#DEDUE WAS A DEFINITE SURPRISE
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Can I request cuddle headcanons for the Blue Lion males separately with female Byleth?
I already wrote some for Sylvain, even though that was reader insert I don't think much would change with Byleth. So I'm not going to add anything there.
Also I had no idea how to tag it all... Since I know only ship tags with Felix, Sylvain and Dimitri so I'm not tagging them as ships :y
In all cases though: I think we all can agree that Byleth likes to listen to heartbeats
Blue lion Boys cuddle headcanons
Byleth here is female
Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd
He used to be scared of not controlling his strength... But he actually doesn't have any problems being gentle with Byleth.
Just in case though... He tends to be a little spoon when they cuddle. Jokes aside, he actually prefers it that way. It's a very comforting feeling.
He likes to at least take one of her hands "hostage" if their position allows it.
But of course he definitely loves having her in his arms as well. Although at times he'd be anxious if she's comfortable. Then again her some says everything he needs to know.
Dedue Molinaro
He does usually feel the need for cuddles but he certainly is happy to provide them when necessary.
His embrace is warm and safe. It's hard for her not to relax when he's hugging her. Hugs from Dedue are literally the best way to forget all of your day's worries.
As for spooning he has no preferences at all. Whatever would go he'd think on how happy he is to have someone like her in his life.
When he's the big spoon he thinks how although she's strong- he wants to protect her.
When he's the little one he remembers that he can rely on her to be there for him.
I know it's a lot of symbolism for just cuddling but I don't know how else I can describe it.
Felix Hugo Fraldarius
He isn't used to cuddling much. He also doesn't enjoy being still for so long... But with Byleth it's different.
Still at first he was very awkward with it. Both when it came to his desire for cuddles and how he went about asking it.
He doesn't mind being vulnerable with her. Even though he'd rather die than admit it out loud.
So even though he tends to be a big spoon he definitely loves being small one just as much.
He usually holds her tightly. Not in a way that would make her uncomfortable, he does it more in a "I'll never let you go" way.
Ashe Ubert
He usually is the one to initiate things, so whenever Byleth decides to take the lead or ask him if he'd like to cuddle he's pleasantly surprised!
When they lay down together he really likes to play with her hair. He can get a little restless so this is his way to keep his hands busy.
He often feels like he should say something, but quickly finds comfort in the silence.
When it comes to spooning he's usually the big spoon. After all Byleth is always taking the lead in her daily life, so having a break by finding comfort with your lover is a nice change.
~Mod Bernadetta
#dimitri fire emblem#dimitri fe#fe3h dimitri#dimitri x reader#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd#fe3h dedue#dedue fire emblem#dedue x reader#fe dedue#dedue molinaro#three houses felix#felix fe3h#fe3h felix#fire emblem felix#felix x reader#felix hugo fraldarius x reader#felix hugo fraldarius#ashe fe3h#ashe duran#ashe duran x reader#ashe x reader#ashe fire emblem#ashe ubert x reader#ashe ubert
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overthinking 3 Hopes Rodrigue expeditions
or: they made this old man extremely cute for no apparent reason and I just wanted to thank whoever did this
In FE 3 Hopes, you can take every playable character on dates expeditions. If you successfully have a perfect conversation with them in the first part of the date, you'll unlock "free observation mode". This is where you get to stare at them up close and personal from different camera angles like a weirdo, while they blush and sound fluster-- oh, wait, that's actually just Rodrigue
the majority of the cast does not do this
Anyway, every character has 3 unique lines they'll say during free observation: one for looking at them head-on, one for looking at them from above, and one for looking at them from below. Before you reach A-rank with him, Rodrigue's 3 lines are:
Front: "The years have begun to take their toll on me. Every time I look in the mirror, the man staring back grows less and less familiar."
Above: "Hm? What is it? You'll make an old man blush if you keep staring like that."
Below: "Now that I've relinquished my title, perhaps it's time I pass my cloak down to Felix as well."
But as hinted at before, these 3 lines (and a few of the other lines around expeditions in general) will change after you've reached A-rank support with the character.
The change in these lines usually shows how a character's relationship with you/Shez has grown closer after A-rank. Some characters, like Felix, get friendlier and smile instead of scowling. Others like Dedue seem more comfortable or go "I don't mind being stared at if it's you". And others hint towards more physical intimacy (no, not in the way you were thinking, like how Seteth asks you to trim his hair for him). But there's a lot you could infer about how characters see Shez after they get closer if you were some sort of obsessive nerd like I am
Anyway, Rodrigue's A-rank lines are:
Front: "Felix is a rather handsome young man, don't you think? I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Hahaha!"
Above: "I care little for my appearance when I'm not on duty, but rest assured, I dress properly when out in public."
Below: "Hm? Is my cloak soiled in some way? Pity, I've only just washed it."
are you flirting with me or trying to set me up with your son
What can we infer about these lines? They're not that dramatically different, and it's not like you can even get more cute than Rodrigue's flustered expression before A-rank. What I want to note, though, is the overall tone of what he says to you before and after A-rank.
Before A-rank:
All of Rodrigue's lines are in some way about being older and past his prime.
He looks sad in 2/3 lines, both when mentioning not recognizing himself in the mirror, and when musing about passing his cloak down to Felix.
He blushes seemingly out of surprise that you would stare at an old man like him.
After A-rank, however:
All of Rodrigue's lines focus more on taking pride in his appearance than on lamenting his age.
He smiles in 2/3 lines and is comfortable joking about himself, whether it's obliquely calling himself handsome (via Felix) or reassuring Shez that no he definitely looks nice for public appearances honest.
He sounds legitimately disappointed that he managed to dirty his cloak so soon after washing it, which is both unexpectedly vain for a man like Rodrigue AND very relatable.
Basically, before you get close to him, Rodrigue sounds rather self-deprecating about himself - about his age, about his appearance, and about deflecting your attention because he can't imagine why you would pay attention to him. But after you get closer, he starts acting more comfortable with himself around you. He actually acknowledges he might be handsome and even gets a little vain about his dress, though he's quick to reassure you that no he's not that vain. So Rodrigue both becomes more confident about his own appearance and seems to care more for your opinion, because he wants you to think better of him.
conclusion: Rodrigue Achille Fraldarius is a shoujo manga teenage girl MC in a 46-year-old man's body and I am here for it
#rodrigue achille fraldarius#fire emblem warriors 3 hopes#fe3h#i have infinite screenshots from 3 hopes and need an excuse to use them#just watch me#rodweek 2023
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Can I request a birthday surprise from s/o for Dedue, Mercedes and Seteth? Thank you in advance!
S/O Surprising Them on Their Birthday
Fandom: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Character(s): Dedue, Mercedes, Seteth
Type of Request: Headcanons
Note(s): Here you go!
Dedue
I feel like he'd really enjoy some new seeds for gardening. He doesn't want a big show for his birthday, so just giving him his gift would be good enough.
Dimitri is really the only one that has celebrated Dedue's birthday. So the fact that you are willing to celebrate with him is a nice surprise as is.
Would still want to make you a meal or do something for you. He knows the day is for him, but he still wants to take care of you. You both can enjoy his birthday.
Mercedes
Mercedes couldn't help keeping an eye and ear out all day to try and find out if you remember it's her birthday. She'll be fine if you don't, it's okay! But she would be flattered if you did remember.
You surprising her with a present and cake and her favorite tea causes her to smile so brightly. It's just very sweet of you and she loves the surprise so much.
Honestly wants to spend the day with you. She loves the surprise you gave her, but now she wants to cuddle and be in your arms.
Seteth
He almost asks how you knew it's his birthday before he remembers how mischievous Flayn can be.
Seteth hasn't celebrated his birthday in years. His late wife would do something will him and Flayn gets him something nice, but that's the extent he does anything.
So you showing up with a cake and present with Flayn behind definitely surprises him. Already thinks this is the best birthday he's had.
#fe dedue x reader#dedue x reader#fe mercedes x reader#mercedes x reader#fe3h dedue x reader#fe3h mercedes x reader#fe3h seteth x reader#seteth x reader#fe seteth x reader#fire emblem x reader#fe3h x reader
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Gotta say, I follow BWIIDT and I've read her critiques but I don't recall her ever having done what raxis had done. She never linked to the fic or even outright named it? And she certainly never linked directly to the author. So I still have never seen caps fic , have no idea what the fic is called , and I still don't know who "captain" is.
But if she did the same shit Raxis did and explicitly linked people to the fic and to their social media I would definitely know who they were .
Just want to point out the difference.
Like if I want to know who cap is and read the fic myself I can probably put in the effort and ask or go out of my way to look for it. But that requires actual effort. you need to make a choice and go out of your way to even DO that.
But raxis pasting links and listing names left and right ? that is literally just a mindless click away and the entire fandom knows how aggressive edelstans are , so it's a literal invitation to harassment.
Raxis is basically giving an angry mob the identity and address of a random author he dissgrees with and he's Pikachu face surprised that his MakeAdrestiaGreatAgain buddies stormed over there (literally 1 click away) to attack the author on his behalf? Nah, Raxis has done this for years. he knows.
Combining these two
Thanks, so from what I'm hearing I was right about BWIIDT never providing links or naming the fic?
I initially wasn't following the fic critique. I knew it was going on but I was kind of just not interested in it cuz I didn't really see the point of critiquing the fic at first. Then I started seeing it get recc'd everywhere and shortly after I saw what I believe was BWIIDT's breakdown of Dedue's treatment and I was like. Oh wait this is actually way worse than I thought it was. I thought it was just gonna be some guy's silly little wish fulfillment fic I didn't realize it was gonna be that bad.
But like yeah here's the thing. Sure, people could go figure out Cap's fic from BWIIDT's posts. However, if there's one universal truth about people it's that people are fucking lazy and 99.99% of people are not going to put in the effort to go find the thing.
And also, in forcing people to actually go looking for the thing you greatly increase the chances of someone stopping and saying "wait, what am I doing do I really need to be doing this? Because it just takes longer to find something, and that gives you time to cool down and think about what you're about to do.
I can't tell you how many times I've been pissed off about something and gone to do some research, and in the process of doing the research I've had a second to cool down and suddenly I'm not as riled up or inclined to do anything with the info I've found.
Not related to fanfic but in the same spirit, just as a real example of what I'm talking about. I've been running fandom tournaments and I have spreadsheets for those where I calculate out everyone's total number of votes and rankings. I debated organizing everyone by votes and then posting it midway through the qualifying rounds so people could know who was in the lead, who was behind, who they might wanna focus votes on if they wanted to boost someone into the bracket, etc.
Ultimately I decided against it because I didn't want any potential messiness of someone, say, looking at that frankly presented data and doing some kind of vote manipulation or something. A lot of the characters lower down on the bracket were within only a couple of votes of each other so it would have been really easy to boost someone up with just one or two alt accounts.
Sure technically all of that info is public right on the tournament blog. I've shared the methodology for how I pick the brackets in the past. You could very easily go through the polls and calculate it out yourself to know who is going to be cut. Thing is, most people aren't going to bother to do that, even if they would be willing to try vote manipulating if they just saw the data laid out for them. And it takes like an hour for me to go through and update the spreadsheets and reorganize everything, plenty of time for someone to start trying to calculate everything out and realize that vote manipulating a dumb tumblr poll is, well, dumb.
The point I'm trying to make is, it absolutely matters how easy you made it for people to go find something. Because that will actually make a huge difference in how many people go on to harass an author. And again, that is honestly self-evident at this point? Everyone knows if you link a fic and/or name the fic and the author people are going to be a LOT more likely to go harass them.
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How about 2 and 11 for the fandom asks? :)
Ooh, thank you, friend! :D
(For the Fandom Year in Review Asks here.)
2. Favorite ships this year
Oh man, what a loaded question, lol. Well, as I'm sure many of you know, I've fallen hard back into Trigun in 2023, lol! So I just have... a whole shitload of ships I've been reading for that, omg. Fave is probably Millyons (Knives x Milly lol) at this point, though, omg. (I blame @eomma-jpeg fully for this. >_>) But I still have such a huge soft spot for VashMeryl, too, as well as some other rarepairs like KLR (Knives/Livio/Razlo) or Kniveswood (Knives/Wolfwood 😅). Yes, there is a trend here... No, I won't examine it. >_>
As for other media, I'm still well in to Genshin Impact as usual and my favorite Chili bois have yet to be unseated as my all time faves, lol. (I.e. Childe/Zhongli) I'm still like moderately invested in the Cyno/Alhaitham rarepair as well, though I haven't read as much for them. But perhaps the biggest surprise of all though is how down bad I am about Neuvillette x Furina. Like damn son, me stanning a straight ship in Genshin? XD This hasn't happened since Ayaka x Thoma. XD And I'm way more invested in Neuvy and Furina anyway, goodness. The whole Fontaine story arc absolutely destroyed me and I loved the two of them in it so much. I hope they get to be happy soon in the future. 😭😭😭
As for other IPs... Y'all know I still love DBH in my heart and still stan Convin and North60 with my life. I'm also still riding that FFVII Remake train and may or may not have read a bunch of Sefikura this year... >_> (Sephiroth/Cloud for those who don't know. Because the inherent eroticism of being sworn enemies will never not appeal to me. >_>) And also IkeSoren and Dimidue (Dimitri/Dedue) from Fire Emblem still live in my heart indefinitely. But also, a lot of my fandoms I've read this year I've been reading a lot of platonic stuff for, too. Haha, can't even list LotR/Silmarillion on here because all I ever read for that is Feanorian family feels. XD
11. Biggest squee moments of the year (For ye youths who no longer use such awesome terminology, that means the fandom moments that made your heart cry out in overwhelming joy. Can y’all believe that “squee” didn’t quite stand the test of time??)
Oh man, I'm trying to think here... Tbh, I've not watched very much new media this year and the stuff that was new was usually also pretty sad, lol. 😅 However... though it's a tad bit bittersweet, the end of Genshin's Fontaine Archon Quest just... destroyed me in the best way? Especially Furina's reaction to everything... (I'm trying to be vague here to avoid spoilers. XD) Like, I felt such palpable relief and joy for her after it all went down. Maybe not exactly a squee moment, but I was definitely inordinately happy, haha. XD
And you know what else? Her damn character trailer. XD It was so fun?! Absolutely chaotic and whimsical and so over the top and I've watched it so many fuckin times. XD Dang, I love her. 💙
Also, just mark down like a bunch of fanfic moments, lol, because of course. XD I couldn't list them all if I tried but... The two that immediately came to mind for me were Milly and Knives' whole relationship in @eomma-jpeg's exeptional fic In the Meadow, and also the last posted chapter of Bgtea's ridiculously long and ridiculously good Genshin fic, Entirely Out of Spite. (I recommend these both wholeheartedly.)
But yes, hope my meandering answers were satisfactory, @keltii-tea. Thank you for the asks! XD
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I hope you see this as a positive ask but I remember you saying you were surprised at mdimileth being popular, and I’m saying this mostly from a JPN perspective…but it really is? And I’m surprised to see others are surprised about it. The common thread between most shippers is that even though they’re both powerful men, one is highly repressed, awkward, but very noble and kind and also very tortured and sad, and the other man is awkward but quiet, repressed but in a different way, and unsure of how to act. It’s very different from what the developers intended I think! We like that they both learn how to act together and how to find their footing. They come together to help the land and fight the empire. One is the Ashen Demon who finds his heart after he meets people he comes to cherish and protect, the other the One Eyed Demon who finds his heart after he almost lost it to despair. A lot of us are also Blue Lions fans so I don’t know where this accusation comes from that says we exclude the rest of the lions for Byleth (my second pair is sylvix and my third is Mercedes with Dedue).
I had to look up English fan dictionaries for this but it’s also because one is big but kind but also repressed and he can tame a man who was scary and feared for being a demon but if you think about it, he’s actually submissive and breedable and almost like a twink. You can call me a fujoshi, but apparently that’s a bad word here? I’m not sure. I think another way to describe what we like is if you take Beauty and the Beast but apply it straight and reversed to both men at the same time. I’m sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself! I hope this explains our tastes well enough!
I hope you see this as a positive ask but I remember you saying you were surprised at mdimileth being popular, and I’m saying this mostly from a JPN perspective…but it really is?
I can't speak for others but... It sort of is to me. It's not a surprise that the ship exists, but I guess I'm surprised it's popular? Most shipping I've seen with Dimitri is with Femyleth since that's actually possible in the game, and Dimitri's other popular male ships are just with others, like Felix. I guess I always felt that the Male Byleth ship is simply just lost in the wave of others ships, especially since it's not possible to obtain. Say what you will about Dimitri's ending with Felix, it's still a possible ending one can achieve, while if you play with Manyleth then you are locked out with any ending with Dimitri entirely.
Don't get me wrong- I love Dimitri with Manyleth. I view Dimitri as a queer man, even if it's not intentional. I am not someone who just stamps queer onto any character I like either, I need either text or subtext to back this up. Without it, it just feels like I'm lying to myself. And since I feel Dimitri has adequate subtext, I feel that he should have been a male option for Manyleth and it doesn't make much sense that he isn't. Dimitri is pretty cute with Byleth period, and treats Byleth the same no matter what gender you choose. It would be odd to me that it only becomes romantic if it's a woman he talks to, when he's literally saying the exact same thing to the male one as well.
You can call me a fujoshi, but apparently that’s a bad word here?
I'm not sure where "here" is. Japan? Western fandoms? Well, in the West, it's not really a negative word. But I think most fujoshi's keep their tastes close to their chests. There is definitely a stigma against them, that they fetishize men and are unable to view male friendships without instantly shipping them. Which is so funny to me personally- I am asexual, but I love romantic stories about two men. I don't even care about the sex, I find something appealing about a two men being vulnerable to each other in a way that my culture is only recently opening itself up to.
I also find it funny because literally just the other day, I was chatting with a friend of mine and made a joke that Durin and Elrond from that terrible Rings of Power show seem more like an old married couple than the actual romantic pairings in the show at the moment. I don't actually ship them and honestly there isn't much subtext there, it's just the writing is so bad that they are the rare-pair actual interesting group of characters. My much older friend, who is NOT a fujoshi in any capacity at all, then made a comment how Sam and Frodo should have just kissed. She's clearly not fetishizing them at all, and is 100% capable of viewing male friendships as just friendships. Yet, she felt that Sam and Frodo were maybe a little more than friends, if you catch my meaning.
Sometimes, a chemistry is there, whether the writers intended it or not.
Anyways, point is- While I don't think fujoshi's are viewed negatively (especially since the West has been more and more open to queer relationships), it's still a private thing unless done over a blog where you can be faceless. That's my own experience though. Most of my friends in rl don't know I like mlm ships, save for two friends who are the same way. But in this regard, I tend to live in a bubble, so maybe someone else could educate me if I'm wrong.
There are definitely spaces where fujoshi are made fun of and ridiculed (like 4chan) but I don't even think most Western fans even know the term. It's becoming pretty common place to have queer ships just in general, especially in fandom spaces...
I’m sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself! I hope this explains our tastes well enough!
Don't apologize! My tastes are not much different than yours and I get the appeal.
It's just that since Manlyeth/Dimitri is not possible, I just figured it wasn't popular in Japan all that much. I was sure it had a following, but not a HUGE following, if you get my meaning. Especially since Femyleth seems disproportionally more popular just... in general.
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I always love it when character that i have ngeative impression but once i give them a chance they actually turn out to be very good character. For Engage the one that i didn't expect to like was Pandreo.
My first impression in my first playthrough was what an annoying character. His howling was cringe, this guy just party animal, and his support probably only about partying (just like celine and her tea).
In my second playthrough i use him and he is great as sage. I just realized that he actually priest. Definitely something that i didn't expect since he just love party so much. Seteth is perfect example for what i expect from a priest but pandreo is a guy who love party and howl how can he become a priest lol.
I never expect how he actually quite wise and very open minded. I actually surprised how Pandreo not howling much in his support conversation. His C support with Mauvier kinda remind me with Dedue and Sylvain support. His battle quote also hilarious "Let's party" and at the end of combat "Let's pray".
It's a bit sad that support progression is slow in this game. Pandreo is one of the character that i want to see more of him.
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How or when did you realize that you love Dimiclaude as a ship? Was it already while playing the game/their routes or some time later? I already picked up on their chemistry in the game, especially their banter during WC (incl. El here, wish there was more House leader content) but tbh it really got me trough good fanwork. Probably bc I'm not that much of a shipper, in 3H there are few pairings I really care about, Dimiclaude and Sylvix on the top there. So, slowly I thought more about their[1]
[2] canon interactions and how good they would be for each other. All the things you and others already mentioned in "why do you ship them" answers, but also they do complement each other so well. Even in Hopes you can see Dimitri really needs someone to help him relax and take things a little more easy - Claude could help here. And Claude really needs someone who he can trust unconditionally to work on his issues there, and who better than someone as honest and good-hearted as Dimitri? ♡
[3] adding to my prior post: I also noticed that there are a fair number of fics that include both Dimiclaude and Sylvix, which is nice for me since I ship both. Most of them are modern au and often one of them is more in the background, but I do think it works really well in the post-AM universe, too. Imagine the King of Faerghus/Fodlan and the King of Almyra, and the Duke and the Margrave (who are more or less the most powerful nobles in the kingdom after the King himself) ... if I ever heard
[4] of two power couples it would be them. Though ofc that means a lot of responsibility and some long distance longing as well, ah poor Dimitri and Claude. Imagine, when Sylvain got send off to deal with Sreng/work to negotiate with them, at least Dimitri and Felix can exhaust themselves in practice, like the training maniacs they are (win-win!) while they "secretly" pine for their loved ones (secretly = obviously Dimi a little down, Felix more grumpy). Ok I'm getting a bit off-topic, sorry lol
Tbh I don’t really remember exactly what made me love them or when I realized it. I know it started in 2019 so it wasn’t too far into the game’s existence, but I don’t recall if it was fanart, Tumblr posts, their chemistry or a combination of those things. I do know it was BL/AM where I first really gave it thought. Originally my main ship was Dimitri and Byleth, but somewhere along the way it just kinda shifted to DimiClaude.
Generally I very casually ship things, like I can say I ship Hilda and Marianne or Ashe and Dedue, but I don’t really actively seek out content for it nor write it myself. It’s rare for them to be really dedicated to a ship and I have a few other OTPs from other fandoms that I love a whole lot, but I have comparatively way more casual ships, so DimiClaude being so interesting to me was surprising.
Aside from their canon interactions, for me it’s also the amount of possibility they have together and how many fic ideas, AUs or canon, could fit with them perfectly. They fit into a whole lot of ideas and concepts that always help explore different aspects of both of them. Having that is fun because it also helps me really see the kind of relationship they could have. They have an insane amount of potential and I love that.
Personally I do think Dimitri’s openness and honesty is perfect for Claude. I think if anyone else just said overly nice sounding things to him he wouldn’t immediately believe it, but considering how earnest and easily excited Dimitri can be, it’s hard to believe Claude would look at him and be like nah he’s lying. After Claude had such a terrible childhood, I think Dimitri would be perfect for making him feel better about himself and really giving him even more motivation to achieve his dreams. Being with Dimitri would also definitely help with his dreams since they want the same thing.
When I write them in fics I like to explore a sillier side of Dimitri that he starts to ease into because of Claude. It’s obvious throughout the game that he really does try to be relaxed and not so formal, but it’s just difficult for him. Claude is basically like... the kind of person who can be joking around one second and then get to work and do what he needs to do the next second. I feel like it’d be easy for him to slip into a relaxed, casual attitude to make sure Dimitri doesn’t tend to feel too uptight or serious around him. I like to think that eventually, being with Claude would help him open up to being a bit more silly and joking more. The way they banter in the game makes me think they could easily bounce off each other in a silly situation and have a really lighthearted moment.
Typically I am one of those DimiClaude/Sylvix people lol. For me it’s mainly because Sylvain and Felix are so close to Dimitri that they’re going to be the people who see Dimitri pretty regularly even post war. Also, I think Sylvain would notice Dimitri’s feelings pretty fast, and Sylvain is pretty loving and protective over his childhood friends. I think he’d want to stay close at first just to make sure Dimitri is alright, kind of also with the whole “if you hurt his feelings I will slay you” kind of thing with Claude. Protective older brother kind of deal.
Another character I love incorporating into DimiClaude is Dedue, because I think he’d be both so happy to see Dimitri happy and so happy and grateful that it’s someone with the exact same ideals as Dimitri that Dimitri is with. Both of them want the same things and have been planning for a long time to work on the same things. I think he would get along well with Claude and be really grateful to him for helping Dimitri.
I have headcanon about DimiClaude to keep them from having a long distance relationship because I’m a nut and I can’t handle them being apart lol. I like to write them as always being together like a normal couple, but they go back and forth between Fodlan and Almyra. Basically they’ll stay in Fodlan for half a month or a month or something at a time, then they’ll go to Almyra together. I headcanon that while they’re away from Fodlan, Sylvain, Lorenz and Ferdinand are the Help Desk instead of Dimitri. Generally I headcanon post AM that Lorenz takes care of the former Leicester territories and Ferdinand takes care of the Adrestian territories, so Sylvain would take care of Faerghus while Dimitri is away. And, of course, people know better than to try to start something while the kings are away, because Felix is grumpy and impatient and will just slice. When the boys are away from Almyra, he’d probably leave his dad and mom in charge like before he was king, or maybe have Nader be his temporary replacement while he’s away.
That way they’re always together and grow together as a couple, which would also help them get very used to each other and being around someone else in their daily life. Dimitri mentions in Houses that he didn’t have friends in the palace after the Tragedy besides Dedue because they all died, and of course we know his only other friends were long distance. I think it would make Dimitri really happy to wake up to someone every day and not have to worry that Claude will have to leave soon and be apart from him for long periods. I think Claude would also be really glad to have someone he knows loves him by his side regularly, because he’s already spent his whole life alone. Both of them were pretty lonely people. I like to think they can help each other not be lonely because they know no matter what, someone will always be there now.
Plus, I think if they show up together a lot, whether it’s a formal event or even just walking around a town together, people would get used to seeing them together and it could open up a lot of chances for their nations to get along better. I feel like Almyra would take to Dimitri faster than Fodlan would take to Claude once they know he’s Almyran, but I also think since their leadership would be so good to the people that they would start to accept Claude (and the marriage) a lot faster than they otherwise would.
One of my favorite ideas I still need to write at some point is Dimitri going with Claude to a poor area in town and visiting the kids... I have a n o t h e r and it’s that Dimitri learns to sew from Mercedes like in their supports but he handmakes things for the kids, and he often visits orphanages to bring the kids gifts. It always makes the kiddos super excited when they hear he’s gonna stop by, and when they get gifts from him they like to tell everyone they got presents from the king. Of course, you know Claude’s good little heart is melting whenever he sees this, and after going with Dimi a few times he starts to also learn some things so he can make some Almyran gifts for the kids. Sometimes they also bring ingredients so the kids can have a huge meal that day, and usually enough for leftovers for another day. They’re kings, they can afford more stuff than they’ll know what to do with in their life!
And yes, bodyguard Yuri will usually be shadowing them... even though Claude insists they’ll be fine because he’s used to being targeted. Yuri is a worrywart though despite his denial about that and will often be making sure they are safe.
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Despite the dearth of hetero-ship content in Hopes, I'm very surprised they gave a huge endorsement to Hilda/Claude via Holst's support w/ Claude. Do the devs just like it or is it really that popular that they felt they had to give it a nod? But then you would think Annette/Felix would get something as substantial.
I wouldn't say there's no het ship material in Hopes, at least not any less than there was in Houses. It's all constrained by lord privileges though, as every FE is, so Dimigard and Edelclaude get a bit more than the rest.
Hilclaude does too for a similar reason, as Hilda is a (sometimes) route-locked retainer so she gets more story prominence. That's definitely true in Hopes...where they didn't bother to give Holst much of a personality beyond the role of overprotective big brother who comes to approve of the other most important man in his sister's life. I doubt the developers pay much attention to popular ships, especially for non-lord characters. Felix gets all his story moments with Dimitri just like Dedue always has, Monica gets written entirely around Edelgard, and GW does the same with Claude and the Goneril siblings. It's kind of funny that Hubert is explicitly in love with Edelgard (even more strongly suggested as such in Hopes), but his story presence is downplayed such that it becomes practically a non-factor. His second support with Edelgard even shills for Edeleth! If you should feel sorry for anyone, it should be the Edelbert shippers.
I don't, of course, because I liked most of the Ferdibert stuff in SB and have entertaining headcanons about them running off and being campy and evil together after AG, but that's just me.
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I noticed when look at the official designs out of the game that the models used in Engage look noticeably worse than the official art. I definitely feel that leads to a lot more people being turned off as a result. Few like Timerra are able to look FANTASTIC even with the change to a 3D Model.
I have a similar view yeah. I feel like that's where a lot of the same face complaints come from as well, since model structure takes a lot more work than 2D art and to save on time, assets can and will be reused as much as possible. It ain't surprising if face or eye shape got reused as a result.
What also exacerbates it is the fact that these are the most HD models we have gotten, so it's easier to see where things can get same-y. We don't notice how models in the 3DS games are basically copy paste from each other because it's on a small screen with small resolution. 3H I'd argue has similar reuse in models, but has the luxury of separating characters from each other with striking eye colors, added details (Marianne's eyebags, Doro's hat, Manuela's and Yuri's makeup, Ashe's freckles, Dedue's unique face shape), and some hairstyles covering things up.
I reckon that seeing Engage more in motion will also help people's perception, too though.
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Midnight Plays Azure Gleam: Chapter 8
Time to deal with Cornelia and the treasonous western lords once and for all. And there's a paralogue battle for the first time too.
Baron Dominic has apparently been appointed as the leader of the rebels. Gustave says House Dominic would've had little choice but to go along given their location, and if they can convince his brother to change sides, along with a decisive battle victory, the rebellion would likely collapse entirely.
(Remembering Annette's AM paralogue, Baron Dominic only allied with Cornelia in appearance and for self-preservation. He was more than willing to pass along Crusher in secret after defeating him. So this feels like a similar situation.)
Cut to Dimitri and Dedue meeting with a Duscur soldier. They're going to help put down the rebellion! Dimitri's amazed at the size of the force (which we sadly don't get to actually see), and the Duscur soldier says everyone who came volunteered! <3
Dimitri thanks Dedue for making this possible, but Dedue, ever humble, defers and credits Dimitri's sincerity for winning Duscur's trust. <3
Camp (Western Blaiddyd Territory)
Sylvain's impressed with his father both stopping the Sreng incursion and coming to Fhirdiad to aid us.
Dimitri says he was up all night, and for once it's not because he was overworking himself. Felix was scolding him for awhile, then they got to talking like the old days. Then Dedue came in and started arguing with Felix, so I guess none of them got any sleep, lol.
Felix and Dedue are talking together nearby about the Duscur forces and are getting along well, though Felix is still being tsundere of course.
Ingrid is talking with a female Duscur soldier, who compliments her lance work. Ingrid offers to train/teach her. Character development! <3
Seteth is curious/worried about Cornelia.
Catherine says Shamir will be joining us at Arianrhod!
An NPC mercenary says that people are born unequal at birth (yup); what matters is what you do with your hand. He says that's what his old boss from Abyss told him. (Yuri, come join us already!)
Flayn says that she's glad Dimitri's safe and that she's noticed he seems more at ease now, crediting his friends. D'aawww.
Interlude
The Empire's launched an attack in former Arundel territory. Rodrigue wonders if there could've been spies in the army. The NPC says that the enemy marching on Arianrhod appears to be the Emperor's personal battalion. Oh boy, here we go...
Arval says Edelgard has guts to fight a war on two fronts simultaneously. (Is that really the right word? I'm more apt to say it's either arrogant or reckless.)
Regardless, suppressing the rebellion still takes priority. Dimitri prioritizes holding Arianrhod over the Kingdom's foothold in Arundel territory. Seteth suggests sending the Knights of Seiros to Arianrhod. New camp dialogue from Seteth after this scene reveals that Catherine and Miklan went too. This is where having a powerful ally like the church pays off!
Paralogue: Wildflowers for the Future
This mission takes place in Duscur, near the area where the Tragedy happened. (Oh boy...bracing myself for feels.) There's a minor insurrection going on; Dedue says Duscur is divided, with some seeking peace with Faerghus and others against it. The leader of this insurrection apparently aided the people who caused the Tragedy (and possibly killed Glenn personally? it's a little unclear), and he's to be apprehended and taken to Fhirdiad.
Shez is surprised that someone from Duscur participated in the Tragedy, saying they thought Duscur was innocent. Dedue says the vast majority are, but there were a few who did, though they weren't the masterminds.
Dedue asks Ingrid if she can stay her hand against the man they're after. Ingrid says she will, and let punishing the guilty serve as her revenge. Felix says there are a lot of people who would like a crack at this person, which is why "a certain someone" isn't here. (Definitely jives.)
The battle map is large but thankfully quite linear. We can only use Shez and the three characters involved in the story. My eyeballs bugged out at the 1800 kill count required for S-rank.
Honestly, the battle's pretty straight forward, just a matter of seizing strongholds and protecting some green Duscur allies. There's a lot of dudes to contend with, but it's not too tough. I equipped Felix with a Rapier and he just rips most of the enemies to shreds!
The character chatter is more interesting. Apparently this area is close to where Dedue's hometown used to be, so he knows it well. Relatedly, it's close to where Lambert and Glenn died. =(
Ingrid says it must be hard for Dedue to be here. Dedue says the concern is unnecessary but thanks her.
Felix expresses surprise that Dimitri sent Ingrid on this mission, to which Ingrid replies that she requested to come, to help put the past behind her. (Press X to hug!)
After saving the green soldiers, they retreat and our target appears. Felix says we need him alive, so we're apparently giving him a non-lethal beating, lol.
I got an A-rank; I had an S in everything except enemy kills, which was only a C! 1800 is way too many for this mission. Felix got MVP honors.
After the battle, Dedue asks to make a stop. We go to a nearby lake, which includes a huge field of flowers that was trampled by the Kingdom army (I'm guessing during the pogrom). Dedue says he used to come here often with his sister, and while he's happy to see it somewhat recovered, he notes that it used to be even more beautiful.
Ingrid wonders if Glenn ever saw this place, which Dedue says is likely. He says Ingrid should return after things have settled in Duscur so she can see the field as Glenn once saw it. She agrees.
(Who is cutting onions in here?)
Felix plays it cool, of course. But he does note that he will protect the same thing Glenn did. Shez can ask if he means Faerghus or Dimitri (I picked the latter). Felix says they're basically one and the same now, and that Shez better not tell "the boar." Eternally tsundere. xD
(Who is cutting onions in here?!)
On the heels of the already emotional Chapter 7, this is seriously Good Stuff.
Interlude 2
Baron Dominic absolutely eviscerates the other western lords (verbally). He's frankly still going too easy on them. These assholes didn't even attempt to speak with Lambert at all, they just jumped straight into having him murdered and framing Duscur for it. Even worse is that they aren't ashamed of it. These guys deserve what's coming to them and then some.
Cornelia enters and taunts the Baron, telling him he's part of this now, and he'd better behave. Somehow I don't think it'll be too difficult to sway the Baron to our side.
Battle
Dimitri relays that Gustave and Annette are critical to their battle plan. Felix expresses some skepticism, and points out it'd be easier to kill the Baron (he says this right in front of Gustave and Annette no less, though they sadly don't even react). Dimitri feels having the Baron as an ally will pay off later, and Rodrigue points out that the Baron has a son with a Crest, and he'd probably not like to see his father killed, lest he become the head of a new rebellion.
Dimitri says he's counting on everyone to pull off this battle successfully. Shez points out that he seems more at ease compared to before. "Perhaps I am," he says. D'awww.
Arval sounds pleased that Shez has made friends, but is quick to bring up Shez's "true purpose." Shez thinks he might be too obsessed with this "grudge match" with Byleth, and asks why their purpose can't just be fighting for Dimitri. (Ha, no one is immune to Dimitri's charisma, lol.) Arval just says defeating Byleth feels like what they're meant to do.
It's a decent sized map (seems smaller than Fhirdiad though). Gustave's joining us as a green unit, and keeping him alive is one of the mission parameters. The time limit is 23 minutes!
First task is escorting Gustave to meet with his brother. He's thankfully pretty sturdy, just slow like in 3H. And there's naturally an ambush waiting to halt our progress almost immediately. I assigned Annette to guard her dad while the rest of us clean up the streets.
God, effective weaponry is so good. No regrets on sinking resources into maxing out the Rapier.
Baron Dominic is behind a locked gate. Once Gustave reaches the gate, Cornelia summons more "Mysterious Soldiers" as reinforcements. There's quite a lot of them and their magic hurts, but fending them off isn't hard. Meanwhile, Gustave talks with the Baron, and it's only a moment later that the Baron turns into a green unit, lol. And of course, we have to keep him alive too.
Woah, Cornelia summons a Titanus! Haven't seen one of these in this game yet. The western lords show up as reinforcements too. They go down a bit faster than the Titanus, and they're still unrepentant to their dying breaths.
Dimitri: "No words can spare you now. You may plead your case to my father beyond the veil of death." (Savage!)
Now we have to escort the Baron nearly all the way back to the beginning to open a drawbridge. Cornelia activates a Viskam and a whole bunch more Argathan mages come out to play. She needs to find some new tricks.
After opening the drawbridge, Duscur reinforcements arrive to help!
Oh, Count Rowe's here too, it seems. Strange that he wasn't in any of the cutscenes. Do I get to kill him now?
Three Viskam now. But more green Duscur units appear and immediately start heading for the controls. This is so cool! Really feels like a grand, heroic moment.
Bit of a close call with Gustave's health getting low (the Viskam still hurt a lot), but thankfully Mercedes exists.
Count Rowe appears! And he dies wondering where he went wrong. You did everything wrong dude. Literally everything.
And now finally, Cornelia stops hiding behind her gullible minions. And she goes down almost as quickly as they did.
Dimitri interrogates her again and asks about his stepmother. And Cornelia claims that Edelgard killed Patricia/Anselma! But that's all we get out of her before she finally dies. Good riddance.
I got an S-Rank! This battle was fun; there's a lot going on with the reinforcements and the Viskam blasts, but the map and objectives flow in a linear manner, so it wasn't confusing. Dimitri wins the MVP again. (Favoritism from me? Perish the thought!)
Post-Battle
Dimitri (wisely) is unwilling to take Cornelia at her word, but does think Edelgard must know something. Meanwhile, the Lions are all like, "what do you mean the Emperor is your stepsister?!"
This is basically the same scene from late in Azure Moon, but Rodrigue is here to provide some extra perspective. You know, it's a pity we never hear or learn anything at all about Dimitri's birth mother, but you know...Fodlan hates moms.
Cornelia (presumably the real one, not the Agarthan plant we know) helped cure the plague that ravaged Fhirdiad twenty years ago. The only reward she asked for was to rescue a friend of hers (Anselma) from the Empire. Rodrigue says Lambert had a soft spot for those in need (must run in the family). He isn't sure if Lambert and Anselma were actually in love or not, but there were feelings between them.
Dimitri wants to know the real truth of what happened, so he's got to speak with Edelgard. Ashe wonders if that's even possible, given the war. Dimitri isn't sure, but there's no one else left with new information about the Tragedy. He leaves Gustave and Baron Dominic in charge of the western reconstruction, because it's time to go to Arianrhod. (Cue dramatic reverb.)
And we get Crusher as an extra prize on the way out!
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book emoji(pretend plz im having a very hard time using my phone)
OKAY SO
I’ve definitely got a fully fleshed out figure skating au for fe3h 🥲 featuring Edie and Hubert as the worlds most intimidating pairs duo, Claude and Hilda as the reigning pairs champs, Mercie and Dedue as the fan fave pairs couple and Leonie and Lorenz as the pairs duo that people forget are competing. Felix and Ingrid are an ice dance team bc Ingrid does NOT trust Felix to not fucking yeet her into the air with the jumps
Yuri and Dorothea are the chaotic bisexual ice dance couple we all deserve. Yuri used to be the number one mens singles skater but he got bored because he won so easily 💅🏻
Onto the singles:
Mens:
- Dimitri is the quad king, his jumps are SO powerful but in every single interview without fail he will like, knock something over or accidentally hit someone while talking with his hands
- Ferdinand cries EVERY SINGLE TIME in the kiss and cry. He’s surprisingly flexible so his spiral sequences are *chefs kiss* and he takes advantage of it to do moves men often don’t do like Beillman spins
- Sylvain is a super expressive skater and he always scores really highly on his performance components. He flirts with literally everyone- the judges, the camera crew, other skaters, the coaches. He once flirted with the Zamboni driver and they drove into the wall
Womens:
- Lysithea is the only junior competitor in the bunch, it’s her last year as a junior and she’s been winning since she started competing. She’s starting to feel the effects tho because she’s constantly pushing herself to go further than everyone else
- Marianne is a really delicate skater. Super quiet too which is a feat and a half so she usually skates to quiet classical pieces. She’s super anxious tho so she falls a lot :(
- Petra is the triple axel QUEEN. This girl has so much fucking power and she always does her trixel in the last half of her program (gotta get them bonus points babey). She skates exclusively to Brigidian music and she’s their only high level skater
-Bernadetta’s sit spins are unparalleled. Almost like she’s trying to hide her face 🤷🏻♀️ she makes all her own costumes!
-Constance is SUPER flexible but she comes undone by tripping herself up with her overly ambitious step sequences. Her interviews are always a trip because they never know if they’re gonna get light or dark Constance. Tends to have costumes that change midway through the program like Anna Shcherbakova
- Annette always has super fun music and dynamic costumes! Her step sequences are super creative and she likes putting elements together in unorthodox ways to surprise the audience
Non-figure gang:
- Lin is a commentator. Caspar is his hockey player bf who tries very hard to help him commentate (he doesn’t do a good job but everyone loves them and their dynamic)
- Ignatz and Raph help out by doing sets for ice shows, galas and photoshoots. Ignatz paints and does the lighting, Raph builds and lifts multiple heavy things at once. Is known for lifting Ignatz up so he can touch up the sets one last time
- Hapi retired really young due to chronic injuries à la Yulia Lipnitskaya. She’s written several exposés on abuse in figure skating and is every skaters favourite interviewer and the scourge of abusive coaches.
-Balthus got banned from the sport for fixing LMAO but he still rocks up to comps in disguise
- Ashe is also a hockey player but he volunteers to take the photos at comps, galas, exhibitions, etc and he’s really good at editing people’s jump faces
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9 / 10 / 17 / 20 for the FE ask game
09. favorite faculty member?
Seteth, but I have to say Hanneman's grown on me a lot over the years. I wouldn't count Cyril as part of the "faculty" per se, but in this house we love and respect Cyril too.
10. favorite support conversation?
Hmm, I don't think any one stood out to me in particular, but I remember being surprised by how many of Bernadetta's supports I enjoyed (that being...all of them). Ashe and Dedue's support, obviously bc that's my favorite ship from the game, are amongst my favorites as well.
17. character you relate to?
For as much as I love the cast, I didn't really find any of the characters that relatable on a personal level, which is fine honestly. I definitely worked myself to burnout when in college though, so I guess I find Annette and Lysithea to be a bit relatable in that regard, although their motives for overworking themselves are different than mine.
20. unpopular opinion?
I guess I remember hearing a lot of gossip about how hard the Cindered Shadows DLC side story's final boss was even on Normal difficulty, and yet I completed that battle in, I think, three or four turns? RIP to everyone not using their archers and mages right, but that wasn't me.
Oh, speaking of! I legit don't think there's a single bad unit in the game. I've seen a lot of posts talking about how like, Ignatz isn't that good and yet he was getting a crit almost every attack bc I ran him through thief-assassin before landing him in mortal savant. Ashe is another character I've seen people say isn't that good to use, and yet he was my recurring MVP my AM run as a bow knight from the usual archer-sniper line, and was basically a less powerful Cyril as a bow-using wyvern lord in my CF run (and bow-using wyvern lord Cyril was a less powerful Claude for me, so in other words, Ashe and Cyril were both very lethal units for me). A lot of it comes down to what class you have a character in and which line you're training them from before landing in a master class, bc despite my "archers and mages will always be the most powerful classes" bias, I honestly didn't have any issues with the characters underperforming in any of my runs.
#shady shades mysterious anon ask#I still don't have an ask tag#ask game#honestly the draw of replaying the game was seeing what sort of nonsense class combinations I could use on characters#I really want to try a thief-assassin Ashe on my next run and I think I'm gonna stick Dedue on a wyvern just to see if it works#I didn't make Ignatz my dancer which was unfortunate bc the Avo+10 w/ Sword skill would have made him invincible#also I never got to play w/ the DLC classes but I want to go insane with the Dark Flier and Valkyrie classes#an all-mage run would be SO fun I think
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Those Warm and Halcyon Days: Chapter 15
Tales of the Red Canyon
Ao3.
First, Previous, Next.
Story under read-more.
Claude isn’t kidding when he says he’s going to throw a feast. After a day to rest from the march back to Garreg Mach, the feast begins.
Veery has never in his life seen so much food in one place. It’s bordering on frightening how much food is packed into the dining hall. He’s blown away by the sheer quantity of food here even during regular days, but with Claude’s feast putting so much on display, Veery is… completely lost.
Is it even possible to eat this much? Veery knows there are a lot of people here, but still. If this can keep, he’ll never have to go hunting again. Do humans regularly eat a lifetime’s worth of food in one day?
Well, Raphael might, but he’s supposed to be an exception.
Veery does his best to just avoid the feast, honestly, but he ends up dragged there by Hilda and there is no escape once the students all enclose on him.
The Golden Deer are in exceptionally good cheer, recounting the battle and laughing and boasting like any good victor. The Black Eagles, surprisingly, join them for the most part. Edelgard herself, and Hubert by extension, actually helps prepare the feast, and she spins it into a reward for her house’s hard work despite their loss, as well as a congratulations to the Deer for their victory.
Veery isn’t sure some of the less involved members of her house even know it’s Claude’s feast in the first place.
That’s none of Veery’s business, though he is a little impressed by her turning even a loss into a good moment for her house. They aren’t as boisterous as the Deer, but they aren’t normally, anyway, and they certainly aren’t sulking over the loss.
The Blue Lions on the other hand… Felix and Ingrid, at least, are definitely sulking. Dimitri isn’t that much better. Annette and Mercedes, as well as Ashe and Dedue, actually help with the feast, which brightens their house’s spirits just for having their friends’ cooking, but compared to the Eagles, they’re definitely more affected by the loss.
Sylvain spends most of the feast trying to get his housemates to laugh, with varying success, though he does take some time to join Veery and the Deer as well. Pass on his congratulations, flirt a lot, the usual.
Veery himself is feeling generally overwhelmed with it all. It’s too much food, too many people, too much talking, just overall too much, really. He slips out when he finds an opportunity to and finally takes a breath as he makes his way to the fishing pier.
He sits on the edge and leans forward, looking down into the water, watching the fish move about. He can still hear the ruckus from the dining hall, but it’s much, much quieter out here. It’s like a pressure is released, and he can finally relax a little.
“Too much?”
Veery looks back over his shoulder, surprised to find Professor Byleth there. He smiles weakly. “Yes. It’s very… overwhelming in there.”
Professor Byleth nods and takes a seat next to him. “I think so, too.”
“Won’t they miss you if you’re out here with me?” Veery asks, eyeing her carefully.
Professor Byleth shrugs. “They’ll miss you too. They understand that we’re not as good with crowds as them.”
Do they? That’s one thing that Veery feels they very much do not understand, no matter how many times he tells them. Though, he supposes, they do generally give him time alone if he actually asks for it, so… maybe they do. They’re just not always the best at noticing if he doesn’t say it outright.
Professor Byleth looks down at the fish with him, tilting her head slightly as if she’s listening to someone talk. Maybe the chatter from the dining hall. “Would you like to have tea?” she asks suddenly. “Next week?”
It’s not the first time Professor Byleth invites him to tea, but the timing of this invitation is… odd. Maybe she wants to talk about the battle, for some reason? Or about his job in it, maybe the trouble he has with the clerics. Veery hopes it’s not that, but if it is, he can’t tell her anything he hasn’t told everyone else.
“Teach! Veery! Get back in here! Raphael and Caspar are about to have an eating contest!” Claude waves to them from outside the dining hall, getting both of their attention.
Professor Byleth smiles – she’s been doing that lately. (It’s nice, to see her smiling.) “Looks like we’re missed already,” Professor Byleth says. “We should go back.”
Veery sighs. “Alright. And just let me know when, for the tea.”
Professor Byleth nods and the two of them stand to head back inside.
Veery pants, lying on his back in the dirt. Why is he even here?
“Come on!” Leonie calls. “You can do better than that!”
Can he? Normally, yes, but… Veery takes a moment to close his eyes and check on his scar. It doesn’t really hurt, at least not any more than the rest of him. Leonie is obviously careful not to hit him there, which is appreciated.
With a groan, Veery rolls to his feet and shakes himself off. Fine, then. They’re going to do this.
Seeing him get back up, Leonie sinks back into a fighting stance, grinning all the while. Veery is faster than her, normally. He just needs to get back up to speed. Hunting with Petra is nice exercise, but maybe he should find someplace he can really sprint.
Actually. Veery shifts back, getting Leonie to drop her stance, raising her brows in concern. “Something wrong? Is it too much for your injury?”
“No,” Veery says. “I was just thinking, is there somewhere around where I could just go for a run?”
“Run, huh?” Leonie hums. “Good idea. If we ask the professor, maybe we could use the old ruins? No one ever goes there, and there’s plenty of space for you to run around shifted. Let’s go a few more rounds, then ask. We can go for a run to cool down!”
She does remember he’s still getting back into shape, right? Oh, well, he’s not really that tired yet, anyway. It’s more caution than necessity to stop early. A few more rounds won’t hurt anyone.
Unless, of course, a few rounds with Leonie turn into a few rounds with Petra while Leonie runs off to find Professor Byleth. Thank the gods Petra takes it easy on him. Their matches are a little more like roughhousing than actual sparring.
It’s surprisingly kind of fun, though. Halfway through, Petra ditches her sword and fights him paw to paw and he’s a little afraid that he’ll hurt her by accident until she ducks under him, takes out two of his legs, and swings herself up onto his back as he collapses. After that, the game is on.
Petra roars like an agell, grinning viciously as she grapples with him, and he returns the favor wholeheartedly. Again, they’re more like roughhousing cubs than doing actual combat training, but it’s fun and it’s really good exercise.
Veery pins Petra more than a few times – it’s clear this isn’t how she usually fights – but she gets the hang of it quickly. Caspar, nearby, yells excitedly and joins in and the three of them are rolling around in the dirt punching and kicking and biting (gently) and laughing.
Veery has a gentle grip on Caspar’s arm with his teeth and is dragging him, kicking and screaming, and trying to fight Petra’s tugging on his ears and face, to get him to let go of Caspar, when Leonie returns with Professor Byleth, Claude, and Edelgard.
The three of them freeze when they see their leaders. Caked in dirt, hair and fur wild and sticking up in all directions, and screaming like children just a moment before, both Caspar and Petra begin turning red as Edelgard stares them down. Veery releases Caspar carefully and awkwardly starts grooming himself.
“What is going on here?” Edelgard asks, raising her brow accusingly.
“Edelgard,” Petra says, “we were… ah…”
“Training!” Caspar says. “Very serious training.”
“Really?” Edelgard asks. “Because it looked and sounded as if you were simply playing.”
“Loosen up, princess,” Claude chuckles, the only one grinning so widely here. “Play fighting is still training, you know. Just more fun. I’m frankly offended that I wasn’t invited to this.”
Professor Byleth smiles, though it looks almost as if she’s trying not to. “Petra, Caspar,” she says.
“Y-yes professor?” The two quickly stand to attention.
“I expect better of you,” Professor Byleth says, sounding stern.
Both Petra and Caspar duck their heads.
“Veery is still getting back into the swing of things and he was beating you,” Professor Byleth says. She smiles a little more openly as the two look up at her, joined by Edelgard’s incredulous gaze, and takes off her overcoat. “Allow me to demonstrate how such a battle should be fought.”
Is she…? Yes! Professor Byleth is coming towards him, unarmed, eyes challenging, and Veery rises to meet it. He lets her take the first move, both Caspar and Petra frantically backing out of the way, and when she steps towards him, he shoves himself between her feet, lifting up quickly and throwing her off.
He follows up, rushing to try to pin her while she’s on the ground, but she rolls out of the way, to a crouch, and pounces at him. The force of the strike is enough to knock him sideways, and with a herculean heave, Profesor Byleth wraps her arms around him and lifts him to throw him back down onto his side.
He is not light when he’s shifted. How strong is Professor Byleth? He’s half winded and half surprised and so he hesitates when he hits the ground long enough for her to dive on top of him to wrap her arms around his neck.
She needs both arms to get a good grip, and she doesn’t squeeze, but if she does she’ll cut off his air. And she’s behind him, where, if she were crushing his windpipe, he would not be able to wriggle around to strike at her. She’s won. Fair play, Professor. Veery has to admit to being impressed, even if he is slower than usual.
Claude whistles. “Wow, Teach. I can’t say I expected to see that today.”
“As expected of our professor,” Leonie says smugly. “You’re still doing alright, Veery?”
Professor Byleth lets him up, so he stands, shakes himself off, and nods. Professor Byleth checks his back and belly with her magic anyway, just to be sure that she doesn’t aggravate the wound too much.
Edelgard starts laughing, which has both Caspar and Petra looking between her and each other in shock. “Even you, my teacher?” she asks, still chuckling.
Professor Byleth pats Veery’s shoulder and smiles. “It’s a good lesson,” she says. “I’ve lost my weapon many times in battle, especially when I was closer to your level. Many people freeze and accept that they’ve lost once they no longer have a weapon in hand. This kind of grappling is very fun, yes, but it also will get you past that mental block and is good practice for if you lose your weapon on the field. The battle isn’t over until one side dies or surrenders, not when they’re disarmed.”
Edelgard nods. “I see your point.”
“Claude,” Professor Byleth says, “how do you think the Deer will like a training day dedicated to unarmed grappling? We can bring Veery in, too, if he’s willing.”
Claude grins like he’s just won the Battle of the Eagle and Lion again. “That sounds like a wonderful idea, Teach! Don’t you think so, Leonie?”
Leonie nods eagerly. “Definitely! I can’t wait to punch Lorenz in his stupid face!”
“Perhaps the Eagles can join in on this session of yours?” Edelgard says. “I trust Petra and Caspar will enjoy the opportunity, at the least.”
Petra and Caspar blush again, but smile, eager to train more.
“The more the merrier!” Claude chirps. “Right, Teach?”
Professor Byleth nods. “I’ll talk to Professors Hanneman and Manuela about arranging a time. If nothing works out, I’ll just hold a seminar so that anyone who would like to come is welcome to. Please let Dimitri know, and I’ll get to the three of you with details as soon as I have them.”
“Looking forward to it, Professor!”
Tea time with Professor Byleth is something that the students of the Officer’s Academy universally look forward to. Though Veery is not actually a student, he’s no exception to this. He doesn’t have tea with her often, but one of the few times he does, no words are spoken between them at all. She simply invites him to tea, serves him, and sits with him in comfortable silence as they both enjoy the day.
It might actually be one of Veery’s favorite moments here at the monastery. He needs a break at the time, and he suspects that’s exactly what the point of the tea party is. No one will bother them while they’re having tea unless it’s important, after all.
So, Veery likes Professor Byleth. That’s why when he sits down to tea with her and she’s not just quiet like she usually is, but frowning and looking down at the table rather than impassive and attentive to him, he’s concerned.
He accepts the tea gratefully and blows gently on it before taking an experimental sip. Too hot to taste much, really – better let it cool for a moment – but it does have a pleasant aroma.
And he watches Professor Byleth. “Is there something wrong?” he asks, getting her attention.
Professor Byleth studies his face for a moment before letting out a breath that might even be mistaken for a sigh. “I heard that your people have stories about Fódlan’s history, from even before the goddess.”
Veery blinks, surprised. “Uh… yes? Why?”
“Do you… know anything about the Red Canyon?”
“Red Canyon?” Veery echoes. “Didn’t your class go there for a mission before I got here?”
“We did.” Professor Byleth nods. “There’s something… I’m curious about. I don’t think I’ll find the answer from the church, so I was hoping you’d know something about it.”
Veery frowns, flattening his ears. “I’m sorry. The only thing I’ve heard about any Red Canyon is what the Deer have told me about your mission there.”
Professor Byleth nods and sips her tea. “I suspected as much. I apologize for taking your time with this.”
“It’s no big deal,” Veery says. “If you’re curious about something involving this place, why don’t you go look around? Maybe you’ll find a clue.”
Professor Byleth is quiet for a while, looking mostly off into space. When her attention snaps back to him, she says, “Perhaps I will. The Red Canyon is not far from here. Would you like to accompany me?”
“Me?” Veery purses his lips. “I… I guess I can come. What’s so curious about it, anyway?”
“There are ruins there, but those ruins don’t match the architecture of any known nation,” Professor Byleth says slowly, after another pause. “Claude said at the time that he suspects they were built in the distant past, before Fódlan’s recorded history.”
“That’s why you’re asking me,” Veery says. He sighs. “In our stories, there was a lot of life here before the extinction. The ruins could be from then, or maybe just after the goddess returned life to the land. If the Red Canyon is around here, it’s pretty close to the heart of Fódlan. I’ve heard it said that a foreign god came to the heart of the wasteland left from the extinction and planted a flower in memory of those lost. That flower returned life to the entire land. I assumed that god is your goddess, but this would be around where life begun in Fódlan again, if that story isn’t just being metaphorical, and as far as I can tell, your records don’t go much further back before the War of Heroes.”
“So, it’s possible it’s from before the goddess, or sometime while the goddess was walking the land,” Professor Byleth says.
“It’d make sense, if it doesn’t match anything you know about.” Veery shrugs.
Professor Byleth hums. “It’s considered sacred land by the church, but no one will explain why. Considering that, it’s likely the latter option.”
“If it’s so important to the church, it might even be where the goddess lived,” Veery says. “Now I’m getting kind of curious. When do you want to go?”
“I have today free, if you’re available.”
Veery smiles. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
“Good. We’ll go after tea.” Naturally. They both drink their tea slowly, in no particular rush, just enjoying this moment of peace before they begin their hike.
And a hike it is. The Red Canyon, Zanado, according to Professor Byleth, is technically on church property, so it’s not very far. That said, the path to get there is mountainous and unkept. Clearly it doesn’t get much traffic. And while it isn’t very far, Veery can’t say it’s close, either. It’s a couple hours hike to get there. Within the realm of a day trip, certainly, but not something any bored student will attempt, or can attempt without being noticed.
Professor Byleth will surely be noticed as missing today but given she’s a professor and that Lady Rhea has a fondness for her, Veery isn’t as worried about getting in trouble as he usually would be with something like this.
Veery has little trouble with the terrain, and his wound doesn’t act up throughout the journey, so he’s feeling just fine. Professor Byleth is completely inscrutable, and seems to be in her head mostly, but she doesn’t struggle at all, so Veery leaves her be. She’s one of very few people who understands the value of being quiet and sitting alone and he’s not about to infringe on that pleasure if she wants to indulge.
Or maybe she just has a lot on her mind. Either way, it’s none of Veery’s business. He’s just here to check out these old ruins.
Speaking of… nothing in the Red Canyon is actually red. Veery can think of a number of explanations for the name, many of them quite gruesome, and resolves to just call it Zanado. There likely isn’t any way to determine for certain where the name comes from, if the place is really as ancient as he’s being led to believe, so there’s no point in worrying about it.
What is worrying is the scent of beasts in the area. None of them are immediately familiar to Veery, but they’re not human and they clearly live around here. He points out the smell to Professor Byleth, but she just smiles and says that she’ll protect him.
Reassuring, but not the point. Oh, well. “So, are we looking for something in particular?”
“…I’m not sure,” Professor Byleth says. “There’s something about this place… Let’s go further in.”
She leads him across the bridge. Veery gets distracted momentarily by the ruins nearby, but other than the architecture itself it doesn’t give any hint as to who used to live here, so he follows Professor Byleth even further in towards some more ruins.
There is… definitely something strange about this place. The air here is different than at the monastery. Older, somehow, but also pervaded with a feeling Veery can’t quite reach. If he’s honest, he feels a little like an intruder here, but at the same time, there’s a welcoming… something.
He can’t say it feels like coming home, but something in the air is familiar. Not in a nostalgic way, but in a way that tickles at his nose and lies right on the tip of his tongue. What is it? Not the ruins, surely, he doesn’t even know this place exists not long ago, and he’s never been to Fódlan until recently, so it’s not that, but something hidden here, something with a great power.
This is going to bug Veery forever if he doesn’t figure it out. He doesn’t know if this is what Professor Byleth is feeling, but if it is then he knows now why she wants to come back here.
“Let’s go around this wall,” says Professor Byleth, gesturing to one of the more intact structures here. Veery follows her soundlessly, inspecting the stone as he goes. It’s definitely not the stone. Something in the air…
What is this? Veery suddenly finds himself facing a stone wall – made of a different stone than the wall he just walks around – with faded text carved into it. It stretches on and on, crumbling at points but mysteriously well preserved compared to the rest of the place, as if the stone itself is adamant against its ruin.
He approaches, intrigued, and Professor Byleth does the same. What do these markings mean? It’s a script of some kind. Ancient. In fact, it’s not entirely unfamiliar. There’s no way Veery can read this, not without a lot of time to devote to figuring it out like he did with Albinean and Church Common – it may even be impossible without any good reference point – but… the way the script loops, elegant despite being carved into stone. The spacing, the lettering… It’s familiar. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen this before, but something like it, maybe. Something similar, perhaps related?
Veery likes words. This is a puzzle that he can solve. It may take some time, but he wants to know what this is. He touches the face of the stone gently, tracing the etchings with his fingers. Where has he seen this before?
There’s a sudden something to his right, near Professor Byleth, but when he turns to look there’s nothing at all amiss. He narrows his eyes. For a moment, just a split-second, he’s sure there is… green. A figure, and green. Maybe green fur? But it is upright, so it’s more likely exceptionally long hair.
He focuses, trying to conjure the image again, but he only barely catches a glimpse, and he’s not even entirely sure he isn’t imagining it. It’s probably just a trick of the light. Still, he stares into the air next to Professor Byleth, feeling as if… something is not quite right.
“Is something wrong?” Professor Byleth asks after a moment, face completely blank. “Did you see something?”
Veery furrows his brow but sees no reason to lie. It’s probably nothing, but since she’s asking, he may as well tell her. “For a moment, I thought I saw-”
“Grrrraargh!”
Veery jumps, reacting to the terrible scream, bristling all over. Great, the beasts here aren’t going to be interested in leaving them alone, then. He shares a look with Professor Byleth and nods. The two of them rush out to a defensible position where they have a better view of the valley.
And when they do, Veery sees these are no mere beasts, but great and terrifying… wolves, hawks but not like the regular animals. These are larger, with an energy around them. Veery can’t tell for certain what they are without getting close to one, but… he doesn’t want to. He’s frightened to, because if he does and it turns out his gut feeling about this is right, then… he has no idea what he will do.
Professor Byleth holds up the Sword of the Creator, ready to do as she says she will and protect him, and a group of students comes fumbling into the valley on the far side, with a demonic beast on their tails.
There’s a lot of yelling and pointing and the students scramble madly to reach them. Professor Byleth fends off a wolf and a hawk all by herself, but Veery has to shift and cover her when a second wolf comes around.
The moment his teeth sink into the wolf’s flesh, he regrets it.
This wolf is exactly what he fears it is. An old agell heart, lost. A wolf, though? How old must this heart be? Veery cannot remember any tales of the wolves existing after the extinction. Though… maybe the war? The War of Heroes? The stories only say that the cats have always been in Albinea, that some agell find shelter there, too, before the extinction, and that the agell go to war and are nearly wiped out. Do the wolf agell live in that time? The hawks? Veery cannot remember the elders saying for certain or not.
If so, then the War of Heroes likely drive those subspecies to extinction and leave them… like this. Maybe that is the cause of the war. The wolves and hawks coming south to try to reclaim their old homes.
Veery really doesn’t want to think about this. He definitely can’t afford to, in the middle of a battle, while it’s just him and Professor Byleth surrounded.
He needs to focus.
The students, mostly Golden Deer with a couple interspersed additions, fight towards them. Veery and Professor Byleth don’t have the numbers to try to fight towards them. They’re better off staying put where they don’t risk getting surrounded. There aren’t many of the beasts, only about six, but four of them are directly around them. There’s also that demonic beast, the twisted dragon, behind the students, struggling to cross the bridge to catch up to them.
Veery manages to take the wolf he’s on down, and Byleth takes out the wolf on their other side and cuts the wings off one of the hawks. Veery has to dance back to avoid the other hawk’s razor-sharp talons and switches with the professor to put the first hawk out of its misery while she grounds the second.
The hawk is agell, too. Expected, but… it still brings an uncomfortable gurgle in Veery’s stomach. These aren’t anywhere near as bad as the Lance of Ruin. The grudges they hold aren’t those of despair and pain and hate. It’s actually more familiar, more along the lines of what Veery expects from agell. Pride, ferocity, things that make the individuals who they are. Veery’s heart resonates with them when he touches them, and he can feel a small glimpse into their lives.
What steels him is that these agell, in their time, are warriors. He’s sure about that. There’s nothing quite like a warrior’s certainty, that high of battle, the danger of losing. Veery has that feeling himself, back at Conand Tower and the Holy Mausoleum, and this is a more… solidified, firmer version of it.
These are likely agell killed in the War of Heroes a thousand years ago. Again, Veery tries to force himself not to think about that. There are many places those thoughts can lead, and none are anything he wants while he’s still on a battlefield.
The students manage to take out the two remaining wolves as they converge with Professor Byleth and Veery. There is some chastising, some teasing, and a lot of questions about why they’re out here, but everyone buckles down to deal with the demonic beast before any real conversation can take place.
And it’s a tough fight. These demonic beasts are no joke. It’s not all that different from the Lance of Ruin, honestly, but this time Lysithea also knows the Seraphim spell, so with two mages able to use it, and Marianne obviously in a better frame of mind (though she’s still somewhat shaken at the sight of the beast) it goes overall more smoothly.
Eventually, though, the battle is over. Someone recommends that they get out of here quickly, but Veery walks over to the nearest wolf and frowns down at it.
Unlike with the Lance of Ruin and Miklan, this one doesn’t stop whatever transformation is holding it. It’s more like a true agell that way. Still, Veery can tell that this is the same creation. Or… not the same, it’s not as twisted as the lance is, but it’s a body, someone’s corpse, overtaken by the power of an agell’s heart.
Veery honestly has no idea that his heart can be dangerous to humans.
He shakes his head. That’s another thing to think about. For now, he has more important things to do.
“Veery?” It’s Sylvain’s voice, but Veery ignores it. “What’s up?”
Veery pads over next to the wolf, places his paw on it, and feels for the heart. The magic is strong, obvious, though not nearly as potent as the Lance of Ruin. And, confirming Veery’s theory about the nature of this beast, the heart is located deep in the wolf’s leg rather than where its heart should be in its chest.
Veery grits his teeth and cuts deep with his claws.
“Wo- hey! Veery! I think it’s dead!”
Veery growls and digs deeper. He shreds the flesh, splitting it open so that he can get even deeper. Then he’s deep enough. He takes a breath, shifts back, and reaches into the meaty thigh of the wolf.
When he brings his hands back out of the beast, he’s holding an agell heart. There’s… if there was any doubt before, it’s gone now. This is the proof. Veery’s breath is shaky as he stares at it, trying to ignore it trying to resonate with him.
Sylvain gasps, too. “Is that… Is that a Crest Stone?”
That gets everyone’s attention.
Lysithea stalks up to him, taking a close look at the heart in his hands. “This was inside the wolf? Could that mean…”
“Was it like Miklan?” Sylvian breathes. “Was that… human, once?”
Veery meets Claude’s eye, sees his gaze turn sympathetic, sees a nod. Veery sighs. “Yes,” he says. “Once. This is… older. It’s probably been a beast like this for years and years. Lysithea, can you…?”
Lysithea looks at the heart, then at the other beasts’ corpses. “You want to collect them?” she asks, unsure.
Veery takes a breath. “They’re agell hearts,” he says. Collectively, almost fake in how synchronized it is, everyone gasps. Veery looks away, back to the heart in his hands, as everyone starts asking too many questions. “…please.”
“Guys, guys! Come on, give him some space!” Claude says. “Lysithea…”
“Leave it to me. Some of you come with me. I can find the hearts, but you’re going to have to cut them out.” Veery looks up at her. She levels him with a stern look. “I expect a full explanation later.”
Veery gulps. “You’ll get it,” he says.
Lysithea nods and pulls Raphael and Leonie along with her. Marianne and Dorothea also join them, claiming they can help locate the hearts as well. Faintly, Veery can hear Marianne muttering prayers to the goddess, for the souls these hearts belong to.
Veery stares at the heart in his hand. He hopes prayers to the goddess are enough. He doesn’t know agell funerary practices at all. All he knows is that recovering the hearts is the most important part. He hopes these agell don’t mind human rites.
They probably do. These human rites are to the same goddess who led the people that slaughtered them. But Veery doesn’t know of any others. Maybe Petra or Dedue or even Cyril know rites from their homelands? Veery just feels like he should do… something for these poor souls.
When Sylvain asks why they’re harvesting the hearts of these things, Veery can only tell him that the hearts are where the soul is, and that it’s important for funerals, and admit that he doesn’t actually know how funerals work for his people.
Sylvain hugs him and holds him tight for a long time. Only Lysithea’s report that they collect all of the hearts prompts Sylvain to release him. Veery… doesn’t mind. He thinks he needs the hug, honestly. He’s not sure. It kind of feels like Sylvain needs it more than him, but he thinks he needs… something. And the hug helps. A little.
“Are you doing okay?” Hilda asks him, all big eyes and furrowed brows.
Veery just sighs, takes a deep breath, and nods. “I will be.”
He brings a bag. It’s his own, something he brings because he isn’t sure what to expect from Zanado and he wonders if he’ll need to write down notes. Instead, the bag becomes the temporary home of the bloodied hearts of four wolves, two hawks, and a dragon. Seven agell.
This is not what Veery expects from this trip.
“We should head back to the monastery,” Sylvain says. “I think we all could do with a rest.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Claude says. “Is everyone ready to go?”
Professor Byleth nods. Veery shakes his head. “One more thing,” he says.
“Oh? What is it?”
Veery looks to Professor Byleth. “The wall. I want to know what it is. If there are so many of these things here, there’s a chance it could be related, so… even if it’s just a little, I want to copy down what’s written on it, so I can study it later.”
Professor Byleth frowns, but nods.
“Wall?” Claude asks. “You mean you found something here? Where is it?”
“Back there.” Professor Byleth gestures in the direction of it. “Come with me.”
The group quietly follows their professor until they reach the wall. Lysithea and Claude are immediately enamored with the thing, speculating back and forth what the writing is, what it says, why it’s here, who put it there, everything anyone could possibly need to know about it. Veery just approaches it and tries to figure out how to memorize all this unknown script.
“I have an idea,” says Ignatz. “You want to copy it, right?”
Veery nods to him.
“Then… does anyone have paper? And some charcoal?”
Veery does. He brings it in his bag because he worries that he might have to take notes if he finds something interesting. Wonderous foresight, though in a completely unexpected way. He hands the little notebook and stick of charcoal to Ignatz, curious how he’s going to copy down this unfamiliar script.
Ignatz sputters a little with everyone’s attention on him. “I can’t get you very much of it. There’s… a lot here, but if I hold the paper over it like this…” He folds the notebook so a single page sticks out and presses that page to the wall, then runs over it with the side of the charcoal. Very quickly, the script becomes clear as negative space between the marks of the charcoal.
“Nice going, Ignatz!” Claude says, quickly pulling out a journal of his own and copying even more of the wall.
Lysithea scrambles to do the same.
Veery takes the page back, flips to a new one, thanks Ignatz for this, and examines the wall carefully.
He can’t get much of it, so if he can identify important parts, that might be the difference between figuring it out and not. Then again… this script…
The hearts in his bag are heavy on his shoulders, and he remembers why this script looks familiar.
The agell have ruins, too. Old structures from a time when they were more prosperous than they are now. Many of their festivals are held at one such ruin. It’s well cared for and well loved, but ancient and crumbling from time. In parts of that ruin, inscribed along certain areas, or sometimes just part of the walls themselves, is a script not completely unlike this one.
An ancient language, from before the extinction. Some of the elders can read it, but Veery himself never learns it. Maybe it is actually their modern language, since to Veery’s knowledge there is no written form of it used today. Either way, it’s not something they teach every young orphan, though Veery is interested in it.
Veery’s eyes travel upward, to the right, and walks a short way to find a small section that’s separated from the rest. There. The script, tiny and neat, boxes all around this little square of text, and continues on in perpetuity for the length of the wall, but there is a clear uncarved border between this block and the rest of the wall. There is also a word, maybe two, carved slightly larger than everything else. A header of some kind. That’s the ticket. Veery uses a few pages of his journal to get rubbings of this entire section. With the whole thing copied, he has little other direction and lets Claude and Lysithea worry about what else to get. He’s sure they’ll let him look at their materials, anyway.
“Hey, Veery! Look at this!” Claude calls him over, pointing to another part that stands out. It’s at the bottom, not on the wall at all but on the sloping bottom part that goes into the earth, and worn almost to be unreadable, but the rubbing still works. “I think this might be saying what this whole wall is about.”
Maybe. “Good catch,” he says.
“Do you know something about this language?” Claude asks.
Is it that obvious? Veery frowns. “No. I’ve never seen this script before. We have ruins sort of like this in Albinea, old agell places from when we made things like that and still made written records, and it’s maybe similar? But I never learned it, so I can’t say.”
Claude hums thoughtfully. “Well, I don’t think there’s much more we can do here. You ready to head back?”
“Yes. I’m ready.” Veery nods, placing his notebook gingerly back into his bag.
Claude puts his own journal away, calls everyone to go, and then offers Veery his hand. It’s not normally something he likes to do, but… Veery holds Claude’s hand as they leave Zanado. He locks their fingers together and breathes and trusts Claude to guide him as he lets his mind wander.
His bag is much heavier than it is on the hike here. The seven hearts don’t weigh much, though the dragon one isn’t nearly as small as the others, but he’s so conscious of their weight that they feel like a ton.
“Hey,” Sylvain says quietly, coming up on Veery’s other side, the one Claude isn’t. “I know you probably don’t want to think about this right now, but… what are you going to do with those hearts? …Crest Stones? I’m… still confused about that, honestly.”
Veery sighs and shares a look with Claude. “They’re both, technically. The dragon ones are Crest Stones, but the others are just smaller versions of them.”
Sylvain makes a vaguely uncomfortable groaning sound in his throat.
“I… I don’t know what I’ll do with them,” Veery admits. “I’d like to give them a proper funeral, but I don’t know how. Maybe… Maybe Marianne or Mercedes knows how it’s done here, but… Or maybe someone else has other rites that I could use. I don’t know. I just don’t like the idea of leaving them out here where someone else can find them and turn into more of those beasts.”
Sylvain scowls at the dirt. “Like Miklan.”
“Like Miklan,” Veery confirms. He feels Claude squeeze his hand.
Sylvain sets his jaw for a moment, and eventually asks. “So… that means the Lance of Ruin… it’s agell bones? And an agell heart?”
Veery bites his lip. “Dragon, most likely. But yes.”
Sylvain shivers. “I hate that I’ve been using that thing. I mean, I always hated that I was using that thing, but… Goddess, what the fuck?”
Yeah. That about sums it up.
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I posted 694 times in 2022
5 posts created (1%)
689 posts reblogged (99%)
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I tagged 121 of my posts in 2022
#trails of cold steel - 9 posts
#fire emblem: three houses - 7 posts
#life is strange 2 - 5 posts
#our flag means death - 5 posts
#shin megami tensei - 4 posts
#star trek - 4 posts
#a league of their own - 3 posts
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Longest Tag: 136 characters
#will smith shouldn’t have to return an oscar over a slap like that when there’s been far uglier and worse things that has happened there
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
This dumb as fuck meme going around has forced me to create a positive out of everything I dislike ever: that at least the things I dislike actually exists in some capacity.
0 notes - Posted November 22, 2022
#4
Fire Emblem: Three Houses and why I'm never touching the Blue Lions ever the fuck again!
Because the Blue Lions run was the most recent run I finished, it's the freshest in my head, and thought I should give my thoughts on it, so here we go. Dimitri simps are not welcome here for this and there will be spoilers.
The Blue Lions
The Blue Lions route is by far the route that dragged the most for me of them all. My first initial impression of everyone outside of Felix, Sylvain, Dedue, or Dimitri is boring and basic as fuck. But that impression changed throughout the playthrough, with most of them rising in my impression, except for Dimitri, but we'll get to him in a second. Overall, I wouldn't play this route again unless I genuinely want to angle for that Dedue romance and I'm not sure playing this route again is worth it for this. But, let's start off with my impressions of the characters.
Sylvain: If it isn't my favorite hoe of Fodlan. He's not just your typical casanova, but someone who has a lot, and I do mean, a lot of issues with the ladies because of him being used by everyone to raise their status and become nobles by birthing Crest babies. I'm not surprised that he doesn't have A-supports with most of the ladies because of his issues and the ones he does have A-supports are Dorothea (who sees right through him), Mercedes (who has also gone through a lot due to her having a Crest), Byleth (for also seeing through him, but also helping him work through his stuff), and Ingrid (who happens to be a childhood friend of his). He's a nuanced hoe and also fun to have in the party. All of my routes have him because he's free real estate as Female Byleth. In my Black Eagles run, he was with Felix, but Blue Lions saw him get married to Ingrid.
Ashe: Unlike Sylvain, I really only got to see how good Ashe was in the Blue Lions route as I didn't recruit him in my Black Eagles run and he was the only one I wasn't able to recruit in my Golden Deer run. Ashe is such a sweetheart and a damn good Archer. I liked him a lot and strived to pair him up with Annette as I thought they'd be cute together. Ashe is a good boy and definitely worth having again.
Annette: Sadly, Annette did not get much use on her own, but she was paired with someone as their adjutant (mostly with Ashe, to grow that bond between them). But she's adorable, hard-working, and just really sweet. Didn't get much use, but that's OK. She's nice.
Ingrid: Now her? I dig her. I understand she had a lot of prejudice towards the folks from Duscar due to Glenn's death, but the fact that she does grow out of it shows the kind of growth that Ingrid does have. Unlike Dimitri, she manages to move on and develops a good bond with Dedue. Plus, as a Falcon Knight (by the end of the game), she was insanely useful and could bounce around as needed. Definitely worthy of the party.
Mercedes: My first impression of her was this: "Man, does she sound funny as fuck". But after getting to know her and learning about her past, I realized that she talks like that for a reason, but also, she's just really sweet. I honestly regret not recruiting her in my Black Eagles route as I could've learned a lot about her and Jeritza if I did that. Instead, I had to look up the context as to what I missed and it made me regret forgetting to recruit her even further. Also, she is by far the best healer out of all the healers available. The fact that her Crest allows her to heal herself when she heals others makes her a tougher, less squishy healer than anyone else. 10/10, would use her for sure.
Dedue: My main reason for playing through the Blue Lions was to romance Dedue as his romance and usage of him is route-locked to the Blue Lions. It didn't work out like that, but he's still a very useful character and I 100% do like him a lot. Enough that I worked my ass off to pair him with Flayn as I thought their support conversations were adorable. A shame that he really couldn't be recruited outside of the Blue Lions because I would do so at every turn. If I ever feel up for suffering through the Blue Lions again, I'll try to romance him.
Gilbert: What a C tier dad he is. How dare he abandon Annette and leave her all alone like that?! All because of the stuff that happened in Duscur?! Nooooo... The only reason he's not F or lower is that there are genuinely far worse dads out there in the world of Fodlan. Also, the dude lacks the courage and sense to tell Dimitri to knock his shit off and King the Fuck Up! Didn't use him, so can't talk about gameplay. Was pointless as fuck for me to do so.
Dimitri: The sole fucking reason why I hate this route. Most of the pre-time skip, he's meh at best. It's during the Holy Tomb mission that it all goes fucking downhill from there. I hate this fucking asshole so, so much. This is one angry murder hobo and unlike with Hubert or Jeritza, his murder hobo ways are a fucking detriment and ruin the entire route for me. His need for bloodlust and revenge fucked so many people over. I hate the fact that Felix lost both his father and brother because of Dimitri. Dimitri makes this route fucking unplayable and is just as bad as Noctis from FFXV when it comes to royals fucking things up by not being told to King Up and do the right thing. His fucking impatience and need to kill Edelgard dragged the war out and he outright treats Byleth like shit post-time skip by telling them to Silence and Shut up. Nah, man. Byleth wouldn't put up with that level of disrespect. Neither Claude nor Edelgard would treat her so badly after the time skip. I would've loved a route split where we take down Dimitri and have someone else step into the Lord role for the Blue Lions. And don't get me started on how his solo ending calls him the Savior King. I know that history is written by the winners, but fuck that shit. He is no savior of anything. He maintains the status quo. 0/10 - Trash character leads to trash route. Folks that love Dimitri, love yourself more than this trashcan on fire. Whatever Dimitri has, other characters do it better.
Felix: The best fucking character in the Blue Lions by far. I recruited him in both my Black Eagles and Golden Deer runs because holy fuck, he is OP as shit gameplay-wise. Story-wise, I 100% am Sympatico with him over everything that happens in the Blue Lions route. He is one of the only reasons that Blue Lions should be played as in the other routes, he gives up his position as a noble to travel, whereas, in the Blue Lions, he stays as a Noble. Felix wound up being who I romanced in my Blue Lions run, unintentionally, actually, as I forgot to talk to the Gatekeeper to have Dedue meet me, so Felix showed up at the Goddess Tower instead. Fine by me, for Felix was worth it. He's the sane man in the group and I genuinely got where he was coming from when he got pissed at what his father said after his brother, Glenn, died. If you have to play the Blue Lions again, Felix is why you should, if only for his better endings there than anything else.
The Blue Lions run would've been so, so much better if I didn't have to put up with siding with someone like Dimitri. The rest of the Blue Lions are fine and Felix is without a doubt one of the best characters in Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Blue Lions route is a -2/10. Dimitri drags that score down a lot and the best Blue Lions are recruitable outside of its main route. Unless you're thirsting for Dedue or want Felix to have a nice ending, Blue Lions is a one-and-done thing for me.
0 notes - Posted August 16, 2022
#3
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By far, the best joke in this hilarious train wreck, for as we all know this one immutable truth: money can’t buy knives.
0 notes - Posted January 26, 2022
#2
Life is Strange 2 (SPOILERS)
I finished playing it recently and I really only have one, really true way to describe the experience:
Like, holy shit is this game so much of that. So, so, so much emotional damage.
My quick thoughts:
How dare you introduce the good girl Mushroom, then allow her to get killed off without giving us the opportunity of saving her, Dontnod? That is some evil shit there. RIP Mushroom.
Sean Diaz is one of the best damn characters ever put in a video game, to the point that I 100% am never going to go for an ending where he is fucked over, either in death or in prison. He's just such a good character, trying his damn hardest to protect and take care of his little brother after the loss of their father.
Out of all the chapters, in general, that hurt, Chapter 4 is the biggest one. So much pain and emotional hurt there that it was killer.
OK, game, I know that I like going as queer as possible, but did I really have to side with Finn on doing something so incredibly stupid so that I can choose to romance him? Also, no option to bang Finn too on top of the kiss? Lame!
Dontnod threw in so much good stuff in here, both in the environment, setting, and story, that I can't help but call it a masterpiece. It blows the first Life is Strange out of the water so hard that I'm surprised that folks ignored this game over the others.
I'm sad that any new Life is Strange games will be done by Deck Nine instead of Dontnod, but this just made me want to see what other games that Dontnod has out there.
If you can get this game, get it. It is so good and will cause so much emotional wreckage, it can kill. But it is an amazing game and worth the price, even without a sale.
1 note - Posted May 30, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
Fire Emblem: Three Houses and my Thoughts on the Black Eagles run
At the time of this writing, I've finished, in this order: Black Eagles, Ashen Wolves, Golden Deer, and Blue Lions. So, general thoughts first and then I'll break down each House and what I thought of their routes. All routes were done with Female Byleth. Spoilers ahead, so be forewarned. This part will be about the Black Eagles and my general thoughts.
I love this game. It is such a blast to play through and it's nice actually playing a teacher that has to help their student to get better while also having that slice of life stuff I just love a lot. Please give me more slice-of-life stuff like this in video games. Gameplay is fun, the story is great, and I do not regret buying a Switch for this and Shin Megami Tensei V. I always say that it's ethical to pirate from Nintendo, but given that I was really curious about it, I'll make an exception for my usual "Do Not Buy" policy when it comes to Nintendo.
Now, onto the Houses.
Black Eagles
The Black Eagles are, without a doubt, some of my favorite party members from start to finish and, due to me not hearing much of anything from the fandom about this route beyond "I am Ferdinand von Aegir", I thought it appropriate to pick this route first.
Man, that was one adventure I was not expecting at all!
So, the main goal of the Black Eagles can be summarized like this: A bunch of folks that believe in a meritocracy decide to team up with some evil edgelords to take out the Catholic Church and personally murder their immortal pope, who just happens to be the one the Catholic Church is named after, and can also turn into a giant dragon to wreck shit up. After taking out the Catholic Church, they then backstab the evil edgelords over time. That's pretty much what's happening in the Black Eagles route. I, for one, love this.
Edelgard is one of my favorites and I adore her goals and motivations as to why she is doing this. Taking down the Church is always a worthwhile goal and, while I do like Seteth and Flayn, I'm not fond of Catherine (who is OK with doing really fucked up shit) and Rhea (who just happens to be OK with murder without trials). Is it any wonder that at the route split, I sided with Edelgard and not the Church? Also, a minor tidbit, but the reason why she donned the moniker the Flame Emperor is one that actually flew over my head hard. I thought she named herself that because she wanted to burn the Church down. Turns out, she has the Crest of Flames along with the Crest of Seiros and that's why she's the Flame Emperor. Yeah, that flew over my head. Talk about an obvious miss there. Was clearly having 20/20 Bimbo Perception that day.
Hubert is a goth murder hobo done right. Unlike Dimitri (and we will get to him when I get to writing about the Blue Lions), his murderous tendencies are controlled. There's a purpose for why he does the heavy killing load for Edelgard. He is so loyal to her that he killed his own father for betraying her. That is how loyal he is to her. I loved his character and, unlike another Robbie Daymond-voiced murder hobo, I get where he's coming from. He's also relatively useful in combat and I do dig him as my black magic user for sure.
Linhardt is the healer of the group and I loved him the second with his quick intro: "Lindhardt. Goodbye". Quick, efficient, and shows exactly the kind of character he is. He's the one I relate to the most in the Black Eagles route: I too want nothing more to do than to sleep, shirk off hard work, and study all the time. He was an instant recruit from me when I played the other runs, if only because I didn't want to kill him.
Petra is my main swordswoman and I generally love her story arc, with her being technically a prisoner from her homeland of Brigid. She's sweet but tough and I do like how she tries to learn the culture in Fodlan. She also was a recruit in my Golden Deer and Blue Lions runs, but sadly, she was just mainly recruited, not exactly used often due to the presence of Felix and Yuri.
Bernadetta, my adorable sweetheart! A lot of folks would find her fear of everything annoying, but the second I found out why, I was like, "OK, you are officially under my protection. Where is your fuckhead father so that I can bury his ass six feet under?" I am so disappointed that we do not even get even an iota of a chance to beat his ass in (or at least have Hubert mention killing him). In short, one of the best archers you can have, and while she was recruited in Golden Deer, I actually didn't recruit her in Blue Lions. Well. Fuck.
Caspar is fun. I like him. He's impulsive, brash, and just the fun of the Black Eagles. And a decent brawler too. A shame that he's actually sidelined in both my Golden Deer and Blue Lions runs due to Balthus (in the other three runs) and Raphael (in the Golden Deer run).
Dorothea was my Gremory (when I reached that class) by the end of the game and while she's a decent mage, she does get outclassed by both Hubert and Linhardt in my Black Eagles run. I do love her interactions with everybody, so that was fun. Definitely worth having, if only so that you don't separate her from Manuela.
I figured to add Jeritza here as he's exclusive to the Black Eagles, Crimson Flower route: He's OP as fuck. That man can take a hit and keep going. Also, another murder hobo, and given the reason why he went murder hobo, I can only say this: He was doing the Goddess Sothis' work on taking out his father and the rest of the Bartels out. I do not feel sorry for Baron Bartels for thinking he can even try... *that*. Ew. Gross as fuck.
And I saved the man, the meme himself, for last: Ferdinand von Aegir. He is not just a meme, he's an awesome character and by far, my favorite himbo in all of Fodlan. He was my Dancer in this run and may I say that he looked amazing in his Dancer outfit. Not to mention that I just loved how he interacted with everyone. Billy Kametz's performance as him is nothing short of excellent. Fun fact, I actually listened to his duet with Robbie Daymond in a "This is totally not Hubert and Ferdinand we're singing as *wink*" song and I did not get the context of it at first until I played the game. Now afterward, I get the context. And I aimed for that Hubert x Ferdinand ending because I like how they contrast each other. He also was an instant recruit and while he didn't get used as much in Golden Deer or Blue Lions, he's still a favorite and I did not want to fight against him.
In short, Black Eagles are 10/10, would play this route again, and will always side with Edelgard. Down with Megalomaniacal Dragon Gods. Will get to writing about the other routes soon.
2 notes - Posted August 12, 2022
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You don't need to include screen caps for this ask but I was wondering about your views on the Hopes designs for each character who got a new outfit (aka the students plus Ashen Wolves). Which units do you think got an upgrade vs a downgrade? Obviously, I mean as a comparison to their 3H time skip designs. You can talk about hair and clothing as for your explanation. For example, I think 3H time skip Sylvain has great hair, but I prefer his Hopes outfit with the scarf. Mix and match if needed!
Thanks for your ask, anon.
I am planning to make detailed overall character review posts for each character that will go into more detail (thought most of these will come out after August because August is insanely busy for me). I already gave my quick opinions on the Eagles and Deer earlier here:
Black Eagles
Golden Deer
I thought I had made one for the Lions as well, but if I did, I can't find it anymore. So, here are my quick thoughts on the Ashen Wolves and Blue Lions 3 Hopes designs:
Dimitri: not really a fan. I like the tiny pony tail, but aside from that, it pales in comparison to his High Lord design.
Dedue: Love his hair. Armor is imo on par with his post time skip look.
Mercedes: her best design, imo.
Ashe: not a fan of the hair and somehow the outfit makes him look bulkier than he is. Not a fan.
Felix: Love it the outfit. His hair cut finally stands out from his pre time skip design, but it always looks kind of.... weird in his portrait.
Annette: she looks like a milk maid. Not a fan.
Sylvain: I find all of his designs pretty underwhelming tbh, and this one's no exception. Doesn't mean he looks bad--there's just nothing there that stands out or impresses me.
Ingrid: Love the outfit, hate the hair cut. I wish they had given her a long, braided cut (not a sloppy braid like her pre skip design, but something more secure and neat).
Yuri: much improved from his post TS design, which is honestly not surprising, because the post TS designs for the wolves are all ugly, imo. Still has the ridiculous shoe shape.
Constance: love it. I can't decide whether I prefer this or her pre TS look, but it's definitely 100x better than her post TS look.
Balthus: has something very retro about it. It's probably the hair + bandana (kinda reminds me of the Rambo movies). Better than his post skip look. On par with his pre skip look I guess (it's really hard to find a good angle on this one in the trailer).
Hapi: love it. Best design she has.
#asks#anon#Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes#FE WTH#FE WTH character designs#tumblr formatting is being a bitch again
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