#edelgard depends on you! a LOT! and it makes me uncomfortable!!! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

pemfrost · 3 years ago

Note

For the prompt, maybe a fake dating au with dimiclaude? Like academy-era Dimitri decided to go asks girl out (sylvain c/b support ) and when things go out of hand- instead of going to sylvain for help, he went to Claude who suggested fake dating - but when announcing it to the girl; it turns out the entire academy finds out...leading to the king regent (who sends Rodrigue) and Grandpa Riegan to actually sign a marriage arrangement. 🥺❤️

And honestly Edelgard is confused about the development that she doesn’t declare war since the two nations are gonna team up -so golden ending jk

♡ cute idea! The meat of this drabble went a little long, so no specific mention of the royal consequences.

"You did what?" Claude actually had the audacity to laugh. Not one of his usual calculated laughs, either. A bellow of a laugh which shook his whole lithe frame and put an extra shine in his eyes. All at Dimitri's expense, of course. It seemed to be happening a lot lately.

"Never mind. Clearly this is not a matter you are capable of taking seriously." Dimitri turned to leave, but quickly remembered his predicament. On Sylvain's insistence, he approached a female student with the offer of a tea date. Nothing untoward, but it seemed the poor girl thought it to be more than what Dimitri meant it to be. It really was his own fault for taking Sylvian's advice, afterall.

Of course, Sylvain initially offered to help Dimitri hide in his room, and Dimitri had been naive enough to think it would end then and there. Yet, there he was, two days later with the same girl chasing him and Sylvain was… preoccupied doing the very thing he promised Dimitri he would stop.

Claude's room seemed the next logical escape plan. It was merely the convenience of location. Felix was still at the training yards, and even if he was in his room, Dimitri would rather face the advances of Colleen and her friends than be stuck in close quarters with Felix and his sharp tongue. The next closest room was Claude's.

Dimitri was quickly regretting his hasty choice of hiding spots. He was regretting a lot of things.

"I'm sorry for laughing, but you have to admit it is funny." Claude sat down on the edge of his bed and motioned to his desk chair, "You're welcome to hide as long as you need to. Though, perhaps it is best to just confront the whole thing head on and clear it all up?"

Dimitri eyed the chair and considered a moment before sitting. "I have attempted to be direct, yet my efforts are constantly misconstrued."

"You're too nice," Claude said, his gaze intense.

"Too… nice?" Dimitri raised an eyebrow. It was not an accusation often leveled at him.

"I've witnessed some of your conversations with girls and you have a tendency to, well, be too nice." Claude broke eye contact and looked towards the door. "You do not wish to hurt their feelings, so you phrase your rejections so delicately the girls do not take it as one."

"Oh?" Dimitri was unaware of this shortcoming.

Claude sighed and made a vague gesture at the door as a girl giggled out in the hallway. He turned back to Dimitri and said, with air quotes, "There is such love in the world, yet my heart is yet-"

"-I get it.'

"Your beauty is unmatched, and one day you will make the most beautiful bride-"

"Claude," Dimitri hissed. He could feel his cheeks begin to warm.

Of course, Claude continued, his grin spreading as Dimitri shifted uncomfortably. "My heart is heavy at the prospect of you no longer being at my side, and your smile will-"

"Enough!" Dimitri stood quickly and his booming voice drowned out the sound of the chair hitting the floor.

"Colleen!" A girl's voice came from the hallway.

"Oooo, you did it now!" Claude clasped his hands behind his head and looked at the door with far too much amusement.

Dimitri stared at the door with trepidation, debating the merits of crawling out Claude's window. He could hear the clicking of multiple pairs of heels, his time was quickly running out. Returning his voice to a whisper, he turned to Claude and asked, "What do I do?"

"Be blunt and tell her you are not interested."

"I… can you do it for me?" Even facing certain doom, he didn't know how to break up with the poor girl without making it worse. Again.

Claude rolled his eyes. "Riiight, because that will work."

There was a sharp knock at the door, followed by a croon of, "Dimiiiitri! Are you in there?"

"Colleen, it may have been this one instead!"

Dimitri backed away from the door and again wondered if he could fit through the window. He looked helplessly to Claude. He had no experience in such matters, certainly Claude had an idea.

"Do you trust me?" Claude stood from the bed and stared into his eyes. "I have half an idea, but I need you to-"

"Yes. Whatever your scheme is, yes." Dimitri may regret it later, but in the moment his only option was to trust Claude and deal with the consequences later. It couldn't be worse than entertaining the vapid noble girl one more time.

Claude stared into Dimitri's eyes a moment more, his green eyes more serious than Dimitri had ever seen this close. Before he could contemplate Claude further, the look shifted, once again full of mirth.

"Quietly unlock the door." Claude nodded to the door and crossed his arms.

"I-" Dimitri swallowed and did as he was asked. Quietly, he stepped over the overturned chair and flicked the lock. He braced for the next step, it wouldn't surprise him if Claude shouted his location as revenge for all of this. He needed to stop spending so much time with Sylvain.

When he looked back, Claude wordlessly motioned him back to him with the wave of a single finger. Once again, Dimitri stepped over the chair and stood in front of Claude, intently listening to the commotion in the hallway.

Nothing happened for a few breaths, and just a Dimitri was about to ask what the plan was, Claude took half a step towards him.

"Oh! Dimitri!" Claude projected his voice, not taking his eyes off Dimitri.

Well, maybe he shouldn't have expected more from Claude. His initial assessment was correct after all. He sighed, resigned to his fate.

The click of heels returned, and as they approached the door Claude reached for the front of Dimitri's shirt and slowly tugged at him as he took a step backwards. The movement was unexpected and Dimitri stumbled forward, tripping over Claude, and sending them falling to Claude's bed.

Dimitri caught his knee on the edge of the mattress as Claude landed on his elbows.

"Claude? Wha-"

The creak of the door handle turning cut him off. As the door opened, Claude reached back up with one hand and pulled Dimitri closer, and closer, until they were breathing the same air. Everything else faded, all that existed was Claude; his breath smelled faintly of chamomile, and this close Dimitri could count the faint freckles under his eyes.

"Dimit- ah!" Colleen's screech broke the spell Claude cast over him.

Dimitri pushed himself away from Claude and looked towards the door in time to see Colleen running out.

"Uh…" Dimitri said to the empty doorway. He looked down to Claude, "What just happened?"

Claude dropped his hand from where he still held Dimitri, letting it fall to his side. "I wasn't expecting her to run so soon. The plan was to make her think we're together- but she didn't stay for me to tell her that. Hopefully she understood."

He didn't want to end up in another relationship just to get out of the first one. That was a terrible plan, and he was about to tell Claude as such when the boy in question began to laugh. Dimitri became abruptly aware of how close they still were as Claude's body shook with laughter.

Dimitri stood as quickly as his trembling legs permitted.

"I'm sorry, but your face!" Claude smirked up at him, still laying on the bed. "I didn't mean date for real," he added with a whisper, mindful of the open door.

"Oh, I see…" Dimitri did not see.

"It's a farce. A lie. And once she leaves you alone we don't need to pretend anymore."

"She saw… us. In that compromising position. I am free then? Thank you." Dimitri slowly pieced his words together.

Claude hummed and finally sat up. "It may not be that simple. Be prepared in case she doubles down tomorrow."

Dimitri nodded and cleared his throat. His eyes trailed towards Claude's lips briefly before he turned to pick up the fallen chair. "Hopefully I will not require more assistance. Thank you for your efforts, this farce was not something I would have considered."

With a shrug, Claude stood. "Always happy to help. Good luck with-" They both froze as the sound of heels returned.

Dimitri turned to Claude, eyes wide, unsure what to do. His hope of being done with Colleen dashed with the click of a heel.

"Still trust me?"

Dimitri nodded.

"I'm going to kiss you." Claude stepped up to Dimitri and gently placed a hand on his cheek. As the girls stepped into the doorway, he leaned up to press his lips to Dimitri's.

In the few seconds he had to contemplate kissing Claude, Dimitri imagined it would be rough, quick- awkward. It was none of them, and he found himself leaning into the kiss, moving his lips against Claude's like his very soul depended on them never separating. He thought he finally understood Sylvain a little, the desire to experience this everyday, to have someone so close, so intimate, to feel wanted-

But it wasn't real. Claude wasn't kissing him because he wanted Dimitri, he was doing it as a friend, as a favor. Not because he actually desired him in such a way.

"By the Goddess! It is true!" Hilda's sweet voice broke through the moment.

Claude dropped his hand and turned to the door, breaking the kiss. Dimitri could feel the lingering heat on his cheek from Claude's calloused hand, and he let his eyes dart to his lips before reality caught up with him and he looked towards their audience.

In the open doorway stood three of their classmates. Hilda was in the middle, looking like she was solving an advanced math problem. To her right was Caspar, who was more focused on Hilda than Claude and Dimitri. And to her left was Sylvain who was sporting black eye and looking between the two of them with a widening smile.

Sylvain reached around Hilda and closed the door with a wink and an amused, "Have fun, you two!"

Dimitri stared at the door as he listened to them walk away. "Should we tell them?"

"Tell them what?"

"That it isn't what they think? Because otherwise this lie will spread around the whole school."

"Oh, Dimitri. It already has. If Colleen hasn't ran all the way through the monastery by now I'd be surprised." He looked everywhere but Dimitri.

"If we tell them the truth, then she'll find out… and I'll be right back to square one." Dimitri frowned and began to pace.

"I don't mind keeping the charade up. It will keep Hilda off my back about dating someone, too. We'd both be free of the burden of that aspect of social expectations."

"That-" Dimitri's eyes darted to Claude's lips.

"No pressure, man. Wouldn't want His Highness to be uncomfortable, afterall."

Dimitri couldn’t think of a good reason not to go along with Claude's plan. He was sure the consequences would find him, they always did, but he found he didn't care what they were.

He nodded, then realized Claude turned to look out the window while he was thinking. "Yes, I believe this could be mutually beneficial."

Claude dropped back to his bed and picked up the book he tossed aside when Dimitri barged into his room. "Great. Hang out in here for a while to sell it. Want to borrow a book?"

Dimitri settled next to Claude on the bed, "If we are to actually… do this, we should get our story together. I am sure we will be inundated with questions tomorrow."

Claude shut his book. "And he I was worried you wouldn't take this seriously. Alright, let's plan."

Thanks for reading!

#dimiclaude #pem writes #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #claude von riegan #ask request

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philliamwrites · 4 years ago

Text

The Dawn Will Come [Chpt.4]

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Pairing: Dimitri x Reader, Claude x Reader, Edelgard x Reader, Yuri x Reader, Edelgard x Byleth, lots of minor pairings

Tags: #gn reader, # platonic love byleth & reader, #reader is a tactical unit, #angst, #slow burn, #subplots, #unreliable narrator, #pining, #remporary amnesia, #reluctant herp, #canon divergence, #lost twin au, #many chapters, #original content

Words: 7.7k

Summary: Waking up in a forest without any knowledge of your past and who you are, you join the house leaders of the Officers Academy to search for a way to return your memories. Unfortunately, the church has different plans for you, and Fate places you in the centre of a cruel game with deadly stakes. It certainly doesn’t help to fall in love with a house leader who is doomed to be your demise.

Notes: Chapter 3 | Chapter 5

Chapter 04: Demands of the Faithful

I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope, And gather dust and chaff, and call To what I feel is Lord of all, And faintly trust the larger hope.

[Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H.]

“I’m glad you could make time,” Byleth says, carefully placing her fine cup on the small bottom plate. If she notices how uncomfortable you feel, sitting in the centre of the yard, drinking tea, she ignores it. “Let’s think together about what we want to teach during the mock battle.”

“This is a bad idea,” you say, nibbling on your cup. “A very bad idea.”

The late afternoon hours are quiet, but it certainly helps that the tea arrangement is tugged away in a far off corner in the courtyard, hidden behind tall hedges that allow privacy. The sweet smell of chamomile tea and strawberry pastry is a nice exchange from the usual savoury smells you’re used to in the cafeteria. All around you, the high, spiky roofs of the monastery’s towers stand out against the fiery, orange sky, throwing longer and longer shadows as the sun sets behind the mountains. The clouds are soft, pink cotton-candy, blushing at the warm touch of the sun.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Byleth continues, cutting through a piece of cake with her fork. “We’ve seen what the house leaders are capable of. It’s time to see what the rest of the students can do.”

“Don’t take me wrong. I think a mock battle will help them grow,” you agree. “I just don’t really understand why it’s me who has to lead the Blue Lions.”

“I think Professor Hanneman is not present at the day of the mission,” Byleth explains. “It seems on the last day of Lone Moon he always leaves the monastery for a private reason. And I assume Lady Rhea means to see the extent of your power.”

That’s what you expected as well. In the last couple of days you realised your power is a muscle, to be exercised daily, never to be pushed to the extreme. It was a strenuous task to try out how much is too much; where there’s still room. Under the keen eyes of Hanneman, you two practised day after day, trying to figure out how much your body can take before exhaustion sweeps over you and renders you immobile. Crests usually don’t have a limit; depending on their nature they grant a permament boost to the bearer’s abilities. Muttering under his breath, Hanneman had made quite a show to remind you what a curiosity the Crest of the Herald is. Like you wouldn’t know.

“Since we’re going to be on the field as well, you might want to get more practice with the sword,” Byleth proposes, and you groan. She has a way of being brutally honest, and so far no one’s been spared to get the brunt of it. “I’m not letting my students hold back. Not even against you.”

“You really are a voice of confidence, you know.” Shoulders drooping like someone took the wind from your sails, you throw your head back and drink the rest of your tea. Byleth’s expression doesn’t change, and you wonder why you even try being funny around her.

After clearing the table, Byleth accompanies you to your next lesson hall. It’s nice in theory, but her vigorous way of trying to drill sword techniques into your head on the way doesn’t hide her true agenda. Only slowly, you begin to realise that is maybe her way of caring for someone. Brutish in appearance, but once you look past the first impression of indifference, Byleth’s silent demeanour speaks louder than words.

Students linger in small groups in front of the class rooms, their exhausted faces from a full day of lessons and hard training visible in the way they carry their bodies. If you had a say in it, you’d cancel the evening lessons and let them rest; a reoccurring debate inside the faculty that doesn’t go anywhere. Byleth stops in front of the class room, surveying the students with a cool gaze, when suddenly Claude and Hilda jog towards you, and by “jogging” they decided Hilda to be the only one running while carrying Claude bridal style like he weighs nothing. As they pass you, Claude tips an invisible hat in your direction, calling “Hey, teach,” and then immediately “Bye, teach!” as they cross the courtyard.

Your gaze follows them. “What just happened.”

Byleth doesn’t even bother to look. “Claude and Hilda happened.”

Heavens, you don’t know if you’re able to handle them later.

After exchanging goodbyes with Byleth, you tackle the next forty minutes with a belly full of sweets and a mind occupied with worrying about everything you might do wrong next week. Forming two groups, you hand out two different manoeuvres you dug out of books, and present the task, “Work out the pros and cons of each battle tactic, and present them to the class. Explain where you would have done things differently, and why.”

Sylvain raises his hand.

“Yes, you can leave to bathroom breaks without asking me,” you say.

Sylvain drops his hand. Then raises it again.

“No, you can’t bring animals you find on your way back to your seat,” you say.

He drops his hand. Beside him, Ingrid fails to stifle a groan.

Twenty minutes later, the first group stands in front of the class. Mercedes’s steady hand draws the perfect copy of the manoeuvre on the chalk board while Annette recites every step flawlessly. They’re a powerful combination, and that’s only half owed to their friendship. Mercedes is soft; she’s the silk hiding the dagger that Annette’s sharp mind is. There’s strength in kindness, and both have honed this ability to a razor-sharp weapon. There’s still a pouch of unfinished cookies Mercedes has baked for you left in your room, something to keep in mind for the next tea hour with Byleth. Felix and Dedue don’t add much, and you’re a little afraid to ask, seeing how Felix’s eyes burn holes in the back of Dedue’s head. There’s been rumours going on about a dispute, but no details, and you gladly leave that sort of teacher-student business to Hanneman.

The remaining students do their job almost just as good. But the thought of children being so confident in ways of war and killing leaves a painful twinge in your chest. You wonder what will become of them all in a few years, what battles they will win. What battles they will lose—this fear lingers at the edges of your consciousness like an ever-present shadow. To push it away, you try to refocus on the task at hand.

“Look at the battalions you have,” you advise, tapping a finger against the cool surface of the board. It comes away white with chalk, leaving a white smudge on your robe as you wipe it off. “Where are they placed?”

Ashe clears his throat. “Two Lance Soldiers, that’s Infantry. One Magic Squadron, also Infantry. The latter is stationed far northeast on that island. Two Pegasus Corpses, which are Flying Types. We put them behind the mountains to ambush the enemies on their way to one of our Infantries.”

“A good idea in theory,” you acknowledge, and don’t miss how Ashe exhales in relief. “And where are you enemies?”

“They’re facing our Infantry and the Squadron,” Dimitri steps in now. “The Flying Unit engage from the back. After their victory, Infantry and Flying close the last opposite unite off on the bridge, and join the Magic Squadron in fighting.”

“Okay, okay,” you nod. “And now look at the terrain of this last unit you want to take on from the front and back. The one on the bridge moving towards the Squadron.”

The room is quiet for a minute, and then a silent “Oh” from Ashe.

“Yes. Oh. The Magic Squadron moves slower through the woods. You’ll lose them. And one of the Lance units is probably the next to go.” You draw sharp lines across the board with red chalk, changing the battalion’s movements. One goes across the whole board, crossing out the word Sea. “Wouldn’t it be smarter to have your Pegasus Companies move this way across the water, join the Magic Squadron and then close in from the right to join the Infantries?”

“But Herald.” Ingrid raises her hand, but doesn’t wait for you to pick her. “If Infantry and Flying take out the first enemy, we’ll still win. The remaining unit will be trapped on the island without a possibility to retreat. Wouldn’t it be wiser to sacrifice the Magic Squadron just for that?”

“I agree with Ingrid,” says Sylvain. He’s sitting on a desk, and swings his legs back and forth. “With or without them, we won the battle, and that’s what matters.”

You turn back to scan the manoeuvre one more time. They’re right—blocking the enemy’s escape routes off proves a solid guarantee to win, and yet you’ve somewhat hoped they wouldn’t settle on this option. There’s a bitter taste in your mouth, turning your lips upside down as if you’ve bitten into a lemon.

“Sometimes, you don’t want to win the battle,” you start slowly, the thought blossoming from a dark place deep inside you. “Sometimes you want as many as possible to live.” Which is easier said than done, and no one in the room agrees on your statement because they know just as much that such a choice isn’t always granted. Before the silence stretches on too long, you quickly add, “I guess it is more important to know there is no right or wrong answer. You make decisions later on that will either grant you victory or death, and you will have to live with those decisions.”

Unanimous murmur sounds from the students, a topic nobody wants to dwell on too long, and you grant them that wish; this precious little time they’re still allowed to be children and make mistakes before responsibilities catch up to them. The rest of the lesson flies past without disturbances, and when the bells announce the break, they jump from their seats and scurry outside.

“Don’t forget there’s going to be a test after the mock battle,” you call after them, knowing they’ll forget anyway and then boycott. The Lions are finally done with lessons, but there is the Deer House who have the misfortune to attend the last period of the day. As you prepare their unit of instruction on different terrains, Dimitri approaches you, his expression a mixture between confidence and tension.

“Herald.” He stops in front of your desk, shoulders squared into a declaration of deference. “I have prepared instructions on everyone’s weaknesses and strengths. Please, do consider to take a look. Since one of the rules is that only six units will be stationed on the field, I hope this will make your decision easier who to choose.” Placing the papers with outmost care on your table, Dimitri hesitates a moment before continuing, “What you said earlier … truth be told, I think the same. To limit the loss of lives as much as possible should be a priority to a leader as well. To hear that from someone like you … I was quite glad.”

“Someone like me,” you repeat, but you’re more surprised to feel your fingers itch to take the papers and get a first read on everyone. After going through similar notes from Linhardt, you’re now excited to learn more about your proteges, and with luck someone from the Golden Deer students might provide you with a first survey as well.

“Someone responsible for tactics and strategy,” Dimitri quickly clarifies. “Someone tasked with bringing absolute victory.” He gives you a look that is somehow both caressing and calculating at the same time. “I understand that those sometimes compete with one’s own beliefs regarding the value of life. One’s conscience is as much of a weapon as a sharpened blade. If it breaks, what use is there to a person.”

“Those are … some mature thoughts.” You don’t know where this observation goes. Of course he is mature, he has to be as the successor of a noble lineage. “For someone your age.” You press your mouth into a thin line, cursing your inability to think of a better response. But Dimitri simply smiles—a smile that is like a light suddenly being turned on in every room of a dark house.

“Oh, but I do not want to bore you with such matters. I just wanted to add, I really do look forward to have you on our side during the mock battle.” He gives a little courtesy bow. “Let us discuss the details on the day before the mission. A good evening to you, Herald.”

Dimitri leaves with a little bounce to his step. It’s probably better he’s in high spirits, even though you aren’t sure what exactly made him happy. It would be a real shame to extinguish his excitement by being an utter failure during the battle, so you make sure to read whatever he managed to put together about his classmates as soon as possible. There’s still some minutes left before the first Deer students will enter. Exhaustion lulls you into resting your eyes, and the moment your head is cradled in your arms, you doze off.

It’s the third time you have this dream after joining the Officer’s Academy, though calling it a ‘dream’ is a stretch—there is nothing happening, nothing to see. Only white, as pure and unblemished as a young lily blossom in early spring. Only this time this picture—maybe a memory, but of what or where you can’t say—is different.

Wake up, a voice whispers, barely recognisable and dull, spoken behind a wall of water. Wake up.

Your hands weigh a ton. Unable to reach out and grasp it, the dream blurs, slipping through your fingers like sand.

Wake up.

“Herald, wake up,” Claude persists. “You’re drooling on my test papers.”

His hand brushes your shoulder and you jump, all focus on the dream dispersing. Multiple voices fill the room in a shower of sounds, not helping to regain your senses of where you are. It doesn’t help that your right eye throbs dully, and as you rub it to somehow reduce the sensation, white spots dance across your vision.

“So sorry, Herald,” Claude smirks with his hand still hovering over your shoulder. “Didn’t mean to wake you from your beauty rest, but Hilda planned to draw obscene things on your face, and we can’t have that now, can we.”

“Liars never prosper, Claude!” comes Hilda’s response from somewhere in the back of the room. You groan, narrowing your eyes at him. Going back to sleep and stumbling about to try and figure out what’s going on sounds more pleasing than dealing with Claude’s shenanigans.

“Man, what a bummer you won’t join our House during the mock battle,” he continues as if Hilda hasn’t said anything. “If someone asked me, I think to have you fight for the Blue Lions is cheating.”

“But no one asked you?” you offer, indulging him with a weak smile.

“The audacity, right?” Claude rolls his eyes towards the ceiling, leaning against the teacher’s desk. “Just imagine the brilliant schemes we two could work out. Oh, I have an amazing idea. How about you ask Lady Rhea—”

“I’m not asking to be by your side during the battle.”

“Ouch.” Claude places a hand over his chest, right above his heart. “Immediately shut down. Who knew our dearest Herald would be such a heart breaker.”

You shoo him away, not only because he’s getting on your nerves, but there’s also Ignatz and Raphael standing in line, waiting for your attention.

“We’ve heard the students from the other Houses gave you some insight in their abilities,” Ignatz says, tugging a stack of papers to his chest. “We decided to give you one as well.”

“I’m sure you’ll like them,” Raphael chimes in, looking more excited than usual. “I gave Ignatz instructions on how to make our report the best. Forget boring words, Herald, we’ve prepared the real deal!” He rips the papers from Ignatz’s hands and slams them on your table. A crack sounds on the underside, and Raphael leans his whole weight upon the surface, completely oblivious to the protesting creak of the wood.

“Here, we started with Claude, since he’s the big shot and all that,” he explains, opening the first page. It shows Claude, a surprisingly accurate portrait of him, if not a little bit scrawny. He’s wielding a bow, nocking multiple arrows. Seems like Raphael wasn’t the only one giving instructions.

“And here is Leonie, and there’s Lorenz, and oh! That’s us working together as a team!” Raphael beams as he turns the page. In this picture, everyone is assembled, fighting against angry looking soldiers and horned monsters. There’s Lysithea and Marianne shooting lightning bolts from their hands, zapping their opponents. Raphael is carrying a huge stone, on top of it stands Hilda, wielding a mighty axe.

“These are the most accurate file reports I’ve seen,” you say for lack of better words. “It really is a shame I can’t join you for the mock battle.”

“There’s gonna be a next time, no worries!” Raphael gives you a thumbs up, then retreats to his seat, Ignatz by his side. They’re a funny duo, not just because of their different build. Their personalities seem the complete opposite, and yet strangely fit like a child’s box to sort blocks into the right shapes.

The difference between the Golden Deers and Blue Lions, for one, is the noise level. Instead of waiting for you to call them up one by one, they love to shout answers whenever they see fit. Judging who was the first isn’t really easy when four people scream at the same time, so you’ve given up on that—Claude’s policy whoever screams loudest didn’t help all too much as well. Maybe it’s time to ask Byleth about some tips how to handle them. When the bell tolls for the last time for this day, announcing everyone to be relieved of their work, the student clear out faster than during fire drills, leaving you with a turmoil of thoughts and worries and two little voices bickering about how much of a disaster next week is going to be.

After seven days and nights of restless sleep and vigorous training under the vicious supervision of Byleth, the green fields stretching before you end boarding on lush woods, its treetops protruding into the sky. It’s a wonderful day you would enjoy much more without knowing this is a battle field, and the people behind you wait for your command.

“Black Eagle and Golden Deer are in position. Captain Jeralt said the mock battle begins in roughly ten minutes.” Dedue gives you an expectant look, and you give him a curt nod, your mouth dry.

“Thanks. We’ll have a last briefing. After that, we’ll deploy our units.”

Dedue joins his classmates, leaving you to your troubled thoughts. With luck, none of your opponents will reach you, and you won’t have to fight. It’s as if you can feel Byleth’s taste for your blood all across the field, even though right now she’s just a blurry, dark blob in the distance, surrounded by her students.

“Do not worry, Herald.” The hard metal of a gauntlet on your shoulder makes you flinch, backing away from Dimitri. The worry on his face is a mirror of your own, albeit for different reasons. “Everyone will do their best to follow your orders, and fight with everything they've got. Your leadership will lead us to victory.”

“Oh, yeah!” You don’t meet his eyes. “For sure.” Zero pressure and all that. You don’t say that, seeing that most of the students don’t appear to be as nervous as you. Confidence is key, and even though you see none of it in tangible proximity, you can at least fake it until you make it.

Six minutes left. With a deep breath, you try to get hold of yourself, and face the Lions.

“Since we don’t know who will be deployed by Manuela and Byleth, prepare for everything. I want to split the group. Dimitri, Dedue and Mercedes move to the northern forest. Felix, Sylvain, you’re moving west with me.”

Felix pulls a grimace, but before he can say anything, Sylvain throws an arm around his shoulders and leans on him, gracing you with a full grin. “We got your back, Herald.” He earns a whack on his back from his friend.

“Why are we splitting up if our plan is to take out each group separately?” Dedue inquirers. “Isn’t that what we agreed on before?”

“I think the Herald plans to let our opponents think we plan on taking them both on at the same time.” Dimitri throws a quick glance at you. “We’ll draw them in our direction, and once they are near, we close in from both sides.”

You nod. “Precisely. We know the Black Eagles will start far north from us. The Golden Deers are northwest. As soon as one of them moves towards us, we’ll have to defeat them immediately. It will be easier fighting one House, not both at the same time.”

“Look at you, Your Highness.” Sylvain pats him on the shoulder, looking proud. “Someone’s been paying attention in class!”

“Sylvain—” Dimitri’s chiding meets deaf ears as Sylvain already turns away, checking his lance for a last time. But he does beam a little, you think. Or maybe it’s just the sun making everything look much brighter. It’ll go into your report nonetheless. Chances of a victory look good—even if you have to retreat, the Blue Lions might make it on their own.

The bressy sound of a horn echoes across the valley, reverberating in your bones. The mock battle begins.

The weight of the wooden training sword hanging from your hip is foreign; it’s as though you only expect to trip over it. Determined to keep it in its holster, you approach the grove, flanked by Sylvain and Felix—and not a minute too soon. Moving towards you is the first line of enemies, Ignatz, Lorenz and Marianne.

“I think they didn’t see us—” Sylvain starts just as the first arrow flies past his head and hits the trunk beside him with a thunk. For safety purposes, all arrow’s tips are wrapped up in stiff cloth, not intended to leave permanent wounds but surely still capable to deliver nasty bruises like the training swords and lances.

“I think they saw us—” Sylvain’s brilliant new observation ends in a yelp as Felix shoves him out of the line of fire.

“Get down, dumbass!”

You three duck behind bushes and trees, cautiously observing how the others advance, their weapons drawn.

“I’ll go for Ignatz,” you say. “Felix, you’re fast enough to reach Marianne and take her down before she starts healing everyone.”

“Fine, we’ll try your plan.” Felix has his sword drawn already, gripping it tight enough his knuckles turn white. “Try not to get kicked out too soon, will you.”

You blow a strand of hair from out of your eyes, squinting at his back as he jumps out of cover. The last couple of weeks you’ve put in some extra hours of sword practice with Felix. As an exceptional swordsman, noble and diligent in his training unlike anyone else—safe maybe for Dimitri—you imagined no one could teach you as much as possible in the short amount of time until the mission. It took some convincing, but the decisive argument that sold him was your desire to become better to finally have at least a chance against Byleth. If she is stern during practice, Felix is vicious, exploiting the tiniest opening you give in order to make you learn from your mistakes. Your body was a medley of pain and aches after every evening, but now the memory of that very same melody is your marching song towards battle. Then there’s always the knowledge that if you three can distract them long enough before the rest of the Golden Deer students arrive, Dimitri and the rest will close in on your position, and taking down your opponents won’t be difficult.

“Sylvain, Lorenz is yours.”

He answers with a simple salute, grip tight around his training lance, and as you both follow Felix out in the open, an image flickers before you, there and gone like a flame going out with a last glint. An arrow, headed straight at you. Your body moves in instinct, dodging the projectile not a second too late. Judging from the direction of its origin, Ignatz must be just beyond the rocks only a few hundred yards away. You throw a MiasmaΔ in his direction, the black ball carving its path across the grasslands. It hits the stone, chipping parts away and revealing Ignatz, crouching behind it. He looks up, dirt on his cheeks, and adjusts his glasses before ducking out of his cover, another arrow already ready on his bow.

Another arrow hits him on his back, hard enough to get him down on his knees. Mercedes’ accuracy isn’t as good as Ashe’s, but the determination carved into her face makes up for lack of skill. Dimitri and Dedue are right on her heels, but a single look thrown over your shoulder shows that Felix and Sylvain have everything under control. Coming out victorious as well, save for Sylvain pressing a hand against his ribs, they were still complete. The knowledge of that makes you sigh in relief, a new surge of hope soaring inside you.

“I knew we shouldn’t have listened to Claude’s dubious plan.” Lorenz’s bickering is still audible, even as the three proceed to leave the battle grounds to meet up with Jeralt. You’re really curious to see what exactly Claude had in mind, but diverting your focus for just a second could become dangerous. Instead, you turn towards the students.

“Stay close,” you order, waiting until Mercedes is finished checking Sylvain's injuries. “We’re going to move further towards the Golden Deers and eliminate them first.” Flexing your fingers against the slow growth of getting used casting spells, your group begins to move further north.

Out of the corner of your eyes, you notice Dimitri buckling and unbuckling his spear from his back. Out of lack for the right words, and because the first rush of adrenaline still courses through your body, you jostle against him, wearing a grin on your face.

“Look lively, Your Highness,” you advise. “All that nervous fumbling isn’t what a leader is supposed to do.”

A tiny gasps leaves him, more an exhale than anything else, but he turns towards you, slightly flushed. Bringing his hands to his sides, it’s too obvious he’s tensing his body so they don’t stray again—like a statue that’s on the edge of shattering at the tiniest movement.

“You’re right, of course.” He lowers his head a little. “I just keep thinking that the Black Eagle students wait for us in that direction as well. Some are surely moving towards us as we speak.”

“Are you worried about Byleth?” you wonder, and more as an afterthought add, “Or Edelgard?”

“Anyone who is not worried about Byleth is a fool, if you ask me,” he replies with a crease between his pale eyebrows. “And well, this is our first chance to prove ourselves, being the heirs to the ruling factions. I know Edelgard is exceptionally strong. And Claude surely has an ace up his sleeve. You are right, Herald. Nervousness is a sign of hesitation, of weakness. I will be better than that.” A new fire comes alive in his eyes as he strides onward, catching up to Mercedes and Sylvain to compliment her on the excellent shot from before.

The epiphany really comes only now, fast and hard like a lightning bolt, that these children will drink in everything you have to offer—advices, orders, simple words of encouragement—simply for the title that is strapped around your neck. The weight of that responsibility slows your steps, which allows for another worry to quickly catch up: has everything you have taught them so far been right? Do they really know how to exploit the advantages certain classes have over others; will a strategic retreat even occur to them in the right time before it’s too late.

Doubt is like poison, slowly eating you from the inside. This mock battle won’t just be a lesson for the students. It will also test if you have put them on the right path, and the realisation unfolds a new conviction inside you, breathing new wind into your sails.

You quickly catch up to them, another rush of encouraging words on your lips when another image flickers on and off, painting your sight red. You freeze, raising an arm, hand formed into a fist.

“Halt!” you shout, processing what you just saw. The students pause, forming a loose circle around you. The throbbing from before settles back in, more persistent now like someone’s knocking against the back of your skull to get your attention. You try to ignore that and focus on categorising every student’s ability in alphabetical order.

“Linhardt,” you gasp, eyes wide open and glued on Dedue.

The students exchange worried glances. Sylvain is the first to speak. “No, Herald,” he says. “Linhardt’s the pretty boy with all the books, you know. Who sleeps just about anywhere, like a cat. That’s our Dedue here.”

“No, I mean Linhardt has Nosferatu,” you quickly explain, flailing your hands in hope to express yourself better. It doesn’t look like it helps. “Linhardt is the only one left who can use Nosferatu, and he’s going to land a good hit on Dedue. And with good, I mean bad. If he hits you, you’re down, Dedue.” Because only that makes sense, as Marianne is already standing on the sidelines and you haven’t heard about anyone else learning the skill. Undoubtedly a Nosferatu will hit Dedue if you don’t change course or take the spell caster out first.

Dedue steps forward. “Should it give us an advantage against our enemy, I will gladly face the opponent and go down if it means it won’t interfere with our progress towards the Golden Deer students.”

“Sacrificing yourself for a mere praise from the boar, is that what you hope for?” Felix demands, or more like snarls, his handsome face crumpling into an ugly look of contempt. “Pathetic.”

“Sacrifice is a big word to throw around during a mock battle, don’t you think,” Sylvain unhelpfully throws in, his posture a little too relaxed in the light of the conflict that’s about to break out.

Dedue shakes his head. “I am simply fulfilling my duty,” he states. “Anything that will bring His Highness victory.”

“You would also run head first into an ambush and get yourself killed, is that it?” Felix grimaces. “Blindly following orders—”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough!” Your raised voice makes them pause, and you use that second to grab lead of the conversation. “We don’t even know if Linhardt is going to be alone or joined by other Eagle students. What do you think will your little act accomplish, Dedue?”

He sets his mouth into a grim, hard line, unable to come up with a satisfying answer that isn’t a repeat of what he just said.

“You’ll have a tough time going against Black Eagles with all their magic users, so stay with Dimitri. Go and deal with the rest of the Golden Deer students. And you—” You meet Felix’s glare with narrowed eyes. “A battlefield isn’t the place to throw around petty disagreements. You would do well to remember that.”

“Understood.” He rips the training sword from its holster. “But let me go take down that mage. I’ll cut him down swiftly.”

“We’ll go together. I’m not leaving any of you on your own. Take care of Claude,” you tell Dimitri, showing with a nod that you fully trust in his leading ability. “We’ll meet east from the barricades in exactly one hour.”

He doesn’t shy away from you glare. “Understood. Take care you two.”

Felix takes the lead with long, eager strides. As you follow him, you rub your eye, wincing at the pinprick-like pain. The dull throb doesn’t cease this time, and if you had to take a guess, there’s only once left for the Crest to activate before you reach your limit. So far, nothing has helped you to ascertain when exactly a foresight occurs, and leaving it to pure chance is like grasping a loose rope in hopes that it is tied to something somewhere as you take the leap. Maybe Hanneman will make more sense of it laters.

“You should have stayed with the others,” Felix says after a moment, scanning your surroundings for any sign of the enemy. It sounds more like a simple statement than an accusation. “I can handle someone like Linhardt on my own.”

“I said before, we don’t know if he’s alone. I highly doubt it.” It’s like Dimitri said before: Underestimating Byleth will surely end in casualties and defeat. You don’t consider it far-fetched that she has sent a non-magic class with Linhardt, but who that will be is left to be determined.

“No matter how many accompany him. Be it two or three or all of them, I will take them down.”

“It takes more than one person to win a war.” Though you don’t doubt Felix might try it by himself anyway. “You’ll notice soon enough that you will rely on your comrades.”

“I will rely on them as long as they don’t get in my way.”

“So charming,” you mumble to yourself as you two round a mound. It really is none of your business, but you're actually curious about what is going on between him and Dedue. The moment you finish outweighing the pros and cons of trying to go down that rabbit hole, the air around you changes, barely noticeable save for a change of wind—it completely stills for a second, but that is enough to realise what’s happening.

“Felix—” you manage before the Nosferatu explodes in front of you, knocking you to the ground. Before the mock battle, all magicians were instructed to weaken their spells; no lasting damage should befall any of the participants. Only because of that you manage to climb back on your feet, only left with dizziness that makes the world spin. The jarring sound of metal clashing against metal clears your mind a little, and when you turn around, Felix and Ferdinand are clashing blades.

You turn further, and there he is, a hand raised in your direction. “Sorry, Herald,” Linhardt says. He doesn’t sound sorry at all. “The professor threatened with extra homework if we would hold back against you.”

“Of course she did,” you mumble, grabbing your sword with sweaty hands. Two against two is fair, and you have no doubt that Felix will hold his ground against Ferdinand. The only solution to your little problem named Linhardt is to get as close as possible, and make use of your advantage in meagre sword skills.

Another Nosferatu is sent your way, but this time you dodge, the hair on your neck standing on end. Somehow your body automatically shies away from Faith magic like a cat fleeing from water. Just one more hit will surely be enough to throw you out of the mock battle, and you can’t have that, not when the picture of Dimitri’s resolute expression is carved into your mind.

You close the distance, all nerves tensed in anticipation, completely focused on trying to feel where the next spell is going to land. As Linhardt retreats into the woods, his sight obscured by trees, you dive after him, shoving twigs out of your way. A shadow moves through the undergrowth; every muscle in your body locks up, but you plunge forward, sword raised—

Linhardt gasps when he finds himself pressed against a tree, your sword at his throat. With both hands up, he doesn’t move an inch, simply blinking at you. Somewhere above you, a bird cries out; a branch breaks. Linhardt makes a face like he jammed his foot in a door he slammed shut himself.

“I surrender,” he says. “Getting beat up and spending time in the infirmary doesn’t sound as good as reading tomes in the library.”

“You sure?” Your heart beats so loud in your chest, it’s a miracle it doesn’t break through your ribcage and fly off. “Byleth might drown you in homework for that.”

He shrugs. “I call it a strategic retreat. I’ll just have to—” A yawn. “—convince the professor.” Another yawn. You begin to see the ulterior motive behind his surrender. Squinting at him, you proceed to bind his hands with a dark spell. Black shackles appear around his wrists, locking them tight together. As you make your way out of the grove, you hope Felix had the same success.

That thought immediately dies when you return to the plain and see Jeralt heaving an unconscious Felix on the back of his horse, a battered Ferdinand by his side.

“Ah, Herald.” Even though beaten up black and blue, Ferdinand still manages a smile. It looks a little lopsided with his swollen cheek and the dried blood on his upper lip. “I don’t mean to offend, but I hope you return because Linhardt defeated you in mighty combat?” A second too late he sees the magic binds around Linhardt’s wrists. His face falls. “My, Linhardt.”

“You don’t quite look so good yourself,” Linhardt throws back without any heat in his voice. He sounds rather bored. Tired.

“Excuse me, but what happened. What’s wrong with Felix?” you ask, turning to Jeralt. Before he can answer, Ferdinand chimes in, “He fought splendidly! Though I had no doubt in that, he is a noble after all. Yet, after ringing me to the ground, he lost consciousness. By my honour as the heir of House Aegir, I cannot take advantage of that. We both shall step out of battle.”

“He passed out?” Now that you take a good look at him, he’s still pale, unhealthily so. Slick sweat glues his dark hair to his forehead, and the skin beneath his eyes shimmers slightly blue—lack of sleep.

“Overexertion, I guess,” Jeralt says now. He pulls Linhardt to his side, and gives his shackles a thoughtful look. “I’ll take these three with me. You go and continue the mock battle, Herald.”

“But…” It doesn’t feel right to leave Felix alone. Even though he technically isn’t, you imagine it would be better to wake up to a friendly face.

“He’ll be fine.” Jeralt gives you a strange sideway glance. “The other brats rely on you right now, don’t they? Go to them.”

He’s right, of course. The mission isn’t over yet, and with a strong combatant like Felix missing, victory has just slipped from your grasp.

There is the meeting point. There it is, and no student from the Lion House is in sight. The minutes pass in long stretches, ticking away until it’s impossible to tell if time moves on or holds still. Holding out between the trees, you look in both directions—for your comrades and the enemy. For whatever reason, Byleth has decided not to advance to your position, and you aren’t sure what that’s supposed to mean. More minutes pass in aggravating silence, heavy and oppressing, and then—

“Herald!” Dimitri’s voice rings through the woods. Your head snaps to him, and there they are, the Blue Lions tearing through the woods, a yellow flag with a deer on it waving behind them.

“You did it!” Joy and relief spreads through you as you stumble towards them. “You guys really did it!” They shuffle around you like kittens searching for warmth, and something tight uncoils inside your chest. Is this what Byleth always feels when she’s in front of her class?

“Hilda and Claude were mighty opponents, but nothing we couldn’t handle,” Dimitri reassures, but then a shadow jumps over his features. “Unfortunately, Mercedes had to leave. We couldn’t reach her in time to step in.”

“Step in,” Sylvain repeats, muttered under his breath as he brushes red locks from his sweaty forehead. “I want to see you stepping in when Hilda swings that axe like a lunatic and not scream like a little girl.”

“Where is Felix?” Dedue inquirers, ignoring Sylvain.

Your shoulders drop. “Well, Linhardt was accompanied by Ferdinand, and while I pursued Linhardt, they fought. None of them emerged unscathed, although I feel Felix drew the shorter straw.”

“Felix?” Dimitri repeats. He sounds as if you just tried to convince him it’s going to rain butterscotch pie later. “Our Felix lost?”

“Not exactly the fight, but I’m sure his pride took a hard beating.”

“Well, that leaves four against four.” Dimitri brings a hand up to his chin, a worry crease between his eyebrows. “And they still have Edelgard and the Professor.”

“And we got the Herald and you!” Sylvain beams. “I say we wrap this up and celebrate our victory with a nice dinner and maybe some ale? How does that sound?”

“Sacrilegious.” Your voice is drier than the crisp leaves cracking under your feet. “Aren’t you too young for alcohol?”

“Too young and irresponsible,” Dimitri agrees with you, looking tired of Sylvain’s antics. “But I don’t object to a celebratory dinner.”

“That is, if we win.” Dedue reads your mind, and brings the conversation back on the right course.

“I assume the Black Eagles are holding position. They’re waiting for us,” you say, briefly checking everyone’s state. Safe for dirt and scratches, they’re still doing good, though having fought already, the Blue Lions are on a slight disadvantage. You can only hope some of Byleth’s students dropped out facing the Golden Deers.

“We shouldn’t keep them waiting then.” Sylvain winks, playing with the grip of his lance. The smile that flirts with his lips is threatening.

“Keep your guard up.” Dimitri shares a single, meaningful glance with every one of you, then leads your little group out of the forest. Whatever Byleth has planned, you hope that you’ll be ready for it.

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saviourkingslut · 3 years ago

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7, 8, 20, 37, 42, 43, 44!

so many !! :0 ended up being something of an essay lmaoo

7) Favourite Church character, and why?

seteth cause he's a total dilf and also he'll act all stern but he's actually all gooey inside. he's such a sweetheart and a big old care bear, and very dependable.

8) Favourite activity around the monastery to do?

i like gardening cause there's a chance of getting stat boost veggies lol.

20) Character(s) you thought had wasted potential, and why?

in a minor way hanneman, bc i think he's a really fun character but some of his supports are just. ass. his supports with byleth really make him seem like some crest-obsessed dumbass, while id have loved to see more supports like his chains with marianne and lysithia (his chain with dorothea is also a guilty pleased of mine lmfaoo). he's considerate and respectful in them, and i would've liked to see more of that. another character is edelgard, especially on cf. i wish they hadn't woobified her to hell and back there, and just - let her be an evil red emperor on a route that makes you uncomfortable when you carry it through to the end, because you can sense in your bones you are helping her set up an authoritarian regime. like, i would've still hated her, but at least she would've been a ruthless villain you love to hate, not some girl whining about how hard it is to wage her own war bc she never gets a day off.

37) Least favourite house leader, and why?

edelgard bc i hate her as a character but also bc i think she's just a bad house leader. she often doesn't understand her classmates or their problems and half of her supports end up being abt her or people agreeing with her in sometimes really ooc ways. when caspar is like "you always have to make everything about you" that's real shit. i guess the way she's a house leader says a lot about how she is as a leader? preoccupied with herself, but absolutely no clue (perhaps no care, even) what the people around her actually want or think

42) Least favourite monastery activity, and why?

i never go to choir bc i don't think it's worth a whole activity point but also. idk i think fishing is a bit boring tbh. sorry

43) Least favourite route (gameplay wise), and why?

crimson flower, bc out of all houses beagles has the most units that are mediocre in my opinion (ig this could also be silver snow bc u have to use the same folks, but i haven't played the route yet). just, middling class paths/special abilities, very few crests, middling stat growths for a few too many units (especially linhardt/dorothea who are probably the most useless mages in the game apart from flayn). you absolutely need to recruit other students if you want to make it anywhere on this route in my experience (hard mode). also the last few maps suck absolute ass - i hate all the fire paired with the golems on the final map, it took me for-fucking ever to get through that. i do have to say that the last few maps on vw have some pretty bad design as well, but mostly in the sense that you can straight up clear maps by avoiding half the enemies (w/o using warp) OR the map forces u to end the fight early bc the commanders start moving after a few turns, and i don't like that.

44) Least favourite route (story wise), and why?

crimson flower. i hate edelgard, i hate having to agree with her and sucking up to her, i hate the way this route twists all the other characters up to do and say things that are completely ooc and go directly against their personal beliefs with absolutely zero explanation (except that you as the player have chosen edelgard's side). the things recruited characters say in this route... it's disgusting. and overall you can notice that this route was rushed.

#this ask is an edelgard hate zone #rip!#thanks for asking <3 #asks

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iturbide · 4 years ago

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SO...HOWS ABOUT THAT NEW BANNER HUH,...ON ONE HAND NOOOOOOOOOO MY MORGANS BUT ON THE OTHERHAND MAYBE EDELGARD WILL GET A SLAP IN THE FACE SIMILAR TO BERKUT FACING HIS FALLEN SELF????

I love the fact that as soon as a new Fallen Heroes banner drops you guys instantly come to me guess how I found out it was time

BUT THIS IS SOME BANNER HOLY WOW. BOTH Morgans, Hegemon Edelgard, AND Feral Dima? They’re going all out on this one, aren’t they?

I mean, I’m also worried about the Morgans because my children (though I have to say I’m all on board with M!Morgan’s anti-Naga sentiments, he’s a boy after my own heart even though they’re probably going to make it Bad). On the other hand...I can think of lots of fun ways to spin this that also end up with some significantly happier Morgans and lots more chaos within the creche because if two Morgans was twice the trouble, how much more will four net us? Is it an exponential increase? Only time will tell. Grima just wants the children home and no this is not a discussion.

I really, really hope that Hegemon Edelgard is able to knock some sense into Student Edelgard -- and heck, depending on how it goes, maybe she’ll even manage to give some of the adult Edelgards will pause. After all, this is not the culmination of their goals: this is about as far from what they wanted as it’s possible to get. How did it come to this? How did it all go so wrong? ...which might lead to some very uncomfortable conversations with the Dimitri who became King of Faerghus.

As for why Dima gets the purple flames, well...let’s remember that it’s not only magic that leads to that effect. Both of the Fallen Corrins have a similar flame effect, and neither one are in any way possessed or controlled by magic: the effect itself is mostly there to show that they’re not their usual selves, or not in control of themselves; much like their blood is overpowering them, Dimitri’s been overpowered by his desire for vengeance, and that “darkness” (as he himself calls it) has taken him over, presenting in the violet flames.

(Of course, there is technically an alternative explanation that is much worse: if you’ve played Silver Snow, you remember how after news arrives about the Battle at Gronder Dimitri shows up at the monastery, but only Byleth sees him and it’s left unclear if he was really there or not? It’s entirely possible he was a ghost, and a lot of ghostly imagery in old Japanese paintings was accompanied by will o’ wisp type fires in odd colors...like purple. Just throwing that out there.)

#answered #anonymous #cheeseandcake #fire emblem: heroes #i'm definitely aiming for the morgans first and foremost #dimitri would be icing on the cake #honestly this is not helping my odd thoughts about future past #imagine another au coming out of this possibility #actually no don't i don't need another no wait stop

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agent-cupcake · 5 years ago

Text

Dimitri and mental illness

**Warnings for Blue Lions spoilers and armchair psychology

Depending on who you ask, Dimitri is an innocent sweetheart whose actions are entirely excusable and justified or an unforgivable war criminal and overall terrible character. Arguments for both sides have been exhausted, usually in the form of the popular Edelgard versus Dimitri debate, but I feel that both statements are heavily flawed and, truthfully, I think I take more issue with the former. Does it strike anyone else as rather patronizing that the audience (and the game, to an extent) treats Dimitri like an innocent, broken uwu soft boy both before the time skip and once he begins his recovery arc? Of course, a lot of this can be blamed on the awful pacing and poor writing of said recovery (which is the most valid structural critique of his character imo), but there’s a lot to be said about the fan depiction of Dimitri and the way people treat his mental illness. I think the reason this gets me is because I see it as an extension of the problems I have with the romanticization of male-specific mental illness. In this case, “all depressed boys are emasculated, soft, sad bois” and “anger is an accessory that is vanished once the cute boy takes it off” with the related sentiment of “the only two real mental illnesses are depression and anxiety, with a splash of PTSD for argument's sake”. And, speaking of arguments, while many people bring up mental illness in regards to the discussion around Three Houses characters, it is often supplementary to support their points rather than the main point unto itself. Dimitri’s mental illness (aka, the thing his entire arc is predicated upon) is mostly given only a passing recognition in the discussion of his actions. Even then, it’s often used as a justification to defend or lambaste him.

TL;DR Dimitri is a flawed person with a debilitating and incredibly well written mental illness that, while not excusing his actions, allows for further exploration of his character and a well-deserved shot at a recovery arc that is not usually awarded to people with the “non-traditional” mental illnesses. Furthermore, the game offers a wealth of insight as to what they intended his mental illness to be, the symptoms that manifested, and a plausible background to match up with it all and I have the receipts to prove it. Let’s go~

“Me? Oh. Um. Please forgive me... It's difficult to open up on the spot, don't you think? I'm afraid my story has not been a pleasant one... I do hope that doesn't color your view of me, but I understand if that can't be helped.”

I know that mental illness can be singularly caused by a traumatic event or events. That is, generally, how I see people framing Dimitri’s mental illness. My argument, however, is that the Tragedy of Duscur was not the genesis, but the trigger for issues that would exist otherwise. Perhaps it’s due to my own personal experience with mental illness, but I’m almost always more inclined to believe that issues stem from an unlucky combination of many things.

Regardless, my evidence to entertain the idea that he would be naturally predisposed to mental illness is slim. Aside from arguing that it wouldn’t be out of the question for his mother to have been unwell while she was pregnant with him considering she would later die of plague (a cause that in and of itself is subject to skepticism), I would bring up his Crest. In-game there is clear proof that Crests have wide-reaching effects on the person, there are actually a few analysis posts that hypothesize that Crests could be the reason for certain character motivations. In ng+, the Crest of Blaiddyd is called the Grim Dragon Sign. There’s no definitive proof to point to here, but if his Crest was one of the reasons for his mental deterioration it would follow other rules set in-game. Rather than inherited human genetics creating the blueprint for mental issues and the writers having to face that issue on its own terms, it was the Crest’s influence. This goes along with the fact that the game never overtly references Dimitri’s illness, essentially using “the dead” as a blanket symptom of his problems. Both these things are cool ways to imply a possible way to read more deeply without having to use anachronistic medical terms.

Side note: There’s something uncomfortable about the idea of a Crest that gives the individual inhuman strength and mental issues. Grim Dragon indeed.

My next point is one that I don’t see being brought up too often in regards to how it might have affected Dimitri, likely because the events that came later in his life far overshadow it, but Dimitri lost his mom when he was young. The date is not given, but I think it’d be when he was about six-ish. Admittedly, the timeline is strange and non-specific around here but if that were true, it would mean that the plague, Dimitri’s mother’s death, and Lambert and Rodrigue’s war campaign to subjugate the southern half of Sreng would all have happened around the same time. Dimitri says he doesn’t remember it, but that doesn’t necessarily matter. At six years old he had lost one parent and the other one left him to go on a battle march, leaving this child without any sort of parent figure to console him in a country that is culturally opposed to expressing emotion. Lambert will probably always remain a mystery, but I think it could be fair to say he was a poor father. Or at the very least a distant one. Dimitri was undoubtedly a sensitive child (if we’re to judge by the sensitive person he grew up to be) and during the years where he was actually becoming old enough to remember, he had nobody to teach him how to properly navigate and manage his emotions. Emotional neglect in a child who is predisposed to being emotional and empathetic can leave them suffering from a sense of isolation, an inability to ask for help, and a predisposition to having break downs as they get older.

But three-ish years later, possibly one of the best things that ever would happen to Dimitri came to pass and Lambert married Patricia. Dimitri adored her.

“I share no blood with my stepmother, but to hear you say that... It pleases me greatly. She was the one who raised me. I suppose it makes sense that we would share certain mannerisms.” (Dimitri’s B support with Hapi)

I don’t think Dimitri’s feelings about Patricia can be overstated, as I feel it’s one of the most defining aspects of his reactions to things that happen later on. Dimitri talks about Patricia more lovingly than he talks about Lambert. She was in his life for around four to five years but had such an impact on him that even his mannerisms are similar.

Soon after, a ten-year-old Dimitri made his first friend that wasn’t knightly, who didn’t embody those Faerghus ideals of stifling emotions and swinging swords.

People point out the Faerghus crew as Dimitri’s best friends, and yet Edelgard is the one associated with his best memories. It’s just my own assumptions, but I think that it’s because both Edelgard and Patricia gave Dimitri space to be an emotional child, to not have to be the knightly prince who had no emotions and engaged only in the most masculine of activities. And, I mean, look at them. He’s learning to dance and she’s bossing him around, absolutely no regard for propriety.

It’s pretty clear that Dimitri doesn’t feel romantic feelings towards Edelgard in the academy phase, but I think it would be fair to say she was his first love when they were young. He essentially says this was the best year of his life and establishes Edelgard as someone very precious to him (as well as the daughter of one of the most precious people to him). Strong feelings beget strong feelings, do they not?

Google says that eleven to fourteen is the general age of male puberty. It’s the time that kids begin to more fully define how they’re going to emotionally interact with people and the world at large. Meeting Edelgard was at the cusp of this period of Dimitri’s life, and the Tragedy of Duscur was right in the midst of it.

And we all know what that turned out.

Dimitri’s accounts of what happened during the Tragedy are... conflicting. This CG of an unharmed Dimitri in a field of corpses is... conflicting.

“My father...was the strongest man I knew. Someone I loved and admired deeply. That said, he was killed before my eyes. His head severed clean off. My stepmother, the kindest person I had ever known, left me behind and disappeared into the infernal flames.”

I’ve seen people create a plausible scenario in which Dimitri’s recollection is entirely accurate, where he saw Lambert call for revenge and get beheaded, saw Glenn’s ruined body and face twisted in pain, saw his step-mother disappear into the flames, and all despite the raging chaos of the battle and how people would undoubtedly be targeting the prince, but I think it makes more sense that his memories are unreliable. Dimitri suffered a severe head injury (very important to keep in mind) at Duscur. Maybe that happened early on, after seeing who attacked Lambert but before he was an actual target himself, which merely made him look dead. Maybe he saw a version of the events he described, but through the filter of confused head trauma, smoke inhalation, and intense terror. To think that his recollection isn’t exactly entirely reliable sets a precedent for his later skewed take on reality.

Regardless of opinion, though, the facts are that Dimitri left Duscur with a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

After that, from thirteen to seventeen, Dimitri was pretty isolated. Most of the people he cared about were dead. His entire emotional support system (Patricia) was gone. He saved Dedue (although they were definitely not on even terms, that relationship is unbalanced to the extreme) and occasionally saw Rodrigue (who I have no reason to believe was emotionally accommodating in any way considering the way he sees Dimitri as an extension of Lambert to his dying breath). Again, it’s strange. People act like Dimitri was super close friends with the Faerghus crew, that he was surrounded by people who loved him (although it is clear there is a lot of love there), but he never presents things in a way to imply that’s the case. In fact, he highlights his isolation:

“In Duscur, I lost my father, stepmother, and closest friends. I didn't have many allies at the castle after that. In truth, I had only Dedue for companionship.”... “I once had people I could confide in. Family, friends, instructors, even the royal soldiers. But they were all taken away from me four years ago.” (Dimitri’s C support with Byleth.)

Two years passed before the next time Dimitri saw his friends and it was a war campaign, putting down the rebellion in western Faerghus. Dimitri speaks about those battles from a place of deeply affected emotion, expressing empathy, pain, and disgust with his actions and the killing.

“I recall coming across a dead soldier's body. He was clutching a locket. Inside was a lock of golden hair. I don't know to whom it belonged. His wife, his daughter...mother, lover... I'll never know.... in that moment, I realized he was also a real person, just like the rest of us… Killing is part of the job, but even so... There are times when I'm chilled to the bone by the depravity of my own actions.” (Dimitri’s B Support with Byleth)

I love this support, honestly. It’s so very telling about the destructive quality of empathy. Although caring can be a good thing, it’s also arguably one of the most destructive of Dimitri’s qualities. His empathy is what presents him with situations he cannot accept, the thing that pushes him to disassociate from reality so he can be rid of it and fight without remorse like he was taught to do by his father and other soldiers. Dimitri is a man of extremes. Either total control or none, without any room for error. This dialogue is also the first time Dimitri brings up reconciling himself with reality and hints to the fact that he has been unable to do so. This is contrasted perfectly in this line from Felix,

“The way you suppressed that rebellion... It was ruthless slaughter and you loved every second. I remember the way you killed your victims. How you watched them suffer. And your face...that expression. All the world's evil packed into it...” (Dimitri’s C Support with Felix)

Dimitri doesn’t deny this. Just like all of the other terrible things Felix says, he takes it without protesting in an act of what I think is stilted contrition. Although, it’s not just in supports that Dimitri’s contrasting behavior is brought up. The Remire incident probably works as a good reference for what Felix saw all those years back.

This is the first time we see Dimitri’s darker side in full. The similarities in the situation to what is shown to have happened in the Tragedy of Duscur are interesting. The fire, the utter chaos, strange figures watching it all from above. This is another case of a perfect disaster. I wonder if his ultimate snap would have been so destructive if not for Remire.

Anyway, this draws parallels to his and Felix’s separate recall of the rebellion because later Dimitri apologizes.

“Professor... I...I'm sorry you saw that side of me in the village… When I saw the chaos and violence there...my mind just went completely dark.”

Dimitri is unreliable. A lack of control, a separation of self, and becoming consumed by a dark rage only to come to his senses later, full of shame and a sense of confusion about why. From my own experience, it’s not unnatural to come out of an episode like this without being able to explain what was happening and being baffled by your behavior. This firmly establishes Dimitri’s uncomfortably fast mood shifts in relation to his trauma from the Tragedy and confirms all of the warnings Felix had given. When Dimitri was faced with a reality he could not accept, he lost control of his emotions and his mental state shifted to adapt accordingly.

This is when I’d also like to note something interesting about how Dimitri discusses his trauma. He is very honest and open about his experiences, explaining exactly what happened to him to Byleth. However, he uses the truth to hide. In recounting the events of the Tragedy of Duscur, in talking about how his family died and saying how badly it hurt him, he does not make himself vulnerable. When he admits weakness, he does so in the past tense or apologetically, vowing to be stronger. “Stronger”, aka, he’ll be better in suppressing his emotions.

“I always strive to keep my emotions at bay, but... Sometimes the darkness takes hold and...it's impossible to suppress. It just shows you how lacking I am... I have much to learn.”

Dimitri lies by using the truth, shoving down his feelings, and blaming himself rather than attempting to figure out how to handle his emotions. In his own words:

“Everyone has something that is unacceptable within them. I certainly do, and I'd wager you do as well. I wonder which is best, Professor... To cut away that which is unacceptable, or to find a way to accept it anyway...”

Good advice Dimitri. Might want to keep that in mind.

It is at this point is when I’m going to get into my personal thoughts and armchair psychiatry nonsense.

First off, when I mentioned earlier about “non-traditional” mental illness, I did not mean abnormal or rare. Although people mostly just point to Dimitri having PTSD (and depression) as the source of his issues, I’m going to use all of my above information to make the (decently common) argument that Dimitri is schizophrenic, which is, contrary to popular belief, not too unusual. I state that with the caveat that I understand that there’s a lot to be said about schizophrenia and the tumultuous relationship between mental health and fiction. However, now is not really the time to go into mental health politics and representation or the many lies spread about the illness so instead, I recommend that you read into the topic if you’re personally interested (This has some good information).

At the very least be aware that this IS sensationalized.

That said, Dimitri does not, to my understanding using grossly simplified terms, meet the qualifications generally (very generally) used to diagnose schizophrenia through the majority of the White Clouds chapters. These qualifying symptoms include, but are not limited to, the duration of the psychotic episode, the concurrent presence of hallucinations and delusions, and a greatly lowered ability to keep up with basic quality-of-life tasks. You only see these symptoms in the final chapter of White Clouds and the first few of Azure Moon. This isn’t unusual, however, because schizophrenia manifesting fully in younger individuals is extremely uncommon, sometimes taking years to trigger during a person’s late teens. And since the diagnosis generally relies on the occurrence of a psychotic episode, it can be mistaken as other mood disorders. Actually, the idea of him having a mood disorder was one of the things that caught my eye originally. Prodromal symptoms such as depression, irritability, headaches, sleep disruption, and mood swings are common in bipolar disorder (and, of course, schizophrenia).

Still, I don't deny that Dimitri has PTSD and depression, only that I don’t think PTSD is his main (or only) issue. In reality, PTSD and schizophrenia are closely tied. They share many symptoms, even the symptom of psychosis. There’s also evidence that those with genetic precedent to develop PTSD overlap with those at risk for schizophrenia, and that the nature of PTSD triggers can act as a severe stressor to aggravate a schizophrenic episode.

(From here)

This falls into the realm of being uncertain where one ends the other begins, highlighting the lack of concrete understanding about schizophrenia and the dependency of diagnosis and treatment to rely entirely on the individual experience, but that’s not a conversation I’m actually qualified to have.

The study that truly caught my eye and while researching for this was one called “Psychiatric disorders and traumatic brain injury”. As I mentioned, at some point during the Tragedy, Dimitri sustained severe head trauma. We know this because of his development of the rare inability to taste called ageusia. I was originally interested in following this narrative thread because, as you might know if you follow true crime cases, there are many murderers who recall having sustained a head injury as children. Not that Dimitri shares similar psychology to people that kill and eat their victim's feet... Although his body count is higher. Besides that, head trauma, in general, is known to be linked to mental illness and altering a person’s behavior. There is even a correlation between TBI (traumatic brain injury) and schizophrenia.

From the study I linked above:

To put it more simply, patients in the study who had suffered TBI and developed schizophrenia reported that their most common symptoms were delusions of persecution, auditory hallucinations, and aggressive behaviors. The auditory hallucinations were often voices. Many of the subjects experienced psychotic episodes two or more years after the initial incident (although, as I mentioned, Dimitri’s age could also have something to do with the timing as children rarely have fully developed schizophrenic episodes). Furthermore, the behaviors classified as an absence of normal behaviors called “negative symptoms” (which include apathy and disordered speech) were rare in this testing group.

Dimitri exclusively displays “positive” symptoms of schizophrenia (“positive” meaning the presence of symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions). He also clearly suffers from delusions of persecution in his belief that Edelgard is the sole instigator of Duscur and the war and that he immediately accuses Byleth of being an Imperial spy upon meeting them post time skip. I think it’s pretty fascinating how closely Dimitri’s symptoms follow the outline of the study, especially with the aggressive behaviors, as those aren’t actually very common in schizophrenics.

In very, very simplistic terms, if I’m right and Dimitri was born with the genetic blueprint for schizophrenia/PTSD (through Crests, inheritance, or environmental causes) and later suffered severe head trauma in an event that also gave him PTSD in combination with his pre-existing parental issues and stilted emotional development, then this could definitely create the type of person who loses all sense of reality, can’t control his emotions, and is prone to episodes of murderous rage when being reminded of the trigger (however tangentially) of losing everything he loved.

However, I’ll add real quick that the study I mentioned should be taken with a grain of salt.

I use it mainly because I thought the similarities were interesting and it shows that there was more thought put into Dimitri than maybe people appreciate.

This brings us to my final point; Some kind of twisted joke.

A major point I saw being made as proof of how terrible Dimitri is as a character was that he blamed Edelgard for the Tragedy of Duscur (a time where she would have been twelve). More accurately, he blamed her for everything that had happened and the thing is, I don’t disagree with that critique entirely. However, this is a case of him being a bad person, not a bad character. This might seem like an odd distinction, but I think it changes the scope of deserved criticism.

As I’ve been trying so desperately to illustrate, Dimitri snapping wasn’t just because of Edelgard being revealed as the Flame Emperor. Rather, it was an unlucky combination of many things. His grasp and interpretation of reality were already hazy at best by the time she was unmasked, slowly falling apart as his prodromal symptoms worsened. Going into the fight, he believed the Flame Emperor to be responsible in whole or in part for the worst thing that had ever happened to him, guessed at Arundel’s involvement, had found (and lied about) the dagger, and was rapidly mentally deteriorating. While Dimitri suspected Edelgard’s involvement to some degree, he did his best to act like it wasn’t true.

Dimitri didn’t want it to be true. To the extent that he was willing to lie to Byleth (and to himself) to avoid reality. He cared deeply about Edelgard. The best year of his life was spent with her, she was his first love, and she was the daughter of the step-mother he adored. Strong feelings beget strong feelings, do they not? This reveal confronted Dimitri with something that he could not accept, so his mind sidestepped the issue altogether. Delusion convinced him that all of the fears and worries he had beforehand were related, all into one larger delusion that Edelgard had sole responsibility. It’s not right and maybe not even excusable, but it falls in line with everything else.

Edelgard and Dimitri. Bound by some twisted fate but forever doomed to be separated, unable to understand the other’s chosen path.

I do recognize the flaws of Dimitri’s character and arc. There are some pretty major flaws. I have parts of a post typed out about his shoddy recovery and how I’d fix it that, hopefully, one day will see the light of day as well as many complaints about the way the story is hindered by the need for flexibility to accommodate gameplay and a happy ending.

But, despite that, this has all been a very long-winded way of praising Dimitri’s writing. His mental illness has a surprising amount of depth and I loved studying it as intently as I did. I learned a lot about his character as well as about mental illness in general.

Ultimately, Dimitri is neither an innocent sweetheart whose actions are entirely excusable and justified or an unforgivable war criminal and overall terrible character. You can feel bad for his pain and his struggle with his illness and understand that as a reason for his actions, but you shouldn’t use it as justification. He had the opportunity to seek help before things got too bad. He was selfish with the mismanagement of his emotions and goals. However, he also was a victim. Dimitri worked to recover and mend the mistakes he made while he was unwell, which is a side of this mental illness that is rarely shown in media.

I wholeheartedly believe that, love him or hate him, Dimitri is the most well-written of the Three Houses characters,

#dimitri #fe dimitri #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #fire emblem 16 #fire emblem #FE3H #fire emblem three houses #i spent an ungodly amount of time on this feel free to share your thoughts

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mittelfrank-divas · 4 years ago

Note

23, 27, and 28 for the asks?

23. Favourite Relic?

I’m a huge fan of Yuri’s weird glove relic, but I also really dig Felix’s shield. I think I prefer the idea of non-weapon relics because they’re more versatile (always so sad to get a relic that a character can’t use because it doesn’t suit their class!).

Honorable mention to Crusher, which is genuinely hideous, but watching tiny little Annette swing it around is absolutely amazing.

27. Who was your strongest unit?

First playthrough, definitely Edelgard. Especially once I gave her all the movement boosters, making her an unstoppable force that just kind of ripped through the board, taking zero damage along the way.

I’ve made an effort to not let any one unit get so ridiculously OP in subsequent playthroughs just to make sure everyone else gets some kind of chance to do stuff, so it’s less clear on my other routes. Probably Seteth in SS and Ingrid in AM.

28. Did you like the plot?

That wholly depends on the route. I’ve already talked about the many reasons why Silver Snow is a hot mess of a story. On top of the fact that it’s just unsatisfying and feels like the worst ending for everyone, the writing is so rough that there are several moments that make no sense at all (shout out to Dimitri’s... ghost?).

Azure Moon, I liked a lot of things about it. I enjoyed how character-focused it is, how many twists and surprises it has, and how it’s ultimately about learning to cope with loss and overcome your worst impulses to do good in the world. But I also found it often frustrating, uncomfortable, and upsetting. I thought the writing became super contrived in places just to force certain events to happen, and there were several points when I just wanted to grab every character by the shoulders and give them a shake. I can see why the Blue Lions fans love it, but I’m honestly not sure that I would have become as deeply invested in this game as I am if it were my first route, because there was a point late in my playthrough when it started to kill my overall interest in the game. I’m glad that I finished it, and I think I’m generally satisfied with it, but I have no interest in playing it again.

Crimson Flower. Crimson Flower is the story I’m here for. This group of young, mostly LGBTQ rebels, standing up against a powerful, deeply entrenched religious institution? The Black Eagles banding together, not because they were forced to by circumstance of their previous alliances, but because every one of them genuinely wants to be there and is fighting for a cause? Edelgard walking this razor-thin line between upholding her shady alliance with the Slithers and undermining their overall influence? Byleth and Edelgard both using the powers they were given to turn against the people that created them? Byleth literally sacrificing their divinity and reclaiming their humanity? I love it so much.

Don’t get me wrong: I think CF is deeply flawed, mostly in how it was clearly rushed. I have some specific ideas about what it needed to be a stronger story. But at its heart, it’s so compelling.

#ask meme #Anonymous

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collaborationfandom · 4 years ago

Text

Rules and Intro

MUST READDD

Hi guys! New blog cause I felt like it and I made my friend join too. We’re gonna say this straight off the bat that we’re inconsistent. Therefore, we’ll update at least once every two weeks. (for writing) but it’ll all depend cause we decided to be stupid and make this blog when we’re gonna start Junior yr in like 2 months but yeah (written in 2020 June). This is obv an imagine and scenario blog, Mod hawks will do imagines only and Mod Dazai will only do one-shots only. This blog is more of a stress reliever to get away from our studies. We’ll have a list of specific fandoms and characters we write for (favoritism cause we’re unfair like dat). anYWayS!

Things I’ll write for:

Fluff

Angst

Nsfw (writing this will be the reason why I don’t go to university)

Character x reader (Mod Hawks and Dazai)

Character x character (Mod Dazai)

Poly

Pretty much any sexuality

Things I will NOT write for:

Rape

Incest

That’s kinda it. I do write for yandere but not like the ones that’ll rip your skin off and wear it.

Requests:

Max 2 characters for imagines (Mod Hawks)

Max 1 characters for one-shots (Mod Dazai)

We are allowed to reject a request if it makes us uncomfortable.

Our limit is 10 requests every time. So if it goes over, requests will be closed until we finish it all.

Also when you request please try to be as specific as possible (especially if you’re requesting for scenarios/one-shots)

For e.g. “(Character name)’s reaction to first meeting s/o” rather than just “Fluff for (Character name)”.

Fandoms/Characters we write for (I’m sorry but we’re really picky cause we only write for those we know well enough to, I don’t wanna like half-ass it and screw something up):

If the name has H next to it only Mod Hawks will write for it (imagines) and if it has D next to it, only Mod Dazai will write for it (one-shot).

Bnha (Hawks is mah bby)

Todoroki Shouto

Midoriya Izuku

Bakugou Katsuki

Touy- AhEM Dabi

Hawks (Takami Keigo)

Uraraka Ochako

Yaoyorozu Momo

Rumi Usagiyama (D)

Kaminari Denki (D)

Tower of God (I’m a proud Korean)

25th Baam

Khun Agero Agnis

Hatz (H)

Endorossi (H)

Yuri Zahard

Zahard (In data personality for now)

Khun Eduan (In data personality for now)

White/Hoaquin (H)

Maplestory (Do ppl still know this game-) (H)

Phantom (H)

Evan (H)

Freed (H)

Mercedes (H)

Kinesis (H)

Luminous (H)

Bungou stray dogs

Osamu Dazai

Edogawa Ranpo

Nakahara Chuuya

Pokemon (Yes. You call it childish, I’ll find yo ass)

Raihan

Leon

Marnie

Hop

Gladion

Zelda botw (I love this series)

Link

Zelda

Urbosa

Revali (yes, I’m a furry. Deal with it)

Mipha

Fire emblem (So mAnY chOIcEs)

Claude

Dimitri

Edelgard

Felix

Sylvain

Hilda

Chrom

Kimetsu no Yaiba (tsUYOKU nARErUUuuUUUu)

Kamado Tanjiro

Kamado Nezuko (as a demon)

Uzui Tengen

Rengoku Kyojuro

Agamatsu Zenitsu

Hashibira Insouske

Kanroji Mitsuri

Kocho Shinobu

Iguro Obanai

Tomioka Giyuu

Tokito Muichiro

Yushiro

Akaza

Douma (Don’t request for Mod Dazai, cause he killed her waifu)

Yoriichi

Sabito

Owari no Seraph (so under apprieciated)

Ferid Bathory (D)

Crowley Eusford

Ichinose Guren

Hiragi Shinya

Hyakuya Yuichiro

Hyakuya Mikaela

Hiragi Shinoa

Haikyuu:

Hinata Shoyo

Kageyama Tobio

Oikawa Tooru

Iwaizumi Hajime

Sugawara Koushi

Tsukishima Kei

Kuroo Tetsurou

Kozume Kenma

Haiba Lev

Bokuto Koutarou

Akaashi Keiji

Ushijima Wakatoshi

Semi Eita

Shirabu Kenjiro

Miya Atsumu

Miya Osamu

Devil-man crybaby:

Akira both before and after (D)

Ryo (D)

Miki (D)

Suddenly Became a Princess One Day (someone better request for this):

Claude

Atanasia

Lucas

Ezekiel

Felix

Toilet-bound Hanako-kun

Amane Yugi (Hanako)

Amane Tsukasa

Minamoto Kou

Minamoto Teru

Yashiro Nene

Natsuhiko Yoga

Akane Aoi

God of high school (I have simped for Mori for 6 years-):

Mori (H)

Hui Mori (H)

Mira (H)

Daewhi (H)

Ilpyo (H)

Q (H)

R (H)

Soo Jin (H)

We’re sorry that this may be a little confusing but sometimes we just wanna stay within our comfort zone.

Lastly, this is a safe spot. Ya hear me? SAFE SPOT. A place where everyone comes to escape reality and just relieve stress so pls no hate. Also we’re sorry if we don’t upload a lot but we’re trying to pass high school and get to a good Uni ㅠㅠ

P.s. We might add more fandoms as we go.

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irandrura · 4 years ago

Text

I will aim for three posts, I think, trying to give some general feelings on Three Houses after completing one route (Azure Moon). This post will be on world and plot, and will have a mixture of things I liked and things I thought could be improved. The second one will be on characters and will be mostly positive. The third one will be a grab bag of other thoughts on mechanics, tone, where I think 3H fits into the series’ overall trajectory, and other things that occur to me.

It’s also worth noting that at this point I think I’ll grant myself license to read spoilers for the other routes. This is mainly because I don’t think it’s reasonable to need to play dozens more hours, many of which just repeat content I’ve already done, in order to get a full picture of the plot. That said, I realise that reading a wiki and skimming the odd chapter transcript are not substitutes for the experience of actually playing a route, so I will not make any judgement on the other three routes in terms of quality. I do intend to play at least Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind at some point, and that should be a richer experience than just reading, but I probably won’t start another forty-to-fifty hour journey straight away.

So, world and plot!

I think worldbuilding is one of Three Houses’ strengths, and is definitely a big step up after Fates and Awakening. Fódlan’s worldbuilding is not perfect, and sometimes has a few cringeworthy elements – in particular the King Lear references in the Alliance are a bit cheesy – but for the most part it successfully presents itself as a rich, interesting world, containing diverse cultures, and a complex history.

The sense of history is particularly important to me, especially compared to the last few games. I’m glad that the game goes to some effort to give Adrestia, Faerghus, and Leicester a sense of a shared past, full of rivalries and alliances. I can imagine setting other stories at different points in Fódlan’s history – Loog’s revolt, the occupation of Brigid and invasion of Dagda, the Almyran invasion, etc. – and those stories still being interesting and fun to play. I can imagine using Fódlan, perhaps centuries in the past, perhaps in the future, as a D&D campaign setting and it being quite interesting. That to me is a sign of good worldbuilding. If the world could easily play host to many different stories, not just the one I’m currently playing, then it can probably stand on its own quite well. This contrasts strongly with, say, Nohr and Hoshido, which felt like they were really just built for Corrin’s adventure.

I also appreciate that it’s not just ancient history that matters, but also the twenty years or so before the game begins. The heroes did not burst on to the scene ex nihilo, but all come out of particular historical situations. Events like the Insurrection of the Seven or the Tragedy of Duscur give you context for what happens in the game. The heroes generally have parents and families, and those families are relevant. They all come from somewhere, and while the details often aren’t described, what you get is enough to start imagining their home lives, and what might be going on elsewhere in the world. I really liked that and felt it was missing from the last few games. Can you imagine asking most of the Shepherds about their familes, or about the lands where they grew up?

Similarly, the range of visible cultures is one that I quite appreciate. Even outside Fódlan itself, mentions of Dagda, Brigid, Sreng, and Almyra help to make the world feel populated. That’s only the other regions that we know much about: there’s also Morfis, Albinea, and Mach, so the world is clearly quite large. Further, these different regions all have some noticeable cultural traits: the people of Brigid are animists and believe in many spirits, the Almyrans are a warrior culture and seem vaguely Persian, and so on. Within Fódlan there are visible differences as well, so the titular three houses are nicely differentiated.

The role of crests in shaping the continent also appealed to me. I believe I commented before that it reminds me of Birthright, an AD&D setting from the 90s that I have a soft spot for. While crests aren’t quite as powerful as Birthright’s bloodlines and don’t have exactly the same effects, the idea of aristocrats with real superpowers passed down in the bloodline, but which if abused can twist people into horrible monsters, was quite reminiscent of that setting. It’s a premise I’ve always found relatively intriguing, and I like that Three Houses does spend a little while exploring the social stratification that crests have produced. There are some interesting marriage politics going on because of crests; that’s really fun for me. Nonetheless I think the game also takes the right approach by not making crests too overpowering, and by firmly asserting that a person’s worth is not dependent on whether they have a crest or not. If it hadn’t done that, crests might have had some uncomfortable implications.

That said if I have one quibble it would be etymological. I understand that the Empire is vaguely Germano-Nordic, Leicester is vaguely English, and Faerghus is Franco-Celtic, but these aren’t always incredibly consistent, and names can sometimes be a bit surprising. The name ‘Dimitri’, for instance, stands out as being slightly out of place. I suppose its origin, ‘Demetrius’, is a Latin name and thus appropriate enough, but today I hear ‘Dimitri’ as Slavic, which doesn’t fit the established pattern for Faerghus. Still, this is a minor quibble.

The one exception to my general praise for the worldbuilding is the church, which I think is a huge mess. Maybe another route fleshes this out, but from what I played, it is extremely unclear to me how the church actually works. Was there a previous archbishop, or has Rhea been succeeding herself over and over, changing her name each time? How has the church been involved in history? We’ve had the occasional mention of cardinals, possibly with secret identities, but they’re entirely invisible and don’t seem to do anything. I would have liked more details on the church and how it fits into Fódlan’s history, because right now it feels like the anomaly, to me.

Moving on to the plot…

This had a number of issues, in my opinion.

Azure Moon was very much Dimitri’s story. In some ways I like that Byleth is simply not very important to the story. You are not the hero; you are the hero’s mentor. Byleth is more active than, say, Mark was in Blazing Sword, but still fades into the background compared to the true protagonist. However, I have to stand by the judgement that Dimitri’s redemption was too fast, and it probably would have been better to drop some of the church-related content for this route and spend more time exploring the characters and relationships that are at the heart of this story. Azure Moon is about Dimitri, Dedue, Felix, Sylvain, Annette, and probably Ingrid at the core: this rising generation of Faerghus nobility, with the long shadow of the past over them, struggling to overcome the sins of yesteryear and the cycle of revenge in order to build a better world. This story is good and I liked it, but a bit more polish and focus could have made it shine.

In terms of actual events, though, I have to say that a lot of things in the story didn’t make a lot of sense. The most obvious case is probably the rematch at Gronder Field. I understand the desire for a three-way battle there as adults, a rematch that contrasts dramatically with the mock battle they fought as students. However, as cool as the scene is, I don’t feel the set-up for it made a lot of sense: in particular Claude and Dimitri have no reason to fight each other. Dimitri might still be bloodthirsty and vengeance-obsessed, but that should translate to a charge straight at Edelgard, and Claude seems cunning enough to let that happen without getting in the way. There might surely have been better ways to set up a conflict there, especially since the writers have the get-out-of-jail-free card of a faction of evil shapeshifters trying to foment conflict. All you need is for a few Slitherers to deliver false messages or instigate a skirmish or two to start a battle based on a tragic misunderstanding.

Similarly, my confusion at the Leicester Alliance disbanding and the Kingdom absorbing the Empire remains present. I can guess that they wanted every route to end with Fódlan united into a single realm, but in this particular story it seemed strange, given how much the story had focused on freeing Faerghus from Imperial occupation and on defeating Edelgard. Dimitri’s ambitions were personal, rather than the grand schemes to reorganise Fódlan politically that both Edelgard and Claude have.

I wonder if there might be an unspoken cultural difference here? As someone from a Western European background, I am quite comfortable with the idea that many different nations can rightly exist on the same continent, and see coexisting self-determining territories as a quite good result; but perhaps in Japan it might be more natural to think that “an empire divided longs to unite”? The game begins with the territories of the ancient Adrestian Empire split into three nations now. Perhaps, like Warring States of either China or Japan, they must be united back into one? Three Houses to parallel Three Kingdoms, perhaps? The Japanese title of the game does not mention Three Houses, to be fair, but the title is an allusion to classical Chinese poetry, so I wonder what assumptions or resonances might be in the background.

Moving along, the logistics of war in general stood out to me as rather odd. I can’t tell whether you’re supposed to be canonically returning the entire army to the monastery in between every battle or not, but even if you’re not, you march all over the continent with very little regard for things like plausible logistics. Invading the Empire, winning a battle at Gronder, and then stopping to run all the way back up to Fhirdiad and liberate it in a single battle seemed particularly odd, especially when you also somehow make time to visit Arianrhod way out in the west. I wouldn’t be that strict about this in most games, but Three Houses does have that lovely detailed map and shows coloured lines with armies moving around, so I felt that it drew attention to one of its own weak points. Here I think the game contrasts negatively with the Tellius pair, which also feature a bunch of continent-wide wars, but generally seem to avoid bizarre logistics.

Finally, let’s talk about the ending. As I mentioned in one of the linked posts above, I was a bit surprised that there was no resolution to the Slitherers subplot in this arc. I liked the scene where Dimitri asks Edelgard why she did all of this before the final battle, but unfortunately they just talk about ideals. If I were Edelgard I might have mentioned the part where I did all this at the behest of – while also hoping to turn on and destroy – a faction of evil subterranean wizards who have been fomenting conflict throughout all of Fódlan’s history. I might also have mentioned the part where I believe the Church of Seiros is run by a different faction of ancient immortal manipulators, since that also seems key to understanding why Edelgard thought such drastic measures were necessary.

Perhaps that didn’t come up because if Edelgard were to mention those motives, it would quickly become apparent that she has already achieved most of her goals, and there is no more reason to fight. By the time of Edelgard and Dimitri’s fateful meeting, the Slitherers have already been defeated (albeit inadvertently, when we killed Arundel), the Church of Seiros is already shattered, Fódlan is close to being reunited under one government, and both we and Edelgard know that Dimitri wants to establish a more participatory and egalitarian form of government that should resolve some of Edelgard’s worries about crests. If Edelgard were the utilitarian fighting for the greater good that she portrays herself as, she could simply surrender, arrange the sort of peace treaty that Dimitri clearly wants, share all her knowledge with Dimitri and Byleth, and work for a brighter future together.

The final cutscene was thus quite striking to me. By ‘Light and Shadow’, it is extremely clear that the war is over. Even if Edelgard were somehow to successfully kill Dimitri, she would be killed immediately afterwards, and no good could come of it. But Edelgard cannot surrender. It is the one thing she cannot do, that she will never do. After the heart of the story was Dimitri’s redemption, and his painful struggle to turn away from his crimes and start anew, it seems appropriate to draw this line between them.

Both Dimitri and Edelgard did terrible things: he from vengeful passion, she from sincere belief it was for the best. But he could change his ways, grow, and find a new beginning. She never could. At the midpoint of Azure Moon, Byleth offers Dimitri his hand, and taking that hand and accepting help is the point at which Dimitri’s redemption begins. At the end, Dimitri, having learned this lesson, offers Edelgard his hand… but she does not take it.

There were plenty of places where I thought the plot could be improved, in terms of time, pacing, focus, and even practical things like why certain battles happen or how troops get there. But ultimately the story worked for me, I think, because the emotions worked. I can excuse a lot of nonsense if I care about the characters and the emotions resonate. I would rather do that than have a story that makes perfect logistical sense, but in which all the characters are flat and boring.

Next time I’ll talk more about supports and all the other characters.

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court-queen · 4 years ago

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I was scrolling through my gallery and I found a screenshot of a tweet implying that Fates lacked strong and complex women, unlike Three Houses. And it bothers me a lot because of various reasons.

First, what do you define by strong? You mean empowered? In the case of Three Houses many of the female characters aren't empowered, they are still opressed, in a way or other. And the writing doesn't pay attention to it.

Petra is political hostage of the Empire, and in 3/4 routes she goes along with it, there is Bernadetta and her unresolved social anxiety (due to mysoginist behavior from his father), Rhea being reduced to plot device and damsel in distress, Edelgard allying with her abusers, Lysithea being an optional recruit to the Empire and ally to the people who experimented on her...

I would even argue that cases like Manuela (middle aged woman not being able to find someone due to her unconventional behavior, primarly used as comic relief) and Dorothea (from what I've seen, the game doesn't give enough importance to the fact that she is basically an object to the eyes of the nobles, reflecting it only on the poor Ferdinand) are also...sketchy?

Not to say, the problem isn't the past or the situation itself, the problem is how the writing treats it. If isn't given enough importance or the character's actions go against an """empowering attitude""" without it being called out, the character isn't a good example of strong, independent woman (not implying that if this isn't the case the character is automatically bad written, ofc)

That said, the only two examples I can safely say are empowering are Marianne, Catherine and Shamir. Marianne overcoming her depression after the timeskip; Catherine, a woman who was wrongly accused of an assasination plot, fleed his country and became one of the strongest warriors in Fódlan; and Shamir, a mercenary who puts her interests above all, doesn't depend on anyone and the lost of his lover isn't the main focus of her character.

All of this isn't to say that all of Fates women are empowered (Kagero being kidnapped almost everytime, Azura being also reduced to a plot device, the whole situation with the concubines in Nohr, Hinoka ruling only when her two brothers are dead...), but to prove that there isn't that much of a difference. You also have strong characters like Scarlet (leader of the revolution in Cheve) or Nyx (a powerful mage hiding because she refused to work with the king). I would even argue Camilla, whom that tweet was probably referring, works well in this aspect, because the fanservice, while it is uncomfortable, doesn't put in danger her position as a strong warrior who is coping with her past, and is the first of her siblings to realize that maybe Corrin is right (in Cheve).

And well...complex...I would say most of the women in Fates and Three Houses aren't complex. Sorry but not sorry. And also, complex doesn't mean well written: look at Edelgard, you can put many things in a character, but if they don't connect is pointless. Also I don't know how anyone can look at Bernadetta and think she is much better than Peri. Or that Dorothea's motivation is more complex than Charlotte. Dorothea isn't as exaggerated as Charlotte, but they have more or less the same depth. Oboro and Ingrid? I personally adore both, even if I don't agree with their behavior. Hinoka has also some points in common, she and Ingrid adopt an unconventional fighting ideal, Ingrid to continue the legacy of her fiancé and Hinoka to save her sibling from the enemy country. And I could make more comparisons.

Tldr: No, Three Houses doesn't make women much more empowered or complex than Fates. Stop pretending this is the case.

#fire emblem fates

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letters-from-the-three-houses · 5 years ago

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Depending on how far you are in the game what are your feelings on Dimigard now? Have they changed or have they not, and if so then why or why not?

ACK OKAY. i’m on the golden deer route currently so i haven’t really seen anything ‘dimigard’ (except for one off-handed comment claude makes during one of the mock battles) BUT i do know the spoilers and i have a lot to say about it so here we go!! (contains spoilers for BE and BL routes)

tl;dr: my feelings haven’t really changed and i still like the idea of them together, except now everything is 436% more angsty

btw, here’s the comment claude makes (and dimitri’s response):

i know claude just said it to catch him off-guard but of all the things to say claude why

confession time: dimitri and edelgard’s relationship reminds me of alm and celica, if they became enemies because of their different ideologies. it isn’t exactly a one to one parallel, but a) childhood friends that meet up again later, b) having two different objectives, and c) one of them giving a memento to the other really made me think about these two in a different light?? i dunno

it tugs my heartstrings because they become so different when they meet up again. i can’t say i know what exactly happens between them, but their shared history makes it bittersweet

first, i’ll mention this one bit in byleth/edelgard’s a rank support:

edelgard: “You know…instead of Edelgard, you can call me just El. If you so please. That’s what my parents and closest sisters used to call me when I was little. Now there’s no one left who calls me El… But with you, well…I think I could allow it. In fact, it would mean a great deal to me.”

so the nickname ‘el’ is used by the people closest to edelgard! i’d find it cute if it wasn’t for the fact that her parents/sisters are, well, gone so i like how she confides with byleth and trusts them enough to call her el.

then i looked through a couple of other text files in the leak (the ones that /feg/ got before the game was released) and then i found this file:

(i’m picking out lines so this won’t be longer than it should be, but i tried to keep the context intact!)

dimitri: “As a child, Edelgard taught me how to dance. It was…a bit awkward, honestly. We were born and raised in different territories, without ever knowing the other even existed. Yet, against all odds, for just over a year, we became childhood friends. At first I found her to be difficult and stubborn, but that facade quickly fell away, revealing her true self beneath… That’s around the time when she taught me how to dance. Her instruction was… Oh, let’s call it strict. To put it nicely.”

(flashback!edelgard): “Wrong foot, Dimitri! You’re supposed to lead with your right!”(flashback!dimitri): “El, the sun’s going down! I really oughta be heading home…”

and i thought ‘wait! dimitri called her el!’ and then my next thought was ‘oh no what happened??????’

knowing that some (if not all) a rank supports are locked to post-skip, this is clearly after the fact that edelgard is known to be the flame emperor and their relationship is at the point of no return (edit: i meant about how eddie says there’s no one left to call her ‘el’. the above scene happens during the month with the ball!), but hold up. there’s more:

dimitri: “That one year before she had to return to the Empire was…so much fun. The time of my life, in many ways. It’s kind of pathetic to think about it all these years later, but can you guess what I gave her as a parting gift? (after saying it was a dagger) In Faerghus, we’ve long considered blades as tools of destiny. As a way to cut a path to a better future. She was being dragged all over, unable to live the life she wanted. I thought the dagger could help her cut a path to the future she dreamed of. However…that was many years ago. I’m sure she’s forgotten all about the boy I was back then.”

byleth: “It’s not too late to reconnect.”

dimitri: “I’m afraid it’s far too late for that. Things are different now. She’s different. I’m different.”

WOW NO THAT SUCKS. this is like, the epitome of ‘if things were different’

and then there’s this text file (goddess tower w/ eddie):

byleth: “Who was your first true love?”edelgard: “I can’t say the name, but it was a noble who I met in the Kingdom, a lifetime ago.”

aND I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO THINK ABOUT THAT BUT WHO?? WHO IS THIS NOBLE FROM THE KINGDOM?? IS IT DIMITRI?????

i’m going to scream

all in all, i don’t think i’ll stop liking them together because wow this is a piece of work, but i really just want them to be happy ;w;

there is no way they can be happy together in-game. it’s just not possible. they’re too different, there’s bad blood, and the way that the story shapes up, they can’t go back to their kiddie selves

still though, i ship them bc it’s?? so fascinating to think about?? i can’t take much of it all at once (i don’t like angst;;) but the what if that comes included with them is too good to pass up

in another lifetime, universe, or anything where the turn of events doesn’t happen, they’d be good friends. right now though, i remember some people saying they’re like star-crossed lovers and boy do i hate how much i love it

bonus edit:

dimitri: “But if there is any chance that the world she seeks to create could be a just one… Then I… I would love to see a future in which I may reach out my hand for her and have her reach back.”

PLUS this interaction between the two post-skip

kid!dimitri: “El! So it’s true… You’re really going away? Going back home?”kid!el: “There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s all happening so fast… I’m as surprised as you are.”k!d: “El… Um… Here. I want you to have this. El, listen to me. No matter how hard things get, you can’t give in, OK? You’ve got to cut a path to the future you wish for, no matter what.”k!e: “It’s…a dagger? Why would you give me something like this?”k!d: “Oh, um… I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of anything better to give you.”e: “I…I remember now. You gave me a dagger, all those years ago.”d: “Heh, I’m still sorry about that. I should have given you something that would’ve made you happier.”e: “Perhaps. At the time, I was quite flustered by such a dangerous gift. I left without giving you a proper response…and that was the last time we saw each other.”d: “True. It is a sweet memory with a bitter ending.”e: “I’m afraid it will do no good to reminisce, Dimitri. That girl you knew back then is gone. As good as dead. But…I’ll tell you now what I wasn’t able to tell you back then. Thank you. My dear, forgotten friend…because of you, I never lost my heart. As for the future…that will be decided in battle. King of Faerghus. As the emperor, I shall await your arrival in Enbarr.”

also, if anyone asks about their status as family members, i don’t quite mind it because while they’re step-siblings, they grew up separately and never really knew the other existed. i know it might make some people uncomfortable, but in a perfect world, where eddie’s mother doesn’t have to leave her dad and kid!e and kid!d grow up in loving families, when they meet later i’d like to think they’d be able to have the same friendship as they did during the bad!timeline

#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #edelgard von hresvelg #asks #spoilers #anon

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ourbloodlinesendhere · 5 years ago

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Guess who’s made a fan-house for FE3H? It’s me! I did!

Welcome to the Roseate Wolves, a house for transfer students from all over the world. I took a lot of the locations in FE3H that haven’t been fleshed out and slapped some headcanons onto them, as well as some fun cameos of other kingdoms featured in the Fire Emblem series. Is there any chance that these places all exist in the same universe? Probably not! But I don’t care.

Now, if you’re interested, I’ll drop some rambling below the cut:

(Warning: It’s very, very long and very, very rambly.)

I’ll be talking about what this house would be like if it were actually in the game!

For starters, since we only have three professors including Byleth, either Seteth or Jeritza would be the fourth professor. I’m leaning towards Jeritza for this because iirc some characters do mention that he was considered for Byleth’s position. It just makes his disappearance a little awkward, but oh well. I imagine he would default to teaching the Black Eagles for every route where Byleth isn’t (for obvious reasons) and after he poofs, maybe Seteth steps in and just makes Edelgard hate the church even more.

Anyways, let’s talk about the actual route and it’s characters, not just the setup.

With the other three routes, I’ve noticed that the house leaders warm up to you pretty quickly. This makes sense for their characters and the situation, but I’d like to imagine for a moment a route in which the leader blatantly does not like or trust Byleth at all until later in Part 1. Aren is cold and somewhat brooding, hesitant to trust and avoidant of social situations. Really, he’s only the house leader due to the insistence of his grandmother, otherwise he would never have wanted the task. When push comes to shove, he’s a brilliant tactician and a good leader, but he’s not sociable in the slightest.

During the conflicts with Lonato, the Western Church, Miklan, and other pre-timeskip Fodlan problems, there’s a persistent theme of “Why are we helping? We don’t live here, it shouldn’t be our problem” which settles over the group. More kindhearted folks such as Julia and Ragnar are less blatant about this, but there is just this general feeling of reluctance.

Now, for Edelgard’s reveal, we have a little reveal of our own. Sreng is a small kingdom with a shaky structure at best, and a low population. The only thing that has kept its sovereignty from Faerghus has been a secret it has kept for a long time. Within the various factions that make up its population, beast blood runs through their veins. Not all Srengese have this (making the trait somewhat similar to Crests in Fodlan) but for those that do, they have the power to shapeshift.

Aren, Liara, and Ragnar are all shape-shifters. Underneath his hood, Aren has wolf-like ears (like Keaton’s in Fates), as does Liara (hidden under her hair, like how... certain someones in FE3H hide their own funny ears), and Ragnar’s horns aren’t actually a feature of his helmet. Beast-shifters in Sreng are known as Orthrus. Aren is a wolf Orthrus, Liara is a snow leopard Orthrus, and Ragnar is a mutated, horned black vulture Orthrus. (He has small, malformed wings hidden under his coat. Imagine how uncomfortable he must be)

There is also the fact that Sreng lacks access to Beaststones. Their beast forms are massive and extremely powerful, but volatile. Orthrus often lose themselves in their transformation, and after battle they often need to be subdued by their allies. Without a beast form to help control their shifted selves, the three Orthrus were strictly forbidden from shifting when away from home, even when their own lives are in danger. Not just to protect Sreng’s secret; also to protect themselves and others from their beast forms.

Edelgard, as the Flame Emperor, attacks Byleth. At this point, Aren has grown very close to his professor, but still struggles in showing it. In an expression of his care for Byleth at last, he breaks the rules he was given and transforms into his Orthrus form. Gameplay-wise, he’s like a demonic beast, with four tiles in his hit-box and even an extra health bar. However, he’s an allied unit with purposefully flawed AI. He will rush right into battle without a thought, and him falling is the lose condition for the map (even on casual mode).

After the battle, with no enemies in sight and wild emotions coursing through his bestial mind, Aren goes on a rampage through the throne room as Rhea is horrified. Once the sacred site is thoroughly destroyed, Byleth finally calms him down, and he shakily reverts to his human form.

Once that map is completed, the Srengese students have had their cover completely blown, and it doesn’t take long for Liara and Ragnar to be exposed as well. They plead with Rhea to keep their secret, but she is enraged at the damage to the room and the throne, and exiles all three of them. They have to leave by that night, and she makes no promises about their secret.

Byleth meets with them in the night, and the rest of the Wolves do as well in order to say goodbye. Surprisingly, Flayn appears, having snuck away from Seteth and Rhea. She offers the Orthrus three beast-stones, unlocking the Orthrus class for them. Thank you Flayn! Wonder how she got those, almost like she knows a thing or two about- I mean, what

This will alter their beast forms to be smaller and a bit less powerful, but allows them full control over themselves when shifted. Now they play exactly like Taguel in Awakening, except they stay in beast form whenever the beast-stone is equipped, not at the start of each battle.

Flayn can’t help them any more though, since she’s ultimately loyal to Rhea and Seteth. For the remaining time until the time-skip, they’re not available for use in your party. If for some reason you’re playing classic mode like some kind of masochist and both Liara and Ragnar are out of your party, they’ll still appear in these cutscenes. However, next moon you’ll be informed that their injuries slowed them down and Knights of Seiros caught them, killing them. Ouch!

The battle of Garreg Mach is a different story. With their loyalty to the church shaken, but with no desire to join up with Edelgard, Byleth and the Wolves are trapped between two clashing armies. The goal of the map is to get your students to safety, through a harrowing path riddled with enemy soldiers attacking anyone in sight. Any students from the other houses you didn’t recruit will be enemy units! But they don’t perma-die when you defeat them here, since lots of them will appear again post-timeskip. When Rhea starts wrecking shop, Byleth hurries all the students ahead, fighting off anyone who comes for them. But they gets yeeted off of the cliff anyways.

Now, I hope to design some post-timeskip designs soon, but until then, just picture that everyone’s a little battered. Fodlan closed its borders to prevent foreign reinforcements from coming in and deserters from leaving, so all of the Wolves have become trapped in the midst of a war. Only small exceptions occur for the purpose of paralogues and such (like if you had recruited Bernadetta and Petra, their paralogue happens the same.) but overall, nobody can go home. Also, Sreng has been strong-armed into fighting for the Empire! Lovely. If Liara and Ragnar are alive, you’ll need to face them in battle and recruit them there, Tharja/Gaius-style.

But where’s Aren? He didn’t return home, actually. He laid low, and upon hearing Garreg Mach fell, he searched desperately for Byleth to find them. He eventually holed himself up in the ruins of Garreg Mach, chasing out anyone who tried to come for it. Essentially like how timeskip Dimitri was, but less murder-y and more just. constantly terrified and lashing out. He became paranoid and desperate, and eventually abandoned his beaststone to remain in full Orthrus form.

When Byleth finds him, he’s fully shifted and tries to attack them. However, upon recognizing his professor, he backs down and manages to return to his human form. His beaststone lays on the floor, now having been attached crudely to a necklace. Byleth puts it back on him, and he regains control of himself.

His personality has become erratic and anxious, even more untrusting than before, but he’s instantly dependent on Byleth and clings to them with uncomfortable desperation. When the other Wolves arrive, he is cold to them, even to Liara, and becomes possessive of Byleth.

The post-timeskip era starts out with the Wolves feeling trapped and simply trying to stay alive, turning Garreg Mach into a sort of hideout for other refugees who wish to escape the fighting. However, after getting to know the suffering of the Fodlan people, the theme shifts to one of empathy. Just because something isn’t our problem, and doesn’t affect our people, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t act when innocents are suffering. Faerghus and Adrestia are at each other’s throats, and the Alliance is getting trampled, but the neutral land of Garreg Mach houses a growing force of fighters looking to put a stop to the war.

Aren’s arc post-timeskip involves him eventually leaning away from Byleth as a crutch, and standing stronger on his own. He learns to trust others regularly, and forms a deep bond with all of the Wolves, reconnecting with Liara again.

Now as for how the route ends... who knows ! ;) I just might write something for this house, so you’ll just have to wait and see.

If people are interested, I’ll also go into more detail about the individual characters! Because this whole thing here was very Aren-centric with cameos from Liara and Ragnar.

#fire emblem three houses #fire emblem #fire emblem oc #fe3h #fe3h oc

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wargains · 5 years ago

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if you know me you know i’m not fond of byleth’s allegiance having complete sway over everyone’s choices with regard to who they support, especially considering some of the factors involved, so i’m here to talk about how caspar feels about the situation in general, what would make caspar join what faction, and how caspar takes to fighting for that faction.

in general.

caspar grew up with a pretty incredible level of privilege. not only was he a noble, but he was a second son. he wasn’t scorned for that, nor was there any expectation placed on his shoulders. he says so himself --- he has more freedom than most. in his eyes, the world “isn’t so bad, you just gotta look at the positives!”. this attitude of ignorance comes from having a life where there aren’t a great many negatives. this is where is time at the academy becomes so formative for him. he meets people with stories much, much different to his. he comes to learn that generally, people of the world need help, and he’s willing to be that help! he’ll be the strong hero who takes out a group of bandits that are taking advantage of a poor town that don’t have the money or support to protect themselves. it’s the people he meets at the academy and the things he learns there that allow him to see the bigger picture, that help him realise if a few things changed a little higher up? those people might not need his help in the first place.

long story short; caspar understands the need for change. he is just far from the right person to ask on how to go about that change, and he knows it. thusly, the faction he ultimately ends up fighting for will depend almost entirely on all of the the people (not just byleth) he grows close to and ends up trusting over his year at the academy.

supporting the adrestian empire --- DEFAULT.

to put it simply, caspar trusts edelgard. even after the flame emperor gambit. he doesn’t understand what pushed her to lengths such as those, but he knows she must have her reasons. she’s an intelligent girl, even if they disagree on things from time to time. most importantly, he knows that she’s a good person. he’s seen how much care she gave to her classmates, how passionately she believes in doing what’s right --- and he’s read her manifesto. he didn’t get all of it, but he knows what she’s setting out to achieve, and he supports her beliefs. that said, he knows what tyranny looks like. his faith in edelgard isn’t blind, and he thinks she should consider herself very lucky for every person that continues to trust her after her flame emperor stuff and could and would defect if her ‘ends justify the means’ stepped over the line into abject cruelty. despite this, edelgard, dorothea and likely ferdinand are the biggest influences here that make him happy to stay, and sure that he’s doing the right thing. war is what he’s good at anyway, and with him there it’ll be over in a jiffy!

supporting the leicester alliance.

for this, either something needs to shake caspar’s faith in edelgard, or enough of his close friends need to oppose her. that alone (considering his closest friends are people like linhardt, ferdinand, and dorothea) would be something that gives him great misgivings about staying. as ignorant as he can be, he’s not ignorant to that ignorance, and tends to trust the judgement of people he believes are smarter than him. throughout the war under claude’s leadership and with the support of his trusted friends, he will at least still be able to believe that he’s doing the right thing, even if it doesn’t feel good to fight against edelgard, against his family, and against his home. biggest influences here are claude, hilda and raphael.

supporting the kingdom of faerghus.

as with the leicester alliance, caspar needs his faith in edelgard shaken, and several people he trusts defecting from the empire, regardless where they go. in all likelihood, caspar made this decision based on people he wanted to protect (most likely mercedes, ashe or annette) as well as byleth’s influence. this is the route he is least comfortable in throughout, since it feels a lot like he’s betraying his homeland, and he doesn’t really know what he’s fighting for. when dimitri resurfaces, that only gets worse, because people keep looking to him for leadership and even caspar can tell he’s only fuelled by vengeance for a time. this makes caspar highly uncomfortable, and he might even need convinced to stay at times.

tl;dr?

#「 caspar 」headcanon.#i'll do one of these for each of the students i write #eventually...#ik it's not that deep and stuff like this might never be relevant #but it's important to me to give due credit to individual motive #vs byleth's importance as a gameplay mechanic

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agent-cupcake · 5 years ago

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I'M SO HAPPY YOU'RE INTO FE3H AAAA For requests how about hcs for yandere dimitri?

Yan! Dimitri pre-timeskip - White Clouds

Yan! Dimitri post-timeskip - Azure Moon (SPOILERS-ISH!)

~Ah yes, my darling Delusional Prince with yandere feelings lingering around in the madness ridden rage state of his broken mind. It’s the good stuff. I like to imagine it like you had hopes he was alive but also knew he might actually be dead, so seeing this man you cared a lot about and had an intense emotional connection with understandably makes you incredibly happy, but Dimitri’s just (in all sense of the word) mad.

~Mad that seeing you again would bring up uncomfortably human feelings he thought he had buried, mad that you were still a distraction, mad that you’d have the gall to be excited to see him, even mad at the sort of relief he’d feel because at least now he wouldn’t have to worry about you haunting him, too.

~I guess it sort of follows some of my thoughts in THIS POST, because I don’t think anything particularly interesting would happen with yandere feral Dimitri unless you were an active participant in trying to ~help~ him. Plus, you trying now would be yet another great reason for him to cling to an unhealthy connection later.

~Some of my favorite scenes to imagine here would be with you trying to help Dimitri in some way, trying to get him to eat or drink or engage in some way other than talking about revenge or murder, and him being rude and dismissive towards you. But then you give up and say how you’re gonna go train with the professor or someone and suddenly he feels it’s incredibly important that he trains, too. In service of killing Edelgard, of course.

~Dimitri ridiculing you while aggressively attacking you for not being strong enough to be useful to him and pointing out all of your weaknesses while berating you for not valuing your life properly is actually a pretty good display of how I think feral yan Dimitri would be overall. Afraid of losing you for reasons he can’t really understand and dealing with that fear using anger and aggression and violent sexual tension.

~Another nice thought is Dimitri getting extra physical in questioning you about your investment in him and why you’d be trying so hard to help. Which, if he realized your motives and feelings, could easily end up in a… Compromising situation. All that anger and those repressed feelings bubbling up could lead to some fun little scenarios.

~He mainly hangs out in the cathedral during these chapters too, which makes me wonder to what extent he’d make a point of being beyond salvation or forgiveness, how far he’d go to illustrate the idea that your feelings would make you just as undeserving and incapable of salvation as he was. What’s a little sacrilege to a monster like him?

~While Dimitri wouldn’t actively keep you near him, or even acknowledge that he’d want your company to the point of being rude about you forcing it on him, I can see him being really passive aggressive if you decided to comply with his proclaimed desire for solitude. Like, talking about how weak you were, so you should have been training for the upcoming battle and not wasting your time doing silly and frivolous things with the others. He’d hear you laughing and having a good time? Big mistake. There’s no time for levity, and he’d call you selfish for indulging in it.

~As with the other post, just imagine everyone’s reaction to this. Some of them pushing you further towards Dimitri in the hopes you’d help remind him of his humanity (maybe it’s terrible but I see Gilbert being the biggest one to do this, considering how little he cares for anything outside of Dimitri) and then you’d have the others who’d be truly afraid for you. And Felix, angry that you’d enable Dimitri in such a way.

~Then, Gronder Field hits and we get the best voice acting I’ve heard since Mariya Ise’s Killua (Chris Hackney’s performance is like 60% of my love for Dimitri tbh) and Dimitri’s change of heart. Because this is self insert and yandere, we’re just gonna say that it’s you who approaches him before he leaves for Enbarr because the whole emotional thing is the fabric on which his yandere tendencies are embroidered upon.

~And then, after that, guilt. So much guilt. Even more than in the actual game which is really sad, but oh-so delicious because it creates a situation where he’d feel very fervently about atonement for his behavior towards you specifically. Whatever that means.

~To sum up how I think Dimitri would feel in this Phase Three Yandere state, I’d point to his Goddess Tower line “The goddess just watches over us from above… That is all. No matter how hard someone begs to be saved, she would never so much as offer her hand. And even if she did, we lack the means to reach out and grasp it.”, because that feels particularly compatible with his line “Your hands are so warm, have they always been?” in the scene in the rain. Reaching out a hand is basically a staple for strong emotional moments with Dimitri, and in that scene he’s quite literally being saved by you. Even playing as Byleth in-game that felt idolizing (honestly, a lot of this is already in-game text in his supports with Byleth, it’s really not that hard to read it as yandere), and Dimitri definitely has a record of putting people he feels strongly about on a pedestal.

~Dimitri would love you. Absolutely. That’d be a pre-existing thing he just never got around to realizing before the war because he’s emotionally clueless and afraid of feelings. However, he’d also see you as a symbol of sorts. Warmth, compassion, someone who, even at his very darkest, was looking out for him. A co-dependent emotional manager, to say it bluntly. Not just love, then, but adoration and need to an unhealthy degree. A worshiping sort of clingyness.

~The whole fully formed yan relationship wouldn’t happen all at once after the revelation scene. Fighting the battle of becoming king and winning the war and trying to sort out all of the hundreds of fires he’d left unattended while also trying to mend his broken mind, I think Dimitri’s behavior towards you at first would be relatively innocent. Mostly, he’d just find comfort in having you near him and having you there for ~emotional guidance~.

~Aaaaand we’re just gonna say that at this point you’d be far too emotionally involved and despite any feelings you may have had about his behavior, despite the severity of his feelings, you couldn’t find it within yourself to step back. But, if you tried, Dimitri would do just about anything to convince you to stay with him. Even if he hated himself for it, even if the guilt was overwhelming, the idea of being without you, the idea of you leaving him and his protection, would be even worse.

~To this end, I can see him not forcing a romantic/physical relationship. That’d be something he’d want, but his need for you would far outweigh anything like that. To Dimitri, keeping you safe and sound and comfortable and as happy as possible would be the only way for him to make up for his behavior. So he could be overbearingly overprotective, incredibly intense, reverent on the side of uncomfortable, too selfish to let you go, but wouldn’t directly force you into anything.

~Of course he would sense that this was wrong, and feel a huge amount of guilt over it and the possibility that you could be happier elsewhere, but then rationalize that this was best. That he was the only one who could possibly ensure your safety and happiness, that could care about you enough to see it through.

~If you did agree to marry Dimitri, all of these things would only get more intense, but I also think it would lessen a lot of his guilt. If you fully agreed to be his wife, that meant that you were choosing him to give you happiness and safety. Besides, holding you and knowing you were real, that you were his, would possibly be one of his greatest joys.

~The whole overprotective thing would be a huge issue, and arguing with him about it would be pointless because he would never concede to your demands for more autonomy, citing that the kingdom wasn’t exactly safe yet and you would have a target on your head as queen and all of the various yandere excuses to skirt around the fact that his fear of losing you would be absolutely debilitating to him.

~There’d also be the occasional patch of jealousy, although Dimitri would never doubt or question you, but the intentions of others.

~I think, sometimes, the pedestal he’d put you on would be pretty awful. Lonely, maybe? His adoration could get cloying, although it could also be wonderful. He’d make you feel well and truly loved, more than anything else in the world.

~Summing it all up, Dimitri would need you. I think the extent to which he’d feel this way would be very ~~love sick~~, but in reality his behavior wouldn’t be way too extreme. It would only arise in little slip-ups, when his mania would get too intense and his passion would suffocate.

#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #fe dimitri #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd headcanons #fe dimitri headcanons #dimitri headcanons #dimitri #yandere headcanons #yandere #headcanons #FE3H #fire emblem three houses spoilers #fire emblem three houses #i want him to literally kill me just straight up ugh what a beautiful man #so long term i think claude would be the better yan #but dimitri has a lot of wonderful traits that shouldn't be overlooked #but claude would manipulate you #and really what else do you want in a man

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