#also his and sylvain's support is actually so nice?

[homoeroticvillain]

insert a picture of dedue fe3h covered in hearts

[hauntedaeon]

Fandoms in general I feel should be less focused on romantic relationships all the time. Don’t get me wrong I’m a big shipper myself but I also love me a good set of besties. Here’s some platonic friend duos I like a lot! And no hate if you do ship these they’re all valid just not my cup of tea.

Edelgard and Sylvain, especially in crimson flower. I mean come on look at them. They both hate the crest system and wish to change it. Sylvain is also way smarter than he acts and I feel Edelgard would notice, asking him for council occasionally. But also they would be great supports for each other to vent their frustrations. Edelgard would easily be able to see through Sylvain, he probably flirts with her like once and she immediately shuts him down. However they do become friends which confuses everyone else.

Dimitri and Yuri. I think they actually really don’t meet much during the Academy. In fact, Yuri found Dimitri to be just another foolish noble. They actually become friends during the time skip. Dimitri spends part of those 5 years in the abyss and the undergrounds of cities where he sees Yuri. Yuri is surprised about what Dimitri has become and tries but is unable to convince Dimitri to stay. I also hc that he was the one to give Dimitri his cloak and armor (cause how did a feral man find armor like that???)

Mercedes and Marianne. Mercedes is THE mom friend and would totally be super nice and doting to Marianne. They pray together and Mercedes sees how troubled she is so takes some time getting closer. She always tries to cheer Marianne up but if Marianne is having a day where she’s just not feeling it Mercedes is content to just sit there with her. Marianne looks up to Mercedes a lot and slowly starts coming out of her shell around her. I also feel like Marianne would remind Mercedes of Emile.

[luckydicekirby]

would love any director's commentary you may have on The Only True Thing if slightly older fics are on the table here bc lowkey it changed my brain chemistry forever. I read it on a whim like four years ago at 1 in the morning and ever since then I've been hooked on making all my fav pairings miserable for no reason. this sounds like sarcasm but I'm being completely sincere the schadenfreude is exquisite

okay first of all I’m SO glad to hear this because making your favs miserable is I think one of the most rewarding activities on this earth so I’m really glad I could help share that joy. thanks also to sylvain for just making it so easy. anyway, here’s some assorted thoughts, hopefully some of which are edifying!

(the only true thing for reference for anyone playing along at home.)

this fic affectionately named the darkling au due to this tweet which I feel like I should put in a hall of fame someday. anyway this entire thread showcases the origin of this fic which was me catie and lily bullying each other on twitter about sylvix, a pastime left behind in 2019 which i really miss.

the thing that really first made me Crazy Cuckoo about sylvain is his B support with Byleth--I'm obsessed with that moment where he very coldly threatens to kill you and then laughs it off, and that was pretty much the jumping off point for Sylvain's characterization in this au--what if he was like that all the time? answer: it would be bad, but also pretty sexy!

One thing I miss about writing for fe3h is the hero’s relics were sooo nice as like. shortcut symbolism. the lance of ruin comes preloaded for you! It’s familial cycles of violence! Easy! and there's a mechanic for it breaking ALSO preloaded into the game mechanics! I wrote like three versions of the ending and the lance getting busted moved around a bit--it originally happened a little earlier.

For a while when I was still femblempilled I was idly thinking about two sequels to this—a sylvain pov sequel about the war, which would have been fun but also Yikes, and then epistolary dorothea/ingrid ideological divorce fic. sorry to dorothea and ingrid who really get the short end of the stick in this universe.

oh there's a playlist. I can’t claim to have put a ton of thought into it it’s just all my fav bad ya boyfriend songs <3 actually dead girl walking reprise is like. yeah that's the fic.

ANYWAY. I feel like a lot of my commentary on this has been washed away by the sea (the passage of time) so a few extras. I apparently wrote like 400 words of sylvain POV of the training yard scene also? Last edited September 26th 2019, here you go:

Felix has always been smaller him, ever since they were kids. Still is these days, to Sylvain’s delight. He wondered about it plenty, these past two years--maybe Felix had a growth spurt. Maybe he caught up to Dimitri. Maybe Sylvain would meet him at the monastery and they’d see eye to eye. Of course they don’t. Felix is a head shorter than him, and he’ll never see things the way Sylvain does. Still. Sylvain thought about it. He’s had a lot of time to think about Felix since the last time he saw him, since Felix ran away. Still a crybaby at heart, no matter how sure he was he’d grown out of it. Not much has changed, Sylvain figures. Felix might have everyone else fooled with that delightfully sharp-edged exterior of his--a pretty decent feint, Sylvian should know--but Felix can’t hide from him. Sylvain sees him down to the bone. The two of them are a matched set: liars at heart.  Like right now. Felix is trying so hard not to cry, his back to the wall of the training yard, his grip tight around the wood of his training sword like he’s actually going to use it. Sylvain hopes he will. He hasn’t gotten to see Felix fight yet, really fight. He bets he’s gotten better. He bets he’s elegant and controlled—maybe less so with Sylvain, and wouldn’t that be nice? That’s how it goes sometimes, when Sylvain dreams about their last day together. Felix’s sword at his throat, biting and cold, ending all this before it began. It would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. Sylvain wouldn’t have had to spend such an awfully long time missing him.  He bets Felix could make him hurt. Nothing seems to do that anymore, except for thoughts of Felix, the ones he can never stop worrying at like a bruise.  Sylvain doesn’t want much these days, and maybe that’s why it’s so hard: he wants Felix in a way that aches, delirious and unstoppable. It doesn’t matter so much how. Felix is welcome to cut him open or kiss him quiet or anything in between. As long as he never stops looking at Sylvain like he is now, hateful and just on the edge of tears, so clearly focused on nothing else. As long as Sylvain can have that, the rest doesn’t matter.  That’s love, Sylvain figures; the cheerful facade he gives the girls is nothing. He forgets about a new one every week. But Felix? He’ll be dead someday, and Felix will still have a grip on his heart, as tight as he’s holding his sword and just as dangerous.

and what exists of the sylvain POV sequel I never wrote:

Felix looks like shit. Of course he’s also beautiful. He’s radiant, for all that his hair’s a mess and his face is drawn and he’s got the kind of dark circles that only come from weeks and weeks of exhaustion. He’s Felix, right? He can’t be anything else. “You look like shit,” Sylvain tells him, because honesty is what Felix thinks he wants from him. He hasn’t seen Felix in six moons, but that probably hasn’t changed. “What are you doing here?” Felix asks. His horse stamps her feet and shakes her head, moving uneasily under him. Felix has never been a good rider. It’s clear he doesn’t appreciate his mare, and she doesn’t appreciate him. Sylvain wonders how long Felix has been making his way across Faerghus like this. He wonders if he stole the horse. It’s awful not to know. “Looking for you,” Sylvain says. “They say you’re searching for the king.” Felix never could stop himself from chasing ghosts. Sylvain hates that about him. It’s just as unfair as everything else: it’s the only reason Sylvain is still here, after all.  “I am. And you should be defending Gautier territory.” “Got a message from your father,” Sylvain lies. He slides off his horse, patting her flank. Felix, clumsily, does the same. “He wants you to come home.” That part’s probably true.  Felix scoffs. “My old man can send all the messages he wants. I’m going to find the boar.” He means it. Sylvain can see that he means it, in the flinty look in his eyes, the fold of his arms, the jut of his chin as he looks up at Sylvain. It’s the saddest thing Sylvain’s ever seen, and he’s seen a lot of shit. “Felix,” he says. He reaches out. He can never help it, not when Felix is like this, not when he believes. Felix doesn’t flinch from Sylvain’s hand on his cheek anymore. “Sweetheart. You know he’s dead.” “Don’t call me that,” Felix says. But when he swings himself back in the saddle and Sylvain does the same, he doesn’t tell Sylvain not to follow. That’s more than good enough. 

[yellowocaballero]

finally got around to finishing weekenders and read the cat byleth fic, and had a great time! reading from felix's perspective of everyone dealing with catleth was very fun, and finding out that felix made the active choice to not do anything actually made me laugh. also, seeing sylvain and his thoughts about felipe, after how you described felipe when he's older just seems very interesting (and funny). all that's to say, i was curious if you'd care to share something about what future shenanigans the oc kids got up to? they seem fun

One of the nicest possible asks you can send someone. Tell me more about your OCs. JALKDSjflkasjdf.

I had to write Byleth's idyllic future family, these people do in fact live in a society where they're all obligated to reproduce, I made up like 10 characters on the spot, the end. Afterwards I got really stressed out due to various and assorted reasons and started stress writing, as I do, and I ended up stress writing a WAY too long OC story. Various facts:

In a heartwarming act of found family, supportive co-parenting, and hating the way your parents raised you, the next gen kids are raised very differently than how their parents raised them. The BL split their time between their homes and the palace, so all of the kids are raised as one big family. All equals! All of you kids are way more important than chivalry! The princess and prince are just like the rest of you! The king isn't stealing ANYONE'S dad!

So that's nine extremely spoiled cousins whose only persistent social circle is each other.

Sometimes a found family are ex-classmates who run a nation together and a group of cousins who are endlessly trying to claw each other's faces off.

Sara (story covers her age from 10-16 but let's randomly anchor this at 12; Dimileth; crown princess) is overly emotional with a temper and is prone towards acts of ringleading and bullying. Terry (10; Felix/Annette; gifted kid before the syndrome; Sephora 10yo) is the meanest preteen girl ever. Leif (12; Ingrid/Ashe; absolute jock; arch nemesis of Sara) would wear Supreme. Felipe says he's too good to be the meanest person ever, but he's just catty about it. Luca (10; Dimileth; crown prince; looks like M!Morgan from FE:A, if he's named after Lucina Byleth does not realize; breaks half of what he touches), Sigurd (10; Ingrid/Ashe; limp noodle of a nerd), and Lailah (6; Felix/Annette; will predict the time and date of your death) are the victims of this. When they are not worse. Sven (Ingrid/Ashe; daydreams about dragons constantly; inherited all of the nice) and Callum (Felix/Annette; inherited all of the nice) will grow up to be nice only because they weren't in baby thunderdome.

The deuteragonist of the story is Derrick von Aegir (13; Ferdinand/F!OC; a truly unfortunate boy) who was sent to live in the Fhaergus Empire's palace at age 11 as a political hostage. The other protagonist is the princess whose greatest problem in life, age 10, was that Father said she isn't allowed to be mean to the political hostage. Derrick's greatest problem in life, age 11, is not accidentally getting his entire family super executed.

(This is the sort of political hostage thing that was very common in the Medieval era, which was basically "hey conquered territory send your kid to live with us, we'll treat them great and school them and teach them how great we are, and YOU won't break any treaties", it's pretty comfy for the kid. Effective way to stop Duke Ferdinand of Adrestia from rebelling, too. Byleth's idea. Bloodless and effective, only slightly traumatizes one kid)

They're all one big family anyway, so let's just toss Derrick into the pile of cousins. He is absorbed into the cousin conglomerate instantly. He's annoyingly perfect: perfect grades, perfect manners, perfect attitude, perfect work. Overachiever who takes up a role as tiny ambassador quickly and dreams of becoming a political ambassador between the territory of Adrestia and the Faerghus kingdom, now empire. Does Felix's paperwork. Tripes to stop himself from wanting to go home. Dimitri taught him how to shave. Gets a horse every year for his birthday. Is perfect. Stops wanting to go home. Is perfect.

The story is largely about the struggle of trying to be a good person when you don't really know how and aren't very good at it. It's about a massive confusion of identity and trying to parse out where you belong when you're from two worlds and belong in neither. It's about having a parent who is severely mentally ill. It's about deciding what a princess means and what a political hostage means; what a family means and what a friend means. It's also about children who are so so so mean to each other.

Glad that's not INSANELY long. It's just stress writing and it's all very off the cuff, so the story's just a pot of ideas, but here's a short-ish excerpt of it underneath the cut that I think summarizes a lot of this.

A week later, Derrick received a letter from his father. It had probably arrived several days before, but all of Derrick’s incoming and outgoing mail was monitored and censored. Derrick had gotten good at talking around anything that made security mad, but sometimes his father’s letters still held long streaks of black.

Sara had barged into his palace in pursuit of a training partner, but she only found him sitting at his dining room table staring blankly at several pieces of paper. They were laid out carefully next to each other, as if Derrick needed to cross-reference each individual sentence. It seemed as if he had been looking at them for a while.

Derrick’s quarters were in the Steel Palace, which was where they kept their diplomats. When he first came to live with them, Father let him choose which suite he wanted and gave him a budget for decorating the room. The quarters had never seen a two year visitor before, but it had adjusted well. Sara was petitioning to move his room into the main palace so she didn’t have to walk so far to visit him, but Derrick had blathered on about stations and appropriateness and laid out his extensive plan on how to be as useful to the crown of Faerghus as possible. Sara said it would be more useful if she didn’t have to walk so far. 

As usual, Derrick’s plans went off without a hitch. Whenever they had visitors from other parts of Faerghus, or even from outside of Fodlan, Derrick was their one-person welcome wagon. It was his sacred self-appointed duty that nobody asked him to do, and he was really good at it. The Adrestian lords were all over him. So were the knights, but Derrick said that he barely registered them anymore. 

Sara stood in the doorway and coughed pointedly, waiting for Derrick to jump up and treat her respectfully. But he just sat and stared at pieces of paper. He obviously knew she was here, but he wasn’t reacting at all.

Sara crept forward until she could grab the back of the ridged chair and hoist herself upwards on the beams. She peered over Derrick’s shoulder at the pieces of paper, finally recognizing it as a letter. She recognized his father’s handwriting. 

“Um,” Sara said, “are you okay?”

That was as emotionally supportive as she got, and probably as emotionally supportive as she was physically capable of being. Derrick seemed to appreciate the effort, ‘cause he actually responded. His voice was dull, as it sometimes was. 

“My mother just had another baby,” Derrick said. All life and spirit was drained from his voice. He sounded very empty. “A full sibling. Boy.”

What? That was so weird. “You didn’t tell me your mom was pregnant!” 

“I didn’t know.” 

Sara couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose. How could the von Aegirs not even say anything? Why was Derrick so upset? News of an upcoming baby in her family was always such a massive deal. The last time Aunt Ingrid got pregnant nobody shut up about it for weeks. And it was a million times worse when the baby was actually born. Sara had forbidden Mother and Father from having any more children, just in case. She wouldn’t survive the commotion. 

“Congratulations?” Sara said, baffled. “Isn’t this a good thing?”

“I guess.”

“But you’re gonna be a brother!”

“Apparently.” 

“Having a sibling does suck,” Sara said contemplatively, “but maybe you’ll luck out and have a nice sibling. Collum’s the best baby ever. Terry and Lilah and I put him in little dresses. And Luca’s whatever I guess.” Sara paused a second, thinking harder. “Two boys must be tougher, though. Leif and his siblings just punch each other all the time.”

“A year,” Derrick said, and Sara finally quieted. “They waited a year until Mother grew pregnant. Father said he didn’t care about having crested kids. That’s what he said.��� Derrick’s voice shook, and Sara started feeling really uncomfortable. “They just wrote me off.” 

“No they didn’t. Your parents wouldn’t do that.” Sara hopped off the chair. She put a hand on his arm, squeezing tightly. “Your parents are so nice. Maybe they just…I don’t know. Everybody has, like, five kids. It’s weirder that he waited so long, right?”

“He stopped waiting after I left.” Derrick picked up one of the pages, smoothing it carefully between his fingers. He always treated his parent’s letters carefully. “Does he need a new heir? Does he think I’m not coming back?” Derrick’s voice grew thick. “He said I was coming back. He said I was coming home for sure…”

Sara couldn’t think of anything to say that didn’t sound ridiculously dumb, so she just hugged him. Derrick dropped the letter on the table and hugged her back, limp and weak and clutching onto the folds of her stiff dress, and although she didn’t like very long hugs she refused to let go until he did. 

There was nothing to do about any of it. Adrestians were idiots and Derrick’s stupid parents were constantly making his life miserable. Sara made a noble sacrifice the next day and asked Derrick to teach her how to ride Aqua. Sara was great at riding horses, but she let Derrick teach her anyway. He always forgot about everything else when there was a horse in front of him, so her plan worked perfectly. 

That night, after the boring yet productive horse adventure, Mother found Sara, Derrick, and her family in the kitchens. They were sequestered in the secret nook behind the cold room, chomping down on purloined fruits and shoving apple cores down each other’s shirts. Mother pulled back the curtain on their fun very dramatically, freezing Leif in the middle of his attempts to pull Sigurd’s shirt over his head and dunk it in apple juice.

Felipe scrambled upwards, abandoning his half-eaten pie on the table. He bowed hastily, and everybody else hurriedly copied him. “Greetings to Her Grace, Lady of Faerghus.” 

As usual, Felipe and Derrick did everything pitch-perfect and everybody else stumbled through it. Sigurd’s shirt was still half-hanging off his shoulder. Terry didn’t even let go of her grapes. 

“I need to borrow Derrick,” Mother said. “Now.”

Derrick bowed again and quietly followed Mother’s direction out of the nook. Everybody awkwardly looked at each other. Even Leif looked worried. 

Felipe ran his hand through his near-white hair, gnawing on his cheek. It was still a little weird to have Felipe in the castle so often. It was like summer, but all the time. He didn’t have as much time to spend with them as he used to, though - Uncle Sylvain was officially training him in chamberlain duties. Luca critically deemed Felipe old. “I hope he’s not in trouble.” 

Terry stuffed grapes in her mouth, cherry red pigtails swinging. Through mangled fruity flesh, she said, “Derrick can’t get in trouble. He’s too good at everything. Messing up is Luca’s job.”

Luca sat back down, grabbing his book and pulling sad cow eyes at Terry. Lilah, who was six and liked doing what Luca did, imitated him dolefully. “I’m not that bad, am I?”

“You suck.”

“If he sucks then why did you fail your literature examination?” Sara snapped. “Look in a mirror sometime!”

Terry gasped in affront, and Lilah made a little ‘oooh’. Luca’s jaw dropped. But Sara had enough. She stood up, shoving a final few apples in her dress pocket before stomping out of the enclave. She was distantly aware that Felipe scrambled upwards to follow her, cursing in Duscuran, but she resolutely decided to ignore him. She didn’t have time to soothe ten year old feelings. She had to find Derrick and make a stirring case to her mother on why he shouldn’t be in trouble. 

She made it to the door of the kitchens before Felipe caught up to her. He slid in front of the door, and Sara was once again confronted by his stupid growth spurt as he towered after her. Sara tried to duck and weave around him, purposefully ignoring the bustling kitchen staff steering wide and clear of them, but Felipe held his ground. 

“I’m sorry, Your Highness, but this is important.”

Felipe’s voice still carried a distinct Duscuran accent, and it always made his words sound strange and harsh. Sara heard Uncle Dedue scold him for it several times, but Felipe had dug in his heels on the matter. He could imitate Uncle Dedue’s accent perfectly when he was speaking to important people who they didn’t know and didn’t like - which had the terrible side-effect of making him speak like Father - but around his family he refused to talk like the rest of them. It was one of the many reasons why he was super cool. Unfortunately, he was also a drag.

“Fighting Her Grace won’t help him,” Felipe said sternly. “Have you ever successfully changed her mind on anything? Anything at all?” Sara scowled, but she didn’t say anything. It was effectively a concession of the point. “I know your intentions are good. But charging in might hurt more than it helps. You must begin to stop and think things through first.”

“I stop to think all the time,” Sara complained. “I can do tactics. We can all do tactics. We couldn’t survive Mother if we couldn’t do tactics.”

“Yes, and you lose all ability to ‘do tactics’ the second you get worked up about something.” Felipe frowned down at her. Sara wanted to wilt. Another point she wished she could refute, and was perfectly aware she couldn’t. “Derrick’s living in reality, you know that? Not this castle fantasy land. You can’t mess around.” 

“Fantasy land -”

But Felipe just rolled his eyes. “I grew up in a Duscur orphanage. Trust me, I know what the real world looks like.” 

“Your hideously wealthy and powerful mother owns a Duscur orphanage,” Sara said flatly. This was why Felipe wasn’t always cool. “You saw the real world outside your glass window. Stop borrowing other people’s actual problems.” 

“Age has not dulled your tongue,” Felipe said, equally flat. “Will insulting your entire family fix your problems, Your Highness?” Sara pursed her lips, looking away. “You were defending Luca. Out of character, but sweet. Now Terry’s probably mad at Luca because you reminded him that Luca aced his test and she didn’t. Did you solve anything? Or did you just take out your anger on a ten year old?” 

“Literally all we do is insult each other, it’s family culture.”

“Yes, it’s why we’re all mean and insane.” 

Sara crossed her arms. “I thought that was because we’re all spoiled brats.” 

“It’s a feedback loop. We make each other worse. And yes, I’m a spoiled brat too.” Felipe sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Goddess knows I can’t stop you from doing what you want. But please, Sara. Stop thinking about what you want and start thinking about what Derrick needs. If you’re capable of that.”

“Uncle Sylvain would kick your ass if he heard you talking to me like that.” 

Brightly, Felipe said something to her in Duscuran. Sara squinted at him. In Adrestrian, he said, “There. I’ll say that in front of my father as much as you want. He’s too scared of brown people to learn my other language, so I think I’m in the clear.”

“Uncle Dedue would kick your ass,” Sara amended. 

Felipe blanched. “You won’t tell Uncle.” 

“Watch me.”

“No, you won’t. You won’t.”

“Make me.”

“If you tell Uncle I will actually -”

“You’ll actually what?” Sara sang. “Go ahead, tell me. Tell me what I should tell Uncle Dedue you would actually do.”

“You are such a little -”

Sara ducked left and dove for the door. The kitchen door, made for servants carrying armfuls of plates and meat, swung open when she pressed on it, and she ignored Felipe’s yelp as she broke free into the hallway. 

She sped-walk (‘Princesses don’t -’ Take a guess.) down the hallway, craning her head for a glimpse of Mother. Empty of everything but a shitton of servants. She reached an intersection of hallways, frantically looking left and right in search of the right path. Would tactics help? 

Tactics were unnecessary. Balad was standing in front of a door in the hallway to her left. Sara gracefully speedwalked straight towards him.

Despite her best efforts at dignity, Balad still seemed amused when he saw her. Mother’s personal knight didn’t follow her around most of the time, so she must either be coming from some official business or going towards it. Court had been yesterday, so it couldn’t be that. Sara remembered when court was. So organized and yet so chaotic. 

“Whoah, tiger,” Balad said. “Looking for somebody?”

Balad wasn’t very formal when it was just them, which was nice. Like Felipe, he had a fancy accent at his disposal but tended to prefer his native accent around them. Unlike Felipe, Balad was the real deal. “Is Mother inside?” Sara asked urgently. “Is she with Derrick?”

“The Adrestrian boy? Sure, she needed to meet with him.” Balad shifted on his feet, giant suit of armor rattling. How did he wear that all day? “Is something wrong?” 

Sara did her best not to look shifty. Balad raised an eyebrow. Too many people in this world had known her since she was a baby. Balad especially used to look after her in Mother’s stead while he was a squire. “Depends. Is Derrick in trouble?”

“I think your mother would say that this isn’t your fight, Your Highness.”

That was ominously vague. “But Derrick’s my responsibility,” Sara insisted. Balad’s eyebrow climbed higher. “If he’s in trouble I have to be there. As, like, defensive counsel. In a court of law.” 

“Who made Derrick your responsibility?”

Sara halted. Come to think of it…well, technically nobody. She had really just decided. But that didn’t invalidate her point. She was just taking initiative or whatever. 

Diversion tactic. Sara sniffed. “It’s a princess responsibility. A princess takes responsibility for all her subjects.”

Slowly, Balad drawled,”Uh-huh. And blaming Lilah for breaking that vase was…?”

“That was not a clear-cut situation - agh, never mind! Can I see them or not?” Balad stared at her. “May I see Her Grace and That Adrestian Boy please, Knight Balad.” 

“Let me ask, Your Highness.” 

Good enough!

Balad opened the door and stepped inside, quickly closing it. Sara focused hard on clearing her mind, summoning her logic, and drafting an argument. Yes, it was physically impossible to change Mother’s mind on literally anything. Mother and Father took each other’s counsels, but Father generally just obeyed her while she took his opinion and priorities into account (“Honey, is there a tactic with less casualties?”). When Father was indisposed and Mother assumed rulership, very little changed. And everything, but that was just because Father was nicer. 

But she still had to try. Especially since Sara was pretty certain she knew what this was about. 

The expression on Derrick’s mind was still burned into her mind. Derrick lived his life afraid of punishment, but he was never punished. It was the first time Sara had seen Derrick look punished. Derrick had looked as if he was being punished. 

He had been punished enough already. Sara couldn’t allow him to be punished one more time. King and Queen responsibilities meant that they had to choose the option with the least disruption and bloodshed. It was their responsibility to give Derrick a hard time. But Sara’s responsibility was to figure out some way to imitate a good person, and this was pretty much the only method that interested her. 

The door opened, and Balad gestured her inside. Sara’s heart leapt into her throat, and she forcibly stopped and allowed Felipe’s obnoxious words to stampede through her mind. Plan of attack.  Never begin a fight without knowing where you’re going. Never enter an unsecured building during a battle - oh, forget it. 

The room was just another of their sitting rooms, distinctly less fancy than the rest and doubtlessly used by lesser nobles. Still stupidly fancy, but that was life. Mother was standing in the center of the room, Derrick across from her. Well, he wasn’t crying. He didn’t look distinctly happy, but he didn’t seem desolate. A positive direction, right?

Sara bowed. “Good evening, Your Grace. Are you finished with Derrick? He promised to take me horseback riding, and we should leave while there’s still daylight.” 

Mother nodded. “Sure. We’re mostly done here.” She looked back at Derrick, who was making the Eyebrow of Incredulity at her. Sara wondered if her plan was successful, before deciding that it definitely was. “I might as well say this in front of Sara. Do you know why the king has very few memories of your father from school?” Derrick looked at the ground and silently shook his head. “Because I knew that the king would probably stand on the opposite side of a battlefield from Ferdinand von Aegir, and I didn’t want him to grow attached.”

That sentence would sound insane if Sara wasn’t used to it. “How did you know that?”

“It was a precautionary measure.” 

Weakly, Derrick said, “That sounds a little extreme…”

Mother’s pale eyes locked onto Derrick, and he froze. “You’re here, aren’t you?”

Derrick locked his eyes onto the floor. “Yes, Your Grace. It’s an honor to be here and serving the royal family.” 

“I dislike lies.” Derrick swallowed a flinch, and Sara bristled. But Mother’s eyes just softened, and she took a small step closer to Derrick. “I’m sorry, Derrick. I failed to make something clear to you. Considering your new concerns, this is the appropriate time to divulge this. Please look at me.”

Derrick looked up at her, and Sara had to fight the urge to run to him. She didn’t want him to look at Mother like that. Just once, just for once, Sara wanted the world to look at Mother and see what Sara saw. Everybody knew that Mother was level-headed, always the one to calm down Father when he grew agitated, but everybody seemed to interpret her words as detachment instead of kindness. 

“There is almost nothing you can do that would make us harm you or your family.” Mother said the sentence easily, as if she hadn’t just mildly rocked Sara and Derrick’s worlds. “Short of endangering or harming the royal family and Faerghus, your actions cannot result in punishment for your family. The king and I decided years ago to never punish you further than we might punish one of our own family’s children. There is certainly nothing you may do by accident that would get you in trouble.”

Sara and Derrick gaped at Mother. Somewhat insanely, Sara attempted to divine why Mother would sit on information that would reframe Derrick’s entire life.

Derrick was stunned even worse than her. He was shaking his head faintly, in pure denial. “But I’m a political hostage. The whole point of that is…”

“Did you want us to send one of your toes home?” Byleth asked wryly. Derrick shivered. “Sorry. Bad joke. You’re not a parent, Derrick. Parents would do anything to protect the children they love. Your parents wouldn’t put your safety and well-treatment at risk.” Sheesh, did she have to specify it like that? “Your father loves you immensely. You…should have seen his face when he signed the forms to give you up. It was…” Mother frowned, a little troubled. “I felt one of my least favorite emotions. But it was an important emotion for me to feel. I had to remind myself of that.”

Quietly, Derrick said, “But he didn’t really seem that upset…”

“Yes, he was very brave for you.” It was clear that Derrick had never thought of it like that, and he was struck dumb. “All that matters is the threat. The king’s reputation is - among us adults, it’s fearsome.” The corner of Mother’s lips turned down. “Quite fearsome. He’s ashamed of it, but it is useful.”

Sara wouldn’t understand this comment until two years later, when she will see Father crush skulls with one hand. She will rush home and tell Derrick all about it, mime the motion with one hand. And Derrick will look up from his book and say - did you not know?

“What if Father doesn’t pay attention to my letter?” Derrick asked, expression creasing. “With a new heir, I’m not…”

“Your father will know perfectly well who told you what to say in that letter.” What letter? Was that what Mother had pulled him away to speak about? “He’s not stupid enough to ignore it. I wouldn’t be surprised if a letter reaffirming his loyalty to us was already on the way. Even if the duke declared a rebellion tomorrow, Derrick, we wouldn’t harm you.” Mother paused a beat. “We wouldn’t allow you to return to Adrestria, of course. But you’d be treated no differently.” 

They wouldn’t send him home? Somewhat tactlessly, Sara cried, “Can we adopt Derrick?”

“No.” 

“But his father would obviously be unfit if he did that -”

“Yuri would kill us. No.” 

If there was one person in Fodlan who could tell Mother what to do, it was Yuri. He told Mother to do things and she did them. Obviously he also told Father to do things and Father did them, but Mother was the tougher nut to crack. Mother said it was because he was the only person who didn’t respect her.

“I will do everything I can to prevent that from happening, Your Grace.” Derrick said it as if he really meant it - as if it was his responsibility. Maybe it was, but it was a responsibility he fulfilled by waking up every morning to a Faerghus ceiling. “I never want our nobility to fight ever again. That’s my word, as a von Aegir.”

“Vows and promises have never impressed me,” Mother said blandly. Derrick winced. “Nobles bearing nothing but high words are the easiest to kill. I respect hard work, productivity, and growth. You’re a Blue Lion now, Derrick. I expect these things from you.” 

Derrick froze. He practically wasn’t breathing. Sara wanted to put her hand on his arm again, but yet again she was standing far away from them. Why did she never stand closer? “That’s - I thought that was your family.” 

“It’s people I trust. And people I expect great things from. That includes you, Derrick.” She glanced at Sara, who was masterfully repressing a sulk. “It’s not our children. We want them to find their own way. But this is the path I’m asking of you. Can you handle it?”

Derrick straightened, chin out, and for a strange second he looked every inch the high nobility that he was. Why did it feel so rare? His bloodline was impossibly prestigious. He ought to carry himself tall. But Derrick was always trying to make himself seem smaller - eyes down, shoulders hunched. He only unfolded in front of Sara.

Perfect, accomplished, hard-working Derrick. Derrick, who always stood larger than life to Sara. Felipe was right - Derrick lived in an adult’s world, while Sara still played around and messed with her cousins. He was alone in that world.

In that second, the thought was intolerable to Sara. 

“Yes, Your Grace,” Derrick said. “I only ask that you help me work hard.”

“Good. Goodbye.” Mother glanced at Sara, who froze. “Sara.”

She didn’t say anything else.

Sara cleared her throat. “Yes, Mother.”

Mother tilted an eyebrow.

Sara was crushed. That eyebrow was like an anvil on her head. She was used to it from Father, who was absolutely relentless when he wasn’t feeling guilty for being relentless, but Mother was sparse with that eyebrow. It meant a lot more coming from her. 

That eyebrow meant something different to everybody. To Luca, it probably only meant ‘be a good boy, baby, I love you’. To Sara’s cousins, it closely resembled ‘the Queen of Faerghus and Saint of Seiros is watching you So Closely and the Goddess won’t help you if she doesn’t like what she sees’. Sara’s aunts and uncles were visibly terrified of it. Counter-intuitively, they were more terrified of it than any of the kids. Sara still heard them threaten each other with The Look. Only Uncle Felix was unaffected, but Sara quietly suspected that Uncle Felix was Mother’s favorite. She didn’t know which one came first. 

But to Sara, it always meant ‘don’t disappoint me’. It meant ‘be better’. No matter what she did or how she did it, Sara must be better. Endlessly better, and never good enough. 

If she was good enough…could she stand by Derrick? Was it really Mother who she wanted to save him from?

“Yes, Mother,” Sara said. “I will.”

“I know. Goodbye.”

Mother left, as dramatically as she had come, and took Balad with her. She left Sara and Derrick standing alone in a sitting room, locked in their own wandering minds. 

Derrick broke the tension by sagging, releasing a full-body exhale. Sara walked closer to him, so close that she could finally reach out and touch his shoulder. She didn’t, but she could.

“I thought she’d get less scary eventually,” Derrick mumbled. “Everybody else got less scary. How did she get scarier…”

“It’s ‘cause Mother’s the boss,” Sara said. “She’s just tough ‘cause she takes responsibility for everybody. Like you! You’re a Blue Lion now. That means she’ll get scarier, but, like, in a good way.”

“I don’t know if I want Queen Byleth to keep a closer eye on me.” Derrick’s voice sounded a little faint. “I’ve just tried to stay underneath her radar…”

“Too bad.” Sarah firmly patted him on the shoulder. “Exceptional people always catch Mother’s eye. You were just too good at being good at things.” Derrick moaned, hanging his head. “Oh, stop whining, it’s a compliment. I came expecting way worse, you know.” 

Derrick eyed her wearily. “Do I want to know why you followed us?”

Sara coughed. “I was planning on rescuing you, actually. You’re welcome.”

“Saints, Sara,” Derrick groaned. Expected reaction. “What could you have done? I wasn’t even in trouble.”

“What else was I supposed to do?” Honestly! As if it mattered that she couldn’t do anything! “I couldn’t leave you hanging in the wind like that. Besides, I did help, didn’t I? I definitely changed the subject. What did Mother even want, anyway?”

“I guess you distracted her.” Left unsaid: a monkey could do that, idiot. “It was about the new sibling. The King and Queen know this means von Aegir has a spare now.”

“Come on, Derrick -”

“It’s true.” Derrick shook off her hand, and Sara let it drop. “My value’s gone down. They want me to remind my father about some stuff. Don’t worry about it. It’s our problem.” 

Our, as in Mother and Father and Duke von Aegir and Duchess von Aegir. Not Sara. 

“I forbid you from talking about yourself like that.” Sara tried to use her best princess voice, but it was a little weaker than usual. “It’s not about your value -”

“It’s all about my value!” Derrick yelled, stopping Sara short. He backed away from her, face flushed, but Sara couldn’t move. She had never heard Derrick raise his voice before. “Are you stupid? You don’t know what you’re talking about! You can’t understand! I work so hard to keep my value up and my stupid parents waste it just because they wanted another baby! If that stupid baby has a crest it’s all over for me! They’re the ones trying to take everything away from me, not the king and queen!”

“Who cares about a stupid crest!” Sara yelled back. “So you won’t be heir anymore, big deal! Mom and Dad don’t care!”

Derrick rounded on her, and Sara jerked backwards. His face was flushed, and his nose was scrunched up. Sara knew what it looked like when Derrick was trying not to cry. “Do you seriously think I want to hear that from the Crest of Flames? Shut up! I worked so hard, I did everything I physically could, and it doesn’t matter! If that baby has a crest then Dad’s advisors will tell him to let me die, it’ll tie up a freaking loose end! They can’t exactly keep a crested baby hostage, can they? It’d be convenient! That would be my value! They’ll stop caring what happens to me and I’ll be worth nothing!”

“Mom and Dad care about you!” Sara screamed, and Derrick finally fell silent. “Mom wants to train you, Mom promised you everything, and I bet Dad wishes you were his kid instead of me!” Derrick opened his mouth to protest, but Sara didn’t let him interrupt. “You’d be the best prince ever! You’d be a thousand times better than Dad’s shitty real kids. Luca’s always breaking things and I’m stupid and mean. We’re spoiled brats, everyone says so, and you’re perfect! Stop telling me we don’t care about you! You don’t know me either!”

Derrick was fully crying now. As always, it was silent. 

Sara fought to calm down. Derrick’s words just upset her so much. She didn’t want him to talk about loose ends and dying. She didn’t want him to say that nobody back home cared about him. That had always been Derrick’s anchor, the faith that saved him - that his parents loved him. If Derrick let go of that, then…then…

“Who cares if some stupid Adrestrians want you dead? What are they going to do about it? Mom just said that you’re perfect and we love you. Mom physically can’t lie, she doesn’t know how.”

“That’s not what she said at all -”

“Who knows my mom better, me or you?” Derrick hiccuped, rubbing at his face. Sara ignored him. She had been right after all - Derrick needed defensive counsel from his one and only lawyer. “So they throw you to the lions. Big deal. The lions think you’re great. Hang out and do Uncle Felix’s job, he hates it. Just stay here and keep being my best friend.” For the first time, Sara faltered. “Is that really so bad?”

Derrick shook his head, and Sara could see his tears dry. He looked way too exhausted for a thirteen year old. Derrick always felt old, but in that moment he felt even older than Felipe. “It’s not so simple, Sara…”

“You don’t want to be my best friend?” Sara asked. Her own words squeezed her heart painfully. “That’s okay, you know. You don’t have to be my best friend. But…you’re still mine, so…”

“Of course I want to be your best friend.” Derrick rubbed at his eyes, digging around so harshly that it had to be painful. “But…Sara, please don’t be stupid. Okay? Being your best friend gives me value. Like, a lot. I didn’t want to be your best - I mean, it just sort of happened, it just wasn’t my intention - and I promise I’m not pretending to be your friend. But I don’t want to pretend that’s not important. The king says we…shouldn’t pretend it’s a nice situation. So I don’t want to lie about that.”

Sara thought about this for a long minute. Derrick looked a little embarrassed - at the fact that their friendship was politically useful, or that they were actually friends, she didn’t know. They’d only said the ‘best friend’ word, like, once. It was so embarrassing. 

Sara thought about tactics. 

Finally, she crossed her arms and said, “So I’m useful to you.”

Derrick blanched. “I swear, I’m not using -”

“Why not? Go ahead. Flex it. Why wouldn’t you use that?” When you thought about it, really thought about it - when you thought about the big picture - this was the only thing that made sense. “Everybody keeps saying I can’t help you because I’m just a stupid princess. Including you.” Derrick winced, but it was whatever. She said mean things when she was upset too. “If I’m a stupid crown princess, I’ll use being a stupid crown princess. The Crest of Flames has to be good for something besides that stupid prophecy. If that’s how I can help you, then let me help you.” 

Derrick only shook his head, face pale. “I can’t do that.”

“Mother says to use every advantage available to you. This is your advantage. Don’t go on and on about how hard you work if you’re going to pass on opportunities.” Sara paused a beat. “And I need to get one up on Felipe. He said I was useless.”

Derrick looked at her for a long, inscrutable moment, before sighing. Sara knew that face. She had totally won. “So this is what Lord Dedue was talking about…”

“Eh?”

“Nothing.” Derrick picked at the sleeve of his rich and humble shirt. Sara would have to get him some nicer clothing. “Fine. I’ll use you. But…” He redoubled his focus on the sleeve again, cheeks flushed. “Does this mean we can’t be best friends anymore? For real?”

“I wouldn’t care about you and your problems if we weren’t best friends, so…uh, we have to. Right?” This was so embarrassing. This was a lot of feelings. How was Sara meant to handle this. “I guess this is mean of me. But…I’m glad your parents are having another baby. I didn’t want you to leave and stop being my best friend. That’s a really mean thing to think, right?”

“Nah,” Derrick said. “It’s kinda nice, actually. To know that somebody wants me here.” 

“It was super boring when you were nice to me, so don’t start doing that.”

“Trust me, Sara. It’s impossible to be nice to you.”

“Liar! Why are so many people nice to me, then?”

Derrick nodded sagely. “They get paid. And crown princess bullshit.” 

This perturbed Sara. “I really gotta make up for the princess thing, huh…like, karmically…”

“Just be nicer.”

“What, and die?!”

[mikittalabs]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[fireemblems24]

Azure Gleam Ch 12

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that this is, by far, my favorite route. Spoilers below.

MAIN STORY

I forgot we had Claude on our "side" here.

Oh, here comes Byleth. This is AG's chapter for Byleth, right? And ugh, this time I need to actually recruit Byleth or else someone I love will die bc someone from Faerghus will die.

Oh, there's Randolph. Ready to die again. I swear to God this man is allergic to life.

He's hiring Jeralt, so yeah, this is the recruit Byleth chapter.

Adrestian nobles are real peaches. They're burning villages and looting, or a good handful of them are. I swear they have the worst nobility. Only Faerghus Western lords rival them.

If Randolph dies, than Jeralt's contract is terminated. So that means I have to trade Randolph for Jeralt and Byleth? Deal.

Man, that mint hair is a CHOICE. Whyyyyy. The darker blue hair is much better.

I like Byleth more after Hopes. I liked Byleth before, but Hopes has helped me see the characterization easier. It also makes the whole "one man army"/Ashen Demon seem more real.

And yep here's the sword again from the other routes.

I'm just so happy they gave Felix the high ponytail look.

Time to make Adrestia sweat.

Jeralt scars the Blue Lions way more than Randolph.

Leave it to Sylvain to strategize. Haha, Rodrigue says Sylvain reminds him of his dad, Sylvain isn't sure if that's a compliment.

I love how much you can tell all these people have known each other for so long.

OMG, there's so many side battles.

ANNETTE & FELIX B

Weird to only give them on support and it's only B given how popular their ship is.

Another support about Annette's songs lol. They really increased that in this game, but it's adorable so I'm good.

Dorothea and the church are performing operas for Faerghus.

Annette's "opera" song is about taking a hot bath when she's already hot. Felix is impressed with her mental fortitude. Lol.

Annette's flustered because it's supposed to be serious, not about bathing lol.

They basically set up a date to go see an opera together.

YURI & SHEZ C

I saw this in another route already (but forgot), so I unlocked it here too! But not going to write about it twice.

YURI & SYLVAIN B

These two rooted out spies together. Well, mostly Yuri lol.

Yuri's impressed with Sylvain's layers.

Neither of them are going to let Dimitri know what they're up to until after it's done lol.

Yuri's earned Sylvain's trust, but still threatens Yuri if he switches sides.

Yuri calls Sylvain out for being super loyal, which, yes, he is and that's often so overlooked part of his character.

Wait . . . Sylvain hit on Yuri with a bad pickup line? Lamo.

Sylvain mistook Yuri for a girl. Yuri is going to blackmail Sylvain with his back pickup lines for life lamo.

Yuri's open to a date with Sylvain though. Sylvain is into Yuri's flirting.

That would be a nightmare couple.

MERCEDES & SHEZ A

Mercedes looks at the little things and it reminds her of what it was like before the war - like tea parties with Shez and kids determined to get stronger.

Mercedes hates the war and wishes she could go back to those days. Getting really sentimental.

Mercedes used to just accept whatever happened and didn't realize how much she valued the past until peace got destroyed.

I had Shez be nice and tell Mercie that it's ok to get sentimental.

Mercie was happy with that.

Shez says she's always there to listen to Mercedes if she needs it.

So Mercie's like, let's tea party now! She bought new ingredients.

DEDUE & FELIX B

Their only support

Ohhh, Dimitri's in it too. They're talking strategy. Dimitri wants a head-on approach, Felix wants a sneaky one, Dedue withholds his opinion.

Dimitri tells Felix to stop pestering Dedue lamo.

Dimitri wants to head the mission, but Felix is like no, let me. Strategy resolved and Felix confronts Dedue.

Dedue values Felix's input and recognizes his unique role with Dimitri.

Dedue just stays amused the whole time and doesn't let Felix get to him.

Felix will not spit it out that he's so worried about Dimitri.

Dimitri returns and is about to tell Dimitri what went on but Felix cuts him off, which I'm sure just amuses Dedue.

I love how it's pretty much cannon that the vast majority of the cast never take Felix seriously when he's spouting his tsundere.

INGRID & MARIANNE C

MY HORSE GIRLS GET A SUPPORT CHAIN!!!!

OMG I'm so happy with this.

Ingrid's worried because her horse didn't eat all the feed. Marianne recommends hay and explains why.

Ingrid is happy and compliments Marianne, who of course downplays it and tries to get out of Ingrid asking more questions (likely about horses).

Of course, later Marianne tells Ingrid her horse (or pegasus?) is probably scared after acting up after being on the battlefield the first time. Marianne goes full horse whisperer and fixes the problem.

Then leaks that she's talking to the horse lamo. Ingrid catches it. Ingrid thinks it's awesome though.

Ingrid tries to give Marianne confidence; it doesn't work.

As a fellow horse-girl, I love this.

DIMITRI & BERNADETTA A

Dimitri catches Bernadetta out again, and ofc she gets scared, but Dimitri just wants food bc he's working too hard and missed dinner.

Haha, Dimitri hates being shut in all the time.

Bernedetta thinks Dimitri's work is spying on her, but Dimitri assures her that's not it bc he has too much work to spy lamo.

Bernadetta is amazed at what Dimitri puts on his plate because it'll taste awful, but like he can tell :(

So they cook together. And she tries to cook something he likes, which is kind of sweet actually.

She got too flustered and messed up the dish. I know where this is going lol . . . Dimitri and his iron stomach.

Yep, she's shocked that Dimitri just . . . eats it.

Oh, God, she's going try it, but of course she hates it.

Bernedetta thinks he'll have her executed now, and Dimitri's like "do you seriously think I do that?"

So I guess this is his Hopes "Dimitri can't taste anything" support.

I love how he seems immune to Bernedetta's antics though. He just calmly explains that her fears aren't true and moves on.

SYLVAIN & IGNATZ B

Ignatz figured out a general time period that Sylvain's painting came from.

Oh, geeze, it's a color made from crushed gemstones? That must've been $$$$. Geeze.

Sylain was reading up on saints to get more info on the picture and might've figured out who it was. An archbishop (was it one of Rhea's fake personas?)

Ah, they think she looks like Rhea. So I'm right. Hahaha.

They're confused about that. Never in a million years . . . .

So this does confirm that Rhea just keeps faking her death.

I'm pleasantly surprised by this support. I love Sylvain, but Ignatz is . . . not interesting, but I like how it expanded on Sylvain's studious side, and he's an art fan! Now I like him even more.

ASHE & FLAYN C

Ashe is fishing to feed the army. Ashe, sweetie, one fish is . . . not going to make a difference.

Naturally, though, Flayn is very interested. Because fish.

Does Ashe place well in the fishing tournament in 3H? Would be interesting to see if the lore stayed the same about Ashe's skills.

Poor Flayn isn't allowed to fish bc Seteth gets too nervous with her around water, but Ashe lets her fish like she used to.

Honestly, Flayn looks too young for most of the guys, but she fits Ashe's look (and personality) really well.

Flayn almost catches a large fish but fails to catch it. B support will be about her catching it, I'm betting.

DEDUE & CATHERINE B

Catherine comments that Faerghus now trusts Dedue and Dimitri more. Dedue gives all credit to Dimitri, lamo.

Apparently people gave Dimitri crap for choosing Dedue over everyone else.

Catherine isn't religious either. But I thought Rhea was a tyrant who only allowed religious people near her??? /s

Neither Dimitri nor Rhea get too wrapped up in their own titles.

Both spend their free time helping people out.

Catherine is like, maybe Dimitri is rested by helping people out like that. Something Rhea, Dimitri, and Byleth have in common.

Catherine and Dedue think they could be friends, as long as Rhea and Dimitri stay on the same side.

DIMITRI & RODRIGUE A

Not ready for this, guys.

Dimitri wants to know how Rodrigue felt when Lambert died. :(

Rodrigue didn't believe it at first, but accepted reality eventually and remembered the promise he made.

Dimitri then asks what if he'd died in Duscur too?

Dimitri also thinks Rodrigue intended to die with Lambert, but Rodrigue confirms that he never wanted to die, but wouldn't mind dying to protect Dimitri/keep him in line.

(hahahah, no)

Dimitri says losing Rodrigue would be like losing another father :( confirmation that Rodrigue is like a father.

Rodrigue calls Dimitri out for not valuing his own life enough :( (or that he doesn't even value it at all :( ) saying that he's only following his king's example then.

And Dimitri's response is like, yeah, guess you're right, I have no excuse - probably . . . not what Rodrigue was looking for :(

He's like, yeah, that was probably too harsh, but thinks Dimitri sounded a lot like Lambert :(

Rodrigue always wanted to tell Lambert that.

Dimitri's emotional about sounding like his father :(

Sounds like Faerghus people are always telling each other not to throw their lives away.

Haha, Dimitri's like, I'm jealous of your bond with your friends, and Rodrigue implies that Felix wouldn't like hearing Dimitri imply he's not close with his, lamo. Rodrigue is such a dad to Felix, like that teasing king, which is just perfect for Felix being so prickly lamo.

MAP & SIDE BATTLES

Sylvain would rather turn enemies into allies than attack them. He's talking about Jeralt's mercenaries, but it's just more proof that he disliked resolving conflict with violence.

The common folk find Dimitri more approachable now. He's working on being more relaxed lol.

Dedue and Ashe talked about how Dimitri broke a pen during a war council. Shez suggests they name the pens so Dimitri's more attached to them and is less likely to break them. I cannot with these people. (also, can you imagine how put out Dimitri would be breaking a pen he named?) They also talk about how some people are scared of Dimitri because of his freakish strength :(

Seteth is impressed with Dimitri, who asks him about tactics a lot (which, side note, I'm so happy to see this game heap more praise on Dimitri, I get that AM's plot structure didn't really allow it as much, but it's nice to hear. Also, that it's Seteth is so cool, because he's by far one of the most wise characters).

Back to Seteth though, he explains he knows so much because he's studied this military genius Saint Cichol and really recommends his book. No bias at all there, guys.

And the saga of Balthus being obsessed with fighting Dimitri continues, lamo. (nobody blames you, Balthus, because, same, how can you not be a little obsessed with Dimitri's body after seeing it).

Mercedes and Constance were friends! That's cool. Also, not two braincells between them. (and I say that with affection)

I love how the game is going out of it's way now to show that Dimitri is asking for advice from experts, then making a decision based on what he's learned. His FEH support was about that, and I always liked that, so I like seeing him do it here.

Also, it seems I can't use Rodrigue again :( Actually, here's here for the side battles, so maybe I can?

MAIN BATTLE

OK, guys, time to get Byleth. Please let this be easy.

Someone very kindly wrote up a guide for me in a message. I never posted it so I could reference it, so let's hope I get it right the first time.

We're in the weird dimension with Arval, who's on high alert bc Byleth. But this time we recruit Byleth.

"Defeat Randolph" - Don't mind if I do!

Ok, so step 1 is selecting "Locate Ambushers." But I don't see that?

Kidding. I picked it.

I can't use Dimitri??? Oh, shit. He's BY FAR, my strongest unit. This is a shitty battle to lose him for. And Rodrigue. So I'm down 2 of my actually trained units. This sucks.

No Felix either?? This is really bullshit at this point. I basically only have Shez, Sylvain, Ingrid, Dedue, and Mercedes and Mercedes can't do shit, Dedue is also pretty awful, and Ingrid always dies. Ugh. This is going to be impossible. So basically just Shez and Sylvain.

Honestly, if this is too hard, I'm just going to let Byleth die because, to be honest, I'm really sick of playing this game. This route IS the only one I actually care about finishing though.

Ugh, I knew I'd hate this chapter, but taking away 3 units with no warning is just total bullshit.

Dimitri following me around is kinda cute though. And I forget how good Shez is. It's just, Dimitri's so strong I'm used to one-shotting at this point, lamo.

I also love how when Dimitri's a green unit, he's still fighting and not getting protected like the other 2. He's also . . . not someone I have to worry about dying. He's, uh, level 57 and suggested level is 44 so um.

Ok, so far so good. I got Fleche to show up, which is the next step. Now I just have to kill her quick.

Defeated Fleche. Now I need to see a command to defeat a dude, and a side command I ignore (guessing either defeat Byleth or Jeralt, the side one that I ignore).

So pretty sure I messed up and I need to "kill" all the mercenaries attacking the base BEFORE Fleche.

Ok, got Alois before he invaded. Just got Fleche. Pretty sure what's left is to not engage Byleth and rush kill Randolph.

Took Randolph out because I saved up all my warrior gauges.

OMG, I finished Randolph before the side mission was even announced lol.

I DID IT!!!! I got Byleth and Jeralt 😭

And I did it without Felix OR Dimitri 😭

So Jeralt surrendered after defeating everyone bc they decided to use logic and know they couldn't win. Plus, they want new clients.

Jeralt doesn't care about the conviction with the Empire, only coin. But he wants to avoid Rhea because of their past, but Dimitri sets conditions to make sure that Jeralt and co avoid her.

Guys, I can't believe I'm seeing the recruitment and not character death (I know it's Rodrigue, I couldn't let him die, no matter what)

I just saw the Byleth is playable card 😭

Guys, I saved Rodrigue.

Most of the Blue Lions are like, this is weird, but good. And they want to bond by sparing bc that's what the Blue Lions do lamo.

Shez ran off though. She's talking to Shez and figured that's best done not with people around.

Arval is way more chill about it than I thought.

Shez still has a goal though, to win the war and bring peace with Dimitri and co.

Getting ready to attack the monastery. Still kinda wish Claude was our enemy like the other 2 routes.

Everyone is standing by Dimitri.

Oh . . . Mercedes thinking about Death Knight? Betting she'll run into him soon. Can you recruit him in AG?

xxx

[reunionatdawn]

My Analysis of the Best Paired Endings in 3H (Part 14: Marianne/Lorenz)

Marianne: Back then, I felt that my life served no purpose and that I was nothing more than a burden. In truth, I was begging the goddess to take me to her. That was my daily prayer.

The Crest of the Beast is associated with The Devil arcana. It can signify depression and also be a sign of feeling trapped or restricted, as though outside forces beyond your control are restricting you, leaving you feeling powerless and victimized.

Unless recruited, Marianne was the only student to not appear outside of her home route post-timeskip. Some have speculated that she took her own life, which I suspect is true. It was likely the promise of a class reunion that kept her going those five years. And if Byleth is not part of the class, the house leader will not make the promise. There were only a few people during the academy phase that Marianne connected with strongly enough that they would motivate her to live long enough to see them again at the Millennium Festival.

Marianne: What do you believe determines a person's value? Sylvain: I like to think it's a person's smile. Marianne: Huh? Their smile? Sylvain: A smile, it tells you who someone is. Are they fake or sincere? It also makes you feel stronger when you smile.

While Hilda and Marianne became close friends, that didn't happen until the war arc. During the academy arc, there were only three characters who made a strong connection to Marianne, enough to make her sincerely smile. The first was Byleth. At the Goddess Tower, we can assume she was making a wish to die. But you gain Support points with her if you tell her that your wish is only to see her smile.

Dimitri: Ah, a smile and a laugh. Coming from you, that's a rarity. This must be my lucky day. Marianne: I just find the idea amusing. It's strange to think that someone like you could have anything in common with me. Dimitri: Is it so terrible a thought? Marianne: No, no. It's not that. It actually makes me happy. As though there's finally someone who understands how I truly feel…

Second was Dimitri. Byleth's arc was about awakening her humanity after living as the Ashen Demon, and helping Dimitri become human again, too. While Byleth could understand his capacity for depravity more than anyone, I think Marianne was probably able to understand his survivor's guilt best. If you're playing as Male Byleth, then I think Marianne is by far the best wife for him. Other than Female Byleth, he seemed to have the strongest connection with her because they both felt like cursed beasts.

Marianne: Please, Dimitri. Promise you'll live through this war and long after. I don't know what I'd do with myself if we lost you… Dimitri: As long as you are carrying on, I have yet another reason to carry on myself. I promise to the goddess of Fódlan that I will never give you cause to despair.

Dimitri longed for female companionship. He can marry his childhood friend Ingrid, his BL classmates, and even his old mentor Catherine. But Marianne was the only other non-Byleth wife to give him a reason to live and vice versa.

Lorenz: But perhaps it is for the best that your beauty not be revealed to all the world. Yes, it is certainly better that only I, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, can appreciate your true magnificence! And on that note, I bid you farewell! Marianne: What a strange person… But being called beautiful just the way I am? That was nice to hear.

The final one was Lorenz. I believe the writers probably based this ship on Beauty and the Beast directly. Marianne could even talk to animals like a Disney princess.

If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair, and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast?

The "Survivor of the Curse" felt totally worthless because of her bloodline. She spent her whole life avoiding other others due to her shame of her Crest. She needed hope that she could love and be loved in return in order to survive.

Catherine: That's not to say lineage counts for nothing. It just doesn't count as much as how you live your life, and what you live for. Or, let's say I was descended from some noble house. Would that change how you treat me? Lorenz: Yes, it would. To treat you differently from the commonfolk would only be appropriate.

The "Noble of the Red Rose" was pretty much like the Disney prince. Arrogant and judging people on their status and outer appearance. He would invite girls to dinner just to evaluate them. His character arc was about learning that lineage is not the defining factor in someone's worth and that true beauty is found within.

Lorenz: I have always sought to embody the ideal of nobility. That, at least, is a goal I continue to stand by. But now I know that bloodline alone is not sufficient to gauge a person's worth.

The Crest of Gloucester is associated with The Hermit arcana. The Hermit card in Tarot is a card of introspection, soul searching, analysis, and self-reflection. It denotes that this is not a time of socializing or action but of peace and solitude. And a hermit like Marianne was his preferred dining companion.

Marianne: I've been keeping this from you for a while. It's… It's about my Crest. It's just terrible. I— Lorenz: Please, that's quite enough! You're trembling. If uttering this secret hurts you, then I have no desire to hear it. Your smile is a greater gift to me than any truth. Whatever you have hitherto concealed, I am certain it is essential to you. And I do wish to know it. But not until the day arrives when you can tell me with a smile on your face. I am not the sort of man to prize my own knowledge over others' happiness, you know. Besides. The mystery is part of your charm. Marianne: Hehehe! You're funny, Lorenz… Lorenz: There! That's what I mean! Your beauty has always captivated, but that smile truly warms my heart!

It was cute how Lorenz grew to value Marianne's inner beauty the most and accepted her the way she was. He didn't even want to know about her Crest until she could tell him with a smile. It showed how much he'd grown as a person.

Marianne: But now I fear the idea of dying and being left alone. I have friends who accept me for who I am now, in spite of my Crest. And I have you watching over me. I've finally learned to accept the kindness and warmth of others. It's because of you, Professor. Because of you, I've decided to live.

In Houses, Marianne tells Byleth that they are the reason she decided to live because they taught her how to accept the kindness of others.

Marianne: For so much of my life, I didn't care if I lived or died, and yet… And yet when I saw you there beside me, I realized I did care. I wanted to live. Lorenz: And that is good enough. Such instincts are only natural. You needn't try to justify it to yourself, or anyone else.

In Hopes, Lorenz actually fulfills Byleth's role of being the one who helps Marianne feel like she wants to live. So, this ship definitely felt tailor-made for both of their character arcs and the writers liked it.

Marianne: This is the first time I've smiled in so long…and I have your kindness to thank for that. Lorenz: As I've said, you are perfect just as you are. But I suppose I can take a little credit! Yes, your radiant smile shall illuminate all the world! With me by your side, you will not be able to help it! Marianne: Hehehe! I'm looking forward to that.

Marianne was sent to the academy to marry a powerful nobleman, but unlike many of the other girls, that is something that can bring her happiness. She didn't have any big dreams that she'd have to sacrifice to marry a noble and she genuinely liked Lorenz.

Lorenz & Marianne After becoming the new head of House Gloucester, Lorenz initially focused on the recovery of his own territory before energetically engaging in the governance of all of Fódlan. Having earned recognition as a skilled politician, he suddenly announced his own marriage. His partner was Marianne, the adopted daughter of Count Edmund. Having learned about estate management from her shrewd foster father, she also became involved in the domestic affairs of Fódlan with Lorenz after their marriage. Particularly, she achieved significant success in promoting dairy farming, leading them to be praised as the "parents of cattle and horses." It is said that Lorenz was not pleased with being referred to by that nickname.

Lorenz's dream was for his name to go down in history, and he does achieve a great deal acting in the governance of all Fódlan. In this ending, he has a much different nickname than he probably imagined for himself, but I'm sure it made Marianne smile because her life work benefited the animals that she loved so much.

[xenonsdoodles]

felix h. fraldarius

FELIX!

    First impression:

Swordguy!

I’ve been informed by multiple independent sources that I am going to like him and I don’t get a choice, so like, let's see how that turns out

Asshole (affectionate?) (maybe?)

    Impression now:

OUGH he’s a mess and I love him a lot. His personality reminds me of my horse and I think he’d hate to hear that but I mean it as a compliment (specifically that he’s a loyal, intelligent, determined and extremely trustworthy friend who is no less a rude and stubborn little bastard man for it). I frequently wish I could hug him even though I do not think he would let me, realistically. Half the time when I start talking about him I make myself sad but that’s just how it is with bitches from Faerghus :)

    Favorite moment:

I think it’s funny that almost every time he actually tries to be nice (or at least not openly rude) to someone for the first time, the person he’s talking to is like “what do you mean. you bastard. you evil little man. what ulterior motives do you have.” Annette, Bernie, Lysithea, it keeps happening.

Alternatively, the time in my og run when I had him solo the Fraldarius soldiers in that one training mission while everyone else just followed him around cheering him on the whole time. I like to think he knew a lot of those guys and it was very satisfying to beat some of them.

    Idea for a story:

Same one I mentioned in the ask about Dimitri. dies

    Unpopular opinion:

 I could pick him up I bet. idk I don't know what counts as unpopular

    Favorite relationship:

Ok I feel obvious saying Sylvain but they really are very extremely. I’ve gotten two of their endings so far. One of them made me die (positive) and the other made me die (dead). I’m also, maybe predictably, compelled by whatever the hell his situation is with Dimitri (side note, in my first run I kept putting them on stable duty as the Get Along Or Else activity and they kept getting perfect results and he complained every time, which. yeah). I love his Sword Bros friendship with Byleth. And I did not expect it, but his A support with Dedue was one of my favorites in the route… him being all “you shouldn’t risk your life because strategically etc etc etc” and Dedue like “love you too” lmao get read idiot

    Favorite headcanon:

I sometimes forget he isn’t canonically a trans man. Relatedly, I think that Glenn helped him pick his name not long before he died—Felix chose it himself, of course, that was important to him, but Glenn gave him suggestions and talked through it with him while he was working on it. I also think Rodrigue wants to accept him as his son, but Felix has a pretty clear mental image of the kind of man he thinks his father would respect and he Does Not Want To Be That. And sometimes when he looks in the mirror he looks more like Glenn than he did the last time. And it’s a mess. :)

it's him .

[sheikahwarriork]

Aw I'm so happy to see Bernadetta appreciation! AND MERCEDES X DEDUE!! They're so neat together!

And I'm not surprised at all by your favorite moment + line bc this is like THE Dimileth moment :]

Bi awakening!! If fire emblem had support about subject like queerness it would have been so good... And for Dimitri, I'm sorry for him because he's definitely closeted. He try so hard to be what society want him to be ( a king despite not wanting to rule, a soldier despite hating violence, etc ) and he's so hard on himself :( It would do him so much good, especially with someone like Dorothea! ( And I personally have so much LGBT headcanon for him too :] )

I WILL try to discover your all your hcs too >:] And Dimitri recovering taste because of Byleth is really sweet.

Thanks you for sharing your playlist too!! I'll go look at it!

And by alternate universe I mean really anything, from "Everything is the same but Dimitri is a ginger" to very complex science fiction version of Fodlan. Modern AU perfectly fit the bill, if it's not too much to ask, can you say more?

Also magic would be so great, as an Edelgard fan I can't argue with you there- And the weather would look so nice!! 

Also if you want here's another set of questions: 

- Have you got any rarepair? Also do you only ship Dimitri with Byleth and Byleth with Dimitri?

- Do you have friendship headcanon? And what's your top friendship from teh game?

- What are you top recruits? ( For the other house too if you have some! )

- Do you have any LGBTQ+ or neurodivergent headcanons?

( And once again take any time you need, days, weeks, months if necessary! And no pressure to answer at all too! Also going off anon because it's easier- )

hello!! i'm glad you turned off the anon, i'm gonna follow you because you seem a very cool and nice person u.u

- yes dimitri is TOTALLY closeted. my boy is bisexual and no one can change my mind. i mean... *stares at his relationships and supports with dedue, felix, m!byleth*

- my moder!au is so long lmao, but i plan to start publish it after i finish my azure moon fic! a little snippet: it's a reincarnation au, byleth works at a high school where some of the characters study (dimitri, ingrid, felix, annette, bernadetta, marianne, flayn and others), mercedes works in byleth's fav pub while she studies in nurse school and she and byleth are friends, dedue's family has a famous restaurant and ashe works with him, sylvain is in university and the faerghus four are all long time friends (chaotic friends ofc u.u), f!shez is there too... and so are arval and sothis!! sothis is byleth's best friend while arval is shez's best friend. stuff happens, mostly dimileth but also netteflix, sylgrid, mercedue and other minor ships. mostly comedy and fluff but there's also angst 👀

- about the rarepair: i think i'm the only person on earth who ships sothis with arval LMAOOO 😭 (relevant to my modern au eheh) i also like the idea of f!shez with flayn. i ship ashe and marianne but i'm not sure it's a rarepair. as for dimitri and byleth- yes, i cant bring myself to really ship anything that isnt dimileth xD i do like some byleth ships (mercedes, seteth, felix, jeritza, dorothea, even edelgard) but i dont engage with them often; if i had to choose someone else for dimitri (like in a world without byleth) i'd go for dedue or felix, but again, dimileth is the only ship for them in my heart and in my mind LMAO

- friendship headcanons: annette and marianne and bernadetta!!!!! annie is so cheerful and i'm sure she would help bernie and marianne!! (again, relevant to my modern!au....) but my fav friendship in the game it's the faerghus four, i love them so much

- top recruits! well, i actually always recruit everyone, i cant kill my babies ç___ç but if i had to choose only some of them (for a azure moon run) i'd say: bernadetta, dorothea, petra, lysithea, shamir, and lorenz just for thyrsus. i love three houses girls

- i have a LOT of LGBT+ headcanons!! first of all, dimitri is bi ofc u.u byleth is bi and in the ace spectrum, like demisexual (just like me fr.......). ashe is a trans guy and marianne a trans girl (t4t power couple), and i like the headcanon about ignatz being a trans girl too! bernadetta is aroace imo. oh, and all the blue lions are bisexual bc i say so :] also due to some funny stuff at first i thought arval was supposed to be a girl, then i realized they/them pronouns are used for arval in the game, then the epimenides reveal happened... so i now headcanon arval to be a trans girl who uses they/she (... again, relevant to my modern au)!! oh, and sothis is bisexual too. bc she's the goddess and she WILL fuck anyone she wants u.U

i'm really enjoying your questions, thank you so much!! <3<3 if it's okay i'd like to hear your headcanons and other thoughts about three houses:3

[themoomoorn]

Vaguely Autistic RN Goes Back On Their FEW3H Bullshit despite having completed FEE: Azure Gleam Edition

This won't be a full-blown advertisement for blood pressure medication like the Scarlet Blaze(d) series, but I also got to the parts of Azure Gleam where I can now comfortably agree with some opinions of it having some really stinky parts.

Of course, the Azure Smell was slung on it in poo form by the other two routes, alongside Koei/IntSys because they're really trying to sell this plausible deniability and and and

uh

Anyway

So 3/4ths of Sreng is a winter wonderland, but designated corner where Macuil dwells is pure desert. Why not just make the place a snowy cold desert like the Katpana Desert and call it a day?

Ingrid continues to display her awareness and shame over her misplaced xenophobia, yet there's still static over House Goneril's racist history with Almyra being erased or...a lot of crap with Adrestia and how they view Brigid and Dagda...

Claude: Continues to scream about how Flayn and the church actually killed his half-brother while ranting how trade is apparently illegal despite plenty of evidence to the contrary

Dimitri: "Y'all hear sum"

Lambert's pitch of trying to play nice with at least one more neighbor, especially regarding the whole continued antagonism with another, is tyrannical madness to these limp-dick fuckheads. Please remind us why we should sympathize with both the western nobles or the western church, again???

Flayn continues to display Clark Kent-levels of disguise failure, but I suppose it can easily be passed as her being eccentric. On the other hand, this is yet another display of this universe's carelessness with its continuity, since Houses clearly established Macuil being the one blacksmith. On the other other hand, Indech is also established as being good with his hands, so them working together to craft stuff works just as well.

Still doesn't explain the logistics behind the Sacred Weapons though. Or how Labraunda wound up in some stockpile that the Empire plundered because they suck.

Miklan is a fantastic example of how these games run on the accidental theme of responsibility and how laying blame on one factor doesn't mean anything if the person laying the blame is a sack of doodoo, which is exactly what Miklan is.

Miklan was disinherited, but he was also always a dick, he was the son of Matthias' beloved first wife (her death being the catalyst for his cynicism), Matthias let him stay at House Gautier until his abuse of Sylvain went too far (which is arguably a dick move in and of itself since Sylvain had to put up with it for years), and Miklan himself here made the final move in fully severing his ties to the House. And he still blames Sylvain for his lot in life, as we see in Houses 5.

Eff Miklan.

So here we have one of the straws that broke the camel's back. Just as Dimitri is about to defeat and imprison Edelgard, Thales hijacks the scene, chucks a Crest stone of Maurice(!?) at Edelgard, turns her into the Hegemon Husk, and after that she lays waste to Arianrhod and is whisked back to Enbarr. During this scene, Edelgard accuses Dimitri of allying with Thales before it's shown that obviously isn't true. Oh, and she also throws out there that Thales killed his father, which is kind of manipulative given how she gives negative fucks about Duscur or how a later scene shows that yes, her mommy was one of the conspirators in the Tragedy after all (something that Houses waffles on).

It's also at this point that the game robs her of her agency and tries to convince the player that Agartha is behind everything, even when we get clear displays of Edelgard and the Empire clearly wanting to go Napoleon/Genghis on the continent for reasons divorced from what the Agarthans want.

Case in point.

Keep in mind that Edelgard gets a whole Support scene with Balthus that she's more than content in carrying out this war, because of Empire supremacy. Or how she tells Claude to his face in Zahras that no, she won't stop playing conqueror even once the church is stamped out. Or that she tells Monica, to her face, that her life is ultimately disposable to her and that if she had died like she did in Houses, then so be it.

You can put as much lipstick on a pig as you want - it's still a pig.

Between this statement and Edelgard's and Ionius' in Houses and this journal entry about the Dagda-Brigid war, it's plain as day that Thales' manipulations aren't as all-encompassing as people want them to be. It's ridiculous to try and pass the buck when there's so much evidence proving contrary.

Clyde may be more opportunistic than he was in Houses, but in AG his one braincell stops shitting itself for five minutes and he actually does the sensible thing by teaming up with Faerghus. We even get a decent scene of these three strategizing how to retake Garreg Mach out of it.

I've heard criticisms about how the lack of trust in Claude is unwarranted here, but after actually playing this for myself, I'm inclined to disagree, as there's a clear scene before the Arianrhod battle showing outright that Claude's going to side with whoever winner of that battle is, even if one of said options could care less about his country's welfare. But then again, Claude looks down on his people half the time anyway, so meh.

And now for some positivity...

Ayo? 🏳️‍🌈

AYO!?!?!?!?!? 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

Ay-Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

🏳️‍🌈???

Balthus, at this rate you should probably consider a career change if that's what you like doing.

[jaredthebc]

For the character ask thing, N Pokemon, Ingrid Fire Emblem, and or Ashe Fire Emblem. :3c

I already got more than one N in my ask box so I’ll just do the fire emblems

Ashe

First impresson

For the very little I played of Three Houses in 2019, I remember liking Ashe when I briefly talked to him while he was in the greenhouse, and continued to think he was nice afterwards, which says a *lot* if you remember just how fucking much I blindly hated Fire Emblem for a while lol

Impression now

DONNY ITS YOUR FAULT HES MY NEW BLORBO. I love him so fucking much I’d do anything for him he makes me happy when I feel down and I’m so fucking glad I gave Three houses a second chance just because of him

Favorite moment

There are so many moments. From him supporting Ingrid by gifting her that book, to him facing his fear for Annette when he was not asked to do so for the sake of her memories, to him eating Dedue’s meal and remembering his family, and how he learned to cope with his many family deaths with Cathrine’s support. I can include Three Hopes here too with him screaming at Yuri to stop stealing cause he hates seeing a friend in danger

…that was way more than I expected I probably should have just said “all of him” lol

Idea for a story

There’s definitely the supports I wanna write for him and my oc you know of, as well as more general stuff like his life post war, him remembering his passed loved ones years after they passed, and silly scenarios of him in the academy during the pre timeskip

Unpopular opinion

Idk if it’s a hot take, but Cathrine does not make a good romance ending with Ashe. Just feels unhealthy as hell (though I can ignore it thankfully)

Favorite relationship

Him and the bitch below his list/affectionate

Also I don’t mention them enough, but Dimiashe is criminally underrated, AsheDue is god tier too

And ig my oc that is very much borderline oc x canon at this point

Favorite headcanon

*slaps transmasc onto him and also smacks on autism*

Ingrid

First impression

Considering my hatred of fire emblem for a few years, if I did see her it would have been spiteful for a while lol. I’m mature now I promise

Impression now

DONNY THIS IS ALSO YOUR FAULT I love her sm, if there are no more Ingrid fans then I’m dead I’d never give up on her and I refuse to let her die

Favorite moment

Might be a strange one…but her death line, I actually heard it for the first time today, and not only does the line destroy me, but her VA. God her VA crushed it. When a piece of media actually gets me to cry you KNOW its good (I’m good dw lol)

Also obligatory mentioning her and Ashe supports

Idea for a story

100 gay things with Ashe, as well as stuff with helping her land prosper and sibling activities with Felix (since they are very sibling core to me)

Unpopular opinion

Ingrid haters don’t know how to read, that’s all ill say so I don’t get torn to shreds by elaborating

Favorite relationship

Her and the bitch above. Also something between her and Sylvain must have happened even if it went nowhere

Favorite headcanon

GENDER-FLUID/GENDERQUEER INGRID 4EVER. Also raw beef enjoyer

[kyogre-blue]

SS continues. It's kind of bad!

Done with the bridge, Gronder is skipped, and done with Merceus also, so all that's left is two maps of Edelgard, Shambhala and I guess evil Rhea or whatever.

I have to say that I did not initially appreciate just HOW MUCH of the post-skip is copy-pasted. I also checked the chapter list for AM, and it's pretty much entirely the same. We take the same freaking bridge in Alliance territory for some god-forsaken reason, apparently? Even though an Arianrhod map exists? That's going to be interesting in like six months when I get to it.

But while Claude making us do VW by proxy was kind of funny in a stupid way, Gronder is a disaster. I am in genuine awe of how poorly handled that was.

So Gronder takes place off screen. We don't go there AND, get this, the entire month when it would take place is just erased from the calendar. There's no April! They did not even pretend to be putting in some effort here. They just excised the entire month along with the map.

And just thinking about Gronder gives me a headache. What was Claude even doing there? Leicester is specifically a hot mess, and I can't see us killing Lorenz at the bridge improving the situation much. And yet Claude goes off to Gronder and uuuh "disappears." At this point, I'm going to assume that he sent Judith's troops and dumped all that on us because he had already decided to peace out and he went to Gronder purely for the purposes of faking his death. That makes about as much sense as anything else.

Dimitri ghost is also funny. My dude, I still don't know anything about you... please go haunt someone who cares.

Anyway, liveblogging notes:

Catherine says that Alliance nobles are weird but in a good way. You won't find "such big-hearted nobles" elsewhere. This is in reference to Judith (and Claude by extension) helping us.

Shamir considers Judith's spy network to be impressive, given that she had people able to spot Rhea being taken away by the Imperial Army in the chaos of the invasion five years ago.

It's mentioned that aside from Count Gloucester being supposedly devout (doubt), the commoners also support the Knights of Seiros. (Update: this is very funny given that he sends his son to die on our swords for uuuh no particular reason.)

Lord Gwendal's daughter fell in love with Sylvain once lol (Update: Ingrid's version of this is that, at fifteen, Sylvain sought "relentlessly" to involve himself with her.)

The two territories on either side of the Great Bridge of Myrddin are Acheron to the north (the one in Lorenz's paralogue) and Bergliez to the south. That's Caspar's dad, and he's been getting on swimmingly in Edelgard's new regime.

The dark merchant looks like one of the Agarthan mages lol, but the quest to get them to appear gives you a Morfis battalion, so I suppose that's where they're actually from?

Seteth says alcohol has little effect on him.

It's specified that Rhea had disabled the Phantoms and Altered Golems in the Holy Tomb in order to allow the ceremony (of throne-sitting) to take place. It seems that she also didn't create those defenses but rather they came pre-built with the Tomb...? Or maybe Seteth means Seiros (not "Rhea") created them back in the day, who can even tell.

Alois is pretty nice to use. Shamir is consistently useful. Seteth is fine. Hanneman is annoying as hell and had gotten killed way too many times. And Manuela not having physic is a bad joke.

The great bridge is a bit of hilarious mess. We get ambushed by warp reinforcements from Acheron, then Lorenz and his goons show up too. Bye, Lorenz. It's your own fault for dying.

Seteth comments on how some imperial troops were willing to lay down their lives to hold the bridge (Edelgard's crazy fangirl Ladislava), but eh.

Suddenly, Gilbert. He's still alive? He says he's serving Dimitri, who was hiding in Fraldarius territory. We didn't find this out until Gronder in VW. This time, the Kingdom rebels reach out in order to ally with the Church. I wanted to ally, but Seteth wouldn't let me. :(((( Seteth, let me live!!! Enough already! Anyway, instead, we just let them use our new bridge. Which all has some funny implications, since apparently Claude is too shady to ally with but also how did Dimitri's super mysterious force get to Gronder in VW?

Anyway, I guess that's why we don't go to Gronder. But I'm uuuuh confused about why Claude was even there, per the off-screen recap? He didn't ask to use our bridge, so how did he even get to Gronder? And WHY? The Alliance was still massively divided last we checked with them. Sure, we killed Lorenz, but I can't see that making things any less chaotic. Judith gave her forces to us, and even between the church and the alliance, it was always emphasized in VW how outnumbered we were. Why would Claude even go to Gronder? How did he get there......... And now he's uh missing (sus man).

Seriously, did he send us those troops because he decided he wanted to dump the war on us and secretly peace out? Or??

Anyway, Dimitri fucked up Edelgard but also got killed. Bye, we hardly knew ya. We still have a vision of his... ghost?? OK, sure.

Take your pick which is funnier, this or Hilda just kinda seeing him die off screen somewhere, after we beat his ass.

Location card for the ghost scene is "outer city" iirc.

April is just GONE. It doesn't exist! Like, we just don't even get a calendar for it?? What the actual fuck?!

Felix switches between thinking Dimitri was dead all along and thinking he was "alive all this time." Whatever.

Alois says we disguised ourselves as enemy soldiers to sneak in..... Where?? When did this happen? We didn't sneak onto the bridge, and if this is about the strategy for Merceus, we haven't discussed it yet.

Yeah, this is apparently a plan that we just haven't been shown yet, because Shamir says we gave the order to dress all our troops in Imperial armor. News to me!

Update: We can even ask "Disguises?" when we're already on the Merceus approach. Is Seteth claiming his strategy was an order from Byleth while handling everything behind the scenes? And then gaslights by saying it was your idea (that you forgot about)?

For a knight, we pick up Lavandula grass, an herb with tiny purple flowers. Its calming scent relieves stress. You make tea out of it.

Ashe mentions that Dedue is missing, and his death is not actually confirmed. But from what I've been told, his appearance in Enbarr was also cut from SS.

I just realized there's a huge globe in the library. I wonder if anyone's been able to get a good look at what's drawn on it. Seteth sure plays up how he totally does not recognize those ballistic missiles.

Come to think of it, how did Jeritza know that the missiles were coming?

Seteth spells out a plan we sure did not have before. I can't believe they have him both railroading you earlier and also playing up how you're totally such a cool and smart strategist...

[adamantineheart]

my final three hopes thoughts

AG >>>>>> SB >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> GW

anyway

The Good

AG is basically just dimilix fanfic. like we are either psychics or INTSYS/KT owes us royalties.

The character work in AG was phenomenal. They way they adjusted the characters for their situation but still made them feel like who they are? Fucking ace. SB went a little differently, where certain characters feel much different but I can forgive it because the eagle kiddos were always weird for characterization due to the route split. Which version of these characters you consider canon is up to you.

Whoever wrote the Duscur and Sreng paralogues… I love you. The Duscur paralogue is just so so so emotionally moving and really lets Dedue grieve as he usually isn't allowed and gave Ingrid a lot of closure she desperately needed. Meanwhile Felix gets to just really show what kind of person he is and drive home that what he needs is the present aka Dimitri to feel satisfied (instead of clinging to the past). Sreng was wonderful for the lore, political situation, and all that character work, especially between Sylvain and Matthias.

Monica is the character I didn't know I wanted. I love her…. I've already added background Monigard to two dmlx fics. She's just the perfect amount of unhinged. <3

Playable Rodrigue is one of the best parts of this game. THANK YOU!!!! It also means his optional death is the most impactful of the game, aided by it being centered around dimilix and not Shez.

Voiced Shez is an improvement, as is voiced Byleth. I also appreciate that Shez isn't anyone important and is a student instead of a teacher. Also thank you for only making some characters make romantic overtures toward Shez instead of almost all of them.

There are a lot of excellent paralogues in the game and most of them had a lot of thought put into their setup (which characters were chosen, the premise, the writing, etc).

Making my blorbos uber powerful is a lot of fun 💙Also Felix is such a fun unit (I loved the sword units the most tbf).

Supports are generally amazing. A lot of improvements to some original chains or new versions that add something to the relationship. All new chains altogether that fleshed out relationships we were denied before. Also a lot of ships I hate had reduced supports or had them removed altogether :) No one won as hard as me in the shipping department tbh. 🫡

A great OST again even if nothing hit quite as hard as some of the original final boss themes.

I actually love the setup of the story even if I take issue with individual routes or moments. But it was nice getting out of the academy setting and exploring Fódlan instead. 

Did I mention Dimitri and Felix? His Majesty and Duke Fraldarius? They are perfect and I love them.

The Bad

No fucking snow maps in Faerghus.

Edelgard's reunification scheme is 10x worse here than Three Houses because Rhea is willing to ally with her against TWSITD. As usual, Edelgard is stuck in her assumptions on what she thinks is true and refuses have an open dialogue with the Church and Dimitri, choosing violence because she believes she knows what's best for everyone. I've accepted this about her but it's still a hard pill to swallow that dangled her talking to Rhea and Dimitri above our heads and then took it away.

​​Zahras is badly written independent of route, just like Gronder Field. The desire to make the lords interact even when it’s nonsensical just needs to stop. It sucked every time.

IT’S SO EXPENSIVE TO UPGRADE STUFF (like weapons). LIKE REALLY EXPENSIVE.

Every route had issues, especially toward the end but the worst for me was GW. There was a lot of bad character shit, not just for Claude, though he was the plot instigator of everyone else being out for blood.

Almyra is a joke now I guess. Actually, it flip flops being a joke and completely awful. It’s true they were never great in FE3H but Cyril existed as a contrast. Him not being playable sucked. 🙁

Scarlet Blaze’s convient ending…….. Edelgard’s main enemies just kill each other……….. it just felt like “Why were we even there?” We accomplished nothing.

How dare I not be able to making Dimitri and Felix marry :( WHERE IS THE DIMILIX WEDDING DLC!

[bouwrites]

Those Warm and Halcyon Days: Chapter 6

Tower of Black Winds

Ao3.

First, Previous, Next.

Story under read-more.

Sir Gilbert is on watch.

Veery is awake to see this mostly because he learns he can nap on a horse if Claude or Sylvain is there to make sure he doesn’t fall off. It’s probably not a good idea, but Sylvain seems more than happy to have Veery leaning on him, and Claude just gives him that enigmatic smile. Veery isn’t sure he’s willing to sleep on any of the others – he might be willing to trust Lysithea, no matter how she terrifies him, maybe, but he also doesn’t think she’ll appreciate him crushing her. She’s… tiny. Like a housecat. But cuter and more deadly.

Sylvain is easily the best pillow, though, if only because he seems to thoroughly enjoy Veery being so close and, despite what Hilda says, doesn’t actually try to touch Veery any more than Veery initiates. Not while they’re riding, anyway. His voice is nice, too, and he keeps it low when he’s so close to Veery’s ears, and although Claude does all that, too, Sylvain is bigger than Veery, whereas Claude is about the same size, so it’s easier to find a comfortable napping position with him.

Claude also seems distinctly more uncomfortable with Veery laying on him, even if he’s outwardly amused by it. The tension in his shoulders doesn’t lie, and Veery certainly understands not wanting that kind of touch. It’s not that Claude minds it, just that he’s more on edge about it than Sylvain is, and a relaxed pillow is a relaxed nap.

Marches kind of suck, actually, when you’re not used to staying awake all day. Thank the gods for Sylvain being so nice about it. Sylvain is always really patient with him, though. That’s why he likes Sylvain.

Sylvain is sleeping soundly, though, and Veery is not, and neither is Sir Gilbert, who is watching the rain from the entrance of their makeshift shelter with all the forlorn somberness of an unknowing widow wondering when their lover will return from war. (Veery needs to stop reading those dramatic novellas, honestly, but Ashe just always seems to have another on hand the moment he finishes one.)

Veery reminds himself that he shouldn’t get involved in another family’s squabbles, but then remembers that humans seem to make a habit of involving themselves in other people’s lives whether they want it or not and ponders if he should say something.

He’s… not sure what he can say. It’s probably better to keep his mouth shut. It’s really none of his business, anyway.

Still, there’s an odd feeling in his chest. It simmers there, hotter than the Fódlan sun but still and silent like Albinea right after a snowstorm. It lies dormant but enraged and Veery looks at Sir Gilbert, who he hasn’t spoken more than a few words to, and feels… offended.

Sir Gilbert surely has his reasons, Veery reminds himself of that, but family is… Veery doesn’t have a family. He barely remembers his family. All he has left of them are old lessons, some of which he’s actively trying to unlearn, stories, and fragments of memories. The color of his fur. The blood in his dreams. He knows some other agell, sort of, and he’s solitary by nature, so it isn’t as if he’s lonely, but… how cruel must one be to reject his own daughter over and over like this?

Veery can’t help but be angry at the idea alone. Family is supposed to work as a unit. Family means several individuals in mutual survival for the sake of thriving. Family can disagree, but family always cares for the family. That’s the whole point of living together and loving each other.

Veery’s been on his own for almost as long as he can remember. He doesn’t have family, which means he has to support himself. Physically, emotionally, everything. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially because Veery rather likes being alone and the feeling of being able to rely on himself, but he can’t pretend that seeing a father turn his back on his own daughter, pretend he doesn’t know her, reject her attempts to talk to him, when his own parents were taken from him, doesn’t strike some chord of unfairness in his chest.

Sir Gilbert is… he’s a bad dad. Veery doesn’t have anything to say to him. He has no means of making anything better for Annette. He’s not sure Sir Gilbert deserves to have Annette as part of his family.

On that note, Sir Gilbert is lucky that family isn’t about who deserves what. It’s about helping each other grow and survive as a team, and it’s about caring and loving each other. Sir Gilbert is very, very lucky that so far, Annette hasn’t forgotten that.

But that’s none of Veery’s business. He’s not even close with Annette. It’s just… irritating, seeing Sir Gilbert act like nothing’s wrong – or worse like he’s so sad and hurt – when his daughter is trying so hard for him.

Veery looks away, curling back up into a tighter ball. Sylvain is leaning against him, using his soft fur as a pillow, but Veery doesn’t mind that so much. It’s only fair, after how much he sleeps on Sylvain during the ride.

And Veery still doesn’t know how Sylvain feels about them marching to kill his brother. He tells Sylvain he doesn’t think there is any point to asking, and he stands by that, but he wonders if Sylvain will be alright. He hears no plan to somehow save Miklan, so he’s either resolved to this or simply isn’t including Veery in his plan.

More family… humans are so confusing. The best Veery can do is keep learning. They know their own situations far better than Veery can ever hope to. They are the only ones who know their thoughts. The more Veery learns about humans, the more situations like these he sees with his own eyes, the more convinced he becomes. All he can do is believe in himself because there is no way to understand the hearts of others.

The humans who are nice to him, who protect him, who are patient and teach him when he has questions and treat him like he has a place in Fódlan… Veery likes them. He wants to protect them, too. He noses Sylvain gently, not to wake him, but to curl up a little closer.

Veery can only believe in himself. He’s a loner, a solitary cat in cold, unforgiving mountains. But he cares about these people, so he’ll choose to believe in them, too. He’ll protect them like they do him, and he’ll be patient with them, even if he can’t truly understand their hearts, just like they’re so patient with his ignorance.

Claude, who is the first to defend this strange beast in a strange land. Mercedes, who kindly defends his right to exist from even the faithful. Sylvain, who is patient and smiles and explains things as many times as it takes for him to understand, even if it’s obvious to humans. Lysithea, who exhausts herself tearing holes in reality to defend him from a reaper’s scythe. Leonie, even, who won’t let him cower, who forces him to be brave and get uncomfortable and train as if he’s just another Deer and not an unwelcome stranger.

Veery is… attached to them. It’s a strange feeling. Not unpleasant, but he’s not entirely sure he likes it. Things are so much simpler when he’s on his own and only has to worry about himself, when he only really affects himself, for good or ill. But… this is part of what it means to be human, too, Veery thinks. He has to understand this, if he wants to understand them – or even to get close. There’s a reason that humans are all packed together into their cities. Why they crowd each other, always touching, always sharing.

Thinking about it… Veery isn’t sure the agell are that different. There aren’t enough of them for big central congregations like human cities, but they generally enjoy each other’s company, even if they don’t live together or see each other often. Is he even sure other families don’t visit each other between gatherings?

If he’s completely honest… he’s not sure at all. For all he knows, families visit each other all the time, and gatherings really aren’t anything special at all. He just assumes the rest of the agell are like him.

Veery is just… used to being alone. Maybe it’s not an agell thing at all so much as it is a personal one. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, because if he’s honest, he doesn’t really have… friends. He’s not shunned, back home, but he’s not… not like Claude is here. He’s not popular. He’s a loner, even there. He’s pretty sure no one will notice that he isn’t in Albinea anymore. Maybe one of the older agell will notice he isn’t coming to gatherings, in a few years, and they’ll assume he succumbs to the cold or to starvation or to the hunters, but that’s it.

Being alone is fine. Veery likes being alone. But thinking about that, about how distant he is from everyone else, about how families tear themselves apart for reasons he doesn’t know, about how strangers come together and defend each other and fight together and love each other, about how maybe it’s not humans and agell but him, he starts to feel almost as if he’s missing something. Something important. For the first time probably since his parents died, he starts to feel… lonely.

His chest hurts. It’s cold, and he furrows his brow and curls up tighter.

He should just… he should just try to get a little more sleep. They’ll be at Conand Tower soon, so it’s for the best if he tries to stay awake tomorrow, anyway.

Conand Tower is taller than Veery expects. It’s only after they arrive, soaked and grumbling from the still-pouring rain, that anyone tells Veery that it’s more than just a bandit camp. “Several hundred years ago, this was an important stronghold for diffusing invasions from the north.” Sir Gilbert says. “Back then, this tower was built for both surveillance and defense. It will be difficult to seize it.”

Invasions from the north. Veery frowns at that. The timeline makes it most likely Sreng, if it’s only several hundred years ago. He’s pretty sure the War of Heroes was in the first hundred years of the Imperial Calendar, which places it at closer to a thousand years ago, if humans really are that exact about their dates.

Still, he glances over to Sylvain for some kind of confirmation. Sylvain isn’t looking at him. No, he’s entirely focused on the tower. Specifically, Sylvain’s eyes are fixed on the peak of it.

Veery doesn’t blame him. He looks to Claude instead, but Claude is looking at the tower like it’s an open book with secrets to be plundered and chatting with Professor Byleth about something.

Well, Veery’s pretty sure he’s remembering the dates right, anyway. It’s not like it matters for the battle ahead.

The tower is tall, and there isn’t supposed to be that many bandits here. Miklan is, from what Veery hears, a capable leader, but he shouldn’t have a force large enough to fill this tower the way it is designed to be.

“They’ll be waiting for us at the top.” Veery’s ear twitches, swivels towards the voice, and he turns his eyes from the tower to Lorenz. “You realize it, too, do you not? A single gang of bandits is not a large enough force to man a fortress of this size. No doubt they have lookouts – they probably already know we’re here – but their main force will wait for us at the top, so that we exhaust ourselves climbing before the battle begins.”

“Well done, Lorenz,” Professor Byleth says, approaching them. “You’re correct on all counts. What’s an alternative strategy they might employ?”

Lorenz hums, examining the tower. “A classic chokepoint. Use the doors as a funnel, rain arrows down from the arrowslits on the second and third floors.”

“Very good. How do we know they’re choosing the former?”

“There is firelight from the upper floors, and none from the lower. Not only that, but if they mean to engage us on the ground floor, there would be guards at the entrance.”

Is this the kind of thing everyone is learning in class?

“Exactly so. Good job, Lorenz.” Lorenz preens under Professor Byleth’s approval. Veery notices that all the students do that, to lesser or greater extents. He’s not sure that now is really the proper time to teach a strategy lesson, but maybe that’s why he’s not a teacher and she is. It’s nice to see someone smiling, though, with all this rain and the upcoming battle weighing down on them. “Are you prepared? We’ll begin the assault as soon as everyone is ready.”

Lorenz nods and adjusts his grip on his lance. “I am good to go, Professor. Ready when you are.”

Professor Byleth nods. “Veery?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” he says. He needs no weapon or armor to prepare, so he has no reason to delay.

Professor Byleth nods and moves on to check the others.

When she finishes her rounds and double-checks everyone’s equipment herself, the assault begins. Or rather, the climb begins, since there isn’t much in the way of resistance at the bottom of the tower.

Most of the climb is a wide ramp. Sir Gilbert explains that cavalry is favored in Faerghus, and was even hundreds of years ago, so many more important defenses are designed with horses in mind. Conand Tower itself is made so that a battalion of cavalry units can ride down and out the front doors with little trouble. That means both that the climb is longer than it needs to be, since much of it is a relatively shallow incline, but also that Sylvain and Lorenz can bring their horses all the way to the top despite cavalry not typically being suited for indoor battle.

Veery wonders if he’s going to have to cripple another poor horse on this mission, too. It’s really not the horses’ fault that everyone’s fighting.

Ah, well. No use feeling bad for prey. What he knows for sure is that he’s not missing a second time. He knows where the armor is under those stupid blankets covering the horses’ legs now.

Even if the incline isn’t exceptionally steep, it is a long climb, because the tower is very tall, so the strategy of exhausting them isn’t a terrible one. Lysithea is struggling but trying not to show it, as is Marianne. Gilbert and a few of the knights are trudging along without complaint, but they’re lagging behind the bulk of the group. Probably the fault of that heavy armor.

Veery himself isn’t doing too bad. He’s used to climbing the mountains in Albinea, and those are much worse than this little slope. Professor Byleth doesn’t look like she’s even noticing the incline, the knights with lighter armor aren’t looking too much worse than her, and the more physically active students are only just behind them.

Hilda is panting a little, and complaining a lot, but she at least has the sense to keep her complaints quiet now that their enemy may appear at any time.

Veery is keeping an eye on everyone, but his mind does wander during the climb. His ears and nose are open, waiting for signs of their enemy approaching, but he allows himself to think.

It’s hard not to think about Claude. The reason why Veery is here at all. He is only at the Holy Mausoleum because that is an all-hands-on-deck situation and he is willing and owes Claude a debt for saving him when they met, but he’s still not a student, so he assumes that is the extent of his involvement in official academy affairs.

But now he’s here on another mission with the Deer, officially as a mercenary, unofficially as the Deer’s… friend? Pet? Something like that. All because Claude wants him to look at the Lance of Ruin up close.

Veery debates just… asking Sylvain to look at it. He still doesn’t fully understand why Claude wants this kept quiet, so it only makes sense to him. Sylvain is nice. He can’t think of any reason why Sylvain might not allow him even to look at the thing. But Claude says no one can know, so Veery isn’t going to do that. Instead, he’s just going to wait until Claude… steals it? Whatever he’s planning, it’s up to him, not Veery, so all Veery has to do is wait.

Maybe he’ll get a chance to see it in the battle. He hopes not. If this Lance really is as big of a deal as he’s hearing, he doesn’t want to be on the pointy end of it. (Still, Veery isn’t sure how a pointy stick of metal or bone can be powerful. It can be strong, physically, but it’s the wielder’s skill that determines how fearsome a weapon is.)

And if this Relic is made of agell bones, powered by an agell heart? Veery isn’t sure how to feel about that. On one hand, he doesn’t really… care. It’s still just a weapon. The agell it’s made from is dead. Who cares what happens to their bones when they’re dead? It’s not like they’re around to complain.

Then again, the heart is where the soul is. If anything of them remains, it’s that. If these Relics are just weapons made from bones, that’s kind of morbid, maybe a little ironic, but ultimately not anything Veery thinks they need to be concerned over. If they’re superpowered by someone’s soul, though… what is that soul feeling?

He tries not to think about that. Honestly, though, he’s more curious as to what Claude wants to know this for. Does it really matter if it’s true? Knowing where they come from won’t change any practical aspect of how they can and will be used. But Claude is difficult to understand even by human standards, so Veery probably won’t ever know the answer to that until Claude tells him.

Hang on. Veery’s ears turn to focus on the sound that catches his attention. “They’re just ahead,” he says softly. “Waiting for us, it sounds like.”

“You’re positive?” Claude asks.

“Mhm. I can hear them. There’s clinking weapons and some talking.” Veery frowns, focusing on the sound. “Can’t make out what about, but someone further up is yelling, too.”

“That’s probably Miklan,” Sylvain says flatly. “Let’s do this. You set, Professor?”

Professor Byleth steps to the front of the group. “Everyone prepare yourselves. We’re not stopping for a break.”

“Don’t worry about us, Professor,” Lysithea says firmly. She still sounds a little out of breath, but the anticipation of battle seems to knock some of the weariness out of her. “We’re ready.”

“Good,” Sylvain says, mounting his horse. “Don't hold back for my sake. My brother is going to pay for everything he's done.”

Well, if Sylvain says so, that’s that question answered. Miklan is prey, then. Now they just have to reach him.

The first set of enemies are right at the top of a narrow set of stairs. A choke point, this high up the tower, and stairs proper, too, so the horses have to slow down significantly to get up them. No wonder Miklan is camping up here. Best of both worlds of the strategies Lorenz comes up with earlier.

Unfortunately for them, the choke point is rather obvious, so it’s obvious what they’re doing on the other side. Professor Byleth goes first, with Claude right behind. A flashing sword and an arrow and the guards on either side of it are taken out, Claude starts laying suppressing fire, too, to stop the archers further in from sniping them all as they come up the stairs.

Professor Byleth expects this, too, so it’s Ignatz and Lysithea who are next up, helping Claude clear the threats and claiming the stairway for good so that everyone else can file through. Veery is in the middle of the pack this time, behind Raphael but in front of the horses, and the knights are bringing up the rear. There are a few side passages in the tower, so they’re wary of reinforcements surprising everyone from behind.

He shifts when he gets to the top of the stairs and the path opens up again and bounds up to stand next to Claude. The way ahead, up to the next turn, is mostly clear now, so Professor Byleth has everyone wait for everyone to make it up the stairs before advancing.

Ignatz is at the corner first. “They have cavalry,” he says, peering around the stone wall. “They’ll charge us as soon as we turn the corner.”

“Let them,” Lysithea hisses. “Veery. You and me. Wait until I’m done, then clean up the scraps.”

Veery just hurries to her side, not willing to question anything she says when she sounds like she’s itching to eat their enemies’ hearts raw. “You have a plan?” Claude asks, almost teasingly.

“Just watch me. Professor?”

Professor Byleth nods assent, apparently knowing whatever Lysithea is about to do.

Lysithea boldly walks around the corner. Frightened for her, Veery follows. The rest of their team swings around, staying well clear of Lysithea and Veery both. Veery’s fur stands on end.

“Now!” some bandit yells. “Charge!”

Clattering hoofbeats bear down on them. The cavalry approach quickly, a whole battalion of them, but Lysithea is already casting her spell. Massive jagged spears of darkness appear in the air, trained on the advancing cavalrymen. Lysithea narrows her eyes, snarls, and sets sublime chaos loose.

The magic spikes go everywhere. They skewer horses, mostly, but stray spikes catch one or two infantrymen further back. Horses collapse or trip as the spikes kill or injure or startle them, falling over not just the spikes, but each other as well. Riders go flying, or are pinned by their own horses, or are skewered themselves and stuck to the stone floors and walls as decoration. Screams, both human and horse, ring out, a screeching echo that has Veery flattening his ears.

It’s horrible, and Lysithea is terrifying, but Veery cannot look away from the carnage. At least he won’t have to hamstring a horse again…? Yeah, no this is not any better.

Ah, he’s supposed to clean up.

One supremely lucky bandit, the only cavalryman not dead or grounded, only catches a spike to the arm, so he’s, bravely, still charging. Veery bounds forward to meet him, carefully avoiding the lingering shards of darkness still piercing the stone around the area. He darts to the bandit’s bad side, the one that catches Lysithea’s attack, and leaps up and over his horse before the man can bring his lance around. Veery’s bulk is more than enough to unseat the man, but he manages to get his lance between them before Veery can make the kill.

Ugh.

Veery bats it away and slashes once – the man puts up more of a fight than he’s worth. A flash of his hind claws raking down the man’s leg is enough to throw him off enough that Veery can get a solid blow to a more crucial area.

Sloppy, and he gets a cut on his foreleg from fighting with the lance, but it’s done.

Just in time for the infantry to arrive. Lovely. The others are diving into battle beside him now, though.

“What was that?” Veery hears Lorenz gasp.

Lysithea cackles, taking out another man with a Miasma spell. “That’s my ‘present’ for the Death Knight, next time I see his tacky mask. I wanted to get some real target practice before that.”

Who calls a battalion of cavalry “target practice”? And all of that is supposed to target a single man? If Veery wasn’t afraid of Lysithea before… “Have I ever told you that you utterly terrify me?” Claude says, retreating behind Leonie with a swordswoman on his tail.

“Not often enough,” Lysithea says.

“Focus, everyone! The fight’s not over yet!” Professor Byleth calls, effectively shutting up the unnecessary chatter.

“Enemies approach from the lower floor!” Sir Gilbert says, voice strong and sure. “The Knights of Seiros will protect your rear flank!”

“Got it!” Claude says. “We’ll keep advancing, then! Don’t fall too far behind, now!”

Everyone picks through Lysithea’s slaughter zone looking somewhat, or very, unsettled, even Lysithea herself. So many corpses all piled on each other is an effective barrier that they have to dance around – carefully, almost daintily, because no one really wants to… step in it. But, at least, once they’re past it they don’t have to look at it anymore.

Out of sight, out of mind. Maybe their enemies can look over their shoulders and see what carnage awaits them.

They reach the next corner (How much longer to the top?) and Veery throws himself onto the plate armor of the first bandit he sees. His claws dig into the steel, scoring long scratches into it. An arrow pierces the bandit’s hand before he can bring his axe up to try to use it to fight Veery off, leaving Veery free to reach his paw down to the bandit’s neck, dig his claws in, and wrench the steel away, bending and shredding the raised neck guard away so that Veery can close his jaws around the bandit’s throat.

He’s thrown off the bandit by a newcomer’s attack, coming from the wrong direction, from towards his allies. Veery hesitates for a moment, confused, and coupled with the surprise earns an axe in his ribs and a blunt blow to the head. Someone yells, “Ambush!”

Bad hit. Need a healer. Veery shakes his head. The bandit used only his fist to strike Veery’s head, but he’s strong, so Veery is a bit dazed. Doesn’t matter.

Veery fights through it, he’s pretty sure there’s an arrow in him too, now. He roars and rakes his claws down the bandit that snuck up on him, drawing long, deep, bloody lines over his whole body. Good luck getting up again, asshole.

Ah, shit. Veery shakes his head again trying to regain his composure. Someone yells about surprise reinforcements – must be from some side passageway they miss while turning the corner. That’s the only sensible place they might appear from.

Well, if his allies aren’t using the chaos of battle to finally kill him themselves.

His allies pass him, and the knights are between him and the corner’s far wall, where he can now see a doorway, so he’s in a safe zone for now. He’s still aware enough, he’s pleased to note, to process that much, and not mistake friend and foe. Just because he doesn’t trust that these humans won’t turn on him doesn’t mean he wants to just lash out at them because he’s afraid and disoriented. Thank the gods that he’s so tough.

“Hold still, please.”

Blue, smells nice – earthy and dry, like hay, except for that fear hanging over her. Marianne. Good. Good, the healer’s here. Veery makes a horrible sound in his throat and does his best to force himself to stop bristling. The nearby knights all eye him warily and step back, except for one, who comes forward – to protect Marianne? Veery isn’t going to hurt her. She’s not trying to hurt him, probably, so he won’t to her. Marianne doesn’t flinch, she just talks to him. He doesn’t really listen to the words, but he can feel what she’s saying.

That he’ll be fine. That she’s going to take care of him. He takes some deep breaths. By the time he clears his head, his side doesn’t hurt so much anymore. He can still fight. He yelps when she yanks the arrow out of him, but her magic seals that up good as new in the next moment.

He gets carried away, doesn’t he? Veery nudges Marianne with his nose, a little nuzzle of appreciation since he sees no reason to shift back just to thank her.

Marianne giggles, much too delighted for the situation they’re in, and too much so also for what little Veery knows about her, but he’s not complaining.

She does recoil a moment later, as if remembering something, and closes off again. Back to her normal, demure self. Odd.

Veery doesn’t have time to think about that. The others are still advancing, and if Marianne and he linger here too long, they’ll fall behind. Even the knights are starting to pass them.

He hurries to catch up but controls his pace so that he doesn’t get too far ahead of Marianne just yet.

The others are carving through the enemy. Leonie needs Marianne the most, so Veery guides Marianne to her. The air is charged here, with battle, with chaos. It’s easy to get carried away. He needs to watch himself as the battle continues. The surprise attack catches him off-guard, but he can’t lose his head.

He’s not used to battles like this. It’s actually… really frightening.

They’re at the next corner. Veery deliberately glares at the wall, as if daring the stone itself to have more doors here. There are none, just a split passage that loops around and rejoins the main hall. There are probably more doors back there, Veery thinks. They shouldn’t turn their backs on it. Claude sends the knights that way to deal with it. The Deer and Veery stay in the main passage.

Veery won’t let himself get hurt like that again. Magic reserves are a precious resource, he’s starting to understand, and a healer’s most of all. There are a few healers in the knights’ group – because even the Officer’s Academy isn’t reckless enough to send only student healers on a life-and-death mission, but Marianne is the only healer within the Deer and they still have… who knows how many more floors to go.

Who knows how much more healing the class as a whole will need before this is over? No battle comes without scars, even if they’re minor ones. That’s exactly why, until he’s drafted into the Deer’s missions, Veery’s battle philosophy is only to avoid every fight possible, and disengage when possible, if he has to fight in the first place.

Really, these missions feel suspiciously like offensive fights, which are always stupid in Veery’s opinion, but he has his reasons for being here, too.

He dives back into the fray, taking down a bandit a little too close to Sylvain’s horse. “You alright there, Veery?” Sylvain asks.

Veery nods and flicks his tail. The ambush is bad, but Marianne handles it, so Veery is fine now. He’ll rest gratefully when this battle is finally over, but he’s fine. Better than the others, at least. Lysithea in particular is flagging – some combination of the climb and her show of force with her magic, most likely – but everyone is showing signs of weariness. The damn exhaustion strategy is working. Veery at least has his energy. The chaos of battle and the adrenaline mean Veery probably can’t feel tired at the moment if he tries, but then, the climb also doesn’t affect him as much as the others.

Spikes of ice shoot up from the stone at Marianne’s command, driving a nearby bandit back. Veery can’t resist brushing up against the ice as he passes – cold, like home. It clears his head. Feels good. Sylvain rides ahead and finishes the bandit that Marianne attacks. Veery peels away from the ice to cover Sylvain’s flank, where another bandit approaches.

The battle down this hallway, and then the next, goes like this. They fight their way through, working together like they’ve been fighting side by side for years. Veery, one of the most mobile fighters on their side, weaves through the battlefield, supporting where he’s needed, protecting the back line, dodging and slaying bandits who come too close.

And then there is Miklan.

They reach the top of the tower, and the sloping floor flattens out into a large room. Veery is with Raphael taking out some mages in a corner, Claude and Ignatz snipe the archers in the other corner, Sylvain rides straight out to the center of the room, killing any of the bandits that come close, with Professor Byleth, Leonie, and Hilda backing him up. Lorenz’ horse is just about at the top of the last set of stairs, and the mages are advancing with him, unable to keep up with the rush of breaking into the room after the long climb and battle.

“You?” Miklan growls. “Why have you come, you Crest-bearing fool?”

“I’m here for the Lance of Ruin, Miklan,” Sylvain says, voice a little too level for being face to face with his brother. “Hand it over. I don’t want to humiliate you, but I will.”

Miklan scoffs. “Hurry up and die already. If not for you… if it hadn’t been for you…”

“Shut up!” Sylvian’s composure finally breaks, if only a little. “I’m so tired of hearing that. You’ve always blamed me for something that isn’t my fault.”

Miklan just roars in response. “I have nothing more to say to you. Just try to take the lance from me. I’ll kill you… I’ll kill every last one of you!”

Sylvain huffs. “That’s how it is, huh? I guess I always knew it had to end this way. Fine. I’ll kill you here and now.”

Sylvain and Miklan clash, but Veery has to focus on the remaining bandits to ensure they aren’t interrupted. The next chance he has to look, Sylvain is being pushed back, and that lance in Miklan’s hands is… twitching? It’s glowing, too, like Thunderbrand, and like the Sword of the Creator.

Professor Byleth finishes off a bandit and jumps to Sylvain’s aid. Veery shreds a bandit that Raphael throws his way.

“Back up!” Professor Byleth screams suddenly. “Get as far from Miklan as you can!”

What? Why? Veery aborts his pounce to run with Raphael to the nearest wall and begin tracing the edge of the room back towards the entrance.

They don’t make it there. They only get a few steps before it suddenly becomes painfully clear exactly why the order is necessary.

“What the hell?”

Veery turns his head, following his swiveling ears, and freezes when he catches sight of Miklan.

Something is coming out of the Lance of Ruin. It pulses, like blood is running through it, and flows out of the Crest Stone like thick, viscous liquid. Miklan screams as the dark tendrils consume him entirely, quickly encasing his body, then writhing up over his face, into his mouth and nose, silencing his screams. The sinister substance keeps expanding, though, into a massive, hulking form.

And then it gets even worse. It screams.

“What the- Miklan? Is that you?” Veery barely hears Sylvain over the black beast’s roar.

Not Miklan. That isn’t Miklan’s scream. Veery can feel it in every strand of fur from ear to tail. He can feel the anguish, the fury, the hate, hate, hate and lust for wanton destruction, resonating with his very bones. It makes him want to vomit – it’s so overwhelming and painful and it compresses him like the power emanating from this thing is a physical force with actual weight behind it. It fills up the room like the pouring rain outside and crushes everyone here.

He’s so petrified that he doesn’t even register, at first, what exactly this thing is. But the writhing mass gives way to bony plates and disfigured muscle and teeth and claws as large as Veery’s whole body and it screams again and Veery just wants everything to stop.

The black beast in front of them roars, in no language Veery can interpret, not like Veery’s own roars, but the pain, the grotesque torture, the loathing and wretched cries are clear as day. It’s a million times worse than the halls painted with blood and corpses behind them.

But what is it? Is it Miklan? No, it can’t be, it’s something else. It’s using Miklan – Miklan is already dead, he’s just a host for this… this abomination that is… that’s like…

That transformation, the power causing it… It’s like a twisted, demonic, corrupted version of Veery.

He might actually vomit.

There’s another scream – or, well, there’s a lot of screams, but one stands out from his allies. The black beast bites a bandit in two, and the few remaining bandits flee – neither the Deer nor the Knights of Seiros bother trying to stop them.

Veery wants to run, too, but he knows the Deer won’t. Their mission isn’t the bandits, after all, it’s the lance. They can’t go back without it, and it’s… it’s turned into that beast.

It’s the lance. That’s all this beast is. The Lance of Ruin. It’s not Miklan at all.

The scream, one of his allies, is shrill and terrified and filled with despair and something else too and it’s a relief to listen to over the black beast’s roars even if it sounds eerily reminiscent of it. Veery is still trying to overcome his nausea when there’s a flash of searing light and the stink of burning. Veery blinks the stars out of his eyes and sees the Lance of Ruin, the beast, with a crater of bubbling black flesh(?) carved out of its chest.

Near the doorway, Marianne shrieks a second time, unthinking in terror and abject horror and a second brilliant flash of light erupts from her palms to sail towards the beast. It twists, and the second spell catches its shoulder. The beast roars again, that roar that invades Veery’s very being, that hammers wrongness into his heart, and lashes out at the humans clustered at the doorway.

“I’m sorry!” Marianne wails, nearly blasting the black beast’s deformed claw off with a third ball of burning, colorful light.

“Marianne!” Hilda cries as the claws come down. Hilda dives in and, with a mighty heave of her axe and a flashing symbol appearing before her, cleaves the black beast’s hand in two, opening it wide so that it crashes to the ground on either side of her and Marianne.

She’s still thrown back, right on top of Marianne, and they both hit the ground that’s still shaking from the beast’s attack.

People start to recover from the shock of the beast’s appearance, but Veery not nearly as well as the others. Every new roar from the beast leaves Veery wincing, trembling, and nauseous.

Professor Byleth yells commands. The Deer and knights both rush to follow them. Arrows pepper the beast’s side, bouncing harmlessly off the bony scales until they start aiming only for the holes Marianne’s spells blast into the thing. Hilda drags Marianne, who’s openly sobbing, away from immediate danger. Lorenz and Sylvain steady their horses and charge in to attack the beast’s flank while Professor Byleth keeps its attention with her glowing sword – whip? – carving through its mass as easily as Marianne’s spell.

Leonie is gone, behind the beast’s bulk. Veery can hear her battle cries, so she’s alive and kicking for now. Raphael charges in to punch at the thing’s legs. Veery darts in with him and leaps up onto its haunch, digging his claws in to stop from sliding off.

There’s a heavy thump, a wave that washes over him, like a pulse. It comes again, steady like a heartbeat. Veery gasps out from the feeling of it, and dares listen to that beat and immediately regrets doing so.

It’s just screaming. Just the desperate shriek of hate and despair. It’s twisted, horrible corruption that makes Veery fear for the state of his own soul if he doesn’t get away from this thing.

He can hear it – the Lance of Ruin. Not with his ears, but with his heart. It’s like his own heart matches the lance’s heartbeat, and they resonate, and Veery hates and hurts and he feels gross and tainted just by being so close to it. The lance is mindless in its rage, not willing or able to reason and think any longer, and Veery just…

He wants to cry. He wants to vomit and cry and shut the world away until everything stops screaming.

He jumps off of the black beast, following Professor Byleth’s orders. Her sword comes down and cuts the beast’s tail, which is on a direct course for Veery and Raphael both, clean off before it can reach them.

They both are thrown off their feet regardless when the tail slams into the ground next to them. Veery’s too busy fighting the ringing in his ears and in his soul to worry about standing up again, but they’re both alive.

Sylvain manages to lodge his lance deep into the cavity in the beast’s chest, which makes it rear up, crying out in pain, then Professor Byleth orders him back and, as soon as he’s clear, tears into the beast with the long whip of her sword. There’s a huge hole in its chest now, expanded by wild, feverish slices, and Byleth calls for Seraphim.

Veery hears Marianne’s scream once more as that rainbow light returns, sinks deep into that chasm in the black beast’s torso, and burns the entire thing away from the inside out.

Even when all the black meat of it disappears into nothingness, the putrid stench of boiling flesh remains. The only sound left, suddenly, is everyone’s heavy breathing and the drumming of rain and an odd clap of thunder. Someone loses their lunch; maybe several someones. Veery is frankly astonished that he’s not one of them.

Veery is trembling. He stumbles a step but collapses again and just curls up, flattening his ears and burying his nose into his own fur and screwing his eyes shut to try to shut out everything.

The beast is gone, but he can still hear the lance. The pulse of its heartbeat, its wild shrieks, it echoes in his head and his own heart. The aftershocks of it wrack through Veery’s body and leave him shivering, breathless there on the floor.

[hapigairu]

To be more precise, I very gently (trust me bro) invited her to read Mistborn and she gobbled up like Lysithea does sweets. I am actually afraid of how powerful her reading capacity is (and jealous). I can't wait for you to start Era 2, but you already know that lol

As for the Blue Lions (Blue like the lines Lurchers and Coinshots see when they Pull or Push on metal... Coincidence? I think not.)

Agreed for Dimitri. Even Feruchemy would give him an insane amount of strength, soooo...

Dedue being able to store memory would be very interesting indeed, and not only for angst purpose! He's the kind of guy to call out people's nonsense (like in his support with Gilbert iirc), so him having copperminds would be very entertaining.

Sylvain could also be an Augur (a Gold boy), considering how often he goes "oh woe is me, if only I didn't have a Crest" in Houses. Maybe.

Lol that sounds about right for Felix. If he had a Feruchemical power though, I'd stay Steel would suit him. Especially considering what his special skill/ability in Hopes is!

Nothing to add about Ashe, 100% correct take.

Ingrid being able to "fly" in the air using Steel would be a nice thing as a Pegasus gal.

Annette being so short and probably light, I can imagine how many times she's end up jerking herself up in the air lol

Also agreed about Mercie. If she could store warmth, she'd be the ultimate winter waifu.

Thanks for the reply btw <3 and sorry it took so long for to me to get back to you!

Okay but if each Blue Lion had one Allomantic power and one Feruchemical power, what would they be?

(no this is not me trying to bully you into continuing the series wdym 😇

Hello everyone here's the part of the night where I am forced to reveal that I occasionally read books (mostly when bullied these days) and Hapi here decided to bully me into reading Mistborn. So if you're wondering where I was from about late December to early January, I was reading three 700 page books before my semester started and my will to enjoy words written on officially published pages evaporated

Good series (only read Era 1 because I physically could not fit Era 2 into that timeframe but you know) would recommend. 8/10 cool world excellent buildup lovable characters, needs more gay and women and women gays

So uh anyways, Blue Lions? Blue Lions. Been a while since I talked about 3H anyway! I'll probably just pick the metal to associate with them instead of dividing it up between allomantic and feruchemical powers

Dimitri: Definitely a Pewter boy. It just fits with his canonical strength thing he's got going on

Dedue: Copper boy. Lowkey and not necessarily seen as super important to the team, but arguably the most important person on the team. Also, storing memory could be a wealth of angst if you wanted!

Sylvain: Sylvain is kind of hard for me. He doesn't really scream one particular metal like most of the rest of them. I suppose bronze is the one that sticks out the most? (I know they don't all have to have different ones but I think it's more fun if they do).

Felix: Zinc boy, to honor his uncanny ability to piss people off :) Just look at him.

Ashe: He's a tin boy. IMO having the sharpened senses makes sense with his backstory of living on the streets.

Ingrid: I guess I'll give her steel, mostly because you can store speed with it and that just calls to me with Ingrid for some reason.

Annette: Which means Annette can have iron, mostly because I think it'd be funny to watch her accidentally send things flying around.

Mercedes: Brass girl. She just seems like the best candidate for emotional soothing, and there's something kinda cute about her being able to store warmth

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

any headcanons / favorite things / silly ideas you have about dimivain? 👀👀 either romantic or platonic or everything in between, it's just always a delight to find a fellow connoisseur who loves these two trucks

[I'm gonna cite some cute little dialogues between them from Three Hopes, so tread gently if you're trying to go into the game absolutely blind.]

Okay these two make me deranged. Like as individuals they fucking rot my brain. Self-destruction in different genres; unwavering loyalty that's bone-deep; a view of themselves that's so damaged that there's no choice but to follow through on behaviours they think suit the worst they have to offer--and then they get SLAPPED TOGETHER and HOO BOY do they hurt!! Oh god the lads!! The dudes!! Agony!

I very much like to read romances that are devoted in nature. They're smitten, they're gone on each other, wrapped around each other like a braid of distinct colours; still their own entities, but woven together in a way that lets them both shine. These two? Oh boy. It's them. It's the dudes.

Because like. Hear me out here. Sylvain flat-out loves Dimitri. I take no criticism on this because there has always been evidence to that effect. And what's great about them is that it's just. Sort of always there? It's quiet but it's always there, showing in little ways the great way they care for each other. So allow me to compile a list of all my favourite dimivain moments.

Spoiler. It's all of them.

Dimitri before the Lions fuck off to tell Miklan to get good: "House Gautier is Sylvain's home. It would be nice of you to check on him as well."

Sylvain while everyone is trying to parse out Dimitri's breakdown: "I knew he'd been carrying the burden of that tragedy. I understand his thirst for revenge. His family and closest friends...all massacred right in front of him."

Dimitri feeling safe comfortable enough to say, "Will you never let that rest?! It was many years ago! Perhaps a good knock on the head will help you to finally forget about it..." and not have it be an outright threat/ruin the mood with Sylvain.

Sylvain being the one of Dimitri's only friends to use his name regularly (interchanged with "Your Highness")

And it's so goofy but like the fact that their dynamic shows in part in their support when Sylvain is all "Relax, Your Highness. Relax. I'll sort this whole thing out, real easy. [...] You just wait right there, and I'll fix everything."

and the VINDICATION i feel whenever I think about their Three Hopes interactions. Oh god. Spoilers are in tiny text

Sylvain, post-chores: "See, even I can be useful sometimes! I probably could've gotten away with doing less, actually ;)." Dimitri, post-chores: "I've never once doubted your utility, Sylvain :( Do not be so quick to belittle yourself."

Sylvain, in-battle: "That's our king! ;) Wherever you go, we'll be right there with you." (THIS ONE . . . HOO BOY IT FUCKED ME UP. I had to pause the battle and set down my damn controller.)

Also the sheer difference of Dimitri's Sylvain introductions between Hopes and Houses gljdflkgj like "He's a good person, even if he's a bit of a whore" and "he's a slut, and he's smarter than all of us combined. i would know" is just such a wild range for talking about someone for the first time that I'm forced to confront how well Dimitri really does know Sylvain.

Sylvain reminding Dimitri to stay calm when they march on Enbarr <//3

The AGONY of "Striking down the Empire is my offering to His Highness."

Everything about the Tailtean Plains to be honest. Like getting to Dimitri inherently means going through Sylvain first. Sylvain is a Gautier, at the end of the day, and he does it well; the crown doesn't walk into hell without a Gautier watching their back, picking off the threats that aren't close enough to be an immediate danger.

And, of course, my favourite: "I don't feel like I can just forget all the awful stuff he's done...But if His Highness is owning up to his past, and trying to move forward...I figure I can give him that chance. We've been friends since we were kids. I'm gonna be there for him all the way to the end." (i teared up reading through this on the datamine. they're fucking insane. i love them.)

I mentioned this in the tags of my recent post, but the dynamic between House Gautier and House Blaiddyd is an untapped gold mine, at LEAST as far back as Lambert (though that may be expanded upon with Three Hopes, if word on the street is to be believed). Gautier's responsibility is to protect and defend; Blaiddyd's duty is to bear a crown worth protecting. They're so tightly woven that it makes me dizzy. Sylvain, for all intents and purposes, is a defender. He's cited to have come in in clutch and saved his friends over and over again, and that combined with his complex relationship with his destiny as margrave/his destiny that's only as awful as he lets it be lends itself to a man that fights for one thing and one thing only: what he loves.

What's also wild is that like. Plonk them into any AU and it simply works. Tortured souls in the form of overly empathetic gentleman and self-deprecating clever manwhore is just so universal. Organized crime is a personal favourite of mine; I'm also partial to a sugar daddy AU. Absolute TRAVESTY that there seems to be only one fic per each of those AUs for these two. I will be rectifying this personally. Like they're so elegant in their own ways but they're so STUPID that I want to see them love the worst and best in each other.

These two have such intimate understandings of each other that jealousy is just. not a factor at all. Sylvain will make some dumb flirtatious comment and Dimitri will just wait patiently for a tender cheek kiss he knows is coming. An apology, an I love you, a thank you for not turning away at the hard-to-break habits. Sylvain reads books whenever Dimitri wakes them both with a particularly bad nightmare. Sometimes he'll read them aloud; others he'll be utterly silent so Dimitri can focus on things like their breathing and the wind.

It's less that they're little and big spoon and more . . . interwoven forks. There's never a night where they don't want to both hold and be held, so limbs are all over the place and faces are buried into whatever warmth they're closes to, but it's so good. It's so them.

Dimitri calls Sylvain beautiful--thanks him for trusting such careless hands with a heart so tender. Sings his praises and kisses him softly and fumbles the cheesy romantic stuff, but it's so much sweeter for it. Sylvain cries sometimes, but it's a good cry.

Sylvain does not leave Dimitri's side, even when his psychosis eats up the better part of his week, or the stress of trying to negotiate peace wears him down. Dimitri will try to bury himself into Sylvain's very soul, because that's always where he'll feel safest. Sometimes that manifests in sexual intimacy; sometimes it's just Dimitri pressing them together, head to toe. Their similar heights and builds are good for it.

Dimitri wears an eyepatch whose stitching is Gautier-teal. Sylvain accepts a gift from the blacksmiths specially employed by House Blaiddyd to craft weapons to withstand their strength; a promise that everything in Dimitri's power will be used to protect Sylvain as Sylvain's protected him. It's peacetime now, but a child of Faerghus knows a weapon better than most know the pen. It's a lovely gift regardless, and a little better than a dagger with the rising sun.

Byleth marries them, and the ceremony is limited to the Lions and whichever of the Academy's students/staff are free. Sylvain cracks jokes the whole way through, even when they both start crying, and Dimitri is so annoyed and so in love and when they tie together little ribbons of their regions' colours, cutting the newly woven rope in two to tie around their wrists, he whispers a quiet vow only for Sylvain's lips, his heart.

Once it becomes public knowledge that the Saviour King and his margrave are more than allies and friends, they decide to adopt a pair of siblings who were orphaned by the war. Neither really thinks themself incapable of being a good father, but they both have a fair deal of hangups over it. Sylvain knows he has to usher in peace, but teach their children when it's right to refuse to budge. Dimitri imparts to them the knowledge of both bodily and mental strength, all without forfeiting their heart.

Anyway. It's 4AM. I've been thinking about them for three hours. I'll probably wake up with more thoughts of them but this is all the dimivain word vomit I can manage in one go. Thank you so much for the ask though! I love thinking about them in any capacity.