flush against each other; the hero's grip noticeably tightened as he felt your body meld wondrously with his own. Your hot breath fanned across his neck and your chest caressed his back--

"Um... Link?"

Link clicked his tongue and you were off.

♤♢ ~~ ♡♧

"Why do we keep meeting at the worst possible times?"

A laugh bounced off the silent man as he slowly drank a bottle of milk. He glanced at you with a hopeless look, a faint shimmer of amusement streaking his irises.

Your guess is as good as mine.

You swirled the cup in your hand and watched its watery contents lap at some cracks while your ears passively tuned into the hums of the inn's dining hall. Clinks of glass mugs meeting wood choired from the bar and a childish laugh or two left the young family holding out in the corner. Link politely patted his mouth with one of the barkeep's rags and resumed his dinner in peace.

"So how've you been? It's been a couple weeks since we saw each other."

He shrugged, motioning to the constellation of fresh wounds marring his exposed skin. They were minor enough to not be life-threatening, but concern still tensed your gut.

"Do you need some potions? I think I got a couple extras--"

A calloused hand clasped onto your wrist before it could retreat into the recesses of your pouch. He shook his head widely, his long locks whipping to and fro.

"I'm okay."

You most certainly weren't as your hands and cheeks flushed with a warmth you hadn't felt in weeks. You drew an inconspicuous breath and redirected your focus away from your hand to Link's steady gaze.

"I just worry for you, 's all."

"I know," stormy blues softened to clear skies, "but I'm okay."

A slight squeeze pressed into your wrist, skyrocketing your heart rate to unhealthy levels. Gods, it was almost shameful how such a simple, platonic act could spur you so. With great effort, you managed to still your inner fangirl and flashed him a charming smile.

"Whatever you say, Hero. But if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

He nodded. "You too."

You worked on the plate in front of you (which had regrettably gone cold) and a comfortable silence filled the space between you two. You were once again enveloped in the hearty, homey atmosphere of the inn as patrons percolated in and out of the dining hall, having had their fill or venturing to lift their spirits (in more ways than one).

"Have you been practicing the routines I showed you?"

When you turned to him, your countenance joking and side glance light-hearted, you were not expecting to see a dutiful glint and a firm nod.

"Wait what."

"I wanted to be ready for the off-chance we saw each other again, so I've been practicing in my free time."

He said it so matter-of-factly (he was—in fact—panicking), your heart couldn't take it. The energy to scream and flail your arms about you hysterically took hold of you, and you funneled all of that chaos into a toothy grin.

"That's really great! I'm glad you're enjoying it."

His face flushed a deep ruby and his eyes swam this way and that, his brain fishing for an answer.

"I-It's not good by any means, but... I think I'm getting the hang of it."

"I'm sure you're doing just fine." You patted him on his shoulder. "You're a pretty fast learner!"

Well, he had to be given his... unique position. You couldn't fight the uncomfortable squeeze in your chest when you thought about how he quickly he had to forego life's simple pleasures to keep the world safe.

"Can you..." Link's barely-there voice was just loud enough to pull you out of your reflection. "... help me with some parts?"

His pretty eyes glowed something soft, something pleading. Behind his puppy-dog eyes, there was an unmistakable flash of excitement pooling underneath the surface.

"I'd be happy to!"

♤♢ ~~ ♡♧

After paying for dinner, you agreed to meet each other at the entrance of the inn and went to drop your stuff off in your room, noting to grab your twirler before you headed out. Heart soaring and feet light, you skipped down the hall and over to your waiting companion (who looked quite heavenly in the moonlight).

"Hey! You got everything you need?"

His shoulders barely rose at your voice and he turned to you carefully, features blank but eyes sparked with enthusiasm. He nodded and held out his hand to you, his pink cheeks mixing with the pale blue moonbeam.

"If it's all right with you, I would like to practice somewhere more... private."

"Of course! I know these routines need a lot of space to be done well." You slipped your fingers into his outstretched ones, heart fluttering at the near-imperceptible squeeze. "Heck, I taught you in a wide, open clearing."

Link hummed a confirmation, turned on his heels, and marched onward. You, a mere traveler, weren't used to his solder-like gait and trailed helplessly behind him as he dragged you a little ways past the inn. However, Link wasn't blind or cruel--he slowed his pace so he comfortably fell at your side; it was a small, wordless gesture, but something about matching a steady, even pace with him tugged your chest with the most pleasant feeling.

A tall statue hung in the middle of the square, lanterns stringing from its highest point to the stores and houses that circled it. The whole vicinity was abuzzed with quaint leisure as the giggles of children faux-sleeping under their sheets coddled the air while passing couples clasped their hands in tender closeness--not unlike you and a certain blonde.

"This town sure is beautiful... What do you think, Link?"

"Indeed, it's all very..." He paused, eyes shifting slowly to his distracted companion. "Beautiful."

You dipped back into darkness, the sights and sounds of the gently lit square coalescing into a symphony of the night. The shrill chirps of crickets rounded the body of the choir while the baritone 'hoo-hoots' of owls balanced the insect's biting trill. It wasn't long until you found a nice, secluded pocket of forest away from the prying eyes of an uninvited audience.

"All right, anything specific you need help with?"

You both ran through parts of the routine he struggled with, with you going first, him copying your movements, and you correcting what needed to be fixed.

"Relax your shoulders, you're so tense!"

He just about melted under your soft ministrations, enjoying how amazing it felt for your fingers to lightly pat and rub into his shoulders. His tight sores mixed indistinctly with his toned arms and muscly shoulders; you pressed into a particularly sore spot just between his shoulder blades and he had to bite back a pleased groan.

"Relaxing your shoulders helps you loosen your arms, which will help you look more like you're dancing and less like you're fighting a Moblin." The way your hands curled about his biceps paralleled how you had him wrapped around your little finger.

"Oh, and twist your hips like this--if you snap your hips too fast, you might lose count of the song." A soft pair of hands rested on his hips, rocking him in a gentler sway. "Do you feel the difference? It doesn't feel so tight anymore, right?"

His pants disagree Link swallowed thickly, trying so hard to focus on your words and not the fire your fingers flamed across his skin--or the way you beheld him with such tenderness in gaze and touch, or the sugary, flowery scent emanating from the crook of your neck oh Hylia help him

"--and just like that! Ready to go again?"

Wait what.

Oh, he was screwed.

He didn't process any of that.

"... Can you show me one more time please?"

"Oh, sure!" You spun around and he mentally slapped himself at how quickly his eyes went to your hips.

"Why don't you take a break and watch me?"

With PLEASURE The blanket of moss on the stump beckoned him to sit.

"I'm gonna run through the whole routine and emphasize the parts you struggled on, okay?"

Link's chin dipped and you took a deep breath, shifting your focus to your expanding diaphragm. The words you had known so well belted out of you, and for a moment the forest seemed to have silenced themselves to hear your honeyed voice. The very air about you changed into something mystic as your hands snapped in front of you. The silken strip arced below your waist, before snapping up into a tight vortex above your head. A foot darted out and your hips shook to the imaginary beat, your body rolling as you bore a heavy, hooded gaze into the hero's soul.

His blown-out pupils followed your every movement, spellbound as your alluring eyes pulled him further and further into the depths. His mind blanked, his feet finding a mind of its own as he barely processed your quickly approaching figure. Your head bolted to look behind you; a loud gasp slipped your lips at the man's sudden proximity and a pair of arms circling your lower back.

"L-Link...?"

His face was mere inches away from yours, your doe-like eyes curiously peering at him through trembling lashes. His arms tightened, pulling you close enough to pick up traces of his earthy scent. The heat emanating from his body made you squeak and your eyes flew shut, heart racing and breath slowing.

The bright light of realization dispelled the desire that darkened his irises and alarm bells of every sort rang through his head in a demonic chorus.

"(F/N), I'm..."

Sorry.

Except it never left his lips.

As it became enveloped by the taste of you.

The clatter of twirlers hitting the ground was lost to you as you cloaked your arms about his neck, pulling him deeper into the kiss. Your waist was beckoned by a gentle tug until your bodies were flushed together; a soft sigh fanned across your cheeks as Link's muscled frame nestled perfectly into your softer one.

A hand found residence in your hair and softly combed through it, jogging memories of him soothing you on your deathbed. Knees quivering, you leaned into him as happy tears dared to leak from your eyes. He moved his lips away from yours to kiss away the hot tears before landing a soft kiss on your temple. The middle of your foreheads pressed into each other as weathered hands cupped your cheeks, thumbing away the faint trail of tears.

"...sof..." He breathed.

"Hm...?"

"You're soft..." He muttered a little louder this time, the deep rumble in his chest tickling you slightly. He captured your lips in another faint peck and hummed.

"And warm..."

Another.

"And sweet..."

And another.

"Your lips are so addicting." He concluded, pressing one final kiss onto your forehead. You giggled at the buzzy tingling on your lips and he dipped into the crook of your neck.

"Come with me," he muttered into the flushed skin, "let's travel Hyrule together."

"Of course I'm coming with you." You carded your fingers through his hair, laughing at how he slinked into you. "We make a pretty great team, after all."

[aubins]

⧼ ＊ ⧽　on aubin, his crest, and the fetters of dromi.

this post is mostly my personal masterlist on my meta and headcanons for any aubin, crest, and relic related lore. some of it i pull from evidence in canon, others i pull out of my ass. i do discuss some of the other apostles while talking about aubin, but any future ashen wolves musers are more than welcome to disagree with me. additionally, it's been a while since i've properly played through the fódlan games myself, so if there's lore i've misremembered here, do feel free to correct me on it!

three houses & hopes lore spoilers to follow under the cut.

*　who is aubin?

i've been working on this on and off for about four years now, so the old version of this section quite obviously dated this post with all its long-winded arguments about why aubin was the elder that saved yuri as a child because some people were quite adamant that he wasn't. now, it is comically short in comparison.

in case you didn't know, this silly little game called fire emblem warriors: three hopes has come out since then and made my life much easier. as seteth and yuri's support chain confirms:

Seteth: You always cursed the blood that flowed through you. But in the end, it saved that child's life. Seteth: It brings me great relief to know that you found salvation in your last moments. Aubin, my friend… Be at peace. 　— Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, Seteth & Yuri A-Support

the elder who saved yuri as a child was, in fact, aubin himself. he passes shortly after this from natural causes, which i'll touch on in more detail a bit later. the basic rundown of his character is this: aubin was one of the four apostles who participated in the rite of rising in an attempt to resurrect the goddess. after the ritual failed, he and his fellow apostles went into seclusion and their names were all but erased from history. their crests were similarly believed to have died with them; however, the four ashen wolves are later discovered to bear one of each of the apostles' crests. for yuri's part, he bears the crest of aubin.

*　the apostles' nabatean heritage.

another point of contention is whether or not the apostles are nabatean or human. the fandom wiki has them listed as human for some reason, even though this is not confirmed anywhere in the game as far as i am aware, and i know many believe that the apostles are first generation crest-bearers like the ten elites. personally, i am of the mind that they are nabateans, not humans.

the game refers to the four apostles as saints several times (in the opening narration of cindered shadows and in constance and edelgard's support chain), a title we've only really seen bestowed upon nabateans such as the four saints—cichol, cethleann, indech, and macuil—as well as seiros herself, of course.

(there is also a saint luca mentioned in a readable in three hopes; however, it is, to my knowledge, the only mention of them.)

additionally, we see for ourselves that aubin, at least, is able to transfuse his blood and crest into a human. as far as we know, this is something that can only be done by nabateans.

but there are two points i tend to see brought up as arguments for the apostles being human, so i wanted to quickly touch on them here.

　　›　THE FETTERS OF DROMI EXISTED DURING THE WAR OF HEROES.

this notion, i believe, comes from something that duke gerth says during constance and yuri's paralogue:

Duke Gerth: It's a priceless treasure that ended up in Dagda. After the truce, they sent it to us in friendship. 　> Why did Dagda have a Hero's Relic? Duke Gerth: One story holds that Saint Seiros subjugated the 10 Elites and the clans who followed them. Duke Gerth: There may have been a few clan elders who fled across the sea to escape suppression. 　— Fire Emblem: Three Houses, A Cursed Relic: After Battle

if we take this at face value, it means that the fetters of dromi existed during the time of the war of heroes (32-98). thus, the original nabatean bearing aubin blood would have to already be dead by this point. if this is true, it completely negates the idea of aubin being said original nabatean because he is very much still alive in 185 for the rite of rising.

i'm not exactly jumping to believe this story is actually true, though. the way duke gerth puts it, it's only one of several stories about how the relic arrived in dagda and not entirely reliable. if the fetters of dromi existed during the war of heroes, then it would have had a wielder: a human bearer of the crest that we're assuming is aubin. supposing the clan elder who followed aubin fled to dagda with the relic as duke gerth's story says, surely they would have known the value of the relic? never mind how they even took the relic from aubin to begin with. these were significant and powerful weapons and accessories used by the ten elites—if they managed to run away with one, surely they would have done their best to keep it for themselves, and then within their families after they passed.

but let's just say this important message got lost amongst the clan elder's descendants somewhere, so they see the fetters of dromi and decide it's a piece of junk they can get rid of. did the agarthans not know that the fetters of dromi were in dagda by this point? like surely there would have been some word that a group ran off with one of the relics when it first happened? it couldn't have been that hard for the agarthans to get it back if they knew it was there. they wouldn't have even had to contend with the church of seiros, because they didn't seem to know where the relic was either until it ended up in duke gerth's hands. so, word of the “marvelous, but benign treasure” in dagda just somehow didn't reach either parties' notice when they were well-aware of the missing relic?

suffice to say, i don't really buy duke gerth's story, and certainly not as hard evidence disproving the apostles being nabatean. for a relic to have been missing for so long with neither the agarthans nor the church seeming desperate to find it doesn't seem super realistic to me. to me, it seems more likely that the fetters of dromi were only newly created, and thus their disappearance only a recent concern.

　　›　AUBIN'S ELDERLY APPEARANCE & PASSING.

with the nabateans being a long-life species and the ones we see in canon still appearing quite youthful, i can understand where this sentiment comes from. unless aubin is just incredibly old in comparison to the likes of rhea, seteth, and flayn, he probably shouldn't be looking anywhere near old enough for yuri to be describing him as an elder when they meet.

for me to explain my take on this, let's talk about the rite of rising first.

In the Imperial year 185, the construction of Garreg Mach was completed. Saint Seiros held a sacred ritual to honor the occasion. Four saints, known as the Four Apostles, were led to a tranquil place to perform the ritual. They poured their holy essences into the Chalice of Beginnings—a gift from the goddess herself—in hopes of bringing about her second coming. Alas, the Rite of Rising failed… 　— Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Cindered Shadows: The Fourth House

the opening narration of cindered shadows describes the rite of rising as the four apostles “pouring their holy essences into the chalice.” while this is likely just a fancy way of saying they gave it their blood, i'm choosing to instead interpret this as the apostles having literally given up some of their essence or life force for the ritual. the sacrifice they made was more than just some blood, and whether the rite succeeded or failed, it was always going to take its toll. the fact that it did failed only exacerbated the consequences.

when the chalice absorbs both sitri and aelfric to create an umbral beast, rhea says that the same thing happened last time the rite of rising was performed. as the ritual was said to have been performed in a tranquil place, presumably away from any bystanders, the only people around to actually become the umbral beast would have been seiros herself, alongside the four apostles.

what mostly makes me hesitate to say this for certain is that the description of the final battle in cindered shadows describes aelfric as “forever lost, transformed into an umbral beast.” the four apostles were, obviously, not forever lost, considering the existence of all four ashen wolves bearing their crests.

perhaps the beast was subdued and the apostles were somehow reverted to their regular forms. or the chalice only absorbed the body they were using for the ritual to create the umbral beast, and that was what was forever lost upon its defeat. since i can't say either way with a hundred percent confidence, i'm just going to elect to put a pin in this particular idea for now.

whatever the case, the rite of rising took a significant and long lasting toll on the apostles well-being. as such, after the failure of the rite, all of them chose to vanish from the world. despite how important you would think an attempt to revive the goddess would be, what is remembered of them is that they journeyed to obscure corners of fódlan where they settled and all but disappeared from history.

you could say that this was them adhering to the fact that they were not meant to pass down their crests, and thus decided to find a place where they could simply fade into obscurity for the rest of their days. however, considering all of them end up passing down their crests anyway, i don't think this was their biggest point of consideration.

for aubin's case, this is what i attribute his older appearance to. the rite of rising quite literally stole his life and aged him significantly more than what would have been natural for nabateans. he goes into seclusion because he doesn't have the energy to do much else, having lost most of his strength. similarly, this i believe this lack of strength is also the reason that he dies shortly after saving yuri's life.

aubin is in awful shape when yuri and his mother take him in. i imagine he never truly recovered from the toll the rite of rising took on his body, leaving him quite worse for wear. saving yuri required expending a kind of power that he simply didn't have much left of, and was the final straw that ultimately led to his passing.

*　the crest of aubin.

honestly, i think the way i've described the crest of aubin's effects in narrative previously changed whenever it was convenient to me HAHA but in the interest of staying consistent from this point forward, let's refer to its in-game effects first.

A Crest long lost to history. Occasionally prevents enemy counterattacks when using a weapon. 　— Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Crest of Aubin Ability Description

30% chance chance to land a critical hit with strong attacks. 　— Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, Crest of Aubin Ability Description

three houses and three hopes are very different games when it comes to gameplay, so the crest's ability obviously changes between them. i'll pull from both versions for my purposes.

preventing enemy counterattacks doesn't really translate all that nicely into writing. i generally interpret this as increased agility. passively, yuri is already relatively light-footed and quick on his feet; when his crest activates this is increased to a superhuman degree. think dramatic cinematic shots of characters with super speed where the world slows around them. something like that for short periods of time.

crit chance is much easier to translate: his crest gives him increased strength. unlike his agility, this isn't also a passive thing. the strength only really activates when his crest does, otherwise he's just as strong as anyone else who works out on a relatively regular basis would be.

as aubin is the ice dragon, yuri has some level of resistance to cold. nothing that would really save his life if you threw him into a blizzard, but if the weather's a bit chilly, he'll still be able to walk out under-dressed for it and be fine. yuri doesn't think this is a crest thing, though, he just thinks he's more used to the cold as someone that grew up in faerghus.

unnaturally quick healing. this has no canon basis, it's just an idea that i like. yuri is very particular about his appearance and potential scarring considering his line of work, but considering all the trouble he gets into, saying that he's only ever gotten one scar in his whole life isn't all that realistic. magic blood making you heal fast isn't all that realistic either, but the two can just cancel each other out or something.

in a similar vein, he requires less rest than most people. considering the nature of his work, yuri is running around basically 24/7. if he rests, it's probably only for a few hours at most. guy's a control freak and incredibly restless—i don't know if he could ever really settle down comfortably for long enough to get a decent night's sleep, but he has to be able to be everywhere all at once without collapsing from exhaustion somehow.

　　›　YURI'S PROLONGED LIFESPAN.

i didn't realize this was a point of contention to some people until i started poking around more online, but i'm always happy to talk about yuri so let's dissect it. why not.

in non-crimson flower routes, yuri's ending with m!byleth says that the pair lives a very long life together:

[ ... ] Constantly at his side during that time was his husband, Yuri, whose policy proposals led, time and again, to better education and opportunities for the less fortunate. After working to ensure a bright and prosperous future for Fódlan, the couple stepped back from the public eye and vanished from official record. Curiously, informal notes and letters from friends suggest that the pair was extraordinarily long-lived and that their youth was untouched by the passage of time. 　— Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Byleth (Male) & Yuri Ending Card

i've seen people argue this is a byleth thing (as in byleth gave yuri a blood transfusion and that's why he's long-lived) which i personally doubt is true. mainly because f!byleth's ending doesn't mention a word of this and i don't see why it wouldn't if it truly was a byleth thing as opposed to a yuri thing.

i've also seen people argue that this can't be true because he is specifically mentioned to pass away in his ending with constance:

After the war, Constance devoted herself to her magical research. Her unorthodox methods allowed her to make great strides, which earned her acclaim and eventually enabled her to restore her noble house. Afterward, almost as if to spite her detractors, she married Yuri. The pair made a happy, if unconventional, couple, as the husband frequently ventured away for months on end. In the long years of their marriage, however, Constance laughed off any concerns—she was known to say that Yuri always knew how to find his way home. Many decades later, he passed away in bed alongside his beloved wife. 　— Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Constance & Yuri Ending Card

maybe they just lived their very long lives together? who knows how long ‘many decades’ really means, after all. except constance will likely just live a very normal crest-bearer lifespan. unlike yuri, she doesn't actually get her crest via blood transfusion. saint noa left to live the rest of her days in what would later become nuvelle territory and had children. constance's crest is inherited, passed down to her by bloodline.

Constance: Close to a thousand years ago, Saint Noa parted ways with Saint Seiros. She lived out her days in seclusion on what would become Nuvelle territory. Constance: Her children obscured their origins before serving the Empire. It wasn't long before they were ennobled. [...] Edelgard: Hmm… House Nuvelle was known for producing as few heirs as possible. Edelgard: It was also known for keeping its offspring "pure," mostly by disallowing marriage with other houses. 　— Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Constance & Edelgard B-Support

so if yuri's so long-lived, why do these two ending contradict each other? well, i don't really think they do. he dies in his ending with constance, yes, but we don't know what actually causes his death. i guess old age is the natural assumption for most people, but it never actually states that and we've already been given a different instance of him living for much longer than is natural for a human.

in the japanese version of their ending, the last sentence reads, “数十年後、その言 葉を証明するかのように、ユーリスは寝台の 上、愛した妻の傍らで病没したとされる。” to be clear, i don't speak a lick of japanese, so if any japanese speakers would like to tell me what this really says, i would forever be in your debt. but, you know, i squint at it anyway and see the character “病” and go :index_pointing_at_the_viewer: hey. hold on a second.

anyway, i checked the chinese text instead because it's the only other language the game's localized in that i can somewhat comprehend and what do you know? it says yuri dies of illness. so, you know. not old age.

at the same time, we know it's confirmed in lore that recipients of blood transfusions live longer lives.

To face this evil force, the goddess created a new well of power. She gifted certain chosen individuals with sacred blood, allowing them to wield mystical weapons, that they may prevail against the darkness. These souls, buoyed by their divine gifts, conquered the evil ones and drove them back to the north. They came to be known as Heroes. The Heroes experienced unnaturally long lives, persisting for hundreds of years. 　— Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, Book of Seiros II

if you want proof that isn't just a readable in a spin-off game, jeralt is also right there and at least three hundred years old to show for it. we know through several sources that first generation crest-bearers live very long lives—there's no reason to believe that the same wouldn't apply to yuri.

*　the fetters of dromi.

ah, hero's relic lore. how i adore you, horrifying as you are and all.

before we talk about it somehow ending up in dagda, let's just talk about the relic itself. in case you haven't seen it, the fetters of dromi are effectively hand, finger, and wrist bones bound together by what looks like some cloth, chains, and rings.

once again, i'll pull up its in-game effects for reference:

Grants +1 Movement and Canto when equipped. Grants Pavise and Aegis to units with the Crest of Aubin when equipped. 　— Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fetters of Dromi Description

+6 Speed. Grants Earthshrinker to user. Grants Pavise and Aegis to units with the Crest of Aubin when equipped. 　— Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, Fetters of Dromi (Unleashed) Description

Enables 【Canto (２)】. At start of turn, unit can move 1 extra space (that turn only; does not stack). After start-of-turn skills trigger, if 【Stall】 is active on unit, neutralizes the "unit can move 1 extra space" effect of this skill. Inflicts Atk/Spd/Def/Res-4 on foes within 2 spaces of unit during combat. 　— Fire Emblem Heroes, Fetters of Dromi Description

unlike the crest of aubin, the fetters of dromi's effects are relatively consistent across its different iterations. it gives the user canto, increased movement, and pavise and aegis.

the fetters of dromi's purpose is primarily to amplify the crest of aubin's effects.

increased movement and canto similarly just translate into increased agility again, improved from its passive effect when yuri isn't actively using the fetters. it will take a lot for him to feel exhausted while wearing the fetters of dromi, but if he overextends himself, it'll still hit him the moment he takes the relic off.

similarly related to the crest allowing yuri to persist on less rest, the fetters of dromi allows him to take more hits and sustain more damage. he still gets hurt, of course, but he feels it less than he would without the relic. as with the previous point, when he takes them off, the weight of his injuries will still hit him as they normally would unless he had them healed beforehand.

　　›　HOW DID IT END UP IN DAGDA?

let's establish a timeline for its creation first.

the illness yuri contracts as a child is specifically the plague that was going around faerghus. according to sylvain, this plague happened almost 20 years ago, and according to yuri, he caught it when he was really young. excellent measures of time, the both of you.

i tend to place yuri as having been four when he caught it. since aubin passed shortly after curing him, he would have died vaguely around 1164-1165. the fetters of dromi would have made it to dagda by 1175 at the latest, since that's when the dagda and brigid war took place, and they would've had to have it by then to send it over after the truce. the fetters of dromi were likely made sometime between 1165-1175, then.

but how did the agarthans find out that aubin was dead? yuri ends up in adrestia sometime during this ten year period when the fetters of dromi could have been made. considering the agarthan presence in the empire, i suppose the most likely scenario is that they somehow discovered this random kid with the crest of aubin and decided to investigate further. this eventually led them to yuri's hometown, from which it wouldn't have been difficult to learn from the townsfolk of the story of a strange man who came by a few years ago, saved a child's life with some red liquid, then passed shortly after.

from there, they dig up the body, take the bones and crest stone, then craft the fetters of dromi. as for how it ended up in dagda...um. you know, i'd love to find this out myself HAHA but i can't even conceive a situation for what happened here. i guess they lost it somehow? a bit silly but it had to get there in some way.

　　›　MISCELLANEOUS.

a relic like the fetters of dromi is too new and obscure to have any heavy history or mythology behind it. but there are still some tales—tall and false ones, certainly—like the story of the fetters that reached duke gerth's ears.

some say it is the hand of a master swordsman, cut off in battle and preserved afterward. whoever has the courage to wear it upon the back of their own will find their sword always strikes true. others believe that the relic is a sign that the heroes of history still walk among them, waiting for the day they must once again take up arms to fight for fódlan.

and some still believe that it is both a warning and a curse. that should you hear tell of it, you'll have to lock your home up tight and light a blazing fire, for merciless winter storms are sure to follow.

yuri doesn't believe any of the stories. but what he does know is that sometimes, when he finds himself so lost in his own head that the real world vanishes, bone so often cold to the touch will warm without him calling upon its power, reminding him to return to earth.

sometimes, when he overexerts himself in the midst of battle, the activated relic's steady warmth instead turns searing like a scolding to mind himself. it tightens faintly over the back of his hand like the one that had gently guided him when he first learned his letters, now guiding the swing of a blade rather than the stroke of a pen.

but it is, in the end, just a hero's relic. so it must be his mind playing tricks.

[tnbscans]

Inside Sunrise Interview

Inside Sunrise interview with Masayuki Ozaki and Kazuhiko Tamura. This is transcribed from an Anime News Network video linked below.

The Origin of Tiger & Bunny

Ozaki:

The idea for Tiger & Bunny came from two different roots. The first was Director Keiichi Sato's sentiments. To Director Sato, it's a story about heroes with mundane problems. The director said he wanted to depict a superhero drama with a sense of life to it. The other was my sentiments, as a producer. I wanted to depict the conflict and drama one sees when they've belonged to an organization for a while.

The impetus for the project came from the controversy over the competition swimsuits in the Beijing Olympics. I saw in an interview that wearing one particular kind of swimsuit gave you a chance at setting a record but, well, the athletes who had contracts with Japanese companies couldn't wear that fast swimsuit.

At the time, we were coming up with the project, so we thought the conflict of those athletes who belonged to those industries was very interesting and intriguing. And so we thought it would be nice to take the Director's desire to make a hero story, the story of heroes who have to bear the weight of sponsors, and depict the conflict, drama, and culture that lies behind all of that. So that's, well, how the idea came to fruition.

Tamura:

This is where we work on the storyboard for Tiger & Bunny. We're very particular about using pencil, and, um, the expression of performance, you could say. There are things you can't express without using pencil to depict motion, so we pay extra attention to those parts.

This is called the layout. A layout, you see, is this image, framed here by the screen. It's an image we use to make sure how it'll fit in the television frame. We use this as a base to create the key animation.

Oh, this character is Blue Rose. It's a scene where Blue Rose is drinking soda. It's part of a TV ad campaign in Japan. The drink is for one of the sponsors, but this is the test layout for that. We'll use this as a base to draw the animation.

Thoughts on the Characters

Ozaki:

When we were working on the costume design for the heroes of Tiger & Bunny, we paid special attention to their variety. There are 8 heroes who appear in this work, but from the start we had the idea that their suits should be diverse. We set the story in a near-future city that's anethnic melting pot, so the characters themselves were set to be a variety of races. There's a Russian character, a Chinese one, a Hispanic one, and a Japanese one too. We thought the hero suits should be designed to match those different characteristics.

Character Designer Masakazu Katsura, himself is very knowledgeable about superheroes. He loves superheroes, in particular, those from American comic books. Director Sato really liked that aspect as well. So Mr. Katsura pulled out a whole lot of ideas for what he wanted the superhero designs to be like. Fire emblem really is the kind of suit-wearing super hero you might find in American comic books.

A hero made with a bull as it's motif. Rock Bison is the kind of design you'll find in Japanese Tokusatsu, but not in American comics and that was the kind of variation we wanted it to have.

Tamura:

This right here is the CG check movie. We're running a check on the motion. We work on drawing the animation after we first make the CG.

Visual Effects Efforts

Ozaki:

Also, one of the visual aspects of Tiger & Bunny we were really conscientious about was depicting the heroes primarily through CG. The female character Blue Rose is the only one that's frequently hand drawn, but basically Tiger, Barnaby, and the others are all CG. They're designed to actually bear industry logos so since those industry logos would change over and over, we'd have to draw it over and over if they were hand drawn. That'd make it very difficult. But by making them CG, that kind of work, the swapping out of corporate logos, is not big deal.

One other reason is, we were keeping the world market in mind, and because of Pixar and Disney, CG animation is the visual style people around the world are most used to seeing. Hand-drawn animation certainly has its own good points, but in the end, we thought CG had the most universality and we designed each hero in CG. In doing it that way, we're able to come up with some pretty detailed imagery. For example, the hero Fire Emblem wears a cape, and that cape constantly flickers with fire as a pattern. If that was hand-drawn we couldn't do something like that. Those are the kinds of visual effects we focused on.

About Kotetsu

Ozaki:

The design for the character Kotetsu was clearly risky. For starters, he's middle-aged, has a beard, and is a single father. Characters like that in animation are, well, how do I say…it's a fact that they're hard for viewers to accept. The truth is, we were half hopeful and half fearful, but in the end we went with that design for the animation, and luckily, he's well accepted right now. We're actually getting word from the fans that they can empathize with him, and we're very happy to hear that reaction.

Kotetsu wasn't the only character, there's his partner, the younger Barnaby. This is a buddy story. By having another main character, we think we've established a very nice balance. Kotetsu's a middle-aged guy who used to be popular back in the day, but lately he's not doing so well. That's his character background. That said, there were things we wanted to illustrate thematically with him, like the importance of never giving up, of the bonds between people, things of that nature.

Plus, Hollywood movies, especially lately, are getting lots of sequels, and as the main character's actor gets older, they write the character to age with him. By part 4 or 5, he's already middle aged. Their refusal to give up, their continued fight, gave us some queues as well. You can say it's targeted more towards adults. As for me, I want to create dramas with universality, dramas that people of any generation can sympathize with and to keep making them in the future. That's what I hope for.

Source:

[cotharach]

#COTHARACH: an affiliated flayn rp blog, loved and cherished by mik (20, they/them, gmt +8). a little fish swimming through the tides of a new world. rules and portrayal notes may be found under the cut!

RULES

ON AFFILIATION: this blog is affiliated with the officers academy. as such, personal blogs and rp blogs not affiliated with toa will be softblocked or blocked.

ON SHIPPING: i won't prioritize it but i am open to shipping with chemistry and ooc familiarity. my other caveats are that i am NOT open to shipping with non-students or non-minors and that i would like for things to be plotted out.

ON FORMATTING: i use small text with icons in my writing. if you have any issues with readability or would like me to change my format, please let me know! as for my personal preference: i would prefer it if my partners could use small text in their replies so i can read it more easily <3

ON OOC CONTACT: as tumblr's IMs have been acting up recently (for me at least) i prefer discord dms. my username is emblian! i am part of toa's discord server so you may also ping me there. i will let you all know now that, while i have grown more comfortable speaking with others ooc, i am still prone to bouts of anxiety and may pull back at any given moment. please don't take this personally! i may just need some space and time to get myself together.

ON REPLIES: my schedule has gotten considerably less free since i'm starting my semester so expect me to take anywhere from a week to a month to reply. i'll do my best to avoid having my partners wait for too long, of course, but i just want to be clear just in case you think i might be ghosting you or forgetting our thread. though that's not out of the question—i'm also a pretty forgetful person, so feel free to ping me if you feel that may be the case!

ON TRIGGER WARNINGS: i will use general trigger warnings for things such as gore, extreme violence, suicide, and other topics that i deem sensitive enough to warrant it. i will be using "tw // (word)" as a tag. if you have any triggers you'd like me to tag, please feel free to let me know through a dm. i also tag spoilers under "spoilers" but... for a series this old, i don't know what else there is to spoil JDFNLKDSJFG

ON OTHER FIRE EMBLEM GAMES: i am most familiar with three houses, thracia, heroes, and awakening but have a general grasp on most of the other games. it can only take me so far, though. for games/characters i'm not too familiar with, i hope you don't mind if i ask questions!

PORTRAYAL NOTES ( NOT SPOILER FREE) (IT'S BEEN FIVE YEARS)

it has been 3 years since flayn was last here, so i understand that it may be confusing to have her suddenly drop in with all of the progress she's made. the explanation i have (detailed more in this post) is that she has been on a holy mission around fodlan this whole time.

my interpretation is based mainly on her in academy phase, once you've recruited her. so you can assume she has already been kidnapped and rescued and all that jazz.

three hopes revealed to us that flayn is prone to overexertion due to her actions in the war. this was something missing from my old interpretation that i'll be integrating into things i see fit.

people who know seteth may also be familiar with flayn; students of the blue lion house should also be familiar with her (and she will be similarly familiar with them) so you're free to skip the pleasantries and go straight to action. for ease of interaction, i assume that our muses have been introduced to one another in mission threads or settings that are official school business (i.e. an assignment), but do let me know if you prefer otherwise.

flayn is a nabatean, and while fellow dragonkin (or even particularly nosy humanfolk) may sense or suspect something up with her identity, it's a fact that won't be explicitly known by people who aren't seteth or rhea. so even if you and i know who she really is, your muse won't. having her reveal this to other people is not out of the question, but will take a long time and lots of trust.

similarly, her identity as seteth's daughter should be secret to everyone except for her, seteth, rhea, and other nabateans. so your muse wouldn't know the true nature of her familial relationship with seteth unless she says so (but this is something i feel she has less reason to reveal, as it implicates seteth too)

[curvingsunsets]

A Kiss To Remember

A/N: you guys remember when I used to write? Me too. Here’s a Tom!Peter x Reader I started days after NWH came out and only just finished. (i’m. so sorry.) I’m a sucker for silly tropes and a firm believer that a silly kiss will solve everything. Also, I am trying my best to get back into writing! Please be patient with me!

Summary: After the events of NWH, you’ve moved on with your life, forgetting entirely about your boyfriend. Peter, on the other hand, has never let you leave his mind. After a nasty fight, he decides the only place he can go to is you.

Warnings: Blood mentions and cleaning wounds.

The weather wasn’t exactly the friendliest that night. The wind was howling and even with the coziest blanket you could find, the air still somehow nipped at your skin. It was probably the shitty window seal the builders left years ago when the dorms were built. But, you were too cold to even think about complaining, just turning the small space heater closer to you.

You tried to bury yourself deeper into the warmth of your sweater while still trying to focus on the homework that taunted you.

Peter didn’t know where to go. The dark void he’d just faced was something he��d never experienced before, especially with such little technology on his side, something he knew he had to start getting used to.

As he swung through the city, he thought of what he should do. He couldn’t go home since the wounds on his back would leave him restless and angry. The only other spot he could think of was you. So that’s where he went. He made his way to the MIT campus and landed on the fire escape of what he hoped was your dorm, if he remembered correctly.

A thud on the fire escape pulled you away from the countless mathematical equations running through your mind. You weren’t willing to inspect the cause of the sound, probably a bird anyways, you’d assumed. It wasn’t until you heard a muffled groan through the glass that you were lured out of bed.

Opening the thin curtains, you found none other than the infamous Spider-Man huddled over in what looked like incredible pain. You gasp lightly and unlock the window, sliding it open, being slapped with a sharp gust of wind. Something in your gut told you that you had to help him. So, you held out a gentle hand. “Come inside,” you say kindly,” it is way too cold for you to be lounging out on my fire escape.”

He looked at you for a moment, recalling everything that happened before Stephen cast that spell. His chest stung in an emotional pain, rather than the physical. Your concerned face almost calmed him. He remembered the days where he’d come into school and you’d notice a small wound on his forehead and make him stay still as you cleaned it.

He shakes himself out of the daydream and laughs softly, the first thing you heard come out of him other than guttural pain. He takes your hand and slips into the room, immediately sighing in relief at the change in temperature. “Thank you,” he says through chattering teeth, desperately trying to warm himself up.

You lead him to sit down at your desk, immediately draping the abandoned blanket over his shoulders. You open one of the drawers of the desk and pull out a small first-aid kit your mom packed you “Just in case!” You lean closer to the wound on his stomach, figuring out what way you should approach the situation.

“Wh-what what are you doin’?” you hear the masked hero ask.

“What, you think I’m just gonna let you in and not patch you up?” you laugh slightly and begin wiping up as much blood as your small towel would allow. You look up at his suit itself, noticing the difference in hue and emblem than you remembered. “New suit?” you ask.

He looks down momentarily and stutters out, “Y-yeah…wanted to try it out.”

“Have all of your suits been this thin?” your words kind of spill out before you can really think them over. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t really be asking that.”

“No no no! It’s alright, I swear.” Even through his mask, you could somehow tell that he was being genuine. “Something happened a few weeks ago, I sort of…lost my old suits.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” you say kindly, beginning to poorly sew up the laceration on his stomach. “Now, I’m no medic, so this might not be your best fix,” you explain, paying close attention to your task.

He watched as your tongue poked out from your soft lips as you fixed him up. He knew he couldn’t say anything, but it reminded him of the time he’d tore a hole in his shirt in Italy and you’d offered to patch it up for him.

The two of you fell silent, him from pain and you from not knowing how to start a conversation with a literal superhero. Nothing was said until you finished patching up his stomach. He looked down at your work and nodded.

“Thank you,” he said softly. Even through the mask, you could see something in his eye that was almost studying you. The way the silence filled the air left him room to ponder.

“What?” you ask quietly through a breath, finally realizing the very little distance between the two of you. “Oh.” You can feel your face heat up before you pull yourself back and make distance between you and the superhero.

He looks around your room, probably trying to find some sort of conversation starter. He pulls the blanket tighter around his shoulders and notices a small teddy bear on your desk adorned in an MIT shirt. “MIT, huh? Okay, smartypants,” he quips, a small and somewhat familiar laugh falls out of his mouth.

You shake your head and smile at him, “It’s not that impressive.” You take another look and notice a pool of blood on his forehead. “You’re bleeding,” you say and place a gentle hand near the wound…just like that day in highschool. “I don’t know if I can get into the mask to fix this one..” you explain.

He hesitated for a moment. He wanted you to know, He wanted you to be able to remember everything and the regret was burning in his chest.

“Y/N..” he lets out softly, immediately grabbing all of your attention.

You’re quiet for a moment, looking over him for probably the 50th time that night. Memories in your mind playing over, just slightly blurred it seems. “I know you,” you begin, “more than I think I do.” You reach for the edge of his mask, hesitating slightly.

He doesn’t stop you, almost sighing in relief when you pull the fabric off of his face. He looks up at your eyes for some sort of sign that you know who he is.

You say nothing, just continue studying him as if he were the rarest crystal in the universe. Something pulls you to him, making you cup his chin slightly. You knew who he was, you’d both shared Dr. Osbourne’s lectures in the main hall from time to time. But something made you think you knew him in a more…personal sense.

Peter’s mind is racing. He noticed a glimmer in your eye for a moment before he reached to hold your hands. “What’re you thinkin’?”

There's something nagging at the back of your mind. Endless moments frozen with a blurry haze begging to be released. Silent moments in the middle of the night while studying for tests, the quiet buzz of the space heater being the only noise. A failed attempt at a pottery class, gentle hands guiding yours over the wet clay.

Your body moves faster than your mind as you gently cup his face, leaning in closer.

He gives you a silent nod before you break the distance and place a soft kiss against his lips. You feel him let out a held breath and his hands find home in your hair.

Every memory, every moment begins flooding back into your mind. The magic that withheld them fizzling away as the two of you kiss. From the first day of fifth grade when he so graciously got his juicy fruit bubble gum stuck to the new sweater your grandmother knit you, to the night after the homecoming dance where you so graciously discovered his other identity. The most recent one just so happened to take place at the statue of liberty, the sky looked as if it were tearing apart at the seams.

And that's where the memories stopped. You don’t know how, but you ended up here, barely knowing the boy you were in love with for a majority of your life.

He didn't give you any more time to think before he pulled away from the kiss.

“Peter, I-” you begin, but the boy cut you off.

“You know me?” he asks, his eyes nearly bursting out of his head.

You nod, a sigh of relief escaping your mouth as your hands found his shoulders. “My Peter.” You note the relieved smile on his face. “But…how?” your eyebrows knit together. “How could I have forgotten?”

He lets out a playful scoff, “I may or may not have asked Doctor Strange to make the entire universe forget about Peter Parker…” his words trail off as the sentence finishes. He looks up at your eyes, scanning them for any anger or hurt, but all he could see was relief.

You shake your head almost in disbelief. “You’re lucky I love you, Pete.”

He runs his hands down your arms, taking yours in his own. “And I love you, too,” he’s kissing your knuckles, exhaustion starting to eat at him.

“Stay with me?” you ask quietly. “We have a bit to catch up on, anyways.” After his sleepy nod of approval, you peel away from him to grab a change of clothes. You toss them his way and get situated on your bed

Once he’s changed and comfortable, he joins you, resting his head in your lap. It’s something he always used to do and it brings him an overdue feeling of safety. Your hand finds comfort in the messy knots at the top of his head. Before you can say a word, his breathing comes to a slow, a soft snore leaving his parted lips. You smile down at him and find your own comfort, drifting off soon after.

The weather wasn’t exactly the friendliest that night. The wind was howling and even with the coziest blanket you could find, the air still somehow nipped at your skin. It was probably the shitty window seal the builders left years ago when the dorms were built. But, you were too cold to even think about complaining, just turning the small space heater closer to you.

You tried to bury yourself deeper into the warmth of your sweater while still trying to focus on the homework that taunted you.

Peter didn’t know where to go. The dark void he’d just faced was something he’d never experienced before, especially with such little technology on his side, something he knew he had to start getting used to.

As he swung through the city, he thought of what he should do. He couldn’t go home since the wounds on his back would leave him restless and angry. The only other spot he could think of was you. So that’s where he went. He made his way to the MIT campus and landed on the fire escape of what he hoped was your dorm, if he remembered correctly.

A thud on the fire escape pulled you away from the countless mathematical equations running through your mind. You weren’t willing to inspect the cause of the sound, probably a bird anyways, you’d assumed. It wasn’t until you heard a muffled groan through the glass that you were lured out of bed.

Opening the thin curtains, you found none other than the infamous Spider-Man huddled over in what looked like incredible pain. You gasp lightly and unlock the window, sliding it open, being slapped with a sharp gust of wind. Something in your gut told you that you had to help him. So, you held out a gentle hand. “Come inside,” you say kindly,” it is way too cold for you to be lounging out on my fire escape.”

He looked at you for a moment, recalling everything that happened before Stephen cast that spell. His chest stung in an emotional pain, rather than the physical. Your concerned face almost calmed him. He remembered the days where he’d come into school and you’d notice a small wound on his forehead and make him stay still as you cleaned it.

He shakes himself out of the daydream and laughs softly, the first thing you heard come out of him other than guttural pain. He takes your hand and slips into the room, immediately sighing in relief at the change in temperature. “Thank you,” he says through chattering teeth, desperately trying to warm himself up.

You lead him to sit down at your desk, immediately draping the abandoned blanket over his shoulders. You open one of the drawers of the desk and pull out a small first-aid kit your mom packed you “Just in case!” You lean closer to the wound on his stomach, figuring out what way you should approach the situation.

“Wh-what what are you doin’?” you hear the masked hero ask.

“What, you think I’m just gonna let you in and not patch you up?” you laugh slightly and begin wiping up as much blood as your small towel would allow. You look up at his suit itself, noticing the difference in hue and emblem than you remembered. “New suit?” you ask.

He looks down momentarily and stutters out, “Y-yeah…wanted to try it out.”

“Have all of your suits been this thin?” your words kind of spill out before you can really think them over. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t really be asking that.”

“No no no! It’s alright, I swear.” Even through his mask, you could somehow tell that he was being genuine. “Something happened a few weeks ago, I sort of…lost my old suits.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” you say kindly, beginning to poorly sew up the laceration on his stomach. “Now, I’m no medic, so this might not be your best fix,” you explain, paying close attention to your task.

He watched as your tongue poked out from your soft lips as you fixed him up. He knew he couldn’t say anything, but it reminded him of the time he’d tore a hole in his shirt in Italy and you’d offered to patch it up for him.

The two of you fell silent, him from pain and you from not knowing how to start a conversation with a literal superhero. Nothing was said until you finished patching up his stomach. He looked down at your work and nodded.

“Thank you,” he said softly. Even through the mask, you could see something in his eye that was almost studying you. The way the silence filled the air left him room to ponder.

“What?” you ask quietly through a breath, finally realizing the very little distance between the two of you. “Oh.” You can feel your face heat up before you pull yourself back and make distance between you and the superhero.

He looks around your room, probably trying to find some sort of conversation starter. He pulls the blanket tighter around his shoulders and notices a small teddy bear on your desk adorned in an MIT shirt. “MIT, huh? Okay, smartypants,” he quips, a small and somewhat familiar laugh falls out of his mouth.

You shake your head and smile at him, “It’s not that impressive.” You take another look and notice a pool of blood on his forehead. “You’re bleeding,” you say and place a gentle hand near the wound…just like that day in highschool. “I don’t know if I can get into the mask to fix this one..” you explain.

He hesitated for a moment. He wanted you to know, He wanted you to be able to remember everything and the regret was burning in his chest.

“Y/N..” he lets out softly, immediately grabbing all of your attention.

You’re quiet for a moment, looking over him for probably the 50th time that night. Memories in your mind playing over, just slightly blurred it seems. “I know you,” you begin, “more than I think I do.” You reach for the edge of his mask, hesitating slightly.

He doesn’t stop you, almost sighing in relief when you pull the fabric off of his face. He looks up at your eyes for some sort of sign that you know who he is.

You say nothing, just continue studying him as if he were the rarest crystal in the universe. Something pulls you to him, making you cup his chin slightly. You knew who he was, you’d both shared Dr. Osbourne’s lectures in the main hall from time to time. But something made you think you knew him in a more…personal sense.

Peter’s mind is racing. He noticed a glimmer in your eye for a moment before he reached to hold your hands. “What’re you thinkin’?”

There's something nagging at the back of your mind. Endless moments frozen with a blurry haze begging to be released. Silent moments in the middle of the night while studying for tests, the quiet buzz of the space heater being the only noise. A failed attempt at a pottery class, gentle hands guiding yours over the wet clay.

Your body moves faster than your mind as you gently cup his face, leaning in closer.

He gives you a silent nod before you break the distance and place a soft kiss against his lips. You feel him let out a held breath and his hands find home in your hair.

Every memory, every moment begins flooding back into your mind. The magic that withheld them fizzling away as the two of you kiss. From the first day of fifth grade when he so graciously got his juicy fruit bubble gum stuck to the new sweater your grandmother knit you, to the night after the homecoming dance where you so graciously discovered his other identity. The most recent one just so happened to take place at the statue of liberty, the sky looked as if it were tearing apart at the seams.

And that's where the memories stopped. You don’t know how, but you ended up here, barely knowing the boy you were in love with for a majority of your life.

He didn't give you any more time to think before he pulled away from the kiss.

“Peter, I-” you begin, but the boy cut you off.

“You know me?” he asks, his eyes nearly bursting out of his head.

You nod, a sigh of relief escaping your mouth as your hands found his shoulders. “My Peter.” You note the relieved smile on his face. “But…how?” your eyebrows knit together. “How could I have forgotten?”

He lets out a playful scoff, “I may or may not have asked Doctor Strange to make the entire universe forget about Peter Parker…” his words trail off as the sentence finishes. He looks up at your eyes, scanning them for any anger or hurt, but all he could see was relief.

You shake your head almost in disbelief. “You’re lucky I love you, Pete.”

He runs his hands down your arms, taking yours in his own. “And I love you, too,” he’s kissing your knuckles, exhaustion starting to eat at him.

“Stay with me?” you ask quietly. “We have a bit to catch up on, anyways.” After his sleepy nod of approval, you peel away from him to grab a change of clothes. You toss them his way and get situated on your bed

Once he’s changed and comfortable, he joins you, resting his head in your lap. It’s something he always used to do and it brings him an overdue feeling of safety. Your hand finds comfort in the messy knots at the top of his head. Before you can say a word, his breathing comes to a slow, a soft snore leaving his parted lips. You smile down at him and find your own comfort, drifting off soon after.

[velvetchroniclesblog]

Shifting Tonal Expectations using Video Game Music (Part 1)

For every video game that I ended up loving, there was one constant across all of them: an excellent and emotionally provoking soundtrack that complements the rest of the experience naturally. Be it an epic battle against an unfathomable existence, an emotional milestone for our beloved characters or simply a new beginning, video game music always manages to grab the player's attention and pull them into its own world.

In many cases, these tracks aim to fulfill one of many things: establishing the tone of the experience and, by extension, giving the players a taste of the adventure that they are about to go on.

But what happens when the established tone has changed? That's where video game music shines even brighter: establishing and communicating a tonal shift to the players without a single word being uttered.

In this series of posts, I'll be presenting and analyzing some brilliant examples of this technique, and going through their context, usage and result of said usage.

What about spoilers?

There will be spoilers for The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC, Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Persona 3. Regarding Persona 3, the tracks that will be linked in the posts will be the ones from the Reload release of the game. If you're a returning player who hasn't played Reload yet and wants to go in fully blind, you might wanna skip that post!

Next Up

[ussenterpeen]

DENOUEMENT'S MOST WANTED

Denouement is an interdimensional hub world which pulls people in from all parts of the multiverse -- via rifts, inter-dimensional tears which will open in mid-air, suck your character through them, and drop them off in a random region.

Denouement is an 18+ pan/multifandom RP set in a unique world, with both site-wide and member run plots as well as seasonal world changes. We offer forum-based thread writing, Discord thread and Tupperbox-based chat RP, and real-time ICC (in character chat) via Discord channels and Cboxes.

Given that we are a mfrp allowing for characters from almost any media, we have a very diverse active fandom and characters list. Our most wanted fandoms include:

The Adventure Zone AFK Assassin’s Creed American Horror Story Arcane/League of Legends Baldur’s Gate Black Sails Borderlands The Boys Castlevania Chainsaw Man Code Geass DC Dead Boy Detectives Destiny Doctor Who Dungeon Meshi Final Fantasy Fire Emblem Genshin Impact Interview with the Vampire Jujutsu Kaisen Marvel Mortal Kombat The Murderbot Diaries My Hero Academia Naruto One Piece Overwatch Persona Red Dead Redemption Resident Evil RWBY Silent Hill Soul Eater Star Trek Star Wars Stranger Things Supernatural Ted Lasso The Vampire Diaries The World Ends With You Yu-Gi-Oh Yuppie Psycho

Come say hi on Discord! http://discord.gg/bWmwFr2

[askrena]

#ASKRENA: an affiliated sharena rp blog, summoned by mik (20, they/them, gmt +8). fighting for lasting peace with love as our spear. rules and portrayal notes may be found under the cut!

RULES

ON AFFILIATION: this blog is affiliated with the officers academy. as such, personal blogs and rp blogs not affiliated with toa will be softblocked or blocked.

ON SHIPPING: not prioritizing it at the moment!

ON FORMATTING: i use small text with icons in my writing. if you have any issues with readability or would like me to change my format, please let me know! as for my personal preference: i would prefer it if my partners could use small text in their replies so i can read it more easily <3

ON OOC CONTACT: as tumblr’s IMs have been acting up recently (for me at least) i prefer discord dms. my username is emblian! i am part of toa’s discord server so you may also ping me there. i will let you all know now that, while i have grown more comfortable speaking with others ooc, i am still prone to bouts of anxiety and may pull back at any given moment. please don’t take this personally! i may just need some space and time to get myself together.

ON REPLIES: my schedule has gotten considerably less free since i’m starting my semester so expect me to take anywhere from a week to a month to reply. i’ll do my best to avoid having my partners wait for too long, of course, but i just want to be clear just in case you think i might be ghosting you or forgetting our thread. though that’s not out of the question—i’m also a pretty forgetful person, so feel free to ping me if you feel that may be the case!

ON TRIGGER WARNINGS: i will use general trigger warnings for things such as gore, extreme violence, suicide, and other topics that i deem sensitive enough to warrant it. i will be using “tw // (word)” as a tag. if you have any triggers you’d like me to tag, please feel free to let me know through a dm. i also tag spoilers under “spoilers” but… for a series this old, i don’t know what else there is to spoil JDFNLKDSJFG

ON OTHER FIRE EMBLEM GAMES: i am most familiar with three houses, thracia, heroes, and awakening but have a general grasp on most of the other games. it can only take me so far, though. for games/characters i’m not too familiar with, i hope you don’t mind if i ask questions!

PORTRAYAL NOTES  (SPOILER FREE)

sharena is a returning student: muses who knew her from before may still know her now and vice versa. she has brought along alfonse this time around!

as a member of the order of heroes (and author of meet the heroes) sharena is familiar with a large number of the fire emblem cast, regardless of whether or not she's actually met them in the academy. of course, she knows that they are different from their summoned versions here, and won't bring it up, but she will recognize several of the students here despite being strangers.

this sharena is taken after book 7 but before book 8 begins. she will remain this way until a month after book 8 ends. this is just to ensure that her portrayal remains consistent and is not constantly updating every month (though, let's face it... sharena hasn't had much meaningful development these past few books... sob sobs)

[femuirdris]

Otherworldly

Fire Emblem Heroes | Rating: G | Character Focus: Chrom, F!Robin | Ship(s): M!Chrobin, F!Chrobin

A new Robin is summoned to Askr, unbeknownst to Chrom.

Chrobin Week 2023, Day 1: Encounter

[Read on AO3!]

As he paraded through the Askr castle grounds, Chrom found a familiar hooded figure leaned up against a tree, a large tome in his hands.

“Oh, Robin! There you are! Are you up for a round of sparring? The summoner has some new training manuals I’d love to practice!”

The person returning his gaze was most certainly not Robin, despite sharing the same tactician’s coat and… outfit? How curious. They also shared the same silvery locks, but this one had much longer hair pulled into twin tails spilling from their hood. Their eyes were a deeper brown than the gold he knew. And yet… they seemed so familiar…

“Chrom?!”

“Ah, then you know who I am?” Chrom asked, perplexed.

They chuckled. “Ha ha, very funny. Next you’re going to tell me that there are better places to study a tome than the ground.”

Chrom’s heart fluttered like a newborn pegasus at their smile, but despite the feeling of familiarity, he took a cautionary step back. “I-I am afraid we have never met.”

“Chrom,” they said sternly, standing up to put their hands on their hips, “It’s me, Robin! Your wife! Did the summoner’s portal give you amnesia?”

Wife… wife?!

…Robin?!

“I-er, my apologies, milady, but—but I am happily married to… er… Robin… my husband Robin!”

“Your… but we’re… how…”

Chrom crossed his arms, doing his best to wrap his mind around how there could possibly be two Robins here—let alone one of another gender whom he had never met! At least when a second Robin showed up in his world, it was an alternate future version of the Robin he married. Gods, even that was difficult for him to grasp.

“I’m… not entirely familiar with what the summoner’s power entails, but… perhaps… Much like my daughter Lucina came to my time from her future…”

Her face lit up with realization. “There could be other worlds…! How fascinating… Other worlds with other mes… and—“ she paused, her lips pulling into a frown. “And Chroms who aren’t the one I know.”

Chrom stepped forward, placing a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder. “I may not be the Chrom from your world, and we may not have the same exact experiences, but fate brought us together all the same.”

She smiled once more, a warmer one this time. He took a moment to more closely evaluate her features—a rounder jaw, thinner brows, slightly fuller lips… but still unmistakably Robin. And unlike in his world, where Lucina’s future Robin was overtaken by Grima… this was Robin through and through.

She slowly touched a gloved hand to his face, her lips gently pursed as though she was throughly examining him, too. “You really are Chrom from another world, aren’t you?”

“Hmm?”

Her hand grazed his ear. “There.” She jetted a laugh from her nose, though Chrom couldn’t possibly fathom why. A missing battle scar, perhaps? Based on the blush painting her cheeks, maybe they had a scuffle during a sparring match—but she didn’t seem to be jumping to explain herself.

“You’ve the keen eye of a tactician! Fortunately for me, the differences between you and my Robin are not quite so subtle… though you still managed to fool me,” he joked, eliciting a shy giggle from Robin. “Would you like to meet him?”

She grinned, that familiar thirst for knowledge in her eyes. “Absolutely!”

[crows-home]

Hello hellooooo I have thoughts about Tiger and Bunny :) below the cut because it's so long lmao. I tried to keep spoilers out of it, for the most part, but this is mainly me talking about things i liked

I really liked the character designs. It's what immediately drew my eye and hooked me when I was just channel surfing and came across it. I was like holy shit!!! Black people drawn super well in an anime!!!! It's something that I wasn't used to, Made my heart sing yk.

I adored the character designs for the most part!! Yeah some of them (barnaby) looked silly, but it really fit their character. It's a superhero anime- I was expecting it!

Oh man, speaking of, I'm such a goner for superhero/ mecha stuff. Some of my favorite franchises growing up were Transformers, Power Rangers, and Tenkai Knights. So when I flipped through channels, saw the heroes in action and the fighting/ animation, my brain went "!!!!!!! Yes!!!" I gushed over Tiger and Barnaby's hero suits, heck, everyone's hero suits. It just scratches an itch in my brain.

I watched the dub, and I thought it was great!! Lots of funny lines and great deliveries :) ("and what's that over there?" "Oh that's. A building." "And that?" "...also.. A building." And "I don't talk like that!" "I dOnt TaLk liKe ThAT!" And God any line where Bunny was crying was just so good. Really pulled on my heart strings even when I wasn't expecting it to) Sure, some of the scenes were corny, but I was expecting it!

The plot was solid, though I can see where some holes might be poked. But there was so much character in every episode, I love the teamwork and the way everyone interacted with each other. And the attention that was placed on their relationships with their families. Even if I wish for more, it's fun to play around with in my head. Like, I'm sure Fire Emblem was a big step forward, in universe, for gay rights and their flirty, flamboyant attitude is the biggest "fuck you" to homophobes. I'm sure Dragon Kid's debut, at 13, caused a commotion about children doing hero work, especially when she's getting hurt so much. I'm sure there's a lot of background politics at play regarding heroes and their sponsors that we don't see. I know a lot of this was left out, because they wanted a story with one plot, because they weren't sure how far this series would go, because it just wasn't as interesting. But oh man, these things have been in my head ever since I watched it. Tiger and Bunny is a fun playground.

(I'm going to be honest, I went in without high expectations for the plot. I was just here for cool fight scenes)

I appreciated the direction they took Karina's crush on Kotetsu. I was really wary at first. She's 15? 16? and he's like 36. If they were going to be pairing up the underage girl with the grown man she had a crush on, I was prepared to drop the whole show and hate it. But no!! The progression was sweet, the way Kotetsu obviously sees her as a daughter, and how Karina evolved into her feelings was just :')

Also. Holy fucking shit. Barnabys entire life just. Put out there, for the whole world to see. I can't imagine the sense of perversion that creates. The world knows his name, his backstory, everything. He no longer has his own life, his own choices. It's ridiculous, and I'm glad he had people there to support him.

UNLIKE KOTETSU JEEZ. Man was getting the short end of the stick at every turn ToT I felt so bad for him every time he tried to hard to be recognized, but also just embarrassed. Give him a break!!!

And. Even before going into this, I knew that people would ship Tiger and Bunny. I've been around the block, I know how this shit goes, especially in these types of shows. Two guys being super close, going on about their friendship and all that, is bound to attract shipping. I wasn't against it!- I was just ready for it, but was mostly planning on ignoring it.

But. Holy shit. It's really all there huh. They're like. in Love Love.

("you're only partners for each other." "You two fight like an old married couple." "we dont need to talk to know what the other is thinking." "you're always making me think about you."

Kotetsu "I wonder how Bunny's doing again" Kaburagi and Barnaby "Have I told you about Kotetsu today yet" Brooks Jr. Neither of you are subtle.)

I'll make another post with some more detailed criticisms and takes, but for now, this is all my brain wants to gush about

[miquellah]

i dont usually communicate through asks but since you asked- im doing pretty good rn in college! despite it all.

looking forward to being able to pull for muelsyse sometime soon!! arknights is the only game i really play lately, ive found the energy needed to boot up something thats on more than a phone to be rare. congrats on kicking arknights btw, glad its been good for you! oh, about quitting gacha games, a friend finally deleted fire emblem heroes recently but only because it started giving him network errors?? he even tried redownloading, but soon after it gave the same error so now he is done until a favorite character becomes available again or smth lol

yeahhh glad ur doing well!! fingers crossed for your mumu rolls too. kicking gachas honestly wasn't intentional on my part, but like... ive been soooo so so busy, and then ive basically already reached my gacha goals, and im just plain kinda fatigued with em after around 6+ years. so it's not bad to have a break!

feh has long since just been a "yippee free rolls" game for me. i'm keeping it around until rosado hits, but, who knows when that'll happen :/ i sure haven't noticed any errors like that tho, wow

[nowis-scales]

Just Leave A Comment Fest July 2023 Final Results

What a lovely comment fest it was this time! Just as lovely as the last, I’d say. My total this time was 22. It’s a little less than last time and I was hoping to shoot for 30, but at the risk of sounding like I’m going against the “no excuses just results” motto… between a job working with kids and a case of aggressive sniffles, I’m still pretty pleased with what I managed to do. I’ll just try and keep up the momentum for afterwards! Still have two unfinished comments I need to drop, after all!

Anyway, here are the fics I chose for the Fire Emblem side of things. If you happen to be a Danganronpa fan as well, click here to see my picks for that fandom! Anyway, without further ado, here’s my July 2023 Just Leave a Comment Fest results!

“The Cruel Light of Morning” by Topaz Crystals (Topaz_Enigma): A FE Echoes one-shot written about Berkut and Rinea, specifically confronting their issues with communication. What I really liked about this one is that it doesn’t paint an entirely rosy picture of their romance. You can still obviously see that there is love that was shared there, that the two of them chose to be together long ago for reasons that are beginning to seem not as strong. They cannot reconcile their differences when it comes to matters of wars, and though neither of them says it, you know it is driving them apart. I love how this fic isn’t afraid to confront the more troublesome side of the Berkut/Rinea romance, and makes it clear that things are crumbling… and that it’s not just Rinea who notices. This is a refreshing, interesting interpretation of their romance, so I was really glad to find this one!

“Flower Rising on the Wind” by absolutebearings: I picked this one up not too long before the comment fest began, and boy, did it deliver on everything it said it would be. This one is a long fic centred around a romance between Tsubaki and Hana of FE Fates, also confronting worldbuilding and relationship building aspects. It toys a lot with Tsubaki’s anxiety and Hana’s desire to prove herself, playing with the push and pull of their relationship. It is still in its early chapters, but the characterizations are crisp and the writing just sings. With the additional confrontation of things like Hoshido’s sexism, for example, I think this story will be one that a lot of people can come to enjoy. Definite recommendation, and one I know I’ll be looking forward to for a long time.

“Quietus” by PsychedelicatePoltergeist: A short FE Awakening/FE Heroes drabble about Chrom/Robin. It’s an angst piece about Fell Chrom placing his trust in Robin one last time. The word choice is stellar, each sentence carefully crafted to hit the emotional beats with precision and ease. Honestly, it’s a perfect example of how to make the most of a drabble! You can just tell how much care to the author put into making it, which made it a great read.

“Improving Relations” by SuperAnimeNinja: This one is a FE Fates two-shot about Xander trying to improve relations between Hoshido and Nohr by helping to care for a sick-and-stubborn -about-it Ryoma. What I loved about this one was how it greets the situation with both honesty and a bit of a sense of humour. The dialogue between Ryoma and Xander feels very natural, being quippy, intelligent, and properly silly at times. You definitely feel sympathy for what Ryoma is going through, but you know that he would benefit from Xander’s help if he would just let it happen. Overall, the best way I can categorize this one is just “fun”. It’s an entertaining read — the perfect thing to sit down with when you just need a Fates-related smile!

“Mess With My Hair and Tell Me I’m Safe” by UnePersonneLouche: Another FE Fates one-shot, this one is Hinoka-centric in a Conquest timeline. It goes a bit further in depth on her childhood, talking about how she handled the loss of Corrin and her father, and how this informed the relationship that she formed with Ryoma. As a big of Ryoma and Hinoka and their relationships as siblings, I was all over this one. It’s angsty, it’s emotional, but it also presents a hopeful ending in the form of Xander. You never get the sense that things will be completely okay and that Xander will replace the big brother Hinoka held so dear, but it cements the idea that she will never truly be alone, and in a way I find that makes her calmness in the original Conquest ending more believable. Going more in depth on Hinoka was a brilliant idea, and the author did an amazing job.

“She Walks in Beauty” by anubisfkr: This one is set to be a FE Engage longfic about Diamant/Ivy, set specifically in an AU where the two of them are going to have an arranged marriage to help cease Brodian invasions of Elusia. Right away this one cemented itself as a great story for Ivy fans, characterizing her perfectly as both a leader and a person. It gets a little bit into her backstory, what with the concubine situation and her relationship with her mother, and also serves to highlight the more political aspects of the world of Engage. I loved this one right away, and I am so looking forward to where it is going next! I just had to put this one in my bookmarks, and make sure that I left a comment for the author telling them how much I loved it.

“The Flower’s Obsequies” by Zauzhi: A FE Engage two-shot, written as a character study on Céline. This one really caught me by surprise, because when you’re reading it, you can just tell how much thought the author has put into it. Their effort with getting into Céline’s mindset is so obvious, and they write both her and the surrounding characters so intelligently, sometimes you feel like you need to read some phrases a few times to make sure you’re getting the more complex thoughts. It also goes more into Céline’s childhood, particularly her relationship with her father, and makes for just a really good, well-planned character study. I think anyone with even a small interest in Céline should give it a try.

“Epiphany” by mooneichi: A FE Three Houses one-shot about Claude awkwardly trying to figure out Marianne. In particular, this one centers around him trying to understand her relationship with Hilda. It's also worth mentioning that this one is a modern volleyball AU, although the effect on the story is mostly setting. Overall, Marianne strikes him as quite mysterious in the story, so it's adorable to see how she just seems to melt as Hilda comes up and confirms for Claude that they've been dating for awhile. Seriously. I love stories where either of these two girls melts for the other because they're just so damn cute (it's a favourite Fire Emblem ship for me, what can I say?), so this was just a delight. It's a simple premise but oh so sweet, and I enjoyed it very much.

“Quick on the Uptake” by Dots: A FE Fates two-shot about Xander/Laslow! Have you ever admitted something while drunk, not meaning to have said what you said? Then you can probably sympathize with Laslow, who blurts out to Xander that he loves him, and promptly forgets overnight… Only problem is, Xander doesn’t. This one had some of that spectacular romance drama thrown in, and I couldn’t help but excitedly devour every word. Between Xander trying so hard to be cool about it, but also seeming like he didn’t know what to say… and Laslow slowly coming to realize what happened… gosh, it was amazing! And I’m pleased to say it has a happy ending, too, for someone who needs something of just the sort.

“Ash in the Wind” by Felikid: A FE Awakening one-shot where, to my surprise, Future Lucina and Risen King Chrom get an ending of their own. Lucina returns home in an effort to find her father, or rather, the corpse of who he used to be… and decides to forge a new future, just the two of them, even when little else remains. This one puts a positive spin on things that seem so desolate, and though it is still bittersweet, it is more than enough. For someone who loves Chrom and Lucina as deeply as I do, I was so happy to see the author’s unique take on an ending for them as father and daughter. I would never have thought of it myself, but it was pretty much perfect.

“In Moments, In Moonlight” by missmalyari: A FE Fates one-shot (you know I really didn't realize how many Fates stories I'd done until I got here, what can I say, it's my favourite FE) set to an AU without Corrin. Instead, it puts Azura in the Northern Fortress as a forgotten princess of Nohr, left there by Garon to be cast aside as the daughter of his late second wife. Similarly abandoned by his parents, Jakob is the one member of the Northern Fortress who has ever truly made Azura feel comfortable. The story follows a romance that blossoms between the two, carefully and gently, building up to an ending that just feels befitting of the two characters. As someone who has liked Azura/Jakob for a long time, I greatly enjoyed this AU. I'd had it in my bookmarks for ages, and now that I finally got around to reading it, I can confidently say it was worth the wait.

“Hiraeth” by Emblian: A FE3H one-shot about Flayn’s transition from Cethleann to Flayn, dealing with her Nabatean heritage and how she had to learn to be something else to be safe around humanity. As someone who has always been deeply interested in the presentation of race in novels, I loved the way the author used hints of the “Nabateans as an allegorical race” concept, and how they confronted the conflict within Flayn as she had to learn how to give things up that were once as natural to her as breathing. It was thoughtful, well-written, and a genuine delight to read. I am always craving more stories confronting the Nabatean experience, given that they are critically underused in FE3H, so this one was more than just a little satisfying.