#when Sylvain heard

[surelynotshirley]

Right in front of my salad? In front of Felix????

[amostimprobabledream]

I just found your blog and I am EXTREMELY IN LOVE with how you write Claude. Thank you so much 🙏🙏🙏

If you take request, I'd love to see a jealous Claude of some sort. Or Claude having a crush on you and he wants to be very tactical about it but fails because for once he also stumbles over his words.

~🌻🌻🌻

Hello Sunflower anon! I promise I hadn't forgotten your ask, I just didn't want to respond until I had something to show for it. Now, here it is! Hope you enjoy! :)

Also available on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52063906

Out of the corner of his eye, Claude found himself watching you.

The Leicester Alliance might not have been as...enthusiastic in their celebrations as the kind of feasts that went down in Almyra, but they still knew how to host a party when the situation called for it. The buffet table groaned with a banquet of food that would have been unthinkable just a year or so ago and everyone was dressed in their best outfits, determined to finally enjoy some splendour after fighting their way through some of the bleakest days in living memory.

You were working the room, the goldenrod gown you were wearing rustling across the polished marble floors. He wondered if you had picked out that colour for any particular reason – was it simply because it looked nice on you, or was it some kind of message? A code, if you will.

“A woman’s outfit isn’t just for practicalities, Claude!” He heard Hilda’s voice chiming in his head, something she’d told him once in the old days at the Academy, when he’d once asked why she bothered to wear perfume and earrings to a mock battle. “When you pick out your clothing, you’re making a statement about who you are! And not just the girls – look around you sometime if you don’t believe me!”

He’d been sceptical of this claim initially, but after that conversation, Claude had found himself paying closer attention to how his fellow Golden Deer and other students wore their uniforms and had been both surprised and intrigued to see that Hilda had been right. It was in the little things, like Hilda’s skirt being as short as she could possibly get away with without incurring the wrath of Seteth, while Marianne made sure her uniform covered as much as herself as possible, like she was using the fabric to hide in. Then you had Sylvain with his sleeves rolled up and his hair messy, like he’d just rolled out of bed and couldn’t be bothered to button up the cuffs or front of his jacket. Then you had Lorenz and that ridiculous rose he always wore pinned to his lapel…

Speaking of Lorenz and his questionable choice in accessories, Claude spied the man himself across the room…and there you were, laughing at something he was saying.

An unfamiliar knot of irritation tightened in Claude’s chest, which was ridiculous…Lorenz was your old classmate, after all, so why wouldn’t you be catching up with him? There was plenty to catch up on, after all, especially now that the wore was officially over and Fodlan could breath a sigh of relief…

Yet he still didn’t like the way Lorenz was staring at you, like he’d discovered a rare new species of flower or bird. No doubt you looked even more lovely close up, but Claude wondered if you remembered what Lorenz used to be like around female students at Garreg Mach, to the point that Teach herself had to step in. As the sun poured into the room, catching on the jewellery you were wearing around your neck and in your ears, Claude couldn’t help but wonder what you had been thinking when you chose them, if each item was a tool in your arsenal to be deployed at the key moment…

“Stare, much?”

Claude jolted and turned to see Hilda, who was unsurprisingly in a resplendent pink gown that was clinging lovingly to her curves – if she was trying to convey a message with her outfit, then “Look at me!” seemed to be the end result.

“Hilda!” Claude greeted her, shooting her an easygoing smile that did not quite reach his eyes. “I see that you’re already enjoying the festivities.”

“Oh, there’s plenty to enjoy around here,” Hilda said airily. “But I have to say, you’re not looking as happy as the hero of the hour should be. Are you wishing you’d stayed home in Almyra?”

It was still so strange to hear the other half of him spoken aloud so casually, when he’d been hiding it so painstakingly for five years. Yet it came with an undeniable surge of relief.

“My home is here and Almyra.” Claude replied diplomatically. “Anyway, you think I’d pass up an opportunity to see everyone all together again?”

“Hmm, that’s true.” Hilda nodded, sipping from her glass of champagne. “This is a prime time to start forging diplomatic relations, isn’t it? Looks like those two over there are already making inroads.”

Hilda tilted her head, pink hair slipping off her shoulder, an amused little smile playing about her lips, like she knew something Claude didn’t. She’d always been able to see through him, and vice versa.

So no doubt Hilda had noticed the way that, no matter who Claude was talking to, his eyes kept wandering back to you, tracking you all about the ballroom as though he was worried that the moment he wasn’t making sure you were still there, you might just disappear.

“I thought the war taught you that sometimes you can’t just stand back and watch before you make a move.” Hilda remarked.

“It did.” Claude replied evenly, his green eyes growing half-lidded as Lorenz put his hand on your waist.

“Then go and talk to her! It’s not cute to stand around pouting at your age, you know.”

“Ha! You’re one to talk – you’ll be pouting to get your way until you’re an old lady.” Claude said, imagining an eighty-year-old Hilda in pigtails. “And I know.”

“Good, because it’s so exhausting trying to play matchmaker.” Hilda said, with an affected hair toss, before she spotted someone across the room and gave them a dainty little wave, her fingers fluttering.

“Oh, there’s Caspar! I promised him a dance!” she lilted, before swanning away, the scent of her perfume wafting behind her – Claude caught a whiff of anemones.

“Bet that’s not all you promised.” He murmured under his breath.

Nevertheless, Claude heeded her advice, because as spacy as she might have liked to seem, Hilda was a startlingly perceptive woman under her ditzy attitude. He strode across the room, boots clicking on the polished floors, surging ahead before he could start doing what he always did. Running through various scenarios in his head like he was figuring out his next move in chess, making contingency plans, scheming. It was his fall-back from when he was a scrawny young boy, hiding in the shadows from those who sought to harm him that he couldn’t possibly retaliate against physically. Old habits died hard, despite everything.

“Lorenz! I see your fashion sense has improved since our school days! Well, somewhat.” Claude said in a cheery voice as he approached the two of you. “Remember how people used to ask if you’d tried to cut your hair with an axe?”

“May I remind you, Claude, that you wore the same uniform as me back then?” Lorenz sighed, but it lacked the genuine irritation it once did.

“I see you still like yellow, though.” You said to Claude, turning your head to smile at him, though that smile was teetering on being a smirk.

Claude’s mouth went dry.

“So do you.” He replied. He didn’t mean to say that; it just popped out before he could stop himself. It was unlike Claude to be so concise with his wording, he had always tended to err on the side of verbosity, yet…

Your smile widened and heat spread across your cheeks, and his own mouth curved in a smirk.

“Yes, well, we were just about to dance-“ Lorenz said haughtily, seeming not to notice your reaction to Claude’s comment, and the latter gave a wince of faux-sympathy.

“Ooh, sorry, Duke of Gloucester, but she already promised the next one to me. Did she not say? Ah, for shame, my lady!”

“Oh, right, yeah,” you said, before quickly turning your head to Lorenz. “Apologies, do excuse me. But you know, if you’re looking for a dance partner, why not ask Marianne? She’s been standing over there by herself a while, it would probably be nice for her to see a face she recognises.”

“Ah, yes, what a good idea!” Lorenz said, his face brightening at the suggestion, turning to look across the ballroom. “I had to speak with her about Margrave Edmund’s proposition…”

He wandered off, still muttering under his breath, though it was obvious neither you nor Claude cared whatsoever what he was talking about. Instead, Claude offered a hand with a slightly mocking edge to it, unable to resist bucking against convention.

“Shall we?”

You accepted his hand and he lead you into the middle of the room where several people were dancing, and he saw Hilda shoot him a grin as Caspar somewhat clumsily whirled her around in a blur of pink and blue. Claude rested one of his hands on the small of your back and though the contact was hardly anything risqué, it still sent a bolt of delight through you.

“So you really did mean to dance.” You remarked, falling into step with him almost without thinking about it. You’d been instructed how to dance for formal events like this by your parents when you were younger and as much of an irritating chore as they’d felt at the time, it was like second nature now.

“What else could I have meant?” Claude replied, lifting one hand to twirl you around. “I could have challenged you to a duel, I suppose, but neither of us seem dressed for the occasion.”

“Well, for a second there, I thought you were just going to start grunting and throw me over your shoulder.” You teased, as he pulled you in again. “That was quite the glare you were giving Lorenz Hellman Gloucester.”

“Do you want to be thrown over my shoulder?” Claude asked, tilting his head. “Or would that put a dampener on all your schmoozing?”

“Forging important political alliances, you mean.” You corrected Claude with a smirk. “Goodness, Claude. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous.”

“And if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were purposefully trying to induce a little jealousy.” Claude replied, eyes sliding down to your lips.

You tilted your chin up, defiantly.

“And if I was?”

There was a small silence, a verbal gauntlet thrown down, and Claude looked at you with an expression that made your insides twist. He reached his free hand out and twined a lock of your hair around his finger, his expression thoughtful.

“Then I’m afraid you’re just going to have to suffer the consequences.”

~

“Claude…Claude!”

You were sweating. Heated kisses and a warm, muscular body pressing you to the wall would do that to a person. Along with the fact that you were only on the other side of the room from the entire ballroom – if somebody left to get a little fresh air, for example, they might well stumble on the scene of the new Duke of House Riegan kissing you against the wall like a naughty schoolboy. You pulled back, feeling a little dazed.

“I know you like to make risky moves, Claude, but isn’t this a bit much?” you said, a touch breathlessly.

Claude laughed softly, breath tickling your cheek as he moved in closer, pressing his lips to your neck.

“I consider the pros to outweigh the cons in this specific scenario.” He replied in a murmur.

“Which are?” You giggled.

“Pros: I get to put my hands on you,” Claude replied, sucking hard on the skin of your throat, making you gasp. “Cons: Someone might see me put my hands on you.”

“Then why are you doing this in a place where the cons could become a real possibility?” You asked, though you knew the answer already – you just wanted to know if he’d admit to it.

“If you want a gamble to have the best possible payoff, then you have to make sure the risk is big enough.” Claude replied with a wry smile, his fingers squeezing your hips. “Anyway, I didn’t hear you doing much maidenly protesting. Though your mouth was quite occupied at the time…”

You laughed and pulled him down for another kiss, because he was quite right, of course – knowing that other people were there, mooning for someone else across the room but not daring to make a move, or chastely dancing together while secretly wishing they could do so much more, gave you an adrenaline rush you hadn’t felt since you were standing on a battlefield so many months ago. These thrills were less likely to come with the potential cost of your life, but they were exciting in an entirely new way.

“Claude…” you mumbled, leaning into him, resting your hands on his chest, feeling his heart pounding against your palms. It was true you’d wanted to get his attention today – he’d been away in Almyra for months and you’d missed him. Missed his laugh, the easy way he could banter with just about anyone, the sharp line of his jaw and the particular shade of green of his eyes…perhaps going around in a dress the same colour as that cape of his was a little on the nose, but it seemed to have worked.

“Mm?” he seemed preoccupied with your earrings, taking one and giving it a playful little tug, an emerald sparkling between his teeth.

“How long exactly is the hero of the Leicester Alliance expected to stay at the ball until he can flee into the sunset?” you asked, tilting your head.

"Flee? Is that how you see me? Some coward who's always running away at the drop of a hat?” Claude asked, holding a hand to his chest in a parody of shock. "I'm not Bernadetta!"

“I wouldn’t call you a coward,” you said, then paused. “But you do tend to rush from place to place without giving people a chance to say goodbye.”

Understanding dawned across his face, and he ran his fingers through your hair, his touch gentle.

“I had things to do. But I always intended to come back.” He said, simply. It wasn’t easy feeling torn between two things all the time, but he had hope that now, he could finally act as a whole for the first time in his life.

“Still, a word or two would have been nice…” You said, a little churlishly, unwilling to melt under his touch just yet, not wanting to give up your grievances so easily. You didn’t consider yourself the type to be pining over anyone, but Claude von Riegan wasn’t just anyone.

And here was something you loved about Claude, one of the many things – instead of getting exasperated or defensive at your stubbornness, your unwillingness to just sink into the moment, into him, a slow smile spreads across his face, honey-sweet.

“Oh, sweetheart.” He cooed, cupping your face. “Did you miss me that much?”

The sting of his teasing was mitigated by the way he kissed you next, soft and sensually, the scruff of his beard rubbing against your skin, but you didn’t care, you were too busy kissing him back, lips tingling, sighing against him as his hands squeezed your waist like he didn’t want to let go.

“You know, I think I might be able to make it up to you.” Claude said breathlessly, when you both finally paused for ear. Some of your lipstick was smudging his face and a perverse stab of pride poked you at the sight of it. “If you’re willing, that is.”

“That depends on what it is,” you replied, your lips tingling. You knew you were smiling despite your grumpy tone.

“Oh, you’ll like it. But we’d have to get on my wyvern to see it.” Claude replied, brushing his thumb across your bottom lip. “Think of it as an adventure.”

An adventure with Claude sounded…well, even a casual conversation with Claude could be exciting, he was the kind of person who could talk about any subject. But to be whisked away into the unknown made your stomach perform a swooping feeling, almost a pre-emptive recreation of what sitting atop a dragon was like.

“So am I being kidnapped now?” You said with an excited giggle, the possibilities opening up to you suddenly making this spacious corridor seem like a prison you’re about to break free from, and Claude laughed back. “Will you stop and write out a ransom first?”

“You know what us Almyrans alike. We just can’t resist something pretty to take for our own.” He teased, pulling your flush against him. “What do you say we have a real celebration?”

His eyes glinted with mischievous intent, reminding you sharply of the emerald earrings you’d carefully slotted into your ears as you were dressing for the ball. You leaned into his embrace, breathing in the scent of Claude, parchment and cloves and pine needles.

“That’s fine with me. I don’t mind being stolen.” You whispered back to him, and his answering kiss sealed the deal.

[glowingbadger]

Which of the Three Houses guys will watch their beloved go off on an enemy and have the reaction of "Well mark me down as scared AND horny", do you think?

Ahh, see my dear Friend Anon, this is a nuanced spectrum- but I'll do my best to break it down as I see it:

Scared and Horny:

Claude - has enough common sense to be scared, but definitely hot-blooded enough to be horny about it. A beautiful balance, frankly, though he may tease you about how wild you were.

Raphael - soooo close to qualifying for the "just horny" category, but he is a sweet boy and still wants to check to be sure you're alright (mentally, emotionally, physically) after the battle.

Ignatz - soooo close to qualifying for the "just scared" category lmao. However, as you all know, I see our boy Ignatz as very repressed and very kinky, and seeing you be so powerful and passionate definitely stirs some part of him.

Ferdinand - practically the poster-boy for "scared and horny" tbh; he feels sheepish about it, but he just can't help how your strength and force of will arouse him.

Seteth - also strangely close to the "just horny" category, not that he wants to admit it; seeing you like this really awakens something primal in him from far in his past. Still, his concern for you is ever-present and ultimately pushes aside how entrancing you look conquering your foes so thoroughly.

Sylvain - I almost don't know how to elaborate on this one because, I mean, of course, right? Of course Sylvain is worried, but also just burning inside watching you flushed in the face, damp with sweat, muscles tight, hair wild.......

Just Scared:

Lorenz - oscillating wildly between worried for you and worried for every person around you. Definitely impressed, don't get me wrong- he appreciates battle prowess. But if you're really going berserk, he's worried.

Dedue - while he's likely right there beside you in the fight, he worries about seeing you get particularly aggressive. He's seen what bloodlust has done to the other most valued person in his life, and never wants to see you go too far down that path.

Ashe - it's not as though he can't stomach violence, he just feels that there's a certain responsibility and necessity for rules of engagement when it comes to combat, hence his proclivity for chivalry. Seeing you completely lose yourself worries him, and he'll want to be with you and hold you and make sure you're okay as soon as he can.

Just Horny:

Hubert - I feel like this is more or less self explanatory lmao. Though he does still hope you'll be rational and not do anything unnecessarily risky while eviscerating your foes.

Caspar - again, an obvious choice. Honestly, I think Caspar wants to fuck after just about every battle you two come back from, provided neither of you is hurt too badly.

Jeritza - this is the most obvious one so far lol. Though, when he's more 'himself,' he does silently worry about you sharing in his bloodshed and provoking the Death Knight part of him.

Felix - honestly, it's probably even fiercer than Hubert or Caspar; the lust he feels for you in the heat of battle is both primal and nearly spiritual. This is about his whole life philosophy, after all. After a particularly tough and gruesome fight, he wants nothing more than to absolutely ravage you (and might need to be talked down if he has wounds to attend to first)

Outliers:

Linhardt - ideally, he is not present, as the sight of you "going off" on an enemy is likely to involve waaaaay more blood than he's comfy with. He'll definitely tend to you afterward, and wryly scold you for going overboard (secretly, he was super worried when he heard from your comrades of how ferocious you were out there)

Dimitri - he's in different categories depending on where he's at in his arc tbh. Feral Dimitri is obviously just horny about you diving into the bloodshed with him, while "redeemed" Dimitri has some measure of restraint about it

Yuri - it's more like "amused/impressed and horny," tbh. Though he never looses his head about it- he's still keeping a close eye on you to make sure nothing goes awry. But he won't deny that he enjoys watching, nonetheless.

[fiction-box]

Hello! I would like to request F!Reader x Felix

It is the Winter Ball. One of them is weary of the dancing, the crowds and the merriment and decides to take refuge in the Training Grounds - only to find that the other had the exact same idea. They decide to do something that's more fun than dancing - a sparring match. Bonus points if reader is wearing a fancy gown the whole time.

Whenever your time allows - thank you in advance!

You are very welcome, and I would like to thank you for being respectful of my time.

I seem to be on a roll with these longer stories. I don't know why - more ideas just keep pouring into my head, and of course I want to do every conflict justice.

Thank you for giving me freedom with perspective! I wanted to write something from the view of Felix since I had yet to truly write for him.

Requests are open. The story will continue under the cut.

You stood by yourself on the sidelines of the great hall, your purple dress sparkling against the downward lighting of the chandeliers. There was nothing particularly interesting about you right now; you simply surveyed the dancers on the checkered floor. Dimitri led Mercedes through an elegant twirl, Ingrid talked Ashe through the steps of the waltz, Annette and Sylvain engaged in a heated discussion over something that probably wouldn’t matter in about fifteen minutes…

…and Felix was staring at you.

The swordsman had refused to do any more than the bare minimum for the ball. That meant that despite his suit - one required by the Archbishop’s insipid dress code - his hair remained up off his neck, and his back pressed against the wall.

Dorothea had been making eyes at him from across the room for the past three minutes now. Felix told himself that was the reason he kept staring at you. If he and the songstress never made eye contact, she wouldn’t do anything stupid. Besides, she didn’t seem interested in asking anyone to dance; the brunette would only be accepting such invitations tonight.

Why the hell did he even care?

He didn’t, but he followed your line of sight to Dimitri. The boar switched partners to lead Hilda around the floor, an exchange initiated by the up-tempo of the cello and Mercedes’ apparent request for a break.

Why the hell did you even care?

…did you-?

“Jeez Felix, you’re so obvious.”

Sylvain.

“Trying to find the courage to ask her to dance?” the redhead teased. “I could help you out, you know. I’ve heard I’m an excellent wingman.”

“Do I look like I’m interested in moving right now? And since when have you ever helped anyone but yourself?”

“Ouch. I mean, you’re certainly not helping yourself- your suit coat will get wrinkled if you keep leaning against the wall like that.”

“As if I care!” Felix pushed off the wall to contest Sylvain at his full height. He did care. “There’s no point in this - we shouldn’t even be having a ball right now.”

“No- No- No- Hey look, no sweat, okay?” Sylvain verbally backpedaled, putting an arm around his friend’s shoulder to guide him toward the refreshments. Subtly, he ran his hand along the wrinkles of his coat to smooth them out as they walked, “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but soirées like these don’t happen very often.”

“So?”

“So, you have just as good a reason to be here as everyone else in this room. You can wait however long you want before asking anyone you want to dance, but it’s pretty frowned upon to return to a party once you leave, you know?”

The heir of Gautier knew him too well. Nonetheless, he did make a good point. There was no need to rush to be flustered - he probably had an hour before the final dance of the night.

A drink found his hand, and the two nobles took up a space several paces away from the table. Felix couldn’t stop his eyes from searching for your shimmering gown.

You were still standing alone, still watching the dancers.

At least your eyes weren’t fixed on the boar this time. The son of Count Gloucester glided a blue-haired lady across the floor, her dress trumpeting as he gracefully led her back and forth. Your attention followed their sweeping motions.

Maybe you really did just want to dance.

His classmate’s hand came to rest on his shoulder again, “I’m just saying, you hate to see it, Felix. A beautiful girl like that, standing all by herself. You better make a move before someone else does - or before I take too much pity on her and ask her myself.”

He had called you a girl, “Stay away from her.”

“I’ll put in a good word for you, kay?”

But he headed the opposite direction. The bluenette watched him connect with a pouting Dorothea, immediately starting some banter he was sure he couldn’t care less about.

Felix found himself growing impatient, despite everything his friend said moments ago. If he was going to do this, he might as well get it over with now. That way the two of you would either get as much time as possible to spend together, or he could end his attendance at this event because the one reason for which he cared to stay wanted nothing to do with him.

Only, there was no place to put his drink.

Since you were standing by the southern entrance, and he loitered near the drinks at the western wall, you could see him out of your peripheral. That meant you could catch him too easily if he were to look at you again. Not that it wasn’t already considered rude to stare.

Taking a sip of the cool, vanilla drink, his mind began to think it through a bit. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to make eye contact. It would give him an excuse to approach you.

And another thing - although you hadn’t been alone the whole ball, you hadn’t been approached by any men, either. Even working to put his bias out of the way, you were objectively attractive. It didn’t-

Goddess, and you belonged to a house in the kingdom, too. A young, available, attractive noblewoman standing by herself at - judging the crowd - the largest social event of the season.

A mumbled ‘What the hell…?’ parted his lips as he surveyed the room again. He might actually understand Sylvain, for once. Logically, this whole scenario didn’t connect.

Finally finishing his drink and handing off the glass, he found it in himself to turn to face you.

You were not there.

His heart skipped a beat before his gaze scanned the dance floor for your dress, your hair, anything. Upon coming up empty, his mind shoved one thought to the front of his mind.

You left the ball.

Again, why? There were too many important people here for you to just up and leave. You hadn’t tried to mingle this whole time, content with simply watching everyone else twirl about the floor. Then, the moment he became too preoccupied with his drink and with Sylvain to pay attention, you vanished.

In light of recent events, it looked like Felix was about to copy you.

With no further reason to stay, he tried not to make a show of striding to the southern entrance. The last thing he wanted was for someone to chase him out or call him back in, especially if that person had red hair or…or connections to the Mittelfrank Opera Company.

His feet instinctively wound the path to the training grounds. He needed to blow off some steam and get out of his head so he could get some proper rest tonight. Even so, if his mind wouldn’t relent, he would work his body so hard that he’d sleep as soon as he finished bathing himself.

Music trailed him, but it couldn’t compete with the creak of the doors to the training grounds. Once the door shut behind him, Felix was well and truly alone. The notes of the orchestral violins couldn’t penetrate the thick wood and metal, and no one else had any reason to come here tonight.

Still, his actions quickly caught up with him. What was he doing here? Why did it feel like he was running away?

Get a grip.

He wasn’t running away, he just wasn’t wasting time, either. Heading to the rack, Felix grabbed a steel sword. It didn’t matter which one, so long as it was heavy.

The sand of the center pit caved beneath his feet. There was no need for a training dummy to warm up. Routinely, Felix swung the sword over his head. His arms needed to be steady even while his attacks retained momentum and strength.

…10…11…12…

Any time a thought of the ball wormed its way into his head, Felix would shove it out. No point in dwelling on his failure to act - the two of you were far too young for anything serious to happen. No need to worry about Sylvain finding you - after what he said earlier, there was no way he would leave all the other ladies in that room for the one he knew Felix was interested in. He knew Sylvain that well, at least.

…57…58…59…

Why the hell wasn’t this working? Usually he could focus on this. This one thing that belonged to him, that he had done endlessly before that insufferable ball, and that he would continue to endlessly pursue after it. His training should belong to him! This was supposed to be how he grounded himself.

Felix was having a very difficult nig-

The doors to the entrance groaned, a delicate piano solo floating in through the opening as the moonlight guided a figure into the facility.

Upon recognition of the shimmer of your gown, the swordsman lowered the weapon from above his head.

…82…?

Thoughtful of the ongoing formal, you pivoted around the door, slowly and mindfully closing it in an apparent attempt to make as little noise as possible. Finally, you exhaled and turned to the center of the grounds.

“Oh- I- Sorry! Sorry, I’ll go.”

But your eyes hadn’t adjusted to the light of the torches from the darkness outside, so your eyelashes fluttered as you reached past the door.

“No need,” Felix frowned. “You chose to come here, I don’t own the place.”

“Wait, Felix?” you marveled, turning back around only to blink against the light again. “I didn’t recognize you. I thought you were someone on maintenance.”

What. “What kind of maintenance staff wears a suit?”

“I didn’t get a good look, okay?” you defended, your eyes finally staying open and guiding you to where he currently stood.

Being this close to you now…it felt strange. Your makeup had been expertly applied, supposedly with help from Mercedes and Annette, the tailoring of your dress was much more obvious…

“But why are you here? You’re dressed for the ball, and I remember seeing you when I walked in.”

“You first,” he countered. “What did you think you were going to accomplish here in an evening gown?”

That caught you off guard. Your eyes found a spot on the ground beside you before trailing to the wall.

“I don’t know. I didn’t really have a plan. I’m not even sure why I’m here - I just feel like I’m supposed to be.”

His eyes narrowed, “What, are you trying to trick me into thinking this was fated or something?”

Your gaze drew back to him, confusion etched across your face.

“What?”

“Sylvain must have said something to you then, is that it?”

But you only looked more lost than you did before, “I’m sorry, I don’t follow. Sylvain and I haven’t spoken since…” your line of sight shifted above his head and slightly to the side, “…two days ago…? Professor Byleth puts us on stable duty every few days.”

The bluenette’s knuckles turned white as he clenched the hilt of his sword. Sylvain never said anything about this. Felix had no clue you were spending so much time together.

“Forget it,” he insisted, “you’re here, so we might as well do something productive. Spar with me.”

“In an evening gown? You practically said it yourself, I can’t do anything wearing this.”

Goddess save him, he did not know how to handle this situation. In terms of guiding the conversation, he did not think this through. There didn't seem to be a way for him to keep changing the subject or coming up with an idea for you to stay here, either.

All his defense mechanisms were failing, and he was becoming frustrated.

“Okay, your turn,” you crossed your arms, saving him for a moment. “Why did you leave the ball to come here?”

“There wasn’t a reason for me to stay, anymore.”

Some of the light in your eyes dimmed, just enough for him to catch it happening. Just enough to make him wonder why.

“Hang on,” he recovered, “you know I left to come here.”

“That’s not a question,” you affirmed.

“But you didn’t leave to come here. So why weren’t you at the ball?”

Your brows furrowed slightly, “I was at the ball-“

“No, you left before I did,” he asserted. “What were you doing in the time before you arrived here?”

Perhaps he was revealing too much. It shouldn’t matter anyway, and a normal person wouldn’t care this much. Even so, if you wanted to say you were just “called to be here”, he could reasonably contest that any information was up for grabs.

The way you stared at him had a way of making his neck warm. It was like you thought the answers were hidden in his eyes, your gaze focused as you supposedly retraced your night.

“Well, I did leave the ball for a little bit…” you recalled slowly.

After allowing you a moment, he pressed a bit, “Why?”

“Oh- Well, um…I needed to use the ladies’ room? At least, that’s the only other time I can remember leaving.”

The ladies’ room…?

Goddess, he was such a fool.

It was his turn to turn his head to the side, “I see.”

If his eyes could have burned the sand, the whole pit would be glass right now. 

His thoughts were quickly interrupted. Out of the corner of his eye, Felix noticed you slipping off your shoes.

“What are you doing?”

“Well,” you started, kicking the raised flats to the side before picking up a training lance from where someone had discarded it, “this dress doesn’t have sleeves, and I figured that if I took my shoes off, it would be easier to move. The slit up my leg should keep me mobile enough, so long as I don’t have to run.”

Damn, you were actually going to do this.

You lowered into a fighting stance upon returning to the pit opposite him. A smile lighting up your face.

“The sand feels so weird. It makes me wonder if this is what the beach feels like.”

But the two of you lived in Faerghus your whole lives, so he couldn’t tell you.

“Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re dressed differently.”

“Right, then let’s get started.”

You looked prepared to assume the defensive position; a smart move, considering that too much movement might mean you would slip on the long fabric of your clothing.

Felix far from opposed. He was used to being the offense, anyway.

Placing one foot in front of the other, he crossed the grounds and held his sword up to strike. Quick and easy - the point would go to him before you could even-

Your eyes widened, “Felix, wait! Don’t-!”

He hadn’t registered your words fast enough to stop himself. Intuitively, you held your lance up to defend yourself, and that’s when Felix realized what you were so worried about.

The weapon he was using wasn’t meant for sparring.

Breaking above your head, the wooden pole of your lance gave in. Felix stumbled forward, fighting for his balance as you rolled to the side in an attempt to protect your head.

He hissed, cursing himself for making such an amateur (and deadly) mistake, “Damn, my bad.”

“Goddess,” he heard you breathe, your eyes wide from your position on the ground, “I thought I was about to die.”

That was a thought. His eagerness to train and avoid an awkward encounter with you nearly...well, it wouldn’t have been pretty.

Leaving you to get yourself up, he moved to trade the steel sword for a wooden one. The noble also elected to take off his blazer and leave it behind, giving his arms better range of motion.

Turning back around, he noticed you were still struggling to rise to your feet.

“Seriously? It can’t be that hard.”

But just watching you made him want to take it back. The sand had become uneven from when you dodged toward the ground, and your dress kept finding its way under your feet whenever you tried to stand. Whenever you pooled the fabric out of the way in one area, it only gathered in another to slide under you. Not to mention that after so much struggle, the yellow grains were all over your skin and gown. It looked uncomfortable, at best.

Frowning, Felix approached, “Hang on.”

With your consent, he placed his hands at your waist and lifted you to the point you could stand again. You thanked him, a light flush on your cheeks that he tried not to think too hard about.

“I’d say that was embarrassing,” you started, “but considering I very nearly earned a trip to Manuela a moment ago, I don’t think I should care.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Nothing bad came of it, so I don’t mind. Still, you should work on your etiquette.”

The swordsman raised a brow, “Excuse me?”

“You left me to fend for myself in the sand for two minutes while you went to exchange your sword and take off your coat. It’s like I’m not even here,” you teased, approaching the training racks. “And then not only did you prioritize your sword over helping me, but you couldn’t even grab me a new lance.”

“I’m here to fight, nothing else. If you have a problem with that, no one’s forcing you to stay.”

In all fairness, you were right. He was too wrapped up in being with you to register that he was about to hurt you, and then he was too worried about how he almost hurt you to remember to help you back up again.

Why was he so bad at this?

Thankfully, you seemed to ignore the more bitter parts of his previous statement and took it for what it was - a proposition to rematch.

You found your places opposite one another, preparing for a genuine spar. Felix watched you sink into your defensive position again, nodding to confirm you were ready. 

This time when he charged, his sword remained in a lower position. He wanted to slice upwards, reading your potential roll to the side while still being ready to follow up swiftly.

The moment he brought the sword up into you, you pivoted and thrust the lance forward. It would have technically impaled him, but you were courteous enough (and skilled enough) to angle the weapon so it slid against his side instead.

Felix halted the momentum of his arms, bringing them down slowly and preventing the hit he would have landed on you.

“That one goes to you.”

Switching sides with you, the second son ran his hand along his side. A warmup, nothing more. You wouldn’t go down easy, and neither would he.

You were once again prepared, and Felix signaled that the second round had begun, but he did not rush forward. If you wanted to hit him, you would need to put yourself at risk.

It didn’t take long for you to catch on, though you make a point to approach at a casual walk.

“Are you serious?”

“Are you? You think I’m foolish enough to run at you after I couldn’t stand on my own? If you wanted to go fast, you should have taken up offense again.”

Once you were close enough, you suddenly lunged twice and brought your lance down and across his body. Felix lept back before charging forward, but you came in with a block.

You held strong against his resistance, but your feet couldn’t find a proper stance thanks to your limited range of motion. He probably had your fear of slipping on the fabric again to thank, as well.

Deliberately, Felix stepped on your dress.

A gasp parted your lips as the heels of your feet slid forward. You fell backward only for Felix to step forward and catch you, one arm around your back, one hand holding his sword to your throat.

“Th-that’s not fair, and you know it,” you protested, breaths quickened from the adrenaline of almost falling.

“You chose to come fight in this. You think your opponent is going to care how you’re dressed?”

After a moment, you relented, “Fine, you win this one.”

Usually, Felix would be okay with the “whatever means necessary” ideology. When it came to you, however, it only worried him. Did he really need you to have a disadvantage for him to win?

He lowered you to the ground before picking you up again, presuming you would take longer to regain your footing if he left you on the sand. You were set upright on your feet at the solid edge of the pit.

As he reached the other side of the sands, he noted that you still looked bitter - probably about the last point. Perhaps that could work in his favor.

However, even after several seconds, the emotion in your eyes didn’t go away. You appeared almost…insulted?

In the back of his mind, he retraced his steps. You yielded the point how you normally would, and you weren’t a sore loser. You appeared more baffled than anything when he had tripped you…

Shit.

Felix had completely manhandled you out of the training area.

And that would explain why you were simultaneously glaring daggers into him and scanning him up and down.

“Don’t worry, I’ll attack this time,” the bluenette managed. In fear of being wrong and coming off egotistical, that was probably the best apology he could give right now.

“Whenever you’re ready.”

No, you were decidedly not happy.

He approached, trying to build as much momentum as possible before choosing to open with a block. If you were looking to parry an attack, he would be left with an opening. If you were looking to block him too, he would likely knock you to the ground and gain the point.

Maybe then he could offer to help you up properly.

No, he needed to stay focused. He was training right now, not apologizing.

Effectively distracted, neither of his plans came to fruition as you reached out and grabbed his cravat, pulling it down and causing him to run past you.

“Wh-!”

A dull stab at his back shoved him out of bounds, taking away any chance he had at regaining his balance. He tumbled to the ground.

“You’ve been impaled, that’s mine.”

He wanted to be mad, but he was more shocked than anything. After all, he could hardly complain after doing a similar thing to you last round.

A hand in his peripheral offered to help him to his feet. Accepting it, he rose, picking his sword up off the ground.

At least that seemed to get everything out of your system, “Maybe you were right, we can’t really accomplish anything serious while we’re dressed like this.”

“It’s not like we…”

A song loud enough to be heard from within the training ground bounced against the walls. It caught him off guard, especially since he hadn’t been able to hear any music since you closed the doors earlier. Whatever they were playing now, the whole orchestra was involved.

“The last dance already?” your head turned to the entrance, as well. “There’s no way…”

“Did you promise someone a dance?” he guessed.

“Something like that,” you worried. “I told Annette and Mercedes that I would be sure to dance with at least someone tonight after all they did for me. I…kind of got carried away watching earlier, and then I got scared I would forget the moves, and then I left to come here.”

He didn’t know what to say, but there was no way you could go back now. Sand covered your slightly tousled hair, your gown, and he was sure it found its way into your shoes. Your cheeks were still somewhat red from earlier, and…

It was all his fault. He even stepped on your gown without thinking.

Goddess, he really needed to start using his head.

Tossing his sword into the sand, Felix took the lance from your hands and threw it aside too. Swiftly, he retrieved your shoes and placed them in front of you.

“Felix, there’s no way…” but you slid them on anyway, “…and the song already began. It will be over by the time I get there.”

Face unreadable, your classmate extended a hand to you. “Do you think it would count if we started now?”

“Wait, what? You…want to dance with me?”

“If you don’t want me to be your partner after everything that’s happened tonight, I’ll understand-“

You took his hand, placing your own on his shoulder and facing him completely, “You lead. I’m still not certain how this one goes.”

It was a lie. It must have been. The moment the pair of you felt the music together, you were off. The strings followed a simple waltz - an accessible dance that even most commoners could perform. An obvious choice for the last dance of the night.

He knew his frame to be stiff, but it didn’t matter. Especially not when you were so blatantly stealing the hypothetical show, swaying and leaning back as the two of you spun gracefully around an invisible point on the ground. Your arms barely ghosted his own.

In a rare moment, he wished his dance partner were less aware, less experienced. He wanted you to lean on him so he could lead you through the dance, but he knew that was not in your nature.

You were charming, assured, and independent. The dance belonged to you, so much so that he felt like a mere prop. He supposed that was how it went in the theatres Sylvain had always dragged him to in the past. The women stole the spotlight while the men were evaluated on how good they could make their partners look.

There was no doubt. You deserved a better partner.

“Hey,” his voice was unsure. It had been several measures since he last used it. “I…you shouldn’t be dancing with me.”

“What are you talking about?” you smiled, coming back to his chest and resuming your normal posture.

“I mean you should be in the great hall, dancing with someone that would actually do you justice,” he suddenly didn’t want to face you. “I feel like I took that away from you. I spend all my time here working with a sword - my last dancing lesson ended when I was twelve.”

He stopped himself, spinning you away before he could say too much. This was about you. You had missed what could have been one of the biggest days of your life. He pulled you back in and met your eyes. Felix missed an event he already planned on skipping.

“...it’s nice. I prefer it. This way it’s just us.”

“Just us?” he hoped you couldn’t hear his heartbeat.

“Oh- I only mean- I don’t have to worry about anyone staring at me because I don’t know the steps or anything.”

It was beginning to make him angry, if only because it made no sense, “Why do you keep saying that?”

You were caught off guard, slipping up for the first time tonight. Felix finally felt useful, steadying you enough to fall back into the orchestra’s rhythm.

“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?” you lowered your voice like you were telling him a secret. “That’s what my sister told me. She and everyone that visited the manor.”

Blinking a bit, you turned to the side, “I’m doing it wrong. My steps are too wide. My arms are too heavy. I must be repulsed by my partner if I’m leaning back that much. Those kinds of things.”

Your partner merely scoffed, “Jealous.”

He hadn’t meant for it to slip out, but he knew.

“They can’t do what you can. There are nobles all over Fodlan like that; people who don’t like being shown up. They’ll say anything to make you give up or feel bad about yourself, but they lack the ambition to do any better themselves.”

“You really think so?”

“Have you met anyone better at dancing than yourself?”

“Well, I…I’ve never seen myself dance before.”

“Then take my word for it. Show Professor Byleth if you doubt it, but just be prepared for her to demand a rematch for the Heron Cup.”

Honestly, Felix didn’t know why he was being so forward about this. It was just another unjust part of the world they were all tripping over themselves to fix, he supposed. Still, if dancers could be trained for the battlefield, he saw no reason for his house to settle on an amateur.

The piano slowed to play a few high notes and end the song on a major chord. Accordingly, the two of you came to a stop.

“Thank you,” you stepped away timidly, “for the dance…and…”

“I wasn’t trying to make you feel better. Manuela could teach you - you could do this on the battlefield much better than whoever actually won the competition.”

You hummed, probably pondering the thought.

Presuming it was time to head back before you both could be found and accused of something mindless, Felix picked up your weapons from where he had discarded them. He caught you brushing the sand off your skin and down your dress before he left to put the items away. The blazer he set aside earlier found its way to his back again, his cravat tucked in appropriately.

You waited across the hall to hold the door for him. Once you both walked through, it shut with a final thud, sealing away everything that happened in the training grounds that night.

He saw you talking to Professor Byleth after class the next day. Although he couldn’t hear what you were saying, some part of him hoped you chose to take his words to heart.

Perhaps it had been a good time to host a ball.

[randoimago]

Could I request Felix, Sylvain, and Dimitri with a reader that gives her pets weird names? I.e. Princess Pumpkin Fluffymittens.

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Character(s): Felix, Sylvain, and Dimitri

Note(s): Shoutout to @a-menagerie and her cat!

Dimitri

He can't help but be amused by the various names you give your pets. He uses shorter names or nicknames for your animals when he's talking to/about them.

Dimitri enjoys your creativity. He would probably end up using basic names if he had a pet to name, so he's happy to listen to whatever suggestions you have for any animals you come across.

There are many animals around the monastery. Dimitri does his best to name various ones with you, but his fall a bit flat. Or, he comes up with a name that he views as being strong or fitting but you end up viewing it as a bit weird.

Felix

You're definitely more creative than he is. He sees a dog, its name is "dog". If there's a cat then its "cat".

He was more creative (and happy) when he was younger. Now, he just scoffs a bit when he hears you call your pet "Mouse Trap the Critically Acclaimed Children's Game" (which does confuse him a tad) and he refuses to use that mouthful of a name.

Of course, with enough pleading from you (and some good ole puppy dog eyes), he'll reluctantly sigh and refer to your pet as whatever bizarre name you gave it.

Sylvain

He holds back a snort the first time he heard your pet's name. Sylvain teases you about it and then he teases your pet about the name you gave it.

Sylvain prefers naming animals after people he knows as he finds that funny. He has pointed out many animals with sad-looking faces just to call them a "Felix".

He's really not one to judge you because you name your animals weird things. They're your pets, not his. The only time he might be pouty with your pets is if he's trying to be affectionate with you and they get in the way.

Taglist:

@unhelpfulnpc

[theruseandthecaper]

oh lord its the way i’m ALSO super latched onto fire emblem right now! may i put in a request for dimitri comforting the reader during/after a nightmare maybe? i just NEEEEED some form of dimitri fluffy comfort in my time of depression. thank you 🥺🥺

YES!!!! dimitri stans rise up. i love this man sm. it’s pre timeskip dimitri bc im replaying three houses right now and he’s the freshest in my mind. sorry if it’s a little short/it’s not entirely accurate to his character, im very rusty in my fic writing but i did my best :) i hope u enjoy, tysm for the request!!

The first time you’d had a nightmare, Dimitri wasn’t asleep. He found sleep never came easy for him, as he himself was regularly plagued with nightmares and the ever present need for revenge. It kept him awake, kept his heart hammering, pumping blood through his body and thoughts through his brain. He’d lain awake, reading at candlelight at his desk for the past few hours, his bed neatly made.

The knock at the door broke his quiet thoughts into pieces like a fist to glass. Picking his head up away from his book, he wrinkled his eyebrows. Who could that be, at this ridiculous hour?

His initial shock melted into worry. Was something the matter? Something serious? Memories of Duscur pricked at his mind, causing the hair on his arms to raise. He stood from his desk, pushing the chair in behind him and taking his candle, and warily made his way to the door.

Outside in the cold, misty dark of night, you stood alone. Shivering and clutching a coat around you, your eyes fixed on the ground in front of you. Something swam in your (e/c) eyes- something Dimitri could read all too well. It was fear. You were shaken up about something, and naturally, Dimitri began to grow even more worried. You two had been dating for a few months at this point. It all began when Dimitri asked you out after Sylvain had pushed him into it, but he’d always been drawn to you. Your strength, your positivity, your warm friendliness, your genuine kindness you showed to everybody. You were everything he couldn’t be, and it made him fall, and fall hard.

“I-Is something the matter? Is everything okay? You look cold, come inside.” Furrowing his brow, he ushered you in, closing the door behind you. You sat down on his bed, silent, your eyes fixed on your knees. The second you heard the door close, your tears began. Violent sobs racked your shoulders as you curled inwards on yourself, as if trying to hide from the world and hide from him. Concern ran cold through his blood, urging him to sit beside you and wrap an arm around you, pulling you close against his shoulder. He was warm, so warm, and it made you subconsciously shift closer to him.

A thousand thoughts filled his head. He had no idea how to comfort someone. What should he do? Ask what’s wrong? Say nothing and just hold you until you calmed down? Call for help? Find and give a… stern talking to whoever made you upset?

Finally he got himself to wrap an arm around your shoulders. You leaned into him, his warmth comforting as you cried. To him, it felt like hours passed, you curled up against him crying while he stood there stiffly not sure how to react. In reality, it was only 10 minutes when you looked up at him with red tinged eyes, your cheeks damp with tears.

“S-Sorry. I didn’t know where else to go.” You whispered. Dimitri’s blue eyes widened a little, his grip on you tightening.

“Please, don’t apologize! It’s alright. Are you alright? Did something happen?” He pulled his hand off your shoulder, shifting it to hesitate right above your waist. Poor guy had no idea how to comfort.

“I had a nightmare.” You looked down at your lap, the light leaving your eyes as the memory of the dream began to return to you. It causes more tears to pool in your eyes, which he noticed.

Damn it all, he thought as he wrapped both arms protectively around you. You wanted to feel safe. He may not have known how to correctly comfort his partner, but you liked tight hugs, yes?

Empathy crashed through him like waves on a rocky beach. Nightmares were something he struggled with every single night of his life. Horror movies of his father’s murder, the flames of Duscur, the screams of the innocent people around him played behind his eyelids every night. It kept him awake, kept him from being able to sleep. Kept him in the training grounds or the library, mind focused on revenge. It consumed him, and now it was consuming you, and he couldn’t take that. Your suffering was the worst thing he could possibly imagine.

He didn’t press aboht what the nightmare was about. All he did was gently lay back, you still comfortable in his arms. You nuzzled closely against his chest, and he rested his face against your head.

“You’re safe here.” His voice was a gentle whisper, only for you to hear. And you knew that. Safe here, in the iron arms of your boyfriend. He was insanely strong and driven, but even if he wasn’t, you knew he’d stop at nothing to keep you safe. He’d lost everything. You were the only one he truly had left.

Gentle hands rubbing circles into your back helped lull you back to sleep, your breathing steadying as Dimitri held you. However, sleep evaded him. He needed to be there for you, be awake in case the nightmare came back and you awoke in tears again. He needed to be awake and alert in case something happened. You were so tired, so vulnerable asleep against him. He needed to make sure no harm came to you. You placed your trust in him. He wouldn’t let anybody harm you as long as he was there.

Keeping alert, he found himself studying your sleeping features. Your (skin color) skin, so soft under his fingertips as he brushed his hands over your cheeks. Your (hair color) hair, pooling on top of the pillow underneath you, tickling his face as he kissed the top of your head. He’d keep you safe. He’d keep you protected.

As long as you were by his side, no harm would ever come to you.

He’d never let it.

[frickingnerd]

all the lies we told them

pairing: dedue molinaro x gn!reader (+blue lions)

summary: dedue and you try to hide the fact that you hooked up with each other. but your friends are smarter than to believe your lies…

“by the goddess… wake up, we fell asleep–!”

your slumber was put to an end by dedue, who shook you awake in a hurry. it took a moment before you remembered how you ended up in this situation and why it was so bad that dedue and you had fallen asleep. but when you did, you were wide awake!

“w-what time is it–!?”

you looked around the room, trying to remember where you had thrown your clothes. after dedue and you snuck away to your room, you hadn't really paid attention where you threw your clothes when you were stripping down. but now you wish you had!

“it's almost two! we'll miss professor byleth's class if we don't hurry–!”

finally, you spotted some clothes on the floor. with a blanket wrapped around you, you hurried to pick them up and put them on, as dedue did the same. in the distance, you heard the bell ring. your time was up!

“i can't find the rest of my clothes…”

dedue looked around the room, shirtless. but no matter how hard he looked, his shirt was nowhere to be found.

“we don't have any more time…”

“fine, i– i'll take the window, you take the door! i'll pass by my room and put on a spare shirt!”

you nodded silently.

“see you in class!”

you arrived on the training grounds shortly after the clock struck two. everyone else was already gathered there and you joined your classmates, trying not to let anyone notice how out of breath you were from running late.

“oh, there you are! we thought something happened, when you didn't show up earlier…”

annette smiled at you, as you joined the group. the other blue lions had gathered up already and dedue was the only one missing now. you hoped that it wasn't too suspicious that the two of you were both late…

“is that shirt new? it feels familiar, but i don't think i've seen you wear it before…”

with an innocent smile, mercedes pointed at your shirt. or rather, dedue's shirt! as you looked down on yourself, you realized that you had put on his shirt, without realizing it. both were white and part of your uniform, so you hadn't noticed, while hurrying to get dressed…

“you're right, it is familiar! i think dedue has one just like that–!”

dimitri pointed out, smiling as he pointed at the little details on the shirt. dedue was his retainer, so of course dimitri would know what his clothes looked like. but you wish he hadn't said it. while dimitri might've not noticed the implications of what he said, sylvain, felix and ingrid certainly had!

“is it a shirt that looks like dedue's shirt or could it be that this is–”

before sylvain could finish his sentence, ingrid and felix both slapped his arm, causing the redhead to wince.

and as if matters couldn't get worse, dedue joined the group at the worst time possible.

“apologies for being late! i spilled a drink on my shirt and had to get a new one. what did i miss?”

the other blue lions slowly but surely put together the pieces. and as you could see each one of them have a moment of enlightenment, your face got more and more red.

“d-did i say something i shouldn't have…?”

dedue noticed the tension, his voice quiet, as he glanced at you. slowly, you nodded and sighed.

“i think you did…”

[peppermintpinklemonade]

MITRI COOKING FLASHBACK FIC…… SPARE MITRI COOKING FLASHBACK FIC PLS………

Baby, bro, child, dude, you’ve seen most of it, you’re my fe3h guy of all time, however… ty so much for asking so I have smth to share so here are some of my favourite bits:

‘Felix is gonna be so happy.’ Dimitri thought cheerily as he grabbed the handle of their frying pan from the cabinet.

Dimitri pulled out the frying pan from under the rest of their cookware and everything in the cabinet clattered out onto the floor with a loud crash.

‘Oh goodness.’ Dimitri sighed as he went to restack the cookware. It was probably fine, Felix wasn’t a very heavy sleeper, but his room was far from the kitchen. He needed Felix to stay asleep so he could surprise him.

~~~~~~~~~more under the cut

‘Oh, shoot.’ Dimitri thought as he placed their carton of eggs and butter on the counter. He hadn’t done this by himself yet and he’d forgotten to pen down instructions the last time someone had fried an egg with him.

He picked up his phone and paused the old rock song he hadn’t heard before and opened his messaging app.

Ashe my friend, could you please remind me how long to fry an egg for?

Thank you,

Dimitri :)

Dimitri waited as Ashe typed, the three dots jumping in place of his message.

It’s Dedue, apologies. Ashe is asleep right now but I heard his phone go off while fetching something I left in his room. Please make sure the pan is at medium heat and has a small amount of either oil or butter melted in it. Crack the egg into a shallow bowl and then slide it into the pan so you can start over if the yolk breaks or pick out any pieces of shell. Once the egg is in the pan, watch the edges of the white for crisp browning. You want semi-soft yolk, solid white, and a crispy brown bottom. You can use a spatula to slightly lift the egg to check if you are unsure if it is ready. Good luck Dimitri.

~~~~~~~~~

Dimitri took an egg and lightly tapped it on the edge of the bowl like he’d seen. Perhaps not as lightly as he had intended as he pushed the egg into the edge of the bowl almost to his hand, crushing the shell in his palm, and sending yolk and egg white onto the counter and Dimitri’s apron.

Dimitri sighed, the bowl was a good idea.

He washed the bits of egg and shattered shell out of the bowl and off the counter and tried again.

This time he managed to get most of the egg in the bowl, but the yolk was absolutely decimated and full of bits of shell.

Third attempt. A broken yolk again, less shell though.

Dimitri looked remorsefully at the carton of eggs. This was wasteful.

“Oh!” Dimitri remarked. He took a serrated butter knife and sat the egg on its side on the counter. He began to carefully saw back and forth in a line down the middle of the egg. Dimitri smiled to himself as the knife broke through the shell in a neat line. He opened the egg the rest of the way and stared at his perfect cracked egg in the bowl. Felix was gonna be pretty impressed he’d thought of that, he’d make sure to tell him when he served him the food.

~~~~~~~~~

‘Oh.’ He should make some for Sylvain too. He would probably get home in an hour or two, and he would probably be hungover and maybe sad and would appreciate a full breakfast he didn’t have to cook. Dimitri brought the eggs back to the counter, he’d make more after he served Felix.

~~~~~~~~~ ok for these next ones idk how to do left text so I’m just gonna colour it

Oh, he also needed paper towel to line the plate. He quickly doubled back to grab a few strips. On his way his arm caught the handle of the frying pan. He turned around and, without thinking, caught the falling pan halfway to the ground, its tilt poured sizzling butter on the back of his hand and fingers as the hot metal seared the palm of his hand. Dimitri instinctively yelled, dropped the pan with a loud clang and clutched his hand, now bright red and radiating–

–heat, the throbbing pain getting worse and worse, the smell of his sizzling flesh, no, not just his, he was pretty sure. Oppressive warmth pushed into him from all sides, he could barely see through the grey smoke and orange flames whipping in the air. Someone called his father’s name, and then his, quiet against the ringing in his ears from the explosion and the screams of the people falling to their fiery deaths around him.

He was twelve, he had been in the audience watching his father and stepmother speak against the backdrop of their promising political agenda for the year projected on the wall. He was in the front row, waving to his best friend’s older brother Glenn, who smiled back covertly from his position on the side of the stage. Glenn stopped smiling at him and his face contorted with concern, he said something into his mouthpiece and took a step towards Dimitri’s parents, his hand on the gun hiding holstered at his waist.

~~~~~~~~~

“Dimitri!”

Dimitri looked around, he couldn’t make out anybody in this inferno, and the ringing in his ears deafened him too much to identify its owner.

“Dimitri!”

Felix walked into the kitchen frowning, rubbing his eyes. “If you’re gonna get up at ungodly hours on a Saturday at least keep it down.” He admonished harshly.

Felix continued, “What the hell are you–”

Felix rounded the corner and registered the scene in front of him. Dimitri, kneeling on the floor beside a frying pan spilling steaming eggs and butter onto the floor. He had pressed his hands into the ground and was staring at them blankly with his one good eye. His left hand was red and blistering. Tears were brimming in his eye and his breathing was quick and shallow.

“Shit.”

Felix’s expression of anger dropped like a heavy weight, wide eyed concern etching itself deep into his face, sadness softening the edges of his worried brow.

~~~~~~~~~ same thing w center text imma make it purple

Glenn let go of Lambert and knelt down in front of Dimitri. Holding his hand out.

“Dimitri, let’s go.”

“Dimitri,” Felix began, gingerly covering Dimitri’s burnt hand with the wet cloth.

“It’s okay,”

“I’ve got you,”

“take my hand.”

Upon getting no response, as expected, Felix gently lifted Dimitri’s hand and wrapped it in the towel, wiping off the butter still burning blisters into his hand. He watched Dimitri carefully, making sure to move slowly so as to not startle him.

~~~~~~~~~

Dimitri looked up at Glenn as he ran beside him, gripping his hand tightly. His raven hair was falling around his shoulders, whatever he’d tied his hair up with was long gone.

“What happened, what’s–”

“–going on, Glenn?” Dimitri mumbled, slowly stumbling to his feet. He tightened his grip on the warm hands wrapped around his. He looked up, no, down. Amber eyes stared back at him through loose raven hair that collected around narrow shoulders. Amber?

Glenn stared back at him, his piercing blue eyes serious and hard.

“We’re not sure, we think this is an attack.”

Felix sighed tightly and cupped Dimitri’s face softly, “I’m Felix, it’s 2023, you’re safe, and–”

“–we’re going to get out of here,” Glenn continued.

“it’s going to be okay.”

AUGH I feel like put way too much to be qualified as ‘snippets’ but, them,,,,

[fayesdiary]

🔥 Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I've heard several people saying Claude's final boss being Nemesis doesn't fit him narratively and that they should have swapped it with the berserk Rhea from Silver Snow, but honestly? I could not disagree more.

Beside the fact that from what I know about the SS final boss I kinda hate it narratively, Nemesis and the Elites rising from their graves are a pretty neat symbolism of Fodlan's true bloody history that got just uncovered, but also stand for everything wrong about Fodlan that Claude stands against, the greed, lust for power and most importantly sheer hatred for anyone that isn't them, especially the Nabateans. Fuck's sake, they committed genocide back when they were alive and the first thing they do when they rise from the dead is destroying everything on their way to Garreg Mach.

The two huge problems are the lack of build up (because apparently they weren't a part of the Agarthans' plans at all and they just kept them in their refrigerator for Sothis knows what reason, and you find out about them at the literally final chapter), but also the incredibly poor execution.

It's just, no one has anything meaningful to say about the whole thing, Claude doesn't even recognize the Elites and they don't talk either, Nemesis just keeps yelling about Seiros and how he'll kill everyone and it's just such a colossal waste.

Gimme Claude actually recognizing the Elites and having something meaningful to say, give me special boss convos between the Elites and their descendants (if you don't want the Elites to talk that's fine, just have their descendants monologue on how they feel about the whole situation because COME ON we were robbed of things like Catherine, Sylvain and Lorenz and so many others), give me special convos between Seteth, Flayn, Catherine and Cyril against Nemesis. Hell, maybe you could even have Byleth's one and only voiced line when they face him. It's just, there's so much you could do with this idea and they chose to do nothing and it drives me insane.

Oh, and Claude calling Nemesis a crusty old bastard is one of the funniest lines of the whole game. 10/10.

But if you want a spicier hot take, Dorothea should fucking hate Edelgard on non-CF Part 2

[fe-fictions]

hi! do you still have that prompt where during dinner, sylvain tells his children that he once joked about killing byleth, and they’re horrified and run to protect their mother? it was so funny 😄

(The ginger army returns!!!)

Neither of you were sure how the conversation reached this particular point. But you were sitting at the dinner table, telling your children stories about your younger days at the monastery. You were talking with a calm reverence, regailing them with tales of your duties as a professor and Sylvain as your impossible student.

But then it shifted, and Sylvain mentioned made an off-hand comment about how suspicious of you he used to be. Thinking it all quite humorous now, he made the mistake of mentioning how he considered killing you once, because of how suspicious he was.

The second the words left his mouth, the entire gaggle of children that had been sitting with quiet enthusiasm erupted, rallying around their mother and barricading him from reaching you.

You were surrounded by a wall of ginger, all of them shouting at Sylvain to stay away from their Mama. He had never looked so confused and heartbroken, before.

“W-what? I don’t-”

“Papa’s bad!! Stay away from Mama!”

“Yeah, don’t you touch her!”

“We’ll beat you up real bad if you even think about it!!”

“Children, I don’t even feel that way any-”

“No excuses! You touch my Mama, you die!!” They were quite serious. You managed to peek over the protective barrier of babies, shrugging at your husband’s bewilderment.

“But I didn’t hurt her! It was just when I didn’t know her. I love her very much now, children. Why do you think all of you are here at all?”

“That’s a good point.” You agreed, biting back your smile. The twins turned and looked at you, appalled.

“But he wanted to hurt you!!”

“That’s also a good point.” You nodded solemnly. Sylvain stared at you.

“What?? C’mon, don’t encourage them!!” 

“They make a very convincing argument, Sylvain. Maybe I shouldn’t let you get too close. What if you try to stab me?”

Your oldest and the twins gasped in horror, glaring accusingly at their father. Sylvain’s hands went up in surrender, but they weren’t having it.

“No stabbing Mama!” “I-I won’t, I swear! I’ll never ever hurt her, not even when we’re sparring. Okay?”

“No weapons for Papa at all!” The eldest son charged forward, snatching his fork and knife. Sylvain was working really hard to suppress his laughter, seeing how serious the children were. 

The troublesome twins each took a confiscated utensil, pointing them at Sylvain from across the table. A serious threat.

“All right, all right. You’ve all turned against me. But I’ve still got you, baby girl. Right?” He looked to his youngest little daughter, who hadn’t moved from her seat (quite focused on her mashed potatoes). 

But as the antics continued (and when she heard of her father’s plans to stab you), her gaze drifted from her food and towards her Papa.

He was smiling so very sweetly at her, as she was his sweet little angel who could do absolutely no wrong.

So his shock was immense when she quietly climbed out of her chair and waddled over to you, hugging your leg. 

She looked at him so very sadly, tears in her eyes as if this was the hardest decision she ever had to make. 

To turn against her Papa, who she loved with all her heart...but no one could hurt her Mama. 

“No hurt mama.”

Sylvain clutched his heart. “N-no, not you, too!! My only daughter…”

“Hey! I’m here too, Papa!”The other twin protested, her braids whipping behind her in defiance of her father’s words.

Sylvain shook his head. “Any child who would turn against me is no child of mine! At least, that was the plan, until your little sister decided she loves Mama more than me.”

“‘Cos you wanted to hurt her!!”

“Yeah, Papa! That’s really bad! I’m gonna tell Uncle Seteth and he’ll beat you up!”

“Yeah!! Uncle Seteth!!”

“Now, now, little ones. No need to get anyone else involved.” You chided them gently, taking the fork and knife from the twins and ushering them back to their seats.

“But Mama-”

“No but’s. Yes, your father did want to hurt me once, a long time ago. And yes, it was very wrong. In fact he  was so wrong I think he should go to jail for a while to think about his actions.”

“Thanks for the help, babe…”

“But, that was a very long time ago, and he doesn’t want to hurt me anymore. In fact, he wants to protect me, and all of you. Do you know why all four of you are here?” Your littlest daughter looked up at you hopefully. 

“Why, Mama?”

“Because he loves me very much.”

“Ew.” The twins’ noses crinkled, staring at their father with an all new form of disgust. And while he was plenty glad that you were saying such sweet things now, he wasn’t sure if this was any better.

“So you should know that I love him, too. We don’t have to worry about him hurting me anymore. He would never do it...at least, not on purpose.”

“Papa...okay?” Your littlest girl asked, and you nodded, unable to keep your smile from broadening.

“Yes, my darling. Papa is okay, now.”

“...Okay.” She whispered, nodding  as if she had received some sort of divine revelation. That her father wasn’t a horrible evil person that they would have to defeat.

It was just about the worst thing her little mind could conjure up.

“Well, all right.” The eldest huffed, narrowing his eyes at his father. “But if we hear that you try and hurt Mama even once, we’re gonna get you!”

“Being threatened by my own children.” Sylvain’s head thunked onto the table, “My family’s betrayed me even when they’re okay with me…”

Distressed, the toddler wiggled from your grasp, quickly waddling over to the far end of the table. She tugged on Sylvain’s pants leg, drawing his attention to his precious kitten. 

“Papa…” Sylvain scooped her up without hesitation, especially when he saw the tears bubbling over. 

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“Sorry.” She mumbled, burying her face in his chest with pudgy little fingers gripping his vest tightly. You were both positive she couldn’t have gotten cuter.

“Aww, don’t cry! It’s okay! Papa forgives you, okay? I forgive you. The others, though...they’re still in trouble. But not you.” He snuggled her close, peppering those chubby, rosy cheeks with plenty of kisses.

“What do you mean, we’re in trouble?!”

“You haven’t apologized to me for threatening me with forks and knives! So as far as I’m concerned there won’t be any dessert for any of you.” “What?!”

“Mama, help!!”

“Maybe we should apologize for hurting his feelings.” You suggested with a hint of amusement, “We do have some shortcake for dessert, after all.”

They gasped.

“Shortcake?!”

“Cake!!”

“We’re sorry, Papa!! We know you’re not an evil demon monster who wants to kill Mama!”

“Yeah! We just wanted to protect her in case you were! We love you lots and lots!”

“Not as much as shortcake, though.”

“That’s fair.” Sylvain laughed, the other three children barreling up to him and smushing him into apologetic hugs.

Despite the mess they’d accidentally made, Sylvain was still happy that his children were so protective of their mother. It was pretty clear where they’d gotten it from, seeing how defensive he’d been of you in his time before the children.

All the concern was forgotten and erased with strawberry shortcake, as all concerns should be.

[yulgurr]

I felt like doing this Camille thing with @/peachiehambo's template

And some voicelines I found in one of my ancient google docs, these are the lines she says in the monastery at the beginning of every chapter of Academy phase.

Prologue

› "Camille Adeline Gautier, pleased to make your acquaintance." (automatic response) › "..." "..." › "That should be all."

Ch.1: Three houses

› "A mock battle? Truth to be told. I'd rather sit this one out." › "I wouldn't be much help on the battlefield.. At least, not right now."

Ch. 2: Familiar Scenery

› "Um.. Professor.. I have a very.. foolish.. question." › "Who do you think takes care of the owls here? What do they eat?" › "Mice?! And frogs?! But…" › "But they are cute…. *sigh*" › "Right, I should.. focus on the first mission now. Bandits in the Red Canyon, correct? I wonder what they are up to."

Ch. 3: Mutiny in the Mist

› Camille: "I.. knew Lord Lonato. Not personally, but.. when I was home a couple of years ago, I received a marriage proposal from House Gaspard." › Sylvain: "What? I never knew that!" › Camille: "Luckily it was simply a written one, so I managed to burn it before father saw…" › Camille: "Later when I heard that his oldest son was executed.. I was… Glad that I burnt that proposal letter. Were father to see it and accept it, the reputation of the House Gautier would be damaged and–" › Sylvain: "Hold on!" › Sylvain: "Forget the House, what would you do if father were to accept it?" › Camille: "I would be married into a House Gaspard. But I was 14 at the time and didn't want that kind of life." › Sylvain: "Fourteen?! And you never said anything to me?! Not even a word?" › Camille: "You were busy with your studies and I was busy with mine. I didn't want to bother you so I dealt with it myself." › Camille: "And also, we had Miklan to worry about." › Sylvain: "Eh.. well, fair enough."

Ch. 4: The Goddess' Rite of Rebirth

› "It.. may sound silly, but I recently learned how to fish!" › "I really enjoy the process of it. You stay here, with a rod, quietly, and wait. That's it! And if people walk by, they lower their voices too!" › "By the way, I've been lucky to catch some big ones!! I should show them to Sylvain just to see his face. Haha." › "Also, Professor, before I forget. I started taking additional classes with Professor Belhor. Just wanted to inform you."

Ch. 5: Tower of Black Winds

› "Miklan was.. never really a true brother to us.. And.. it's not a big surprise he would turn to banditry." › "It is however a surprise that he would steal a relic… We must take it back, at all cost."

Ch. 6: Rumors of a Reaper

› "What? Flayn went missing?! It.. must be very tough on Seteth, he cares for her deeply."

» Any thoughts on where she might be?

› "Hmm.. let's see.. I'd say that Professor Belhor seemed to like Flayn a lot, she might have more thoughts than me." › "Other than that, no ideas. I hope Flayn stays safe."

Ch. 7: Field of the Eagle and Lion

Day: › "A battle of the Eagle and Lion.. Honestly, I think I'm ready!" › "I wasn't prepared for the mock battle, but this time! I'll give it my all!"

Sunset, training grounds: › Camille: "Oh uh! Professor!" › Belhor: "Hello. This is a private session, leave the training grounds immediately." 

Ch. 8: Flame in the Darkness

› "The Battle of the Eagle and Lion went great! I'm so proud of how I've grown." › "Some things still terrify me, but overall I think I'm getting better at many other things.. I'm glad to study under your wing, Professor."

Ch. 9: The Cause of Sorrow

› "Professor!!" › "For the love of Goddess, please DO NOT choose me for the White Heron Cup!!"

»I choose you! › "NO! H-how could you? Are you sure?" › "You will regret this later, I'm telling you"

»Won the Heron Cup › "I knew this was going to happen.. well.." › "Why did you do this?... So cruel…"

»I'm not choosing you (i forgot the choices we had there my bad) › "Oh thank you!! Thank you so much!!!" › "I hope you have fun at the ball though!"

Ch. 10: Where the Goddess Dwells

› "I'm sorry for your loss, Professor. It's alright if you want to take a break and heal." › "Don't push yourself and take things slow for now." › "The wounds will heal soon. Please take care of yourself."

Ch. 11: Throne of Knowledge

› "Wow, professor! Your hair looks really cool!" › "Maybe if I get powerful, I'll do something with my hair as well!"

»How's your training with Belhor going?

› "Oh.. uh.. why do you ask?" › "Well.. it's going alright. I learned a lot of new spells from her.." › "The only downside is, she won't let me catch a breath even for a moment." › "But other than that. I feel I'm getting stronger." › "I always wanted to get stronger, you know. Back when Miklan still lived with us, I.. *sigh*. No, I better not drown in these memories right now." › "We have your ceremony to worry about! I really want to see how it goes!"

Before the invasion

› "The Imperial Army is heading towards Garreg Mach.. A big battle will take place here." › "Maybe this is my chance to…." › "Oh! Professor, I… I will fight with all I have."

[zooophagous]

Strauss sat slightly curled in the passenger’s seat of the dirty pick up. He was very pointedly staring out the window, away from the driver, watching the reflective markers by the road fly past in a yellow blur like shooting stars. Sylvain was grinning, seemingly at nothing. She wasn’t apparently concerned with Strauss’ refusal to look at her. She was too busy. Too busy haphazardly steering with one hand while fucking with the radio with the other.

“Ugh, country music. I can’t stand this twangy shit. How about you? You got a preference?” She craned her head to look at his tee-shirt, which bore the band emblem of The Rolling Stones. 

“Classic rock fan? We can do that. You at least have good taste, Lu.”

“Where are we going?” He asked without turning his head. 

“Like I said, we’re gonna have a little fun. Seems like something you’re out of practice on.”

“I am concerned that your idea of fun will not mesh with mine.” 

“Oh come off it. I do have other interests beyond tormenting mortals you know.” She rolled her eyes. “You aren’t still MAD at me, are you?”

“You tried to kill a friend of mine and in saving him I managed to shatter my femur and be confined to bed rest.” Strauss replied flatly. “I loathe bed rest.”

“Come on. That was weeks ago!” Sylvain protested in a mock whiny voice. “You were barely on bed rest for two weeks, if that, I’m sure. I know you didn’t take long to heal. A drop in the bucket, for someone as long lived as you. Practically a minor inconvenience.”

“It is less minor for Mr. Samuel, who nearly lost his life.”

“Look, I had no idea he was as gung ho about dying as he was, ok?” She huffed. “Fine. You win. I’m sorry I almost killed Mr. Samuel by using my advanced powers of psychic suggestion to convince him to commit suicide. That’s as much of an apology as you’re going to get. Now will you try and look at me when I’m talking?”

Strauss inhaled deeply, and did as she asked, finally forcing himself to look at her. She felt so much larger than him, even though the opposite was true. She was nearly too short to reach the pedals of the obnoxiously large truck. Her claw rested casually on the steering wheel, the other tapped along in time to the music on the car door out the open window. 

He harbored a multitude of regrets. This was supposed to be an expedition in information gathering. Doing so would be nigh impossible if he couldn’t look at her, much less talk to her. 

“Forgive me. I am being rude. It is just… very new and strange for me, to be in the presence of another immortal like this. I am used to it being a bit more combative. It is not as if our previous meetings have been enjoyable.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I enjoyed them just fine. But! Apology accepted, Lu. We may as well start fresh and make nice. We have more in common than not, I’m sure.”

“Beyond both of us being dead, you mean?”

“Both of us being captives- excuse me, FORMER captives of the Van Helsings? Both of us being occult researchers?”

“How about both of us being wanted murderers?”

“Speak for yourself, Lu. You’re the one with the record. I’ve been keeping my claws clean.” 

“Is that because you’ve been good, or because you know how to avoid detection?”

“You’re so clever, Lu. Funny guy. I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

“Like me, do you?” He raised an eyebrow. “I heard quite the opposite. I was told you had a hit list of vampires to dispose of, and my name was on it.”

“Told you about that, did they? Color me impressed. They must like you, if they’re that honest with you. No hard feelings about it Lu. I can call you Lu, right? Anyway, believe it or not, I didn’t actually want to ‘dispose’ of you.”

“No?”

“Nope. You were my thesis project for graduation. Harmless little old German man. When they told me your number was up, I was actually sad about it. Sad to see you slip up, you know? That’s why I put you at the bottom of the hit list.” 

“How touching.”

“As far as I could tell, the victim in the killing that got you your murder record had it coming. But then, you did go on to kill again after that, didn’t you?”

“In self defense, yes. A Mr. Elliot Lane. Was he a colleague of yours?”

“At one point, yeah. He was a moron. Always felt like he had to prove himself. Be better than everyone else. He was a trophy hunter. It’s funny, I always knew he’d die at work. I just didn’t think I’d ever be buddy-buddy with the monster that took him down.”

“Both of those statements are false. I am not a monster, and we are not buddies.”

“Aww, don’t hurt my feelings now Lu. After all the effort I’m putting in to give you a night on the town?”

“You still have not told me where we are going.” 

“Well, I know enough about you to know you’re a biologist at heart. I also know enough about the Van Helsing Institute to know your mind is going to complete waste there. I said we’d have fun, and I meant it. Consider this a peace offering, yeah? You’ll like this place.”

“What is it?”

“We’re going to the zoo.”

“The zoo?” Strauss raised his eyebrows and turned to finally face her directly. “The zoological gardens where they keep wild animals?”

“That’s the one.”

“Why?”

“Two reasons. First, because I know you’ve never seen one and it’s pertinent to your interests. Second, because they have a petting zoo with goats, and I don’t want you to get peckish.”

She grinned evilly. Strauss grunted in reply. At least she wasn’t expecting him to join her in hunting humans just yet. “This facility is surely not open after midnight.”

“Doesn’t need to be. We can get in and out easy. Besides, it will be a nice quiet place to talk. That’s what you wanted, right? To talk? You still haven’t told me what about.”

“Yes. I am… building my courage to speak of it.” He swallowed hard. “It is a difficult topic to broach. I worry it may… trigger your temper.”

“Are you scared of me?”

He hesitated before answering. “Yes.”

“Good.”

Strauss returned his gaze to the roads. He rested his head on the window. The cool of the glass was comforting, even though the heavy rumble of the truck was off putting. The road slowly became the city. He had been here often enough to recognize parts of it now. There was the path that led to the bar, and further down, the road to Mr. Samuel’s house.

He winced inwardly at the thought. With any luck, she’d forget about wanting to hurt Sam. If she tried again he may have to break his promise to Artemis not to fight with her. She seemed content to sing along to “Paint it Black” on the radio until it faded into an obnoxious car dealership commercial that played several decibels louder than the music. 

Strauss frowned, and abruptly shut off the radio. 

“Not feelin’ the tunes, Lu?”

“If I have to listen to one more moment of commercials I will lose my composure. Are we close? I wish to get out of the car.”

Or at least, he wished not to be trapped in a small moving object mere feet away from her while she subtly mocked him.

“It’s right up this way. We’ll have to park and walk. If we climb the fence in the back corner here, there won’t be any alarms.”

“You talk as if you’ve done this before.”

“Of course. Many times.”

She parked the truck and hopped out of it eagerly. Strauss meekly trailed after her. This was already taking far too long. He’d allowed her to call the shots and get him to a secondary location. He was just along for the ride at this point. He absentmindedly stuck his claws into his pockets and felt the smart watch still there.

He gripped it momentarily. That watch was a lifeline. So long as Artemis was on the other side of it, he wasn’t completely alone with Sylvain. Not that Artemis could help very quickly. He almost missed Frau Harker. 

“Y’know Lu. Before I got into the vampire killing biz I wanted to be an exotic veterinarian? Graduated with a biology degree and everything.”

“You must like animals. I suppose we have that in common as well.”

“More than I like people.”

“How did you come to join the Institute?”

“Some of my exotic animal research led me to some interesting places. Namely, old records of vampirism in animals. One of my advisors had ties to the institute, so I wasn’t exactly discouraged from learning more from there.”

“And they convinced you that these unique new specimens you’d just discovered needed killing?”

He followed her in the dark down a tree lined path. He could smell hot compost and dung- no doubt the dumping grounds of the large animal waste. Sylvain was the one not looking at him, now. She scanned the fence line for an entry point.

“It’s something they teach you when you learn about wild animals, Lu. Large predators and humans have conflict. Large predators need careful management.”

She found her spot on the fence and made the climb. She looked not unlike a squirrel, or rodent, scaling the sheer face of tall wooden slats. 

“If people are in conflict with large predators, and someone doesn’t remove the problem predators, then the people feel unsafe, and they retaliate. They retaliate hard. If a problem wolf isn’t shot, a ranger might poison the entire pack. If a problem vampire isn’t dealt with, then every vampire loses their veil of secrecy, and all of them are in danger.”

“So your venture into the murder of our kind was done out of some desire to save us?” He tilted his head. “It was for our own good?”

“I’m not saying it doesn’t sound stupid in hindsight. You want the answer? You got it.” 

She disappeared over the fence. Strauss gripped the top of the fenceline and slowly pulled himself up. Chin ups were arduous, but he cleared the obstacle easily, and lowered slowly to the tall grass of the other side. 

“Is that it?”

“Is what it?” She led the way down the gravel path of the staff areas. 

“I suppose I was expecting a renowned slayer to have some deeply personal reasons for collecting such a body count. I thought perhaps some vampire had wronged you, planted a desire for revenge, I did not expect your interests in us to be so academic.”

“Not every bad person has the luxury of a good reason for being that way.” 

Strauss followed her slowly. His head was on a swivel, taking in the grounds. He could feel many eyes tracking him, and many excited heartbeats in his ears, but none of them human. No doubt the animal denizens of the facility were not used to seeing visitors at this hour. He worried one might sound the alarm, somehow, like a guard dog. No such alarm came.

“I suppose our paths aren’t terribly different. I too took an interest in vampires from the perspective of the biologist. I was more interested in medicine than zoology, however.”

“Interesting, ain’t it? I ended up joining the hunters, and you ended up joining the wolves. Interesting choice on your part too, Lu.”

“I did not go by choice.” He replied flatly. “I thought perhaps, given your research into my life, you might know that.”

“You had more of a choice than I did.” 

“You and I both walked willingly into the tiger’s den.”

“Wrong. I walked in to kill a tiger. You walked in because one promised you something and you believed it. Maybe you should think twice about questioning my background when you’re the one taking candy from strangers.”

Strauss shut up abruptly. Her anger was still dangerous, despite the attempts at familiarity. 

“Forgive me. I did not intend to upset you.”

“Relax, Lu. You didn’t make me mad. When I’m mad, you’ll know.” She turned to face him with aggressive eye contact. He felt himself falter even further behind her. “Besides, all that’s water under the bridge now. We ended up on the same team.”

“Same team, are we?”

“Sure. Vampires should stick together. We’re a rare breed. We won’t get a lot of people who understand us. Doesn’t make sense to fight.”

“Why then, in our previous meetings, were you so keen to intimidate me?”

“Large predators have a hierarchy, Lu.” She lingered slowly by the fence line as a pack of captive wolves approached the chain link with hungry curiosity. 

“I had to be the one calling the shots. I needed you to know in no uncertain terms who was in charge. I didn’t want it to even be a question. So, a little vulgar display of power here and there. I figured your curiosity would bring you out even if I was kind of a bitch.” She grinned.

“Why is it important for me to be brought out?”

“I already said I didn’t want to kill you.” She leaned over the guardrail to look at the gathering wolves more closely. “I still don’t. I didn’t really think that you deserved it. I also know that most vampire research subjects at the Van Helsing Institute are kept there in jars, not in dorms.” 

She crossed her arms with a sigh. “You’re doomed there, you know. They want to pretend to be your friend but you’re just an exotic pet, and soon enough you’d be another skull in a cabinet. I wanted better for you. I wanted to… I don’t know. Release you back into the wild.”

“The fact that I can tell you that I am happy and well cared for notwithstanding?”

“A psychological cage is still a cage.” 

The wolves dispersed along the fence line. The novelty of the visitors had worn off. Sylvain followed the pack with her eyes till they were hidden from sight. 

"It's a bit late to try and just put you back, unfortunately. Whatever worked for you before back home is gone now. If you're going to survive now you're going to have to adapt. And I know you're bad at adapting."

She started down the path again. Strauss wandered after her. "What makes you think I'm bad at adapting?"

"If you were any good at it you'd have done it on your own. You lived in a hole underground slowly starving to death. Don't take this the wrong way Lu. Most large predators aren't very good at adapting. Especially adapting to a bigger predator. They don't know how to cope with it. I get the feeling that it was all downhill for you once bloodletting started becoming less common for illnesses. Am I right?"

"I admit, yes. The advancement of modern medicine was beneficial to humanity, but the loss of that treatment did leave me very hungry."

"Damn shame isn't it. But you know, Lu. Even if donations run dry, you can still keep a clear conscience if you just stick to those who have it coming." She flashed her awful shark toothed grin at him, almost more like an animal baring its teeth than a person making a smile.

"Is that what you do, Frau Pietra?"

"Accusatory tone much? Besides, I know you've done it." She hand-waved him away as she strode down a path labeled "Asia." 

"Yes, I have. But if you remember, that one was practically forced on me. It wasn't my original idea."

"Sure, the dead child molester wasn't your idea." She shrugged. "But I know he wasn't the first time you cleaned up the streets a little in the name of a hot meal. Maybe it didn't make it to your file, but I have a hunch, Lu. You can tell me. I won't blab to Ursula over it."

"If you must know, I have lived through two world wars, and I admit that yes… perhaps I did take advantage of the fact that so many people simply disappear into the fog of war. A dead Nazi here or there was not terribly missed. Is this sort of thing what you do often? Do you hunt, Frau Pietra?"

"Shhh. Hey. Look." Sylvain stopped and pointed at a fence. There was a panel built into it made of glass, for the viewing pleasure of the public. Strauss approached the glass slowly.

On the other side of the fence stood an apex predator. It was long, longer in body than Strauss was tall, and it weighed more than three of him. Its fangs likewise envied his own. Strauss ran his fingers along the raised letters of the bronze plaque that gave the beast its name.

PANTHERA TIGRIS ALTAICA

The Amur tiger. Small yellowish dots of reflected light glinted in its eyes. It stood not but five feet beyond the glass, regarding its audience with cool indifference. Strauss made eye contact with the animal, and felt that for a moment he could actually hold that eye contact comfortably.

The tiger blinked slowly, and began to pad silently past the glass, treating the pair to the full spectacle of its size and striped coat.

"That is a tiger. A real one."

"Yeah. Pretty fella, isn't he? Hard to believe they get that big."

"I've never seen a real tiger before." 

"That one's not a real tiger. Not all the way. It has the fangs and the claws, sure. But it's not a hunter. It won't ever kill a deer or defend a territory. It will only ever eat and sleep and mate as its handlers allow it to."

"The sign says it is an endangered species. Perhaps places like this keep it safe."

"Safe is different from whole."

Sylvain walked off down the path again. Strauss lingered a moment to watch the tiger. It looked like a real enough tiger.

"I am sure it is quite real enough to humble anyone who tries to tangle with it."

"That's true. That's one thing I like about this place, you know? I don't even think a vampire is a sure winner against a tiger. Puts me in perspective. There's always a bigger fish."

"That is a cat, not a fish."

"Shut up." 

"How much longer do you wish to linger here?"

"So impatient. How about this. Let me go feed the ducks in the koi pond and then we'll leave. We can talk more there. Maybe I can give you some pointers."

"Pointers on what?"

"How to be a real tiger, Lu. I feel like that's what you're really curious about anyway. I'd be happy to give you a little lesson."

"Lesson?"

He asked, though the answer was obvious. 

"Of course. Before the sun rises, I'm going to need a snack. You're going to help me get it."

"I'll do no such thing."

"I wasn't asking."

She produced a quarter from her pocket, and fed it to a coin slot machine that spit out a small handful of crumbling brown pellets.

"Here. Feed the ducks."

She forced the feed into his hands. It left an unpleasant residue. He helplessly tossed the feed to the waiting waterfowl and watched it sink and be devoured. 

[figbian]

Tell Me of the dunmeshi wip 👀 that title bangs. also tell me about frat au and how much of it is based on The Frat.

dungeon meshi wip CONTAINS MANGA SPOILERS so putting it under a readmore. everyone else has to suffer thru frat au info.

frat au is only Sort Of based on The Frat (dear readers, this fanfiction author joined a fraternity and is a brother of [loud car horn]). due to the like ways fe3h works narratively, it felt a lot more true to a Good AU to be honest to an all-male fraternity, so it draws on The Frat's past (as we didnt haze, but hazing definitely used to occur) as well as info from other fraternities or fraternity-like structures (and a handful of How Do College-Age Boys Behave anecdotes coming directly from my real life college-age brother who is Not a frat boy).

sylvain, dimitri, and others are in a frat. their fathers (plus rodrigue lol) were in this frat. etc. not exactly explored but crucial to the narrative: how traditional fraternities uphold like lineage and legacies in college settings and why that creates bad gatekeeping etc etc etc. basically the ways fraternities suck on an individual level (hazing, unhealthy relationship to substances, pressure to conform to a certain set of standards, etc) AND the ways they operate on a structural level in a shitty way.

the plot however is: sylvain returns from some time off at university. in his time off, he's effectively ghosted his friends and no one knows what happened/why he vanished. felix is recovering from an injury that delayed his journey to become a professional tennis star (<- lol). they've known each other for so long, they both have dead brothers, but also how much do they really know about each other?

posting this snippet SPECIFICALLY for brothers of [siren wail]. i think youll all recognize the inspo for 'the green room.'

“maybe we should shift to explosions,” raphael said as he came back into the room, looking over at the car crumpling into a tree playing on the television. “for the vibe.” “the vibe,” agreed sylvain, privately wondering if there was that much of a difference between crashes and explosions. he figured that any kind of disaster suited the green room. the windowless room in the phi ep basement––named for the carpeting, which had, once, allegedly, been green (sylvain’s efforts to deep clean last spring had failed to prove anything except that one should always wear shoes in the green room)––was less of a vibe and more…well. the couches were all leather––easier to clean if someone puked on them; the ceiling had suspicious stains; the walls were covered in bad murals painted over several years of pledging––and sylvain would know they were bad, being an art history major; the tv sat on a pile of wooden crates. at least the sound system wasn’t terrible. when sylvain wanted to impress girls, he never brought them to the green room. he sat back on the couch and spread his legs. “yeah, fuck it,” he heard himself say. “explosions.”

dungeon meshi fic is suuuper rough rn. its Probably a 5+1 of 5 times marcille's friends died and 1 time they didnt (hahaha) but what i have written so far is all about chilchuck going senile and dying. the fic is very obviously tackling like "what happens when the people you love and remember as young and full of life grow old, and how is preparing for someone's death as painful as their death itself" BUT ALSO is about "what if the dragon part of falin makes her age at the same rate as marcille...and how is that, in some ways, worse than if she just lived as a human did?" bcs As You Know im always interested in the question "when is it true that living beyond when the narrative expects you to is worse than dying?" that part just doesnt have a lot written.

there is NOT a lot written that i posted for wip wednesday but here:

chilchuck has lost most of his teeth, so he has to eat porridge and other soft foods. “at least it’s not monsters,” he says to marcille every morning, which was funny the first few times and now is depressing. “yeah,” says marcille, pouring some sugar into his tea. it’s unclear to marcille––who, despite having half a century to prepare for this, feels unprepared––exactly when chilchuck seems to think it is. he keeps asking about his wife, his shop, his daughters, whether or not they could resurrect falin.  “have i reached out to her?” he asks. his wife, he means. mostly he seems to think they’ve just defeated the winged lion. marcille has not gained much patience in last fifty eight years; having to admit to mistakes she made fifty eight years ago every day for the last couple of years has been––hard. it’s been hard. “no,” she says, gritting her teeth. chilchuck’s ex-wife died fourteen years ago. marcille learned many mornings ago it’s best to convince chilchuck to write her a letter that cannot be sent rather than make him relive his grief every day.

[sleepyfaequeen]

Little Relationship Problems

Summary: the king wishes to speak to you in private.

Pairing: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd x fem!reader

Warning(s): None

Requested: Nope

(Y/n) had begun to wake up, her eyes blinking as they adjusted to the candle lit room. She heard a shift beside her. Immediately, she saw both Felix and Sylvain. The two look concerned at their professor.

"Thank the goddess.." Sylvain, let's out a breath of relief.

"Yeah.." Felix crossed his arms as he stared at her. "That was some show you pulled. An idiotic one at that. Surely, I didn't think of you to pull off something so.."

"Hey! Take it easy on our professor. She's still recovering." Sylvain tries to lesson Felix's words.

"I'm sorry. I'm too busy trying to figure out another word for 'stupid.'' But it seems to me the definition of stupid should have a drawing of you on it." Felix sighs as Sylvain's jaw falls slack. "But really.. whatever you were thinking on the battlefield is no excuse for what you did. Sylvain might think it's heroic, but that boar is going to eat you up the moment he.." There is a loud boom of the doors creaking open with Mercedes trying her best to stop the soon to be King of Faerghus.

"Speak of the boar, and he shall come." Felix holds the hilt of his sword as he could already see the anger boiling behind that blue-eyed boar he would soon call a king.

"Let us be." Dimitri spoke with his voice rumbling through to his chest.

"Uh.." Sylvain looked towards his old professor, who glances at him. The man knew it wasn't his place to say anything to Dimitri when he was mad, but he was only concerned for his teacher. "I.. don't think this is a good time, your majesty." His eyes look over to Mercedes, who quickly catches on.

"It's true! (Y/n) is still recovering from her wounds. Any sort of.. stress can cause her to stay in bed longer."

"Good." Dimitri approaches the end of the bed with his hands held behind his back. "Then she will have no choice but to stay bedridden once I am done talking to her." His eye is looking down at her with so much attention that it makes her shift uncomfortably.

"But Dimitri -"

"Silence!" His voice was practically booming throughout the room that it made anyone's hair behind their neck stand up. "What I discuss in private with my wife is none of anyone's business. I gave everyone an order and you are all to leave us."

The room was silent as everyone exited the room. As the professor sits up, she can see Sylvain assuring Mercedes that it would be fine. Felix is the only one who stops and glares at Dimitri before leaving. How that man could not feel fear towards Dimitri was a mystery to anyone. Once the doors are shut by the guards, she hesitantly looks up to the soon to be king who walks around the bed, to her side, slowly.

"Do you think you're some type of hero for doing what you did?" Dimitri asked with a sarcastic smile running over his lips.

".. No but -"

"No, is right." He stops at her bedside and moves his gloved hands from his back. "You didn't think I could take it."

"I just didn't want you to die.."

"(Y/n).. you are fragile. I have no problem with you joining the war between me and that woman.. but I will not stand for you to die to protect me."

The words he spoke sounded like he cared, but they came out spewing like venom.

"We can't control who lives and dies, Dimitri." She glares at her bruised knuckles over her lap.

"Finally, you speak some common sense. Where was that in the battle?" He chuckles as he sits down on the bed, hunched over as he sighs. "If you ever pull something like that again.. I will make sure you are stuck in bed for the rest of the war." He turns to look at her, his breath fanning over the large fur coat over his shoulders.

"I did it because I love you!" (Y/n) spoke with her lips trembling and teeth clenched up. Her eyes brimmed with tears of frustration.

"I know that." He looked away from her and looked at his leather gloved hands. "You have won this beast over.. my loyalty, my heart, my soul, my kingdom is yours. What made you think you could just throw yourself to possibly die? Had it not been for Mercedes reaching you first- you'd be long gone. You would've joined the dead voices in my head.. I'm sure I would've gone mad then." He gloved hands clench before he turns to look at her again. Blue eye gleaming like a hidden knife would at night.

"Without me in the war, you would be a mess. Doesn't that sound crazy to you already?" He smirks and sighs. "Maybe you are already mad."

"I've long reached that line, but I haven't crossed it, my queen." He had reached out and held her trembling hands. They were so warm, small and delicate, incomparable to his own. He was sure he could crush her with his own hands if he really desired to. "You had me worried.. I tried to reach you but I got held back."

"It's alright.. I'm healing so you will have your wish." She forces a smile and he notices. A small smile crosses his lips.

"Good.." He stands up and leans down, kissing her lips as he held her jaw, his thumb lightly gracing her chin before he lifts himself off the bed completely. "I expect to see you here for dinner, tonight."

"Tonight?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Of course, you being in this room will not interfere with our daily routines together." His fingers rub a strand of her hair as she felt a smile come to her lips.

"We ride horses. I doubt I can walk."

"Then I will have my men carry you in a palanquin." He chuckles as she immediately shakes her head. "I am joking of course. I will have Sylvain and Felix carry you."

"Dimitri!"

[randoimago]

Hi there can I please have headcanons for sylvain bernadetta yuri and dorothea with a deaf s/o who speaks with sign language and can read lips please and thank you very much I don't why but I can't help but imagine both sylvain and dorothea would try to flirt with the reader but then they'd ignore them on accident cause they can't hear lol 😭

Fandom: Fire Emblem Three Houses

Character(s): Sylvain, Dorothea, Bernadetta, Yuri

Note(s): This took me way too long to get out and I'm sorry about that, I hope you enjoy what I wrote!!

Bernadetta

She does her best to learn sign language so she can speak with you. Honestly, talking to other people is so intimidating so she likes being able to use sign language instead.

Her only issue is that she flails her hands a lot when she's panicked and messes up on signing a bit (and then she panics because she messed up and really hopes she wasn't accidentally rude to you).

Can't help but worry for you. She knows you're strong since you're in the academy, but she's afraid that should an ambush happen or monsters show up or just something goes wrong, no one will be able to tell you in time and it scares her. You'll have to calm her down because she panics too easily over the "what if's".

Dorothea

She did pout a bit at you seemingly ignoring her the first time she tried flirting. When she found out you're deaf, then she does her best to apologize to you, having to repeat herself since she talked too fast the first time for you to read her lips.

Dorothea finds herself enjoying learning sign language with you. She's a bit saddened that you won't be able to hear her sing, but she still tries her best to describe the lyrics and tone to you.

Dorothea is staying by your side if you're on the battlefield with her. She doesn't particularly like fighting in the first place, so she'd like to be by your side and stay in the back or use some magic instead to fight. Of course, if you prefer fighting up close and personal then she's happy to throw some fire to enemies that try to hit blind spots.

Sylvain

He heard that there was a student that's deaf at the academy, but he didn't realize it was you. Honestly, was taking you ignoring him as you rejecting his constant flirting.

But then he stepped into your view and saw you get startled. Sylvain began apologizing and felt a bit like an idiot, but honestly, now that you're his S/O, it's a fun thing to think back to and laugh about.

Sylvain, of course, worries about you when it comes to training or should you have to be on the battlefield, but he also trusts you that you'll be okay. Or, at the very least, you know how to get yourself out of any situation that could occur. Just maybe try to stay close to him. You can ride on the back of his horse with him if you want.

Yuri

It was one of the times that he had gone to the academy just to roam around and gather information. He saw you in the distance signing to someone in a conversation. Yuri easily put two and two together, and he couldn't help but be intrigued.

Yuri hadn't meant to end up dating you when he approached you to learn about your situation, but he's not complaining now. He just makes sure you're able to read his lips when he teases you. Or he just does it with sign language since he likes seeing you respond with the facial reactions you give him.

Yuri prefers to stay on the sidelines or be sneaky when it comes to the battlefield, so he'll stay with you and make sure you're alright with him. You're his S/O so he has full confidence in you, but he still has some healing ready should you need it.

Taglist:

@unhelpfulnpc

[barbieburnanator]

Hi!! Is it ok to ask more questions about your OC amber? Like what kind of food she enjoys at the monastery and what places she's likely to frequent!! Ty for sharing your art and creativity! 🥺🥺🥹🥹

IT IS ALWAYS OKAY TO ASK ABOUT MY OC AMBER!! I don’t get that many questions about her, so when I do it makes me really happy! It blows my mind that others like her so much that they would want to know more. 😊

For food, Amber has a big sweet tooth. Though probably not as much as Lysithea, she loves nothing more than sipping tea and enjoying a baked good. (If you give her cake she will be your best friend!!) Amber herself grew up on a farm, so she ate a lot of staples foods growing up like soups and stews. When she found herself at the monastery, she was delighted to find new dishes to try, attempting any new foods that came her way. So far she’s learned that spicy food isn’t so much her thing, as well as fish, though she will eat anything that is placed in front of her. (If nothing else to be thoughtful and not wasteful of the food itself.) She enjoys mostly vegetables and/ or meat dishes.  Here’s what she likes that’s offered at the dinning hall – sauteed jerky, vegetable stir-fry, Gronder meat skewers, onion Gratin soup, fried crayfish (the only seafood she likes), pheasant roast with berry sauce, sweet bun trio, and peach sorbet.

As for places she likes to frequent to around the monastery, she loves to spend time around the library, stables, greenhouse, and nearby woods. The library and reading remind her of when her parents would read to her before bed. Often reading until she fell asleep. Now as a young adult and with her parents gone, she likes to read when trying to fall asleep. It gives her comfort. Sylvain has seen her on multiple occasions staring out of a window from the library. When asked about it, Amber states that the view from that window in particular looks like the view from her house growing up. Standing here at dusk takes her back to a time before she was all alone. An important detail about Amber is that she works for the monastery to help pay her way through classes. She’ll spend time at the stables caring for the horses and other animals and likes to visit the stables in her spare time as well. Mercedes caught her taking scarps from the dining hall to feed the cats and dogs around the stables. Since then, the two will collect food scraps to give to the animals. The greenhouse is for sure one of her favorites! Growing up on a farm, she spent time tending to crops, but she also helped her mother grow flowers as well! Her real name (Amber isn’t her birth name) is based off a flower given to her by her mother. As such, she loves to help grow the plants in the greenhouse. There’s been a rumor that someone heard her sing to the plants late at night. Ignatz confesses later that it was him, stating that he heard the voice and needed to know who was singing such a beautiful song. And finally, the woods around the monastery. She would live out there if she could (but Seteth wouldn’t allow it) as it’s the closest to feeling like home to her. The big trees, wild animals, babbling brooks, it all gives her comfort and makes her feel at peace. She likes to collect herbs to create salves and game to sell in town. She can be seen reading under a particular tree near the edge of the woods. But she has had to find a new hiding spot as Claude now likes to look for her every time he’s out there. An endless game of hide-and-seek.

Wow! That’s a lot but I couldn’t stop writing. I really enjoy answering questions like this, thanks so much for asking it really means a lot to me. 😊

Here’s a little sketch of Amber as well!