#Rodrigue you failed

[ratatatastic]

Panthers TRY to 'Draw the Shield' 🎨🖌

[fireemblems24]

Golden Wildfire Ch 11

On we go to ch 11. Things are . . . uh . . . interesting.

MAIN STORY

So if you didn't see ch 10, I failed to recruit Byleth. I retried the level a few time, but honestly I just want to finish this game so I didn't bother.

Plus, the reason I failed was that Claude just sat there instead of moving forward on the escort mission, which got really frustrating, and honestly I didn't want to bother.

Ugh, I don't want to fight the Kingdom.

So those Houses that wanted to defect to the Kingdom didn't because Claude's battle was that bloody in that fire map.

Poor Dimitri and co seems like he's just betting bullied for no real reason by two imperialistic maniacs.

I love how Arval is getting snooty over Shez getting credit for their tactics lamo.

Man, this dialogue is dragging.

So Nadar is going to cause diplomatic chaos by utilizing the Almyran army without getting real permission.

Wait, Claude riled up Sreng? So much for "ending racism" lamo. Wasn't having two cultures not be prejudice against each other like his MO? The writers really just threw him in the trash, hunh.

I feel so bad for Claude fans. He's really a piece of work in this.

MAP/SIDE STUFF

Everyone missing Judith has a lot more punch than Randolph. Even Monica was like "get over it" to Fleche (but nicely).

So, let me make sure I have this right. Mr. I Want to End Prejudice Between Cultures just provoked Sreng into attacking the Kingdom so Edelgard can take it over because Rhea is the reason for everything bad. Did I get that right?

Unlike SB, GW is entertaining as hell, but man is the logic here is just non-existant. And poor Claude RIP.

Like, I know I'm biased and all, but I don't see how you're supposed to be the heroes and not Dimitri here. The people just defending themselves are getting attacked on all 3 fronts for the crime of *existing.*

Not going to lie. I kinda wish Claude didn't side with you in AG either. It would've been hype to kick everyone's ass as Dimitri after getting cornered by all these land-grabbers.

GW!Claude is really just the mean girl's sidekick. 😂

If Felix and Rodrigue die in this chapter I swear to God . . . (I just remembered Rodrigue is dead in SB now 😭 - LET THIS MAN SURVIVE).

I had to fight Felix in a side mission. Lysithea said they had to "defend this place" - like, girl, you are invading.

When the challenge is "you can't dodge" but you're using Lorenz 😌👌 (FYI, he just does not take damage in this game)

SHEZ & HILDA A SUPPORT

They're talking about how Hilda exerted energy in a battle because she worried about Shez.

Hilda claims it's just self-defense bc she was cheering for Shez on the front lines and enemies were there (honestly, this is pretty boring so far)

It's the same-old Hilda claiming she's weak but that not being true.

SHEZ & CONSTANCE C SUPPORT

I know she's an Empire character, but whatever.

She wants to create new magics to restore her noble house and wants to research Shez bc of their weird magic

Lamo, Constance low-key called us dumb

Shez suggests she get her house back through military accomplishments.

Constance refuses to train right now, she wants to at night (it's her dual personality thing, right?)

CLAUDE & LYSITHEA B SUPPORT

Their first one. Claude's unhappy Lysithea charged in the last battle. But Lysithea kicked ass, so she's upset with Claude.

Claude calls her plan dumb and that he thought Lysithea was smarter than that. Lysithea still argues it ended earlier bc of her.

Lysithea doesn't back down.

Honestly, I side with her here. Claude's being patronizing. And it's rich of him not to care about all the other deaths dragging out the battle would cause and only Lysithea dying because she's *important*

CLAUDE & HOLST A SUPPORT

Oof, this one hurts. Claude accuses the church of creating all the systems to serve their own interests, because he doesn't know the truth here. That the Empire actually created most of it, and that all the church ever did was protect a genocided race from being murdered by more power-hungry humans.

It's also hysterical to hear Claude talk about wanting to improve foreign relations while instigating a war between two cultures.

Oof, Holst doesn't care about any of this. He's only worried Claude's going to send Hilda to marry a big, brown, scary foreigner. NOT a good look.

Holst says he cares more about Hilda's future than the whole Alliance. Yikes.

HILDA & HOLST A SUPPORT

They're preparing a feast.

Oh, it's nice to see Hilda's insecurities about Holst's "perfection" come up in this, bc so far she hadn't said much.

After that last support though, Holst is actually a pretty shitty leader.

Holst wants to make the feast all about Hilda instead of himself though. Hilda likes the attention.

Hilda basically had to set up her own feast lol.

HILDA & LINHARDT A SUPPORT

Hilda's cleaning, and Linhardt's honestly upset that he's lost a fellow lazy person.

Hilda claims she never pushes work on people. That, is a lie.

Linhardt is mostly worried how bad it'll look if he's the only one not working instead one of two.

All this support confirms that Linhardt is by far the superior lazy.

LORENZ & LYSITHEA A SUPPORT

Their only support.

So, not related to their support (and watch it counter it), but I find it pretty amusing how getting a leadership position faster matured Felix and Sylvain, but Lorenz is still a bit of a joke and the butt-end of every support he's in.

He's just bragging about how awesome his position and power is.

Lysithea says she's not inheriting her house. She claims it's because she doesn't like what comes with nobility, but we all know why.

She worried that the land will go to chaos without it's leaders though. Lorenz offers help (which, imo, he's actually mature here!)

Lorenz suspects she's turning it down for another reason and encourages her to rely on others to help.

RAPHAEL & LEONIE B SUPPORT

Raphael keeps snapping bows in half when he uses them. Leonie's shocked.

Leonie seems to actually make one and invites Raphael to test it while on guard duty with her.

IGNATZ & MARIANNE B SUPPORT

Marianne found his picture. He puts it down, but she likes it (it's a horse, well a pegasus, but of course)

Ignatz gets carried away talking about it, but Marianne finds it cute.

Ignatz finds Marianne loving pegasus cute. She blushes.

He wants Marianne's help, helping him paint a pegasus bc they don't like men, but if Marianne is around he can get closer and get a better painting. She's happy to help.

Honestly, this whole support is really cute.

MAIN BATTLE/STORY

It sucks having to attack the Kingdom over and over again when all they want to do is exist in peace.

Oh, joy, Nadar wants to plunder Faerghus. I can see why Fodlan is so evil for not wanting to let them do what they will.

GW really had a chance here to finally do something interesting with Almyra. It even marketed itself as a route that WOULD. But instead it's just doubled-down on Almyra being a one-note lawless place full of barbarians. At least we have Brigid and Duscur so the only brown country isn't some racist stereotype. Since it's only 1 of 3, it's not AS bad of a look.

Fuck. I don't want to kill Felix and Rodrigue. It would be one thing if the Kingdom actually provoked this, but Felix and Rodrigue haven't done anything to deserve this.

I get to recruit Ashe again. Is he miserable here too?

Ugh, I was hoping Felix and Rodrigue weren't here. It seems vastly unfair that it's only Kingdom characters who die for reel in this.

Wow. Claude's really an A-class asshole. He told Ashe to surrender because Dimitri wouldn't want him to die. Maybe don't invade for no reason then?

Is Claude also going to single Felix out as a citizen of Faerghus who deserves to live? Or does only Ashe count and not the nobles and unnamed grunts he's slaughtering because he decided to team up with the person who plans on taking over his rule? (not hate to Ashe at all, I honestly feel awful for him in this game)

Ok, so fighting Felix is just a side quest. I'd rather fail a side quest than fight Felix so, going to try to avoid having to kill him. Ugh, he's attacking the engineers. And he's damn right saying he has every right to kill the people who are invading his home.

Thank God, he just retreated.

I still love how Claude got bent out of shape over Ashe, but Lorenz alone has killed 500 citizens of Faerghus this chapter so . . .

Felix is so worried about Rodrigue. I swear the writers wanted you to feel like shit playing this route.

Oh, fuck. Just when I thought I was finished killing people for defending themselves, Daddy Gautier shows up :( He's sacrificing himself to safe Felix and Rodrigue, isn't he?

Oh, fuck. He died for real 😭

It's really hard to like these characters, making mindless chit-chat after killing Sylvain's daddy. I hope Sylvain fucks them up a new one.

I've never wanted to slap a character more than I'd love to slap Claude right now. The moron has the audacity to be surprised people are going to die while he's invading a foreign country. What a fucking stupid moron.

He's also blaming - get this right - chivalry.

I'm like. I'm speechless right now.

That's right guys. Margrave Gautier died defending his king, his country, his home, and most importantly one of his fucking best friends from an asshole invader. But it's CULTURE'S fault he died.

I'm really confused what the hell Claude thinks he's doing. Does he REALLY think killing Rhea will magically allow people to live as they please? Didn't he grow up in another country where they had princes and shit and NO Rhea?? All he's doing is making Edelgard's take over easier.

This is starting to feel like a borderline spoof. Look at us end the war by invading another nation!!! I mean???

What's his plan? Kill everyone in Faerghus - profit - "freedom" from Rhea - Edelgard takes over - no profit???

The writing in this route has gotten really fucking stupid. Like, I LIKE the idea of evil!Claude. Either a Claude who wants to take over all of Fodlan or one who's ruthless and will do anything to preserve Leicester.

But what I don't like is really fucking dumb Claude, which is what GW's devolved into.

Oh, God, now we get a flashback between father and son. Sylvain and Gautier :(

Sylvain better not be fucking recruitable in this route.

Now Sylvain's in charge 😭😭😭😭

I'm convinced someone who's a major Edelgard stan wrote the larger plot of this, but then a Dimitri stan wrote the actual dialogue 😅

We really go from one moment Claude being like - it's Rhea's fault Gautier died bc Kingdom culture bad because church bad to Sylvain being like, naw, he died defending his friends.

At the very least, I'll give Hopes credit here. At least they didn't write anyone opposing Edelgard as either evil or like they're idiots for resisting invasion, but I almost feel like they made the Kingdom especially too sympathetic which makes Edelgard look more interesting (since SB is more honest than CF) and Claude just look like a bozo. Rhea just doesn't look like anything since she's not even here.

Though, I REALLY wish Claude didn't side with us in AG. I really wish we got to see Faerghus backed into a corner and kick everyone's asses. They've very much the underdog and watching them do that would've been awesome.

Felix and Rodrigue are beating themselves up over this.

See, this is what I mean - Sylvain just said he's reserving all his hatred for the foreign invaders who take everything for no reason - I really feel like a Dimitri fan saw how everyone collectively decided to take a dump on the Kingdom in the big plot and got revenge by making everyone look like villains (or morons in Claude's case) for doing so in the writing.

xxx

[fundiepredictions]

The list (part one)

Yesterday I posted about the new way of comparing age to life status. Today the first part about the list itself.

In the old list this were the women who were in the top. Tomorrow will follow the woman who were in the middle. The day after the women at the bottom.

Kendra Duggar (32 places)

Lauren Duggar (30 places)

Alyssa Morton (26 places)

Josie Balka (25 places)

Katey Duggar (25 places)

Tori Smith (23 places)

Alyssa Webster (22 places)

Kennedy Morton (21 places)

Nurie Keller (20 places)

Gracie Etbauer (16 places)

Katie Clark (16 places)

Whitney Bates (16 places)

Joy Forsyth (15 places)

Katrina Wissmann (15 places)

Carolina Bontrager (14 places)

Cassidy Bontrager (14 places)

Dorothy Sanders (14 places)

Heidi Rodrigues (14 places)

Kaylee Hill (14 places)

Jessa Seewald (12 places)

Francesca Morton (11 places)

Kristen Young (11 places)

Erin Paine (10 places)

Rachel Morton (10 places)

AnnaPatrice Maxwell (9 places)

Kressant Morton (9 places)

In the new list less is more. Which each life event points will be abducted of the age points. 150 for courtship/relationship and engagement, 360 points for marriage (+1 each 100 days your married until today or the last day the woman could have a baby), 500 points for each child (+1 each 100 days since it's birth until today or the last day the woman could have a baby). I tried to make the points that you get for a life event realistic to how many days of life it will be. When you have kids faster then 500 days you will get ahead.

Heidi Rodrigues -81 (in the new list it's very rare to have points below zero but it's possible)

Lauren Duggar 92

Charissa Wissmann 122

Katrina Wissmann 133

Alyssa Morton 207

Kendra Duggar 335

Addellee Bates 343

Katey Duggar 412

Johannah Duggar 472

Josie Balka 512

Maddie Duggar 542

Katie Clark 624

Nurie Keller 640

Gracie Etbauer 683

Emerson Bates 709

Kennedy Morton 797

Tori Smith 804

Kaylee Hill 856

Esther Shrader 1022

Alatheia Shrader 1049

Elizabeth Bontrager 1138

Joy Forsyth 1142

Francesca Morton 1150

Alyssa Webster 1150

Courtney Rogers 1218

Cassidy Bontrager 1258

In the new list Kendra isn't at the top anymore. She has been failing to have children after Justus was born over two years ago. But she is still in the top because she had a very fast pace. Heidi wasn't at the top at all, #18. Now she is. With her almost 21 years, while married and expecting her first child she is very ahead compared to a lot of others. In the old list the women who just turned 18 ended up in the middle. In the new list they start at the top. They aren't behind when they turn 18 and in the words of Anna Duggar, they can be married in a half year.

What do you think? Are the points given for the life events realistic or should they be higher/lower?

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Another reason why the whole "forced marriages" concept (that Rhea haters ate up like pie) is bullshit.

Speaking for Faerghus, since this seems to be an issue players point the finger at Faerghus for, it's just... not true? This NPC does understand there are political implications to his marriage, but he wasn't forced into it and neither was his wife. They married for love.

The only known case of an arranged marriage prospect within Faerghus' known cast is Ingrid, and that's something Ingrid has taken on for herself as well. She knows her lands struggle with crops and that her people go hungry. She's choosing to deal with a non-romantic marriage for her people.

But what about Glenn, you ask? There are two aspects to that:

The marriage was arranged when Ingrid was born, but it's worth noting the marriage was arranged between Gunnar and a childhood friend's son. She wasn't just being married off to just anyone. It was both a childhood friend (who Gunnar clearly had deep trust in)'s son, but also a family member of the royal family's right hand family. But what about the Houses paralogue, you ask? Gunnar wasn't aware of the man's crimes, but as soon as he found out he rejected the proposal. Gunnar cares about his daughter's happiness and wellbeing. The only reason they're searching for a marriage candidate is because Galatea lands desperately need the financial support.

Ingrid is the only case we know of where she's being "married off" (her endings rebuke this entirely anyway because she does end up marrying for love if paired with someone). Nobody else in Faerghus had a marriage forced or politically forced on them (and frankly I still fail to understand how the Church is supposedly at fault for concept of this being the case period anyway). Dimitri, the literal prince and at the time of birth immediate heir to the throne, was never forced to marry. Felix has never been pushed to marry. Sylvain has never been pushed to marry (despite how important it is that they continue that bloodline). Annette, a female, has never been pushed to marry.

In other words, the major political players have never put their kids into arranged marriage with a single exception of necessity for one family (Galatea), and in Rodrigue's case with Glenn, it was done with a childhood friend's lands' welfare in mind. Gunnar could have married Ingrid to anyone at any point, but the most important aspect of it is that when it was arranged without her say so (i.e. at her birth), it was done with the son of a man who Gunnar trusted implicitly.

After Glenn died, Ingrid was plenty old enough to have a say so in who she might be married to. Presumably the issue wasn't pushed on her for a while after Glenn died for emotional reasons, but once they tried again, Ingrid had a say in things. Her father sent her letters specifically for her input. No, she doesn't want to marry for political reasons, but she understands how much her lands need it. Still though, her father won't force her to marry some scumbag. If she tells him she won't marry someone, he accepts that.

In other words, the only argument that can be used for "forced marriages" falls flat on its face. It's not a regular practice in Faerghus. None of the heirs to specific territories are being married against their will. The only instance we know about isn't so extreme that Gunnar is just going for it and picking the best dowry without considering his daughter's happiness and health.

The one time it was decided before she was old enough to give her input, Gunnar didn't need to "consider" marriage prospects and be unsure who to pick, because it was planned between two old friends who trusted each other and presumably felt that their child would be safe with the other family in question.

My biggest problem with people saying this claim is supported is that for the most part, people just take Claude's words in GW at pure face value and assume it's absolute, definite truth when he gives nor has any evidence to back it up (mainly because he blames it on the Church, which still doesn't make sense because such things are out the Church's jurisdiction. No amount of "seeing what the world is like without Rhea" is going to change Faerghus' politics, so even if his claims were true, Claude would have to go talk to every single individual territory within Faerghus to realize the truth if he's that dead set on his view of this, as each territory does its own thing politically).

He brings it up like it's a fact in Faerghus, which as I've said before, he has literally no knowledge whatsoever about Faerghus, and it shows. He doesn't even know extremely basic things, such as the previous king literally dying in the middle of making friends with a foreign land. He knows that Lambert died in Duscur during the Tragedy, and that's... basically the extent of his knowledge and understanding about it. For some reason though in Hopes, he thinks he understands Faerghus as well as he understands Almyra.

It's also annoying because in Fodlan games, a character can just say something - literally anything at all - and it's eaten up immediately and taken at pure face value with no thoughts actually put into questioning its validity. And before anyone says "but Dimitri didn't argue this in Zaharas!" yeah, I'm aware, and I feel that was a huge reason why that chapter, trying to be the "we fight as allies this once" chapter, was a total flop, aside from other things (particularly in the SB/GW department with Dimitri and magically wanting to "talk things over" with someone who had just murdered one of his dearest friends mere hours ago tops in SB, or in GW where politics would demand more from him).

The games have a problem with trying to introduce false concepts through characters who don't know better (i.e. introducing incorrect perspectives that we're meant to understand are just perspectives and not the truth nor fact) but then not refuting those claims, despite the game itself as the story progresses outright denying those things, whether outright or passively (in the latter's case, again, other important political figures having no talks of marriage on the table at all).

In the screenshots, the NPC is aware that politics have to get involved with his marriage, but he wasn't forced to marry and neither was she. Not only does he mention it, but he wants people to know they married for love. He's basically saying he doesn't want people to misinterpret their reasons for marriage (wanting land, wealth, etc).

In Ingrid's case, it was started with that goal in mind, but it started out in safe hands. After that she always had a say in who she might marry, and ultimately didn't marry for political reasons. The one person who was possibly going to marry for political reasons in Faerghus and not out of love ends up not even doing that.

Honestly, in Claude's case, I feel like he was just written with no purpose in mind except to rock the boat unnecessarily, because everything he claims in regard to Faerghus is purely speculation on his part. He knows absolutely nothing about Faerghus (in both games, but his ignorance in Houses isn't malicious, whereas you could argue in Hopes he's attempting to overthrow what he believes are their systems when even if they were, it would still be none of his business) but talks like he's lived there or spoken to its people who make the decisions he claims are happening.

Also, the concept of Dimitri being forced to do this that and the other thing are just... not true? Dimitri is happy to be able to help others and make reforms for his lands. He likes that he's able to have the power to make good change and help people. He knows that you need a certain degree of power to be able to push things in a better direction and to have a voice. By having the most important voice, he can make other voices known that otherwise would not be. When people have no choice but to listen to the king, he can demand that other voices are heard.

Even in his A support with Shez, he believes his happiest moment will be when he dies after dedicating his life to "a peaceful kingdom full of joyous citizens". I get the whole "but he isn't living for himself!" side of things, but this part of this post is specifically about how Dimitri is supposedly "forced" into doing things because he's king; but plain and simple, he wants to be king because by having the highest power in his land, he can make positive change happen

"This bad thing is happening in the Kingdom!" Well now he can change that. He wants to change things in his land for the better, and he understands that his position is a necessity for that. That's why he's so upset when he's "rendered powerless by age" in Houses, i.e. can't ascend the throne yet. He wanted to make change and couldn't. He wanted to do right for the Kingdom, but he couldn't yet.

Basically what I'm saying is that people keep using Claude's Hopes rhetoric as "fact", but literally none of it is. It's all based on the most severe amount of ignorance in both games and him for some reason believing that he knows jack shit about Faerghus. That includes the marriage "issue", which while I'd say it may exist in Adrestia (ex. Bernadetta being planned to marry Ferdinand), does not exist in Faerghus as any sort of "issue".

I don't recall if it's really even present in Leicester? So either... Claude just pulled that argument out of his absolute ass, or he's seeing an issue in Leicester and for some reason assuming his country's politics are every country's politics, which is, again, total ignorance (and he makes no effort to ever found out if any of that is true).

[figbian]

Tell Me of the dunmeshi wip 👀 that title bangs. also tell me about frat au and how much of it is based on The Frat.

dungeon meshi wip CONTAINS MANGA SPOILERS so putting it under a readmore. everyone else has to suffer thru frat au info.

frat au is only Sort Of based on The Frat (dear readers, this fanfiction author joined a fraternity and is a brother of [loud car horn]). due to the like ways fe3h works narratively, it felt a lot more true to a Good AU to be honest to an all-male fraternity, so it draws on The Frat's past (as we didnt haze, but hazing definitely used to occur) as well as info from other fraternities or fraternity-like structures (and a handful of How Do College-Age Boys Behave anecdotes coming directly from my real life college-age brother who is Not a frat boy).

sylvain, dimitri, and others are in a frat. their fathers (plus rodrigue lol) were in this frat. etc. not exactly explored but crucial to the narrative: how traditional fraternities uphold like lineage and legacies in college settings and why that creates bad gatekeeping etc etc etc. basically the ways fraternities suck on an individual level (hazing, unhealthy relationship to substances, pressure to conform to a certain set of standards, etc) AND the ways they operate on a structural level in a shitty way.

the plot however is: sylvain returns from some time off at university. in his time off, he's effectively ghosted his friends and no one knows what happened/why he vanished. felix is recovering from an injury that delayed his journey to become a professional tennis star (<- lol). they've known each other for so long, they both have dead brothers, but also how much do they really know about each other?

posting this snippet SPECIFICALLY for brothers of [siren wail]. i think youll all recognize the inspo for 'the green room.'

“maybe we should shift to explosions,” raphael said as he came back into the room, looking over at the car crumpling into a tree playing on the television. “for the vibe.” “the vibe,” agreed sylvain, privately wondering if there was that much of a difference between crashes and explosions. he figured that any kind of disaster suited the green room. the windowless room in the phi ep basement––named for the carpeting, which had, once, allegedly, been green (sylvain’s efforts to deep clean last spring had failed to prove anything except that one should always wear shoes in the green room)––was less of a vibe and more…well. the couches were all leather––easier to clean if someone puked on them; the ceiling had suspicious stains; the walls were covered in bad murals painted over several years of pledging––and sylvain would know they were bad, being an art history major; the tv sat on a pile of wooden crates. at least the sound system wasn’t terrible. when sylvain wanted to impress girls, he never brought them to the green room. he sat back on the couch and spread his legs. “yeah, fuck it,” he heard himself say. “explosions.”

dungeon meshi fic is suuuper rough rn. its Probably a 5+1 of 5 times marcille's friends died and 1 time they didnt (hahaha) but what i have written so far is all about chilchuck going senile and dying. the fic is very obviously tackling like "what happens when the people you love and remember as young and full of life grow old, and how is preparing for someone's death as painful as their death itself" BUT ALSO is about "what if the dragon part of falin makes her age at the same rate as marcille...and how is that, in some ways, worse than if she just lived as a human did?" bcs As You Know im always interested in the question "when is it true that living beyond when the narrative expects you to is worse than dying?" that part just doesnt have a lot written.

there is NOT a lot written that i posted for wip wednesday but here:

chilchuck has lost most of his teeth, so he has to eat porridge and other soft foods. “at least it’s not monsters,” he says to marcille every morning, which was funny the first few times and now is depressing. “yeah,” says marcille, pouring some sugar into his tea. it’s unclear to marcille––who, despite having half a century to prepare for this, feels unprepared––exactly when chilchuck seems to think it is. he keeps asking about his wife, his shop, his daughters, whether or not they could resurrect falin.  “have i reached out to her?” he asks. his wife, he means. mostly he seems to think they’ve just defeated the winged lion. marcille has not gained much patience in last fifty eight years; having to admit to mistakes she made fifty eight years ago every day for the last couple of years has been––hard. it’s been hard. “no,” she says, gritting her teeth. chilchuck’s ex-wife died fourteen years ago. marcille learned many mornings ago it’s best to convince chilchuck to write her a letter that cannot be sent rather than make him relive his grief every day.

[silversdragonemporium]

Lost in the Woods

Ship: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Byleth Eisner (female, but he doesn't really know it until the end)

Summary:

Kingdom Founding Day. Dimitri finds himself lost after trying (and failing) to follow the hunting party that his father and Glenn were in. Fortunately, there's a strange child that seems willing to help him get back to camp.

Rating: Teens & Up

Written as a sort-of art trade with KC on Twitter!

AO3 Link

Dimitri glared at the bush full of bright red berries.

Eating them would probably be a bad idea… But, what if these were wild cranberries? After all, it was autumn. Dimitri knew that cranberries were harvested around this time: he had seen them for sale in the markets at Fhirdiad.

His stomach rumbled. Reminding him of why he was even considering eating the mysterious bright red berries. Sir Gustave had said to never eat anything that he couldn’t identify. But, these looked like cranberries… maybe. If they tasted foul, he’d just spit them out right away. It should be fine.

Just when he was about to reach out to grab a fistful of the berries, Dimitri heard the characteristic whizz of an arrow being shot just behind him. He yelped and fell back, the arrow missing his head by a hand.

“Who’s there?!” He asked, crawling around to where the arrow must have come from.

“Don’t eat that,” a calm voice said from a tree. “Those are cotoneaster berries.”

When Dimitri looked up, he saw a thin kid hook a bow and quiver on a branch. Then, they slipped down landing neatly on their feet.

“What are you doing here?” Dimitri asked.

“Birds like to gather around here,” said the kid. “And you?”

“I’m…” Dimitri then felt a wave of emotion that hit him that he had been holding back for the entire day.

It was the Kingdom Founding Day celebrations, and Lord Rodrigue had invited Dimitri’s father and other friends over for a hunt. The children were supposed to stay close to the camp while the adults went out to hunt. Normally, Dimitri didn’t mind playing with his friends. But the only other kid he knew in that group was Glenn, and he had left with the hunting party. Dimitri had tried sneakily follow after them. At first, it had been easy to follow their trail. But eventually, he realized that he couldn’t see any prints and didn’t recognize where he was.

And although he knew what was happening, saying it seemed to make him realize just how horrible his situation was.

“I’m lost!” He cried. “I’m lost, and hungry and c-cold a-and…!”

Dimitri couldn’t hold back his tears anymore, and he cried, feeling his burning tears on his freezing face.

He stopped crying when he saw a piece of barley bread shoved in front of his face. He blinked at the piece of bread.

“Eat,” said the kid.

Dimitri took the bread. It was a little hard, but he was too hungry to care. When the piece of bread was gone, the kid shoved a water flask to his face.

“Drink,” said the weird kid.

As Dimitri drank the water, the kid turned to the tree where they had come down and climbed it. After a while, they came back down.

“There’s a campfire south of here,” said the kid calmly. “It looks like a big one.”

“That must be our campsite!” Dimitri gasped. “Oh no… my dad’s going to scold me for leaving the camp!”

“He won’t if you get there before he does,” said the weird kid. They held out their hand. “Let me take you there.”

Dimitri wiped the tears in his eyes, before taking their hand. Despite the slight autumn chill, the kid’s hand was warm and comforting.

They guided him through the forest. At first, both Dimitri and the kid had to walk through thick hedges and shrubs. But after that, they chanced upon a path that made their trek easier. Sometimes, the strange kid would tell him to wait and would climb up a tree. Once the kid confirmed that they were going in the right direction, they would continue on.

Soon enough, Dimitri could smell the scent of sausages roasting over a fire. Which was doubly relieving: they were almost at the campsite and the hunting party still wasn’t back, since they were cooking the sausages they had brought along the trip.

When Dimitri saw the teal-blue banners of house Fraldarius, he could barely contain his excitement. He rushed into the camp, relieved and happy to be back. In his excitement, he didn’t even notice that he was practically dragging the strange kid by the hand.

“Your Highness!” One of the girls waved at him. “Where were you?”

“Lost,” said the weird kid.

Dimitri practically jumped in place when he heard the weird kid’s voice.

“Oooh,” the girl nodded. “That must have been very scary!”

“I’m fine!” Dimitri cut in before the weird kid could reveal that they found him about to eat some weird berries or how he immediately started crying when they saw them. “See? I’m here!”

“Yeah, you are,” the girl nodded. “We just got the sausages out! Are you hungry, your Highness?”

“I am,” the weird kid said.

And although the girl didn’t seem to like the kid speaking up, Dimitri realized that he had a great chance to show his appreciation to them for helping him out.

“Let me invite you to a sausage!” Dimitri said. “It’s the least I can do after you gave me your bread and water!”

“Yes,” the weird kid said with a nod. “That sounds fair.”

They walked towards the campfire where the other children were gathered around, roasting venison sausages that were impaled on long forks. Dimitri took a fork and two sausages. One for him, and one for the kid. However, when he turned around, he saw the weird kid was holding a fork that had six sausages on it and was calmly holding it over the fire.

“Smells good,” said the kid as their venison sausages began to brown over the flame.

“Yeah…” Dimitri said, sitting down next to the weird kid.

For a minute or two, they cooked their sausages in silence. The kid then pulled out their fork and blew on their crispy sausages.

“Thanks for the meal,” said the weird kid. And then, they managed to open their mouth wide enough to take a bite of two sausages at once.

They must’ve been quite serious when they said they were hungry. Dimitri felt a little guilty that he had eaten their bread without a thought earlier that day. At least he was making it up to them.

“S’good,” said the kid with a mouthful of sausage.

“Yeah! Venison sausages always taste best when roasted,” said Dimitri.

“All food tastes best when roasted,” said the kid, before taking another bite of their sausages.

After they ate their sausages, there was a loud blare of a hunting horn. A signal that the hunting party was retuning!

“Oh! You’ve got to meet my dad!” Dimitri pulled the kid by the hand. “He’ll be thrilled to meet someone so skilled with wildlife survival!”

“No, I’m sorry,” the kid said, slipping their hand away.

“Huh?”

“I need to go back to my own camp, before the sun sets.”

“Oh…” Dimitri sighed. “Okay… I guess your own dad would be worried about you.”

The strange kid then knelt down on one knee, and brought their lips on Dimitri’s hand. After kissing his hand, they stood back up and waved at him. “Good bye.”

Dimitri stood there, too shocked at what had happened. By the time the strange child was gone, he realized that he didn’t even ask for their name.

“Oh man, I think they’re following us,” Claude huffed, looking over his shoulder.

“Because you ran off and drew their attention,” Edelgard panted as they continued their desperate escape.

“At least the other students won’t be hurt by the bandits,” Dimitri pointed out. “Now that they’re following us we’ve drawn them far enough from the encampment.”

“Look! Is that—?” Edelgard pointed at the watch tower that could barely be seen in the darkness. 

“A village!” Dimitri let out a sigh of relief. “If we’re lucky, there should be some mercenaries or experienced fighters staying there.”

“I sure hope your princeliness has enough money for a royal ransom, because if they’re in cahoots with the bandits we’re done,” Claude pointed out.

“Let’s just see how it goes,” said Edelgard, rapping on the door of a building that seemed to be the local inn.

After talking to one of the mercenaries on duty, he agreed to bring the captain and second-in-command to hear them out. Soon enough, they were face-to-face with a gruff-looking mercenary. And just behind —

“Oh!” Dimitri gasped.

Though it had been years, he could recognize that face anywhere. It was the same face as the strange kid that saved him when he was lost in the woods. Though they were only a little bit older than him, it made perfect sense that the kid that had helped him out was a mercenary. After all, only someone with real experience on the field would be able to tell what kind of berry was edible or not.

Unfortunately, after seeing her face, Dimitri’s eyes were then drawn to her ample bosom. The shock of realizing that his childhood savior was standing before him, alongside the sheer size of her chest, must have made him look like he was simply ogling at her. True, the shape and size was… considerable. But he wasn’t staring because of that!

“What are you kids doing out here so early in the morning?” The gruff mercenary asked, crossing his arms.

Dimitri knew better than to keep staring and floundering to ask her if she remembered him. He decided to cut to the chase.

“Apologies, we wouldn’t disturb you if the situation weren’t dire,” he explained. “We are being pursued by bandits.”

With the preparations to launch the counteroffensive, Dimitri couldn’t find the occasion to talk to his mysterious rescuer —who had introduced herself curtly as ‘Byleth’. But that was okay. He could later talk to her once things calmed down.

[countingandsnarkingon]

Apparently Brianne posted on her etsy shop about moving to Alaska! I wonder if Samuel didn't want/couldn't afford to move there and that's why the courtship failed. Or maybe Brianne saw just how destitute and odd the Rodrigues family is during her time with them on Thanksgiving and was put off by that.

What? She’s moving to Alaska, what in the fundie hell is going on. This sounds like the plot of Christian-fied Hallmark movie. Jesus in Juneau Starring Candace Cameron-Bure coming to a pure-flix screen near you

[blaiddllodi]

 There had always been a certain level of reliance they all placed on their children. Lambert and Rodrigue had easily broken from that trend, yet Matthias had found himself lodged within it.   When Lambert first passed he had done his best, Dimitri was still young, he still had so much of his youth to enjoy. He had been content to let it pass as it would. Dimitri was already aware of so much when it came to his duties, how people relied on him. He wanted to assure him he wasn’t alone, that he wasn’t the only one who had to carry that weight…at least not now. In the midst of everything, he had forgotten that role, allowing himself to rely too much on the boy. The image of the king he hoped to see had overtaken the young man in front of him. It was evening, early enough to turn in, yet not to be asleep. He gave a gentle knock on Dimitri’s door.   “Your highness?” He could hide behind this for now, at least as he sorted out what it was he needed to say.   “I apologize for the disturbance at such an hour. I haven’t been fulfilling my obligation to you, neither as Margrave…nor your uncle. You’ve been so strong in these past years that even I have come to rely on you at times when it’s I who should be paving the path for you, protecting what few years you have left to enjoy before you must undertake the problems we’ve not been able to handle.” The wooden knight in his hands feels so heavy. It had been a gift, one of the few he had been able to give the boy personally and one left in Rufus’s haste to prove something to the people of Faerghus.   “It may seem crass of me to say, but you are still a child Dimitri. I know how much you want to see it all found out…but Lambert would have wanted you to enjoy yourself. Knowing him…his biggest regret in dying was not being able to watch you grow up…to see you play until the day you were ready to surpass him and take the crown. As your nobles, we’ve utterly failed to protect you…but rather than sulk over it…I want to ask that you enjoy things now. I cannot hope to know nor accomplish all it is you’ve set out…but even if just for a moon or two, I ask you to let me handle things while I am here…and for you to simply be a boy your age. You aren’t yet king Dimitri, you have your entire life to be so for now…please allow yourself to be a spirited prince.”

He hadn't been asleep anyway.

There were some nights where it was possible that Dimitri might genuinely have been abed - possible, but still not terribly likely - passing the night in a sleep that might have been restful, restless, or some odd space in between that left his eyelids flickering the following day, flashing glimpses ever clearer of the bright flames that licked around him.

No, merely the sun, merely the candlelight that dampened the hallways, merely the smiles that shone from the faces of his classmates.

He didn't mind visitors, if they didn't mind the scolding, though the face that presented itself past his door was not one that even Dimitri felt that he could, in all seriousness, scold effectively.

"Ah, Profess- Margrave, please, excuse me. If I had known you were coming, I might have - "

The sentence needed itself cut short there, unsure what he might have done. Might have put on a pot of chamomile, the better to pretend they both wanted to get some sleep - might have tidied, as though his dorm room was not already immaculate.

But the surprise of his presence was superseded immediately by what he had to say - normally, Dimitri was content to listen to what Matthis had to say to him with the intense focus it deserved, those life lessons of a Faerghan boy - knight, prince, king - needed ingrained into him, but the longer Matthias spoke, the warmer Dimitri felt his cheeks become.

"I - Margra- I apologize, I had - " Disgruntled, somewhat, Dimitri felt his hands instinctively reach to take the little knight figurine - he knew those lines, the smooth grain of the wood, and he was certain that if he looked just beneath the geaves he would find a set of initials and a year, one not too terribly far gone but impossible to reach all the same.

His brow furrowed, all the false starts swirling in his mind in his confusion as he considered what to say.

"I...do not feel that you have failed me. You had done everything that you could, that you needed, to prepare me for the trials ahead." Clearing his throat, he shook his head, setting the knight gently into a nook on his desk, overseeing the tomes and treatises that he had been studying - and turned to face Matthias fully, eye to eye, man to man.

"I know that I am still...terribly inexperienced. I have much more to learn, and more room to grow. If..." The words thickened here, and Dimitri was loath to force them from his throat; "If it is your wish that I cede responsibility to you, then...I suppose I have no choice. I will be thankful of whatever assistance you wish you give."

[egittae]

[a kiss to prove you don't have feelings for them.]

It was a strategy! That was all! Ugh, why did that guy have to go and take it that way! Matthias's cheeks were puffed out in a pout as he ran towards Lambert's room.

And how was he supposed to know it was the guy's first kiss?! He wasn't bad looking nor lacking in opportunity, in fact it was Lambert's own fault that Matthias stole it! Who still hasn't had that at their age. "Lamb come on! You can't go around telling people that kind of thing!" Matthias couldn't help the whine in his voice. he had already made a promise and everything, the last person he expected to put a pin in that would be Lambert.

Once he found his oh so gracious house leader tucked behind the corner of his room, he closed the door and picked him up under his arms like a cat. He had to prove the point, if not now then when. "Look." Once again his lips met Lambert's and well, it was just as unromantic as it had been the first time. Sure it was cute seeing Lambert's face all red and watching him scamper away after...but that had nothing to do with being in love! He hardly even liked him to begin with. "It's nothing at all. Seriously...if you tell her she's going to fry my ass you know?" He hated to beg anyone, most of all Lambert but... "Please..." He really did love her...

academy phase - flashback (part 2!)

Stupid, stupid Matthias! As soon as Lambert found it in himself to get up from this corner he’d make a beeline for that Black Eagles girl and he’d spill it all! He’d get a taste of his own medicine for pulling that stupid move on him and stealing his first kiss! Augh, Lambert had been diligent in keeping that for his confession for Kriem later…ugh, Matthias ruined it and won the battle through dirty means!

Not that Lambert never resorted to similar means but…dammit!

But then he heard the door opening- and didn’t move, assuming it was Rodrigue coming in to check on him or drag him to the library. That assumption changed when he was suddenly held up like a cat, urging the prince to leer and wiggle- because Rodrigue would never hold him up like that, not. Not even Gunnar would. But Matthias? Yes. Definitely. As soon as he spotted the other boy’s face he stuck his tongue out childishly, face still burning red from embarrassment and annoyance, though he had to backtrack quickly because- because he did it a second time.

Was it dry and had no feeling behind it and more or less had the same energy as giving a greeting kiss to a person you’re not exactly fond of? Yeah. But the fact that it was on the lips- again, added a step of intimacy that overridden most of those things.

“Whu- wha- again! What’s your problem!” His tone was less irritated now, though. Annoyed and whiny and not too far from an angry cat who’s just bothered and not legitimately angry. “What’s the meaning behind all of this? You’re proving your point by kissing me again? Are you dumb?” Lambert wiggled again, trying to get out of Matthias’ hold- and failing with a stretched out groan. “Seriously…”

A sigh. “Fine. But don’t do it again, you hear me? Never! You’re gross! Disgusting!” Though the speed of his heartbeat begged to differ, but anyway. “If you do it again I’m gonna tell her! Now put me down, I’m not some cat…”

He’d tell Rodrigue though.

[recurringwriter]

The Fool: When has your character been excited to start a new journey?

The Devil: Does your character ever neglect their wild side?

The Magician in Reverse: When was your character manipulated?

The Empress in Reverse: When has your character felt dependent on another?

Judgment in Reverse: When has your character found it difficult to forgive themselves?

ooo thank you for the ask! (this game )

i didn't specify any characters and you didn't specify any characters so i'm going to just ramble about anyone that comes to mind! exciting perhaps? we'll see!

The Fool: When has your character been excited to start a new journey?

I'm going to think about Boreas at 17, setting out for the Officer's Academy with his trusted friend, Prince Gwynhael. He's excited to learn, and confident he'll be the best fighter there--and that maybe he'll finally even surpass the prince despite the older boy's Crest. He's sure that the other nobles are soft and delicate and that he will stand out from them. I think he believes this to be a good thing, but that there's a part of him, holding back, that wonders if they'll be impressed by how rugged he already is or if they'll think his desire for strength makes him brutish and beneath them. He's interested in the climate and the nearby woods and all the places he'll explore. He's worried he'll miss Faerghus and being able to run wild as he has.

The Devil: Does your character ever neglect their wild side?

oh that's cute after the last sentence i just wrote! i think that if Boreas neglects it for too long he starts to get antsy, stressed, and even unwell. he needs to be able to roam the wilderness alone regularly.

Rodina neglects her wild side to great detriment as well. In regular au's, her refined demeanour is something she is very particular about keeping up, but she needs to be able to let loose with other knights, or Brier and Shamir, so that she can relax and just be herself. in werewolf au's if she tries to hold in her emotions, she transforms.

The Magician in Reverse: When was your character manipulated?

am i allowed to say Lee from the Guarded Depths? ahaha umm i'm sure this happens to my ocs more often than i can think of rn.. but definitely Felicity is manipulated by her family to be that way herself, and to put the Gloucesters first to the detriment of others, through whatever means they deem necessary.

The Empress in Reverse: When has your character felt dependent on another?

In many au's but especially Wildfire, Felicity feels dependent on others. She's dependent on Rufus to have a place to stay and to feel understood, and she thinks that she needs to 'earn' being allowed to live in Itha and ask for his care. She doesn't like being dependent so even if it's a good relationship or she needs to ask for help, she is uncomfortable with it. Also in Wildfire, Felicity then becomes dependent on Neris to 'give her purpose' so that she can still feel like a mother. When Emyr returns, Felicity hates that she still feels like she has to work for Itha to be allowed to stay there. In all cases she's so wrong about it.

Also this is Bastard when he has to let a young Rodrigue dislodge a stone that was trapped in his hoof

Judgment in Reverse: When has your character found it difficult to forgive themselves?

they can't all be about Felicity but her 'letting' Glenn be a knight only for him to die. Mia going digging on Felix's history and learning about Glenn's death before he's ready to talk to her about it. Boreas when telling Melodie they shouldn't have any more children, to protect her health, and also in how hard he is on Rodrigue and times he failed to understand his son.

[ratatatastic]

"you had that kind of backpass that slipped past bobby and then a few moments later you scored" EROD. EROD SWEETIE. STOP LAUGHING. STOP IT. STOP LAUGHING AT YOUR SPOUSE TEAMMATE POOR MIKKSY IS SO RED. STOP IT. PLEASE CAN WE BE SERIOUS HES GONNA ERUPT YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE STOP BEING MEAN roddy you do such a piss poor job to hide your amusement as if your hand can cover that huge ass grin that streches from here to the damn pacific

you cannot block the sun with a single finger...do not hope that your hand masks THE WAY YOU ARE CHEESIN SIR.

mikksy nodding at the "backpass" like yes yes i did do that yeah it- it almost went it. yep. in the finals of the tournament for the hardest trophy to earn. yeah most mortifying moment of my life that will be talked about for the rest of the finals can we please- *succumbs to the mortfying ordeal of having to talk about it to media* yep.

erod keeps chuffing to himself that mikksy keeps glancing at him from the corner of his eye as he tries to focus on the english being said to him i know his ears started burning BAD THEYRE PRACTICALLY RADIATORS (ears so big they become thermoregulators i learned that in natgeo magazine once ☝️) RODDY YOURE SUCH A DISTRACTION BEHAVE. BE NICE.

you know mikksy isnt so big and scary when you have a tiny man next to him laughing at his misfortune as he turns the brightest red known to man that if he stood in the middle of an intersection cars would stop

"i was going...high and lows on that one shift that- well i tried to go d to d pass..." poor mikksy trying to explain his thought process but hes stumbling through it like is the room getting hotter? i think the room is getting hotter- yeah uh d to d pass um yeah is it normal to hear the pulsating in your ears or is that a medical issue i should be worried about- ah no thats just the embarrassment isnt it. ah. yeah that would do it.

and little miss chuckles next to him is not helping at all GIRL HES TRYING TO ANSWER STOP IT

school presentation esque dynamic here... when its your turn to talk but suddenly your bestie erupts into laughter because you opened your mouth and youre like shut up SHUT UP ITS NOT FUNNY. SHUT UP. so youre trudging through it because you need a good preformance grade and just SHUT UP.

"bobby was awake so it was good for us" YES HE WAS guys its okay mikksy was being silly doing a think fast exercise and bobby passed with flying colours we love when our d gives bobby his enrichment time its important to their health as a species

rushing to say "and then the rest was nice." you mean your goal mikksy you mean your AMAZING SNAPSHOT OF A GOAL THAT FIRED UP THE WHOLE TEAM??? THAT WAS NICE YEAH IM SURE IT WAS. im gonna shake him violently please PLEASE IT WAS SUCH A GOOD GOAL IM STILL FEELING THE HIGH OF IT COME ON also roddy looking over while mikksy shrugs off his goal like it was footnote and not a big deal like yeah its nice ig... that goofy grin that damn goofy grin...babe lets try to be a little subtle here...looking at him like he hung the moon and all the stars in the sky ffs

edmonton oilers @ florida panthers game 2 postgame interview | 6.10.24 (x)

and because i love mikksy heres one of the most embarrassing moments of his career forever immortalised you go big guy <3

[fireemblems24]

Don't get me wrong, the Dimilix and Dimidue content is fantastic and I'm glad 3 Hopes delivered in that regard along with providing Mercegrid, Anncedes, Cathmir, etc. But in regards to the story and just overall premise, who is the game for? Cause it feels like fanservice that just happens to have a "story" attached to it.

I think you got it though. It's fanservice with a story attached to it.

It's for people like me who let this cast live rent free in their head and wanted more content.

And they didn't really fail. I'm not just satisfied with how the Blue Lions and co were written, I'm ecstatic. I'm living for every crumb I get about Faerghus history, Rodrigue's shenanigans when he was younger, new information in supports, etc . . . Like, without Hopes, I'd have to headcannon that Dedue taught Dimitri Duscurian or that Ingrid and Marianne would bond over horse-girl stuff. But now that's all cannon.

I think if you were unhappy with how your fav were written, I imagine this game doesn't have much value though, because it relies heavily on pre-existing attachment to the cast and absolutely couldn't stand on its own.

[spurgie-cousin]

i texted mama SC about Renee's *probably* failed courtship and if you've been here a while you might know that my mom is an ex-church choir leader and vocal teacher, and of all the times I've shown her the Rodrigues family performing she's only ever remembered/cared about Renee (even though I talk about Jill way more she never remembers her name and refers to her exclusively as The Mother).

it's because she thinks Renee has the most raw vocal talent (and she thinks Jill has none) but I can't wait to hear her take on her favorite Rodrigues's scandal.

[biblioflyer]

The writer's strike and franchise fatigue: two heads of the same coin?

Context: I'm shamelessly reposting a comment on a popular webforum where someone posed the question "What's next for Star Wars?" that prompted a lot of discussion about the whats and whys of what's working, what isn't, and of course everyone's favorite hobby: performing yet another autopsy on the Sequel Trilogy. I declined to go there in favor of speculating on the production side.

Ultimately I think the future of Star Wars requires Disney to do what a lot of franchise owners have been resistant to doing for various reasons: allow their creative teams a wide latitude to fully develop their ideas without unnecessarily harsh deadlines tied to quarterly earnings reports. Now that isn't to say that projects can fail on their own merits.

I don't know for a fact that Book of Boba Fett was timid, awkward, and boring because the showrunners couldn't make a cut that worked with the time and resources allotted, but we were mostly all impressed with Rodrigues' work on Mando so we were cautiously optimistic that a Cool Gangster Drama with Boba Fett could be a thing. So what the hell happened? Solve that mystery and I think you ensure that Star Wars has a future.

Looking at another popular "Star" franchise, we see a lot of similar problems with uneven writing and what seems to be differing opinions both inside and outside the franchise as to what exactly it means for something to carry that name. What sort of stories can you tell? How do you tell them? Can you have a point of view character or does it always have to be ensemble? Can you deconstruct the setting only to reconstruct and reaffirm it in the finale without losing the fans?

What explains "bad" writing? Coercion by the studio? Writer inexperience? Showrunner inexperience? A failure to find the right balance between modernizing the storytelling of a franchise without it becoming illegible as part of that franchise or to cling so hard to fan service that it is afraid to experiment and becomes a less interesting and murkier Xerox of itself?

Something that I found fascinating in the discourse around the writer's strike is that the format of streaming TV with its short seasons has turned everyone involved in these productions into gig workers. Unless you're one of a half dozen showrunners who have helmed widely acclaimed franchises, modern tv has become severely siloed on the production side: writers have limited opportunities to learn directing, editing, and show running. They also have limited opportunities to see how their work translates to the screen when it lands in the hands of directors, actors, set decorators, and FX artists.

If you add up all of the live action Star Trek shows produced to date, you end up with 8 seasons of streaming that equal roughly 4 seasons of broadcast era TV. Which means that under the old paradigm, a traditional TV show would only now just be airing its second "good" season. Which, shockingly enough, maps very neatly to attitudes about Strange New Worlds and Picard Season 3, and to a lesser extent Discovery season 4.*

*To the extent it will ever be allowed to make a second impression, which is another seeming "problem" of the streaming era that needs addressing since any "failed" first season is very likely to result in a sub-franchise that is going to get cauterized and forgotten about given the era of a permissive financial environment for funding additional seasons and permitting a production to recover and learn from their mistakes is pretty much dead and gone.

Were I Disney, given these realities, I would probably fund 2 or 3 "stables" of Star Wars writers and production teams. One for light hearted action comedy, one for "serious drama," and a third for something more esoteric. Maybe a fourth for big budget tentpole films. Keep them employed and give them opportunities to develop their tradecraft.

Don't be so quick to slash and burn a dud, use failure as permission to experiment. If nobody cares about Book of Boba Fett anyway, why not take some risks and see if some writers who are claiming they can turn in a second season that can "fix" the first season by turning the stories that go nowhere or are halfhearted into the first chapters in more meaningful stories? People already tend to avoid series that have only one season anyway and become ever more likely to do so the more time passes without more seasons so you're just throwing away your investment by not trying to salvage it.

This is incidentally why I'm not antagonistic towards the prospect of trying to rehabilitate the Sequel Trilogy. The Prequels are poorly made but were rich in potential. That potential was not left on the table, it was exploited until we can no longer separate the Prequels as they originally stood from all of the tie in media that added depth and nuance to the setting and storybeats.

So were I Disney and I have all of these props and set pieces in storage doing me absolutely no good, then of course it will eventually be time to try to make the Sequel Trilogy good. Maybe do some Director's Cuts and then build out the universe to make it feel less claustrophobic and less overtly a bigger, louder, dumber rehash of the Original Trilogy.

[lapinbunwrites]

Title: Felix's Embarrassing Holiday

Rating: Gen

Warnings: None

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Glenn Fraldarius, Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Rodrigue Achille Fraldarius, Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Felix's Hugo Fraldarius' Mother

Characters: Annette Fantine Dominic, Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Glenn Fraldarius, Rodrigue Achille Fraldarius, Felix Hugo Fraldarius' Mother

Additional Tags: Modern AU, AU Where Christmas Exists, Fluff, Comedy, Meeting the Family, Original Character

Word Count: 3,426

Ao3 Link

Felix groaned as he read a text from his mother, she wanted to meet Annette. He always told himself he was never going to tell Rodrigue anything else that happened in his life, but that was never going to happen. Deep down, even though he would never admit to anyone (he barely admits it to himself), he did love his father and did enjoy being around him. While he knew his parents were excited to meet his girlfriend, and Annette felt the same, he did not. Felix knew they were planning something, but he never knew what. He always ended up being unprepared when he was around him and it always gave him whiplash.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before texting his mother back saying that he will think about it, and instead of replying back to her, he just locked his phone and put his phone in his pocket. He walked down the sidewalks in Fhirdiad to find this little shop that his girlfriend wanted him to try out. He knew she loved sweets and she had a knack for finding little places filled with any sort of confection, but he always kept an open mind about them. Annette always found a shop that always served him something he would end up liking. Felix smirked as he peered into the shop's window, looking at Annette as she sipped on her hot chocolate.

"Sorry I'm late," Felix said, wrapping his coat around her shoulders.

"Oh, you're fine," Annette reassured him, clutching his coat. "I got here a few minutes myself."

"You lost track of time, didn't you?" He asked, sitting across from her in the booth.

"Yeah," she squeaked out, avoiding eye contact with him.

"Annette," he said softly, placing his hand on hers. "Do you I need to get you an alarm? You keep drowning yourself in your homework."

"No, please don't" she whined, fiddling with his coat. "It's the end of the semester of my last year of college. I want to make sure I pass and graduate."

"If you don't relax and keep going, you aren't going to run yourself ragged," he reminded her, raising his eyebrow.

"I know, but I can't miss a beat or I will fail," she protested, taking a drink of her hot coco.

"Annette," his voice low and deep that she couldn't resist.

Annette felt her face heat up the moment he spoke her name.

"I can't, in good conscious, allow you to continue to do this to yourself," Felix smiled at her.

"Felix," she tenderly said, placing her free hand on top of his.

He thought for a couple of seconds of plans that they could do to distract her from her studies while she ordered food for the both of them. The only thing that was sitting in the back of his mind that could be a plan was meeting his family, but he knew he was going to regret that. He kept quiet as he drank his coffee, thinking of a million other plans, but they all came back to his family.

"Felix, are you okay?" Annette asked, taking a bit of her strawberry and banana crepe. "You're unusually quiet."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he reassured her, taking a bit of his spicy turkey focaccia sandwich. "I'm just thinking."

"Thinking about what?" She smiled, wiping the chipotle aioli off of his face.

"My family," he offhandedly said, taking her hand off of his skin.

"Oh! Are you finally going to let me meet your parents and your brother!" She chirped placing her hands together.

"Uh, not exactly," he rolled his eyes.

"Felix, I've been asking for this for months," she whined, placing her hands on her lap.

"Annette, it's not like that," Felix said, trying to reassure her.

"Then what is it like?" Annette asked, staring at him with her bluish green eyes.

He sighed, he was not going to win this fight. "Fine, but only if you relax and pull yourself away from your studies more, I will let you meet my whole family."

Annette clapped her hands and cheered.

Felix rolled his eyes as he smiled, but he knew he was going to regret this. He pulled out his phone, texting his mother to set up a date. He groaned when he saw his mother's next text, it was for Christmas.

"What's going on now?" She laughed, shoving the rest of her crepe in her mouth.

"My mother wants you to come over on Christmas," he groaned, falling back into the booth.

"Tpaft's wonpfrul!" Annette chirped, swallowing her food.

"Yeah, wonderful," he laughed, wiping the chocolate off of her face.

"Oh! I'm so excited!" She laughed as he patted her face.

"I know," he smiled, moving his hand back to his lap. "I will let my mother know."

"Thank you! But I need to get back, class is going to start in a few minutes," she gasped as she looked down at her phone.

"Annette," he sighed, pulling the check towards him. "Go."

He smiled as he watched her rush out the door. When he left the shop, everything finally hit him, and it hit like a truck. The meeting was in two days, he completely forgot that it was close. He rushed around town, heading to a couple of different places before heading home. He was grateful that his parents weren't home when he got back, they were they weren't his favorite people at the moment. He smiled when he received a text from Annette, he was relieved to received it from her. Felix stayed up late into the night, messing up his own sleeping schedule to talk to her.

He woke up in the morning, not realizing that he fell asleep with his phone on face. He rubbed his temples, feeling pressure build up. He groaned as he got out of his bed to get ready for the day, he had plenty to do. He sat in the living room, near the Christmas tree, with wrapping paper, scissors, tape, and pre-tied ribbons. He consistently cursed to himself trying to line up the boxes on the wrapping paper as he tried to get it to stay before taping it. The worst part for him was when he taped the corners. He tried multiple times to fold them into perfect triangles, but they ended up into squished, misshapen triangles. He sighed and just put a bow on the rest of his gifts before putting them under the tree.

The rest of his day was spent cleaning and organizing the house. He made sure to find all of the family photo albums and hiding under his bed like he was a horny thirteen year old boy with a porn magazine. Felix looked around the house, trying to find any other embarrassing thing that family might use against him and placing them in his closet in his room. Annette wouldn't go through there right? He could only hope that her curiosity didn't get the better of him and she decided go through his stuff. When he woke up the next morning, the pain in his head only grew worse. It didn't help that his parents were already up.

"Morning, Felix," Rodrigue smiled as he drank his black coffee.

Felix just grunted as he dragged his feet into the kitchen.

"Well, you're in a good mood," Rodriuge said sarcastically. "I hope this isn't the attitude that you aren't going to have when Annette comes over later tonight."

"Sorry, I just have a splitting headache," Felix lied as he put some headache pills in his mouth and washing it down with water.

"Dad, he's stressed about us meeting his little girlyfriend," Glenn teased his brother as he laughed and stretching out his face.

"Stop that you fool," Felix protested, fending off his brother.

"It's so cute to see you in woove!~" Glenn laughed louder as Felix pushed him.

"Oh, do you think we are going to embarrass you?" Emmeline asked, smirking.

"Yes! Yes I do!" Felix declared, trying to go back to his room.

"You are exactly right!" Glenn said with a giant smile, holding Felix by his collar. "And you aren't going anywhere. You're helping mom with cooking and baking this year. It's your turn."

Felix groaned as he stopped fighting his brother.

"I saw that you already grabbed everything," Emmeline said, clapping her hands. "I'm assuming you want to make spicy fish and turnip stew and saghert and cream." a "Yeah, those are a couple of Annette's favorite dishes," Felix murmured, scratching the back of his neck.

"Awe, you're so cute," she smirked, walking into the kitchen. "We better get started, that stew is going to take some time to make."

Felix shook his head as he helped her get out the ingredients. The two barely spoke to each other when they cooked, but it always brought them together. He preferred baking over cooking because when he formed dough, he was able to beat the dough to release his stress and anger. It would also help clear his mind when he baked, nothing seemed to matter. What helped him was the smell of the stew that his mother worked on. Smelling the smokiness of the fish, hearing the bubbling of the stock, hearing the turnips being shaved, made him feel calm. It even made smile. Doing all of this transported him back to his childhood where him, his parents, and Glenn were all together in the kitchen making a giant stew dish with many different vegetables.

Reliving those memories where short lived when he felt his chest tighten up when he heard the doorbell rang. Felix rushed out of the kitchen, tripping over his feet as he tried to get to the door. He felt defeated when he heard Rodrigue's laughter when his father beat him to the door.

"Hello Annette," Rodrigue greeted with a smile. "My wife and Felix are currently making dinner so why don't you come into the living room with me and Glenn."

"Hello! That would be lovely!" Annette chirped as she took off her shoes when she entered the house.

"I'm not in the kitchen," Felix moaned out as he picked himself off the floor.

Annette laughed as she gave him a little peck on his check.

"How are you?" He asked, trying to hide the kiss he gave to Annette.

"Ehuehuehue, look at the two little love birds," Glenn teased.

"Awe, you two are very romantic," Rodrigue teased along with his oldest son. "You two are just like me and your mother!"

Felix did his best to suppress his groans and hide his blushing face. He could feel in his bones that is was going to be a long night.

"Hello," Emmeline greeted with a smile. "You must be Annette."

"Yes, I am!" Annette cheerfully said, turning to face her. "You must be Felix's mother."

"Yes, you can call me Emmeline," Emmeline said, placing her hand on Annette's face to take a good long look at her. "My, you are very cute. No wonder my son fell for you."

"Mother!" Felix growled.

"Oh hush and get back into the kitchen," she said, pushing him. "I have some very important business to take care of."

Felix rolled his eyes as he went back to baking and cooking. He was no longer able to space out again, not when he could hear his family laughing in the background. He could think of the many things they could be saying and none of it was good. He did his best to ignore their laughter as he continued to cook, he was at least prepared with hiding the photo albums and embarrassing childhood items.

"Oh my goodness!" Annette squealed. "He looks so cute!"

"What? What's going on?" Felix said rushing into the living room.

"Felix you look so cute!" She said, showing Rodrigue's phone to him. "I didn't know you had a bowl cut when you were a little ity bity baby!"

"Old man!" He growled, holding a knife up to him. "How did you get that picture? I hid all of our photo albums."

"Felix, I have a phone that I downloaded it to," Rodrigue reminded him, taking the phone from Annette to show her more pictures.

"How? You are the least tech savvy person I even meet?" Felix asked, trying to take the phone from his father only to be fended off.

"Your brother did it for me," Rodrigue said, trying to find a very specific picture. "Glenn, do you know where that picture."

Felix's eyes became wide and he felt so much tension in his shoulders as he rushed to his father to grab the phone. Glenn lightly pushed his younger brother out of to grab Rodrigue's phone. Felix did his best to grab the phone, but by the time he could, Glenn had found the picture of Felix in his emo phase. He was dressed all in black, trying a different hair color, and got a tongue piercing.

"Oh, wow Felix, that is a look," Annette laughed, taking a good long look at him.

"Yeah, I know," Felix groaned. "Being thirteen was a time for me."

"Clearly," she said, handing Rodrigue's phone back to him. "Do you still have the tongue piercing?"

"No, the whole closed up a while ago. You should know this by the amount-" Felix then felt his face begin to heat up again. He was even in on embarrassing himself. "Never mind."

"Hohoho, how far have you guys gotten?" Emmeline teased, smushing Felix's face.

"None of your business!" Felix said, his voice going up an octave.

"Look at you, you're face is so warm!" Emmeline laughed, kissing his forehead. "You are adorable."

"Can we stop now, please?" He asked, his voice going back to normal. "Plus dinner is done."

"Wonderful, what did you make?" Annette asked, taking a hold of his hand. "My mother and I made spicy fish and turnip stew with saghert and cream for dessert."

"Felix, you are so sweet!" She chirped, as he led her into the kitchen.

He grabbed a plate out for her, placing a heaping amount of fish and stew on her plate. He helped her over to the table, moving the chair so she could sit down before placing the plate of food in front of her. Felix grabbed his plate of food, along with dessert.

"Look at them," Emmeline mused, placing her head on Rodrigue's chest. "They are so cute."

"Yes," Rodrigue agreed, hold her tight to his body. "Much like us when were their age."

Emmeline nodded and gave him a kiss.

"Are you guys going to eat or are you guys going to have a mush fest and gross me out?" Felix sneered at them before taking a bit of his food.

"Yes, yes," Rodrigue laughed. "Come on Glenn, you don't want to miss out."

"Oh no, I want to give Annette all the embarrassing stories of when Felix was little," Glenn smirked walking over into the kitchen.

"Be kind on your brother, I think he has had enough embarrassment for the day," Rodrigue smiled, following his lead.

"We'll see about that," Glenn laughed, sitting down at the table.

Over dinner they told stories of their lives, filling the room with laughter and warmth. Rodrigue told how he met Emmeline and how they had Glenn a little younger than they wanted, but saying he was a bundle of joy and by the time Felix arrived, their family was complete. Emmeline even told them Annette about Felix's laugh when he was young. That if she ever she was sad, she would make him laugh, she would feel one-hundred times better. Glenn made it even worse by asking how Annette met Felix. Annette being her, told them that they met in class, or at least in passing. She was running a lot earlier to class than she planned, thinking she was going to be late, bumping into Felix, and dropping all her school supplies to the ground, which included her and Felix.

That probably was the most embarrassing story Felix heard all night. The only way he could get it to stop was to redirect them to the presents. He didn't care if not everyone finished their food, he just wanted to stop the stories. He did not realize that his presents that he bought were wrapped, he remembered that he just put a bow on all of them but one, and that was Annette's. It didn't matter though, he just wanted to get the night over with and go to bed. It would be one more day closer to him going back to college.

Felix sat down on the ground with Annette between his legs. He wrapped his arms around her as Emmeline handed her a gift.

"Thank you," Annette smiled, opening the gift. "Felix look! That little teddy bear that I wanted! The one with the drums!"

"Yes, I know," Felix smiled, giving her a kiss on the back of her head.

"Sorry it's not sewn very well," Emmeline faintly smiled. "If I had more time, and if Felix was more prepared, I would have sewn the teddy bear correctly."

"What? You sewed this yourself?" Annette gasped, holding the teddy bear closer to her heart. "That's amazing!"

"Yes," Emmeline nodded. "Felix showed me a picture of it a while ago and I thought the best gift to give to you on short notice would be that."

"This is a wonderful present," Annette smiled, kissing the teddy bear's nose. "I love it."

"Thank you," Emmeline said, with a giant smile.

Felix smiled as Annette fiddled with the her gift.

They all grabbed their presents, opening one by one. Felix let out one long sigh looking at the 'gift' Glenn gave him. He looked up to Glenn, who had a giant smirk on his face, then threw it at him. After a few choice words they had with each other, they opened the rest of the presents. The one Felix got for Annette was the last to be opened.

"Wow, this is, some good wrapping," Annette teased.

"What like you can do better?" Felix scoffed.

"I can, because I'm a perfectionist!" She laughed.

"Oh, so you finally admit it," he said, tickling her and kissing her.

Annette laughed to the point it started to hurt her side. "Okay! Okay, you win!"

Felix laughed, helping her to sit upright. "I know I do, now please open the present."

Annette excitedly ripped off the wrapping paper to reveal a small box, letting out a gasp from everyone. "Felix! Is this?"

"What?" He asked, taking a few seconds to realize what she was asking. "No, it's not. We are way too young for that."

"Oh, sorry." She sighed, opening the box to see a necklace. "This is so pretty!"

"Yeah, I guess," he muttered, reaching for the jewelry. He unclasped the lock to put around her neck. "I saw you looking at at that shop on our way to Mercedes bakery. I asked the jeweler to replace the gem inside to an emerald since you were born in May."

"It's beautiful, Felix," she smiled, giving him a kiss.

"You're welcome," he said, kissing her back. "It looks very pretty on you."

"Thank you," she said, nuzzling her head in his chest.

"Well, since all the presents are all open," Rodrigue started, picking up all the wrapping paper. "Why don't we go to bed."

"Yeah, it's been a long day," Felix agreed, pushing Annette back.

"Right, I should be going," Annette said, getting up. "My father is probably getting worried."

"Annette, please stay," Emmeline insisted. "It's getting late and you probably live so far."

"It's alright," Annette said, getting her stuff.

"Not a chance," Felix said, holding onto her. "You and I both know you are just going back to your dorm room and study."

She let out a little whimper, knowing he was right. She stayed the night, staying in his room with him. "Hey, Felix?"

"Yes, Annette?" Felix asked, turning over to face her.

"Would you ever want to get married to me?" She asked, moving his long hair out of his face.

"Yes, but in the future," he replied without missing a beat.

Annette gave him one last kiss before laying down on her side. Felix began to fiddle with her hair, humming for her as she blinked her eyes to help her go to sleep. He kissed her head before laying down next to her, wrapping his arms around her before going to bed himself.

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I am finally able to post up my fic for the NetteFlix Winter Exchange! I got to write this lovely fic for meatsuru on Ao3 and I choose meeting the family prompt that they had and put Felix in yet another stressful situation. I love putting him in situations, he is my favorite little play thing sometimes and it's fun to see him being stressed. This is also featuring meatsuru's version of Felix's mom!

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

I find this very interesting because in VW, Claude makes it sound like he doesn't understand Dimitri.

In AM, he very clearly understands Dimitri in a way that's extremely directly personal.

Like... there's a clear difference in how well he understands Dimitri, but why? How? What motivated Claude differently to find out more about Dimitri in AM than what he knew in VW?

I know you could chalk it up "Byleth is there so he figured Dimitri would snap out of it so he knew he could trust Dimitri ultimately", but tbh I hate that line of thought. I hate the idea that Byleth is just... the magical reason for everything (especially not when Rodrigue had a whole heck of a lot to do with it. Byleth couldn't have done it alone and failed to do so for the first half of AM. It was Byleth and Rodrigue both who helped Dimitri get back on his feet, but never, ever Byleth alone).

So no, I'm not going with the magical Byleth theory.

In fact, it says more for Claude as a character to be able to make a decision independent of Byleth (something he basically claims he can't even do in VW), and just decide he wants to look into Dimitri's history. How else would he know exactly what mark to talk about when he sees Dimitri in chapter 19?

But in VW, what's his reason for not looking into him? Is it that he just thought Dimitri was dead, and so looking into his history wouldn't benefit him in any way any longer (i.e. if another leader of Fodlan was around, he'd want to know what he could for future alliances)? Is that in AM, he realized Dimitri was alive and had time to look into him before requesting his aid?

In which case, is this something VW Claude also would've done if given the chance/time? Did AM Claude actually manage to dig enough up on Dimitri in that span of time to understand him on what is, for Dimitri, a deeply personal level? Did VW Claude just not get the chance because Dimitri died at Gronder, versus AM Dimitri not dying at Gronder, being present to show Claude he was alive, and pushing Claude to look into him because there was still a chance?

So VW Claude thinks Dimitri is hard to understand (he's talking about Dedue being as hard to understand as Dimitri in the above screenshot), but AM Claude understands him to a T. Did Claude just genuinely learn and therefore understand that much about Dimitri in a few months? That is, did Claude learn a few things and from there put the pieces together, and suddenly Dimitri was much easier to understand? Is it that VW Claude didn't have enough information to understand why Dimitri was the way he was?

I'm not really making a particular point here; just that it's really interesting to me that on Claude's own route, he can't seem to understand Dimitri's motivations (despite that you'd expect him to get more development on his own route). In AM, despite being a character outside the player's ability to use, he understands Dimitri, frankly, better than most of Dimitri's friends do.

He understands his motivations clear as day and doesn't just understand him, but trusts him to lead Fodlan because of his understanding of him (enough to put his own goddamn Relic in his hands and say here's my entire army). Like idk, that's a pretty steep understanding and trust if you consider that he came to understand Dimitri in only a few months' time and not over the course of five years.

Is Claude that able to read into a person in such a short amount of time? Does that mean he indeed just did not look into Dimitri's past in VW because he didn't see a reason to because he thought Dimitri had died already before realizing he hadn't, only for Dimitri to die when he finally had the chance to talk to him again?

I also think it says a lot about Claude as a person if he's able to reach such an accurate conclusion about Dimitri in just a few months. I think it also shows how genuine his desire is to have a proper leader for Fodlan once he leaves to return to Almyra (i.e. he did his research to be sure Dimitri would be a leader that was good for Fodlan). If he went under the assumption that Dimitri would win the war, he'd want to know the person he's going to be making future alliances with, so of course he'd learn what he could... but what he understood and realized from whatever he learned tells me he's very good at reaching conclusions.

Again, I'm just thinking how interestingly differently VW and AM Claude understand Dimitri (lol W and M are upside down versions of each other and Claude's understanding of Dimi is opposite in each route hehe lol funny me likey funny fun).

that's it that's all i had to say you can continue with your day now :)