#sure they are two annoying opportunists but even they deserve better

[larphis]

I started watching Succession yesterday, am now 4 episodes in and MY GOD this statement feels truer than ever now

I’m pretty sure at least half of my preferred tv shows would have ended sooner and better for everyone if someone just dragged the main characters/‘s ass/es to a proper therapist as soon as they showed their first wave of red flags.

[chaoticgoodthief]

Voices and Video Games

Contrarian should play a game where you can annoy people. Untitled Goose Game, The Stanley Parable, Portal, all that good stuff. I think ones that allow the people to annoy you right back would be the funniest, through. Because he's never actually been in the position of being the one annoyed, and I don't even know how he would react. No matter if ge takes it really well or really horribly, there'd still be a brief whiplash moment and I'd pay to see his face during that mental bluescreen. (I also want to see his reaction over the Real Person ending in STP Ultra Deluxw, because Pain.)

Broken... I don't think he's in a mental state where "having fun" comes easily. But Contrarian taught him how to win the fighting games and it seems to make him slightly less miserable.

Smitten would probably thrive through trashy romance VNs. Sure, he would declare that his true affections lie with the princess, but that won't stop him from wooing each cardboard cutout love interest that digitally smiles at him. But do you know what would be really funny? Giving him a BL. A love interest rivals to lovers and watch him obssess over his "rival", see how quickly genuine intrest in the girl turns into one-uping the other guy. Or give him DDLC if you prefer your chaos with a side of pain. Tehehe...

Cheated deserves a two-player or multiplayer game. Actually winning against his opponents would be good for him. And even when he loses, he still has a chance of winning the next round. And I'll be nice to him and just leave it at that. He deserves nice things.

As I saw in another post (so sorry I didn't save it so I can't credit you but if you see this thank you for sparking this idea), Cold would probably ... can't say enjoy but ... he would be provided enrichment in his enclosure woth Undertale. I completely agree with you, he would deeply relate to Flowey as a character. But I have another thing I want to bring up. The genocide route. A route that Cold would definately at least attempt to see what happens. Would Papyrus's speech affect him? If not stop him, at least make him hesitate? And would he kill Flowey without hesitation? I'm curious. I am so unbelievable curious.

Paranoid should be given the most relaxing games possible. His blood pressure is high enough without the additional stress. Cute farming games, petting puppies, styling hair, just give this poor guy a break. He deserves it.

Stubborn would probably prefer real fighting to the online stuff, but still go to fighting games if there's no way to beat up real people. He would also absolutely suck at them at first, which would be pretty funny to watch. Even funnier if someone managed to teach Broken how to play the game beforehand (wink). I would pay to see Stubborn's face if that happened. He would probably mope for days. He would also probably like the trashy romance games too, but only if they have someone who could beat him up. Managed to start an arguement with Smitten about the better love intrest that quickly decends into a month of warfare between the two.

I... can't really think of anything for Hunted. Even if there was a game the suited him, I'm not sure he would even play it. He would probably be super helpful if there's some kind of trivia game about wildness survival.

Skeptic would love any detective/mystery games. But he either would be brilliant at them or completely hopeless, with absolutely no in between. Multiplayer deduction games with the other voices would be just as fun to watch, the sheer chaos of them being forced into potentially unfamiliar roles. Now I want to write a whole story about the voices playing mafia so badly...

Hero honestly deserves a break from moral dilemas and all the stuff the Narrator forced on his shoulders. Cut and dry good fights evil or no-stakes games. Just let the guy rest. He's dealy with enough world-ending side choosing for one lifetime.

Opportunist would probably lie about his favourite to anyone who asks, but enjoy games where you play as the villian or generally do immoral things and actually get rewarded by the game. I just think those games really cater to his world view. But what would be really interesting is one of the games were you are forced to realise that you are the villian, that what you are doing is wrong. Just for the funzies.

Phew, I really am deeply sucked into this fandom. Don't think I've ever written so many posts about the same thing before. I should do this more often with my other fandoms...

[dwaynepride]

how ncis characters act when they’re jealous:

characters: leroy jethro gibbs, dwayne pride, tony dinozzo, chris lasalle, tim mcgee, tammy gregorio, nick torres, sebastian lund

a/n: might make a part two with more characters if i get the inspo

leroy jethro gibbs: he wouldn’t realize it was jealousy until somebody points it out. he’s usually wearing this stern look with hard eyes so jethro’s jealousy takes the form of not talking at all. and lots of staring. he would internalize his behavior as being concerned for you, or something not feeling right deep in his gut. and the guy who’s taking up so much of your attention will forever be an annoyance to gibbs.

jethro doesn’t interfere, though. not unless he feels like he has to - until then, gibbs will likely just sulk in the corner until you were free. but you can really start to feel his jealousy once you’re at his side again and he’s barely saying two words to you and still glaring at the annoying bastard. if you ask him what’s wrong, he’ll say it’s nothing. and later, when you both are alone, that’s when he reflects and feels like a stupid ass for acting the way he did.

dwayne pride: honestly, he gets a Kicked Puppy Vibe whenever he’s feeling jealousy. dwayne is a very sensitive person and he feels the loss of your presence like the sunshine hiding behind a cloud. he’ll try to ignore that twisted up feeling in his stomach and go on to enjoy the night, but dwayne always finds you in the crowd. always huffs a little when he sees you with someone else. always reins himself in from stealing your attention away.

later on, his affection is amped up to the max. dwayne will absolutely shine under your attention, and he’ll honestly get a bit clingy for the rest of the night. of course, he knows himself well enough to know what he’s doing. he feels a little embarrassed by it. so maybe some of the kisses he gives you is his secret way of apologizing.

tony dinozzo: he doesn’t get jealous. not at all. why should tony care if this loser keeps making you laugh so fucking hard at jokes that aren’t even funny? he only steps in because this other guy is so wildly unfunny that tony is afraid you might just die of boredom, and as you know so well, tony is a pretty heroic guy. it’s his job to take you far, far away from the asshole who was starting to stand just a little too close.

tony couldn’t hide his jealousy to save his own life. he likes to believe he’s suave and cunning and doesn’t let things get to him. and maybe that’s true for most things. but just as soon as he gets you alone, tony has this primal need to pull you in close and remind you what’s what. he doesn’t like to think of it as proving himself, but the marks on your neck prove differently…

chris lasalle: very little truly gets under christopher’s skin, and jealousy isn’t one of them. sure, he likes your attention, but chris is also very secure in the relationship. it’s kinda hard to feel threatened when he’s the one who lead you into the party, arm over your shoulders, showing you off and giving lots of kisses and doesn’t really give a fuck who sees. he might even revel in the fact that onlookers start to feel a little jealous of him.

if there’s any jealousy to be had, it’s toward your glass because your hands and mouth are all over it, instead of him. it’s toward the music itself for making you move so fluidly and sexy. it’s toward the liquor for putting that big grin on your face when chris should be doing that himself. he does later, rest assured. makes dumb jokes when his hands are all over your body, and he has nothing left to be jealous over.

tim mcgee: if jealousy could be adorable, it would be on tim. he’s prone to self-consciousness and self-doubt, and that would all come out whenever his position with you feels threatened. he loves and trusts you explicitly - it’s just his own dumb head making up crazy thoughts that you’ll find somebody better than him and tim works himself into a frenzy and he ends up embarrassing himself in front of you in some way or another.

at home, tim just apologizes. stutters his excuses with pink cheeks and shaky fingers. it won’t be until a while into the relationship when he’s more confident and self-assured. but until then, sometimes you just gotta wrap your arms around him and hold him tight and let him figure out for himself that you really do love him - even when you can hear abby reassuring him from across the room.

tammy gregorio: when she’s feeling jealous, it’s going to be loud and it’s going to be obvious. tammy will deny it, of course. insist she isn’t the jealous type and that she’s got more self-respect than that. but she’s not the only eagle-eyed person on the team - you can always see her watching you from across the room if somebody’s getting a little too friendly. she’ll tell you over and over she doesn’t feel threatened, but it’s always proven wrong when tammy always subtly puts herself between you and some slimy asshole.

even if you call her out on it later, she wouldn’t really care. in fact, tammy will probably turn it around on you, somehow - ask why you were paying so much attention to how she reacted. did you want her to get jealous? do you think it’s hot when tammy intervenes and puts on her Scary Agent Face? you’ll say no, of course. but she’s a profiler.

nick torres: this man is an opportunist. that’s how he lived as an undercover agent, and that bleeds into his normal life. nick will take the hot, twisted jealousy he’s feeling and turn it into something he can really enjoy. this means coming up to you, grinning at the guy who’s been chatting you up, and really laying it on thick. kissing you, touching you, making sly little comments. nick is also really good at insulting people without actually saying anything rude (which he does.)

nick will act all innocent at home when you confront him. he’ll tell you that he just likes showing his girl off because you’re too fucking cute. but that act doesn’t hold up for very long, and nick just kinda ends up insulting the guy some more by saying he was an idiot and didn’t deserve you and he kinda smelled anyway so why would you ever give him the time of day?

sebastian lund: a man who’s in touch with his feelings knows when he’s feeling jealous, and it just makes sebastian feel guilty. he trusts you more than he trusts anybody else, and he knows you wouldn’t do anything - still, sebastian just gets this unfamiliar tightness in this stomach when he hears you laugh across the room and it wasn’t him you were laughing at. he’ll push it down and try to act nonchalant and like he doesn’t notice you. it doesn’t work. everybody on the team picks up on it and they just look sympathetic.

sebastian would get talkative at home. he can usually talk a lot on normal occasions, but now, he just feels like he wants to have your attention and rambling is the best way for him to do that. sebastian probably won’t even stop talking until you two lay in bed, and his words are stunted by a soft kiss. he’ll eventually feel better - at least until the next day when he’s teased about it.

[dessarious]

How to Not Get a Date Pt14

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“You did what!?” Chloe’s voice was insanely loud and shrill and she absolutely did not care. Her mother was frowning at her in annoyance but Bruce Wayne, who was joining them on video chat at least looked sympathetic. Damian was scowling at his father and looked ready to do murder but Marinette was completely out of it. She was sitting between her and Damian staring straight ahead at nothing. God this was a disaster.

“You said you and Marinette didn’t want to go public yet and you know how the press is. This was the least bad option.” She reminded herself that she loved her mother; that their relationship was getting better and she didn’t want to ruin it, and decided at that moment she didn’t care.

“And it didn’t occur to either of you to talk to us about it? You know the people this shit show actually affects?” Bruce at least had the courtesy to look embarrassed. Her mother just rolled her eyes.

“This is a problem for adults to handle Chloe. None of you have the experience to deal with this properly.”

“You don’t even know what actually happened or the context behind that garbage. You just did the exact same thing as the tabloids and made up a story. A story that’s bound to hurt Mari no matter what happens next.” And that is what pissed her off more than anything else. The rich people had made the decision without thinking through the hell Marinette was about to go through because she wasn’t one of them. “It’s like you’re trying to help Rossi ruin her life. Did you at least talk to her parents about this bullshit? You know since it’s almost certainly going to affect their business and livelihood?” Bruce just blinked in confusion so he apparently had no idea but Audrey finally seemed to realize there might be an error.

“I’ll talk to them. It’ll likely blow over in a few days.”

“No, if you had told the truth and said we were friends hanging out and some opportunist decided to sell pictures to the press, that would have blown over in a few days. In twenty four hours the entire world is going to be calling Mari a gold digger or worse. If they ‘break up’ it’ll just solidify the fact in everyone’s mind and will completely trash her reputation. Why wouldn’t you just say Damian and I were dating? The kids of two wealthy families, now that would have blown over in a few days.” Both of the adults finally had the appropriate amount of horror on their faces. “I’m going to destroy Cesaire for handing those pictures to the press.”

“Cesaire? As in our chef?”

“As in her daughter who goes to school with us. She’s the only one who would have been stupid enough to actually do it after Damian threatened legal action.”

“The pictures came from Markov, but you’re probably right about Alya actually being the one to leak them.” It was the first thing Mari had said since Audrey had shown them the tabloids.

“What makes you so sure?” Chloe softened her tone since Mari still seemed to be in some sort of dissociative state.

“Look at the angle. It’s too high for anyone else.” Even nearly comatose she was more observant than the rest of them, it was a bit scary.

“Maybe we can use that, get Max to say who he gave the pictures to so he doesn’t get sued when they’re traced back to him. Not a great plan, but it could work.” She had to fix this. Mari didn’t deserve this garbage and it was all her fault.

“I have an idea to keep Mlle. Dupain-Cheng’s reputation intact. It would require my and Mlle. Bourgeois' to take a hit instead but she’s right about us being able to rebound far easier.” Chloe could only blink at Damian in shock. She really hadn’t expected him to care about what would happen to Mari given how annoyed he was by being inconvenienced by the situation in the first place.

“It’s fine. I’m used to people thinking the worst of me at this point. I’ll just have to find a way to distance myself from my parents so their business doesn’t suffer.” Mari still didn’t seem to be registering much and Chloe could tell her brain was going at Ladybug speed to try and come up with solutions. Unfortunately she still didn’t know enough about this particular problem to come up with a viable one.

“What’s your plan Wayne?” It had to be better than what their parents had come up with.

“I’ll take Dupain-Cheng on a few ‘dates’ publicly to solidify this nonsense then the three of us will start going out together constantly. After a month or two I will publicly dump her for you. No one will think twice about Bruce Wayne’s son following in his footsteps. It will paint Dupain-Cheng as the injured party and if you and I make a showing out of it once we’re ‘together’ it could even help her in the future.”

“That’s brilliant.”

“What? No, I can’t let you do that for me.” Mari finally came out of her stupor to look between them with concern. Of course that’s what would do it.

“No he’s right. That actually might work.” Bruce’s voice seemed to startle her but Chloe wasn’t certain if it was because she forgot he was there or shocked that he was agreeing to let Damian do this.

“It could cause issues for you two if you ever want to take your relationship public but we could stage a similar breakup and say you two bonded over it I suppose.” Well her mother was on board with it. Mari looked like her head was going to explode.

“Okay so you want me to pretend to date Damian and then have Chloe pretend to date Damian in order to make people think he wasn’t dating someone else in the first place?” Yeah, it definitely sounded stupid when she put it like that.

“Yes, and in the meantime we’ll investigate and start legal proceedings against the ones that were involved in getting the photos and story out in the first place.” Bruce’s no nonsense just seemed to confuse her more.

“But-”

“No buts, this is a good plan. Why don’t you three run along and we’ll figure out the details.” Chloe had to fight not to roll her eyes at her mother. Damian just came up with a solution to the problem they created and now they were going to kick them out so they could screw it up again. Wonderful.

“Only if you actually talk to us before you finalize anything. Mari is already uncomfortable enough with this plan, I’m not letting you push her into some extravagant date that she’s not comfortable with.” Audrey just waved her off but Bruce gave her a nod. It was the best she could hope for.

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Ko-Fi

Tag List

@peachedpocky @ladybug-182 @moonlightstar64 @smolplantmum

[ikkaku-of-heart]

Her Brother's Blood is on His Hands

(Originally written for @heart-pirates-week for Ikkaku’s day with the prompt “Family” but ended up being delayed until now. Inspired by discussions with @shambledsurgeon and @medicus-mortem)

Ikkaku awoke slowly, the persistent beeping of a heart monitor resembling that of a particularly slow but annoying alarm clock. She tried to sit up but a sharp pain in her side dissuaded her, so she was forced to remain on her back, looking around at the sterile walls of the infirmary. She was hooked up to an IV, there were several machines monitoring her vitals, and she could feel the pressure of tightly-wound bandages around her torso and arms.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Law said from the chair at her bedside, putting down the medical book he’d been reading. The circles under his eyes appeared darker than usual, but his grin was comforting and sure. “I was beginning to wonder if we’d have to resort to drastic measures to wake Sleeping Beauty.”

“Law?” she asked weakly, grimacing at how hoarse she sounded due to the dryness of her throat. “The fuck happened?”

“Gonna have to be more specific,” he stated as he carefully helped prop her up enough that she could safely drink some water. “Do you mean how did you end up here? Maybe the extent of your wounds? Or how about what, exactly, I did to the fucker who hurt you?”

Her eyes widened as she recalled what had happened. She’d been taking a walk with Jean Bart, venting about how much she hated that they were now government dogs because Law’d insisted on handing the Navy one hundred hearts. They’d run into a squad of Marines. Her brother’s squad, to be exact. Ushi had decided it was pointless trying to climb the Navy ranks the normal way, and thus had come up with the idea of sucking up to the Celestial Dragons. And what better way to do so than to return to Saint Rosward his wayward slave?

Heart clenching at the thought of her shipmate being handed back over to those bastards, she asked, “Is Jean—”

“He’s fine. Discharged yesterday,” Law promised, nodding towards the empty bed on the other side of the room. He picked up a chart, studying it as he continued, “Needed a lot of stitches for the lacerations across his back and arms, but nothing life-threatening.”

“Good,” she sighed in relief. He hadn’t been killed or taken. Jean Bart would continue to live as a free man for a while longer. He deserved that much.

“Was quite the sight, seeing him charging towards the ship, covered in blood, carrying you like a baby while you bled out from a stab wound,” he commented, voice even, though there was an unmistakable tightness in his jaw. “I’m just glad he managed to tell me who’d done this to you two before he passed out.”

White teeth sank into her bottom lip, guilt pulsing through her. That’s right. It hadn’t exactly been a victory. They’d managed to take down most of the Marines, but Ushi had managed to get behind her, and then there’d been excruciating pain as he’d driven a knife deep into her side…

“I’m sorry, Captain,” she whispered, black curls hiding her face as she hung her head in shame.

“The hell are you apologizing for?” he asked, gold eyes flicking up from the clipboard and narrowing in displeasure.

She wrung her hands, anxious and guilty. “Jean Bart got hurt because of my family baggage.”

“He got hurt because of an opportunistic asshole who decided that Jean being under the protection of a shichibukai didn’t matter,” he snapped. Pausing, he took a deep breath to compose himself. “The fact that said asshole came out of the same uterus as you is irrelevant.”

“We both know that’s not true,” she countered, refusing to look at him. “He targeted the Hearts because of me. He always has. And he wouldn’t have been able to go after Jean Bart if I’d let you kill him years ago. Or killed him myself. You deserve a subordinate with the stones to kill her own brother.”

Internally, she berated herself for that last part. None of this would be a problem if she’d just toughened up and put an end to that bastard. Why did she always seem to stop herself? Morality? Because she knew how heartbroken her parents would be? Because even years later, she was still scared of her childhood boogeyman?

Her thoughts were disturbed by the clipboard lightly smacking her on the head in reproach. It didn’t hurt, but Ikkaku rubbed her head anyway, frowning up at her captain. “You trying to knock me unconscious again?”

“If that’s what it takes to get you to stop talking bullshit,” he retorted. He glared at her for a moment before letting out a sigh, a tattooed hand falling heavily on her shoulder. “Ikkaku,” Law stated, tone brokering no argument, “what I deserve is a subordinate with the stones to stand up to a power-hungry bastard looking to sell her nakama to a bunch of delusional inbred freaks, which that’s exactly what I’ve got. And what you deserve is to not get stabbed in the spleen by your own blood.”

Well. It was hard to argue that logic. “I guess. But next time—”

“There won’t be a next time.”

“You don’t know that.”

The hand on her shoulder fell away to flip through the pages of her chart. “Ikkaku, you nearly bled out before you even got to the sub. You’re lucky Shachi and Penguin share your blood type and were basically tripping over themselves to donate. I had to replace your spleen and left kidney, and if that knife had gone in at a slightly different angle, he could have punctured your stomach or lung. In other words, this bastard nearly cost me my engineer. You’ve known me for goin’ on five years now; do you really think that once you were stable I just sat around twiddling my thumbs while I waited for you to wake up?”

Dark eyes widened in realization. “Did you kill him?”

“Would you be mad if I said I had?”

No. Not at him at least, but she still felt like she’d let him down by not being able to do it herself. “He shouldn’t have been your problem to solve.”

“You’re right. He shouldn’t have been a problem,” he replied harshly. Before Ikkaku could internally berate herself further, though, Law ran a hand through his hair in frustration, and there was a spark of guilt in his eyes. “No Marine should have even touched you guys. That’s supposed to be one of the fucking perks of being a shichibukai. I told you when I took this damn title that you be safe and look how that turned out.”

Yes, that had been a major argument between them, hadn’t it? For Ikkaku, not wanting to be affiliated with the World Government hadn’t just been a matter of pride or general hatred for the bastards who ran the world – she’d been afraid. Terrified that her brother would be waiting for her around every corner. That he’d find a way to get her alone, to finish the job he’d started when she was seven, to finally get her out of his hair. Law had promised she’d be safe, that he wouldn’t let him so much as breath near her. Eventually, she’d come to believe him, but things hadn’t gone to plan.

“You can’t blame yourself for Ushi not following the rules, Law,” she insisted. Yeah, she could have berated him for not listening to her, but in reality, Law’s logic had been sound; Ushi shouldn’t have dared to try anything. Ikkaku didn’t just have the Hearts protecting her anymore – the Navy itself had become another obstacle in his way. She should have been safe.

However, even she hadn’t fully considered why Ushi would go this far, but in hindsight, it made sense. Last she’d checked, he hadn’t been promoted in a while. Hadn’t advanced as quickly as he wanted or earned any accolades for heroism like everyone back home had been expecting. He was a commodore still – not even a rear-admiral, and his name didn’t strike fear into the hearts of pirates like Smoker’s did.

Because he’d been put on a pedestal, her brother had always gotten away with everything, which had only enforced his cruel and abusive nature. The whole island had believed that he’d become a famous Marine and boost their reputation, which was why they’d been willing to overlook the bruises that littered his sister’s arms, or the fact that she’d gone missing for three days while under his care.

If he’d come home a failure, everyone would have to finally admit he was nothing but a twisted, cruel bully. And instead of accepting the blame for enabling, they’d likely make him answer for his crimes.

But more than that, he’d be forced to accept that he was never that special to begin with, and she knew a man as arrogant as him wouldn’t be able to bear that.

Shaking her head, she almost felt pity for him. “Ushi was desperate, and desperate men are unpredictable as fuck. You couldn’t have known he’d be crazy enough to try to suck up to the Celestial Dragons.”

“Neither of us could have known, but I still could have protected you better,” Law retorted, crossing his arms. He still didn’t look fully convinced of his own absolution, but he declared quite plainly, “The fact is, brothers shouldn’t murder their younger siblings, or even try to.”

Well, not even Ikkaku could argue that.

But actions had consequences, and there was still a strong chance Law’s retaliation, justified or not, would bite him in the ass.

“Ushi might have been no one special, but the Navy’s not going to be happy about you killing one of their own,” she said, genuinely worried. Even if Ushi had been going against orders, shichibukai weren’t supposed to attack their Marine allies. What if they decided to strip Law of his new title? Sure, she hated that he was a government dog, but it was a vital part of his plan to take down Joker, and if that had been stripped away because he’d recklessly pursued revenge on her behalf…

The way he smirked at her belied that he didn’t share even a fraction of her concern. “The Navy’ll have a hell of a time pinning a murder on me when there’s no evidence. It’s unlikely he was ordered to attack you and Jean Bart, so there’s no paper trail. The man was obsessed with advancing up the ladder, so likely only a select few are even aware you’re related, thus no one knows of his unfortunate connection to the Heart Pirates. And unless they plan on gutting a bunch of Sea Kings and piecing together chunks of half-digested flesh, I doubt they’ll find enough of his body to even determine his cause of death.”

“You fed him to Sea Kings?”

“His remains, at least. As for how I killed him…well, I won’t bore you with the details.”

It was highly doubtful what he’d done could be described as boring, but Ikkaku decided not to press him. Knowing Law, it had been slow, painful, and had probably involved dissection. “You didn’t have to do all that for me, Captain.”

He dismissed her concerns with a casual wave of his hand. “Of course I did. You’re family. Besides, if I hadn’t, the rest of the crew would have gone after him themselves, and they wouldn’t have done as good a job covering their tracks. Or made him scream quite as loud. No offense to them, but conventional torture methods just can’t match the agony of having your heart slowly crushed to a pulp.”

Was she a bad person for not feeling sick at the thought of her oldest brother—her own blood—being subjected to the Surgeon of Death’s sadism? That instead of anger or disgust, she felt relieved? Sure, he was a massive piece of shit who deserved to die for everything he’d done to her, her other brothers, and who knows what else, but he was still family, wasn’t he?

No. The Hearts were family. Law was family. He was right – Ushi was blood, but he wasn’t her brother.

Law’s brow furrowed with concern and he reached forward, cupping her cheeks and wiping tears away with his thumbs. Ikkaku hadn’t even realized she was crying.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he said, looking genuinely guilty. “I shouldn’t have overstepped like that. I should have at least waited until you were awake and asked—”

Though she was tired and weak and it took far more effort than she’d like, Ikkaku lifted her arm and flicked Law squarely in the forehead. He didn’t quite flinch back, but he did give her an annoyed grunt, but his brow did smooth out when he saw her bright smile.

“Thank you,” she said, cheeks streaked with tears but voice warm with love and affection and gratitude. It might take a while for her to fully accept that Ushi was no longer laying in wait at every Marine base, but for now, she could breath a little easier. The monster from her childhood had finally been vanquished.

Trafalgar Law might not have been a knight in shining armor, but he was something better. He was the big brother she’d always wished for.

Relieved that she wasn’t angry, Law gave her a tiny but sincere grin back. His engineer was alive, safe, and giving him that sunny smile that could light up a room. Well worth the blood on his hands, and quietly, he vowed to keep her, and the rest of his Hearts, safe from whatever hell might come their way.

They were a loyal bunch of fools, but they were his family. He’d set the world on fire before allowing anything to happen to them.

A hand adorned with the word DEATH retreated from Ikkaku’s cheek to ruffle her hair. “Don’t mention it.”

[charliejrogers]

Gone With the Wind (Or, Why are we still talking about this?)

Beyond the second Godfather, Titanic, Avengers: Endgame, The Irishman, and Tarantino at his most indulgent (The Hateful 8) my experience with films over the 180-min mark is rather paltry. I haven’t seen many of those epic “classics” of days past, not because of disinterest, just lack of time. I’ll get to you yet, Doctor Zhivago! But that’s not the case for Gone With the Wind: I just never had any interest. Though I love Titanic, I never had interest in watching a four-hour love story from the 1930s. And for all it’s praise, I never knew anyone who had seen it, nor did I hear a lot of praise about it on online forums/websites. Perhaps because the internet tends to dominated by male voices who would rather tout gangster films than the passionate drama I was led to believe this film was. In sum, I just sort of took it for granted that Gone With the Wind was some all-time classic, but one which I would just never get around to seeing, and I was ok with that.

That changed in 2018, when Spike Lee used a scene from the film to start his own movie BlacKkKlansmen. Before this, I had never known there was ever any controversy surrounding a move that was supposedly as good if not better than Casablanca. Lee used the scene from Gone With the Wind (in addition to a scene from The Birth of a Nation) to criticize the way Hollywood has long served as a bastion for white supremacy, giving voice and platform to hateful speech and thoughts. In the case of Gone With the Wind, that means a work which embodies those hateful thoughts, and yet has been celebrated and praised despite doing so ad nauseum for 80+ years. At that point, I lost even more interest in the film, now not wanting to watch a racist movie.

Fast-forward to 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s murder (among many other Black people killed by police recently and throughout American history) when HBO is under severe controversy for first putting Gone With the Wind on its streaming service, and then subsequently under more controversy for taking it down. A debate took place about censorship, free speech, and the other bullshit conservatives use to sustain their own beliefs while hypocritically arguing against when things don’t go their way. Regardless, for myself, in order to enter into the debate informed I felt like I wanted to know what the hubbub was all about. Frankly, I was curious to see why a movie that was so obviously racist was so adored.

Three hours and forty-five minutes later, I’m not really that sure. On the one hand, putting myself in the shoes of an audience member in 1939, the first half would have blown me away, with the drama taking place in Georgia at the very start of the Civil War up through its grand destruction under General Sherman. The colors and cinematography capturing the landscape of Georgia are just downright beautiful , unlike anything that had been in films prior. Yes, it’s not the first movie to be shot in color (nor was the Wizard of Oz which came out just 4 months prior), but I can’t imagine films before this were as devastatingly beautiful. Everything from the colors of the women’s dresses to the multiple picture-perfect sunsets pops out and catches your eye, and not in the fairytale, bubblegum way of Wizard of Oz. Gone With the Wind captures the natural beauty and colors of our world, and put it on display in a grand way. The cinematography really deserves every praise it gets.

The recurrent motif of characters’ shadows being casted onto the wall behind them during key emotional scenes was one I never tired of. Not only are the shadows beautifully captured by the camera, but, especially in a movie where every character seems to have a secret passion they refuse to express, the shadows strip away all our external beauties (make-up, facial features, dresses, and all the stuff this film has in spades), leaving us with figures that are still obviously human and whose feelings are immediately understood. All that is needed to convey grief is to see two shadows with the heads hung low.

The other positives of this film? Clark Gable is a handsome fucking man. He walks the fine line of confidence and smug so well that few others than, say, Brad Pitt could have ever performed the role of Rhett Butler so well. I particularly loved how he portrayed his relationship with his daughter, and the genuine love he showers upon her. Yes, he obviously spoils the child, but he’s so charming and so sincere that rarely have I seen such devoting love from father to daughter on screen, even 80 years later. As one character says, “there must be a great deal of good in a man who would love a child so much.”

But Rhett’s also kind of a despicable human being. He’s a brutish MAN, who loves his daughter because she is someone he can finally “completely own,” (an interesting choice of words said by a Southerner just after the Civil War) which is indicative of his philosophy towards love. Yes, love should be reciprocal, but his idea that his wife should exist in strict subservient, obedient love to him is ridiculous, yet he pursues it like it’s his right. He is otherwise prone to petty jealousy and drunkenness, and he is emotionally abuse toward his wife, Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh). It’s uncomfortable today to watch these scenes of abuse, like where he threatens to crush her skull to get the thoughts of another man out of her head, or where, after O’Hara makes abundantly clear that she never wants sex with Butler again, he in a drunken fit picks her up in order to carry her to bed, saying essentially “I know you said you didn’t want to but I’m going to fuck you.” After such deplorable behavior in a movie today, there would at least be ambiguity about Butler’s character or morality. Nope, not here. We see O’Hara the next morning essentially elated by the burst of passion that just a few hours earlier she was dreading and resisting. Throughout everything, Butler is held up as one of the film’s main heroes, growing from the film’s start as a noble rapscallion who values money too much and gradually evolves into a war hero who earns his people’s respect by protecting his people (and we’ll for argument’s sake just ignore that “protecting his people” means protecting men accused of doling out vigilante, lynch-mob justice which we can only assume implies the KKK). In sum, he’s a complex and charismatic character played wonderfully by Gable, but a character nevertheless that is problematic and would have been better served by a film as willing to highlight these problems as they are willing to highlight them in the film’s protagonist Scarlett O’Hara.

Yes, I’m a thousand words in, and I haven’t even started talking about the actual main character. The movie, for as much as it is discussed as being a love story between O’Hara and Butler or an ode to the Old South, is more a coming-of-age tale (in its first half) and a character study (in its second) focused on O’Hara. She starts the film out a vain, self-indulgent belle of the ball, but faced with the horrors of war and subsequent poverty, she becomes an embodiment of the rotten side of the American Dream: greedy, self-indulgent, and out-of-touch with the world she came from. I suppose that at the end of the film, abandoned by her husband, having lost both of her children, as well as her best friend, O’Hara’s revelation that she should return home to her family’s plantation is supposed to be suggest that she will seek redemption and give up her excesses. That’s fine with me, but I’m not sure the film deserves to just end it there and not allow us to see if she actually earns that redemption. I’m not saying I want MORE Gone With the Wind, just that the story feels incomplete in telling O’Hara’s full story arc.

Still, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy watching O’Hara’s tale unfold. It is always somewhat refreshing to watch film from decades’ past that refuse to present stories that are morally simple (not that I think people in the 30’s were incapable of complex morality, just that movies at the time tend to reflect more simple black-and-white values). To that extent, O’Hara is not a simple character, and is actually quite fascinating. She’s a ruthless capitalist and opportunist, much in the vain of her male counterpart, Butler. I’m curious to know how, for a country just starting to crawl its way out of the Depression and which in just a few short years would see the rise of Rosie the Riveter women, how O’Hara’s devotion to never be in poverty ever again (even if she has to “lie, steal, cheat, or kill”!) was perceived by audiences. Specifically, released at a time when gender norms were all but fixed, I wonder how men thought of her taking advantage of, and almost weaponizing, her femininity for her advantage, marrying three times not out of love but to better herself and survive. Yet, hypocritically she clings to the ideals of femininity of the past. Her use of her femininity to survive she accepts, yet she abhors the film’s stereotypical heart-of-gold prostitute for her moral licentiousness despite her good nature.

Throughout the film, especially in the later half, it was unclear to me how much we as the audience were supposed to like or dislike O’Hara. Yes, she’s hard-working, resilient, and acts heroically multiple times in the film. But she’s also kind of a child til the very end, obscenely jealous, while also cold and calculating, counting down the days til her best friend dies so that she can sleep with her husband. I liked that ambiguity. It made her feel like a real person. To some degree Leigh’s performance as O’Hara is undercut by histrionics and bouts of “hysteria” that were more common in film performances from that time, but which seem a little annoying and grating today. But damn if it isn’t a great performance, display the full emotional range in this film, from buoyantly bright and cheery, to desperate and despaired.

So yeah, I guess I do get why it’s considered a classic, or at least why it made such a splash in 1939. There was nothing like it! The cinematography is great, its characters are fascinating, complex, and engrossing, and the performances (by Gable in particular) are wonderful. But the elephant in the room, then but especially now, is that… damn… this movie is racist, like in its DNA. They double down on this at the VERY START! The fourth shot of the movie (FOURTH!), after first showing a sign announcing the studio who produced the film, then a look at the plantation-like building bearing the studio’s name, and finally some clouds at daybreak, is of slaves tending to crops. The image is set to a triumphant score while the overlaying text tells us that the movie will be based on Margaret Mitchell’s “Story of the Old South.” This is not done ironically. With the beautiful landscape and music, we as audience are to think, “Wow, what a great time this was.” At the end of the opening credits, the prologue text tells us that the antebellum South was the last in a long line of great lands. It’s the last time “gallantry” would exist, and “the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, or Master and of Slave.” Holy Shit. As if “Master and Slave” is something to celebrate?! “Those damn Yankees would destroy such a beautiful world!” the film argues. Again… not presented ironically. It’s pretty jarring.

That said, I do want to say that to a minimal degree that film is right when it just presents War (with a capital W) in general as a destructive force that either destroys lives outright, or destroys enough property to send lives to ruin. That’s a truth propagated by media as far back as the Iliad, and is sometimes shown effectively here, such as the oft-discussed slow-pan show of the countless Confederate bodies lying dead on the ground mid-way through the film. It’s a depressing sight on an apolitical human level. But, at the same time, the movie’s inability and refusal to address the reason those bodies are there in the first place (racist need to continue slavery), and instead obliquely suggest that the Antebellum South was without any suffering until those damn Yankees brought them ruin is, frankly, insulting and disgusting. It outright ignores the suffering of Black people in favor of highlighting the suffering of whites. A tale unfortunately told ab aeterno in America.

I know others can, have, and will say more about the treatment of Black characters within the film and how they serve only to reinforce negative stereotypes. Mammy, despite being wonderfully acted by Hattie McDaniel, and other house slaves are presented as being eternally grateful to have been enslaved to their white masters, so much so that even after the war they continue to serve them --- because why would they ever want to do differently?! (the film seemingly asks and answers). After the war, Scarlett is more than willing to accept that her lumber mill should be worked by convicts who will be paid less than other workers and suffer harsh treatment, arguing that it is no different than slavery and that has always been ok. WHAT?! And Prissy, the slave who reassures Scarlett that she knows everything about birthing babies, up until the point where her knowledge is needed and she turns out to be nothing more than an airheaded twit, has to be one of the ugliest depictions of a slave I have seen. Particularly, she serves little more than really bad comic relief… with the joke seemingly just being “wow look at how stupid and annoying slaves were.”

This is more than I intended to write, so I won’t go on, but I think everything I had to say has been said. It’s a beautifully shot film, with rich, deep, and complex characters that would be even better served in a movie more willing to dive into the moral ambiguity of their characters, and for Butler in particular not bend over backwards to make him look like a good guy. And I get why it made such an impact 80 years ago, especially in that first half where there’s all the excitement of war and some notable action set-pieces. But even taking out the significant problems the movie has with race, it’s hard for me to understand anyone considers this essential viewing for anyone today besides those with an interest in cinematography, film history, or interested in how race is presented on screen. Its proto-feminist Scarlett O’Hara and her role within an evolving economy and evolving societal ideas of what “love” is are interesting, but they certainly not things that are worth the average viewer’s nearly four hours’ worth of time. It’s a museum piece, one that captured the spirit of a time (and the decades beyond it) where Hollywood felt it was completely OK to romanticize life under slavery, and bemoan its destruction by Yankees. If you want to see this museum piece, go ahead, but don’t let anyone convince you it’s one of the all-time greats.

***/ (Three and a half out of four stars)

Capsule Review: Long movie with great performances and beautiful cinematography... also racist to its core.

[kendrixtermina]

Someone finally uploaded a Kingdom Route run with everyone recruited!

So imma be doing a bit of reacting

Kingdom!Ignatz works a bit like Empire!Felix  - He wanted to go his own way unlike what his parents said and is thus following Byleth. In this case it’s of course somewhat less angsty ‘cause the Victors have the means to flee if necessary, unlike Rodrigue who was a prominent leader of the kingdom side of things

In an interesting parallel to how half the cast abandons the kingdom cause it’s a sinking shipload of kamikaze, on the other routes, Raphael complains about the instability and confusing politics of the alliance and how she should probably grab Maya and his grandfather and get them to Garreg Magh. I suppose a lot of people without connections or political accumen must feel this way. the monastery IS light javelin proof, so yeah...Raphael isn’t salty toward Claude himself tho. Then again he has little capacity for salt and in his paralogue it’s kinda shown that he makes a deliberate choice to live a low-salt lifestyle its not just obliviousness, he actively doesnt want grudges or awkwardness in his life

Leonie is also here to babysit Byleth and tells them not to let Dimitri push them around 

Hilda: “The Monastery is a mess. So is Dimitri. I’m only here because Byleth is competent and Holst is annoying“

Dorothea and Bernie have so far gotten identical dialogues to the church route

Lysithea is interesting and kinda morally ambiguous. She says outright that she cares nothing for the kingdom or anything other than a peaceful life for her parents. She wants to get at the slitherers for her own revenge and they’re in the empire so she finds Dimitri’s revenge obsession convenient. Also very ironic cause, are she and Edelgard gonna fight each other because they both want to get at Thales? Very interesting bc vanilla BL doesn’t adress the slitherers that much - of course Lysithea says she has beef with “the empire” and doesn’t elaborate. At the same time Lysithea is MUCH more logical and self aware than most of the kingdom crew bar Sylvain so yeah

actually,  Lysithea, like Felix, has TONS of route specific dialogue. I guess the devs expected those two to get recruited a lot since they are just flat out the strongest students apart from the house leaders. 

The Kingdom is arguably just as infiltrated but Lysithea doesn’t know... and at this point Cornelia’s cooperating with the Empire anyways

General trend of the Alliance recruitees not being all that attached to the Alliance as they hardly knew each other at the start and half of them had nothing to do with politics

Nothing to do with the recruitees, but so THATS what happens if you propose to go to Fhirdiad first. Dimitri is like “You’re supposed to lead the church! Go rescue Rhea!” ...he doesn’t know the whole thing with Byleth being experimented on by Rhea (neither does Byleth at this point) but it is kinda low. Mitya you have no leg to stand on here indeed the main reason I was sympathetic to you last playthrough is that you never ASKED Gilbert & co to put you on the throne and made clear that you’re not interested in that... so following you was on them to an extent. but you don’t get to say “Do your Bishop job” (that Byleth never asked for) if you’re not doing your job cause you’re too busy doing your kamikaze raid. Then again he’s probably too emotional and just plain done with everything rn to see the contradiction/look at this with perspective he’s probably physically incapable of chilling out rn

It just ends with Byleth doing a pointed sadface. daamn Mitya don’t be mean to By-By she still believes in you dude : (  Though it makes sense he’s big on obligation he’s doing this revenge trip because he feels he must. So it’s more a distortion than it really is a contradiction, as far as he’s concerned he IS doing his duty...to the fallen. I guess if you can’t handle him at his “Go be a bishop or something” you don’t deserve him at his “my beloved~” 

Still hurts a bit tho. Especially when Claude, though not without his own agenda, was distinctly a good friend on the topic, “Teach you’re in charge now be more confident~ the church doesnt run you, you run the church”

Before Aillel Dorothea says something about the Kingdom people also looking undecided of where to march, but she also wonders if some fighting/ victory will quell uncertainty 

Also she and mercie are standing next to each other! Ive said before that it’s weird how they don’t rly have a support though they are the two most popular extroverted ppl on the campus... they GOTTA know each other at least on a smalltalk basis

Alois is like “These kingdom ppl dont seem to know what they want... but hey this allow YOU to shine as a leader”... so basically Byleth is running this show but for all that they’re a good field commander and decisive when it comes to immadiate practical problems, as far as big picture direction goes, well, Sothis’ “boulder” quote comes to mind. They just never had big attachments on convictions, the Felix support chain is also salient here. They kinda just did whatever job they were given until they found a bigger cause/purpose after throwing in their lot with one of the lords or the remaining saints.

I wondered how this would play out as the Kingdom route is very kingdom-specific, whereas Claude, Edelgard and the church all have an universal cause for people to get behind. I guess how this plays out is that before Dimitri’s turnaroud there’s the kingdom faction and the Byleth faction and Byleth is kinda trying to run the show as they think Dimitri would if he were at his best

Caspar is still on the more unphazed side but also substantially more phazed than on the church or GD routes, he wasn’t particularly close to Randolph but he’s not unaffected by Dimitri going a tad over the top here - he also has the takeaway that Dimitri probably never trusted him much since he was born in the empire.

Sylvain actually alledges something about Dimitri not socializing much with any Adrestians even back in the academy days if you recruit him on CF so this does not come out of nowhere. Also kinda makes me wish they had a support - theyre both naturals at smashing things but they have very different attitudes towards it. then again i suppose it would go alot like the raphael one

Ferdie recognizes Myrrdin is a strategically better location but as Aegir territory is closeby he wishes we could have invaded through there so he could take it back... Would the citizens want him back tho? After the war its a no-brainer cause he helped end it, the peasants arent going to complain about too much peace and prosperity nor are they gonna feel nostalgic about anyone who started a war with their tax money and then lost it, but if he waltzed into an area that had thus far been far from the frontlines, following his fathers’s exploitative management and 5 years of semi equal rights under edelgard? he might have been welcomed with  pitchforks, through no fault of his own. 

He says something implying hed like to come rescue his relatives implying that some of them are still alive. of course the pm deserves all Edelgard threw at him and then some, but id be curious about Ferdie’s other relatives. His mom probably looks just like him, because he sure didnt get the looks from his dad... or anything else really, apart from the crest and hair color. - though i think the a support with bernadetta implies that shes no longer around

Lorenz bitterly remarking that of course Claude and his dad eventually made peace since they both only serve their own interests. (”So long as their interests are in allignment they will continue to cooperate”)   Says the guy we just rescued from his endeavors in turncoatery. Lorenz you’re pretty opportunistic too, and as for your redeeming features Claude has those too - but of course you’ll never find out in this one. Still, it shows that he’s painfully aware that his father - whom he would have died protecting if we hadn’t spared him - is a villain and a hack

Claude isn’t super trusting and knows that he gets percieved as shifty so he promises people to get them theirs so that they support him out of self interest. No need to take a chace. Of course by the end of this route he WILL take big chance on Dimitri 

That says Lorenz is not SO biased that he can’t tell that Claude might be interested in working with the kingdom army

Lysithea (who surprisingly has TONS of unique dialogue here, and I like that it’s a complex mature plot) is having her doubts and not trusting Dimitri for all that she finds him an useful idiot. By and large you get the sense that many consider Byleth the leader of this operation, she’s glad that Byleth is there to issue sensible orders. She tells Byleth not to tell anyone and worries about what will happen once the empire’s vanquished. No faith in team Kingdom... at all. Understandable of course

Hilda’s dialogue is largely the same as in the church route and at times kinda the same in all routes but I like how she’s like “Claude might’ve looked like a lazy bum but he’s smart! If he says he’s on our side he will defs help!” before the gronder fiasco

A lot of NPCs stir the suspicion here so it stands out how much she totally trusts him like hes any other friend

As with the other routes with the recruitees you get an idea of what’s going on in the other territories such as Lysithea deducing that Judith must be backing Claude in his gambit

One moment you think Lorenz is going to add some somber insightful commentary to the sincerity of Claude’s offer but then he’s like, “Granted Dimitri is much improved. He must be asking us for help cause he trusts ME” XD Like... no friend. You’re almost right but if there’s anyone here he was faith in its Byleth. And then he’s even like, “Well no choice but to save poor Claudesy” On the one hand it shows that there not just pure hate there on the other... lulz. 

apparently one of the first things Dimitri did after getting his act together post gronder is profusely apologize to Caspar for that ugly business with Randolph. Thats a worthwhile detail and i want fanfic of it. Caspar being Caspar he wasnt really keeping a grudge, they’re a warrior clan and they were at war

They had to move out so quickly that Hilda had no time to go shopping in Fhirdiad #Priorities XD

Meanwhile Ignatz, like a normal person,  hopes his folks will be safe

hilda does eventually remember to maybe save her folks and claude but only after making Byleth promise to go on a shopping trip with her. Someone should probably write that fanfic

Someone told me that Ferdinand had some prominent critical lines but it was really just one, and it’s as I suspected actually just a variant of the same “a king can’t be emotional” line he gets in all the routes, this time with the addendum that if he turned around and decided to go rescue the capital, he might be capable of reason/being a decent leader after all.  granted I guess compared to how most of the Kingdom people go along with everything it comes off critical? IDK.

Lysithea misses Rodrigue :( 

Lorenz and Ignatz standing next to each other was a nice touch they have a fairly wholesome friendship

Leonie’s just glad that ol’ Mitya is “back to normal” especially since she’s pretty sure that they don’t have enough soldiers to get to Fort Merceus let alone Enbarr

For obvious reasons, Petra is pretty sympathetic about the whole “retaking Fhirdiad” thing

Seeing Seteth and Catherine so certain that Rhea would want them to save the people of Fhirdiad first when you know that she wouldn’t hesitate to set the place on fire is just...OUCH. Though it does show the goodness in Seteth and Catherine themselves. 

Manuela wishes she could’ve moved her informary to gronder and save a few more peeps :(

It seems like to Leonie, Dimitri will always be just “Dimitri”, King or not. Figures she aaaaalmost adressed even Byleth by name XD You really DO get the sense that he interacted alot with the recruitees

All the house leaders shouldve had more supports. 

If you grabbed hanneman he’ll give you some extra backstory on Cornelia - apparently she was originally from the empire and an eminent scholar whose great work Hanneman was vaguely aware of. I would assume that was still the real cornelia. Judging by the timing it sounds like she might’ve smuggled Patricia out of Adrestia. Assuming both were still original at this point this might present a possibility for why she trusted/vouched for cornelia without being complicit / lend itself to a “she was duped” reading

But it’s still suspicious that she would end up courting the second most powerful man in the land right after number one. 

Some had suggested that Cornelia caused the plague in the first place but the thing is there was a perfectly credible  “mundane” explanation for it (the city’s sewers not being up to date technologically) that theres no reason to doubt

Assuming that all the replacements occurred 14 years before part one when Arundel stopped his donations/ thins being about the time when Cornelia’s personality was noted to have changed completely, that would mean both the “fixing the severs” thing and the soppy story about how Edelgards’ parents met would be real 

AAAA everything to do with patricia is just so ambiguous - if they were longtime friends wouldn’t she have noticed something “off”? Same with her brother actually. Lambert had his own country so its not like there was no one to protect her. 

Ahhh THIS is how lorenz gets iinto the midset for that prissy, hes pissed that Claude dissolved the Alliance and misses it XD

you DO get to call him out for being a turncoat himself tho. particularly hilarious since Byleth just blinks and asks a casual question there

He immediately changes his tune

oh lorenz dear, i love you but you, sir, are WEAK xD

Lysithea as always calls everything and notes how suspicious arundel was alluding to the hrym nightmare also mentioned in her paralogue

She also mentions that he was said to be good and just at one point suggesting that there was a real Volkhard von Arundel at some point. 

if the replacement took place when those donations ceased then Edelgard and Dimitri were 3, 14 years before part 1. Early enough that this could be around the time Patricia left enbarr, if this is when it happened then the romantic tower story might be real assuming that the Arundels were replaced at the same time - whatever arrived in Faerghus recomended patricia for a job so it probably had already happened by then 

Its all so ambiguos tho we can only speculate there are so many possibilities

Ignatz marvels at how Claude managed to minimize damage to Alliance lands throughout the war, as in CF only Deirdru itself got particularly thrashed. Ignatz’ folks are safe and sound! Leave it to him to wonder where Claude might have absconded to. He was always one of the insightful ones but not in the same way as the other clever ones. More intuitive I guess. Cant remember if it was indentical to what you get if you spare Claude on CF (Cue the lets player remarking that Claude is probably stuck in a washing machine somewhere... he hadn’t cleared the Alliance route at that point)

Lol HILDA “And then the whole Alliance descended into chaos...” or actually she is surprised that that DIDNT happen and how orderly Claude managed the dissolution. “But I Guess we’re screwed if Dimitri turns out to be a crazed despot... he’s not gonna go crazy again is he?” You of little faith XD But she says all this in her usual cheery nonserious voice like

this chapter has a lot of unique dialogue actually

Linhardt  impressed that anyone would have the guts to attack Fort Merceus directly and suggests looking for weak spots in the old walls

He shows up guarding it in SS and Vw doesn’t he? Guess he was visiting Caspar or something - or would have been familiar with the place from visiting the Bergliez clan in the past. 

Ferdinand is wowed by Claude bowing out giving him kudos for caring about the peoples wishes. He thinks Edelgard ought to quit at this point and he’s alot harsher on her here than in any of the other routes. (”Not reveryone with noble blood has noble ideals” - Coming from Ferdinand that’s an accusation ) Interestingly at this point hes sticking with Dimitri cause post character developement, lots of ordinary ppl support him at this point and hes popular with the crowds. He’s wholly on the Savior King bandwagon, and maybe that’s why he’s harsher. He’s partial. Says something about him actually, largely good things when you think about it. Dimitri is probably the closest to what Ferdinand’s (and Lorenz’) own beliefs were. He likes the existing order and living in a fancy palace but he thinks the rulers should serve the people.

Its kinda ironic and sad because in ALL the other routes he clearly thinks Dimitri is an idiot and a bad ruler, and says he should be more composed and objective. But Dimitri wasnt at his best there now was he? 

 now ill be sad everytime I get to those “Ferdinand disses Dimitri” lines. They couldve been buds! 

but i dont see this happening in any other route. According to something Sylvain says in cf Dimitri avoided ppl from the empire  at the academy so they wouldnt have cozied up pre-timeskip, and its only the version of Dimitri who has his shit together which appeals to Ferdie as a leader. 

really torn here on the one hand its a nice synergy to see lorenz and especially Ferdinand (who is waaay less arroganz than lorenz) sort of getting to win on their own terms with a ruler that jives with them and their Lawful Good fantasy classic thing. It’s not just a status quo thing its a protectors of the people thing. It’s heroic.  On the other hand it feels like they’re stagnating when they could have had growth. This is basically the same Lorenz and the same Ferdinand we first met except slightly more mature.  Notably lorenz is the same in the church route whereas Ferdie isnt as he still ends up rebelling fleeing and fighting against the empire. It helps that he practically winds up leading the remaining Eagles, albeit under Byleth and Seteth.  

He still gets that line about being kinda sad to see the empire go though he knows there must be an end to the chaos, i think a few lines are different, so, not wholly without doubt

Shamir muses about hoe the three countries were once one and the same, but wonders that even if we put fodlan togethere theres no guarantee that it wouldnt come apart again. i mean there isnt, and wether thats a bad thing would depend a lot on the circumstances but its also possible that theyll get used to being one and forget they wrere ever separate. no one controls the far future... and should they? After all its always possible that someone in the future will have unforseeable circumstances or better ideas

Caspar sighs with relief that they didn’t have to fight his dad, last second worry about him turning up in the capital nonwithstanding... right does he get to live in this? Carpar wonders what’ll happen to him if they win, but he’s not holding down Faerghus so he might not have died the way he did in Silver Snow and Verdant Wind. It’s at least possible that he was captured alive and pardoned somehow. 

Marianne’s adoptive dad sure smelled which way the wind was blowing; He was supporting Claude’s strategy to get the Cloucesters back under controll but sent Marianne to curry favor with the kingdom. Make friends with whoever wins I suppose. Ambitious politician indeed. 

When she doesnt her from him in a while she wonders if he forgot about her but says she wouldnt mind that much because at least she wouldnt have to do any more politics? I distinctly recall that in gd there was something about how they got along better after the timeskip. Sigh. 

she is real glad that Dimitri and claude ended up cooperating in the end

So does Dorothea but then she makes herself sad wishing that Edelgard was also there :( Me too friend, me too.  I think thats the one unique line she gets this route. I like how it’s consistent in the church route she’s also the one who feels the most sad about betraying her, they were pretty close pre timrskip 

as far as leonies concerned Dimitri is still just Dimitri even after taking back his kingdom. i like to think hed appreciate that. its also very typical of leonie. as with the “Caspar gets an apology” thing plenty of the recruitees get lines hinting that theres been more personal interaction between them and dimitri, kinda goes with how ppl in his own house follow him more out of personal loyalty than because they follow his plans like with the other two. hes kinda a very approachable sort of leader, makes the decisions with the group or follows whatever gilbert and Byleth decide, in the other routes theres always a distinct inner circle. Its cool how they incorporated the recruitees into that dynamic. 

Petra is dissapointed that they DIDNT do a sneak attack on fort Merceus contrasting her usual line about how she likes sneak attacks.  Dimitri naps both that an Enbarr head on doesn’t he? The Church has a smaller Army full of peeps who would rather not destroy Enbarr, and Claude agrees with Petra on the sneak attack thing and then Edelgard did that sorta shady but largely very gutsy thing where she didn’t sound the evacuation to restrict Claude’s movements knowing that there was zero danger that he would plow through the civilians (they don’t do this here cause last time they met Dimitri he was not feeling merciful indeed judging by huberts welcome lines and engage quotes he doesnt buy the turnaround), the AM ending narration also suggests that Enbarr wasn’t rebuilt, though Dimitri gave distinct “No pillaging!” orders, so they probably just couldn’t avoid wrecking the buildings and relocated the citizens. 

Ashe also speculates where Claude went. That’s one of the things i like about Ashe he consistently averts out of sight out of mind I particularly always loved how he consistently worried about Dedue. Someone ought to. 

Ingrid interestingly changed her tune here / kinda speaks positively of claude here - in CF she was like “I always though he was creepy”

Then again that was before fighting him I don’t recall If those two dont get the same lines if you spare Claude,  have to go back and check

id like to mention that the lets player put lorenz in the pyjamas/loungewear the whole time as “punishment” for being late to the reunion and poked fun at him throughout.

[betratyal]

                       the first clear thought in years:                              I REFUSE TO DIE.

JACOB BATALON? No, that’s actually PETER PETTIGREW from the MARAUDERS ERA. You know, the child of AMBROSIA PETTIGREW and ALISTER MCALISTER? Only 20 years old, this GRYFFINDOR alumni works as a DISH WASHER and is sided with HIMSELF. HE/THEY identifies as AGENDER and is a HALFBLOOD who is known to be CUNNING, HUMOROUS and ALLOCENTRIC but also OBSESSIVE, PASSIVE and COWARDLY. 

LINKS – pinboard, stats, app. CHARACTER PARALLELS – winston bishop ( new girl ), sid jenkins ( skins ), charles boyle ( b99 ), edmund pevensie ( narnia ), eric forman ( that 70s show ), bunny corcoran ( the secret history ) AESTHETIC –  ketchup stains on band shirts, an incomprehensible minute long string of curses, tracing the veins in your wrist, the smell of breakfast and fresh coffee, card tricks at three in the morning, freddie mercury impersonations, lying on the floor of the kitchen staring a the ceiling for three hours, trembling hands holding a joint, a guilty grin. HEADS UP – this intro contains mentions of bullying, death, mental illness (eating disorders (bed & bulimia) and depression and anxiety), self destructive tendencies and weed. ive trigger warned each bullet point where it comes up.

history ( 1960 - 1978 )

peter was born to ambrosia pettigrew, a halfblooded scottish-filipino witch. his father -- a muggle -- was not in the picture and hadn’t been ever since he’d learned of ambrosia’s pregnancy; he would sent her money every now and then, in the first years of peter’s life, but was never in the picture. ( and that was for the best, thought ambrosia; she didn’t love him, and he was a muggle, but still --- she was heartbroken and wished that she could give more to her son ).

peter grew up living with his mother in a small flat in glasgow. his grandparents lived nearby, and he spent a lot of time with them. peter learned how to be alone from a young age, with his mother working a lot and he himself lacking friends and peers to waste the days with --- as a child, he delved into fictional worlds ( superhero comics, roald dahl novels, animated tv shows ) and found friends there.

bullying tw / went to muggle elementary as well, but never felt at home there. he was the odd one out: his clothes didn’t fit well, his nervous habits were annoying to his classmates, his words were too clumsy and his eyes too shifty. he didn’t mind not having friends ( or so he thought, until he did have them ) but he did mind being picked on and teased. end of tw

death tw /  his grandmother died when he was seven and it was devastating; peter’s family was so small and compact, his social world so limited, that it had a huge impact. his relationship with his grandfather did grow much stronger through it. end of tw 

and then peter finally went to hogwarts! and peter made friends for the FIRST TIME. and he found a second home! ah, my god --- peter was so happy, he was really so hyped and in awe of his life and his friends. it all felt a bit surreal; especially because he looked up to james and sirius and remus so much --- james, mainly, but all of them were so amazing, and he was so amazed that they liked him, too.

peter always loved heroes. he loves comic books and people who save the day and get the girl and do it all. i think he kind of … projected that onto james and sirius especially? did not know how to do this friendship thing as an 11 year old tbh, was a mess, was blinded by their amazingness damn, and thus kind of hero worshipped them, didn’t see their flaws and faults.

re: peter being a gryffindor; peter admires heroism and bravery and chivalry, and it’s your values that get you sorted some place. and he always did try to be brave, and he WAS in a lot of moments, because he became a damn animagus for his bud! i mean! he was not a hatstall btw  — i choose to ignore that stupid bit of post canon. it took a while for the hat, sure, but no more than two minutes.  

peter was a pretty bad student, to be honest. not because he was stupid, but because he’s just not build for school. deadlines? exams? homework? no thank you --- those were both sources of stress and horribly tedious things and peter was much too occupied with shenanigans and having fun. peter learned better in different settings: he got very good at certain charms because they allowed him to be lazy ( hello, accio! ) and was able to put his mind to becoming an animagus because there was a necessity and a proper motivation, and became better at potions because of all the hangover potions he brew. 

becoming an animagus for remus was ! important ! to peter ! he did it for remus, not because of peer pressure, or anything else — he did it because it was right, and his friend deserved it and ! he did it, too, because he could. sure, his transfig grades may have been more than poor, but the kid did have some skill. he just needed motivation, which mcgonagall didn’t give (bc. she scared him.) and this situation? motivated the hell out of him.

peter would be lying if he said he wasn’t taken a bit aback when he learned about remus’ lycanthropy — not because he was scared of him, to be honest, but he was just ? shocked ? he was more scared for remus, and so sad? so fucking sad for him? : ( he cried

he also loved spending his time at hogwarts playing games; from muggle card games to chess to gobstones. collected chocolate frogs Very Seriously as well, and still does tbh.

weed & anxiety tw / peter started smoking pot in the summer between his fourth and fifth year, and never really stopped. it made him slack more at school, but also eased his anxiety, which had started to develop in his fourth year. as months passed, peter became more and more of a stoner, which made him both more relaxed and funnier, but also … a whole of a lot lazier. end of weed tw

peter had always been a bit … fidgety, easily on edge, a bit nervous, but he’d never really known anxiety until around fourteen years old. his insecurities grew, as he started comparing himself more to his friends and finding nothing but things he lacked in comparison to them, and questions as to why they put up with him. end of anxiety tw

so his schooldays mostly looked like … doing nothing, playing games, having fun with his mates, getting high, forgetting his homework, stressing about homework, and somewhere, in a tiny corner of his being, worrying about the war. whenever those worries started coming up, though, he was able to push them away, because the war was not yet there, not for him at least. there was graduation to worry about first, and once that was done, then he could worry about the war.

post graduation - now ( 1978 - 1980 )

peter joins the order along with his friends, because it was what was right. peter believes in their cause, hates the death eaters, hates discrimination and racism and terrorism --- of course he fucking does, and so he joins, even though he feels incompetent. i have written a lot about this in his app too, which is linked above! 

he starts working as a dishwasher in muggle glasgow, preferring a bit of a break from the wizarding world every now and then. peter’s not unambitious, per se, but he doesn’t have enough faith in himself to try and pursue a career ( and besides, what’s the point in the midst of a war? ). plus, peter doesnt need any more stress on his plate, and dish washing is laidback and at least kind of fun. 

depression & weed & eating disorder (bed/bulimia) tw | peter feels useless in the order, though. he seems to lack the skills, the guts, the everything that the people around him have. before, their heroics mightve inspired him; now they just make him feel like a shitty person, like a burden. peter starts secluding himself a little, hiding in his mother’s home. he smokes more pot. he sometimes goes almost week without seeing someone besides his mum and his coworkers. he watches too much telly and reads comics and drowns in fictional worlds and he becomes depressed. he sinks into it without noticing and can’t come back from it. his eating habits ( which have always bordered on unhealthy ) turn worse; peter binges, and then restricts, falls into a cycle. it’s the only routine he has.

when he’s around his friends, he lives up a little. he cracks jokes and wants to play games and laughs and feels a bit more alive, but he always craves his time on his own. that’s his new way to feel safe: to stick to his newly found routine, hidden in his room, away from reality. | end of tw

the idea to join the death eaters comes out of fear. peter feels like the order is losing, and feels like death is inevitable. i dont know how true this is, but the fact is that the death eaters are ruthless and that his life is on the line because of his position. i wrote a Lot about this in his app too, so if u want a more comprehensive explanation i’d def read it here, its the second hc!

he joins, because he thinks it will give him a saver position. play both sides, play for the winning side --- he’s always had a bit of an opportunistic streak, which definitely helps sway his decision. in the end he’s just afraid of dying, and that’s why he joins; he’s twenty, his life has hardly started --- he doesn’t want to die, no cause is worth that, none at all. ( he should have just ran )

he joins in may 1978, for timeline reasons, so he’s been a death eater for only a few months. it’s been a lot different than he imagined ----- peter thought he’d blend in the background quietly, that he’d have to do shitty jobs ( which is true ) and that he’d be left alone. he underestimated it, because well --- he was desperate when he joined, and he didn’t think about the consequences, and he didn’t think about how voldemort’s cruelty wasn’t just reserved for his enemies but for his followers, too. there’s no stepping out of line with the death eaters; mistakes are not treated lightly and peter --- afraid, a bit of a bumbling idiot, learns this quite soon.

his function is mostly just to be a spy; relay information and share plans, name members, etcetera. he’s not very active because he’s a spy, but i imagine that he is present at the bigger meetings. AND FML HE’S GOOD AT IT! he’s good at lying and sneaking and being a sly bastard --- he used those skills for pranks, once. now he uses it to betray his fellow prankers : D

peter, at that point, hates himself. he’s always had a bit of self loathing, but it’s gained the upper hand now and he’s drowning in it; it does allow for him to ignore his conscience, though, for him to ignore the reality and just stew in his negativity. he’s got a woe is me mentality, for sure, and he’s so god damn passive about his situation. 

timeclash reaction.

peter’s reaction to the timeclash was ... a lot. i wrote about it in his app, so if u want to read my whole ass rambling, i rec that. but tldr: he’s shocked, at what he becomes. the peter he is now is a traitor, yes, but he’s not yet the person who ends up betraying james and lily and harry, who frames sirius --- and it’s ground shattering to find out that he’s on the road to become such a person. 

self destructiveness, weed, alcohol tw / his self loathing grows more. peter wasn’t doing very well before, but the timeclash makes something snap inside him --- he abandons his needs, punishes himself in small ways, loses sight of himself. he drinks and smokes too much. he’s so scared of himself. he’s in hiding, when he first finds out, scared of his friends and the death eaters and the order members and the people from the future who have met a worse version of him end of tws

part of peter is also like “i havent done any of these things yet, i know i am not the BEST person but i am still . not That Bad! stop being mad for something i havent done yet!”

around this time, he’s realising that he can either keep hiding, that he can completely destroy himself and all the ties he has, or he can take this opportunity to change his course. to not become the person all these people from the future know, to change change change, to make up for the wrongs he has committed and the wrongs he will commit if he keeps on going the way he is --- and that’s where he’s at now.

on another hand, he definitely watched all the star wars movies that came out over the past 50 yrs and hates kylo ren and cried when han died!!! he is in awe of the mcu movies but also thinks they did the comics dirty. i wish someone would introduce him to video games bc he would cry from happiness.

personality & details

OKAY onto the fun stuff, that was way too depressing and peter is usually a comedic icon

peter parker is his favourite superhero just because … they share a first name and because peter parker is a bit of an underdog too and peter is just like! amazing! he named his owl parker.

he hates cats. used to love them — he was allowed to take the cat from home with him to hogwarts when he was eleven, but he brought him back home after an unfortunate incident where his cat nearly ate him while he was in his animagus form. “sorry ma, i don’t love him any more. here. have him.”

peter is actually a solid cook. this is because he learned to make some basic food when he was still a kid, first with his grandma, and later on his own. he liked doing it for his mother and he was. .. good at it? peter is also just passionate about food and finds comfort in cooking. breakfast food and baked goods are Prime Food Categories.

he is asexual af, panromantic. has kissed both guys and gals and nb pals but did not like it??? confused. does not understand sexuality and all that jazz but tries not to think abt it because like! he’s got enough stress! doesnt need to think abt this!

peter is also agender, but i think he’s a lot less aware about this, because it’s confusing and so he just tries not to think about it. he does feel okay with he/him pronouns, but just doesn’t feel connected at all to being a boy/man

peter has abandonment issues because his dad, well, never even bothered to be there. not even for a second. he’s just constantly scared that people will leave and it’s funny, because he will probably end up abandoning all of his loved ones KDJFHSDF.

peter is quite non confrontational but also not … meek? he just avoids it, either by physically staying out of people’s way or by dismissing most of the things said and getting out of there. a Passive Kid. 

he’s such a fucking dork i swear to god. but he’s funny! peter is really funny. i deeply believe in this. he makes great puns and is able to just come out of nowhere and make a comment that just. hits the nail right on its head.

peter curses a lot and has a scottish accent and sometimes he will have a minute long cursing session that no one rly understands.

[thechocoboexpress-blog]

Relief

WOO! I ACTUALLY LIKE THIS ONE.

This guy clocks in at 2,814 words and 15,549 characters.

P.S. Amaranth is also known as Purpleheart, lookit up, it’s lovely.

@hypaalicious @wrathwritesthings IT’S H E R E, YA’LL WILL ACTUALLY GET TO READ A LITTLE BIT OF INTERACTION FROM CAMELLIA WITH ARDYN NOW.

High Commander Lord Ravus Nox Fleuret is about as observant as a brick, he’s no sleuth, no spy, it’s why he plays at war, not politics.

But even he in all his bluntness can notice some… Quirks. To that of Chancellor Ardyn Izunia, the man he’s grudgingly forced to work alongside almost constantly.

Ardyn Izunia is a man without shame or morals, and will use anything to keep the edge in a debate, time and time again would the clever man use an enemy politicians disabilities or ailments against them,- while maintaining a false friendliness all the while- bringing up an Altissian council member’s failing lungs to make him second-guess a decision that would work against Niflheim.

This is where the strange hitch in Ardyn’s personality comes up, for all his willingness to dig at a persons’ shortcomings, he refuses to even acknowledge that an individual is in a wheelchair or braces, eyes fluidly skipping straight past such hindrances, there’s been more than one instance where a deal could’ve been turned to their favor if the Chancellor would have just called their physical capacity into question, and yet he without fail ignores that there is anything to call into question.

But this strange reaction to people that need braces or wheelchairs doesn’t seem to stop there, Ravus has become well acquainted with how important the facial expression of the Chancellor is. If at any point the man’s face flattens out you’ve entered a dangerous territory, like playing roulette, sometimes there’s this�� Unusually helpful side of him that comes out, uttering quiet advice or recommending foods with the strangest look on his face, however most of the time it meant something very bad is about to happen.

He never gets physically violent, and yet he spits bile so viciously that the person he’s inflicted such foul words upon recoils as if they had been struck.

Ravus wonders every time something like that happens where the darkness in the Chancellor comes from.

He’s seen that face often.

And yet there’s one specific instance that the High Commander recalls the most acutely, once again he was forced to suffer the company of the condescending Chancellor in Tenebrae, staying quiet as Ardyn made jabs at him disguised as simple friendly conversation. He was in the middle of one such jabs when the daughter of a Tenebraen diplomat arrived alongside a nurse and the diplomat himself, and Ardyn could not keep his eyes off of her.

At first Ravus thought that maybe the Chancellor knew her, but not once did the obnoxious weasel talkative man actually go to interact with her, and that look, that expressionless mask as he bored holes into her, Ravus didn’t understand what the woman had done wrong, she was a sickly quiet thing, with all assortments of metal contraptions to keep her body straightened, and she was stuck in a wheelchair, she’d lost the strength in her bones to walk a long time ago.

That day didn’t seem to be very pleasant for her either, she was constantly almost in tears, and her father didn’t seem to care in the slightest, if anything he was annoyed by her, clenching his jaw every time she sniffled and shifted, and the nurse looked, well. Helpless. It was the first time Ardyn moved from his spot in fifteen minutes, perhaps the longest he’d ever been quiet in his damn life, too, and Ravus almost expected him to tell the nurse to move her elsewhere.

Instead he crouched down to eye level, offered a handkerchief, and murmured ingredients to the nurse beside her- something about a salve- before turning to the young woman again and telling her something about ‘It will smell exceedingly foul, but it will help you with the pain.’

The woman came back in tears the next day, singing the high praises about Chancellor Izunia, and how it was the first time she’d felt this good in years.

That, to this day remains the first and only time Ravus Nox Fleuret has ever seen Ardyn do something genuinely kind.

Ravus had tried to ask Ardyn what that was about, and was met with a vicious glint in the Chancellor’s eyes that left no room to question as to what would happen if Ravus asked again.

Because why?

Why would Ravus deserve to know about Camellia? Why would he deserve to know about the years and years of painstakingly crafting medicine to help her, of the appointments and the restless nights with his face in his hands, listening to her sniffle and choke on nothing as she tried to grapple with the pain.

The world then didn’t deserve her, let alone the spoiled brats now, that war with one another, and butcher one another, and have the audacity to think they’re any better than their enemies while they experiment on their own children.

Certain memories feel as old as they are, some feel like they occurred only yesterday. These are among those memories.

The smell of fine made drinks and food and the hum-thrum of people going about their day. Back when his chest didn’t ache and he didn’t realize how terrible the world was.

Fourteen days it’s been, no letter nor signal from Tiel informing him of whether or not he has the schematics, or if he’s even alive at this point, perhaps he’s stolen them and made off with them, or maybe Niflheim has executed him for his crimes.

But alas, now wasn’t the time to dwell. Dwelling was a foul thing that sours the mood. And why would he want to be in a sour mood today of all days? He gets to see his daughter after all. Five days without your child can make the heart ache so terribly.

The double doors of his home outside the castle are taller than even he, beautiful Amaranth and glass like a circle cut into four sections. Even from here the familiar scent of books and vanilla and just slightly wrought iron crawls out from between the gaps in the door- inviting those that approach inside.

But that doesn’t compare to what greets him when he opens the door, the familiar blast of warm air that combats the snowy outside, and the sound of women giggling from deeper in the house, past the foyer, Ardyn was sure to stroll slowly, poking his head into every room he came across.

Finally he found himself at the sunken kitchen, where three steps down the checkered rich redwood floor abruptly changes to cobblestone and instead of white marble it’s loose gray brick for walls, it’s the only circular room in the house- with a curved wrought iron window sitting at least fifteen feet above the highest countertop, casting a sharp sliver of pale winter light into an otherwise warmly lit room.

The kitchen is perhaps the fondest place in his home for Ardyn, it’s the only place he didn’t build in the house, it’s in fact one of the oldest places in Insomnia, it was a farm of some sort before the rest of the city was built around it. Ardyn can distinctly remember as a young boy with scuffed knees and wild hair, how he’d walk or run past the massive pile of bricks and the only portion of the building left was the mill itself.

He was seventeen when they’d planned to tear it down the rest of the way, and Ardyn had voiced his disappointment that they’d waste history over dinner, his father, the King and ever the opportunist when it came to instilling principles in his sons, immediately asked what he’d do. And of course, he’d build into it, integrate it into a home or shelter or public building of some sort.

And so his father offered him this, he’d get to build his own dream home there with the mill attached, but he had to be there every day to help build it himself.

And here we are, a massive home where the oldest part of the building is a kitchen with a ceiling that's four floors high.

But back to the point-

He can hear the giggling, louder now. His daughters quiet bubbly voice and the slightly lower, stranger voice of her caretaker, the only person that had not only been kind and patient enough to her for Ardyn’s taste, but also with an agreeable enough personality that the two had become fast friends.

It’s when he steps up the three steps into the dining room that he finds them, Camellia in her wheelchair- he’d carved elaborate designs into it himself a few months before, ‘only the finest for the most beautiful Princess in all of Eos’ he’d said, she’d giggled and her warm blue eyes sparkled at the words- bent over snickering as her caretaker Gentiana whispered gossip about the nobles her age in Lucis into her ear.

“My my, don’t you both know it’s unladylike to speak foul of suitors?” He’d taken off his hat and placed it on the rack, grinning as his daughters eyes snapped to him and she lit up like stars in the sky.

“Father! You didn’t inform me you’d be home today! I would’ve better prepared a welcome home for you.” He’d approached her before she could begin the arduous task of wheeling out from under the table to greet him and knelt down to kiss her on the cheek warmly.

“Precisely why I said nothing. I don’t want grand gatherings, little flower. I just want you here and happy.”

She’d hummed her acknowledgement and squealed when he suddenly snatched her up out of the chair, plopping her down into the seat closest to his as cooks began to place food down for them. They’d discussed their weeks with each other and Camellia had nearly gotten her father to choke to death on his wine when she asked if he met any ravishing ladies on the road. Then she got Gentiana to laugh when he’d incredulously denied and she without missing a beat followed up with: “My apologies, any handsome men?”

And though this day was the beaming idol of a pleasant time, not every day was, there were never arguments, no. But Camellia’s health varied harshly from day to day, there were the times where she was okay enough to try and hide the pain, giving him a nervous smile and hoping he didn’t notice how puffy her eyes were from crying.

But then there were the times where it was so terrible, so achingly bad, that he’d have to come up to her bedridden frame and hold her against his chest while she shook and hiccuped and whined into his collar from the pain. And he’d want to cry hearing her rasp and wheeze and fight desperately for oxygen.

After that evening Ardyn’s patience wore very thin, not willing to keep waiting, waiting for Tiel to inform him of whether or not he got the schematics for his daughters’ braces. Until one day the schematics by themselves were at the foot of his doorstep. With a little note that said ‘Sorry I’m late. P.S. Please don’t hunt me down and skewer me your highest-ness-est-ness-however-them-fancy-titles-goes.’

He’d laughed like a madman for a hot moment, before peeling open the parchment and looking at what was inside.

And suddenly it wasn’t a victory anymore. Because these were some of the strangest blueprints he’d ever seen. Elaborate copper and mythril rods and thick leather bindings and soft cloth and wool so the metal didn’t dig into the wearer's skin. A need for proper measurement so it’d fit right and a lot of heated metalwork.

Anyone with enough experience in any of these departments would know what they were, and where they came from, making it all too easy to hold the knowledge over the Prince’s head. So he set off looking to rent out an entire smithy. If he couldn’t hire someone, he’d just have to do it himself.

And that made for some very interesting stories. Ones where he grabbed red hot mythril and it immediately burned straight through his skin and almost to the bone. Or the many many times he stabbed holes clean through his fingers and the palms of his hands as well. All the massive gashes from incidents with carving tools, and worst of all was an incident that wasn’t even his fault! Equipment in the smithy gave way and his arm was crushed underneath very heavy metal shards, it’d taken the smiths an hour to get the debris off and even then the whole thing looked chopped up and almost purple.

It was a damned miracle that he didn’t lose his arm. And upon returning home after heavy medical attention his daughter had grabbed him and begged that he stopped with whatever mad gift he was making for her, that no gift could be worth watching him inflict one more injury upon himself for her.

It was one of the only times where his daughter and Gentiana took care of him instead of the other way around, fatigue, exhaustion, blood loss, and a badly mangled arm finally got him to take a six blessed break from his mission in the smithy.

But alas, despite Camellia’s desperately trying to convince him to stop, six weeks later he was back to the forge working on his masterpiece. And he was close. So close.

It took another two months to finish it. And while Ardyn was disappointed in himself for being so gods’ damned slow, it was here and that was all that mattered now, he needed to remind himself to get something very expensive as a gift for Gentiana, as she was so kind as to provide his daughters measurements no hassle.

His hands were bruised darkly again, but this time he remembered to have the courtesy to bandage them before taking his gift to his daughter. And my it was heavier than he expected. However, spread out the weight should be rather comfortable.

At this time she was not at home, rather in the castle visiting her aunt and uncle, and when he found her she was out in the courtyard, with Gentiana reading her books as she let her feet rest in the water.

He’d ‘hidden’ the bag with the braces behind his back and cleared his throat comically loud, and when Camellia had turned to look at him she’d giggled at the very obvious bag behind his back.

“Hello, father! Say, before you begin talking, could you help me to my wheelchair, seeing as your hands are so very clearly unoccupied.” She’d laughed when he gave her a crooked grin.

He’d set the bag on the ground and immediately scooped her up into his arms before delicately placing her into her seat. Making note of the fact that once again Gentiana was smiling and staring directly at him. With her eyes closed.

“My gift is done, darling, are you ready to see what it is?” He’d eagerly scurried over to the bag, picking it up in both arms and laying it slowly onto her lap. And when she’d opened the bag and saw what was inside, she was already almost in tears.

“Y-you made me the braces? This is what you’ve been working on for so long?” She’d never taken her father for a shallow man but still she hadn’t expected him to give her this of all the things in the world.

He watched from the side as she pulled the bracing out, in Ardyn’s opinion it looked almost identical to a padded, leathery skeleton without it’s head, and he watched as her face scrunched up in pain before relaxing into a relieved sigh each time she placed a brace on.

By the time she’d finished placing each item on all her fingers and toes, arms and legs, neck and torso she’d been in tears. Not from pain or frustration this time. But from the relief, it pushed and held muscle and bone and joints and frayed and worn out nerves into place and she cried because she hadn’t felt this good in years.

And it most certainly made sure there was no way in hell she would walk, as it kept her stiff as a ramrod underneath her clothes in every point of her body, but she didn’t care, she didn’t walk anyways. And she’d practically thrown herself into her fathers arms and wept and thanked him over and over for this wonderful gift of his.

And to him. Every injury, frustration and pain, was worth it just for that alone.