#also i think it would be funny if him and dimitri both didn't like the peach dish

[opaleyedprince]

dorian mini-lore post

aka me slappin some more game mechanics on him for funsies. have the teas, gifts, meals, and lost items for him

teas:

almond blend

sweet-apple blend

rose petal blend

seiros tea

gifts:

stylish hair clip

riding boots

tea leaves

book of sheet music

coffee beans

meals:

sweet bun trio

onion gratin soup

saghert and cream

super-spicy fish dango

sautéed pheasant and eggs

cheesy verona stew

garreg mach meat pie

gronder meat skewers

lost items:

Brown Leather Glove. Half of a set. Seems very well-cared for, probably belongs to someone who often wears gloves.

Composition Notebook. Bound book of paper used for sheet music, about half-filled. It probably belongs to someone who plays piano.

Golden Bracelet. A golden chain with charms - a dog, a dragon, a horseshoe, a dancer. It seems like something Dorian would own.

[hollowtones]

my month-late PAX West post (& a catalogue of some things I saw and did and bought in September / late August)

PAX West was very fun this year. It was my first ever PAX and it was my first convention at all in maybe a decade. Any excuse to see friends is a good one & I love hanging out with the RTVS crew whenever I have the time and money to travel. ^_^ I even got to see some friends I've never seen in person before!!! (Thank you to Jill and Evan for the "Petal Crash" pin & thank you to Taxi for stealing my name tag by accident.)

I am very shy, and I have very severe social anxiety that causes me a lot of problems in my day-to-day life, so I almost didn't go to the RTVS meetup. People there were very sweet, though, so I'm glad I did. It feels very heartening to have people come up to you and tell you what the things you've made have meant to them. It was very hard to not cry. LOL

If you stopped by to say hi, thank you very much. I've been thinking about it through all of September and smiling a lot about it. ^_^

The rest of this post is largely pics of things Puzz and I picked up for ourselves. (And a little bit of talking about some other things we did.) I thought it would be fun to catalogue them. I tend to be a little thrifty, so I got to splurge on my wife. LOL

These were mostly things we got for Puzz because I didn't want to worry about lugging things home in a suitcase. But she keeps telling me they're our things, which makes me smile every time I think about it. Some of the pins are for me. I'd like to put them on my backpack... Hopefully they don't fall off. Jackie and Dodogama are friends.

The "Chicory" bag is a bit of a funny story. Puzz and I saw the "Beastieball" booth in the corner of the indie section. Very fun demo. Very cute booth. They have cool merch! I thought I saw Lena Raine working the booth, and I got really shy & nervous about making a poor impression, so I just kind of hid behind my partner. (I wish I had said hi, in retrospect... but we live and we learn...) So we just kind of shuffle off to the merch desk and talk to a very nice man there while we pick up some things. I work up the guts to say that I really like these games and that they mean a lot to me!! The guy says, well thank you, that means a lot to me and the team. Wow! Real swell guy, I'm thinking to myself. A day or two later Puzz and I are out to lunch with some friends and I just suddenly go eyes wide & mouth agape because I put two and two together in my head and realize Oh holy shit that was Greg Lobanov wasn't it. LOL

Puzz found a cheap copy of "999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors" for the DS at a retro game store's pop-up. They also had "A Bug's Life" for Game Boy Colour and a strategy guide for "Gex 3", both of which I wish I had picked up.

Mr. Basculin was a gift from Jake. Good news! Mr. Basculin is still alive.

This is all stuff that was given to me as gifts. (Aside from the con badges. They make you pay for those.) You've probably already seen the Bibi that Jake made me. "Chicken Run" was also from him. "Zapper" was from Puzz and the Gumby game (& the Bad Boe sticker) was from Scorpy. These games fuckin suck asshole!!!!!!!!! I'm obsessed with them & I'll cherish them forever. I also got a little rock and a human dog keychain.

I think Scorpy said a fan gave this to him at PAX East to pass to me eventually. I'm having a hard time reading the @ on it, but on the off-chance you see this: thank you so much. Every time I think about it I get a little teary-eyed. I want to get myself a little picture frame for it. (This is the first time someone's given me fanart like this before, and it made me very emotional. LOL)

Puzz and I only got 2-day passes for PAX, so we spent the rest of our time in Seattle hanging out with friends and seeing the sights. I don't feel like digging all the photos out right now, but we went to a really fucking nice jazz club (Dimitriou's Jazz Alley - great ambience, really good food, we saw Keiko Matsui live which was life-changing), we visited MoPOP (I hadn't been in years! It was alright! Puzz had some capital-t Thoughts about the whole place which was fun to listen to!), we rode the trains, I got a big bag of Dicks, we walked around downtown. There was this really nice coffee shop that I keep having dreams about, so I hope I can go back to Seattle soon. (Or at least eventually, next year.) Then we went to Portland for a day to say hi to a friend because the state was nearby.

Then we went back to Puzz's place in California. Then there was a major heatwave & a bunch of wildfires nearby... So we didn't have the chance to get out much in September. But that's okay. We've both been tired lately & I think we both badly needed some dedicated Not Doing Things time. It's just a shame that it was enforced by Dangerous Weather Conditions.

We got to visit some local friends and I got to try out more Bog-Standard Mediocre American Food. (Dunkin Donuts is just Tim Hortons. Olive Garden is kind of scary but the salad was really good and the breadsticks were fine. I had a middling hamburger from Jack In The Box tonight. Their milkshake was very good. I'm sure I'm forgetting others.) I went to a Macy's for the first time and the layout of the store made me have a panic attack. We went for nice walks and saw lots of nice critters and plants. I got to swim! I watched a mediocre PlayStation presentation! I turned 30 years old! Puzz took me to a very fancy and really nice Italian place for my birthday, in case you were worried that I was only eating garbage here. LOL

We got a lot of books.

Maybe too many. Also a Miles Davis vinyl for myself & some Gunpla as an early birthday gift for Puzz. And also the cookbook was a gift from family. But I'm very excited to tuck into more of these, hopefully soon. Some were for me and some were for Puzz but knowing us we're going to go "hey, I liked this one, you check it out" or "hey, I didn't like this one, but maybe you will" for a lot of them. I'm gonna start with "Annihilation" and the game essays book. ("House of Leaves" is a second copy for us, because my copy was originally Puzz's and I wanted them to be able to read it too.) I don't have room in my bags for much more than what I came here with, so we're gonna ship some of the books to each other when we're done reading.

It's been a very nice month... I feel very thankful to have a life full of love like this. I don't think I have anything else to add to this post! Thanks for reading.

[slotumn]

Dimigard post-VW reincarnation thing I have been rolling around in my head (could technically work in SS but I think it feels more appropriate in VW where Claude is confirmed alive):

Reincarnated Dimitri is from Adrestia, specifically Enbarr, and reincarnated Edelgard is from Faerghus, specifically Duscur. Both are commoners and orphans from the unification war.

This time reincarnated Dimitri is the one with an axe to grind agains current Fódlani system under Byleth, because his family died fighting their troops + Enbarr was subject to harsh surveillance and martial laws while he was growing up due to the threat of remaining Adrestian separatists/Hresvelg regime loyalists. He grew up seeing multiple crackdowns and civilians being sacrificed in those, and was harassed by the military more than once himself.

Reincarnated Edelgard is quarter Duscurian (+quarter Faerghan, half Adrestian, which means exactly what you think it means) and this time she's the one who'd prefer to change the system from the inside; rebuilding Duscur is only possible with the Eisner regime's support because there is no goddamn way others in ex-Kingdom territory would do it of their own volition, but the regime still has a lot of blind spots, and her ambition is to take charge and fix that.

Also this time reincarnated Edelgard's natural hair color is white, but she dyes it brown because she looks "mainstream" Fódlani otherwise, but the hair color + being from the region she's from clocks her. (Her prev reincarnation and Lysithea didn't have this problem wrt white hair, because they're nobles with well-documented lineage + places they're from is far from Duscur)

At any rate they're both smart kids, so they get into the reopened Officer's Academy with full scholarship. The academy now accepts a lot of commoner orphans, because the goal is to create gov't officials who will be loyal to the regime without having their own feudal interests like remaining old guard nobles will be; also state education and government jobs are a good way to ensure the youth don't turn to extremism and separatism. Plus the Academy isn't organized by houses based on regions of origin anymore, because that could stroke remaining ethnic/regional tensions in a newly united nation. Instead, it's organized by departments/majors, more like universities we know today.

Reincarnated Edelgard becomes head of the governance department while reincarnated Dimitri becomes head of the military department; they frequently hear (including from one another) that maybe they should've swapped majors, because reincarnated Edelgard is still the "I have a plan and you follow" type while reincarnated Dimitri is more of the "I'd like to hear your perspective and inputs" type. Nonetheless they're still good leaders of their respective departments. And of course they have a thing going with one another through their time at the academy. Also they sometimes encounter this mysterious green-haired person on campus who looks to be about the same age as the other students yet somehow feels older, but that's probably not too important right

The real catch between the cute rivals to lovers shenanigans, however, is that reincarnated Dimitri intends to pull a military coup against the Eisner regime alongside others like him in the department. He's been planning this for a long time, and he planned for it to deal some severe damage to the government even if it ultimately fails. Reincarnated Edelgard obviously can't afford to have something like that happen both for her home and future political career, and upon gathering that there are students in the academy with funny ideas, she decides to go to pretty extreme lengths to sniff out and destroy them. Like she can and do straight up get them killed.

As graduation approaches it seems like shit will Go Down and the two will walk a tragic path similar to their previous incarnations (except sorta inversed). But right when the two of them are confronting one another at what would be the "point of no return" encounter, mysterious green haired person aka Byleth steps in. Reveals not only have both of their 4D chess plans against one another been completely foiled, Byleth was aware of everything the whole time.

Because from the perspective of someone who fought through a war that destroyed the continent and then had to pick up the pieces, all of that between reincarnated Dimigard was quite literally child's play. This isn't the first time somebody held a grudge and tried to coup them, this isn't the first time students at the academy did fucked up shit to one another, and this isn't even the first time they've seen those personalities and motivations.

But it's also true that the two kids would make good leaders, so Byleth tells them, "You have guts, but it takes far, far more to wield real power and use it how you want. Do you want to learn how?"

In the end reincarnated Dimigard graduate the academy normally (if a bit awkwardly), and right after that, they're taken under Byleth's tutelage— meaning one of them will eventually be chosen as the next ruler. At first both of them go "wait are you seriously taking us as successor candidates after seeing the crazy shit we tried to pull" and Byleth's response is "well you're gonna need to pull crazier shit if you want to rule, now buckle the fuck up"

When I actually get around to writing this as a fic I plan to purposefully cut it off right before it's announced who the next ruler will be— but whoever it ends up being, the two of them get married and just rule together lol

[another-clive-blog]

Don't want to burn you out with requests but what's the most tragic scenario we can make about Clive suffering

-φ

φ I want you to know that I would die for you. You are so sweet for caring about my health but I can promise you these asks are fuel to get through the rest of the day <3 If I get a burn-out, school is to blame. That being said, this is the occasion for me to go wild so I want to say a big thank you hehe !!

Alright so I had to get creative about this one because like- Clive already goes through it in canon, and also I exploded him yesterday, I'm killing him today, might torture him tomorrow, so really what more can I do right ? And then I realized. Tragic. Suffering.

What is more tragic than perpetuating the cycle of violence ? What hurts more than losing yourself in it ? What scenario could be worse than becoming who you were trying to destroy ?

(Re)introducing Bad Times AU, also known as the Ouch WIP. This is the Claire and Dimitri swap AU where everyone is extra miserable and unhappy. It may not be the angstiest AU of the game but I feel like its events fit well this request.

This takes place after the last WIP where Claire realizes Clive has doomed her. She has successfully caught up with him before he starts his machine, therefore giving way for one final confrontation between Claire and Clive !

Claire caught up with him right in front of the Thames Arms. It was funny, she supposed, because they had celebrated every major success in this very place : Dimitri had insisted on it, a way to build some team cohesion.

Team cohesion- yeah, right.

"Stop right there," she commanded, and he had the audacity to obey.

How could he ? After everything they'd been through, every effort she'd made- how could he do that ? How could he just condemn her and then move on to kill more innocents as if it was nothing ?

Did he even realize what he was doing ? What he had done ?

Clive turned around to face her. He was oddly calm, his expression neutral as he eyed her up and down. "I wasn't expecting you here," he simply said.

Claire had expected him to at least fake remorse, give a half-hearted apology that he would have never meant, but he couldn't even bother to do that. "What do you think you're doing ?"

They both knew the answer : starting up a giant war machine. Destroying all of London. Making sure no one would ever forget his crimes, because nobody would care to remember Bill's after this day.

Clive said nothing.

He turned to get away, and Claire moved without thinking : grabbing his arm, she jerked him closer. "Why won't you answer ? Is it because you know the truth ? That you're just like us- just like Bill."

He yanked his arm free, a look of sheer rage on his face. "I am not !!"

That was more like it. He wasn't that dignified, unreachable person- he didn't deserve to be unbothered by any of this, she decided.

She had come to stop him, but at that moment Claire realized that she didn't care about reasoning him. Why should she ? That man was the reason she was dying. She didn't have to save him if he had killed her. She wasn't a martyr, a good little lamb who saw the good in everyone. She wasn't an all forgiving God.

She was a human, and she had enough.

"Yes you are. You put yourself with the little people, thinking you're a hero who stands up against the bullies, but you don't care about the little people. You never did !"

"Shut up !" He yelled. He looked hurt and furious, as if he still had any right to feel either of it. "You don't understand !!"

"Oh, but I do. We've all harmed people because we were selfish. Bill wanted his money, Dimitri wanted fame, I- well I guess I wanted to live, but you know that."

"I don't-"

"But you ?" She cut him off, and she could see how unbearable this was for him to hear. Too bad- she didn't think she could stop herself if she wanted too, and she didn't. "You harm people for the sake of harming them. You're no better than us. You're worse, actually." Claire felt high and free, and was it what it felt like to finally fight back ? Or was it the feeling of her body giving out, of her mind losing touch with reality ?

Was she hallucinating, or was her whole body suddenly glowing ?

Clive wasn't answering anymore, his hands hiding his face and grasping at strands of his hair : he was shaking, a mess in his body and mind. Was he hurt ? Crying ? Claire couldn't bring herself to care. She was going to die because of him, he could at least endure a blow to his ego. And if that made her petty, mean or selfish ? She didn't care. She was dying. She was dead. And it was his fault this time.

Her vision was starting to get blurry, but she kept going anyway. "The truth is, it was never about scientists. It wasn't even about politicians. It's about people like you, who intentionally harm others to get what you want." She wasn't even sure he could still hear her. Was she talking to him or was she just getting it all out ? Why wasn't he reacting anymore ? "You are the problem, Clive, as much as we are : we, however, are not trying to pin the blame on someone else."

It felt good- it shouldn't feel good. Hershel would be disappointed. Well, she wouldn't get to see him again because of Clive, so did it really matter what Hershel would think ? She was dying either way.

She heard a muffled sound come from behind Clive's hands. Oh, so he was crying. This was quite pathetic and infuriating after everything he'd done- or well, planned to do. He hadn't started his machine yet, had he ? He could still... turn back, she realized. Then the only one he'd had killed would be her, although she was already dead.

She absolutely refused to comfort him, but his crying was making her more and more uncomfortable.

Except he wasn't crying.

His head jerked back as his whole body shook with uncontrollable laughter. He was laughing like a mad man, breathless and unstoppable. The sorrow, shame, horror Claire had seen him display- it was all gone, as if it had never even reached him.

Claire... didn't know how to react. She wasn't expecting that- she wasn't expecting much of anything, really. She had been- she had been thoughtlessly lashing out, she realized. Just like him.

"Well, maybe you're right," he was laughing like they were on in some kind of joke, a silly little secret they'd have shared during a sleepover or something, as if they weren't talking about destroying London. She clenched her fists, chills running down her spine. He had lost it- he had truly and finally lost it.

His laughter finally died down, but the smile remained : crazy eyes stared at her, piercing through her very soul. "But if you are, I need to do this more than I thought."

Claire took a step forward, tone firm and cold. God, she felt so cold all of a sudden. "Didn't you hear ? It won't solve anything. You're not helping anyone, not even yourself !! Hershel is going to stop you, and then there will be no second chance for you." Was- why was everything blending together around her ? Why couldn't she see the trees and boats and river anymore ? Why couldn't she hear the birds singing ?

Why couldn't she feel anything ?

Clive watched this, the result of his own actions. The death of his hero's lover. The professor wouldn't get there in time to save her.

Layton wouldn't get there in time to save him.

"I think people like us never get any real second chances."

-_-_-_-

I love Claire. I am so angry that she solved everyone's problems and never got to do or say anything about her own. She deserved that lashing out so I'm giving it to her.

On the other hand, I have always been fascinated by Clive listening very quietly and nicely to Layton's biography of him, and going all villainous laughter only AFTER Hershel is done. I think he snapped when he realized that there was no going back, that the trap was closing on him.

[randomnameless]

Do you believe it would have been better for the state of the fandom if CF had ditched any attempts at subtlety and just made it clear and undeniable that it was a villain route?

I don't doubt there'd have been people trying to argue against it even then (Arvis was a hero who did nothing wrong interpretations of FE4's story come to mind), but it'd have significantly reduced how widespread the Edelgard wank would have been; the Fódlan stories themselves would also have been significantly improved if they didn't need to treat Edelgard with kids' gloves at every opportunity, so it'd even work as a 2-for-1 in making the Fódlan games better.

Hahaha,

Talking with a friend and musing about this verse - Fe Fodlan has always been about "uwu or not uwu" regarding the Red Emperor, and you can't sell Ashnard slapping his ass (I'd buy it) or Walmart in a nightgown (I wouldn't buy it) in heroes or in Cipher.

That's the, say, spinal cord of the Fodlan Verse, at least, how it was developed by the devs.

So to sell this merch, but also, with the usual brand of sexism and "women can't be BaD", we end up with... a route where you side with Supreme Leader that is extremely white-washed (no angry civilian/random asking for reparations! When Dimitri deals with Flèche!), Rhea roasts babies and they both lose because the plot commanded them to.

To be honest, after taking into account the rest of the game(s) I'm still surprised Tru Piss has so many red flags and clues and general enemy lines showcasing how this route is, well, the one that ends up with deadeyesfish!Billy.

Sure SS was supposed to be the Billy Route, but since Rhea BaD and Church BaD (as you are hammered every time!) it makes Supreme Leader not so BaD - and with Rhea (and the BL!) being a scapegoat to sell Supreme Leader as she was intended, I don't think any amount of subtletly would have saved, not Tru Piss, but the fandom who swallows everything Tru Piss says.

In a way, Tru Piss suffers from two opposites directions, make a villain route - as to not shoot the lore/worldbuilding (SS) - but also, remember to make Supreme Leader sellable. So it couldn't be a villain route, and they tried to fit every mention of it being a "shouldn't have picked that" route in the lore/background/other convos, so they got their cake and ate it.

But yep, Fodlan verse wouldn't be Fodlan verse if Supreme Leader was treated like Ashnard, because Supreme Leader and her "uwu betrayal" were at the core of the Fodlan verse.

Nopes dropped the "betrayal" aspect, but still, she's not supposed to be the clear cut villain - even if her actions, and the world building, and the genocidal death cult she works with say the contrary - so her enemies will be demonified (Dimitri kills people! omg so bad! - and Nopes ends with somehow everyone agreeing to kill Rhea on the Zahras chapters).

Many people already tried to explain why the fandom wank took as it did regarding Supreme Leader - but imo that's what the devs gunned for.

It's no wonder why in the next game, Sombron doesn't sing a jpop song and you can't side with him (willingly!), or why the people turned into zombies aren't sidelined and ignored like Baldo'n'Waldi - we returned to a tradition non wank state where selling alts, cards and tea bags isn't more important than telling a story, regardless of what you think of said story.

Of course we have funny people pushing a Lumera BaD narrative, but it's not to defend of absolve Sombron of any wrongdoing or to treat him with gloves, somehow, it's still used to defend Supreme Leader (that's why those people are funny!).

[yanderelovlies]

Note: me: I wanna write about dimitri!

Also me: *writes and unrequited love about him* .....oh

Fandom(s): Fire Emblem Three Houses

Character(s): Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, and Sylvain Gautier

Sylvain raised his glass facing the couple in the front. “I think we have all talked enough. Now I think it's time for toast from the maid of honor!’ Sylvain turned to you with a grin on his “y/n!” The crowd cheered as they all turned to you. Putting on your best smile you raised your glass to them “A toast! To the new King of Faerghus, and his lovely queen…My dear sister.” An adoring smile crossed both of their faces as Dimitri gently took her hand. “May your kingdom stay forever prosperous, and the two of you forever satisfied.” Your sister mouths a thank you to you before turning to Dimitri and kissing him.

As the people cheered and gather closer to the newlyweds you squeezed your way out of the crowd, and out to the balcony outside. Leaning over the rail you let out a sigh. You thought after the war everything would be as it once was, but that was a childish way of thinking. Dimitri always loved your sister you just hoped if you tried hard enough he would finally look at you.

Instead, you were the best maid at their wedding wishing it was you standing by his side.

“You know…you should take up acting classes y/n”

Startled you turned to face Sylvain himself. “You scared me, Sylvain! You should announce yourself when approaching someone!”

Sylvain scoffed walking to your side, resting his arms on the railing of the balcony “what afraid Hubert is gonna come back to get you .”

You rolled your eyes making a little space between the two of you. “Not funny Gautier…”

He shrugs keeping his eyes on the sky. It was quiet for a little bit before Sylvain finally spoke again “You know….you aren't the only one…”

You looked over to Sylvain raising an eyebrow “You like Dimitri too?”

He quickly turned you let out a surprised noise “What? No!” he hung his head his shoulders shaking slightly as he breathlessly chuckled. “I guess I should have clarified better. No, what I mean is I loved someone who didn't love me back…..they even married someone else.”

You stared at him shocked. Feeling your eyes on his he turns his head to look at you “Don’t look so surprised.”

“I-Im sorry it just-”

“Didin’t think that would be me?” you simply nodded making him smile sadly at you “Yeah me either.” He turned back to the sky leaning against the railing. “I tried not, but somehow I still ended up falling for them….Then before I knew it they were married to someone else leaving me behind.”

Your gaze moved back to the sky as well as you got a little closer too “Well…. At least we aren't alone.”

“Yeah…”

The two of you stood in silence watching the sky before you sighed stepping away from the railing “Come Mr. Gautier let's get back to the party before our friends miss us.” You hold out your hand to him as he turns to face you.

He smirks taking your hand “Ah you are right my dear friend, and hopefully they felt some of the good wine for us.” The two of you walked back into the room chatting and laughing pushing aside the heartbreak of the evening.

It is never easy to move one, but at least you weren't alone. That you were thankful for.

[fireemblems24]

Engage 9 - 11

Spoilers and thoughts below the cut. Pretty big spoilers for the story this time.

You know it's a good sign when I'm already making plans for the next playthrough. I still want to finish Three Hopes, but Engage is so much fun to play, and there's already so many things I want to do differently to optimize more.

Alcryst and Celine's C support was pretty deep for a C support. They bonded over worrying about their older brothers dying.

Chloe is such a hopeless romantic.

I sense Louis and Chloe may have a romantic leaning support. She understands his ways and he finds her interesting. Their hobbies overlap. He said some stuff that could easily sway romantic is anyone but Louis was saying it . . .

Alfred is so fucking precious, omg. It's so funny remembering people were suspicious of him after his official art was released. Like, I doubt it would even occur to this guy to do something shady or devious. His and Yukana's support started pretty good.

One of my favorite things about Alear is that she's not stupid. Sure, the MC is very basic and generically heroic, but isn't annoying either. Doesn't rush into battle. Isn't irritatingly naïve, etc . . . It's nice.

I'd really like to know more about why Brodia keeps invading the mage country. They said some generic stuff about the mages wanting to wake the fell dragon up, but I hope there's more too it than that.

Oh, shocking, the Brodian king dies (is dying, got shot by that baddie). I'm so surprised. Parents. Dying in my Fire Emblem?

I have a feeling Ivy will be recruitable soon. All her retainers felt guilt fighting the divine dragon, and now her dad left her here to just die. She also lost her ring to us, so that's probably lowered her status on the enemy side too. She also offered her allies a chance to retreat. Definitely doesn't seem evil.

Found Citrinne and Diamant's support interesting. Diamant says he doesn't plan on waging wars when he's king. He acknowledges that it's good for his nobles because it makes them rich, but otherwise is something he wants to avoid. Citrinne supports this and seems to have some kind of diplomatic/messenger role in Brodia.

One of Alfred's talents is making flower garlands 😊. Pretty sure I'm picking him for my S-Support. He's just too adorable, plus I think he and Alear work. Right away he offered friendship and help, and they just have compatible personalities.

Forget Alfred being Dimitri's child, Dimitri is Alfred and Diamant's child. Like he is a bit like both of them smashed together.

Ok, I'm worried. Marth told me I need to stock up on supplies before ch 10 started. This reeks of back-to-back chapters.

I want Rosado on my team so bad already. And Hortensia is not annoying me anymore. She seems honestly worried about Ivy and seems to have no idea what her father is up too.

The artwork for all the places in this game are gorgeous.

Another parent bites the dust. The Brodian king got corrupted. I feel bad for the two brothers.

I made Alcryst attack his own dad. The dialogue made me feel so guilty. It made me feel much worse than Diamant's, until his second half. Alcryst is really growing me as a character too.

Glad the good guys actually tried to kill the villain even though he begged for mercy. That mysterious hooded person showed up (bet it's that girl Alear keeps talking too who had chains on her legs). Also bet it's brainwashing thing. Edit: At least 1/2 guesses right. Ok, probably 2/2 right since this version has never spoken to Alear.

Fell dragon about to eat the king lamo. Literally ate him in a cut scene lol.

Ok, so the 4 wolves are 3 unhinged people and the old guy, who is either a Camus or recruitable later.

Oh. Shit. We just lost the rings. Honestly, I'm more upset seeing all my old protagonists getting turned evil against their will than losing them in gameplay. To be honest, I didn't use them THAT much. It hurts way worse seeing red Marth, Sigurd, Celica, Micaiah, Roy, and Lief.

Losing the Time Crystal. THAT hurts like shit.

Our team took a major L. Honestly, good. 3H's storyline blows this one out of the water, but part of the issue with it was that Edelgard always got her ass kicked except in CF where you just romped over everyone as easily as everyone railroaded over her.

I'm really regretting bringing Citrine and Amber right about now. They're dead weight compared to everyone else who more or less can handle themselves with Alfred, Celine, and Yukana being neigh unkillable at this point.

Fuck yeah! Ivy is here to help me out. And her retainers.

She brought rings. She brought the time turning thingy. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 Thank GOD. It's annoying as fuck to reset an entire chapter over a misclick or something and I can't ever let anyone die. I literally think I allowed one person to die the entire time I've played Fire Emblem lol, and this was before turnback was ever a thing too. Zelkov is my new favorite for this. I could kiss him.

Ah!!!! Lyn. And Lucina 😭😭😭😭😭 My girls. 😭😭😭 Lamo, Alear confused Lucina for Marth.

Ok, that chapter was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I stopped after ch 10 yesterday and was wondering about 11, but not too bad. So far, the difficulty balance in this game is pretty good.

Ivy MVP. Happy to have her after that.

Alear, Alcryst, and Diamant all being like "I'm sorry. It's my fault!" Ivy being like "kinda is a bit my fault." Meanwhile Alfred is just awkwardly sitting here being like . . . "I'm the only who didn't make a dumb call here."

I like seeing Alcryst get angry with Ivy. It seems so human. I like the royal characters so far a lot, except Hortensia but she's growing on me. I just wish Celine also got more attention.

This kinda feels a bit like the end of a part 1.

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

It's funny that people would try to use Dimitri and Claude's interactions in their summer alt paralogue as some kind of proof that they don't like each other when Claude willingly chooses to keep training with Dimitri until he LITERALLY CAN'T despite all of his (tsundere) whining and Dimitri's Lvl 40 Castle Convo explicitly has him take Claude's words of relaxation into deep consideration (and with a good few of his lines in general centering around him getting overheated, making Claude's words about him needing to chill out a bit accurate). And then there's the fact that dm/cl shippers did NOT take this as a blow against the ship even a LITTLE bit lmao

Yeah! I like how they always end up together in Heroes too, like whenever they're both present in a group, they just split off together/are "paired". The tsundere stuff is also cute because that's like AM chapter 19 Claude... It's this side of him you don't see with anyone else.

If they just outright "didn't like each other" then they wouldn't hang out so much even in non-Houses appearances. It's haters just trying to pretend that's the case because they hate the ship and/or the shippers (because evidently a whole lot of people put all dmcl fans into a bubble and assume we're all exactly alike and are scum of the earth despite not having met all of us). Like, so what if sometimes they don't get along perfectly? That doesn't mean friends aren't friends anymore or couples aren't couples. Hell, they were hanging out in their brave alts too, so like... not sure how that equates to not liking each other.

I found it really cute how summer Dimi wanted to bring Claude with him! Claude is right that he needs to relax, but at least Dimi thought to bring him if he was going to train! For Dimi, training is a bonding experience and when you choose your house in Houses, if you selected BL, they literally discuss how it's basically a bonding thing with their house iirc. Just because Claude isn't used to intensive training like they do doesn't mean they don't get along!

Tbh dmcl haters have been making up every possibly excuse under the sun to hate the ship, even running around like chickens saying it's a racist ship (and I saw one take saying that and saying to only ship him with the GDs or Petra e.e; ). Like people are REALLY reaching to hate on this ship, even trying to use their non-canon appearances to be like SEE CANON DMCL IS FAKE.

Really I just see this as being like... if you think of it in a shippy way as part of their personalities that could be a growing point, where they learn from each other.

They are, in fact, CUTE. Haters begone, go enjoy your own ships and don't think about ours if ye don't like it, mates.

[jackienautism]

hi again!! been a couple days with no update, time got away from me hahah. i've been playing a lot with my brother, playing a bit on my VW playthrough (although i think i'm like. really in it today and will probably play a lot more on my own). i also finally let myself start looking for fic and fanart and stuff a couple of days ago. so happy to say that linhardt finally clicked for me and i really like him now. i liked him before, and he's still somehow my least favorite eagle but. as i've definitely mentioned before i love all of them.

YEAH. idk it really just feels... wrong to pair ingrid with any guy romantically? idk beyond the fact that she is a lesbian To Me (for reasons similar to posts you've rbed and made) even if she weren't it's just like... uniquely nightmarish. especially considering i think the only options i had recruited on that run were. felix and sylvain. and while in spite of myself sylvain really grew on me, and felix is. idk he's fine. like i said her ending up with either of them is kinda.... the worst lol. i didn't even get to the b support with her and felix bc i ended up googling around and seeing general opinions on some potential paired endings i could've gotten on my last run and made the choice to keep ingrid single and intentionally kept her away from both of them lest i got their ending on accident lmao.

hmmm i definitely got the petra and bernie supports as well as the dorothea and bernie supports last playthrough! those two in particular i really wished had an a support. bernie and dorothea especially, their supports were some of my favorites! i only got one with ingrid and dorothea, and i think only one with bernie and ingrid? i know there were a handful with edelgard that i only got to b but that actually had an a support (which i'll def get on my next CF playthrough, if my brother doesn't get them. and probably if he does lol). definitely bernie i only got to b with her, and i think maybe the same with dorothea??? but that might be wrong. i would check but my brother is playing rn LMAO. marianne didn't really have like... any supports with girls who i had on that playthrough which was soooo annoying. i got lysithea after the timeskip but barely used her so i dont think i even got their c support that playthrough?

yeah i would love to recruit hilda but like. the desire to side with edie outweighs my desire to recruit her, especially since i just.... like all the eagles more on average than the lions and like hearing them talk during the story DFSKKF plus you don't have to kill hilda or claude who i also really like. i'll def try that with dedue because i do actually really like him despite like. barely interacting with him so far.

yeah by character perspective i do mean leveling from what like.. makes sense for their character to me! and for battle stuff, before i really knew how supports worked i would like put certain characters together bc i was like "oh this character probably likes being around this one" or "this one feels safer if another character is in front of them, and this one is probably more inclined to pick up on that and get in front of them" so that's how i usually try to play my battles lol. which works out pretty well in terms of supports, i'm just a little more conscious of that now.

update on my brother's playthrough!! he's recruited over half of the lions which is kind of funny to me like. okay dedue and dimitri are unrecruitable but LMFAO im picturing class for the blue lions now that it's just those two and ashe. he's also recruited some of the deer as well (marianne, lysithea and ignatz i think? and he's planning on recruiting leonie too lmao). win for both of us..... he likes bernie now!!!!! we haven't reached the timeskip yet but i think some of her b supports got her to grow on him. i have a feeling he's gonna side with edie, but the biggest thing that might stop him is that he REALLY likes hilda and wants to recruit her. but i think the fact that he likes edie might outweigh that?? here's hoping at least! he also really likes annette a lot. i made him make a tierlist and his favorites right now are annette, petra, edelgard, hilda, lysithea, and caspar, in that order.

this is getting SO long but. as for my playthrough! i finally decided who exactly i wanted to recruit (and recruited them all today!). i decided to get three from each other house, and ended up with caspar, petra and dorothea from the eagles, and sylvain, annette, and ashe from the lions. i was going to get mercedes but after watching my brother get their b support i thought to myself. wouldn't it just be awful if they got that b support and i only recruited one of them. and so that's my plan! i think i'm gonna do the opposite on my next CF playthrough and just get mercedes. i'm really undecided on which paired endings i'm going to get, because i'm enjoying so many of the supports.... almost everyone i have has multiple supports that i'm actually interested in with characters i really like this playthrough! which is great! last playthrough i barely had any interesting ones with marianne. now i've got a team that's basically evenly split by original house, which is really fun (i've been going with my six out of house recruits, hilda, marianne and claude, and byleth, and i've been really enjoying it).

i know i said i really wanted the dorothea and petra paired ending (and i still do), but i'm considering s ranking dorothea myself this playthrough? although i might save that for my next CF run, or if i ever choose to go through with silver snow. i don't really know how all of the paired endings turn out, and i haven't gotten super far into the supports, but i'm liking caspar and ashe's supports so far, and i liked hilda and caspar's first support. if i choose to s support dorothea, i might go with caspar and petra again though? although i've also heard her supports with ashe and claude are good. but if i don't s support dorothea, i'll probably s support claude.... and i might pair him and hilda if i don't?? i'm liking their dynamic so far. although i'm ALSO liking hilda and marianne's supports. i really like annette and lysithea's supports, but sadly those only go to b... once again a loss for a supports between girls everywhere.... sylvain is gonna end up alone this time around for sure because while i do want to get his supports with dorothea again because i enjoyed them, i have like. multiple preferred endings for her lol. and i think the only other person he can get to a with that i have recruited is. byleth. who i also have other options for lol. lorenz is gonna end up alone because i don't like him lol and i don't want a character. raphael and ignatz... idk i like them and so far their most interesting support to me is with each other! so that's probably the route i'm gonna go. although i am enjoying a lot of raphael's supports in general so he's kind of my wildcard rn. as for annette, there are three characters i like who she could potentially get paired endings with? but i haven't seen enough of their supports (or any in some cases) to like. have a solid plan yet. i could probably keep going on but this is already SO long omg!!! basically the point is. i like so many of these characters now and i'm enjoying a lot of the dynamics! hope you're having a good one :)

HIII SO SO SORRY FOR TAKING A WHILE TO RESPOND. I KEPT PUTTING IT OFF AND FORGETTING THAT IT WAS IN MY INBOX 😭😭 SO VERY SORRY AGAIN thats still so awesome that you get to play w/ your brother.... its sooo fun watching others play the game, especially if its a route you're particularly fond of. AND OOOO LOOKING FOR ANY SPECIFIC FICS OR FANART IN PARTICULAR? OR JUST GENERAL FE3H STUFF? either way, have fun w/ that!!! theres sooo much awesome stuff out there. AND YIPPEEE WIN FOR LINHARDT ENJOYERS!!!!!!!! GLAD THAT HES FINALLY CLICKED FOR YOUUUU hes just an autistic dude w/ chronic fatigue and i love him. hes my boy, lvoe him lots

NO FOR REAL!!!!! IM RLY GLAD THAT YOU AGREE AND THA TIM NOT BEING DRAMATIC OR W/E 😭 there's just... theres no way that girl DOESN'T like girls. its just. its so There yk. esp her being like 32234 feet inthe closet. i dont know her endings w/ either felix or sylvain but .... yeah. i dont think i could do either for personal reasons kfkdgg unless, like you said, i get it by chance. YEAH fair enough, in regards to ingrid and felix. their b support is jus t... idk. i know felix is an asshole like thats his whole thing but god. the shit he says to ingrid really infuriates me. i totally agree that it was better to leave ingrid single. the only way to get their endings is if you get their A supports i believe. the only time its random is if you have Multiple A supports from the same character. i could be wrong though

OH THEY DONT HAVE A SUPPORTS? i didnt realize that. i still think that its a waste of time if characters that can support dont have an A one........ its just dumb imo. esp if their C + B supports are rly good and fun, its just. grrrr it makes me so mad. theyall deserve supports post timeskip!!!!! good luck getting the rest of the supports w/ edie! i know off the top of my head that both bernadetta and dorothea have A supports w/ her, which is cool. and yeah ): i dont believe marianne has many supports w/ girls outside the golden deer? IF she even has any? but yeah. i know she has an A support w/ hilda but ofc you cant recruit hilda in CF. lysithea and marianne's supports are ok i guess, they couldve been a looot better. im actually currently writing a fic for like a mock A support between the 2 fdkndfg you said you spared lysithea during the bridge of myrrdin (?) battle right? makes sense why you didnt hav emuch time to get her supports

YEAAH fair enough, i def feel the same dfgndf in terms of wanting to side w/ edie more than anything else. the black eagles are so <3 theyre so fun. i totally agree w/ you there, i love listening to their conversations dgnjfdg they r very silly. andmm righr thats true. i totally forgot you could spare hilda, pretty sure my brother had marianne kill her 😭😭😭 and i like how you can spare claude as well. and yeah :D good luck w/ dedue!!! hopefully my memory serves me right

makes sense! esp since i know the characters do have a like canon path they go down in terms of classes, which im sure you already knew, but if you ever need ideas / inspiration id def check that out! and OOOO THATS A VERY INTERESTING WAY OF GOING ABT BATTLING.... i like that a lot! and like you said im sure thaat helped a bit w/ getting certain supports. thats def not a bad idea . plus its such a cute thing fr ): to think abt what the character would want and feel safer w/.... you are so cool for real

YEAAAAH it is really funny to think abt what the other classrooms look like dkffdg esp after recruiting like their entire class. must be so sad for them </3 happy that hes recruiting a bunch of the characters though... does he know that hes gonna have to most likely fight them in the later half of the game? or is he doing it just cause he likes them? either way, good for him. OOOO ANOTHER WIN FOR BERNIE ENJOYERS YAAAY makes sense that watching more of the supports helped her grow on him... since thats usually where you get the bulk of their personalities and development. I HOPE THATHIS LOVE FOR EDIE OUTWEIGHS THAT.... if it doesnt though i totally understand, he would prob enjoy azure moon since he'll be abl eto recruit hilda, but he also prob wouldnt like going against edelgard so hm. OOO ANNETTE HUH? def a good choice. thank you for making him make a tier list jdfgdg always interested in other ppl's faves. AND LYSITHEA!!!!! YIPPPEEE

NO WORRIES ON IT GETTIGN LONG!!!! I RLY ENJOY READING YOUR THOUGHTS! glad you were able to decide on how youre gonna recruit :D atleast that stress is gone for now. and whose b support did you get w/ mercedes? i assume all three of them? ashe sylvain and annette? regardless, YOURE SOOOO EVIL (lighthearted) FOR ONLY PURPOSELY RECRUITING ONE OF THEM FDKGDFG but then that means more angst and pain and angst an dpain can be super good. esp in this game. mercedes my beloved<3 makes sense that you just get her your next CF playthrough! and so even then you get to separate her from her blue lions (specifically annette) and ): pain. and yeaah it can be pretty difficult to choose which endings you wanna go with. i ended up just getting to A between all the golden deer and letting the game decide for me jfdgnjgd that way you get to enjoy all the supports without feeling pressure to choose just one A support :] but i also understand wanting to pick out the ending youd rather see more... so good luck deciding! and im glad that youve really been enjoying the supports! the supports are usually sooo much fun... and you get to learn more abt the characters which is just awesome. i assunme you mean youve been going out into battle w/ those characters right? thats so epic... have fun w/ them!!!!

THATS WHAY I DID DURING VERDANT WIND!!!!! I S SUPPORTED DOROTHEA AND OUHHHG I LOVE HER SO MUCH..... S supporting claude is ofc also a good choice.. good luck decided on what you wanna do! i suppose once you have that figured out everything else should fall into place in terms of endings and whatnot. i still gotta get those supports you mentioned... glad to hear that youve been enjoying them so far though! i cant say mcuh abt petras supports w/ ashe or claude unfortunately. ive only got petras c support w/ claude and i thought it was funny. but i know that almost all of ashes supports are very sweet, sinc ehes a very sweet guy. a claude and hilda pairing makes sense! their dynamic is certainly interesting fdjgndfg plus i think they complement each other well. hilda and mariannes supports are very good... since you get to see another side of marianne that you dont rly see anywhere else. in terms of clumsiness and whatnot! I HEARD LYSITHEA AND ANNETTE'S ONLG GO TO B!!!!! WHY DOES THIS GAME HATE THE GIRLIES SO MUCH!!!!!!! RIP<//3 yeah far enough for sylvain fdndfgg esp if youu have better ending plans for both dorothea and byleth. YEAH LMAO. LOWKEY FUCK LORENZ but you didnt hear that from me. the only support chain i didnt get of his (of the golden deer) is w/ claude.... and i wont lie going through his supports made me like him a TINY bitmore, but still, hes just. euugh. to me yk. raphael and ignatz def have good supports! i def liked them a lot, i esp enjoyed ignatz and marianne's. once again, good luck figuring out your paired ending plans!!!! i know its been a bit since you sent this in, but still! wish you the best of luck! dont stress yourself too much though :]

STILL SUPER HAPPY THAT YOUVE BEEN ENJOYING THE GAME AND THE CHARACTERS AND THE DYNAMICS SO MUCH HEHE GLAD THAT ME POSTING ABT IT GOT YOU TO GET THEGAME.... HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY AND WEEK!!! HOPE TO TALK TO YOU SOON

[lungsandlips]

"Between you and me? I think he likes that. Not in a sick way. I think he likes being the calm in the storm. I mean, just look at the few friends he's gotten close to. It really mimics what the inside of Izzy's head looks like. All that doom and gloom he worries about is on the edges and in the center are his own dreams, untouched by it." If he could handle Genesis giving him a proper scare, Dimitri didn't know. Izzy really had no experience with a lot of things and he'd be navigating something like that blindly for the first time. "Try not to traumatize my grandson, please. Aren't you ever afraid one of those times is going to be the last time? Surely you care at least a little."

Dimitri let out a little laugh, both because he was a guilty party in partaking in the family wreath (even currently) but because this girl was raised by Chance of all people. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that, he'd heard enough about Genesis from Izzy. "It was always normal for us. Funny because my dad was totally human and not at all used to any of that stuff when he met Hypnos but by the time we were born he didn't think anything of it. Was it a mistake? Big time, but... hindsight." Dimitri had gone the opposite route Genesis had and sought out healthier relationships with far more communication. Even if he had sworn up and down he was in his slut era.

"I think Silas was afraid that Abigail would think he had replaced her with Izzy. He regrets leaving even more than I do, he just can't confront it. He's having a really hard time but he's also making it worse." Dimitri chuckled at that, imagining that Izzy very likely would have struggled watching her partially shift. "Poor kid. He definitely deserved it for handcuffing himself to you though."

"Oh, the talking thing is not why I'm shocked he puts up with me. I'm like, a walking dumpster fire of trauma dumping and bad choices. Part of me wonders if he'll be able to handle the first real scare I end up giving him." It was a bit of a shock she had managed to keep the amount of friends she did have with how often she ended up in the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Not everyone could handle that and Gen didn't blame them for it.

"That seems like a lot. I can't judge though. The first person I ever fell for was Molly and, like, technically we're sisters but we weren't raised together or anything. I grew up with Chance and Sera and that just being normal and Molly was raised by Zeke and that was just not a thing." After that, Genesis had started going for the reddest flags she could find, a mix of being into rougher treatment and the desire not to get attached to anyone. It had been working just fine until Sage.

"Right? Like, shit, Salem is eternally done with me and all of my chaos and even he's never tried to keep me a secret. And I would understand if he did because I am a lot on a good day." She shrugged at that, a wicked gleam in her eyes. "Pretty sure he almost puked watching me do that."

[mysticdragon3md3]

I was looking for a funny old Tweet and found muck instead.

I don't know if the problem is that I can't help reacting, or if the problem is that I'm just so anxious about losing any and all thoughts that I feel compelled to always post about it.

It's probably worth exploring why I have this image in my head of Dimitri being so altruistic, benign, and kind, but I just dislike Edelgard. Not that I think she's unkind, but I don't respect all her bad decisions. So do I let Dimitri off the hook (choose to like him, not let his crimes inhibit my attachment to him) because him killing civilians was off screen? Maybe. Or maybe it's that "KingdomHearts-Riku effect", where if the story spends a lot of time with the character repenting and angsting over their regret for their sins, it just garners sympathy for them (at least it's effective to me). Or maybe it's the "Lelouch effect", where if the antihero spends so much screentime angsting over feeling forced into their horrible decisions, then I'm more likely to sympathize with them. It worked on me for Golden Wildfire Claude and Code Geass's Lelouch. I assumed it's what Crimson Flower did for Edelgard, since so many people are convinced she's nothing but compassion, even though she started an unnecessary war and pushed for imperial colonization of the whole continent. Once again, I'm left wondering, if Claude didn't exist as the formidable competition for my house choice and affections, would I have been an Edelgard fan? Maybe? Everyone compares Crimson Flower to Code Geass, and Code Geass is one of my top 3 favorite anime. But it's too late for that now. She lost her chance with me. And Claude was too good, to divert any attention towards her instead. Now, when I think of her, I get annoyed remembering her fans and her choices. When she drones on about feeling forced into pursuing these wars, I just don't feel it. I don't feel her regret. Both Dimitri and Edelgard get portrayed with plenty of sympathizing angst, but maybe I need that type of regret that I get from Dimitri. He completely changes his actions and forever regrets. But El is too self righteous and determined in her Resolve, to really admit that she was wrong, or to even let the weight of her regret weigh her down or dissuade her from her path. Maybe that's emotional strength, but it's also less emotive sympathy-garnering, as a character portrayal. She certainly doesn't regret to Dimitri's intensity of emotion. She regrets that she was "forced" to do horrible things, but she doesn't use that as a catalyst to change how she acts from now on. She doesn't change. Her regrets are just bumps in her journey, fueling her "sunk cost fallacy". She bemoans to the Gronder sky about how the only thing she can do is continue forward to war, instead of reassessing and changing. As I've said before, she lacks self-doubt, but that also means she lacks meaningful self-reflection. Meanwhile, Dimitri takes his regrets and not only vows to change, but changes everything about himself, from his demeanor to his actions, and his vigilance towards regulating himself from repeating past mistakes/regrets. Maybe that's why I buy the "sympathy for character despite their horrific crimes" from Dimitri, but not from Edelgard. That might make sense. Huh, I wouldn't have noticed this if it weren't for that Tweet.

The weird thing is that I don't feel cognitive dissonance about this. Maybe because I'm only really touchy/defensive about Claude. Plus, I've been through so many FE3H discourse, I've stopped caring. What I care about is that I've found an interpretation of FE3H that works for me. I've found headcanons that enable me to enjoy this series and some daydreams that I may turn into fanart/fanfics, and I don't need anything else. In general, Authorial Intent and canon isn't even as important to me as an artwork serving as a catalyst to thoughts, feelings, and experiences. So if I have to ignore some canon, headcanon some characters as being OOC, or completely paint Dimitri as a benign sweetheart in my head while ignoring his canon crimes, in order to get an enjoyable experience out of this series, then that's more important to me. (Though i dont feel I'm bending Dimitri too out of character in my head.) There's obviously something my subconscious is trying to express to me by favoring certain tropes & interpretations, and I'd rather follow the meanings of those trope patterns and that enjoyment and introspection, than get hung up on Dimitri's crimes or Edelgard sympathizers. I don't need my mind changed about this anymore.

…But I'm beginning to really think that Dimitri's regret over how he was when he was a Boar committing crimes, may have really been enough to convince me to sympathize with him. I hadn't thought about it before now. But that's what really differentiates him from Edelgard. He had such a sudden change.

While she never really did change. Once again, FE3H's writing seems to be saying something about the flaws inherent in the usually lauded trait of Resolve. She certainly has embodied the tragic flaws of rigidity, several times. It's just the flip side of Resolve. So many of her strengths are also her tragic character flaws that disallow her from making better choices, like cooperation, digging further for deeper truths, and avoiding FE3H's tragedy goal/premise of "old friends/classmates now at war". Must be an important story theme for FEH3.

Especially since that single mindedness as "tragic character flaw" is also repeated in Rhea. Man, that video essayist who said Rhea and Edelgard are the same, keeps proving more and more accurate to me. (Referencing video essay "Edelgard will always lose.)

So am I a hypocrite, or is just certain story/character writing more effective on me than others? I'm allowed to have my own tastes. If other people feel it's hypocritical to think/feel this way, then I hope they aren't going against their ideals by acting like me. Meanwhile, the way I'm acting and choosing to interpret and get attached to FE3H/Dimitri, is suited to me and my ideals. It would probably be just as wrong for me to go against my values/tastes, just as much as it would be wrong for others who disagree, to act in ways that agree with my values/tastes instead of their own.

Is what I'm doing with posts like this contributing to "unwanted fandom discourse" if I'm only really talking to myself? Let's hope my tags are unique enough to hide me talking aloud to myself.

[throwaway-yandere]

After reading: Wow... Oh fuck, I forgot to vote- *long scroll of shame*

For a while, the only thing that went into my long term memory was the fact that "oh, Cyno's a bottom"

Ansy, I can't believe you pulled that stunt after we talked about hurting him. You actually made me feel guilty thinking he was donezo already (bitterly, i at least thought he'd have been strong enough to parry that) but then he's actually still alive. I felt betrayed and went back to thinking that cazzo, I already grieved for you, you can actually go die now wth.

My head hurts, amazing work as always, I can finally sleep. Happily too since my answer got in, who'd think my 'finish your research then finish you' line would get in despite the blatant joke to it.

MAJOR CHAPTER 3 SPOILERS!!!:

hdjsjaihAHAHHAHAHAHA I GUESS THE GUILT TRIP WORKED– oh and I didn't know that was yours, thought it was actually a banger line

I also took emotional damage writing that haitham part ngl lmao.

I actually wrote that because the first time I checked the polls Alhaitham was going to die. He's not my fave out of everyone (duh cuz dimitri and dain are there–) but out of the three of us friends, I was the only one grieving for him lmao.

My friends were all rooting for him to die (@a-dose-of-phitre literally made a funeral for him in her teapot lmao) while I'm like "man. My poor poor dog died this early. My poor boy. I will mourn you, thank you for all your service my liege." and wrote that segment.

THEN I WOKE UP THE NEXT MORNING AND HE'S ALIVE???

NANI????

HOW, HOW YOU FRICKING STRONZO.

IF THAT'S HOW YOU FELT I CAN'T BEGIN TO DESCRIBE HOW I WENT "mfer alhaitham you should've died–". I already wrote a death scene (and yes, the reader is still cold af about him dying lmao they could not give a sht.) and it made me wanna strangle him with his new fricking collar

I went from this:

To this (the conversation DEFINITELY does not make sense out of context, and it's 10x better this way):

I'll upload some of my screenshots later lolol, I just think it's funny

Anyways, let us both get some sleep hAHAHAHAH IM SO SORRY FOR MAKING YOU STAY UP THIS LATE

Note: aLHAITHAM SIMPS PLEASE DON'T KILL ME I FRICKING LOVE HIM (source: my alhaitham fics lol) BUT IT JUST SO HAPPENS I'M THE TYPE WHO LOVES TO SLANDER MY FAVES 🥰

[pathetic-gamer]

And that concludes Verdant Wind maddening mode/classic/no NG+ We did it! Gold screen!!

[The only reason this took 24 turns is that I spent 10 full turns parked on a stronghold trying to make Nemesis break his sword bc I thought it would be funny. He did, and it was. Ingrid final MVP yet again - i now have final MVP screens for her from every route but CF lol]

Once I got through the first few two chapters, this was significantly less challenging than I had expected. The final map was just as hard as AM, which is to say, not hard.

Run summary and some final thoughts (including some VW vs Silver Snow ~discourse~) below the cut <3

Making everyone fight their zombies was fun, and I did manage to get some crit/crest/signature art combos, too! Took clips of it, I'll put them together someday probably. The only hard part was wasting so much time trying to get people in the right position to fight their zombies at all (looking at you, Mercedes).

Fraldarius vs Fraldarius was a sight to behold, tbh. They both activated their crests almost every attack but also both consistently either dodged or proc'd aegis - even survived a crit through aegis - so it took four rounds of combat. (And NO, no one else was allowed to help. This was Felix's fight and his alone, ok.) Being a melodramatic bastard in combat must run in the family. I wrote a fic about it lol.

Units, classes, items:

Felix actually used a sword for most of this battle, I just happened to have the bow equipped when I took the screenshot. Also, they didn't all actually use their relics for the majority of the battle. Mostly silver weapons or the legendary forged ones. ALSO also, Leonie is actually a sniper, I had to restart bc I forgot I had reclassed her during some auxiliary battles.

I feel like I finally understand firsthand why crests make the nobility lol Leonie was the only person on the team without a crest, and I actively missed it. Constantly disappointed by the lack of a fun little glowing shape smh

Final pairings:

m!Byleth/Linhardt

Claude/Marianne

Hilda/Balthus

Lysithea/Cyril

Leonie/Seteth

Catherine/Shamir

Felix/Annette

Mercedes/Sylvain

Ingrid/Yuri

Dorothea/Petra (no, I didn't use either of them for a single battle, I just made them eat lunch together until they fell in love ok thank u bye)

Overall MVP: It was surprisingly even across the board, but ultimately Annette took it, winning by two over Sylvain and Lysithea, who were tied.

Highlight: Gronder Field, where I successfully made Edelgard kill Dimitri so I wouldn't have to.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON STORY + SILVER SNOW COMPARISONS: (warning you now, this is really long)

Verdant Wind's story actually falls flat sometimes, man. Things like Edelgard’s death scene stick out like a sore thumb, they so obviously belong to a different story (*cough cough* silver snow). What if instead, we got some final dialogue between her and Claude where he says he could have worked with her? He explicitly said earlier that he thinks they actually have similar goals.

(It also would have made the TWSITD reveal more interesting ["Edelgard, bestie, rethink this. We both want to free people from prejudice and discrimination, we can work together." "Surprise, bitch, I wasn't doing this on my own, the whole thing was manufactured by these secret baddies." "Girl help, I've been underestimating the depth of the secrets of this world."])

Idk, I still like it but there's something to be said about how much was taken from Silver Snow and vice versa and where they REALLY belong. When I finally played Silver Snow, after having already played VW, I was like "ohhhhhhh this makes sense now" about so many things. I'm actually of the opinion that VW is reusing story from Silver Snow more than the other way around. In fact, think Nemesis would have been an appropriate penultimate boss for Silver Snow (penultimate bc lets be honest, hes not designed like a final boss. I literally fucked around and made him lose his battalion and break his sword, just for fun. He's just a normal map boss. Kinda boring.).

What they SHOULD have done is turned Thales into a final boss for Claude so that TWSITD actually do feel like the ultimate baddies theyre supposed to be. He could even turn himself into a big cool monster like Edelgard does in AM!!

And I do love the final boss in Silver Snow, I think it's what really makes the story hit. You sided with the church specifically to save Rhea from Edelgard, only to end up having to fight her anyway! You fight the people who want nothing more than to kill Rhea, only to have to kill her yourself! You finally learn the truth of the destruction of the Nabateans, only to have to pit them against each other! Gorgeous!!!!

So heres my ultimate proposal for Silver Snow: Claude helps draw troops away from the great bridge of myrrdin, as is canon. You actually do try to help Dimitri at Gronder, but you get there too late to save him. You defeat the empire, then they give you the info about TWSITD. You defeat Nemesis. Seiros goes berserk, and you fight her as the real final boss.

For Verdant Wind: All the same, except Thales is the actual final boss. The End.

Okay that's all thanks for reading love you bye xoxo

[kyogre-blue]

No, I'm playing with English voices. I try to compensate for my years of watching subbed anime like a weeb by using dubs in games when they're available (and don't drive me up the wall like Genshin).

Also, just to mention it because it might come up at some point, if JP voices came as a download separate from the game cartridge, I don't have them. I haven't connected my Switch to the internet, so I don't have any DLC, whether free or paid. This includes the sauna or whatever and Rhea team time, because those were patched in post-release.

EN Judith just says it's a shame that Ignatz died, he was a good kid.

I just realized we haven't fought Raphael or Lorenz, hm. I recruited Leonie, and I know Marianne is implied to just... succumb to her curse depression or something if you don't have her as playable. And I get Lorenz is in the pro-Empire faction, so it's not surprising he wouldn't sortie. Kinda expected Raphael to be with Ignatz tho.

Apparently Rhea being in Faerghus means Cornelia can't pull the shit she does in the other routes, so Dimitri has both of his eyes, his friends and would be in a pretty good situation if someone didn't wake up and decided to Make Adrestia Great Again.

I love being evil stupid. "I must protect Edelgard"... the picking your girl over the fate of the world scenario except without the story being on your side about it.

In general, I guess I'll interpret the CF war status difference as coming down to 1) Rhea keeping the Kingdom from falling to Agarthan infiltrators and then Imperial troops, and 2) Edelgard having to commit troops to keeping the monastery under their control. It's a strategic location in a sense, but we're also told several times that there's no way to reach it from the Empire, so it probably presents a number of logistical issues for her.

I love Bernie's comment here - because while the game wants to make you feel very sad (tm) for dicing students, technically, your characters only spent around 1 year with the students who aren't from their house, and they were never seen talking/speaking to each other (bar some cross houses supports), so yes, Bernie being "who?" about Claude is oddly fitting - she never met or talked to him before!

For Bernie here, it's probably aimed more in regard to how she never came out of her room if she wasn't forced to, so she doesn't know Claude even though everyone else does.

She's kinda... the BE students do have a variety of takes on the war, with Dorothea being the most uncertain and concerned about the people die part (says she thinks maybe she should have stayed with the opera), Linhardt giving some lipservice to not liking blood but overall rather indifferent except that it's a hassle, Caspar and Petra being gung-ho about it, Ferdie... also bought into the coolaid, Hubert is Hubert, and Bernie... is the comic relief. Yup.

Edel's questions... are something, but yep, it's ultimately a huge sunk-cost fallacy explanation, if you're going to fight, fight until you die - but does this mean Edel makes no war prisoners or offers no mercy to defeated soldiers? If they fought, they should fight to death? It's not that well developed and only food for thought...

She definitely allows prisoners, and we go on for a bit about how Claude chose a strategy where both his victory and his defeat would allow for the least amount of casualties, especially among civilians (<3) because the Alliance surrenders entirely once he's gone. Plus we can spare certain units and all that.

But I guess Edelgard doesn't really respect people who fight, lose, and then give up. If you lost, then you're weak, right? At least keep some honor by sticking to your guns all the way, lol

Mostly, I think it's funny that I've seen the interpretation that Edelgard knifes Dimitri and chooses to die in AM because she was too remorseful, but currently it's looking like, no, this is just her mentality - either win or die, surrender is for chumps.

Methinks the Adrestia Tablet of Bullshit was tweaked by Agarthans - or Adrestian themselves, who are still salty about the entire "Church accepted Faerghus's independence".

I think this is the likeliest take. The Agarthans were working on Ionius for sure, but they probably have been chipping away at the Imperial line for a long time. Being full on card-carrying villain types, they probably specifically chose this at least in part because of the sweet sweet irony of making the descendants of Seiros's greatest ally turn on her one day. I appreciate the dedication to the bit. Pure evil villains can be very fun... if used right.

Linhardt's take is even stupider when you consider that his crest, Flayn's Crest, boosts his healing magic. So sure, it can be used on battlefield, but also, to heal random people who suffer from random accidents, like, idk, NPC #55 falling down her roof, or something like that. But I guess Lin doesn't find healing useful?

Linhardt's angle is specifically that he's worried that his Crest research won't be useful in peacetime because there is only limited use for Crests without war (he does call out healing and iirc engineering with Mt crests).

But that's just because he's weak. Is, like, quantum physics actually useful? Is deep space astronomy? Only in even more limited ways, but people still research that stuff! Just suck it up and dedicate yourself to your passions properly, Lin!

Claude's reaction make a bit more sense when you consider Nader's motto which seems to be a general Almyran MO : people run away instead of dying - but here, in this case, Hilda who would have been the epitome of running away to avoid danger (at least on a shallow first reading) wants to, instead, protect him even if it costs her life, something he comes to understand too late (yes, in this route, he is beloved by the people of the Alliance, but only realises it too late).

Everyone loves Claude, as they should <3

Lorenz even says he's fighting in SS (and AM) because he'd be killed otherwise <3

(This is the smart and unbiased commentary we're all here for.)

Second chapter of CF down. Bye, Claude <3

I powered through yet another month of boring monastery stuff with the single thought of seeing Claude again (and killing him <3). If nothing else, this route is much more amusing than SS because I can see characters I care about doing stuff... as the enemy... but they're there!

Which really just highlights again how much of a missed opportunity Academy phase really is. They have all your future enemy units in the same place with you and then do basically nothing to make you care about them. It's all left onto replay or presuming they have off-screen relationships.

Aside from that, Edelgard's narrative about the Relics, human superiority and anti-dragon people is... hm. Well, it sure is a thing! Given how blatantly misconstrued some of the stuff she's saying gets (eg, about the Relics), the writers had to have been intentionally writing her as being utterly misguided, and I get that you're buying into her coolaid in the CF route. But the fact that you can't ever confront her about it in other routes despite all the "if only we could have understood each other :(" is just so.... sigh. It's unsatisfying to put it mildly.

Live blogging:

Hubert and Ferdie B: Hubert goes against Edelgard's explicit orders for something.

Felix says he's killed tons of people for the empire in the last five years and has the same look in his eyes now as Dimitri. lol

Dimitri with both eyes <3

Hubert's pre-Bridge conversation is hilarious. We need to cooperate with the Agarthans (presented as Arundel's subordinates) because we need to topple the Church! This is a very painful decision for Edelgard because you see they used her father as a puppet and killed her siblings :( Why are we more opposed to the church than these assholes? Well, because, I guess.

Bridge mission - nothing interesting. We do fight Judith, who has a unique model but is never playable. She's holding the bridge because Acheron is useless. He shows up as a horse guy (I'm pretty sure he was a mage in another route?) and then ditches after only one turn.

Afterwards, everyone makes fun of Edelgard for doing a bad job running the war until now because she's been too into Byleth. I've heard this angle before, but I think the actual difference is kind of mixed. They made less progress in the Kingdom, but that was all on Cornelia anyway, so it comes down more to Rhea not getting captured, presumably because she didn't have Byleth weighing her down. And the Alliance situation was never a real invasion in the five year gap to begin with. SS did have Lorenz siding with the Empire, but the exact in and out is kinda... hard to track.

Anyway, now we're in the Claude killing month!

Talk about how Claude has been acting as intermediary between those that oppose the Empire and those who support it, keeping them from fighting each other. Since everyone is compromising to keep the Alliance united for now, no one has openly sided with the Empire either.

But now he's scheming something, as we know because people have been stopped from entering or leaving Derdriu.

Everyone else: Claude is a smart, tough opponent. Bernie: Who's Claude

Ladislava is tasked with managing the supply lines and keeping the Goneril territories under control.

Being betrayed by Byleth made Rhea crack. "She started laughing as if she was possessed and spouting complete gibberish..."

Edelgard: Why can't people admit defeat without fighting back first? If they're going to surrender after I crush them under my boot, why not surrender without fighting? (Logically collolary: If you choose to fight, die fighting and never surrender. Explains why she's Like That in Azure Moon: sunk cost fallacy)

Edie is "not disinterested" in romance lol

Caspar family drama: His older brother is lazy, greedy and skates by relying on his position as heir. Their grandfather was really obsessed with his second wife, Randolph's mom. And she really wanted Randolph to become the heir, but the grandfather had to step down "earlier than expected," so Caspar's dad took over the title. With all this, Caspar's brother is really worried about the possibility of I guess Randolph taking over as heir instead.

This has.... interesting implications, I guess.

First, this makes Randolph Caspar's uncle, lmao

Second, I really, really wonder if Randolph was the grandpa's biological child. His mom explicitly married in after he was already born, but she could just as easily have been the grandpa's mistress. Either way, we get a very funny inheritance situation because Randolph does not have a crest, we can see that in his battle stats. So either crest ownership just doesn't matter in this case (lol Edie), or even wilder, you can just pass on your title to a completely unrelated child. Even if they ARE related, that's likely unprovable without a crest. (lol Edie extra hard)

Third, I wonder what the exact timeline here is? Because if Caspar's dad took over recently enough, he might not have been the lord who took part in the Insurrection. That might explain why he's inexplicably so chill about helping Edie take the throne and gain a whole ton of military power.

Edie, of course, turns this around as "this is the price of taking your own desires into account when choosing an heir" and this is why "the concept of nobility is decaying" but isn't Edie opposed to nobility in the first place? And she doesn't plan to institute a democracy anyway, so isn't everyone just going to be choosing their heirs based on "their own desires"?

She goes on to say that she wants a world where the best rise to the top and succeed, "regardless of bloodline," but uuuuuh this entire situation is about how the grandpa did not follow bloodline properly...? And all this also means that Caspar's bro can absolutely be removed from his position as heir, regardless of his bloodline...?

Caspar is like "ok, so you're saying nothing would change for me in your world, right?" L M A O

The way Edie presents the history of the Relics is so... "Relics were created by the hands of mankind" imo I wouldn't really count the Agarthans as particularly human anymore, and also this wasn't exactly something triumphant. "Seiros manipulated the people of the world and defeated the all-powerful King Nemesis" Nemesis was indeed tough, but you don't need to lick his boots quite that much. "Should the one leading the people of the world by someone with humanity or a creature that can merely masquerade as a human at will?" Given that you turn into an inhuman monster when you feel like it, which side of this binary do you fall on, Edie? I personally feel that Flayn, Seteth and Rhea have plenty of humanity even if they aren't human...

"The Immaculate One and her family"... dang, this phrasing is really...

This knowledge is passed down from emperor to emperor, huh. I know this kind of thing! Naruto taught me all about it! I remember that Uchiha tablet full of bullshit!

Byleth has been compared to Nemesis now. Hm.

Claude scene <3 He's upset about Judith dying, and that many more people will die following his orders. But of course he also talks himself up "do you have any idea how much of the Alliance adores me and believes in in me?" How much? Hm... about half? I remember SS and Lorenz leading the other half.

Anyway, Nader is also here.

Linhardt stupid take: "It's as if Crests were designed to be used only in times of war." How can you use them in peace-time? My dude...

There are three gates that connect Derdriu proper to its naval port. It looks like the naval port is a reinforced, walled area where the ships must dock before any goods or people can move into the city itself.

Killed Lysithea with Caspar, but I still get the prompt to spare her. I don't like these, it's too easy!

lol Claude keeps being upset that people are too stubborn to retreat even though he tells them to. My man, this is what happens when the Alliance adores you, it's called ride or die for a reason

The Almyran King fighting on the front lines... as expected.

Nader has been a soldier for 30-odd years. Incidentally, he retreats rather than outright being killed like Judith and Hilda... and Claude. It seems he has no dialogue for if Claude is killed first. Too bad!

[purewhitewolf]

Yandere Kaitlyn (part 1)

@tweetiepea-rps

"Oh, bunpup~ Of course I have to be so close to you even at work. I'm not letting another miserable piece of shit hit you again. ...My collection of fingers was growing too quickly at the rate of these rude fools... Anyway~ How about you just sit in my lap while we work on reports, hmm?~ Find comfort in me, dear~ No one will hurt you anymore... I'll make sure of it."

"Goldilocks~ I thought you'd like Shadow tying you up!~ Hmm? No, we won't stop, silly! Not until we know you won't let any other filthy man or woman touch you again, darling. Shadow and I were quite hurt to see you with that garbage of thief earlier. Are we not good enough for you, Brooke? I-I tried so hard to satisfy all your needs through Shadow! What are we missing?? Is it because we can't separate ourselves? Is it because he's also me?..." She sighs sadly before looking at her with a longing expression as she gets closer. She reaches over and gently runs her hand through the golden locks of hair. "No matter... Shadow and I will show you that you don't need anyone else's touch or attention~"

"Xandy, my dragon hubby~ I promised I would take care of you, didn't I? I can't stand to see you get so stressed all the time... and so mopey when your kraken hubby leaves. Oh, don't worry, I am not jealous of my favorite funny punny Dimitri~ I would never harm either of you, darlings... I even brought him here. You both can have a bit of playtime in this enclosed room I built for you. Destress here, shadow bro~ I'll put all the papers and ship fleets in order~ You two have nothing to worry about now that I'm here to take care of everything...and everyone~ hehehe Maybe I can join in on the playing later, ah, but for now I'll respect your privacy as husbands."

"John, you are such a good boy... Normally I wouldn't stand for someone fawning over my beloved Past, but... I think I can make an exception for you~ Such a hardworking and compassionate man, so rare to find good people these days. My darling could use someone as sweet as her to keep her spirits up. I'll allow you two to get super close... IF... you live with us fOrEvEr" She grips his arm tightly "AND... give me some attention too~ No cucking allowed~"

"Heeeeeyyyyyyyy, Jacqueline~ Wakey wakey~ Did you enjoy the meal, Icy prepared for you?~ Oh what am I saying? You gobbled it all up without a second thought! Sorry if you're still a bit groggy, we didn't know how potent to make the sleep juice we doused the food in. Hey, hey, no need to freak out on me, darling. WE didn't do it out of naughty intentions like some creeps would. yuck. No, no.... we needed to make sure you didn't spoil the surprise that is this safe room with your future vision. Icy told me some concerns he had recently based on some future visions you told him, so I suggested this to keep everyone in until it passes... you and him will test this out first, see you in a month~ Hmm maybe even sooner~"

"Césaire!~ Oh my snaky prince~ My Corvo's Captain~ Corvo and I had come to whisk you away from here~ Do not fear, Samuel won't be waking up from his poison for a long time~ Forever he's sleep, forever you are free" She and the bird snatch the snake from his hole and shower him in aggressive kisses. "We three should celebrate! Come, come. We'll take you to a better place~ Stay with us, please! You'll love this place we made for you! A new home FOREVER!"

"Cosette! Just the little bunny I was looking for~ What? I'm not hurting anyone~ Oh, that? Past and the kids kept disobeying my warnings about the dangers of leaving the house without my supervision, so I had to lock everyone in the bunker until they calm down. Even Familiar tried to defy me, but I'm just looking out for him and his dove~ I even 'invited' Ezzy and Adrian over to keep them safe too! Hmm? Stop this madness? Not making any sense-? Shame... I thought you of all guides would understand, but I guess no one understands my point of view here.... oh, Vargr~ Be a dear and escort your bunbun to the others~ I'll join you all later~"

"Azry!~ Oh good, good, Gunnr has brought you here... Did you have a fun time toge- hmm? What do you mean we both been acting weirder than usual? Ohhhhhh, Gunnr told you about what happened with the others.... We are just trying to protect everyone, sis~ Speaking of sisters, after what I've done recently I bet I'm the best big sis you ever had! Guess what? Guess, guess... you don't have to worry about your other sister anymore! She'll never hurt anyone ever again.... Oh no, silly!~ I didn't kill her! Death wouldn't let me if I try. hehehe but I did put her in a very small box! Her servants can't free her from it~ She'll be in timeout for as long as needed~ Am I a great sis or what? Maybe even something more?~ ohohohoho~ Anyway, I am doing all these things because I LOVE all of you. WE love all of you. I hate it when you guys get hurt by these arrogant demons... so I took care of everything~ Isn't this wonderful?!~"

"Psssssst, Aries! Moonbrat and the others are no longer an issue! Follow me~ You're safe now. I'll heal you and give you all you need~ A new life. You are mine... all mine, my sweet lamb. No dragons or wicked devil ladies will pluck your feathers or defile you. Just rest your weary head, my gentle ram. Stay in my arms and trust me~"

((I know poly yanderes aren't really a thing since the way the obsessive behavior works is on a single target only usually, just as platonic yanderes aint really a thing either based on the traditional yandere archetype being either romance or lust based, but eh who says I have to follow that.))

[firemblem-fics]

Running With the Wolves [3]

<< | >>

-> Pairing: Yuri Leclarc x Fem!Reader

-> Modern!Au | Gang!Au | Enemies to Friends to Lovers

-> Word Count: ~2.4k

-> Warnings: Violence, Blood, Intense Scenes, Alcohol Mention, Someone legit gets shot, Other things I probably forgot about

-> Summary: You were just a normal college student, trying to find her way in a new place. You didn't mean to get caught up in the wrong crowd. You just wanted coffee, but now you're running with the wolves.

-> A/N: hi i’m back hello this took me a little bit to do because after the action scene i simply lost motivation but it’s back i know what i want to do and i WILL do it. also, just an fyi, i, as a writer, do not condone anything that my character, Hiram Chapelle, says or does. Hiram is meant to be an ass and for gods sake he’s quite literally a psychopath. That’s how he’s written. I’m just saying for future reference because Hiram is a shitty person and I plan on keeping him that way LOL

send an ask if you’d like to be on the taglist!

If someone had told you, months ago, that when you moved to Fodlan, you’d be accidentally caught up in gang activity, you’d laugh in their faces.

What a silly notion, You’d nearly cry out of laughter, Fodlan is safe. Nothing happens there.

What a fool you were. Everything was too easy. Life was too simple for there not to be a catch. That’s the funny thing about the universe and her strange ways. There’s always a catch.

Your mother had said that God always tests you. That you’d know in hard times, He was just challenging you. The only thing you knew at this moment was that if God really was real, you’d like to have a few choice words with him.

Your test was only getting more difficult with each step you took. Each limp, actually. The frigid night air numbed nearly every part of your body, except for your ankle. Instead, it burned with a fiery intensity. Your shoe was tight enough to prevent a bit of the swelling, but you needed medical attention soon.

You laughed bitterly- you’d been saying that you needed help for a while now. Your arm, your ankle, and now probably a therapist. Physical and mental help were on your to-do list.

Biting back another shiver, you fumbled with your phone. The screen was black, only showing a little red battery in the middle of it. Dead.

The window you’d jumped through was in the back of the house, facing a patch of woods. In your rush, you didn’t think to run another way to get out, only pushing forward until you had no clue where you’d come from and where to go. Everything was forest. Everything was dark.

Until it wasn’t.

A flash of light shined from behind you and you gasped, running to your left and trying to hide behind a larger tree. The flashlights came closer and you held your breath.

“What doesn’t she fucking understand about you can’t leave?”

“Well, boss, you were a little rude about it-“

“She’s in danger! And she doesn’t even realize it- the seriousness of this situation. I don’t care if I’m rude or not, she’s risking her own life being this stupid.”

You resisted the urge to scoff. Yuri was definitely a rude individual from what you’ve interacted with, but of course he didn’t care.

The lights were getting even closer now. You stepped back and started to run again, ignoring the pain. You’d get help when you were safe. You tried to stay light on your feet, but couldn’t help but crush the fallen leaves under your feet as you ran.

“I hear something that way!” Constance shouted and every light flashed in your direction before the group began chasing after you.

Your heart caught in your throat as you willed your legs to work faster and faster. You’d be okay- you’ll get help when you’re safe. Lungs burning, you surged forwards still and tried to take different turns to make them lose your trail. It didn’t work.

“Y/N, stop!” Hapi yelled out.

You didn’t answer, still running. Suddenly, you were airborne. Your feet flew off the ground and you landed two feet in front of a tree root, sticking up from the ground. You were hyperventilating- they had caught up with you.

Before they could reach you, Yuri also stumbled over the root. His flashlight and handgun both flew out of his hands, skidding to a stop in a puddle of mud in front of you. You lurched forward, grabbing the gun and pointing it at the group. It was just Balthus, Hapi, Constance, and Yuri, but you still felt helpless. They could easily overpower you, but you weren’t giving up without a fight.

“Stay back!” You cried, your finger sitting shakily on the trigger, “Don’t come any closer!”

Hapi put her hands up. “We don’t want to hurt you- we want to keep you safe!”

“Keep me safe? By making me some bad guy in a gang that I never even asked to be a part of?”

Yuri scoffed and tried to step closer, but you quickly aimed the gun at him. “You think we did?”

“No more. Don’t come close, I’m warning you.” You could only utter a few words.

The leader of the Wolves ignored this, putting his hands out in front of him, “Drop the gun and this will be okay-“

“STAY AWAY!” You were screaming at this point. Everyone tried to shush you, but you couldn’t stop. Hysteria did such cruel things.

“Y/N-“

“NO!”

You closed your eyes and pulled the trigger, your arm injury hurting slightly from the recoil. Constance yelled out, grabbing onto Yuri, who seemed to fall in slow motion. Your head was spinning. Stars seemed to twinkle in the trees and bushes in front of you instead of staying in the sky like they should.

You swayed for a moment, watching the three try to help their leader. Blood seeped out of the right side of his abdomen. You tried to stay awake, but soon the gun fell out of your hand and you went limp beside it.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Your mind was awake before your body. You could feel the velvet sheets beneath your fingertips and smell the comforting french vanilla aroma that wafted through the Wolves’s house. It was warm- almost too warm for your comfort. Or maybe it was the fever you were running from stress.

You tried to smack your lips together, cringing when the inside of your mouth resembled that of a desert. You needed water.

Peeling your eyes open, you groaned. The lamp beside the bed was too bright, contrasting greatly against the still-dark sky. How long were you out?

You sat up on the bed, feeling sore, but brushed it off and trudged towards the door. You opened it and headed towards the stairs when you heard voices in a room across from you, two doors down.

“She’s already caused too much harm. I say we let her go and let natural selection take its course.”

You scoffed. Typical Hiram- rude ass.

“No- no. We brought her into this, the universe has basically ordered us to keep her safe. If any Eagles see her on the street, she’s done for.” Hapi reasoned.

“That might be a good thing-“

“Hiram-“

“She shot Yuri! He’s not waking up because of her!”

The silence that followed his outburst made your heart clench. You didn’t mean to actually hit him- you just meant it as a warning shot. Hell, you didn’t even know your aim was that good.

“He’s going to be fine. In the meantime, we need to contact Claude or Dimitri and see what’s happening.”

Claude? Claude, the boy at the pizza shop? You rolled your eyes. Of course he’d be a part of this- whatever this is.

“What if they’re siding with her?” Constance asked worriedly.

“Trust me, if it’s anything that Claude’s against, it’s an imbalance of power. As for Dimitri, I’m not sure.”

Your hands began to shake again and you blinked rapidly, trying to push away the looming realization that no, this wasn’t a joke, and yes, these college kids are in a fucking gang. You supposed a part of you didn’t want to believe it until now, but it crashed onto you like a bag of bricks.

These people have hurt others. Killed them. You hurt someone too- you shot a man. A man who apparently is trying to keep you safe.

Continuing to blink, this time biting back tears, you walked down the stairs into the kitchen. Grabbing a glass from the counter, you filled it up in the sink and began chugging.

One glass.

Two.

Maybe if it was alcohol, you’d feel a little better. But it wasn’t. And you didn’t.

More footsteps resounded from the stairs, making their way through the living room and into the kitchen. Hapi entered first, followed by the other four. She gave you a tight smile, choosing to mess with some papers that still rested on the kitchen table.

The papers were frenzied and unorganized- they must have really rushed out once they realized that you’d left.

Hiram walked past and bumped your shoulder rather harshly, making you spill your third glass of water down the front of your shirt. You hissed, wanting nothing more than to yank out those snowy locks of his, but he was definitely armed and no doubt dangerous. You valued your life a little too much to mess with the little man.

Eventually, the group sat down at the table and Hapi patted her hand on the wood, pointing to the empty chair across from her. “Please, Y/N, sit.”

You did so, awkwardly, clasping your hands and putting them in your lap. You didn’t want to look up, already feeling the five intense stares burn into your form.

“It seems our first little talk wasn’t as… effective as it needed to be.” The redheaded girl began. “You were seen with us in the cafe when Edelgard attacked. You let your mouth run, disrespecting her. And I can assure you right now, that the Eagles have all the details on you. Especially since one of their own seemed to recognize you. Like it or not, you’re in this now.”

Hiram snorted, leaning back on his chair and nonchalantly checking his nails. “You’re stuck with this, toots. If you didn’t want to be, you should’ve stuck behind everyone like a good little coward and let the big dogs fight over the bone. You could’ve easily been seen as a citizen and an innocent bystander, but no. Something in you said ‘hey, let’s be a bitch to these people who suddenly barged in here with guns’. If I didn’t know any better, it would seem to me like you were practically,” He leaned forward, his icy eyes boring into your own, “asking for it.”

You furrowed your eyebrows, but still kept shut. He wasn’t necessarily wrong, you could’ve easily decided to let the obviously-more-experienced people deal with it, but in your defense, you didn’t know at the time! You didn’t even think your 5 second long conversation with this Edelgard chick was as negative as they made it out to be.

Crossing your arms, you willed your face to remain stoic. “I just don’t see why she’d have it out for me. I didn’t even do anything that bad.”

“Look, look at my face.” Hiram pointed to the bridge of his nose, where a deep, pale pink scar contrasted against his skin. “Rhys and I used to be… involved with them. Her little lap dog- Ferdinand- did this. Because I made some ill-timed joke.”

You couldn’t help but glance over at Rhys, whose eyes had darkened at the mention of his past. The mention of Ferdinand’s name and his affiliation with the Eagles made you wonder about everyone’s past- how exactly did all of these people get involved with such a deadly life? You didn’t have much time to dwell on it before Balthus spoke up.

“Listen, little one, just stay here and chill out until we can a hundred percent confirm that the Eagles aren’t associating you with us. If they’re not, you’re free to go.”

“And if I am?”

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it.”

Everyone at the table gasped and turned around to the kitchen entrance, where the strained voice had come from. Yuri was leaned up against the door frame, holding onto his side still. His torso was bare, but the skin was covered by bandages and gauze.

The Wolves shot up out of their seats, rushing over to their leader.

“Yuri!”

“Why are you up?”

“You need rest.”

Yuri just chuckled at them, hiding a wince as his stomach contracted with the laugh. “I’m fine, I’m fine, everything’s cool. Not the first time.”

You still sat at the table, watching as they helped him sit in his place at the head before going back to their own seats. The Wolves really seemed to care about each other, you noticed, and felt a small pang of guilt for causing them so many problems already.

“So, Yuri-Bird, I was explaining to everyone earlier that our best choice of action is to contact Dimitri and Claude and see what’s happening in their little sectors of the world.” Hapi folded her hands on the table, “I know with about a 90% certainty that Claude will be against whatever Edelgard’s doing. Dimitri, I’m not so sure.”

Yuri nodded, taking in the information. “We need stronger people going to Dimitri, then, just in case he sided with her.”

“Which is why I decided that it would be best for all of us to go together. Dimitri has that one assassin with him- the Black Cat or whatever his alias is.”

“It’s Felix. I wouldn't forget the name of such a hunk of a man.” Hiram practically swooned.

Hapi rolled her eyes. “...Right. So, we start with Claude and then move on to Dimitri.”

Rhys raised his hand for a moment, making Hiram shush everyone. He said nothing, only jutting a thumb at you as if asking ‘what do we do about this chick?’ The room was quiet for a moment, then Constance clapped her hands together.

“She can stay and take care of Yuri!”

“What?” You and the previously mentioned man cried out.

He turned and glared at you. “You lot are going to entrust my healing to the same bitch that shot me? No. I’m coming with you all.”

Balthus shook his head. “She’s right, Boss. You could barely walk down here. You need to rest before you get back in the game.”

“Yeah,” Hiram began to laugh, “I’m sure Miss Girl will fix you right up. Maybe she’s better at caretaking than she is running away.”

You returned Yuri’s glare, but quickly switched it to Hiram. He lost his smile and quirked up an eyebrow, as if challenging you to say something. You didn’t.

“We leave tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock. Yuri, you sleep in. Y/N, be up early to change his bandages.”

Hapi stood and stretched, letting out a large yawn before walking out of the kitchen.

The rest of the group followed, Yuri lagging behind as Balthus helped him walk. His lavender eyes pierced into you, obviously extremely angry at you. You shuddered. You absolutely did not want to be alone with him tomorrow.

Dreading morning, you went to your room and tucked yourself back under the velvet sheets, watching the hall light turn off and listening to Hiram’s annoying voice echo throughout the walls.

“Goodnight y’all! Sweet dreams- except for the Princess, of course.”

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