But still, the kindness my brothers once showed me... That was real... The love I felt for them was real. I can believe in that at least, can't I?
Reginn, Golden Deer Student
closed reginn from fire emblem: heroes. golden deer student affiliated with the officer's academy . written by limit (they/them)
notes:
reginn is post book 5 and has yet to ascend to the throne; Niðavellir is currently being run by the Jötnar as viceroys.
i will be playing the information released in the book 5 epilogue by ear as it releases. if anything happens that will significantly impact her portrayal, a note will be made.
she is aware of characters thanks to traveling with the order of heroes, but she will not have a personal relationship with them unless that is something you want and give me express permission for.
“ Summoned? What do you think you're blathering on about n— ” An inane delusion, most certainly, not at all helped by her crocodile tears that burst at a moment's notice. How in all the worlds she had managed to be competent enough to hold it all together when sent out to conquer other realms, Ótr has no idea nor could he even imagine it. It's a miracle it had taken until she had encountered the Askrans that she hadn't lost it beforehand. Or maybe just every other kingdom she had claimed in the name of Niðavellir had just been so weak that they had no choice but to submit even to some snivelling brat. How unfortunate for their fates if that was the case.
But then after a pause, he realizes. “ Oh. So your delightful, ” sarcasm drips off his words, “ summoner can bring the likes of another me to your beloved Order, is that so? ”
Revolting. He had already been recoiling under the revelation that Reginn was alive, meeting her here suddenly, but to know there might be some version of him mindlessly obeying the commands of the ones who had dared to try and strike down his brother?
There are many stains he shall take on his hands, but the stains of that kind of betrayal is not one of them.
“ I'm sure that's convenient for you. You could take away any number of real brothers if you can just keep summoning copies of replacements over and over! ” Was that what the Order of Heroes had seduced her into betrayal with? “ Though it seems as if even your false 'brother' can't stand you either if you can't be sure he'd follow you here. Hmph. At least he has some sense still. ”
He's mad. Of course he would be mad at her when they had parted on such bad terms. He had cursed her, blamed her for everything, and she had still been unable to get through to him. She had been unable to convince him to walk away from the edge and she would have to live with that forever.
"No, that's not what I meant! It's just..." Reginn swallows. Now is not the time to be cowed by Ótr's harsh words. Even if it's unpleasant, she needs to steel herself to say the truth. "I thought Fáfnir killed you. That's why I thought you might have been summoned from another world."
A world where you're still alive. A world where you're both still alive.
She is not cruel enough to hope for either of them to be dragged away from such a world to soothe her own loneliness. Everyone had already suffered enough because of reckless summoning. She would not perpetuate that cycle, not when she had resolved to slowly but surely undo the harm that Eitri had done.
The phantom weight of Gramr in her hands feels heavy. She would make the same choice every time. For herself. For her people. For Niðavellir. That did not make it hurt any less.
Reginn shakes her head, "The Order of Heroes has nothing to do with this. Even if you don't like me... even if you never liked me... I still think of you as my brother, Ótr. What happened doesn't change how I feel!"
The set of blueprints that Reginn had received for this task certainly did not compare to the complexities of seiðjárn, but it's still exciting to learn about the mechanisms used in this world. See, there are screws installed here for stability and this part is thinner to allow more flexibility when various parts are moving...
When she actually arrives at the construction site, however, the blueprint in her hand is useless. Where she expected scattered tools and miscellaneous building materials, the ground looks surprisingly clean. In fact, the only thing around seems to be a number of squishy looking spheres suspended over a pond.
"Oh, so kind of you to finally show up," the project manager says coldly upon her arrival. "As you can see, construction has already concluded at this point. We've been done for a while now, actually."
Reginn deflates, "O-oh."
The project manager smiles an empty smile that doesn't reach his eyes and claps a hand on Reginn's back.
"So that's why you wouldn't mind testing out the equipment, right? We've got another latecomer, so the two of you can test it together! It's the least you can do after showing up late, right? We're testing for stability, so all you need to do is make it to the other side."
This... feels more like a punishment than an earnest request, but he's correct that it's the least she can do to make up for being late.
Reginn turns to the other unfortunate soul and holds out a hand, "I'm Reginn! Let's do our best here to have fun while we help out!"
hc + cooking as in who let her cook where/how did she learn/etc.
hc + word
ok before we start yes i too am cynical about female characters who are otherwise described as tomboys being assigned one (1) traditionally feminine trait lest they pass the threshold of "butchest girl gacha players can handle before they start getting scared"
anyway we assign depth to women here.
Reginn likes to cook! It's her hobby and she's proud of it. :) She talks about this from one of her castle lines:
One thing you ought to know about me is, I'm an excellent cook. I could make a great meal here and now!
but as usual limit is gonna pull a limit and we're gonna reference the japanese text on this as well
私、お料理だけは得意なんだ！ あなたにも栄養満点のお食事 作ってあげるの！
The word she uses to describe her cooking 栄養満点 means highly nutritious. I wouldn't necessarily consider this in the superfood type of sense, but more like... just generally kinda jam packed with nutrients sorts of meals. If you look up 栄養満点 recipes you get a lot of pretty hearty meals, generally some sort of protein and green, maybe with rice or egg.
(discussion of food insecurity beneath the cut!)
This makes sense to me! Especially when we consider that Reginn and Ótr were likely food insecure when they were younger before they were taken in by Fáfnir. Honestly... probably even a little after they were taken in, too. There's a pretty big difference between being two young kids digging through the garbage for food and having an adult to take care of them, but they were still mid civil war, y'know? It's not as if things were truly stable (don't worry about how long that stability lasted this aint about that) until until Fáfnir actually took over the throne.
So suffice to say, I suspect she got into cooking after getting more consistent access to food! Like many other things in her life, it strikes me as something she took up because of her brothers. I see it as something she initially took up (clumsily) when the three of them were still living in the village and kept at it even after it was no longer strictly necessary.
Add in the fact that Niðavellir is struggling with food scarcity again in the wake of Fáfnir, her stressing (in JP) that the food she makes is nutritious shows to me that she makes food because she cares. Healthy food is a luxury that she wants to share with the people she loves, because she remembers struggling.
I think this also makes her a fun foil to the sweets loving Ótr chasing after the luxury of empty calories haha! I am a sucker for siblings coping in wildly different ways.
Niðavellir sure has a lot of plants around for a steampunk world. Like, honestly surprising amount of greenery going on. There's the Forest of the Sage, of course, but did you know you can see trees in the background of the otherwise completely mechanical scene going on in the capital, too?
The capital being on fire is not the point which is why I've cropped it out. This ain't about them.
Niðavellir running on steam powered technology necessitates that there must be a pretty large supply of water which in turn encourages plant growth. Pretty fun to think about!
Bonus flower meaning round beneath the cut: 👇
Anyway unrelated NY Fáfnir and NY Reginn share a camellia motif (very cute) but let's examine that in detail for a moment.
In NY Fáfnir's Meet The Heroes Sharena explains that camellias are symbols of prosperity and good luck, which is true! Anyway did you also know that camellias have also historically represented a noble death for samurai in Japan?
Any practicality that re-enacting an old battle might have is thrown out the window when its most important aspects cannot be replicated. Did they think he was dull? Of course, he saw the benefit for others to research the history of Niðavellir. It was the realm of the dvergar, the realm of innovation, the realm of all-mighty seiðjárn...!
But he was being instructed to use horses. What would anybody even learn about the might and genius of Niðavellir from this then?!
The battle is also a recent one. It's not one he can say he took part in, but it's one he knows a prominent name in. The name has him scowling as he enters the stables and continuing to do so as he searches for a suitable steed to borrow for the assignment.
He is interrupted from his gloomy thoughts however when someone else enters the stables. The doors open with great gusto, and beams of harsh sunlight hit him as if to burn him.
And when he sees who it is that brought it in, he understands why.
“ You...! ” he spits out. “ So you survived— ”
He had avoided searching for her, not wishing to invite what such a search might mean if it was conducted by him, but it looks as if he didn't need to. An emotion, just like the sun, burns him at the sight of her face, unmistakeable no matter what attire she dons herself in now.
It burns. It burns. It burns! But he has no name for it, refuses to give it one, and instead focuses on the name that had been vexing him since it had been found in the lines of his assignment.
“ —Reginn. ”
The battle was hers. And in searching to re-enact the past, the academy has invited the skeletons of that past back into his life.
Reginn had offered (read: begged) to bring her Gullinbursti to the battle reenactment, but the faces of the other participants had blanched. They had waved their arms frantically, stuttering something about "blasphemy" and "forbidden technology" and "please don't let the Archbishop know you have that". Even though the battle they sought to recreate made use of seiðjárn, it seems this world could not quite reconcile its existence yet.
Successfully deterred from causing a scandal, Reginn instead lets herself be led to the stables where they keep all manner of flesh and blood mounts. When she throws wide the door, she finds flesh and blood of a different kind. Sticking out like a needle in a haystack amongst all of the horses is a man who should be dead.
"Ó-Ótr?!"
Her appearance (her existence) casts a shadow over her brother, deepening the shadows on his face. When she was younger and still looked at him with starry eyes she hadn't noticed the shadows, but now that she's aware of them they seem so painfully obvious.
Were she still unaware, she might have run over to him and wrapped him in a hug, telling him that he can put up with the embarrassment of getting hugged by his baby sister after everything he put her through. She knows now, though, and the memory of his harsh voice telling her not to come any closer stops her in her tracks.
She wasn't his sister, but he was her brother.
Unable to move from her spot, big ugly tears roll down her cheeks. He hated that, too, but she can't help the way her heart aches as it desperately teeters between happiness and anguish.
"I thought you died! I mean, you were—" She chokes back a sob. "Are you... you aren't a different version that got summoned, are you...?"
None of that matters, though, really. What matters is the time we spent together.
They're both strong and brilliant. I'm proud to have them as brothers!
