#mentioned sylvain

this au builds on the fanon that claude had a lot assassination attempts as a kid and that people ostracized him for only being half almyran and has fem byleth

when hes like 7? 8? i forget the age cos i havent slept he decides hes sick of the fact that no one will play with him because their parents wont let them, so when he learns about mercenaries, people you can PAY to DO STUFF FOR YOU hes like wow i can use that

jeralts mercenaries frequently visit almyra for work and at this point in time theyre in the capitol

little khalid seeks out mercenaries because hes persistent as fuck and finds them and tells jeralt he’ll pay to have someone play tag with him

jeralt laughs his ass off and is like you don’t need to pay i have a daughter

byleth is like 12 at this point

khalid pays her anyway and because shes 12 shes like yeah ok ill take this

the mercenaries tease her and her dad for years after this because “oh goddess we missed by’s first mission!!” and “jeralt you charged a child” and eventually they start teasing claude over the years too

after a few days jeralt is like “where are your parents” and refuses to let khalid see byleth unless he meets at least one of his parents to make sure theyre being safe with letting their son out and about near mercenaries

tiana finds this whole situation fucking hilarious of course and meets with jeralt and is surprised cos she knew him when she was a student at garreg mach and he was working there

the mercenaries are there for a month and a half before they leave

they come back about two years later and visit and khalid and byleth reunite

they visit frequently and at one point its decided that byleth will spend a year in almyra to better learn the culture (this is when jeralt gets leonie as an apprentice and byleth isnt with him)

when claude decides to go to leicester, he tells byleth and jeralt and the mercenaries ahead of time and drills it into their heads that hes NOT khalid in fodlan, hes claude

they dont see him again until the events of the game start

imo this makes it even funnier when edelgard and dimitri start trying to recruit byleth right off the bat and claudes like “i was gonna strike up a lasting friendship before asking for favors” cos this time its claude being a smug asshole cos he already has that friendship and he knows it

byleth chooses to lead the black eagle house cos she wants to fuck with claude by not picking him

claude eventually is like “heyyyy wanna help me snoop and learn if i can trust the black eagles????” and byleth goes along with it cos she knows his plans for fodlan and wants to help

when she gets closer to edelgard she realizes that maybe she can get edelgard and claude to work together on their goals???? so she starts dropping hints that they could be allies

idk where else im going with this but id have a full recruitment with byleth/caspar and claude/ashe and im undecided on background ships

Ah, a fellow board game player, are you? Or perhaps simply astute. Either one is commendable. Stress relief is a regrettable necessity, but no one ever claimed it had to be unproductive.

Regarding the chess players I’ve had matches with, I would say the player’s difficult to beat in order would be: Yuri, Claude, Lady Edelgard, and Sylvain. Yuri’s strategy is versatile, and Claude adapts quickly to the person he plays against. Her Majesty’s competitive spirit exceeds her skill, but they are both considerable. Sylvain might be more of a threat in the games if he dropped his ‘flirty absent-minded’ act to apply himself.

I love you. Everything about you. When you're happy, when you're smug, when you're mad, when you're vulnerable. That's what is is when you're in love.

I will never not love you. -Sylvain

Is all that true or am I just another pathetic toy for you to play with?

That... certainly is a random list.

For Raphael, I would reluctantly say fuck, if only because I would much rather not marry him and he deserves far better than an untimely death if it can be avoided. I take no personal issue with Raphael. While I would kill him if we crossed paths in battle, I have no particular interest in seeing him dead. It serves nothing.

Jeritza, I would be content to marry. Given how reversible the process is if necessary, I doubt he’d object, although he does have a worrisome fixation on death. I couldn’t eliminate the possibility that he would rather I kill him. Regardless, I would much rather not be the one responsible for taking his life. He deserves the opportunity to live his life despite his father’s exploitation of him and his sister when he was only a child.

There are only a few that are not common knowledge. I assume all of Fódlan knows of Dimitri and his culinary interest in the weeds at Garreg Mach. I’m not typically one for gossip, but if it will appease your need for it, I can indulge the one tale.

As usual, Felix was going through his regimen on the training grounds while Sylvain watched on from the sidelines. He was feeling particularly spiteful that day, it would seem, and approached Sylvain where he flirted with a girl in the stands. After a resounding and habitually empty lecture, he took Sylvain’s canteen and drank directly from it.