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megatraven · 10 months

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Astoria Kiddos and Parents

hi im meg and i like astoria sooo much but im soooooo normal about it!!!! anyways todat ill be looking at all the astoria kids and how they look like (or don't look like) their parents :] and maybe some extra stuff

⚠️⚠️LONG POST AHEAD⚠️⚠️

The Cyprins

(This is the only pair i can use a last name for. tragic. but so so so good. ill explode. <stuff a normal person says about their normal interests)

(pictured: Alex, MC, and Jason)

Jason takes after both of his parents, though Alex more than MC. His hair is short and swooped, like Alex's, and he has Alex's eyes (both shape and color). His hair is darker than MC's, but lighter than Alex's. He's got MC's face shape, but takes after Alex in skintone.

In terms of Aura, his sheepdog doesn't really take after the deer or the peacock that his parents have.

He inherited a love of music from his parents, particularly Alex.

The Hydras

(that's as good as the category naming will get for this post :) but i enjoy it nonetheless)

(pictured: MC, Misty, and Hydra)

Misty inherited Hydra's dark black hair, though her hair is long like MC's currently is! Her skintone is closer to MC's than Hydra's, and she has MC's eyes.

Like Hydra's serpent aura, Misty also has a reptilian friend... a lot, actually! Though her aura snakes are still small, they'll be growing with her, as her power does. She takes after her dad in this respect.

And, like her dad, she has a big love for ramen :)

The Medusas

(pictured: Medusa, Saffi, Celeste, MC)

Saffi and Celeste are a good blend of their parents; they both have brown hair with red streaks, though the brown is notably darker than MC's. Their skintones match MC's more than Medusa's, and in addition to that, they have MC's eyes.

Celeste's aura is a lion cub, and Saffi's is a seahorse, neither of which relate to their mothers' auras.

Saffi is more introverted, like Medusa, while Celeste is more of an extrovert, like MC.

The Astraeuseseses

(pictured: Astraeus, Juno, and MC, and Juno)

It's a little hard to tell what color eyes she's got, but they definitely look more brown- like MC's- than purple like Astraeus'. Her hair takes after Astraeus, dark black.

We don't know too much about her since she's so young, but she has started developing an aura at this age (Extremely Early!!!!!!) and helped take down Hercules, so it's safe to say that she'll grow up to be a badass like her mom. And her dad. But mostly her mom. (I think Astraeus would agree.)

The Hades...es

(i did not think this method of category-naming through!)

(pictured: Hades, Osiris, and MC. And than Hades and Osiris again)

Osiris looks a lot like his dad! His hair has pink streaks in it, just like Hades'. I can only assume that Hades must have naturally black hair and he dyes it lavender, on account of Osiris having black hair where neither of his parents do. (<This is a joke. Just like genetics are.) He also has Hades' skintone. His eyes don't match either parent, but they would definitely be closer to MC's brown than Hades' purple. His eyebrows are thin like MC's :)

This little cutie's aura is an owl, which is much closer to matching MC's peacock aura, than it is to matching Hades' reaper.

And for the sake of accuracy...

(pictured: Nemean, Orthrus, and Cerberus)

None of Hades' boys look like him, save for Cerberus in terms of skintone. His hair actually does look a lot like Osiris', though, now that I think about it... Anyways, they don't look like Hades because they're his adopted sons, but they're his sons nonetheless and I will include them :] And because MC married him, they are also now her... sons-in-law... even though they're all older than her :D

The Cerberuses

(i'm done with the names that end with 's'!!! woo!)

(pictured: Cerberus, MC, Davy, Hyacinth, Griffon, Ceres)

[claps hands together] these two need to stop having kids!!!! damn!!!

Davy's hair is the lightest of the bunch, and his eyes are more golden than anyone else's... except Cerberus! Who also has gold eyes typically, just not in these two CGs for some reason. Curious :0

(pictured: Cerberus, for proof of golden eyes!)

Davy's skintone is closest to Cerberus, Hyacinth's pretty in the middle of his parents, and Griffon and Ceres both match their mother. All of them (minus Davy) have dark brown hair, just like both Cerberus and MC. Hyacinth, Griffon, and Ceres all have brown eyes, like their mother.

The boys each have a bear for their aura- definitely closer to Cerberus' dogs than to MC's peacock. Not just in being cute, fuzzy mammals, but also in that together, they're three bears. Like Cerberus' three dogs :) Just as well, Ceres' arctic fox aura is closer to Cerberus' dogs, too.

The Chimeras

(last one!!! other names to call them: the royals. the future in-laws to the valentine gang. the last ones.)

(pictured: MC, Robin, Gawain, CJ, and Chimera)

Good to know that ten years down the line, Chimera is still lowkey obsessed with hotdogs. Anyways.

CJ and Robin have Chimera's bright green eyes, while Gawain has MC's brown ones! They're all blond, like Chimera, though Robin's is a little darker than the rest. CJ, ironically since she's Chimera Jr, has Chimera's skintone. She's basically what Chimera would look like if he was about 60 years younger and grew his hair how. Gawain takes after his mother here again. Robin is closer to Chimera's skintone than MC's.

(pictured: Robin, older)

I also just wanted to share an older picture of Robin, the only one of the kiddos we get to see grown up, as they're a character in another Lovestruck series, Villainous Nights.

Back to the topic at hand, CJ's aura is a chimera, just like Chimera's, though it's turquoise in color. A nice mix of gold and green- a nice mix of MC's and Chimera's :) Gawain has a Bird of Paradise, which is closer to MC's than Chimera's. And Robin's is a Hyena (like the one on their shirt when they're older), which is... closer to... the lion part of Chimera's aura :)

Thank you all for coming to my TED Talk today

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fish-on-the-farm · 5 years

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Did one for Black Eagles

Blue Lions here

#fire emblem three houses #fe3h #black eagles #maybe ill end up doing golden deer too anyway #bernadetta stolen mem #edelgard von hraesvelgr #hubert von bestla #dorothea arnold #ferdinand von aegir #bernadetta von varley #linhardt von hevring #casper von bergliez #petra mcnairy

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existential-fox · 3 years

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Fire Emblem: Three Houses Thoughts

As someone who has always enjoyed JPRGs (thanks FFX) I kind of went into FETH knowing I would probably enjoy it. It’s character driven! It has different classes for each character! You can romance a character of your choice! There are goddesses, ultimate weapons, dragons, and a magic system! How could I not like this game?

The thing about FETH is it didn’t really throw any twists or turns that I couldn’t have predicted my way but the conclusions were still satisfying. The story was good but not in a ‘woah, change my life’ way. It did its job but its not FFVII or Tales of Bersera good in my eyes. No. It’s the characters and their individual stories that kept me playing.

I played Verdant Wind btw so there will probably be some spoilers for this route in my notes below.

You can’t really speak about Verdant Wind without first mentioning Claude. He’s the House’s Lord and the person you chose to align with at the start of the game. I chose The Golden Deer because of Claude. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I spoke to all the students, liked the look of some of them, felt meh about others, but when it came down to the choice I had to go with my gut feeling- this guy feels down to earth compared to the other two. I feel like he would be a laugh to hang out with. Plus he’s pretty.

I wasn’t wrong. Claude speaks to others as if they are his equal... because they are to him, and part of that also means that he isn’t afraid to make fun of his classmates or even his rival houses. Claude is top bants, and of course he remains pretty up to the point of the time skip- where he looks straight up handsome. Golden Boy indeed.

But my favorite thing about Claude- and the rest of the characters really- is that what you first see isn’t what is really going on. Claude might speak causally with people but he is extremely mistrustful of people at the beginning of the game. He keeps all his cards close to his chest under the pretence of being a ‘schemer’ but while he does have a sharp mind the real reason for this is he doesn’t trust others to take him and his goals seriously. He’s been treated as an outsider his whole life. Been discriminated against. Moved from pillar to post at the will of the nobles and seen discrimination happening from the other side as a result of this. Which is why his route is perfect for him. In between Edelgard, Rhea, and Dimitri, Claude is the third party, trying to make the best of a situation and struggling to see both sides. He wants to gather all the information he can because he would hate to have a wrong opinion due to trusting the biased opinions of others. He finds the truth for himself.

But Claude doesn’t stay that way. Yes, his goal from the beginning has been to tear down the wall separating Fodlan from the outside world but.... ironically he had to tear down the wall within himself that was separating him from others as well. Claude at the end of the game is a very different person to the Claude at the beginning. He is open to Lorenz and Hilda’s suggestions, willing to share his plans with Byleth and others, up to the point where he reveals his ultimate goal to the others and they stand by him. Nobles, commoners, Crestbearers and Crestless. Claude truly becomes a leader in that scene. He inspires in a way all leaders should and leads by example.

And it’s not just Claude...it’s all of them: Hilda, Lorenz, Leonie, Lysithea, Ignatz, Rapheal and Marianne all develop over the course of the story (especially if you do their Supports) and their development feeds into both Claude’s and Verdant Wind’s story.

Let me talk about Marianne for a second. I honestly didn’t think much of her to start with- oh here’s another ‘I’m so sorry’ fragile girl- I thought- I’m sure she’ll stay exactly the same, the way they always do.

Nope. Marianne is a mess. She’s a severely depressed, suicidal, living from day to day, barely taking care of herself, mess. I like that the game highlights this as her being utterly unhealthy. It’s not edgy goth girl, or cute shy girl, it’s Marianne being a danger to herself. The game writes her despair as being rooted in her Crest (the cursed Crest of the Beast) but it is ridiculously easy to read this Crest as a metaphor for Mental Illness. She’s told to stay away from others because of it because she might hurt them. Her father suffered from it before her and it was passed down to her. If people knew the nature of her Crest they would shun her as something dangerous and untrustworthy. And lastly, it is achingly clear how much she wants to be freed of it... even if that freedom costs her life. I’m reading it as a mental illness metaphor and I’m sticking with it.

But its her supports that bring her back to life. The people around her speak to her in various ways befitting their character (I like this too) and each one highlights something different that they see in her that is admirable and good. Rapheal admires her affinity with animals. Lorenz admires her quiet nature. Ignatz recognises how easy it is to appreciate the small things when with her. Claude recognises her strength in being different. Etc. etc. None of these things cure her but by being around people and seeing that they don’t reject her but accept her instead her shell begins to crack. Maybe it doesn’t have to be this way, Marianne begins to think. Maybe there are small parts of myself that are not only tolerable but... wanted in others. Maybe I don’t have to apologise for my existence.

It’s hard to say when Marianne truly turns a leaf because much like real life, change doesn’t happen in one moment, but it’s important to recognise that she does change. She still has the Crest at the end of the story (read Mental Illness) but she noticeably is able to speak her mind without apologising, able to offer her help rather than shying away, and most importantly able to laugh. It’s amazing how vocal Marianne is after the time-skip. She’s still Marianne but a healthier person. And I love her for it.

I won’t go over the other characters as I’ve spoken plenty about my two faves but I do love them all. Yes, even Sylvain. Can’t agree with his methods but I do understand and empathise with his reasons. And people are often like that.

Going off characters and into other things:

Gameplay-

I liked it but made the mistake of choosing Normal. It was ridiculously easy by the mid-way point. I would defo play on Hard in future games. However I love the strategy of choosing who fights who, when to draw someone back, when to use Gambits etc. Also love the class system. Pegasus Knights go brrrrrrrr.

Music-

This is a ‘it does its job’ for me. Nothing really stood out asides the final boss theme. But it didn’t annoy me or get bland so there’s that!

Monastery Life-

Pre Timeskip- Was fun. I liked trying to recruit students and finding lost items and doing all the support raising stuff. It was a nice break from battles.

Post Timeskip- Eh. Not enough students around to justify it tbh. It didn’t bore me but I did find myself wanting to go back to battles, story, or supports.

Verdant Wind story- I like this route for its lore and for how it mirrors Claude’s character. I did not like last minute villain even if I liked his theme. I was kind of surprised Sothis never came back?? Killing the students I didn’t recruit was fucking cruel. Have no idea what happened to Dedue. Maybe he went to the Bahamas for a long holiday after losing out to the kill.

I want to play the other routes to understand Edelgard/Dimitri/Rhea’s viewpoints but I do feel like VW is a complete story in itself. You don’t need anything else but Claude really. Why get messed up in politics and Crest shit when you can try to end racism, right? Who the fuck cares about that other stuff.

Anyway in conclusion this game to me succeeds for two things- compelling character development and compelling character relationships. I’m kind of astounded tbh that the writers wrote so many characters and yet made them all compelling in their own ways.

I bought a Golden Deer shirt because I am so invested in these characters so they’ve got to be good.

#fire emblem:three houses #verdant wind #claude von reigen #marianne von edmund #golden deer #video games #fire emblem

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sarenhale · 3 years

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Post-TS Constance is......okay. Colors is what’s bothering. Balthus is unacceptable. Like.......his. HAIR. ugh. Hmm maybe you could do a tier list on appearance before and after TS. Quite curious on your thoughts about the designs.

Maybe I’m biased because I don’t like Constance that much anyway, but yeah, her post timeskip design is just... so washed out. Blues paired with ugly reds and pinks and that horrible greenish blonde hair... and the random blue tints in her hair too? O_o what?? Her design feels just like a complete mess to me.

I get that they wanted to create an eccentric character, but this is just painful to look at in my opinion. Pre timeskip has its charm, I especially like the short hairstyle, but post timeskip... It doesn’t help that she’s super pale so the washed out colors of her outfits and the greenish tone of her blonde hair makes her look ill and so so bad. (If they wanted to go for ‘noble vampire’ aesthetic... they could have gone in a much better direction)

Balthus is just... unacceptable. He looks SO DIRTY and unwashed and overall so ugly T__T And it’s such a shame because he was so handsome before!!

I get that they wanted to go for “the wolfman manly look” but this just doesn’t work imo.

I loved his hair and his long coat opened in front and his pants! Constance and Balthus post timeskip are also dressed HORRIBLY.

Their outfits were SO BAD that I thought I didn’t switch on their personalized outfits and had the generic job ones on instead. BUT NOOO, these are their actual personalized war outfits?? A CRIME

Yuri’s war outfit is not great either, but at least it’s not THAT BAD. And I love his face and hair post timeskip, so I can overlook the generic outfit.

I just don’t understand why, aside from Hapi and Yuri, the other two Ashen Wolves had to get treaten so horribly design wise O_o There are some other characters post timeskip designs I don’t like a lot, but these two probably take the cake for the worst ones, no doubt

Maybe I’m being super harsh but it’s because all the other character designs in this game are so WELL DONE that these two end up making me think that something went wrong there.

I would LOVE to do a character tier list!!! I’m actually waiting to finish all the routes (only Golden Deer missing now) so I have a fair opinion on all characters. Aside from Lisythea and Lorenz, I don’t know ANY character from Golden Deer, so I feel like I wouldn’t be fair in judging them. But I do want to make a tier list with only design in mind... maybe I could do two, one with ‘overall character story, development and design’ and one with design only. There are characters that don’t interested me much story-wise but are gorgeous in design, so that seems only intelligent to do.

I love doing tier list and discussing character design in general so It’s definitely a thing I’m going to do with great pleasure!! Fire emblem is probably one of the sagas of games that have some of my favourite designs ever. The style of the designs is so unique that I can’t help really loving the characters looks!

#answered #fe3h #Anonymous

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cavalierious-whim · 3 years

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Resolve (FE3H)

A/N: CW for mild angst as this takes place right before the Battle of Gronder. Read here on AO3 for better formatting! ----

Ingrid knows that her father loves her, but she wonders if he’ll ever forgive her.

Garreg Mach is familiar in a way that she’d nearly forgotten. She rubs her hand along a railing, looking out over the landscape. The leather of her glove blocks the cold of the stone underneath her fingers, but the air is still chilly enough to soak through her armor and deep into her bones.

She wonders if she’s made the right choice, coming here to fight for Claude. Actually, no, not for Claude, but the good of everyone. Still, she hesitates. She wonders.

She worries about her father and the other people that she loves.

She worries about Dimitri.

Byleth is quiet as he sneaks up next to her. He presses his hands against the railing beside her. “A gold for your thoughts?” asks the professor, leaning over to nudge at her shoulder gently with his own.

Ingrid can’t help but smile. Byleth is the rock in their rag-tag army. Barely an army. More like refugees with minor allies here and there, barely fed and barely with weapons. Claude says that he’s got a plan, but Ingrid is always caught wondering just how true that is. Claude is wily and secretive; part of her thinks that he’s three steps ahead and another thinks that he’s always flying by the seat of his pants.

Everyone knows what his endgame is, but no one knows his motives, and that in of itself is dangerous. Still, Ingrid’s made her choice and it’s too little, too late.

“Nothing, really,” says Ingrid finally. Her fingers grip the railing tightly and Byleth looks to her hands, lips pulling into a small frown. Ingrid sighs, knowing that it’s useless to lie. “Alright,” she continues, “a little bit of everything.”

“Everything is a lot,” says Byleth.

“Everything is everything.” It might sound odd, but it’s how she feels. If she doesn’t fight for everything than she fights for nothing. If she fights for nothing, then there isn’t any point left.

Ingrid wants a point, she needs a point. Needs a purpose, otherwise all those years she’s spent learning to throw a lance and fly a horse amount to nothing.

Being useless is her biggest fear.

“This won’t be an easy one,” says Byleth. He’s always upfront and blunt, but it’s rare for him to share what’s actually on his mind. Like Claude, he’s guarded in a lot of ways, carefully hiding the things that he takes to heart.

“I know,” says Ingrid. She hopes that it sounds stronger than the words feel, lodged painfully in her throat.

Byleth turns to regard her carefully, eyes lifting to meet her gaze. He’s hesitating, a sign that Ingrid won’t like whatever he’s about to say. “I don’t want to ask,” he starts, “but should I worry about how you might react out there?”

Ingrid knows what he means and that he’s trying to be nice about it, trying to turn a poison-tipped question into a more casual askance. But Byleth truly is concerned that she might turn tail and traitor.

If it were her in his position, Ingrid would think the same. It isn’t easy to overlook your past when it’s staring you in the face. Ingrid knows that she’ll see Sylvain and Felix and Dimitri out there. And they aren’t just Sylvain and Felix and Dimitri, they are her family, the strong boulders who’d held her up in the murky waters of her youth, the men who told her to be herself and that it was okay to be a knight and not a wife.

Ingrid feels the guilt that racks through her because she wonders if she should have stayed beside them, even if it went against her convictions for this war. What kind of knight, is a knight who isn’t loyal?

“I’ve cut all contact with my family since joining this fight,” says Ingrid after a long, tense moment. Byleth leans against the railing, listening intently. “Were I to see soldiers of the Galatea family amidst the host flying the royal banner, were I to see Sylvain and Felix and--” She pauses, heaving a sigh.

“All chance of reconciliation with my father would end there. I still don’t know if this is the right path, or if I should all but abandon them. But, the fact is, I’ve come this far. There’s no time for second-guessing. Not anymore.”

Byleth regards her for a long, quiet moment, and then says, “I would not want to be you.” He doesn’t mean ill by the statement. He wets his lips and then continues with, “None of us know if this is the right path, Ingrid. It is a fight that we take day by day. It is more likely to be disastrous than work in our favor. But we fight for a better future and I think that we will succeed.”

“A better future,” muses Ingrid. “Dimitri once spoke of such things. It might be a foolish, childish thing to say that I wish they find it themselves.”

“It isn’t,” says Byleth. He reaches out and presses a hand against her shoulder, squeezing. “I can keep you away from them if you wish. Send you the opposite direction were I to see them on the field.”

Ingrid considers this for a moment because she’s unsure what she’ll do if she comes face-to-face with the people that she loves. Finally, she says, “No. I would rather they face me than someone they don’t know. If it is to be the end, they will want to fall by someone they care for.”

“Maybe they won’t fall,” says Byleth.

Ingrid starts at that, turning towards the professor. “If they defect, will Claude accept them?”

Byleth is brutally honest at the worst of times. “Probably not,” he says. “But I would do my best to get him to see reason.” Byleth pauses. “Do you think they will defect?”

He already knows the answer though, and so does Ingrid. They wouldn’t, not ever. The Faerghus Four are now the Faerghus Three, brutally loyal to the crown even to their demise. Ingrid grips the railing so hard that she wonders if her fingers will snap in half.

Byleth squeezes her shoulder once more. “It’s war,” says Byleth. “It’s nasty, no good and it brings nothing but pain. But through that pain, a new future is born.”

“I love them,” says Ingrid. “But that love doesn’t mean anything if there isn’t a tomorrow.”

Byleth leans forward and presses a kiss against her forehead. It’s a strange, uncharacteristic show of friendship, but Ingrid’s eyes slip closed, falling into the gesture. She wants to cry. She won’t. She can’t.

“Get some sleep,” says Byleth when he pulls away. “Tomorrow will wait a few more days.”

Ingrid watches him leave, then turns back to barely watching the landscape. The sun slips downward, dipping just below the horizon as it throws purples and pinks and reds everywhere.

Sylvain would love this sunset and wax poetic about it. Felix would pretend to hate it, but stare anyway, mouth twitching into a tiny little smile. Dimitri would say nothing, only soaking in the softness of the moment shared between friends.

Well, that’s what they would have done as children. They aren’t children anymore.

“Have I chosen wrong, Glenn?” asks Ingrid, even though she’s utterly alone on the parapet.

Glenn doesn’t answer, but Ingrid likes to think that he’d fight for a new dawn as well.

#ingrid fire emblem #ingrid brandl galatea #fire emblem three houses #fire emblem fanfiction #fe3h

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msbluebell · 5 years

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Golden Deer Route AU where, at the Gronder Field battle, instead of letting Dimitri run off to get himself killed they knock him out and drag him back to the monastery.

The thing to keep in mind for this AU would be that the Blue Lions are utterly, completely, totally, broken.

Both Black Eagles and Golden Deer have students that have severe psychological issues in them. But, for the most part, they have more students that have normal lives, or managed to get themselves back up before Byleth even entered their lives.

This is not the case for the Blue Lion students. They’re all broken well before Byelth every stepped into the classroom and MAYBE one or two of them managed to put themselves back together before Byleth. Every single one of them faces a different type of trauma, aspect of grief, anxiety, or bad coping skill. Dimitri, while the most extreme example of the negative effects of untreated trauma, repression, bad coping, and mental instability, is far from the ONLY one. Annette and Ashe both have to receive a type of medication from the Church (I speculate that Annette has anxiety based on the mission description for her medication, and Ashe’s medication description and the fact the mission is just after Lenato’s death makes me think depression). With the destruction of the Church I believe that they also no longer have access to even that bit of medication.

Why do I keep focusing so much on medication? Because, for a lot of people, medication is essential to function properly. It’s not for EVERYONE, but there are a lot of people who genuinely need it. We never get a mention of medications again outside a Church setting, which given how secretive the Church is with technology and such, makes me believe that medications were a something the church exclusively dealt with. It is possible, granted, that academics have replicated the Church’s medications, but I doubt they freely distribute them like the Church seems too, which means many common people no longer have access to such resources. (But BBell, you guys say, this is a fantasy game and you’re reading too much into the medication thing. It’s probably just basic herbalist or aromatherapy. To which I argue that this game had Fantasy Dragon God Nukes and RHEA, who knows how to replicate such technology and actively tried to stop it’s spread, would probably have an idea about medications so don’t @ me.)

The ultimate point is that the Blue Lions are broken people with bad coping habits, and probably aren’t even aware that they need help in the first place. They’re not exactly open about their issues with each other either. Dimitri puts on a mask for his deep-seated trauma and tries to hide his auditory and visual hallucinations the whole first half of the game, and with Felix’s (understandable) reaction to Dimitri’s breakdowns, I don’t even blame him.

I think the Blue Lions lose something essential if you don’t pick their house.

Now, theoretically, the Blue Lions should be a bit better off in Golden Deer Route than Black Eagles because they have Manuela, the school Nurse, as their teacher, but they somehow seem worse off than if they have Hanneman, the more impersonal professor. Manuela should be able to identify the deep seated issues they express and address them as needed. She’s a nurse, and observant, and a very personable teacher.

Then I realized SHE’S A NURSE.

She probably had them all on medications that they no longer have.

Byleth is far more interpersonal than the other teachers. They tackle the issues each student has by getting personally involved and trying to help them through what basically amounts to therapy. Manuela, a nurse, wouldn’t get as personally involved and would instead provide them with necessary medications and have them come to her if they so choose. While Hanneman, for all he seems hands off, does tackle issues bluntly and personally. He’s not as interpersonal as Byleth, but he doesn’t ignore it if it’s a problem and tries to give advice where it’s due. It’s not therapy, but he IS trying to help them figure out how to handle themselves better.

So if Byleth chooses the Golden Deer House they Blue Lions are in the worst possible position they could be in. It’s not JUST Dimitri who is worse off, it’s ALL of them.

Now, with that speculated, let’s get to Gronder Field.

We all know what happens to Dimitri in Gronder Field if you play the Golden Deer Route (or at least you better if you’re reading my posts or else you’re going to be spoiled). He’s clearly a madman, no one can deny it, and it’s pretty tragic to witness because he seems so genuine and nice before the war. The Golden Deer students don’t actually have much of an idea HOW or WHY this happened. Yes, they would be aware that he was accused of killing his uncle, and was exiled, but they wouldn’t have an idea about the dept of the various betrayals thrown at him, or the delusions, and it’s really sad.

It would be hard to say what makes them knock him out and drag him back with them before he gets himself killed. Maybe Byleth does it because they recognize he’s mentally ill, maybe Claude doesn’t it because Dimitri is a good guy deep down and he knows he can help (that and keeping Dimitri alive serves him better than letting him die at the moment, idk), or, and this is my favorite, maybe Marianne asked them if there was anything they could do to help Dimitri, because he was a friend hers and she can’t stand the idea of watching him die (their support chain is so fucking precious and cute and just mutual Trauma support buddies and omg, I’m in hell thinking about them and their beautiful friendship. I ship them as platonic, but if I wasn’t so far in Dimileth hell I would totally have them in the running for possible romantic supports.).

Either way, it ends up with them taking a lucky moment to knock Dimitri out and get him off the battlefield before he dies.

Getting him off the field is a bit harder than it should be. He’s a big guy, and made of solid muscle and heavy armor, and Gustav and the army is hardly going to sit by quietly while you basically kidnap the crown prince.

(But the thing that gets Dimitri off the field is the fact that Gustav LOVES Dimitri. He loves that boy like a son, like he’s his own. And he would NEVER admit it, but it’s true. And it’s true for Rodrigue too. And Dimitri is unconscious, and his face isn’t a scold for one, it’s the most peaceful he’s looked since they find him in the woods, and the sight of him like that nearly brings tears to both their eyes. They’re both failed fathers. Gustav failed Annette, and he failed Dimitri. And Rodrigue failed Glenn, and then Felix, and now Dimitri too. And they’re both realizing that Dimitri is so terribly broken and they don’t know how to fix him and it may be half their fault, and so when Byleth convinces them that this is what’s best for him, that they can HELP, that he can get better if they just let Claude give him the resources he needs to recover…well, they can’t say no. It’s the strongest Rodrigue has been in a long time, he thinks, finding the courage to agree despite knowing that Dimitri won’t be happy. And it’s also the closest he’s been to keeping his promise to Lambert).

So the Golden Deer get the unconscious Dimitri back to Garreg Mach, the army of Faerghus on their heels.

There’s a lot of debate about what to do from there, but since Claude is the highest authority there (with Dimitri unconscious and not yet fit to rule) it all defers to him and his council. In the end it’s decided Dimitri is a danger to himself and others for now and has to be kept somewhere out of the way, but where he can be observed to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself. (And, oh, isn’t that a gut punch to Gustav and Rodrigue).

So they set him up on the Arch-Bishop’s floor since no one is using it for now. That way he has plenty of space, a room, and can go onto the balcony if needed. It’s just until he recovers a bit, CLaude and Byleth promise, and we’ll let him down as soon as we’re sure he won’t hurt himself or others. Besides, they need to figure out what caused the madness in the first place.

It’s actually Manuela, Byleth, and Marianne that end up being the most valuable resources to Dimitri’s recover. Manuela and Byelth are both good at identifying the issue. Dimitri sees and hears the dead. This isn’t just a metaphor, he’s having active hallucinations brought upon by survivor’s guilt and isolation. The five years on the run would have only worsened this.

But it’s Marianne who understands the core issues outside that. She, like Dimitri, has severe survivor’s guilt, and wishes to die. She won’t kill herself, just like Dimitri won’t, but she prays for death. In a way, she speculates, Dimitri is also praying for death. For him, vengeance is either his reason to live, the reason for why HE had to live while everyone else died, or the road to take to reach the death he feels he deserves. He feels he’s undeserving of life, or kindness, but he’s still alive, so he has to do something to make up for that fact. She explains that to the others, and she understand because she feels that way too sometimes, and it’s critical in their approach to Dimitri. It’s something that will definitely take a lot of time, but I think that, with more than just Byleth trying to do something about it, then there can be progress that doesn’t necessarily NEED something as dramatic as an assassination attempt to snap him out of it (why we needed that assassination attempt in the game is worthy of it’s own meta, but the long and short of it is that the timing drastically needed it before they marched to Enbarr and Dimitri needed to realize FAST that his 1) his actions are awful 2) people DO still love and care about him even despite his actions 2) HE IS WORTHY OF LIFE)

The other Blue Lions are there too, most of them anyway. Ashe is a traitor, Felix claims, because he sided with the Empire after Lenato’s Death. But most of them are there, and far more broken than they were, and none of them are even surprised Dimitri has fallen so far because most of them aren’t much better. Sylvain always had an inner darkness in him, and while he’s not outright insane like Dimitri, he’s gets intense on the battlefield. Ingrid is barely holding herself together, dealing with the loss of everything and the war trauma, and Felix is left to realize that the only thing worse than being right about Dimitri was watching it happen to everyone around him too. Mercedes and Annette are there, too, and they’re better than everyone else, but still, it’s not GREAT.

But, I think, they CAN get better. Not fixed, but in a better place. After all, Dimitri even states in the Blue Lion Route that he’ll always live with his hallucinations. The thing, though, is that getting better requires active care, time, and effort (both from the patients and the people that need to help them) and Dimitri and the Blue Lions get all three at the end of this scenario.

#fe3h #fe16 #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #Golden Deer Route #Blue Lions #marianne von werefkin #claude von reigen #byleth eisner #rodrigue fraldarius #asks #Manuela #therapy and medication #Golden Deer Route AU #speculation

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bloomandcoffee · 5 years

Text

some Claumitri, Dimitri grows in the Alliance AU

After the tragedy in Duscur, the political situation on the Northern Lands are dangerous, and Dimitri who is still just not old enough yet to take the crown and the only member of royal crest still alive is sent to the Alliance for protection. After all the Riegan were distant cousin of the Blaiddyd, they can protect the heir of Faerghus until he comes of age. Meanwhile the Kingdom can investigate all who orchestrated the regicide of the late King.

That at least is the official statement.

In fact, they sent Dimitri over there as a political prisoner at worst or a bride to get a wedding alliance with the Leicester Alliance at best. Nothing more than a political sacrificial piece orchestrated by Cornelia’s faction in Northern Territories to get the heir out of the way.

Dimitri’s stay in the Alliance is not glamorous at all. More often than not there is some hard work to be done that simply wasn’t available for anyone else and he has to do in order to keep a low profile, or he’s kept locked away for protection. He endures it with a placid smile and kindness, aware that he is away in a land where some will forever be hostile to him and Faerghus.

At least he came with Dedue, at Dimitri’s insistence. Because he won’t leave his friend and stalwart companion and savior behind, especially in Faerghus where people of Duscur are hated. Dimitri may be a political offering, but at least this way, he can protect Dedue.

This is the first thing that clues Claude in that the Northern prince has depths and is playing at some deeper game than just having a soft bleeding heart and grieving mind. He’s intrigued.

Then he finds out that Dimitri is patiently teaching Dedue how to write and read, and makes some investigations of his own about Duscur’s situation and has an epiphany.

Claude devises a strategy to get closer to Dimitri and Dedue by teaching them both the alliance mother language. Goading the Prince and retainer into spars and mischief will not yield the results he wants. If he wants to have them trusting him, he needs a more personal soft touch.

He realizes that Oh no, Dimitri is trusting! and then Oh no, Dimitri is cute, and then Dimitri snaps a lance in half while startled and realizes Oh No he’s freakishly strong.

...and then he discovers that Dimitri feels responsible for the tragedy of Duscur, blames the deaths and has nightmares about the dead and the blood and... Oh No, I really want to save this soul.

Dedue is their wingman. Mostly because he understands the politicking behind Dimitri’s situation in the alliance, and among all the figureheads in it, he trusts Claude.

Dimitri doesn’t approve much of Claude’s underhanded tactics, though he respects their merits, especially when they yield results. So he starts learning to be cleverer, not on the battlefield though --he has honor-- but on the political climate of the alliance.

He surprises Claude one afternoon by reading correctly the political situation concerning a trade --and brings into attention the influence of a faction Claude had previously ignored. “You can’t read perfectly basic southern Leicester, and yet you deduced the communications?!” “I can’t read, but I learned to read people, and once you know the basics, there’s certain alliance body language that seems universal” “You are scary, Dima”

He also figures it out that Claude is really a Prince of Almyra, but keeps quiet. Politics are politics.

Mock fights become common place, and Claude opens Dimitri up to his friends that end up warming up to the prince and his bodyguard.

There are still political tensions, and more than once Dimitri lost a bit of his temper when learning about the situation in the Northern Kingdoms and his inability to help his brethren. Most of the time his communication missives don’t arrive, and it took a bit of work with Claude to find a method where he could keep contact with Ingrid.

But the situation in north is not good.

Dimitri never cries about it, but Claude knows there are tears in his voice. He’s so vulnerable like this, vulnerable, malleable and dangerous. Claude yearns. He’s away Dimitri is a political piece in the chessboard, and marriage is an option to expand his vision of a unified Fódlan and Almyra.

But more than anything, Claude wants to protect. So he soothes, and even if a few times they just argue into a stalemate it’s fine. So long as Dimitri feels heard, as long as he feels his burden is not something to carry alone --That it’s something he ought to carry with Claude-- he will take that as a victory.

Though one night, right before they depart for the Officer’s Academy where Dimitri will take the first step to his position as King of Faerghus by leading the Blue house, he promises beneath the stars, next to each other lying on the grass, shoulders touching, gaze connecting “We will make everything better. Your Kingdom, my Alliance, all of Fódlan. We’ll do it. Together” Dimitri smiles and nods. “Together.”

(For all that Dimitri has learned to read Leicester body language and their customs, he still forgets that Claude is Almyra bloodline as well, and that as is tradition of the eastern empire to propose beneath the stars of the last day of Lone Moon, with a vow of unity.)

Byleth chooses to teach the Golden deer house, though he soon finds that this was in fact a two-way deal. There have been some missions where the blue lions house has tagged along... and with them Manuela who keeps flirting.

He tried to make sense of it. But Claude and Dimitri move seamlessly like a unit. And he thinks, maybe, the unity of the houses can yield something good for Fódlan.... and it’s not his fault if the Blue Lions come over to have class with the Golden Deer (and some of the Black Eagles have started to appear in some of his lectures too!). It’d just be rude to shove them away, Seteth, and anyway, it’s not like Manuela doesn’t help with the lesson either.

(He may have found himself a counselor for Dimitri from time to time. Most of it at Claude’s and Dedue’s requests, because his students want to help the blond but Byleth knows an Adult™ is required. Something that Manuela approves.)

Some Blue Lions and Golden Deer integrate well, some don’t. There is still tension about Dimitri’s actual political situation in Northern Lands, the place he’ll return after school. But it all seems far away, and the Blue Lions warm up to Dimitri and Claude all the same.

(except Felix, but there are a lot of things to unpack there)

Edelgard sees this and realizes her plans will fall right over the wayside if she doesn’t act quickly. First and foremost, she must mentally destabilize Dimitri.

and because I’m in stupid abo phase. They are all alphas, but the kind that during their puberty, if they ingest alpha seed they will turn into omegas.

Claude and Dedue are acutely aware of the politicking that Dimitri might fall prey of in the Alliance, and watch everything Dimitri consumes like a hawk. There are some few close calls, but they (with the help of the Golden Deer house, specifically, Lysithea) navigate through successfully.

Everything seems fine, they are eighteen and in the Officer’s Academy. Dimitri sees some of his childhood friends, and even when the protection agreement is near its end and the investigations are apparently complete, the politics are tense --especially after the assassination attempt and Lonato’s rebellion. But they are out of omega-turning danger.

Except not really. After’s Edelgard’s unmasking as the Flame Emperor, Dimitri falls ill. Soon enough it’s apparent that it is not due to poison but heat.

Everyone believe this is Edelgard’s doing. Given that soon after she is revealed to be the Flame Emperor who orchestrated the murder of Dimitri’s dad, the revolt in Faerghus, and declares war on everything in Fódlan, nobody questions the veracity of such suspicion.

No one will ever know it was in fact Claude’s plan.

Dimitri’s first heat is terrible, but the church, the Golden Deer and some Blue Lions cooperate so that no alpha ever gets near Dimitri’s quarters and takes advantage.

Rhea is taken prisoner. Blyeth is gone, Dimitri is now ineligible as King because he’s now an omega and Cornelia takes the throne. It’s terrible. People of Faerghus rebel, and some start to think that perhaps the rule of only alpha royals has handed them unjust misery. The system ought to change.

Dimitri loses an eye to Cornelia. He’s now declared an enemy of the Kingdom and a target of the empire. Claude cannot protect him, publicly, that is.

Golden Deer house, along with some of the more loyalist Blue lion factions make Dimitri effectively disappear. A year after Emperor Edelgard declares war, rumors start that Dimitri is dead though no body has been found.

After a visit to Almyra, most leaders of the alliance smell that Claude is now a taken alpha, but there’s no omega with him. Some think it’s one Almyra princess, the price paid for the Almyra reinforcements. His detractors think there’s someone else.

Dimitri, some whisper. But no one has seen the fugitive prince. Last they heard Dedue was killed brutally by Queen Cornelia’s generals.

There are some rumors of a red haired lancer, long hair in a braid, that leads a bunch of bandits. A robin hood of sorts, that gives food and gold to the refugees trying to escape the war, or the people of the towns near the church, those who are still pious and refuse to abandon their homes even if it means they will be trampled by the empire.

None have seen her. Though many whisper she is kind, quiet and has a sad pained smile. An omega, most agree, probably lost her family during the attacks, the poor dear.

(Sometimes she’s accompanied by a tall armored man. Nobody has ever seen him, and he communicates with the lancer through sign language. The people keep quiet of that. The lancer and her paladin help them; they won’t ever betray such kindness.)

They are just rumors, of course. Though red hair becomes a synonym of dread for the imperial sympathizers in the Alliance.

Five years later, Byleth returns to a Fódlan that’s still under war, and to Claude, now the leader of the Golden deer Alliance after cleaning it out of imperialist sympathizers in the most shrewd, clean, and bloodlessly manner possible. When Night comes, where Byleth remained at Claude’s request, he meets a weary Dimitri, now red haired, under a disguise.

The professor smiles, relieved even if he can see the pain and weight Dimitri now carries around him, and they hold hands in greeting. Byleth also pats his head reassuring him that everything will come to pass, and never missing that he now smells like a taken omega --and the scent is undeniable Claude’s.

He raises an eyebrow at them, and Dimitri is the first one that cracks admitting that they did not have a Seirosian wedding. But Claude insists that they did follow the religion’s marrying rituals.

Byleth shakes his head at his reckless students, but is happy for them. They maintained Fódlan’s hope in his absence, and survived. Now that he’s here to help them (and he will help them) everything will be fine.

They retake the Northern Kingdoms first and unseat Queen Cornelia. Dimitri is named King regent, though he puts right into planting the roots for the Kingdom to reform into a representative monarchy where the circle of nobility and especially the common people can have more power in how everything is governed.

And of course, cleaning up Duscur’s name.

Claude doesn’t leave Dimitri’s room the night after Cornelia’s defeat, making sure that his husband understands that he is wanted and loved --even if his step mother never did.

Dimitri is both touched and embarrassed. It hurts, but his kindness is not as unmanageable as it once was.

The empress begs Byleth to end her life when she is defeated. Dimitri offers his hand to Edelgard instead, willing to forgive and give his step-sister a path to redemption. She throws his knife at him instead.

“Good-bye, El.”

In the end, when everything is said and done, Byleth officiates Claude’s and Dimitri’s wedding official in the way it should have been. (Much to the protests of Seteth who, even if he’d become lax about Seirosian religion, is still scandalized that the new Pope is marrying an already married in sin couple where none is pure at the altar)

#claumitri #abo #fe dimitri #fe claude #Golden deer bride Au #look this is all self-indulgent

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sunnybimbo · 6 years

Text

for @hunkshipweek day 2, magic/supernatural!

ship: shunk (shiro/hunk)

word count: ~5k

Read it on AO3.

“You don’t have to do this.” Pidge says to him, just as the dawn begins to settle. He’s surrounded by faceless people, or atleast it feels that way with how little they look at him, so he focuses on nothing but her. Heavy makeup is traced across his eyelids, golden lines echoing the whisper of sun beams that paint his skin.

His lips are doused even heavier in it, shinier still, and he tries not to mess up the hard work everyone went through to make him pretty as he says, “I kinda have to.”

He reaches over with his free hand, the one not dipped in oil and painted with intricate patterns, pressing their palms together. “If all goes well, you’ll see me next week.”

Someone harrumphs behind him, and he hears a mimicking, condescending, “If all goes well.”

Which was fair. Truly, if all went well, he’d be gone before the end of the day, snatched up by greedy gods who demanded their prize. It wasn’t often someone was chosen to be sacrificed, only one every few years, and even less often that people disappeared.

But, when those years pass and someone never returns, the crops are always abundant and plentiful, and the village prospers. If all goes well.

Pidge’s eyes are wet, but tears don’t fall past her clumped eyelashes as his hand is plucked away to be painted to match the rest of him.

It’s because of her that he’s here.

Not purposefully, of course. He’d volunteered, after she was called upon by the village head to take over the duty as the chosen. She came to him, terrified not just for herself but for her family.

Ever since Matt had gotten taken, she’s the only one left in her family that was spritely enough to make money. Her father was deeply ill, always, and her mother struggled enough with the despair she felt in her heart after losing one child.

Hunk had come to the village alone as a child, not necessarily abandoned but it felt that way sometimes. But he didn’t have people depending on him as much as Pidge did. It was only natural.

Hunk never considered himself to be the brave type— and in fact, his stomach was trying to claw its way through his gut as he sat on the throne that may just as well been his crypt— but he put on a mask to broadcast as much for her.

His head is jerked away, breaking their gaze prematurely, and he feels himself blush as his robes are tugged away so they can mark the rest of him, exposing him completely nude. Pidge hardly batters an eye, but she does turn away for decency’s sake.

“I’ll miss you.” She says, after a quiet moment of listening to the faceless group swarm around him like flies homing in on a rotting carcass. His hair is tugged from scalp to root, forced straight by a fire-hot comb. “I’ll keep your house clean.”

“Thank you.” Hunk says, honestly. “If I don’t come back…” He hears Pidge’s sharp inhale, but he continues over her with, “You can have all my stuff. Even the stuff I pretend to hide.”

“Not like I haven’t snooped through it anyway, like you do me.” Pidge gripes. Neither of them mentions the way she sniffles, wiping at her nose with her short sleeves.

It was nearing fall, the perfect time for crops to flourish before winter hits hard, but the weather was unforgiving. Hot and sticky with mist from morning to noon and on, it more often than not led to people wandering to the nearest body of water and floating until they pruned like sour grapes.

Hunk supposes he should be thankful that he’s expected to be naked, then, instead of wrapped in layers and layers of heavy, uncomfortably ornate robes and gowns. He’d cling to little mercies like that until this entire thing passed.

And really, this was a good thing. If best came to best, he’d be pampered all week long and then, better still, taken care of for the rest of his life. The chosen ‘few’ were never abandoned by the village, as per tradition.

Really, it would have been a more fought over position if not for the even rarer few that disappear.

---

Pidge is dismissed out of the room that has nothing more than a stone throne. She would have gone kicking and screaming if she hadn’t been asleep after sitting with him for nearly seven hours.

Hunk watches her get carried off, but his gut instincts tell him that she’s going to be just fine. As for himself, however…

The caretakers position him down to the hair on his arms, giving him a sharp slap on the thigh if he even twitches his nose. It’s uncomfortable and demeaning, and the tears sting at the corners of his eyes, but he sucks it up because he does not want to sit through getting his makeup redone.

He’s draped in silk, wrapped to be enticingly teasing across his lap and his shoulders, but he feels like he’s drowning in delicate threads. It doesn’t help that he’d been bathed in oil for so long that his bones feel like jelly. He could hardly smell anything other than the overpowering florals meant to last for the rest of the week.

A caretaker pins his hair too tightly to his head, the final decoration to the centerpiece that Hunk was. It nearly overwhelms him, and his fingers twitch to rip it out and run off into the forest, but he somehow convinces himself to stay put.

The group leaves, silent enough that he doesn’t realize it’s happened until his heartbeat fades into the quiet and he’s left alone with nothing but the faint drip of water from the nearby pool.

Hunk rolls his neck, vindictively satisfied when he feels a lock of hair fall out of place.

He hadn’t realized that the quiet would be the worst part of this, but it’s only five days. Five days of being a living doll for a greedy god and his self-proclaimed lackeys.

He grips the armrest of his throne and lets his eyes flutter shut.

Just five days.

---

That first night, Hunk disappears.

---

He blinks just once, it feels like, but everything changes.

Hunk rolls over, realizing that he’s in a bed rather than on a stone slab, and the pillows pull him in to their sinful embrace of woven satin and fluffed feathers.

The room he’s in is something fit for royalty, grand and tall. The windows are layers with thick glass, but they’re somehow warm to the touch when he pads over to look out of them.

He’s on some sort of island, he thinks at first, until he realizes that the rolling blue he sees isn’t an ocean, but the sky itself. Clouds circle past him, misting the ground with dew, and Hunk feels faint.

He sees a city, off to the left. It’s far enough away that he can’t make out all of the details, but everything looks to be outlined in royal starlight, and Hunk is sure he’s lost it.

He’s still dressed as he was before he… was kidnapped? The shawls cling to his skin as he starts to nervously sweat all over, but his makeup doesn’t run. He takes an unsteady step across the plush carpet, and he can’t resist wiggling his toes against the soft fuzz that gathers between them.

He stumbles to the door, like a newborn deer seeking freedom.

The hallway is just as grand as the room, sconces lining every stone and illuminating them in rainbow hues, but Hunk doesn’t get a chance to focus on them because he runs directly into another person as soon as he steps out.

He stumbles, but the other catches him before he can fall. A chill cuts through him as he takes in the skin, and he suddenly feels like a lonely figure alone in the dark in the middle of a freezing winter.

His vision blurs, but he doesn’t realize that they’re tears until the person— the god— in front of him wipes them away.

“I didn’t mean to startle you.” He’s told. “I would have given you more warning.”

“Um.” Hunk starts, focusing on the dark hand that releases its hold on him. He swears he sees stars dancing across those fingertips before they fade into the pale skin, further up the forearms.

He belatedly realizes the god is missing an arm, then.

“Um.” Hunk repeats, head jerking to look him in the eye. “Did I die?”

“No.” The amused god assures, hooking his arm in Hunk’s to lead him down the hall. “Nobody dies here.”

“Oh.”

Hunk pauses, going green around the edges, and the rest is a blur.

---

He learns that 1) he truly isn’t dead and 2) Shiro chose him to be his sacrifice.

“More of a gift, I’d like to think.” Shiro murmurs, running his thumb across the curves of Hunk’s cheeks after his nausea has passed and his skin isn’t as pale.

He was carried, and yes that is literal despite the god missing a limb, to a nearby pasture— a plateau of sorts that overlooked the entire kingdom. The grand city Hunk had seen from his window was apparently one of three, and each was overlooked by a different god. It went completely over Hunk’s head, or maybe he didn’t want to focus too much on the logistics of it.

He focuses, instead, on Shiro. Takashi Shirogane, the technical ruler of his entire village, that preferred to be known as Shiro because it made him feel less intimidating despite the gnarled scars running up his half-arm and the wide expanse of his shoulders.

Shiro watches him in return. He doesn’t say much, that introspective type. It makes Hunk nervous to have his every move watched, but Shiro has a gentle look on his face, so maybe it isn’t all bad.

“So… I’m not dead. I’m your gift? So, like a concubine or something?”

Shiro snorts— a god, snorting!— and quickly shakes his head. “Not at all, unless that’s what you choose to be.”

He tilts his head, dropping onto his knees besides where Hunk was curled in the grass. He has wings, Hunk realizes, that only show when the sun is directly behind him. They’re transparent like snowflakes, reflecting light, and they look just as fragile.

“I chose for you to come to this realm because I’m interested in you.” Shiro confesses. “I’m the selfish type, you see. I’d like to get to know you better.”

Hunk wheezes in surprise, probably in what’s meant to be a laugh. “You want to get to know me? A plain old human boy?”

“Yes.” Shiro leans closer, staring directly into Hunk’s soul. His fingers stray to Hunk’s makeup, seemingly before he can stop himself, and they rub along the paints staining his skin as he says, “There’s no one I’ve been interested in more.”

Shiro has been called many things in his eternal life, but he’s never been called a liar. He’d seen Hunk before— seen everyone and everything before, actually— but now, decorated and docile before him in sheer robes and adorning his sigils? He wasn’t just interested, he was smitten.

Hunk regards him cautiously, as if he’s seeing every bad ending play behind his eyelids when he blinks, but Shiro hurries to assuage his fears with a gentle touch to his hand and a, “As agreed, your village will prosper. I’ll send someone to bless the crops soon.”

Unfortunately, that seems to have the opposite effect he’s hoping for. Hunk’s eyes grow sad, wet at the corners, and he mumbles to himself, “So I really can’t go back?”

It hurts his heart to hear that, but Shiro is understanding. He’s a selfish god, yes, but not a cruel one.

He stands, tugging Hunk to his side, where he belongs. Then, he opens a portal, laying out the entrance to his temple. “I won’t keep you here if that’s truly what you wish.” Shiro says to him, pressing into his space until they’re chest to chest. “But also know that I won’t let you go that easily.”

He feels the mild onset of panic thrumming across Hunk’s skin, so he backs off with a disarming smile. “Let’s make a deal.”

He’d always been known to be a clever god, too.

---

Hunk feels himself wake up, startlingly sudden. The hills are alight with the rising sun, and the sunbeams are warm against his freezing toes as his senses come back to him one by one.

He can see his caretakers’ shadows crawling across the wall like lizards, and Hunk is sure he must not have been gone long at all.

The glittery gold on his lips is smudged out of place, he can see from the mirrors lining the walls, and he can faintly remember Shiro’s thumbs smearing across it when they’d first met. He can still feel his touch, actually, omnipresent as if Shiro is just waiting for him off to the side.

It makes him nervous, but not in the way he was expecting. His heart jitters in his chest, nervous like someone confessing their love with a spring love letter.

Pidge is with the caretakers, Hunk can hear. She’s arguing to come in, from her tone, and Hunk fondly shakes his head. He couldn’t bear to leave her alone in this little village. Not that she would be truly alone, not with her mother and father who care for her so dearly.

Hunk remembers Shiro’s deal then, a gentle reminder from the god himself, probably.

“Fall in love with me before the week ends,” Shiro whispered, and it felt much like the moon eclipsing the sun. “And you must stay here.”

He’d circled around Hunk’s back, clawed fingers tilting Hunk’s chin up to have him look at the clouds. “If you’re able to resist, I’ll let you go with a wish of your choice for wasting your time.”

It sounds like a trick— too much of a win-win for Hunk and not for Shiro, but it isn’t like he has many options being a mortal toy in a god’s hands. And Hunk’s betraying heart actually trusts him, too, to keep his word.

Hunk keeps it a secret from Pidge, just in case.

---

The second night, Hunk is taken again.

---

A bundle of wildflowers is placed in his hands, tied delicately together with a wrap of ribbon. The long grasses tickle his fingertips as he sniffs at the pollen in the center, only to sneeze a cloud of it away.

Shiro grins at him, pleased at the flushed, wide-eyed look Hunk gives him. “I learned this is something your kind does. Flowers for their beloved.”

One couldn’t blame Hunk for the dopey smile that stretches his lips, not when Shiro bashfully tucks one of the dandelions behind Hunk’s ear. If he squints, he could swear that the god was actually blushing a bit, around the edges.

“Thank you.” Hunk breathes, fingering the soft petals against his thumb. “These are lovely.”

It’s on the tip of Shiro’s tongue to relay those same sentiments back at him, what with Hunk decorated the way he was. Gold jewels wrapped around his limbs, tinkling when the charms clink together, and his hair is tied up and dipped purple. That always had been Shiro’s favorite color.

He holds off, though, because humans do these things slowly.

“If I may?” Shiro offers his hand, the only he’s got, and takes Hunk out on a date.

---

Shiro takes him to dance with the stars, first. The sun hums in the plentiful space between them, but Shiro keeps him steady as Hunk is spun on Saturn’s rings.

Hunk can’t tell his fingers from the stardust, but that doesn’t matter when Shiro shows him a triage of growing galaxies in the distance, glowing with colors that Hunk didn’t even know existed.

He’d never been one for travel, much too motion-sick to even joke with the idea, but he feels completely at peace millions of miles away from ground, merging with the universe itself.

Shiro brings him back before he disappears within the universe with a simple touch to his back, pulling him close.

“May I?” Shiro asks, quiet and loud. Hunk has no clue what he’s asking, but he agrees nonetheless.

The stars get replaced with jellyfish and the space gets replaced by cold water and a faint pressure on his bones. It isn’t uncomfortable, and Hunk isn’t drowning, but that doesn’t stop the mild fright Hunk feels when he realizes.

Shiro, ever so touchy, crowds in close so that they can drift together. “I’ve got you.”

Hunk had never learned to swim— never was old enough before he was trapped in a landlocked village, but Shiro is patient enough.

The fish seem unafraid of them as they swim pass in their groups, circling curiously to nip at Hunk’s fingers. They leave Shiro alone, for some reason, choosing to pick at the mortal boy who couldn’t get himself to stay floating on his front instead of his back.

Shiro laughs at him, and it’s an incredibly nice expression for him to have, in Hunk’s opinion. “Like this.”

He loops around Hunk to pick over his form, teasingly running his fingers down his spine just to see him shiver. “I should have asked if you knew how to swim before I brought you here.”

“Would’ve been a nice warning.” Hunk agrees, flopping onto the seafloor. A plume of sand puffs around him, disrupting the sandcrabs that hurry to run off. “But I don’t mind it. I’ve never been somewhere like this.”

He rolls over onto his side, lifting a few inches off the sandbed before floating back down again, and he runs his fingers across briny kelp that threatens to tickle his nose like the pollen did. A jawfish peeks at him from its burrow, but it runs off as Hunk passes his fingers across the hole it makes.

None of it feels real, and deep down it probably isn’t, but he feels himself getting overwhelmed nonetheless. The unending space around them— both of stars and jellyfish— is too close and too far, and—

Just as he sits up with the first panicked breath of many, he’s back in the room he’d started. Shiro sits on the bed with him, worriedly chewing his lip as his hand hovers the space above Hunk’s chest.

“I’m sorry. Humans aren’t meant to experience things so quickly.” Shiro climbs fully onto the bed, and Hunk realizes that it must not have been real because neither of them are dripping wet. “It’s so strange to me, that you live so long but experience so little of your universe.”

And really, Hunk would be offended on behalf of mankind if he wasn’t drained by his sudden existential crisis.

Shiro kisses his forehead, cautiously careful. “My apologies, Hunk.” And then, much like their first meeting, he wipes away the gathered tears blinding him.

Hunk squints at Shiro, suspicious all at once. “Why are you doing this?”

Shiro looks like he wants to play coy, at first, but his shoulders drop and he pulls his hand back to give Hunk his space. “I love you.”

The confession is so sudden and out of the blue that Hunk nearly jumps out of his skin. He does jump off of the bed, gathering his robes just to give his hands something to do. “Why ? You hardly know me.”

Shiro seems confused at the question. “I know enough. I know the type of person you are.”

“That’s not how it works.” Hunk says, exasperated. “Love is supposed to be slow— you wake one day after years and you realize that you never want to leave the other person’s side. That sort of thing.”

And really, that’s a lie.

Hunk couldn’t count on four hands the amount of times people have run through their village, wind-flushed and enamored with their partners as they search for a place to be eloped. Most of them had hardly known one another for maybe six months.

Hunk has a right to want things to be slow, though. Right? Right.

Shiro frowns then. Not angry, but introspective. He stands to Hunk’s height, just a few inches more, and tilts his head up so that they can look one another in the eye. It seems to be something he likes doing.

“Gods aren’t supposed to fall in love at all.” He says, finally.

Shiro is a fantastic creature. He’s translucent, almost, but his missing hand is replaced with nothing more than space itself. His wings match, and if Hunk could reach up and palm his scalp, he would probably find horns there, too.

But, besides that, he’s face is soft and his eyes are open. With the expression he has now, lips slightly parted, dark eyes darker when they’re half-lidded, Hunk feels helpless.

His touch is gentle, fingers sliding lower and lower down Hunk’s body until they catch themselves at his hip, and Hunk is pulled in by it.

He’s sure, for the longest, that Shiro is going to close the distance between them and kiss him on the lips— he wants that to happen— but they break apart.

“Let me take you home.” Shiro murmurs, urging Hunk towards the door. “I’ll do better next time.”

The door opens, not to the hallway but through a mirror in the temple, and Hunk feels oddly disappointed.

When Hunk hesitates, Shiro gives him the most charming of smiles and says, “I’ll listen to what you said. Don’t forget to come back tomorrow.”

Hunk isn’t even sure of how to get back on his own, but he nods anyway.

---

He tells Pidge immediately what happened.

“I don’t know if what he wants from me is what he says, but…” Hunk sighs. “He’s sweet.”

Pidge’s eyebrows disappear behind her messy bangs. “The god that you were sacrificed to is sweet.”

She’s taking it rather well, in all honesty. Hunk isn’t sure he’d be as calm as she seemed, if the roles were opposite. “What do you think I should do, Pidge? I’m falling in love with him, probably, but if that happens, I’m going to have to leave.”

“There’s nothing for you here, Hunk.” Pidge sighs. She steps between the pillars that he isn’t allowed to pass, the ones that act as entrance to the temple, and she hooks her hands on her hips as she looks him straight in the eye.

“You’re here.” He mumbles, sulkily if not for the serious situation.

She rolls her eyes, exaggerated in a way that he knows is just to make him feel better— but it works. “Who am I to stand in the way of a god and his lover?”

She leads him further into the temple, familiar with it even though she didn’t want to be. Her fingers trace the engravings on the throne as she plops down on it, and Hunk sits on the ground beside her. That’s how it probably would have been, with her dressed up and taken away, if he hadn’t stolen her place.

“I convinced Ma that it’s best we leave this place.” Pidge says, after they get settled. “Right before this entire thing happened— when I didn’t even know I was gonna get picked. She’s all for it.”

She shakes her head, pulling her legs to cross in the seat. “We’re not going to be here much longer, Hunk. Once we get enough money for a cart, we’re grabbing everything we can and we’re leaving in the middle of the night.”

Hunk is struck, then, with a thought. Shiro had promised that if Hunk went with him, the town would be blessed— the crops would flourish, the town would thrive. Pidge would be able to get enough money with odd jobs alone, probably.

“I see that look on your face.” Pidge says, squinting at him like she does when she knows he’s doing something he shouldn’t be.

“I’ll handle everything, Pidge.” Hunk promises. “I know you and your family will be able to get out of here before the next season.”

“And what about you and the mistress?”

Hunk grimaces at the phrasing, and by the cheeky grin on Pidge’s face, he knows she did it on purpose.

---

Shiro doesn’t come for him that night. Even after Hunk has steeled himself long after Pidge has gone, and has paced the entire temple to tire himself out to fall asleep and meet with him, Shiro never comes.

Hunk doesn’t sleep well.

---

That next morning, when Hunk looks at himself in the mirror, he finds Shiro looking back at him, instead.

“I know your plan.” Shiro says, after Hunk’s startled yell. Immediately, Hunk is on edge, taking a hesitant step away, even though Shiro isn’t even in the same realm as him.

Shiro looks defeated behind the glass, shoulders dropping. “I’m not angry at you.” But obviously upset, nonetheless. His eyes are heavy with heartbreak, and Hunk feels his own heart cracking down the middle just from that. “I understand why you would want to do it.”

Hunk can’t seem to get his voice to work immediately, and he must take too long to respond, because Shiro continues on with, “Our deal is rescinded.” He looks dull— no longer shaped with stars, but instead edged with opaque black. “I never meant for you to feel trapped.”

A greedy, selfish god, but not a cruel one.

“Shiro.” Hunk presses his hand against the glass, and it’s just as cold as that first touch they shared. “I… didn’t mean it like that.”

Shiro, somehow, is able to smile at him. “I know you didn’t.” It’s sad, a tad watery, but he’s resolute as he says, “I admire you a great amount, Hunk. No matter what’s happened. I will keep up my end of the deal— granting you the wish of letting your town prosper.”

He waves a hand— and nothing immediate happens, but Hunk can feel the magic thrumming through the wind.

“Good luck, my love.”

And then, he’s gone.

---

Hunk is left alone for that entire day, excluding the caretakers who don’t talk to him. It leaves him with plenty time to feel terrible, with enough to spare to think about a solution.

The caretakers are slow, with more than half the week finished. Tomorrow would be the last time for a few seasons that they would have to take care of a person instead of the temple, and they seem bored of their duty.

By the time they leave, the sun has set and Hunk’s toes are pruny with lavender oil. He waits longer, though, because if he gets caught he’s going to get in astronomical amounts of trouble.

When the moon is high, and most of the lights are out in the nearby homes, Hunk sneaks past the temple gates and out into the forest, towards Pidge’s house.

Rocks and twigs dig uncomfortable into the soles of his feet, what with him being barefoot, but he trudges on until the path smooths to stone and he can see the furnace outside of Pidge’s house burning low with dying embers.

---

She’s surprised to see him, especially trying to sneak through her window once she comes in from bringing fresh water from the nearby spring.

She’s less surprised to hear what happened. More irritated.

“Hunk.” She groans, pinching the bridge of her nose. Her glasses aren’t in the way, half-melted after she’d accidentally dropped them in her smithy.

Hunk is curled up in her bed, looking much like a kicked street puppy. She sighs for the tenth time that half-hour, lighting the oil lamp on her desk.

“I don’t know much about what’s going on.” She confesses. “I don’t know anything about gods, or magic, or love, or anything like that. But even so, I know that you’re kinda messing up your own chances here.”

She hops onto the bed beside him. “Don’t you go making yourself unhappy, Hunk. Not for my sake, or anyone else’s. I already have a plan to get out of here, and if you stay and I’m gone, what’s going to be the point?”

It makes him feel better and worse at the same time.

“Now I’m taking you back to that temple, and you’re going to kick and fuss until that ornery god-suitor of yours comes back and takes you on a honeymoon.”

---

One would think, upon seeing Hunk in the middle of the day— of the final day as ‘sacrifice’— that he would hurry to call upon Shiro and fix everything and, if all goes well, have his happily ever after.

But he’s scared. There’s no guarantee that anything he says will fix it, or make Shiro feel better, and he’s not even sure if his own feelings are true or not.

Hunk knows, though, deep down, that he wants to be with Shiro.

He crosses his arms and then uncrosses them. Follows the length of the room to the left, and then back to the right.

It’s all just to kill time, or maybe his own body is having fun watching his heart and brain torture one another.

Eventually, he leans his forehead against one of the mirrors and heaves a sigh that fogs the glass. “Shiro…”

He hears a whisper of his name start on the window before he sees Shiro appear before him. “Hunk.”

He doesn’t look much better than Hunk feels, if he’s being honest, but he’s still a stunning figure, and Hunk ignores his nerves for once and trudges forward with, “I’m sorry.”

Shiro flinches at the words, pulling back. His image fades, but Hunk steps forward as if he could physically step through to pull him back.

“Wait! Just, let me say something?” Hunk rests his hand against Shiro’s jaw, tracing the skin as if they were actually touching. Shiro’s eyes flutter shut as if he could actually feel it. “Please?”

Shiro’s eyes stay shut, but he nods his assent.

“I’m not sure if I’m… in love with you.” He starts. “I’ve never been in love. Romantically. But I’m willing to try, with you.”

He feels a shift in the room, magic curling around his peripheries, but he continues on when Shiro’s eyes— languid grey instead of black— open. “You’re a very charming god.” Hunk says, cheeks heating. “And incredibly pretty. I’m not sure what I can offer, but… I’m offering what I can.”

Shiro seems stumped at the confession, stumbling past the second half. His eyes are wide with surprise, stance guarded, but he looks pleased anyway.

Hunk blinks, and he’s in Shiro’s castle. Shiro’s arm comes to wrap around his shoulders, squeezing him tight as Shiro softly confesses, “I was hoping I would get to see you again. I wasn’t expecting it to be so soon, with such… pretty words.”

He’s shy, Hunk realizes. His cheeks are dusted pink, he’s nervously fiddling with his hair when he pulls away, and he can hardly look Hunk in the eye. It’s incredible how such a romantic soul, who literally brought Hunk to see the heavens themselves, could be so bashful.

Hunk’s laugh comes out as a snort that startles Shiro, who hurries to say, “I think that you’re also pretty, of course. Beautiful. And kind, and— perfect.”

Just like that, all of Hunk’s preconceived notions of Shiro are gone, and he’s mesmerized by the man before him.

He presses a kiss against Shiro’s cheek, partly to save him from rambling himself into a puddle. “Can we start over? Before I messed up.”

And Shiro is a greedy god, a selfish god, a lonely god. But forever and always would he be a kind one.

#shunk #hunkshipweek #voltron #LONG POST #so long #jam writes #i FINISHED IT #zoowee mama #i cut myself off writing this but please note that its the happiest of happy endings

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stan-and-the-newbie · 6 years

Text

A kpop newbie’s reaction to LOONA

you know i had to do it to ‘em

Alexa: bold

Alex: italic

okay so today you're reacting to Loona!

o, noice

they just debuted like two days ago and everyone is crying

damn. ok but do any of them speak english <<

y es

n u t

i believe i already told you, they built this Loonaverse, and released a girl each month

yeh, you told me a few things

right. all of them have an animal and a color. the first five girls have an additional location, then the next three girls have a superpower, and the last four girls have a fruit

...alexa. t-twelve

yeah

<-<

>->

alright fam hit me up

okay, the first girl that was released, back in 2016, is heejin

damn she looks like a disney princess

she does;;

this is aN INSULT

isnT IT

someone arrest her, she's not allowed to be so cute. it is illegal.

how old is she and what does she do

uhh she's 21and she's a singer

she iS BORN IN 2000

... ALEXA WE'RE MOVING TO KOREA PACK YOUR SHIT

ill give you her music video now

alright

the location is hard to guess, so just try to guess her color and animal

hmm

*ViViD*

i'm not watching this u freak, you know about my arachnophobia

y tho. there are no spiders

THERE IS ONE IN THE THUMBNAIL, BIG AND RED

there are no spiders, so play the song, its good. no girl has the spider as her animal u coward

the song's aight. i'd listen to it in a cafe. her animal is obviously a bunny and her color is either red or white. asian girls with thick thighs are too powerful alexa. someone needs to do something about them. it's a health hazard.

omf. her color is actually hot pink;; but u got her animal right lol

o damn. well pink is the mix between red and white isn't it >>

ooOOO

pFFF

she's part of the first subunit, 1/3

ah, so she's a colonel

omG. i mean, y'know, subunits are some of the members that form like a band of their own and put out music

with 12 bloody members, i can imagine

loona has three. anyway, a few things about heejin

hit me

she’s a whole cutie

o gee i couldn't notice

sdfdsdf she likes dad jokes and randomly breaks into silly and awkward dances but she doesn't care. she's also afraid of pigeons

the guards would have to restrain me from pinching her cheeks if i was ever in the same room with her. and to be fair those things are chaotic evil. one literally flew into my face once.

omf

they also carry diseases similarly to rats. except they fly. so yeah, i can see why one would be afraid.

she also named a rabbit from the set "heekki". hee from her name, and kki from the korean word for rabbit, tokki. and proceeded to ask if she could adopt it.

that's adorable go away i am stone cold

is there anything else u want to know about her. her location is paris, and the first ever video of her beside her mv was her repeating random french phrases she knew in the airport

pfffF.

the next member is hyunjin

they’re all so pretty i cry

they are :(

they are like porcelain dolls, but without the creepiness of a doll, just the beauty and cuteness

i KNOW. so, how old is she

hmm 20 and she's a rapper

she is ALSO born in 2000 ;D and she's a singer

here's her music video

after mark's video on that cat game, the thumbnail horrifies me

o-oh

alight so her animal is a kitteh. so she's the neko of the group, noice... is this a thriller film, geez.

ghjkjhghjk its just a kitten smh

an e v i l kitten

cats cant be evil. her song is very kdrama-ish

her color is... i honestly have no idea

her color appears in the first third of the video

green? blue?

she wears it

lemon

yeh, yellow. and yes her animal is cat lol. what about the song? it’s a drastic change from the last one

ok that last part horrified me. idk it's a weird mix between depression and a drug trip

so, about this baby. her location is tokyo, and she is the savage one

o-oh

shes the one that kept a blank face on a rollercoaster while the others were screaming. also, she really likes bread and croissants

and she's not a rapper smh. well, she does have a pretty voice.

she does~ and shes really sporty, practiced a lot of sports before becoming an idol

alright, off to my wife. this is haseul.

and no photo makes her justice

UGH queen

that jawline fam

i’m sorry i just. literally have never seen such a beautiful woman

alright by now i'm about 70% convinced that these people are created in underground governmental labs

m e. aight, how old is she

fucc it, she's uhh 18

she's actually born in 1997 dfgfdsdfgh

OF COURSE. sigh. that's just my luck

but i understand u

they all look between 15 and 20 anyway does it really matter- i- she's more pretty than she is cute. respecc.

this is her music video

her color is bleagh. i mean bleuugh. blue

omf

she's a parappa the rapper. but she's also a singer. idk her voice sounds like she can rap. was that plane just there and they used it or did they buy a gigantic plane prop for the video

(i really hoped alex would say this because this video exists)

she’S TRYING. her color is green but her location is iceland so liek,,, i guess the writers clashed ideas

blasphemy. they should have went for turquoise

her animal is a dove. she’s also the leader of the group, and the mom friend #1. she can speak english but she has a cute accent which i Love

awh

aaaand she’s a seal enthusiast

o. that's something

they went to iceland so she was like "omg a seal!!! hi !! that was a seal!!"

pffa whole cutie

she is :( she’s also really funny

anyway, the next one makes me feel worthless. this is yeojin

another flawless creation of the secret korean labs

her age?

that tissue-printing chamber in that korean lab from avengers 2? not fiction - they use it to create idols. uhh 19

:D she is 15!!!1

...

and turns 16 in november !!

Goodbye. Tty later, i gotta pack my stuff

dfgfdGHJH here is her song. its very cute because, well, shes a child

L O L I C O N A L E R T. those three dudes are terrifying. is that the joker wearing a frog head

mmmmaybeh

this is weird lmfao. aaand there's the foot fetish

you’RE HORRIBLE

why is the frog dude going all roaring reeo on her only to give her a fucking present

well, its a song about how she doesn’t want the relationship to move too fast, so she doesn’t want to kiss the dude just yet

that ending was just... idk man. this one broke me. her color is red, and her animal is a frog because that's the only animal in the foreground here idfk

her color is orange, close enough. the other members call her "bean" because shes the youngest and rlly smol and chubby.

awh ;;

and everyone treats her like a baby lmao

well, what did u expect. hmm i think i like the first one the best so far

o, alright

so, these past four girls and the fifth one form the subunit 1/3. the fifth one was introduced through the subunit's first song, but i'll give u their second song cuz its Better

*check out “Sonatine it’s superior*

basically, these girls have a very dreamy concept with a lot of piano and strings. the fifth girl is the pink haired one, and baby yeojin isn’t here cuz her grades were dropping lmao

shhhh just listen to the song

this song gives me the sad

u gotta appreciate the animu songs

i do, i was literally gonna say that this one somewhat reminds me of miia's second song

same !!

her color is W H I T E like my teeth. p u r e w h i t e

she haS HER OWN mv

the fifth member is vivi

shes chinese and the oldest

from communism to idolization. noice

so she's wot, 21? 22?

yeh, shes turning 22 this year

noice

here’s her song

a break from the animu songs. ps: they dont come back

sad. kinda stalkerish fam

ikr. shes a hooman here. but in the subunit mvs she’s an android

what

idk fam they go all out and no one knows whats happening

i am gonna get bashed for this but when she smiles her cheeks look kinda weird she kinda looks like a chipmunk? but not in a bad way

ghjkHJ she does;; shes cute though

yeah

her color is her haircolor lawl. pastel rose

o, nice

and her animal is deer

so she's basically bambi gotcha

she speaks english, and shes the reaction memes queen. and shes also very smol

awh ;;

alright, we're done with 1/3. is heejin still your favourite?

yepp

cuz we're entering girl crush land

o h

the sixth member is kim lip

LISTEN YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THIS

she’s cute tho

of course she is. they're all cute perfect goddesses. i'm noticing a pATTERN HERE

hey, shes mostly a tsundere

well, ngl, she looks like one

sdfgfds

she chose charmander tho 10/10

here’s her amazing mv. her animal appears for 1 second here so lmao good luck. her color is very obvious

white, at long last

the other one

FUCK

SDFGFDSD

red?

yes

that building is aesthetic would hang out there with my weird friends 10/10. the song is odd, but it's nice

i think the song really suits her voice

it does! that's why it works

her animal is an owl

n o i c e

also in one of her vlogs all she does is talk about food. she also keeps the members company while theyre shooting their mvs!! and shes also a reaction meme queen. she sings, but her main strength is dancing

yeah, i can tell

oh right !! she is in the odd eye circle subunit, and these girls have super powers. imma tell you now, the odd eye circle members are in different planes. like, theyre in different dimensions, not the flying planes lol

umm alright..?

anyway, her super power is speed. aaaand i think thats it with kim lip

the next one is a fan favourite. jinsoul

oof. idk man the blond is weird

oh, is it. i dunno, i feel like it suits her.

hammers in that "created in an underground lab to be flawless" vibe. idk, maybe a darker shade? like a golden blonde?

most people choose her song as their favourite

singing in the rain? is tom holland gonna come in and dance to "umbrella"?

oh my god

if not i'll be disappointed. the song reminds me of minecraft intros lmao. especially that synth part

geT OUT LMAO

the dancing is lewd af tho. so 8/10

well, so was eclipse. girl crush land

is she a necromancer? because those hips kill me and bring me back to life

i knOW. she can sing, rap and dance. triple threat. okay you cant possibly be wrong about her color and animal

uhh blue and fish. idk wot fish but a fish

y e s. its a blue betta fish. she said, and i quote "the blue betta fish is one that needs to be kept alone, because it eats the other fish in her tank. so i'm going to take over the group like that"

i- IS THE ENTIRE SECOND SUBUNIT SASSY

SDFGHGFDSSDFGH shes very oblivious and confused also idk if i should show you this but its hella funny and falls into the dumb blonde stereotype. she acts cute in a live stream and then she just

*that beautiful face plant video*

and at the enD KIM LIP IS LIKE "yes. whats next?" and looks through the comments

i-is she ok

yeah, she just stays there like ten seconds and then lifts her head while laughing. her superpower is teleportation btw. anyway, shes just very oblivious and awkward

nice man

the next member is choerry

oof, she qt. her color is purple.

yes. she doesnt like cherries btw

of course. why doesn't she like them? they're gud ;; maybe they remind her of all the bad puns she must have had to endure

i- most likely tbh. she prefers her actual name too sdfgfdsasdf. but choerry is a play on her name. cho yerim.

ah, i see

here's her song that takes a very weird turn and supports further the girl crush concept lawl

i expect lewd dancing. wot’s her animal?

a bat

e d g y. they made her eat a cherry. the monsters

i know, the madmen

o, here comes the lewd dancing. oof, that was short, but it was cool. back to... this??

it happens more than once. hmm, its a really nice song tbh

yeah, it was pretty nice

shes the bright, positive one

and managed to feed a squirrel out of her hand, so shes a princess confirmed

o damn how tall is she. she looks pretty tall in this pic

oh my god all of them are so small i literally cannot cope

;-; pure babies

hmm i think this is old information but the tallest is 165 sdfsGHJKJHJ

o damn

it says here shes 160. p u r e. her super power is plane travelling, like, shes the only one who can meet both kim lip and jinsoul. thats why i told you about the dimension thing

..alright..? this seems pretty redundant, idk. the whole superpower thing and the different planes thing is just odd. what purpose do they serve

well, its basically a whole universe, i guess it ties to the whole story

there's a story? uhh

yeah, but we won't get into that too much. here's odd eye circle's debut song

oh, this song is... something. i could live without the weird distorted voice. fucc yes more lewd dancing. well, that was trippy.

anyway, the third subunit is called yyxy, and it has "fall from eden" as their concept

the first member from this subunit is yves, pronounced as eve but it gotta be fancy y'know

oo, noice. please for the love of god tell me her color is white

no one's color is white

well, it’s not a color ;D

ug h. anyway, here’s her song.

hecc yes more lewd dancing

omf

the song is.. odd. GET OUTTA HERE HER COLOR IS TOTALLY WHITE. EVERYTHING HERE I WHITE. SHE WEARS ALL WHITE.

:( her apple is burgundy

what. is that- is that her color

yeah

...i quit.

fgfdghjkghjGHJ

well, that was something

her name is eve, so people speculate the song and mv are about her living a normal life after falling from eden y'know. anyway, shes the mom friend #2

o, interesting pFF

she was very awkward at the beginning, when she first was introduced

awh ;;

and her animal is a swan

AND HER COLOR ISN'T WHITE GET OUTTA HERE

fgfdsdfg shes also pretty savage now that she isnt as shy, but she takes care of the members, since shes one of the older membersGHJKJHGHJK

wholesome

shes very cute i like her uwu

the next one is an actual animu waifu. her name is chuu

and she is the full of cuteness member

yeah i can teLL. the second image scraped my stone heart

yes, she softens everyone. here’s her mv, and the other girl is yves. and chuu is more or less in love with her. lesbian icon

alexa ur doing the thing, but reverse

SHES LITERALLY STALKING YVES AND GIVING HER AN APPLE AND THE SONG IS ABOUT ROMANTIC LOVE get outta here

ALL OF THESE BANDS ARE BASICALLY FAMILIES YALL SHIPPING THEM IS INCEST

ASDFGFDSDFGHJ but yves just shot a heart at her

it's a music video smh

hey, im not saying shes gay for yves in real life, just in, like, the universe theyre building

ah, i see. the choreography is gud. and the whole music video is nice. and the song is nice too. alright, what's her color

peach

do these people only know red and blue variations. THERE ARE OTHER COLORS OUT THERE

her animal is penguin, hence her posing with a penguin plushie in that photo

awh ;;

and her fruit is strawberry. she also sang a kids show ost before she became an idol :( and the other members make her act cute sometimes in front of the camera because everyone loves her. take dis

:'c

when she does the winking thing she stops and asks "why am i doing this..." and the others are just "because its cutE"

s-STONE COLD I AM S T O N E C O L D

anyway, yes, we all love chuu

we have two members left, keep your head in the game

i'm in it to win it

the second to last member is go won

speaking of winning, apparently she already did

she is a real life doll- oh my god alex

yet another qt what is new. cute dolls. cute talented dolls e v e r y w h e r e

i remember her song just because of the way she sings "baby" there

*check out “One&Only” yall*

ah, i see. some nice cinematography here. she has an interesting voice

shes mostly a rapper

yeah, i can picture that. that was a pretty nice song

her color is eden green :3

n o i c e

her animal is butterfly and her fruit is pineapple

but does she like it on pizza tho >> that is the question

she's kinda cold, but shes pretty oblivious, the staff messed with her saying that "adam" is her stage name (adam translates to "small" in korean) and she actually believed them and she didnt get the joke either affdsdfg

;-; god bless

shes pretty savage tho, we have three so far

oof

she is olivia hye

and she does not appreciate olive jokes

she's pretty 0^0

she is~

wot's her personality

shes very blunt and she seems like someone that might succeed at being a famous blogger

o damn

she always speaks her mind. i haven’t really seen her play around, but that doesn’t mean i don’t find her funny sdfgfsdfg

pff the mom friend

hmm, she doesnt really take care of the others, shes the second youngest

o rlly

but she does boast about how shes the only one without a fear of heights jasdfjks

pfff alright, hmu with her song

her song is my favourite

*”Egoist” ftw*

s m o o t h. yeah, this is a nice song

ikr !!

aaand more lewd dancing the world is kind to me today

they never give it up

wot's her color and animal

her color is gray, her animal is wolf and her fruit is plum

o damn

here’s their song~

this is hype af. this song is nice too but it has odd parts

i feel like the quality of their music increased with time. the first songs are also nice but you can tell these ones are better put together

well, it makes sense

it has been two years yes asdfdsdfg

o o f

here's a predebut song. the first ever with all of them, but not their debut the intro and the chorus are the best parts ngl

that's a lot of idols fam

eh, 12 isnt that rare. BRRRRRRRRRAH

where the esketit at. that was a pretty good predebut song, all things considered. they fit a bit of everything in there

yep, here’s their debut song

this one's trippy. ah, that's why it's called "hi high" they're saying hi to me, and i'm high after watching it. UOUOUOUAAAHH

I ONLY LISTEN TO MUSIC WITH MEANINGFUL LYRICS

HLBJLNKBJLNKBKLN

do you remember any of them as your favourite or did everything already vanish

i like chuu and the last one but i think the first is still my fave

oo alright, i see. any last thoughts?

well-managed for a 12 idol group, nice choreographies (& lots of lewd dancing >>), plenty of good songs, gud stuff overall, 10/10. 11/10 for the UOUOUOUOOAAAHHH

noicE

alexa here!! oof, this took so long to put together;; also if haseul sees this please marry me goddess ily

i hope you enjoy this post, even though its a little messy!! pop a little message in our ask box too, it’ll make our day~ i hope everyone has a nice day or evening!!

4 notes · View notes

reeseoqz · 3 years

Text

000

~ Mother watched it die every year. For at a time when the leaves twirl as dance, or those in sphere with that purple static reflectors: she may run herself along of what it was but gone away, and it was only distance till common then; say as Jupiter.

All developed from the dot but change anyway and thru the seems; with glimpse of when the frozen lake, to now the sighted first birds among the echo of on the walls to out, and the fires less as we embrace invited horizon as the dreams return. Yet, I could not convey what spark did change in ~____until there were some friends of mine: the hallucination of bears…

Forward to revive: to think of without, gl111x00Fearoming\oeoe: would the spirits say we are settled always guided and flourish as? Even when about: it would reveal time*** Mother has turquoise while home wondered on until along the nature’s night of grace and wonder.

If the morning cried, there I would be. My stance glowing and learn myth or two, but what of the dearest natural changes? Losing groups of the noble to vastness at those times, or withered poison left gifted or snuck about***

Now the light thru the cloud’s noticed at noon and all til moon; maybe to the waterfall, o: life presented and fond in mind. The magenta some other lapse of sky, now shimmer rotation ! ! ! ! around the land.

The wise healers to all, and the flourished to be of what became of me so different and quiet—they, the sighted almost time or in the morning fire, became all of what I ever,...memories, and in my heart: creaoievus

When the warmth congruent, I wanted to ask her about it—my own little change of change leading me up the hill and adjacent to the 1;^ across and thru to mother’s circle space in the distance, and the derived glee will renew her and our days divine.

———-

When the “”((( gathered us all: there was my brother—an enthusiast of season, stay till noble, then groups travel beyond what all is to what 0. He knew there was change and up speed*** he chooses, and all of his purpose and freedom would keep our people hopeful even when it is home to return from what they call an-overflow: ‘city’, to see for themselves a sim;,,,with grateful for (;)*** or #revived.

The bears looked frightful despite awaken. How could I ease a circle?*** The woods was where it prayed and blossomed—longed for (;) and when a journal with a branded eagle was gifted to my brother. He kissed mother goodbye and disappeared beyond the hills***.

Myself where the birds sing, moving with the light.*** I wanted to remember where they hinted about, and why the bears were easing fear thru my body and mind. The cycles but myself never was aware of anything besides circles, on so on. I could have felt then, but dizzy…

<><><><><><>><><>><>>><<<<><>///////////]]]]]\\\\\\\\\\\

h!z4oh whisper echo—vines, moody swirling whistle become. So the bears….

Hum e\ri\\ridge, still oh my, rush ‘em away you bloody shadows. j@!e02, such as that—people rebelled and rumored tumor or simply losing related, that is where. Neighbor when duration amplify^#=Jupiter then the bloom. Eh, say as so, for honest, earwax heavy that is cube. EDITronate *nothing but it was, but how if the A#3lllhm maybe to home now, ek soul drum crickets. @m<-Waving pink haired bear.

———^[[[[[[[[[[[[[?`````————————————-

Engage dino7 but fireflies or busy \ glitter 4&&;_

Erased along with berry atmosphere too…/[___~

<<>> until it, ugh&deer and rabbits…distanced worry.

Within; rewind =</freely see what is around it, the very thing blurry. L00kme me see the spiral cloak of morphing bloom ugh, ^2 grass near church up west hill miles on, abandon ^^^way; frenzy so re- and why have the tribes fled? ;\#;’

———————-

Color spectrum, mortal us a fools. Embrace oh the ladder,* * * would it snow?—never mind any guess,. Haunted hehq, said tweedled0=; water#&7\+ real7y own map replied, Thru and of the woods, step so lounge window to circle , re,0t;z shun Fe-@x+j^q2e.

: 00000_&eagh^F>L>E>M>…………

up a tree/Flood@waterfall rotator7^ \^ appointment light spotted.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

cry any cry til day purple moon] 3@;\\

``` &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^creek^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^33^3370333abandon for sister 33333737373777777700000<`0~_______00000static atmosphere, c—- soon to loom…..00000 ;;; the messages of mother.

Storm, echos and shadows. From a stranger at camp, name unknown, found on a chair in my tent, opium, spoke of but missed and matched, as the*** and when nature soul knew it would not be very long, 0h%/\convinced scissor that June when the change saw I saw for one or [^.

———

When I got to the open circle, up to the treehouse; old notebooks; drawings. Hallway but to where?… sincere, hm0 \ and]]\0; if to lightning near the stone manifest, awhile see—where it always is but view static to ground and around; stunned twirling ribbons of pink light.***************

ZzzzzzzzzzzzzzZ

Grey clothed men, demon cursing***, oh loud friction bells, and ill_ z doc stumble thru blur, of to onward see as we, fire and madness; who would? Human lasers, my family, our home…

Thru and thru to smoke and ash. 1//e@L<. Once without mirror then hehyugh, jettison slaughter,,,,The stranger boy being thrown to the ground.

Clmderophinzym—ti;hsorthm0 or but really ladybugs, the butterflies, my friends.\\ maze mist and demon skeletons, 7llll3\=

_SPOTLi#h+uh Tachx9\; chief***. Jasmine rhuteahalL7. Huhph4fkg;&^ fire screams but not at all like this moment oh, elders bowed, tremble and gave away freedom; and yet the spirits***; what of this grief Jupiter?

Wire supply storage, prisoners; away the doc. Oh we gone along. z3e7e7=lightning scan woods, journey vomit exhausted in the wasteland— mourning, who again…cannot.

———————

7 ill fair fainting oh— spirits you see…but suddenly: awG, the spoken of regarding xhxhxxhhxxhxhxh, but never believed,.

“Hello.’***

toxic in storm this night, hmm So so so, darkening sky. Birdhouse pirate cannot navy, women say to shelter; this different poison blinded////. MJ0#stair if they, where is home? Dear heavens…,

There are soldiers near path with torches.

H1; and swords, violence and yet I was near it, just yesterday; a fold of common.

Who was wizardry, oh pinch surreal?! Chaos. e.s.t.. Where are we going?! Eye_corruption over home and yelling for retrace,. It they search; I saw the ribbon drop 0 in heart. Some stayed and knitted sharpen; circle but far and forever these. So my mother’s journals and 3/4c/keys to on move till flying lanterns. Fabric ash, awG sharp teeth %/\,;+3k’’——______——-_______————-_________————____ …tired in the void. Oh, some chemical ++ asleep***

Story harps and Heather00 proclaimed ghosts and awG’s cavalry. Tormenting, yet my papers and letters from my sister, point wheel-mech, and tobacco when.*** All till***, traveler boy with ‘swim on. ^^^ ^’awG gloom: are we to be hidden away? Silk uahhz.

Crowds; portion appear sits beside me. It is not the poison, the more and more stranded, but future thru the hills and without song, and only us captured; frightened.

000

“Devils and humans do similar…”, boy Fhyejg.

I awoke to an orange circle around the moon. He was tired, whittling, and seemingly over a spell. My eyes, this coma,…artificial, blinking lights,…ocean,…aliens. The awGs, people to skeletons with darkness and fire—they were yelling, dragging dead or alive bodies away from the water.

We were sitting outside of a tent and my body ached, and there were scars on all over him. Fhyejg was speaking an eerie mantra and shivering then he laid up to the voided sky. Oh, mother—the comets.

“Mechanics,…technology.”

“Why do the shadows have red eyes?”

…………..

The camp moved away from the sea and into the metal land—clouds covered, vomit…

If a human in sight for put as not x but ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~, awG frenzy brainwash, electricity in ears—lacking, impaired and the junkyard was indeed also once lived.

In the distance, giant towers—the awG’s halted and the people, around twenty-five of us, were horrified, starving, poisoned, and confused. Of hidden in darkly cloak and cold—mother, mother these demons,…their rain is fusion-anger and lies.

There were whisper sounds outside of my tent: hundreds of green spiders pausing and curious oh, follow thru gaps of structure, alone and the soldiers out of sight. Lanterns on the trees, large towers in the distant east—dim and cold; soft and eerie violins farther in path with trees closing over sky view. Nervous stomach, seizure fidget—fear and stumble with the spiders panning out now: a shut door with an imprinted animal,…….

“I would rather die!”, yelling and a thrown chair inside. I see Fhyejg huffing out the door without a glance, again muttering. Eight men were around the table in a bland grey room: name Z0 pointed to closest seating while I froze and my body shook while the eyes were fixated with the exception of a neon ostrich seated at the far end flipping thru papers, then hinting to Z0 to begin speaking.

“We are here to help you, Ms. A4.”, he walked over to a table where a chest was opened. Z0 took out a vile of something pink, a mirror, and a butterfly that flew and then rested in the middle of the table. He brought the vile to me and it steamed with toxin mist around my body, ill ;_`=//\\\\…the man at the end snapped his fingers and I saw a flash.

“You have been poisoned on several occasions by your own.”

“Tell us where it is and the whereabouts of your mother by looking into this mirror.” The mirror was made of water. Oh, I saw home. Circle of jumble fierce words of sorcery….meadow, joy—thru the glowing and exuberant community: nobody but me while the image fades to the forest, where it was always meant to be, yet I was to reveal and convey what only is to be a myth protected by my sleeping mother. The warmth in body Y_33[[[[__________i

Uhm, “F-fuzz______

——————

)000

HM3907hek,

Dente titan craze, t;8feeseawhe?

0uhL me friendz, fold awG treacherous poison, alright.

pi3ehnze

PF; she’s the days as zapping type “ ()” )0ov540001

iuvcoohr oh flicker 000 building golden towers……..

Ch3uh!e0; witchy wall oh dear L(((

Submarine cigar and blame oh what a zap FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Lewis thru Luke 444_—— metal moth. Dim ah today tomorrow eager collapse, crying at McVm4;&

fin

\rees eoqz

0 notes

princeinthevale · 4 years

Text

Chapter I: Sapphires and Pears

Wind through trees, I’m dancing in the forest green. I float on the breeze, my feet do not touch the ground. The canopy is emerald on a sky bleached white by sun and cloud. Up I go, higher. I can see the whole wood, nestled safe in the vale beneath the Grey Titans. Smudges of smoke curl from chimneys in the village; a herd of deer rut in the glade. The wind gives out, I start to fall. It comes, fast—a blink—and I am on the grassy, leafy, floor. I look up to the hole I’ve made in the canopy.

‘Too fast.’ I say to myself, because no one else will. ‘Much too fast.’

The gust picks up, I am beckoned to rejoin the dance. Only for a little while, I always promise myself. Rarely do I keep it. I let it carry me forward, between the trees and the along the brush; over the river and up the bend. Then I’m back. It takes me all the way to the top, at the highest rim of the Titans. If I try very hard, I can float above the vale for a few minutes, but I’ll always have to come down. It gets too cold otherwise.

But I love to see the outside, if only for a moment.

When it drags me down again, I don’t get back on. I’m out of breadth; my chest heaves and my heart pounds. I crush a leaf in my fingertips as I ponder the little blue holes in the white walled sky. It was a very good day for flying, it had been like this for a few weeks. It’s best when the wind is up and ripping around the cliffs and over the crags. Violent turns and vicious drops make for a good afternoon.

‘It’ll rain tonight.’ I say as I watch the clouds race by.

The soft dirt feels gentle between my toes as I walk back to the hut. The forest wasn’t quiet. It never was. The wind played it’s symphony through the leaves, branches, and bushes; other more colorful players clamored for acclamation.

‘Downright noisy, you lot.’ I say as I pass a particularly cacophonous bouquet of pheasants crowded around a bushel of blackberries. They’re indignant at the audacity of my plucking one for myself.

‘Just the one.’ I promise.

I come to the village clearing, to a clutch of gently smoking huts. There were twelve, but only three were lived in, including mine. Squat, prideful, and snug beside a stream, and gently turning flour mill. My stomach rumbled at the memory of bread. I couldn’t remember my last, really satisfying meal. Mostly I subsisted on berries and nuts, these days. I can’t bear killing. The others can, but I can’t.

The flower beds which surrounded and covered my hut opened to greet me with a burst of purple, blue, and pink. It was really only one room, little wool hammock piled high with blankets and pillows that hung from the rafters. There were some books on the shelf that I don’t read anymore, and a bowl and spoon sat dusty on my humble wood table. The recent paw-prints in the dirt floor suggests my cat is somewhere nearby.

The coals in the fireplace are still alive. I go about setting up a little fire, and work at coaxing the flames back into being. It can get very cold at night in the vale. Once I’ve deemed it sufficiently warm, I go to check the cupboard—out of habit—but it’s empty. I look out my one window at the darkening sky; there won’t be stars tonight.

‘Mmrreow.’ Cloud announces himself with an enthusiastic head-butt to my knee. He’s licking his face, and wastes no time in thanklessly laying out before the fire. He stretches, and warms his paws near the flames.

‘You’re welcome.’ I say, closing the window and turning the latch. I’m just about to pull myself into my hammock when I hear a knock at my doorframe.

‘Lavender? Are you decent?’ An ill-timed voice sounded.

Oh dear.

‘No no, no visits tonight please.’ I asked, throwing my arm over my eyes to cover the sight of my interloper. ‘My stomach can’t stand another of those dreadful cider drinks.’

‘Oh well, that never stops you from drinking them does it?’ A young face with a square jaw peaked in. He had copper and gold hair and drops of sapphires in his eyes. He had two bottles held up in his grasp, and a sack full of fruit over his shoulder.

I waved him inside as I foisted myself up into the hammock. We toasted and drank to his mothers health, and the health of the vale and village, though it wasn’t any good. Again, more out of habit. Kolya was generous with the fruit, and happily cut up slices for the two of them. The pears tasted like sunshine on my lips.

We talked for a long while about nothing in particular. I tried to ask about his mother, he tried to ask about my family. Neither of us were interested in that. He had something more weighty that he wanted to say, though I was desperate not to hear it.

‘It’s almost autumn.’ He said after cutting a slice of apple for himself.

‘That it is.’ I agreed.

‘We’ll be having to move on soon,’ He sat facing the fire but I could see him glancing form the corner of his eye, ‘For a little while.’

This was always the worst part. The fireplace crackled and popped, filling the space of the silence between us. I didn’t want to say anything, because I’d said it before; it wouldn’t change anything, anyway. As always, my golden summers must come to an end.

‘How long?’

‘A few weeks, probably, whenever mother says it’s time.’ Kolya said with his nails between his teeth. ‘She want’s to leave before the winds make the steps too hard on the way down, her knees as she gets older you know.’

No I don’t. But even still, I knew this was coming. In truth it’d been happening for a few weeks already. As the seasons dragged on, and summer inevitably gave way to autumn, the families of herders and traders uprooted, and moved up and out, leaving me alone for the next few weeks while I waited for my next guests.

‘Of course,’ I said trying to ignore the ache in my chest, ‘I’ll be here, after all, when you get back.’

‘Right.’ Something in his voice sounded wrong. From my hammock I could see him rubbing his eyes. When he could finally speak it was more like a croak. ‘I’ll miss you.’

No sweeter words to my ears.

‘I’ll miss you too.’ I said, alighting from the hammock and coming to sit beside him. We spent the rest of the night drinking and talking of our time spent over the past few months. I liked when we swam in the river and laid in the sun, he loved when I taught him how to fly. They always did. He promised to come back as soon as he could, but I knew that it wasn’t up to him. They would come back if they were allowed to come back. I hoped they were.

It was late when he left. The sky was black and he’d not be able to find his way home if not for the gentle candle-lights in his and his mothers’ adjacent huts. He kissed me on the cheek and I regretted not asking him to stay the night.

The next few weeks went by in a haze. I languished in the sunny skies, drinking in the delicious warmth and light. I saw my guests only infrequently. Mostly I tried to avoid them, it was easiest that way.

Goodbye is too final. I am determined never to say it. So when the time comes, as it always does, for my guests to leave, I am nowhere to be found. He is looking for me. His mother has wanted them to leave for days, but he still wishes to speak to me.

I float above the treetops, and watch as he peers through my door. I really don’t know what I was thinking this time, with a village of huts. It’s quaint I suppose but really just anyone peaking in there is a little violating to my privacy. Maybe for the autumn I’ll do something more special. Perhaps a castle in the cliffs to overlook the turning leaves?

Cloud is there, a grey smudge against a green floor. Kolya pets him graciously.

I should say something. But I don’t. I hide and watch as he turns away from my cottage with visible dejection. His face is hidden, but the slump in his shoulders is all I need to see. The copper and gold of his hair shimmers in the dappled forest light as he leads his mother by the arm out of the little village.

As they walk, I float a little ways behind them. They take a few days to get from the village to the edge of the vale. A few more to climb up the steps and they’re nearly at the rim. He knows I’m watching them. Furtively I see him peak over his shoulder, to check if I’m still watching. I can’t let him see, it’s for his good, as much as mine. It’s always worse if the parting is long and drawn out, and it's cruel to give him too much hope.

There’s a crest at the top of the steps, between two rocky crags. Once they’re over I can’t follow them anymore. I think he knows this, because they stop for another night before they make the descent down the other side of the titan. Their tent’s are pitched beneath an outcrop, and a little fire warmed them in the night.

My heart aches when I see him sitting alone as the moons drag over the sky. He’s looking up for me. I’m hiding in the shadows above the rocks, but I think he knows I’m close. I can see his eyes flashing blue in the dark. He’s nibbling on the core of a pear, I love when he smells that way.

I can’t resist; I’m behind him.

‘Hello.’ I say.

He starts, and leaps to his feet with admirable agility. When he realizes me he visibly calms, his cheeks flush red, and he glares. I’ve scared him.

‘I’m sorry.’ I tell him reaching out to grab him by the hand. ‘I wanted to come before…’

‘Before you never saw me again?’ He spat and stepped away.

That hurt, but it was true. He still came back to take my hand.

‘Yes.’ I said rubbing my fingers against his palm. ‘The Vale will only let you pass this way once, you can never come back the way you came and I can never leave.’

‘And you were just going to let me find out when I tried to come back to see you?’ His glare cut to the quick, and made my lip quiver. ‘I thought we became…something, these past months, I thought we meant something.’

‘We did.’ I closed my eyes to stop the tears, and felt his rough hands cup my face. ‘We did, but it couldn’t last, you couldn’t stay here.’

‘Why not?’ He shook me a little, I opened my eyes and saw his face glistening in the moonlight. ‘Why can’t I stay here with you? It could be the two of us, we could be happy here, safe and happy, forever.’

The word sent a shudder down my spine. How desperately I wanted something like that. What I wouldn’t give to leave? To step down the other side of the stairs for even a day, and watch a sunset over the flatlands below. But I never could. I must remain. I must always remain in the Vale. Such is my purpose.

‘No.’ I tell him, taking a step back and wiping my face. ‘You must leave, and you must never come back, ever.’

I didn’t wait for him to respond. Noiselessly, I leaped from the cliff, allowing the wind to carry me down the side of the mountain, and cradle me to rest among the canopy. I saw his shrinking face peering over the cliff to watch me as I went. We stayed like that for a long while, me resting on the trees, and him looking down at me from above.

A droplet hit my cheek. I’ll always wonder if it was his tears. Lightning cracked the sky open, and I’d have to seek shelter soon. But before I left, I turned back one last time to see him, and the last glimpse I ever has were those eyes, blue as sapphires. He didn’t wave.

They’ve been gone for weeks now. His mother had left an apple pie in my hut, for my hospitality of course. He’d left a note folded in my hammock. I didn’t read it. Instead I crumpled it to a ball and threw it in the fire. Cloud meowed approvingly, and purred softly in my lap.

It’s been only the two of us in the Vale now; but I can feel, soon others will come. I’lll have to make the place ready.

#writing #my writing #fantasy #literary fantasy #literature #theprince #vale #sapphires #pears

0 notes

ciathyzareposts · 4 years

Text

Game 43: Enchanted Island (1979)

Sorry Greg, it only required a fraction of my cunning.

Okay, so I screwed up. Remember a few posts ago, when I said that I had the order of the Greg Hassett games screwed up? And that my next game would not be Enchanted Island but would instead be Sorcerer’s Castle Adventure? Well, I forgot to change my notes, so I ended up playing Enchanted Island anyway. This is my completely nocturnal quarantine brain in action.

Enchanted Island is technically the sixth of Hassett’s text adventures, and it’s the fifth one that I’m playing for the blog. They didn’t start out all that great with Journey to the Center of the Earth Adventure, but his later efforts like Voyage to Atlantis have shown signs of improvement. All of them have scored pretty low on the RADNESS Index though, which makes me question why I have such an inordinate amount of fondness for Greg Hassett. The fact that he’s about thirteen years old around this time certainly has something to do with it. But the more I think about it, the more I realise that he’s pretty much exactly what I wanted to be when I was that age.

I went to uni to study IT (an ill-fated decision) with the intention of getting into the games industry. I wanted to make games! Unfortunately, I didn’t want to make games in the system that was around in the late 90s and early 2000s: I wanted to be a solo creator, or part of a small team, not one cog in a huge machine. So I dropped out, bummed around, and eventually picked up a job in a library archive. The sad thing is, I could have had what I wanted in the 80s and maybe the early 90s. I could have had what I wanted from about 2010 onwards. I just happened to reach adulthood around the time where doing that was pretty much impossible. (Eh, who am I kidding anyway, I never would have had the drive to be a success at it. I just slept from 10am to 1am.)

What does my sad life story have to do with Enchanted Island, you ask? Well, uhhhh, they’re both set in Australia? (That was a segue, folks. I didn’t spend three years studying professional writing for nothing.)

So, Enchanted Island. Like Hassett’s other games, it was originally released through Mad Hatter Software for the TRS-80. There was a later port for the Apple II, but I couldn’t find it, so I’m playing the TRS-80 version. If this post at Gaming After 40 is anything to go by, the version I found is a revised one that was written in assembly language rather than BASIC. I’m not entirely happy with that, but I couldn’t find anything else so this is what I had to work with. (I did find something that I think approximates the original version, but more on that in Ports of Call below.)

As I mentioned above, Enchanted Island is set in Australia, or more accurately speaking, on an island off the Australian coast. That’s what the opening of the game says, anyway. The description on the packaging says that it’s set on an island in middle of the Pacific Ocean, which isn’t quite the same. For all that it matters, I’ll go with what the game says. The goal of Enchanted Island (surprise, surprise) is to scour the island for treasure. It’s a beacon of familiarity in these uncertain times.

Crikey mick, I’m on a flamin’ island!

The game begins with the player standing on a beach. There’s a sign that tells you that dropping any treasure found here will increase your score. I do appreciate a game that does this outright, rather than making me figure out where to drop things on my own. Checking my inventory I discovered that I was carrying nothing, and typing SCORE I learned that I needed to earn 140 points.

There’s also a warning not to go south, so of course that was the first thing I tried. I ended up in the ocean, where I drowned. (Wouldn’t you think I’d turn back when it got to chin height or something?)

After a restart I headed north along the beach, and eventually to a thicket where I found some tasty food. Remembering that just about every second puzzle solution in Hassett’s games involves FEEDing something, I took the food with me rather than eating it myself. East of the thicket was a rocky flat and a cave, but it was dark inside so I decided to go elsewhere to look for a light source.

East of my starting location I found a green bottle in the sand, but I couldn’t open it so I took it with me. Further east I found an oasis, with a single palm tree. I climbed up the tree, and there I found a vulture guarding a golden feather. The feather was denoted with + symbols, meaning that it was one of the treasures that I needed to find. I fed the tasty food to the vulture, which flew away, and I was able to claim the feather and take it back to the beach.

I can’t imagine that hand-feeding a vulture is much fun.

Heading south from the oasis, I found a dusty book half-buried in a sand dune. Reading the book gave me the following clue: MAGIC BREAK WORD BOTTLE “BIMBO”. This looked like two clues jumbled up to me. I tried breaking the bottle, only to be told that there was nothing hard enough here. I also tried typing SAY BIMBO, but nothing happened. The game definitely recognised BIMBO though, so I was on the right track.

I followed a winding path around from where I’d found the book, past a waterfall (with no secret room behind it, what a rip), and to the edge of a cliff. There I found a lighter, which would definitely come in handy if I ever found a light source to use it on. North and east of that I eventually came to a place called Spyglass Hill, where I encountered a deer. Nothing I tried to do worked, not even KILL DEER, so I left this for later.

South of the deer I found a shady spot, where a warlock was guarding a silver key, the second of the treasures that I needed. Much like the deer, the warlock didn’t respond to anything I did, but he also wouldn’t let me take they key.

This was all looking very similar in structure to Voyage to Atlantis. That game had treasures scattered around the map, most of them guarded by creatures that served no other purpose than to act as obstacles to the treasure they were guarding. Solving the game was a case of finding the solution to getting rid of each creature, and if memory served a lot of those solutions would involve food. I’d already found one that backed that up.

The only other place to explore was east of the oasis, which led me a large rock with writing on it. The writing read: “WARLOCK SLIP. HIT DEER”. The first part of that didn’t look like something I could act on right now, but I went back and tried HIT DEER. I was told “I’ve no weapon, so I’d rather not.” Something else to remember.

I went back to the rock and tried breaking the bottle. The rock was obviously hard enough, because the bottle shattered and revealed a note inside. The note read: “HOLY SMOKES, A TIGER! BARBS LIKE BAN…” The rest of the note was too faded to read. I hadn’t encountered a tiger yet, nor had I met a “barb”, which I figured was short for barbarian.

North and east of the rock, through some tall reeds, I found a depression with a lantern on the ground. This was the light source I was looking for, and with the lighter I was able to ignite the lantern and start exploring the cave. Thankfully, the lantern doesn’t appear to ever run out.

The caves were almost as big as the rest of the island I’d explored, but only a few locations had items of interest in them. In a “sacred chamber” to the north and east I found a gold ring, the first unguarded treasure that I’d found. West of that, in a dead end, I found an emerald embedded in the wall. I mustn’t have had the right tool on me though, because I couldn’t get it out.

A little bit north and west of the entrance I found a cell, with a human skull on the floor. South of that was another dead end, with a “mammoth ruby”, another unguarded treasure that I gleefully pocketed. I’d thought its implied size might cause me problems, but it didn’t.

North of that I found a strange cave, where a medicine man was guarding a crate. As with every other living thing in the game, he was non-responsive to all of my actions except trying to take that crate.

At this point, I’d explored every part of the island that I could find, and none of the inventory items I had were obvious solutions to the obstacles before me. I needed something that could make the warlock slip, a weapon to hit the deer with, and a tool to pry the emerald from the wall. As for the medicine man, I didn’t have any clues as to how to sort him out. There was nothing for it but to retrace my steps around the island and make sure that I hadn’t missed anything.

I found the first clue to what I was missing at the top of the oasis palm tree. The description there said that I could see a jungle to the south, but I couldn’t see a way to get there. This put me in the mind of the passwords from Colossal Cave Adventure and its variants, so I tried SAY BIMBO again. This time it worked, teleporting me to a dead end in the cave. This didn’t seem all that helpful, so I tried it again, and this time it teleported me to the jungle I had seen from afar.

If I say this word one more time I’m going to get cancelled.

It took a little while, and another death, to figure out what I had done to make BIMBO work. It turns out that you need the ruby in your possession. There is a clue to this in the game, although I never found it: if you type OPEN BOOK rather than READ BOOK, a hollow voice tells you that “the ruby was Bimbo’s”. I’m not sure why you’d try that once you’ve read it, but it’s not the first game I’ve played where the two commands give different results. Usually, it’s that there’s a note or something hidden between the pages. Anyway, I worked out the solution through process of elimination, by trying the magic word every time I picked something up or did anything else noteworthy.

The jungle was a pretty small area. To the west, I found a hut with a barbarian guarding some rare spices. To the north was a tiger guarding a priceless giraffe skin. And to the east, I found a bear guarding some Cuban cigars. I also found a bamboo pole, which I took with me, but nothing I was carrying seemed to have an effect on any of these three. (For old time’s sake, with Adventureland fresh in my memory, I tried SCREW BEAR. Nothing happened.)

The only other avenue to explore was a dark marsh, this game’s obligatory maze. Since this was a marsh I didn’t think that leaving inventory breadcrumbs would work as a mapping tool, as I expected them to sink into the bog. That didn’t happen though, and mapping this small maze was no hassle. I found a bunch of potentially useful items in there as well: a jewel-encrusted coconut (another treasure), a glowing glass ball, a banana, and an iron pick. I also wandered out of the swamp and into the ocean for another ignominious death, but in a game as small as this it was a minor setback.

The first thing I tried after scooping up all of this stuff (which required multiple trips due to this game’s six item inventory limit) was to break the glass ball. This caused yet another death, but one that came with a vital clue.

This isn’t necessarily a game over, you can BIMBO your way out of the Land of Lost Adventurers. You can’t win without the glass ball though.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. Should vital clues come from failure? On the one hand it breaks the narrative immersion. On the other hand, playing an adventure game isn’t really like experiencing a narrative at all, particularly in these early days. It’s more like unravelling a puzzle, and repeated failure is a part of that process. I can see why people have a problem with this sort of thing, but I think I’m okay with it.

I was pretty sure at this point that I had the tools I needed to solve the game. I started by feeding the banana to the barbarian, who took off and left the peel behind. I took the spices and the peel, and went to the warlock. GIVE didn’t work as a command, and THROW gave me the message that I could only throw the ball. So I tried DROP, and sure enough the warlock slipped on the peel and vanished. (I assume he teleported away out of embarrassment.) I took his key, and went to deal with the medicine man. Trying BREAK BALL here results in yet another death, but when I tried THROW BALL the wizard instead took his wrath out on the medicine man. With the key I was able to unlock the crate, and inside I found another treasure, a golden chain.

“I had the cure for the plague of the 20th shentury and I losht it!” That’s some obscure Sean Connery for you oldies out there.

From there it was a simple matter to pry the emerald out of the wall with the pick, and hit the deer with the bamboo pole. This causes it to bound away, leaving golden antlers behind. How this is done by an explicitly female deer is anyone’s guess.

So far I’d gathered the following treasures: a golden feather, a silver key, golden antlers, a ruby, a gold ring, an emerald, a golden chain, some rare spices, and a jewel-encrusted coconut. There were two other treasures to be procured – the Cuban cigars and the giraffe skin – but both were guarded by the bear and the tiger respectively. Based on earlier clues I guessed that the cigars would get rid of the tiger, but that meant I still had to deal with the bear, and nothing in my inventory looked helpful. The only item I had that hadn’t served a purpose yet was the skull, but the bear wasn’t interested in eating it, and I wasn’t able to throw it either.

This is where I got stuck for the longest, and I considered hitting a walkthrough for the solution. This time my patience held out for once. I just kept trying different things on the bear until I hit on the solution. It ended up being a little bit annoying. Trying HIT BEAR gave me back a message that I didn’t want to, because the bear might hit back. But when, in desperation, I tried FIGHT BEAR, I got the following result.

And I did it *bear*-handed. That’s it. That’s the joke. Wacka-wacka.

So I’d already found the solution, I just hadn’t worded it properly. The same thing happened to me recently with Mystery House, where CLEAN ALGAE hadn’t worked but WIPE ALGAE did. At least in that game, it happened with a verb that the parser didn’t recognise. With Enchanted Island, it recognises HIT, FIGHT and ATTACK, which are ostensibly the same action, but only the latter two let you kill the bear. (Incidentally, trying FIGHT or ATTACK on the deer gets you killed, even if you have the bamboo pole.)

With the cigars now in my possession, I went to the tiger and typed LIGHT CIGAR. This didn’t work, but SMOKE CIGAR did, and I was able to claim the giraffe skin. These were the final two treasures, and I took them back to the beach and claimed the full 140 points.

I won, I guess?

Somewhat disappointingly, there’s no victory message when you win. I wondered briefly if there was perhaps something else that I’d missed, but my score suggested not. I confirmed later by playing an earlier version of the game that I’d found everything, so it seems like Greg Hassett either didn’t want to congratulate the player or just forgot about it.

This is the full treasure list, and the amount of points that each one is worth:

Golden Feather – 15 points

Ruby – 10 points

Gold Ring – 15 points

Jewel-Encrusted Coconut – 10 points

Rare Spices – 10 points

Emerald – 15 points

Silver Key – 10 points

Golden Chain – 15 points

Golden Antlers – 15 points

Giraffe Skin – 10 points

Cuban Cigars – 15 points

And this is my Trizbort map of the game:

Wooaah, the clicks’ll make it bigger.

Enchanted Island isn’t bad, but it’s a pretty slight experience. Much like Voyage to Atlantis, it’s a perfectly competent game that does what it does in the most adequate manner possible. I didn’t love it, but it’s a perfectly fine way to fill in an hour or two.

RADNESS INDEX:

Story & Setting: The treasure hunt set-up doesn’t earn it any favours, but I was intrigued by this game being set on an island off the coast of Australia. It doesn’t follow through on that at all though, featuring a number of things that do not exist in or near Australia at all. We don’t have tigers (although we did have Tasmanian tigers, but those are different); we don’t have bears (although we do have koalas, even though they aren’t really bears; and I suppose there are always the dreaded, deadly Drop Bears); and according to the internet we don’t even have vultures. I’ll give Hassett the warlock, but “medicine man” isn’t really a title that gets used for our country’s indigenous elders. It’s much more of a generic hodge-podge of jungle stereotypes, and not all that interesting. Rating: 1 out of 7.

Characters & Monsters: As with Hassett’s other games, Enchanted Island doesn’t have living creatures or even the digital representation of such: it just has obstacles. Rating: 1 out of 7.

Aesthetics: Silent, text-based, terse. Rating: 1 out of 7.

Puzzles: The puzzles are simple, and not all that clever. Only two of them presented any difficulty, and the solution to the bear puzzle is really not solvable without simple trial-and-error. Rating: 2 out of 7.

Mechanics: The parser is a basic two word affair, which has its own set of strengths and limitations. It does pretty much everything it sets out to do adequately, and there was only one place where I had real parser trouble. Rating: 3 out of 7.

Challenge: A game that I can knock off in under two hours definitely gets lumped into the too easy basket, but it didn’t present me much in the way of frustrations. Rating: 2 out of 7.

Fun: There’s not a lot of enjoyment to be gleaned from this one, but as I’ve said before I always have time for a short game. Rating: 2 out of 7.

Bonus Points: 0.

The above scores total 12, which doubled gives it a RADNESS Index of 24. That puts it equal 34th overall, and equal 20th out of 27 adventure games. It’s sitting level with Burial Ground Adventure and Hassett’s own House of Seven Gables. In terms of the other Hassett adventures I’ve played, Journey to the Center of the Earth and King Tut’s Tomb are two points below, and Voyage to Atlantis is four points higher. That’s probably because I ranked it pretty early into the blog, but then again it does allow you to shoot a manta ray with a cannonball, which is definitely worth some points.

PORTS OF CALL

I couldn’t find the Apple II version of this game, nor could I find a version for the TRS-80 that was earlier than the one I played above. But on this web-site I found a web-based implementation of Enchanted Island that has a number of differences. I’d say it’s pretty clearly based on the game’s original release, or at least something a lot closer than the TRS-80 version that I played.

I’ll run through the differences below:

There’s no warning at beginning of the game about heading south into the ocean.

In the same location where you find the tasty food, there is also some green liquid. I never found a use for it.

Opening the book no longer gives you a clue about the ruby belonging to Bimbo. That clue comes from the skull in the cell, and is given to you upon entering that room.

The warlock doesn’t just disappear when he slips on the banana peel, he slips and breaks his neck.

The clue in the book is slightly different, and comes with a plug for Hassett’s five previous adventures. Instead of saying “MAGIC BREAK WORD BOTTLE BIMBO”, the clue after the advertising reads: “BRE BOT MAGIC WORD: BIMBO”.

The clue written on the rock is also different. Instead of “SLIP WARLOCK. HIT DEER”, it reads “SLIP WAR. HERACLES’ THIRD LABOR”. This is hitting some pretty obtuse territory, requiring the player to have some outside knowledge of Greek mythology. The third labor of Heracles was to “capture the Ceryneian Hind”, a deer so fast that it could outrun an arrow. There are different versions of the story, with different accounts of how Heracles caught the deer, but in none of them does he take a swing at it with a bamboo pole. It’s no surprise that Hassett changed this one in a later revision.

I TOLD YOU, I WOULD BREAK, YOUR F*CKIN NECK!

Probably the best difference, though, is that this version of the game actually has an ending. I got my congratulations after all.

I do love the old-school TV aesthetic on this site.

I can’t really rate this version on the RADNESS Index, because I’m not sure where it’s sourced from. I think it’s authentic, but there’s no way to know for certain, and I don’t know what release of the game it represents even if it is genuine. It’s not quite different enough to get a changed score anyway.

NEXT: I’ve been checking in on Futurewar periodically to see if my problem has been fixed, but no luck so far. The next game on my list promises to be a more substantial undertaking than some other games I’ve played recently. It’s time to drop back to 1978 and play the 430-point version of Colossal Cave Adventure, which I see was written by Don Woods himself. I suppose that makes it an official sequel of sorts, or perhaps even the definitive version of the game. It’ll be interesting to check out.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/game-43-enchanted-island-1979/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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