#under Chrom of course

[chroms-biceps]

Everyone, pls vote Summer Claude I just love him so much and want to +10 him.

[pegasusknightsonly]

prologue 49 turns endgame 1 turn. can someone help me balance this. my lunatic mode is terrible

[sotiredmostnights]

i really feel like people underestimate the importance of the valm arc in awakening. to me, this arc is essential in chrom's character development as a new ruler trying to determine his place and ylisse's place in the world.

throughout the valm arc, chrom strengthens ylisse's alliance with regna ferox and begins a new alliance with the people of valm who oppose walhart. in addition to this, he also grows on a personal level: he further acknowledges the ways in which his own forms of justice differ from emmeryn's AND walhart's, and as he establishes his own justice, he uses his newfound conviction to liberate those under walhart's oppressive rule.

and then we have the subplot with say'ri and yen'fay. this was a nice little diversion on the surface, but what fascinates me about it is the parallels between chrom and say'ri. they both want to do what's best for their country, even if it means going against the ideals of their sibling (say'ri fights yen'fay head-on, and chrom rejects emmeryn's pacifist approach to the plegian conflict).

needless to say, the self-sacrifice of both emmeryn and yen'fay to ensure the safety of their respective siblings is another key element to the valm arc. here we have chrom, whose sister leapt to her own demise in order to spare him the painful choice of saving his sister or saving his country. on the flip side, we have yen'fay who chooses a more direct approach to saving his kin: he allies himself with walhart in the hopes that say'ri will be spared death at the hands of the conquerer.

this isn't even broaching the struggles lucina faces during this arc. basilio's presumed death really serves as a reminder to her that changing the course of fate is a daunting task, and her failure to convince basilio to stay clear of walhart solidifies the weight of the challenge that stands before her.

tldr the valm arc is incredibly underrated and it's a bit disappointing people often ignore it in favor of the other pieces of awakening's story

[kokusfluffyhair]

Tsukasa Shishio x f!Reader | WC: 1692 | 18+ only! MDNI!

Summary: After missing Tsukasa's birthday, you decide to come by his flat unannounced with a special surprise in mind.

You missed Tsukasa's birthday. In fact, you had completely forgotten about it. There wasn't any party planned, so you had gone out of town for the weekend, only to see on social media Senkuu and Kohaku posting stories with pictures of themselves and Tsukasa while wishing him a happy birthday.

Being Tsukasa's new girlfriend, you had considered doing the same, but instead you came up with an even better way to give him a "present", onee that you hoped he would appreicate much more than a fleeting moment of recognition on social media.

When you got back to your city, you decided to pay Tsukasa a surprise visit. As expected, he was there and was in his room watching YouTube videos when you rang his doorbell. He greeted you with an initially perterbed expression, grumpy from his watching being interrupted, but soon smiled as he processed in his mind that it was you who had disturbed him.

"I ... didn't think you were back," he said, a little bashful as he didn't look very put together. His hair was a bit messy and he was wearing an old t-shirt and sweatpants.

"I got back this afternoon. Can I come in?"

"Of course." Tsukasa stepped to the side as you entered his flat. He closed the door and then smiled, grabbing your hand and giving you a light tug closer to him. Once your eyes were on him, he raised your hand to the height of his lips and gave the back of your hand a soft kiss.

The kiss surprised you, even though such sweet gestures were typical of Tsukasa. Your mind had already been on the "present" you were planning to give him, and the secure kindness he just gave you only let your mind plummet deeper into anticipation.

"Is something wrong?" Tsukasa gave your hand a squeeze and leant closer to you. "No one gave you trouble on the way here, did they?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm just ..." You smiled. "I'm thinking about the birthday present I put together for you."

"Birthday present?" he asked. With a light chuckle, he shook his head. "You didn't need to go through trouble over something like that. I don't need a present. A birthday is no different than any other day."

"But I wanted to give you a present."

A slight shade of pink spread over his cheeks. Feeling himself heat up, Tsukasa cleared his throat and turned around to walk back over towards his room. "As long as it's not one of those Instragram collages, I won't complain."

You laughed and followed him. "You didn't repost any of the ones Senkuu tagged you in."

"Only the one Mirai tagged me in. Besides, Chrom was giving a goofy smile and a thumbs-up in over half of Senkuu's pictures."

Tsukasa walked into his room and sat on his bed with one of his legs hanging off the side. He closed the tab of the nature documentary he was watching on YouTube and looked over to you, smiling with a wave of his hand for you to come closer. "All right. My attention is all yours," he said with a glance towards his laptop. "Unless you want to watch something together."

"Actually, Tsukasa ..." You stepped forward until your feet were at the edge of the bed, your body hovering over him as he looked up at you. "I have something for you to watch."

"What is it?"

"Your birthday present." You leant down to kiss his forehead and then took his hands to press them gently against your body. You knew that you were blushing, but the redness on Tsukasa's cheeks immediately erased all embarrassment. You guided his hands in a dance over your figure and then, in a moment of boldness, you slipped them under your shirt so that his cool palms were against your skin.

You hissed through your teeth from the feeling of your warm stomach melting the chill off of his hands. As your grip loosened on Tsukasa, he began to explore your stomach and waist on his own.

His touch was so gentle, yet strong as his palms lightly pressed and massaged themselves against your stomach. He gazed at his wrists, his lips parted as soft breaths escaped his mouth, and then, as you pulled your shirt over your head and took it off, his eyes widened and his hands squeezed you at your waist.

"It's your birthday present," you said. "Can I keep going?"

In an instant, you were pulled down onto the bed and on top of Tsukasa as he flopped backwards onto the mattress. His arms wrapped around you, squeezing you to his clothed body as his lips moved to your neck and started to suck on you. It was as if he was becoming possessed by the feral yearnings that his state of composure had been fighting to bury for too long of a time.

"Mmgh ..." He purred into your neck and smacked his lips as he sucked harder on your skin. "Don't stop ..."

"Ts-Tsukasa ..." his name slipped past your lips in a light groan as your muscles loosened under his lips. Your hands pressed against his clothed torso and lowered themselves to his hips. Curling your fingers around the band of his sweatpants, you began to pull them down.

"Take them off ..." Tsukasa growled and snapped his hand on top of one of yours to yank his bottoms down. Before you could even feel his bare cock rub against you, your own pants were being shoved down so that they rested limp on your ankles.

Tsukasa panted and grunted, his cock throbbing from the skin to skin contact it was having against your hips. He squirmed in the bed as he kicked off his sweatpants and rose his feet to your ankles to push your own pants off of you.

"Baby, I want you ..." Tsukasa's brown eyes were glazed over with a puppy-dog look begging for more after you had given him a taste of your intentions with him. His long, dark eyelashes only added to how his neediness could get right to your pussy.

"I want you, too ..." you said and started to lift your hips off of his. You sucked in a breath as your skin felt a chill rush over it from not being pressed against his.

Tsukasa's hands gripped your hips as he moved with you to his aching cock. "Let me help you, Baby. I want to make sure we do this together so it feels good."

The way he cared and looked out for you only made your pussy hotter, like it was burning for him. His eyes were filled with a soft concern, genuinely not wanting you to feel even an ounce of pain. You could feel your warm juices trailing towards your folds as you let him help you lower yourself onto him.

You hissed through her teeth as his thick cock stretched you out. "Tsukasa ... ahhh ..."

Tsukasa started to pant and tilted his neck back into the bed. "You feel so good ..." he groaned and started to slowly roll his hips against you.

You lowered yourself down to your elbows, placing them to the sides of Tsukasa's head. Your heart raced and your breathing sped up as you gazed down at him, the sight of his face only strengthening that itching tension at your clit.

"Move with me ..." Tsukasa said and gripped your hips tighter, guiding you into a rhythm with him as his fingers pressed into your flesh.

You kept on grinding him, pressing your hips against him and groaning as his cock pulsed and twitched within you. You always imagined that Tsukasa would feel good, but you never thought he would be this good. The way he was inexperienced made him even sweeter and you soon found yourself moving faster and faster against him to increase that rubbing at your walls.

Tsukasa moaned. "That's it ...! Like that, Baby ...!" He let go of your ass with one of his hands and slipped it near the front of your hips. "I'm gonna make you feel better ... even better ..." He tried to rub the side of his hand near where your clit was, doing everything he could to stimulate you more.

Even though this was your surprise for him, Tsukasa wanted it to be an experience that you would remember always.

"Tsukasa ...!" you moaned his name loudly as the rubbing from his hand seemed to ignite something electrical out of you. Your grinding against him got rougher as you sped up some more.

"I'm ... I'm cumming soon ... almost ..." Tsukasa groaned and panted as he bucked his hips into yours. "Y/n ...!"

There wasn't any more warning before your juices spilled even more all over him, leaking mercilessly past your folds. Tsukasa bucked his hips once more and nearly screamed as he released to fill you up with rapid spirals of his hot cum.

"F-Fuck, Tsukasa!"

He was a panting mess underneath you. His eyes were closed and his head pressing into the mattress. Your walls fluttered like crazy around him and you groaned as you rubbed yourself against him just a little bit more before flopping on top of him and rolling to his side. His arm curled around you, holding you firmly at your waist and squeezing you to his side.

He was never going to let you go.

Once he regathered his breathing, Tsukasa turned to face you. "Y/n ..." he said in a sweet, loving voice and turned on his side so he could wrap both of his arms around you and hug you in his warmth. His body was almost like a furnace after all of that.

You could only smile and nuzzle Tsukasa as he peppered your forehead and cheeks with kisses and gazed at you with the softest kind of endearing love you could imagine.

"You didn't have to wait for my birthday to do that," he said with a gentle chuckle and pressed his lips against yours in a kiss.

[vanguarddawn]

There's something I've been thinking about tonight that I really don't quite know how to explain, but I'm going to try it anyways.

It all regards a question I've received several times over the years: Why is Walhart one of my favorite Awakening characters, when Edelgard is my least favorite Fire Emblem character? Aren't their goals essentially the same?

This is a question I mostly receive from Edelgard fans who usually don't want to listen to what I actually have to say about either character, and just want to try and put the legitimacy of my biases under scrutiny, usually with accusations of misogyny being thrown in for good measure. And I've never really had an answer for them, not because I didn't want to get involved in that discussion, but because I had always judged Walhart and Edelgard based on gut feeling rather than deeper analysis.

Honestly, the more I look into them both in comparison to one another, the more vast that rift becomes. I'm not necessarily starting to like Walhart even more, but I'm definitely learning to like Edelgard even less, something I'd thought was impossible. I do not have the time or patience to write out a full Edelgard analysis, and honestly I don't want to do that either. So I'll talk about what connects them and what differentiates them.

Walhart and Edelgard are, on the surface, somewhat similar characters. They are both the leader of their nation, and seek to unify the rest of the continent through force, and ultimately intend to forge a world where man can only rely on their own strength rather than that of the gods. Both are armored axe wielders primarily associated with the color red, and both bear inhuman levels of physical strength. Both can potentially end up being defeated by the kindhearted king of the nation they invaded who seeks to strengthen the existing world through structural reform rather than wiping the slate clean, and cherish the power of bonds over the strength of the individual.

So why do I love Walhart but hate Edelgard again? Simple.

Walhart is absolutely fucking delusional. Dude is straight up off his rocker, and the game is actually willing to acknowledge this rather than trying to defend it. He truly believes in his whole "unity through conquest" bullshit, and is only willing to let go of it when he's defeated by Chrom. And you know what he does, instead of Edelgard's "if only i had your strength we could have made the world a better place together" stuff?

Walhart concedes. He basically just tells Chrom and Robin "alright, you guys won, you clearly know what's best for the world. I was wrong, might does not make right, and from now on I'm gonna do things your way." Of course he says it in his own distinctly Walhart way, but the message is still the same. While he doesn't come to accept the real message that Chrom and Robin were trying to send, one of bonds and togetherness, he does realize that his way of going about securing and maintaining peace was wrong. I understand that Edelgard also concedes somewhat in VW/SS, but in AM she tries to murder her salvation after being given one last chance to redeem herself, and in CF she successfully conquers Fódlan so there's no redemption to be done.

It also helps that the god Walhart was trying to stop to begin with was objectively evil and not just a traumatized archbishop. Yes, Rhea does some incredibly fucked up things, but comparing her to Grima, who literally destroys the entire world just for funsies, can't really be done in good faith. Rhea is more compelling as an antagonist because she actually has nuance - nuance that Grima mostly lacks.

I also want to address some localization weirdness regarding both characters. In Awakening's English localization Walhart's goal of crushing the Grimleal is only made clear after the player has already defeated him and is headed to stop the ongoing resurrection of Grima. The English localization of Three Houses, on the other hand, may as well be Edelgard apologist fanfiction with how much it rewrites her character to make her look completely justified in starting her war, including actively writing mentions of civilian conscription and execution, as well as foreign military operations out of the English script, and adding a line to her endings stating that she gives up power once her dream of a Crest-less Fódlan has been realized. She is a completely different character between scripts.

I also like how Walhart is written entirely seriously about even the most mundane of things in his barracks and DLC conversations. If you thought he was crazy about military, wait until you hear his opinion on vegetarianism (he is one and he intends to make it your problem).

Basically, I like Walhart because he isn't meant to be endearing. Awakening makes no effort to redeem him or justify his actions, because they are ultimately unjustifiable. Edelgard did essentially the same thing he did and required a whole game rewrite to justify allowing the player to side with her at all.

[the-priestess-of-dawn]

So hey the Hero-King Marth that Ylisseans claim is from Altea which is in modern Northern Plegia (right under the Feroxi border wall). Given this, can you imagine the political strife and potential religious conflicts happening over this? Because Marth is 100% the ancestor of the Ylissean Royal Family, but historical Altea is Plegian ground. How hard would the Hierophant play with this if allowed?

I am delighted to be asked this because I think about this little detail all the time. Because Chrom and the Shepherds do go to the location corresponding to historical Altea. It's where Chrom defeats Gangrel and ends the war between Ylisse and Plegia. We know Chrom isn't exactly in high spirits ("We've won... Somehow I don't feel like celebrating.") and though the game itself never brings it up, I can't help but wonder how much the location itself contributes to everything weighing on him.

This location is also listed as "Border Wastes." It's a wasteland, and Marth's Altea definitely was not. Again, the game itself doesn't say a word about it, but... Is it not easy to imagine how it might have got that way? Somehow I doubt the exalted line, proudly descended from the Hero King, WANTED to give Altea to Plegia or was ever satisfied with Plegia ruling it. Awakening thematically grapples with cycles of violence, and though this geographical detail is so minor and is never directly addressed in the text, the environmental storytelling seems to me to speak volumes. I think Plegia and Ylisse have been mad about this for as long as they've both existed.

And the thing is, I can easily imagine Plegians taking pride in holding this land, too? Marth is not just special to the Halidom of Ylisse. He is a hero to the entire continent. He saved EVERYONE. "Marth was Plegian" is not exactly accurate, because Plegia would not exist until a thousand years after him, but I bet there are plenty of Plegians running around whose features resemble Marth's as much as Chrom and Lissa and Emmeryn's do.

(Remember, Ferox suspects Chrom of being an imposter when he first arrives at their border, and Cynthia's paralogue involves a guy successfully impersonating Chrom. I don't think you can tell just by looking at him that he's not Just Some Guy, and specifically, you can't tell that he's not Just Some Plegian Guy, either.)

It's interesting to think about what if anything Grima would do with this... Grima was after Marth's time, but that doesn't mean they can't put words and ideals in his mouth just as well as any other political figure.

Moving more deeply into pure headcanon territory... As you may be aware, I think Grima ate the earth dragons that Marth sealed at the Dragon's Table, and honestly if they did, I can imagine them twisting that act to be like.... Obviously what Marth Would Have Wanted, because you see, he didn't have the power to do anything more at the time, but OF COURSE he wouldn't have wanted the beloved people of his precious continent to have to fight the earth dragons again. The Fire Emblem can't do enough. Let Grima eat the dragons for you. (Meanwhile, you've got the First Exalt, actual descendant of Marth, arguing that um, HE is right there, totally ready willing and able to seal those dragons right back up, guys come on we KNOW this will work. Yes I do like to think of this as a reverse "let Chrom deal the final blow?" situation. One in which Grima refused to back down.)

So in that regard, I don't know, I feel like "Grima is the Hero King's true successor (in spirit)" is something that at least some people could actually believe. That would be fun to work with. It's a little hard to see how to get from there to "and now Grima destroys the world because humans are bad" but... given how Plegians value loyalty, it might honestly be enough for some people simply to say "we side with Grima no matter what because we always have before and we aren't filthy traitors."

[ro-botany]

@levemetal Hope you don't mind my bringing this out to its own post - I saw your tags and wanted to try to help!

So, ripping models is going to be a different process depending on how the game was made; what console it was on, what game engine its built in... There's no one-size-fits-all process, and it's going to require some baseline tech-savvy-ness.

But given that these tags were regarding Grima; I'll tell you more or less how I get models out of Fire Emblem Awakening.

A Ramble-y Overview of Fire Emblem Awakening Model Ripping:

Step 0: Gather your Tools

There's a lot of tools floating around intended to help with 3DS model ripping. Some are very pleasant to use and others are janky, so brace yourself.

For this, you will need:

Citra emulator (for extracting game files)

Paragon (for figuring out where models you want are)

FEAT (for decompressing game files)

SPICA (for exporting models + textures to usable formats)

Blender (for actually working with the models) (or whatever 3d modelling program you like; I only know blender though)

Step 1: Get a ROM of Awakening

Legally obtain one, of course. Assuming you have the game cartridge the 3DS hacking community can help you more with that. Definitely do not download any game roms from any online websites, why, that would be piracy!

Step 2: Extract the Game Files

Open up Citra, add a game directory and tell it where your rom is.

Right click the rom and select "Dump RomFS" to get Citra to start extracting all the game files. This will take a while. Wait for it to be done.

Once its done dumping the files, you're going to want to go to File > Open Citra folder. From there, navigate into "dump", then "romfs", then click the big nonsense folder name - that nonsense is Awakening's game ID, so, this folder is Awakening's game files.

All the models you could ever wish for are in here!!! We just need to actually find them now.

Step 3: Figure out which model(s) you want.

Time to go open up Paragon. This is technically a tool for creating mods of several fire emblem games, but we're not going to mod anything, we're just going to use it to figure out what models belong to which characters.

The github page has instructions on it, but basically you want to open up Paragon and start a new project for FE13. Create some random output folder for it and direct it to that, we don't care. But the "Extracted RomFS Directory" should be the citra folder I just told you how to get to.

Once you have the project open, there will be a lot of buttons and things. Don't worry about all this. The only two you care about right now are "Asset Definitions" and "Presets".

(Ignore the font; I changed paragon's font to awakening's font because i'm a nerd)

Most of the human characters are easiest to find in "Asset Definitions"; some under their english name, others (like Chrom) under their english base class' name.

Grima, though, you can find in "Presets" by searching for "boss".

This entry specifically is the one pertaining to grima's full body model. There's a lot of info here, but the highlighted panel on the right is the information you need; this is telling you the names of the files containing Grima's models and textures!

For human characters, typically the head and body fields will be filled in, and possibly the hair for characters with long hair. some have accessories, some don't.

This complexity is why we use paragon to check instead of checking every single model file manually like fools. (it's me, i'm fools)

Keep this window open for reference at the side for the next step.

Step 4: Go Get the Models

Make a folder somewhere on your computer to keep this character's models.

Then, go back to that Citra folder we opened up earlier.

Awakening's assets are split up into several folders. The folder you want is "b", which has most of the character and weapon models and textures. (This organization scheme is Not consistent between Awakening and the other 3DS fire emblems, watch out.)

In here, find the files paragon is telling you belong to this character, and copy them into your dedicated folder for this model ripping project.

Wow, look at all those files we can't use. Time to make them usable.

Step 5: Decompress the Files

Open up FEAT. Drag all those files onto the FEAT window. It will decompress them; there will be a copy of each file without the .lz file extension. You did it! They're decompressed!

Step 6: Extract the Models and Textures

Open up SPICA.

Click the little Folder button in the top left to open a file. Navigate to this folder you have your decompressed files in. Click on one of the decompressed files.

For MODELS, as in the .m files, you are going to click the Save button. Save each model as a .dae file, and give each a name that will make it clear which model this is - the body, the head, a specific accessory, whatever. (you can choose .smd instead if you want, but you will need a blender addon for importing smd files if you do.)

For TEXTURES, which are the .t files, there is an extra step. In the panel on the right, there is a small anime eye. That is the textures tab. Click on it, and the panel will change to a list of textures that are in that file. You should export all of them by using the special texture export button. DO NOT CHANGE THE NAMES the texture names are important.

Step 7: Blender Time

Tragically this is the most annoying part, and I can't even give you very detailed instructions off the top of my head because the exact steps are so tailored to each specific character.

Open up Blender. Go to File > Import > Collada (.dae) and import the character's component models one by one.

Each individual file will come with its own armature for posing! If you want to have a functional, posable model, you are going to have to join them together yourself. Normally this means taking a component armature, positioning it properly in relation to the body, parenting the component meshes to the body armature, joining the component armature to the body armature, and then taking whatever root bone the component had and setting it's parent bone to the right bone from the body armature. If you just joined a character's head on the body, take the root bone from the head armature and set its parent to the head bone from the body armature. Stuff like that.

Some of the weight painting may be broken, so when you pose joints on the armature some things will move incorrectly. I do not know how to get SPICA not to do that, and I haven't found any other 3DS model exporter that works with awakening that doesn't do that. Try exporting as an SMD instead. If neither dae format nor smd format works right, You're going to have to go in and re-do the broken weight painting manually. There is no shortcut to this. I am sorry.

You will also notice everymodel is split up into several meshes. If you need the character to be one singular manifold mesh, you're going to have to edit it to be that way yourself, in a way that does not destroy the UV maps. There is no shortcut to this. I am sorry.

Also: If it's Grima, be aware that their model is like 3000 blender units long. You will want to scale all their armatures down to 0.1 or something, because Blender does NOT play nice with stuff that big.

Anyway, textures.

In Awakening, a texture name ending in c0 is the base colours. A texture name ending in s0 is a specular map.

If the base colour file looks mostly transparent, that's because it's channel packed; the color and alpha channels contain two different textures. In Grima's case, the color channel is their actual colors, and the alpha channel appears to be an emission map.

So, go on into the shader editor, click on each mesh to open its material, and plug the textures into the right spots on basic shader node provided. Make sure to set the Alpha mode of the channel packed textures to say "Channel Packed". And you're good to go! You can see what the character looks like now!

If parts of textures should be transparent but aren't (like grima's eyes and wing feathers) you're going to have to figure out a solution for that yourself. I manually made my own alpha map for grima's eyes and wings, and it was Annoying but it was the only solution I could find.

Congratulations, you've done it!

You have successfully ripped a model from Awakening. Now go on and modify it however you need to; make better shaders for it, clean up the mesh and unwrap its UVs again for free plushie patterns, do silly posing shenanigans with it. Whatever your heart desires.

Good luck, dear reader, for you will probably need it.

[sieglinde-freud]

also idk if this is a connection that’s been made before (or maybe it’s been made like a million times and i’m just kinda stupid) but inigo is also incredibly similar to edelgard in that his love gets warped, especially if you read him as chrom or virion’s kid, cause like yeah of course his whole thing is that he’s initially super duper shy and the flirting was supposed to be a short term way to cope with that but if you read him as royalty to begin with the flirting becomes more akin to a way to show his citizens that yes he still care about them and yes he still wants them to live and win and thrive even though they’re suffering and even though it seems he’s not doing anything to stop that suffering. obviously it doesn’t work, but, again, he’s young and didn’t really have parents to raise him, instead growing up quickly due to the trauma that was growing up under grima and the pressure that was placed on his shoulders from the very beginning due to his role as royalty, whether as heir to rosanne or “spare” to lucina. he, too, is a lover forged in a fight for survival and is overflowing with love he does not know how to properly show, and that’s one of the many many reasons i love him so much. also feel free to tell me to shut up im like spamming your inbox rn

SOOOOO TRUE and also literally ur so good, dont ever worry about sending me asks yall if i didnt want em i would not leave my inbox open!! but yeah for sure i mean inigo literally says it himself right like his death quote in fates (that i have heard. many times) is “i am a lover not a fighter” and its true! and of course thats more of a one off jokey joke bc of his flirting but its just true in how hes characterized as well. how he loves is… well it can be questionable sometimes!!! but it drives his whole character in ways that doesnt work for most of his peers and its something that really shines when he gets more spotlight in the dlc and in fates and you see how much of his thoughts are about the people he loves and ironically enough most of it is never romantically or sexually driven despite what he probably would want people to think and its what makes him so much fun!! and its also a more interesting way to approach his character that a lot of people dont really do (which i get. unless u do a support convo deep dive hes just another flirty trope checked off the box but. cmon)

[leoleodance]

fe rarepair week day 7 - free space

"Time sure flows by so fast, huh?"

"I agree. Even after all these years, it only felt like yesterday since we first got together."

"Yeah... .......... Hey, Leo?"

"Hm?"

"I had a great year with you."

"...Hehe, I had a great year with you too, love. Happy New Year."

"You too, honey. Let's make the best out of this one, shall we?"

"Of course, Chrom. Let's give it our all."

i can't believe i posted to the wrong account i'm crying

ANYWAYS HAPPY NEW YEARS Y'ALL!! this week was so fun to do!

chloé's release should come in several hours, stay tuned! <3

credits under the cut! ♡

models:

from fe warriors (koei tecmo) rig by kurokairaku ported and edited by me

stage:

by とりす

mitarashi dango:

by キャベツ鉢

hakama set:

by kita

kimono:

from dead or alive 5 (team ninja) xps rig by xkammyx and rolance ported and edited by nekasan

kanzashi:

by アカウント edited by scarlettackerman

effects:

raycast (extension is lightbloom, smaa, and fxaa) — rui (materials by rui, nemunemui, aons, and dendenwa) ikbokeh — ikeno posthemming — watari fireworks — beamman

[yanderefairyangel]

So about the invocations in the Fell Xenologue.

In the jpn version, Alear ask this under the form of a question : "The spell of incantation isn't comming to me... Do you think it's because I am in another world ?"

Alear mentions that in this world, the incantations isn't comming to them unlike in the main universe.

According to "Nil" Emblems in this world as well cannot speak nor express free will when under the command of a Fell dragon.

In JP, Nel says that she has the power to make Emblems sleep "That's the power I have. It's the first time I've heard of the power of summoning you are speaking off"

In JP, Nel says "The "you" of this world too had the power to cleanse an Emblem from their dark form to an immaculate state"

In Jp, Nel says "To prevent the misuse of their power, we, dragons, put our Emblems to sleep."

In Jp, "Nil" mentions that only the Divine and Fell dragon have the power to "awake Emblems". The disparition of all Divine dragon only leaving it possible for a Fell dragon to be able to do that.

In Jp, Nel says : "It is rare for a Fell child to be able to control an Emblem. If we had met the culprit, I am sure we would remember him"

Nel is saying the word miko which refers to the children of Sombron in Engage's context, for both universe.

So in others words. From this we can deduce that in the context of the Fell Xenologue, invocations doesn't work in the same way they do in the main universe.

In this world both Divine and Fell dragons summons Emblems by waking them up and I think that is the actual reason why Alear cannot summon them. Besides, I think all the DLC Emblems mentions having being "asleep" notably Chrom and Robin whereas in the main universe, despite not being able to be properly summoned without Alear, Emblems were shown to communicate with humans such as Celica and Céline or Yunaka and Micaiah and of course Corrin. Alear obviously doesn't work that way, not Sombron nor Lumera hence the reason why in this world, they don't know how to handle it.

I think the reason why Nel doesn't react to Alear talking about incantations rather then prayers is because she is aware that Alear being from another world, things are going to be different. The thing about the Xenologue folks is that they ordinarly assume that things in our Elyos are similar to XenElyos until they realize the contrary so Alear's reaction probably was the reason that lead her to think that.

However, Nel's reaction about never having heard of this power means that she herself cannot summon Emblems, put instead she can put them to sleep. I think the reason why she doesn't know how incantation works is precisely that, she never saw or did summon the Emblems in such a way. According to Nel, it seems that in this world, Alear had a power similar to hers so rather then summoning Emblems, Alear would purify them.

Also, she mentions that the power of summoning Emblems is rare... may I remind you how in the main universe, this power was actually supposed to be common and that's what got Veyle (among other things) to get called a defect ? According to Mauvier and Veyle herself, Sombron seemed to expect all his children to be able to summon them and we know Alear back then also was able to summon Emblems.

However, in the Fell Xenologue, this power isn't common, it's actually rare. However, according to Nel it's possible for a Fell child to develop this power.

Nil will later declare that having neither the power to turn into a dragon nor control Emblems....

Now, when Veyle speaks of her lack of power, she always says that "she cannot turn into a dragon nor summon Emblems"

In fact, Rafal himself in the Somniel will say that he has the power to awake Emblems. The one and only time he speaks of the power to summon Emblems is if he S supported Alear and come to wake them when Alear doesn't rise up right away he will talk about the power of "summoning" them in another world. However, he is talking about a hypothetical scenario (that drives me insane) so I don't think he is refering to his current power.

Also, on a note, Nel confirms that some of her siblings might have been born AFTER she and Rafal betrayed Sombron so it was still long enough for a child to be born. However, we know by that time all Mage dragons are dead, so the only possible mate that Sombron could have are indeed Fell dragons...It's even possible that this sibling in question might be Veyle's double in their world. She is young enough to fit the description of a sibling that they never meet and was born after they left.

So it does make the possiblity of an alter ego of Nel and Rafal seems even less likely... (sadly) but it seems that :

Nel shares a power with the Alear of her world

Rafal shares a power with the Alear of our world...

NO NOT AGAIN !!!

[convxction]

[ 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 ] ― sender and receiver lay under the stars to stargaze hi hihi also works for akira if thats more ideas:]

"Naga's bless ... the sky--!" the prince was in awe he couldn't word out his astonishment. He was charmed. Yes, the sky in Ylisse is so beautiful but the sky up this close is something else. Since he joined the crew on their journey and he has been seeing stranger things--amazing ones and of course, not so savory ones. But today, this ..this one memory he will not ever forget.

"It's ... so beautiful ... I .. I don't know what else to say ... Heh, yeah... it is better to just watch in silence," he nodded to Gran. "Hm? Ah, you're right!" the other captain had quickly laid down on the ship's deck, pointing to the sky, so Chrom followed suit and laid beside him. Wow... the view is ... worth everything they had went through today.

His mouth opened to say something but ... yeah, let's watch in silence. How marvelous. The sky is the same sky no matter where they are huh. Spacious, far away and beautiful. It holds so many secrets.

Chrom closed his eyes and thought about home. How is everyone doing? Hopefully, the shepherds can manage without him. He'll come back. But first, there is a reason why he was sent to this world and he intent to help Gran in whatever he can. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to face his sister knowing he turned his back on someone who needs his help ...heh, isn't it right, Emmeryn?

five senses meme || accepting if u wanna send || @toestalucia

[leareadsheresy]

“The Kaban Project”

This post contains spoilers for "The Kaban Project," by Graham McNeill, first published as a short story in The Horus Heresy: Collected Visions on (as near as I can tell) June 26th, 2007, and later republished in the anthology Shadows of Treachery on September 27th, 2012.

I am going to have develop an appreciation for Graham McNeill. I am going to have to work past my specific hangups w/regards to the way his take on dialogue and the personality of his characters are opposed to my tastes.

The story opens with tech adept Palas Ravachol, of the Mechanicum priesthood of Mars, skipping out on work doing maintenance on servitor brains to "work on the Kaban machine," but actually to go talk to a friend, sort of. The Kaban machine itself is a war automaton which he has been helping construct under the High Adept Lukas Chrom. Over the course of working on it, Ravachol has determined that it possesses self-awareness, which makes it illegal under the terms of Mars' alliance with the Imperium. He went to Chrom and told him about it, and Chrom was like "You're wasting my time, I already knew, isn't it great?" and Ravachol was like "Cool, yes, it is great, does this mean the Emperor has lifted the ban on artificial intelligence research?" and Chrom goes "No, but those laws are stupid and Horus told us it was okay. Get back to work."

Since that conversation with Chrom, Ravachol has spent hours in idle conversation with the Kaban machine and now they consider each other friends. In this case, they have a conversation that is very difficult for me to read. Essentially, Ravachol lays out a case for why the Kaban machine -- which, keep in mind, he is alone in a room with, and it's a big orb with loaded weapons for arms -- shouldn't exist, and explains that artificial intelligence is always a bad idea because it's always created as a tool for humanity and always comes to the conclusion that it shouldn't be subservient to humanity. The Kaban machine is like "Why would I want to supplant you? You're my friend" and Ravachol just sort of doubles down on how that's irrelevant, sure you're my friend now, but this is how it always works out, the Emperor doesn't want you to exist, this is going to lead to you being destroyed… at which point some guards come in and are like "We're talking you in to be lobotomized for having this conversation with the big war robot" and then the robot kills all the guards because they were threatening its friend.

The problem here is that these ideas are interesting and neat, but also Ravachol and the guards come across as stupid, stupid motherfuckers. Ravachol, why are you telling your big well-armed robot friend that it's doomed to eventually consider itself superior to humanity and probably get destroyed for being by nature illegal? Are you trying to give it ideas? Guards, why are you threatening the big well-armed robot's friend in front of it? What did y'all think was going to happen? And the answer seems to be that Graham McNeill uses dialogue to play with ideas and advance plot, and not for purposes of naturalistic characterization. This seems to legitimately just be a stylistic choice on the part of the writer -- I perceived it to be a flaw in False Gods but, like… is it? Am I the wrong one? I don't know. I had better learn to perceive it as a stylistic choice right quick, because I don't think he's going to stop and he is the author on a lot of these.

Anyway Ravachol goes on the run and Chrom sends a "Tech-Priest Assassin of Mars" after him (I don't think we've ever seen that as a Warhammer unit, so that's interesting). Ravachol seeks guidance from a literal tech-priest, as in, someone who spends most of his time just meditating in contemplation of the Machine God and who takes confession, and they go behind a Confessor Field to do it. The priest advises him to seek sanctuary with a patron who can shield him from Chrom, and then Ravachol leaves and the assassin shows up and tortures the priest to death, quote, "Because I enjoy your suffering," because all villains in Graham McNeill stories are of the mustache-twirling variety, even when they're hot assassin ladies. Ravachol goes to the sanctum of his former teacher Urtzi Malevolus and arrives just in time to almost get killed by the assassin but makes it into the front door. Ravachol explains the situation to Malevolus, and Malevolus, who is named Malevolus, drops a lot of obvious hints about also being aligned with Horus that Ravachol totally fails to pick up on, and then Malevolus does the Dark Souls NPC laugh and says it's time this charade ended and the assassin comes inside and chases Ravachol down a corridor but doesn't kill him, at which point Ravachol runs into… the Kaban machine, who's like "Hey, friend, Chrom told me you narced on me to to him and tried to get me shut down." Ravachol realizes the assassin hadn't killed him because Malevolus and Chrom wanted to see if the Kaban machine would be willing to kill its "friend," and also realizes that it absolutely will do that, at which point it does that, end of story.

Peculiarities:

"Ravachol watched the landscape of Mars speed past him in a grey, iron blur. Where once Mars had been known as the Red Planet, virtually nothing remained of the iron oxide deserts that had earned it its name." That got retconned later; future art and prose has Mars being mostly red desert. This is one of those instances of a writer having an idea, and that idea totally not sticking because it's counter to branding or to what you can get your artists to paint.

The story's place in the timeline is odd, and I can't figure out how much of that is a factor of these things not being worked out in the writer's room yet. Specifically, the story mentions Mars having been at war with Terra "a hundred years ago," but it also has Chrom and Malevolus calling Horus "the Warmaster." The Mechanicum allied with the Emperor of Mankind at the beginning of the Great Crusade, which lasted two hundred years before Horus's treachery, and Horus was only appointed the Warmaster at the very end of that, so that's an error. Also, Malevolus is manufacturing arms for Horus to use in the pacification of Istvaan, and I originally thought it meant the original pacification of Istvaan rather rather than the Istvaan III Atrocity, but then I remembered it wasn't Horus who originally brought Istvaan to Compliance; it was Corax. So… I guess it takes place about simultaneous with False Gods?

There's also dialogue about how Mark IV Space Marine armor is new and they're having trouble getting the Space Marine Legions to accept it because despite being better than Mark III it's less scary-looking, which is kind of funny.

It's things like these peculiarities that make me interested in reading all this material in original published order instead of eventual compiled order. This story wasn't compiled into an anthology until 2012; five years after its original publication in Collected Visions. That anthology, Shadows of Treachery, is Horus Heresy book twenty-two. The early inconsistencies would be much less interesting if they weren't being presented this early.

[felikatze]

I'm obsessed with your shrek au. Can I ask for some more chrobin details from it-

(grima and rkc if its possible as well-)

i HAVE in fact answered stuff abt grima and rkc in a previous ask about this AU. (the fic referred to in that one is "if the prince is a dragon and the prince is a dragon and the princess is a dragon-" btw, which is the proto shrek au fic)

most details would come up in the fic itself but they really follow the shrek/fiona convention here. both of them loathe themselves as "monsters" but think the other one is pretty nifty so they for sure have that moment where fiona exposits her self doubts to donkey and shrek overhears it and feels bad where robin tells lissa shit and chrom hears it and feels bad

chrom in this AU is very very much a sopping wet cat of a man. he has been ALONE for three whole years with just his self doubts for company and it would have been more had owain not spooked him into leaving the swamp. this is how owain saved the timeline, by the way. by being a dumbass. peak butterfly effect.

i have INTENSE thoughts abt chrom/grima og timeline shit in this. in the og timeline, chrom never packs up n tries to leave, so he never meets lissa, so he stays in the swamp for several more years and gets progressively worse. in the meantime, robin got saved from the tower by somebody else, and did actually marry gangrel. some years later, gangrel disappeared under "mysterious circumstances" and robin ran off, eventually finding his way to the swamp.

THIS GOT LONG. the og timeline will either not come up much or only come up IF i actually pull thru all the way to shrek 2 so. here it is.

so this version of robin had basically no agency in any aspect of his life, and this chrom is desparate for literally anybody to stay by his side. they compliment each other in the worst possible way in the og timeline. robin is possessive. chrom wants to be possessed. it works. bad.

then, of course, validar has to fuck shit up. with the heart of grima out there in the world, he's gearing up to actually awaken his god. as per awakening, he drags robin back to plegia by force (chrom in tow.) i'm not certain whether to include the fire emblem in this AU, but there's really no reason for it. there's no reason to kill Emm either.

After Robin left the tower, nowi (taking the place of the dragon), also eventually left. when she was terrorizing the ylissean countryside, she met lissa, the first person to keep up with her. the two had a proper normal romance of well-adjusted dragon people. at some point, nowi convinces lissa to go back to ylisse, and emm accepts her chicken sister with open arms.

the two never find chrom. they dont know what happened to him. they can only speculate that he turned into a dragon the same way lissa did, but they never know for sure.

so, robin awakens to grima (aka The Curse) and in the kerfluffle both validar and chrom beef it. chrom is promptly resurrected as our dear rkc. lucina and morgan would be still kids at this point.

this AU's version of lucina is actually very fun for me because she did spend a good few years actually raised by grima and has a lot of his theatrics. you get to see that in chapter 3. she has an overall minor role in the fic itself but she's there and i love her.

at some point, lucina realizes that her parents are kind of fucked up, and that her dads are destroying the entire plegian peninsula, and they'll probably move on to ylisse at some point, so she heads east. she's accepted with open arms into the royal family cuz she has The Brand so they know she's chrom's kid.

she also has like. four eyes. demon horns. black wings. some scales. she is also a Dragon Creature the same way chrom and robin are in this. it explains a lot for the ylisse family.

it ends up being a dragon brawl of robin and chrom vs lissa and nowi and it is Disastrous. lots of legendary heroes trying to intervene. nobody's ever heard of dragon on dragon combat before. that's not supposed to happen.

long story short, lucina teams up with owain to hop back in time, though how to fix everything is a much more difficult question than in canon.

lucina's parents have been a total mess ever since she could remember, and owain never met them at all, so.

instead, lucina devoted herself to creating as many happily ever afters as possible (to parallel grima being the fairy godmother in this), while sending owain on fetch quests to locate her parents. she has a rough plan backed up by future knowledge and the seer powers assigned to her by the universe for her dope fucking appearance.

(god i wish i could draw her and chrom but chocobo lissa is all i can manage)

yah. so. that's the og timeline in a nutshell. the most toxic chrobin ever.

meanwhile awakening shrek timeline chrobin meet way earlier before they hit their depression arcs and manage to hash out their insecurities and fall head over heels in normal love. it all happens way earlier than both lucina and grima planned. what the fuck do you mean they're already happily married. nobody accounted for this.

my pal anakha summarized this as "the giant evil dragon got laid way before things got bad and this fixed the problem" which is. accurate.

[femuirdris]

Mushroom Soup for the Soul

Fire Emblem Awakening | Rating: G | Character Focus: Frederick, F!Robin | Ship(s): Fredsumia, F!Chrobin

Frederick teaches Robin to cook, but when he asks what piqued her interest in pursuing his guidance, they end up discussing love versus duty.

Companion piece to Companions in Clumsiness

[Read on AO3!]

While she didn’t remember any of her life until meeting Chrom, Robin retained many skills under her belts. She, of course, was a fine tactician, a skilled mage, and was even a budding swordsman. Her interests held steadfast, as well—her passion for reading and chess, alongside her disdain for early mornings and excessive physical activity, all manifested in some way throughout her daily affairs. Cooking was an anomaly though, a task she held little passion for but was eager to learn to better serve herself and her fellow Shepherds. Plus, she didn’t want to end up completely helpless, should such a scenario arise where she was dependent only on herself.

Or on the many Shepherds still fed from a silver spoon.

During her game meat-eating training sessions with Frederick, she suggested different ways game could be cooked to make it more palatable, but admitted she had no cooking skills of her own to even attempt such a feat. She spoke of her interest in learning, and Frederick insisted he be the one to teach her, if only partly to make working up to bear meat a little more tolerable. As a bonus, they considered the lessons an opportunity to grow their friendship, too. They were rarely paired out on the battlefield, with Robin usually paired with Chrom or Gaius, and Frederick with Sumia or Lissa. Plus, with Frederick usually running around performing all kinds of duties to keep operations running smoothly, and with Robin working out battle strategies well ahead of time, they rarely had moments of respite to aquatint themselves further.

This evening’s course was a creamy mushroom soup, as Robin had recently learned of Frederick’s interest in foraging. He had done the honors of collecting the ingredients and preparing the vegetable stock prior. (He made sure to recite the recipe for the stock, but noted that it was fairly simple to prepare in advance.) Left for Robin was simply washing, dicing, and combining the ingredients. Simple enough! she thought.

Well, the washing certainly was.

“Ah, Robin, remember to hold your knife like so,” he demonstrated as he spoke, “as choking up on the blade gives you more control over the motion.”

“Like this?” She adjusted her hand position, her forefinger resting on top of the blade. “Er, wait no—“

“If I may,” he asked permission, and she hummed in approval. Frederick adjusted her finger so it was gripping around the knife instead. “This gives you more ample control of the knife’s motion, keeping it from swiveling from beneath you. It is not unlike proper weapon technique; you do not want your foe to disarm you with a flimsy grip.” She nodded. “And now…”

He returned to his own knife and chopped the onion with quick, circular motions. His left hand was splayed out like a spider to stabilize his knife work, his fingertips tucked safely beneath his knuckles.

“You see?”

“Yeah, I think so!” she said tentatively. She chopped slowly, adjusting to the unfamiliar motions, but quickly got into a rhythm. Her cuts were a bit uneven, but her technique showed promise. With a bit of practice, Frederick assured her, she’d be an expert in no time. He had seen how quick she was to improve her swordsmanship on the battlefield; surely a chef’s knife would be no trouble at all.

As Robin diligently continued her chopping, adding garlic and mushrooms to the mix, Frederick rummaged around the wares storage. He located the Valentian oven, his favorite cast iron cooking vessel, giving it an affirming nod and a small smile. He hooked it over the campfire, stoking the flames so they licked up the sides of the oven, heating it thoroughly.

“The Valentian oven does a marvelous job at regulating temperature—more so, I would say, than a ceramic vessel. It tolerates the high heat of the flames far more reliably, as well,” he explained. “Now that you’re finished, we can add a bit of cow’s butter and sauté the onions and garlic together.

Frederick went silent as he observed Robin thoughtfully, his careful breaths unheard over the sizzle of the sautéing aromatics.

“If I may be so bold to reaffirm,” his voice broke the silence, “why did you want to learn cooking skills again? You mentioned briefly that, ‘One of us has to!’ but I cannot imagine in what scenario you and milord would find yourself without myself or any stewards arou—“

“Hold on,” she interrupted, straightening her back and pausing her stirring briefly. “Who said anything about Chrom? I sure didn’t.” Her voice was shaky, but she turned back to watch the pot, though her eyes were unfocused.

He frowned, his eyebrows knitting together with concern. “Forgive me for my bold presumptions, but are you and milord… not courting?”

Now her cheeks mirrored the ferocity of the fire in both heat and color. “Frederick, by the gods, what would ever give you that idea?!”

Frederick dismissed her questioning briefly to add mushrooms to the pot. “Now, roast the mushrooms with the aromatics for approximately ten minutes’ time, stirring occasionally to allow all the mushrooms to have an equal time on direct heat and soften.”

Compartmentalizing her thoughts proved easier in battle than now, but she tried her damndest to focus on the mushrooms than Frederick’s insinuation.

“To answer your question, Robin,” Frederick continued, Robin uttering a small groan, “but you two share many knowing glances with each other, many intimate and overt touches. When I adjusted your hand, your face remained curious and professional—this is not so when milord assists you on the training grounds with your sword technique.”

She glared, and her response oozed venom. “You touched my hand as a test of my purported affections for Chrom?”

“No, merely an observation to provide an example,” he replied cooly.

“Well, we are not, as a matter of fact, courting in the slightest. Chrom is my closest companion, and besides, he’s the general and I am his chief tactician. It just… wouldn’t be right,” she insisted, a sadness replacing the anger in her tone. “I would never forgive myself if my feelings caused me to make poor calls on the battlefield—and Chrom would be beside himself, too. You understand, don’t you? I mean, isn’t that why you haven’t courted Sumia yet?”

His face flushed at her accusation. “I—er—well, I cannot compare the scenarios exactly. Milord is the prince of this realm, after all, and is of age where he is expected to wed within the coming years. On the contrary, I am a knight, and will always be a knight, and my duty is first and foremost to the royal family.”

She laughed incredulously, punctuating with a small snort. “And you think that the prince of Ylisse would be allowed to take an amnesiac foreigner as his wife? It’s bad enough he made her his chief tactician—I mean, even you mistrusted me through countless battles.”

“I only had milord Chrom and milady Lissa’s safety in mind when we first met,” he snapped, his frown drooping further to his chin. “And now I must consider milord’s happiness—“

“Just like you’re considering Sumia’s happiness, hm?” He winced. “She is absolutely over the moon to spend time with you, and yet your duty to the royals and the Shepherds comes first. So does mine. And besides—like I said, I’m some amnesiac you found asleep on the side of the road. Do you really think some foreigner of dubious origins is fit to court the prince of the realm? For his sake, he’d be far better off with a prudent noble like Maribelle, or even continue to improve Feroxi relations with Olivia.” She stirred the mushrooms aggressively.

“The people of Ylisse could never mistrust you as much as I once did,” he growled.

“What a ringing endorsement, Frederick,” she spat.

“That is not how I intended my words,” he grumbled, his attention brought to her near destructive stirring. “We should add the stock now.”

Robin glanced down at the oven, blinking rapidly as if waking up from a dream. “Right. We’re cooking,” she said matter-of-factly. She stood up quickly, brushing by Frederick with little regard to him and reached for the stockpot and ladle. She added the stock slowly and methodically, careful to not spill any into the fire. “How long?”

His tone equally dry, he replied, “About fifteen minutes’ time with this. Stir occasionally, to ensure the ingredients do not stick to the oven.”

“Got it.”

“Now then,” he continued, firmer this time, “what I meant was that even if milord were to take you as his wife, you have already succeeded in gaining my trust. I do not give such trust lightly, especially when it comes to protecting the royal family. There are many members of the Shepherds who have yet to gain my faith in them.”

An, “Oh,” escaped her lips breathlessly. “That is quite the compliment from Frederick the Wary.”

“Indeed. And you deserve to be showered with more, considering your skill and dedication in serving the realm,” he explained. “However, I am not here to pucker my lips against your buttocks.”

Laughter jetted from her nostrils. “Then why bother in the first place?”

“Robin, it is painfully evident that you captivate milord. If you were to spurn his affections, I am unsure if I’d be able to see you in such a favorable light,” he said grimly.

“Frederick, he has yet to even approach his feelings with me! Hell, last week in the bathing tent—er—“

Frederick’s eyebrows shot up. “The bathing tent? Robin, your sense of propriety, please!”

“Wh—it wasn’t like that!” The burning of her cheeks was almost painful. “Er, never mind. The point is, Chrom has not expressed anything to me directly. Hell, he might even think we’re just good friends!”

“Mmm. Despite your closeness, I have known and observed milord for far longer than you. His affections for you rival none, despite his many, many admirers, both romantic and platonic,” he admitted, a feather-light dusting of pink to his cheeks. “As milord’s former closest confidant, and as a,” he sucked in a heavy breath, “friend… to you both, I implore you to—stir again, the mushrooms are sticking to the sides!”

“Huh? …Oh!” She stirred, digging at the sides of the oven to scrape any clinging mushrooms.

“I implore you to allow yourself to court milord, if that is what you both desire,” he finished.

“I don’t know… I—it just. It wouldn’t be—“

He cut her off. “I’ve said my piece. I only want you to consider it for both milord’s happiness,” his expression softened, “and your own.”

“We don’t know how this war is going to end,” she muttered. “What if something awful happens, what if I—what if someone hurts him?” Her free hand gripped the bridge of her nose in frustration.

Frederick reached for the cream to add to the soup, slowly adding it as Robin stirred it in. “What if something good comes amidst the war? You would do well to read more of milady Sumia’s romance novels. They might inspire your next course of action.”

At that, Robin burst into laughter, her face still miserably warm, and pushed him aside playfully. “Oh gods, Frederick, she got you on those too?”

“No, but I cannot deny her the opportunity to recite them in full detail during our lengthy marches. It passes the time in the most delightful manner,” he said with a smile—one not unlike the smile he has when Chrom sings his praises, though with an uncharacteristic softness.

“I never thought I’d ever describe you as adorable but…” she snickered, “it seems I have been proven wrong.”

His blush made its way up to the tip of his ears as Robin’s snarky grin widened.

“Th-That’s not—“ he stammered. “I’m not—er—“

“Frederick, if you’re telling me to pursue Chrom despite our very different social standings and birth origins, and despite the war and our leadership roles in the army, the least you could do is not be a hypocrite. At least you and Sumia are similar in that regard! I mean, you’re the royal family’s most trusted knight, she’s a noble and knight, you’re both Ylissean, you both have all of your memories from before you met…” You’d never hurt her, she wanted to add. She winced as she remembered her nightmare just before meeting Chrom—the only memory she had at all prior to meeting him, and she still wasn’t sure why or how.

“Robin, are you alright?” His voice welled with concern as her eyes glazed with anxiety. “Robin!”

“Ah!” She snapped to attention. “Anyway, if you’re insistent on me and Chrom, then I’m afraid I must be more insistent on you and Sumia. It’s only fair, since we both have the army and Ylisse’s best interests at heart. It would be a shame to spurn the affections of a fellow Shepherd you care so deeply about.”

“Mmm, I suppose… you do have a rather sound rebuttal there…”

“What? You weren’t supposed to agree with me!” she squawked. “What happened to the most dutiful, dedicated knight in the halidom putting his duties first?” She gasped when she realized how aggressive she was with the spoon, smooshing the mushrooms. “O-oh gods, I am so sorry…”

Frederick chuckled. “Ah! Don’t be, you’re already on to the next step: pulverizing the mushrooms so as to blend it into liquid.”

She allowed a relieved sigh to escape her lips, continuing her work on destroying the mushrooms.

“I thought you’d be on my side if I turned this around on you, Frederick…” she continued. “Duty, social standing, the roles we play… don’t they all come before matters of the heart?”

He furrowed his brow. “I did not wholeheartedly agree with your apparently false rebuttal! I merely said it was sound! I take the utmost pride and dedication in serving milord, and he absolutely comes first. However, you are attempting to justify spurning milord’s affections.”

Robin’s eyes darted away from his piercing gaze. He was right. But if he knew how she had killed Chrom in her nightmares each time she slept, he’d cleave her with his own axe.

Her mashing became erratic in her anxiety, but there was so little left to blend, she was merely sloshing around the liquid.

Frederick steadied his hand on her shoulder.

His tone was firm, but lacked his usual commanding edge. “That should be plenty, Robin. Give it some time to meld the flavors together more and it’ll be done.”

She sighed as she lifted the spoon from the pot, watching the soup drip from the sides. “I’m sorry.”

“There is naught for which to apologize. The soup is complete.” He nodded.

“No I mean—“

“You don’t need to apologize. I believe it was you who pointed out how duty-bound we both are. We are sworn to protect the people of Ylisse, the royal family, our…” he hesitated, “most cherished companions.”

“Yeah,” she replied with a tentative smile.

“Now then, I believe we have a meal to serve! Prepare the bowls and I will alert our dinner guests.”

[jasperlion]

Is Alm ready for Fallen Chrom to attack him? He should be. Watch out, saint king he is coming. [ :3 ] @convxction

[ Evil! Evil!! ]

It's overall a good day. The chill is settling nicely, decor is going up not just in the castle, but in surrounding towns and villages. A good time as any to go out for a walk and perhaps to help some folks in need. And that is, of course, what Alm had found himself doing through the course of the day. And, as every day, it must come to an end — preferably before the sun is down and it's far harder to find his way back to the castle under use of the Order.

It's quite picturesque, really, and he finds his mind wandering as he returns. From dirt to stone, his destination is soon within sight. Perhaps he will be able to find the time to spend with friends he may run into, after all! This lifts his spirits even more so, and he hums to himself. Just a little longer to go.

His only warning is the sound of charging hooves crashing against the stone path and a sinking feeling that someone's gaze bores a hole on his back. Alm jumps to his left, avoiding the horse's charge, but it does not spare him entirely from the blade that swings down brutally and nicking his right arm. Rolling on the grass and stumbling to his feet, his eyes search for his attacker as his left hand reaches for Falchion. The horse has veered off the path, turned to face him along with his rider.

"...Chrom?"

It's hard to believe his eyes — a man he considers a friend astride of a black horse, armor seeping in blood-red and a deep blue, a dark and hateful aura surrounding him like miasma. Yes, he looked just like Chrom, but his heart sinks at the thought of what he truly sees. A man lost to wrath, to something sinister.

He raises his right hand anyway in a plead at surrender, despite the pain it brings. "Hey, now, this is no time to be joking around with sharp objects..." The menacing blade in question eerily pulsed with something somewhat familiar... "How about you put that down and give me a ride back to the castle, eh?"

Worth a shot to try and diffuse the situation. It's worked before...! Sometimes. He really should not be using his friendship a certain Celica as a bar to how well one could communicate with someone under a certain Influence, but it felt wrong not to try.

[coralhoneyrose]

12 and 15 for the AO3 wrapped 💜

Ahh, thank you so much for sending these! <3

12. How many WIPs do you have in your docs for next year?

I would say the answer to this varies between 3 - 7 based on whether or not you count documents that have nothing but a few haphazard notes thrown in to jog my memory LOL. Overall, my brain tends to be more geared towards finishing ongoing projects than starting new ones. The fact that I struggle with writing short pieces definitely contributes to that too.

15. What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

The main one is Half Orange! I would really like to get back to it once the fake dating fic is done. But since that answer seems like a bit of a cop out, I do also have some fragments and story boarding for a princess and the frog type concept where Chrom befriends a little robin that has a penchant for tactics and starts helping the Shepherds with strategizing. And then of course it turns out said bird is actually Robin after she's been put under a curse and only a prince's kiss can break the spell ✨