#towards romance is SO good and interesting!! same with hilda!!!

[dragonsarecats]

not to be perpetually obsessed with sylvain and hilda's friendship (i am), but as I get back into my maddening new game regular golden deer run i truly do think their meta is so interesting because their personal skills are really perfect for each other, and yet the game goes out of it's way to make their relationship purely platonic! parking hilda and sylvain next to each other on the front lines in every battle is just good strategy--it makes sylvain far better at counter attacking, and can often be used to drag attention off of hilda in early game before she can easily one turn kill someone! sylvain is pretty much THE character for getting talked about in alternate routes to his main (obviously because of his easy recruiting methods if you play fem. Byleth--which again, the way Sylvain's combat meta and his story meta intersect is SO interesting at all times to me) despite not being a character like Ashe, for example, who's built into the narrative of being able to rerecruit in the war phase and I just. really like how he an hilda interact in honestly either azure moon OR golden deer? by and large it does NOT change their friendship but the context is truly wild. what do you mean sylvain's best combat partner in game is the person who sees dimitri die and is devastated by not being able to save him (paralleing to felix), and refuses to change houses unless you cannot kill claude in that route!!! what do you MEAN hilda's best combat partner in game is the person most easily able to swap houses because he's desperate to escape his situation to the point of leaving behind the people he cares about most (he gets ONE A support outside of his house and it's DOROTHEA which is INSANE) which is demonstrated in the fact that he will tell you to kill his brother if he's at that fight!!!

these two. man...

[justrandomselfships]

@fe-oc-week day 2: Relationships.

OFC I'M GONNA START WITH SYLVAIN. Here is longer rant post abt their relationship.

If we want to put it in a basic way they are just friends to lovers where their friendship time had them cross a lot of boundaries between friendship and romance like their casual affections. They never expected anything of each other, and maybe that's the reason why they grew so close (and why they never thought that they might be in love).

Now time to talk about her closest friends! Where she considers a lot of them as such haha- rant post about (Claude, Hilda and Cyril) (Ferdinand, Lysithea, Marianne)

But no matter what, her nr1 bestie is Claude! These two are the definition of chaos. They like goofing around more than anything, but at the same time they have unlimited trust towards each other.

With Hilda they just get each other. They understand their feelings better than anyone. They may not have many common interests but somehow they always find something to talk about.

Cyril is like a brother to her. She's very protective of him even though he doesn't need it and she knows that. She just likes to go the extra mile for the sake of her friend!

Ferdinand is someone she thought she was in love with before realizing her feelings for Sylvain (I never mentioned it lol)... But her feelings for him are fully platonic! They love learning things from each other to put things simply.

Heather's relationship to Lysithea is mostly about the fact that they care about each other's well being more than necessary. Their ideals and way to live their life is pretty much opposite, but they still care about each other a lot.

With Marianne, Heather is just super impressed by her- which confuses Marianne. They both adore animals and tend to spend their time just enjoying the moment, rather than forcing a conversation.

Now that the most important people are settled... Here is the rest of the Golden Deer!

You may or may have not noticed it but Heather is close to all Golden Deer ladies... except Leonie. That is for a reason that they have no way of getting along. Heather finds Leonie judgemental, while Leonie finds Heather spoiled. They do "settle" their differences in their supports- but even after that they don't consider each other as friends.

Lorenz is someone Heather always had troubles even starting a conversation with. Although there is no denying the difference, her mind just keeps comparing him to her previous suitors- that's why she doesn't want to talk to him. ever. BUT IN THE HYPOTHETICAL SUPPORTS I'VE WRITTEN THINGS DO GET BETTER.

Raphael is just overwhelming to her in a good way. His positive attitude is exactly what she needs and so the two don't have much issues getting along. In supports I wrote with him and her- he helps her with her eating habits.

Ignatz is another person whom Heather is very impressed with. She loves all kinds of art- so of course she'd be interested in his paintings as well. She doesn't stop talking about how skilled he is and she really wants to motivate him to never drop this hobby.

Other important notes:

her favourite professor is Manuela

she loves hearing Alois' puns and often tries to think of something better

she's scared of Seteth due to respecting him too much.

she'd have the biggest trouble from the Golden deers talking to Byleth casually during first few chapters.

[fireemblems24]

Ao3 Ship Thoughts

To sate my desire to read Three Houses fan fiction and jump in on the shipping comments that have upticked recently, I decided to see what ships were the most popular on Ao3.

Some of it's exactly what I expected, and one in particular is just . . . what, why?

Ao3 is probably the closest you'll get to truly determining which ships are the most popular, or at least have the highest number of passionate fans. So I was curious to see who the top ships were. Here's the ones listed, in order:

Sylvain/Felix

Dimitri/Byleth

Edelgard/Byleth

Ferdinand/Hubert

Claude/Byleth

Dimitri/Felix

Dimitri/Claude

Felix/Annette

Caspar/Linhardt

Hilda/Marrianne

If I exclude the Byleth ships, Dimitri/Dedue, Byleth/Seteth, and Ingrid/Sylvain take up the three missing spots.

Byleth's Ships

I'm shocked. Really, truly shocked that Byleth/Lord is popular. Never wouldn't guessed. I am, of course, being sarcastic. If someone asked me to list who I think would show up in the top 10 most popular ships, the first three I'd list would be Byleth/Lord.

What I find more interesting is that Byleth/Seteth is the fourth option for Byleth. AO3 writers, I officially bow to your taste. It pleases me quite a bit that, if you're not going with one of the main lords, you all want Seteth. This I can agree with.

As for the Byleth/Lord ships, I feel kind of mixed on them. Every lord interacts with characters who have more depth than Byleth, but I still get the appeal. I'm going to deep dive into all of the lords relationships with Byleth later, but here's a quick summary.

Edelgard/Byleth is shoved down your throat so hard it's nearly impossible to ship Edelgard with someone else and even shortchanges her potential to have deep, non-romantic relationships because Edelgard puts Byleth on a pedestal that no one else can reach by her own dialogue.

Byleth's character arc works well alongside Dimitri's. While the relationship is pushed and fanservice-y scenes exist, the game leaves enough breathing room to see Byleth as a mentor/therapist/teacher figure, and Dimitri has no shortage of deep, meaningful relationships with others should you not want to do the whole self-insert thing. It's a good balance.

Claude and Byleth are the opposite of Edelgard and Byleth. They read almost more like friends than lovers. It's a breath of fresh air, honestly. Claude/Byleth seems like the healthiest possible romance for Byleth/lord because the lord in question here doesn't seem as dependent. That said, it lacks lacks romance and shipping fuel. I may complain about fanservice, but the Byleth/Claude dynamic does show why scenes of holding hands in the rain and teasing about badly drawn images might actually come in handy.

Edelgard's Ships

I'm not surprised, at all, that Edelgard has no popular ships outside of Byleth. Dialogue consistently shortchanges Edelgard's relationships with others by having her verbally, repeatedly put Byleth into a special "other" that no one else can reach for her.

Though, I guess I'm a bit surprised at the extreme lack of Edelgard/Hubert. I feel these two have a lot of shipping fuel and their supports left things unresolved. I've come across the sentiment in fandom many times that ship where things are tied off nicely with a bow leave less to explore and aren't as interesting, so I am bummed out no one seems interested in fleshing out Hubert/Edelgard more.

The outlook for Edelgard fanfic and me seems pretty limited. I don't like Edelgard/Byleth for various reasons beyond this scope of this post. I was kind of hoping there were some Edelgard/Hubert or Edelgard/Dorothea character study stuff that could help me get past how much Byleth gets in the way of Edelgard's character growth, but it seems fanfic writers only want to write about her and Byleth, which is a bummer.

On that note, I'm also surprised but also glad that Dimitri/Edelgard isn't a big thing. I thought it might be because tragedy of childhood friends turned enemies by events out of their control is popular. These two seem wildly incompatible though, so I'm glad people seem to agree.

Claude's Ships

Ok. Claude/Byleth. Expected. I'm feel positively towards the ship since they seem mostly good for each other even if it's not getting my heart all fluttering.

I'm surprised there's no Claude/Petra or Claude/Hilda. Those two are my personal favorites for him. I would've given Claude/Petra the edge given how they can uniquely relate to each other, but Hilda's scene in CF really gave Petra a run for her money. Even more so that Petra and Claude have obligations to two different nations and Hilda has no such complication.

But whattttt???? Claude/Dimitri? It's in the top 10?? More people ship Dimitri with Claude than Dedue?? I thought lord/lord might be popular, but I honestly thought Dimitri/Edelgard would take it, not Claude/Dimitri. They never really talk. So I'm a bit confused about this one. Though, intrigued by the idea.

Can I take a wild guess this partly stems from Claude having no real other viable M/M ships outside of M!Byleth and fics that plays up the chapter I'm about to play in AM (Dimitri saving Claude) or "what ifs" VW routes where Dimitri doesn't . . . you know.

I am really curious about this dynamic though. Because I like Claude - a lot. He's a character I want to get attached to. From experience, the fastest way for me to like a character is to give them a significant relationship I enjoy with a character I already love and the new character gets absorbed by proxy. So, fans, please, tell me more about this Dimitri/Claude. I am curious.

Dimitri's Ships

I am as unsurprised by Dimitri's being one of the biggest repeat offenders on here as I am by Edelgard being Byleth or bust. If Edelgard is written to fanservice the player by making the self-insert her one and only, Dimitri is fanservicing the player by being a shipping magnet. The writers knew what they were doing and who they were trying to appeal to with these two characters.

Dimitri/Byleth is a given. The game plays up the romance angle, but it's not at the expense of Dimitri's other relationships.

What I'm more interested in, though, is Felix/Dimitri. Between angsty CF stories, post-AM slow-burns, or fleshing out missing scenes from their shared childhood, there's just a lot to work with and a rich context to use their relationship - spun romantically - to explore each character. Felix and Dimitri's relationship is layered, complicated, heart breaking, and potentially healing. The fact they're two incredibly attractive guys doesn't hurt its popularity either, I'm sure. I'm not surprised it ranked that highly.

Claude/Dimitri surprises me. If two lords were going to get on this list together, I would've put bets on Edelgard/Dimitri. Since Claude and Dimitri's relationship is fairly unexplored, I'm really interested to see more about what exactly this is about. Don't get me wrong. I figured people would pair two main characters who are that good looking together, I just didn't think it would rank that high.

I am, slightly sad, that Dimitri/Dedue isn't a bit higher, but happy it seems to have some steam. I get it though. Dedue's not as flashy as some of the others on the shipping list and their relationship is so full of fluff by their A support it lacks the angst Felix/Dimitri and Dimitri/Byleth can draw out nor is as much of a play around with "what ifs" as Claude/Dimitri is.

Non-Lords/Main Characters Ships:

This list, more than anything else, shows AO3's penchant for writing M/M and F/F works for better or worse. Whether this phenomena stems from lack of representation, fetishizing by the fanbase, deeply ingrained gender roles making fictional M/F ships either less appealing to many fanfic writers, or M/F romances often getting assumed leading to less substantial writing compared to friendships - I don't know. Probably all of it.

There are a few surprises here for me. Felix/Sylvain is that popular? I figured they'd make the top 10, but #1 is surprising. Though, looking through the first page of the tag, it's true Felix/Sylvain have fics just for them, but it also seems like a common pairing in Dimitri/Byleth and Dimitri/Claude fics. It's the same story with Caspar/Linhardt, who I honestly didn't expect to see. They had a fair number of their own fics, but it seems many CF fics put them together rather than focus solely on them. Felix/Annette also balances being the main focus and an adjunct pairing. Marianne/Hilda seemed to have less fics where they took center stage and more they were one of many ships listed.

Ferdinand/Hubert having a lot of fics isn't surprising. I don't really care too much for it personally, but I can see the appeal of it.

I'm surprised Catherin/Shamir is nowhere in sight. Likewise, Rhea is absolutely nowhere. Kind of sad by the lack of adult characters in general. Especially Rhea. I think it's a pretty big sign of how the writing's treated her that such an important character is totally absent in this list.

Not surprised at all to see Felix also get so many ships. He, like Dimitri, seems designed on purpose to ship with many characters. I do really wish Dorothea and Seteth would get more attention though.

What do you guys think? Anything that surprised you? How do you feel about any of these ships and there popularity or lack thereof? Are there characters/pairings you wish got more attention? Any popular ships you despise (spill that tea)?

[sickly-sweet-imagines]

@mommymooze requested: “FE3h Valentines day Confession from Hubert x reader. He wants to be soft, but how do you be soft when all you ever do is threaten?“

I really loved this prompt- I might’ve gone a little off topic with it but I hope you still enjoy!

– – – – –

The day of love was rapidly approaching at the officer’s academy. Flowers could be spotted everywhere, from student’s desks to office doors. The whole monastery seemed to have a lighter feeling- seeing all the merchants with seasonal, heart shaped goods seemed to put everyone in higher spirits. Or, most people, anyway- Hubert was still maintaining his frightening exterior as strongly as ever. “You are allowed to enjoy yourself, you know.” Edelgard was once again repeating a sentiment she’d been trying to convince him of since the first bouquets started to emerge. “You do not constantly have to be so dreary when there is a festival to enjoy soon.” She wasn’t typically inclined towards holidays created by the church, but Petra seemed familiar with the day, meaning it must’ve existed before the church, or created individually from it, so she let herself enjoy it. “Dorothea has softened you.” “Hubert, I can enjoy a holiday without changing my resolve. And I implore you to do the same.” The conversation went about as well as it always does, with Edelgard excusing herself from the room and leaving Hubert to once again silently brood over everything going on. You, on the other hand, were in the middle of a conversation with Hilda, seemingly intent on finding out who you want to ask to be your valentine so she can... Push you in the right direction. You were not budging on the topic. “Come on, just tell me! I promise I won’t share it with a soul~” You both knew that wasn’t true. Besides- even if it was and she really would keep the secret, you weren’t about to tell Hilda of all people about your romantic interest in Hubert Von Vestra, local curse-giver and general frightening presence. She could see she was getting nowhere. “Fine, if you don’t want to tell me you don’t have to, but you’d better not ask for my advice later!” Her tone was playful, but you knew she was just a tad bitter about it. You returned to your quarters soon after, sitting at your desk and debating whether you wanted to write more unsent love notes or just daydream. Both seemed like very effective uses of your time. Before you can make a decision, the mental debate process is interrupted by a harsh knock on your door. You weren’t anticipating anyone stopping by- though unexpected visits were a side effect of the love in the air. After calling “who is it?” to no response, you walk to your door and try to gaze through the peephole. No one was there. A collection of black roses greet you when you open your door, accompanied by a card with nothing in it save Hubert’s signature. This wasn’t exactly encouraging. Black roses were associated with death. Hubert was associated with... Similarly scary things. Your mind was not filled with confidence. Had you been too obvious about your crush? Did he dislike your interest in him? Were you going to mysteriously disappear this month? Later that day, you walk past the greenhouse, peeking inside to see who was scouring the flowers to add to their bouquets. You spot Hubert in one of the far corners. You step inside to get a better look at what he was doing. Surprisingly, when you got close enough to see him he was not doing anything malicious or dangerous, but dethorning another collection of black roses. He seemed extremely focused on the task, eyes constantly scanning the stems to make sure he hadn’t missed any thorns. It was that moment, seeing him taking all the sharp edges off of the flowers, that it clicked in your head- he wasn’t trying to send you an ominous warning, he was just... Not one for bright colors. “Hubert,” He jumps when you say his name, too focused on his task to have noticed you there before. “I- may I ask you something?” He seems to hesitate, brushing thorns off of his clothes before standing up with the black roses in his hand. “Yes... Of course.” The intimidation factor really isn’t gonna make this easier at all, is it? You bite your cheek as you build your courage. “I was wondering if you would... You might want to be...” “If I might like to sit with you for the romantic festivities?” Well, not quite how you would’ve worded it, but he was right on the mark- you nod at him. “Ah... I believe I may have taken too long, then.” You hear him chuckle under his breath. “I intended on writing a more formal request to deliver with these, but if you’d prefer it in words... Yes, I would... Want nothing more than to join you.” He holds the bouquet out to you. You notice his hands are shaking. “Really? I- thank you, Hubert, I- I didn’t think you’d be interested in participating, much less with me-” You take the flowers from him and smell them to stop your nerves. “I admit, I do not typically see merit in these holidays, but I... My thought process has shifted, much thanks to Lady Edelgard’s advice.” His romancing was certainly not on par with some of the bigger flirts of the monastery. Then again, that’s probably why you like him so much.

[gascon-en-exil]

So, what about the ladies' side of the gay to straight spectrum? Personally, I'm under the impression that some of the paired endings on that front were shoehorn in for fanservice rather than the couples having actual romantic chemistry.

Also got an anon asking for the same thing:

what female characters i FE 3H come off as extremely wlw even though they can't romance F!Byleth? And what bisexual female options do you think don't fit? For example Sothis and Rhea don't seem bisexual at all, and altough that might be because of limited interactions, they don't seem to show any interest in any of them. What's your thoughts?

I’m going to have to defer here. I’m nowhere near as good at reading female characters or lesbian subtext. I remember when people were talking about the gayest characters a few months back opinions were split on the women, some leaning toward Dorothea and others Catherine. I will say that to me Sothis, Rhea, and - yes - Edelgard come off as Byleth-sexual rather than organically bi. I know Edelgard has paired endings with other women and that Edelthea at least in popular in fandom, but none of them strike me as very romantic. Some others I just can’t parse out at all, like Hilda/Marianne and that Annette/Hilda support where they fall asleep in bed together and I got multiple interpretations of how gay that was when I asked. Someone else will have to make that tier list.

[nicolewrites]

We Stand, Fate-Tested - IV

I'm still stupid stressed over school and procrastinating so I'm not sure when I'll get part 5 out, but here's part 4 for the meantime.

Rating: T+ Genre: Mystery, Friendship, Romance Characters: [Byleth/My Unit, Dimitri B.], [Byleth/My Unit, Claude R.] Words: 5,458

There's something odd about the 8th of the Ethereal Moon. / Marriage is work too.

AO3 | FFN

IV - Of Memories I’ve Lost

Garreg Mach University - 8 Ethereal Moon, 732 AU

Byleth was glad when Red Wolf Moon was over. She had been drowning in her own work as well as the marking for the class she was TAing. Because Seteth was teaching three different classes on top of his own research, he had delegated the marking of the term papers for the class to Byleth.

It really shouldn’t have been such a big deal, but Byleth had struggled to get them done on time thanks to her progressing research and managing the applications and interviews for the expedition. The start date for the project was rapidly approaching and, as of the previous week, they had finally managed to choose the undergrads would be a part of the team and had been rapidly working with them to try to get their skills up to snuff before they were handling real artifacts.

Even so, the marking was finally done and the essays sat in three towering stacks on her desk, just begging for a breeze to sweep by and knock them all over. Byleth was currently planning the first of several workshops that would teach practical skills to the undergrads. She kept glancing at the door of her office, waiting for the first students to come by to pick up their essays and she nearly spelt Lysithea’s name wrong on a sheet before she managed to shake away her distraction.

She looked down at the sheet in front of her and the list of eight names that she and Seteth had painstakingly chosen. There were the natural fits in Lysithea and Linhardt from Byleth’s tutorial as well as Ingrid, who had had an exceptionally well-written application. From Seteth’s tutorial there were also Annette Dominic and Ignatz Victor. The last three students were Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard. Byleth had a sneaking suspicion that their applications had been all written together and that they had all been Claude’s idea.

Nonetheless, they had their team of eight: Lysithea, Linhardt, Ingrid, Annette, Ignatz, Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard. Their applications had all been excellent and Byleth had been pleased with the level of enthusiasm exhibited by a group of undergraduate students, especially since technically none of them were actually Archaeology majors.

Someone knocked on the door and Byleth looked up, placing her pen down. Annette stood in the doorway, smiling shyly, as another girl stood just behind her. Byleth beckoned Annette in and the redhead came in, biting her lip and looking a bit skittish.

“Here for your essay?” Byleth asked.

Annette nodded. “I know your office hours haven’t technically started, but I wanted to beat the rush.”

Byleth waved her off. “No worries at all.” She flipped through the first few essays in her first stack until she found Annette’s essay and she pulled it out. She handed it over and Annette peeked at the grade before beaming and making her way out of the room.

After that, there was a steady stream of students that came by her office to pick up their term papers as well as to ask questions about the discussions planned for tutorial in the coming weeks. Byleth had handed back nearly all of the essays when her office hours officially ended and she started putting the rest of them away in the filing cabinet she kept for assignments and paperwork for the class.

“I hope we’re not too late, Teach,” a familiar voice called out just as she was closing the cabinet drawer.

Byleth looked over her shoulder and saw Claude standing in front of her desk, flanked by Lorenz and Hilda, the two friends who were in Byleth’s tutorial with him. She shook her head and pulled the drawer back open, fishing out the trio’s essays.

“I wanted to come right at the start at the hour, but these idiots said we should come at the end,” Lorenz said as Byleth retrieved the papers. It wasn’t surprising to her.

Hilda snorted a laugh. “We would have been late getting here if it wasn’t for me, so I’d watch your tone, Lorenz,” she snipped in reply.

Byleth handed Lorenz and Hilda their essays and was about to hand Claude’s back when he cleared his throat.

“I actually had a question about the essay, Teach,” he said before he’d even taken the paper out of her hand.

Byleth blinked in surprise and her grip lingered on Claude’s assignment for just long enough that it was awkward before he swept it out of her grip and sat in the chair on the other side of her desk.

“I’ll catch up with you guys back at the house,” Claude said to Hilda and Lorenz. His friends just shrugged and made their way out of the room, bickering about punctuality as they went.

Byleth watched them leave before she turned her gaze back to Claude and raised an eyebrow. “Did you really have a question about the essay?”

Claude grinned. “Just wanted to know what you thought of my topic.” He tapped the circled 88 on the front of the page and winked at her. “Apparently I picked a good one.”

Byleth shook her head. After three months she was getting to know Claude’s antics well enough. He was criminally light-hearted, but wicked smart. He liked to tease and poke fun, but he was serious about his work when it came down to it. Since the first time they’d spoken at Anna’s about Byleth’s research Claude had made it a habit to try and stop in on her office hours as often as possible so that they could talk about whatever research Byleth was currently doing.

It was a slightly weird relationship given that Byleth was the TA, but the semester was almost over and she somehow knew that just because she wasn’t seeing him in tutorial once a week, it didn’t mean he was going to stop coming around. And she didn’t really want him to stop. It was nice to talk about her passion to someone who was just as interested as she was.

“What do you want, Claude?” she prompted again.

He smirked. “Come on, Teach, tell me what’s new this week,” he urged.

Byleth rolled her eyes, but she turned her laptop towards him so that he could see what she was working on. “I’ve been doing stuff for Seteth all week so I haven’t really had any big breakthroughs since we last spoke.”

Claude scanned the screen of her computer curiously. “Do we have a start date yet?”

“Guardian Moon 17,” Byleth said. “You can pass that along to the others if you’d like. I’ll be sending out the email this weekend. We have our first training session next Wednesday night for everyone.”

“Wednesday?” Claude repeated, looking a bit perplexed.

“Problem?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Maybe. I have archery on Wednesdays, and so does Ignatz, but if this is later in the evening we should be fine.”

Byleth leaned forward a bit and gave Claude her own sly grin. “Maybe I’ll just bring everyone to watch so we can put the pressure on you.”

He shrugged. “If you want to see me shoot flawlessly, be my guest.”

Byleth rolled her eyes and turned her computer back to face her. She tapped out a few more notes on the page before glancing back at Claude. “Did you actually need something?” she asked curiously.

“I came here to give you something,” he admitted.

Byleth was surprised, but Claude reached into his bag and pulled out a folded brochure. He unfolded it so she could see the front and passed it to her. It was in a mix of Almyran and Fódlani, but Byleth recognized the logo on the front of it.

She ran a fingernail over the looping script and glanced at Claude, furrowing her brow. “The Royal Almyran Gallery? This is in Almyra, you know,” Byleth murmured. “They’re not exactly jumping at the idea of a Fódlani researcher entering their royal galleries.”

“You’re hitting all the same deadends as everyone else who has ever studied the Guardian of Order,” Claude pointed out. “There’s no way that you’re going to make progress unless you try to tackle something that other people haven’t attempted to dig into.”

“Like the underside of Garreg Mach in the old monastery ruins, not in a foreign national gallery,” Byleth said. She placed the brochure down and shook her head. “I can’t exactly just get up and go to Almyra right now anyways.”

“What about over the winter break?” Claude asked. “The galleries aren’t busy during the holidays. Almyrans usually spend the holidays completely absorbed in family and celebration.”

Byleth spun the paper underneath her fingers. She had to admit, the idea was intriguing. Almyra had done a much better job of preserving artifacts from the Unification Era since they hadn’t suffered the Scorch of Garreg Mach or the riots in Fhirdiad that had followed it. Even so, the National Board of History in Fódlan had seen the Almyran collection and deemed it unimportant to Fódlan’s own history. She wasn’t sure exactly what the Royal Gallery could offer her, but she also didn’t know what it might have that could be useful for her work, even if it was all just speculation.

“You will consider it, won’t you?” Claude asked. “I’ll be in Almyra over the winter break if you did want to check it out.”

Byleth finally relented, picking up the brochure and sliding it into one of the drawers on her desk. “I’ll consider it,” she agreed.

Claude grinned. “Excellent. Now, tell me about that crazy dream you had last night.”

Byleth’s eyebrows shot up. She had said nothing of her weird dream to Claude. She had very briefly discussed it with Seteth in private a few hours ago, but she had said nothing to her student about it. She hadn’t the faintest idea about how he knew she had even had a weird dream.

“I had to see Dr. Cichol about a history assignment and I just happened to overhear part of your conversation,” Claude confessed when she had been stunned into silence. “I only know that there was a dream and that apparently it was weird.”

Byleth frowned. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business. That was a private conversation, Claude.”

He shrugged, looking only mildly apologetic. “You don’t want to get my opinion on it at all?”

Byleth leaned away from him, pursing her lips. “And why would I want your opinion?”

Claude tilted his head and looked at her. “I don’t know. For the same reason you haven’t kicked my ass for asking you a million questions about your thesis and for being probably the worst student in your tutorial section?”

“The worst student?”

“Well, most people aren’t on a first-name basis outside of tutorial with a TA, are they?”

“That’s just because I can’t get rid of you,” she teased.

He smiled at her again and the glint in his green eyes made her chest hurt suddenly. The satisfied look on his face combined with the mischievous gleam was pulling at something in her memory and she couldn’t help but remember the weird dream from the previous night. She dropped her gaze to the desk and took a deep breath.

“You’re sure that we’d never met before this year, right? We’d never had a class together or chatted at a party?” Byleth asked. The teasing humour had disappeared from her voice and Claude seemed to pick up on it.

His brow furrowed and he dropped his amused pretenses. “No, I’m pretty sure I would have remembered that,” he said.

Byleth bit her lip and nodded. “Have you ever felt like everything you ever did was leading you in circles?”

Claude looked genuinely interested now, his playfulness suppressed by his curiosity. “At times, maybe,” he said. “Something about this is familiar to you?”

Byleth opened the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a notebook. She flipped through it to the page where she had made the sketch that morning, after her dream. She turned the page to face Claude and let him pick it up to study it closer.

“It’s a throne,” he noted. “It looks like it’s Old Civilization.”

“It’s pre-Unification,” Byleth agreed. “That symbol,” she pointed to the roughly sketched swirl on the back of it, “makes me think it would be religious. Seteth says he doesn’t recognize it and I haven’t found any record of it in the old monastery’s records.”

“Maybe it’s in the capital somewhere?” Claude asked. “Dimitri and Edelgard have spent a lot more time in Fhirdiad than I have, so I can’t be certain.”

“It’s not in Fhirdiad,” Byleth said. “I don’t know why I know that, but I know it’s not there. I dreamt of a large, empty stone chamber for three days in a row and then last night I dreamt of the same chamber, but this throne was there.” She paused, recalling the longing that had coursed through her when she had seen it for the first time in her dream. “I wanted to sit on it,” she murmured.

Claude looked puzzled and he slid the notebook back to her. “Honestly, while I’m not one to subscribe to all the spirit stuff, it seems to me like you have real memories of it that have been surfacing slowly.”

Byleth closed the book and slid it back into the drawer. She brushed her thumb over the handle on the drawer and frowned. “That’s honestly what I’ve been kind of afraid of,” she admitted.

- ~ -

It was late in the evening by the time Byleth had finally finished up everything she had wanted to do on campus. The sun had set almost two hours ago and the dim, artificial yellow lighting across campus provided only enough illumination to make every student or staff that passed by her a looming shadow.

She pulled her coat tighter around her stomach and burrowed her nose into the scarf she was wearing. Byleth had just left the part of campus where the Archaeology and History departments had their offices and she was headed through the main part of the campus when she spotted a lone figure standing on the quad in front of one of the dean’s offices.

Her curiosity got the better of her, and she slowly approached the figure, squinting through the gloom to see if she recognized them. To her surprise, as the figure tilted their head up, illuminating their features, Byleth recognized Dimitri as he stared solemnly at the building. Almost immediately she stopped walking, pausing around 30 feet away from him. She wanted to approach him and check in on him, but at the same time, the moment felt strangely private and she wanted to respect that.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to make a decision, as Dimitri turned and spotted her himself. His shoulders straightened and he tucked his hands into his pockets. He strode towards her and Byleth noted the polite smile that he was wearing. It looked forced, but practiced at the same time and Byleth felt her heart clench. It was a smile achingly similar to the one she had worn after her father had died.

“Hello Byleth,” Dimitri greeted politely once he had gotten close enough.

“Hello Dimitri,” she replied cordially. “What are you doing here so late?”

He laughed lightly. “Well, we are getting into the end of term and I’ve got a few last assignments to turn in by the end of this week. I had been working in the library, but they’re closed now, so I’m headed home.”

He was lying. She wasn’t sure exactly how she knew, but maybe it was simply the fact that she knew Dimitri was a business student and the business library was at the south end of campus, not near the centre where they currently stood in the cold night air.

Byleth frowned. “Is everything alright, Dimitri?” she pressed carefully.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, smiling ruefully, but much more genuinely. “You are very perceptive,” he admitted. “Everything is alright though,” he assured. “I’ve just been feeling a bit off today. It’s like there’s something about this date, in particular, that is an itch I can’t scratch. I’d been trying to follow that feeling and I ended up here.”

Byleth glanced at the offices around the quad. This building was one of the oldest on campus and was part of the restored old monastery. Above each of the three main offices was a beautiful stone carving. From left to right they depicted a deer, a lion, and an eagle. They were the symbols of the three student-life houses that Claude had told her about, and if her research was true, they were also the symbols of the old Officer’s Academy that had been run out of the monastery.

“I get the feeling,” Byleth admitted. “It’s like there’s this string in your chest that’s yanking you along through memories that don’t feel like yours.”

“Yes,” Dimitri agreed. “I never spend much time on this part of campus, but this,” he gestured to the carving of the lion over their heads, “it feels so strangely familiar.”

“Maybe it’s the Blue Lions of old speaking through you,” Byleth suggested lightly and Dimitri laughed softly.

“I should like to think I would know if that were the case.”

He fell silent after a moment and Byleth studied him. He looked tired, but a lot less solemn than he had when she had first found him.

“I’m sorry about your parents,” Byleth said before she could stop herself.

Dimitri’s shoulders tensed, but then they relaxed and he sighed. “Yes, it seems like everyone is.”

Byleth reached out to touch his arm and he looked towards her. There was a deep, resonating sadness to the blue of his eyes and before she could stop herself, her hand had found its way to land on his cheek. Dimitri, to his credit, didn’t react to the boldness of the gesture and Byleth gently retracted her touch.

“I lost my father too,” she admitted quietly. “The circumstances were different, but I’m still sorry you had to go through that.”

Dimitri nodded. “I’ve been well supported, thankfully. I’m sorry for your loss as well. Unlike what people say, it doesn’t really get any easier.”

Byleth smiled sadly. “No, it doesn’t.”

A sharp, cool wind blew around them and Byleth bristled in her coat, shivering. She nearly stepped closer to Dimitri on an instinctual level but managed to catch herself before she could. She stepped away instead, leaving a respectable distance between them. They were familiar enough, but the intimacy in the moment they had shared was almost alarming to her and she needed a clear head.

“Get home safe, Dimitri,” Byleth said gently. She tugged her coat more tightly around herself and gave him one last reassuring smile. “I’ll see you in tutorial.”

- ~ - ~ - ~ -

Garreg Mach Monastery - 12 Lone Moon, 1 AU

“The church is really coming along, Your Grace,” Claude complimented. There was a teasing lilt to his voice when he said her title and Byleth elbowed him.

“Just because you don’t believe in the goddess, doesn’t mean nobody else does,” she scolded lightly.

Claude shrugged. “You’re the one who invited the foreign national to visit,” he pointed out.

Byleth sighed. He was right, but she didn’t want to admit it. She walked away from him instead, heading toward the Reception Hall of the monastery, assuming he would follow. He did so, after a few paces, and they walked silently back through the bustling halls of the monastery. Monks and knights would pause in their step to nod or bow to Byleth and she offered them the best smiles she could before they were passing her by and moving on with their tasks.

“It feels different around here now, doesn’t it?” Byleth asked as she led Claude into the Reception Hall.

“Maybe that’s just because we’ve all changed so much. It has been six years since we started our year at the Officer’s Academy. Cyril tells me that you’re reopening the academy in the Great Tree Moon of next year,” Claude commented.

Byleth laughed. “To say we’ve changed is a bit of an understatement. Fódlan has changed a lot too.”

“Definitely,” Claude agreed. “I can’t take anything away from you or His Majesty on that front. You two have done a wonderful job.”

Byleth paused in her step and studied him. “You could have helped us,” she reminded.

Claude laughed. “Yeah, but then I wouldn’t get to be here as foreign royalty. I would just be another Lord under His Majesty and the Almyrans would still be pounding at Fódlan’s Locket.”

Byleth sighed. “I suppose that’s true. What is it they have taken to calling you, the King of Dawn?”

He shrugged. “My father’s rule was stagnating. I suppose I have merely supplied a breath of fresh air for Almyrans. The new partnership with Fódlan has helped me curry more favour than I would like to admit.”

Before Byleth could reply, a familiar, booming voice pulled their attention across the Reception Hall: “Claude! Byleth!”

Byleth smiled at the familiar voice as she watched her husband approach them. He was smiling broadly as he took in Byleth and Claude. He paused to embrace Claude briefly before turning to Byleth and pressing a warm kiss against her cheek in greeting. Dimitri tried to pull away, but Byleth gripped his collar and planted a soft kiss on his lips before he could withdraw fully.

Claude laughed at her. “I see you two are the same as always.”

Dimitri slid one of his hands into hers as he smiled. “We try to be. How have you been Claude? We haven’t seen you in person since the Ethereal Moon.”

Byleth felt a pulse of unexpected bitterness rise in her chest and she bit down her retort. She didn’t want to snap at Dimitri when he was visiting the monastery, especially with how infrequent his visits had been recently. She didn’t want to complain, especially in front of Claude, about how she had spent almost as much time with Claude as she had with her husband since they’d been married.

Of course, it was a burden they had to bear. Byleth had a responsibility to the church at the monastery and Dimitri had a responsibility to the nation in Fhirdiad, so they spent much of their time separated by distance and work. It wasn’t exactly the married life she had imagined for them.

Claude and Dimitri had moved onto discussing some political motion that was in the works in Fhirdiad by the time Byleth managed to refocus on the conversation and she squeezed Dimitri’s hand. She stole a glance at him and noticed that he looked even more tired than he had when he had arrived three days prior.

“You must exclude me, Claude, my beloved, but I have something I have to do before dinner this evening. I will see you both then,” Dimitri said. He smiled at Claude and leaned down to give Byleth another brief kiss before he pulled his hand out of hers and was slipping away.

Byleth couldn’t manage to disguise her disappointment fast enough as she caught Claude giving her a curious look as Dimitri walked away. She quickly frowned and turned so Claude was only looking at her profile, hoping to dissuade whatever conversation he wanted to have about the interaction.

“This is different from the last time I was here,” Claude noted quietly. “His Kingliness is usually much better at picking up your signals. He was always better at it than anyone else, so it’s odd to see him so blind to it today.”

Byleth’s frown deepened. “We both have our own duties,” she said firmly. “There is no break for us in any of this.”

“No,” Claude agreed, “but surely a man can take a break to shower his wife with praises?”

Byleth sighed. “I don’t know why you think you’re qualified to speak on someone else’s relationship,” she pointed out sternly.

“Consider this the concern of a friend then,” he supplied. “Teach, I have never met a man more enamoured with a woman than Dimitri is with you. But, if that’s what all of your interactions have been like recently, something is wrong.”

Byleth sighed. “We got through the war,” she said simply. “We will get through this.”

She walked away from Claude then, not really caring if he followed her. It wasn’t that she was angry with him for his words, more frustrated that her own emotions regarding hers and Dimitri’s relationship had been so easy for him to discern. She was also frustrated that he had been right in the first place in noting the disconnect between the spouses. Besides their short, snipped conversations in the evenings and mornings, Byleth honestly couldn’t remember the last time she and Dimitri had had a real, personal conversation and it did make her nervous.

Without intending to, Byleth headed for the training grounds. It was an old habit she had of working out stress through fighting, something that had developed during her years growing up as a mercenary. The grounds were thankfully empty and Claude seemed to have picked up on her annoyance and had wisely chosen not to follow her.

Byleth set up a line of training dummies and then a line of magic targets on the far side of the hall. She forewent the training weapons, opting to work on her brawling skills. She picked the softest of the dummies and started with a few slow jabs before she worked into a faster, harder-hitting set that made her hands throb minorly. The pain was therapeutic, though. It reminded her that she was feeling and that helped, especially on days like this.

Once she had worn out her brawling drill, she chose to start in on her magic skills. Byleth called a crackling Thunder spell between her fingers and she turned to fire it at the targets she had set up, only to have to jerk her hand sharply left and blast lightning into the corner of the room, where it crackled and smoked with a bang.

Felix, who stood directly in front of her targets, seemed unphased as he strode towards her. Byleth folded her arms and frowned at him.

“I could have killed you,” she pointed out.

“I’ve taken a Thunder from you before,” he noted. “I’ve taken your spells at full-strength before, not when they were powered by your frustrations.”

Byleth blinked at him. “My frustrations?” she echoed.

“Don’t cast when you’re overly emotional,” he said. “You were the one who taught me that after I nearly burned Sylvain’s arm off. There’s nothing more dangerous to a magic-user than losing control.”

She had indeed taught both the Gautier and Fraldarius heirs the importance of control when they had been learning magic under her tutelage during their academy days and during the war. Byleth uncrossed her arms and brushed some of her hair out of her face.

“What are you doing here, Felix? I didn’t know you would be coming here with Dimitri.”

“Technically I’m not here with him,” Felix admitted. “We’re actually here to see Mercedes.”

“We?” Byleth questioned.

Felix’s lips pressed together and Byleth answered her own question as the pieces clicked in her mind. She smiled.

“Congratulations, Felix,” she commended.

He nodded. “Thank you. Annette will find you to tell you officially before we leave.”

“Are you just here to avoid all the celebratory talks then?” Byleth questioned, gesturing to the training hall.

“I was looking for you, actually,” Felix corrected.

Byleth frowned again, her optimism draining away. “Why?”

“Because I heard you and Dimitri got into it yesterday,” he admitted.

It was true. At the meeting with Claude to discuss foreign treaties the day before, Dimitri had pressed Byleth and the church for resources they couldn’t supply and she had, in return, pressed him for legislation that wasn’t supported by a majority of his advisors. It had definitely been one of their uglier discussions, especially since their wedding and doubly so since they had a spectator in Claude.

“We handled it,” Byleth said curtly, which was also true, but only thanks to Claude stepping in as a mediator.

“You did,” Felix pointed out. “Dimitri has been beating himself up about it all day. That’s why he’s been avoiding you.”

“Avoiding me?” she said.

“You haven’t noticed? How whenever you two run into each other, he miraculously has some meeting or something to get to shortly after you see each other? How he seemed to have more to say to your mutual friend than he did to his wife earlier in the Reception Hall?”

Byleth pressed her lips together. “I didn’t notice,” she admitted softly.

Felix exhaled. “I know. That’s why I’m here. Because, as much as he’d like to pretend otherwise, Dimitri will never be the same as he was before the war. He’ll never be that perfect, princely figure again and he’ll certainly never be able to see himself in the same way again. Professor, he loves you very much so he’ll do his best to make sure you never notice, but he’s still struggling.”

Byleth twisted her hands together, rubbing her wedding ring almost nervously. “How could I miss that? Shouldn’t I notice things like that?”

Felix reached out and, in a rare move for him, placed his hands on her shoulders. “Professor, he is taking all the precautions to ensure you don’t see what he’s going through. He’s gotten better at hiding things from you since you’ve been here and he’s been in the capital. That’s why we’re here, right now,” he confessed.

Something clicked in her head. “Dedue wrote to Claude to invite him, didn’t he? And you and Ingrid and Sylvain and the others made sure that Dimitri would be here where we wouldn’t be able to hide from each other.”

Felix didn’t answer her question directly, but the answer glimmered in his amber eyes. “You take care of each other. You bring out the best in each other.” He dropped his hands from her shoulders and stepped back. “Don’t lose that, Professor. There’s a lot riding on that trust and love going forward.”

Felix took another step back and then he was fully retreating, heading out of the training hall. The door closed behind him and Byleth was alone. She felt anchored to the spot and afraid. She was scared of being blind enough to miss the self-hatred that roiled in Dimitri. She had always been able to see it before and if she was losing that gift, she didn’t know what she was going to do.

She loved him, that much was certain, and obviously their friends cared about them both a great deal too.

Byleth immediately left the training hall and jogged through the hallways of the monastery. She hadn’t done much running in the halls since her ascension and there was something oddly freeing in the action. She felt a smile creeping up on her face as she dodged around people and made for the Cardinal’s Room on the second floor where Dimitri was supposed to be in a meeting.

She opened the door and immediately saw her husband speaking with a few Alliance nobles. The conversations halted when she appeared in the doorway and Dimitri rose from his seat, surprise etching across his face.

“Your Majesty,” Byleth said politely, “I need to speak with you. It’s urgent.”

Dimitri nodded politely to the nobles he had been conversing with and followed her out of the room into the hall. Byleth led him ten paces away from the door before she pivoted sharply to face him. She reached up and grasped his face, pulling him down for an urgent kiss. He reciprocated after a brief moment of surprise and Byleth pulled away, staring Dimitri in his good eye.

“I love you,” she said firmly. “I will never be angry with you for fighting for your country. I am proud of you and there is no one I would rather do any of this with,” she said, letting her emotions flow through her words.

Dimitri stared at her face for a long moment before he kissed her again, more firmly than she had kissed him, and he let the kiss linger for a second longer. He inhaled shakily and pressed their foreheads together. Byleth rocked onto her tiptoes to relieve the strain on his neck due to their height difference and Dimitri smiled gently.

“Okay,” he breathed out.

“I love you,” she said again.

“I love you too,” he replied.

[tasoku]

Claude/F!Byleth (+ Dimitri/F! Byleth) - A different path (AU One-shot)

Synopsis: Claude grows suspicious as his teacher keeps her distance from him, harboring a secret he has to discover. 

This is based on the Golden Deer path, with spoilers to the S support ending with Claude. 

Basically this story follows a headcanon AU I wrote before, but also a previous one-shot I wrote before (links to both:

One-shot: https://tasoku.tumblr.com/post/187437715802/claudefbyleth-show-me-one-shot-here-i-am 

AU: https://tasoku.tumblr.com/post/187482379567/headcanon-au-golden-deer-spoilers ) 

It's not required to read the two to understand the story, but bonus reads if you want to check it out :3 

I honestly wrote this story out of angst for the Claude ending. I wrote a mini personal rant about it on my blog, but essentially it made me realize that Dimitri is still my true husband. I love Claude, don't get me wrong, but I also wanted more from him as his wife (lol). Here was a story I wrote getting my frustration out. It might not be everyone's cup of tea. But if you like some romance angst, here ya go. 

----

When Claude discovered that she had joined Golden Deer, a feeling of relief washed over him. However, he noticed her eyes avoided his gaze, seemingly as though she was hiding something. Even when she had to shake his hand as a greeting, he could tell that she knew more than she let on, and he wanted to find out what it was. 

His first suspicion was when she got hold of the Sword of the Creator. Before he felt like he was only suspicious of Lady Rhea for allowing someone completely unaware of the Church to be teaching at the Monastery, but the fact that his teacher could wield the strongest Hero's Relic definitely hit his suspicion senses. However, what ended up feeling the most amiss was his teacher wielding the sword with confidence and ease, as though she had held it before. She told him that she did not know what it was, but her actions at the Holy Tomb spoke otherwise. 

As his curiosity for his teacher grew, he realized that he was not the only one. He saw the other House Leaders eyeing her out, particularly the Black Eagle's leader. His professor never batted an eye at the gazes, apparently aware of the attention but not really caring. What Claude noted, however, was that his teacher appeared the most interested in the Blue Lion house leader, Dimitri. After the lectures with Golden Deer, she always made it a point to stop by the Blue Lions dorm and talk to someone from there. As Claude watched her everyday, he saw that she'd greet everyone, but eventually work her way up to talking to Dimitri. Somehow, this struck a nerve in him and he didn't understand why. One day, he confronted her about it. 

"So Teach... about to speak to your favorite Lion?" He quipped. It was right at the end of class, as the other students made their way out of the room. Byleth was about to step outside as well until she heard the words coming from the house leader at the entrance. Claude was leaning against the nearby wall, arms folded against his chest. Byleth stopped and turned towards him. 

"Are you jealous?" She asked. His eyebrows quirked up. He did not expect this response, especially not from his usual serious teacher. He laughed. 

"Of course. Every time you speak to the Prince it's making me wonder why you don't speak to me in the same way. Am I not good enough?" He knew he was pushing the boundaries already, implying that he had been watching her. However, her earlier response had piqued his interest too much, and he wanted to take the bait just so he could see her up close. She smiled at him. 

"You're good enough. But I don't think I'm good enough for you." As she said this, she turned away, walking back towards her room. Claude stood there dumbfounded, not understanding her words. Her words implied she had an interest in him that he knew couldn't be the case, but worse yet that she felt he was going to reject her. He was confused, but at the same time even more riled up to find out more about her. 

"You're an odd one, Teach. My favorite kind of odd." 

---

Those words resurfaced in his mind years later when he saw her at the now worn down Monastery. As he saw her again since the 5 years, he wanted to embrace her, however he saw her brows furrowed with uncertainty, with a hand reaching out to him instead. He took it in his to shake, and awkwardly smiled at her as she sighed a breath of relief. 

"It's good to see you again, Claude." 

"Same to you, Teach." 

As he talked to her about Fodlan's new dawn, he saw her eyes face the sky, looking faraway into the distant future. He knew he was going to do the same, but seeing her do it first made him realize that just as before, she knew more than she led on. He attempted to place his hand on her shoulder, but she turned away towards the stairs. 

"We need to find the others. Let's go." His eyes widened. For some reason he felt like the scene playing out was not how it should be, and yet it was still going. He nodded and followed her down, trying to shake the feeling of amiss. 

--- 

The feeling came back after the Battle of Gronder Field, where the professor decided to save Dimitri. Somehow as if she knew, she had followed after the forgotten leader as he chased down Edelgard and rushed to save him from the remaining Imperial Soldiers. Hilda gushed to him later that the professor "ran to Dimitri's side like a knight in shining armor" and "rescued her beloved King as she held him in her arms." The words needled his heart for some reason, but he ignored the feeling and pressed on to see his teacher. When he saw her finally leave Dimitri's room, he spoke to her. 

"Is he that important to you?" He asked. She looked back at him, her eyes hiding her emotions. 

"He's just as important to me as you are," she replied. He clenched his fists. 

"We've been through much more though, haven't we? Am I really equal to Dimitri?" He questioned with a tinge of bitterness. He didn't know why, but it bothered him that he was only equal to the Faergus King. It shouldn't matter as much, but the fact that she was willing to sacrifice herself for him too was bewildering. She smiled sadly at him. 

"No, you're not. You're much more.." She stopped herself, shaking her head. "Claude, I'm sorry. Let's drop this, okay? Thank you for letting me save him." She went over and squeezed his hand. Her hand in his was warm, and he made sure to squeeze back. Somehow her warmth comforted him, but it hurt him at the same time. 

----

As the war raged on, he could feel his jealousy grow as he saw his teacher spend more time with the blue-cloaked King. His allies noticed, and they all began to whisper about the apparent emotions she had for the Lion, which only made his feelings fester. 

One night he couldn't take it anymore and he pursued her. They were in one of the small outdoor gardens, where she stopped in place at hearing her usual title. He walked up to his teacher, facing her. 

"Are you going to finally tell me?" He asked. She looked at him with confusion. "Tell you what?" 

"Everything. Your secret. I know you're still hiding information from me." Her eyes flashed for a second of what looked like worry, but it disappeared just as quickly. 

"I'm not hiding anything from you--" 

"Don't lie to me!" He pulled her towards him, arms enfolding around her back. 

"All these years... you've been speaking to me as if you knew me. You know what's going to happen, don't you?" He didn't know for sure, but the gnawing suspicion that had grown throughout the years had finally eaten him. 

"..." She didn't respond, but he knew that was the right answer. He pulled away from her and stared into her eyes. Although she had no words to say, he saw her eyes began to mist, and eventually tears fell. He wiped away her tears with his hands, cradling her face after. 

"I'm sorry for hurting you. I understand, you can't tell me anything. But I'm guessing if you chose to be with me then it means I succeeded in my ambitions, huh?" She had no response, but she gently placed her hands on his. He knew he was correct. 

"And if I'm going to make another guess, we won't see each other often anymore after this war is over." This time he felt her grip on his hands grow tighter, as if to confirm his theory. 

He knew. If he was thinking of his future, he had planned that his professor would take care of Fodlan after the war if they were successful, while he returned to Almyra to make sure they would form an alliance with their former enemies. He knew this would be a long, arduous task, maybe even longer than this war. Based on her response, he most likely wouldn't see his professor again for a long while, especially with them being busy with their own lands to watch over. It was a huge commitment, but the only way for his dream to come true of the peaceful world he envisioned. 

"Your dream is the best one for our future," she finally answered, "But being together isn't a part of it." She smiled at him, more tears filling her eyes. "You promised me before, in another time, that you wouldn't leave me. It's the only promise you've broken." 

She let go of his hands this time. "Please forgive me, Claude." She turned away, walking towards the opposite direction. He quickly stopped her, his arms wrapped around her shoulders. 

"Byleth...!!" 

She stopped in her tracks. They stood there in silence, as if time had stopped. He wanted her to stay with him longer, but he realized now that it was impossible. She had set the world as is for a purpose. This was not their path. His arms soon loosened, letting her go. She never looked back. 

"I'll help you achieve your dreams. That's the extent of my love for you." She walked away, leaving the Alliance leader to his thoughts.

[hotheadhero]

Valentine’s Day Affection Alphabet, Remainder

I didn’t get many asks, and I don’t want to waste all this writing, so here we go!

It’s very long by nature of how few asks I got lol, so only the first answer appears above the cut.

A   :   AFFECTION.   how does your muse show affection?

Vocally and physically. Vocally generally comes first. Caspar is generally very upfront with his emotions and attentions, at least until he starts wondering if his own feelings start wandering into romantic territory. However, he's something of a motor-mouth, so if the topic starts unrelated but then veers towards the romantic, you might find he actually has entertained the idea of spending his entire life with you, of traveling with you to see all the things or fighting side by side with you forever. Call him out on it, though, and he will get embarrassed, possibly to the point of trying vainly to deny it.

B   :   BOUQUET.   does your muse like flowers? which ones are their favorite?

Floral adornments are canonically one of Caspar’s disliked gifts. Something something too girly, I suppose? Or they’re too fragile and he’ll either ruin or neglect them. He understands the sentiment behind them if given them as a gift and does have a reasonable(?) eye for giving them if he must (question mark because the flowers he gave Celica and Hubert were not the most positively received, but the ones he gave Lyn for instance were better thought out), but otherwise will nearly never think of them at all. If you must give him a flower, at least make it big and/or multicolored and/or dramatically shaped. Maybe then it’ll hold his interest for longer than it takes him to put it in a vase and forget about it.

D   :   DATE.   what is your muse’s ideal date? where / who with / etc?

Spending time with his significant other, especially if it involves traveling, doing something new, or enjoying nature. He lives for the energy, but a peaceful day/night out in the landscape is a great little diversion. Emphasis on “diversion” as a temporary thing: Caspar would hate “taking it easy” and sitting back doing nothing for life. I feel like his idea of a good retirement (from war) is to become village protector or commander of a decent- (but not army-) sized group - anything with diverse and colorful terrain (or at least a big sprawling field) and lots to do. Crowds fuel him, be they friends, classmates, coworkers, students, children, or what have you. He’ll even take rivals too. Favorite known places to settle down probably include Bergliez (of course), Enbarr, or Deirdru. He could do Fhirdiad too, but Faerghus is cold; thus, that city is probably lowest on his faves list. I think I kinda got off-track here, but this is also a developing area for us. x)

F   :   FLIRT.   is your muse good at flirting? how do they flirt?

No, or accidentally only. Caspar can’t even recognize when someone is flirting at him (everything feels like getting teased instead, it seems XD), but he can be a competent smooth talker when the mood strikes him (do I need to name the same two supports again?). he also seems to be a pretty quick learner in this regard, though the only actual support I have for this is Living on a Prayer--everywhere else he does anything overtly romantic/sensual is when he and the partner are already in an established relationship, I think. (Still gotta work up enough prequel to justify that infamous kabedon, lol.)

G   :   GIFT.   is your muse good at gift - giving or do they struggle to get it right?

Caspar does try, but sometimes he forgets to ask point-blank/enough about other people’s likes (and dislikes) and so has to fall back on what he’s figured or guessed about the person through other interactions. His gifts are usually well-received, or at least he doesn’t want to tell me about any instances in which he’s given a bad gift. (Sometimes he leans on me to get a little extra info XD Hi Inigo.) Beware the prank gift, though - those can be horrid(ly entertaining and/or high-effort). See every Midsommar water-bucket prank, his high-effort prank to Azura, or his infamous one to Lorenz.

H   :   HEART.   is your muse quick or slow to give their heart away?

In an explicitly romantic context, Caspar is both slow and quick to give away his heart and to just one person, mostly because he can’t seem to tell when someone is being romantic with him most times or when he is falling in love with them. It probably happens sooner than he realizes or initially acknowledges. However, he’s loyal to a fault regarding his friends; and the more comfortable he is with someone, the more likely it is he’ll seek them out or spend hours of the day with them (currently, Linhardt is the biggest benefactor here). Spend enough time with them, and you may well be the one he subconsciously gives his heart to~

J   :   JEALOUSY.   does your muse get jealous in a relationship?

Highly subject to change given Caspar doesn’t have an established relationship in TOA canon right now (both relationships he does have are currently marked as war phase AU), but yes, he gets jealous. As with any other distressing topic (e.g. his dad’s involvement in Petra’s dad’s death), he tends to keep his jealousy to himself (though it leaks out in the way his behavior around especially his partner and possibly everything else is a bit hastier and angrier) until forced (term used liberally) to confess. Based on LoP and slightly on his lines upon being denied transferring classes or being killed in battle, following confession to the object of his jealousy, his thoughts would be largely if not entirely self-destructive: I wasn’t good enough; I was never good enough; will I ever be good enough for anything if I couldn’t be good enough for them? Having not further explored this topic previously, I feel like this sense of inadequacy is the single most likely thing to take all the wind out of his sails: He’ll live simply by going through the motions of it; his once-bright eyes will be dull; and good luck getting him out of his funk by any means other than helping him find a new reason to go on. Duty might not cut it at this point; he might need something more personal.

K   :   KISS.   is your muse a good kisser? why / why not?

I only think he’s not good at kissing. Apparently Caspar has other ideas. In all seriousness, though, he’ll be incredibly awkward at it the first few times around (see Amy’s and Hilda’s first kisses), but he’s a quick learner with a great memory for the physical and kinesthetic. He may just surprise you with his boldness...

L   :   LOVE.   who does your muse love?

Depends both on the verse and on either how well I can build him towards it or how quickly he realizes, on his own or with the partner’s help, that he’s in love. ... Typically when I think about this sort of thing, the pre- and post-established relationship parts are the first thing that occur to me; buildup/courtship/etc. are a giant blank. Currently, he loves Linhardt in CF and Hilda in VW. He/I haven’t made any effort to build any other potentially romantic relationships with him yet, but based off game events, but there are about half a dozen possibilities among in-game characters throughout the houses, and I can’t exclude transfer students either.

O   :   ODE.   does your muse have a way with words?

Linhardt seems to think so XD Caspar will never win any awards for prettiness of prose or voice, but he’ll always tell it like it is: simply, honestly, and straightforward. He’s too blunt to deal in poetry (let alone manipulation by any means other than puppy-dog eyes), but he has his moments, usually when he’s channeling his magnificent insight, trying to cheer someone up. Far more common for him to have different moments entirely though... aka put his entire foot in his mouth, even when he’s trying to console a friend.

P   :   PARTNER.   what does your muse look for in a partner? looks / personality?

Also subjective, but let’s see... Caspar would want someone who will put up with him even if he gets a little wild at times. Someone who won’t mind him protecting them (though he won’t say no to someone who can protect themselves either, given his usual favored activities and line of work). Someone who won’t tie him down with expectations he can’t meet or rules he must abide by, who lets him live as he wants and even join him on this crazy ride of coupled life. Someone who understands him, even when he doesn’t understand himself, who will be there when he needs them most. As far as appearances, though, I can’t tell if Caspar has a type. Every one of his most likely love interests look so different...

Q   :   QUESTION.   would your muse ask the big question or expect their partner to?

I can’t tell, but I suspect that since “the question” (of marriage, presumably) comes well after a confession of love, Caspar, being the passionate and high-energy dork he is, would pop the question first. Then again, he knows this is a big decision and doesn’t want to mess this up, so he’ll probably take a while to figure out the “perfect way” to say it... which may well result in some of his pensiveness showing on his face, his partner inquiring after its source, and him bum-rushing (after putting up less resistance than he’d like) into blurting out “the question” and forgoing all his elaborate plans. XD

R   :   ROMANCE.   is your muse a romantic or a cynic?

Given those extremes, definitely a romantic. He has a storybook vision of how love is supposed to go and an overactive imagination to magnify it further. It’s as easy for Caspar to run his mouth on this topic as any other, and he gets actively embarrassed when caught baring his romantic notions like a sap, e.g. with Shamir (most blatantly) or Dorothea (when her teasing catches him off-guard because his imagination ran ahead of her). He can be a cynic in some regards... but none of them relate to romance.

S   :   SWEETHEART.   did your muse have a childhood sweetheart?

Hard to say. Most everybody gets coded as various levels of friend, so whether Caspar realizes if “bestest friend ever” actually means “childhood sweetheart” is a mystery. That said, the only person who might qualify as that is Linhardt...

U   :   UNREQUITED.   has your muse had their heart broken?

Currently, he’s too oblivious/naive in love to have had his heart broken. Not a difficult feat to accomplish when everyone is a “friend” until they tell him otherwise. Once he gets into a relationship, long-term jealousy and any other egregious breach, e.g. spending way too much time with somebody else clear up to cheating on him. is highly likely to do it to him.

V   :   VALENTINE.   how does your muse feel about valentine’s day?

“Candy!!! Oh, I guess couples are kissing too. Bit weird that they’re doing it out in public, but that’s their right, I suppose. I wonder if I’ll ever have someone to kiss like that?”

W  :   WEDDING.   would your muse get married? why / why not?

Having not previously thought on this topic... He would, readily. However, if his partner isn’t up for traveling all over the place, he might end up being a bit of an absentee spouse or parent. Most likely sin would be giving his loved ones too many “things” instead of himself/his time for making memories - and that would be almost entirely by accident, since he wouldn’t even think that he’s doing it (or at least the over-gifting) wrong unless prompted by his spouse.

X   :   XOXO.   does your muse use / like pet names?

Maybe? Not really? If he does, he only tends to use shortened versions of their names (e.g. Lin instead of Linhardt) rather than something more creative (e.g. honey/dear), but not everybody’s names can be so conveniently shortened (e.g. Hilda), and he always uses everybody’s full name (or title, e.g. Father not Dad) in-game. It’s a pretty good step up if he makes and uses a nickname on you. That said, in the manakete!AU I have with Linhardt, he’ll actively refer to him as “tyke”, “kid”, or “child” because that’s what he looked like to him when they first met as humans.

Y   :   YOURS.   does your muse get protective easily?

Oh boy. In the short and “monogamous” term, Caspar will protect any part of his partner that needs protecting - mind, body (or part), soul, honor, you name it. He would offer to walk his spouse home at night or worry after their safety if they’re gone from him too long (being a military child + a morning person, I imagine Caspar is good with time and probably not above setting time limits/a curfew if need be). In a broader sense - Caspar is used to being the brave, strong, upbeat one, the rock to which drowning souls can cling to, the shield behind which everyone else can take refuge. He is, emotionally and physically, a protector; he knows that an unshakable confidence and faith are as effective as a stout body in keeping others safe. According to LoP, his protective streak can and does run all the way out to sacrificing himself for his friends - he can’t stand the thought of things going the other way around. I need to explore this further, but some combination of heroic notions, his father’s stories/actions/fate (especially in non-CF routes), and a well-buried worthlessness/inferiority complex from having never lived up to his father’s precise ideals for him and/or having always worked so hard for so little recognition (see: Julian’s existence, his failure to inherit his family’s title anywhere outside of CF except when marrying Annette, and a teatime line (“They say hard work pays off, but I don’t think that’s always true”)) quite clearly make him think he’s expendable. Caspar hardly ever expresses such negative thoughts and in keeping with his (self-imposed) role as the army’s morale-booster, he’ll put a positive spin even on his own gnawing thoughts. There’s one post in LoP where Caspar tries very hard to stay happy for Linhardt, even though they’ve both just vented all their fatal worries about their fates in the war. Even dying, knowing he’s doing so because he lost/bit off more than he could chew/failed, he refuses to let others worry about him. (”Don't worry about me... I always knew...losing meant death... “)

Z   :   ZZZ.   how many people has your muse slept with?

Possibly subject to change, but - no one besides whoever he commits to. After all, sleeping with anyone else usually involves casual relationships (which I can’t really see Caspar going for under most circumstances) or lying to your SO about doing it (and he explicitly hates lies).

[rheaitis]

Things to watch/read now the #GameOfThronesFinale has aired:

If you're here for something with the most tenuous connections to history & canon, but with more agentive PoC and a relative lack of casual sexual assault, may I interest you in #TheMusketeers.

If you want queer people and pirates and PoC and hyper-competent women and politics and platonic inter-gender friendships, please turn your gaze towards #BlackSails, and its iconic Unburying of the Gays, with added straight-baiting.

For polytheistic pseudo-Europe with queer people given a patron god, nurturing and non-creepy older men, visions, hallucinations, mentally-ill middle-aged women with a destiny, dynastic curses and marriages, please read #LoisMcMasterBujold's #Chalion series.

For three-planet dynastic politics, a disabled hero in an ableist world, personal and political loyalties, spy-masters and diplomats, badass and tactful and quiet and heroic women, and a canonical bisexual military hero and politician, read the #VorkosiganSaga by the same author.

For a disabled, acrobatic, quick-witted hero, a heroine I couldn't but read as Dark!Sansa, coups & conspiracies, irritated nobles, impending invasions, the sweetest boy to ever ascend a throne, gods & their chosen ones, the theft of earrings & empires, read #QueensThief+sequels.

For Stone Age mysticism, children on quests, telepathic wolves, and dark magic that threatens humanity, please read @MichellePaver's #ChroniclesofAncientDarkness. I know it's kidlit, but it *haunted* me for weeks. (Paver's Dark Matter and Thin Air are amazing spec-fic/horror stand-alone novels written for an older audience, beeteedubs)

For an exploration of medieval England & administration, religion, the consequences of war, the occupations of women beyond wife & whore, monastic life, aristocratic pursuits, the Crusades & their impact, please read #EllisPeters/#EdithPargeter's #BrotherCadfaelChronicles. (You can also watch these with #DerekJacobi in the lead role, if you can get hold of the 94-98 ITV series. Fewer episodes (13) than novels (20) but otoh Derek Jacobi!)

Staying with detectives but moving back in time to ancient Rome, read #LindseyDavis' #Falco series: a twenty-book romp through the length and breadth of the Roman Empire under Vespasian with crackling wit, historical accuracy, and gruesome deeds to spare.

If you'd rather have politics, please try #ColleenMcCullough's sprawling #MastersofRome, which takes you from #GaiusMarius all the way to #AugustusCaesar and made me fall predictably in love with the vicious, brilliant, queer #LuciusCorneliusSulla who I fancast as Ian Somerhalder

Or stroll back another three centuries for #MaryRenault's lush and amazing Ancient Greece novels, all the way from #Theseus to #AlexandertheGreat and then some. Complicated, queer, mystic and political, and the tiny bit of misogyny won't even register after Game of Thrones.

But I'm straying too far from dragons. @naominovik's #Temeraire series reimagines the Napoleonic War with dragons, and you should read it for stubborn & honourable, tactful & wounded, loyal & furious heroes, warrior women, a delightful Wellington, human & draconic politics.

Also, back to YA, but #MaggieStiefvater has a fabulous quartet of books with dead boys, living boys, magicians, oracles, dreaming trees, prophesied kings, a houseful of witchy women, queerness, friendship, & a goat-girl. Read #TheRavenBoys & wait for the sequel trilogy.

For queerness, politics, swords, assassins, family, love, magic, academia, and above all chocolate, please please read the amazing @EllenKushner's Swordspoint, its sequels & the prequel series Tremontaine. I know I talk about it often, but I feel like I can't talk about it enough

I feel certain I'm missing out on someone I love reading and will be sorry later. I assume everyone knows and has read #UrsulaleGuin #OctaviaButler @Nnedi, @zenaldehyde @kuangrf @tashadrinkstea @nkjemisin @seananmcguire? Good. Good. 

Plus the amazing @Miminality @emilyenrose @her_nibsen, & all the free-to-read SF/F/H mags. if you haven't please check out @anathemaspec @PodCastle_org @LightspeedMag @fyremag @FiresideFiction @BCSmagazine @UncannyMagazine @strangehorizons. There's so much out there, just read.

Katherine Addison's #TheGoblinEmperor is both very kind and unflinching: a story of a neglected fourth son who abruptly becomes emperor, and all the consequences spiralling out from that. Featuring the sweetest boy who ever got a crown, version 2.0

Nicola Griffith's #Hild leaves me drunk and reeling every time I read it, and you should too: the life of St. Hilda of Whitby as intricate and detail-drenched as any fever-dream and just: political and historical and queer and feminine and everything the best bildungsromans can be.

All these writers are women, several are WoC, several are queer, some are all three. I got frustrated with GoT back in its first season, so much so I still haven't read A Dance with Dragons. I already read a fair bit of SFF/Hist; I'd read le Guin and McCullough. But at that point I started reading women authors in SFF deliberately and pretty much exclusively, because it wasn't a male genre, and I wanted to read about other worlds and times from a non-masc perspective as much as I could. I also read historical romances & a ton of fanfic.

(Oh. I forgot @Berlin_Marina! You should go read her stuff.)

IDK whether any of the authors I mentioned will get TV/film deals, and as everyone watching #TheMagicians can endlessly tell you, there's no guarantee an adaptation won't take away the things you liked most. So just. Go and read these wonderful worlds by these amazing women.

but uh. For creation & breaking of worlds, kinstrife & kinslaying, murder of innocents, incest & torture, imprisonment & kidnapping, werewolves & wizards, stars & sailors, spiders & demons & seafaring birds, humans & dwarves & elves & gods, turn to the master. Read some Tolkien.

[alienfrommilkyway]

Tv Series Review: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

So this is my second review on this blog and probably no one cares. But hey, you gotta start somewhere!

Anyways, this new series that follows the teenage witch Sabrina Spellman is an adaptation of a dark comic bookseries that exist in the same universe as Riverdale. It is currently developed by Netflix and is already set towards a second season.

The series follows Sabrina, as she on her 16th birthday has to sign her name in the book of the beast and pledge her life, name and powers towards satan himself. Being a half-witch, and growing up in the mortal community doesn’t make this decision easy. That in itself got me really exsited towards watching it and extreamly hyped up to the launch of it. 

You can tell that as it is the 28th, only two days after the release. I sure powered through the whole thing in two sessions. But I am done with season 1 and will rewatch it until the next season is released or until I get bored of it. 

With everything lining up to be a pretty solid show, here is the great and the gripe of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. 

First off, what I think was great: I love the fact that this show is indeed dark and makes it a fact that these witches doesn’t mess around with their powers and love for satan. The story is also REALLY interesting and without realising it I had already watched all 10 episodes of the season, which made me furious that it only had 10 episodes. Like, come on, 10 episodes for something as amazing as this? A bit odd. But with the recent Riverdale seasons getting mixed feelings and reviews all over I get that they wanted to take a soft approach towards this seemingly darker version of the Archie Comics universe. 

The characters, man those characters. I really liked all of them. Except for one which I will talk about in the gripe section. But part from that, I really feel like we got introduced to the main characters in such a way that you instantly connected with somebody. There was a lot of good representation of PoC and lgbtq people. But it wasn’t their skincolor, gender nor their sexual orientation that defined them, it was their actions, beliefs and standing in the social matters and the drama that occurred during the episodes. Which made them human, not just a character who is the embodiment of the label they are supposed to have duct taped to their forehead nor like something the show needed to shove down our throats to get views. 

My alien 👾 rating is:

.•☆°•. 7 out of 10 •°☆.°•

Warning! Spoilers ahead, if you haven’t watched the show, I highly recommend you do and come back to read the gripe.

Here is the gripe: 

Number 1 - The goat. I get it, the devil is the scary giant goatman. But the statue in the school and that terrible costume whenever he appeared on screen was just so boring to look at and hard to grasp as evil. Wouldn’t it been so much more fun if the devil was actually like Lucifer from the show Lucifer. Sure he doesn’t scream terror (if you don’t count the devil face, which was done so much better than this) but neither does that goatman. For season 2, I just want a handsome man with an accent and a black suit to rule the wicked world. 

Number 2 - I wanted more horror and scary stuff. Evil witches that practises dark magic? Check. Any other sort of scary motif that could make this show more than a teenage romance story? Nah. Some times, the fakeness of the costumes and the bad written lines that were about dark magic just didn’t cut it at all.

Number 3 - I didn’t really like Sabrina. Which didn’t come as a shock to me, but still dissapointed me. She is such a brat. She put herself on such a high pedistal of greatness that she had no regard what so ever over who fell under the buss when she was on her warpath to ‘upperhand the dark lord’ and to get Harvey’s brother back. 

LOL we saw how that went didn’t we. 

It is one thing to not put your name in that book, she chose her mortal life over her magical one and it’s all dandy. But when she then gets everyone screwed over because of her actions is just so messed up. Zelda the badass (and delusional) and Hilda the lovley only wanted what was best for her, and sure everyone in the show had their flaws. But when Sabrina just didn’t give a sh*t about their continued warnings during each episode, I felt just so done with her. I was rolling my eyes every time she opened her mouth. 

The actress that played Sabrina didn’t deliver her lines that well either, and sometimes she just had the same monotone carefree voice during every single scene. Didn’t matter what she was saying, enchanting, screaming at or threatening. She just had no bark or bite behind her words. 

Don’t get me wrong, I really liked the show and can’t wait for next season. But it is not because of her, it is because of all of the other characters that seemed to have a head of their shoulders. Ambrose, Hilda, Susie and Roz are easily my favourites.