#the Claude we get in AM is the same Claude - the same person at his core - as he is in VW and all the routes

[ill-say-anything-i-hafta]

People are starting to recognize that disabled characters should be played by actors who are actually disabled themselves. But I've noticed a new trend -- actors whose disabilities are less severe than the characters they play. What do we think about that?

I was watching Bodies on Netflix last night. There is a character who is a cop in 2053 and she has a disease that causes paralysis, but uses a sci fi device to walk. Her half-brother, a wheelchair user who has the same disease, calls her a sellout and says the work she does for the shady future government to earn the device isn't worth it. Two disabled characters talking to each other! An interesting scene! The sister is played by an abled actor, but I was curious about the brother character. I looked him up and learned that Edwin Thomas is disabled; he has CP. I also learned that his disability is invisible/he has played abled roles in the past.

And that reminds me of Matthew Duckett, who recently played Crutchie in the West End Newsies, a character who (you guessed it) uses a crutch. For what it's worth, I love him in the role and he has been widely praised for bringing authenticity. Duckett also played Claude Chatterly on the Netflix Lady Chatterly's lover, who is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair. Duckett has CP and does not use a mobility aid.

Here's one that's personal to me. I am visually impaired. One time I looked up my own condition and I learned about an actor who also has it -- his name is Ben Mehl -- who played a totally blind person on a show called You. (I have not seen this show and have nothing to say about his performance.) I read an interview with him and he talked about practicing doing things blindfolded, observing blind people outside their homes (!!!) and being taught by a trainer to use a white cane.

Living with vision loss can be hard; it really sucks sometimes. I feel a sense of solidarity with other disabled people as well as curiosity and (as you can see from this long-ass post) a sense that I have a vested interest in how disabled people are represented in media. But I DON'T know what it's like to be totally blind, and clearly Mehl doesn't either. Reading his interview reminded me so much of reading interviews with sighted/nondisabled actors who take on disabled roles.

I have heard it said that it's not anyone's business how an actor's disability affects them offstage, and I can sympathize with that perspective. But it shuts down the conversation. The studio is allowed to make a big deal about how authentic their casting is for promotional purposes, but no one can ask questions or talk about it?

Let's zoom out for a second: why do we care if disabled roles are played by actual disabled people? I would say for two reasons. 1. Authenticity. These actors can play the roles with greater sensitivity and accuracy, showing audiences what disabled bodies and disabled movement really look like and even potentially correcting mistakes that nondisabled scriptwriters and directors have made. And 2. Equity. People with disabilities should get to be on screen and on stage more often, they should have more opportunities.

But if the actor's disability is not the same as the character's, will the portrayal really be accurate?

And if someone with an invisible disability or lower level of impairment takes these roles, what roles will be available for actors with more severe impairment?

Note that I am not criticizing the choices or the performances of these particular disabled actors! (Except maybe Ben Mehl for creeping around outside people's apartments...) Instead, I'm questioning the motives of the people who hired them.

ALSO, is it just me or wouldn't it be cool to see people with different kinds of disabilities depicted in media? It seems to me like 90% of the disabled people on TV are paraplegics or quadriplegics. What about, like, everyone else? What if we cast more people with CP as ... people with CP? What if there was a person in a movie who couldn't recognize faces or drive, but could see a little, like most blind people can in real life. Sadly, I have never seen that in media (except for Butchie on The Wire, played by S. Robert Morgan, a VI actor, love that guy.)

Did anyone read this far? I would honestly be shocked. But let me know what you think.

[aguinhaac]

Ok, I was scrolling through PV Artwork again, I wasn't searching for arts of bridgette, I AM NOT A SIMP

Anyways I was scrolling until I found this and I have to say

Adoni looks way too much like melody, and I think it's a cool comsept, just imagine

Ladybug and chat noir did it, they found the base of the papillons (for those who don't know, at the PV version the papillon wasn't a single person but a organization) a big chunk of the """staff""" is in jail, the papillon is still on the lose, cause when he is defeated all the focus has to go to Felix.

One of those people were Adoni Duther, Papilon's right hand woman, melody's mom was now in jail, her dad was suspected to also make part of the Papilons. Once she was one of the most beloved faces in the world, and now she was the daughter of a terrorist. At school she would probably be bullied as there were lots of people who compared her to her mom, or people who lost beloved ones cause of the akuma attacks, she had lost everything, she was alone.

Felix and Bridgette weirdly feel responsible for her, there was nothing they could have done as her mom was terrible, but even so, Felix would have known exectly how it feels to lose a parent, but cause of his personality, he would think leaving her alone is the best option, or just think she's a lost cause.

Bridgette in the other hand is more determinate, so she now has a choice to make, try to confort her bully, or follow Felix advice? This is called drama my friends.

If Bridgette tried to befriend melody, melody would probably deny it at first, but Bridgette is known for her determination, (be mature, no Undertale references) she was alone, so melody would end up accepting Bridgette friendship, and it could be the start of her redemption arc, it would be slow of course, but eventually she would open up more, maybe help Bridgette getting closer to Felix, perhaps some claulody? (Claude x melody)

Or we have the other route, were after being hurt so much my melody, Bridgette just lefts her alone, melody had lost everything, her parents, her status, her friends, maybe she could have a little brother just to add a bit more drama, but in her darkest hour, Richard, the leader of the Papilons, makes an offer, if she helped him get the miraculous, she could also make a wish, and with the support of her mom, she accepts it, cause all actions have consequences, YOU HEARD IT ASTRUC? CONSEQUENCES.

Or we could mix both those routes, melody working for the Papilons while at the same time being friends with Bridgette, and eventually find out the identity of both Felix and Bridgette, and the dilemma would be hers, evil or good? Her family or her friends? Bring things to how they were or accept her new life? Betray Bridgette, Felix, and the rest of the gang? Or tell them who the Papilon is?

But that's just a bunch of ideas, lol, I just really like the concept, but I guess it kinda would copy Felix arc so yeah, but here's a lesson to everyone, the more drama, the better the story, except for canon Miraculous, ASTRUC, DONT DO DRAMA EVER AGAIN.

[sixpossumsinatrenchcoat]

Natural Satellite [ch 2]

An In Stars and Time AU. In chapter two, Siffrin phones a friend. Isa consults a confidante. You can read ch 1 here.

“Mira,” Isabeau says seriously, taking a knee in front of the bench so he can grab both of her hands. “Is there a hallway in the House called the Death Corridor?” She blinks at him, owlish. “Um. Well… yes, actually. How did you—” “And your roommate, back in the House. Is her name Claude? And you don’t really get along?” “I’m not sure I’d say that we… Well, maybe we could get along better, but—” “And you— Did you teach a class once? But it went really bad?” “Isabeau!” Mira huffs, drawing herself up. “What is this about! And—how do you know all of that?” Isabeau takes a breath. He lets it out. “Mira,” he says. “I think maybe I can see the future.”

[In Stars and Time spoilers through at least act 4]

Chapter 2

Isa remembers.

Except Isa can’t remember, because… because he just can’t! Loop promised. And, and—and if the actors are starting to remember, then what’s even the point? All this time you’ve been saying your lines for them, smiling and winking and playing along to protect them. If you can’t shield your family from this, why go through with it at all?

And what are you supposed to do when the others start to remember? You can’t even imagine how dangerous Odile would be. And how angry. And Mira, stars, Mira will be so disappointed; but even worse, she’ll blame herself, you know she will. And oh, stars, Bonnie—

“What makes you think they’re going to remember?”

You whip around, bristling. “Weren’t you listening? It’s already happening! Isa knows!! He saw what happened last time and he, he doesn’t know it’s real yet but when it happens again… Why are you laughing???”

“Who, me?” Loop hides their smirk behind one hand. “No reason. I just, ah, remembered a joke.”

“You’re the one who should be upset!” you hiss. “You lied to me! You’re supposed to be helping me and you said, you promised that no one would remember! That it was only me!”

“That’s certainly the impression I had, yes.”

“How am I supposed to do this if you’re just going to lie to me???”

“Ohh, stardust,” Loop sighs. “You always take everything so personally! It isn’t all about you, you know.”

“He saw me use the dagger!!!”

Loop shrugs innocently. “I did tell you not to do it. I hate to say ‘I told you so,’ but…”

“No! No! You are not blaming this on me!!!”

“I’m not the one who put the dagger to your throat, stardust.”

“You put it in my hand! You put it in my head! It’s the same blinding thing!!!”

For the briefest instant, Loop almost looks pained. But the moment you blink, it’s gone. “Haha. Maybe. I suppose it doesn’t really matter who’s to blame.”

“So what do I do?”

“We~ell,” Loop hums thoughtfully. “What makes you think that all of them are going to remember? It might just be the Fighter.”

Your forehead furrows. “Why would it just be him?”

“Why not?”

You shoot them a murderous glare.

“Oh, come on, stardust,” Loop giggles, “don’t look like that. I’m trying to help you! Besides. Did it ever occur to you that this might be a good thing?”

“No.”

“But if you had a co-conspirator… Someone to provide a fresh perspective; to help you think things through…”

“No!!”

Loop gives you a tolerant smile. “Alright, stardust. Enlighten me. Why not?”

“I don’t need help!!” But—no. That’s not the reason. “No. I mean. It’s… Isn’t it already bad enough? And Isa’s…” Soft. Honest. True to the bone. “…sensitive. His feelings all come spilling out. And he’s a coward. He couldn’t handle the truth.”

“Haha, ouch! Mee-yow! Who knew you had such sharp claws?”

“You did.”

“Yes, I suppose I did, at that.” Loop stretches and yawns. Whenever they pull in a really deep breath, their face glows just a little brighter. “So? What are you going to do?”

“What can I do?”

Loop taps their chin thoughtfully. “Sometimes a nightmare is just a nightmare, no? It sounds to me like you need to test your little hypothesis.”

“And how do I do that?”

“Hm… You could smell him!”

Ha, ha. Hilarious. It’s so funny, you forgot to laugh.

“What!!” Loop protests. “I’m not joking! Your Kid said that Time Craft smelled like sugar, didn’t they? If your Fighter smells sweeter than usual…”

“And how am I supposed to know what he usually smells like?”

“Aw. Stardust. My sweet, adorable, stupid little stardust. You know there’s no point trying to lie to me.”

…Okay, so maybe they have a point. You have spent 100-some nights—100-some of the same night sharing a bed with Isabeau. Curled under the blanket just a heartbeat away, so close your noses nearly brush. Listening to Isa stammer his way through a cut-short confession. Watching him sleep, face slack, cheek scrunched against the pillow. By now you could trace the outline of his face with your eyes closed. Of course you know how he smells. Like fresh laundry and cut grass. Like sweat and salt and good clean dirt.

“Okay,” Loop says tolerantly. “If you really won’t smell him, I’m certain you can find some other way. Sleep on it, stardust. Unless you’re ready to give up…?”

You wrinkle your nose at them. “Is that what you want?”

“Stardust!” Loop gasps, clutching their pearls. “You insult me! You know I’m only here to help.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Ohh, don’t be like that! There’s no one keeping you here, you know. If you’re upset, you’re welcome to storm off anytime you like.”

“No,” you say on reflex, and then hesitate. Of course you’re upset. You’re always upset. But this is the only place where you get to be upset without upsetting someone else. “I mean. Um. Is it okay if I stay?”

To your immense irritation, Loop reaches out to tap you on the nose. “You’re the master of your own destiny, stardust. Do what makes you happy.”

* * *

It’s a beautiful day. Dormont is a beautiful town! It’s all steep, sloping rooftops and cozy clay facades, and you can always hear the gentle burble of the river running through it. There’s a buzz of anxiety in the air, but the whole town seems to have agreed to point all their nervous energy toward preparations for their end-of-the-world party. Isa can’t think of a better place to spend what might be his last night on earth.

By the time he finds his way back to town square, he’s more-or-less calmed down. So, of course, that’s when the deja vu hits.

“Good morning!” the boulangier greets him, holding out a picnic basket. “You’re one of the saviors, aren’t you? A friend of little Mirabelle’s? I wanted to give you all a treat! It’s nothing much, just a token of our appreciation!”

A chill drips down Isabeau’s spine. Hasn’t he heard this before? Every word; every pause for breath and sheepish smile… He saw this already, didn’t he? But that was just a dream. It wasn’t really real.

The boulangier is still smiling, waiting for an answer.

“O-Oh! Haha, wow, thanks so much! That’s really nice of you! Aw, but we couldn’t possibly—”

“But you must!” the boulangier laughs, again, exactly like he did in Isa’s dream. “Besides. If you don’t succeed tomorrow, there’ll be no one left to sell to, heh. It’s really the least I can do!”

“Ahh… Haha, well, um. I guess if you insist, we’ll take you up on it!” He grins at the boulangier, trying to look like someone strong enough to put your faith in. (Just like he did the last time.) “But once we beat the King tomorrow, we’re coming back to pay for ‘em!”

The boulangier pats him on the shoulder. If you beat the King, I’ll— “—bake you all the croissants you can eat!”

…Right.

* * *

And then. It just. Keeps happening.

The kid standing at the north end of town challenges him to a rock-paper-scissors-off. Odile gives him a distracted nod on her way into the general store. The runner jogging around the statue of the Change God whacks him on the shoulder and grins before wishing him good luck. Just like Isabeau remembers. Every step, every smile, every shift in the wind… it’s all exactly how he remembers.

…What is he supposed to do with this????

He needs a sanity check. A sounding board. So Isabeau does what he always does when he needs to make sure he’s not being completely stupid: he goes and finds Mira.

* * *

He finds her sitting in front of the library, exactly where he found her yesterday. (No. Not yesterday. His dream of yesterday. His dream of… today? Whatever.)

“Mira.”

“Oh, Isabeau!” she says, brightening. “Are you feeling any better? You looked a little out of sorts, earlier.”

He can still feel the fear crawling over his skin, but Mira’s voice makes the itch recede a little. Just looking at her is enough to make him feel more relaxed. He can always trust Mirabelle to act exactly like herself.

Isabeau isn't here for advice, exactly, because Mira doesn’t really give advice. Mostly she listens intently, her whole face scrunched with focus, and asks leading questions until she’s very gently nudged you to the answer. If pressed, she’ll insist that you got there on your own. (By now, Isa’s learned that it’s pointless trying to argue.)

It was just the two of them, once. Before they found Odile; before Siffrin found them, and then saved Bonnie… Just a little more than half a year ago, their little family was only Isa and Mira. And it was already good!!!

“Mira,” Isabeau says seriously, taking a knee in front of the bench so he can grab both of her hands. “Is there a hallway in the House called the Death Corridor?”

She blinks at him, owlish. “Um. Well… yes, actually. How did you—”

“And your roommate, back in the House. Is her name Claude? And you don’t really get along?”

“I’m not sure I’d say that we… Well, maybe we could get along better, but—”

“And you— Did you teach a class once? But it went really bad?”

“Isabeau!” Mira huffs, drawing herself up. “What is this about! And—how do you know all of that?”

Isabeau takes a breath. He lets it out. “Mira,” he says. “I think maybe I can see the future.”

Whatever she expected, it clearly wasn’t that. She takes one of her hands back so she can rest two fingers against his forehead. Checking for a fever, probably. He almost wishes that he was sick. At least it’d mean that what he saw was just some stupid fever-dream.

But he’s out of luck. Mira draws her hand back, frowning. “You… um? Or? What… makes you think that?”

“I’m pretty sure I just dreamed, like, this whole day.” Just saying it out loud makes him feel a little lighter. “And I don’t just mean a normal dream. I mean, like, accurately. All the little details and everything. And tomorrow, too. I thought it was just a dream, but—stuff keeps coming true!! I keep knowing stuff I couldn’t have known, and recognizing stuff I shouldn’t have seen, so… So what the crab else am I supposed to think????”

“Hm,” she hums. “Hmm. It’s not— I don’t understand how it would work, but… if you really knew all that, then I suppose I can’t just deny it.”

“How did it feel when you got Chosen?” he asks hopefully. Generally speaking, he tries not to ask about the Change God’s blessing—talking about it always puts Mira in a weird mood, and the last thing he wants to do is upset one of his favorite people in the world—but these seem like extenuating circumstances. “Was there, like, a moment? Where you felt… you know. Magic?”

Sure enough, Mira’s face darkens. “Haha. I, ah… no. No moment.”

“So someone could get blessed and not even notice?”

“I—ah—theoretically? I suppose?”

Isabeau nods slowly. “Mira. I think maybe I got blessed.”

She snorts, and then very quickly tries to look like she didn’t. “Oh. You’re serious. W-Well, um… I suppose it could only be a good thing! Theoretically speaking! Especially if you can warn us about potential pitfalls. Did we, um… In this vision of yours, did we beat the King, or…?”

Oh. Oh. Isabeau absolutely cannot tell her why they didn’t beat the King. “Uhh. We… didn’t make it that far. But!! But we definitely will this time!!”

“Yes,” she agrees, nodding fiercely. “We’ll make sure of it.”

* * *

Sif doesn’t show his face until dinnertime. When they finally turn up, they’re almost their normal self again. A little quiet, but that is normal, for Sif. If Isa hadn’t seen what he saw, he wouldn’t think anything of it.

But he did.

Unfortunately, he can’t just ask about it in front of everyone. So Isabeau bides his time. He doesn’t try to talk to Sif until he’s sure that the others are definitely asleep.

“Sif,” he whispers.

Siffrin’s feet twitch.

“Sif. Siffarooni. Siffrin.”

Grudgingly, Siffrin rolls over. (Isa tries not to look at his neck.)

“Um. Sorry? To wake you? I just—sorry, it’s kind of a weird question b-but you, um. You wouldn’t… hurt yourself, right?”

Sif’s eye widens. Surprise, then wariness. “What is this about?”

“N-Nothing!! Nothing!! I just—I had that nightmare, remember, from earlier? And I guess it freaked me out pretty bad cause I— I trust you, of course I trust you, I just. Um. C-Can’t get the image out of my head.”

Siffrin stares at him. Their expression is completely unreadable. Almost as blank as they looked before driving that blade into their neck. The ragged edge of tearing skin. Blood on your hands. Blood on his—

“Sorry,” Isa whispers, squeezing his eyes shut, “Sorry, sorry, I just—I know I’m being really crazy, I know you don’t like to be touched, I just— Can I touch you? Just for a second? I know I’m being stupid, I’m really sorry, I just—I think it might, um…”

“Okay.”

Isa’s eyes fly open. “O-Okay?”

Sif nods.

“Really?”

Another nod.

“‘Cause there’s really no pressure!! I know I was being… s-sort of dramatic, but it’s really totally fine if you don’t— I really don’t wanna feel like I forced you, or—

“No. It's okay.” Sif goes quiet for a second, considering. “Tomorrow's important. We all need you to get enough sleep.”

“R-Right. Right!! Then I’ll just, um…” Isabeau hesitates. Sif’s neck is almost always covered by their cloak. Even when they share a tent, Isa’s always careful not to look too close. He wouldn’t want to weird them out by staring—or, worse, make himself look like an even bigger loser than he is. But he has permission, now. And he kind of really needs this.

Lightly, with just the pads of two fingers, he brushes the side of their throat. Whole, now, and unblemished. Not torn open, not seeping blood. Warm under his hands.

—But the second his hand meets their skin, Siffrin flinches violently.

Right away, Isa jerks his hand back. “S-Sorry!! Sorry!! Maybe if I just— Can you give me your wrist? And I can, um, f-feel your pulse, maybe?”

He can see Sif's throat bob as they swallow.

“Sorry!!!” he yelps. “Never mind!! I was just—”

“No,” Sif whispers. “Um. Here.”

Sif’s hand creeps up the mattress, settles on the pillow between them. It is so much smaller than Isa’s. (Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about how it would feel if they let you hold their hand; if they wanted you to. OH FOR CHANGE’S SAKE, YOU’RE STILL THINKING ABOUT IT. PLEASE. JUST. STOP.)

As soon as he finds their pulse, Isa feels like the world’s biggest crabhole. Siffrin’s heart is racing, their pulse pounding like a terrified rabbit.

Isabeau lets out his breath and gives Sif their hand back. “Um. S-Sorry. And, um… thanks for humoring me. And... sorry for being so selfish?”

Sif shakes his head. “I don't want you to have a bad dream.”

Isa’s chest swells. He beams at them, dizzy with love. “Well!! Don’t worry!! I definitely won’t now!!!”

Sif gives him a puzzled look, their face half-tilted like a dog hearing a sound it’s never heard before.

“U-Um! Just because, um—”

—there’s a blur of white, and a pillow collides with the side of his face.

* * *

If walking into town yesterday was unsettling, entering the House is downright chilling. Everything is exactly as he remembers.

As soon as they step into the Death Corridor, Isa elbows Mirabelle. “So this is—“

“Yes!” she gasps, disbelieving. “Wow! Yes! It really is! I don’t understand how you could—“ When she looks up, she startles, reaching out with both hands. “Ohh, Siffrin, do be careful!! This wing is called—“

And a boulder the size of a two-bedroom apartment crashes down from the ceiling. (Just like Isabeau remembers.)

…Wow. Okay. So this is really happening.

“So there’s this floating water everywhere,” he whispers to Mira, as they make their way past the boulder. “They’re called Tears and I guess if you touch them, you get frozen in time? But to get past them, we use these, um—“

“What are you two whispering about?” M’dame Odile asks sharply.

“Nothing!!” they chorus.

* * *

They make it as far as the second floor. That’s when Sif wanders up to a Tear and glances over his shoulder to stare straight at Isa. “Hey. Isa.”

“Siiiif~?”

“Why did the time traveler break all of his clocks?”

“Wh–Huh? Uh… I dunno, why?”

“He wanted to kill some time.”

—And Sif plunges his arm shoulder-deep into the Tear.

Isabeau’s eyes widen. He opens his mouth to scream but he can’t make a sound, he can see the scene getting darker—

[ h e   f e e l s    a    t u g    a t    h i s    s t o m a c h ]

—and he wakes up.

* * *

Siffrin’s in the field again. But this time, they don’t look surprised to see him. “Hey, Isa.”

“H-Hey, Sif.”

“Hey, Isa?”

“Sif?”

“Why did the time traveler break all his clocks?”

All the hair on Isabeau’s neck stands up. “Hhhhhha! Um! Because he… wanted to kill some time?”

“Oh, stars,” Siffrin whispers. He squeezes his eyes shut, covers his ears with both hands. “You remember.”

If you wanna find out about updates even when I'm too anxious to post on tumblr, feel free to follow the series on ao3!

[tapejob]

who do you recommend voting for to reach max narratives & fucked up vacation plans per team?

HOOOO lets talk abt this, bc this is one of the driving factors and also one of the driving uses for this nonserious mock narrative network analysis (NMNNA) i made. we will be referencing her quite a bit tonight.

let's talk about top narrative candidates:

there is, in a sense, a sort of must in the case of bringing in leon draisaitl (edm). re our NMNNA, draisaitl nurses not one, not two, but three largely evident narrative connections, and all of those affiliated side connections snowballed on top of that. there is, as someone brought up before, matt tkachuk and draisaitl (reunited!) and brady who drai fought a while ago. drai and davo, old and gold and in love. and also, a fun little side story: draisaitl and josh morrissey, who will be reuniting from their days in juniors (and from the jets reverse sweep in the 2021 scp). if you want drama, vote draisaitl.

in the same breath, you might as well bring in tim stützle (ott) while you're at it. give drai a bro to face the tkachuks with. or at least neutralize brady.

another compelling angle to look at here: nathan mackinnon (col). yes, makar-mackinnon-kadri creates an effective 2 birds with 1 puck situation with both an avalanche reunion and also an opportunity for mac to salivate over makar again in a public forum. mac-crosby would commence, showstopping, awesome. but also something to consider: mcdavid and mackinnon together, in a room with their idol (crosby), after the avs singlehandedly crushed the oilers playoff chances last year and we ran that narrative through its course. consider.

we are as always talking about jack eichel (vgk) for jack eichel related purposes. he as always connects with mcdavid for all of the reasons that cannot be stated, but also connects to ullmark and thompson from sabres-related pasts grievances and is linked to thompson for vegas-related future hopes. gaudreau and him were also buddies. and also, a fun little hidden tidbit: the larkin-eichel of it all. this is my agenda and i am bringing her forward.

if we do not bring in claude giroux (ott) are we even allowed to be here. this is honestly a little bit of a crime because we are Cutting Into That Old Man's Vacation but crosby is here and hayes is here and brady is here and everyone who loved him so much last year is too. what are we supposed to do.

re NMNNA, that connecting bubble between jones and larkin is, you guessed it, room for zach werenski (cbj). and that also connects too to gaudreau, in true teammate fashion.

i give a sort of null amount of care about this particular narrative but for those who might be interested, hughes is surrounded by team usa olds. you can give him some company if you'd like (if you're out of ideas, caufield (mtl) connects to both suzuki and hughes relationally. but you guys know that better than i probably).

also something to look at are the "lonely" kids on the NMNNA: pettersson, beniers are big ones, but also robertson, thompson (both of them), nelson, keller, etc, etc. it's on you guys if you want to leave them lonely and looking for random conversation, or if you want to hook them up with a buddy (e.g. quinn hughes (van) connects to both jhughes and pettersson. sort of a two birds with one stone situation).

if you have a personal narrative agenda to fulfill, this is also the time to do that. good ones i've seen so far have been:

tyson jost (buf) (confronts him with both his avalanche days, a sprinkle of wild, and gives company to thompson)

anyone from the 2015 draft class you can get your hands on. wouldn't it be funny if we brought in dylan strome (wsh). wouldn't it be funny.

mats zuccarello (min) for kaprizov excitement boosting purposes

moritz seider (det) for larkin and (if so voted) draisaitl

evgeni malkin (pit) for crosby and ovechkin

literally anyone you can narratively pair to keep specifically those lonely old men company. they have to work today.

as for those of you who hope to ruin the vacations of players: there is only two-ish tips to keep in mind.

1) the more vet you are picking, the more you are in for a vacation-ruining-asg. pick any vet that you want to see get screentime and suffering, because they see the asg for what it is: a time where they need to keep working and entertain the masses instead of fucking off to cancun. do you think erik karlsson wants to be here, for the 7th time in a row. bonus points if they have kids, they are Tired of that shit.

2) it's in florida this year, which means the hot single excited young guns still clamoring for fame are Not going to see this as punishment* (with an asterisk, in that it will be punishment only if they are Alone). tread carefully.

[rorah]

Do you have any thoughts on Claude’s route in 3hopes? Your analysis of Dimitri’s run was so awesome and I share similar criticisms. I’m personally not a fan of Claude’s characterization in 3hopes, and I’m a diehard Claude fan lol, so I’d love to hear your thoughts (positive or negative! your rant was just really well written and interesting!) have a good day/night :-)

My thoughts on Claude? Sure.

Well I have to be honest and start with the fact that I still haven't finished his route lol rip but I've been spoiled enough to know that this is the route where most of the characters/deers seem a little to too much OOC (for what I have read. Tbh I can't be sure about ALL DEERS but Claude is mostly the point here). And I am a defender of "characters in Hopes are still substantially the same as the one presented in Houses" argument, just different circumstances bring different outcomes. But also seems like the writers in charge of giving nuance to the characters don't know how to do it properly without taking some neurons and mental capabilities away from said characters, aka: make them look dumb.

GW and SB are the routes where I am hesitant to look for arguments that can backup such outcome or it's just a matter of "the devs forgot about that part in the original game" issue, as it's planted in some interview that I don't have the source at hand, sadly.

But I am quite convinced of one thing. Hopes is presenting us the opposite resolution of Houses with a subtlety masked by sweet fanservice (just a certain percent of fans, I must say). What I mean by that is, Cloud in Houses is the one discovering the truth behind the mystery of Fodlan and kills Nemesis for some reason at the end of his route. And in Hopes, he is the most notable affected by this change by not discovering much about Agarthans and also kills Serios instead of Nemesis at the end of his route.

In Azure Gleam Dimitri gets his revenge and that does nothing for his personal journey. Actually, it's the opposite because he learned in houses that revenge will get him nothing but more collateral damage.

In Scarlet Blaze well… I am not entirely sure tbh.

Back to Claude. I think the main problem with his characterization is that it was not quite clear what type of person he is. I remember doing his route with the idea that he was the most relaxed, "meme" fun lord, and all positive of the three because the fandom painted him as such, and I feel utterly confused and betrayed because that wasn't what I perceived of him in his route. He has a little arc about open up and trusting others, while getting rid of his own prejudices about the lands he isn't well versed. But that's in houses. In Hopes, that part of his character is taken away because once again: No Byleth.

Let me remark that I haven't played his full route yet, so take what I say with a grain of salt. So tl;dr, we can say that his characterization in Hopes is bad because it was meant to be bad. You can see it as a mirror universe without the person who functions as guidance. And once again that brings us to another conflict when we recruit Byleth, but that's another issue to tackle on its own separately because it has tints of "devs fcked up and ran out of time/resources to properly do anything with it or give coherent resolution" issues. --- Edited because I accidentally type Azure Moon instead of Gleam lol But anyway, Claude fans, let me know your personal interpretation of Claude ~

[theia-eos]

Reasons Why I want to nominate Claude's parents as the worst parents of the Fódlan characters

I know, I know, it's a pretty high bar (low bar?), considering the other contenders, especially since only one has a name and neither are seen in either Three Houses or Three Hopes.

However, I would not jump into this discussion without evidence.

Spoilers beyond the cut.

In Three Houses, during his B Support with Hilda, he talks about his parents, particularly how they would raise/punish him.

In case you missed it, he discusses being dragged along behind a horse by his father.

His mother would laugh as it happened.

I know he rationalizes it as having been a brat as a kid, but there is absolutely nothing he could have done that would have justified BEING DRAWN, which was part of one of the most inhumane execution methods of the medieval ages and is only associated with torture historically.

Edit to add: Claude states that there is a trick to make the horse punishment less severe than it sounds. He doesn't state if he learned the trick himself after being drawn a few times, if he was taught the trick by an older sibling who went through the same thing, or another person. We also are given no context for how the punishment was carried out, whether it was on a soft grassy surface with no rocks, or a hard, rocky surface, or the duration of the dragging. Claude's first statement does imply that it happened multiple times ("He used to" instead of "one time he"). We do not know if Claude sustained serious injuries, but any combination of scrapes/bruises/rope burn are pretty much guaranteed simply by the nature of the action, and that alone is worse physical injury intentionally inflicted on a child in the game by any parent on more than one occasion, that I am aware of.

And as if that were not bad enough, we get this little gem in Three Hopes:

Where Nader says that Khalid (aka Claude) was the favorite son of the king.

The favorite.

Let that sink in.

Favorites are generally given preferential treatment by the parents. Look at how Claude was treated again, and now look to his other siblings, like Shahid, who fights and dies trying to earn recognition from his father and to be acknowledged as a good heir to the throne. And Claude has more siblings.

I rest my case.

I will grant Count Varley and Margrave Gautier second and third place in the #1 Worst Father category, but King of Almyra tops the scale in a way that is almost impossible to imagine.

Patricia (Edelgard's mother and Dimitri's Step-Mother) may or may not beat Tiana (Claude's mother) for #1 Worst Mother, and Patricia may take overall #1 Worst Parent from King Almyra, depending on her ambiguous and not yet completely disclosed involvement with TWSiTD, the Tragedy, and what happened to Edelgard/Edelgard's siblings, but otherwise, I feel pretty safe with my nomination.

Edit for clarification: I would have loved to have actually met Tiana or the King of Almyra in either game. Most of the parents in the game are presented as good, but flawed, people. They just also happen to be terrible parents. Claude's parents could be great people, beloved rulers, and well-respected in Almyra. Despite my feelings on the matter, Claude seems to like his parents. That doesn’t mean they were good parents. In fact, I still believe they are the worst parents outside of actual villainous parents. Also, because this entry is a game with more fan engagement than what I usually discuss, I feel the need note that I'm not commenting on their parenting in relation to Almyra or Almyra's culture. I'm just commenting on how objectively terrible it is to drag a child along the ground behind a horse, and to laugh at that child in the process. I'll stand by that opinion.

[princesstillyenna]

Hartsy trade 👀

NONNIE I AM AT THE EDGE OF MY SEAT (I mean, I'm not, because I'm in the bath, but still)

Also, please picture the following text exchange after Carter walks out of his end of season interview in which it's brought up that he doesn't want to say Carter: I'm sorry. Danny: Hey, kid, it's not personal, I know that. Carter: It's not the same here without Claude. Danny: You're telling me? 🤣 Danny: For real Hartsy, I'm not mad. I'll try and get you somewhere good. Carter:... Colorado? Danny: I don't think I have that kind of trade magic ability just yet kiddo, but I can get you somewhere that will appreciate you Danny: Because I know they haven't been here Carter: Thank you Danny: And obviously, we're still friends, I hope that goes without saying Carter: Of course we are! Danny: You and Cale should come stay over the summer Carter: YESSSSSSS Need to see my lil buddies! Palms is so BIG Danny: Gav keeps asking if you can come play goalie, so he will be VERY happy Carter: I promise, Caley and I will come out east to see you three and the kids Danny: I'd best get you a trade sorted asap then ;) Danny: (And if you're really missing Clo that much, I can put in a call to Ottowa, see what they're looking to acquire this summer) Carter: LMAO THAT WOULD BE AMAZING Carter: For real, anywhere with any of the chat boys would be cool Carter: But I get, like, it's business, so I won't hold it against you, even if you send me to AZ. Danny: Hey! I've got some good memories of AZ, don't slam it too hard 🤣🤣🤣

[lafcadiosadventures]

Madame Putiphar Readalong. Book One, Chapter Eight:

Continuing with Borel’s multi-genre approach, for this chapter we plunge into the epistolary novel, an ideally intimate (and highly eighteenth-century) genre to depict the secret conversations of the two lovers. Weare not meant to get cosy though, these letters are read out in the cold, at the mercy of the elements and more importantly, Cockermouth’s spies...

Death Omen, from Devises heroïques, et emblemes, by Claude Paradin, 1614.

We learn that Anne’s outer varnish of niceness makes Debby feel guilt in lying to her. Cockermouth’s openly brutal ways make it easier for Debby to lie and rebel, whereas a sweet, loving jailer -who is also a victim- is harder to betray.

“Why isn’t she cruel like my father? it is less painful to deceive a wicked person”

“I am still locked up in my room, and I do not see my father, whom mama hopes to appease soon. He must, she assures me, grant me a general amnesty for his party; he is all the more contrived to do so for the presentation of my new suitor.”

 (@sainteverge ’s translation)

Anne’s naivité leads her to hope that she can persuade her husband, and that this time the tyrant will be lenient, because he will be in a good mood but also because he has to sort of behave, with a larger than usual audience, amongst whom will be Debby’s prospective husband. Hope works here as a motor for passivity. After all, hope was stored in Pandora’s box along with the other forces of evil. Just hoping with no plan of action is merely inactivity.

The lovers comunicate this time with allusions to the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Catholicism. The three main monotheistic religions are referred to in equal status, none is depicted as less true than the others. Debby and Patrick are not afraid to compare themselves and their love to these stories. There is no room for fear of blasphemy/pride from them since I don���t think it’s unfair to say, as earnestly as they seem to believe, their love is their true object of worship. Religions seem to take the same place than their love of Hamlet: fictions and mythologies that inform their worldview and help them frame their overwhelming feelings and their circumstances, finding something to compare them with.

Debby also expresses an ambivalent opinion on free will and organized society. She believes the Will of humans to be invincible when put in motion. And yet, most humans let their will go unexerted. This is for the greater good, Debby concludes (compare with Sade’s Libertines and their The Will of the Powerful is the Law credos) since, society would be dead if anyone could do their unrestrained will. However, by escaping, she and Patrick are going to challenge the laws of society together and make the walls of Jericho crumble under their force. And she curiously talks of breaking shackles and deserted dungeons... Thus, yes, the lovers set out to leave their first prison: The Patriarchal Home.

But I think it’s strange that Debby claims society must be preserved while under the same breath saying the laws of society involve keeping some people in the shackles and dark dungeons of social conventions (marriages of convenience, ethnically based serfdom, aphysical and psychological abuse from parents, gendered education etc) even though we will see, plus ça change...

---

So, why letters for this chapter? No 18th c.  pastiche could go without at least some letters. An older genre, apparently originating in Spain in the 1400’s (til), the epistolary novel became a full blown vogue in all the european countries in the 1700’s: Pamela, Fanny Hill, La Nouvelle Heloise, Les liaisons dangereuses, Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, countless parodies and more. The genre allows Borel to not only recall a now fading trend from the time the novel is set on, but also, same as the 1700’s authors, provide 1) polyphony and multiplicity of points of views and 2) a poignant contrast between: the confidences the characters allow themselves in private, and the menacing context they are made in. We know before hand since we heard from Chris how both him and Cockermouth know of their meeting point. We know Debby knows she was followed, but she doesn’t know they know of the hollowed willow. Patrick, who has a panoramic view of the movements outside the castle while working on the fields, is aware of Cockermouth’s spies movements, so he knows when to warn Debby to be cautious (but is also unaware of the surveilance on their meeting point) . We also know Debby feels guilt from hiding things to her mother, but although the narrator makes us understand her and her plight, we also know from Patrick’s account and from her dialogues with Cockermouth that she acts as Cockermouth’s agent -unwilling as she might be- So all of this creates suspense -we know all the points of views and things that are happening, not from an arrogantly omniscient narrator, but because we witnessed everything.

Beyond the suspense, this makes us get an intimate scope on Debby and Patrick. We read the letters through the eyes of the lovers. Borel makes us learn how they talk to each other, the jokes they share, their true feelings. This brings them closer to us, we already loved them better, but now we get to know them even more. And of course, fear for their fates and the danger we know is in store for them.

I think it’s also worth mentioning that, although the genre remits to intimacy, Borel has Debby read at night/dusk/dawn, in public spaces: the grounds, at the mercy of spies and killers. These letters are a peril for them and a challenge to their oppressors. A comment on censorship perhaps? And this also drives the point home on how inhospitous the world is to their Love. If Nature operates like a chaotic neutral force (a source of both joys, -"herborizing", safe hiding places-, but a possible threat -> the deadly Devil’s Throat, the river that almost drowns them while they kiss oblivious of being in the water, and water is really consistently framed as a source of peril, and darkness that hides henchmen from their eyes) the fact that Debby has to read out in the cold, stab her knife in the ground to reach for a secret love message... Nature, as it usually does in Romanticism, reflects the emotions/circumnstances the characters.

In a really borelesian turn of phrase -entre chien-et-loup- Debby runs once more to the hollowed willow. She plunges her knife into the disturbed soil to “exhume” the steel chest. But to her surprise the blade does not meet any obstacles. The chest is gone. She thinks Patrick has taken it but, something tells me some certain pirates could have found it before him. 

[kyogre-blue]

OK, post timeskip GD, go!

Got up to the bridge, which means unifying the Alliance and presumably starting an offensive against the Empire.

I've gotten all the B ranks on my supports, a bunch of A ranks, and all of Byleth's available ones except Lysithea A (which is blocked off) and someone's S. The A ranks really vary a lot in terms of how involved they are, with some being quite nice, but others being pretty whatever.

Unfortunately, some of the basic issues with the support system start to get pretty obvious. You end up doing them in batches, so they get tiring. Additionally, if you watch a few for the same character in a row, there's often overlap in what they discuss, since the characters only have a few traits. Worse, none of the growth in one support can carry over to another or even a paralogue (or to the main story). The supports just become disconnected what-ifs, in a way.

(And this not mentioning the issue that some major character details always end up hidden in the most out there support, which in 3H will require some bizarre recruitment combination.)

In regard to the main story, I don't have too much to say. It's kind of spinning its wheels while we get the new plot on the road, but it's fine. It's just... fine. Hopefully, it'll pick up once we start the real battles.

Notes again:

1185, nearly 5 years since the monastery fell. But it fell several months into 1181, so like... it's 4 years and change.

Kingdom capital has fallen, Leicester alliance is split between supporting the Church and the Empire.

Sothis is here again somehow.

Tomorrow is the Millennium Festival, how convenient. Byleth came floating down a river from Garreg Mach. It is Ethereal Moon, but... Which one is that again...

Ok, I see why AC said the reunion was underwhelming. It's cute but the buildup is non-existent.

Byleth's first concern is Rhea (relatable) but Claude thinks it might be better that she's gone. He doesn't explain why. I am gonna need some time to get used to everyone's adult voices.

Lorenz is quite chill about his father's uh allegiance.

Lorenz: This was inevitable, since our lands are so close to the empire, we have to side with them or lose our necks. Lorenz also: BUT MAYBE IF CLAUDE DIDN'T SUCK

The amount of times you can ask after Rhea is... hum. Rhea is the most personal priority for Byleth. They're definitely not upset or unsettled by her, which is funny.

Seteth thought that maybe Rhea would turn up on the millennium festival.

Claude wanted to use the monastery as a base of operations due to its location.

Why are we talking to this Seiros Knight NPC? Was an unavailable playable meant to be filling this role?

Leonie A1 with Lorenz: she gives back a handkerchief... after 5 years. Leonie's village is called Sauin. It turns out Lorenz's family were the ones who hired Jeralt to help the village all those years ago. Lorenz is still punchable, btw.

Marianne A with Hilda: Their previous two ranks were more abrasive than I expected. The A is... OK? Given their popularity as a pairing, I expected something a bit more.

Cyril A with Hilda: This doesn't feel like it should have been gated to the timeskip. This A is also kinda underwhelming. It's okay, but knowing their relationship can't advance any further is... yeah.

Not really feeling the new monastery and menu music.

They did at least change the skybox to be yellow, which is something. Makes it feel autumn-y, which is... not correct. It would be nice if somewhere aside from the cathedral interior had some visible damage.

Claude A with Byleth: He admits to not being born in Fodlan (presumably because this has nothing on Byleth being potentially not even human) though doesn't name where he's from specifically. In Almyra, people from Fodlan are viewed as cowards, which Claude attributes to ignorance (if they just met and interacted with real people from Fodlan, like his mother, they'd know better). They also looked down on him for being of mixed blood.

He came to Fodlan to try and find "a new perspective" in his goal of breaking down those barriers, but people in Fodlan are even more racist, seeing people from other nations as just beasts. He wants to bring the whole world together and start anew. I know nothing bad happens, but uh. That's, hm... At least he realizes that it was extremely unrealistic... but Claude recognizes Byleth's magic dragon god powers and thinks they can make it happen together.

At first, I was wondering why we can view Ferdinand supports when he didn't turn up, but he IS here? He wasn't in the battle or the scene after...

Ferdinand has lost his territory and is determined to stop Edelgard no matter the cost. Per his B, he always intended to unseat his father. I guess, like Lorenz, he wasn't really onboard with his evil dad from the start.

Marianne and Lorenz A is....... uh. She's not going to smile while telling you about how her family is cursed, dude.

OK, so for weekly Instruct, we're using the Cardinals' room that was sealed before, and instead of the faculty giving staff training, we run advanced drills with the students.

Byleth's open mouthed shock when told Dimitri was killed (supposedly). And then a droopy sad posture.

"Faerghus Dukedom"

Claude approves if you ask him whether he hopes Rhea is dead. He just has things he wants to ask. It's interesting given that Claude presents himself as being in your corner, and Byleth has a big bend toward asking after her, seemingly in concern.

Claude thinks that most people accept the "noble system" because of their belief in the Seiros faith. They also have prejudices against non-believers too. That's... hm. A take, for sure.

So without Rhea, the supposed closed-minded Church doctrine will weaken and there will be more room for free thought, which Claude considers a cure-all.

Claude's ultimate goal here is to have Byleth take over the church and lead Fodlan that way. Then, people could be free to think for themselves. He thinks Edelgard is after something similar. He just doesn't like that she's using so much bloodshed to get there. Not necessarily because he disapproves but because the world "can't get behind" it.

But since Rhea is probably still around, we still have questions, and Byleth ambiguously might care about her (MY A RANK), Claude backpedals into finding her being the next step and quickly hurries you off to bed.

Claude and Cyril B: Claude never knew that there were people in Almyra in Cyril's situation. Which is to say... poor and exploited? Or...?

If no one else is in Rhea's corner, Cyril is. I appreciate that he doesn't just support her because she helped him personally, but because that's the kind of person she has been - trying to help those without any status and nowhere to go. Rhea helps refugees and orphans not just because of the goddess's teachings, but because it's the right thing to do.

Claude: OK, maybe Rhea is fine. Maybe.

GROWTH??

Too bad supports are basically not canon.

Claude and Lorenz A: Claude is fine giving up leadership of the Alliance to Lorenz now that he's gotten to know him. But same is true for Lorenz. Kinda gay. Not bad.

Claude was only recognized as the heir to Reigan thanks to Judith's recommendation. Which is interesting given his background.

Marianne's paralogue: One of the 10 Elites got cursed by his crest and he turned into a monster... that was still sentient and can talk. And he ate people. Unclear if anyone else with the crest was actually affected, or if they just carried that stigma for a thousand years...

Claude and Marianne A has an interesting implication about the timeline. Claude frames it as him running away from home as soon as he was old enough because he was tired of being discriminated against and hoped that Fodlan would be better. It was only after he arrived in Leicester and realized that it's no different that he came up with his idea to break down the boundaries between Fodlan and Almyra.

It makes more sense that his plan would be so weirdly underbaked if he's had it for less than a year and made it when he was despairing over having no place he could belong.

Flayn and Ignatz B: Flayn forgets the Church party line about the Elites being good guys, lmao. Also forgets that Saint Cethleann is generally portrayed as a woman, not a girl.

Ailell, the Valley of Torment, is the required lava stage. It was created when some kind of big heaven light destroyed the forest that used to be there. It's rumored to have been the wrath of the goddess, but that isn't recorded in scripture. (It's actually the Agarthans lol)

Count Rowe was in charge of Arianhodr (spl??) but betrayed the Kingdom to join the Empire. His general, Gwendal, wasn't happy about all this.

Judith accuses Claude of neglecting the Alliance territories for years. He left his territory with a reliable retainer ("Nardel"). Without Byleth's clout, he'd look like a "scoundrel leader." Judith leaves her territory with "Nardel" too, which is... lol.

One of Judith's men saw Rhea be dragged off by the Empire five years ago.

[butwhatifidothis]

I think people tend to forget that like Claude like. Always intended on leaving Fodlan. Which means he must takes actions with that goal in mind.

He says as much in AM, where he says that he's stayed for longer than he planned to anyway. He sticks around for as long as he finds Fodlan can benefit from his presence, and then he leaves to work on obtaining the throne of Almyra. When he sees that his presence is not needed - or, in fact, could hurt Fodlan like in CF - he leaves literally as soon as he can. This is what happens in literally every route save for even potentially SS, and that’s only because Claude adamantly refuses to set foot in SS at all outside of one letter lmao.

So when I see people say that he hands off the Alliance to Dimitri so that Dimitri can narratively stay morally pure or whatever, like, on one hand I get it - you can definitely argue that this is just the writers scrambling for any excuse to get Fodlan unified without the whole violent conquest thing murking that up. But like, to ignore everything else going on isn't exactly that cool either.

Claude does not want the Alliance under Imperial control, he himself plans to leave Fodlan - and consequently, of course, the Alliance's leadership position - in order to go to Almyra, and he obviously deeply trusts in Dimitri's capabilities as a ruler and person and does so infinitely more so than he does the self-serving lords of the Alliance. It then makes plenty of sense for his character, with these motivations in mind, for him to wrangle the self-serving lords into following Dimitri's leadership instead of leaving them to their own self-serving devices without anyone keeping them in check.

We have to also keep in mind that side characters in 3H are simply not considered major players - they are always written in the main story with the assumption that they are already dead, hence their general lack of impact to the story itself. Which means that no, Claude could not have left the Alliance in, say, Lorenz's hands despite at least somewhat trusting him to look after others (after getting to know him at least), because the main story itself treats Lorenz as though he is dead - which is especially the case in AM, given that that is one of the routes where Lorenz is always an enemy unit in Chapter 16 and thus could very easily have been killed by the player. And the same is essentially true for all Alliance noble characters that Claude could have potentially had lead Leicester; it’d just be left to the All Immortal Asshole Roundtable lords.

And Claude can’t just stay for the duration of the war either - or, more so, him doing so wouldn’t change anything narratively and would bring its own set of problems (at least outside the game). Narratively speaking, nothing changes; it’s just prolonging the inevitable. Claude is still going to leave for Almyra, the Alliance will still be without a leader, and Dimitri will still be the de facto ruler, it’d just take a few more months for it to happen. And if Claude were to have joined the army, that means that AM would have been the only route to not just have two lords work together, but to have two lords on one route on the player side, as a semi-constant presence (after his joining of course). Even as a sidelined exploration NPC, imagine how heated things would have gotten if Claude actually had full-on joined Dimitri, as a physical and constant and interactable character that can be regularly talked to on AM; fire and brimstone, lemme tell ya lmao.

Like don’t get me wrong, I also don’t like how Fodlan is always *~unified~* no matter who does what, but with the way 3H is written it’s always going to head in that direction, either because the conqueror won or she and everyone else is for whatever reason out of commission. And the steps for that happening in AM are no more illogical than any of the other routes; Claude always leaves no matter what, which leaves Leicester in a leaderless position no matter what, which means someone - in this case, Dimitri - has to lead Leicester. 

It’s just extraordinarily important that that is done with the explicitly stated consent and want from the Alliance, unlike in CF where the same outcome is achieved through far more morally bankrupt means, which is likely the main takeaway from this anyway. The Kingdom helps the Alliance, the Alliance willingly joins them, the Empire violently invades and conquers the Alliance, the Alliance is forced to comply. The former saves Derdriu, the latter captures Derdriu, hm, wonder why AM’s version is called Saving Derdriu and CF’s is called Capturing Derdriu, what similar yet strikingly different titles and similar yet strikingly different outcomes, I wonder if that’s meant to act as a parallel or anything, hmmmm nah probably nothin’

[faroreswinds]

Raphael only wants to protect his family. Unlike Ingrid and Caspar, he's happy progress is made. So for the benefit of the doubt, he doesn't think about the aftermath. He ain't the brightest, so he was just fighting for experience considering he's becoming a knight to provide his family. Hearing the execution is rough, considering he's a commoner, where people in charge makes those choices. Which makes Caspar more OOC, because of his gun-ho attitude. Then again, BE is poorly written cept for Lin

Shoot, Lysithea as well. She's speedrunning her time left in studies for the exact reasons like Raphael for her family. That said, the Empire messed her up, so Rhea's authority could intimidate her. I think it'd be interesting if the students saw Rhea as a person, not the Archbishop. Trying to keep peace is hard, when assholes like the Western Church and Moles screw up what's suppose to be a peaceful school life. But InSys don't care for character drama look at Egg's drawing of you (the teacher)

(“They died because of their culture!” but it was us who attacked them first and we basically didn’t even give them a chance to surrender. -you) ...So I'm going to push back on this here. Claude attacked but as he usually does, he generally tries to get people to retreat when they see they have no chance of winning. He does it multiple times. Claude wasn't going to chase down Felix and Rodrigue in this context. Margrave Gautier didn't know that but he really sacrificed himself for nothing here

Hmmmm, I’m not sure I agree. I don’t think Lysithea is intimidated by authority, despite her background. I am not a fan of speculation without behavioral evidence to back it up, and that claim is lacking in that department. Raphael I can somewhat see being a simple soul who doesn’t think about that kind of stuff, but.... Like, again, they openly announce the crimes of the Western Church and why they are being executed. 

Apparently, attempted assassination is too much for this medieval setting. And I find that silly. People have been executed for crimes since the dawn of man, and the crazy and horrific forms of punishment that have been dealt is insane. 

Have you ever seen some of the medieval punishments they have done, for even much more minor offenses than attempted murder? You could be punished for homosexual acts, being suspected of being a witch, for being the wrong religion, etc. 

Now it’s not like everyone was gung-ho about these punishments. There are records, as far back as 12th century, of people calling for reforms against such extreme punishments. But there was a time when hanging was an enjoyable spectacle, or the occasional beheading drew a crowd, eager for blood (especially for a truly hated person). 

As such, Foldan IS a medieval setting, and executions would have been a rather commonplace punishment. Perhaps not as insane as the real world (homosexuality is pretty acceptable in Foldan, and no one is executed for being the wrong religion), but regardless I highly doubt Rhea is the only one who called for the execution of wrongdoers in recent times. Dimitri himself executes his uncle in Hopes. Ionius had a bunch of people executed from Hrym. Etc. 

It’s pretty hard to believe that Rhea calling for the execution of assassins would be shocking. I guess you could say that maybe until that point, everyone viewed her as a sweet, gentle person, and that her being willing to put people to death is what was shocking. But they honestly seemed more bothered that these would-be assassins were just being killed at all. Especially when freaking bandits, who worst crimes could just be arguably stealing, are happily mowed down by the same crew. 

I don’t say any of this because I personally condone executions. But if you view this situation from the lens of someone from Foldan, it apparently seems that killing assassins is too much, but killing bandits is perfectly happy. And that just doesn't make any sense.

The scene was clearly not written with the actual characterization of the characters in mind. It was written to make the players go “oh yeah, Rhea IS scary!” because modern sensibilities condone executions as an acceptable form of punishment even less than past sensibilities. It is an inherently modern scene, for modern audiences. 

Claude attacked but as he usually does, he generally tries to get people to retreat when they see they have no chance of winning. He does it multiple times. Claude wasn't going to chase down Felix and Rodrigue in this context. Margrave Gautier didn't know that but he really sacrificed himself for nothing here

That is not an excuse, first of all. Claude’s first action was to attack to begin with- he never tried anything else. He didn’t even consider anything else. He just went “Yup, we are invading the Kingdom!” and that was that. 

We also don’t know what Claude was or wasn’t going to do with Felix or Rodrigue. He didn’t offer the same hand to them as he did to Ashe. He basically kicked down their door and demanded passage through their lands, straight for the capital. If he would have let Felix and Rodrigue escape, then by that logic Matthias wouldn’t have died in the battle. But Matthias did, because Felix and Rodrigue HAD to have their backs covered. It was that intense of a battle. 

Plus, Claude’s attitude of “it’s just war, bro” is not doing him any favors. He’s the aggressor. The Kingdom at this point in Hopes really was just trying to stay on its feet- it was not an aggressor, it did not start a war, and it was in the process of trying to curb corruption and pay for their crimes against Duscur. 

If Claude had tried all sort of paths first before invading, I might have a different opinion. But he didn’t. His first plan was attack, and his only plan was attack. He really is just Edelgard 2.0. 

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

LOL I can totally see Claude being embarrassed about Rodrigue's "dad behaviour" but I think he would also love to hear all the childhood anecdotes Rodi has to tell about the Faerghus Four, probably embarrassing Dimi and mortifying Felix, haha. And yes, Rodrigue would be good with Sylvain. I think he could also make Matthias realize that their sons really love each other and even though Sylvain cannot pass on his Crest this way, that it will be ok in their new future (I mean, they could still

[2] adopt kids. Honestly, Sylvain would be a cool dad. And I imagine Felix would be more openly soft with his kids than his usual snarling wildcat persona he pulls off when he likes to pretend he doesn't care xD. Dimitri would be such a good father, too. We already know from canon that he loves kids, like teaching the orphans, AM ending mural and this monk who tells Byleth he saw Dimi caring for an orphan even in his boar phase. Claude would be great, too and I see him being naturally good

[3] with kids on the surface but also a bit of insecure inside bc of his own childhood. His own parents aren't exactly good role models *cough* and though he seems not always aware of the impact their upbringing had on him, I think he would want to do better with his own children. And Rodrigue would tell the kids adventurous bedtime stories. Tbh I could even see any kid Sylvix may adopt melting "the wall of ice". Rodrigue and Matthias as great grandpa duo is a headcanon I didn't know I need lol

Oops sorry for the long ask. I got a bit carried away with my "kids/grandchildren" headcanon lol

YEAH like since Claude doesn’t know much affection from a parental figure I feel like he’d be a bit shy about it at first, but he’d also want to hear the stories about Dimi and what the group did as kids. Felix would absolutely be mortified, he’d be doing anything in his power to stop Rodrigue from continuing but Dimi and Sylvain would hold him back because if they have to suffer, Felix does too. 😤

Tbh I like the idea of Sylvain opening up to Rodrigue about his feelings about his own father and how he’d like to be closer to him but Matthias just isn’t really “hanging out with” material. Rodrigue is much more emotional and more readily available for heart to hearts, but Matthias won’t have even that much with his own kid(s). Might even be a good way to get Rodrigue to talk to Matthias about trying a bit harder since they could die at any time from something like even a Sreng invasion. Also, it might be good for Rodrigue too since he always wants to talk to Felix but Felix isn’t interested and always acts angry about literally nothing. I think he’d be happy to have someone rely on him for advice besides Dimitri who he already considers a son.

In Hopes Dimitri also mentions the power of Crest bloodlines is getting weaker anyway and they have to prepare for that. That’s in his support with Sylvain too if I’m not mistaken. It’d be interesting if Sylvain adopted a kid instead of having his own (since I imagine nobility/royalty would be pressured to have blood children bc of their bloodlines, even if they weren’t with someone they could have children with). It’d be like preparing for that by raising a child to be ready in the same way any Gautier would be, but without the bloodline or relic’s power to help.

Felix would be a good parent imo because you can tell he’s not really that aggressive with people outside of his best friends. Felix has this weird attitude where he’s nicer/more considerate with others than with his best friends, where he doesn’t hold back or play the nice guy when he has something to say. He’s nice to them when he has no reason to be angry/aggravated, like how he personally goes to Sylvain in their B support specifically to apologize, but he gets aggravated again when Sylvain says something stupid.

Specifically, his childhood friends each have reasons he’s more snappy with them (Sylvain saying dumb shit and acting like nothing matters to him including his own life, Dimitri being so violent toward enemies but being kind and polite otherwise and Felix doesn’t understand that and is somewhat afraid of him bc of that, and Ingrid is too deep into knighthood in a way that goes completely against Felix’s beliefs on knighthood and hates the extremities Ingrid takes it to).

So, like, I think he’d actually be a really good and gentle father generally, but probably be more strict just because of things like not wanting his kid to grow up to be like Ingrid, to make the mistakes Dimitri made or to be as whimsical and careless as Sylvain. Tbh I think Felix would be one of the most devastated parents ever if he lost a child. Obviously most people would be like that if they lost a kid, but I think Felix would take it a lot harder than even the expected norm.

Claude and Dimi would be amazing parents imo! Dimi is already very good with kids but I think they’d find him fun and be amazed by him. I think Claude would be the more awkward one since he grew up so isolated and didn’t have a group of friends growing up like Dimi did, so I think his understanding of how to behave in a way that a child would enjoy would need a crutch to lean on, like watching Dimi interact with them and learning from that. Since he also grew up basically being emotionally stunted and not having experience from his own life to go off of, I feel like he’d need the experience through watching others first. After that I think he’d be more confident about it and be able to handle kids better. He’d definitely be an overprotective dad when the kid was really young though imo just out of experience and instinct. I feel like Claude would be the stricter parent, not on purpose but because his mind would just always be like “YOUR KID IS ADOPTED BY TWO MEN AND ON TOP OF THAT YOU’RE BOTH ROYALS WHICH MAKES FOR A HIGH BOUNTY AND LOTS OF PPL ALREADY HATE YOU SO OFC THEY’D HATE YOUR KID TOO AND YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO TRUSTING WITH STRANGERS LEST SOMEONE KIDNAPS YOUR KID ETC ETC YOU GET IT CLAUDE”. Claude would be “be home by eight PM” parent and Dimi would be the “be home by eight PM if you’re not with a friend/have to get home by yourself, but be home by ten PM if you’re with a friend or people you trust”.

I also love this one idea/headcanon of mine that Mercedes teaches Dimi how to sew/knit and Dimi teaches Claude. I’d think Claude would know the basics of it, but since Dimi would know it beyond just basics from Mercedes’ help then I’d think he’d know more than Claude after working with her. I love the idea that Dimi and Claude would handmake lots of stuff for the orphans, so I bet they would do that for their own kid(s) too. I feel like they’d love handmaking things for their kids since they’d feel more special than things they bought!

ALSO I love the idea of Claude asking Rodrigue for advice on how to handle his kid(s) bc like sure Dimi is good with kids, but Rodrigue has had children and is a grown adult, so he’s not still learning how to raise his own kids like Dimi would be. Maybe him asking for advice would be how Rodrigue gets into telling all these stories to the kids (Dmcl and Sylvix kids both!), and Claude listens too sometimes to learn from Rodrigue!

OKAY BUT LISTEN, Sylvain bringing his first kid (adopted or not) to Matthias and Matthias actually crying about Sylvain being a dad and seeing how much of a good dad Sylvain became even despite Matthias himself not being much of a father to Sylvain... He’d be so happy to see that even though he wasn’t much of a father, Sylvain still became a great dad and he’d realize he didn’t ruin things for Sylvain’s parenthood and be so grateful. I can see him telling Rodrigue about that and being so proud of Sylvain and Rodrigue just being SO HAPPY to see Matthias being emotional because it’d been such a long, long time since he was. Maybe he’d even hug Sylvain and thank him for bringing back the old Matthias he used to know by being a good father.

No worries on getting carried away! I love hearing other people’s Dmcl/Sylvix headcanons and family headcanons! If you ever just wanna drop some in my ask box just to let them out or talk headcanons, feel free. I don’t mind how long they are! If you’re having fun talking about them then that’s good and I’m happy you’re having fun! :)

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

Tweet I found: "Fire Emblem takes one of the most beloved FE protagonists and makes him live up to the promise of being a morally gray genius who plays both sides ON TOP of giving him a character arc."

I'm sorry, WHAT? One, Claude was only ever originally thought of as anything CLOSE to that; the """""promise""""" of him being anything other than what we got in 3H... never existed past the rough drafts. Like sorry-not-sorry to this fandom that insists so hard on making Claude way more morally dubious than he ever was in 3H, but Claude is for the most part a soft-hearted sucker. He was never half as bad as either he tried to say he was or the fandom ever treated him. And this is partially proven by even the eastern fandom being outraged at Hopes!Claude - the eastern fandom, who was never subject to Meme Man Claude portrayals of him! Like yes he can be underhanded, but the dude's just... nice, overall.

Two, if Claude was ever really someone who "played both sides" in 3H like this person said was """promised""" to us, then why doesn't he ever directly try to willingly help the Empire at any point in 3H? You know, like he does with helping the Kingdom cross Gloucester territory undisturbed, or how Claude gives Dimitri Failnaught, or how the Alliance lords willingly decided to fold back into the Kingdom, in AM? Even though the Empire, on CF, has Byleth to make them seem legit, and even though the Church would've still had the same dogma that Claudelgard insists they have that made him become an asshole?

Three - and I'm cupping my hands around my mouth for this one - A CHARACTER DOING BAD THINGS DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY MEAN THEY'RE ON A CHARACTER ARC. Claudelgard is not on any "arc" - not on one that's any sort of competently written, at least. Him killing his brother and him saying he's willing to get his hands bloody afterwards does not, by ANY means, signify that that now means he's willing to COMPLETELY THROW AWAY ANY CHANCES HE HAS AT HIS AMBITIONS FOR BETTER FOREIGN RELATIONS, or that he's willing to believe someone he KNOWS to be a liar on just her word, or that he suddenly gives a shit about expanding his power (when THAT has NEVER been a concern of his, either in 3H or even in 3Hopes before that moment) to the point that's he's willing to help the Empire in any way in order to leech off their influence. Really wished that the people who like Claudelgard would stop throwing around the term "character arc" as some kind of gotcha against those who see the very clear breaks in Claude's character that needed to happen for him to do pretty much anything he does post Chapter 9.

And would, like, just stop being so rude in general actually?? Like, the amount of times I'm seeing say things like "the people who don't like Claude in hopes just don't like him making mistakes" "they flanderized his character and forgot that he can be bad too" "oh to be a Claude fan who knows how to read (<- ACTUALLY SAID)" is enough to make me wanna scream lmao, like holy shit

This got . . . long. Oops.

I'm not going to pretend I haven't said things similar to "they just don't understand"; I've said it about the Lions, and I've said it about Claude, because while it does feel gross to say (who am I, a little clown on her corner of the internet, to go after someone's interpretation of a game), after a certain point it's very clear that the text does not matter to certain consumers nearly as much as their own conceptions of the character, which is . . . irritating, to say the least. It's less about proving right and wrong, and more coming to the conclusion that being selective regarding canon is a consumer's choice, but after a certain point their interpretation cannot be taken seriously because of how little care they give the facts in the original media. Which is to say: People can enjoy this version of Claude if they want to, but I would heavily encourage a breakdown of what they enjoy, and if that's really something that was present in Houses or if it's just something they wished were there. Because people can holler until they're blue in the face about the character Claude could have been, should have been, would have been better as, but at the end of the day, I don't give a shit about the original draft of this game's writing beyond a cute little "huh, that's interesting," because it, frankly, does not matter. It can certainly provide a frame of reference to how they bastardized his character in Hopes; and if you were going to write an essay on how writers treat characters who don't fit into their franchise's usual tropes, and how that result interacts with their consumer base, sure, you could cite the original plans for Claude as a case study, in that he was going to be some sort of conniving middle ground between Blue Lord and Red Emperor--but from a narrative standpoint you cannot reach into the writers' hard drives and say "See! This was the plan all along!" because I think if someone did that to Princes I think I would fucking implode. Intention is not product; there is a reason drafts exist. If the writers really, honestly cared about giving us a morally loose character, they would have taken care to keep him that way instead of allowing his character to become one who's firm enough in his morals to trust the Blue Lord with the state of affairs--and his family heirloom!--while he fucks off back home. The writers made choices; Claude von Riegan, AKA Khalid somethingsomething (WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GET A FAMILY NAME, INTSYS?), is the result of those choices, and while he doesn't get to shine nearly as much as we all would have liked in Houses, he's sure as fuck consistent: He always has a backup plan, he doesn't take well to people using violence to get their way, he very much cares about those closest to him, and above all he treasures his ambitions and protects it with everything he has, without feeling the need to throw away his life. People are more than within their right to want something different but . . . oh well? Like I'm sorry, I really am, but that is not what we got. Frankly, that's what fanficiton is for.

And......I'm going to ask this in the most respectful manner I can, but:

What fucking character arc? Because Claude remains tragically one-note on Golden Wildfire. He's made to work for the plot, again, instead of having it go the other way around. That means he can never be confident in his plans, because the plot needs him to get to a certain point to make Decisions(TM); that means he has to throw aside common sense and his stance already established in this game to make an Alliance that makes absolutely no sense for his character, but it necessary for the plot for . . . *checks notes* reasons. There were no ups and downs for this Claude, because he was little more than a plot device instead of a full-fledged character.

The reality of it is: Claude in Hopes was poorly written, and he is by no means comparable to Claude in Houses as a means of saying what should have been. He's not even allowed to walk away with the title of smartest dude on the board because half of the decisions he makes are just straight-up idiotic. I can't look at this guy and cheer that this is the guy we were supposed to get because a) the guy we got in Houses was flawed without being insufferable, and b) you can't just undo a whole game's worth of canon because you want to. Hopes, as per the developers, is not meant to override Houses, which means they're meant to co-exist, and as we've established by this point, these two guys are . . . nothing alike. If people want to look at my takes and the takes of others and say we simply never understood Claude, or that we can't appreciate a scheme-y schemer . . . well, sorry, but no.

[childofaura]

Since I asked about your favourite 3H characters, who are your top 10 least favourite characters or characters that you absolutely hate?

Uhhh I’mma go ahead and tag this one out as discourse, because yes I do hate Edelgard. But at the same time I usually do my best to either not just spam Edelgard hate (besides my anti-Edelgard posts for FEH, which I actually feel is pretty valid because I’ve had so many people agree with me that Edelgard gets a stupid amount of favoritism in FEH; even people who LIKE Edelgard agree with me), and I do respect people’s opinions for liking Edelgard, even if I vehemently disagree with it.

So with that being said, I’ll list my least favorite/hated characters for 3H. Some I hate for character/story reasons, and at least one I hate for gameplay reasons (though I like him as a character). These will also be in no particular order but number one is definitely number one.

Edelgard. Won’t elaborate because I’m not here to start arguments.

Kronya. She killed Jeralt so she can eat shit >:(

Hubert. I get he’s filling the role of retainer, but man the shit he pulls and how he treats other people… he’s the exact opposite of Dedue.

Yuri. I admit to probably over-exaggerating how bad of a person Yuri is, but he still comes off as super annoying to me. He’s just not very personable or friendly, which isn’t a problem by itself but it’s more that you’re SUPPOSED to like him despite being all nonchalant all the time. And I really don’t.

Byleth. Yes, I don’t like the main character of Three Houses themselves; Shez was better executed as a character. Byleth is quite fully a Mary Sue/Gary Stu. Everyone’s infatuated with them, they’re practically undefeatable and don’t really have much to learn or grow from, they almost never make any kind of mistake, and they carry Sothis’s blood and crest; these aren’t necessarily an issue on their own, but altogether it makes for an incredibly boring character. And they’re so bland and expressionless.

Gilbert. I don’t hate him for his story, or his character. I think he’s great in those regards!… No, it’s because THIS MOTHERFUCKER is an IDIOT in Chapter 5. Runs right in range where the archers are located without moving into a safer position. There is no plausible way to keep this dipshit alive in Maddening Mode.

Sothis. I don’t HATE her, but I am definitely sick of her “incomplete” form. We should have had her regain her memories and become an adult again, that could have resolved SO many plot issues that were left open-ended, like with Rhea and maybe Nemesis and TWSitD. Maybe someday we’ll get Ascended Sothis in her original form from the mural.

Mathias. I ENJOY his story. I ENJOY the role he plays. Between the stalwart nobles and royalty that is Lambert, Rodrigue, and Gilbert, Mathias is the exact dark underside of the crest system that Dimitri believes is unjust. That being said, it’s still pretty fucked up how he treated both Sylvain and Miklan, and he’s decently responsible for how Miklan turned out (not to say that Miklan deserves no blame for his choices, he absolutely does. He willingly made his own choice of being a brigand and treating Sylvain like shit).

Dorothea. This one I’m mixed on because I don’t hate her or even strongly dislike her. But if there’s one thing I really don’t like about her, it’s how she gets really creepily seductive, especially in the Byleth supports. And in Ingrid’s support she straight up tells Ingrid she’s gonna physically sexually harass her (and she’s already verbally harassed her). Which is kind of stupid considering how gross she feels when people only view her for her physical beauty. So yeah, to some degree I dislike her enough to put her on this list.

Monica, actual Monica from Three Hopes. I’ve already mentioned how her character is poorly written into being yet ANOTHER character who ass-pats Edelgard for no plausible reason in the other routes. If Dimitri or Claude are the ones who save her in their respective routes, why is she so strictly loyal to Edelgard? Especially considering how Edelgard was fully aware of the Kronya plan in Three Houses which means she essentially let her die for her cause. I’ll never understand it.

That’s pretty much my whole list, this time I had to include Three Hopes because I actually wouldn’t have had ten characters otherwise for the list. And it goes without saying but this is obviously my subjective opinion and I respect that these are people’s favorite characters.

[thecalendarwomen]

Who was the first woman to climb Kilimanjaro? Have you heard of her? Well, her name was Sheila Macdonald and I’d never heard of her either, until a few months ago. My then colleague, Stu Kenny, did an interview with Paula Williams, the curator of the Petticoats and Pinnacles exhibition at the National Library of Scotland. This led him to write an excellent piece about a Scottish mountaineer who didn’t quite make it into the exhibition: Sheila Macdonald.

When I proofread the article, I found Sheila fascinating. She was born in Australia in 1901 and was the daughter of Claude Macdonald, vice-president of the Alpine Club. She climbed in Scotland and the Alps; had summitted Mount Etna; and climbed Stromboli - an active volcano - rowing an open boat across a stormy sea to get away. She never set out to climb Kilimanjaro: she was meant to be visiting her cousin in Kenya. But she met a gentleman in an Alpine Club tie, Mr West, on the ship to Africa and joined his expedition instead.

Stu had found it challenging to uncover good and accurate information about the expedition, with a fair bit of misreporting in newspapers. But I wished that I could read a book about this awesome lady. So I started my own investigation, out of pure curiosity. On the way, I thought, “What about the Alpine Journals?” If her father was vice-president of the Alpine Club then surely someone would have mentioned her climbing Kilimanjaro. Even if women weren’t allowed to be members at the time.

A bit of a rummage and I found it: an expedition report written by Sheila Macdonald herself. The following extract is reproduced by the kind permission of the Alpine Club from their Alpine Journal archives.

KILIMANJARO IN 1927. By Miss SHEILA MACDONALD.

[The substance of this account is contained in a letter to Mr. Claude and Mrs. Macdonald, to whom we offer our best thanks.- Editor ‘A.J.’]

MOSHI, TANGANYIKA TERRITORY, August 2, 1927.

Mr W. C. West of the Alpine Club and I have climbed to the top of Kilimanjaro, and no woman has ever succeeded in getting there before. Kilimanjaro consists of two mountains - Kibo (19,710 ft) and Mawenzi (17,300 ft), separated by a 6-mile plateau. Mr. West and I and Major O. Lennox-Browne climbed Mawonzi first, choosing our route as we went, at least Mr. West did, and got to the highest point which had been reached by two German parties, both in 1912. We found their names and records in an old tin built into the cairn and added our names on the same piece of paper.

Our camp was at the foot of Mawenzi, but we could not stand the height for two nights running, and had to descend to 12,700 ft again before attacking Kibo. Mr. West and I were the only two to reach the top of Kibo, as Major Lennox-Browne, who suffered from the altitude, could go no further than three quarters of the way up. I never knew that mountain sickness and lack of oxygen could be so awful. And now I had better start from the beginning, as otherwise half the account will be left out.

The three of us joined together at Mombasa and came straight on here, branching off the main line at Voi. At Voi we got a ‘water train’ to Moshi, the only conveyance for nearly a week. It stopped every four miles to distribute water at wayside halts, and we travelled all day on the footboards - eight hours, and arrived at Moshi looking like Red Indians from the red dust. Here we stopped the night and just long enough next day to collect provisions, a cook and a personal boy. Then we travelled for two and a half hours on a Ford lorry with our camp equipment all about us, through scrub and up and down gullies-a most amazing road. I sat next to the native driver, and he was the best thing in chauffeurs I have ever seen-nothing abashed him, we took logs and ravines in our stride.

We got to Marangu in the evening and interviewed Mlanga, the Chief of the Wachagga, who was to provide us with fourteen porters to take our stuff to the highest hut on the mountain. He gave us eggs, milk and a leggy fowl, and I gave him a postcard of Kilimanjaro. He let us camp in front of his Council House. All our porters were rounded up by him, he sent out his ‘Royal Crier’, a picturesque gentleman in a blanket, who called the tribe together by making strange noises on a koodoo horn.

From Marangu we climbed up to Bismarck Hut through dense forests very much like those Knysna forests in South Africa, but more tropical - amazing creepers and lots of signs of elephant. Bismarck Hut suffered a lot during the fighting with Smuts, etc, but still offered the shelter of thick walls and a tin roof. It is high up on the mountain with a wide view of the plain, copper-coloured in the sun, while we were in shadow and mist in the middle of the cloud-belt which always encircles Kilimanjaro. This is one of the things that make the mountain so wonderful. It rises straight from the plain in one sheer mass, but the base of it is always separated from the top by this circle of mist and fleecy cloud, so that the great dome of smooth snow looks completely detached from the earth like a great moon hanging in heaven, especially at night when it looks too beautiful for description.

We left Bismarck Hut on July 27, and got above the cloud-belt into the sun again through a district of sweet-smelling shrubs, protea, giant heather and gladioli to Pieters Hut, where we turned in on very comfortable grass bunks. We saw plenty of elands standing as high as cattle. Major Lennox-Browne and I crawled towards a herd on our tummies with great success, while Mr. West (otherwise the ‘Skipper’) diverted their attention with his white helmet. We got near enough to take a photo when one of the porters dropped his load; it crashed down into the undergrowth and frightened the creatures away. We all sat outside the hut trying to spot animals with field-glasses. I found a big shaggy brown thing like a grizzly bear and distinctly saw it wag its tail, but in the morning it turned out to be an ant-hill.

The way from Pieters Hut to the foot of Mawenzi leads over rough country and crosses a corner of the plateau. We put up our tents near the foot of our proposed climb and spent a very cold night in them. In the morning, tea, ink and the Skipper's mixture of whisky and lime juice were all frozen ice. I was feeling giddy and headachey, Mr. West was violently sick and could not eat. The difficulty about Mawenzi is that there is such a mass of pinnacles and jagged ridges that the highest point is impossible to distinguish except from high up on Kibo. Several people have been up and thought themselves on the summit, discovering later that they had been on a minor peak.

It is the most lovely mountain for climbing; the difficult part was the first half before we got into the couloir that leads to the top. We used the rope for a few difficult steps leading up into the NW gully. This gully reaches almost to the top, broken by one sheer wall, where we had to climb out on to the righthand side of it again. There were excellent hand and footholds, mostly alternating with exhausting slopes of scree and loose rocks. At the top of the gully were three pinnacles, which seemed to us of equal height.

We found the cairn and records of the two German ascents on the most southerly and insignificant looking of the three pinnacles. This is Hans Meyer Spitze (17,300 ft). We rested here a few minutes and shuddered at the tremendous drops on the E side of the mountain. The summit is split into jagged pinnacles of every size, some of them only a few feet thick and piled to heights of 40 and 50 ft. From them precipices drop to sheer depths of thousands of feet.

We had meant to go straight from Mawenzi to Kibo, but decided that it was worth going down to Pieters Hut to have a good rest in between, especially as Mr. West was really suffering from the height, so we had a cup of Bovril each when we came down from Hans Meyer Spitze at 5 pm, and started back for Pieters Hut, getting there at 8 pm. Major Lennox-Browne was rather seedy, and suggested a day's rest, which we had and enjoyed, though I rather wanted to have a ‘go’ at Kibo while keyed up to the struggle.

So Friday was a slack day, and on Saturday, July 30, we climbed up to the plateau again and made for the foot of Kibo, where there is a cave (Hans Meyer's Höhle), where we meant to spend part of the night. The plateau was a horrid grind, slightly uphill all the way, drifting sand and the wind in our faces. When we got to the other side we discovered that the four porters we had chosen for the last lap to the cave did not know where it was, so we hunted about the rocks until I found a beauty, well sheltered, with a sandy ground- ‘The Sheila Cave’ this is to be called. We turned in while the boys built a large fire in the entrance.

Mr. West 's idea was to start the climb at midnight, so as to get to the top at sunrise, before the heat of the sun made the ascent too difficult in soft snow. However, we only had a lantern, which was quite inadequate; it went out five times before we decided to wait till daybreak and risk the soft snow at the top. We settled down in the scanty shelter of a rock and waited 3 hrs for light to come; then started the most awful climb for hours upon loose rocks, stones and sand; everything you put your foot on slipped back with you, and after 3 hrs’ hard climb we looked up and seemed to have made no progress.

At first we rested every hour, but at about 18,000 ft we dragged ourselves for about 20 ft at a time with stops between each bit to get our breath in working order. However much one gasped and panted, nothing seemed to get into one's lungs. I was rather ahead of the others, because I had found some firmer rock at about 800 ft from the crater's rim. When I found that the others were not following I cooeed several times, and finally Mr. West came round a mass of rocks - by himself! Major Lennox-Browne was completely finished, and could not go a step farther. I can't understand how Mr. West could keep going, when he had been sick and dizzy with nausea. I think he was feeling rather weak just here, though he didn't give in.

Well, up to this point I had been wondering several times how long I could stick it out, but I braced myself up and was comforted by feeling that I was not the weak one of the party. Mr. West and I had a good dose of whisky and lime juice out of our drinking bottle, pulled ourselves together, and went on. We reached the crater's edge at Johannes Notch, and bore round to the left, past Stella Point (reached by the Kingsley-Lathams last year) and on round the crater to Kaiser Wilhelm Spitze, the highest point, reached once before by Mr. West, in 1914, when he was the first Englishman to make the ascent.

We crawled to the summit foot by foot. I am not being dramatic, it really was like that. It was just in front of us, and I thought we should never get there. You can't imagine the relief of leaning up against the cairn and realizing that we were there. We inscribed our names in the pocket-book that is hidden in the cairn, and split a bottle of champagne carried all the way from Moshi for the occasion. We had poor Major Lennox-Browne's share as well, but unfortunately had to drink out of the bottle and got very little but fizziness - better than nothing, though.

Several women have reached the crater's rim, but very few people have been beyond - no women. The inside of the crater is amazing. Imagine a huge bowl of ice with hanging glaciers all round its inside walls and two great lakes of greeny-blue ice at the bottom of it, huge crevasses and seracs around its rim. I have never seen anything like it. The cold made it impossible to stay up there for long, so we took one or two photos and followed our tracks back to the crater's rim.

The way down was ridiculously easy; we just ‘glissaded’ down steep slopes of lava-dust and small stones, and it took us less than 2 hrs, though we took a wrong turning near the bottom and found ourselves in a narrow gully with a sheer cliff at our feet, dropping a good 80 ft to the plateau. So we retraced our steps again (more upward scrambling!), reached our cave just in time for a 20 minutes' rest and a cup of tea before starting on the 4 hrs' tramp to Pieters Hut again - anything for comfortable grass bunks and a good night's rest.

Darkness overcame us on the way, and we got lost and had to squat down where we were, with a huge fire lit as a signal to the boys at the hut. They found us at about 10 pm and led us to Pieters Hut with great torches of sweet-smelling shrub. There was much waving of branches to make the sparks fly. What a day! and the next morning we had to walk 25 miles to Marangu; dropping 8000 ft in 7 hrs.

So now it is done, and I would not have missed it for the world, though I cannot say I ever want to do Kibo again. Mawenzi I should like to do dozens of times. We have a lorry to take us and our luggage to Nairobi to-morrow, about 250 miles, as the train does not go until Saturday. You cannot imagine how splendid Mr. West has been on this expedition, always cheerful and most optimistic. The boys loved him, and he always managed to get things done, though none of them spoke a word of English, and all we could say in Swahili was ‘tea’, ‘coffee’, ‘water’ and ‘prepare food’.

__

The report is then followed by a commentary from Mr West, refuting claims that other women had summitted first. It seems there was quite some controversy at the time. It also contains a few black and white pictures of what Kilimanjaro used to look like. You can view it on the Alpine Journal Archive 1928 Vol 40.

[gildead]

a stranger lucifer asked:

hi this is luci and i'd like to hear abt ... 5, 17, 10 and 18!

Vetra's Hot Munday Takes

5. dash commentary

I think it's pretty safe to say at this point that I'm a huge fan of dash commentary? It's one of the most fun ways for me to get involved in whatever conversation or event's going on on the dashboard, and it's led to some of the funniest shenanigans I've ever been involved in. A good example from this blog was the time when Ben and Gold were cursing up a storm, and you only need to go back a few pages to see how everyone got involved in some way or another.

If you're having trouble getting interactions, dash commentary and responding to open dash commentary posts are a great way to get your muse involved in some wild stuff. Just make sure the other person's good with that, obviously.

10. anons

Believe it or not, I've only gotten... one anon hate message in my entire RP career? It was back when I played as Wolf-- somebody sent me a message telling Wolf to kill himself? I think it was directed to him? Either way, it was really out of pocket and I ended up having to take the anon to task OOC because I was not in a good place during that time.

In my experience, anon hate has been really uncommon and that's partially because people are learning how to IP block and make fun of people hiding behind anon to be assholes, which is a trend that I hope keeps on going.

I'm not holding out hope it's gone entirely-- hell, I know there's gonna come a day where someone didn't read Gold's giant warning page/rules closely enough and is gonna come on anon crying because they didn't know the creepypasta muse was gonna do creepypasta things. The least I can do is cover my own ass.

17. fanon interpretations

This is specifically gonna be a Fire Emblem-related take, so if you have no idea what I'm talking about feel free to skip on down to 18.

I REALLY have found myself getting irritated when people on Twitter put a ton of analysis and thought into the Black Eagles and Blue Lions, but when it comes time for the Golden Deer they immediately get brushed off as 'hehe funny meme house' without the same amount of effort getting put into them. It's starting to get to the point where it's not cute anymore, it's annoying and dismissive as hell to Golden Deer fans. I myself am a Black Eagles stan and I think we should be giving them equal time and effort.

There's actually a LOT you can say about the Golden Deer from an analytical standpoint. Here, we have a house where practically nobody save Claude and maaaybe Hilda have any loyalties or ties keeping them to the Alliance and will jump ship without provocation. Perhaps it's the culture of self-preservation and backstabbing propagated by the nobility, where you feel like you can't get close to anybody without them using you for their own gain. Only through the player's direct intervention can these guys grow past that and work to create an Alliance that's more willing to work together than be at each other's throats.

...but sure, tell us about how Claude's the funny upside-down meme man for the fifty-morbillionth time in a row, I'm sure that joke hasn't gotten stale in the slightest.

18. shipping

The RPC's over-reliance on shipping can be really alienating for people trying to roleplay different types of muses.

Like, for example, Gold's dead AND a very young teenager. Aside from a very select pinchful of characters who are also dead and young teenagers, he's basically going to be locked out from any muse looking to ship. Even then, most shipping memes/relationship prompts are SO NSFW/romance-based that there's very little room for anyone who wants to write any other kind of relationship.

And that's not even limited to Gold. I'm talking muses who are minors, muses who are older than the early-mid 20s demographic most characters are in the RPC, aro/ace muses, nonhuman muses... it can be very tough to navigate the RPC when a lot of people are looking for shipping and it's oversaturated.

I think it's worth noting that there are plenty of non-shipping related relationships that get overlooked but are just as valid and rife with plot ideas. Like... Luci, you know what I'm talking about. Looks at your Jeralt and my Shez.

also gold's shipping rule is mostly in terms of smut/overly charged shit. i'm fine with 'awkward teen's first relationship' fluff. didn't know where to say that so i'm just dropping that in here.