#mozu fe

Day 283 - Mozu, Fire Emblem Fates

Castle building time! I built a giant dragon statue that heals units during invasions, which is nice I guess, and also an arena so I can make my soldiers fight to the death and bet on whether they perish! Unfortunately, when I went to use the arena, the dumb clerk said I couldn’t use it yet. Meanie.

Support: Hinata/Oboro

C: Hinata’s hair is too long, so Oboro cuts it for him. He requests she make him look like Takumi, because apparently one dude with a pineapple haircut is too few. The duo reflect on their mutual admiration of Takumi, their desire for his coolness to rub off on them, and their rivalry over who is more loyal.

B: Hinata offers to cut Oboro’s hair and she rejects him, saying that he will mess it up because he’s Hinata. The two of them continue talking about how cool Takumi is and how much they want to be like him.

A: Hinata and Oboro discuss the fact that they only bicker because they respect each other. Also, Takumi is cool. All hail Takumi.

S: The two of them get engaged, talking about Takumi throughout their proposals.

Review: Holy crap you two, shut up about Takumi. He isn’t even cool. They have good chemistry, but all they talk about is how much they love Takumi.

Support: Azama/Hinoka

C: Azama makes fun of Hinoka’s hair, clothes, and clumsiness, despite the fact that she’s a goddamn member of the royal family and probably could have him executed on the spot. She threatens to stab him and he brings up the fact that he’s only her retainer because he saved her life once.

B: Hinoka is sad over the deaths of innocent soldiers and Azama gives no sympathy because people die every day. She questions why he saved her when she was a child and he says he did it because she looked furious and he thought saving her would be interesting. She points out that he’s a horrible person, but says she respects his confidence.

A: Hinoka begs Azama to save a dying man and Azama says it isn’t worth the effort. When pressed, he says the man will die anyway. Hinoka orders him to do his damn job and he begrudgingly tries to save the dying man. He dies anyway, and Azama tells Hinoka that she should have just let him die peacefully, telling her that her kindness will be her downfall.

S: Azama goes up to Hinoka and tells her that they’re engaged. Hinoka kinda just goes along with it after Azama lists his good qualities.

Review: I actually kinda liked this one, oddly enough. Azama’s dickishness went so far that it looped around and made him likeable. This conversation touches on the horrors of war in a way that most conversations don’t and I do enjoy Azama teaching Hinoka that there are limits to her kindness. I just wish that Azama’s lackadaisy attitude was a facade, a la Hawkeye Pierce. The two of them, like most couples in this game, have little chemistry. Still, Azama going up to a member of the royal family and declaring the two of them engaged is so audacious I respect it.

Support: Corrin/Mozu

C: Mozu is lugging around some heavy boxes full of vegetables, because she is a strong little girl. This leads to a conversation about Mozu’s village; Corrin asks if Mozu misses her old life, Mozu says not to worry, Corrin says she’ll probably never stop worrying about Mozu.

B: Mozu talks about hunting as a child. Apparently she fought bears, because Mozu is a god of death.

A: Corrin decides to give Mozu a basic education, which Corrin is in no way qualified to do, considering that she has consistently shown herself to be the dumbest person in our army. Corrin says some stuff about the army being Mozu’s new family and Mozu cries. It’s sweet.

S: Corrin says he used to pity Mozu, but now has nothing but respect for her for her courage. The two of them get married.

Review: Corrin’s interactions with Mozu are very sweet. The S-Rank, again, doesn’t really work, but then again few S-Rank’s do. Overall, a very charming support line, if a bit bland. Also Mozu killed a bear with her bare hands because she is a terrifying death god disguised as a little girl.

Support: Hinoka/Setsuna

C: Setsuna makes Setsuna a cup of tea so bad it’s almost poisonous. The two of them discuss the fact that they both suck at cooking and decide to team up to become better chefs.

B: Hinoka and Setsuna try to make eggs. It does not go well.

A: The girls finally make a good meal by working together and decide they can do anything if they put their minds to it. Setsuna gets stuck in the pantry.

Review: This was a fluff support line, which is okay, I guess. I would have liked it to have a bit more meat, perhaps an explanation of why she made the walking disaster that is Setsuna her retainer, but I will admit that it was a fun read.

Birthright Chapter 10: Ninja Village

The party travels through Mokushu, the ninja country from Kaze and Saizo’s support conversation. Kaze says that he isn’t worried about the people of Mokushu being conquered by Nohr because of their sick martial arts prowess. Zola sneaks up on the party because...wait, hold on, they didn’t tie him up? We weren’t shown him escaping, so I guess that means they just let him go after he tried to kill him. My god, Corrin gets dumber with each passing moment.

Zola surrenders and begs for amnesty. Corrin asks why they should trust him and he says that they really shouldn’t, cause of the whole attempted murder thing. But, he doesn’t have an army anymore, which means he isn’t a threat. He says that he can be of assistance and Corrin decides to bring him along, ignoring objections from the smart people in the party. To be fair, she does say Hinoka will kill him if he acts suspicious, but seriously just leave him in Mokushu he’s obviously going to betray you. Want to know how I know? Because he didn’t join our army.

Suddenly, someone throws a shuriken at Sakura. Kaze identifies it as belonging to a Mokushu ninja. Zola speculates that Mokushu might have an alliance with Nohr. The daimyo of Mokushu, Kotaro, shows up and says that Mokushu has an alliance with Nohr. Then the battle starts.

The map is filled with spike traps that activate as we step on them. We can use the Dragon Veins to spring them on the enemies instead. At the start of turn two, Takumi just kinda wanders into the battle and starts shooting Hinoka, which is weird because she isn’t one of the sisters he hates. Also he keeps muttering kill and is labeled an enemy, which is probably bad. He also whines about his inferiority complex, which is why he’s way lamer than Ryoma.

Azura sings to him and breaks his mind control. What can’t singing do?

During this map, I was reminded that Takumi is an unstoppable death god who can kill everything with ease. I paired him up with Corrin and waltzed through the woods, one-shotting ninjas left and right. I did hold them back and let Saizo kill the boss, though. Because, you know, he killed Saizo’s dad, something only told in an optional support conversation. Saizo actually has unique dialogue with him where he does the whole Inigo Montoya thing. Although, it was technically Hinoka who did the finishing blow, because Saizo doesn’t hit hard enough to kill.

Overall, this map was fine, I guess. The spikes were more a nuisance than a serious game changer. I did get good healer HP, though. Speaking of healers, there’s one stationed in the top right of the map who watched as I killed every other member of the army and slowly approached her before putting an arrow between her eyes. We’re the good guys!

After the battle, Hinoka and Sakura cry over how happy they are that Takumi isn’t evil anymore. He explains that he and Ryoma were separated after being attacked and that he ended up falling into the bottomless canyon. Then he woke up mind controlled and attacking us. I’m sure that’s not something we need to worry about.

At the end of the chapter, Takumi is finally nice to Azura because she saved him. Also Azura starts coughing, which means she is definitely going to die at the end of the game.

Kaze returns with Kagero, Ryoma’s ninja retainer who was imprisoned in Kotaro’s cellar. She tells us that Ryoma went to Cheve to fight Nohr. And didn’t look for his brother ever, I guess.

He couldn’t tell you when he fell in love with her, but by the gods did he fall hard.

Xander- well, truth be told, he was... not the most observant when it came to people- which went doubly for himself. He struggled to notice the minutia of other’s tone or expressions or gestures (save for his family- he knew every tick and twitch had a meaning and he knew what every meaning he’d ever seen was.) But as for himself... he was very bad at it. He was not proud of this- still isn’t proud of it, in fact, but it was foolish to deny the truth. So he didn’t know when he was drawn to her like a moth to flame- just that one day, Laslow had mentioned his wandering eyes whenever she came by and made him painfully aware that he’d been doing that for quite some time. Just watching her like he did family, as if watching for a perceived threat, but somehow shifted from that, something a few degrees into something else. He assumed it had just been a protective feeling- he felt a kinship with her, their loss of family, feeling helpless as those closest to you fell one by one, and so he assumed it was simply that.

He found himself proven wholly wrong about that when he watched her work in the mess hall, seeming to float about between enormous pots and cutting boards, humming a tune he half-recognized as a Nohrian folk song as she worked, seeming happy and proud- he had never seen her proud before, only nervous and afraid or happy with that constant undertone of loss he knew all too well. Watching her be proud and confident just stole his breath away, made his heart seem to skip a beat or 5, and just-

He had read enough books to know what that meant, so he quickly took his leave before the panic about said revelation could take hold of him in public. So he simply retired to his tent early, ignoring Laslow’s questioning expression as he entered, and sat at his desk as if to work. At which point he dropped his head into his hands and wondered when this had happened and what in the gods names he could do to hide it. He knew he could never tell her- he was the Crown Prince of Nohr, and he knew full well she was intimidated by the nobility by way of social status. If that intimidation lead her to agree to a courtship she was not truly invested in he could never forgive himself. So, he would simply keep his feelings wholly to himself unless- gods be willing- she confessed similar feelings first.

This, as it turned out, was significantly more difficult than he had anticipated, given he was now incredibly aware of every single movement he made around her, fearing she’d notice and feel pressured to do something- she knew people better than he did, she was more likely to catch on than he would ever be. He found himself stumbling over his words trying to over-correct for simple statements that might be misconstrued in a courtly setting, tensing up around her out of the fear that a slip in his posture would give his feelings away, getting distracted in training whenever she happened to do much of anything in the training grounds- it was a problem.  His siblings caught on almost immediately, and proceeded to corner him to talk about the situation- an event that mortified him beyond belief. Elise encouraged him to confess as soon as humanly possible, Camilla gave an amused smile while offering a variety of teasing comments, and Leo- equally amused- offered up a list of romance novels Elise had attempted to get him to read at some point or another. This just made him even more reticent to say much of anything, but the reservations seemed to melt away over time. 

He melted around her- something half of the entire army apparently was aware of, much to his despair- and in melting, his constant stream of thoughts and anxiety and calculations faded in his mind- still present, but softer in a way- not the focus. He focused on her- on her ever-growing confidence and light, on the lilting tones of her voice, on the dimples in her smile, the way she lit up around others, the way she seemed to sing with life in the kitchens, the constellations that made up her sun-kissed skin, the way she could kill bears and bring them back all on her own, the way she seemed to outwork everyone and still want more to do to help- his thoughts just revolved around her- maybe his whole world was beginning to. It was a scary thought, but he found he didn't quite mind this kind of fear.

He couldn’t say when he fell in love with her, but he remembered the day she confessed like it was his own day of birth- the way she beamed as she invited him to join her for lunch, the way the soup she gave him tasted, the way her voice went soft as she asked “Lord Xander... is it possible for a prince to... ah... well... love a commoner?” How that question made his heart stutter in his chest, his tongue seem to turn to lead in his mouth as he gave some unintelligible response, the way her voice lowered- as if the hope in it had half leaked out, his nonchalant attempt at recovery and how dramatically that failed, her confused hope when she responded to his paltry attempt at correcting his own error... It was frankly a disaster on his part, though years later he was still relieved he’d managed to salvage that conversation and explain his own desires to her- it was frankly a miracle she still wanted to court him given that disastrous beginning, but she had long since convinced him that it was mutually disastrous, so at least he had that placate him.

He couldn’t say when he fell in love with her, but by the gods did he fall hard.

She wakes up in a field- which isn’t an uncommon thing and and of itself, but the weird thing was the dream she just woke up from- now Mozu had never been a prophet or voice of the gods like Izana, but her dreams were never like whatever in the gods names that was. She finds herself mildly more respectful of Izana, presuming that all his visions go about in a similar manner, because that, in short terms, sucked.

She breathes in, and then upon breathing out is hit by the revelation that other people might be here too, so she jumps to her feet, only to recognize her surroundings.

Gronder Field. Site of the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. She pushes aside her confusion so she can focus on finding the other 23 people the funky emo dream ooze mentioned. She realizes she has her weapons- including the motley of bows she’d come into possession of while in Fodlan- while she searches, but again decides to think about that later, once she locates these other folks.

She’s not having much luck- possibly ‘cause folks are walking about already, and she hums, letting her mind drift to her original confusion.

here’s my attempt at drawing an older mozu - i drew inspiration from a bit of queen mikotos outfit, as well as the royal dress of the edo period, since i ship her with takumi and that’d end up making her a princess.