#i need to remember the specific corrin build- hang on

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im so fucking tired i just deleted a like. 200+ hours fe fates save

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Do you have a thintg (eg an AU) that you think about (A lot) but probably wouldn't write because it feels too self indulgent? If so, what is it? :3

Lol, is this because I said this recent fic was really self-indulgent in the notes? I appreciate you asking, anon ;D

At first I misread the question and thought you meant just a trope that was indulgent that I hadn’t written because it felt self-indulgent, which was difficult because there are a lot. But then I realized you said an AU specifically and that narrows it down a lot, actually! And the answer is still yes!

Do you remember this post about the Trio not having friends or even being friends with each other in a modern world? I was directly thinking of this AU when writing it. Keep in mind this is self-indulgent and corny as hell, and I’m very aware of that.

This fic opens up in a modern au where the the Trio are still teenagers (which is already a strange start for me because usually I write them as full adults). As mentioned in the above post, they’re not friends. And they don’t have a lot (or any?) close friends, actually. But mainly the focus here is on Owain because he’s my default protag and just who I happened to choose for this.

So he’s like… 16? About that age? And doesn’t really have any close friends. Which feels like canon, tbh. The war isn’t dragging anyone together. He gets on well enough with Lucina and Brady and Noire, but they have their own lives too. He and Cynthia used to be childhood friends but not anymore. He and Inigo actively fight each other and don’t get along. (Maybe their parents are aware of this, maybe not.) He and Severa are kind of okay? But she’s prickly and he’s weird and it’s not like they’re hanging out anytime soon. So Owain is 16, going to high school, doing his thing, maybe being teased on the side for being as lame as he is, and probably a little lonely. Maybe a lot lonely, sometimes. His family supports him pretty well, so there’s at least that, but, you know. He could be doing better. That’s just kind of how it is being 16.

Owain craves adventure and maybe some closer friends. So… For some reason in this AU I keep imagining the city they all live in being on the edge of some kind of shrubland or even desert type area? When thinking of the type of area this would be, I just kept thinking of Laurent getting lost in the desert for 4 years. Maybe it’s like that. Maybe not. Either way, outside of town is probably hilly and has a lot of craggy places and ditches and whatnot too. It’s not really a place people hang out unless you’re trying to have a party in the middle of nowhere so no cops show up or are trying to study what lizards live out there. Pretty barren and not very great.

But Owain likes exploring and getting lost in his imagination, and after one bad day, despite hearing cautionary tales from Laurent and his mother and whoever else previously, he goes to hang out there. He’s done it before.

Except this time he falls into a ditch or makes a wrong move or does something wrong, and this time Owain really hurts himself. Like, sprains an ankle and maybe knocks himself out type bad. Nothing broken but ow, does it sure feel like it. Maybe he even lays there deliriously for a moment staring up at the sun before closing his eyes because he can’t keep them open any longer.

When he wakes up again it’s been a few hours and he’s been moved somewhere else. Somewhere out of the sun. He feels dusty and still kind of hurts, but his biggest concern comes when he sits up and looks around and see’s there’s a fucking wolf sitting there. Which is already crazy enough because there aren’t supposed to be any wolves where they live. And also Owain is definitely going to be eaten.

But the wolf doesn’t move and Owain eventually realizes the wolf is actually a just a big dog, and that helps his fear a bit. Big dogs aren’t wolves. Though it is kind of strange that its all the way out here in the middle of nowhere, but so is Owain.

So after establishing the dog isn’t going to eat him, he tries to stand up and it hurts but he can kind of manage. The dog sees him struggling and gets up in Owain’s space. This freaks Owain out for a minute again until it becomes apparent the dog just wants Owain to kind of lean on him and not fall over. It’s big enough for it anyway.

So Owain is figuring out this dog is smart and probably likes people if it knew to drag him out of the sun, and he likes animals too. It’s still a little surprising when he pets the dog and asks “What’s your name?” while already planning to come up with one of his own and the dog leads him deeper into the outcropping of rocks instead of out and Owain sees the name “Anankos” scratched into the rock via… clawmarks? No way, Owain thinks, it must have been a stone. He’s kind of disappointed he doesn’t get to name the dog himself, but “Anankos” sounds like a pretty good name anyway. And if someone else helped raise a dog smart enough to help Owain out when he really needed it, he’s grateful, even if that means someone else did find the dog first.

He makes it home with the help of Anankos the big dog. The sun is setting, and Anankos takes him as far as the edge of the town. He doesn’t go any farther, which is fine because Owain can make it home from here, even though he is sad they have to part ways. He limps home and Lissa fusses over him being late and being bruised, and Owain plays down what happened and doesn’t mention Anankos at all because then his mother would never let him go back ever. But he’s fine, everything’s fine, and the evening passes without much issue.

It’s probably a weekend so Owain either goes back that Sunday or the next week and looks for Anankos the dog. He’s hopeful. And either he’s lucky or Anankos must be aware of him too, because out in the outskirts of town, they do find each other again. Owain brought dog-appropriate snacks and some meat. Anankos is appreciative. Owain is happy they’ve run into each other again, but he is curious why Anankos’s owner isn’t keeping better track of him. Unless Anankos goes home at night? Or doesn’t have an owner anymore? He doesn’t know what to make of it. But he’s happy.

So Owain’s closest friend becomes a possibly wild dog named Anankos that found him out in the dry outskirts of his city. Anankos isn’t a person, but he’s smart as hell. Like, really smart. Sometimes Owain wonders if Anankos really understands him sometimes. 

Sometimes Anankos goes off on his own for a while and he won’t go into town with Owain (so much for taking him home, even if Lissa would allow it, which. Probably not), but Owain makes the most of it anyway. He has a friend now. There’s a Owain when he’s at school and there’s Owain when he gets to run out into the wild and make up stories and do teenage boy stuff with a dog so big it seems like a wolf.

And from here on the details get fuzzier because, again, this is so self-indulgent I’ve never planned on explaining this to anyone and thus only have shattered shards of scenes that I kind of want to see rather than a real plot. But I imagine there’s an actual villain in this story too. Like, between Owain and Inigo fighting, between regular teenage drama and whatnot, Anankos really is the reincarnated version of our Anankos from fe14 looking for Corrin again. Not because there’s any great evil on the rise but just because he wants to see them the way he never got to before, even if he is a dog and isn’t really their father this time. (Or is he? But also he’s a fucking wolf dog. That can be figured out later.) But he remembers the Trio too, though they don’t remember him, and he likes Owain enough that Anankos wants to make sure he’s okay too. He’d probably be fine with Inigo and Severa too (debatable if they’d be fine with him, lol) but they don’t hang out in the middle of nowhere like Owain, so they don’t run into each other.

So anyway, Anankos the dragon/wolf is looking for Corrin. I think the Nohr sibs and Garon and maybe even Iago? Are here too, but I haven’t decided how yet. I think at least Iago is evil. Maybe Garon too. I imagined Owain getting into trouble with somebody evil like that cornering him and Anankos, in the city for the first time ever, fucking kills Iago to protect him. Which leaves Owain shaken as hell and also some people are probably freaking the fuck out that a wolf came out of nowhere and just killed a guy??? But Owain defends Anankos by saying Owain has been taking care of him, he did it to protect Owain, that guy was trying to kidnap him, etc. And Lissa is thrown for a loop because apparently her son has been hanging out with a fucking wolf this whole time but it??? Protected him?? But also that’s a WOLF? (”Mom, that’s not a wolf. I mean, I wish he was because that would be super cool, but…” “Owain, I Know What A Wolf Looks Like.”) (Suffice to say he’s at least in a little trouble.) It’s a whole Thing.

And also maybe Inigo and Owain’s tension keeps building up between their fights and teasing, and one time Inigo tries to be actually genuine when he sees Owain has been having a bad day and asks what’s wrong and Owain snaps at him, “What do you even care? You don’t even like me.” And Inigo feels kind of bad and Owain is just upset and they Don’t Talk for a bit after that. 

But also!! When Inigo gets in trouble because of Evil Plotline Thing Here, Owain is alerted either via magic?? Anankos’s magic?? Instinct? Anankos? Coincidence? And comes through to save him. And probably Severa gets involved at some point too because she’s the third of the Awakening Trio, obviously.

I feel like Nohr sibs (though maybe Corrin comes in earlier) are late game stuff but I can’t quite decide how yet.

That’s all I basically have for the moment, but this AU kind of blurs in with one or two other modern AUs I have going on in my head atm so it’s hard to separate the details entirely. I know Anankos being a human-intelligence level wolf (bc he is/was a dragon in his past life) that Owain (who remembers nothing of FE14) makes friends with in the desert is kind of cheesy and dumb, but I like it anyway. I can’t imagine ever writing this unless the details for this AU get filled in significantly but still. I like thinking about it from time to time. 

Thanks for asking! Sorry this went on so long, lol. I appreciate the question though, anon! :D