#I wanted edelgard to be good dammit!!!!

[rexcaliburechoes]

silverash is exactly what edelgard wanted to be in a completely opposite yet frighteningly similar way with the only difference is that silverash is allowed to be an asshat because he's a male character while edelgard is chained by being a marketable waifu

[frozenartscapes]

Things I wished the game elaborated further on:

1. How Edelgard handled the timeskip in Crimson Flower

Part of me thinks that she refused to admit that Byleth was gone for good because admitting that means that yet another person who cared about her - and who she cared deeply for in return - died a horrific death. And what does that mean, then, for everyone else who cares about her and she cares for in return? It would be admitting that the people she loves all eventually will die terrible deaths either because of her directly or to teach her a lesson and she only just found a new group of people to call a family, dammit! She doesn’t want to lose them, too

But had the Slithers got ahold of Byleth? Thales had better make peace with his god

hey guys do you think that the reason that Edelgard thinks to say “I searched high and low for you and never found a trace, but I somehow knew you were alive… I’m so happy that you’re safe” is because she was terrified that the slitherers got Byleth

[mercy-mercie-mercymorn]

still mad that the ball in fe3h didn't include any actual fancy schmancy dresses/suits/whatever-the-fuck-monstrosity-lorenz-would-show-up-ins. like i know it isn't practical to model/animate essentially useless one-time outfits but that won't change my opinion. i want to see mercie and f!byleth in pretty dresses, dammit!

therefore, here are some headcanons i have about a ball in a universe where my feral desire to see poofy ballgowns before going back to the war crime sitcom is fulfilled:

- ingrid, after being browbeaten by annette and mercedes into wearing makeup, proceeds to hang out with sylvain and eat snacks. this has the side effect of distracting him from the prospect of hitting on girls for a while.

- petra wears a sick af brigid dress and dorothea will not stop telling her how pretty she looks. bernie is too scared to ask about the cool embroidery.

- hilda is extra in the way only a lazy underachiever can be.

- annette and mercie force everyone in blue lions to come dance. even dedue.

- claude almost spikes the punch but is caught in the act by byleth, who stares at him menacingly until he goes away.

- lin being the world's worst wingman for caspar. he will not stop talking about nerd shit.

- hubert intimidating everyone who even thinks about dancing with edelgard (until she tells him to knock it off).

- a bunch of female students being too nervous to ask dedue/felix to dance.

- ashe is just having a great fucking time!!

- shamir was wrestled into a dress by catherine, who is presumably trying to make rhea happy by showing her shamir (and other coerced faculty) cares. they are supposed to be chaperones. they are not good chaperones.

- flayn gets asked out, and her unlucky beau is lectured by seteth. he would've expelled him if he could.

- ferdinand is floating on air because being a pretty boy noble finally pays off.

- the girls in f!byleth's house band together to yassify her give her a makeover. m!byleth still looks like he rolled out of bed but eventually his lord comes over and fixes his hair. "you need to look presentable," says edelgard. "being a professor requires some semblance of professionalism," says dimitri. "what the fuck did you do to your hair lol," says claude.

- dimitri actually enjoys himself for once.

- leonie is kind of a terrible dancer but lorenz dances with her anyways.

- sothis will not stop critiquing the music.

- alois forgot the ball was tonight and is fishing.

[pineconesarecrunchy]

Tea

Edelgard x F!Byleth

Note: This is post timeskip so minor spoilers for that

(This is part of a series! Previous work)

...

"Morning!"

"..."

"Miss Byleth?"

You suddenly jolt and lift you head up from where it was resting on the desk in front of you. Knocking over the nearest stack of papers while arising.

"Ack!" You mumble and scurry to pick up the papers.

"Sorry for startling you." you look up to meet Hubert's face. Edelgard's right hand man. He bends down to collect the papers with you. After gathering all you combine the piles you have collected and rest them on your desk.

"Busy are you?" He asks, leaning against your desk.

"Yes, as we all are."

"Hm. Indeed." Pause. The air with Hubert feels like the exact opposite. Edelgard's aura feels warm and comforting. Hubert feels like he's always cold and distant. You wonder how the two are able to bond so well. "I want to discuss something about Lady Edelgard."

"What about her?"

"I have noticed you wandering into her room like a lost lamb in the woods going home on a dark night. All alone, scurrying." You raise your eyebrows. "You cannot dispute me when I have actually seen you."

"Okay." More silence. The tension is so thick it would need to be cut with a butchers knife. What does he want from you? Is he trying to be protective of Edelgard? Will he forbid you from seeing her...impossible. He cannot do that! These thoughts of Hubert stepping between you and Edelgard makes your head swirl and stomach feel uneasy. You have to change the topic of conversation before—

"Have you been getting sleep lately, Miss Byleth?"

"I have been trying to, but as you can see with this upcoming battle, I have a lot of stuff to prepare for."

"I see..."

“I am running errands for the mercenaries while discussing with the kitchen and tenders at the greenhouse how much food we should set aside to ration for the upcoming battle. With the merchants changing as often as they do, it’s hard to bargain without checking to see what the kitchen crew needs to make meals and what foods we can grow in the greenhouse instead of buying. I am all over the place, calculating, spending, bargaining, and … just a lot to do Hubert. But, that is my job!”

“Alright…”

"How have you been, Hubert?" You could care less about his response.

"Why have you stopped wandering to her room?" Now he has piqued your interest.

"Excuse me, Hubert?"

"...Edelgard. Why have you stopped visiting her at night?"

" Hubert I am sorry, but topic of this conversation does not concern you—"

"What do you do—"

"This is extremely out of line and unprofessional! The only things you should ask me that concern Edelgard and I should be of business matters. Not personal." You pick up the few papers off of your desk that need to be worked on and believe working in your room would be your best bet rather this office. As you head for the door you can feel Hubert's eyes burning on your back.

As you set the stack on the desk of your room you cannot help but think of that exchange. What does Hubert want from you? Why did he feel the need to ask such questions? You feel a headache incoming and rest your head against your desk. Wonder why the past few days have been increasing the amount of headaches you get and with such intensity.

You glance out the window and see the sun setting. How long have you been resting as a response to your headache? You lick your parched lips, a nice warm cup of tea would be good right now. You cannot help begin to start wondering where Edelgard may be and if she would enjoy a cup as well. You get up and change to more comfortable outing clothes and ask around if anyone has seen her. The guards, passing merchants; mercenaries. The more people you ask, the less people seem to be roaming around every time you inquire. Why has not speaking with Edelgard make you feel this way?

It has only been a few days, but it feels like part of you is missing. You wake up without her next to you and the day already feels awful. Seeing a glimpse of her through the windows discussing with allies does not do it for you. You want to be with Edelgard and feel her by your side. The warmth of her arm around you, hand holding hand with fingers interlacing. To be so close to her, every inhale you can smell her flowery scent. You miss it so much. You miss Edelgard. Everyday without her feels painful...

Are you falling for the Emperor?

You quickly erase that question out of your mind. There is no way you possibly can… You should not even be thinking thoughts like that.

The moon is out now; maybe you should catch up on the work that you missed due to your headache. You head to your office finding it hard to believe that in your evening search, no one knew of her whereabouts. That is truly unbelievable—

"I heard you were looking for me." says a familiar voice. You look around the room of the office to see a fig ure perched upon your desk legs crossed. Silvery white hair illuminated by the stained glass windows in the office.

"E-Edelgard!"

"'E-Edelgard!'" she mocks you and laughs. She is not wearing her nightgown like last time, she's still in her emperor clothes. Beautifully crimson red. Maybe she had a meeting with allies... "Come on, By. El is perfectly fine. What did you want to discuss? You could have stopped by my office anytime." Of course! She would have been in her office, the one place you would think to check first...

"I had nothing to discuss."

"Really?"

"Honest."

"So will you tell me why you were looking for me?" You nod.

"I was going to ask you if you would like to join me for evening tea, but it is," you walk over to the window and look at the moon, "a bit late for that now." You can feel Edelgard get off the desk behind you and join your side looking out the stained glass window.

"So you wanted to see me?" She purrs.

"I..."

"You were the one who had wanted to stop accompanying me."

"Because I felt like your nightmares were easing."

"But, you never asked for my opinion."

"No, I did not..." you say wryly. "...But, were they easing by me accompanying you?"

"It was, but I've been working so much lately that as soon as I lay down to sleep I fall asleep instantly and I wake up recalling none of my nightmares nor dreams."

"That's great!"

"I would disagree." You raise your eyebrows. Does Edelgard wish she still had nightmares? You recall the times where in her sleep she would begin to shake and mumble. Sometimes she even cried in her sleep until you lulled her telling her everything's alright. Why would she wish to continue being the victim of that suffering?

"Why would wish to have nightmares?"

"So I could have an excuse to sleep with you." You look down at her while her eyes are fixed looking out the window. "You miss sleeping with me, don't you, By?" Dammit.

"..."

"You look like a wreck."

"..."

"You look worse than I do after a long night run.” She laughs at this, but you don't. It's like Edelgard can see through your front. Without her you do feel like a wreck. Maybe both of you benefitted from sleeping with each other.

"..."

"Byleth, will you say anything?"

"Anything."

"Haha!" She playfully slaps your arm. "Most times you're so stoic, but I knew you had some sense of humor within you!"

"You think I am stoic—"

"I will take up your offer on tea."

“But, it’s almost midnight.”

“Tea’s suppose energizing effects have no affect on me.” She says shrugging. “You?”

“One cup makes me sleepy.” You lie. Tea makes you restless, but you’re so desperate to not work right now. Accompanying Edelgard is a valid excuse to get out of your work.

“We can sleep together afterwards then.” She suggests.

“I have work to be done—“

“Work work work. You have to take a break sometime, By! Come on, for me.” Her eyes gleam with a beg that you have never seen from her before. You give in and nod. To this, she smiles greatly, taking your hand in hers and dragging you to the dinning hall’s kitchen.

The kitchen is empty, you expect there to be cleaners at this hour, but no one is there. She walks over to a tall cupboard and opens it. The shelves are lined with various tea serving equipment and tea assortments. From an array of colored porcelain cups to teas from foreign lands, the shelves are well equipped. Edelgard seems to have her eye on one of the teas on the higher shelf. She stretches to get it, on her tippy toes. Seeing her wobble trying to get it for you seems a bit…funny. It’s out of place to see the leader of the Empire struggling to reach for the box of Bergamot tea due to how vertically challenged she is. You stand behind her and grab the tea from the shelf, not realizing how close you are to her. She hits her behind into your pelvis trying to turn around, her face flushed, eyes averted from yours.

“Thank you.” She says quickly, taking the tea out of your hand. “I shall get some hot water. I have a serving tray in my room and some spare tea cups.”

She squeezes out from between you and the cupboard.

“Should I meet you in your room?” You ask.

“No, you may stay.” So you do.

When you return to Edelgard’s room, she mentions you can sit where you’d like so you choose to sit on her dressing table’s stool. She rests the filled teapot and Bergamot on top of her wooden drawer set and squats down to reach into the lowest drawer. Pulling out a serving tray along with two porcelain tea cups, she rises closing the drawer with the tip of her boot. She them places the items next to the teapot. Once everything is out of her hands, she immediately tosses her jacket onto the ground and kicks off her boots.

“Could you help me out of this please? I’m so tired and would like to put on something more comfortable before tea.” She asks her back towards you. “I had to wear this crimson dress while discussing business matters earlier. Hubert insisted because of ‘business formalities’ bleh. He usually helps me in and out of it, but he’s been… acting a bit strange lately.” You bring yourself to stand up and go over to Edelgard. She glances over her shoulder and takes your hands into hers. She guides your hand to the nape of her neck where the first button is. You undo it, hands barely keeping steady.

The rest is continued here

(on Archive of our own because it's rated mature)!

...

I hope you liked this fic!! I love writing Edelgard with a bit of sass and Byleth just taking it in lol. It's a lot of fun!

[fantasyinvader]

Hmm. So the Nintendo Direct.

1) Chrono Cross Remastered. I’m...actually a little happy about this?  Like, I love Trigger to no end, and really liked Cross despite not beating it... yeah. It was a rental that I didn’t finish, part of me disliked it for it’s connections to Trigger but I still want to beat it someday. Even have a PS1 copy, but I am far too used to wireless controllers nowadays...even if at times I stand up and walk closer to the TV when sniping.

2) Earthbound and Earthbound Beginnings coming to Nintendo online. Again, SNES Classic but Beginnings! And the ability to suspend play! ...dammit, I’m going to need to reactivate my online.

3) Fire Emblem Three Hopes. Let’s be honest, that’s why you’re listending to me talk.

Honestly, I have not played the first warriors game though there is a copy at my local pawn shop I’ve been putting off getting. I do like Warriors games though, Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 being a real favorite of mine (due to how it calls the hell out of Gundam SEED Destiny. Seriously, Master Asia tearing into Kira for being too dependent on his machine before the HD remaster tried to change this? LACUS of all people countering Kira’s simplistic “fighting bad, me fight to stop fighting” mentality? YES!). And I do find it fitting considering Three Houses connection with Koei.

That said...

I’m cautiously optimistic. I really am. This is going to be a new story by the Japanese team, not the guys at Treehouse and their takes on the characters. I could see this being very cathartic for the discourse, as it can provide further evidence to what the game was trying to say before it got mangled in the translation. I’ve even suggested using a Warriors game before to clear things up. And from what I can recall, Japan sees CF as a villain route, Edelgard as a villain protagonist, and Rhea as a good guy (to the point TV tropes tries to claim that the Japanese “don’t appreciate freedom and personal responsibility like America does” in a voice that I’m picturing as a parody of Hank Hill’s).

We’ve seen that at times, Heroes stays closer to the Japanese characterization because it’s handled by a different translation team.

It might give us a golden ending, and it might just flat out say “No. Edelgard is not a hero.” And, sure, there will be guys bitching and moaning about how Nintendo doesn’t “understand Edelgard” but it will be clear that we aren’t supposed to root for her.

That’s my hope at least. That’s not even a best case scenario either. Best case scenario would be the story would be SS, but diverts in allowing Byleth to gain the support of Claude and Dimitri before Gronder, taking a unified force there and pushing the Empire back, eventually defeating Edelgard and getting her to open her goddamn eyes as they all go to rain hell on TWSITD and the unthawed Nemesis crew.

[butwhatifidothis]

But at least with BL & GDs i can console myself that their real routes treat them better. With the BEs, I love them, but you have chars (not Hubert!) who are supposedly kind, & who at best join El for basically no reason, & at worst should hate her (she's a hostage, dammit), spending 5 years hobnobbing with Jeritza & Hubert in a war no problem, and people see that as their most enlightened state. Like, what? Why did you do them so dirty IS?!

(if this was a continuation of the last ask sorry! just realized it might’ve been)

Yeah and like, sometimes you can at least somewhat argue the case for why some units aren’t on their base routes and my heart wouldn’t immediately blow up (like, oh, Ingrid thought that Dimitri was dead and so joined the Alliance so that she can better help in the fighting to get justice for him or some shit like that) but even the base class for BE are shat on by CF.

Like, Caspar only gets pumped - like excited - about fighting on the other routes when fighting against TWS on VW. He doesn’t go “Everybody’s gotta have something to look forward to” at Gronder for example (or even with TWS in VW) like he does against the Kingdom. Ferdinand’s willing to follow someone who’s like Lonato now despite hating the man to bits. Petra damn near has Stockholm’s Syndrome and is convinced Edelgard is this good nicey nice person despite literally being her hostage. Dorothea wants to see the plays that’ll be made of Edelgard and Byleth when they conquer the Alliance - you know that thing that still killed a good amount of soldiers that were just defending their land even with Claude’s efforts? Bernadetta a lot of the times seems swept up by the group to say she’s willing to fight, and Linhardt has scraps of hiself shine through like the his and Leonie’s paralogue where he goes “hey yo don’t bring Edelgard and Hubert here cuz it could be kinda related to the Church and they’re fucking nuts”

Like I get they’re all supposed to be ass cuz evil route and all but damn

[indigowallbreaker]

‘Alone At The Helm’

I make good on my threats and I want y’all to remember that.

Anyway if I have to suffer Edelgard and Hubert platonic soulmate feels then so do you, dammit. 

(In-between timeskip, Black Eagle route spoilers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort)

--

Every time the wind shook her tent, Edelgard tensed under her blankets. She knew, logically, that there were guards patrolling the camp, and that anyone stupid enough to try and harm the Black Eagle Strike Force had been scattered when Garreg Mach fell. That did not stop her from reaching for her dagger when a particularly strong gust of spring wind rattled her tent flap. 

Heart racing, Edelgard’s eyes scanned the dark tent. Her school uniform was folded neatly in the corner, having recently been patched up by Bernadetta herself. Edelgard had no plans to wear the garment again, now that she was Emperor, but little Bernadetta had looked so lost after the battle that Edelgard had felt the need to give her peaceful work. All the Eagles had seemed lost, actually. But one step at a time. 

As well as her old clothes, Edelgard had Aymr in a stand by her bedroll and a bag she had packed before going into the Holy Tomb. One look would hardly tell you this was the Emperor's tent. Despite the insistence of many people, Ladislava for one, Edelgard had opted for a common soldier’s tent. If it was good enough for the rest of her Eagles, it was good enough for her.  

Trying to settle herself, Edelgard slipped the dagger back under her pillow and drew the blankets up to her ears. She was safe. All her Eagles were safe.

Well, almost all her Eagles.

A terrible grief gripped Edelgard’s chest as the Professor floated once again to the forefront of her mind. There had always been the possibility that they wouldn’t join Edelgard’s cause— that she would have to suffer a mortal fight with her dear Professor Byleth.

But then the Professor had faced Rhea in the Holy Tomb, the Sword of the Creator held in Edelgard’s defense, and Edelgard had felt that fear leave her. Even running for their lives from the Immaculate One had not taken the glee from her step.

A guiding hand, a soothing voice, a calming nod— those few weeks after the Holy Tomb had been a wondrous taste of what to expect with Byleth and Edelgard as the leaders of the war. A taste of what it would be like to not be alone at the helm of a new world. 

And now, scarcely a week later, while Empire troops cleared Garreg Mach for use just a few miles away, the Black Eagle Strike Force had an extra tent. 

Pressure gathered behind Edelgard’s eyes and she angrily rubbed it away. Emperors didn’t cry about their teachers. They didn’t cower from the wind in their bedroll. They didn’t feel terror at what the coming years would bring. 

Edelgard squeezed her eyes shut, snaking a hand under the pillow to rest on the cool steel of the dagger. Emperors didn’t wish they weren’t, for just a moment, the Emperor…

The dark had never seemed so oppressive. Edelgard imagined she could hear every twig snapping in the nearby forest. The bugs were suddenly too loud. Her tent was too empty. She was too alone and there was no one there to— 

Something inside her softened just enough that she whipped back her blankets. Snatching up her dagger, she stood and left the tent. Her guards stared with no small amount of confusion as she went down the row of tents.

She stopped at a certain tent flap. Momentum begged her to go on inside dramatically but self preservation made her halt. Sprinting into any tent with this amount of tension in the camp was to risk bodily harm.

“Hubert,” she whispered. She listened for the sound of movement inside before finally stepping in. It was even darker in here— Edelgard hadn’t realized what Aymr’s subtle glow had done to her own tent. 

In the middle was Hubert, sitting up amid a pile of blankets. He wore the white shirt from his uniform and Edelgard could just make out the waistband of a pair of thin black pants under the blanket.

He watched her with seemingly glowing topaz eyes. A hand disappeared under his pillow, obvious replacing a weapon of some kind. She knew he had many other knives within arm’s reach. It almost made her feel foolish for bringing her own.

Without speaking, Hubert shifted over. There was no dignified way to lay on a bedroll so Edelgard half flopped onto the free space. She heard him chuckle as he pulled the covers around them both. She set her dagger on the ground beside her and snuggled into the worn pillow, making a mental note to demand plusher ones for the Eagles once they became available. 

For a time, Edelgard simply lay on her stomach, cheek nestled into the pillow and eyes closed. She had just begun to settle when she felt his hand brush through the long hair trailing down her back. He repeated this motion several times, soothing fingers tangling with strands at her scalp and following them to her shoulders, electing a sigh from Edelgard. Eventually she snuggled closer and he wrapped an arm around her. No one would ever accuse Hubert of being muscular but she knew the wiry strength in those arms. They flung magic and knives, held quills to important letters and doors she needn’t bother herself with. 

And at the moment they were exactly what she needed. 

Sleep was finally coming to her. As Edelgard began to drift away into a, hopefully, nightmare-free slumber, chapped lips pressed to her forehead and a voice as familiar as her own wished her goodnight. In that moment, it did not matter where the Professor was, or what the wind did, or who was crawling around camp. 

Edelgard was most definitely not alone.    

[frozenartscapes]

@patricia-von-arundel Millie takes after her moms. She’s got one’s strength and the other’s inability to back down from a fight. As she grows up and finds more courage, it leads to inevitable results.

---

It all started with one, admittedly unfair, statement.

“My dad says your mom is nothing but a tyrant. And your other mom must be whipped pretty good to go along with it.”

Millie had gotten into an argument with this group of boys once they recognized her royal clothing. Her Mom had taken her out into the town centre to just get out of the palace.  And despite Mama’s insistence that they stay together, Mom tends to parent more at a distance, allowing Millie some free time by herself. Normally, that goes without incident for the ten-year-old.

Not this time.

“My Mama is not a tyrant,” she growled, clenching her fists tight.

“Right, and starting a war that killed thousands of people makes her a saint,” the boy teased sarcastically, “Saint Edelgard! The destroyer of lives!”

“She only did that because she had to!” Millie cried in defence, “She made the world better!”

The boy scoffed. He was definitely at least a head taller than her and older by a few years, and he sauntered right up to tower over her, “My dad used to have a good life before the war. He said so himself. But then your precious Mama swept in and ruined everything. Face it, brat, your mother is a heartless bitch. You’re just too stupid to see it.”

“You don’t know her!” Millie declared boldly, not backing down despite the fear in her gut, “You don’t know how kind she really is!”

The boy gave her a shove, one rough enough to send her stumbling backward. “The Emperor is a heartless monster, and the sooner someone offs her the better,” he spat, “I bet she doesn’t even really care about you! She’s probably got you brainwashed just like she did to that merc-”

She was too short to reach his jaw, so she settled for his ribs. And she struck him so hard she felt something crack under her fist. It was only once he doubled over in pain that she could reach his jaw, and she didn’t hesitate to make her move.

Byleth moved through the crowd, casually checking out stalls. It had been an hour since she and Millie had split up, and she figured it was probably time to find the girl. As she scanned the crowd, her eyes landed on a group of people all gathered around something near the far end of the marketplace. And they all seemed to be pretty riled up.

She headed over, and as she drew near she realized the crowd was watching a fight. A pretty intense one, from the sound of things. She pushed her way through and stopped dead in her tracks when she finally saw who was fighting.

“El is going to kill me.”

To Byleth’s horror - but also pride - there was her precious little girl beating the everloving shit out of a boy almost twice her size. Two others lay nearby, both down for the count. Millie had her own fair share of bruises and scrapes but none of that seemed to register as she continued to punch the boy. She had him pinned beneath her on the ground, using a hold Byleth had shown her in case she’d ever have to subdue someone without a weapon.

Byleth snapped out of her surprise enough to make her legs work, and quickly strode into the ring. With one hand, she lifted her daughter up off the boy by the back of her collar. For a moment, Millie kept swinging, now shouting angrily at the person intervening. But once she saw who was intervening, she let out a tiny squeak before curling in on herself.

“Do I want to know?” Byleth asked dryly. She was trying to play it cool. After all, she must have had her first fight when she was around Millie’s age. But then, this was Millie, a girl who until this point had never shown to be this aggressive and was also just as much Edelgard’s daughter.

“He called Mama a monster!” Millie cried, still hanging from her collar in Byleth’s grasp, “He said she didn’t love me!”

Byleth glowered down at the boy in the dirt. He met her gaze and cowered a little further away. Byleth then turned to the crowd, and stated firmly, “Right. Nothing to see here! Go on! Back to your days!” As the crowd dispersed, she then said to the boys, her voice low and dangerous: “You all had best head home and get those injuries treated.”

“I’m gonna tell my father about this!” one of the boys threatened.

“Sure. Have fun telling him how you got your ass kicked by a little girl,” Byleth told him, her voice still menacing, “I await his response.”

The boy snapped his jaw shut, mouth forming a tight line. With an angry huff, he and the others skulked off to deal with their wounds. 

It was only once they were gone that Byleth set Millie down, as she still wasn’t entirely sure her daughter wouldn’t run at them again. But Millie had deflated, and upon release she took a shaky step back, staring down at the ground in shame. Byleth watched her curl into herself, guilt consuming her, and quickly dropped to her knee to be on her level.

“Hey, now,” she said softly, wiping away the tears on her baby’s cheeks with a tender touch, “Come on, Kid. Don’t cry.”

Millie sniffled. “Am...am I in trouble?” she asked meekly, still not daring to meet her Mom’s eyes.

“Are you kidding? You took down three boys twice your size all by yourself! I’m glad to see you were taking our lessons to heart,” Byleth told her with pride. But then she frowned, remembering that she was the parent in this situation. Clearing her throat, she added, “But... You really shouldn’t go around picking fights.”

“But they said awful things about Mama!” Millie protested, “I just... I just got so mad! They were wrong! I couldn’t let them-”

“Hey, hey,” Byleth interrupted when she noted how worked up Millie was getting, “It’s ok. I know... I know what some people think about Mama and... It can be hard to hear those opinions.”

Millie rubbed some of the blood leaking from a gash on her lip away with her arm. “Did you ever get into a fight because of that, Mom?” she wondered shyly.

Byleth smiled. She thought about all the humorous times. Bar fights started because one drunkard couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Duels to defend her wife’s honour. Arguments settled by fisticuffs. But then there were also the...less...trivial times she had to defend her wife. Battles. Wars. Deaths of those she once considered friends.

“I’ll never stop protecting your Mama,” she told her daughter earnestly, “I love her so much, and it can be hard, sometimes, to think that not everybody sees her the way I do.” She drew a deep breath. Parenting was hard. “But sometimes... Violence won’t solve things. Punching someone won’t make them see your point of view. If anything, it’ll only make them less likely to agree.”

“But!” Millie protested. She was stopped when Byleth raised her hand to tell her she wasn’t finished.

“As frustrating as it can be, sometimes,” she continued gently, “As much as I want to prove to people how wrong they are, as much as I want to show them the truth, I know that sometimes I can’t. I can’t change everyone’s mind. Not even your Mama can do that. Sometimes people get so stuck in their way of thinking that you can’t pull them out of it. That’s just how people are.

“What’s important is that you know the truth,” Byleth told her, pulling her girl in for a hug, “You know your Mama loves you. You know who she really is. What other people think doesn’t matter.”

Millie sniffled as she accepted the hug. “Is...is Mama going to be mad at me?” she asked nervously, “For fighting?”

Byleth thought back to the times she came home from those bar fights and duels, beaten up and blood-spattered but triumphant, only to be reamed out by the Emperor for starting trivial fights on her behalf. She winced slightly before pulling back. She gently touched the beginnings of a black eye on Millie’s face and conjured up a healing spell. “What Mama doesn’t know won’t hurt her,” she said simply.

---

Mama was waiting for them when they returned to the palace. She knelt down as Millie ran up to her, arms extended as an open invitation for a hug. Millie accepted gladly, squeezing her Mama tight. Gentle arms wrapped around her. Soft words asked about her trip to the town. Millie settled into the embrace feeling nothing but comfort and safety and love.

Yes. This was the truth about her Mama.

After a moment, they broke apart. Mama instructed her to go wash up for dinner, and Millie happily obliged. As she scampered off, Edelgard stood and leveled a glance at Byleth.

Her wife winced. She knew that look. It was her “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed” look.

“Hubert told me what happened,” Edelgard said, surprisingly a lot softer than Byleth was expecting.

Dammit. Of course Hubert saw it. Byleth had to stop trusting that man when he said he wouldn’t be following.

“Look, El, I...” Byleth sputtered, “Jeralt... He let me wander around markets when I was that age. Younger, even! And I just thought...maybe... She’s gotten a lot braver, El, and I just wanted to give the kid a little freedom, and-”

“He told me she was a formidable warrior,” Edelgard interrupted, her voice still suspiciously soft, “He told me she defended my honour with as much vigour and strength as you do.”

Byleth was at a loss of words. She felt like she was stepping onto a minefield - one wrong move and she was done for.

But then El chuckled.

“Figures she’d start to take after you,” she said lightly, that glorious smile on her face reliving Byleth’s panic.

“Oh thank Sothis, I thought you’d be mad,” Byleth sighed, feeling the tension in her muscles relax.

“Oh, I’m still mad,” Edelgard told her, suddenly her voice not very soft anymore. She watched Byleth tense again, as if she was preparing for the Emperor to whip out an axe from behind her back.

She smiled again, rendering Byleth only more confused. “Hubert tells me she fights well, but does little to block attacks. Rather, she just powers through them, leaving her open to injury,” Edelgard informed her, “I’d like you to fix that.”

[nexttrickanvils]

FE3H Fic: Traditions

Title: Traditions

Characters: F!Byleth, Claude Von Riegan, mentions of other characters

Ship: F!Byleth x Claude

Notes: Modern!AU, Established relationship

This was written for the Tradition prompt over at @claudlethweek and this takes place in the same universe as Falling for You. If you haven’t read that, all you need to know is modern!AU and that Byleth teaches kids in an after-school program.

Also Claude’s descriptions of Almyra’s holiday traditions are sort of based on the Gahambars of the Zoroastrian religion.

---------

“So if you don’t mind me asking… What are some holiday traditions in Almyra?”

Claude raised an eyebrow at Byleth’s question as he stepped out of his apartment’s kitchen.

“Okay? What brought this on, By?”

“Work. Mercedes and I are doing a lesson plan about “holiday traditions around the world” and I thought I’d ask you outright about Almyra instead of just looking it up online.”

Claude put on an exaggerated hurt expression, “So that’s all I am to you huh? Just a walking fountain of Almyran trivia? I’m hurt, Byleth.”

Byleth responded by tossing one of the throw pillows from the couch at him which Claude easily caught.

“I just wanted to hear about your country’s traditions in your own words instead of just having to read a dry wiki article.”

Claude chuckled as he took a spot next to Byleth on the couch.

“Alright, alright, I’m sorry. I know you love me for my personality… and my sexy voice...”

Byleth lightly elbowed him, “Don’t push your luck. Anyway?”

Claude took a breath as he settled in.

“Okay so first thing to know: Almyrans will use any excuse to have a feast. It’s your birthday? Feast. Wedding? Feast. Anniversary? Feast. You got a big promotion at your job? Feast.”

Byleth laughed, “I think I’m sensing a pattern here.”

“Ha, well it’s a good thing you’re a teacher, huh? Anyway, while there are plenty of people who celebrate All Saints Day, most folks in Almyra celebrate one of the Six Seasonal Festivals. I celebrated both cause you know: Fodlanese mom plus Almyran dad.”

Byleth pulls out her phone from her pocket and immediately started typing up Claude’s words in the memo app.

“You know this would probably be a lot easier if you had a laptop.”

“Get me a laptop for All Saints Day then.”

Claude let out a small awkward cough and immediately changed the subject.

“Wh-where were we? Oh yeah… The Festivals are more like big feasts and it’s mostly about celebrating with the community and bringing everyone together. Young, old, rich, poor, etc…”

Have to admit, it was one of those few times I actually felt like I belonged. Claude thought to himself before continuing

“Everyone contributes in some way whether it’s making the food or serving it.”

“What kind of food is made?”

“Oh all kinds, soups, breads, kebabs. One tradition with my family is serving this really thick soup with onions and herbs and wheat noodles and we serve it with some fried bread. We’d also serve some dried fruits and nuts.”

Dammit now Claude was getting hungry.

“We also do some stuff to keep the traditions alive. Singing and dancing, telling stories about the Gods who created Almyra along with ancient heroes. My dad loves acting out the stories for kids, he’s an awful awful actor but can’t fault him for enthusiasm. It’s just that maybe… just maybe an extremely hairy six foot tall man with a booming baritone shouldn’t be attempting a princess voice.”

Byleth nearly dropped her phone from laughing so hard, Claude could even see tears forming from behind her glasses.

“Ha… ha… heh heh… y-your father’s acting skills aside. It sounds like a fun time. Thank you for helping out.”

“No problem, Teach. I’m sure those kids in your class would be thrilled to hear about it.”

Once she put away her phone, Byleth moved closer to Claude and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Do you miss it?”

“Hm?”

“The Festival I mean.”

“...Kinda yeah. It’s just travel’s expensive and uh I don’t really know my neighbors that well to justify trying to rope them into making and hosting a huge feast.”

Byleth looked thoughtful for a moment, “You know there’s this Almyran restaurant downtown I’ve been meaning to give a try. I think it’s run by an immigrant family so I can assure you it’s the real deal. I mean obviously we can’t have a big giant feast on our budgets. But I could invite my co-workers and you could invite Dimitri and Edelgard.”

It didn’t sound like a bad idea, Claude was always up for hanging out with friends and he could have Dimitri and Edelgard try some REAL Almyran cooking instead of that bland Fodlan made mess they had that one time.

“I think I’d like that.”

“Maybe it can be a new tradition?”

“Yeah that sounds nice.”

[auralite776]

Hi, I’m a horrible human.

I wrote this thing, so here you go!

Word count: 1,959

What if the three house lords became children thanks to a spell?

———————————————————————

Suddenly, three screams came from an unknown room. Geez, how many rooms were in this monastery, anyway?

It seemed nobody else heard the sound, so I assumed it was up to me to find the source. I had to make sure everything was alright before heading back to the classroom where the Black Eagle students were headed. Anyway, I head to the door, and cracked it open just a little, making sure nothing would leap out. “Not a single sound...hopefully everything is alright…” I whisper to myself before opening the door the rest of the way.

Oh my ever loving Sothis.

To what might as well have been my horror, three small figures peered at me. This must be a nightmare...or some sick joke.

“No, you dummy! Of course it’s real! You got knocked in the head with a club earlier today, remember?” Sothis’ voice rang as she spoke.

“Sothis, now is not the time.”

I walk over to get a closer look at the three people, and again to my shock, they look exactly like Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude respectively. What seemed to be their school uniforms were wickedly big on them, and because of that, they fell over when they tried to stand.

“Do I even want to know what happened?” I say, raising an eyebrow. They said nothing. At that, I heaved a sigh. I don’t get paid enough to deal with this…

“Well...alright. Let’s get you three to Manuela to see if there’s a way to get you back to normal.”

When I finished speaking, Edelgard managed to get her uniform in such a position so she could stand up, and walked to my side. Claude, however, came up with his brilliant plan to get up on my shoulder. Dimitri seemed too scared to stand up for some reason. I guessed it was best to carry him.

—————————————————————

“Oh… Oh my…”

“What is it, Manuela? Is it something that can’t be cured?” I said, somewhat frantically.

“Not that it can’t be cured, per se, but…” Manuela went on with a distressed tone mixed with an uncertain frown.

“But what?”

“It’ll take time for that spell to wear off. The question is how long, depending on the potency of that specific spell.”

Dammit. Now I’ll have to watch over three toddlers somehow and still be expected to carry out my duties. Just what I needed.

“You dragged yourself into this.”

Gee thanks, Sothis. As if I wasn’t aware of that in the first place!

“Just… Please, figure out how long it’ll take to wear off.”

“I’d say in about a day, though I’ll need to look over a few things, so it might be longer. Could you watch over them until it does?”

“I can try, hopefully Lady Rhea can alter my schedule or something.” I said as I scoop the three house leaders into my arms. “What do I need to do to watch over them, exactly?”

Manuela giggled. “I’m sure you’ll figure that out soon enough, Professor. Good day.” she giggled again as she left.

Well, a day or two won’t be that bad, right?

—————————————————————

Shit.

One hour and my room is a complete disaster. Figures. I can’t keep my eyes off of those three for a second! If only I could get some advice…

Dimitri started wailing once there was a knock on the door. In my desperate attempt to calm him down, I then heard the door slam into part of the wall. Which, in turn, caused the crown prince of Faerghus to scream even louder. Claude just stared in curiosity while hanging from the ceiling, and even then I wonder how he did that, while Edelgard covered her ears with a pillow.

“I gotta say, kid. You’re doing a decent job keeping yourself together.” Father remarked as he made his presence known.

“That’s incorrect.” I sigh. “I feel wickedly exhausted already and I can barely tear my eyes off of them without one crying or another object broken.” Finally, Dimitri stopped his cries. A relief to my ears.

“How long until the stupid thing will be done and over with?”

“A day or so. Hopefully. Manuela said it had something to do with the potency of some spell. Do you...know of anything I can do to keep them from destroying everything or screaming?”

“You’d be better off with trying to make the gremlins go to sleep.” Father sighed. “It’s pretty much the only thing that keeps them quiet and from causing mass destruction.”

“Gee thanks, Father. I know that, but how do I make them tired?”

My father opened his mouth to say something just as soon as Claude bolted out of the room as fast as his little legs could go. Which was unbelievably fast. I didn’t say another word before I took off after him. I cannot trust him out of anyone to not stay out of trouble. Yet I was already too late…

There was the stench of rotten meat everywhere.

Lady Rhea—the poor woman—was completely drenched in water.

Thanks to Claude, Seteth has made me his sworn enemy, or so I guessed from his soul-revealing glare. Yet the Archbishop laughed.

I stopped, completely out of break. Damn that kid is fast… Better leave it to the guards to catch him.

“Got rather busy, I see? And with quite the troublemaker, too.”

“I…” I panted. “I’m sorry...about him…”

“It’s alright, Professor.” Lady Rhea said calmly as she placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll get the guards to go after him. How about you keep your eye on the other two?”

I nod, my dry throat and exhaustion catching up to me. I slowly make my way back to my quarters. My father left, it seems. Dimitri curled himself up with one of my overcoats as Edelgard stayed wide awake, gazing out the window. She looked terribly sad…

Her thoughts seemed to have escaped her as I pat a spot on my bed, seeing if she wanted to join me. She did, oddly enough, making herself comfortable while making sure she was as close to me as she possibly could. Poor girl must’ve had a bad memory resurface, by the look of things. It was silent, for a while.

“P...Professor…?” Edelgard’s tiny voice squeaked.

“Yes, Edelgard?”

“Can you...call me El? My older sisters used to call me that...before...you know…”

That moment of tension caused her to sniffle. I gently traced a single scar on her back, which might’ve been one of her worst. “Hey, it’s okay. I can call you that, if you wish. But all things aside, if you ever need a shoulder to lean on, you know where to find me, alright?”

“Alright…”

More silence filled the room as Edelgard scooted herself upward, allowing her head to rest on my chest as she promptly fell asleep. A good thing, yet very curious. Soon enough, there was this warm, but indescribable feeling deep within my chest. When I put my hand on it, I, of course, felt nothing. There was nothing. No heartbeat…

I still held Edelgard close. What happened to her was one of the worst things I could possibly think of. All I could do now was be there for her to lean on, to be there to comfort her whenever needed. Despite being numb to some emotion, I felt...warm, I felt relaxed, and...it felt...right, somehow.

“Professor, are you...smiling?”

“What do you mean…?”

Edelgard seemed embarrassed when she asked that question. Avoided eye contact all together. “Er...it’s nothing…”

“If you say so.”

If only my heart actually beat...then perhaps Edelgard would be more relaxed. It might not be the case for her slight fidgeting, but she did cling. Was this...due to all of those experiments? Was she scared of letting anyone close to her go? I can’t change the past, no matter how hard I try…

“May I ask you something, Professor…?” Edelgard said quietly.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Do you… Do you think that those who suffer can be saved…?” Edelgard sounded hesitant, afraid. “That...when given a hand to hold, can escape…?”

“It depends. It depends on the person, what said person is struggling with coping, and the person who reached out to them. Not everyone can escape their traumatic childhoods, but if I had to offer my opinion, it would be that anyone could use that experience to change the world.”

The white-haired girl that made her home in my lap blinked with such wonder that I didn’t dare to try and understand. And yet, she frowned, her small arms wrapping around me and clutching my overcoat. “I want to change the world...for the better. You’ll help me...right?” she whispered as her body began to shake.

Edelgard relaxed as soon as I put a hand on the back of her head, gently threading my fingers through the strands of colorless hair. I always wondered what Edelgard’s natural hair color was, but then again she’d look beautiful no matter what.

She nudged me gently, her head burying itself in my chest. “I hate it. My entire body is scarred… I don’t doubt they won’t heal, but...they look horrific.”

Not to say that I didn’t agree. Some scars bore bad memories, others embarrassing accidents, but I had to shake my head. “El, that’s not entirely correct. They might look horrific to you, reminding you of those painful memories, yet in actuality, they only add more value in who you are. The scars made you the woman you are today, did they not? I believe that they enhance your beauty.”

Oh Goddess, I can’t believe I just said that.

Edelgard, however, grinned. “Thank you, Professor!”

The moment of peace was interrupted by Claude being gently shoved into the room, looking very disappointed. He yawned, crawling onto the bed next to Dimitri, who surprisingly was still asleep.

Hopefully the spell that made them like this would wear off. Soon.

“I guess it’s time for bed.” I yawn, looking back at Edelgard who leaned on my shoulder, fast asleep.

I lay down and pull the covers and sheets over my body, which made Claude and Dimitri move in order to stay warm, so the three huddled around me when they forced themselves under the sheet.

Soon enough, I shut my eyes, a curious warmth dwelling within my chest.

—————————————————————

Snap!

I jolted awake as soon as I felt something crushing me. Whatever it was, it was almost suffocating me. Until I realize…

The spell wore off. In my bedroom. On my bed. And it caused me to be in need of a new bed.

Something moved and immediately panicked. I opened a single eye, and Dimitri was awake, back to normal. One thing I did notice, his face was bright red.

Claude also moved, beginning to snicker, but stopped as soon as he realized what had happened. He was going to have an earful, that much was certain.

Edelgard stirred, but didn’t stand up like Claude and Dimitri did. Instead, she looked at who she was laying against and quickly rolled over, internally screaming.

They all demanded to know what happened yesterday. After I finished telling the story, they all had various responses.

Dimitri ran out of the room.

Claude laughed to hide his embarrassment.

And Edelgard…

Edelgard profusely apologized and hurried away to her quarters.

It was quite an interesting day. The three could barely even speak to me without growing flushed in the face. They did snap out of it later, when the fiasco was long such forgotten.

Oh, and the bed? I got a new one. Frankly, nobody dared to ask how it broke.

[huberts-private-counsel-archive]

Omg, what’s the Dadleth au? Just the name sounds delightful

*slams big ol notebook down* WELL BOY HOWDY IT SURE IS

It's pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, hehe. I bumped up Byleth's age to be at least 30 pre timeskip, extended the time he'd have taught the students for, and shoved him to be a proper dad to all of the students because dammit so, so many of them have shit parents.

I did change his name to Adel in this AU, just to differentiate him from Byleth. Byleth is around the same age as the students, Adel is not. Adel will also lay down his life to protect his kids, and by kids I mean all of them.

Currently, my official Dadleth route is the Blue Lions route, funnily enough. It's currently the happiest ending I can think of (two of the three lords live, and it isn't on tense terms as it would be in Crimson Flower, and only Claude makes it out alive in Verdant Wind). Hubert at the very least lives, and you will pry that from my cold dead hands. My apologies to Edelgard, but I think she's too set on her path to be willing to stray from it. Please don't take it as me hating Edelgard ;w;

I have so many fics planned for this Dadleth AU, a good 90% consisting of him being a good dad to all of the students.

The remaining 10% is his kids returning the favor and just making sure their dad is alright.

(And if any of you want to send in requests for Dadleth AU, I might do them? This is still supposed to be a Hubert-centric blog, so as long as they include Hubert/I can find a way to include Hubert, I don't see why not!)

[ncfan-1]

Things I want to write for Three Houses (and may not actually wind up writing), a (most likely) incomplete list:

- Pre-canon fic with Petra, Edelgard, and Hubert. Gen.

- Fic for my headcanon of Edelgard’s stepmother, the Empress Berengaria. We know that this Empress must have existed, for Edelgard references her father having already married for political purposes by the time he met Patricia, but we know nothing about her. My headcanon of her is that she is by birth a member of House Nuvelle, that she was a supporter of Ionius’s attempts to consolidate his power, possessed a minor Crest of Cethleann, and that neither of her two children by Ionius numbered among the few (only three, in my headcanon) royal children who possessed any Crest at all. The fact that Edelgard was one of only three royal children with a Crest made her much more dynastically relevant than she otherwise would have been, and when Patricia was exiled, Berengaria took one look at baby/toddler Edelgard, said something to the effect of “It’s free real estate”, and snatched that kid right up before one of the consorts could get to her. Berengaria pushed hard for Edelgard’s candidacy as the next Emperor; she knew she’d never get anywhere promoting her own children (kid with a Crest wins over a kid without any day of the week), and installing a child she’d raised as the next Emperor was the best chance she had of ensuring that her and her own children’s would be preserved during the reign of the next emperor. She did care for Edelgard—and Edelgard definitely thinks of Berengaria before she thinks of Patricia when she thinks of ‘Mother’—though it’s less clear whether she loved Edelgard. Berengaria locked horns with Lord Arundel often over Edelgard’s custody. Just before the Insurrection of the Seven, Berengaria was assassinated via poison, and most assume it was Lord Arundel who killed her. The fic will be gen, obviously.

- I want to finish In This Valley of Dying Stars. Fic’s Dimileth, though it’s pre-ship, given its space in the timeline and the fact that neither Dimitri nor Melusine are in a good place mentally while it takes place.

- Want to write the sequel to In This Valley of Dying Stars, aka “Melusine finds out exactly what’s up about her and she takes it really poorly.” Dimileth, takes place just post the S-support, though the ship isn’t really the main focus of the fic. Melusine’s existential crisis kicking into overdrive is the main focus of the fic.

- A couple of oneshots set in the same ‘verse as In This Valley of Dying Stars and the as of yet untitled sequel. One of them focuses on Melusine, Flayn, Seteth, and Manuela, after Melusine overexerts herself using Divine Pulse and is unconscious for roughly a day and a half as a result. The second is the search for Rhea in Enbarr after the final battle. Enbarr’s the biggest city on the continent, and without Hubert’s letter, finding her… Yeah, that takes a while, and it’s taking even longer considering that there’s still fighting throughout the city even after Edelgard’s death and Dimitri is in no state to fight after taking a dagger to the shoulder. Both are gen; the first is entirely gen, and the second one mostly gen (In that there’s Dimileth simmering in the background, but it’s not the main focus of the fic).

- A fic set during the timeskip of Azure Moon, in which the explanation for why Mercedes is wearing a cap and veil post timeskip that looks a lot like the headgear worn by the nuns around Garreg Mach is that she took religious orders during the timeskip. Partly because she wants to become a nun, and partly because, while nuns don’t have to take vows of chastity in this universe, anyone who takes religious vows, even if they’re remaining a part of the secular world, is protected by law from being forced into marriage against their will. Even if the Empire has taken over Fhirdiad, where Mercedes lives, the prevailing culture is still very pro-Church, and thus, the men her adoptive father brings around the house take one look at her headdress, only have to hear her say, “No, I’m afraid I don’t particularly want to marry you :)” and are out the door, usually shooting dirty looks at her adoptive father in the process. Said adoptive father is too chickenshit to make her take off the headdress—especially considering she had four separate copies made up of the official document commemorating her taking religious orders, and three of them have been sent off to people who would not be at all inclined to give them to him to burn.

- Timeskip fic of Marianne’s evolving relationship with Margrave Edmund.

- A multi-chapter AU where Dimitri turns into a Demonic Beast during the timeskip, and the only way for him to turn back into a man is for him to let go of his rage and hatred of Edelgard enough that it isn’t consuming him anymore. This one’s… Yeah, it’s gonna be rough. And at least somewhat gruesome (Maybe more than somewhat). Main characters are: Dimitri, Melusine, Felix, Marianne, and when they show up, Rodrigue and Dedue. Gen. The only ship is Marianne x Linhardt, it’s mostly in the background, and it’s here primarily because it’s thematically appropriate and I love them. The violence and themes might be enough to make it M-rated. I’ve been mulling this one over for a while: here’s a snippet. The tag for this one will be ‘Demonic Beast AU.’

- Ingrid and Leonie get a support chain. Basically, it’s Leonie wondering “why is this noble girl asking me to show her how to make candles out of leftover cooking grease?” and finding out exactly why. Gen.

- Seteth comes to the monastery and deals with people reacting to the unvetted, unqualified stranger being promoted to a position of high authority over them. Gen, here’s the post I made speculating about it.

- Rhea and Seteth in the monastery, just being siblings at each other. Gen.

- Silver Snow Seteth having a reckoning over the damage wrought by the Crest System, and over everything he’s been complicit in since coming to live and work in the monastery. Basically a “That moment when you realize that the system you’ve been complicit in upholding has fucked over everyone you care about whose names aren’t Rhea and Flayn, and now everyone you care about may well die thanks to the secrets you and Rhea have been keeping,” to bridge the gap between what we see of him in the game and what we hear of him in his unpaired ending. Gen.

- Ingrid’s relationship with her mother, which I imagine as being at least somewhat fraught. Gen.

- The Sacred and Profane (titled such because I am so very original), centered around Rhea’s first couple of attempts at making a vessel for Sothis out of the children she created from her blood. Gen. The only fic idea I haven’t written yet that actually has a title.

- A fic centering around Lysithea and Ferdinand’s relationship if the game had fleshed it out more. Because I love their interactions in their paralogue, and I would have liked for them to have a support chain. Will probably be set in Azure Moon or Silver Snow. Could be gen, could be fucked-up shippiness. Anything is possible.

- An AU where Rhea learns to see Melusine’s mother as a person in her own right rather than simply a failed vessel, and thus treats Melusine like a person as well. So she handles things a bit differently after Melusine is born, and thus, Jeralt never leaves the monastery with her. And yet, things manage to go almost as poorly as they do in canon. Gen. Will be tagged ‘Grandmother AU.’

- An AU where after Edelgard resurfaces after having been experimented on and successfully implanted with the Crest of Flames, Rhea snatches her up and declares her a ward of the Church because those kids were descendants of someone she gave her blood to, dammit. Things… do not go well. Gen.

- Post-canon in Crimson Flower, Edelgard and Lysithea have a tense conversation just before Lysithea undergoes a procedure to have her Crests removed. Gen.

- Shapeshifter Marianne AU. Not sure if it will be gen or have ships in it.

- A fairy tale AU where Melusine is a lot more like her namesake. Probably Dimileth, and probably the least likely thing on this list to actually get written.

[crystalelemental]

Ok... my thoughts about the DLC. I played on hard, and the side story was INSANELY challenging, which was nice because I was craving that. That said... it was really short. They had a perfect opportunity to do playable Sothis and/or Rhea and DIDN'T, which I can't really wrap my head around. It could have only been for one or two maps (the last two) and I would have been satisfied! But nothing. I was kind of hoping for a new part 2 route based on the Ashen Wolves with playable Sothis/Rhea, but...

But no, that didn't happen. Then finally, in addition, neither Constance nor Hapi have marriages with F-Byleth, and there are no new marriages at all besides with those characters? I mean. I'm not happy. I get that Yuri can marry both Byleths but like. Make the others like that. I prefer playing as FByleth because I feel her eyes are more expressive but I can't marry who I want and thats stupid as hell. If this is the complete DLC, I dont think id recommend it to anyone else, honestly.

I’m actually glad we didn’t get a new part 2 route.  I feel like such a decision could’ve very easily been made to be the “peaceful” route, akin to Revelation, where it’s everyone getting to be happy, but is kind of stupid and badly handled.  So while it would’ve been nice for everyone to live, I feel like that would’ve thrown off the balance a bit.

As for the rest...under the cut.

My big issue is they didn’t explain much.  I was honestly hoping for more of an explanation on the how and what of Sitri.  Church route explains that Rhea made Sitri, but we get exactly no insight into exactly what she did or how that’s even possible.  I would have liked to get to know more about Sitri’s origins.  At one point, my guess for Sitri’s body in Abyss was that Rhea just kept the clones down there in her closet and Aelfric just happened to find one of them.

I love Rhea, don’t get me wrong, but I also feel like a lot of this route kinda backpedaled on the Church route exposition.  What I mean is, Church route has Rhea admit to creating human life, and mostly using it as a vessel for her mother’s return.  She doesn’t seem to care much beyond that.  Even Byleth, ultimately, is meant to be a house for the progenitor god, who she ultimately attempts to erase by having Sothis reincarnate in them.  It’s really not a flattering picture for Rhea, who honestly seems really corrupt and selfish in that moment.

Ashen Wolves instead presents this idea that she really cared a lot about Sitri, and was upset at her passing, so much so that she preserved the body in Abyss.  That...doesn’t really line up with what we know of Rhea, as it applies to the vessels she prepares.  I’m all for Rhea actually being nice, and being kinder than most people seem willing to give credit for, but this route felt like it too that almost too far in the direction of “Rhea is innocent.”  Sure, okay.  She really loved Sitri so much that Sitri was like a daughter, and that’s definitely why she kept the body perfectly preserved.  That seems very believable from the person who is currently trying to have us destroyed to bring back her mother.  I guess the parallels with Aelfric are cool, but eh.  There’s a lot that didn’t feel perfect in this route.  I did hear someone on Twitter claim it was Conquest levels of dumb, but I don’t really agree.  I think it was ultimately fine, it just didn’t address the things I’d hope for, and mostly focused on Aelfric’s dick inadequacies.  I went into this hoping for more depth on mysteries within the main game, but instead we got something...completely unrelated, and it’s not bad but it’s not entirely what I had wanted.

I think deep down, I was hoping for what would never happen, which is for anyone to just say Morph or Quintessence.  I know that wouldn’t happen, but the dragonkin are called Nabateans.  Nabateans.  Nabata.  Tell me this is related to Elibe, dammit.  I don’t care how, just do it.

As for gameplay, it was...fun?  I have a lot of thoughts but I’ll stick with two.  One is, reinforcements on these maps suck.  They’re obnoxious and awful and I hate them.  The map conditions are unique and fun, and there are certain conditions that prioritize moving your ass forward rather than trying to just tank out, which is a good way to make use of characters who aren’t Edelgard and Hilda.  I just feel like certain maps went way, way too heavy on reinforcements as a thing, and it really bogged it down.  The DLC is overall pretty short, but some maps felt like an eternity with this dumb shit.  Also Yuri pulls a “set the town on fire to protect it” move by having Hapi summon a bunch of monsters when we’re down to the last three enemy units.  Thanks buddy, that...that’s good thinking there.

The other is that I...actually love the pre-set classes and everything.  I get that people like customization, and the lack of the weapon triangle facilitates that by ensuring no one’s completely fucked because they made an army of Wyvern Lords and Gremories.  But...what’s stopping you from making an army of Wyvern Lords and Gremories?  They’re categorically the best classes, why do you need anything else?  I feel like the lack of weapon restriction alongside the lack of a weapon triangle allows you too much freedom, and it results in a lot of the core gameplay being kinda...less involved.  Skills aren’t that strong, no weapon triangle, no weapon restrictions on your units, double magic casts means you literally never think about running out because there’s so many...the challenges of the game start to become “I can one-shot anything from anywhere because Meteor or Thyrsus,” or “I’m going to bait these enemies out with my godwall, who will tank exactly 100% of all threats with no issue because nothing can stop them.”  It’s not really as fun.  I like to play for stats, but I also like the knowledge that no pure stat wall is going to body the game if you’re not playing smart in most cases.  I feel like Three Houses doesn’t have that.  A unit with strong mixed defense and good attack basically faces no issues at all.  It makes the main game even more of a chore.  I appreciated Ashen Wolves for locking in your base stats, your class option, etc.  But at the same time.  Callie played it and I directed, yet I have no desire to play it myself now.  Because...nothing’s going to be different.  I can’t use different characters for different purposes, and without the customization aspect of the main game, that means there’s...basically no reason to replay it.  I like having things overall be a bit more set, but as a side-story where all characters are deployed, it lacks variety.

All that to say, I kinda agree?  Like, the DLC pack really feels like it’s more for the characters and classes added to the main game.  Which is 100% fine with me.  I am all about Dark Flier Lysithea and will never give this up.  Also Constance best girl, it’s bullshit she’s not a bi option.

[langwrites]

Lang Plays Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I’m playing them in this order: Blue Lions, Black Eagles, Church of Seiros, and then Golden Deer. (I organized them by how likely it is to have a true final boss who is actually as relevant to the lore as the opening cutscene. And also because I thoroughly spoiled myself about that.)

So, after sinking what the game tells me was eighty hours into a single playthrough, here’s my thoughts on the first thing I tackled.

Spoilers below the cut.

Very Early Game (Blue Lions):

It’s the Fire Emblem Dad! (I played Path of Radiance. I’ve seen this dude before.)

Hi Claude. Sorry, I’m gonna steal every single one of your peers I can catch. Same to you, Edelgard.

Dimitri is so awkward it’s almost palpable.

Aww, Ashe and Annette are adorable. Mercedes has that dead anime mom hairstyle that sets my teeth on edge, but she’s super nice. It’ll take me longer to warm up to the boys, I think.

Felix is the token “I MUST BECOME STRONGER” myrmidon character. Gotta have at least one per game, apparently.

Sylvain = Sain. Token womanizer cavalier. His support list is pretty odd, though.

Dedue = the guy who done punch things. And he *has* to punch things, because he’s slow as hell and his speed growth isn’t great.

What the fuck is that strength growth, Dimitri. What the fuck is that Charm growth.

I was so close to making him my team’s designated Dancer unit, you guys.

Beleth is gonna be their teacher and somehow I don’t imagine this going super well.

Pre-Timeskip School Life:

Once again, I regret not being able to support with characters who’ve firmly attached themselves to the other two houses. (Which is only like three people in my “gotta catch ‘em all” playthrough, but whatever.)

But I can support all the recruitables, which is...something that took me a long while to do.

The first person I stole for the Blue Lions was Caspar. The first person who straight-up joined was Flayn. Yay, auxiliary punchers and auxiliary-auxiliary healers!

Ashe, your adoptive father really didn’t need to die. You were right. It was all bad all the way down.

Flayn gets kidnapped and I fuck around for a month raising everyone else’s supports and realizing Seteth’s too distraught to train my Lance level. Dangit.

I missed the opportunity to support with Leonie entirely because her personality put me off for the first few in-game months, and it turns out you can only start her support chain while Jeralt is alive.

Dammit. Now I’ve gotta train with lances.

What’s-his-fuck over at the village sure did do a thing, didn’t he. And if he hadn’t dropped his disguise just then he could have gotten away with it.

Their scheme would’ve failed faster if anybody around this fucking monastery could apply logic to shapeshifter shenanigans.

Seriously, no one should have trusted Monica.

You vanish over the course of a year, and come back with your personality totally inverted.

Tomas/Solon had just demonstrated what it looks like when these dickbags drop cover, and then everyone subsequently failed to make the correct deduction. If they hadn’t, Jeralt would’ve lived.

Dad-stabbing: A theme of Fire Emblem games. Seriously. Check out the huge list of dead dads (which goes all the way back to the first game in the series.)

Also dead moms, but for some reason moms are less prominent in the series as a whole.

For the purposes of this analysis, we are also including every single boss who had kids. Which isn’t most of them, but god damn there are still a lot of dead dads.

Dorotheaaaaaa be my frieeeeeeend

Yoinked Linhardt after finally showering him in enough gifts to get his sleepy ass to sign transfer papers.

Swiped Marianne, Bernadetta, Petra, Ignatz, Alois (kinda), Shamir (sorta), Manuela (iffy), Hanneman (yoink), Catherine (see previous), Hilda (how), Lorenz (woop woop), and Leonie (sigh).

The Death Knight remains, for the moment, unpillaged for his Dark Seal drops. This time it was an accident: I killed everyone else in the room except for him and a priest/mage, but then that last dude squared up with Felix and died.

All the points I poured into their associated skills and their supports, however, left one big gap:

DAMMIT FERDINAND, I’M TRYING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE. WHY DO YOU CARE SO MUCH ABOUT HEAVY ARMOR. RAPHAEL JOINED UP DESPITE THAT.

(I got a B-rank support with him and he popped into my office to say he was transferring, nbd. Ferdinand’s B-rank is locked until after the timeskip.)

tl;dr: The only recruitable character I missed was Ferdinand.

Seteth and Gilbert don’t do shit until post-timeskip and Rhea isn’t playable, so w/e.

As soon as I say that, Seteth and Flayn have a paralogue. It’s a beach level. I hate beach levels and desert levels. Seteth gets to be MVP because he’s the only jerk who can fly.

They have a little speech after the paralogue level that reveals that they’re actually father and daughter, not siblings. And the whole story of this little subplot basically confirms that they’re dragons.

Neither of them transform over the course of the game, and that’s okay.

Ruh-roh, Raggy. Let’s see who’s really under the Flame Emperor’s mask--

“AND I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT TOO, IF NOT FOR--oh wait teleportation exists. BYE!”

Dimitri proceeds to thoroughly lose any chill he ever pretended to have, and I’m 99% sure the villain in question isn’t actually old enough to have caused the Tragedy of Duscur. Unless the biographies in the notes were lying.

Now, the backup dancers over there sure as shit are, but logical reasoning has its time and place.

Whatever. Time for stabbing.

WE ALREADY KNOW THESE PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF MAKING THEMSELVES LOOK LIKE ANYONE, MASKS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY. THE VICTIM ONLY HAS TO DISAPPEAR FOR A WHILE.

WHY AREN’T WE CHECKING THAT AS A BASIC PRECAUTION.

THERE HAVE BEEN THREE OF THESE CREEPS ALREADY.

Their name is too long and I should call them Morlocks.

But seriously, check for infiltrators.

What passes for strategy around here: Take Paladin Dimitri, plunk his overleveled ass down on a corner where all the enemies’ targeting reticles converge, and wait five minutes for all the counterkill animations to play out.

If I wanna try the same with Sylvain, he needs to be backed up by at least Annette and probably Felix. Maybe even Mercedes if she’s not already busy slinging Physics around.

Dimitri’s fine with just sitting around with a forged Steel Lance and poking holes in everything.

Beleth can do the same, but is much more reliant on dodging and not just facetanking axes.

The little “no damage!” sound effect is still very satisfying. Yes, game, my Defense/Resistance has escaped the bounds of your damage curve.

Dorothea became my Dancer unit, because despite Dimitri having twenty-eight Charm to her nineteen, he begged me not to and also is better sitting on a corner and killing everything.

Huh, the monastery is sure being invad--you know, Edelgard, if it wasn’t already really obvious that your faction is basically the “villain route” in Samurai Warriors parlance, using giant mop-headed demonic beasts as shock troops would probably give it away to observers. If they weren’t already running away in abject terror.

The principle from How to Train Your Dragon still applies: A downed dragon is a dead dragon. If Rhea didn’t want to basically get mobbed, she should’ve stayed in the air and acted as flying artillery for the Knights of Seiros with her mouth laser. She could’ve sat on top of a wall and fired with relative impunity.

Sure, some demonic beasts can fly, but there weren’t any in that cutscene and the flying ones have, mechanically, one less health meter than the landbound ones.

Also, they’re pushovers.

And there’s the washed-out creep brigade! They look like the Grimleal, but with more feathers and less of a tan.

...And there goes Beleth, off to have a five-year nap.

Welp.

Post Timeskip:

Oh good, it’s been five years. Beleth, I hate to break it to you, but you’re probably at least slightly dragon at this point. Check your ears if you have a chance.

Tiki canonically napped for like 99% of her three thousand years in Awakening, ironically enough, so it’s not like dragon-people are exactly early risers.

Poor rando gets asked “what year is it” like that question is ever used outside of fiction. Beleth doesn’t read time travel books, I take it.

“oh you probably shouldn’t go to the monastery, it’s like super haunted and shit”

“sorry what was that i couldn’t hear you over the sound of me climbing up to the monastery”

Eyyyy, it’s a lance-wielding pirate.

...Hi, Dimitri. Where’d your macaroni hair go.

You know, it’s not surprising that Dimitri would think Beleth was a hallucination. He spent a lot of time yelling at his inner demons even pre-timeskip, after taking a couple of severe psychological shocks.

But he absolutely should have walked into her and been surprised when he knocked them both on their asses.

He’s been spending the last five years stabbing people, hasn’t he.

Yep.

He looks like he fell out of Game of Thrones.

Blue Lions! Rah rah something team chant. Rah rah Rasputin, lover of the Russian queen~

None of you people trained any of your skills. In five years. Dimitri you were a paladin. Did you eat your horse.

You are all getting sent to boot camp.

Hi, Gilbert. Why are you playable now all of a sudden. Why is your speed a fucking two.

THIS IS WHY MIKLAN HANDED YOU YOUR ASS.

Once again, the “plunk Dimitri’s overleveled ass down on a corner and watch people die” plan is still a valid strategy. I still don’t know where he gets all this strength (and charm). Like, goddamn.

Annette got cornered for like five turns because I was too cowardly to put her in range of a Brawler.

Then she killed him with a critical Fire.

So, I guess Felix’s remarks about Dimitri’s issues make some sense now, but he should still stop making them. I know he’s a tsundere par excellence, but still.

STop TalKing AboUT KilLing PeoPle

Warning: Sympathetic Boss Approaching.

Look, most “sympathetic” bosses in Fire Emblem kinda fall flat. The better ones are placed in the way of the player characters while they’re in the middle of a low point in the emotional arc and get utterly wrecked in a flurry of misdirected fury. Sometimes the characters even feel bad about it afterward. The worst ones are the ones who are just utterly devoted to someone who’s earned everyone’s ire by being a utter fucking asshole.

Good: Mustafa from Awakening and Shiharam from Path of Radiance. Good people forced into bad situations. Or just cornered. Henry talked up the former long after he got a Chrom to the face, and the latter was probably the best-written of the “aw, I wish I didn’t have to kill him” bosses I’ve run across.

Bad: Levail from Radiant Dawn. There is no getting around the fact that General Zelgius was a bad dude. Levail holding him up as a paragon of knightliness and swearing to serve him out of sheer admiration did not make him even marginally better.

We sure did kill Caspar’s uncle, didn’t we. I’m sure that won’t come back to bite us square in the ass. Not after he had that “this guy is a person who cares about stuff” cutscene to remind us of his pixel humanity.

I’m sure it’s fine.

Bwoop, bwoop, everyone say hello to Ferdinand and Lorenz! And say goodbye to Ferdinand, because he didn’t allow himself to be recruited pre-timeskip, isn’t recruitable post-timeskip, and then I had Felix kill him with Thoron.

Lorenz can rejoin us, though. He doesn’t count as an enemy commander once he’s been smacked down to 0 hp.

HI, DEDUE. WHY ARE YOU ONLY LEVEL TWENTY. GET IN THE BACKLINES AND DON’T TALK TO ME UNTIL YOU CAN ACTUALLY DAMAGE ANYTHING.

(Seriously, tho, I was waiting for Dedue to come back for two reasons. One: I did that paralogue of his way back in Part One and he did not get to die after all that. Two: Part of Dimitri’s epic slide into “spear-wielding mountain man who runs around killing people with his bare hands” had to do with Dedue “dying” during the timeskip. That jackass cracked a smile for the first time in ingame years thanks to the world’s punchiest bodyguard coming back alive.)

(Fortress Knight is still the worst class.)

I totally didn’t pay any attention to what, if anything, actually separated Master classes from Advanced classes other than my inability to get my hands on Master Seals. So Ashe is a Bow Knight now, while Felix made it to Mortal Savant (wtf is that name and why is the class model basically a samurai) and I spent a very long time level-grinding Sylvain’s Reason skill to make him a Dark Knight. I aimed for Gremory with all my spellcaster girls, but I admit to not really paying attention to specifics.

(I ended up with five Gremories: Annette, Flayn, Mercedes, Lysithea, and Dorothea. Bernadetta became a Bow Knight and Marianne promoted eventually to a Holy Knight. Dorothea also ended up taking Mortal Savant, which she didn’t ever use.)

(Seteth became a Wyvern Lord and Dedue eventually made it to Warrior.)

(Byleth qualified for Mortal Savant and used it precisely no times.)

(It became pretty clear that I just threw Master Seals at people whenever the possibility of promoting them came up.)

(Certification is a weird system.)

I stopped paying a ton of attention to supports around the time I realized that Ferdinand wasn’t going to be recruited no matter what I did in the final month before Shit Went Down.

Then I started paying attention again like two chapters from endgame, because I remembered some A-ranked supports meant that the characters could get paired endings.

I also stopped ignoring Cyril and started using him as an adjutant, though his stats never quite caught up to Seteth (also known as the only instructor unit I ever consistently used).

Cornelia is absolutely a Morlock plant. That is a face she just made, even in flashback.

I wish we could've seen Dimitri’s now-dead uncle, if only because I’m curious. Also, what did Edelgard’s mom/Dimitri’s stepmom look like?

Why is there always a fire level. I saw it earlier thanks to doing Ingrid and Dorothea’s paralogue, but it’s a Fire Emblem stock level type and I hate it.

Okay, yeah, this area totally got nuked. Magitech nukes, but still. It’s still on fire centuries later? Why??

Felix’s dad is a Holy Knight. Why do I have to keep his ass alive on a field when half the enemies are barely Advanced classes, never mind Master classes.

Oh right, because I want the exp for myself.

Rodrigue is possibly the single person here who can make Dimitri’s murder-bender change direction even slightly. He also gets along with his actual son so much worse than that. He’s like Annette’s dad, but with actual verbal confrontations.

There’s Caspar’s not-exactly-forgotten aunt, here to “secretly” avenge her dead brother. Dude, could you say something about that?

Three levels later: I thought we were done with the dad-stabbing. 

Felix has officially lost Too Many People in pursuit of keeping Dimitri alive. As has everyone else, frankly.

In other routes, Dimitri absolutely runs his campaign off a cliff.

Here, he turns his life around. More or less. Gotta make the choice to get better.

Time to take back the Kingdom’s capital, like we’ve not been doing for four chapters now. Finally.

Cornelia is absolutely a Morlock plant. This is like the fourth character who supposedly did a complete characterization 180 after a period of being actually useful to other people. Goodbye, civil engineer we never knew.

I think the only infiltrator who did things properly was Solon, but he still dropped his disguise for no good reason early in the game. That operatic level of drama is not a trait that helps him survive a month later. Just goes to show that the Morlocks don’t have more than one type of good judgment at a time, I guess.

I know I’m supposed to avoid the giant doom robots, but...

No, it turns out I can just have Dimitri and Beleth stand in the middle of the killzone and destroy them for fun and profit.

Ding dong the witch is dead.

Welp, time to go save the Alliance, which is getting schooled by the Empire.

HI CLAUDE.

I MISSED YOU AND YOUR FAITH IN HUMANITY. And specifically in Dimitri, for some reason? I think he kinda stabbed your soldiers a lot the last time you two met, but feel free to keep being the Best Character.

Your bodyguards are top-notch, man. One of them got hit with anything over the course of the entire battle.

Your general Judith, however, necessitates Flayn using ALL of her Rescue spells just to keep her alive.

I still had to send Ashe to keep a Falcon Knight off you, but no big.

And also had to send Hilda and Petra to kill the Asshole Reinforcements to nick their stuff.

Dimitri sat there and dodge-tanked all of Arundel’s attempts to kill him until the team killed everybody else. Then Dimitri poked him and he died. Dimitri OHKOs everything except monsters now, and that’s only because they have multiple health meters.

And then Claude fucks off to become king somewhere else. Okay then. It was a nice speech, though.

Killing the Death Knight for fun and profit and now Mercedes is crying. Shit.

Doesn’t this place get vaporized in every other route?

Did killing so many Morlocks by accident lock us out of seeing an intercontinental ballistic missile?

(And it is by accident, because this route is like the only one where the Morlocks are incidentals instead of the main problem, partly due to Dimitri’s tunnel vision and partly just because they don’t drop their disguises upon death.)

Well, I guess it’s time to confront Edelgard.

It’s completely valid of her to look at the guy who was threatening to rip her head off with his bare hands and hang it from the gates of the Empire’s capital a little while ago, and then go “Yeah, diplomacy’s shot.” That Dimitri stopped being quite so all-consumingly homicidal a bit ago is not actually reason to try throwing herself on anyone’s mercy. I feel kinda bad for her, since she’s been pushed into this corner and her ace-in-the-hole allies are basically decapitated, and I stole all her potential friends back during the school phase of the game.

Also, sunk cost fallacy.

Still walloped the entire roster of the second-to-last level, down to killing Hubert with Lysithea. Hilda and Cyril killed all the bird demons.

On the final level, which starts immediately after the previous one, three characters got totally destroyed by the sheer number of mages floating around: Dimitri (whose Avoid finally failed him four times in a row), Hilda (same), and Dedue (thirded). Seteth miraculously survived taking 68 points of damage from a single attack, and then later went on to take Edelgard’s last health bar off with a crit.

Weirdly, Beleth’s Avoid was just fine. Finally let her use the Sublime Sword of the Creator and she killed most of the Gremories that took out Dimitri and Hilda.

And everybody we could save per plot constraints got to live! (Except Ferdinand.)

I’m willing to save him on subsequent routes because killing him made Dorothea sad.

Next time: Lang plays the route that screws over most of these people in service of killing the God-Pope.

[trying-write-fanfics]

AsheXReader the price of war pt 3

AN, sorry about posting it and having nothing there, I’m trying to fix it. enjoy

 The classroom was quieter than usual because it was missing one of the more social students. Ashe listened for the gossip which was Y/n didn’t come to class for feeling sick. They weren’t close, but she talked to everyone. She was a mystery to him he wasn’t sure he had what it takes to unravel.  

 “I tried knocking on her door, but she didn’t answer.” Annette sighed.

 “Maybe we can bake her something. It’ll cheer her up.” Mercedes told her best friend.

 “She seemed fine to me yesterday.” Sylvain joined in.

 “What’s she sick with?” Ashe joined in. 

 “No idea, she seemed down yesterday too.” Annette added. 

Though Ashe and Y/n weren’t close she was always an interesting topic. One day Sylvain had started flirting with her and she told him he can only continue if he bought her lunch. It wasn’t a reaction anyone was used to but he stopped trying for a hot minute. Another weird thing was she avoided Dimitri like the plague, the next ruler of the kingdom. He did try to talk to her, and every time she would one word him. She was also a favorite in the black eagles house. It made the class think she would transfer into Manuela’s class for how much time she spent with them. 

 “Maybe she got bad news from home.” Ingrid said. 

“Her family has a nice territory. I wonder what kind of trouble could hurt them.” Felix sarcastically asked 

 “You think her family is trying to marry her off?” Mercedes asked. 

 It was an issue noble women had. Bernetta, Marianne, Ingrid, and Mercedes were all in that boat of dealing with annoying fathers. Y/n had not yet confirmed or denied her parents intentions of sending her to the monastery. 

 Professor Byleth came in to start teaching the lesson. She was also a very hard person to read because there was hardly any expression on her. Y/n’s spectrum of expression had no real direction. She’d smile, laugh, be disgusted, but no one could read the inside of her mind. 

 _____________

 After class got let out, Ashe thought how to approach Y/n’s dorm. He didn’t want it to seem too random for him to check up on her. With some late time he whipped up a soup so he wouldn’t enter her place empty handed. 

 Ashe stood outside her door for a whole moment deciding if this was best. Sure, he put all this effort into helping her, he’s just checking on her, informing her what happened in class today. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, so why did it feel like it? Ashe gulped down his fear and finally knocked on the noble woman’s door. He heard a curse and shifting in bed. The wooden door opened a crack revealing half the girl. Her eyes were red and puffy and even dark from lack of sleep. Her hair was a mess, and a blanket was around her body. 

  “Ashe?” She questioned.

 “Hey I just heard you were sick so I thought I’d drop off this soup and tell you what happened in class today.” He said quickly. 

 The girl was trying to process what was happening. However she heard another door open and her nerves shot up. 

 “Dammit-come in-“ she dragged Ashe into her room. 

 The rather strong girl was able to throw Ashe behind her as she almost shut the door so she could peak through the crack between the frame and door. Her room was a mess with papers. Books were open with pages torn out. Candles were lit the provide a little light in the dark room. Flowers sat on her desk with opened mail from home. 

 “What’s all this?” Ashe asked.

 “I can’t deal with the professor knowing I’m not sick. I was practicing reason magic.” She rubbed her face. 

  Anyone would believe she was sick, there was nothing to worry about the lie. 

 “The professor is actually good at teaching magic. I’m sure if you ask her a private lesson she’ll help you out. “ Ashe tried to shed the advice and look for a place for the soup. 

 “You want me to have this even though I’m not sick?” She asked point to the soup. 

 “Yeah, I made it so it’ll replenish all the energy you lost from all of this.” He tried to laugh. 

 Her warm hand cupped over his. His heart shuddered as her fingers brushed against his knuckles. The warm bowl left his grasp into hers as she placed it on the desk.

 “Thank you, Ashe…” she said without looking at him. 

  “Why didn’t you for the professor’s help?”

 Y/n let out a defeated sigh.

 “I have, I’m just not making the progress I need to. To be honest I’ve been thinking about dropping out.” She went to her bed. “I thought maybe I could go to the royal school of sorcery, but I’m not even good enough with my light magic to manage that.”

 “I’m sure that’s not true.”

 “I came here so I could do something for my family other than having to marry rich. Here I am avoiding class because I’m not even skilled enough for the class.” She whined. 

 “Y/n, you’re a very talented healer.” He tried to compliment her, fearing he was in this too deep. 

 “That can only get me so far…” 

“I can teach you how to use a bow.” He offered. 

 The girl’s face peeled up. Though she never used a bow much before, it was worth a shot rather than giving up. 

“Are you sure you have time for that?” She asked, her entire mood changing. 

“Yeah, I had time to make you soup, I bet I have time to teach you some basics of the bow.”

“And you’re sure this won’t burden you one bit?” She asked some more.

 “Yeah, I don’t mind. I wouldn’t want our house losing one of their best students.”

 “I’m far from best.”

 “You’re the best prankster.” He added 

 She smiled. For a moment it felt like all his efforts for this trip were worth it. Sure she was never sick, but at least he got her to smile. 

“Thank you, Ashe.” She said as she shook his hand.

 Ashe left the dorm, and when he heard the door shut, he heard Y/n squeal from the other side. The goddess had led him to an opportunity of doing good for another. 

 Y/n didn’t join her class for dinner in the mess hall. She was still keeping her act close to her heart.

“So, what was Y/n sick with?” Annette asked sitting next to the grey haired boy.

 “What?” Nervous to lie.

 “I saw you standing outside her dorm.” Annette replied. 

 “Oh, I don’t think she told me what she was sick with. I just dropped off some dinner for her.” He answered. 

 “Now that is romantic. You might not need my flirting classes after all. You should try that next on-“ Sylvain said as he got stabbed by a fork from Ingrid.

 “I’m glad it’s nothing serious.” Ingrid added. “Hopefully it won’t be too hard for her to catch up.” 

 “Oh we won’t leave her behind, we’ll help her.” Mercedes added. 

 Ashe was joined by some black eagle students, Linhart and Caspar. Caspar’s energy rose as he talked about training techniques and Lin fell further asleep. A dark aura man past the trio of boys that made Ashe shutter. He knew that was a student and not a ghost, there was something creepy about him. It was more than just the way he hung around Edelgard like her shadow. It was more than his yellow eyes piercing through the souls of others. He just had to be a very bad man. 

 “What’s with that look, Ashe?” Caspar asked. 

 “That one man from your class reminds me of a spirit.” Ashe said. 

 “Hubert? You’re not-“ Lin began to speak.

 “Hubert! He’s not that scary at all, no muscle! You know whose scary? Dedue! He hangs around Dimitri even though Dimitri killed his whole family.” Caspar explained.

 “That’s not true, Prince Dimitri saved his life.” Ashe said. “Dedue is really nice once you get to know him.”  

 “Yeah, Hubert Just gets scarier.” Lin said. 

 “What? He can get scarier?” Ashe nervously asked. 

 “No, he can be a hard ass though.” Caspar explained. 

 Ashe went to bed that night thinking about the struggles of both commoners and nobles. Families killing each other and sending their kids to find spouses just to secure their status was a nightmare to him. He loved his siblings more than anything else in the world. 

 The next day Y/n returned to class and was crowded with questions about her health. She kept everything classified. If professor byleth wasn’t a good enough teacher, maybe Y/n could ask Annette for help with reason magic, Annette is good at studying. She could be good at teaching. There is no harm in teaching Y/n the bow though, break her out of relying on magic for everything. 

 “Who wants to do stable duty?” Byleth asked he class.

 It was instant Y/n wanted to. Her hand raised and she was called on. Ashe’s instinct made his hand raise, but not fast enough for Sylvain was called on. It would have been easier for them to do it together so Ashe could actually help Y/n with her troubles. Sylvain is already good with horses, why does he need to ride them more? What more does he need to really ride? 

 “We need a five.” Byleth yawned walking out to talk to Manuela. 

 With the class left unattended the students turned to their friends and began to talk to one another. Ashe watched Dimitri walk over to Y/n. Curious, Ashe let his ears focus on the two. 

 “I’m glad you’re feeling better now, Y/n. As class leader-“

 “Don’t worry about it, I’ll catch up from the one day I missed.” she interrupted.

 “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to-”

“I’m fine, I’m fine.”

 Byleth came back in and went back to teaching. She had them do running exercises in the afternoon. Ashe was medium grade in the group. Physical activities were not hated, but he enjoyed the classroom days learning about concepts and stories he’s never heard of.

 “Hey, Ashe!” Y/n jogged beside them. “You’re good at using axes right? Not just the bow?”

 “Axs have been growing on my recently. Why?” he tried talking while running.

 “If you’re gonna teach me the bow, I figured something close combat would be good too.” she said.

 “I’m not the best at blocking.” He admitted. “But I can swing them pretty hard.”

 “You’re talented.” she said. “You’re book smart and strong.”

 She too amazed him of how well a mage could run and talk at the same time.

“Just like Ingrid.” He joked.

 After class, the two changed out of their school clothes and went to the woods to train. They brought training weapons, and some hand axs. Though they were not sneaking out, it still felt like they were getting away with something.

 “Alright, show me the basic stance of the bow.” She cheerfully demanded.

 “Well move you leg like this.” he tried to show a stance.

 “Like this?” she did not correctly do.

 “Here.” he moved her leg, “Move your foot here.”  and pointed out how her foot should face.

 “Thank you, Ashe.” she was not awkward out with him touching which made him even more nervous.

 Talking to girls was never a problem since before he didn’t talk to many, or they had something in common. This woman here thinks Ashe is good enough to teach her knight skills. She’s a noble, he’s not. Maybe it was the crushing expectation she had on him. If he can’t help her, who can? Well, anyone...but he doesn’t want to fail her. 

 “Now how should I hold it?” she was holding the bow and turning it all over.

“Here.” he got behind her. Ashe gulped as he touched her shoulders. “Relax these.” One of his hands reached out for her wrist, and held it. “Put her hand here, move your finger like this” he tried to say at a comfortable volume in her (color) hair covering her ear. “Take the arrow like this” together they pulled it back. His held hers as she held the arrow. “And release.”

 The arrow didn’t go far.

  “It's a good first try.”

“Yeah.” She sounded a little disappointed. “Let’s do it again.”

 The whole night her back was flushed in his chest learning to shoot arrows. She wasn’t fast or very strong, but she had a hell of a determination. By the end of the night her hands were sore, but could now shoot a bow.

 “Look at you mister do gooder. I owe you for a meal, and a lesson. You name it, I’ll do it.” she said as the packed their things. “I’m sorry we only got to the bow tonight. I thought I’d be a faster learner.”

The compliment made his ears go red. 

“Well, if one of us blue lions is struggling, I figured we should help each other out.” He said. “And don’t worry its all new stuff for you.”

 “Yeah, yeah.” she shrugged.

“Sorry for getting up in your personal space.” he wanted to make sure he did not do anything wrong to her.

 “Don’t worry about it. I know you’re helping me out.” she said.

 “So what made you come here?” Y/n asked as they walked on their way back.

 “Huh- oh well, I want to be a knight, like the ones from the books. I know it’s silly-”

  “It's not silly! You’re working towards a dream you inherited through yourself and not the expectations of others.” she told him. “Don’t call it silly. You read something, and you’re doing it.”

“Thanks.” He laughed at how serious she was not to call it silly. “Why are you here then?”

 “I need real skills for my family.” she said. “Like any other noble.”

“Why don’t you make it for yourself.”

 “I could, but I wouldn’t be motivated. I’d be motivated to sleep more.” she said. 

“You sound like Linhart.”

 “I give him credit for doing as well as he does.” 

 The conversation was light, fun, filled the night. They waved goodbye when they reached the dorms. Ashe laid in his bed, closed his eyes, then the green orbs shot open. Talking to Y/n had relaxed and made him nervous. His heart race coming to the conclusion that he in fact was starting to get feelings. It’s too early to tell anything, yet he enjoyed hanging out with her. He’s been listening to her conversations with others. He’s curiosity to check on her being sick has lead  to this. It’s only been two days of this really. He’s known her longer, but hanging out with her has lead to this. All his subconscious actions couldn’t lie. It’s early, but maybe he can see past these feelings. They might go away. If it's early, he’ll stop it early. He can’t distract himself from his dreams, nor can he creep out his friend.

 The week went on and every night he would listen to her talk. Listening was fun and calmed him. When it was time to reply, he got nervous, he wanted to always say the right thing. It would be pressured, but he hardly say the wrong thing. She never belittle him. Her hair would suffocate him with her perfume. He would have to move certain parts of her body to correct her stances. He’d worry about creeping her out, yet she never mind. At the end of each session she would offer something, money, or something to buy him. He would say it’s fine, he’s just happy to help. He’d go to bed thinking how much she made him happy and calm, and then sweat about ruining it. Ashe tried to bury his feelings, but ended up doing the opposite.

 Ashe stood outside the door, holding a home cooked meal. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It cracked open revealing a friend.

 “Sylvain, I need a favor.” He handed the redhead a meal.

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen’s Weekly Update

So... Total War Tuesday didn’t happen due to some... mishaps in the Cao Cao campaign and crashes. Good news, I fixed and I’ll give an update on the campaign tomorrow after work.

But that aside, this week I did play a lot of Fire Emblem 3 Houses, along with some other things, so it’s time to get on with the Update.

So yes, I’ve been playing Three House. And since everyone else is a COWARD and won’t admit it, I will. 

Edelgard is girl. 

Edelgard is waifu.

And Allen is an absolute degenerate that will shill for his waifu.

Anyone that said that wanted a mage-based party, or was playing this House for stats is lying and you shouldn’t fall for it. 

That said though, the game is definitely neither Fates nor Shadows of Valentia... this game has weapon durability, something that I feared so much that it’s the main reason I refuse to touch Awakening. Thankfully, it isn’t as much of an issue as I thought it’d be. Unlike Breath of the Wild, this game will at least give you a decent among of uses and tells you exactly how many swings you’ve got left until the thing breaks, and even then you get access to the Blacksmith around Chapter 4 I think, so it’s managable. The supports are fully voice, this time with some more cinematic camera angles and the like in them. At lot of improvements overall. 

I’ve got some more thoughts on the game, but so far my only real gripe is that I hate how the fist-focused class is male-only. I want Edelgard to become a literal Punch Queen dammit!

Anyway, I’m at Chapter 6 and things are going well. I’ll give some more detailed opinions on this game later tomorrow... maybe.

...

...

...

Wow... that’s really the biggest thing that happened this week in terms of Fandom stuff. I mean, save me buying the first volume of the Arifureta light novel for research purposes, along with for the absolute insanity that is my Cao Cao campaign in TW3K where the entire Han Empire just fell right into my lap due to some vassal shenanigans, but that’s for tomorrow. Everything else has just been... real life stuff and some planned Ramblings for things I don’t wanna’ talk about yet. 

So... I guess that’s it folks. I’ll see you later when I start talking about 3 Kingdoms.