#because at the start of the game sylvain can't be EITHER of these things to anyone

[randomnameless]

Why do the FEH devs insist on ignoring Nabatean lore so much?

I recently had a surprisingly cordial discussion on redshit with someone about the "nabateans = colonisers" take, and one of the main points raised was that the game was purposedly foggy around Nabateans/Sothis/their story because it would obviously favor a certain narrative (and thus make another narrative look, uh, not that marketable anymore).

To be honest, we still ended up with a product that had a lead go "this race and its blood* is the reason why the world sucks" and yet that lead is still marketable enough to have raunchy cipher cards and 5 FEH alts, so I actually wonder if, while pissing on that lore had that purpose, it was ultimately pointless since Supreme Leader can still sell goodies despite her incarnation in FE16.

And not only Supreme Leader - but the entirety of WC where we basically have 70% of the cast crying/complaining about their "mixed blood" or lack of and basically adding their 10 cents to the "this race and its blood is the reason why the world sucks".

I mean, can you imagine Sylvain selling any goodies and alts if Flayn replied to his "wah wah people only are kind to me and want to fuck me because I have Nabatean blood :(" by some uncharacteristic "good for you, I have to hide my ears, had to dye my hair, have to lie about my family because if the truth is found out about my identity, I will be hunted and vivisected like an animal and harvested for parts by people who call my kin abominations - just like what happens in the game where the same people who call my kin "abominations" ally with a classmate who calls me a creature and pretends I am incapable of human feelings based on my race".

FE Fodlan's main selling point is its cast of students, for various reasons, but even if I tried to kid myself, Nopes and FEH made it clears : students are the main selling point.

If you spare more time and attention to the Nabatean plot/lore, the students either grow from "likeable" to "despicable" or worse, you won't gaf about them because yeah sure, Hilda might be upset because people expect things from her due to her crust, but it would feel like a "peanut" compared to Seteth's irrational (granted, it's not so irrational since GW exists) fear that Flayn's newest friends would dissect her if they learnt she was a Nabatean, and being conflicted by finally letting her have human friends and form bonds she crave, or protect her due to the trauma from the genocide of their species.

Don't get me wrong, I love peanuts, I mean, not everyone can have a tragik of loaded backstory!

And yet, given how this verse's DNA is "can you fight against the red emperor who uwus about you", they had to add copious amounts of Earl Grey to their games so there's no clear-cut factions :

The "Your alien blood and its influence on the world corrupted it, so I want to reform it under my command" vs "I don't want to die and you oppose me due to my race and side with the people who genocided my kin"

is turned to :

"Your alien blood Crests and its your church's influence on the world corrupted it, so I want to reform it under my command"

"I don't want to die and you oppose me due to my race and side with the people who genocided my kin"

Sprinkle with the cast's hammering here and there that the "reforms" might be needed - but never develop on what they are - and add a few baseless and groundless takes as a toping (basically everything Claude says about tolerance and the general "isolationism/foreign policy" stuff) and you get FE Fodlan where the Red Emperor's war isn't seen as the catastrophe it is in the other entries from the series!

Now, for FEH...

FWIW, the F!F!Billy's trailer had them try to explain that Sothis was a bit pissed about her slaughtered/massacred children when Nopes never gave any reason about why she was pissed - maybe on Billy's behalf bcs Jerry's dead, but come on, she would indeed deserve the medal of the worst parent in the franchise if that was the case, since Billy can murder her daughter without Sothis taking over ! - but given that they cannot write/go against the source game those characters are from.

They tried a bit, with B!Supreme Leader and Hegemongard's FB, but then it stopped (because she had no "new unit" released since then lol) and I can understand why : Hegemongard came out before the Supreme Emblem, and Hegemongard hates dragons who are seen/perceived as gods by some of their human followers. Come FE17, and now Supreme Emblem accepts Alear because they are "one of the good ones". We can come up with HCs and details and talk about what are emblems or if Hegemongard's views were only hers at the end of AM all day long... But imo, Doylist wise, it still feels it's a retcon because the devs from the main games tried to scrap and remove the most "controversial" traits she had.

For the other characters... Well, you see what Marianne is in FEH (but even in her base games), she's one of the few characters who reacts - in a way - to the partial history about relics and demonic beasts and all... only to give sad uwus to Maurice.

FE16 (and Nopes) refused to have any "student" character react to the Nabatean lore/reveal, about what are relics and all. There are no lines, Claude shared some knowledge in the explore section of VW's last chapter, but we don't have anyone muse or think or even talk about what are relics, what are crests, and what kind of fuckery their ancestors or the ancient humans of Fodlan did.

With that in mind, FEH can't do much : either they write Marianne in a retcon-y way like what happened for Hegemongard (and they're not afraid to piss on characterisation, look at Lyon!), or they flanderise her "character" and develop her around 3 lines she had in the game in her paralogue, and continue to give sad uwus about Momo when he was at best a guy who slaughtered and murdered so much that he abused the Nabatean turned into a relic to the point where he turned in a demonic beast even if he had a matching crest, or at worst, had been part of Nemesis's piñata party in Zanado and was something of a genocider.

Tldr :

Why FE Fodlan never gaf about Nabateans : earl grey + the marketable cast has to stay marketable and you can't sell peanuts at the same price you'd sell swordfish

Why FEH dgaf about Nabatean lore : they can't afford to retcon characters + they have to sell peanut alts with the same seasoning they had in their base game.

For what it's worth though, I think FEH is more daring than the base game(s) given how they gave more lines and screentime to Rhea - through her different alts - than GW. And they even designed her Halloween!alt's lines to piss on some of Claude's assertions, while the various FB involving members of the church also - indirectly - reply to some accusations thrown their way in FE16 when, FE16, never gave them an opportunity or lines to explain that those takes were full of dung.

*"but random, maybe she doesn't know that the crests she often decries is "dragon blood"!"

It's highly debatable, especially given what she and Hubert throw to Billy in CF - but even if she doesn't, Doylist wise we still have a character who, knowingly or not, says "this race and its blood* is the reason why the world sucks" and who is never called out on her prejudice. That's more of an issue regarding the general writing though, she has to be a red emperor and took pages from Ashnard's book, and yet, the player must still feel bad and want to romance her, so her mindest/goal cannot be looked at too closely, because, I guess, even the devs thought it would be difficult to romance her (thus sell goodies!) if more light was shed on the "blood from this race corrupts our people" schtick -> which in turn would also make characters whose backstory and gimmick rely on "crying about crests" be way less likeable, thus marketable and able to sell goodies.

[ronsenburg]

tbh I think dimitri calling sylvain an older brother figure in the jp version of the game says a lot more about dimitri than it does sylvain…

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

s i hope i'm not being presumptuous here but. i would like to hear your sylvain/seteth brainworms

MY AGENDA. IT'S WORKING.

Okay okay okay. Hear me out: (un)stoppable force v. immovable object, Sylvain being the former. Which isn't to say Seteth is a rigid stick in the mud--he can't be for this to work. Only that living for so long means his constant state (i.e. the thing he can't be moved from) is one of at least some adaptability. In other words: we have a volatile force who can (and does) at one point change for the better, and an object that's essentially a stalk of bamboo in the breeze.

The potentials here are endless.

I have another post somewhere in my blog about Setvain, but that's mainly pertaining to a blurb I had about them in Princes (in which they will not, unfortunately, be getting together). But I think Crests would invite a very interesting friction between them. Sylvain has a disdain for Crests that never really goes away. Seteth is one of the few people left in this world who understands what Crests are. And, as far as I'm concerned, Sylvain's attitude reminds him of how he felt when his people were first brutalized. To see the remnants of your family paraded around like trophies and lauded as blessings--I don't think the hurt that comes from that ever truly goes away. But once it's been done, it's done. You cannot strip Crests away from Fódlani society in one fell swoop without being utterly and indisputably morally bankrupt (read: dabbling in eugenics or creating a new social system wherein the Crested are on the bottom).

ANYWAY. Tangent over. Seteth has had time to come to this conclusion. Even if it'll never be true peace of mind, it's peaceful. The truth of the matter is that Sylvain has a Crest, and it is of value. I think Seteth is the perfect person to help him come to terms with that, given that Sylvain has a very nasty habit of objectifying himself, either as a son or potential spouse.

On the other hand, Sylvain has a very interesting and, dare I say healthy, relationship with duty. At least by the end of the game.

We're introduced to Sylvain as someone who's acting diametrically oppositional to how he knows he'll need to act in the future--but he never lets it affect him long-term. He enjoys himself (even if this enjoyment is debatably a method of emotional self-harm, given it feeds into his self-objectification), but when shit gets real he's one of the first to be on top of it. He's emotionally intelligent, even if it takes a while for him to become emotionally mature, and that informs a lot of his more level-headed beliefs. In this instance, when it comes to accepting the reality of the situation ("I'm gonna be margrave one day, might as well party-hardy while I can"), he's swapped places with Seteth.

Because Seteth has his own unrealistic ways about walking through the world, and they all boil down to Flayn.

Though not informed by nothing (see: that oft-forgotten genocide before the start of the game), he is incredibly, unhealthily protective of Flayn. I would argue he is unrealistically protective, the same way Sylvain has unrealistic expectations of women. Yes, some people are going to act the way you fear they will, but to let that inform every single decision you make in this one area of your life--flirting with someone or raising your daughter, for example--is to take the long route of shooting yourself in the foot. You become a self-fulfilling prophecy. You act as though women will treat you like meat, and so you're likely to attract those same women; you have been proven right. In Seteth's case it's more like confirmation bias, where he feared the worst and close to the worst happened, so all of his previous behaviours have been justified--though credit where credit is due, he does send Flayn to school in the interest of self-defence. (Emotional growth and human interaction being bonuses, I guess.)

Seteth does not need advice on how to raise his daughter, per se, but I think the input of someone who was raised with more weighty expectations placed upon him than he has fingers and toes would mean something. And depending on WHEN in canon we're talking about, this can take on different tones. Pre- any sort of relationship, before the kidnapping, and Seteth has actually managed to corner Sylvain and foist advice onto him? Sylvain would passive-aggressively offer advice he genuinely believed in pertaining to how Seteth managed his younger sister. Post-kidnapping, and perhaps a one- or two-night stand for stress relief on either end? Sylvain would be more earnest and serious in reminding Seteth he is not the goddess and couldn't have possibly done anything differently--not without making her hate him indefinitely for keeping her cooped up in a tower a la Rapunzel like he very clearly has the urge to at times. If he worded it specifically that way, I think Seteth would have perhaps a more volatile reaction--because while he isn't the goddess, he is her kin, and if the world were different he would have been able to use that truth of him to protect her more thoroughly.

So we now have two men who have been irreversibly altered by the world, in a way that allows them to offer a different, calmer perspective on the facts at hand, while at the same time giving them emotional blindspots that are perfectly in the field of vision of the other. We have the basis of what so profoundly intrigues me about them. Which leads me to my next and final statement:

I just think DDILF (dragon dad i'd like to fuck) dick would fix him <3 or at least calm him down a bit.

[amitieos]

toa anniversary munday!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Nic

Pronouns: they/them

Birthday (no year): 14th July

Where are you from? What is your time zone? UK, GMT (or BST but don't get me started on daylight savings I'll explode)

How long is your roleplay experience? Does playing A Bug's Life on the playground when I was 5 count? If not, I started with rping HP characters with my friends when I was like 11-12 over MSN after school and whilst there have been breaks it's something I've always found myself coming back to.

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? As above, I made a couple of friends on (unrelated) forums and we all just thought it'd be fun.

How were you introduced to TOA? I thought I missed rp and looked for an FE based rp.

Do you have any pets? Yes, all hail Catcat the Great.

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) Summer. I hate the heat and humiditiy but once there's no daylight the seasonal affective disorder bass boosts my chronic mental health issues and it's just a bad time really.

What is your IRL occupation? I've gone back to uni to study Law :)

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? I love reading, I'm fascinated by linguistics and astrophysics, enjoy DnD and playing video games in my spare time. I'm a particular sucker for the Sims franchise.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Recently I've been playing BG3, Stardew Valley, The Sims & Fields of Mistria but I'm a big fan of the Persona series and really, really excited about Dragon Age The Veilguard

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: I don't really play Pokemon much anymore but I'll just say Sylveon I guess

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! I met the fourth Doctor when I was 11 and he complemented my vocabulary lmao. I once got published in a poetry anthology with a poem about Shadow the Hedgehog and my parents we so proud of me.

How did you get into Fire Emblem? I think I saw a review on TV

What Fire Emblem games have you played? I've attempted to play every game except 1/2/3/5/11, although I've really wanted to play Thracia I just *need* some QoL updates and controls. I haven't finished every single one because of lost/deleted saves and stuff but I've watched playthroughs and read up on scripts on everything I haven't actually played myself.

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: My first was Fates but Jugdral, Magvel and 3 Houses are my favourite

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! Elincia, Mercedes, Franz, Myrrh and ughhhh I can't choose between Chole/Yunaka/Sylvain so I'm cheating

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! I saw Ryoma in all that red armour and it grabbed my attention.

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 Miss Mercedes if you're free Thursday night

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? - Awakening: Chrom, originally be accident but now on purpose :D - Fates: My first was Takumi and I didn't know what an S support was and was very confused. Nowadays usually Kaze or Laslow if playing F!Corrin and Orochi, Nyx or Charlotte if playing M!Corrin. Niles for either. - Three Houses: Mercedes. She's still my go to ofc but I'm also fond of Dorothea, Dimitri and Sylvain. If I'm playing M!Byleth Yuri or Ingrid - Engage: Yunaka was my first and now it's either Yunaka, Diamant or Chloe. Or Mauvier maybe hahfsdgfsd

Favorite Fire Emblem class? I love Pegasus Knights!!!!!!!

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? Probably a reluctant recruit who accidentally gets involved. Weirdly magic based armoured character.

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? (Black Eagles, Blue Lions, Golden Deer, Church of Seiros, Those Who Slither in the Dark, unaffiliated civilian, other - for example Almyran) Either unaffiliated civilian or Blue Lions probably

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? Boons: Lance, Reason, Heavy Armour Banes: Bow, Faith Budding Talent: idk Axes or Flying?

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? (Firene, the Kingdom of Abundance; Brodia, the Kingdom of Might; Elusia, the Kingdom of Knowledge; Solm, the Queendom of Freedom; Lythos, the holy land of the Divine Dragon; Gradlon, the desolate land of the Fell Dragon) No idea! Probably Elusia or Firene. The Solm heat would literally kill me.

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔(separate letters, to-ah, other?) TOA ;) (like Noah)

Current TOA muses: Elincia & Mercedes

Past TOA muses? A lot but most memorable to me are Sylvain and Julia, though I'm so excited to see Sylvain in good hands <3

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Elincia and I still have her.

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? White magic girlies though I'm trying to change things up.

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? Hm, I wish I felt I could write more of the male characters I enjoy effectively. In most other fandoms I've written in most of my muses have been men but it's just not so in FE. I'd also love to write a villain okay I once genuinely considered Hilda FE4 lmao

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) I like writing dialogue and characters bonding but I'm starting to like more action oriented scenes too.

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? For Mercedes in particular I get excited to write her steel and strength, especially when it's combined with her gentleness rather than opposed to it.

Favorite TOA-related memories? Every thread I've writen with Elincia and Rua's Byleth <3

Present or past tense? I tend to default to present in TOA but usually past tense. I'm flexible though and will try and match my partner.

Normal size text, small text, no preference? I actually find small text easier to focus in on and read (I can find normal a bit too cluttered and it can send my eyes wandering lmao) but I'm perfectly happy to use normal text, it just takes me a bit longer to comb through.

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 I can't see a shake up happening soon but... Zephia or Chloe are probably forerunners. I've thought about Palla and Astrid too but I'm not sure if I can see the longevity. Also Neimi, Myrrh and Rodrigue have sparked.... ideas. For muses I've written before, Julia is the most likely but I think she's having a nice break right now :)

[omgkalyppso]

things I would like to know about fellow writers

I was tagged by @dustdeepsea, thank you!! (:

Putting a cut in this because I'm very specific in some sexual language (not about my sexual history).

For this reason I'm too shy to tag anyone else, but if you see this and want to answer the questions, please consider yourself tagged by me.

Last book I read: The last book I finished must've been American Gods.

Greatest literary inspiration: I don't know. I like reading for reading and for learning, but no one that I really want to write like, and I feel bad for naming big names, still. JRR Tolkien, Douglas Adams, Diane Duane, Isaac Asimov (the short story Liar! has really stuck with me). And even then, that might influence how I used to write original fiction, but not at all how I write fanfiction, which I do almost exclusively now. I write far more original poetry than original fiction, and then ... I'm inspired by my mother, people in my community, all the music I listen to.

My fanfiction is a little inspired by my friends. I was going to link their a/o3 accounts but realized they may not want that. fghdfghdfg

Things in my current fandom I want to read but I don't want to write: Let's think of 3 for bg3 and 3 for fire emblem.

Vlaakith's defeat. - Idk enough about githyanki politics / how many "elite" forces (if any) are at her disposal.

Minsc's homecoming. - I feel like I'd have to play the first two games to be up to this.

He Who Was in control of his faculties but subbing very sweetly for Tav/Durge of any gender with bondage, hair pulling, overstimulation, spanking and the presence of a knife (I'd say knifeplay, but I don't mean bloodplay / cutting for him). - Reminder that this isn't a w/endy's, it's my blog.

Slowburn, longfic of Marianne moving to Faerghus with her eventual marriage to Dimitri. - Time.

Shura holding Kana for the first time. - I could write this. I won't.

Kink scene, free-use Hilda where her inner monologue is as complex as she is while still being wildly indulgent. - I started this wip; Hubert was also up for grabs in it. But it isn't happening.

Wait, also, Sylvain x Mercedes x Dedue starting a relationship with miscommunication and pining. - Planning this feels hard. fghdfg

Things in my current fandoms I want to write but I think nobody would be interested in them but me: 

With the note that I know I have at least 5 enablers who will (probably?? fdghfgdhfdg) always express interest in my completion of a project even if the won't read it, and so "nobody" being interested applies to strangers:

Komira and Locke, either domesticity or sexual intimacy.

A fic where Wyll and Ulder talk and it results in reconciliation, and then a bigger rift, and then understanding (people really don't like Ulder).

My Blaiddyd Bastard oc Almanzor learning to let go of the hang-ups on sex his parents gave him and fucking my oc Peregrine.

My oc Fae as a Student AU longfic.

You can recognise my writing by: The temptation to insult my own writing is so, so strong, but I don't mean to insult anyone who reads my stuff and enjoys it so I have to be nice. Hm. I don't know. "The way I write dialogue / inner reflection" is vague, but it's all I've got.

My most controversial take (current fandom): You guys (gender neutral and vague) can't call that shit self-insert if it's a non-human Tav (or Durge). It's first or second person writing (often, and not even always lately???), and x Reader fic, but self-insert To Me means that either any reader or at least the author has to be able to picture themself Being Inserted into the story. I haven't seen 1 isekai situation using this tag, which isn't a requirement, but you're giving the self-insert tiefling-tails and backstories, which is fun, but that's not a self-insert to me.

Top three favourite tropes: Slowburn (or emotional slowburn, sexually complicated), Hurt/Comfort (emotional or physical, whatever), Battle Relationship.

What’s your current writing mood (10 – super motivated and churning out words like crazy, 0 – in a complete rut): How current is current? Because potentially 0/10. I'll say 4/10 though.

Share a random frustration: I hate psyching myself out of a project because I worry something won't make sense (and I should post it anyway) or that it won't be up to my personal standards for myself.

[three-duck-houses]

@fe-oc-week day 6 - Supports

So I skipped days 4 and 5, Tragedy and Joy, because I really can't work out what to do for them? The only thing she would consider a tragedy is her mum dying the day she turned 11, and she makes an effort to find as much joy as possible in the little every day things, like sun rises and sun sets and clean air and tasty food and being near people she likes. Just too many things to list

For Supports, I don’t tend to think of Nico in terms of fitting her into the game mechanics (with branching paths and joining different classes), it’s more of a linear story that has conversations at various points that I guess could count as Support convos? Though saying that, I know that one and one conversations with most everyone do all happen at one point or another (if Shez and Byleth get to talk to everyone, so does Nico!) however where most of her story is still living in my head as a giant jumble to half cooked ideas and snippets of dialogue... I'll just share what I've already got for a few people

So here's some of my favourite bits of dialogue and short scenes? =3 (and a few scene outlines because my brain Will Not Work properly)

Conversations with Leonie, Hilda, Lorenz, Felix, Shez, Claude, Sylvain

Leonie:

When Nico first gets to the academy - 

“Leonie! Hello darling, it’s great to see you!” she said, reaching out and pulling her friend into a quick hug before stepping back and holding her by her elbows as she gave her an exaggerated once over. “And oooh, look at you! Dressed up all fancy. It really suits you. Give us a twirl? Niiice. Now give me another one so I can check out something other than your ass? And your legs, phew, didn’t think I’d ever see so much of them out in public like this.”

Leonie burst out laughing as she cuts the start of her second spin short and shoves at Nico’s shoulder with a fond eye roll and faint blush. But she’s quickly reminded that they aren’t at Sauin village where everyone knows what they’re like, and are in fact surrounded by strangers when she hears a few other people also laugh while still more splutter from drinking at the wrong moment or make scandalised sounding gasps. And through it all, a laugh she vaguely recognises. She looked round, and found Lady Hilda sitting at the nearby table next to Yellow cape–no, he was Claude, and she was still kinda mad at him–, and she’d half turned towards her to say hi when Leonie’s words made her freeze

“Yeah, I didn’t either, but my uniform choices were this or a dress. It’s surprisingly comfortable, when you get used to it. What have you picked for yours?”

Her eyes snapped back to Leonie, hoping her friend was joking, but no, no it didn’t look like she was.

“Run that by me again? Did you say the options are a skirt or a dress?”

“Huh? Well, yeah. I was pretty miffed about it too, but they seemed kinda strict about it, long held tradition or something.”

She turned to Shez and Byleth, who were watching the conversation with vague interest, and silently asked them what the fuck with a head tilt and brow lift.

“You don't remember us going to see the tailors last night after we talked to Professor Hanneman? Well, we did, and we've picked out what we want, but you were too out of it to pick yourself, so we said we'd go back later today. Oh. They needed your measurements to get started on your shirts, so me and By got them, so they wouldn’t be touching you.”

Well. That was one thing to be thankful for, she supposed, giving Shez a grateful smile, then glancing down at Byleth when she felt a light touch on the back of her hand to find her cousin looking up at her, the faintest of frown lines between her brows, and shifted her smile over into reassuring.

“I’m fine, honest. Just gonna have to talk to them is all.”

“Aww, what’s the matter Nico?” Leonie asked with a laugh in her voice. “You can’t tell me you’re afraid to show a little leg yourself, I’ve seen what you dance in.”

Shaking her head fondly she turned back, noting that Hilda had left her seat and was walking towards them so she needed to wrap this up quickly.

“You know damn well how much of me I’m happy to show, but when you’ve got some free time how about I take you up on Kilani and you can find out how much of a pain in the ass it is to ride a wyvern in a skirt?”

Hilda:

When Nico gets to the monastery, and she’s meeting everyone along with Byleth and Shez, she’s just introduced herself the the Great Lord’s heirs and offered to do anything she can to help them, since she’s employed by Lady Daphnel and trying to build a good rapport with these noble kids - 

"Except you. If you want me to buy you more beads you need to start learning Almyran properly and come with me. I'm not having you yell at me for buying you what you ask me for again."

Hilda laughed, rolling her eyes, then started her familiar argument

"I asked for lapis lazuli seed beads Nico–"

"No, you asked for blue–"

"And you bought me turquoise cut gems–"

"Turquoise is blue! I bought you blue stones with holes in them! I tried, ok? This is why you need to come with me!"

End of Harpstring, after the class’ first main mission in which Nico took an arrow to the back of the shoulder for Claude, and then an axe hit to her arm while pushing Hilda out of the way of an attack. Hilda and Leonie have gone with Nico back to the eyrie to help her unsaddle Kilani, since her arm’s in a sling. Probably their C support? - 

“Nico, why’d you take that hit for me? You know I’m not actually a delicate flower, don’t you?”

“I know, I know. But I still didn’t want to see you get hurt. Even if you could have taken it, it would still have caused you pain, and I just… don’t want to see you hurt. I honestly do like you Hilda, and I’d like to be friends someday.”

“Wait, you think we aren’t friends already?”

“Huh? I mean, um…”

“Nico!”

“I didn’t want to presume! You are a noble after all, and you’ve paid me to run errands and do stuff for you before! I thought you might still see me as a messenger, or like, a merc who works with Holst sometimes.”

Leonie, who was on the other side of the wyvern stall, started sniggering

“Don’t mind her Hilda, Nico’s pretty bad at knowing when she’s made a friend, she asked me if she could call me one after we’d known each other six months.”

“Leonie!!!”

“Haha, I see! In that case yes Nico, we are friends. And I think Marianne and Lysithea would probably say you are too, so how about we all go and get tea together at some point, yeah?”

“Huh? Oh, um, yeah. Yeah, I’d like that.”

Lorenz:

Lorenz pissed Nico off when they first met because he didn’t like the way she’d talked to Leonie, and reminded her several times that he was a noble who had standards. So when she went back to Daphnel for her first weekend running messages and she offered to take stuff for the rest of the class, she made a point of charging him, since he was a noble, not one of her classmates or friends. This happens shortly after that

“Hey, um, Lorenz? Do you have a second?”

“Yes? What can I do for you?”

“I. I wanted to apologise for the way I spoke to you on Friday,” she said, dropping into a bow and focusing on his shoes, which were of course perfectly polished. “And for all of my conduct towards you so far, in fact. I know I’ve been a real brat towards you, because what you said when we met kinda annoyed me, but that’s no excuse for my frankly terrible behaviour and attitude. You of course aren’t obligated to, but I was wondering if perhaps we could try to start over?”

His feet shuffled in place while he made a vaguely surprised noise, and she could hear their classmates still tidying books and lingering at desks. She hated having to do this in front of them, but, well, she had made the point of charging him for delivering his message and then warping him away to his dad’s office in front of them too, so it was only fair.

“I accept your apology. And as to starting over, ahem. I am Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

She slowly rose up from her bow, looking up and finding him giving her a small, tight looking smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

“The pleasure is mine Lord Gloucester. I am Nicolita Eisner, but please, call me Nico. Do you think you might be free at all in the next few days to join me for some hot leaf juice, do you think?”

She bit her lip as she watched his eyes fly wide and he started to splutter, colour rushing to his cheeks and looking like he was trying to be a kettle fit to boil over, before he paused, and narrowed his eyes at her. She shrunk down a little, and felt her shoulders hunch despite herself. Yeah, she’d been trying to wind him up by calling it leaf juice, but she did actually want to have tea with him

“Humph. Very well. But I must insist that you refrain from referring to it as such. While I acknowledge that not all of the blends that are generally called tea deserve the title, those blends do have their own proper names, such as tinctures and tisanes. Come along, and I can begin teaching you the differences now.”

Felix:

End of Harpstring, her dead mother’s birthday. Nico has been trying to keep her head down and not interact with people, and Felix has been trying to goad her into sparring despite her and Byleth telling him to stop - this would be C- I think? -

"Tch, what's the matter? Scared to fight me now I know the sort of dirty tricks you like to play? You truly are pathetic"

That makes her snap, spinning to face him and magic sparking out of her, like in one of those static ball things, and leaving faint scorch marks on the floor near her

"For fucks sake Felix! I'd heard Sylvain was the insatiable one who didn't understand the concept of 'no', but were all those rumours really about you instead? Are you really the type of guy to keep pushing and pushing after a girl's turned you down, and ignore all her attempts to politely make you back off? I’m thinking maybe they were, since Sylvain has been nothing but a gentleman since I met him"

Felix is horrified, because of what she's implying. And Sylvain's a little surprised, because er, does she not remember their date?

“I said no. I said I don’t want to. I am now saying to fuck the hell off and leave me alone and just don’t talk to me about anything, ever, you spoiled little noble brat! It’s more than time you grew the fuck up, learned some manners and learned to fucking listen to people other than yourself!”

Later the same day, Nico returns to the monastery from where she’d stormed off, and goes to find Felix in the dining hall - 

"What do you want?" he bites out, and it's an effort to swallow from how dry her mouth suddenly is as she tries to remember what she wanted to say

She bows to him, a full proper one with all the respect he deserves, and says "I'm sorry. I was in a bad mood but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. You did nothing to deserve what I said to you, and my words towards you were completely unwarranted and unjustified, and the insinuation I made was unnecessarily cruel. I truly regret my actions, and any harm I've caused you, and will do whatever you want to make things right, if I can."

She waits, holding the bow, for his reaction, and has to bite her lip to try and hide her flinch when he scoffs

"If you think that drivel you spouted will make everything better–" he starts with a barely suppressed snarl in his voice, and she knows it's rude and will probably make everything worse, but she cuts across him

"No, I don't think it'll make things better. I understand if there is nothing I can ever say or do to make up for the pain I caused you or any damage to your reputation. But in case there is, please know I will say or do whatever you deem necessary to make things right"

Silence. And she internally cringes because it's the sort of silence that means everyone in the hall has stopped and is watching, and if anyone hadn't known what happened before then they'd find out now and this was a terrible idea what was she thinking she was such a fucking moron

"Idiot," Felix spits, followed by a tch of him clicking his tongue. "Go away. I don't want to deal with you right now. You disgust me"

(this one isn’t even dialogue, just how the scene would go, but shhhh, pretend it is?) This would be… either C+ or B I guess? - 

After everyone’s settled down, she goes to Kilani’s saddle bags and pulls out her set of poi, and moves to a bit of the clearing away from Felix, because they still aren’t exactly on the best of terms from the whole insulting him thing, and starts practising. Hits herself a few times, but mostly does ok

She keeps track of the time, and when their shift is over she looks over at Felix, trying to build herself up to face the cold hostility she’s sure she’s about to get from him, but finds him staring at her, looking considering and calculating, and what? Tentatively calls his name, and he blinks a few times, then tch’s, looking away from her. Says her footwork was interesting was all, he was studying it to see if any of it could be applied to his swordsmanship.

She stares at him, because huh. Didn’t expect him to admit that. But her silence seems to bother him, and he shifts, crossing his arms, then huffs loudly.

Asks if she’d be willing to teach him how to do all that, and she’s a little surprised. Because she hadn’t been entirely sure they were back on good terms… They hadn’t interacted much since the whole blow up at him thing?

He tch’s again, and says she had a point, he was wrong, he’s been trying to be better about it. And… he wants to learn how to do what she did. Not just with these balls on strings. But with the moving around in fights. The dodging out of the way, and all the footwork. And he saw her dancing in town, and the moves she used looked... He thinks it’d be useful for his fighting. Please.

It’s the please that gets her. Because wow. Progress!!!

Shez:

So Nico and Shez are pretty close before the game even starts, so it’s difficult to work out what would even count as supports for them. But I really do love this scene so I’mma share it =3

Context is Byleth and Shez started the Ashen Wolves DLC while Nico was away running messages for Judith, only Judith told her to take a few hours off while she wrote supplies so Nico made a giant pool at the Troupes camp and was teaching the kids to swim when she felt Byleth turn back time (long story). So she warped to Byleth while still in her under things, and joined in the fight in that outdoor map below the cathedral bridge, but because of the excess amount of Sothis magic down there her magical senses are dulled, and she kinda hasn’t noticed anyone else who takes part in the DLC are kinda hanging back to stay out of the way of her attacks… - 

A sharp slice across her collarbone as she didn’t step back either quick or far enough, and she hissed in pain, then growled as she felt her top which just got cut through slide down to leave one side of her chest exposed, and then hung loose and distracting off her other shoulder as the knot got stuck in the rings at the back 

“Nico? What’s wro–” Shez’s question dissolved into splutters, and then a grunt of pain, and she glanced over to where she was pretty sure he was to see him sprawled on the floor, cheeks a bright red, and a construct standing over him with an axe.

Sighing, she reached out and waved a hand, shooting ice up from either side of Shez to impale the enemy.

“Oh I’m sorry Shez, don’t tell me you got distracted by my non-existent tits?” she asked sweetly sharp, keeping half an eye on him as he scrambled to his feet

“For the love of–gnnngh! I said it one time, and that was months ago! How are you still not over that yet?”

“You’re right, you did only say I’m flatter than a wash board with grapes nailed to it one time, yeah. But there was another time when you said the only shape I have is because of an excessive amount of ruffles! And maybe I’ll start getting over it when you apologise??”

“What? I already did!”

“Bollocks did you!”

“I did! You were yelling at me in the healers tent and started to cry and stopped as soon as I said I was sorry!”

“When I was in…” She stopped after kicking one of the things in the stomach then spinning round to get the momentum to behead it cleanly. She uses this quick lull in the fight to yank at her top, pulling the knot through the rings so it was free and she could drop it to the floor, where it wouldn't distract her by flapping and shifting and tickling her back

“Shez. Darling. Love. Sweetheart–”

“Uh oh”

“–Light of my life. Did you perhaps apologise to me during the three days I lost because I had a mother fucking concussion from being thrown head first into a tree saving your sorry ass from the giant wolves you pissed off?!”

“. . . well when you put it that way–”

“As soon as we’re done murdering these bitches I’m smacking you upside the head you flaming sack of putrid festering duck shit!”

Claude:

Shahid attacked the Locket while the Goddess’ Rite of Rebirth was going on (because he’d heard someone tried to murder some of the Alliances heirs last month, so the Alliance must be weak right now), so the Deer have to ditch protecting the Sword in order to beat up Shahid. Nico provides some psychological horror to the Almyran’s before warping them all back to the capital, and then has a quick conversation with Nader before sending him back to explain that they’re all going home in one piece this time because of her debt to queen Tia—--

Nico blue screens as she puts together that Tiana is the same name as Oswald’s daughter/Claude mum and the Fodlani born Almyran queen and huh

The next day, when Nico wakes up from her magical overexertion nap and Claude catches her in the eyrie -

“So, about what happened with Nader yesterday. I guess that means you kno–”

She spun around and practically lept towards him, slapping her hand over his mouth as she grabbed his shoulder and pushed him backwards until he hit the wall out of sight of the doorway. She squeezed tighter when his hands seem to instinctively go to her wrist and try to pull her off him, and she had to look away from his eyes and focus on a spot just past his ear when she saw how alarmed, confused, and wary betrayed he was, because it made something in her chest ache something fierce to see how he still didn’t trust her, despite everything. But she pushed that aside for the moment, because he needed to hear this! 

“Look. There is a very fine line between me strongly suspecting something because of facts I’ve pieced together, and me knowing something because someone else has confirmed it. Right now, I can honestly say if anyone asks that I don’t know who or where your parents are. So I need you to be very careful about what you say to me from now on so you don’t tip me suspecting over into me knowing. Understand?”

A light seemed to flicker on behind his eyes, which were darting all over her face as she slowly lifted her hand off his mouth and let go of him, and then he slowly nodded, something like a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips

“Yeah, I understand. I… yeah.”

She nodded at him, then turned to go back to making sure she’d packed all of Kilani’s things properly, but he grabbed her shirt sleeve, gently tugging, and she looked back at him in surprise, because huh?

“Thanks, Nico. For not saying anything yesterday.”

She gave him a look, brows raised and lips quirked, and shook her head with a sigh

“Don’t be dumb, Claude. You don’t need to thank me for something like that. You should know by now I’ll have your back when I can, alright? No matter if that’s from swords, axes, arrows, or info”

~~

And then a few days/a week later, when Judith comes and gets Claude and takes him back to Deidriu to sit in on the Roundtable, Judith brings Nico along too so she can then fly Claude back (so Judith doesn’t have to make the trip there and back again)

And Nico realises that every time she’s spoken Almyran in front of Claude, he’s understood it. And she starts trying to remember all the things she’s said in front of him, and remembers the whole “We could always bribe these three with the literal Prince’s ransom I’ve been offered to track down the youngest prince if you want me to go take that job?” conversation from after Remire

So she goes to find him, and they have a little conversation where she asks him if that was why he didn’t like her at the start of the year, and he’s annoying and reminds her he’s not meant to do or say anything to confirm either way anything she suspects, and she’s very grrrrr at him because he has a point but also she can tell he’s being a wind up, till he laughs and says yeah,  he understood what she said, and while he knew she worked for Judith and she’d said she worked for Gramps, he didn’t know how far her loyalty would last when she was worried about keeping Byleth and her chest rock away from the monastery

And oooooooh, fuck. She’d forgotten she’d talked about that. Yeah, no, not acknowledging that he just said that, moving on

~~

There’s then what would probably be a B support that happens at the White Heron Ball, but I need to rewrite that because I wrote it ages ago and I don’t know if it’ll fit in with various changed I’ve made to the rest now, but tl:dr is Claude asks Nico what she plans to do after they graduate, Nico says not sure, depends what Byleth and Shez do, but probably go back to working for Lady Daphnel at least part of the time, and Claude asks if she’d want to come work for him maybe?

And She kinda does… but she’s got this whole thing about not flirting with people who pay her, and she was really looking forward to trying to flirt with him a little after she wasn’t being paid to kinda look after/keep an eye on him or do whatever he asks her to?

Que conversation where they talk around how they both feel about that, with a few hypotheticals thrown around by both of them ;3

Sylvain:

So what would be their C support (where Sylvain takes her on a date and she doesn’t realise it’s a date because he reminds her so much of one of her troupe cousins and has unconsciously fallen into the sort of banter she has with that cousin) is a giant mess of half formed ideas and half written conversations which I can’t share

But their B- support happens after the Gronder fight, because Nico did something stupid to save some people from the troupe as the students made their way back towards the monastery and completely drained herself of magic and gets stuck in bed (she shares a room with Byleth because reasons) and is bored - 

Nico is stuck in bed for 3 days after they get back. She is bored stupid, but light and sounds are still hurting, and she can only just get herself up and to the toilet without help, so classes are out of the question. But she's finding Manuela was right, and stuffing her face with as many cakes and sweets and sugar as possible is helping immensely, and she's getting plenty of them whenever people visit her

She's laying in bed trying to focus on a book Ashe and Ingrid recommended to her when someone knocks on the door, then opens it without waiting for a reply. It's Sylvain carrying a tray loaded with a tea set and covered plates. He puts it down on the side table Byleth found for exactly that, since she can't even handle going to the dining hall to eat, while Nico slowly gets herself sat up

"You could have waited for me to say come in," she scolds playfully, trying not to laugh at his pout and puppy eyes. "What if I was getting changed or something?"

His pout turns into a crooked grin, and his eyebrows dance a few times.

"Then I would have enjoyed the free show," he smarms, and laughs as he dodges the small cushion she throws at him. "Careful. You'll knock over the tea"

"Uh huh. So. Not that I'm complaining, but who are you using me as an excuse to hide from?"

"What?" he draws out, playing at being offended, the doofus. "Can't I visit my dear bed bound friend without having some sort of ulterior motive?"

"I don't know. Can you?"

He manages to hold his fake offended expression for a few seconds against her flatly amused one, before he laughs, shaking his head as he settles on the edge of the bed

"Ingrid was trying to get me to train with her, but I really was planning on coming to see you anyway. Wondered if you wanted to practice chess, but you don't look entirely with it"

- Sylvain ends up sitting/laying next to her in the bed and letting her lean against him as he reads to her since she's having trouble focusing but the book has occasional pictures she likes to look at, and somehow he's way more comfy than Byleth to lay on??? She thinks it's the boobs, she tells Sylvain solemnly, and it sets him off laughing so hard he has to lay back with his arm over his face for a minute or two. He keeps having to nudge her to remind her to eat because she's sort of dozing off, and refilling her tea and making her drink

- Byleth comes in the room, looking like she’s been in the training hall, and her brow goes up when she sees them, making them both laugh. Byleth starts moving around the room putting her things away, and Nico scoots over towards the wall, tugging Sylvain, and tells By to join them, Sylvain's doing storytime. Sylvain tries to protest, because this seems kinda weird, but Nico pouts at him and asks "Why, don't you want to share a bed with two beautiful ladies?"

"Yeah Sylvain," Byleth agrees in an even more deadpan than usual voice while her eyes sparkle with mischief, walking back to the bed and leaning down next to them, one hand resting on the headboard. "I thought you'd jump at the chance to get us both in bed?"

"Do I need to come back later?" Shez's flat voice drifts in from the doorway, surprising all of them, and Nico is the first to burst out laughing only to immediately wince and stop and clutch her head, burying her face again Sylvain with a groan

Byleth keeps laughing lightly as she grabs Shez before he can leave, dragging him and the fresh tray of tea and cakes into the room. Nico groans again when she sees it, turning her face back into Sylvain's shoulder

"I hate to admit it, but I'm getting kinda tired of cakes. I think I maybe even want a vegetable"

Shez gasps, and she opens an eye to glare at the overly shocked face he's making

"Who are you and where's the real Nico?"

- Shez ends up joining them and sitting at the foot of the bed and all three of them bully Sylvain into continuing story time

[gascon-en-exil]

I'm relatively new here, found you through youtube, so I'm curious, what's the story with the Ike/Elincia shipper?

She's very...passionate about a very small set of characters and ships, and has been active in the fandom at least since the Tellius games were current - so 15+ years at this point. The short version is that she's a relentlessly negative individual who seems totally incapable of understanding that other people may like and care about different things than she does.

Oh, and it should go without saying - but please don't go tracking this person down and harassing her. I've blocked out the name for a reason, and anyway that sort of response never turns out well for anyone involved.

She projects hard on Elincia and ships her with Ike, and as you might expect she objects loudly to any attempt to ship either character with anyone else. Technically this includes Geoffrey/Elincia, but most of her hatred is reserved for Ike/Soren or even the barest suggestion that Ike might not be straight.

A few years later she moved onto projecting just as hard onto f!Robin and shipped herself with Frederick, and embarrassed herself repeatedly with the Serenes Forest crowd who are mostly gameplay-focused and thus aren't going to mince words about the fact that her beloved Freddie Bear is a low-tier father, especially for Morgan. She did the same with Ryoma in Fates, although she has apparently never played Conquest and hates the route and the Nohrians in general...presumably because Ryoma dies in Conquest. As with gay Ike fans, her ire extends to anyone who likes the things that she doesn't.

I'm not aware of her doing much in Houses fandom aside from maybe fixating on Sylvain (...sure, why not), which is a bit surprising given how generally loud Fódlan discourse got. With Engage the latest object of her affections appears to be Diamant. All of this has been reflected in her barrage of replies to Heroes updates on Twitter/X, the overwhelming majority of which are negative because they don't feature characters she likes. I just showed off the FE5 banner response, which is in keeping with her particular dislike of the Jugdral games. She either doesn't know how to emulate or refuses to do so for ethical reasons, so anyone from the Kaga games (or most of Binding Blade's roster, I'd imagine) is someone she's never heard of and who thus can't possibly be anywhere near as important as seeing her favorite games and characters get alts ASAP.

And just going back through her other recent banner reactions:

New Year

Legendary Camilla

Winter

Book VIII Intro + Awakening

(She does admit to enjoy the free Inigo though.)

This constant barrage of negativity ensures that she manages to get a lot of people calling her out, but she's argued back against even the gentlest attempts at constructive criticism and tends to block liberally if anyone starts poking holes in her complaints, ex. that Engage actually did quite well in 2023 or that Tellius consistently gets one banner ever year for alternating games, or even that her original fave Elincia got two premium alts last year. This all sometimes makes agreeing with her painful. Like, yes, I also thought the winter banner was excessive and would have appreciated a winter Diamant, but I'm not going out of my way to trash it. And anyway, I've been enjoying using my winter Dimitri.

And this isn't even getting into the many years of homophobia, or the substance of her pinned tweet:

Let's leave aside how cliché and silly this type of response is when someone gets accuses of bigotry. Pinning this to the top of her feed suggests that she's landed in hot water before over something less low-stakes than online shipping drama. One can only imagine unless someone else has receipts.

[beyondthetower]

"People you'd like to know better" tag game!

My lovely friend @sun-marie tagged me and I love games yay!

three ships: 

(Yes these are all the same game. I know I've shipped plenty of things in the past but none of it feels like it hit quite as hard as this stupid game)

Felix/Annette (FE3H): These two are genuinely changed my brain chemistry. It was the ship that brought me into the FE3H fandom, it was the ship that got me writing fan fiction again. It was the ship that gave me so many wonderful mutuals in this space and I love them for it! They are the perfect grump/sunshine ship, but they also have so much genuine connection that I feel like they were just written for each other. I love Annette bringing out the softness in Felix, and I love Felix being so head over heels for Annette that he has no idea what it is or how to deal with it.

Sylvain/Ingrid (FE3H): My perfect angsty pair 💕 This one fell into place so naturally for me that I genuinely can't see either of them with anyone else. And I've tried because there are fun options! I know there's a lot of baggage there, but I genuinely feel like Sylvain has just been in love with Ingrid for his entire life even when she was engaged. And I also have a lot of feelings about that but I'd be rambling. But what can I say! I am a sucker for childhood friends to lovers! I'm a sucker for Sylvain wanting to be a better person and feeling guilty about what he put her through cleaning up after his shit! I'm a sucker for him being a bumbling idiot around people he's crushing on!

Ashe/Marianne (FE3H): Two fairytale princesses that deserve their happy ending✨ I think I've said it before, but I started shipping these two by accident when I was writing a set of one-shots. I needed someone to pair with Ashe and no one had really jumped out at me my first playthrough. When I looked up a list of his supports I was like "oh I like Marianne, maybe that would be cute". And now here we are: five chapters into a love-letter to their gentle, loving relationship that has spiraled into a character study on Ashe with plans for a sequel that will go further into Marianne's backstory. Someone help 🙃

last film :

I weirdly haven't watched a single movie in over a year, but last week I got a sudden urge and watched three. The last one was Pride & Prejudice (2005). Like a true fan-fiction obsessed girly. It was great.

currently watching :

Sims 4 youtube videos. More specifically a Plumbella video where she plays only the highest rated packs. If there's one thing about me it's that I love watching other people play video games ✌️

currently reading :

"25 Icelandic Ghost Stories" by Jón R. Hjálmarsson. My friend brought it back for me from her trip there. I love ghost stories! And anything folklore related.

currently consuming :

Honestly....nothing 😳 I've been in a lull lately where I'm not playing anything, not really writing much and not watching anything of note.

currently craving :

Harvest Moon Tree of Tranquility - For the last year all I've wanted in the whole world is to play it again. My Wii hasn't worked in years so that's out but I WANT TO PLAY IT SO BADLY.

Also I want a donut from a very specific bakery near me.

I shall tag @pathetic-gamer and @sevarix-blogs if you are at all interested in playing too :)

[wehaveagathering]

hiiii

🦆 If I were to make a summoning circle for you, what food could I summon you with?

🐺 Build a NHL starting line up (3F, 2D, 1G) based on a really weird criteria for comedic effect (e.g. guys with names that sound like Dylan).

🔥 Give me an unpopular opinion on hockey. Preferably Hot Takes (not serious).

💣 Blow it up: pick one NHL team. Change its name, mascot, logo/colors. Tell me why you chose the new elements.

🪽 Name a NHL player whom you would: Sacrifice to the Gods, Do Hard Crimes With, and Save the World With.

🎶 What would your goal song be and why?

🏒What was your first impression of hockey? Why? Has it changed? If so, why?

🎰 What is a gamble/risky decision you have made recently that has paid off?

omg guys 🥺 number four for the ask game????

🦆 If I were to make a summoning circle for you, what food could I summon you with?

crab rangoons. easy. next.

🐺 Build a NHL starting line up (3F, 2D, 1G) based on a really weird criteria for comedic effect (e.g. guys with names that sound like Dylan).

G - Jacques Plante

D - Leo Bourgeault

D - Aaron Ward

F/LW - Viktor Ståhlberg

F/RW - Sylvain Turgeon

F/C - Jeremy Roenick

figure it out!! >:)

🔥 Give me an unpopular opinion on hockey. Preferably Hot Takes (not serious).

TORTORELLA WAS RIGHT WHEN HE SAID THAT GUYS DONT KNOW HOW TO TAKE HITS THESE DAYS. and guess what – it's not their faults!!

okay, hear me out. Hathaway got 5 for boarding Luke Hughes, but watch the play I linked. the hit A.) doesn't come until AFTER the ref's whistle blew for icing. B.) THIS ISN'T EVEN BOARDING. boarding is a check on a defenseless opponent – Hathaway not only thought the play was still good, but he could not have more clearly checked Luke's shoulder, not his back; he was fully in LHughes' line of sight and C.) jesus h christ, hughes. he just crumples like a house of cards. both Hathaway and Luke Hughes are 6'2"; Luke Hughes is 184 lbs and Hathaway is 212 lbs. but luke is a d-man in the NHL, where these kinds of hits are allowed, and these are BIG DUDES. 184 is still pretty fucking heavy. sorry your man went down, but the check was good. if the NHL wants to institute safety rules about checking or fighting, then do that, because the culture is changing, but don't fucking pick and choose when/where/who/how to enforce rules, because that check is still fucking good. and he's right, the league is smaller, faster, less violent, so young guys are coming in having played a different kind of hockey than what's currently being played in the NHL, and they're getting hurt because of it! either change the rules or make sure your guys know how to protect themselves. but they can't have it both ways.

i went serious. sorry

💣 Blow it up: pick one NHL team. Change its name, mascot, logo/colors. Tell me why you chose the new elements.

we still going with the blackhawks baby! every time!! racist ass. change that shit

🪽 Name a NHL player whom you would: Sacrifice to the Gods, Do Hard Crimes With, and Save the World With.

ANOTHA ONE >:)

i'm going with matthew tkachuk as my second option, and i think yall are going to agree with this one more than joseph woll LMAOOOOO

1. i feel like a lot of people would love to throw him into a volcano to appease the hockey gods. 2. i think he'd be down for hard crimes. (i think he's DONE crimes.) 3. and i think sometimes, you need a fucking hard-headed asshole to save the world with!

🎶 What would your goal song be and why?

i'm not changing it from megan thee stallion's verse from dolla sign slime, but if i had to pick a second? one way or another, by blondie!

🏒What was your first impression of hockey? Why? Has it changed? If so, why?

this one i already answered, and i don't have a second choice about the past!

🎰 What is a gamble/risky decision you have made recently that has paid off?

HAHAHA speaking of second choices about the past!

honestly i am really not much of a risk taker, i'm very very safe and i stick to what i know and hate doing new things. doing things scares me! but sometimes saying yes to going out with people i don't know well and doing new things is really fun! i recently went ice-skating with a bunch of friends from school that i don't know very well, and i was really nervous bc i've actually never skated before and they were all better friends with each other than they were with me – but it was actually so much fun, and every time i look back on that night i feel so happy!

thank you so much for the ask!! <3

[pandp-author]

The idea that edelgard's war was necessary for Fodlan to progress is just another excuse to try to justify her actions, making her out to be *the* catalyst for change in the country. Positive change, at that.

This reasoning requires you to believe that everyone else was fine with how things were or that they were going to sit down twiddling their thumbs without doing anything about it, until edelgard finally got them to move their asses or some nonsense, which is entirely false. Dimitri and Claude were set out to change things, lots of characters express their discomfort with how things were and wanted to do something about it. But because they wanted change, and they wanted to do something to bring about said change, WITHOUT having to start a goddamn war in the process, it severally weakens edelgard's already weak position.

A war was not necessary, not even to rout out TWSitD, as edelgard shows she could have done so without starting a war (and with the church's help, no less) It was certainly not necessary to bring forth reforms, as Dimitri shows he would've brought about change without edelgard's dumbass war of conquest hindering him. Because that's what edelgard's war has actually done to Fodlan, hindering progress. Claude himself tells you how edelgard has ruined his dreams.

(You know, it's really ironic that people like to bring up Three Hopes as proof of edelgard's true intentions, citing her support with Shez as proof, or how people will be judged on their merits and she will kill everyone to make it a reality, when the game is showing the exact opposite. So not unlike Three Houses)

There is also the fact that now you have to deal with the aftermath of the war, most of it being explicitly and exclusively bad, if the six years of dead or suffering was not bad enough. Whoever is left has to deal with a whole continent to manage, rather than their own independent nations, something they were not accounting for in their reforms, further slowing down their changes. You have to deal with rebellions on top of that, healing people back up, healing in this case meaning literally healing them, help rebuild, help with the new infrastructure. Scars left by war can't be so easily shrugged off, neither literally nor in a discussion about the story of a stupid game.

Good things came *in spite* of edelgard's war, not thanks to it, and you have endings of characters like Sylvain, Hannemann, and Flayn (whose endings you cannot get in cf either because you killed her or run her out of her own homeland) that you can get in all routes as proof, only for them to then insists edelgard's still to thanks for that, which doesn't even make sense for Hannemann.

Saying edelgard's war actually helped Fodlan is some sort of broken window's fallacy, where you breaking a building's window is actually a good thing because it generates jobs in cleaning the mess, making a new window and installing the new window, please ignore how those resources could have easily been used somewhere else and ignore the problems the broken window made.

When her fans can't convince people that Edelgard's war is justified the next best thing they try to latch onto is claiming that her war actually helped Fodlan change for the better despire failing miserably in 3 out of 4 routes. They make this claim without backing it up and hope people believe them without question.

And the question is how did her failed attempt at killing the other rulers and conquering Fodlan help it progress?

She never told the masses that her goal is to get rid of crests and heroes relics, the other rulers and nobles had to question what her damage is and not a single soul said to themselves "If it wasn't for Edelgard then crests would've remained in Fodlan"

If anything if the other rulers were the pro crest villains she accused them of being then the crests system and the church of Seiros would've been glorified even more than it already was.

The deciding factor of the war lies with crests and heroes relics, the archbishop was saved from the violent "apostates" that ruined Fodlan with their war and any criticism against crests and the seiros faith would've been met with extreme damnation.

It's made even worse when in Three Hopes Dimitri and Rhea already righted Fodlan's wrongs by the former fighting hard to give Duscur their due reperations and move away from a crest based society. Dimitri has done more to progress Fodlan than both Edelgard and Claude combined.

Claiming that Edelgard's war helped Fodlan heal is like saying Garon's war helped Hoshido and Nohr make amends. It's incorrect and ridiculous.

[randomnameless]

With most of the Church characters, the commoner / noble starting classes feel like more of an aftertought than anything. Because in addition to Alois, Seteth & Flayn both have the noble class (? why ? they clearly aren't nobles ? Did they feel like they couldn't put "commoner" on the Nabateans ???)

I think the only case of discrepancy that could have a cool / interesting explanation is Petra having the commoner base class : her status as princess is not recognised by Adrestia, as she is a political hostage ?

Mercie too is a commoner, even if she was an Adrestian noble -

But given how she ran away from her dad and her adoptive one is not a noble it'd make sense that she would have been registered as a "commoner".

For Seteth'n'Flayn, maybe it's more or less to explain that they are "special people" in the Archbishop's immediate circle, thus more or less considered and seen as "nobles" rather than commoners, but fwiw, especially in the Church, it doesn't amount to a thing.

In the rest of Fodlan though, maybe due to their perceived link to Rhea, they are treated like nobles?

5 years later, and I still can't fathom how the game(s) completely elude the background of the Nabateans and their paperthin disguise to pretend to be common and totes regular "humans".

They don't have surnames, they don't have any "made-up" backstory like being born and raised in a remote church or whatever, hell Rhea's backstory - as the Archbishop! - isn't developed at all and we had to wait for Nopes to get confirmation that she periodically fakes her death to appoint a new persona as her successor, because her title isn't hereditary...

How did this even manage to work, idk - but then their horrible dyejob was enough to convince humans that the Saints were totally not the people with green hair and pointy ears Nemesis'n'pals butchered a few decades ago.

So it's just a big "idk" and/or another proof that the devs dgaf about Nabateans because even writing this down makes me realise that if you want to get a plausible enough backstory/background/cover story for them, you either need to rework Jeralt's entire story or write Fodlan people to be extremely gullible, but with the conspiracy theories going on in the game it isn't coherent :

Manu believesthe Monastery is set between the three countries for a ReAsOn - but won't comment on Rhea's eternal youth, or how she looks like the other Archbishops, only Hanneman muses on Seteth's age while inquisitive!Sylvain is only puzzled by the resemblance between Rhea and the blonde lady from his stepmom's painting (granted, he is at war so maybe coming up with weird theories isn't on his priority list).

[justrandomselfships]

Bunch of Sylvain x Heather information ^o^

I planned to do it for all fe3h F/Os but like. Sylvain takes up too much space on his own so for sure he's getting his separate post. But idk when or if I'll do it with Cyril, Hilda and Claude lol

Didn't play hopes so no stuff with hopes!

Pre game

Actually there isn't a lot to be said there. I just wanted to point out that Heather did see Sylvain once or twice while she was living in the kingdom.

I mean it can also fit here a little bit because it's before Byleth makes their appearance so ama describe their first meeting.

He approached her like any other girl and she thought that his flirtatious behavior was a joke, so yeah she ended up laughing in his face but not in a mocking way.

When she found out that he actually wasn't joking she started feeling bad- so she invited him for some tea as an apology for her "disrespectful behavior".

So yeah ever since that moment they started meeting up more and became friends. Because both agreed that the situation while awkward- was sort of funny.

Pre timeskip/general stuff

The causal affection is everything. Heather loves affection but she's only affectionate to people she deems special.

So like, Sylvain being the first person she's comfortable touching is one thing. The other is that her main display of affection is this:

Of course she also likes to hold hands, hug etc but she mostly just does the bonk.

They like to play board games together. Actually that's what they mainly bonded with.

Sometimes when Heather gets terrible love letters from her suitors she'd joke around with Sylvain about them to feel better about the situation.

Heather easily stumbles over her words and says the opposite of what she means when she's tired without realizing it, but Sylvain always knows just what she really wants to say.

They jokingly flirt a lot. Heather just finds his lines funny (even when he really means them she still just can't help but giggle).

They skip any additional training like fire. So together they make up excuses for each other.

While she doesn't care for her own reputation, she does care about Sylvain's even though she knows he doesn't care that much. It's just a matter of her worrying about what people might do because of something made up.

To talk about in game stuff: during the chapter with Miklan... Well things were tough at first. But to comfort him Heather decided to act like nothing happened. She listened to him when he wanted to talk about it. However, she didn't start the topic herself ever. She didn't act out of pity either. She was just ready to support him however she could.

Heather is the first one to catch feelings, it's 2 months before Sylvain does but since his feelings start around the ball things get too complicated to make it work.

Post timeskip

THE MUTUAL CRUSHING HITS HARD. The worry, the regrets just EVERYTHING.

They were far from each other for so long and the moment they reunite it just HITS them again.

Sylvain had literally nobody to talk to about it untill one day Mercedes made him spill the beans.

Heather on the other hand sort of gave up? It's a bit hard to put it in words but during the time between the timeskip she sort of started thinking this wasn't going to go anywhere, especially since they had more important things to worry about.

With how she still couldn't process what was happening with the war (and in AM Claude not being around) Sylvain was literally her escape from reality (haha that's why my Sylvain tag is this lol the more you know).

Things between them pretty much stayed the same for the most part. And that's what made them love each other even more. Since to them it only confirmed that no matter what happens they can count on each other to always make each other happy.

Post game

I could say that "They got married and lived happily ever after" but it wasn't exactly that.

Even after Sylvain proposing they both needed some time.

One thing is them having to settle things on their family territories and just being busy with post war things.

The other is that they were both scared of their feelings. Of course neither planned to hurt the other but there were these kind of doubts that made them anxious.

Still they wrote to each other almost all the time they were away from each other. And they kept all of their letters safe so they could read them anytime~

Things started to hit get better and better ever since Heather decided to surprise Sylvain with a visit! Then they were almost inseparable from that point.

He had to get her used to the cold weather of the kingdom- so her first full year there was filled with sick days hah... But she wanted to stay there!

And having Sylvain take care of her was sort of making her feel spoiled to be honest. At one point he thought that she was being reckless with her health on purpose fr /j

Also very important detail for me but these two are childfree. Can't have crest babies when you don't have babies at all, right?

[fireemblems24]

Verdant Wind - Final

Finally! Here's my last chapter of Verdant Wind. This route has really grown on me. So now 2/4 of the 4 route playthrough are over. CF and AM coming next.

Alright, so here I go picking my lover. As promised, time to pick Claude. I really want to see the lord trios' S-Supports.

PRE BATTLE

Alright, guys, just deployed for the final mission of VW.

Wait, why didn't we meet Nemesis halfway? Isn't he rampaging and stuff? Poor civilians.

Claude - What's our plan. Byleth - We defeat Nemesis. (Masterpiece of a strategy there)

LAMO Hilda calling it like she sees it and saying Lorenz's dad is a big coward.

You know, Silver Snow didn't really get a moment where everyone sat around and said why they were going to fight. It's a shame, because to date Lukas has the most badass reason ever: A battle between god and mortal? Sounds exhilarating to me. (He's like, oh, fighting god, good exercise).

Raphael talks about . . . food. He's really kinda one-note.

Still pissed we can't play as Judith.

This really feels like a chapter in a shonen battle manga before some big fight lamo.

BATTLE

Nemesis looks fucking annoying to fight. Rhea was basically a demonic beast on steroids, but nothing new, this guy looks irritating.

It also seems like there's wayyyyy more enemies this battle.

Oh, that's cool! I just noticed some of the enemies have the relics and are the OG users.

Is it bad that I REALLY don't want to kill the Blaiddyd, Gautier, or Fraldarius or Daphnel because that's Ingrid's weapon. Guys, I think I may be a bit to attached to the Faerghus friendship group.

Is it also bad that I wish they had Blaiddyd and Fraldarius standing next to each other. It would've been a good bit of lore at least :(

Or I'm just a problematic shipper, though they didn't put Gautier next to Fraldarius either. Very Felix of him though.

It's not Felix. It's not Ingrid. It's not Sylvain. It's not Dimitri.

I feel this one's going to be so much harder than SS with all those subbosses.

Aaaaand the water is poisonous. Because of course it is.

Claude's like that massive body of water that takes up most of the map, avoid it during the fight. Thanks, Claude, thanks.

This song is pretty epic though. The SS one was really good too though.

This level feels artificially dragged out with the poison water and million sub bosses. None of them were all that hard to deal with. I imagine this is much harder in maddening though.

Nemesis is legitimately annoying to deal with though.

This or CF had my least impressive units though.

I feel kinda bad for Claude that his final boss is some mindless zombie dude he has no connection too. SS got berserk Rhea, AM will probably get monster Edelgard, CF will likely get some super version of the TWSITD leader, and Claude gets . . . Mr. Zombie. Poor dude.

It's funny that I only had to kill him once. After Rhea, that wasn't so bad to be honest. Definitely easier than the SS final chapter.

Only 22 turns, not too bad.

POST BATTLE

Cut scene time!

Claude was MVP. He deserved it. He pulled his weight big time this chapter. He never dominated like Edelgard did early game or Dimitri has for a while now, but he really started performing in those final chapters.

LAMO Claude spouting lines like a shonen lead. This really feels liks the shonen route to me. Which isn't a bad thing. I love shonen. I think VW has turned out to be my 2nd favorite. Never would've guessed that half-way through the game.

Oh, dear God, the final lines are literally power of friendship. 100% shonen vibes.

That was a badass fight though.

Byleth smiling though. And the handshake. They feel more like friends than lovers, tbh. Especially compared to Dimitri and Edelgard. Claude really doesn't give major romance vibes in general.

DO U SEE MARIANNE AND JUDITH IN THE ENDING MURAL???? My girl Marianne! Yes.

Where's Byleth though?

Claude really focused on peace between nations. I really hope in Three Hopes, if the lords get supports, he and Dimitri find common ground over that and Dimitri's beliefs about Duscur.

S-SUPPORT

Time to marry Claude. I wonder if they'll make him as sappy as Rhea was lol.

I dislike how all these endings are a "united Fodlan" like it's a good thing. With what's going on in the world right now, it feels icky to celebrate the forced merging of countries. Even if in SS and VW it only happened because they all got destroyed, this positioning of their destruction as positive is what I don't like.

Mannnn it's going to feel SOOO awkward when I get to CF in the next day or so. I know real life and fiction are different, but ugh not good timing to get to "Imperialism wins and it's a good thing" the route.

Wait, what??? Claude won't be at my coronation??? What kind of BS is that???

Wait???? I thought I was marrying Claude??? Why is he leaving me for Almarya??? That's . . . not romantic.

OMG. Claude is choosing his dream of bettering the world over marrying me?

OMG this is hilarious. If I was really into the romance part of this game, I'd be so disappointed, but my respect for him has gone up by ignoring the self-insert and going off to do better things.

I also like how Claude is acknowledging that people need support and something to cling too sometimes. Exactly what Dimitri was saying. The opposite of what Edelgard believes.

Now I need a part 2 about Claude's fight for Almyara, but it's post AM so Byleth and Dimitri can come and help him out when he needs it in some epic cut scene.

It would also maybe finally give Claude the character development he deserved.

Aww, he had a ring too. But also the gall of that guy. He's like, I'm leaving you to rule another country, but uh marry me too I guess. It feels kinda tacked on.

He and Rhea both came clean about wanting to use Byleth for something. Dimitri doesn't have to. Wonder if Edelgard will?

OMG he's really like, I'm leaving, let's marry for when I eventually come back.

His picture's not bad. It's cute, Byleth grabbing his jacket.

But this was soooo much less romantic than Rhea's support.

That has to rank up there with Mr. Darcy among the worst proposals ever.

And wow, I don't think Byleth ever showed him her ring. What a bummer.

DATA

The MVPs this time are so much more spread out than they were for SS. Basically every character I used got it at least a few times except for Cyril.

Byleth and Hilda a bit more than the others, with Claude not showing up much at all until the end.

Paired endings time -

Anna got the same solo one. But she can't support anyone if I remember right. Catherine, Alois, Manuela, Haneman, and Flayn got the same as SS.

Ah! Annette solo becomes a teacher. Good for her! I like that ending.

Dorothea got married and had a good career. Deserved.

YESSSS, Marianne married Raphael. If she can't marry Dimitri, then I like him. And so cute, they run an inn together

Oh, Sylvain and Felix, haha. Guess they wanna do gay crimes together.

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ENDING?? IS FELIX DEAD???

Dude, that's fucking brutal. They only meant once since after the war and it's only so Sylvain can hire mercenary Felix and then Felix's sword comes back, but not Felix??

Shit, that's tragic. I wonder if their paired ending being all hurt and no comfort is part of why they're so popular as a pairing?

OMG why are my Faerghus childhood babies are suffering. Dimitri dead in a pointless way. Dedue surviving alone and miserable. Felix dead later on. No mention of Sylvain being happy or married or anything. I REALLY hope Ingrid at least got a happy ending.

Why did Petra pair with Cyril?? Ok, I can accept this actually. Petra is doing her boss queen thing, and then older Cyril shows up to improve diplomatic relations and it's then where their romance starts. That's actually kind of cute. And I like the idea that all we saw was the groundwork. So much better than that last one, my GOD.

Ok, so Ingrid and Ignatz. Never in a million years would I have picked that pairing, but let's see.

Oof, so the people hated her at first, but between Ignatz and her being good at her job, they turned around and eventually the two married. At least she did better than the others.

Hilda and Seteth! OMG, talk about opposites lol.

That's actually pretty sweet and very random. They published childrens' books together. No mention of marriage, which is actually kinda nice. a M/F ending with no marriage between two completly incompatible people.

Leonie got Shamir! Haha, I liked the mini story and shoutout to the spider. So they formed a mercenary company together. That's 100% better than Leonie's solo ending.

Oh, shit, does this mean Lysithea gets Lorenz again? Like, no offense to Lorenz, but that's a shit ending. Even worse than Felix/Sylvain because at least that's got an air of tragedy that suits them and is a good story for angst and heartbreak, not Lysithea did all the work and got none of the credit.

Ugh, yes, Lysithea and Lorenz. Why? Poor Lysithea. I think I have her in CF, so she still has a chance for a decent ending.

Wow, like no one paired with a unit I was actually using. They all paired up with someone with 0 battles except for Lysithea and Lorenz and Byleth and Claude.

Byletha and Claude time, the asshole. What the fuck is that ending?? So the final battle wasn't the real final battle? We fought the Empire + TWSITD for the nth time? Why didn't we get to fight that? Feels kind of empty compared to Rhea and Byleth. Didn't say much about romance or about political changes, just there was another battle, Claude saved the day, Fodland and Almyra made friends.

Well, overall I liked VW by the end, but I gotta say, the Claude and Byleth ending stuff sucks compared to the stuff with Rhea. But I'm sure Claude has much better possible endings with someone else.

2 down, 2 to go.

CF is next. I need a Dimitri happy and alive for my final one, plus, it's not like the Russia and Ukraine stuff is going to go away anytime soon to make CF feels less eh . . . awkward.

[flowershirley]

I didn't noticed so much time passed and forgot to answer. Damn.

First, those Sylvain essays are peak. I never picked up on all this stuff when I played myself.

I've never been in the community, or into ships either so I didn't knew there were so many people complaining about the absence of some romantic pairing. The only pair I wish had a A rank but doesn't must be Dorothea and Ingrid.

I'll play Three Hopes to the end... Someday. It's complicated because I hyperfixate on thirty things at once so... Yeah. It might take weeks. Or months. Or even years. But I know I'll wake up someday and think "hey what if I finish that game ?". I know myself.

I'm not surprised that the Church Route is the template one, even if I can't tell yet. I just reached the point where the Route start, so I can't say much yet. I'll probably come back here when I reach the end, but, like Three Hopes, I can't say when it will be. But I will !

hey. Semi-imaginary-place here, I remember nothing of what I wrote 5 years ago. Did you play 3 hopes? Yuri is Sylvain's gay/bi awakening, it's so funny. I'm actually on another BL playthrough right now hour 1600 or whatever it is (lol Sylvain tries so hard every day to play his self assign clown role). There isn't really a bi reference in the Flayn C support original text, she says men women old and young to mean everyone. It's clear these are exaggerated rumors to the point of folklore-ish proportions. Sylvain isn't flirting with men. His reputation has just become so exaggerated he's like the romance equivalent of the boogeyman, at least to Seteth. Anyways have fun trawling through my incoherent ramblings? Come talk to me about fe3h, I know too much about this game... Tumblr notifications suck so just keep yelling until I respond.

Oooh, hi ! I didn't knew those post were so old gjfjsk

I started Three Hopes with the Golden Deers

Several years ago.

I'll finish it someday. Hopefully. XD

Aaaah, I see. A bit sad it didn't mean Sylvain was canonically a Bisexual disaster especially with how ambiguous his relationship with Felix can be at times. But him being annoyingly flirty to the point of becoming a legend is hilarious

I probably will ! If the social anxiety doesn't kick in it will. Losing myself in the fe3h tag made me pick up the game and finally progress in the Church Route (Something else I started years ago and abandoned. I don't like churches ;-;), so I might come back with things to say.

Good luck with the Blue Lions Route because it has the most frustrating ending of all, from memory. I'm still upset when I think about it. (Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Really just. Why.)

[sothisblessmysoul]

This is out of curiosity I was looking up older fire emblem games Radiant Dawn and Path of Radiance. I saw a race called a Laguz. For this headcanon how would the four house leaders would react to a laguz s/o? If you can't do this request its totally fine. :)

{I’m not going to lie. I got carried away with this and after remembering Yuri is allergic to cats and dogs. I was too stubborn to change his laguz part. Also if anyone is unsure what a laguz is. It is a shapeshifter who can change between human form with animal part or animal form.}

༓ʚ What An Animal ɞ༓

Summary: How the four leaders react to having a laguz partner.

༓Yuri Leclerc [ Wolf ] In the beginning, Yuri couldn’t handle being near you because it triggered his allergies which was disheartening for you. Although filled with determination, you searched Constance out for a solution. It took a bit but she did it without trouble. After the problem with his allergy was solved, it didn’t take long for the relationship from strangers to change. Yuri, even before they were together, became flirtatious towards you and found delight in teasing you.

It was joking at the start, but after a while it just became a subconscious habit to pat you while praising. Yuri will gently tug on your tail in any human or laguz form, but it’s a silent way of capturing your attention if needed. Otherwise, he doesn’t do it mostly because it can hurt you if Yuri pulled a little too hard.

After you got together, Yuri became more affectionate with his touch. Depending on your form, he’ll run his fingers through your hair or fur. His way of petting you changed. Yuri would pet your head before brushing his finger through your hair to slowly move downwards and brush his hand against your face. Which typically ended with him placing a kiss on you somewhere; forehead, lips, cheek.

Yuri is also thankful that you protect the abyssinians people with your wolf form. Despite knowing a fair bit about laguz, he was shocked by your wolf size. You’ve done other things that have surprised him. One in particular is the sound of your growl. That sound alone has scared enemies away. It’s one of the things that first made him trust you. Yuri trusts you with so many things now. Battle plans, secrets, and more importantly; his birth name.

༓Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd [ Lion ] He is grateful to have met another with inhuman strength like him. Even if you weren’t technically human. It also doesn’t mean that he isn’t going to still treat you fragile like glass close to shattering. It took some time for either one of you to become friends. There was awkwardness and misunderstanding due to not only having different cultures, but being different races.

It was mostly due to small things. In the beginning, Dimitri had a habit of forgetting you were laguz because you didn’t have a lion’s tail or ears. Which ended up shocking him a good bit whenever you shifted into your lion form. Dimitri was also taken back by your roar and large size in animal form. Dimitri did once tell you that he found your purring to be therapeutic

But he would lie to say that you didn’t make a great ally for battles. You could easily overpower most enemies. It comforted him knowing that you’ll be safe.. However, Dimitri had to stop Sylvain from calling you cat-themed names. Especially when Sylvain started to call you by the nickname of ‘kitten’.

It didn’t escape his attention with the irony that he, former leader of the Blue Lions, is in a relationship with a laguz lion. But ironic or not, you were everything that Dimitri needed in his life. After the war broke out, you stood by him and took care of him. Even when Dimitri turned beastly. You often, due to the war, stayed in your lion form to help keep him warm and to be alert for any attacks. Also by the time both of you rejoined your friends and you shifted back into human form, your unkempt hair looked akin to a lion’s mane.

༓Edelgard von Hresvelg [ Hawk ] It would be a foolish lie to not admit that you first caught her attention with your wings. The second time you caught her attention was watching you shift into your hawk form. Those both times had completely left Edelgard starstruck. However, this was before both of you were together and Edelgard only thought of you as a useful ally.

Both before and after together, Edelgard has a habit of staring at your wings with thinly hidden curiosity. She finds them fascinating and beautiful. In fact, you’ll never forget how she looked when Edelgard touched them. The composed woman had a child-like glee and excitement. It was adorable.

It wasn’t long after that when both of you got together. At times she would touch your wings due to the therapeutic feeling. There have been moments when you’ve had to carry her. Once or twice in human form, and a few in hawk form. Regardless of appearance, she tends to curl and bury herself into you, attempting to get as close as possible. Much to her embarrassment of being caught.

During the days of war with the other kingdoms, you often were her eyes and ears in the sky. Always gathering information to bring back and give. Edelgard is beyond thankful and happy that you stood by her. But she fears that, despite being powerful, one day you’ll get shot by an archer or mage and will fall. That thought scares her more than losing.

༓Claude von Riegan [ Heron ] You always thought Claude was unique compared to the others. Specifically because not many people ask if they can touch your wings rather than following up with calling you ‘angel’ upon first meeting. The only time Claude has ever called you by your actual name was during serious moments. He hadn’t said it in a stern or serious voice, but one full of complete panic and fear. You were nearly shot down.

In the beginning, he didn’t have any issues using your ability to win battles. Until being almost shot down. Afterward, Claude pulled you out of the fighting in fear something worse could happen, if it was possible for something worse to happen.

You stood out like a sore thumb in your animal form. A large, beautiful and breathtaking bird would be hard to not notice. Which both of you knew. Claude also knew that herons are weak to a lot of attacks. It’s why he started to personally train you and how both of you ended up. Neither of you can remember exactly how the argument happened, but it had bothered Claude enough to accidentally blurt out his feelings for you.

After becoming an item, both of you would fly through the sky together. You in your heron form, Claude on his wyvern. Once in a while, he’ll joke about riding you instead of his wyvern. He was quick to stop when his wyvern got jealous. Claude also finds it adorable to see you bonding with his wyvern by flying together.

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

it's miklan time -retrieves sunglasses from my bathrobe pocket-

(after post edit: it got giant im sorry you said miklan's name and i responded accordingly to the programming of my gautier brain)

I think, quite honestly, that Miklan didn't really get or was even close to getting the uwus the way Edelgard did. In Sylvain's paralogue, Sylvain says Miklan got what he deserved. Nobody would dare ever say that in a Fodlan game about Edelgard lol. She suffered so much uwu! So much trauma! Her circumstances led her to what she became! All the horrific things she's done are excused!

Mind, Sylvain still has some love for his brother. It was hard for him to lose Miklan permanently and he almost always refers to him in both games as "my brother", rather than severing that emotional connection because of not caring or not wanting to acknowledge their family ties.

If you consider Hopes, Miklan also wasn't given any uwus or fucks there either. He was given a chance, but not excuses. His story was written well because the characters around him told him no more fucking bullshit or you're dead. They understood his circumstances weren't great and that it led to what he was doing for so long, but they needed to cut off any possibility that that would continue.

It was basically like, if you want your life to be the way you believe it should've been all along, you cut the bullshit right now and start making amends. Yes, his circumstances sucked and he didn't deserve that, but he retaliated by targeting innocent and uninvolved people, which wasn't excused. Overall, the writing correctly handled how to go about handling someone who turned to a life of crime out of anger and spite who previously didn't deserve how he'd been treated.

The political climate of Faerghus was at fault for Miklan's disinheritance, which as king is Dimitri's job to improve upon. He can't just look the other way when it's his country's politics that drove someone to that life (I mean, he could if he was Edelgard LOL). It was Miklan's poor decisions that led to him being a bandit, but it was Faerghus' politics that led to those poor decisions, so in a way, Faerghus' politics still have a hand for it and are at fault for it.

That is to say, Miklan shoulders heavy blame, but not all of it. Dimitri is basically saying look, I'll fix the bullshit that fucked up your life, but if I do that then nothing is stopping you from fixing yourself. If Dimitri takes away the reason Miklan became a bandit in the first place, i.e. his value was trashed because the new kid had a crest and he didn't, then Miklan has no reason not to fix his life. Dimitri gave him a place of importance and value, i.e. commanding officer, because Dimitri believed that's the rightful place he deserved to begin with.

He deserved an honorable position in the first place, but that was taken from him by Faerghus politics. Dimitri has a responsibility to fix those things, and once he does, Miklan can be that respected person again, but it falls to Miklan himself to actually prove that that is what he wanted in the first place - the respect and honor that he lost. That his desires weren't pillaging, and if his desires were within reach that he would take them. Evidently Miklan was spiteful, but not spiteful enough that he wouldn't take back what he was rightfully owed by the people who took it from him, or in this case, the descendants of the people who took it from him.

And mind, being heir obviously meant the world to Miklan if he took things that goddamn fucking far for losing his title. Defending Gautier and being its heir meant enough to him that being removed from it over not being born so lucky really fucked him up when he'd been raised to be heir until then (even despite the fact that his mother was pregnant with his sibling, who could've had a crest, which we'll never know because she died while still pregnant during a Sreng raid).

And yeah, I'm using Hopes as primary examples for him because he has significantly more content, but also because AG was actually well written overall, and Faerghus' cast was given the best of Hopes' writing. Edelgard's writing was more or less the same stuff she already had in Houses because she was put into such a similar situation as what she was in in Houses (whereas Dimitri and Claude's routes had substantial plot differences), so it genuinely separates their stories and can't use Miklan as a way to prove Edelgard's point anymore.

He's a valued and respected commander of Faerghus, and he's, by his own admittance, happy about it (he says he's "come to like it" so... by Miklan terminology it's the same thing LOL). He doesn't feel spite for his role or situation. Dimitri saw him being used as an Edelgard's Talking Point, yanked him away from it, fixed any possible indication that he could be an Edelgard's Talking Point, re-presented him to the world, and her talking point crumbled immediately.

For Miklan personally, it was never about the crest. It was about his value being trashed by his own father and by the political climate. In that regard, I can't blame him at all for retaliating, but I can blame him for retaliating the wrong way and against the wrong people. Edelgard is likely under the impression that Miklan solely hates the way crests dictate things, but that's not the case. It was never specifically about the crests.

Yeah, he came to hate crests because of that, but if he hadn't been devalued like that, he wouldn't have cared either way that Sylvain had one and he didn't. In his eyes it's less about the crest and more about how his father prioritized a crest's power over his value and competence. It wasn't the crest that insulted him, but his own father. If he regained his value, the crests don't matter in the grand scheme of things, which is true of his Hopes arc (he leads men with and without crests and doesn't really care who has what. He's just appreciating that that's not getting in the way of being allowed to do what he's worthy of doing).

While I agree they probably made Miklan's circumstance the way it is to prove Edelgard's point, we both know her point fails in both Faerghus and Fodlan at large. It's another case of Edelgard devjerking wherever they can. Still though, Miklan's story was written much better than hers. Similarly to Sephiran, everyone said shut up and make amends or die (except Sanaki, but she's a literal child even in RD who grew up with this man as a loving father, so she does genuinely get a pass for not feeling so strongly about that).

But also, even though the devs circlejerk for Edelgard as much as possible, the coherent part of the story, yeah, doesn't defend her so much. By her definition, Miklan would not have been a noble period, and would've been tossed to the streets for not having a crest. He remained part of their household, and in Hopes Sylvain says Miklan gave him a hard time as kids, but adds in even after we'd grown up", so Miklan was plenty involved in their family his entire life.

Idk how deeply involved in banditry he was while still a noble, because that would have a very bad look for Gautier in general, so it's possible his actions were less destructive (because I imagine action would've been taken much sooner had they been bad enough) until he was disowned. After that I imagine it was just free reign so he stopped giving a fuck.

That said, Hopes really hammered that while he did make a better path and name for himself, it was literally do or die. He was still responsible for his side of the problem. Matthias made a mistake (which he presumably understands in Hopes, because if he thinks he's been a bad father to Sylvain, I'm sure he has a significantly worse opinion about how he handled Miklan), but Miklan's retaliation to that was "well okay I guess I'll go try to kill my brother then". From there it just got progressively worse.

So yeah, while I think he was probably initially meant to be an Edelgard's Talking Point example, her argument falls apart anyway in Houses, but the pieces that already fell apart fell apart again in Hopes. If anything I'd say she probably also wants to get rid of Faerghus because its existence contradicts her propaganda.

Without proof that she's /incorrect/lying (as in, idk if she's intentionally lying or genuinely believes that crests are everything), nobody can refute her claims and she can just say it was the case and that she already fixed it so nobody can see it anymore. Even if she does genuinely think crests are the problem based on her experience and trauma, she's not even giving Faerghus and Leicester the chance to prove her wrong because she doesn't want to be wrong. She wants to do away with what caused her pain even if it doesn't exist elsewhere, and at the expense of others.

She suffered, so the world has to pay for it (and unfortunately it really is the world in this case and not just Fodlan being the whole world as she refers to it, including Brigid, Almyra and Duscur as examples). To her, that's solving the problem: removing anything that even remotely resembles what her own country did that caused her to suffer, including taking it out on other countries.

While she chose to try to fix the problem that caused it, while Miklan didn't try to fix it and just reacted in anger, she chose to hurt (read: kill) innocent, uninvolved people and call it fixing the problem (Miklan never expected his actions would fix the problem). She thinks it'll help less people die in the long run. She thinks bandits like Miklan will kill people and more will die in the long run if she doesn't kill these innocent people in the short term.

However, all Miklan needed was to be cared about and valued as a human being and not based on having crest. Give that to him and problem solved. No more people dying to his banditry. It required helping him and putting him back on his feet, not taking a bunch of uninvolved lives. Dimtiri didn't look at Miklan and say "we have to kill to fix this problem", he said, figuratively, "we need to help him to fix this problem".

She's not just no better than who Miklan became, but she's worse than him. She also never wanted to better herself or correct her mistakes. She wanted to be right, had to be right, and would kill anyone who made her wrong (i.e. Faerghus and Leicester, just be existing, already proved her wrong and so had to go).

Miklan didn't care about "being right" or hurting innocent people and claiming it fixed the problem. Which, yeah, I'd say killing innocent people and claiming that you've now fixed a problem is a lot worse than saying you killed them out of anger and hatred. Neither is good, but at least he's not saying "I'm fixing the problem you all started by killing people who have absolutely nothing to do with the problem".

But yeah, the thing about Faerghus is that... it's not just based on crests. Each territory has their own method of doing things. Gautier has valid reasons for needing its crest, but Matthias still shouldn't have said "welp, you're disinherited now bud". Sylvain's power would've been no less important if he wasn't officially given the title of heir. He still would've had that power, still could've used it to protect Gautier, and still could've had his brother as the heir while he handled the fighting with the Lance of Ruin.

Technically, this would've been the better option imo, because it wouldn't run the risk of the heir and crested individual both losing their life if it came to that, i.e. if Sylvain died, Gautier loses both its heir and crested individual (which... SB lol). If Sylvain wasn't the heir but died in battle, Gautier would still have its heir and leader and just have to wait until someone was born with the ability to wield the Lance of Ruin again. At least then, yes, they lose fighting strength, but they don't lose order and leadership.

Regarding Jugdral, yeah, the leadership is wonky there because it's similar to what our buddy ol' pal Ulki said: leaders chosen this way, i.e. by bloodline, can lead to incompetent leaders. In our cast of characters' case, specifically gen 2, it just goes to the firstborn male without question, which puts Manster in an awkward place when Altenna was raised with the same knowledge as Arion, and Leaf was raised with... the cool skill of knowing how to run for your life, for his entire life until he was fifteen when he was old enough to fight back and stop running. Boy doesn't know jack shit about how to rule and hardly knows how to run an army. That boy is my son and my baby boy, but damn if he can't run jack shit as a leader. Reasonably, Altenna should've been the heir.

The difference between Yuria and Celice is similar for me though. I'd argue he can lead a country better than she can, just based on what we know about each of them. She doesn't have the temperament to do so, nor does she seem to have enough knowledge about it, which makes sense. She was still very young when she was separated from her family, so she had less than ten years to even learn from her parents about leadership. Unlike Altenna, she didn't grow up with that understanding. Celice was forced to learn it but he did, while Yuria kinda just... didn't. If you were to go by major blood, yeah, she should get the throne, but if you go by the laguz's idea of inheritance, well, the laguz's way of running shit over in Tellius makes way more sense.

That said, if you go by major blood, then yeah, she should've had the throne, but they specifically go by firstborn male, and both can be a flop. Like... Leaf lmao. He's a flop in both aspects, both because he doesn't have major blood and he also never learned how to run a country. His adoptive father was a goddamn knight, so Fin knows jack shit about ruling as well lmao.

Tl;dr yeah, Jugdral's inheritance system is trash. Ulki will not be, at all, in his lifetime, moving to Jugdral.

Quick stuff for the tags:

#i also really disliked the "he became a bandit because he felt cheated from his inheritence' like no #that's not an excuse

I hope I technically answered this in my post because I tried to! He did feel cheated, but he felt devalued as a person as well. He felt his worth was decided by a crest because of it, and yeah, that's really unfortunate and means there were political problems that needed to be fixed. Like I said though, he's still responsible for what he did in response, so his banditry is all on him and he can't blame politics for becoming a bandit.

He was only a bandit out of anger and spite - not because he needed to eat. He was a noble with more food than any of the people he stole from and killed. He wasn't a bandit to survive, but because he was mad at the country's politics. It's not an excuse at all, but he's an example of "Edelgard thinks she knows shit about other people's lives and thinks she knows another country's politics like they're identical to her country's".

#in FE16 Yuri iirc mentions he heard things about Miklan's bandit group seducing women

From what the English localized version says (it may be different in French text), he says Miklan's group kidnapped women, which goes beyond seduced. The implication is probably rape, though it's not said directly, so I guess you could technically take it either way (held for ransom for example, which would make sense after Miklan was disowned and didn't have all the food he could possibly need. Granted, held for ransom doesn't mean rape wasn't involved).

Not sure what it says in the JP version and I can look eventually, but I need a break after all this writing LOL.

#this game really tries to ditch personal responsability to blame 'society i mean rhea BaD' instead

I hope I answered this properly too! In Miklan's case it was actually handled correctly, and Miklan tells Catherine and Shamir that Dimitri told him that the only thing holding him back now were his past mistakes. That could mean Miklan personally doesn't feel he's properly atoned yet (i.e. he's getting his humanity back and regrets his actions) and still feels held back of a full redemption.

People respected him and he was a leader, so who he could be was figured out and solved. All that was left was for him to cut his ties with his past (mistakes), i.e. being a bandit. If he could move on from his grudges and past mistakes, he would be in full who he was meant to be all along, so he probably was only held back at this point by his own feelings and needed to get past that anger.

The reason I use Hopes in this case too is because he didn't get the chance in Houses to take responsibility; so I don't think the game ditched him taking responsibility so much as he didn't have a chance to do so. Hopes changed that and proved it had nothing to do with Rhea. Maybe not a win for her, exactly, but it still crushes more of the Edelgard rhetoric and gets Miklan out of the "look she's right, it's all because of the uwu crests!" category.

You're a free man now, Miklan. Now she can get a taste of the respected commander she thought would be such a good idea by not being able to take Arianrhod!!! -kids cheering sfx-

#that's why in Nopes his story was a small improvment #even if i still find it kind of meh

I don't expect to change your mind or anything, or your opinion on the writing for him, but I hope you understand where I'm coming from better with him! Like, why I think the story did actually do a good job with him in Hopes and that it expanded it to better explain his situation, which set him far apart from being "Edelgard is right" bait, because they're completely separate issues imo by Hopes' handling of Miklan.

HOWEVER! You did not say Gonzales in that last tag and that makes me sad. :'(

@dimiclaudeblaigan replied to your post “About that Listhea and Edelgard dialogue on crest...”:

Miklan wasn't removed from the family for not having a crest actually. He was disinherited but still part of the family. He was disowned after years and years of trying to kill Sylvain and being a bandit.

​Yep!

I still don't really like how FE16 tried to "uwu" Miklan's story to make Supreme Leader have a point about the crust system - as you said, if possession of a crest, rather lack of, was the only reason why someone would be removed from family, Miklan would have been ousted from the Gautier fam the second Sylvain was born, but it wasn't the case.

Dishinerited yes, but not disowned, and we know several characters (Rufus, Ingrid's bros, Gustave!) who have "crested" siblings, and yet aren't kicked away from their houses or left with a loaf of bread and a glass of water.

But FE16 - at least the spoken lines by the characters, because Hresvelg Grey - completely elude this to harp on the "crust system", and as some people pointed out, between "first son gets the title" and "first child with a crest gets the title" rules, I can't really say which one is worse lol

we know how it happened in jugdral, in a verse where Azmur picks Seliph as the next king of Granvalle because he's Deedee's firstborn son regardless of his minor Naga Blood, without Julia, the world is fucked the second Manfroy reads the "Loptyr" bedtime story to Julius