#Trails in the Sky spoilers

[thebibblebobb]

Joshua: I am harbinger of doom, a weapon of death. I'm not even a real human, just an empty shell who's only purpose is murder. I bring misery to all around me and the best thing I can do for the people I love is leave their lives.

Estelle: What???? No, you have ptsd

Joshua: ...

Joshua: Holy fucking shit

[daily-rayless]

Today's second birthday belongs to Renne from the Trails series. Happy Birthday, Angel of Slaughter.

[ship-garbage-pile]

"If you stayed with me. you'd find out how disgusting my true nature is..sometimes. I think it would have been better if we had never met.."

[it-came-autumnally]

In retrospect it's really funny that the one thing I really honed in on during the first time I went through the Sky arc was Joshua's appearance (characters love to point out his mop of dark hair and amber eyes and I really really thought that it would relate to some important plot point somehow) but while replaying SC I found there's this one scene where it almost pays off (albeit, in a very silly way):

During the infiltration of the Ouroboros Lab, Anelace informs the party of how Joshua is also in the lab. If a player has been paying attention, they can probably guess that something about this feels off because Anelace mentions how she "recognized his clothes" but she has no reason to be familiar with the new look that he dons in this game yet (and there's no reason for Joshua to have switched back to his old outfit either).

But, if you're me, then you instead notice that she does not take the chance to mention his amber eyes. And, as we find out, there's a good reason for that!

...After all, this Joshua is fake, and has no amber eyes. Of course Anelace didn't see them; she couldn't have.

[knightofsuperior]

Trails Can Take You to All Sorts of Places, But One Way or Another, They'll Always Lead You to Where You Belong

Fandom: The Legend of Heroes/Trails, Trails in the Sky, Trails of Cold Steel

Summary:

Kevin Argent is enjoying a nice life. Or at least, he would be, if it was really his. An ode to the Trails in the Sky series and one of its best characters, with some guest appearances from tales beyond as well.

Read the fic here and check out an excerpt/my thoughts below!

Excerpt:

"Sure, peace is nice. I’d love to have some days where literally nothing happened. But, if you want my five Mira, us flesh-and-blood types live for more than nothing. We’re all headed to plenty of nothin’ once we head into the great beyond." He picked up the photo, staring at it with a fond smile. "We live for the experience of it all, for sharing the world with those around us. We don't seek hardships; the universe, in all its randomness, and the Goddess, in all her grace, provide them at their own pace. We just roll with the punches, searching for those… in-between moments that make life worth it."

Author's Note: This was written in honor of the tenth anniversary of Trails in the Sky's first release in the western market, but really, it's a commemoration of the Trails in the Sky trilogy in general more than any specific entry. I wrote this in a haze of insomnia and sugary snacks, but somehow it came through with what I think are some of my favorite passages that I've ever written, for fan works or otherwise.

I don't know if I'll ever write something like this again, but I can sure as hell try.

[fury-brand]

Schera purses her lips. The cards tell her a tale she already knows. Where she’s going, she isn't welcome. Some nobody from nothing intruding on the great Reise Arnor legacy. As if the bastard prince and his common mother weren't bad enough, add a smart-mouthed circus runaway to the mix.

Schera is marrying into Empire, and she knows there's more than happily ever after in the cards.

[goodnightsnek]

Just beat the Tournament Finals in trails and Duke Dunan is so fuckin funny for this

[therealsoulking]

Saw this at work today and couldn’t resist.

[karnalesbian]

okayyyy so let's talk abt how he was kinda serving cunt with this one

[trailsofmemes]

[5yn]

My favourite part of Joshua and Loewe’s relationship is how much unconditional faith and love Joshua still has for Loewe even when there’s reason (or proof) to suspect otherwise -- for a character who can be so pragmatic and willing to be on guard when it comes to suspicions and inconsistencies.

For the entirety of the arsonist subplot in FC, Joshua unilaterally disregards the possibility "the silver-haired man” could have anything even tangentially to do with the arson the moment he recognized the high likelihood it was Loewe. I feel like it mollified him to hear that Loewe made an effort to save the children from harm ... even though it wouldn’t be consistent with Joshua’s character to not dwell on the fact Loewe was present during the incident at all, and subsequently discourage having the others follow it up (in fact he broke off and tried to tail Loewe on his own as though getting personal confirmation was the most important part to him).

And then there’s this conversation later on in SC, hinting that Joshua was motivated to do what he did at the end of FC at least partially because of what Loewe had imparted on him.

(There’s something to be said about hypocrisy here...)

It’s the next couple of lines that are most interesting though.

It’s that he seemed genuinely convinced that the only reason Loewe remained in the society and cooperated with their goals was all because of guilt over him, and after that, thought it must have been that he couldn’t help himself in the aftermath of grieving after Karin’s death. When Loewe shoots down such notions, Joshua looks sincerely surprised -- as though a part of him had always clung to the kind and caring older brother he remembered from his childhood in Hamel and couldn’t reconcile that person having the agency and capability of willingly going along with Ouroboros of his own volition.

It’s an interesting contrast to be made with lines such as “Joshua... Be careful, okay? Loewe is really serious about stopping you this time,” and of course, “The trial is over. Now comes the execution.”

[soleilsketches]

started trails

[daily-rayless]

Kloe and Sieg. Always nice to have a helpful bird friend.

[r-18g]

*purrrr* Meeoooww.

[it-came-autumnally]

Continuing my Sky SC replay and this had me screaming

[knightofsuperior]

The Holidays Are a Time of Togetherness and Giving but Sometimes People Can Take Both a Bit Too Far in the Service of Being Petty as All Hell

Fandom: The Legend of Heroes/Trails, Trails of Cold Steel

Summary:

Lechter Arundel has an idea, in the spirit of the season: host a homecoming party in Ymir for Erebonia's hero, Rean Schwarzer. Just some friends, family, and a few decorations. Nothing too bad! Things get a little out of hand.

Read the fic here and check out an excerpt/my thoughts below!

Excerpt:

Lechter Arundel wasn’t supposed to hear this conversation. He wasn’t even supposed to be in Ymir, frankly. There was an all-Ironbloods meeting occurring the next day at Valflame Palace, so he was supposed to be in Heimdallr at the least in the event of any unexpected circumstances. However, the weather was miserably cold, and he needed just a quick dip-what was the harm? He had the timetable all worked out too: 1. Get to Ymir the night before. 2. Hit the Phoenix Wings. 3. R&R 4. Snowboard? Snowboard. 5. Head back to Heimdallr, getting to the meeting either on time or (depending on if he felt like sleeping in) fashionably late. 6. Optional: Gloat to the others about how refreshed he was. He had his disguise all figured out too, a lesson he picked up from the Debaucherous Prince. His hair was covered in a toboggan hat, he was wearing a pair of colored contacts (he always wondered what it would be like to have blue eyes), and he dug out his old Crossbell tourist duds for the occasion (though with an extra layer or two to combat the cold). With a nice warm towel wrapped around his neck, and a cup of hot cocoa, he looked like any other nobody. Which is why neither of the Schwarzers recognized him (he hoped) when they sat at the bar in the Phoenix Wings, fresh from a bath of their own.

Author's Note: The second in the Kiseki In-Between-Iverse series, this one I especially had a blast with because for as much as I love the Sky cast, it's just so easy to slip into the voices of the Cold Steel characters. Being able to sort of bridge that gap between Sky and CS was also a treat, and seeing if I could top my previous over-stuffed cameo list with fun cross-sections of character interactions. Just a fun time all around.