FANTASTIC NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i finished & posted the ITNL 14 re-edits, WHICH MEANS!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm officially done with my re-edits project!!!!!!!!!! :D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ive been thinking a lot today about my plans for ITNL 15, AND i have tomorrow off, so if all goes well i'll be able to start writing again. TOMORROW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and if the chapter grips me like i expect it will then... hehehehehe

could be an update in as little as a few days, depending. i'll keep u guys updated

Thinking abt Steve and Robin, Robin and Steve, two people who look so alike, who act so alike, who are basically siblings, who could actually be twins separated at birth if not for the age gap

(let's ignore that gap, or claim Steve skipped a grade cause he was a 'gifted' child that stopped being 'gifted' as he grew up in that typical neurodivergent experience kinda way).

Imagine it, Robin Buckley, an accidental pregnancy from a romp in the back of a VW, imagine if the Buckleys had twins but could only manage to take care of one, putting up the other for adoption because no matter how much they love the little bean, they can't afford two.

Now imagine The Harringtons, rich and influential and desperate for a child of their own (even if it eventually turns out that they'd never be completely ready to be parents) but... maybe something was wrong. maybe Mrs Harrington couldn't, or Mr Harrington was shooting a few too many blanks to make it work and no matter how many times they try... it just doesnt happen for them.

And then this little boy is born to a couple in Hawkins, a surprise extra alongside their little girl. A deal quickly struck, the Harringtons pay for everything, all the medical bills, and give the Buckleys enough to get them started with a house and enough money to start a college fund for their little girl, as long as they get the little boy before he's adopted by someone else.

And then one day, shortly after the mall burns down, Robin brings home this boy who she claims saved her life. This impossibly beautiful boy, covered from head to toe in pretty little moles and big, beautiful hazel eyes like Mrs Buckley, with Mr Buckleys strong jaw and broad shoulders.

Their little boy has come home, and it takes everything they have to not pull him into their arms and into their home all at once, so it happens gradually, he's invited to dinners, to holidays, he's welcome to stay the night, he has first dibs on the guest room, even has clothes in the closet there, he and Robin are inseparable, they're siblings, without a shadow of a doubt they're siblings. they found each other despite everything.

They might tell him, or they might not, it doesnt really matter.

Their little boy is home, and he's GOING to get all the love he missed out on even if it kills them.

I don't have much to ramble about but having 4 reincarnation aus on the go is so real, trimax -> tristamp reincarnation au drives me insane on the daily. begging to hear about the other reincarnation aus pretty pls

(also your art is so charming and lovely!! I love your comics hehe)

UOHOHOHO I SEE WE THINK ALIKE ANON 🤝 reincarnation AU ALWAYS drives me insane too!!! Trigun especially is giving me too much power for me not to waste em yknow?😩😩

(heads up: there's LOTS of rambles, and they're all VW-centric)

Timeloop/Reincarnation AU where Vash reverses the time every time he fails to save Wolfwood, despite having the guilt of knowing Wolfwood will have to go through everything again had Vash chosen to loop the timeline again...

Shouldn't he let him finally get his peace? Isn't it cruel to make him suffer yet again through this horrid nightmare?

(Have you ever imagined if his "I can see it in his eyes" or "all I see is a man forcing himself to play the devil while his heart cries out" is because Vash knows he's actually not like that? That the man he knows has been kind, kind to him. But will also fear what will happen to him if he pushes his belief upon Wolfwood... Would he rather see the Wolfwood he'd known from his past? Or would he let him kill; a cold murderer, befitting of his title as 'The Punisher' in favour of his survival? But could you still call him the same Wolfwood he's known from before? Should he even try to reverse the time again? Hadn't he suffered enough?)

Reincarnation AU trimax VW but focusing on reincarnated! Wolfwood instead, chasing after Vash at every cycle of his life so he can protect, and ultimately, save him from his misery.

(He fails, quite a lot of times. But Vash doesn't need to know how many times.)

Everything was all white. And before he knew it, it was dark. Wolfwood wakes up again in a different place than he used to live in. But more than that, a different body (It was confusing at first, but he's quick to connect the dots when he finds a familiar face he could not mistake for others, now in a wanted poster, spanning across the walls of the buildings: "Vash The Stampede" it says. Wolfwood remembers: it was the man who greets him every time he enters the shop; him donning an apron as he serves other customers and he in his working outfit, back from a job he can remember no longer...)

Star-crossed Lovers where Wolfwood eventually realised he only dies because he tries tp save Vash. He could've lived a long, normal life, even stop his loop! But he didn't. Wolfwood who'd rather live short lives and die countless times just to save him... and the closest he's been with him relationship-wise is where his death is mourned the most...

(whether he thinks it's shit or not, Wolfwood still doesn't know. But had he known it'd be the last time he sees him, he'd have at least pulled him into a kiss. Say sweetheart, how about a thank you kiss?)

Reincarnation AU (trimax->tristamp) but this time both of them have bits of recollections of the past they never told each other they know.

Vash being more deadset on stopping Nai and now EOM as his main objectives, passively avoiding visiting orphanages at all costs in his travels,

Wolfwood as a kid who knew what will become of him when he's selected by the EOM but still joins and persists through his experiments with the thought "This could help the spikey his memories seem so keen on remembering" or an "I could only meet him this way, protect him this way"

Imagine the panic that settles when the timeline doesn't line up with their previous life, "what do you mean I met the gang before the July incident, and who is this old man??" Wolfwood

Eriks going missing for 2 years as written, thinking he should really, really avoid Wolfwood for good before he gets dragged any deeper, maybe he should run away from everything this time?

And Wolfwood desperately searching for him for the whole 2 years, even though he knows he'll find him again, fearing how he gets closer to the time because "what if something is different this time and I can't meet him?" or "What if I'm not supposed to be by his side this time?"

The last one is the one I talked on prev post! Reincarnation AU (trimax->tristamp) but it's only Wolfwood who remembers, and it's mostly a "trying to move on but failing miserably because you can never say no to your (reincarnated) partner"

Wolfwood reminiscing how similar yet so different this life is... thinks how "the ticket to the future is blank, and it led me back to you"

new oc dropped??? 👀 i must know more

OKAY SO HERE'S THE (meta) STORY

I mostly played as M!Byleth and I named him Astred because I liked the name, and then eventually I used that name for my first student oc Astred because Astred-leth wasn't even an oc to begin with. I did however play as F!Byleth in my VW run to marry Claude and I named her Flemeth but I completely forgot about that until the other day when I found a screenshot of me playing as her with Flemeth on the screen and I've always liked the name Flemeth so I wanted to bring that back

Way back when I originally made my Vipers I was brainstorming most of them with a friend who also had one of their ocs as one of my students as well as the professor of the Viper class, but since they're not mine I don't talk about them and I took Astred, who was originally a Blue Lion (this was before I played any other route aka on my second blue lions run) and made him a Viper, but you don't hear me speak of him much in the context of the Vipers because in my heart he's still a Blion. My friend also had another oc who was the stand in for the Professor if in theory the player character Byleth chose a different class such as the Black Eagles, like how Manuela and Hanneman would take on the other two classes after you pick one

So I realized that since that professor oc isn't mine I don't have a professor oc of my own for the Vipers, and then I remember once more that Flemeth does indeed exist and there's no more room for other students? So what do I do from there?

Blam, Flemeth as Professor Byleth! Similar to what I did with Astred, I turned the name I used into an oc with an actual function

(Also as onyx pointed out, Flemeth can kinda sound like Femleth, and with Flemeth being what I named F!byleth I think it fits hehe)

Flemeth is they/she who only has a gender when it's funny and I intend to keep most of Byleth's traits but don't be surprised if I changed them up just a little bit hehe

I still have some stuff to figure out because Viper Flemeth is genuinely only a day old but you will be hearing about her a lot as I develop them >:3c

Curious as to what you’ve said “haha what if I jokingly shipped them/headcanoned this ironically” about……… please do tell. If u are so inclined 👀 (but no pressure ofc 💜)

uh OH!!!!!!!

under the CUT bc a bitch sure can TALK

SHIPS:

gonna start off w/chainshipping. NOT bc I started shipping them as a joke. bc no. I've been deathly serious about them from the JUMP. tragically!!

but chainshipping...............in the context of this stupid ass princess bride au. it WAS a joke. it was a fun time. it was playing dolls ALONE in my ROOM.

and now................I'm actually thinking I'm gonna publish it for other ppl to potentially read & suffer thru.

ACE. I made a lil fic graphic the other day:

.....................it's so Over.

(knives out/the menu) I SAW THIS GIFSET and now I'm a marta/margot truther. they're dating. in my head. I cannot shake this. it's canon to me. I never crosspollinate characters from vastly separate media!!! except I do. in this case.

(saw ii) amanda/addison/laura!! I have an unfinished wip in my drafts for them. that I luv v much. it's a kinda-dreary/kinda-warm n cozy/kinda-contemplative/VERY gay lil piece.

bc what if they all made it out of the nerve gas house together?? and what if they holed up in a dumpy lil apartment?? the medicine cabinet is full of nail polish and makeup that laura steals from riteaid. addison is constantly unclogging the shitty fuckin tub. amanda has a drawer full of knives in the bedroom. the front door is firmly bolted but that's never enough. so, they sleep in shifts. laura sandwiched in the middle. and they argue and scrape by. eat takeout and kiss. none of them are normal.

I'll finish it eventually gdhfshgfhdsghfds

HEADCANONS:

(midnight mass) father paul in the vw bug on his way 2 abercrombie & fitch. to buy skinny jeans w/the church credit card. re: my deranged tags on this gifset.

this is SO canon to me. as far as I'm concerned, it was featured in the show. it wasn't. but it was.

(saw) strahm having played baseball in his youth.

this is all bc I stumbled upon the knowledge that scott patterson actually did play baseball in his 20's.

and he looked rather scrumdiddlyumptious while doing so. my bread and butter is research born from [insert whorism here].

this hc was further exacerbated & cemented by one of many unhinged late night convos w/@visceravalentines about the guyfreaks. we're both v convinced @ this point that strahm has a baseball-related old sports injury. it occasionally flares up when he shoots. definitely had to go to work-mandated PT bc of a particularly bad reaction to recoil once. and he hated every second of it.

additionally, strahm being a u2/goo goo doll fan. he just IS. to me.

(house of wax) litcherally ANYTHING I have EVER said on here about the sinclair's. especially boseph. y'all should've locked me up & thrown away the key YEARS ago. using this post as an example.

^ ofc, these are just the thangs currently @ the top of my mind. like bubbles on top of a carbonated drink. if u dive into that glass..............well. radiation. poisoning.

Perhaps what baffles me the most about the people who shout “Rhea tried to sacrifice Byleth in the Holy Tomb!” as a reason why Byleth would side with Edelgard is like. Uh. Bro. If that’s such a big betrayal to you - which, hey, fair enough, if you don’t like Rhea for that then more to ya - then. Like. Am I gonna blow your mind as to what Edelgard reveals during that exact cutscene. 

Like dude??? Edelgard literally reveals that she’s been working with the people who’ve:

Murdered Jeralt

Massacred Remire

Kidnapped students and transformed them into Demonic Beasts

Kidnapped Flayn and drained her of her blood

Made it to where Sothis can no longer communicate with Byleth

Tried to kill Byleth and their students multiple times

As well as Edelgard herself ordering for her men to straight up kill Byleth and the Black Eagles should they try to intervene with her attempts to grave rob a holy tomb.

And like, this is just what Byleth would know at the moment. Being involved with Godfrey’s - and by extension, Raphael’s parents’ - murder, Lambert’s murder (and by extension the genocide of Duscur), the mutilation of Sothis’ body, instigating the Nabatean genocide, and plenty of other things Byleth just doesn’t know about (either yet or ever, on SS or CF), and with a few of these things (Lambert’s murder + Duscur) being things Edelgard does know about.

Let’s ignore how Rhea sacrifices herself to protect them as well as all of Garreg Mach, sees Byleth as their own person by the end of SS/VW, trusts them with the Church, before apologizing for her selfish actions in her S support (on SS) - alright, Rhea’s betrayed Byleth. So did Edelgard, using their trust in her to infiltrate the Holy Tomb to get what she wants. Rhea was going to sacrifice Byleth. So was Edelgard, to her path of ideals. “But Edelgard was doing this for the greater good!” So was Rhea, since she thought getting Sothis back would help everyone in Fodlan. By this logic, the player shouldn’t pick either Rhea or Edelgard and should instead restart their run to pick either Dimitri or Claude. 

Like, I get the game is pretty ass in showing the actual weight of Edelgard’s actions and tends to pretty her up for the player, but like, uh, no matter how much lipstick and eyeshadow you put on it that’s still a fuckin’ knife pointed at me. Edelgard is still very much trying to kill Byleth - and Byleth Byleth, as in she didn’t view Byleth as merely a vessel that Sothis needed to enter like Rhea did at the time, but she saw Byleth as Byleth and still tried to murder them. Along with the rest of the Black Eagles. 

But nah actually betrayal and attempted murder is fine because Edelgard is totally in the right when she tries to murder innocent people for not letting her commit crimes because maybe eventually in a hypothetical future her half-baked plans will make some people live kinda better lives if they happen to have merit, I guess

Roger Taylor live at the Wulfrun Hall in Wolverhampton, UK - March 30, 1999

Fan Stories

“I'll never forget the night I saw Brian and Roger at Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall, my home city (well, actually, it was a town then, we didn't become a city until the end of 1999!). It will stay with me forever, although I live in hope they will return one day with some new material! We had no warning in advance about Brian coming, not even as a guest just to watch. The band arrived quite late on at the venue (well, I'm not sure if it was late but it was getting on for 5pm I think), they didn't mention it but we heard them soundchecking 'Rock And Roll' and according to legend one of the roadies told someone that BHM was coming when they asked if there was a special guest. We thought it was going to be Robert Plant as he lives nearby, about ten miles out of the city. It certainly wasn't going to be one of Slade, lol! We weren't let into the venue until really late and when we got in we could see tinkering with some AC30's by someone that looked suspiciously like Pete (BHM's roadie). He had a really naff rain mack on and was desperately trying to hide the Red Special underneath it. Well, it looked remarkably like the nick of the RS! Nobody knew for sure that Brian was going to be there, most people seemed oblivious to Pete being there even. My mate said maybe someone was going to play an RS copy but I told him he was being silly. The set list was different to usual and I was waiting for Brian every time they played a Queen song. When he eventually emerged (dodgy shirt!) for 'Under Pressure' the place went mad. In between 'Under Pressure' and 'Rock and Roll' he did say something which was lost in the moment but listening to the recording of the night sounds like 'Lot of fun, init?'. The roar was immense. When Roger announced they were going to do something from the past I was hoping it was going to be an early Queen track, I suppose I should have guessed it was 'Rock and Roll' having heard the sound check. The final moment of the evening brought us 'Radio Ga Ga' and I have to say it was one of the better moments of my life seeing two of my heroes up on stage and being part of the mass of people doing the hand movements. I missed the real Queen, but this was the next best thing for me. Treana's guitarist (Alden Evans?) looked totally swept away being on stage with Brian. Mind you, wouldn't you be? Apparently Brian arrived in a VW Camper van and was mobbed when they left afterwards, leaving Roger to walk to his mode of transport almost unnoticed! It was just after this that Roger announced they were going to do some new stuff (still waiting...) but events around that time seem to have led to the musical and the current status of tour rumour. I walk by the Wulfrun quite often and I can never get that night out of my mind. I was buzzing for weeks, months afterwards, even now it sends a shiver down the spine. Wonderful!” - Dave

“Arrived with Cathy Highfire (many many thanx to Cathy for driving and even suggesting going to Wolverhampton) around 11.30 and joined up with the small queue (Hi Sandie, Kevin & Lisa). Quite a subdued wait, until the gorgeous Treana was spotted getting off the bright orange Tour Bus. A mass exodus followed to greet Treana, who as always was extremely charming. Managed to get the Surrender 7" signed by her and also a 9"x6" photo that I took during her fantastic performance at the Leadmill. Had a very brief chat with her, which resulted in her telling me that she was enjoying the tour, although it was very tiring. She then mentioned that we were in for a treat in tonight's performance (teasing us with the line 'That's if HE turns up'). Who could this special guest be?????? Waiting for RT to turn up at the soundcheck, we discussed the special guest. Could it be local boy Noddy Holder (Surely not!) or a repeat performance from Uncle Bob Geldof?????. Our suspicions were roused when the band started to intensely rehearse Led Zep's 'Rock and Roll', and we all jumped to the conclusion it could be local lad Robert Plant. We just had to wait and see. RT once again managed to slip into the soundcheck (at around 6.15pm) with only a couple of clipboarders getting autographs. Then no sooner had we heard the soundcheck, it was time to be let in. AAAAArrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhh. Very annoyed to be extensively searched before going in and finding that the doors to the hall were actually locked and we had to congregate in the bar next door. After all those hours of queuing, a disorganised array of fans was waiting impatiently to get in. Finally we were let in and rushed to the front. Phew managed to get there OK. We then had to endure a 90 minute wait before Treana came on to do her routine set. Absolutely storming as usual. If you've not seen this lovely lass weave her magic spell with that fantastically powerful voice, then you must!!!!!!!!!!. Long may she continue. With an empty stage, and lights back up, tension was mounting with the crowd for the arrival of RT, which we all knew to be imminent. The suspicions of the special guest were roused even more, when there was some tinkering with a vox amp and a very familiar guitar being tuned (with the technician trying not to show the guitar to us). The tension became greater when the lights dimmed and an aural opening of someone entering a room and turning on the electric fire, at which the cue of strobe lights and the fire on the stage backdrop lighting up. The drums of We Will Rock You belted out with Prior and RT behind his Sleishman drum kit thrashing out that familiar beat. Moving down to centre stage, RT (wearing that same jacket and Armani shirt) took to the raw and vibrant vocals (this time word perfect); a somewhat more energetic performance than that of BM in '98. Still a storming show opener. Then it was straight down to recent times with Pressure On, Haircuts and Believe in Yourself, with the crowd getting behind the lyrics of Haircuts and pointing at RT during 'You're so f**king cool', with which RT pointed to us all on the front row, smiling away. Roger particularly enjoyed the green pair of skimpy knickers thrown at him by Lisa of Newcastle during I Want To Break Free ("This ones for John Deacon" - RT), which he duly picked up and threw at Jason Falloon ("rhymes with Balloon" - RT), laughing. Treana joined RT for London Town and Surrender and then they were off. RT managed to shed those shades for the 1st encore, which consisted of I'm In Love With My Car and Strange Frontier, which Cathy and probably most of the females, screamed uncontrollably.

For the 2nd encore, RT announced that he "found someone wandering outside" and duly announced... "Mr Brian May!!!!!", who entered (wearing another very loud shirt) the stage to a receptively large applause. A quick friendly gesture with RT and then straight down to business, with Under Pressure (Treana once again with immense vocals). Then it was onto Rock And Roll (in place of Happiness), with BM taking his 'normal role' of lead guitarist and letting RT have all the limelight. Finally the superb set ended with Radio Ga Ga, finishing another great performance (fuelled by the appearance of BM). Good to witness RT + BM back on stage together again. The sound was awesome, although a little distorted sometimes at its' loudest. My ears are still ringing the day after!!!!!!!!!!!!” - Dr. Andy Green

(x)

Thoughts/notes on Church/Knights:

Would be interesting if post-TS, it was stated that at first they genuinely thought they had a fighting chance because the Church and the Knights are pretty numerous and had connections to various noble houses, but that fell apart because a significant amount of the organization sold out at the slightest pressure and/or ran off with most of Church funds at some point in the war. The noble houses they thought were loyal eventually settled on turning a blind eye to them as the war went on and situation got tougher everywhere, and ultimately the forces who regathered at Garreg Mach are a small fraction of what was there before.

Would get the point across that 1. regardless of how good the founding intentions were, the Church and Knights grew a severe bloat and corruption problem over the centuries and this ultimately fucked everyone over including themselves, 2. that being said the ones who gathered again are actually committed to the original goals of the Church, and that this is a good opportunity to start over and do things differently

For SS, the significant disadvantage be a good way to highlight Byleth's military/strategic prowess and leadership even further. For VW, it would give a good reason for Church needing to team up with the Alliance (needs funds) as much as the other way around (needs legitimacy and advertisement)— and even fuel tensions between Claude/Roundtable and the Church, regarding the fact that the Alliance nobles had also turned a blind eye up until it was advantageous to them.

Somewhat related, I think it would have gone a long way if it was stated that Faerghus supporting the Church wasn't just a vibes-based "we owe them," but something actually written in an official treaty. Like the treaty that ended the Gryffin War stating that the Church and Kingdom must uphold and defend one another, probably without Empire being considered a part of the equation, which would have pissed Adrestia off multiple ways. ("We fought alongside you to defeat Nemesis, how could you" + "Well we don't recognize the Kingdom")

And from that, the Empire's political calculations/logic on declaring war against the Church then invading the Kingdom becomes more solid, too. Church isn't legitimate = the treaties involving them aren't legitimate = Kingdom sovereignty isn't legitimate = this isn't an invasion, we're just asserting control over territory that's rightfully ours against two illegitimate institutions.

I assume something along those lines was what was intended by the devs, but the fact the canon never clarifies exactly how formal all these relationships/agreements are makes every faction involved and their actions/justifications for their actions look stupider/flimsier imo.

hello stranger! I will ask you some questions! 6, 9, 26, 32!

thank you for the numbers stranger I owe you my life

6. Which route is your favorite?

I’m very biased towards Verdant Wind, largely because it’s my first route, but also because Claude is there + the way it explores and uncovers the game’s lore + it has the best final battle IMO. I really really like Azure Moon’s story though so it’s a close second.

9. What is your favorite scene in the game (can be in the main story or a support convo)?

Okay because this question is sort of open-ended I’m gonna do main story AND support convo.

As for animated cutscenes, I have two favorites. One would have to be the VW final fight, I won’t describe what I like about it in great detail because there’s a certain someone I know who will probably be reading this and still needs to finish VW cough cough, but it’s just a really cool sequence and I just think Claude really gets to shine in it. Two would have to be the Blue Lions’ Flame Emperor reveal because. Yeah. Uh. Wow. That was really something. The laugh? The shot of the spear flying by Edelgard? The way it really showed Dimitri’s monstrous strength for the first time? Very good. I had been looking forward to seeing how Dimitri cracks in that route and it did not disappoint when I finally got there.

As for supports, I’m not sure if I can pick just one, but a moment that really stayed with me was a Sylvain line from his B Support with Annette:

“There's just one thing I want you to remember. Guys like me who hate hard work and sorta get by on our wits? It all falls apart eventually. I'm smart enough to know that. So I respect people like you. I mean it.”

It’s a line that really personally resonated with me, and that was probably around the time I realized how much I liked Sylvain as a character.

Some of my other favorite support chains include Bernadetta/Sylvain and Bernadetta/Yuri, but it’s been so long since I’ve seen some of these supports that I’m sure I’m forgetting a few.

(Okay, I’m gonna try to reel myself in with all the text from this point on, because if I don’t I’ll never finish answering this ask lmao)

26. Who is your overall favorite character?

I love both Bernadetta and Sylvain very much but if I had to choose my overall favorite (looks nervously at merchandise on wall/shelf/etc.), I would have to go with Bernie. She was actually the first student character besides the house leaders that I knew about before the game came out and I knew I would have to recruit her.

I’m not sure how well I can put it into words unless I write a whole essay about it (that might be its own post one day), but I see a lot of both my gf and myself in her, and there are a lot of things about her character that are just really charming.

She caught me a little off guard early in the game because she had a lot more going on than I expected, but just like Sylvain, I think there was one moment when Bernadetta really captured my heart, that being when she showed up at the graveyard in Chapter 10. Not only was she (iirc) the only person to explicitly leave flowers for Jeralt, but she left her room and went all the way across campus during exploration hours for the first time to do it. She has several moments like this, where she goes above and beyond on her own volition despite her anxiety. I dunno, I just think she’s neat.

32. What is your favorite post-timeskip character design or outfit?

I love so many of the post-timeskip character designs, but there are two characters in particular that really blew me away when I saw them for the first time after the timeskip.

First of all is Bernadetta, they just made her soooo pretty for no good reason. I love her hair, her bow, her earrings, her pauldrons, her outfit, her color scheme, and how they kept her silly little bicycle shorts. Rip to the hoodie, but she has this sort of yellow cloak-like piece with the clasp that sort of gives off the same vibe.

Second is Lorenz, they took away his haha funny academy haircut and made him downright majestic. I also love how the rose is incorporated into his armor.

Anyways THAT’S IT! I’M DONE

I Beat Verdant Wind New Game Maddening but Claude was Level 1 Until Part 2

I play a lot of maddening but I like collecting skill levels and what not so I've primarily been playing on one continuous file that's like 900+ hours long, so I finally decided to do maddening ng and collect the golden title screen but just doing ng seemed boring so additionally I decided to never use Claude during part 1 aka a Lord-less White Clouds run. I did have dlc because i hadn't seem the Abyss VW dialogue yet. I started this back in like 2022 and then put off finishing it because of the part 2 doldrums so it took me until june 2023 to finish this run.

So all the way until Hunting by Daybreak Claude was level 1, from the first chapter all the way until then Claude never faced an enemy or gained exp, and then during that map he gained like 20 levels and i forgot to screenshot it. The screenshot above is Claude at level 45 right before the final map, I threw all the stat items (minus mag) onto him before the final fight, and he got pretty close to some of his stat caps, 2 off max str and he could have gotten max hp but my last item was a +5 so instead of wasting 4hp hilda got that item instead.

I haven't done a more optimized run in quite a while (usually i'm running joke builds like brawl Marianne) so this was quite fun. Let me know if you want to know the builds or have any questions. I might edit this and ramble some more later.

edit1: NG Maddening wasn't that bad for me. I usually play on NG+ but that's just for collecting skill levels I never use the gameplay benefits of NG+ anyways so minus some grinding NG was the same difficulty that I usually play at. The biggest difference this round was resisting the urge to make another wacky terrible build and instead do things more optimally for once. Which is partly why I challenged myself to not use Claude in part 1. Early game was very hard as the game is designed for the player to rely on Byleth and the lord as power units. In early game most of the Golden Deer were just starting their builds and not very useful, and not only was I down a lord unit but I had 1 less deployment slot to work with. Part 2 was pretty easy as all the characters settled into their builds in advanced and master classes and I got a stronger Claude back so to keep things interesting I didn't actually use any of the stat boosting items until the final battle. I played with the idea of 1-turning the final boss but couldn't get the movement to work out, so I 4-turned the final map. I am S support grinding so maybe I can still shave time and turns off the final map. S support grinding was another reason I used this strategy in this run. So I did this all for 3 reason: maddening is boring otherwise, faster final map for S support grind, and lastly I did it for Claude.

edit2: Builds

Claude: bows tutoring focus, wyvern master. I mostly used Claude as a player phase unit but he had an enemy phase alt build that I used on the last map. I also picked up +1 movement for some more versatility. Also crit KING, I'd put a killer bow+ on him and have like 90 crit. Because of the White Clouds challenge Claude didn't start his build until part 2 where I picked up death blow. Was considering wyvern lord but wasn't worth it.

Byleth and Hilda: darting blow + death blow wyvern lords. Hilda also picked up alert stance+ and is one of 2 enemy phase dodgetanks. These were my 2 axe users this run, by the end they would sometimes 4x hit with a brave axe.

Seteth, Ferdinand, Sylvain: swiftstrikes wyvern lords (yes I had like 6 wyverns). Ferdinand was the other dodgetank besides Hilda and I gave him the Spear of Assal/Ochian shield to augment his personal. Seteth and Sylvain eventually picked up alert stance as well but I only used that on a couple maps. Ferdinand spent early game as an axe user because axes have higher might. Sylvain gets his relic easy so spent most of the game as a mixed lance/axe user. It's only once they got to rank A lances that I changed their builds to be lance focused. The builds of these 3 were pretty fluid depending on what I needed for the map like if there were a lot of sword enemies I'd use a swordbreaker lance build, if I needed enemy phase units they could all reasonably dodgetank, if there were a lot of lance enemies I'd use a lancebreaker axe build.

Leonie: bow crit machine. Leonie was very good. I swapped between sniper and bow knight depending on how much range/hit and run I wanted. I tend to use a lot of decentralized (no dancer or healer) hit and run guerilla tactics in my maddening runs. In some maps sniper was better like the final map.

Yuri went a similar route to Ignatz. He was my pick for this run's sword user and a dancer candidate. And like Ignatz I eventually gave up on swords because sniper is too good.

sooo yeah without my usual joke builds I ended up with a team of wyverns and snipers -_- maddening has such great balance huh /s. Above was my main team and then I'd usually have a few of the following characters to fill in the remaining deployment slots or replace someone if they needed exp.

Felix: brawling war master. What's more to say, high atk high speed high damage high survivability, crits like half the time. death blow + fistfaire + brawl crit

Ignatz picked up poisonstrike and spent a while in assassin. I considered keeping him assassin but sniper was just too good. He also made a good bow knight sapper/saboteur between poisonstrike, break arrow, or he'd just crit and kill them anyways.

Marianne: magic sword with high avoid, duelist blow, fiendish blow, sword avo. Marianne was the dancer and sword user of this run. She went down mage/bishop and her final class was mortal savant but she spend a lot of time in gremory for growths and trickster for duelist's blow. This is the most useful I've ever seen Marianne. I don't really use healers/mages, most mages can't double in maddening so don't have the raw damage, don't have the move to keep up with my guerilla tactics, and are too squishy. I didn't use Marrianne as dancer very often because I don't use dancers much, why field a dancer when I can have another wyvern, and I didn't want to tank her mag too much. I hadn't used Marianne in a long time and she wasn't MVP like Ferdinand or Hilda or Claude but she could hold her own on the front line and this is the most damage I've ever seen out of her. She was my only sword user by the end so Marianne got to have all the nice swords I'd collected all to herself.

Lorenz: frozen lance. I'd never done a frozen lance build so I decided to try it. Lorenz ended up good in the midgame but his early and late game were meh. He went up the mage line for mag+2 and fiendish blow. Early game suffered because he was a mage with a stick. Once he got into paladin and lancefaire Lorenz was doing very good, high enough damage to OHKO most enemies and canto made for a useful Lorenz. But staying in paladin made his mag growth inconsistent so his damage started to lag in late game, so he spend increasing time in dark knight which traded the power of lancefaire for the versatility of magic. With Thrysus Lorenz is probably the tankiest mage in the game.

Lysithea, Hapi, Constance: the mages. The standard mage build: monk, mage, bishop, gremory. Had them also take a detour to valkyrie for uncanny blow to fix their accuracy issues. mag+2 + fiendish blow + faire + range+1. Hapi didn't spend a lot of time attacking, she was probably the most healer-like unit of the game. Lysithea and Hapi also got dark knight for the faire.

Raphael and Balthus: brawl/axe war masters. I didn't use them quite as much since they get doubled on enemy phase sometimes. I had them using both weapon types for a lot of the game since sometimes a single strong axe hit was better for the situation. I mostly compensated for accuracy with batallions/rings instead of bothering to go archer.

Flayn, Anna, and Hanneman were there too. Flayn was healer when the other mages got over-leveled. I was building up Anna as a sniper but I always had too many units. Alois was built like Raph but kind of got dropped because I had more than enough better units.

edit3: don't know when I'll start another playthrough but I was considering a maddening AM no healing (no hp goes up ever) and no Byleth run, or maybe I'll get my final S supports on SS.

When Claude autoclasses into Wyvern Master he gets a massive stat boost so even if his numeric level is low his stats are on par with a much higher level character (this is also why he is more spd but less dex than a normal Claude since his unique classes have more speed growth while the archer line has more dex growth). My Byleth was on a wyvern so they could have soloed the map I had Byleth frontline, dodgetank, and soften enemies for Claude to finish. Because he's so low level Claude leveled up with every kill and got like half a level just for attacking so he gained levels fast on that map. Between Ashes and Dust and cleaning up after Byleth's leftovers I was quickly able to get Claude to like level 10 or something at which point he was one rounding enemies with Failnaught. I leveled bows flying and riding on him so with alert stance his survivability on that map was also very high. Lastly I invested in all the Golden Deer so they could all take care of themselves and didn't need to be saved.

All promotions are reclasses, Three Houses is very sandbox like you can put any character into just about any class. In maddening there's a sharp exp curve but the enemies are also higher leveled and I had dlc auxiliary battles which had higher level enemies. That said I took a break in the middle of this palythrough so I don't actually remember what level everyone was at the start of part 2. I might be remembering wrong and maybe Byleth was a wyvern rider.

This twisting, rambling path

The Analyzer’s a gold mine of bad takes. Let’s keep at it :D

You DO tend to fixate on strange ideas and long-debunked notions.

No. In fact, she speaks in both versions of destroying the very system of the weak being forced down.

According to the original version of the scene, the ones she’s disregarding as “babied” are those who choose to be weak. To put it another way, the kind of person Edelgard’s discussing as spoiled are those who ignore opportunities and choose to wallow. And even then, she doesn’t discuss outright abandoning people like that, and indeed her support with Linhardt especially demonstrates Edelgard is dogged in pursuit of helping a person to unleash their potential.

Tough love is necessary for types like the person she’s discussing. But when you’re the Analyzer and you chronically misunderstand Hubert and Shez’s C support...

Now the really funny thing is it’s not even Hubert who discussed the dichotomy, it was Shez. 

Shez: So coddling the elites means the commoners end up oppressed, while hoisting commoners up only agitates the elites. Glad I’m not the one who has to rule the Empire. This whole thing sounds like a total mess.

Hubert: Heh. A mess, indeed. 

The only thing Hubert did was agree that running the Empire is a messy business. I guess the Analyzer altered this support in his head because it’s easier to imagine it means what he thinks it means if it’s Hubert - the one who actually knows what’s happening - who discussed the issue, rather than Shez guessing at it.

Heh, nope. In fact Dimitri even suggests Claude shouldn’t be so aggressive with reforms for fear that it might endanger his own life.

Also, in Scarlet Blaze, Edelgard only assisted Lonato and Rowe. While Rowe was part of Cornelia’s insurrection against Dimitri in Azure Gleam, he was NOT part of the huddle of Lords who discussed their part in the Tragedy of Discur; that was Mateus, Elidure, Gideon, and Dominic. And you kill Dominic in Scarlet Blaze, and Mateus is one of the lords you can slay if you choose not to recruit Byleth.

Remember what I said about Edelgard Critical trying to de-legitimize Dorothea’s right to hold an anti-noble opinion? The Analyzer is NASTY about her, as we’ll eventually get to. His issues with her are a lot more base than just “she’s supporting the tyrant! >:(”

Uhm, yes. Fodlan’s nobility has become rotten.

And?

I guess he’s trying to insist it’ll be the same with Edelgard’s reforms, but the main difference is nobility centralized power and opportunities unto themselves in order to produce the next generation of Fodlan’s best and brightest, but that very centralization allowed the nobility to become complacent and corrupt.

The major difference with Edelgard’s reforms is the right to become the best is not assumed by the nature of one’s birth. Cutting generational inheritance is a major first step to curtailing that corruption.

I really wish he used quotes so I have some clue where he got the “crushing those who don’t agree with her line”, but I do know it’s partially spawned off his bastardized read of

Which he was using to try to paint Edelgard as some kind of religious extremist.

And yes, rulers sometimes must use violence to maintain their rule, what of it?

And this is good, VW, not-animal (his comparison, not mine, we’ll get to that eventually, it’s a doozy) Claude using violence to help maintain Byleth’s reign!

I’m kinda surprised he didn’t go to Hubert’s paired ending with Dorothea, that’s the one they usually screech about.

Anyways!

Uhh. Yes. How dare Hubert try to help maintain order in the Empire?

I notice that rebellions are always fine when they’re against Edelgard (such as this ending) but they’re bad when they’re against Dimitri, Rhea, or not-animal (again, his comparison, not mine) Claude.

Really makes you think.

So, in summation, the Analyzer’s analysis is built stop a foundation of sand.

The longer I spend in trigun fandom the more sure I am that it makes me happier than p5 fandom. Like I vaguely thought about making a discord for fans of my p5 fic but did away with the thought bc I did NOT want to deal with all the bullshit of interacting with the fandom so directly

But I've had a trigun server for 2 months now and I like it a lot actually. It's so nice! I love my server a lot!

And genuinely, trigun fandom is not without its faults. I get skeeved out so much by That entire part of the fandom, but I've generally made it manageable by blocking anyone who makes me see that shit in the tags :p. Within my pairing of choice, it's almost peaceful! Still not without fault, but most of the worst shit I generally see is bad mischaracterization. It's nothing like the worst shit I've seen with akeshu fandom.

So like. Vashwood vs akeshu. I love both pairings very much. But holy fucking SHIT vashwood fandom is so much more tolerable than akeshu fandom. Oh my Fucking god. Yeah there's some very good reason aside from general hyperfocus stuff as to why I've been playing around with trigun so much more than p5 lol

Since Hopes couldn't be assed to give Khalid a last name (referring to Claude like that because of, well, the lack-of-a-last-name issue I have lol), or give his father a name at all, do you have any headcanons as to what Khalid's full name/his father's name is?

I wouldn't say I have anything concrete, but I can list off some names I've considered with their basic name meaning (obviously the name meaning can vary a bit depending on the source so I tried to use more than one for some). :o

For Claude:

Rahal (person who embarks on a journey)

Hussain (handsome/beautiful)

Irfan (knowledgeable person, constant learner and/or awareness)

Rashid (truth, person who points others to the truth or in the right direction)

Rahim (forgiving/merciful)

Harith (bc it means lion and I'm gonna ship at unstoppable levels)

For Claude's dad:

Malik (king)

Qadir (almighty, powerful)

Nasser (victory)

Jalal (is similar to Qadir. can mean mighty, glory, power, superiority )

I actually had the idea of Rahim because of Claude's conversations with Rhea near the end of VW. I felt like he was very forgiving, understanding and sympathetic to her, but also merciful in that he used to think she wasn't fit to lead and once considered what the world would look like if she had died. When he heard her story, I think he would have understood her fears and realized they weren't that different - that she hid her identity and lied just to stay alive. She and her kin were seen as monsters for not being human, and I think he would understand that. The mercy from him would be hearing her story without judgement and not treating her as a monster despite knowing the truth. I think at that moment she expected to be judged and looked at with disgust, but he would understand what she went through. In a way, he is the mercy by being the person she had to tell her story to, because most other people might not have understood or looked at her as just another person after that.

Really, I think Rashid is my favorite because it aligns so perfectly with his character and goals. He's a truth seeker and wants to show that truth to others, leading them in the right direction and trying to help others from being left out. He wants everyone to be together like it's nothing special, in his own words, and the only way to do that is to show everyone the truth - that Fodlan's people are not cowards and that Almyra's people are not just horrible brutes. He aims to lead them down the right path and to stop the pointless hatred and warring.

For his father, I picked out Malik because it's a simple one with a very obvious meaning and I'm slightly bias because it reminds me of Tales of Graces because it has a Malik.

I've always considered that his name would mean something strong sounding considering what we know about him and what we know about Claude and Shahid. I think of all of them, Qadir is probably my favorite for him. I think in a way "almighty" would fit him because he's not just the king of Almyra, but he used to be able to get into Fodlan multiple times and get back out alive. To be able to go get into enemy lands as a kid, because like, you know how little kids can be, thinking it's so cool to do something the adults won't even do, I think would eventually seen by others as something to respect since he didn't just go to Fodlan and get killed. He repeatedly got back home and for a kid, that's pretty impressive.

Since I've never had reason to actually use these names like in fics or anything, I haven't really settled on anything for certain. Maybe someday I'll use them though!

I know this is kinda becoming Byleth Criticism Hour but omg like it's honestly so frustrating to see how hard characters fall for them - especially the lords and especially especially Gardy Wardy, with Dimitri being pretty damn strong as a character on his own and Gardykins being absolutely ruined by Byleth. Claude is about the only one that it "works" with but that's because there's barely any player pandering at all with him in the first place!

Byleth doesn't do anything for them!! Not on a personal level anyway! All they do is just let them arbitrarily go on about their lives without ANY prompting from Byleth 90% of the time, it almost always feels so forced whenever a character goes on about how much Byleth means to them personally. Sorry for ranting but it's always bugged me 😭

yeah it's one of the things about them that annoys me the most honestly. every single character immediately clocks byleth as their closest confidant and looks up to them even though byleth isn't doing anything to deserve that kind of treatment - as a merc maybe, but not a moral compass or the all-knowing being that the game presents them as. characters get unreasonably attached really quickly considering byleth is supposed to be about as emotionally unavailable as it gets. they just show up, and suddenly everyone's monologuing their deepest fears and brightest hopes at them. honestly, if you ask me, most of the time byleth barely has a hand in their character arcs, it just seems that way sometimes because everyone's monologuing themselves through their own arcs whenever they're in a support with byleth. i think one of the worst aspects of this, and this is also a result of the recruitment system, is that grown-ass characters that have entire careers can be 'taught' by byleth and act as if they're the pinnacle of knowledge. so much dissonance there.

and yeah lmao the lord characters definitely suffer from their uhhm forced attachment to byleth. edel is obviously the worst example of this, because she attaches herself like a shackle and a lot of her narrative and character is centered around byleth to the point that it hurts her individuality/strength as a character at times. hell, her 'feelings' for byleth crop up in routes where she isn't even taught by them. honestly though, while dimitri may be a very strong character on his own as you say, his immediate attachment is very much present and there are parts of the story that i dislike for the way byleth is pushed forward in the narrative. i will never truly enjoy his pivotal rain scene because byleth is really pushed as Thee most important person in his character arc that shows him how to heal. like, what for? why does the teacher you have a narratively forced attachment to interacted with for a year have this role. like what could they possibly mean to you that your, idk, life-long friends don't. and i know they couldn't have it be another character bc classic mode exists, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still annoy the fuck out of me lmao

as for there being no player pandering in vw, idk, i think there's player pandering in every route, tho it's stronger in some spots of the story and with some characters than others. what helps claude i think is that he is suspicious of byleth at first, rather than admiring - that actually fits pretty well. i mean, makes no sense that a merc with no knowledge of the church and a really weird disposition is suddenly rhea's favoured prof at garreg mach, right? his fascination comes from a different angle. i mean, it does eventually morph into the admiration/attachment without any real prompting in the end (read also: leaving it to byleth to rule fódlan for some reason) though i feel that it's never overbearing as it can be with some other characters. overall claude's initial distrust feels a lot more natural than most other characters' responses and that in turn has an effect on byleth's role in vw as a whole.

Thinking about planes again :'3

Lots of derailed and detailed thoughts about planes below. :'))

I have so many ideas for upgrades for the Ultra Pup to make it one epic little STOL plane. I'm thinking, slapping on that Super Beetle motor (or maybe 100hp Rotax or equivalent- this thing's statistically already a rocket with just it's 65HP) onto a beefed up engine mount (the guy who built this bird installed the wrong engine mount. Shape wise it's designed to withstand the kick of just the halved VW 2 cylinder VW motor, but this bird has the full sized one, which luckily has had it's power reduced so it shouldn't harm it's current mount too much. But if it had just a little bit more power to it I'd want to make a mount that's better capable of handling the big torque these car engines make at start up.

Oh and I'm thinking of putting in a composite electrically controlled variable pitch (constant speed too i think?) prop. ... in the future tho. Gonna start with a simple wood prop since they're lots cheaper & help absorb the high vibration produced by the VW engine. But a constant speed one I think would help reduce some stress on the engine, which for a 60+ year old car engine being made to run at stupid high RPMs for hours and hours (Yah cars do go fast and can hit those high RPMs without issue- but unless they're a NASCAR running around the tracks nonstop, cars typically don't run at those RPMs for long.) And car engines converted to plane engines typically have a much much higher RPM than a standard plane engine. But a good plane engine is out of touch for the foreseeable future as unless you can find a damn good deal from an old retired or dead pilot or mechanic (they do exist, Barnstormers had a sweet deal for 2 project Cubs & 4 Lycomings the other week- if I had the space, ability & $$ I'd have jumped on it 😤) but normally a working low time engine is incredibly expensive. Those days will come tho, when I finish my Powerplant license, save some cash for side project, then I can overhaul them myself. 😌

Oh yah, back to the Ultra Pup. Back when I 1st started this restoration, I wanted to make it old school analog. But I now understand how unreliable instrument vaccum pumps can be. But I'll 1st start off with some analog stuff powered by a the venturi (yup, going old-school with 1920s aviation technology 😌💕) since I've got most of the parts to do it. But eventually I'll rig it up with a proper electrical system and the little bird will get some modern solid state goodies + some LED navigation lights so I can fly at night. I mean, even tho it was designed to be an ultralight, mine was built with long range tanks and is capable of flying cross country. From what I hear from other pilots in my area (my Pup's kinda famous for some reason among the EAA guys here. They haven't given me many details yet but they all know my bird??😅) the last owner used to fly this bird all over the US. Dude made lots of trips from North Carolina to Florida and even to Wisconsin with this flying Volkswagen. It gives me a little more assurance (in I can rebuild this plane- seeing the previous builder's quality 😅)that this can actually be a cheap/affordable yet reliable little airplane. I really hope I can get it airworthy and not only build flight time & experience with it, but maybe in the future I'll get my CFI rating and continue the Ultra Pup's legacy in teaching people how to fly a taildragger. But the former will probably only happen after I can get on my feet in the industry, the FAA recently made it so CFIs can't make any money instructing in an Experimental. But hey, aviation is supposed to be fun anyways, experimentals and ultralights especially, when I can get on my feet, I probably would be a okay doing it just for fun. :3

Bleh just wanna get done with school already and get to working on planes for real. I have things I wanna do but they all require money and this aviator is broke broke cause plane fixing school eats all my time rn. :'))

Is Shez really needed for the Cycle of Fodlan's world? (And is this Cycle a good thing?)

At the start of 3 hope's prologue, Arval states that they saved Shez because they were a crucial part of the World's Cycle. The very first words they hear from this supposed deity is in fact 'The Cycle of this world, I will not allow it to end with you.'.

Playing the demo, you can see that Shez surviving their first run in with Byleth created a sort of butterfly effect. One that seems to be creating a more positive outcome for everyone.

And these changes start as early as the first school mission, where instead of just picking off the rest of the bandits, the house Shez is in found and rescued the actual Monica, which also caused Solon to drop his disguise as Tomas.

With Monica saved and Solon revealing his true form, Edelgard decides that now is the best moment to finally break free of TWS's control. With the Church's help, she drives Lord Arundell from the imperial capitol and crowns herself emperor. Despite this, Edelgard still wants to take over the rest of Fodlan and destroy the Church of Seiros. Not because she was ordered to, but because it's still what she feels is right, to ultimately save the continent.

This also leads to a shift in Dimitri's story. There's no Flame Emperor for him to blame for the tragedy. And due to Rufus starting a war against Felix's house, Dimitri comes to find out that his uncle was partially responsible for the death of the old king, along with some other nobles. With Rufus' crime revealed and then being executed, Cornelia can't use his death as a way to frame Dimitri like in 3 houses, so Dimitri never goes on the run, loses an eye or well, becomes the Dimitri we meet at the beginning of Azure moon.

There's also some smaller things that change: Lonato is alive Flayn was never kidnapped, and without Flayn's blood Solon couldn't try to experiment on Remire. And the most important one, by not being in the monastery and Monica being alive, Jeralt hasn't died yet.

It's interesting how Shez managed to indirectly change Fodlan's history by simply surviving. By wanting to get revenge on Byleth, Shez wound up at Garreg Mach, and that one action caused a chain reaction which has yet to stop.

Could this be the Cycle that Arval was talking about? Perhaps

Is that a good thing? ...Probably not.

Now I'm one of the people who don't want Arval to turn out to be evil, or at least if they do it only happens in a single route. (I'll say GW seeing as VW focuses a lot of the Agarthans, and in the demo we see that GW gets an extra convo between Arval and Shez so... it's possible.)

However, you gotta consider the meaning of the word 'Cycle'. It's a set of events that repeat over and over. And you also gotta consider that Arval implies that without Shez, Fodlan's Cycle breaks. And what happens in the broken Cycles?

While the endings are mostly different, there's some similarities. The Agarthans are eventually defeated, and Rhea either steps down from being Archbishop or dies. Thus the two forces who have been controlling Fodlan are gone and the people are finally free.

So if that's the result of a broken Cycle... what happens in an unbroken Cycle? Would they reach a similar conclusion or something much, much worse?