#song is her song by the family crest btw!

[sketchy-galaxy]

Doing another too many thoughts-one post type post

1- Every song makes me thing of her (Malenia 💞) seriously I need to actually write something with my s/i and her or draw them, I am OBSESSED with her, it's The Family Crest btw, they're music keeps me thinking about her

1a- Love assigning f/os music taste. I put Boogie Wonderland on my Hunter playlist (cause of a video) and I was like," Perfect." Then Day was like," Hooked on a Feeling is also a song Hunter likes." and I was like BAM you're right and Hunter is also a KALEO type of guy. The Family Crest is that with Malenia. OH and AJR and Hashtag, lots of f/os and lots of music dksjnkdnjks

2- Got my hair done today and watched like the first ep of Leverage and mannnn I love heists I will be watching more for sure djkdjskjdks

3- Seeing The Wild Robot tonight too! Very excited!

[12pt-times-new-roman]

c3e59

let's go back in tiiiiime

"Where are we?" "Where's everybody else?" "Where's Imogen?"

This area is rife with not just volcanic activity, but with seismic activity as well, and Ruidus is to the south.

Laudna identifies a handful of places that match this description: the Truskan Vale (near Kamordah), the Panagrip Sands (to the far east of Marquet), and the Spectrum Gorge in the middle of Issylra.

Orym to Caleb, via sending stone: "Um... Caleb Widogast? Are you alright? Where are you? Not sure we're even in Marquet anymore. Please respond." He's met with a feedback loop and static.

Orym to Dorian, vis sending stone: "Dorian? Can you hear me? Uh... what's the sky look like where you are? Tell me you're okay." Same thing.

They crest a ridge of the gorge, and beyond, there's a dense forest, a cluster of growth affixed to the mineral-rich earth. Orym, with a passive perception of 31, sees movement — 

AIMEE!!!!

She's a dwarf with long blond hair, covered in tattoos — two stand out, one of a banner heart that says "me" instead of "mom," and one with a large cursive D. She's wearing earring hoops that say "fuck off." A corset, bejeweled boots, a massive gold belt buckle, carrying a whip and a sickle.

I'm calling it right now, this woman is going to romance Laudna and Ashton.

An hour ago, she was in Tal'dorei looking for her ex. She almost found him when she heard Ludinus' voice, saw white light, then appeared in this forest.

Mona is a barbarian/rogue (who rolled excellent stats btw).

From the top, they can see that the gorge is a massive canyon at least two miles long. Ruidus is to the southwest of them. An extremely overgrown and vibrant forest surrounds the canyon, and there's a river nearby.

Orym can see another gathering of leylines to the northeast — another nexus point, miles off. Loosely in that direction, he can see a township, and beyond that, a massive mountain range with one singular mountain taller than any he's ever seen — the Heaven's Stair. The entire western side of his vision is taken up by a mountain range that looks so foreboding and ominous that he doesn't even want to go near it. To the south, ocean.

Traveling to the northeast, they encounter a fire and send Pate to scout. (Friendly reminder that Pate uses the stat block of an imp, so he can turn invisible at will.) At the fire, there's a cart, a reindeer-looking beast of burden, and a humanoid figure warming their hands.

Utkarsh Ambudkar is an actor best known for his roles in Pitch Perfect and Avatar: the Last Airbender.

Bor'dor is a half-elf "built like a coat hanger." 6'4 but hunched over, delicate fingers, no scars or tattoos. Brown skin with shades of green and gold, unkempt hair, and large gold-amber eyes. A face that carries the resting expression of "what the fuck is going on?" No armor, a green cloak, leather shoes, and a crossbow.

He shoots a 5th-level lightning bolt at Mona, then casts cure wounds at second level. He's a divine soul sorcerer!

He was in the Cyrios Mountains on Wildemount (near Pride's Call) with his sheep — his family raises sheep and sheepdogs — and caring for his sick brother. Then he felt a humming, heard a voice and a droning, a pain in his forehead — then he got teleported here, along with his cart.

And apparently he just... spontaneously gained 9 levels in sorcerer over the course of the hours he's been here. Which, if he's a divine soul sorcerer, is super fucking concerning considering what we know about the gods giving large amounts of power to their followers from EXU: Calamity.

Mona's whip is a whip of warning, which gives her advantage on initiative rolls. Also, creatures within 30 feet of her cannot be surprised, and if they're sleeping naturally and combat starts, they wake up at the start of combat.

Orym spots another figure, walking through the forest, approaching the light and conversation.

EMILY!!

She's a shadar-kai elf with emo girl tattoos with runes instead of song lyrics, but she's dressed in the formal attire of a mage's apprentice. Indoor kid vibes, clothes not meant for adventuring, "coming out of a tense conversation with a book."

She's a Cobalt Soul apprentice!! She's here asking about their "experiences with the apogee solstice."

Her book talks to her. She was sent by the Cobalt Soul, but with a sentient book chaperone. It's a tome with black and brown leather and silver runes, with a scrunched face roughly pressed into the front. Denios was trapped in a book during a rivalry, the Cobalt Soul got their hands on it, and now he's a chaperone.

The Cobalt Soul didn't know where she was gonna end up, but they sent her through a teleport spell hoping for a metropolis — and ended up here. So this confirms that teleport works, but there's no guarantee where you're gonna end up.

Prism was stepping outside the library to prepare for her teleportation when she heard Ludinus, saw a flash, and ended up here.

The Soul knew that the apogee solstice would be a "cataclysmic event." They scrounged up everyone they could and dispatched them to try to figure out what's happening.

The sentient book is also her spellbook, so she's stuck with him.

It sounds like Prism is an order of scribes wizard? That would make sense for the Cobalt Soul.

Mona's "real" name is Deni$e. Her nails are incredibly sharp stilettos. Her demeanor reminds me a lot of Keg.

More rustling in the bushes! More people?

Nope! Initiative at the end of the break.

Prism has a raven familiar she calls "mother." She also invokes the spirit of her spellbook, confirming that she's an Order of Scribes wizard.

Denise has at least 3 levels in rogue, because her sneak attack is 2d6, and at least 2 levels in barbarian, because she has reckless attack.

Gods, I forgot how much I love Talisein's descriptions of Ashton's attacks and rage builds. They're all so good.

Oooooh, I've never seen steel wind strike used in a game before! It's a 5th level ranger/wizard spell from Xanithar's that deals 6d10 force damage on a hit to up to 5 creatures within range. Then, regardless of whether it hit or not, the caster can teleport to a space within 5 feet of any of the targets.

Also, yes, rules-as-written a familiar counts as an ally that can proc sneak attack. So if Veth, as an arcane trickster, had taken find familiar, or if Frumpkin was used in this way, she could've gotten sneak attack much more reliably. Personally, I find it strange that familiars can do this while spiritual weapons cannot, but yeah.

I love that Bor'dor, the newly-minted sorcerer who has no idea how to use his magic purposefully, is this party's only source of healing (besides Laudna's wither and bloom, which hardly counts). From that, it seems like this group is much more geared toward social encounters than physical ones,

YO. EMILY. that is a DOPE FUCKING MOVE

The plant swallows Orym, then the book goes in behind him and gets into contact, then Prism casts dimension door through the book on Orym to teleport them out.

THIS is why I absolutely love watching veteran players on Critical Role. People new to the system have their own unique charm to the way they play their characters, but people like Emily and Aabria who are highly experienced with and aware of D&D 5e know to make incredibly creative moves like that.

And at the same time, Utkarsh (and guests new to 5e) pushes the limits of the rules, because they're not familiar with those rules, to a point that they come up with wildly creative plays based on what knowledge they do have of the rules-as-written that end up being clutch moves.

Combat ends.

Prism's raven is named after both her own mother and the Matron of Ravens, because the latter is prominent in the Shadowfell.

Prism is "really new to spellcasting," despite being a 9th-level wizard who is therefore capable of casting things like contact other plane, create spelljamming helm, legend lore, and teleportation circle. tbh this is such a cool take on wizards -- someone who's never tested their spells in combat situations, but who's confident in their own ability with those spells in more innocuous circumstances, due to their expansive study and lack of practical experience.

Also, Prism knows exactly who Ludinus Da'leth is, though she's never interacted with him directly, because of his leadership of the Cerberus Assembly.

"We don't leave people behind. That's the rule. You do not leave people the fuck behind." I love that this has become the center of Ashton's philosophy, because it makes so much sense. They were left behind, left for dead, and a single person stayed by their side, helped them, saved them. So of course they are going to be that person for someone else. Of course they would rather be the Milo, of course they'd rather try in vain to save someone instead of leaving them behind and subjecting them to the same pain and isolation that they themself felt.

Also, again, Emily is using the same logic for Prism as Aabria did for Laerryn. Maybe it's just because we've never really had a proper elf PC (or a player-character who had the trance ability), but this is just such a cool take on trance...... I love it.

Ahhh, so Prism doesn't necessarily believe the gods should die but she does believe that they might deserve to be usurped by mortals ascending to godhood like the Raven Queen. With a skill check, Prism's truthful reason is that she's feeling excited to be out of the library. She thought she was going to freak out, but she didn't, and she's excited by that -- she feels like she could smoke a cigarette in a single drag, she feels that rush of adrenalin. It's like when Caleb said in C2 that they were all addicts to the thrill of battle, the adrenalin of purpose.

Bor'dor doesn't remember his mother very well, and he hasn't seen her in a very long time. He believes that his magic comes from the love of his mother, and he's clinging to that. He and Prism take the first watch, and bond over their ability to trance.

Yep, Prism is 100% an order of scribes wizard. Manifest Mind is a 6th level ability of that subclass.

Ashton panicked, down in the mines. They thought they'd won, they thought Laudna had won, and they think they made some bad calls. Laudna says that "we're a bunch of dumb-fucks, going up against a 500-year-old wizard, so..." And Ashton reassures her that they're gonna get their people. They're gonna get Prism, Bor'dor, and Deni$e to where they need to go, then they're gonna find Imogen. "If they went to space, then we'll go to space... if she got vaporized, we'll bring her back. This is what we do. We bring everybody back. There is no failure in this, and we're going to figure it out because it's what matters. I have-- whatever broken thing that's in my head, that means that anything's possible now, that's what I've decided. We brought you back, and we can do it again... sure, we're not enough to save the world, but we are more than enough to bring everybody back... we can't save the world, but we can save our people. We're going to."

I never really got to know Percy, I liked Molly, I loved Caduceus... but I want to fucking study Ashton like a bug under a microscope, I want to turn them around in my brain like a microwave. They are fascinating,

Deni$e and Orym take the last watch. Deni$e knows Shaun Gilmore! She went to Emon looking for him specifically. She also knows Dariax, "that piece of shit." She knows Orym from wanted posters all over Emon -- the Nameless Ones have put up wanted posters for all of the Crown Keepers.

Dariax has a dumptruck ass, canon.

DARIAX IS THE EX DENI$E WAS LOOKING FOR

And the Nameless Ones were going after her because they were looking for what Dariax stole, and as soon as she saw him months later, she got teleported here.

Orym has flashes of Keyleth, Will, the horrors they've witnessed. It permeates this light conversation, his entire existence. He drinks, heavier than we've seen him drink the entire campaign. "I just... I just don't think I've ever felt so small."

Prism doesn't know sending, but if she can find a scroll or a copy of a spell, she can transcribe it into her spellbook very quickly. She wants to find a library or some discarded spellbooks so she can help, so she can cast sending.

As an interesting note, this is also an Order of Scribes ability! Usually, it takes 2 hours per spell level for a wizard to transcribe a spell, but for an Order of Scribes wizard it takes two minutes per spell level.

"That mountain to the north is the Ascendant Bridge, the tallest mountain in Exandria... it's visible as far away as Vasselheim. It's believed to be where the gods first arrived in the world." The party is within a gorge of Othanzia, the region in which Vasselheim, the dawn of all civilization, sits.

The party can still see Ruidus, even in the early daylight. They can see townships around -- they have options scattered in every direction.

[weirdlotiel]

Soooo I just ened watching 1st season of tlovm. And I love it. I need second season. Please! And this was one of the very few shows I watched with my family. And they watched it because of me!!! Yay, finally we have something to talk about.

I have some thoughts about the show but they contain some spoilers so if you don't want any then don't read. (btw, It was hard not to tell anything to my family about what was going to happen. They hate me because of that.) thoughts below the cut.

And sorry about my english. It can be bad. It's not my first language.

-First scene I was like "and there a great evil came... oh come on, it always starts like this".... but when I saw the fellowshop of the ring getting killed like this and changed my mind. (Please, don't tell me I'm the only one who noticed the similarities.)

-The Tavern brawl scene was just... *chef's kiss*. Especially Vax teasing Agar. -And Percy drinking wine when the rest is playing drinking? And soon after that just taking his gun and pointing it at someone who just attacked him with... whatever it was, a knife? Some weird sword? And smiling? I already knew I loved this guy. But I didn't expect him to be so fucked up later.

-I knew there would be some dragon there. It was quite obvious. And I thought something like this "what if this dragon can change into human?". Then, BAM!! It changed.

-There was Grog, big dummy. But big dummy that can switch between raging goliath and sweet big boi. I know I don't want to mess up with him. Sometimes he doesn't think, like when he entered Anders' house and went right into a trap. But man... when he is raging he's great.

-And his relationship with Pike. It's just awww. Also, Pike is super. Even when he doubted herself, I mean, when she thought she lost her connection to everlight, she was great, but it was also so sad. I love how she want's to help people. And her astral form in the last episodes? it was... WHOA! I loved it. And her healing everyone. Or at least trying. because when she tried to heal that boy, or Kayleth, and wasn't able to do so... it got me. She's too kind.

-Vex and Vax are awesome. -I want to have same bond with my siblings as they have. Even drunk they somehow know what the other one is going to do. -And how they are like "we can run away from you guys... but we won't", because actually they really like their companions. -I already know Vax is bi, and I love his relationships both with Gilmore and Keyleth. -I need more Vax x Gilmore context. -And how he picked that lock and said "Amateurs". I want him as brother too. Please. -On the other hand, Vex seemed to be more... or maybe less, chaotic? I don't know how to name that. -She cares about her brother, Percy and the others. And her reaction at Keyleth getting hurt? It was so sad. -She knows what to do, and is great fighter. The only thing I don't understand is how she gets those headaches when there is a dragon nearby. -Daddy issiues. Great. Family drama. Well, not exactly.

-Kayleth is so sweet. And strong, she just needs more faith in herself. Her powers are wonderfull. That light she created at the end to defeat Sylas? Or made portal back home. And she has some family issues again? That she may not be able to go back home? -Kayleth creating de Rolos crest at the sky. It was amazing!!!!!!

-Scanlan... I like this guy, but at the same time I want to keep some distance from him. I mean, he would fuck everything... everyone? (Is he Pan or something?) - I like, sometimes, his songs. - Casting spells with music? I would definietly do that if I was him, and he is doing this. And how he can use him being annoying for his advance. Also he's the funniest person there. For me at least. And, is there a thing between him and Pike? Please, tell me there is. -Sometimes he reminds me about my friend, loves singing, is short and loves to... ya know.

-Last one is Percy. I love ths guy. I don't know too much about the others pasts, but I think his is the saddest one. Damn, he lost everything. He was tortured. -And then made this weird pact with demon? I don't blame him. And his sister betrayed him, and he lost his will to do anything. -Vex, take care of this man because he wi'll get killed without you. She's his voice of reason sometimes. -No Mercy Percy is hot. But this man Is fucked up. Totally. But when he fight's to not kill Cassandra, he deeply cares about her. And when the demon later takes control over him, but he finally resists. And his reaction when he hears about Briarwoods at the party. He's sad anime boi. -But, was he going to kill himself when his vangeance was done? I guess so.

-Percy and Archie friendship. When he risked everything to get his friend out of jail. -And Archie telling Percy he is not the last de Rolo- I was like- Wtf? So sad Archie later was killed. -Somehow it's hard for me to imagine Percy making pranks. Though when he talked about this I immediately thought about Fred and George Wesley. And Percy looked alive for a while. Without all this bad memories and vengeance.

-And Trinket. I mean the bear. Vex is totally his mommy. And he is her little boi. And that little moment in 2nd episode with the guards, it was soooo cute. I want more of this bear.

-"Darling, take the mask off"- made my day.

-Same about "You fool, now your soul is forfeit"

-The moment when the party changed their minds after seing destroyed village, and not being able to help the dying boy... it was so sad.

-Percy's smile is sooo cute.

-"and ther I thought you were practising your resting bitch face." "Excuse me. My bitch face?" (bla bla bla) "And for the record, I have magnificent bitch face." "You do, now?" "Yes I do. Lots of practice" I love this.

-He's the smart guy, but sometimes his an idiot.

-"DId you just Hiah me?!"- don't tell me guys you didn't laugh.

-Why did they let Vax go to Briarwoods room alone?!

-Grog saying Percy is a bit too small to be a leader.- How does the height counts?! -Just agree that Vex is the leader and Percy is second in command.

-Percy's reaction when Scanlan destroyed his pepperbox was hillarious. I had to play it again.

-So, in the second season we are having dragons again?

-Please, tell me Allura is going to survive this attack cause I love her.

-Who the fuck is Whispered one?!????!!!??

-Were the guards playing DnD in ep 7?

-Vox Machina is just one, quite big, family. Change my mind. With Vex as a Mom. -They care about each other. -And they are worried when something happens to one of them. -They all deserve this. After what they've been through.

-I started watching campaign 1 because of this show. Unfortunately I don't have much time for it. :(

[only-lonely-stars]

I was writing something fun and wanted to ask, are there any songs that remind you of ColexVania? For me, it’s Enchanted by Taylor Swift! ~ kordifm

Oops, I think I left this one sitting around for a few days! Sorry, Kordi! (I was traveling, it was busy, and now I have three papers due in the next week... yikes)

I have a lot of songs that remind me of Colania! Enchanted is a great one. Here are some more! 🥰

She Knows My Name (The Family Crest) = this one works better for one of my AUs, but I love the idea of Vania understanding him better than most

O, Sleeper (The Oh Hellos) = let's be real, they're the type of couple that cherish sleeping next to each other, it's their favorite part of the day

Love Story (Taylor's Version) (Taylor Swift) = she's a princess, he's a knight, her father is a villain... what more do I have to say?

Battle Cry (The Family Crest) = Cole would absolutely fight for her, and I will die on that hill; hence why I wrote an FTAU oneshot about this song

Crooked Road (The Fold) = they're a fairytale couple and it's comfortable to be in love for them

Ahhh, now I want to write a little bit for them... time to keep working on BED! Eventually I'll get another chapter of that up, btw. Don't know when; probably after I take my tests.

[phoebestarks]

niche asks for phoebe?

ooh yes!! sorry this is so late btw sgsnsg

a song that reminds me of them: i have a couple tbh sgshs white noise by pvris, amy by alexandre desplat (which is from the little women score and would probably be her theme throughout the music of the movie,) or the only exception by paramore!

what they smell like: sunscreen (she burns really easily even though nyc isn't really that sunny), a LOT of hair care products, a pear-scented bath and body works hand cream and metal/grease from tony's workshop!!

an otp: her and peter!!! they are my FOREVER babies agh

a notp: her and harry :/// they could've stayed friends but some shit happens and let's be real they will never be friends ever again.

favorite platonic/familial relationships: tony, her mom, and ned, mj, miles & gwen! (the teens are in a group there's not really an order of importance for them agshsgs)

a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: i can't really think of any tbh??

the position they sleep in: she sleeps in the fetal position! like super fetal this girl will never ever sleep in any other position so peter is like....prepared to just try and wrap his entire body around her agsnbshsgs

a crossover au i’d love to see them in: obviously ur oc kate bc yes but i also love the idea of a crossover w @megdonnellys 's kori & ruby!!!! (especially bc ruby is pepper's niece adhsgsh)

my favorite outfit they’ve ever worn: i am extremely partial to this fit!! (it's something i would totally wear too haha) the school that she goes to has a uniform but basically ur good to go if u include stuff with the school logo so the little vest-thing in the photo has the school crest/motif!

[benisasoftboi]

Unorganised thoughts on Silver Snow:

When I finished Golden Deer, I said that it had felt like a more traditional Fire Emblem story than Blue Lions. Silver Snow is that but even more so (though GD is still the most trad-FE cast, IMO)

Having already played those two routes, it felt very much like a whirlwind tour of them both, plus another battle thrown in at the end - a battle that probably should have been harder, but I (completely accidentally) built the bulkiest Byleth imaginable, especially resistance wise, plus high magic - and so, by pairing high defensive stats with Nosferatu, I tanked every attack that came my way 

Gaming, for me, is just doing whatever the hell I feel like, stumbling into good results, and then pretending that I did it on purpose

I spent the whole battle with the Dragon Tales theme song stuck in my head. Kind of killed the mood

I really enjoyed that after wrapping up both the Edelgard and TWSITD plots, they basically Persona 4 you by trying to convince you that the whole game’s done now and all that’s left is to chat with everyone - though unlike in P4, there’s very obviously something left to do because they give you a whole month of prep time, rather than just one day

I felt the same way about this on Golden Deer - none of the characters are appropriately shocked by Rhea’s highly questionable actions 

Also - she says she’s going to explain the whole truth! And she doesn’t! Only the Byleth creation stuff! The other revelations from Golden Deer are missing! Rhea! Why! Are! You! Like! This!

This is actually a problem I have with this game as a whole - they want to keep certain lore and secrets exclusive to certain routes, but it results in every story feeling in some way incomplete. Like, Fates gets a lot of crap, but at least you did get a full story from your half (third? never played Revelation) a game for the price of a whole one. Blue Lions gets the worst of it, I think 

Plus, when you know some of said secrets, it makes characters who refuse to share them in other routes seem weirdly (and sometimes, contrivedly) cagey about things they really do not need to be cagey about. See: Claude refusing to tell Dimitri and Byleth in Azure Moon that he wants to End Racism, and instead vagueing about ‘achieving his dream’. This is not Edelgard wanting to conquer Fodlan and dismantle the entire social structure, Claude, your ideals really are not so controversial that you need to be this coy. Dimitri and I are cool, we getcha 

My one sentence review of the whole game is basically: Great characters, great world building, great gameplay - but really, really frustrating plot structure

I’m also really upset that Seteth does not have a dragon form

Speaking of Seteth, I married him this time around. I mostly decided to do it for laughs, but while Byleth/Dedue is still my number one Byleth pairing, I came to really, genuinely like them together. Seteth is one of my favs, now more than ever

It helps that romancing Seteth feels a lot less... creepy than romancing most of the students. I like Linhardt, but romancing him felt very weird to me because I couldn’t get over Byleth having first known him as a 16 year old under their care. Dedue, for the record, doesn’t elicit this response  because he doesn’t really feel as much like a student to me? Role-wise he feels a lot closer to the knights, and it’s just that he's been enrolled as a student for convenience’s sake, which makes him and Byleth feel more equal than they do with most of the other kids. Helps that he’s also on the older end

Anyway, Seteth and Byleth would be the nerdiest couple ever, is the impression I got from their ending. The confession scene made me laugh in how ‘oh we’ve got a lot of work to do - btw wanna get married? - sweet, now let’s get back to work’ it was. Mark Whitten is a gem

It’s also the the first time I felt like the game was actually shipping me with a main lord (Seteth taking that role in the absence of the box lords on this route). Haven’t done Crimson Flower yet, so no opinion on the Edelgard/Byleth relationship yet, but regarding Claude and Dimitri my (pretty damn controversial, possibly a bad idea to put out there) opinions on them with Byleth are that

Claude and Byleth are platonic bros, regardless of Byleth’s gender. I just don’t get any feeling of romance from their relationship at all, and so pairing them off feels weird (to me, personally - I don’t hate the ship or anything, though)

Meanwhile Dimitri 100% had a crush on his teacher at school, but after more than five years of enduring trauma after trauma, and then half a year of beginning to heal (whilst fighting a war culminating in the execution of his step-sister), Dimitri is nowhere near ready for a romantic relationship. And when he is, I wouldn’t want him with any of the main cast, Dimitri x Village Girl OTP. I guess if it has to be anyone, I’d be okay with Mercedes, maybe Marianne - hell, maybe even Claude - but really, I just want him to get a fresh start. I think that’s the healthiest option for him, in the end

I do think it’s a pairing that could work in an AU where Dimitri doesn’t have any of the experiences he has in canon, though 

And again, this is just my personal reading

I’ll also admit that I may be influenced by the fact that his two most popular pairings are with Byleth and Dedue, who I greatly prefer with each other. Mostly because I love Dedue with all my soul and his ending with Byleth is by far his happiest, in my eyes at least. It’s the only one where he puts some distance between himself and Dimitri and evens out the power balance in their relationship, which makes me happy because oh boy, the Dimitri/Dedue relationship is super interesting and compelling, but also (again, by my reading) all kinds of unhealthy as it’s presented for most of the game - power balance issues like I say, the fact that they tend to indulge, even encourage, each other’s worst instincts and behaviours, mutual guilt complexes - like I say, it’s fascinating, but damn screwed up. IMO, they’re one of the best examples I’ve seen of how unhealthy relationships aren’t always the result of one bad person, and how two good people can end up being very bad for each other

Though it is, again, a pairing I can see working (and actually being incredibly cute) in an AU where they’ve lived less horrible lives

And it’s not like I don’t want them to be friends, I just want them to also develop healthier boundaries and equal levels of respect

oh my god none of this has anything to do with silver snow what am I doing

But hey, speaking of Dimitri - I flip flopped on whether I thought his death was handled better or worse here than Golden Deer. It was given, I felt, more appropriate gravitas, but again suffered from ‘Dimitri’s dead! No, Dimitri’s alive! Oh wait, now he’s dead again’ in like, three successive scenes. And then you see his... ghost? I guess?

Dimitri really seems to get the short end of the stick on routes outside his own. Claude’s non-Deer roles were, in both cases I’ve played, much stronger and more fitting, and Edelgard is Edelgard

Maybe he’ll be good in Crimson Flower. Please. I miss Dimitri mattering. He’s probably my favourite of the three

There’s a point - obviously I don’t fully know Edelgard yet, but from what I got from the White Clouds section, above anything else she strikes me as an incredibly realistic depiction of a slightly edgy, extremely idealistic, but also highly naive and short-sighted teenager

Her whole goal, it seems, is meritocracy. She hates the crest system and the nobility, and she wants to create a system of equal opportunity. I can get behind that, but I really hope she’s prepared to accept the fact that true equal opportunity is basically impossible without recreating The Giver, as inequality is always more complex than one single factor being to blame for everything. Has Edelgard considered other limitations that make true meritocracy difficult to achieve? Has she been working on, say, a comprehensive benefits system? Or is she more of a libertarian type, and so primarily all about negative freedom and removing direct oppression? I hope Crimson Flower goes into detail on this, I’d be genuinely interested to know

I also find it interesting that she gets very angry about the fact that people hurt her and her family as a means to their own ends, so she decides that her own ends are to eliminate the system that lead to that happening - and she doesn’t care who she has to hurt in the process

This isn’t a CinemaSins *ding* plot hole observation, I genuinely think it’s interesting, and not actually that unrealistic

I also suppose her goal is no less naive than End All Racism By Being Nice To People, but Claude isn’t killing and persecuting people in attempt to achieve that, so it invites less scrutiny

I do wonder if I would have felt more strongly positively about her if she’d been my first playthrough. I do believe she’s a person that sincerely means well, and she’s certainly sympathetic, but - hmm. I’ll make my mind up when I finish CF

Anyway, paired endings. A few that I got include Raphael and Bernadetta (by far my favourite Bernie ending so far, seriously, what is that Caspar ending), Shamir and Leonie, which was cute and goofy (as Leonie’s endings tend to be, I notice, I do like that girl), Felix and Dorothea (not my favourite for either, but cute), Sylvain and Mercedes (the same but even cuter), Cyril and Petra (which felt wrong, partly because I love Cysithea a hell of a lot, and also because despite knowing there’s only about a year between them, Petra looks so much older pre-time skip), Ferdie and Marianne (super wholesome and sweet), and Linhardt and Caspar (my boyyyyssss that I refuse to ever separate again)

Not sure what I’m going to aim for on CF aside from keeping those boys together and also Ferdie/Hubert, as I’ve Heard Things

Flayn and Manuela have an A support so I figured they had a paired ending and it turns out they do not, which means Manuela was alone forever and Flayn ran away because apparently she hated having Byleth for a step mother I guess, rude

My Byleth (Myleth?) was prepared to be the best step mother in the history of the world, so offended

I realised ‘Javelins of Light’ is one of my absolute favourite tracks in the whole game. Mostly because it sounds like something out of Danganronpa, which made me nostalgic

I also like ‘Guardian of Starlight’ for somehow managing to sound like a Danganronpa/PMD: Explorers crossover track

I love how out of nowhere the Immaculate One fight is. It really does just feel like they needed something to distinguish the route from Verdant Wind outside of Claude not being around, so they just had a map that was less cool in every way except for the dragon

Is there an explanation for why Nemesis doesn’t show up on this route?

Also - I didn’t mention this in Golden Deer thoughts but I also found that final battle way, way easier than it was probably meant to be because I’d made everyone into a flier and so the floor damage hazard was meaningless

Which I totally did on purpose and not so I could make a stupid joke post about my all-wyvern team 

Anyway, in conclusion, Silver Snow was a good route, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would (I’d kind of thought it was just going to be GD without Claude, which isn’t... totally wrong, but it’s got some other stuff going on too), I liked Seteth getting to have a bigger role, I thought it had the best final boss (if not the best final boss map), and I liked that I got some more Dragon Lore (never a bad thing)

please don’t yell at me for my controversial shipping opinions