Event Log: May, An Inauspicious Arrival

[faileas]

Event Log: May, An Inauspicious Arrival

I. Boaltinn (1st - 3rd) Boaltinn comes around again. A handful of Mirrorbound will remember the holiday from last year, but for others, it will be brand new. In both Residential Districts, bonfires burn in central locations through the night, frequented by the residents celebrating another summer come to Aefenglom. Curiously, while last year the bonfires seemed quite segregated by human or Monster, this year, there is more of a noticeable mix at each, and Mirrorbound are invited to join the games and festivities quite happily. Characters are invited to try and jump through the bonfire's flames to burn away any poor relationship experiences, be it romantic or platonic, past or present; to aid them in this, those at the Eastern Bonfire will give those participating rune-etched accessories to protect them from the fire. The city has quite a bit to offer for this holiday: shared rose baths at public bathhouses and pleasure establishments that increase feelings of friendliness and talkativeness, poles draped in ribbons meant to be danced around, wrapping a ribbon around the pole to bring good luck for the summer, food stalls whose offerings are meant to be shared, and fortune-telling set up by Divination students of the Coven, who can tell your day is going to go. To see last year's Boaltinn prompts, you can take a glance right here! Much of it, including the bonfires, baths, and entertainments will be similar this year, so feel free to use those in your top levels.

II. An Unusual Arrival (3rd on) A full year from the arrival of the first group of Mirrorbound, the 1st passes quietly, with no one showing up in the mirror-lined halls of the Looking-Glass House. Dates and times are important in most kinds of magic, and this is strange enough that some Witches of the Coven get together on the night of the 3rd to try a probing ritual, attempting to gather some kind of clues that could be useful in prying out the cottage's secrets. Boaltinn is the best time for such things, when the boundaries are thinner, and magic is stronger. Those who are awake that night at 3 am might notice a pulse of harmless silvery light that spreads like ripples on water throughout the whole city, originating at the Looking-Glass House, but nothing further happens, and the Coven receives no answers. Well, nothing happens in the Looking-Glass House. Before long, the reports start coming in: people are emerging from mirrors, regular old mundane mirrors, all over the city. Anything with a particularly reflective surface could be an entry point for someone from another world! Inhabited homes, businesses closed and locked for the night, pools of still water in fountains or the river, these unorthodox Mirrorbound pop up anywhere and everywhere, causing chaos for the City Guard (folks aren't happy to find strangers in their bathrooms at 3 in the morning) and the Coven both. Out of nowhere, a glint of light catches your eye; your heart thunders in your ears as your body moves on its own, your mind consumed with inspecting the source. Your reflection stares back at you, just as curious from the surface - a mirror, a pool of water, your most trusted sword, something fleeting that your mind can barely remember - then ripples at your touch. If you are one of these unfortunate arrivals, it's likely a rude awakening for you, to find yourself somewhere inconvenient, somewhere other than where you've been. It only makes sense to be confused. Hopefully someone finds you and explains to you what's happened to you. Resident Mirrorbound will hear a message from Miss Nessie shortly after it begins, a call to arms: "Dears, I'm quite sorry to disturb you, but it seems your fellows are arriving elsewhere than the Looking-Glass House this month! We're trying to track them all down for the usual welcome, but we could use a hand or several! If you could just bring them by the Coven, the usual spot, that would be lovely." She'll give her usual orientation and pass out Watches, but no doubt the Mirrorbound will be more helpful in this regard, with so many arriving.

III. The Goblin Market (All Month) Life goes on in Aefenglom, despite the addition of so many new residents. With the City Guard decidedly busy dealing with the sudden flood of break-ins (or, more accurately, break-outs?), the vendors of the Goblin Market find opportunity to set up their stalls more openly than they have since the crack-downs some months ago. They pop up all over the city, but clustered more often in the Residential Districts and the Harbor District, where there are even fewer law enforcement agents out and about to run them off. These sellers, while not as devoid of morals as those major players of the Black Market, still have very few compunctions when it comes to lying, cheating, fencing stolen goods, and misrepresenting their wares to unsuspecting buyers. It's also the place to find those things that are- not quite legal, shall we say. They won't say a word if you don't. If confronted, they are quick to pack up their things and slip away, however; they know this city and its hiding places a lot better than you do. With a brand new batch of what the natives assume are Mirrorbound, many undergoing rapid transformations into their Monster forms, many of the wares on display are potions: supposed cure-alls for aches and itches, calming draughts for the full moon restlessness, some even claim their brews can halt changes entirely! Some concoctions are meant to increase a Witch's magical ability, or decrease it, or provide them a finer control. They offer potions that they say will eliminate the need for a Bond, or temporary Bonding potions of their own that they claim are more pure, stronger, than the ones offered by the Coven. Claims are only claims, though. A few remedies for the pain of changing or some regular temporary Bonding potions can be found here and there, but for every potion that works, there are twenty more that have less than pleasant side effects. A brew that will cause everything you touch to turn to solid gold for up to an hour; a potion that will invert your sense of direction - trying to turn right will make you turn left, trying to go forward will cause you to walk backward; a potion that will remove all traction from your feet, causing you to slide around as if cobblestone are the slickest ice. Worse, some shadier vendors sell things more sinister, including a potion that gives you the appearance of being moderately to heavily infected by the Cwyld. Even if you don't drink any, the vendors are not at all careful where they're sloshing those bottles around, trying to show them off, and they all activate on skin contact.

IV. A Wilde Hunt (7th - 22nd) All Mirrorbound, temporary or not, are likely to feel it. Monsters are always affected by the full moons, but this month, it is more. Stronger. Instincts rise to the surface as the Sisters emerge full and visible in the night sky, and for many Mirrorbound, they are undergoing rapid transformations into whatever type of Monster they are meant to be. Curiously, the natives get along like they usually do, noticing nothing out of the norm, other than the increased agitation and restlessness from Mirrorbound Monsters. Monsters' aggression fades when the Sisters start to wane, but as the new moons approach on the 22nd, Mirrorbound Witches will notice their magical reserves overfilling, and will find themselves stricken with the overwhelming urge to use it, until casting spells, pushing one's magical limits, is almost a compulsion. Those who are not in proper Witch-Monster Bonds will feel it even stronger, with no stabilizing magic to consume (for Monsters) or avenues to expend magic (for Witches) other than casting spells. (For those who are interested, the Coven does offer temporary Bonding potions which can be used to help alleviate the effects somewhat.) The Coven Witches notice the signs, and they take decisive action on the morning of the 6th, the day before the full moons. So many Mirrorbound, likely to be so heavily affected by the lunar cycle this month, many of them coming into new features and abilities at a breakneck pace, only spells danger for the city. They barricade off a massive chunk of Wilde outside Aefenglom, largely free of Cwyld and totally bereft of farms, homes, and Wilder outposts. They invite anyone who feels the effects of the moons too strongly to control to come out for a Hunt. The hunting grounds will be open nightly to anyone who needs to work off restless energy or overflowing magic; all participants will be warned that their safety cannot be guaranteed from others, but they won't be able to harm bystanders out here. The woods are thick, with the river cutting through them, and full of wildlife. There is room to run and chase prey, or room to play with your developing magic. Play cat and mouse with your friends or Bondmates, or stalk a stranger. If playing games isn't your thing, there is something else to hunt out here as well. With the deep Wilde entering into Winter, this patch of land so close to the city is much warmer, and fearsome Shades have emerged to search for prey. These were once living beings, Monsters, Witches, or animals, who have been overtaken by Cwyld infection long ago, leaving them dead but for the infection, white-eyed and seeking out sources of magic to consume and infect. Anything could become a Shade, but the most common out right now are the ferocious remains of bears, wolves, and nomadic Arachne and Turnskins. If not killed, these Shades threaten the people of the Outer City, when they inevitably escape the barricade. Careful to limit your contact, though; anyone infected upon their return to the gates will be escorted straight to the infirmary.

Welcome to May's Fourth Wall event, An Inauspicious Arrival! The comms are now open to comments from all registered users and will be until June 1st. Current players, if you don't want fourth wall characters tagging your posts, just say so in your text. Fourth wall characters can use this post for their own network top-levels, or this post for log top levels. This event is game canon; threads from this fourth wall can be used as application samples later and current players may use these threads for AC. As always, be courteous to each other! Let the mod team know if there are any problems and we will handle things.

As always, please direct your questions to this thread!

Comments

[hegemonwings]

[ at that, she stops walking, and turns fully to face him. she may be a good bit shorter, but she looks him in the eye all the same. byleth debates, briefly, how much she ought to say.

fuck it. ]

After I was born, Seiros opened my chest and placed Sothis's Crest Stone inside. I suspect she did the same thing to my mother. After I killed Seiros, [ there's a touch of vehemence and anger in her voice as she says that, ] my connection with Sothis was severed.

[ she pauses. ]

Your old Professor isn't fully himself. Likely never has been. [ likely never will be, she thinks, with some bitterness. ] Though I imagine you've seen glimpses slipping through.

[kingofunification]

[Ah.

He keeps his face measured in a degree of unreadable interest, mulling over the words. He knew from reading Teach's diary that Rhea did something to him as a child, and that something resulted in him lacking a heartbeat. The fact that it was--according her to her--a crest stone that caused that made sense. The connection to the Goddess he had told Claude about, the lack of a stone in the Sword of the Creator...

How did Rhea pull off such a thing...? And why to Teach? Hardly a fair stunt to pull on a child.]

Interesting. [He keeps his tone neutral, pushing back his conflicting emotions on the matter for later. Claude wasn't too keen on being that open with this version of Byleth at the moment.] You speak as if he's lacking something.

[hegemonwings]

[ byleth drags a hand back through her hair, slightly agitated. but... no. she thinks it's important that claude understand this, if some version of her is important to him. ]

If the same was done to him, then he is. [ it comes out very matter-of-factly. it's not an insult to the man he knows, or at least, isn't meant as one. if she believes claude's byleth is lacking something, it's only because she believes that she had been. continuing: ] I didn't feel, Claude. I never cried or laughed when I was young. I was in a haze for my entire life, moving as if in a dream. I don't even... remember very much of my childhood. Some of the fog started to fade a few weeks before I met you three. Even as I opened up more to my students, grew to care for them, found more moments of clarity? There was... more opinion, than feeling. Love, joy, anger, sadness... the stone tried to smother all of it. My heart was not my own.

[kingofunification]

[He keeps his eye on her, tracking the motion of her hand. It was..obviously a strange thing to explain, and it was something she was vehement about.

And yet...]

I don't consider Teach's expression of emotions to be lacking anything. [Claude's arms cross over his chest, the smallest of frowns on his lips.] I do feel sympathy for the struggle to understand what you're feeling, and remorse for the situation that lead to the suppression. However...

[Claude sighs, letting a hand run through his own hair. Something about her speaking like this had him frustrated. Teach wasn't here to defend himself, after all.]

...however, we don't place value on what Teach is lacking, and those glimpses of emotions are just as strong as anyone else without his unique circumstances. He's not somehow less of a human, even with the Crest in his chest. [He lets his hand drop, gaze drifting into the distance.] If doing something about the stone was something Teach would like to pursue, I would do everything in my power to make that possible. But I--and all of his students--like Teach regardless.

[Claude's eyes flick back to her, shrugging.] I'm sure Edelgard feels the same way.

[hegemonwings]

[ she wants to argue—his professor very much is not human, not fully, and clearly not on track to reclaim it—but honestly... it's good to hear that. claude ascribing those sentiments to edelgard as well—accurately—has byleth's face visibly warming, and she flicks her eyes away from his. her fingers grasp unconsciously below her neck, thumb running over a gold pendant with the symbol of the black eagles in red enamel.

it's not entirely unlike the bracelet claude might have given his own professor, those years ago. ]

Take care of him, then. Much of what brought me clarity and feeling, before, was my shared time and purpose with my Eagles. Those rare moments where I was truly myself. If that man and I have anything in common... then I imagine it's the same for him.

[kingofunification]

[Claude hums in acknowledgement, turning around to fully face her again. He didn't need someone to tell him to watch after Teach. They had just reunited, and he had no plans on letting something keep them apart like that again.]

I'll keep that in mind. [A shrug, Claude letting the tension ease from him by the smallest degree. He still wasn't comfortable, but talking about Teach--the Teach he remembered--helped to recenter his thoughts from his initial shock.

He didn't know or trust this Byleth, but that didn't mean he was alone. Not where it mattered.]

[There's a moment of thought before Claude gets back on track, more questions popping up in his mind.] I surrendered the Alliance to Edelgard's forces after minimal losses. What of the Kingdom, then?

[hegemonwings]

[ she nods at that initial response, satisfied. though...

byleth lets out a breath. the battles to conquer faerghus were a horrible, miserable affair, and there's something tired to her expression. she's low on things that claude might like to hear, she thinks. a bit of a Teacher Voice slips in, like she's reciting the basics of a history and not recounting an experience. ]

We turned our attention to them after we took the Leicester region. After we first took Garreg Mach, the Kingdom gave the Church asylum and rallied fully behind Seiros. Dimitri became nothing but a beast. We began by taking Arianrhod— [ uuuuuuuhhhhh god right how to explain the reason. clarifying, ] eliminating Cornelia was... important. Rodrigue Fraldarius fell in the battle. Not long after we captured it, our enemies [ not the kingdom. not the church. ] destroyed it with javelins of light... 30% of the garrison we'd placed there were killed.

[kingofunification]

[Dimitri...he's surprised that Dimitri waited in the Kingdom for Edelgard invasion--he sure didn't seem keen on keeping Fhiridad when he saw him last at their terrible class reunion. What had changed to keep him there? Had they not had him "executed"? Did that stave off his madness?

The javelins of light, however does take him off guard. There's a twitch of a brow before he smooths it back into his mask of neutrality, his frowning deepening by degree. He was familiar with those javelins...but as he knew it, they had come from the Empire.

So, if they were turned on the Empire...who did they belong to? Something the Empire did must had turned their attention onto them, just as they did when his own soldiers approached Embarr...but what was the connecting thread?]

Must have been quite the shock. [An understatement--he knows what a terrifying thing those javelins are firsthand.] Seems like you had a long campaign for the end that Edelgard sought.

[hegemonwings]

[ she shakes her head. if she thinks anything of what might be running through his head right now, it's not apparent. ]

Once I awoke and we broke the stalemate, the war was over in four moons. We were precise. [ they had a really cool easy time of it, actually, claude! even if the end was real bad. ] But there's... more to be done. True enemies that Fódlan can only challenge now. [ anyway... ]

We shattered the King of Delusion's forces on the Tailtean Plains, even as his soldiers became demonic beasts. We tried to get him to see reason, that the war was over. Continuing to fight would only bring more suffering... but he didn't listen. Seiros's forces abandoned them before the battle ended, and made for Fhirdiad.

[ byleth takes a breath. ]

Dimitri and Dedue both died there. Even defeated, he screamed for Edelgard's head. He was never going to stop. He believed she was the cause of all of his misfortune, believed every word that an immortal monster whispered in his ear.

[ something ugly twists in her chest, venom edging into her voice. ]

Then, Seiros burned his capital rather than surrender.

[kingofunification]

Four moons, huh. You weren't lying about efficiency. [Four moons had passed for their campaign and they hadn't even finished their march on Embarr...though perhaps it was easier to break a stalemate than it was an invasion. If Edelgard continue her march into the Alliance and Kingdom, then a stalemate was a good slate to start on...]

From what I've seen, Dimitri had a lot of pent up resentments towards Edelgard. [Losing his Kingdom to her, on top of all his other tragedies that he had faced in his life, was probably the final nail in the coffin for his sanity. It was...unfortunate. Even when they were fighting against the same cause, Claude couldn't seem to get through to him...] A tragic end to a tragedy, I suppose.

[Claude shifts on his feet, reviewing the information he's amassed such far. Where she came from, Seiros--or Rhea, seemed to have caused much strife. But how powerful could she be, if she could not break through whatever had kept her captive in the Empire, if his intelligence was correct. It would be easier if he could've at least spoken to Rhea about this. He wasn't her biggest fan, but at least it would give him two sides of a picture to piece together.

That is, if she was willing to talk and hadn't succumbed to the madness that seemed to taken her in other timelines. Things to consider later...] And I assume after that, the Empire marched against Seiros to bring her to justice.

[hegemonwings]

[ byleth nods, once. ]

Edelgard and I killed the mad old dragon ourselves.

[ she already told him that she killed seiros, after all. may as well bring it full circle. ]

Catherine and Cyril surrendered shortly after, and Gilbert Dominic fell in the battle. My... understanding, [ she sounds faintly uncertain as shifts gears, like she's not working on firsthand information for this part ] is that the surviving Knights of Seiros will be tried, but the local soldiers they made to stand with them are to be pardoned. Faerghus has been through enough.

[kingofunification]

Hm. [Claude rubs a hand against his chin. The way their campaign ran was...much different than the one he was currently running. There had been similarities to their situations when he spoke to Sylvain about his war, but Edelgard's ended in a very different way--though, he and the Kingdom had a common enemy in the Empire, so that only helped the similarities.

The things he learned though were not useless, however. He had his suspicious about Rhea, and even if he wasn't fond of the Church, he only became more interested in learning how this all came to be--especially if she was Seiros, as claimed. There was a lot to gleam in someone's 1,000 year rule over a country...]

Thank you for telling me your side of things. [He gives a smile that is only a upturn of the lips, still watching her warily.] It does shed some light on the whole situation.

[hegemonwings]

Mm.

[ yeah, byleth still doesn't trust him, but she doesn't think he's going to try anything. she doesn't return the courtesy of that false smile, though she does relax a bit, keeping up the walking. it's essentially aimless. ]

The tactically sound move might be to ask about yours, but I don't want to know. [ she waves a hand. ] Another life and a broken history.

[kingofunification]

[There's laughter from him, but it's an empty a humorless thing.] Ah yes, the spoils of the victors of war.

[He keeps up his pace with her--to what end, he doesn't exactly know. This wasn't his Teach, nor the future he would allow himself to have, but--] Must be nice to look at the struggles of other timelines from the role of the conqueror. Our fights must seem petty to you--those of broken timelines

[hegemonwings]

[ byleth stops, turning to face him. she doesn't owe him an explanation, she thinks, but the man is leaping to conclusions in a way that she doesn't care for at all. the depth of her certainty, the thing she clings to above all, is far too personal to even allow claude a hint of.

but she can tell him this much. ]

The Claude I know told me himself that he'd had the same ambition as Edelgard. I don't know if that's true for you, but don't presume to lecture me for the things I've done. I've seen my friends die senselessly more times than I can count, undone timelines gone awry, then stood as the only one who remembered, all to ensure that the flow of time went as it should. To carve out a future worth seeing. Have you ever actually asked your Professor what Sothis's power allows him to do? [ it all comes out colder than she'd like. ]

How do you think you've won your battles so cleanly, Claude? [ a shot in the dark, but if his professor used the divine pulse in a way anything like she had... ]

[kingofunification]

[Finally--finally a strong emotion.

It was petty of him to say what he did, to purposely to try to rile her up. It shouldn't matter--she would never exist in his timeline as she was, and he would never exist in hers. He was owed no favors, nor did he gain any benefit from poking at a sleeping bear. However...

...however, it gave him something. Some kind of sick, twisted relief that she would direct her anger at him. Anger was attention, even if it was negative. Anger meant he was at least matter in someway to her, even if it was just to receive her ire.]

Our ambitions are the same, but our methods are not. [Claude's stopped his steps in turn with hers, hands outstretched. He tries to retrieve his mask of calm, biting back the inexpiable hurt in his chest.] I know of what powers you've received from Sothis--[Thanks to a combination of his pushy younger self and the generosity of the Teach he knew]--how integral it is to any war efforts, thought I don't claim to fully comprehend all it's depths. I understand that without it, the bloodshed would probably be more than I could fathom.

However-- [For a moment, there's a crack in his mask--his frustration, his exhaustion and troubled thoughts pulling at his brow and his lips, tensing his shoulder.] That doesn't mean I can't continue to hold onto a hope that things will work out. That things will get better.

[Claude straightens again, the cool facade of a Duke on his face--a general at war who's hands can't help but to be stained with blood.] My timeline may be broken to you, but it is not for me.

[hegemonwings]

[ she listens as claude goes on. their methods, as if he hadn't admitted to desiring conquest himself at derdriu. but again, this is not the claude she knows... and it sounds as if edelgard's methods were much worse in his version of the conflict. she's seen a glimpse of how edelgard might have waged her war, had she not been there. it's not a difficult concept.

still, there's something... tired in her expression. her tone softens a bit when she speaks again. there is a true history, she thinks, one she has fought and struggled for, one that belongs solely in the hands of humankind, but... even so. ]

... I don't know if she's lost sight of her path, in your version of things. But her reasons, her aims, those are right. [ she hates thinking of the possibility of this outcome, really, and she finds it hard to reconcile the schemer with the buried heart—the demon strategist, the master tactician—with the man in front of her. even if the claude she knows isn't an enemy. ] Should the war go your way, don't let it be for nothing. See the work through. Just... [ something ugly twists in her chest. ]

Spare her, if you can.

[kingofunification]

[It was as cathartic as it was painful to vent out his frustrations like this. Of a future he had no power in to control. It wasn't his future, but he still felt hurt, he still felt powerless at being nothing but a bystander in this history he knew nothing about.

Perhaps Edelgard and the Professor had made the world a better place. Perhaps her methods weren't as dire as to allow javelins of light to destroy her own army, to plant seeds of insurrection that caused the Kingdom to crumble and it's monarch to go mad. To let her own allies burn on a pyre in order to take down her enemies...

But. It was not in his control. He could only control his own future.]

I can't promise that. [There's a frown on his face, a pinch of his brow as he shakes his head.] If she's willing to surrender, then I would not kill her needlessly. But if her death would stop the death of a dozen others, then I would not hesitate to cut her down myself.

[He does his best to offer a tired smile, something that doesn't clear the exhaustion in his features.] Even if I was to offer surrender, I don't think she would take it. That resolve of hers to see her ambitions to the bitter end is something to be admired, after all.

[hegemonwings]

[ it's the answer she'd expected, really. but it doesn't make her heart feel any less heavy. after seeing how much of the bloodshed could have been avoided if the kingdom and church had surrendered when given the chance, knowing that edelgard wouldn't do the same if it came down to it—and knowing full well why, knowing she would have stayed at her side to the end if that had been the way the war went in their history— ]

... I understand. [ her fingers go to the gold pendant at her neck, marked with an eagle. it's a comfort, a lifeline. ]

Still... see it through. There is... a true enemy lurking in Fódlan's shadows, capitalizing on the brutal world Seiros has made. Those responsible for Duscur, for my father, for Flayn's kidnapping... for Ordelia.

[ what they've done to edelgard and her family simply isn't her story to tell. ]

[kingofunification]

I always like to believe that there's more to every story that than can be seen on the surface. [Secrets enticed him as much as they frustrated, him after all. His mind was too busy whirring with possibilities and cross-examinations to not pick at something until there was nothing left to do but look through all the possibilities again.]

You know me, Professor-- [A laugh at his own joke, paired with a pinched smile] --always meddling and getting into places I don't belong.

But I'm not taking this affair at half measures. [His arms open, a gestured peace offering.] I have ambitions that require a full reshaping of the status quo--I wont be satisfied until a light is shone on all the shadows there.

[hegemonwings]

[ her expression genuinely brightens a bit at being called professor, regardless of it not being meant seriously. it's a title she's mostly long-since abandoned, outside of letting her former students refer to her by it in the army, but the steadfast refusal of... anyone but hubert, really, to call her by it here has troubled her more than she cares to admit. (edelgard leaving my teacher to the wayside has been... good, she thinks. but that's something else entirely.)

and claude had had a point when he approached her. general isn't a title she cares to hold onto in this world, only habit and the occasional leaning on formality has brought it out. dimitri's continued insistence on using that name for her has stung, but their interactions have been... quarrelsome, even outside of that.

an ugly thought crosses her mind, despite what she's exhorting him to do; and she got her hands dirty so you won't have to, is that it—but... it's not the point, and it's unfair to him. they're both at least trying to be practical about this conversation.

so byleth nods, muttering: ]

Good. [ she extends a hand, not smiling, but not appearing displeased at all. if he's extending an olive branch, she'll take it. something shines in her eyes, regardless. ]

All that we can do is... what is in us to do, Claude. And that's seeing things to the best end that we can. [ there are no perfect solutions. there never are. ] I don't know that I trust you... but I trust your intentions. [ and his heart, perhaps. ] That's enough for now.

[ despite everything else. ]

[kingofunification]

[He takes the offered hand. There's no smile on his face--but perhaps that's better than the mask he typically wears. He's a little too tired for pretenses, but he can at least offer her honesty.]

I truly hope you and Edelgard made whatever world you live in better. [He huffs a humorless laugh] Thought I will always think that the best choice would've been aligning with us Deer. I think you would've liked us.

[hegemonwings]

We will. We have a responsibility, after all... we started this, we walked a bloody path to get here. We'll follow through.

[ there's no shame in the admission—she owns the things she's done as the leader of the army, it's being taken to task for the crimes of a might-have-been empire in a misbegotten timeline that bothers her. even without those atrocities, there's no truly justifying anything on the battlefield, but she's talking to someone who knows that just as well as she does.

and truthfully, she does prefer the honesty. she likes seeing others smile, but not the false one claude too often presents. byleth grips his hand, meeting his eyes. she wants him to be sure, at the least, that she means what she's saying. ]

I'm quite fond of most of you as it is. [ a bit of a smile tugs at the corner of her mouth, at the thought of those former students of hers. ] The six who joined us... they've done well. They'll thrive. And... I completely undid our first approach on Derdriu to avoid engaging Hilda. To keep the other Deer safe, too. [ not just hilda, but marianne, so many soldiers, and likely lorenz—the initial attack had gone so badly. marianne and lorenz's cavalry battalion ventured too close for hilda's comfort, and the commanders slaughtered each other before byleth could do anything to get their troops back into the main formation.

still, a touch of warmth enters her voice. ]

It's you that I'm not sure about yet. Either version of you. But I meant it, when I said I look forward to working with the Claude that I know.

[hegemonwings]

[ ayyyy went ahead and set this up since the comms are locked again, if you think you might wanna keep this rolling ]