>>5510564“Yep! I work for Blair now!” Diana turns to you. “Blair, this is Mary, she’s so sweet! We trained together for a while under Serena. We were like…classmates…kinda! Only Mary got to become a Knight of Seiros and I didn’t.”
“Y-yes. It’s a shame Serena never let you join us. I recall you were…exceptional in the air.” Mary manages to acrobatically maneuver out of Diana’s grasp and restore some shred of dignity.”
“That’s okay. I was super sad about it at first…but now I have the Blackwings! And I get to fight with Blair and Shelley here! I know they both look super scary but they’re actually really nice!”
“No, we aren’t.” Shelley says.
“You must have gotten really strong too, Mary!” Diana says. “If you’re the captain now, that means you must have surpassed all the other officers! Where’s Miria? And Deneve and Helen?”
An awkward silence follows.
“Actually…they’re all dead. I became leader largely in part to the chain of command falling onto me.” Mary says, sullenly.
“Oh.” Diana says, taken aback. “Well, you must have been pretty close to the number one seat, right?”
>“Diana-“ You start. You can immediately sense where this conversation is heading. Perhaps worst of all is that you don’t sense any malicious intent from Diana’s question. It holds all the same biting edge as a child calling a grown adult ugly. She simply does not know any better.“I was actually…fifteenth in line.” Mary says.
Another awkward silence follows, only broken by Shelley clearing her throat.
“Ahh…wow. That many, huh?” Diana says.
>“That doesn’t matter. You’re the captain. And the lives of these girls are in your hands. I trust that you’re a competent Pegasus Knight, but if there’s anything that we can do to help increase your effectiveness on the battlefield, please let me know. We’re here to help.”“Thank you.” Mary says, turning once again towards you. “Truth be told, any advice or pointers you could give us would be both extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. We’ve all heard much about your exploits on the battlefield, and the girls are all excited at the prospect of receiving instruction from a Seraph Knight.” She bows her head deeply before you.
Goddess help you. Any shred of confidence this girl must have had was completely eviscerated just now by Diana. She was the fifteenth in line?! Just how are you supposed to help her? Let alone an entire division of pegasus cadets just as green, if not greener? You think back to all the teachers you’ve had in the past. Perhaps there was something there you could borrow.
>A): Take a direct and to the point approach, like Byleth did.>B): Treat these students with care and understanding. That’s how Serena taught you.>C): Leopold screamed and berated you a lot, but hey, it worked?>D): Wing it (heh) and try your own personal approach.. 