middaeg | [Closed] February Catch All

[Edelgard closes her eyes, reaching into her pocket and producing a small flask. Tipping it into her tea, she carefully stirs a reddish liquid into the drink. She has truly become a vampire aristocrat, able to survive on tea alone.]

I am aware. And I am troubled, but only because of some of the circumstances. The number of alternate Fodlans has doubled as well.

[She points to herself, then to him.]

Hubert and myself, you. Then Bernadetta...though her world appears identical to mine save for the professor being a man. And then Felix and Sylvain.

[Truly, Edelgard was living the dream.]

Yes, that is the count I have as well-- although I wasn't aware that Bernadetta also had the Professor as a male.

[It added a level of dynamic to the pieces they were trying to puzzle together with this information. Lorenz was starting to wonder about what it was that tied their world together...]

Felix and Sylvain were both a touch... dramatic with me. It seems we were put in a position in their alternate Fodlan where Sylvain was forced to personally see to my demise. While it's a possible fate I've accepted, it still is rather unnerving to think about.

Edited 2020-02-10 02:55 (UTC)

I...see.

[That is a possibility that would certainly unsettle anyone. Though, given what Dimitri had ranted about the last time she saw him, it was hardly surprising that the Deer would fall into his army's path in other worlds.]

Fortunately, that is not the case. Though, I suspect he'd like nothing more than to try and kill me himself, now.

Which is why, of the two from Faerghus, I fear that Sylvain may be the more unreasonable one. Given our prior camaraderie during our time at the Officer's Academy, I had hoped for this to not be the case.

[A sigh. He had never imagined Sylvain to be more troublesome than Felix.]

Agreed. It's particularly galling given that the pair of them were men I trusted in my own past.

[Though, Felix more than Sylvain for a number of reasons.]

Sylvain, though, has always struck me as the more flighty of the two. Brash, and not prone to thinking things through. Felix just wants to fight, but he's less...snappy...when he finds common ground.

He and I have had no trouble thusfar. He's listened to what I've said, and I gave the pair of them a copy of my notes on Aefenglom and on the Cwyld.

Felix was someone the Deer could rely upon too. In my version of Fodlan, he was intrigued by the Professor's swordplay and insisted on joining the class. After the war broke out, he eventually made his way to the Alliance.

[It made him wonder if Felix was a possible pin in this puzzle, or merely a piece being moved around by other factors at play.]

He is not difficult to deal with. Sylvain... is Sylvain.

[It was what it was. The two considered each other to be something like rivals during their time attending the Officer's Academy. Neither of them had any luck in love or romance... likely for the better, given how history played out.]

They likely appreciate your gesture more than they let on. Now, let us hope they read the notes before doing something reckless.

Out of curiosity, Lorenz...how many classmates joined the Golden Deer during your tenure at the academy?

[That does seem to be a point of contention between all of them as well. It may well be that Byleth is the linchpin in all of this, the thing upon which all of their houses of cards stand.]

Not many. Just Felix and your own Bernadetta.

[He could see where this investigation was going and was starting to come to similar conclusions. After all, it was only The Professor who had any variance in their features.]

I have not told her. As it stood, she still remained in her quarters whenever it was possible.

Edited 2020-02-10 13:31 (UTC)

Understandable.

[And it might upset her to know that she had shifted loyalties. She didn't know. Bernie could be set off from simple things.]

In my own version of events, the only people who did not join the Black Eagles were Claude, Hilda, Dimitri, and Dedue. And when the war broke out, Flayn left the class to rejoin with the Church's forces.

...All of those variables are to be expected.

[Lorenz said with a cool nod, finding himself to be not terribly surprised by this news]

We cannot expect the heirs to their respective countries to be swayed so easily, even if you had been able to speak to them about your cause. Dedue is nothing if not predictable-- he would always stay by Dimitri, from my observations.

Hilda... greatly admires her elder brother, who happens to both be the head of House Goneril and is key to the Alliance's defense on our shores. She surely would never do anything to put herself at odds with him. Also, between you and me, she would balk at the notion of putting in any more effort than was necessary.

[A small, fond smile crept onto his face at the thought of his comrade. Though they had different passions and different drives, Lorenz greatly respected Hilda for more than the title her brother held-- which was higher than even the one he stood to inherit one day. But, he hardly expected Hilda to do more than she needed unless she was confronted with danger to herself or what she considered to be her's.]

Sad but true. On...all counts.

[She will more or less spare Lorenz the details regarding the death of Dimitri and Dedue, but she does have something more to say on Claude at least. Hilda...well, she faffed off to Goddess knows where after Derdriu.]

Claude saw reason and sense enough to withdraw and accept exile after Derdriu was taken and his gambit with the Almyran reinforcements failed. I did not want to fight him, but he did force my hand, in his own way.

[By not capitulating or listening, he'd made an obstacle of himself. The real foe was the Church, hiding within Faerghus, and she couldn't make a move against one without him jumping on her back.]

Edited 2020-02-10 23:18 (UTC)

[He didn't need to know the details. Doubtless, it was as brutal and bloody as the King himself had become in the intervening time.]

Almyra? That is hardly a surprise-- he's always had his reasons for focusing on the region, and he is far too knowledgeable of their culture to stand on the outside like we do.

[Rather, there were times when Claude himself seemed the outsider, which was supported both by his own claims that he wasn't from Fodlan and his hints that suggested further plans on the neighboring continent.]

Would that his intentions were more locally focused... but his entire presence within the Alliance has been the subject of scandal. I have my ideas about the truth, but he himself lets on very little about his personal agendas.

I suspect that is because he is likely Almyran himself, originally. Or half, at the very least.

[It was Claude's secret to tell, and she had no idea of the depth of it. She hadn't much cared in the end. Claude was an obstacle, and someone she had little hope of winning over.]

Regardless. I bear him no ill-will, and as soon as things can be consolidated, I fully intend to reach out to the Almyrans.

It is the most well known secret that no one speaks of within the Alliance.

[Lorenz quipped. There were a number of scandals potentially connected with Claude's presence as the current Duke Riegan, but petty gossip was hardly a subject he had planned to discuss with Edelgard. Perhaps later-- but he was rather enjoying not being directly a part of the gossip that was being had on the streets.]

Reaching out to them sounds like a fine idea, once you get your plans underway. I... trust no one from the Alliance is giving you trouble?

[Unspoken was the implication of his own father. Count Gloucester had wanted nothing greater than his own power, to the point that Lorenz himself was uncomfortable with some of the means that his father took. Surely he would be making himself a pain-- if he was still alive.]

No, not at all.

[She'd stamped out any problems quickly enough, though it helped that many of the Alliance's most powerful noble houses had heirs in her army. And that she'd already begun making life more bearable for the common folk. Supply wagons providing grain and other necessities went a long way towards winning over the populous.]

Things have been relatively smooth, save for a few stumbling blocks in Faerghus. Fhirdiad will need to be rebuilt after Rhea burned it, and Arianrhod was destroyed, but there's been very little political resistance at all.

I suspect that will change when I begin abolishing the nobility as a caste.

[A bitter chuckle. If such things were necessary to bring the world to a better order, then so be it-- but there certainly would be growing pains along the way.]

Yes, I can imagine the sheer number of bitter, power-hungry people complaining quite loudly about the changes you'll be implementing. But, as people born into such a lofty position, it is our duty to leave the world a better place than it was when we were born into it.

Pity that I will likely not see the sort of world you dream of. But, it is nice to imagine.

Perhaps not. But there is always a chance. Claude's vision of the future may not be so different from my own.

[She won't touch on the people, and her reforms. Those men could rot as far as she was concerned, and not just the Seven for what they had done to her father and what they had done to her in turning her over to those monsters that dwell in the dark.]

Though, different enough, given his outsider perspective.

[There was no need to touch on the unsavory elements implied. Lorenz was fully aware of the fate that they deserved, even if he was as yet unaware of Edelgard's personal reasons for such sentiments.]

It will surely be a sight to see if he is able to achieve it, [Lorenz mused, sipping at his tea.] Although it is a shame; Surely, in an anternate history we have yet to discover, there is an instance where we need not slay anyone undeserving in order to achieve these lofty objectives.

[It was an idle hope, one that Lorenz knew was little more than a pipe dream.

But, dreams had more benefits than they were given credit for.]

Perhaps. It is not out of the question. I think that we all want what is best for Fodlan, and Dimitri...it seems...primarily jumped into conflict out of some deluded idea that I was responsible for what happened in Duscur.

[Far, far from it. She was too young, but that was what she'd heard. That and raving about ghosts.]

Had that not happened...and had the others been willing to at least hear me out, things certainly would have turned out differently.

...That's hardly a sensible judgement for anyone to make.

[Then again, Dimitri was too Mad to be King.]

Let us hope then that the newly arrived will be more willing to listen than they were in Fodlan. Even if the reasons for war aren't present here, they may still be reticent to agree to even a truce.]

I think Felix will.

[Edelgard just has a gut feeling about him. He's always been predictable, and he knows that attacking her is pointless. She will kill him if he tries it, but he's aware that no matter what she did, Dimitri was going to go mad. And she's given him every reason to work with her.]

Sylvain is less predictable, but then he was a man who's loyalties shifted based on whatever woman he sought to woo. The Professor, in my case.

[There was a not-so-subtle eyeroll at that news.]

Of course that would be the prime reason he joined your class. His loyalties can be as fickle as the winds.

[But he had observed the same, and it was concerning.]

If you think it will be helpful, I can keep an eye on him. He may have personally felled me, but we still have a certain rapport that may be beneficial in this instance.

[Though he was loathe to pursue a Bond with Sylvain in the event that there was trouble between their few, out of concern for Sylvain using that connection to seek out and express his misgivings upon Edelgard, it was not a notion that was entirely out of the question.]

Edited 2020-02-12 00:59 (UTC)

That would be your decision.

[Hubert probably had spies, and she knew Bernadetta was spending time with him too. Honestly, she wasn't too worried about Sylvain, especially not as he was now. He didn't pose a threat, not really.]

I would not mind warning if you find him plotting to murder me or Hubert, but I do not know if he'll attempt anything.

I have my doubts that he will, but we can assume that nothing here has any certainty-- even what we think we know of each other.

[Like Bernadetta actually leaving her room to associate with others, which Lorenz found quite surprising. In many ways she was like a hermit crab who preferred to stay inside her little shell.]

If there is a chance, doubtless Hubert will know before I do. However, I will certainly inform you if there seems to be something brewing among them.

That would be appreciated. With...everything going on lately, I would prefer to avoid more trouble of any sort.

[She breathes out through her nose, annoyed.]

Doubly so now that I am on the Mirrorbound's Parliamentary delegation. That would be unseemly and undermine anything we as a group might do.

[Closed] February Catch All

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