#et guess what i didn't do? les courses

[gay-impressionist]

executive dysfunction quand tu nous tiens

[sv5hive]

c'est toujours toi | cl16

pairing: charles leclerc x fem!reader

content warning(s): mixture of my bad french and google translate bcos in 5 years of learning that language i didn't pick up anything useful (if anyone wants to suggest any improvements please do!!)

word count: 951

note: i had to rewrite this 3 times bcos i didn't like it and it's past midnight again. help.

(masterlist!)

darkness encapsulated the room before a video flickered onto the screen and the guests fell silent. a sense of familiarity filled you as you realised just what you were about to watch.

"maman, arrête! c'est bon!" (mum, stop! it's fine!)

the boy pushed his mothers hands away trying to adjust his clothes.

"d'accord! mais c'est ton mariage." (ok! but it's your wedding.)

as much as the woman wanted to take her son seriously, she couldn't help but laugh at the situation.

they were enjoying a picnic in the park as a family when their three sons decided to go wander off and give their parents some relief. it hadn't even been fifteen minutes when their middle child had come tumbling back towards them saying that he was going to get married.

they had almost laughed but the boy was showing no hint of amusement on his face. it was then that their two other children returned with a little girl wearing a pink dress in the middle of them. once they reached them, the boy introduced her.

"c'est ma petite amie!" (this is my girlfriend!) he proudly showed her off to his parents as if to prove a point that he wasn't just telling tales this time.

his parents simply stared at the pair in disbelief and shock.

a tiny, almost inaudible, "bonjour" came from the girl as she fiddled with the hem of her dress. they could barely hear her over the birds chirping.

"charles! tu ne peux pas faire ça. où sont ses parents?" (charles! you can't do that. where are her parents?) his mother wasted no time in scolding the three boys for taking the girl away from her family.

before anyone else could reply, the girl came to their defence.

"mes parents sont à la maison. désolé de vous inquiéter, madame leclerc, mais on peut se marier maintenant?" (my parents are at home. sorry to worry you, mrs. leclerc, but can we get married now?)

"tu es sûre que, chérie? charles est un garçon très désordonné!" (are you sure, darling? charles is a very messy boy!)

"papa!" the boy blushed at his father embarrassing him for fun.

"je vais lui apprendre à ranger, ne vous inquiètez pas!" (i'll teach him how to clean up, don't worry!)

the two adults went along with the plans to make them happy and began preparing for an impromptu wedding as best they could. his father would walk her down the aisle, his younger brother would be his best man while his older brother would be the officiant, and his mother would record the special occasion on their camera.

an imitation of 'here comes the bride' was attempted and although it was pretty much unrecognisable, you could take a well educated guess given the circumstances. the boy's father leaned down to hold the girl's hand as he walked her down the makeshift aisle with daisies and buttercups sprinkled over the grass. she whispered a quiet "merci" and soon enough the bride and groom were face to face with each other.

the older boy quickly stepped into his improvised role of the officiant with what little knowledge he had and introduced the few guests to the ceremony. after all the formalities, it was finally time for vows.

"je promets de toujours t'aimer comme ma maman et mon papa. je jouerai avec toi tous les jours et te donnerai tous mes jouets." (i promise to always love you like my mum and dad. i will play with you every day and give you all my toys.)

the boy reached out to hold the girl's hands and bumbled through his vows which only included everything that was important to him, of course.

the girl blushed and went ahead with her vows which were just as innocent and clumsy as his were.

"je promets de t'aider à nettoyer tes bêtises et de vous soutenir lorsque vous deviendrez pilote de course!" (i promise to help you clean your messes and support you when you become a racing driver)

despite only having met an hour beforehand, the two had clearly bonded and learnt much about each other.

"vous pouvez maintenant embrasser la mariée!" (you may now kiss the bride!)

cheers erupted as the boy took a brave step forward and pecked the girl's cheek to her pleasant surprise.

whistles and claps echoed through the room from your family and friends as the screen faded to black and the lights were switched back on. the reception was just starting and the guests had left their tables to eat, dance and mingle. the bittersweet nostalgia had brought tears to your eyes and you had to blink them back to be able to see clearly. you couldn't believe you had forgotten the day you two met.

you were brought back down to earth when you felt a hand squeeze yours.

"tu va bien, ma chérie?" (are you okay, darling?)

you turned to the man beside you and squeezed his hand back before replying.

"ouais, mon amour. je ne pourrais aller mieux. regarde comme on était petit!" (yes, my love. i couldn't be better. look how little we were!)

charles laughed and kissed your temple. sometimes he found it hard to believe how lucky he was to find you that day. he found it even harder to believe that you two were finally married now. after years of friendship and not so secretly pining for each other, he had finally been bold enough to make a move.

"dès que je t'ai vu, j'ai su que j'allais t'épouser. c'est toujours toi, mon trésor." (as soon as i saw you, i knew i was going to marry you. it's always you, my treasure.)

[howi99]

Le légionnaire part 1

Vacuo's frontline, 5 year of the war

Jean: *looking at his ration for the day* Nothing. *Sigh* Frédéric, is this some kind of joke?

Frédéric: Non caporale, those cock-sucker of Mantle destroyed our kitchen. Nothing was left.

Jean: Et merde.

Frédéric: B-but ze reinforcement from Vale are coming caporale. With food and boisson for us!

Jean: *looking at the no man's land* All of zhis because those sheep think we shall all become slaves without emotions. What kind of life is that?

Frédéric: Honnêtement? I have no idea. That's why i left la colonie to serve in ze Légion. Zhat and the salary.

Jean: *laughing* You still believe we are going to get it? Be serious mon brave! The only payment we are going to get is a pat on zhe back and a medal if we are lucky. And seeing as we are only a douzaine sur zhis front, the next assault will probably be our last.

Frédéric: *shaking his head* Maybe... Hey, did you hear about zhe new law zhe king wants to implement? With zhe stupid name la.

Jean: A oui, zhe colors and all that, right? Something about "individuality" or something. What's wrong with having a name like Ferdinand? Ou Jérémi?

Frédéric: *sigh* I don't even want to know what kind of name zhey going to let me have.

Jean: Well, at least i don't have that problem. I was assigned Jaune as a new name.

Frédéric: Really? Jaune? They just looked at your hair and saw your name and ta da?

Jean: *shrug* Seems like it.

Frédéric: *mumbling* Fils de pute...

Jean: Aw, jealous that my name almost didn't change?

Frédéric: Well your name is at least still in Valois! I have to change it to Pyrus!

Jean: ... It matches your hair?

Frédéric: Bâtard.

Wilfred: *approaching the two* Caporal, there's a man approaching us with a white flag. He said he wants to talk with whoever was left in command.

Jean: *looking at him weird* Then go fetch zhe sergent!

Wilfried: I did, he killed himself. He took the last bottle of wine with him in his death.

Jean: Tsk, fucking coward. Can't even let us keep the wine to warm ourselves...

Wilfried: ...

Jean: ... *Sigh* I'm guessing the captain-

Wilfried: Also killed himself, sir.

Jean: *turn to Frédéric* Well, i guess i got the quickest promotion in history?

Frédéric: We are fucked.

Jean: *turn back to Wilfried* Well, what are you Waiting for? Show me to the man!

Wilfried: Yes sir!

__________

???: Ah! You must der sergeant-

Jean: No, he killed himself. The best you are getting is a caporal field medic.

???: ... Vell, das is not what i was expecting.

Jean: *sigh* Did you come for your reddition?

???: ... Vat?

Jean: Are you surrendering?

???: Oh! Nein. Or well, technically we are looking for a truce. Wir saw a bunch of Grimms approaching, and we probably will all sterben if we don't work together.

Jean: ... Sterben?

Wilfried: It means dying, caporal.

Jean: Ah, yes... *Sigh* we need food. If you have some to spare, we will gladly accept this truce... Monsieur?

Nicholas: Ah, you can call me Nicholas, or just Nick if you prefer!

Jean: So, are you fine with this?

Nicholas: hm... We are in need of medical supplies. *Looking at Jean reaction* Nothing too bad! We only need a saw for an amputation and something to uh... Keep the soldier from bleeding out.

Jean: I see. By chance, the artillery didn't touch our medical bay. I could take a look at your soldier.

Nicholas: Ah! Vielen Dank! I'll be in your debt! Sie ist ein gutes Mädchen!

Jean: Uh yeah, of course...

Nicholas: ...

Jean: uh... Dismiss?

Nicholas: Oh, sorry! *Start leaving* I'll be back!

Jean: *seeing the man leaving* You think i made the good move?

Wilfried: Honestly, what other "move" was there to do? We can't fight the grimm on an empty stomach and all they ask is a medic... No offense.

Jean: *looking at Wilfried* Wil, i stopped taking offense the day i started patching everyone up. I know you didn't mean i was less important.

[andguesswhat]

Diary of a mall Santa Claus

15

Dinner day

*

Hormones or not, he had had a fun evening with Timmy yesterday, and the feeling he had about it makes him want more, so why not get more.

So before their shift Armie goes to this little boutique again, because he has a plan. He buys this sweater in Yves Klein blue that Timmy seemed to like, and he buys the shirt that Timmy thought Armie would look good in.

And when Timmy enters the dressing room, the shopping bag is already there.

"What's this?" Timmy looks in the bag and Armie knows he loves these things way too much to say no.

"Do you want to go out to dinner with me tonight?"

Again, Armie's voice isn't as cool and confident as he'd like, but Timmy smiles at him and nods, and that's all it takes for him to calm down again.

After the shift, Timmy puts on the sweater and looks absolutely stunning, but Armie has to admit that he doesn't look bad in the shirt Timmy picked out for him either. And he likes the way they both look together.

Armie has chosen a French restaurant so that Timmy can show him how to order in French.

It's an expensive restaurant and Timmy is a little nervous and intimidated, but after Armie gets playfully indignant about the menu not having an English translation, Timmy has to laugh.

"What would you like to eat?"

"Meat. I prefer meat."

Timmy laughs again. "What kind of meat?"

"Speak French to me. I want to learn it."

"Okay ... uh ... Quel genre de viande aimerais-tu manger ? Du sanglier ? Du canard ? Du bœuf ?"

„Can you describe the different types of meat for me please?“

"Le sanglier? Laissez-moi réfléchir… Le sanglier vit dans la forêt…. et adore manger des truffes... Il a un parent qui s'appelle le porc. "

"Ha, pork, truffles.... Wild boar!" Armie grins triumphantly. "I will order anything that I guess right. Next!"

And like this is the whole evening and they have a lot of fun.

Armie is very taken with Timmy's French. He didn't give much importance to the language until today. But now... when Timmy speaks it. He loves it.

And he loves to be here and eat all this French stuff. He orders way too much. They may drink way too much, too, and they'll of course have to try dessert.

"Je ne pense pas avoir besoin de vous expliquer ce qu'est une mousse au chocolat ou une crème brûlée, n'est-ce pas?"

"Yes, Mousse au Chocolat and Creme brulee, I want both! Why is French the language of love, by the way?"

„Je ne sais pas... peut-être parce que ça sonne juste très sensuel…. Très charmant...et très élégant. Peut-être que ça a aussi à voir avec la culture…. Les Français aiment parler d'amour... Une citation très célèbre d'Alfred de Musset est "On ne badine pas avec l'amour. Tout tourne autour de "je t'aime", de l'amour, etc."

No, Armie doesn’t understand much but he could listen to Timmy for hours. And he is giving Timmy probably way too many heart eyes.

After they step out of the restaurant though, completely fattened up, Timmy is suddenly very distant. And... strange. And quick.

Real quick, he thanks Armie for a lovely evening, his smile more or less artificial and bam, he's gone.

What the..???

Had he missed something important? Had Timmy been disturbed by the question about love? Maybe he didn't like Armie spending so much money on food? Or had Armie been too silly from all the alcohol? Had he said anything that had offended Timmy? Did he show Timmy too much how much he likes him?

Armie sighed.

This was not going to be a good night.

*

[rexaleph]

It's spring, I suddenly have desires and care about perfume.

Once again this is not the post I've been sitting on (the fruit one), I just thought abt roses again. The idea I'm coming round to is that I maybe I really started off on the wrong foot with roses and florals in general years ago by trying Amouage's Lyric Man and Reflection Man. They're two widely beloved what I'd call "feminine style" (not lavender or geranium) florals marketed at men, and represented the kind of androgyny I was comfortable with at age 25 or whatever. 25 y o boys ofc is like not at all the age group Amouage tends to be interested in appealing to lmao. So really not getting along with those two perfumes might have prejudiced me against flowers, and only by ciruitously exploring things i'd see spoken of as atypical florals and each time thinking "yeah, but I wish this was prettier", did I realize that my thing about not liking flowers was another story I told myself about the kind of person I am, and those need to be torn down with extreme prejudice.

So in my rose post from 2 years ago I mentioned that really Mendittorosa Le Mat belongs in the lineup of known roses, but I didn't think of it as a rose because I guess I didn't know what those were.

Or the issue was probably that I didn't spend enough time with it, because Le Mat opens just not smelling of rose at all. The vibe is potpourri, dry flowers and herbs, which is I think what immortelle does. It's a controversial note I feel like a lot of people don't get along with, and I won't say I love it in the opening of Le Mat. However I can see it being necessary to the middle stages, as it slightly recedes to make room for a sweet high-pitched rose, framed by dense scratchy spices. I'm a clove hater because clove usually overpowers most other things for me, but here I couldn't actually pick it out. Nutmeg, pepper and patchouli I can see, very dry, earthy, a little bitter and sour (immortelle again I think), but sweeter and friendlier as it wears on, though it never stops feeling rich, dark and complex. I think Le Mat is what I want a rose to be: a big statement. Gorgeous, heavy, romantic, the association for me is actually pre-raphaelite art - opulently pseudohistorical, where it makes me feel a little silly for falling for what it does. If I could have one this would be my Mendittorosa, and it might also be my one rose. Which is funny given how previously I said that abt Rose 31, its polar opposite. However! Even in the other rose post I was very frustrated with the vibes on that one, the whole luxury minimalism thing is repulsive, whereas Le Mat is aesthetically irreproachable.

The bottle of course is gorgeous, love the little crate with the tarot card it comes in. I so badly wish Mendittorosa made small beautiful bottles, even 50mL, but ideally like 30. Le Mat at least comes in a 10mL travel spray, which I want to get eventually, but it's just not the same. Perfume is already such a stupid thing to spend so much money on, and I like to be kissed when I'm getting fucked. I'd pay like twice the price per volume if I could just get something that looks like their 100 mL bottles in a size I'd have a chance at using up. But also I could see living with Le Mat the way I do with Vierges et Toreros now - as my one big bottle of a beautiful, loud, truly beloved perfume alongside a parade of more or less interchangable trial volumes. Which is another thought I've had - it's really not justifiable while I still have VeT because they speak to a similar mood for me. "We have VeT at home" is a thought I have every time I start wanting all kinds of things (leathers, animalics), and if I ever run out I'll be so tempted to replace it with like 5 different bottles.

So given that I can't quite justify Le Mat I've been looking around for a bold rose that would fill a void the shape of which I don't even really know, and settled on trying Masque Milano Love Kills for 3 reasons. 1. Their Russian Tea is one of the leathers I would really want if I didn't have VeT, 2. They make small sizes, 3. There's a Freddie Mercury song with that name, mostly considered embarrassing 80s trash, but I love it.

Sth very silly about "W. Shakespeare" to me, but whatever. So because of all the circumstances I really want to like Love Kills but idk that I do. In the opening it has a strange stinky sour musk note that puts me in mind of Byredo M/Mink (not even body odour but like... raw meat or blood, not rotten but on the way), which I enjoy a lot in concept, though maybe less so in practice. There is a weirdly textured quality to it, a cottony feeling in the back of the throat. Reviewers call Love Kills a cold metallic rose, which might be what I'm interpreting as blood. Smelling my skin up close in the first half hour or so I only get the strange bloody musk, but I just walked through the area where I sprayed it, and what hangs in the air is a very straightforward rose scent, which is also what I get smelling my arm at a distance. The rose starts out sharp and sour (geranium?), but turns sweet and straightforward quickly enough. I wore it twice last week: first very carefully bc of the intense opening and it was fully gone within a couple hours; the second time I put on a couple sprays and halfway through the day I ended up with a syrupy, a little lipstick-like rose scent clinging mostly to the inside of my clothes. Which like, another thing I want from my rose is intensity, and especially with that name Love Kills going meek and generic really feels like a letdown. Still, I'm happy to have a straightforward rose to go to in place of both Rose 31 and Moschino Toy boy (which I have reconsidered btw, it's not half bad when applied with a light hand), and I kinda like how it has the weird agressive opening and then turns attractive and easy to wear in a best-of-both-worlds way.

But it isn't what I wanted, not that I know what that would be. Anyway, Portrait of a Lady.

She's a lot. Very aggressive scratchy opening, patchouli-forward, bitter and waxy up close, but intriguingly sweet and complex when wafted over from further away. The early mid-stage triggered a strong association I couldn't immediately put my finger on and turns out it was the wine accord from Liquides Imaginaires Bloody Wood . Feels like blackcurrant/raspberry (juicy tart) + patchouli (bitter earthy) make for a fruity-tannic red wine effect, very cool! (Next to each other the two aren't actually that similar, Bloody Wood straightforwardly smells like wine on purpose, much lighter and not that much of a rose, though I should really revisit it more purposefully). As it settles, Portrait of a Lady becomes much friendlier and sweeter, and more obviously rose-dominated (a theme for all of these). The dry spicy borderline cacophony (clove, cinnamon, sandalwood, patchouli) recedes, incense becomes noticeable for the first time. The rest of its wear time it is a very attractive sweet incense-rose, much closer to the skin. This is the stage where I can see all the stories of people like getting compliments from strangers and being followed around in public. This is what the drydown of Lyric Man wanted to be but actually successful. I won't say I buy the hype 100% but Portrait of a Lady is for sure very beautiful. It is also very much in the vein of Le Mat to me, but ofc makes for kind of a silly replacement because it's like 1.5x more expensive. Though tbh I really like the Frederic Malle 10mL travel sprays bc they're not an aesthetic downgrade from the big bottles. I actually just bought Une Fleur de Cassie as a birthday present to myself because I wanted a floral for spring, but make it strange and melancholy, and got the little PoaL sample along with it (and a couple more things) because I happened to be thinking abt roses at this time. It's good to know that so far I like Portrait of a Lady but I'm gonna have to spend some more time with it, and especially consider it in comparitson to Le Mat. FIrst thought is they are redundant but I like Le Mat more.

Here I was gonna talk abt ELDO's Hermann A Mes Cotes Me Paraissait une Ombre because I'd brought it up in the old rose post as sth that I just didn't recognize as a rose alongside Le Mat, but it still doesn't feel like a rose lol. It's a cold tart peppery wood to me, nothing to do with what I'm looking for wrt roses. Something to revisit for another rose might be Bloody Wood, iirc what's left after the wine impression fades is a faint woody rose, but when I was comparing it to Portrait of a Lady yesterday I didn't even catch that stage before it was fully gone. Longevity is kind of a known issue with Liquides Imaginaires, especially with the interesting fruity ones I was looking into (Bloody Wood, l'Ile Pourpre). I also really want to try Talento by Mendittorosa, seems like it's the exact opposite of Le Mat (cold and airy) from the same house so that's interesting, and Santal Majuscule by Serge Lutens for hopefully another dry subdued woody rose. Also I smelled Byredo Blanche and Diptyque L'Ombre Dans L'Eau in a store once each, found them disgusting and both gave me a headache, but I'm super curious if I'd feel different if I were to test them now. I haven't managed to come around on Lyric, and the two of them are also hugely popular "clean and fresh" roses, so who knows. Like generally having a rose perfume is not a huge priority for me, I'm just excited about learning to appreciate a family of scents that's still new to me after years of exploring perfume.

[themoomoorn]

LA SAGA DE BAGUETTE PART CINQ: Qu'une fois Solm avait un réseau d'espionnage et le jeu n'en a rien fait

It's been 84 years since I last screamed at a brick wall about this game, huh? In the meantime, I wrapped up most of Three Hopes (All 3 Routes done, only missing some of the rewards + Need to do the Byleth path on SB) and even got my old GameCube running again.

I might have something wrong with me, because even with Engage's DLC coming out, I have no desire to play it, or even revisit Engage again for a long time. But like junk food cravings, I'm willing to suffer through Hopes to 101% it...

Might have to do with the fact that you can't save and view Supports or music outside of a game file. That includes the S-Supports - oh, sorry, 💍-Support.

Please do note that starting with The Binding Blade, a Game Boy Advance game from the Year of Our Lord 2002, extraneous elements like Supports and music could be viewed outside of your runs. They have kept this ever since, right up until this game. For some reason.

🤮

Well, let's get going then, shall we? Emblème, Engager!

I wasn't able to get pics of Fogado's introductory cutscene, but it's been seen a whole bunch and happens as you expect it to. He doesn't introduce himself as royalty, of course, but rather as the leader of the Shepherd knock-off team called the Sentinels. The only other two members are his totally-not-retainers, Bunet and Pandreo.

Pandreo immediately salvages himself by having the most cracked-out reaction to Alear's presence, enhanced by the fact that he's an actual priest. He is probably my favorite character in the game, and also unironically a fun unit. He is the priest who chugs on the blood of Christ (Read: Wine) while giving cool sermons, but is also genuinely kind and faithful. He also has an excellent hidden sadness that's gone over with his sister, Panette, a character we'll meet later.

Meanwhile, Bunet is subsequently the most unhinged character in the game and also one of the most boring ones, somehow. He is very mediocre in battle. At least Ian Sinclair brings the heat as he always does.

The quicksand slows units by about 1 panel, so Fogado's warning doesn't really stick. In fact, unlike prior games, no one unit is really hampered by desert terrain, including horses. Boo. This is a very straightforward route map, and a very boring one. Solm's maps easily have the nicest of the battle themes, I will say.

You have a side objective of keeping some Green Units safe, and since this map is very boring, this is fortunately very easy to pull off.

Now one thing Engage is great at is upping the overall skintone diversity, as we can see with the Solmic villagers and the Royal Family. No, Fogado being a prince isn't a spoiler. That being said, the two sets of retainers and the holdout unit (who's also the game's Dancer) are all the same Titanium Mayonnaise tone that's prevalent in 95% of FE characters...

I guess they couldn't extend that diversity too far. Unfortunately, a new NinDream popularity poll rolled into town, and as superstition dictated, Fogado placed 24th and Timerra scored low enough that she didn't place at all (and neither did Bunet, for that matter). Ouch.

Oh look, Fogado's the prince of Solm. Shocking. And he goes out as a Sentinel to protect the people and be practical, and stuff. In the desert. Wearing yeezys.

I like Fogado well enough and he's a good unit, but he really is K-Mart Claude in the grand scheme of things.

We smash cut back to Veyle being Evil(tm) and getting a kick out of how Alear is screaming, crying, and throwing up without Marth, and how Red Cherry Popsicle Marth in turn must be suffering. I feel like I'm six years old and playing with my Barbies again.

At least Griss realizes that he's the Megatron in all of this and is just having fun with it all. Also, put a pin on what Marni said.

We meet Solm's Queen, Seforia, and unlike Queen Eve, she plays herself up as calm and casual, even berating her son for trying to follow decorum with her? Okay? Eff you then?

Of course, this undercurrent of casual behavior is belied by the fact that the palace gets raided by Elusia and she has a body double ready to be sacrificed. Okay, fine. Except she also has her body double stand in for her if she wants to go out and explore/party and whatnot. Because freedom is good and royal etiquette is stupid, I guess. Yes, knowing your people is absolutely important, and not adhering to arbitrary rules is a decent idea, but Seforia and her daughter (as we see later, and even see in the DLC to a degree) are all too casual about their importance. Jerks.

Since we are on a fetch quest, Alear asks for Solm's Emblem Ring, which is the ring that holds Ike. Emblem Ike is hailed as the StRoNgEsT eMbLeM oF aLl! He's certainly the most defensive of the Emblems, but if you're talking strictly about the non-DLC Emblems, then Sigurd's Cheating Nikes and Eirika's almost-everything certainly peg them as stronger. These two feign ignorance/stupidity over the Ring's location, and send Alear and Company on a fetch quest within a fetch quest to find Timerra, Solm's Crown Princess and the final recruit of Team Royal Kidz.

Timerra is introduced in her cutscene as Ivy's opposite: Childishly having fun around a firepit eating meat kabobs and singing off-key. She is having a rip-roaring camping trip with her retainers, Merrin and Panette. They are waylaid by this game's rendition of the Pink and Blue Desert Bandit Twins, who are played far more somberly compared to previous installments. I'm not really complaining, seeing that previous versions of this archetype were generally creepy Camp Gay stereotypes, but Tatchie and Totchie kinda go too far in the other direction.

That being said, the map you fight them in is a fun one, as it's nighttime fog of war where the gimmick is smashing apart rubble to navigate. Emblem Ike plays for units who are bulky, which Timerra is somehow, and one of his abilities (which is suitable for this map and two others, tops) is insta-smashing rubble that takes multiple hits to break. He's also snarky and above it all, because it's Ike, and if they had to get one Emblem's home personality down pat, I guess it's his. Blegh.

The battle is done, and Timerra and Fogado then come out and tell Alear that getting Ike's Ring was basically their secret test of trust, because Solm values their independence to the point that they will almost never go to help other countries, even their allies. They also admit to using a continent-wide spy network for their own benefit, but you'd think that, being continent-wide, surely they'd have known that the one and only Divine Dragon was pulling off Divine Dragon things, right? I guess it never hurts to be sure, but Solm feels like it's run by dicks. It'd make for something interesting in a different game, but that's not what Engage is.

In fact, the hypocrisy regarding Solm having spies everywhere and being very gung-ho on doing what they want comes full circle in Fogado's Support with Celine:

Here he criticizes Firene because unlike Solm, they're not one for exporting things and prefer to tend to their needs in-house. It's also a way to have him size her up (and she sizes him up in turn). Last time I checked, Firene doesn't have a continent-wide spy network that has a phobia of IOUs, Fogado.

What's more, having seen his Support chain with Timerra - Celine may have gotten the short end of the stick in terms of story, but she holds out to the end when it comes to endgame relevance should she survive, and as we find out from her final Support with her brother, her cagey attitude has merit. Fogado and Timerra's relationship, meanwhile, doesn't really pan out despite their admittedly strange dynamic, plus the traits Timerra shows during this arc (clear-cut pragmatism and insight to what she's doing despite her freewheeling behavior) doesn't line up with later cutscenes and other Supports (overly positive and even clueless to an extent), including the end of the aforementioned Fogado-Celine one where he's trying to be the pragmatic one for her sake - if anything, he's the overly-sentimental one who needs protecting, unlike Alfred.

In his most baffling heist yet, Alear "adopts" an entire ass camel for the Somniel's farm. How the frick he got it onto the island-boat without getting his head bitten off is the true mystery of the age.

Another feature in this explorable oasis area are these two dancers...hmmm...

While we were out fussing around here, Solm Castle is invaded by Elusia and the Four Hounds, and even though all the blame is shouldered on Sombron's newfound presence, these were the ones who wanted him back, people. In fact, put a whole-ass pin here too, because Elusia and Sombron's relationship is kind of a mess in terms of meta.

Hortensia, still burned from the loss at Destinea Cathedral and her Geriatric Dad's death (she's 14 and he looks a lot older), is leading the charge alongside the Four Hounds. Queen Seforia is taken hostage, but because Hortensia is Sad(tm) and Female(tm), her façade of being a Red Unit is starting to crumble.

Because Ivy's with Team Pepsi and Hortensia's Red Unit status is waning, it's time for Foul Mother Figure Zephia to invoke some good ol' Mind Control on this poor girl. Hortensia holds fast to the belief that somehow the Emblem Rings can revive King Hyacinth somehow, so the control trick works. You can tell because Amber Connor is made to sound robotic in the most bland manner possible.

Combat ensues in one of the better castle maps in the game, and we emerge victorious with a new ally and new Emblem Ring in tow (Hortensia's two retainers, surprisingly, are not recruited with her). The half-sisters of Elusia reunite in what is supposed to be a touching scene, I think.

Questionable presentation aside, Hortensia is probably one of Engage's finest units in terms of sheer utility and presentation, as that's where she excels the most: Utility. She is meant to be the ultimate staff bot with a dash of magic, and she succeeds on multiple fronts courtesy of a high Luck score (either she or Celine have the highest natural cap in the game) and her Personal Skill (potential to save a Staff use). She's a magic flier, but on a Pegasus instead of a Wyvern. You can tinker with her just enough for customization, but at heart she's a magical staff unit, which is the kind of FE unit I like the most.

The ring that Hortensia bought with her happens to be one of the ones stolen from Lumera. It's the Ring of the Instructor - Byleth's ring, repped in this game as a very hardcore, emo music-phase styled purple and black, despite Byleth's secondary color being a very pastel pink - and that goes for the male Byleth too. But we can't have our pink Byleth dreams or a female Byleth, now can we?

Neither can we have the acknowledgement of anything happening after the Pegasus Moon of Imperial Year 1180, per this Emblem's title...

Looks like Byleth's dirt nap wasn't actually them getting shoved off a cliff and missing five years of war, but rather a stable time loop where they wake up and have to experience being forced to teach the Black Eagles again.

Please note that while Male Byleth is probably my second least favorite Avatar (Shez now holds the title), it stems heavily from fan behavior, with the whole "male as default" mentality among them. Now with the way male Robin has been treated in the past, one would think I dislike him more, but male Robin, at least, has some oomph in his presentation. Byleth, being a very flagrant Rei Ayanami expy, I've found works better as a woman.

That, and both VA's performances for when male Byleth speaks, have generally been bad. I will admit that Mr. Aguilar's Byleth in this game is leagues better than Hopes or his various Heroes incarnations, though. Plus, as an Emblem in this game, Byleth's toolkit is easily one of the most fun to use, for sure.

And even if it's as a guy, we continue to have the true Byleth shine in this game, ironically making him dissimilar from the more shallowly presented Emblems here. Most Emblems here are the cliff notes versions (or just plain wrong) of their OG selves, but Byleth here is like...the canon Byleth that wasn't allowed in the original game, because self-insert wankery and what have you.

Uuuugggggggggggggghhhhhhhhh. If Hortensia were a prince, he'd at the bare minimum get some kind of punishment. But hey, we need to continue our fetch quest, so that means never seeing this lady ever again.

As expected, Solm factors next to negative in the plot - not even in an overarching, fleeting sort of way like how Firene is cited to be the most pious regarding the Divine Dragons. It's not quite a Big Lipped Alligator Moment, but it's definitely that distracting music number that ultimately doesn't matter.

Anyway yeah our fetch quest ain't over. We have two more new rings to find on top of getting back the ones that were stolen, and oh golly gee there's some desert ruins that might have another one. No dumb test this time!

'Till next time. 👋

[beneathashadytree]

FRENCH - JEAN KIRSCHTEIN X READER

Warnings : implied semi-nudity, slight making out, Jean is a Frenchman and no you guys can't change my mind, this is set after the timeskip of course, reader is gender-neutral!

Genre : tooth-rotting fluff

Word count : 0.8K words

Synopsis : When woken up early, Jean tends to vulnerably speak to his lover in French.

Additional notes : I've added the rough translations of what Jean's saying at the bottom!

Requests : Are open! Check the rules over here.

Want to support me financially? Here’s my CashApp!

Masterlist

"C'mon, it's 10 in the morning already, didn't you promise you'd make me that omelette you had your mom teach you how to cook?"

Giggling at the sight of him simply shoving his face further into the pillow, I tried to tug at the blanket in hopes of rousing him awake. Without even uttering a word in protest, he seemed to prefer simply pretending that I didn't currently exist.

Now aware that my only remaining strategy was to play coquettish, I whined his name out, "Jean-bo, wake up!"and then the exact moment my palm rested on his face, a rosy blush formed on his cheeks and he subconsciously leaned in, giving away the fact that he most certainly was awake and only wanting to be babied.

Completely giving up on the idea of pulling him out of bed against his will, I decided to simply lower myself with a sigh and cuddle into his warm chest.

"Je préfère ça¹," he mumbled, voice still hoarse and deep as it always was in the mornings when he just wasn't conscious enough to realize that he'd shifted to his mother language, French rolling off his tongue as he palmed the small of my back tenderly, "Je déteste me réveiller tôt, et tu le sais²."

"Could've never guessed," I chuckled, reaching to run my fingers through his long ash-brown hair, tips digging into his scalp and tugging a satisfied groan from him that had my tummy fluttering.

It didn't take him more than a minute or two of brushing his mullet before he was leaning in, inhaling deeply before his lips met mine in a languid open-mouthed kiss. Warmth pooling in my belly as his tongue stroked against mine lazily, a mix of savoring and wanting to take his own time as I melted into his kiss, my hands limply falling to circle his neck loosely. Once he was content with the way he rendered me almost immobile, he pulled away an inch or two, amber eyes blinked half-open and far too enticing for how early it was in the day.

Soft words were spoken against my lips, "J'adore le plus quand tu es comme ça³," a small smirk adorning his handsome face, he slowly thumbed my wet bottom lip, teasing though he probably hadn't even realized what he was doing, simply going by what his instinct told him to do.

Before I could even react properly, he kissed me delicately one more time, this time sweeter as he angled his face, pointer finger tilting my chin as his other arm wrapped around my shoulder. Responding with just as much---if not even more---eagerness, I couldn't escape his all-consuming embrace even if I wanted to.

"Et si tu n'existais pas, dis-moi pourquoi j'existerais?⁴" he muttered under his breath, eyes still hooded but affectionate as he blinked down at me, even more doting in the mornings than he normally is.

I laughed incredulously, "Did you just quote Joe Dassin on me?"

With a shrug, he leaned his head down on my shoulder, "Par habitude⁵," with his faux confidence he sounded hilarious, and I chortled at the way he clung to me (though I wasn't any better; I did have my arms curled around his naked shoulders, and my leg was thrown across his slim waist).

We fell into a silence that was rather odd after his passionate proclamations; I almost thought he'd fallen asleep, had he not spoken up minutes later, voice far firmer than I'd ever heard from him.

"On s'est promis une vie d'amour et d'espoir⁶."

He said it with so much conviction; so much determination, like he'd die if it didn't come true, that I didn't dare oppose his words or claim otherwise. It was the only thing he put the entirety of his faith in; the one thing he believed in, because he'd said time and time again that he'd rather not live than exist in a world without love and hope tethering us together.

"We'll get that, no matter what it takes," I replied, as gently and as reassuring as I could muster, rubbing his shoulder, "I'll make sure of that."

The lingering silence and his even breathing indicated that he'd fallen into a deep slumber once again. I couldn't hold it against him nor even feign being mad; not when I knew just how rare it was for him to get enough hours of sleep. Fondly, I patted his back, cooing at how endearing he looked in my arms.

"My sweet Jean."

¹ : I prefer this

² : I hate waking up early and you know this

³ : I adore it the most when you're like this

⁴ : And if you did not exist, tell me why would I exist? (these are lyrics from a Joe Dassin song)

⁵ : Force of habit

⁶ : We promised each other a life of love and hope

Taglist: @blondeboyfriend @mrsgiovanna @thispersoniscrazy

[em-dashes]

02.01.20

Aphelion Intro | Character Intro | Playlist

It is once again oh-crap-I-haven’t-poster-in-a-long-time-so-I-guess-it’s-time-for-an-update time!!

I didn’t have much time for writing in January, but I did have a lot of time to think about the story progression, and I found yet MORE convoluted plot points I have to consider cutting out or changing. In hindsight, I didn’t realize how messy APHELION was last year, and it’s all so obvious now. Yikes.

Here’s some convoluted plot stuff that APHELION used to have that I have since snapped from the story:

a ghost subplot where Rian was friends with three ghosts

zombies (djhfbsdjfhsdbfjak)

Cay as a sniper (how did I not realize Cay hates guns and would never use a sniper rifle what the heck)

Cay working for the government as a secret agent (once more, what the HECK)

a heck-ton of torture for some reason (past drafts were so unnecessarily grimdark and I can’t believe it took me this long to see it)

Shelby as a world renowned thief and hacker known as The Bandit of Brery

Shelby being friends with another hacker named The Velociraptor (who has since been moved to a different WIP)

One of Rian’s powers being teleportation (this literally made no sense)

Well, anyway, happy February! And now, it’s excerpt time >:)

Chapter 3: Shelby

She pulled the backpack onto her lap. The first and largest pocket she rummaged through held several long sleeve shirts, trousers, some underwear, and three pairs of cozy-looking winter socks. They were all children’s clothes--they wouldn’t even fit Idan, who was already small for a fifteen-year-old. Who in their right mind would live out in the middle of nowhere with a child? In the next pocket, she pulled out a small spiral-bound notebook, its papers warped from having been soaked in the past. The first page had only two words, written in large scrawling black letters and traced over thrice:

ALABAST SQUARE

Bee had no idea where that was, nor did she really care. She thumbed through the rest of the book. The next page said:

Head hurt for three days. Found some painkiller. Still works.

A week passed I think. I tried to stay alert but kept falling asleep. No one here but animals, mostly wolves. If I’m careful they don’t attack.

Found something cool--pancake mix! I can’t read the how-to-make but I think I can figure it out.

A journal, Bee realized. And she’d been wrong. Someone hadn’t been living in the abandoned town with a child--it sounded like the kid had been alone.

Chapter 4: Rian

Two nurses dressed in white stood at the door, and behind them, a face Rian didn't want to see.

Dr. Scott.

Dr. Scott wasn’t his mother, though Rian used her last name, but she pretended to be when they traveled. They had the same auburn hair, the same pale complexion, and some people even swore up and down they had the same nose. He looks just like you. The false relationship worked, the same way the brown contact lens he’d had to wear over his green eye worked. People didn’t give them suspicious looks. People asked less questions. Rian never truly thought of her as his mother, but he had felt warmly enough toward her.

Now, as Dr. Scott rushed toward him, face full of concern with the nurses trailing behind her, all he felt was a sick burning in his chest.

Chapter 5: Cay

He stood, paused for a moment to let the dizziness pass, and headed to the main room. He found three packets of powdered soup, dumped one in a bowl, poured hot water into it, and was just stirring the lumps of powder in when he heard Lunary screech from the barn. He wiped the water droplets from the window and peered out. It was still dark outside, the sky a deep grey as dawn took its sweet time to creep in, but he could make out wild flapping wings through the barn’s windows.

He quickly drank his soup--wincing at the heat and ignoring the still-dry lumps--and threw on his sweater and coat. He stuffed his shoes in his boots, laced them up haphazardly, and went outside to the barn. Lunary didn’t seem to see him as he entered the barn, still flapping her wings and screeching, flying at the walls in attempt to get out.

“Hey, girl.” Cay took a tentative step forward. “Hey, it’s me.”

He raised his arms slowly, as if boxing Lunary in, though of course he was much too small to do that. Lunary withdrew, startled, and then seemed to recognize him. Her wings still trembled, but at least she had stopped fluttering wildly at the walls. She let out a pitious sound and nuzzled Cay with her beak, desperate for comfort.

“It’s okay,” said Cay softly, gently stroking Lunary’s feathery head, her furry crest, her beak. “I’m afraid of storms too. Thunder and lightning? Now that’s scary.” He knew the aepid couldn’t understand his words, but he swore he could see sympathy in her big yellow eye. He closed his eyes and put his forehead against hers, feeling the rise and fall as her breathing calmed. “I know. But we’ll be okay, right?”

What happened in Alabast Square? Why does Rian hate his pseudo-mother so much? Why is Cay afraid of storms? Tune in to find out more maybe!

Et c’est tout pour le moment mes amis!

-Emily

Taglist: @ditzysworld @sunlight-and-starskies @v-snippets @kentwrites @writing-instead-of-fighting​ :^)

[shadowofthemoth]

3, 6, 7, 12, 14, 20, 27, 32, A, D for the retj ask meme (I didn't even know it's a thing wow!) Also sorry, I got a bit carried away with the amount of questions, hope you don't mind that, but what can I say, they're interesting XD

Woohoo, thanks my lovely anon! And don’t apologize, this is so much fun! :3

3 Un Jour: How long are you willing to wait for something you really want?

Years. I already did - I waited for NDDP, for RetJ, for meeting Daniel Lavoie and Frederic Charter; I waited for three years for the opportunity to start learning my beloved French at university (I was studying German in the meantime); and I will wait patiently as long as I have to if it’s for something I really, really, really want. 6 Les rois du monde: Have you ever rebelled against an authority figure because their rules were unfair?

I have, yes. Well, calling that “rebelling” would be pushing it, but I definitely stood up to my bosses more than once. 

7 J'ai peur: Do you fear the future?

I fear death, not the future. In a way, you could say I do fear future since death is an inevitable part of it; but other than that, no. I think it is pointless to fear something that might or might not happen; besides, come on, I’m a 100% millennial. I was born into a situation of great instability that never really got better - look at the world, it is as far from stable as it can get! - and I live in a country where stability is an illusion. I was bound to develop at least some cynicism and carelessness to deal with it (just like so many of us).This, mixed with my undying optimism, mental stability (I’m not bragging or anything, honestly! That’s just a medical fact that has been pointed out by several doctors by now) and not entirely nonexistent sense of humor, doesn’t really let me fear the future. Probably because I don’t really focus on it too much and deal with problems one at a time as they come.12 Par amour: Have you ever talked someone sensible into helping you do something unbelievably stupid?

Hahah, not really. I’m usually the sensible one being talked into doing something unbelievably stupid… or at least that’s what I prefer to let people think of me. xD14 Et voila qu'elle aime: Who, besides a romantic partner, would you give up everything for?

Besides my significant other? My grandmother and my mother, I’d say.20 La vengeance: Do you believe vengeance and justice are the same or different?

Vengeance does not always mean justice; justicedoes not always mean vengeance; they can coincide (in terms of what needs to be done) or they can differ to the point of being opposites; this depends on the circumstances.

But there’s one crucial difference between them. Vengeance is driven by emotions (be it pride, pain, hatred or whatever); justice is not (or at least should not be), since it is driven by the need for fairness, which often means that all emotions should be set aside and replaced by facts, logic and law.27 On prie: Is distance from war the same as peace? Why or why not?

A difficult question, this one. It doesn’t really have a definite answer because the world in not all black&white, you know… Again, depends on the circumstances and the person in question. Let’s see.

Case A: distance from war means you’re still in the same country where that war is happening, or in one of the countries involved.

Case B: distance from war means that there is some war happening somewhere on the planet but your country is not involved in it neither directly not indirectly. 

In case A, this is not peace, this is the home front. Every part of your country is at war, whether you admit it or not; and you’re part of it, too. You’re part of this war even if you’re not a soldier or a medic; and you’re responsible, too. How you treat this, what you do about this, whether you support it or not - this is up to you, of course, and again, everything depends on the particular circumstances you’re in and the kind of person you are.

In case B, it can be counted as peace, since your country is at peace. However, if the war in question is a threat that is large enough to put the whole world in danger (I’m speaking of all kinds of wars - nuclear for sure, but ideological as well, and many others), then I hate to say it, but this is not peace. But then again, might also depend on how you treat it. 

That’s just my personal point of view though, and I’m not saying I have monopoly of the truth here or making absolute judgements. On the contrary, far from it. ^^

32 J'sais plus: Do you believe in an afterlife?

I… prefer not to dwell on this question too much. No idea if it exists. It might, or it might not. I guess we will all find out one day. xDA. Je rêve: Do dreams have significance in waking life?

They certainly do. Some dreams are a way of processing real life events, sometimes they can help you figure out what’s troubling you. And even apart from that, there are good dreams that can give you good mood, and nightmares that can give you bad mood and even panic attacks; meaning that dreams can definitely influence your well-being, both mental and physical. So yeah, they do have significance. D. Avoir 20 ans: Do you fight for what you believe in even if you know it won’t get you recognition?

I do.

Thanks again for sending me so many questions! I loved it! :3 Hope it was fun to read my answers! And (I’m addressing this to everyone who reads this) if you wanna discuss something I wrote here, feel free to send me an ask or a direct message (depending on whether you need anonymity or not) and I’ll be happy to chat with you. 😘