UNSHAKEABLE WILL

   ♫ She’d really gotten herself caught in a trap here, hadn’t she? Well, it was probably unintentional on the child’s part, but now she was stuck in a situation where she had to navigate explaining how she recognized the girl as a member of the royal family without mentioning she was from the future. But older sister? Did Edie have something like that? Not to mention her hair colour… something unusual was afoot.

   Or it had been afoot at some point in the Empire’s history before she’d attended Garreg Mach.

   Thankfully Edie had given her a piece of information to use in her favor. “Oh, I attend with your sister you see? She’s spoken fondly of her little sister Edelgard, and you look so much like your sister that I kind of just assumed. Not to mention those clothes are fairly popular among noble youths, aren’t they?” She pointed at the girl’s outfit. Dorothea was really flying by the seat of her pants here, and if the girl asked for more details this would probably fall apart.

with that, she couldn’t help but frown. the girl doesn’t seem to have any ill intentions, but... there were some glaring errors that edelgard couldn’t help but pick out.

“say... which sibling are you talking about, exactly? and like i said, she used to attend. she isn’t attending now. unlike you, i assume, since you’re still wearing the uniform.” even if this girl is older than her, and whispers of how it’s etiquette to be courteous to her elderly mill around her thoughts, she still sets her foot down firmly. “most of my siblings were born to different consorts. i can’t really say that i look too much like any of them, as i was my mother’s only daughter. even if this is what’s famous with noble children, that doesn’t mean royalty.”

“ I truthfully don’t believe I’m in any position to distrust anyone offering to help. Either my wounds are healed or I struggle fighting back against a brigand. Really, I’ve no purpose dying here. “ Percival at least found a wall to slump against, his body sliding down a bit as he steadily found himself seated on the cold ground, clutching his side a bit before looking back up at the stranger. 

“ Do what you will to me for now..! “ With another hard bite, gritting his teeth, Percival braced himself for either his injuries to be fixed, or to find himself fighting back in a very, very unfortunate and one sided bout. 

“of course.” with a curt nod, she comes closer to kneel next to the man. a murmured incantation urges to her hand a green light. as she puts it over the injured area, it slowly knits the affected muscles together.

"i can’t say i’m the best healer out there, so it would likely still hurt,” she warns. true to her words, it takes effect much slowly compared to the other healers that she knows. “move too suddenly or forcefully, and it will be painful.”

{ 👑 } HE CAN TELL IMMEDIATELY THAT TRUST is far from immement. Intelligent, he admits, even if he’s far from in any actual position to cause her harm. If anything, the mugging committed on his person has made him DESIRE attention like a spoiled child. Gangrel huffs, a grin that turns into a grimace as his foot twists in the earth. ❝Good on you for keeping your guard up, young lady. Smart, gah ha ha —- hn, fuck – ❞ Note to self, your injury hurts worse if you laugh it off, you dolt. ❝ – Help would be NICE.❞

she almost winces in sympathy as he groans in pain. “while i appreciate the sentiment, perhaps you should save your breath...?” hearing him was confirmation enough that he would be far too injured for her to have any trouble with him. she approaches, shifting her wooden axe to her non-dominant hand.

✦ “Hm?” Maybe she really had been here too long if she was getting a reaction like that from Edelgard for her behaviour? Maybe she should have expected it, but the emperor would adjust with time in all likelihood. “Sorry, I guess when you’ve been here for almost a year some of the habits of others start to rub off.” What hadn’t changed was that Byleth was still somewhat dry of tone. She was a little more expressive, but no more than she’d really been after the five years she’d been asleep.

“Seen me? Oh, maybe the other one is back. Or maybe it’s another other one. I don’t really get it myself, but there’s differing versions of me that seem to have made different choices in their timelines. I’ve known about them, but out of respect I don’t interact with them. Who knows what kinds of problems that would cause?” More than anything she was worried that a different version of herself might not support her own decision. 

“I doubt they came from the same timeline as us though… assuming I join you in yours?”

all coherence from what her teacher was saying disappeared within seconds. timelines? another version of byleth? what?

“...forgive me.” somehow, within a few sentences, byleth managed to make edelgard’s head hurt. cradling her aching forehead with her fingers, she shakes her head. “i’m afraid to say, it’s hard to wrap my head around such concepts.”

@accendam​

Threo didn’t have much use for a static home. She just went where she wanted, slept wherever was comfortable, and ate when she was hungry. A house like this might be useful for storing stuff if she ever had stuff to store, or it might be handy if… Well, that’s pretty much all she can think of.

Despite the limited usefulness of the townhouse she finds herself in, Threo figures she should at least check it out. Maybe someone she knows will be there. But a cursory smell of the premises as well as a shouted announcement reveal Threo is alone, which means there’s no point in staying, right?

Or at least, that’s what Threo thinks before finds a cake in the refig… the refriggo… the coldy thing. If it’s not labelled, it must be communal cake, right? She doesn’t waste any time in digging in, not even stopping as she hears the front door open.

“Hello!” she calls, not rising from her seat. “Do you live here? I do too! That makes us like crewmates, huh? That’s fun!”

She takes another bite, feeling a tingle of pleasure run down her back. “Ohh, this cake is really good!” she coos. “Did you buy it? It was nice of you to get cake for everyone if you did! I’ll try not to eat it all, okay?”

the emperor’s hidden sweet tooth... isn’t exactly a secret anymore, in her inner circle. in times of duress, she’s found in the kitchens, nibbling away at peach sorbets or chocolate cakes.

and, now, the chocolate cake she was looking forward to was being eaten by someone else. for a moment, she gapes.

edelgard wasn’t like lysithea who can stomach whole cakes in one sitting, but it was something she bought for herself. her past daydreams of spending an afternoon lazing around gorging herself on sweets have a chance to come into fruition here, and that cake was an instrument to it...

this is a shared space. she has to remind herself that. it was a given that, when put in the communal icebox, people in the same living area would see it.

a breathe in, a breathe out, and her voice is steady when she replies.

“crewmates...? i suppose that is fun.” it was hard to stay upset when the girl that greeted her sounded so upbeat. the clipped clicks of her boots as she’s approaching are too sharp to her ears; a replacement of clothes would likely be her best next action. “if we are to be crewmates, then it’s prudent if i introduce myself.”

❝ Taken , heh. Apparently, everyone faced a different predicament. ❞ It possibly that the woman before she was brought … by force. Civil is far from everyone’s standard. ❝ These gods , are they truly gods or sentient trying to play gods ? Why collecting people altogether without any clear purpose ? Isn’t it just going to trouble themselves more should revolt exists in the future ? Ha , truly funny. ❞ Words by words dripped like venom laced with malice and anger. She shouldn’t stay here , she shouldn’t enjoy all this peace when she was supposed to end a raging war on the other side of the world.

❝ That’s a shame , though , I thought I could ask someone how to get out from this place. ❞

“hm. a question i think we’d all appreciate being answered.” with a sigh, she looks up to the sky once more. all these lights... is it only a beautiful facade thrown over a bloodied painting? what kind of history did this place have? “i personally couldn’t see much gain from this, unless there is something they intend to prove.”

||  █ ▌— the plays put on outdoors were some of genesis’ favourite. less formal things, perhaps, but that made them a touch more accessible. more people to see them, more discussions to be had. and given the strange blend of people from different worlds to be found, there were many plays put on that he had never heard of.

it was refreshing.

when he heard a woman speak beside him, he turned his head, nodding excitedly. ❝ they are usually this interesting. this is one of the best i’ve seen since my arrival, but i’ve yet to see a bad one here. ❞

❝ they’re held irregularly, but often announced in advance. ❞

“oh, is that so?” she notes the information in her mind. perhaps someone like dorothea would appreciate it much better than her, but... it was still enjoyable.

before, theatrics is a concept that only existed, not one she has ever been personally involved in. studies, training, plotting, and leading: all of that came before any hobbies and ventures such as this.

maybe this has to change soon.

    ♫ Dorothea had been wandering around aimlessly when a child had called out to her. The city was strange. Never before had she seen a place like this in her life, and yet as she absorbed it all with her eyes there was the uncanny feeling that she’d been here before. Just as there was the uncanny feeling, looking at this child, that they’d met.

   “Edie…!? I mean… Could you be related to the Adrestian royal family by chance?” She was quick to catch her mistake. Edelgard was not a girl so young, nor did Edie have hair as brown as this. But her face and voice… They were too similar to the teen she knew for it to be a coincidence, weren’t they? She wasn’t really sure how Edelgard saw her, being a commoner and all, but she felt like she knew the girl well enough to be able to see something wasn’t right here.

   “But yes… I’m a student at the academy. Have you heard of it? I’m surprised, for a girl as young as you. Say, do you think it suits me?”

did the girl recognize her? even though it wasn’t the nickname she insists on people closer to her using, ‘edie’ was still too close to edelgard for comfort. not to mention – she somehow recognized her as being related to the adrestrian royal family.

caution in her voice, she responds slowly, a wary expression now on her face.

“er... yes. i think it does. but, i have heard of it from my older sister. she used to go there.” though, she never is the type to customize her clothes. this girl’s uniform was way different from her sister’s... and, it’s been a while since she last saw her sister attending.

in a moment of impulse, she climbed up a tree to rescue a fluffy white kitten, mewing for help. it was simple enough to get up there; she keeps in mind her older brother’s tips, finding the solid branches and footholds as she went up. however, when she got close, the kitten jumped off and landed perfectly, leaving her alone on the branch.

this would have been fine if it weren’t for the fact that, when edelgard tried to climb down, the branch she used as leverage broke.

now, she was the one stuck up the tree.

...what kind of situation was this? she was stuck here and people might see her here. she, even if she wasn’t in the position to inherit the throne, was still an imperial princess. maybe she ought to just jump off, somehow.

precariously, she tries to dangle her legs off the branch... but she had nobody she knows here. if she lands badly, it’s going to be trouble. 

a small part of her ponders about the rest of her siblings are doing at home.

from what she knows, things have supposedly calmed down at home. still, as she browses the library, she can’t help but think of them. this library is vast, cold, and comfortable; that sister that taught her the way around their own library would be delighted to be here.

...edelgard’s supposed to be with her siblings by now, if her uncle’s plans did come through; instead, she’s stuck wherever this may be. with a sigh, she resumes her search for the book she was directed to by one of the librarians.

where was it? it’s supposed to be in this section, but she can’t find anything... or, at least, it wasn’t in her vantage view.

moving into the other aisles for hopefully a stepstool, she only finds other people meandering around. with a sigh, she comes back.

this time, somebody else was in the aisle. a pause, some hesitation, then determination – if she wanted to get to the root of it, she has to be bolder.

rats weren’t a problem before, and yet... for some reason, seeing them now just strikes some weird feeling of fear and dread into her.

what was going on? it’s not like she had any bad experience with rats lately, did she? despite that, despite all the manners hammered into her from a young age, she stands upon a park’s bench to avoid a mouse that wanders beneath.

“ugh... what do i even do here...” stomping on the bench did not scare it away, much to her displeasure. she could just run for it, but... for some reason, the image of it catching up then nibbling on her legs comes to mind.

maybe a child shouldn’t be wandering around aimlessly like she is, but it’s not as if her uncle was around to stop her. upon waking up in a room not the one she’s stayed in for a few years now, she panicked and ran.

no matter where she looks, there’s nothing familiar... or, it shouldn’t be. looking around, a vague feeling of recognition comes to mind. however, as hard as she tries, she can’t put a memory to what she feels.

has she been here before?

while mulling about it, a familiar uniform catches her eye. before she can think twice, she runs to catch up with the stranger as fast as her legs can take her.

edelgard, at her now young age, looks very different from how she once was. her platinum hair is a soft shade of chestnut, her expression never severe. as said in the other post with some event details, she now looks as she was as a child.