#anyway back to simping for linhardt at least

[themoomoorn]

Scarlet Blaze Salt Mine Highlights, Part 2 (Because I hit the image limit last time)

It's kind of a sad day when you're transitioning hyperfixations (Chainsaw Man and Tactics Ogre, in this case), because I'm tired of this game and I haven't even begun to cleanse by entire body with Azure Gleam. But I must!

Also I just wanted to finish this slog of a route so badly that I forgot to give away Shez's Merc Whistle. Oops.

Previous post is here.

He isn't wrong. If anything, between this and Egg reassuring Shez that no, betrayal totes wasn't gonna happen, this just reinforces the fact that Egg doesn't respect Claude at all.

Still, big oomph on Claude because his dreams don't even exist/make sense in this game.

Here lies the Tabletop Demon.

Kind of poetic/ironic that he's the only one who can truly die, while poor Dimitri, who gets dragged around like a wet cat in Houses, will always survive in this game. Egg mostly does, if you count her getting subjugated to the director's fantasies lobotomized in Azure Gleam as "surviving."

"Now what that ambition is, I simply do not know, but I will boldly assume it had to do with using bibles as toilet paper."

No Lies Detected(tm)

Sothis attempts to salvage this trainwreck with a quick and miserable death, but by plot dictation, she sadly fails.

Byleth's death here is on par with Dimitri's on Verdant Wind in how unceremonious and cruel it is. Devs, are you sure you're not actually mad at how popular Byleth is? Especially the one with the 200% Bustline Modifier?

We Stan a megalomaniac /s

The Agarthans never got to the Holy Tomb or the Holy Mausoleum in this game, and here we get the idea of the kind of crap Houses!Edelgard condoned.

Really, the one thing Rhea did wrong was not using the Aurora Breath on Edelgard during her coronation.

Like

Even now, Rhea knows Agartha is the true enemy here?????? Like back in Chapter...4?????

But no, per the Edelgard/Balthus Support, Edelgard started the war anyway, she knows that she's benefitting from the same megalomaniacs that have their hands in the Empire's politics, and she had farfetched history spoon-fed to her. She doesn't care. She still wants total power.

Bruh

Monica is talking about killing Thales, btw. Peak wlw representation, everyone /s

Linhardt is abhorrent.

Shez DGAF about anything, least of all on this route. But I suppose it's fine because they're not a weird nepotism teacher, or whatever.

So here's something I've noticed: Scarlet Blaze and Golden Wildfire share several near-identical scenarios (the most obvious being the Chapter where Ordelia needs to be pacified), CGs (the still of Egg and Clyde shaking hands), and even video cutscenes (Rhea transforming into the Immaculate one; only the background is changed). GW!Claude knocks of a number of Edelgard's rhetoric and dialogue ("My hands are covered in blood and will never be clean again, feel bad for me uwu") and now we have a hollow knockoff of something poignant Claude says to Byleth on Verdant Wind.

There's also the general fact that because the Houses version of Claude ultimately became more heroic than intended, and because they had already delayed the game three times, they had Verdant Wind knock off most of Silver Snow...which is the default route for the Black Eagles.

There is a quasi-tumbleweedy-incestual bond between these two characters/routes. They fold into one another like brain proteins tangling on each other. This is not the case for Azure Moon (bar maps being shared, and even then the context differs drastically) and even more so for Azure Gleam.

Point is, I'm a Claude stan, but at this point, I feel like the Blue Lions route should be the canon one.

Local vampire simp and local masochistic noble boldly state their totally normal relationship with one another. I think I liked the Houses/Ending Card version more, because their bond made Edelgard jealous.

I did this strategy over the other two and it did absolutely nothing, by the way.

"ShE dOeSnT cArE aBoUt HiM" blah blah blah, we get it, you refuse to read the text and can't get over that Cyril and Claude are mostly incompatible when it comes to bonding.

I found a Khaloonie discover the flavor text for Seiros Tea (it's tea from southern Almyra and it got slapped with an in-universe localized name) and flipping out over it recently, funnily enough. Houses has been out for three years (as of this post) now, and you've only read that text recently???

"My daddy had stake over ruling the whole continent single-handedly first, you cut the line!"

Sothis please take the wheel -

Can confirm, they literally do almost nothing while Thales and Rhea tumble over that bridge. Very "Wormy Episode of Spongebob" energy right here.

"BUT SHE ENDED THE WAR FASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" /s

Good job Shez, you broke it.

The ending animation of the Crests rotating like planets changes depending on which route you picked, as that land's "native" Crests are what's displayed. Since the Empire's "native" Crests are that of the Four Saints (plus the Apostles Noa and Timotheos if you want to get technical), you get to bask in a kiddie pool of irony.

In the end, the standom's support of the Empire is akin to how many fans, from its inception in 1979, support the Empire of Zeon and factions similar to it across the Gundam franchise, I feel. Shame that Adrestia isn't as well-crafted as Zeon.

Speaking of worldbuilding, I suspect that there's a weird sort of hatred at how Faerghus is the most well-built (in a worldbuilding sense) of the three lands. This is pretty much proven by its first four chapters alone (having played the demo), and I can already tell I'm gonna be in for at least a decent time once I get to Gleam.

To cap off this shit-cake, here's what I find to be a pretty apt representation of how Edelgard is viewed/turned into during Azure Gleam's ending:

[throwaway-yandere]

(Nutjob anon)

Everyone simping after Tighnari or Haitham, and then there's me, going feral because FELIXFELIXFELIXFELIX MY BELOVED FELIX SNFJEJJEVGRRRRRR this chapter's insults were endorsed by Felix. Not a lot of boars, but the vibe was there so it's a win for me! I would nominate him as possible next underboss... but we both know that that's a bad idea lmao.

And since you are adding 3h characters, ai have a feeling Childe and Sylvain could be good friends! ... Only for them to talk trash behind the other's back ("I swear! His personality is so fake. How come you can stand him?")

And I'll also like to raise you: Linhardt and Tighnari being friends: Green, sassy, doesn't care for titles and only his research? Yes, they'd be very good friends.

I am also getting Lysithea vibes from the capo: wanting to do a lot but little time, and everyone needs to give them a vibe check for that attitude lol I hope Barbara can smack some sense into them, because I can't help but think that capo is also operating under the "there's nothing more terrifying than a man who has nothing left to lose". Yes, they are fighting for their men, but they personally don't care about what might happen to them, so we better watch out that sanity meter, or else the capo will turn into the real hazard all along the way.

And dunno Ansy, I know you want to help us with hinting that bringing Cyno is bad, but the one that I don't trust is Haitham lmao Cyno said it himself: don't kill Tighnari. Even if what he did makes his blood boil, at least he is conscious enough to first get the cure. But Haitham is quite prideful, so maybe he'll come with some shit that he is the only one we need and he can always steal what Tighnari have done and finish it. After all, the main point is to cure you, right? Anything else is expendable. And maybe having Cyno there might help him clarify some questions he might have.

I don't like how autorithive Haitham is, with ordering us to leave (even if it was good for us). That means he has no reservations in misleading us if what we are doing doesn't go with his agenda. So with Tighnari, someone who is... somewhat on the same ground as him in terms of research, he might not think as your underboss but as an academic rival when acting.

Anyways, angst hurts me but boy that I will spin that death wheel with gusto 😎

HDIAOAOAK I TRY MY BEST TO MAKE THE FE:TH CHARACTERS SUBTLE HERE (that very much failed with dimitri cause first off I'm a simp and second it's weird if the reader doesn't grieve for at least one chapter lol) SO I CAN'T MAKE FELIX THE UNDERBOSS EVEN IF I WANT TO 😭😭 (i actually added him in cuz I thought of you lolol)

(kazuha was almost the underboss tho but Alhaitham won lol)

I think not a lot of genshin players are major FE:TH fans so I gotta be real sneaky with the characters lol... But that sylvain idea 🤔🤔🤔 considering childe's whole comical side story with lumine rn I could invite mister steal your girl for some dumb sht lol. Lindhart is a rather european name so I could have him as another one of Focalor's people ehe, though he'd probably ask for Tighnari to do his job for him cause he's too lazy–

AND YES LYSITHEA AND CAPO WOULD HAVE BEEN BESTIES 😭😭😭 THEY'D UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER SO MUCH AND THEY'D PROBABLY FEEL LESS ALONE USIAOWO THESE POOR PEOPLE– the difference between the two of them is that lysithea always feels like she's being looked down on like a kid while the capo feels like they have too many burdens to bear– making these two vent to one another would probably be therapeutic for them ;;----;;;

My two au's right now both have nothing left to lose vibes, although capo!reader has that a lot less than our unhinged hyshum!reader. The only thing holding them back is that some of their men are still alive. They do care, it's just that they don't want to overthink:

These men have families, wives, husbands, children– what would become of them if they recklessly charged for revenge? There's no need to drag these people into nonsensical slaughter. It's your problem Capo, it's YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. And it's selfish to make them die for you when they have a better reason for living.

Their conscience won't allow it.

These type of thoughts just pull them back. It's all true, of course, their reasoning is sound but it is suffocating. Hence, most of their inner turmoil are repressed.

Oh and don't get me wrong! I respect your choices for bringing Cyno along– I love the chaos. I'm just tryina warn those certain simps that "something bad is about to happen to you and you should definitely question what happens of one of them dies-"

Or you know, I may be misleading everyone because I want a bad ending.

: )

Since when was I known for writing happy endings for my fics? Ehehehehehehehehehhehehehehheheheehehehehhehehehehhe–

And oh my darling nutjob anon...

Both Cyno and Alhaitham want to take credit for your cure. That's one of the many things that made these three idiot's truce work.

Alhaitham is authoritative, no doubt about that, but he respects you a ton. He could've done something stupid like kidnap you or try to remove you from being a Capo– but he'd rather spend some (very limited) time with you as someone you won't forget this time, (N/n).

You can consider Cyno the one with the "hidden agenda" because he's loyal to the church. He considers it his personal blessing that he was the one assigned to monitor you. Cyno is a very lonely person here. He is very prone to making idealized versions of you that fits his imaginations, and fortunately for him the Cardinals acknowledge his devotion to his missionary works.

And then there's our used-to-be-Innamorati-Familia's-informant, Professor Tighnari.

"The main point is to cure you, everything else is expendable." is exactly the dangerous mindset he is on. We'll get to him soon! It's about time he sees his Capo again!

[dimitrez]

now that i'm pretty deep into another route (scarlet blaze), i have to say......shez's energy with dimitri and the blue lions really was special and tender and fleshed out in comparison and i miss it