#I STILL LOVE YUNAKA

[ringthief]

I'm terrible at keeping up with blogs but ... if you ever wanna plot and stuff. PLEASE let me know. ~

[fayesdiary]

If I didn't already plan to give the Pact Ring to Veyle I'd absolutely give it to Yunaka and in a romantic way this time around, her and Alear just fit so well as a couple parallels-wise

[waywardsalt]

fe engage absolutely just leaned into being absolutely totally okay with more than a few of its characters being silly freaks

[daydreamingsommie]

Engage's fascinating color theory

A lot of this could be a happy accident, but I'm sticking with it

Every nation has a national color that is used to represent them. Firene is blue. Brodia is red. Elusia is green. Solm is yellow. As you can see, all of the ruling monarchs wear these colors prominently

Of the Firenese characters, Most of them don't have blue in their color schemes. Alfred is the only one to distinctly have blue has his main color. While Chloé has blue hair, she doesn't wear blue and Jean's dark blue accentuates his green more than standing out

Their blues are balanced out compared to how boldly Alfred wear his

Even Céline doesn't wear blue, which makes sense with her character. There was a time when she thought she would be queen instead of Alfred, but when he recovered, she shifted focus towards supporting him instead. Her lack of blue can represent how she has chosen not to challenge his role

He's the one who holds Firene's pride. He's the one who wears Firene's blue the most. She doesn't wear blue to avoid taking any part of that pride for herself

Notably, while the retainers mostly lack blue, they still wear colors that compliment their royals. Boucheron and Etie wear shades of orange and green that compliment Alfred's blue and yellow. Meanwhile, Chloé and Louis both wear greens and golds that accentuate Céline's yellow and light green. I think that shows how they're not loyal to them out of fealty, but because of who they are as individuals. They're fighting for their friend, not their liege

Here's where things get interesting. All of the Brodians have prominent reds in their designs. Considering that Brodia is a military kingdom, it would make sense for it to also be the most patriotic. To have a consistent military presence, they would need more citizens dedicated to Brodia and what it stands for. Hence why more people are showing wearing the national color

The most red characters are Diamant and Lapis. While Diamant wears red as crown prince, Lapis may wear red as overcompensation. Lapis feels like she doesn't belong with the upper crust of Brodia. She's just a country girl and fears their judgement. Wearing her loyalty can be her way of trying to fit in

The least red characters are Yunaka and Citrinne. Yunaka's only source of red is her hair, but nothing else. This makes sense because while a part of her will always be from Brodia, she's not loyal to it and always goes as far away from it as possible in her ending

Citrinne, on the other hand, restricts her red to jewels and trinkets. Unlike Lapis who may be overcompensating, Citrinne may be avoiding red out of insecurity. Her main grievance is that she's afraid of bringing down Diamant and Alcryst. The lack of red despite her love for Brodia could represent how she feels unworthy to carry Brodia's honor. She still chooses to wear it out of love but won't champion it

Elusia, in direct contrast to Brodia, has almost no green characters

Only Goldmary features green in her design, but it's just very small details in an otherwise yellow outfit. Kagetsu, and Rosado are not Elusian natives. I don't know if Zelkov is. Anna is Anna...

Ivy and Hortensia, despite being Elusian royals, neither wears green. More significantly, they wear colors that directly contrast it. Reds and pinks are the opposite of green on the color wheel. This represents how they ultimately turn against the current-day Elusia

Aside from Anna, all of the Elusians have to defect from their homeland and they don't bring that green with them. Their loyalty eventually came to second to their morality. When surrounded by green Elusian NPCs in combat, their lack of green can show that they're different from the standard soldiers and lack the same kind of loyalty they have

Solm is unique in the sense that all of them have yellow or gold, but only as accent colors

Timerra, Fogado, and Seadall have noticeable yellows and golds. Merrin and Bunet are blond and have fitting accessories. Pandreo and Panette have gold eyes, though only Pandreo wears gold details in his outfit and those are easy to miss. (Although, Panette's orange jewels could look yellow depending on the lighting)

The fact that all of them have at least one thing that holds Solm's yellow, but don't show them aggressively fits how everyone has a deep love for Solm, but none of them have the same patriotism that is standard in Brodia

Everyone is their own person with personal goals and passions unique to them, but their love for the queendom is always there even if they're not acknowledging it at that specific time

Again, a lot of this could have easily been coincidences. It's not like I was on the development team. I don't know what their thought processes were. But either way, the color choices ended up being very fitting for all the characters regarding how much or how little of the national colors they wore in their designs

[dcggersedge]

"You can likely trust him," Sara casually informs Yunaka as everybody reconvenes just before the big battle. "But he may not be the Aes we know."

The Aeschylus they knew was never located, afterall.

"Though I am not certain if it was his intention, he sent us away when he broke the device they recovered."

The 'they' Sara knows were no longer of this world either, she realizes darkly and dully. People had died that day, trampled by a cosmic titan who could turn back time. And she had abandoned their broken bodies to oblivion, survived only because of the boy that forced her from harm's way to his own detriment.

She hasn't thought of any of them for years.

"…You know, Professor, I think being a hero is overrated."

"Is that so?"

She's been keeping an eye on him. Over in the distance as he works on...whatever he's working on, she keeps an eye on him. Her gaze briefly leaves him to glance at Sara (who still looks healthy, and alive, and that's more than enough for Yunaka) before returning again.

She scoffs lightly. "I've never been good at trusting." She admits quietly. "I prefer to leave that choice to the brighter stars." Even if they way they sometimes did it drove her insane with worry. She trusted them, and anything else she'd just wait and watch for them.

"...but I'll trust you, if you say so." It's better than the nothing they've been going on so far. Sara is smarter than that.

Smart enough that her statement makes Yunaka pause, head slowly tilting to the side as she considers it. "...huh." Do heroes ever aim to be so? Alear saved people because he loved them. Diamant wanted to protect people because he was good. Fogado made people smile because he didn't want them to worry.

By comparison...

"What would you cast yourself as, then, if you don't wanna be the hero?"

[nobilisseoblige]

It takes a while to find him, staying on the edges of the crowd where she can't get surprised by anyone. Looking through the gaps between people, dodging any wandering or curious eyes.

Eventually, she finds him. He doesn't look good. It's her fault. She feels bad that she feels too tired to be guilty.

"Ferdinand." It takes a bit of a struggling still to reach him without getting too caught into the crowds, but she does it. She frowns as her eyes give him a once over. They should have done more. They should have at least been able to keep him safe.

"Are you alright? That wasn't...it wasn't great." He doesn't look like he's having trouble focusing his eyes...

She plasters the best fake smile on that she can. Even that's pretty awful. "Not exactly a shining performance from your professors, huh?"

“I am!” is the first utterance he managed, though he immediately began to muse on if that was truly the case. “I am Ferdinand Von Aegir, after all. you needn’t worry about me, Instructor Yunaka.”

there was truth to it, really. circumstances aside, he was still eighteen and bushy-browed— wet around the ears from the eagerness of needing to prove himself. though he wondered if at the core of it all, ‘alright’ was truly just a matter of mindset. his fingers gently teased some loose snowflakes from his scarf, feeling the flakes melt in his pads as he considered how he filled this space. these shoes. the sight in front of her. he had a quiet ring of exhaustion rolled twice around his eyes, feeling the consequences sinking in like an anchor out at sea.

“it was a particularly poor performance, especially on my part.” he rested his fist on his chest and bowed his head modestly. “I think we were all blindsided by the abrupt nature of this attack, so…” peering up, at first shyly, then with a blooming smile, Ferdinand continued. “we should all polish ourselves to shine next time, shouldn’t we?”

she smiled back. he is too much of himself to know it is not real. to him, it is real. and to him, he smiled back, though the honesty in his smile rendered a sort of peculiar humility that came with admitting his faults. there is a discerning realism to the bend of his brow, to the half-crook of his smile that lended itself to exhaustion. bleary vision made it hard for him to make out much of anything, and he rubbed his eye to make out her silhouette in the dim light. but, to him, she was a rather lovely sight after all this.

“do not fret.” he was talking for the both of them, puffing his plume of a chest as if his feathers numbered the amount of pride he had. “we are all tired. we’re all a variant of not-okay.”

he grinned. “but we’re alright, aren’t we?” contradicting himself. “I trust that, by surviving, we have to be. to some extent.”

“though I worry for our comrades out there…” a distant, far off gaze took him hundreds of miles away, back to Garreg Mach. “it is too much to think about right now. but we must confront the fact that Garreg Mach has fallen.”

gently, he combed through his thick muss of hair to straighten the locks that fell out of place. shaking snowflakes into his palm, Ferdinand Von Aegir laughed under his breath. “it’s cold out there, Instructor.” the snowflakes melted.

“stay warm. I care about you.”

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

Hello! ^-^

Can I please request Alear, Yunaka, Framme, and Etie hearing that their S/O worships the fell dragon, but when they question them it turns out they're just a massive fan of Robin?

This kind of scenario has been in my head since I started the game hehe.

Have a nice day ^-^ thank you for the stories!

(FE: Engage) Alear, Yunaka, Framme, and Etie's S/O worshipping the "Fell Dragon"

Now that I think about it, if you did worship the fell dragon legit but were still part of the good guys, would you get persecuted?

Alear immediately tenses up when S/O mentions they worshipped the Fell Dragon.

(Alear) "...Are...you truly okay helping us then, S/O? I'm the Divine Dragon after all."

(S/O) "Hm? Why wouldn't I be estatic? I get to fight alongside Robin, it's like a dream come true!"

(Alear) "O-Oh. That's what you mean."

Marth suddenly appeared next to her.

(Marth) "I'm not exactly sure Robin would feel comfortable being called that."

(S/O) "Hm...I suppose that is kinda insensitive."

(Alear) "...In more ways than one."

She simply sighs and shakes her head.

(Alear) "Saying that kinda thing will give people the wrong idea, S/O. Please make sure you choose your words more carefully."

Yunaka's eyes widen at the mention of the Fell Dragon.

(Yunaka) "You what?! But...Why are you even here, and why did you mention it so offhandedly?!"

(S/O) "Huh? What do you mean?"

(Yunaka) "People just don't go around saying "Oh, I worship the god trying to kill us!"

(S/O) "OH! No, I mean Robin!...Do you even know the history of Emblems Robin and Chrom?"

(Yunaka) "Probably enough to know that he'd probably hate being called that! Who the heck would start that as an icebreaker for a conversation!?"

(S/O) "I worship the Fell Dragon."

(Framme) "You

WHAT?!"

Framme screams out, waiting to beat S/O to death with her hands, or the accounting book of the fan club for the Divine Dragon.

(S/O) "Hey, what's wrong with liking Robin?! They're pretty cool!"

(Framme) "...Oh, that's what you mean!"

Framme quickly tossed aside a large rock.

(Framme) "Listen, you can't just casually saying that, considering what's going on out there!"

(S/O) "...Oh yeah, guess that does sound bad."

(Framme) "You think?!"

(Etie) "Oh, neat you worship the Fell Dra-What?"

Etie immediately stops wiping the sweat off herself and turns to S/O with an extremely concerned expression.

(Etie) "Are...you alright?"

(S/O) "Hm? I'm fine, why?"

(Etie) "You just said you worshipped the Fell Dragon, and you don't expect me to be surprised by that?"

(S/O) "But Chloé loves people like Sigurd for being fairy-tale esque. Can I not like Robin for being cool?"

(Etie) "OOOOOH! Okay, you meant RObin! Well, next time just say that instead of the freakin' dragon trying to kill us!"

(S/O) "Oh, yeah that is a good point."

(Etie) "Besides, I don't think you should just casually bring that up. If it were someone other than me, you might have gotten beaten up considering all of us here worship the Divine Dragon."

===

Bonus:

(Robin) "I'd...really appreciate if you didn't call me that."

(Chrom) "Honestly, I'm surprised that even got in the stories told around here."

(Lucina) "But it seems...distasteful, does it not?"

(Robin) "I suppose it makes sense, our past is just a story to them."

(Chrom) "Kind of like how Hoshido and Nohr's war is a story in our world, but current events for Camilla and Corrin."

(S/O) "My bad, I'll make sure not to call you Fell Dragon anymore!"

(Robin) "...Well, at least you're not going around, shouting "I love the Fell Dragon" to everyone you meet."

(S/O) "..."

(Robin) "...Oh my gods.-"

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

Panette is one of the greatest fire emblem characters in the series' history. Her design is so over the top but I love it so much, she seems really goofy and nice/cordial on the surface but uses that to hide away such pain and rage and sorrow that she's experienced. At first it seems like they just wanted a good Berserker/Wrath + Vantage user but her backstory really ties into why she has these proficiencies. Even still, despite these harrowing experiences, she's still searching for a family or a place to belong or just something to ground her and that's apparent especially in her supports with Alear and Ivy. Instead of hiding away from the world and the possibility of more pain, she still tries to reach out and make new friends and be herself unapologetically and that's so fucking healing for me to see. Also her supports with Pandreo give off really big trans vibes so I headcanon her as a trans woman which is surprisingly common in Engage tbh as I've seen a lot of people feel the same about Ivy and Yunaka and Merrin. I love Panette so much and I kinda doubt there will ever be a FE character I resonate with more past or future.

.

[yamishimadness]

Is it still Christler season? No

Do I care? Also no + its still winter so I can post this n still be on theme bb~

What can I say, Yunaka brings me joy n dam is it needed in these trying times + its long overdue art cuz this alt is a year old but thats just Sloth Gang TM for you! Speaking of joy, I tried playing round w the lineart n coloring on this piece n despite it taking longer than I originally thought, I love how it be looking nows! :>

A great way to celebrate my 4 years posting overall, 1 year over IG n Tumblr; Cara's isn't until Jun but 6 months ooo 🥳🎊

(PS, was planning for a celebratory Year of the Snake post as well but due to this piece's prolonged progress + me preparing for some irl bread I got going on, that'll be delayed to close to mid Feb at best, along w other artwork. I mean the sneks are gon be drawn regardless, this is the year for em after all, Im just saying its not how I planned it originally. Ima be manifesting on how Ima save Feb bread in the meanwhile X"P)

⭐️🔔⭐️🔔⭐️🔔

[amitieos]

toa anniversary munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Nic

Pronouns: they/them

Birthday (no year): 14th July

Where are you from? What is your time zone? UK, GMT (or BST but don't get me started on daylight savings I'll explode)

How long is your roleplay experience? Does playing A Bug's Life on the playground when I was 5 count? If not, I started with rping HP characters with my friends when I was like 11-12 over MSN after school and whilst there have been breaks it's something I've always found myself coming back to.

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? As above, I made a couple of friends on (unrelated) forums and we all just thought it'd be fun.

How were you introduced to TOA? I thought I missed rp and looked for an FE based rp.

Do you have any pets? Yes, all hail Catcat the Great.

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) Summer. I hate the heat and humiditiy but once there's no daylight the seasonal affective disorder bass boosts my chronic mental health issues and it's just a bad time really.

What is your IRL occupation? I've gone back to uni to study Law :)

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? I love reading, I'm fascinated by linguistics and astrophysics, enjoy DnD and playing video games in my spare time. I'm a particular sucker for the Sims franchise.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Recently I've been playing BG3, Stardew Valley, The Sims & Fields of Mistria but I'm a big fan of the Persona series and really, really excited about Dragon Age The Veilguard

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: I don't really play Pokemon much anymore but I'll just say Sylveon I guess

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! I met the fourth Doctor when I was 11 and he complemented my vocabulary lmao. I once got published in a poetry anthology with a poem about Shadow the Hedgehog and my parents we so proud of me.

How did you get into Fire Emblem? I think I saw a review on TV

What Fire Emblem games have you played? I've attempted to play every game except 1/2/3/5/11, although I've really wanted to play Thracia I just *need* some QoL updates and controls. I haven't finished every single one because of lost/deleted saves and stuff but I've watched playthroughs and read up on scripts on everything I haven't actually played myself.

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: My first was Fates but Jugdral, Magvel and 3 Houses are my favourite

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! Elincia, Mercedes, Franz, Myrrh and ughhhh I can't choose between Chole/Yunaka/Sylvain so I'm cheating

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! I saw Ryoma in all that red armour and it grabbed my attention.

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 Miss Mercedes if you're free Thursday night

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Chrom, originally be accident but now on purpose :D - Fates: My first was Takumi and I didn't know what an S support was and was very confused. Nowadays usually Kaze or Laslow if playing F!Corrin and Orochi, Nyx or Charlotte if playing M!Corrin. Niles for either. - Three Houses: Mercedes. She's still my go to ofc but I'm also fond of Dorothea, Dimitri and Sylvain. If I'm playing M!Byleth Yuri or Ingrid - Engage: Yunaka was my first and now it's either Yunaka, Diamant or Chloe. Or Mauvier maybe hahfsdgfsd

Favorite Fire Emblem class? I love Pegasus Knights!!!!!!!

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? Probably a reluctant recruit who accidentally gets involved. Weirdly magic based armoured character.

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? (Black Eagles, Blue Lions, Golden Deer, Church of Seiros, Those Who Slither in the Dark, unaffiliated civilian, other - for example Almyran) Either unaffiliated civilian or Blue Lions probably

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? Boons: Lance, Reason, Heavy Armour Banes: Bow, Faith Budding Talent: idk Axes or Flying?

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? (Firene, the Kingdom of Abundance; Brodia, the Kingdom of Might; Elusia, the Kingdom of Knowledge; Solm, the Queendom of Freedom; Lythos, the holy land of the Divine Dragon; Gradlon, the desolate land of the Fell Dragon) No idea! Probably Elusia or Firene. The Solm heat would literally kill me.

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔(separate letters, to-ah, other?) TOA ;) (like Noah)

Current TOA muses: Elincia & Mercedes

Past TOA muses? A lot but most memorable to me are Sylvain and Julia, though I'm so excited to see Sylvain in good hands <3

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Elincia and I still have her.

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? White magic girlies though I'm trying to change things up.

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? Hm, I wish I felt I could write more of the male characters I enjoy effectively. In most other fandoms I've written in most of my muses have been men but it's just not so in FE. I'd also love to write a villain okay I once genuinely considered Hilda FE4 lmao

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) I like writing dialogue and characters bonding but I'm starting to like more action oriented scenes too.

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? For Mercedes in particular I get excited to write her steel and strength, especially when it's combined with her gentleness rather than opposed to it.

Favorite TOA-related memories? Every thread I've writen with Elincia and Rua's Byleth <3

Present or past tense? I tend to default to present in TOA but usually past tense. I'm flexible though and will try and match my partner.

Normal size text, small text, no preference? I actually find small text easier to focus in on and read (I can find normal a bit too cluttered and it can send my eyes wandering lmao) but I'm perfectly happy to use normal text, it just takes me a bit longer to comb through.

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 I can't see a shake up happening soon but... Zephia or Chloe are probably forerunners. I've thought about Palla and Astrid too but I'm not sure if I can see the longevity. Also Neimi, Myrrh and Rodrigue have sparked.... ideas. For muses I've written before, Julia is the most likely but I think she's having a nice break right now :)

[mikittalabs]

in a mood right now and i've been playing fire emblem again, recipe for disaster so let's just get on with this post.

anyway it feels like every time an fe fan mentions liking something about engage, it's in spite of it. there's always a "but" tacked on. like you can't really like engage, alear's hair is red and blue and isn't that so dumb!

and i get it, engage is tonally light. it's not about poorly written politics like 3h is. it's great that 3h has a sad line from dorothea a few dozen times and that characters love to talk about how much war sucks every 10 minutes.

it's weird and annoying. every criticism of 3h is fought back against because actually you just missed this single piece of lore from a random npc in ch6 you fucking nincompoop. did you even play the game? the fact every character loves to exposit information at you is actually a good thing and a sign of good writing and doesn't completely muddy up the experience.

meanwhile you have to prove that you actually like engage. and yea. i love engage. i think it's great. i'm gonna talk about things i like because i think the game is good. there is no "but" here.

think a perfect example of this whole "in spite of" thing is yunaka. that's not to say i don't like her, i think she's great, too, but she's also the character who angsts the most out of the cast. her ass is not slick when it comes to hiding her backstory.

naturally, the fandom likes her in spite of engage. like i'm sorry that hortensia is so offputting that you completely missed her story about abusive families and desperately reaching out for something that you can't go back to, and might not have existed in the first place. it's so sucks that celine talked about tea in the 2 supports of hers you got. it sure would be a shame if she's hiding some odd feelings of resentment towards alfred or her cruel tendencies.

sorry guys, supports can't have subtext. if your characters aren't saying exactly what they feel and exactly why all of the time, then it's bad writing. actually subtext is just bad. exposition dumps are where it's at! i loved that part where rhea looked at the camera at the end of verdant wind and told us the entire history of fodlan. or like, the majority of 3h supports.

i forget if i ever posted it but i called 3h characters a vehicle for more lore, and i think i was kinda on to something. engage has a lot of silly supports where characters are just goofing around, but they were never used for more lore in the way 3h uses its cast.

3h supports typically involve someone just telling the other their entire backstory and i'm not about to argue that it isn't giving you more information on a character. in an extremely physical manner, it is. but it's obnoxious. it's an extremely unsubtle way to get across information.

in a very literal manner, you, as the player, are learning about this character. things have in fact happened to them, but i think the crucial difference lies in how this doesn't usually tell you anything about the character as a person. you can draw connections between how they act and their backstory, sure, but what does that actually say about them?

sylvain acts like that because his family fucking sucks. this is true, but he's still acting like a fucking cunt. i understand that crests are so highly valuable in fodlan society that he was objectified and reduced to the fact he had a crest. he says that himself in his support with mercedes. it does not change the fact that he is still a piece of shit to women. contrary to popular belief, i don't think the fact that he's nice to annette changes that fact. also like, mercedes's own backstory is completely glossed over in that support, but that's another conversation for another time.

contrast that with pandreo. he's a silly goofy party guy. there can't be any depth to him because this is engage. except you read his supports and realize he's a deeply faithful man. he found faith when his parents were being The Worst and he parties because it's how he expresses his faith. perhaps you're initial perceptions of a character are not always correct. something you would think fe fans would know considering sylvain has supports where the support partner says something to that effect.

ok i'm starting to get a headache so i'm just calling it here. see you all in hell or however people end these long posts

[stalwaria]

"Hiya Papaya!" For once, she's ready, and the cheerful greeting comes with genuine laughter as Yunaka circles around her friend. Weird to think Etie's a student of the house that Yunaka's been asked to teach, but they've both seen way stranger.

"Saw the show you put on in those arena fights! Man you are soooo lucky, I would've killed to get my hands on some of those fancy weapons." The training would've been nice too, it's been a while since Yunaka's had the chance to cut loose, but the weapons. Man.

"What was up with that last guy though, that was crazy! I was worried for a second you guys might not finish in time, which would've be soooo unfair."

There's...there's way more she should be talking about, and none of it has anything to do with the arena but. For now at least, this is easier. She hopes Etie doesn't mind. "Great job though, next time we should tag team and show 'em what some real strong girls can do, yeah?"

"Wh—Yunaka!?"

The last thing Etie expects to see is the other woman bounding towards her, having expected her to be... well, Etie didn't know where she expected Yunaka to be. Last she heard, the thief had gone off traveling after the war, and she hadn't exactly kept in touch.

After so long of wondering what happened to her, it was a relief to see that Yunaka was still alive and kicking. Of course, with her skills, and that gorgeously toned figure? Etie wasn't surprised to see that the woman could take care of herself.

Kind of curious to see her here of all places, though.

"It was fun to experiment, but I'm definitely most comfortable with my bow and arrow." Scoffing, Etie runs a hand through her hair, flipping it over her shoulder. "And that last guy? A real piece of work. He might've even given you trouble... but I guess that's the sort of bulk a good set of muscles will get you."

Shame he hadn't exactly been real. She would've loved to ask him about his training routine...

"But never mind that. We have got to catch up!" Beaming, she takes Yunaka's hands into her own. "How does tea sound? I just had a new crate of leaves sent in from Firene. After all those fights, I could really use the break."

[starrook]

a kiss to prove a point 

"It's not that big of a deal. It's all part of the show, and sometimes you gotta kiss somebody to tell the story." She...forgets how the conversation got here. He'd asked her to tell him about her travels, to try and be half the storyteller that Seadall is, and somewhere down the line of retelling all the places she's seen and all the shows they'd performed, they ended up here. How hard is it to kiss someone on stage.

"You're both playing pretend, you know. So as long as you don't go and do something stupid like fall in love with the other actors, then it's easy. Like a fight scene or any other talking scene or..." Or lying to everyone you know. Easy!

Alcryst is looking like he still doesn't believe, and that's enough to plant the incredibly stupid idea in her brain. It's risky. It's dangerous. She shouldn't. Yunaka puts her drink down and adjusts herself in her seat to face him. "Here, see."

She puts a hand on his cheek so he doesn't go flailing back from him and leans in. No one's watching. She doesn't have to put in the effort of making it a big show, but she does have her own personal pride to satisfy.

Yunaka's grinning to cover nerves when she pulls back. "See! Easy."

Listening to Yunaka weave tales of her adventures with Seadall and plays they performed together, Alcryst becomes convinced of one thing: that Yunaka is truly a talented person, clearly capable of doing anything she puts her mind to. “That’s amazing,” Alcryst finds himself saying to each and every one of Yunaka’s professed accomplishments. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

The current topic is his fault—one of their most popular shows is a romance, where they play as star-crossed lovers. Alcryst isn’t a stranger to those kinds of plays, but he’s always wondered how people could just… go through the motions of love without any feelings at all. Yunaka says it’s just pretend, and Alcryst could see that, but he can’t see himself being able to do what they can while separating himself from the character. He’s never been good at pretending to be someone he’s not.

Lips pressed against his startles Alcryst out of his thoughts. Yunaka—how did she get so close to him so quickly?! He jumps back in his seat the moment he’s released. Eyes wide. Processing what just happened. What just happened?!

Easy, she says. Did Alcryst really seem so unconvinced? “S-So, that kiss just now, there was nothing behind it. Just going through the motions.” A fake display of love. And yet somehow, this feeling of rejection is very real. Alcryst deflates with a sigh. “I… I see…”

[fayesdiary]

7, 8, 12, 15, 18, and 25 for Micaiah?

Ooh, I never get to talk about her! Micaiah Fire Emblem you will always be famous ^^

7) What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I definitely appreciate the fact the fandom has eventually mellowed out to her over the years. More people are starting to appreciate her and I'm all for it! Especially those who acknowledge she did some reprehensible shit ^^

8) What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I don't know if people still do it but man, I remember years ago most hated Micaiah. As in, whole threads dedicated to calling her names as well as the dreaded Mary Sue.

That was for a number of reasons, but most of all that she dared to dislike and take the spotlight away from Ike. Nevermind she has legitimate reasons not to like the man (and she still comes around him) and Ike hoards like 80% of the screentime from characters who desperately need it while he stays pretty much the same from the end of PoR. FE fandom be normal about women challenge

As for a more recent example... Look, I also hate Micaiah/Sothe and think it's gross because she practically raised him, but can everyone please quit it with the groomer jokes? They're not funny and most importantly you shouldn't throw such a serious word around like you're a far-right politician complaining about queer people to the point it loses all meaning.

12) What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I imagine her relationship with Sanaki is pretty... Rocky at first.

Sure, they're happy they found out they're sisters, but also Micaiah kinda tried to burn her alive in Part 3 so, you know. At the very least an apology is due.

15) What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

I don't have any strong ships for her... So I'd probably go with Yunaka! I feel her dynamic with the real Micaiah especially would be so interesting given both of them have quite a number of skeletons in their closet🤔

Also they cute 💕

18) How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

As I mentioned before I think her relationship with Ike is so interesting because you spent all of PoR knowing him as the hero and yet she dislikes him because from her point of view, he's the one who conquered Daein and forced it under Begnion's foot, so of course she can't help but roll her eyes whenever Sothe speaks highly of him.

(I'm also realizing it's kind of a callback to that base convo in PoR after Talrega where its citizen tell Ike where he can shove the food he gave them after being the reason their homeplace got flooded and Shiharam died)

And sure, eventually she re-evaluates her opinion of him (although admittedly in a very easy-to-miss boss convo), but to me it's their initial dynamic that's so intriguing.

25) What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I played Radiant Dawn blind after watching a playthrough of Path of Radiance, so my first reaction to her was the very common "No Ike, who this?"

Now it's almost the opposite, I still enjoy Ike but I love Micaiah so much more!

She is so interesting, I love her sass and overall personality, her original design is PEAK and her overall story is so good!

She's constantly put on the backfoot and forced to do some reprehensible stuff that goes against her very nature (doubly so because she's part heron) because her whole country is being held hostage, but unlike, uh, another FE lord with similar hair, no one tries to bend over backwards to excuse her actions. Her enemies know she's wrong, her allies know she's wrong, SHE knows she's wrong but is still determined to do what it takes to keep her people safe, no matter what happens to her. (And yet, the moment Sothe is threatened, she finds out she can't do it.)

She's also constantly trying to find a way out in the meantime, and the moment she does? She never looks back.

Also in general playing as the enemy army is so cool because not only are you horribly weak compared to the Liberation Army and they're pretty much steamrolling you (which is what makes Micaiah's Part 3 chapters so scary), but they can also recruit people away from you (Jill, Zihark). And that is literally one of the coolest things this franchise has done!

[teaveetamer]

Considering Bernedetta is still up there while Alcryst isn't the top 5 of Engage characters but Diamant is, you can infer Bernie fans and Alcryst fans aren't merging. Ironically Leo and Takumi being in the top 20 could mean you're correct and fans of Takumi and Leo intersect with Alcryst thus he's not getting as many votes because Leo and Takumi are getting them. Look as a Fates fan I really don't get the Bernie love because Fates is a bunch of anime tropes but she's fine just rubs me the wrong way, but she has a hardcore base I suppose

Leo and Takumi have always maintained a top 20 position/top 5-10ish Fates characters so I can't say conclusively if there's any sort of real vote siphon going on. If anything, Alcryst is probably siphoning their votes because people probably figure he has the best shot to win this year.

Also keep in mind, the top 5 is not divided by gender. There are three women taking up three of the spots (Ivy, Yunaka, and F!Alear) so for all we know Alcryst could be the #3 Engage male character behind M!Alear and Diamant. The top five rankings are neat but I wouldn't take them too seriously.

But yeah I'll be completely honest: everyone who was predicting Alcryst would siphon votes from Bernie clearly do not understand the demographics of FEH/the primary target demographic of Bernadetta. And I don't mean this to be demeaning, but Bernie-as-a-character is written in a way that indulges in a fantasy primarily held by straight men. She's the "broken girl who only trusts you and needs you to protect her". That's why her Byleth supports go all in on "omg I'm usually such a mess but I feel safe with basically zero effort around you professor because you're special!" Alcryst, I would guess, was not written with that demographic in mind. He definitely has his appeals to his specific demographics, but I highly doubt there's a lot of overlap between who he was designed to appeal to and who Bernie was designed to appeal to.

Even if they were a 1:1 comparison just with the gender flipped, that doesn't mean they're going to appeal to the same people. The way they're perceived is going to be affected by their genders. For example, a lot of straight men probably find Alcryst whiny or feel like he needs to "man up". If we went back in time about 10-15 years I'm sure they'd even have some choice slurs for gay men to call him. That's no doubt because in our society we view men who are shy, overly apologetic, jumpy, lacking confidence or self-esteem, etc. as weak and shameful. Whereas with women, lacking confidence and self-esteem is not only expected but often desirable. So you can wind up with two characters who are exactly the same but one will be perceived differently based on gender norms and socialization.

Something similar happened with Corrin back in the day. While both Corrins got flack, M!Corrin, particularly M!Corrin in Conquest, got hit particularly hard with criticism complaining about how he was whiny, he was weak, he was stupid, he was overdramatic, etc. while F!Corrin (who Conquest was likely natively written around) slid under the radar more.

Honestly you could do a whole essay on Conquest v. Birthright, the way they were written/localized with a particular Corrin in mind, and what that says about how society treats gender (particularly how F!BR!Corrin doesn't get shit for taking on more """masc""" traits of being headstrong and violent, but M!CQ!Corrin gets shit for taking on the more """femme""" traits of CQ, such as making an "emotional" decision to side with Nohr, being all about pacifism and cooperation, and openly expressing strong emotions of sadness and regret). But idk if I wanna be the one to write it.

[dcggersedge]

“ Good day, Yunaka, ”  Pelleas visits her.  “ I, um, heard that you transferred houses. To the Black Eagles, if I recall? I know I didn't put my best foot forward while you were in my house, but I do genuinely wish the best for you in your new affiliation. Two very important people to me will be in your care; you can probably guess one of them. Besides that, I wished to gift you something for the Winter Festival, though I suppose we can call it a house-changing present too given the timing. If you'd take it? ”

With that, he offers a wrapped present box to her. Within is a journal filled with writing of his own penmanship— for better or for worse.

“ You gave me a book about your Emblems, so I thought to give you in exchange a tome about my homeland. Of course, I couldn't really get anything official in such a short notice, so please forgive the fact I had to write it all myself. As someone who grew up in it and became its King for a time though, I hope you'll find the information trustworthy if not... well, erm, useful at least? ”

And indeed, the handwritten book contains all sorts of details about Daein from both the perspective of a poor, starving orphan who had nothing to a crown royal who had everything at a price. It details it from his point of view, all the sights and towns he's seen, the weather he's experienced, sprawling descriptions of the unique architecture and what made the place, for all the misery he had lived through within it, a place he loved dearly nevertheless.

“ I hope you find it interesting as well. I still find myself quite engrossed in reading and rereading your gift to me. If I could give you even a fraction of my fascination, I'll count this a success. ”

"Oh, heya Pelly!" Dang...she'd figured out that seeing Pelleas in class was a rare enough sight already. Seeing him make the effort to not only be out and about, but actually hunting her down to see her? She was pretty sure that was some kind of special. She was also pretty sure, based on no personal experience of her own obviously, that commenting on it would send him right back to hiding.

"You heard correctly!" She hoped he wasn't feeling some kind of way about it. Laslow had been joking, but now she was kinda worried that some of the Lions might think she'd bailed or abandoned them or something silly like that. "Thought it'd be fun to go into the new year with some fresh changes...and there's some things that I'm curious about that I'm hoping to get a closer eye on."

Nothing he needed to worry about, obviously.

"Oh? Two?" She knew that Micaiah was one of the Eagles, but she had no clue who that second important person could be.

The time for questioning would come...but not now. Now was the time for gift giving, apparently. "Aw, Pelly! You didn't have to get me a gift, that's so sweet."

A book isn't a surprise after her gift, but a journal is. She flips through a few of the pages without reading anything just yet. It'd be weird if she started reading something personal or embarrassing in front of him, right? Luckily, he clears up what it's really about.

Yunaka flashes him a smile. "Thanks! That does sound interesting, and I'm sure I'll love it. I appreciate you taking the time to do something like this when you didn't have to. I'll be sure to give it a read as soon as I get a chance."

She's always liked history books. There's no complicated emotions or wishing or happy endings in history. It's just fact, presented as so, with no fluff or feelings. She's never read someone's personal history before though.

"I don't have a festival gift to give back, but I do hope you have a good one." The smile turns exaggerated here, in an obviously playful way, and she waves towards him with the book. "And at least try to go to class next year, alright? I can't make you anymore, but you really should at least try to take advantage of what you've got here."

...wait. Did he say king?