#Kass told me this would happen

[headstrongblake]

@thewholecrew: i know you've always got my back / grant & nick

although it's been a long busy night at the club, moments like these remind nick how much he enjoys being behind his bar. how much fun he has. & what it felt like for this establishment to be his. after everything this past year while he serves drinks, chatting with atom and nathan, he can't help but feel blessed. more grateful this time around because on more than one occasion, he coulda lost all of this.

it's as grant makes his way through the crowd right on time that nick takes his leave from behind the bar, grabbing a beer for himself and grant before he looks to nate, "i'm gonna have a couple drinks in the corner, don't let atom give away too many free shots." he chuckled, shaking his head as he rounded out from behind the bar, meeting grant before they strolled over to an empty booth.

"you know, you're allowed here any time right? you don't gotta have a formal invite to come 'round." nick told grant, smirking a little as he slid his brother the open beer. perhaps blake might have a different opinion but, in the end, the upstairs was nick's. his rules, his people. while he's seen grant in the club a few times since he'd come home, nick noticed it happened to be mostly when he invited grant to come by, or interfered by inviting the other to octavia's birthday, not because grant had just come in for a drink. despite his brother's passive smile and nod, nick sighed. this part...he was hating.

"aight, the real reason i wanted you to come out tonight is we gotta talk," nick started, taking a sip off his beer before he sat back in the booth with his arm stretched along the back. "the girls are planning a vegas trip, nothing long, just a quick little get outta town," nick lifted his brows suggestively, waiting for grant to catch his drift but when grant didn't immediately light up at the suggestion of getting away with everyone, nick frowned. "c'mon man, it'll be fun and you my friend need some of that in your life," he poked with amusement. "everyone's going, rev, alec, hunt said he'd come for a bit...octavia's going to be there." he mentioned oh so casually as he looked to his hesitant brother. "don't worry about kass, i-...i will, i'll make sure everything's smooth before we go, i want you there, she'll understand that. you believe i have your back right?" nick added in hopes that would help tip his brother into going on this trip.

nick's smirk only grew as his brother rolled his eyes at him, giving him that knowing look when he said, i know you've always got my back. with a triumphant grin, nick nodded, "i do so let me have your back, come and have fun with us, it might just be what you need to get you and o through all...this," nick vaguely gestured, tipping his beer bottle back up to his lips. though, he left his beer hanging in the air as he watched grant, "i mean, you wanna work it out right? unless you're gonna tell me you came home just for me," nick teased playfully.

[smilesrobotlover]

Whumptober day 22- glass shard, vehicular accident

Ok so these next few days will be very short and simple. Regardless I hope you enjoy this one. I don’t like it but I did want to write Kass and Benji as a focus for once and I love them very much. Also I couldn’t find a place to say in the fic but the glass shard is from a broken bottle BDKSBSKS

Warnings: concussion? Stab wound, blood, mention of selling people.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Kass had been skimming the beach for hours now, trying to find any remnants of Linebeck and Benji. They both went on a boat and disappeared, and seeing how Kass could fly, he immediately scouted ahead, searching for them and praying that they weren’t in any danger. Finally, Kass spotted a broken boat with debris scattered across the beach, and when he got closer, he recognized Linebeck. He landed next to him, noticing that he was unconscious, but he was breathing, thank Hylia. His head was bleeding however, and that worried Kass, so he took Linebeck’s ripped up coat and tied it gently around his bleeding head. He laid him in a more comfortable position and let out a sigh.

“K-Kass…”

The Rito bard spun around and saw Benji underneath the boat, a pained expression on his face.

“Benji! Thank Hylia I found you both!” Kass ran to the musician and tried to lift the boat off of him. Luckily it was small, and Kass was strong, so it wasn’t too difficult to shift it enough for Benji to escape. Benji crawled away, holding his side, and Kass noticed the blood.

“Are you ok Benji?” He landed beside him and looked at his bleeding side. Benji laid on his back and let out a pained breath.

“I-I’m fine… just a little impaled is all.”

Kass gasped. “Why— that is not fine! Let me see.”

Benji lifted his hand off his side and Kass saw a glass shard embedded into it. He cringed and lightly touched it with his talon, causing Benji to hiss in pain.

“Sorry!” Kass quickly apologized, pulling his talon away. He hummed nervously as he watched the wound, trying to figure out what to do. Talon was the one who took care of injuries, Kass never even touched anything to do with that. In Rito village, it was always Saki who dealt with injuries and illnesses, so Kass felt way out of his element.

“Sh-should I pull it out?” He asked stupidly, and Benji only groaned in response. Kass let out a quick breath and brought his wings together. Talon and Saki weren’t here now, so he needed to do something for Benji. “Ok, what do I do…? If I pull this out, you will bleed a lot…”

“I’m already bleeding a lot,” Benji wheezed.

“Ok, but if I leave it in… would an infection happen? Um…. oh no…” Kass groaned, worry for his friend increasing as he scrambled trying to figure out what he should do. He huffed and grabbed the boat, gently resting Benji’s legs against it. He then knelt down next to him and applied pressure to the sides of his wound, trying to stop the bleeding. Benji hissed in pain, but Kass ignored it. He just needed Talon to come soon.

“Breathe for me Benji,” Kass muttered, and he only groaned. “I suppose you haven’t experienced something like this before, hm?”

“N-no… usually when I do, my wife heals me up.”

“Your wife’s a healer?”

“Yeah. She’d make the injury go away in a heartbeat.”

Kass looked at Benji strangely. “She has healing powers? Why, that’s extraordinary! And rare!”

“She’s a… great fairy… n’t very rare…” Benji’s speech became more slurred as he spoke, but Kass was focused on who he was wed to. A great fairy? Kass had never even heard of great fairies getting married to regular Hylians, despite the fact that they were flirtatious with everyone they met. Did that mean that Benji’s son was a half fairy? Is that why he never told anyone about him? Kass made a small gasp as he realized that Benji was delirious enough to spill this secret, and he shook his head, trying to erase it from his mind. Half fairies were exceptionally rare, being sold for a lot on the black market. In Kass’s time, it only got worse with the calamity destroying the organized soldiers Hyrule once had. Half fairies were not protected, and the great fairies didn’t do much for them. It was no wonder why Benji was so worried about his son, not only was he in danger from the puppeteer, but also from greedy and selfish people. He stared at his bloody side, trying to forget about what Benji just told him and tried to focus on his wound.

Kass assumed that if he didn’t have giant wings, that dealing with this would be much easier, but he didn’t stop putting pressure on the wound, wanting to keep Benji from bleeding out.

“Kass?”

The Rito bard looked at his friend, who was staring at him. “Are you alright?” He asked.

“I’m fine… how’s Linebeck? He was with me.”

“He probably has a concussion and is unconscious right now, but I pray that he’ll be alright.”

Benji gave a small smile. “It’ll be ok….”

Kass nodded and focused on his wound while Benji let out a breathy laugh.

“It’ll be ok….”

[rosewood-multifandom-writer]

Ended 2024 with some artwork of Ed and Kassandra, now I will start 2025 with me answering this question from the recent ask questions post I reblogged on here:

“🥂 | what would happen if they got drunk together”

Let’s just say that during the New Year, Ed and Kassandra were both in their casual outfits drinking their alcohol of choice. Ed drank a whole six pack of beers and Kassandra drank a whole bottle of wine that Manon was kind enough to gift her. While they were both plastered, they were both being more open with each other.

Kassandra was wobbly with her footing as she staggered over to Ed sitting at a table in the bar where they were celebrating the New Year with her little sister and Falke.

“Hiiii… Cutie.” Kassandra slurred as she lazily hugged him.

“Don’t call me that. I… not cute. Being cute ain’t my thing. Except you.” Ed said bluntly, his speech also slurred. It was hard to tell if he was flushed because he was drunk or because of Kassandra.

Kassandra’s little sister, Celina watched her older sister show a different side she’s never seen.

Celina looked to Falke who was giggling in amusement at Ed’s drunk state.

“Was Kassandra always like this when she came to America?” Celina asked.

Falke shook her head. “No. The alcohol just made her and Ed more honest towards each other. When they’re sober, they tap dance around their feelings toward each other.”

Celina laughed and said, “Yep, that’s my big sis Kassie- aaaaand now she is making out with him in front of me… I am going outside.”

After that, Celina dramatically told Kass that she now has to pay her therapy bills for seeing her big sister in a drunk makeout session with her boyfriend.

[thewholecrew]

@headstrongblake said: “  you don’t have to come over here and take care of me you know.  i can clean up my own messes.  ” / nick & kass

the tension in his home since nicklas was discharged from the hospital had been nearly thick enough to cut through. so much had happened within the past week and no one had really been able to fully process any of it. everyone was beyond relieved that nick made it out alive despite the horror done to his body, but there was anger bubbling just beneath the surface. it was clear that for nick there was the anger of grant disappearing, anger of his pain and not being able to do things for himself with the state of his hands, of his body -- the loss of control she was witnessing hit a soft spot within kassy. but there was also anger both within her and rev. to think about what happened to him, to think that the man who did this got to just walk away without a scratch.

everyone just wanted to help him as best they could and kassy knew that it was going to be overwhelming and frustrating for nick. but she wasn't going anywhere. he hadn't left her when she had wanted nothing to do with anyone, and she'd be damned if she was going to leave him here to suffer alone after what he had been through.

kassy tried her best not to hover, tried not to let the deep concern leak into her gaze every time she looked at him but god she had been so fucking scared. to hear him screaming out in pain on the other end of the line while the man torturing him taunted them both -- it made her physically sick with rage. and to see the aftermath of what happened to him, every time she let her mind linger on it she felt like she was going to sob all over again. he hadn't deserved this, and now watching him struggle through simple tasks because of the damage to his hands, it wasn't fucking fair.

she watched from the kitchen island in silence as his hands shook trying to get himself a simple glass of water. the glass shook too, water splashing over the edge because of the tremors and she sucked in a sharp breath, rising as she saw the frustration and pain in his face. "nick.." she began softly as she stepped forward when she couldn't take it anymore, but it was too late and the glass slipped from his hands to shatter on the ground, watching as he cursed. "stop. stop, don't move, let me clean this up," she told him as she carefully went to get the dustpan and broom. she saw the defiance in his gaze, the way his scowl deepened and she was honestly afraid he would lash out with his frustration and punch something which would only injure him more.

you don’t have to come over here and take care of me you know.  i can clean up my own messes. he told her flatly and she shook her head. "stop that," she told him with a soft frown, "just let me help you." she knew he wasn't helpless, and that just because he did need help didn't mean he was weak, or any less of the man she knew him to be. she just couldn't bare to watch him hurt himself anymore because she knew he was stubborn enough to stay there in pain for as long as it took to meticulously clean this up himself. kassy also knew there would be a lot of this going forth, and that she shouldn't step in every time, but it was too early, too soon since he'd returned from the hospital, he was going to have to get used to them helping.

she carefully picked up the larger shards of glass first and swept the rest into the dustpan. cleaning up she could feel how uncomfortable he was as if it was heat radiating off him. with the glass cleaned around him and the water mopped up, kassy got him another glass of water, "i know you want to do everything for yourself but the harsh reality is that you can't right now, nick. not without hurting yourself. right now you have to be gentle with yourself, give yourself time to heal." the look in his eyes had her heart squeeze painfully, "i know it's frustrating, baby, i know, but the more you let us help, the quicker your injuries will recover," she told him softly as she reached up to gently stroke his cheek, drawing his gaze back towards her as he had looked away.

"no one here thinks of you any less because of it, you hear me? not alec, or i, or octavia, or rev. now please, come sit down and let me help you." her hand slid along his arm to very hesitantly hold her palm up just under his, leaving a bit of space for whether he would let her gently take it or not. she offered him a reassuring smile with unwavering confidence and adoration for him because as horrible as this all was, she knew he was strong enough to make it through this, and there was not a chance in hell he would be doing so alone.

[lextickle]

feeling better.

roastedbelle fic!

ler!charlie & lee!kassian

tw: tickling, fluff, oc x canon

———————————————————————————

it was about 7pm, almost everyone was downstairs either drinking, chatting, or just relaxing!..

except for kassian, which charlie noticed immediately, looking around for the dragon but there was no sign of him.

charlie left the lobby, looking for the dragon overlord around the hotel.

charlie made it to his room, lightly knocking on the door.

“kass?, you in there?” charlie asked with a worried tone.

no response.

“I’m coming in.” charlie said with a huff.

she then entered the room, looking for kassian who she didn’t spot right away.

she shut the door behind her, then heard an irritated grumbled, found him.

she walked over to kassians bed.

“kass?” charlie spoke, seeing if he would answer.

“mmh?” kassian answered with a slight groan.

“are you.. alright?” she asked, sitting on his bed next to him.

“..no.” kassian answered dryly, no use in lying now.

charlie let out a sad huff, scooting closer.

“do you wanna.. talk about it?” charlie asked.

“don’t you have a crew to get to?” kassian said annoyedly.

“they can wait, plus vaggies down there! I’m sure nothing bad could happen while I’m gone!” charlie answered sweetly.

“…mmph.” kassian grumbled, never picking his head up from his pillow.

“atleast look at me.. please?” charlie pleaded.

but he didn’t look up.

“kassian.” charlie said, poking his side to get his attention.

in return, she got a jolt from the dragon.. making her cock a brow.

did she hurt him?

she looked over at the side of his face, which she couldn’t see a pained expression, more of a.. small smirk.

then it clicked in her mind.

he had always been extremely ticklish.. like EXTREMELY.

and(between herself and him) he honestly enjoyed being tickled.

maybe that was how she could make him feel better.

“kassiii..~” charlie grinned

she then squeezed his side, earning a quiet snort.

“quihit.” kassian demanded.

“hm? what’re you talking about?” charlie replied innocently.

“yohou know what yohoure doing.” kassian grumbled.

the dragon squirmed a bit, but he didn’t move much.. almost as if he was asking for it(no surprise there)

“do I?” charlie replied.

she then dug her nails into the dragons stomach, causing him to curl himself out of instinct.

“chaharlie!-“ kassian yelped.

he moved his head, finally looking up at the princess.

“ooohhh so now you look at me?” charlie said in a fake mean tone.

“stohop- quihit doing thahat!-“ kassian demanded, referring to her nails digging into his stomach.

“what? tickling you?” charlie asked as if it wasn’t a big deal.

kassian flushed at the t-word, but he replied.

“yehes!- quihit!-“ kassian yelped out

“whyyyy? look at the smile! you look so happy!” charlie said with a smile.

“ihihi don’t CAHAHARE!!—“ kassian shrieked as he felt her nails on his lower stomach.

“awwwhh! your giggles are so cute!” charlie complimented.

“DOHONT FLAHATTER MEHEHE!- CHAHARLIE!” kassian laughed out.

“but why not? your laughs are so sweet! and ur smile is just the prettiest!” charlie continued.

kassian couldn’t answer with how hard he was laughing, hitting his fist against his bed and he giggled.

“tiiickle tickle tickle!~ kitchy kitchy koooo!~” charlie teased.

kassian’s cheeks turned a dark blue, blushing hard at the teases.

“SHUHUT UHUHUP!—“ kassian yelled.

charlie gasped dramatically.

“how DARE you speak to me like that! I’m offended!” charlie said with a fake offended tone.

she climbed onto kassian, sitting on his back as she squeezed his ribs.

“NAHAHAHA!- CHAHAR!- LIIEHEHEHE!-“ kassian cried out.

“nope! you told me to shut up! now you’re in for it MISTER.” charlie threatened.

kassian tried to speak, but the moment she went to the tips of his horns, all hell broke loose.

kassian squealed as he squirmed, kicking his feet as he laughed.

“NONONOHOHOHO!!- NOHOHOT THEHEHERE PLEHHEAASE!- IM SOHOHORRY!!-“ kassian shrieked.

his eyes were glowing, but charlie knew it wasn’t from frustration.

she stopped for a moment, putting her hands on the dragons back as she spoke.

“are you ohokay?” charlie asked with a giggle.

“y-yehes i am.. quihite alright.” kassian replied.

“I didn’t go overboard did I? hope I didn’t overwhelmed you.” charlie asked worriedly.

“if anything, you went underboard, princess. i could’ve handle more.” kassian said confidently.

“oh yeah?” charlie replied with a grin.

she then reached for kassian’s worst spot, the back of his knees.

she dug her nail into the sensitive spot, earning an ear pitching shriek.

“NONONOHOHO CHAHARLIE STOHOHOP!!- I CAHANNT PLEHEHEASE!!-“ the dragon laughed out with a snort.

charlie continued, grinning evily as if this was a heinous crime she was doing.

“weak spot? hm? does it tiiickle tickle tickle?~” charlie mocked

“YOHOU KNOHOW IHIHIT DOHOES!!-“ kassian argued.

“maybe I don’t? i gotta hear you say it!” charlie insisted, knowing it would fluster kassian.

“NEHEVER!-“ kassian squeaked out

“I’ll stop tickling if you do. sooo say it! say it tiiickle tickle tickles!~ admit you’re ticklish!~”

kassian thought for a moment.. well tried to.

did he want it to stop?.. no. could he breathe? also no.

a break would be useful, not that he NEEDED one.. just.. it’d be nice.

kassian could barely think straight, so he blurted out.

“OHOHOKAY OKAY IHIHIM TIHICKLISH!! IHIHIT TIHIHICKLES SOHOHO BADLY!! PLEHEASE I GIHIVE!!-“ the dragon confessed.

charlie immediately stopped tickling the poor things knees, rubbing the back of it to calm the sensation.

“there we go, was that so hard?” charlie giggled

“ihihi dihispise yohou.. sohoho much.”

charlie hovered her hand over kassians knee again, wiggling her fingers.

“nonono im sohorry! i dihint mehean it!” kassian pleaded.

charlie pulled her hand away and crossed her arms.

“fine fineee.. ill stop.” charlie sighed.

kassian giggled a bit, a little drunk off of the tickles he had received.

“you feel any better?” charlie asked.

“much.” kassian replied.

charlie got off of him and put her hands on her hips.

“great! glad to hear! now then, are you ready for the rest of the hotel? we kinda need you down there…” charlie asked.

kassian sat up, stretching as he spoke.

“i suppose.. just give me a moment to cool myself on down, alright?” kassian said with a small soft smile.

“alright! cya down there, giggles~” charlie teased.

she poked kassians rib as she walked out, earning a giggle.

“mehehan.” kassian giggled out.

he couldn’t remember the last time he laughed that loud.. it was refreshing.

[sombersummerskies]

A Champion's Love: Chapter 26

Chapter 26: The Rito Champion Word Count: 4666 CW: Blood, injury, animal death

Want all the chapters? -> Masterlist

~~~ <> ~~~

“Wait, really?” you gasp, “what made you change your mind?”

Teba smiles and looks down at his son, fondly patting the little Rito on the head, “you can thank my son. He can be quite persuasive when he wants to be.”

Tulin grins at you.

“As you know, there’s nothing I won’t do for my family,” Teba continues, “that’s why I was so hesitant. If something happened to me, well, I’m sure you understand how difficult that would make things, champion.”

You nod, listening intently to his words.

“But I don’t doubt my skills as a warrior. I do believe that I’m capable,” he explains, “however, I feared what would occur if the mission failed. I must admit, I was doubting the capabilities of yourself and the princess. After speaking with my son, though, he has thoroughly convinced me that I can put my faith in all of you.”

“Of course you can, dad!” Tulin speaks up, “the champion is so cool and strong! So is that prince!”

Teba chuckles, “yes, my son would not stop talking about the two of you when he returned home last night. He’s taken quite a liking to you all.”

You were beaming, both from the praise but also due to the fact that Teba had agreed to the trials. 

“This is great,” you grin, “let me go get Princess Zelda and Prince Sidon, we can plan to find the pedestal and start your quest.”

As fast as your feet will carry you, you bound down the steps of the village and run back to the inn. Lucky for you, the other two that make up your trio are slowly waking up.

“Zelda!” you greet her cheerily. 

The princess blearily smiles at you, rubbing away the sleep in her eyes, “good morning, _____. You’re awfully chipper.”

“Teba has agreed to be a pilot,” you say with a wide smile.

“What?” she and Sidon reply, almost in unison.

You grin at the, “yeah, I know right?”

Sidon stands, adjusting his cravat as he’d been in the middle of putting on all of his adornments, “what caused him to have a change of heart so soon?”

“His son, apparently,” you answer with a small laugh, “after we told him and the other kids all those stories last night, he went home and told his dad about how we’re strong and trustworthy warriors.”

Zelda giggles, “you must have made quite an impression on him.”

“Seems so,” you reply, “I let him know that I’d get the two of you and we’d plan to head over to the pedestal.”

The princess nods, picking up the Sheikah Slate, “well no need to waste anymore daylight. Let’s head out.”

…

As a group Zelda, Sidon, Teba, and yourself reconvene to chart a course to the pedestal. The glowing point on the map shows that it is located on the Cuho Mountain, south of Rito Village. Luckily the trek to get there is not nearly as long as the one to the Gerudo pedestal had been.

It was decided that you’d return to the Rito Stable and ride your horses along the road, then once arriving at the base of the mountain you’d hike upward. Teba would fly alongside you, not needing a steed due to his ability of flight.

With Sidon’s tall height he’s able to easily assist you and the princess in climbing the sheer cliff faces. When you arrive at the final location, you feel his hand linger on your lower back. It makes you somewhat flustered, and you’re glad neither of your other companions noticed.

As you approach the pedestal you’re once again greeted by a familiar face. Kass happily plays his accordion, and the two Rito greet each other. You assume they must be friendly, considering their children like to play together.

“Ah, we meet again!” the blue Rito chuckles happily, bowing his head in respect, “As expected, there’s a pedestal here as well, in Medoh’s shadow. Another monument mentioned in my teacher’s unfinished song. The song my teacher left behind… there’s a verse about the trials that Champion Revali overcame. Allow me to sing it for you.”

His feathers delicately press the buttons of his instrument as he sings his tune, “Wind’s ally soars the land of cloud, Medoh’s Champion, swift and proud. The hero’s power shall grow, seek trials monuments show. One, shoot the flame dragon’s horn. Two, race down a peak rings adorn. Three, shoot four targets to win. Champion, the trials begin!”

“Thank you for your help once again, Kass,” the princess says with a smile once he concludes his song.

Sidon turns to you, perplexed, “shoot the flame dragon’s horn? Is this perhaps a metaphor of some kind?”

You shake your head, “no, it’s probably about Dinraal.”

Teba looks back at you as well, “Dinraal? What’s that?”

“... the flame dragon?” you answer, as if it's obvious.

“You do not mean an actual dragon, do you?” the prince replies.

“No, no, it is an actual dragon,” you say with a laugh, “you guys haven’t seen them before?”

Both the Rito and the Zora shake their heads.

You’d met the dragon before. In fact, you’d met all three of them. Farosh, Naydra, and Dinraal respectively. You’d plucked a scale from each to offer at the springs of the three goddesses.

So you explain this to them, “yeah, there’s three dragons actually, though they tend to stay away from highly populated areas so they go unseen by most people. Dinraal is said to be a spirit of fire who took the form of a dragon, and in old legends would protect the Spring of Power. There’s also Farosh, a spirit of lightning, and Naydra, a spirit of ice.”

The princess interjects, “yes, though it’s interesting that you’ve only ever seen three. In my studies of the old texts of the royal family, it says that there was a fourth.”

You tilt your head to the side curiously, “a fourth?”

“Yes,” she replies with a thoughtful nod, “though there’s no record of it in more recent history. But it was to be a different element, and was referred to as a dragon of light.”

You hum in response, “huh. Interesting. A light dragon.”

“All this discussion of dragons is making me quite eager to see my first,” Sidon says with a laugh, “when shall we go looking for it?”

Teba nods, “yes, champion since you’ve seen these dragons before, do you know of their routes?”

A smile graces your lips, “as a matter of fact, I do. I’ve got a good idea of where we could find Dinraal.”

…

You’d returned to your horses and journeyed east. The closest place you could think of that would give you a close up view of the dragon would be in Tanagar Canyon. Unfortunately, to get there you’d have to momentarily ride through the Tabantha Hills, where the temperatures significantly dropped. 

Fortunately, the prince surprised you by revealing that he’d purchased spicy elixirs at the stable from Beedle. These would have to do until you could get him Snowquill armor.

Once you were in the colder region Teba, who was flying up above, alerted you to the fact that he could see another Rito camped out in the canyon. You leave your horses, tying their reins to some trees, before proceeding to climb down to the nearest lip of rocks.

A Rito guard stood beside a campfire, overlooking the vast abyss that was the canyon. He perks up and turns to look at your group as you approach him.  

“Mazli,” Teba says, “are you waiting for something here?”

Mazli, a brown Rito, nods his head, “yes, there was a sighting last night of something red and fiery here in the canyon. Kaneli sent me to investigate.”

“That sounds like Dinraal, alright,” you mumble, “what time was the sighting at?”

“The Hylian who reported it at the stable said it was around one o’clock,” the guard replies.

You turn your gaze up to the sky. It’s quite early in the evening, the sun is still rather high. You puff out some air and cross your arms, “well. All we can do is wait.”

And wait you do.

You spent the next few hours laying on the ground beside the campfire. As a group you attempt to pass the time with random discussions. Teba and Sidon talk to each other about their careers as warriors and the battles they’ve fought. Zelda tells you about the history of the Hebra region, and how the large hole in the side of Hebra Peak was the result of a misfire when Revali was first training to be the champion.

“I see that some of the Rito warriors wield spears. If you are in the air, in flight, how could one still use a spear to battle?” the prince had curiously asked.

Teba chuckles as he answers, “it sounds funny, but it’s actually with our feet. It’s the same way that I can shoot my bow while flying.”

Sidon nods, “how fascinating.”

You smile as you listen to the two men speak. You’re happy to see the prince so curious. If you could take him all across Hyrule so he can learn, you’d be more than happy to.

At some point in the evening around when the sun was setting both Teba and Mazli had flown back to Rito Village. They returned with dinner for the group to eat, as there were still a few hours to wait. You bite into a nutcake as you sit on the edge of the cliff, gazing down into the canyon.

You hear footsteps beside you and glance up. Sidon gives a bright smile before sitting beside you. Your legs are dangling off of the rock.

“What are you looking at, darling?” he asks curiously.

You respond with a shrug, “nothing really, just the canyon. I assume you’ve never been down there?”

The prince shakes his head.

“I figured,” you say with a smile. You point with your free hand, “really, it’s mostly just rock down there. I think a long, long time ago there was a river that had carved out all the rock, but it’s all dried up by now. If you were to walk along the bottom of the canyon, though, you would actually find an ancient temple northeast of here.”

“Really?” Sidon asks with a gasp, “have you ever been, little one?”

You nod, finishing off your dessert, “I did, once. It was full of guardians, making it a bit of a dangerous venture. At the end of the temple was this absolutely massive goddess statue. I don’t know what the temple was originally used for. Maybe Zelda does, if there’s something about it in the royal archives. It’s an interesting place, but it’s old and unkempt, practically falling apart.”

The prince laughs softly, and leans back. You see his gaze flicker across the sky, admiring the stars that are beginning to shine now that the sun has set.

He speaks softly, “I must admit… I envy you from time to time, my darling.”

Your brow furrows, “why would you envy me?”

“You have seen so much of this land, quite literally you’ve been to all four corners. I have only ever read about these locations on paper, but you have been able to see them with your own eyes. To learn about them. To experience them. And then, to teach me about them,” he explains with a fond expression, “as you know I was never allowed to travel much, especially after the fate that befell my sister. I’m fairly certain the only reason my father encouraged me to leave was because he knew I would be with you, a competent and talented warrior.”

His hand is on the ground beside your own. You inch over and interlock your fingers with his.

“How about this,” you say, looking up at the sky as well, “after we finish all of this business with the trials and have the champion ceremony, why don’t you and I travel for a bit? Just the two of us?”

He turns his head to gaze down at you, “truly?”

You nod, a grin on your face, “mhmm, truly. With the king’s permission, of course. I’ll take you to all my favorite places. The Korok Forest, the jungle in Faron, I can show you the ancient tech laboratories, we can visit each of the goddess springs-”

As you ramble and list off various locations the prince has nothing but adoration in his eyes.

“I look forward to it, little one,” he chuckles softly.

You sit on the edge of the rocks with the prince for some time, but eventually the temperature drops as the moon rises higher. You drag yourself back to the campfire that Teba has been keeping alive. A little ways away Sidon and the princess speak, with Zelda excitedly showing him some notes she had on the Sheikah Slate.

“So,” Teba speaks up, “you and the prince, huh?”

You fluster and laugh, ignoring the blush that dusts your face, “is it that obvious?”

The white Rito chuckles, setting down the poking stick he’d been using to stoke the flames, “I don’t think it could be anymore obvious. It’s in the way you look at each other. How’d that happen, anyway?”

You watch the flames dance as you speak, “I’m not too sure. I suppose it just kind of did. After I woke up in the shrine of resurrection, Zora’s Domain was one of the first places I went to. After that I kept returning, and the two of us kept speaking and writing letters. One thing led to another, and well…”

“That’s sweet. My wife noticed as well, she has an eye for these things,” he says with humor in his voice, “she said that she thinks you make a cute couple.”

A smile plays on your lips, “good to know.”

…

As it got later into the night it was decided that you would all sleep in shifts. You’d retrieved blankets from the horse saddles and handed them out to the group. You volunteered to take the first shift.

You were sitting by the campfire, keeping an eye on the canyon. Behind you your companions rested, bundled up as cold winds blew through the area. You had the Master Sword in your lap and were passing the time by polishing the metal with some spare cloth.

Time had passed, though how much you weren’t sure. You weren’t going to wake Zelda to bother her for the slate. The moon was ever so slowly inching its way across the dark sky. 

You hear a sleepy murmur behind you, “_____?”

You tilt your head to see who it is. Sidon had woken up, leaning on his arms as he looked at you.

“Hello, sleepy head,” you tease him with a smile.

“Would you like to switch so you can rest?” he asks, sitting up.

You shake your head, “no, I’m alright, I’m wide awake actually.”

Despite your insistence he still walks over to you, taking a seat beside you. 

“You’re shivering,” he points out.

You hadn’t realized, but he was right. Your tunic and armor weren’t enough to keep you warm, even with the fire in front of you. The prince wraps an arm around you and drapes the blanket over your shoulders.

“Thank you,” you mumble, “but now you don’t have a blanket.”

“I’ll be fine,” he replies, “how long have you been up?”

“Not a clue,” you laugh.

Suddenly there’s a shift in the temperature. The wind is still blowing, but it’s hot. You stand quickly and walk to the edge of the cliff.

A red glow emanates from the canyon. A grin is in your face when you see the source. Dinraal, the fire spirit, gracefully flies between the cliffs. His scales resemble embers of fire, the light fading in and out similarly to burning coals. Along his back are bright red and orange spikes that match the curved horns atop his head. Balls of fire drift around him, dancing in the wind that he creates.

You run back to the campfire and rouse your companions from their sleep. “Teba, here’s your first trial.”

The white Rito is alert and up fast, grabbing his Swallow Bow and walking to the cliff edge. Everyone marvels at the sight of the dragon.

“This thing is huge,” Teba gasps, “is it dangerous?”

“No, not at all, it doesn’t attack. The fire balls hurt, of course, you just have to avoid those. Even after you shoot its horn it won’t attack,” you explain.

“It is absolutely breathtaking,” Sidon says in awe, “and you said that there’s two more?”

You smile as you nod.

“Its horns seem to be glowing even brighter now,” Zelda interjects, “Teba, I think this is your chance.”

“On it,” he replies before spreading his wings and taking off.

You watch as the Rito skillfully soars over the dragon. He dodges between the fire that radiates off of Dinraal, his wings easily catching the currents of the wind and using it to his advantage. With his talons he grasps the Swallow Bow, lodging the arrow in the wood. He does so effortlessly, showing his years of practice and training.

He hesitates as he aims, before taking a breath and letting the arrow loose. 

It strikes the horn of the dragon. Dinraal lets out a gentle cry as a shard of his horn breaks off and falls down into the canyon. Teba flies backward, avoiding the body of the fire spirit as it begins to soar higher and higher into the sky. You watch as it ascends into the heavens.

“Will it be alright?” Sidon asks.

You nod, “yes, it doesn’t do them actual harm. They’re protected by the goddesses. Some say that they’re immortal.”

After retrieving the shard of Dinraal’s horn, Teba returns. He holds the fragment in his wings. It radiates a soft red glow. “It’s warm to the touch.”

“That wasn’t there before…” the princess speaks up, pointing across the canyon.

You follow her gaze and realize that to the south a shrine had appeared. To get there would require crossing the canyon. “It must have risen up after you shot the horn,” you say to Teba.

After some discussion you decide on a plan. You’ll borrow the Sheikah Slate from Zelda and use your paraglider to get to the other side of the canyon while Teba flies. Zelda and Sidon will return to Rito Village with the horses and you’ll meet them there after retrieving the token.

“See you soon,” you whisper to the prince before he leaves.

He quickly leans down to press a kiss to your cheek, “I eagerly await your return, my darling.”

When you turn to look back at Teba he has an amused look on his face.

“Not a word out of you,” you say to him in jest, “c’mon, let’s go do that shrine.”

…

The next two trials go smoothly. Your only complaints are the chilly weather of the Hebra Region.

The next day your group traveled towards Hebra Peak, stocked with plenty of spicy elixirs and warm meals. After a few hours of travels you came across a glowing blue ring, similar to the ones Sidon and Riju had encountered. Teba had been able to swiftly fly through each of the rings, racing down the mountain. You followed closely behind, using your shield as a sled to surf down the snowy slopes. After the shrine Teba had received his second token.

The third trial takes place at the Flight Range north of Rito Village where you’d first met Teba. Luckily, the Rito already knows the details of this trial. He had explained that it was a feat Revali was infamous for among Rito warriors, his ability to strike multiple targets within a matter of seconds without losing any altitude.

At the range Teba once again displayed his mastery with the bow, easily striking each of the glowing blue targets. He was rewarded with the final shrine appearing at the bottom of the range. After going through it with him, the third token was acquired.

Currently, it is evening. You were waiting outside of Teba’s home. The sun was setting in the distance and the sky was a soft orange. He was speaking with his wife and son, explaining what the circumstances of the next few hours would be. It almost made you feel like an undertaker. As if you were sending a man to his demise.

You’d have to climb to the very top of the spire that held the village, up to where the Divine Beast was perched. Your eyes were upturned towards Medoh as you waited.

“What might you be pondering now, little one?” a voice asks.

When you turn your head to the side you see Sidon walking up the stairs.

You shrug your shoulders as you lean against the fence. You lift your hand and flex your fingers as you reply, “dunno. Just nervous.”

“You have nothing to worry about. Teba is skilled, and you can heal any wounds he receives,” the prince replies.

You frown, “what happens if someday I lose Mipha’s Grace? If I can’t access that power anymore?”

“Then we have other ways of healing. Elixirs and medicines,” he retorts, “you already have so much on your shoulders, do not think that you must bear the weight of keeping everyone healthy as well.”

Just as he finishes speaking, Teba steps outside. The Rito has a stern look on his face. He nods his head at you, “I’m ready whenever you are, champion.”

“Then let’s head up,” you reply.

It was agreed that since you’d have to scale such a tall height that Zelda and Sidon would remain behind. You already had the Sheikah Slate with you, hooked securely to your belt. You bid the prince a quick goodbye, and then you scale the rock.

You use a mix of climbing and Revali’s gale to ascend higher. By the time you reach the summit Teba is already standing there, waiting for you.

“Not everyone has the gift of wings, y’know,” you sarcastically toss out as you climb up over the edge.

Before he can respond to your jab, a voice speaks.

“To the one who approaches this Divine Beast… in the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial. In exchange for Medoh’s Emblems… you will be granted the chance to tread through the realm of memories.”

Teba holds out the three tokens in his wing, the glow brightly before disappearing out of his grasp.

“Those who lack determination will find this trial unforgiving. Do not take this place lightly, nor dismiss it as merely a world within your mind. The truth is much deeper than you know.”

The white Rito looks over his shoulder towards you. You give him a nod of assurance.

Like the two pilots before him, he’s surrounded by a glowing ball of light. The light grows smaller and smaller before fluttering away towards the Divine Beast. Now you get to play the waiting game.

You pace back and forth on the rock. You don’t bother approaching Medoh, whenever the final trial is occuring there’s some kind of force that stops anyone from going near. Hours pass, the moon and stars continuing their never ending march across the sky. At some point you’re so bored that you attempt to count the stars- this endeavor quickly fails.

In the village beneath you everyone is asleep. The lights are off, save for two buildings. The inn and Teba’s home. You know Saki is awaiting her husband’s return, and Tulin is probably wide awake as well. You can imagine Sidon and Zelda are likely awake and waiting for you to return too.

Your stomach rumbles as you pace. You’d skipped dinner, not having had an appetite because of how anxious you were. You were regretting not having eaten.

It isn’t until the sun begins to rise that Teba returns.

The golden light returns and floats down to the ground. When it fades it deposits the Rito onto the stone. He stumbles over his feet, clutching his wing to his abdomen. You can see blood soaking through his armor.

“Teba!” you gasp, running to be by his side, “stay with me, you made it.”

He sharply intakes a breath of air as you guide him to sit down. His yellow eyes frantically look around as his chest heaves, still running on adrenaline.

You examine his wounds as quickly as possible. It’s clear he’s been shot in the side, likely by the blight’s beam, as not only is blood seeping out of the wound but all of the skin and fabric around it is burnt and singed. Bile rises in your throat from the smell.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry you had to do that,” you whisper, holding your palm over his side. You don’t care if the blood coats your fingers.

You squeeze your eyes shut as you focus, heart pounding as you will your powers to flow forth. You feel warmth in your palm and let out a shaky sigh as you look down, the blue light of Mipha’s Grace emanating from you. 

It quickly works to seal his wounds. The gash in his side closes and the skin heals, his feathers returning to their usual position. 

Once you make sure he’s completely healed you sit back and breathe in deeply. The sun is bright as it peeks over the horizon. You bask in its warmth.

Teba coughs as he sits up, still sore from the battle. “... I ran out of arrows,” he mutters once he’s ready to speak, “I had to fend for myself with only a feathered dagger.”

Your brow furrows, “I’m sorry, truly. I… I understand if you change your mind about-”

He shakes his head, quickly silencing you, “don’t apologize. All us champions have to face these hardships.”

You smile. He had said ‘us’. 

“Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to go see my wife and son,” he says, laughing through another cough.

…

“Do you reallyyyy have to go already?”

“Yes, I’m sorry kids,” you laugh.

Currently you were surrounded by the Rito children who looked up at you, Sidon, and Zelda with big pleading eyes. You’d packed all your belongings and were ready to say your goodbyes to the town, with Death Mountain as your next destination.

Clearly, the kids weren’t ready for you to leave.

“I’ll come back someday soon, I promise,” you say, slowly walking backwards to the town entrance.

You’re met by a chorus of cries and complaints.

“We have business of the utmost importance,” Sidon says to the children, “it is highly important warrior business. You wouldn’t want to stop us from being warriors, would you all?”

The kids shake their little feathered heads.

“Then we must be leaving, and you must all promise to be on your best behavior in our stead. Promise?” he replies.

The children nod excitedly.

After saying your goodbyes your trio walks across the suspended bridges and returns to the Rito Stable. Persephone happily greets you as you approach the stalls. You guide her by the reins out to the front of the building, where you see an interesting sight.

A messenger bird has just landed on Sidon’s arm. You don’t recognize it, it’s not Archimedo, but it wears the same silver adornments of the other birds that belong to Zora’s Domain.

You walk up to the prince as he retrieves the letter. You pet the bird's feathers, which are a silky white color, and it chirps happily in response.

Sidon’s eyes skim over the paper. You from when you see the way his eyes widen.

“What happened?” you ask.

The prince blinks as he looks toward you. He stammers before answering.

“Archimedo was found on the steps of the Great Zora Bridge… but he was found dead.”

~~~ <> ~~~

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

[aidoaria]

Where is Kass? Where is my favorite character?

I love everyone else, and I am SO happy to see the New Champions again and I welcome the new characters, but TOTK is not complete without Kass. He played a major role by being the heart of the music in BOTW and now that piece of magic is missing.

Nintendo has a plan. I know they do. They laid out all the clues for a grand side quest they will introduce in a DLC.

If I somehow predict this, then I am not sorry if this turns out to be true and I spoiled you all.

There is spoilers for the base game of TOTK below. Mainly a little from the Rito's Main Quest and the results after completing all the side quests for Penn.

Here are the clues

• Song of the Stormwind Ark

• Kass in BOTW

• Nobody mentions Kass

• Penn

Let's start what we have. The first is the Song of the Stormwind Ark.

The song is a major part of the main quest over in the Rito region and is the ONLY phenomena to have a song connecting to its mystery.

One of Kass’s daughters, (Genli (Young Green Feathered Rito) states the following “…Papa told me it’s always watching over us, high in the sky.” (This is when you enter Rito Village's main entrance the first time. You will encounter three Rito Children talking and they will sing the song for you if you interact with them.)

Of course Kass would know this song as he is a bard. What’s more is what he did in BOTW. He FOLLOWED where the songs are depicted in Hyrule. He went to the locations the songs clued on and played away until Link (players) discover him in the wild.

The main quest of the Rito is the ONLY one with a song cluing in on the phenomena. Not a coincidence. Kass followed where the song could be.

Next clue, besides Genli‘s small mention, no one, not his daughters nor his wife (located at the lodge where you meet Harth) mentions him, before, during, or after the main Rito Quest. The reason, they are USE to Kass leaving for his journey being a traveling bard, and of course they were focus on helping everyone to survive the blizzard, which is a bigger deal.

As for no mention if he is okay or not (his wife was worried for him in BOTW but not in TOTK), Kass may have left the village prior to the Blizzard. Either for a completely different song he was searching for OR he saw signs of something happening to Hyrule as Gloom was appearing prior to the Upheaval. (Zelda says this at the very beginning under Hyrule Castle)

Granted, everyone was focusing on the blizzard and recovering after the storm. Focusing on a bard who often leaves the village is not the forefront of everyone’s mind, including his wife. If the story continues, and everything has calmed down enough, then they may start asking where Kass is, but Nintendo did not let the story get that far.

And then we come to Penn. Our final clue.

After completing all of his side quests, Penn leaves the Lucky Clover Gazette to Washa’s Bluff and stays there for the rest of TOTK.

Washa’s Bluff is the location of the Blood Moon side quest, where Link has to stand “naked” under a blood moon. This is one of the eight side quests Kass is part of. It is also the same location where Kass kept his journal. He recorded all the songs and tells you what locations he will go to by the clues hinting in the songs lyrics.

You learn from Traysi at the Luck Clover Gazette that Penn wanted to train and improve himself and he believes Washa's Bluff is the only place to do it. When you talk to him you learn he feels conflicted about himself. He starts doubting his reporting skills when he was not able to solve any of the mysteries (side quests) at the stables and says it straight that Link did all the heavy lifting.

And then Penn is the second character to mention Kass.

When you arrive, he mumbles to himself about there are no clues in sight, and when you interact with him he states to himself “Mmm, I thought there’d be at least some clue, but there’s nothing…” You soon learn he was looking for Kass.

He states, “It’ll be good for me to relax in this place. A famous bard perfected his craft here, studying the songs of this land…. I’ll stay right here and look out across the land, just like that bard. I’ll get in touch with my reporting instincts!” Penn sees Kass as a celebrity and may not know his name and only heard of Kass’s success in his craft. (Penn may have come from a different Rito Village just like Yona is from a different Zora Domain). He had hoped to find clues at Washa’s Bluff but found nothing. Whether he was searching for Kass or searching for something else to help improve himself, either way, Kass is the reason Penn went to Washa’s Bluff.

And finally the cherry on top, Penn states, “Then you bet I’ll get my talons on a huge scoop that will knock you flat on your tail feathers, partner. You just wait!”

That final line from Penn says it all. There is going to be a Side Adventure where Link and Penn team up once again to find Kass! Something happened to him when he went out to Hyrule trying to find the mysteries of the Stormwind Ark Song or a different, yet also important song to the Legend of Zelda series.

That will be the scoop Penn needs to find himself again and at the end of the quest, he will meet Kass. Kass will thank him and if it weren’t for him, Kass might not have survived. (From whatever made him go missing in the first place.) Having a famous person like Kass thanking him, it will mean everything to Penn and he finds his confidence in his reporting instincts again!

And Nintendo is telling us to wait, be patient, through Penn! "You just wait!" he says.

If we do get Kass from a DLC but not how I predicted it, that’s fine by me. I just want to see him in the game.

If he does not show up, I will have to accept that…. Very slowly….

Bonus Thoughts: This is me thinking too far but I still want to point it out.

Kass had one side quest called “The Serpent’s Jaws”. It starts in Pago Woods which is the entrance to the Zonai Ruins in Faron. The side quest leads you to the Goddess Spring of Courage. Not only is it relating to the very ruins Nintendo expanded upon and is the very center of the lore in TOTK, but also did you know it is the only side quest where you cannot go back to talk to Kass after solving the puzzle?

While its optional to talk to him, it’s always fun to hear what he may say sense he was unable to solve the riddles himself. (Plus getting some praise for solving a puzzle is nice every once in a while.) However, when you solve the puzzle at the spring, you are too far away for Kass to still be there in Pago Woods. He would disappear the moment you solve the puzzle because he is outside of the loading zone.

(But what is a loading zone in Hyrule? Perhaps Kass knew you solved it and figured out that you are the Champion as it is the Goddess Spring of Courage and moved on. 😉)

I just find it interesting that out of the 8 songs, it's the one at Zonai Ruins that’s different to the others prior to the creation of TOTK.

It is also the first song listed in his journal. Whether that’s the first place he went to on his journey, I cannot say. The order of the songs listed in his journal makes no sense for it to be the same order Kass traveled too. He would be backtracking A LOT if that were true.

(Also, I now realized, besides the horse stables, Kass only appears in the southern half of Hyrule. None of the side quest locations are in the northern half! After six years of BOTW, I am still learning new things about it.)

Congrats for reaching this far! Thank you for taking the time to read my rumblings! ^v^

[ahungeringknife]

365: May 10

Ikora rose an eyebrow when Cayde came around her side of the table. He didn't say anything just sort of hummed and made noise as he looked over her papers. Zavala was engaged with something along the wall that monitored the City's defenses. "Did you need something, Cayde?" Ikora asked once she was tired of his snooping.

"I think... I think something messed up happened," he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked not looking like she was giving him her full attention but actually doing so.

"I had lunch with the Guardian today," he said. "She said some things that... worried me."

"What of?"

"Something big happened. She said," and he signed the next part, knowing Ikora would understand, 'They're fine. Kaley and Rigel finally went on a date. Life and death situation you-'

"Well they are Guardians," Ikora said mildly.

"We haven't sent Glitterbomb on a mission since Kass disobeyed a direct order not to go into the Black Garden," Cayde said. "There's been no 'life or death situation' since then. Right? Unless you're not telling me something?" he put his hands on the table and looked at her hard. Cayde could be a real funny guy but you did not mess with his Hunters. He might have hated being Vanguard with every circuit in his body but he took the job very seriously. More seriously than most people realized honestly.

"I tell you everything," Ikora said.

"We both know that isn't true but I appreciate the attempt," Cayde said, not taking it personally. "Zavala's said nothing?"

"Zavala leaves Hunters to you and Xander. He's got no need to strong arm them," Ikora said mildly.

"You don't think Xander's done something behind our back?"

"I'm sure he has. But this? No," she said casually. "Since Saladin returned to Russia he's been much more agreeable." Yeah no shit. Saladin and Xander got along like oil and water and had since Cayde had set foot in the Tower for the first time. Xander was at least polite when he told Saladin to go fuck himself. Usually at any rate.

"So what'd they do?"

"How would I know-- don't give me that look, Cayde," she tutted.

"You're the spy master. Know some spy shit," he said bluntly, not impressed.

"I have a lot to do. Go worry yourself somewhere else," she said dismissively.

Cayde huffed and walked off, arms folded. "Sundance call up the Grey Dawn," he said as he wandered around the Hall, not looking at anything specific. He just thought better while walking.

"You know they hate being summoned."

"Oh well," he shrugged.

"Cayde," Grey's sultry voice came out of Sundance. If the Grey Dawn didn't scare the pants off him they absolutely had a voice that'd make him rip his pants off around them. "Is there something you need?"

"How's your rookie?"

"Wonderful. I don't enjoy social calls from the Vanguard. What do you want?"

No, he supposed they didn't. The Grey Dawn didn't really do authority. They only hung around as a courtesy to help train the rare Nightstalker that showed up. And of course now they'd taken on a rookie. Cayde had looked at their file when they had. Most Hunters eventually became a mentor, took on a rookie under their cloak to show them the ropes. The Grey Dawn had been training Nighstalkers for centuries but had never taken one as a rookie until a few months ago. It was... odd. Very out of character for the ultimate loner on the hunt.

"You guys do anything fun recently?"

"We always have fun. You'll have to be more specific, Cayde," and that made him shiver. Fuck that person freaked him out so much. Shouldn't. They were a Guardian. Talking to old Guardians was always unsettling and Grey reveled in it. You'd think Cayde would have a worse time talking to actual problems like Ana or Shin but no. Shin was just a petty brat with a chip on his shoulder and Ana was just manic in her search for who she had been. But they weren't... off. Maybe that was why the Guardian liked Grey. They were both a bit off.

"Something dangerous. Real fun around real death, that kinda thing," Cayde said casually, standing in front of a display of the EDZ. Lights marked different fireteams in the zones doing strikes or running patrol. A triangular mark were their herd hunters who helped the wild predator populations keep the deer and bison herds in check so they didn't starve themselves come winter. His glowing eyes tracked each beacon, Guardian or not, on the map, attaching it to a report or mission brief that had come across his desk.

The Grey Dawn didn't answer him but they also didn't hang up. "Did she say something?" they said after a solid minute of tense silence. "What did she say? She-- hasn't spoken to me about it."

"She said your Warlocks hooked up," Cayde said. "What happened?" he glanced at Sundance who'd moved closer to him to keep the volume quiet, the conversation private. He made a motion with his eyes and she slid into the hood of his cloak so she could whisper it into his ear.

Again the Grey Dawn said nothing but didn't hang up. This time the silence stretched for a long time. "Come out to the tree in the back," they said and Sundance closed.

Cayde immediately turned and left the Hall of the Vanguard.

He found the Grey Dawn sitting on a planter backed by a shrub that had just been in bloom but now was full of wilting flowers. Characteristically they were dressed all in gray and white and everything about them was washed out like someone had taken the saturation slider and slid it down on them.

He sat next to them. "What happened?"

"What'd she say?" the Grey Dawn asked right back. Cayde repeated the sign to them. They sighed and looked up at the clear sky above them. "There is no report. This didn't happen."

"But it didn't?"

"It doesn't make any sense."

"What happened?" Cayde pressed.

"We went into a Vex stronghold. That's the best I can describe it without sounding like a madman. We were in there for-- too long. We fought a lot of Vex. We died a lot of times. We were drawn down into the heart of the stronghold where a great Vex Mind who could control the flow of time was waiting for us."

"Did you kill it?"

"... I assume so?" they sounded unsure. Cayde didn't feel fear often. But hearing someone like the Grey Dawn sound unsure? Someone he knew for a fact was powerful and capable. They didn't know? It made him... uneasy. He didn't want to call it fear. "When we came out of our deaths it was gone. Kassandra said she shattered it."

"And then you came back out?"

"We climbed back out," they looked off into the middle distance. "It almost got us so many times even after we'd killed the time's conflux," they said. Cayde didn't know what that meant. He knew Sundance was recording everything they said. If and when he'd share it with Ikora. Their eyes snapped back to the present. "We haven't really talked about it. That's all she said?"

"That was it," Cayde said.

"I'm worried about her," they said.

"You haven't before. Why now?"

The Grey Dawn's face grew drawn and thin. "You know how you told me she killed that Devil Archon her first day or something?"

"Yeah?"

"And I said that was fucked up? How'd someone so young show that much power?"

"Yeah?"

"It was fucked up," was all the Grey Dawn said.

"She was fucked up?" he clarified.

"Never seen anything like it," they said quietly. They crossed themselves in an old traditional Hunter's mark over their collar bone. A warding against danger. Cayde hadn't seen it used since before the Great Disaster over two centuries ago.

"You guys okay?" Cayde asked.

"Tsk, me? No," it wasn't about the dissent and Cayde knew that. "The kids though? Probably. They're strong."

"Should we be worried about the Guardian?" Cayde asked.

"Did she seem okay to you?" They didn't answer the question.

"Quiet but she seemed fine," he said.

"I'm her mentor so I worry but... I'm supposed to, you know?" they shrugged. "But she did seem okay?"

"She wasn't screaming mad. Should probably eat more," he said mildly.

The Grey Dawn huffed, "Trust me. Me and Ghost harp on her all the time about it. She just forgets. Gets excited about something, focused on the mission, and food becomes an after thought." They sighed and looked back up at the sky. "Don't tell Ikora, will ya?"

"I don't know why you think I would," Cayde pretended to be insulted.

The Grey Dawn made a finger gun right at Sundance in his hood, trying to hide behind his neck. "I see your little brain cell in there. She's smart. I don't need Warlocks or the Hidden getting in our business," they said.

"You haven't told me anything interesting enough to tell Ikora. You guys just fought some Vex."

The Grey Dawn chuckled and if Cayde didn't know any better it almost sounded like a sob, or insanity. "Yeah. Just some Vex," and they pushed off their knees and stood. Cayde watched them walk away, their long white cloak had strange markings on it he'd never seen before, metallic and almost like a mechanical spine that flared and became wings at the shoulders.

"On a scale of one to fucked how much do you think I should be worried about this?" Cayde asked Sundance once they were gone.

"Hmmm," she thought about it seriously. "I'd say somewhere around not enough to keep you up at night but enough we should still tell Ikora."

"Yeah. That's about where I thought too," he said. He got up and headed back to the Hall of the Vanguard to do just that.

[lieslovefantasy]

The Cat That Ate the Canary: Chapter 1

word count - 3368

Kassidy Bate is the younger sister to Cathleen Bate, America’s Number One Pro-Hero. Unlike eighty percent of the population, however, Kassidy Bate was born Quirkless. Rendered powerless in a society filled with top heroes ready to put away evil-doers. That fact alone wasn’t going to stop her from wanting to transfer to the top hero school in Japan. So what if she was deemed Quirkless by the doctors? Kassidy would prove to her future classmates that she deserved to be there, much like they did. If she puts her mind to it, she would probably be the first Quirkless Pro-Hero – in both the States and Japan! Her classmates in middle school bullied her relentlessly for her childish dream. A Quirkless nobody transferring to the most prestigious hero high school in Japan?

“You don’t even have a Quirk! They wouldn’t accept a Quirkless freak like you.”

“You should just give up!”

In reality, Kassidy did possess a Quirk, but nobody knew about it. Nobody except for All For One.

Over breakfast one morning, Kassidy had eventually gathered the courage to tell her older sister, Cathleen, and it took the Pro by surprise. She raises an eyebrow and brings her mug to her lips, taking a sip. “You want to transfer to U.A. High School? Even after what happened?” 

Kassidy bites her lip and stares down at her plate, remembering vividly the incident that occurred while staring at the remaining bit of her blueberry pancakes. She didn’t remember much about the incident itself, just what she was told by her sister and All Might.

“Yeah, just because I got kidnapped by some villain doesn’t mean I should let him put a bad taste in my mouth because of it. I’m willing to-.”

“He’s not just ‘some villain’, Kass,” Cathleen interjects her little sister. “He’s the most wanted criminal in Japan. If it was some low-life thug, I would say otherwise. However, this is All For One we’re dealing with. My answer is no. I won’t have that scare again.”

The elder sat her mug back down and got up from the table. Kassidy shot up out of her seat and began taking both of their dishes to the kitchen sink for rinsing. “But All Might will be there! He could watch over me! Besides, I heard the teachers there are all Pro-Heros, so I would be totally safe.”

Kassidy sets the dishes in the sink and turns to Cathleen, hugging her. “I know that All For One is a big, bad, scary villain, but I need to become the best hero there is to defeat those big bad scary villains.”

Her sister brings her arms up to gently wrap around Kassidy’s head, “But, kid. Let’s face it – you don’t even have a Quirk.”

Kassidy sighs into her sister’s chest, “I still want to give it a shot. I need to prove to my classmates here that I made it into the top hero academy in Japan.” She lifts her head and meets her sister’s gaze with a pleading look of her own. “Besiiiiides, I kinda already said I would be applying.”

Kassidy wriggles out of her sister’s arms and holds herself at arms-length. “Please,” she begs, tears brimming her blue eyes, “you have to let me give this a shot. I don’t want to live my high school years or the rest of my life full of regrets.”

“For your safety, please…”

Cathleen examines Kassidy’s eyes one last time, behind them they plead with everything she had and hold a glimmer of… fear?

She shakes the thought out of her head and sighs, “Fine. You win this time, but if you don’t get accepted into U.A. High School, you’ll continue regular high school here in the States. You hear me?”

Kassidy jumped with joy, “Yes! Thank you so much, Big Sis!”

“Hey,” Cathleen grabbed Kassidy’s arm, making sure she could get her point across. “These upcoming months aren’t going to be easy. I’m not going to go easy on you just because you’re my little sister. I’ll treat you like you’re one of my soldiers.”

Kassidy looked up at her older sister, determination in her eyes as she nodded, “Bring your worst.”

And with that, the entrance exams were here. It had been a long and strenuous ten months of training her sister’s body. Not knowing what the exam had in store, Cathleen had wanted to give her little sister the best fighting chance and in doing so, put Kassidy through the toughest training course the regime had to offer. Being the overprotective big sister Kassidy often deems her, Cathleen wanted to mentally push her past her breaking point to ensure that she could deal with physical pain and mental strain that came with being a Pro-Hero. Not just any Pro-Hero, but the best Pro out there – one that makes Cathleen feel good about hanging up her cape. On the other hand, there was the worry that a quirk wouldn’t develop. Yes, there were cases of quirks developing later in life, but for the eighty percent of the population that had supernatural abilities, these powers had shown up by the time they were four. And according to the varying doctor’s research, the chances of Kassidy’s quirk being delayed are, at best, five percent.

Additionally to physically building her body, Kassidy’s quick-thinking and reflexes were put to the test as well. Cathleen asked her best team of men in hand-to-hand combat fighters to beat her to a pulp, to break her down, and then to build her back up stronger than before. After school everyday, Kassidy would come home and complete her homework before heading off to run a five mile run to the training grounds. There, she would be given a set of exercises to complete in an allotted amount of time. The exercises were difficult for her untrained body at first, but over the course of ten months, the exercises became easier. After those became easier, Cathleen told her men to start training Kassidy on her reflexes. At first, Kassidy learned to box, to understand the basics of fighting hand-to-hand. Then after, she was put in the ring with someone who had a Quirk.

The morning of the exams was a chaotic one. Having flown in the day before, Kassidy hadn’t really had the time she needed to get herself ready for the next day’s events. Her morning alarm sounded off thirty minutes later than she had originally set it and if it weren’t for her accompanying guardian knocking on her hotel door, she would have fallen back asleep. 

Quickly, Kassidy ushered her inside and drooled at the sight. “Iced coffee and a muffin? Fuuuck yeah! I didn’t set my alarm early enough, so I’ll have to hurry, but I’ll get ready. What time is the exam?”

The guardian looked at her phone, “Nine in the morning. Considering it’s currently seven-thirty-eight and you have to take a thirty minute train ride to the school, that gives you roughly an hour to get ready. Fifty-two minutes precisely.”

Kassidy relaxed a bit and took a sip of her iced coffee. “Mmm… salted caramel. Thank you, by the way. Anyways, I’m going to go take a shower and head out.”

And with that brief conversation, Kassidy was finally out the door of the hotel and heading up to the entrance exams for U.A. High School. This is it, she was finally here in Japan, going to take on one of the hardest entrance exams this country has to offer. With a less than one percent acceptance rate into the hero course, Kassidy was beginning to feel waves of anxiety wash over her as she walked to the train station and took a seat. She needs to get accepted into the hero course.

On the train ride to the exam, Kassidy’s phone buzzed. Taking it out from her pocket, she glanced down at her screen and froze in her spot. It was a text message from him.

Unknown: Pass the exam or else…

Kassidy’s phone was shaking in her hands as she read the text over again. The text was a simple one, but the threat was ominent. She doesn’t know who the messages came from, but one thing was for certain – there was a clear connection to All For One and they knew about the threats he made to Kassidy. Her mind was running a mile a minute with gruesome thoughts of what would happen if she couldn’t pass the exams. The thoughts of “what if”- No. These texts would serve as a constant reminder of what she’s fighting to protect. Who it is she’s fighting to protect.

The train ride was a quiet and boring one, but Kassidy eventually made it to the auditorium where the orientation was being held. Outside the doors was a piece of paper everyone seemed to be picking up. Looking at it as she walked by, Kassidy thought it looked like it held important information about the exam. She picked it up and made her way into the back of the auditorium. Once everyone had been seated, the lights dimmed and a spotlight was casted on a blonde with hair defying gravity and speakers around his neck.

“Who the-”

“WELCOME TO TODAY’S LIVE PERFORMANCE!!” the blonde screams, almost blasting everybody’s eardrums. “EVERYBODY SAY “HEY”!!”

Silence fills the auditorium, but the blonde continues, unfazed. “Well, that’s cool, my examinee listeners! I’m here to present the guidelines of your practical exam! Are you ready?!”

Silence again fills the auditorium until Kassidy hears someone mumbling down below her. Considering it was dark, she couldn’t make out who it was, but the guy next to him looked like an angry blonde who couldn’t care any less about what the presenter had to say.

“This is how the test will go, my listeners!” The screen behind the man lit up, displaying their current location plus paths to the seven different testing locations. “You’ll be experiencing ten-minute long “mock cityscape maneuvers”!! Bring along whatever you want! After this presentation, you’ll each head to your assigned testing location!!”

“Geez… would it kill this guy to be quiet for once?” Kassidy mentally rolls her eyes, already annoyed with the faculty of the high school. “He doesn’t need to yell.”

The screen behind the presenter changes and now displays three robots and the same presenter in a video game designed city. “Each site is filled with three kinds of faux villains. Points are awarded for defeating each according to their respective difficulty levels. Use your Quirks to disable the faux villains and earn points! That’s your goal, listeners!! Of course, playing the antihero and attacking other examinees is prohibited.”

A guy sitting in the bottom rows of the auditorium raises his hand, “Sir, may I ask a question?! There appear to be no fewer than four varieties of faux villain on this handout. Such a blatant error, if it is one, is highly unbecoming for U.A., Japan’s top academy. We’re all here today in the hopes of being molded into model heroes!!”

Kassidy yawns, “What the hell is this guy’s deal? Is he always this uptight about things? It’s probably just an error, chill out.”

The same guy turns around and points in the same direction as the two guys Kassidy noticed earlier. “And you with the green hair. You’ve been muttering this whole time, it’s distracting.”

“Alright, Examinee 7111,” the presenter addresses the male to calm him down. “Nice catch! Thanks! But the fourth faux villain variety gets you zero points. He’s more like an obstacle you need to avoid at all costs!!”

Examinee 7111 bows a full ninety degrees while apologizing, which causes Kassidy to scoff, “Whoa, a bit much there…”

After the presentation finishes up, Kassidy looks down at her examination card in hand to see she’s headed to testing center B. As everyone boards the buses that are designated en route to their assigned testing centers, Kassidy wonders if she’ll meet the robotic boy or the muttering mess from earlier. She finds an empty seat and stares out at the trees that dot her view.

“These people must have amazing Quirks, but here I am with whatever Quirk that All For One villain gave me. I don’t even know what it is! Since Sis has been psychically training my body non-stop for the past ten months, it hasn’t had time to work with the Quirk at all. I still-.”

Kassidy is pulled from her thoughts when the bus stops, signaling the bus’s arrival and the beginning of the exam. Sweat starts to pool in her palms as she gets up from the seats, the realization of what responsibility rests on her shoulders weighs on her mind heavily. Everyone from the bus is now piled outside in front of the gates to the faux city of the exam. Kassidy sees the robotic boy and the muttering mess from earlier and inwardly groans.

“Oh, well. Now is not the time to focus on them. I need to focus on what the regime taught me. Deep breath in for the count of four and out for the count of four. Now focus, focus, focus!”

And before Kassidy knew it, the buzzer had sounded, signaling the start of the ten-minute long practical exam. She rushes through the gates with everyone and sees that some of the kid’s are already fighting one- and two-pointers. Panicking, she looks around for anything that might be of use to her and sees a piece of scrap metal from one of the robots. As Kassidy is running over to pick it up, she sees her shadow taken over by a robot. With no time to think, she grabs the sheet of scrap metal and runs underneath the robot. Kassidy catches sight of another student nearby and sprints up to them, jumping onto their shoulder at the last possible moment. Using the kid as a stepping stone, Kassidy reeled back her scrap piece of metal and dug it into the shoulder of the robot. The robot deactivated and she hopped down from the now useless hunk of metal.

Kassidy wastes no time in gathering points. Many of her robots she took down looked much like her first victory. Run. Jump. Deactivate. Repeat. Kassidy had tossed her scrap sheet of metal, testing it out for another one she had seen when the ground beneath her shook. Just up above her, was the zero-pointer the presenter had told them not to worry about.

The zero-pointer has everyone running the opposite direction, but Kassidy doesn’t have time to think of running away. She’s attacking this damned robot head on!

“Even if this thing is worth nothing, it’s not here just for decor.” 

 She has the scrap piece of metal and is charging towards the robot when out of the corner of her eye Kassidy notices someone caught in the rubble. A girl with a bobbed cut has caught her leg in some of the fallen debris. Without hesitating, Kassidy rushes over to the girl, dropping the sheet of metal next to her.

“Thank you for helping me,” the girl breathes out. “I wasn’t even paying attention to my-.”

“How much can you move your leg?” Kassidy skips the niceties .

The bob haired girl dismisses the question with her own, “What’s your Quirk? Maybe you can help me out of this.”

Kassidy hesitates before replying, “I don’t have one.”

The bob cut girl panics, “You don’t have a Quirk?! What the-.”

A shadow is cast over the two girls and a wave of fear washed over them both. Kassidy and the bob cut girl see the foot of the robot closing in on them, causing the latter to wriggle her leg from underneath even faster.

“C’mon. Think. What would a Pro do?!”

Seeing the robot’s foot move in closer, Kassidy acts without hesitation. She hops on top of the fallen debris and jumps into the air, reeling her fist back to hit the robot. Heaviness overcomes her and a new surge of energy is coursing through her.

“GET AWAY FROM US!!” Kassidy’s fist collides with the robot’s foot and sends her flying back against the wall of a nearby building. The blast of the punch had enough power to knock the debris off the trapped girl, allowing her to climb on top of a fallen piece of rubble. On the verge of passing out, Kassidy nearly misses the kid with green hair falling from the sky. She tried to lift herself back to her feet, but the attempts were useless. Consciousness slowly starts slipping away from Kassidy and a sharp pain takes over her mind. She hears a voice echo that the exams were over and with that news, she allows herself to fully slip into the comforting void.

In the watch room above, the teachers all look over a green, holographic list. A few of the teachers watch the clean up crew down below, analyzing the damage the children left behind.

“Wow,” one of the teachers’ sultry voices broke the silence. “The scores for the practical are out and our first place winner has zero rescue points, but seventy-seven in villain points.”

Another voice adds on, this one a rich baritone, “In the second half, when the other examinees were slowing down, he just kept going at it! That kid is a real ace!”

The woman with the sultry voice adds on to the teacher with a rich baritone voice, “On the opposite end, the guy in seventh place holds sixty points in rescue, but none in villainy. He’s not the first one to take out the zero-pointer in one shot like that.”

“And what about that American that took the exam? It looks like she tied with our seventh place winner. Isn’t she Star and Stripe’s younger sister, All Might?” The baritone voice directed his attention to his colleague climbing his way up the stairs to meet his other teachers

The older man smiled fondly, “Sorry I’m late, guys. Traffic was backed up real bad.” All Might walks up to the scoreboard, eyeing the results. “Yeah. Kassidy Bate is the younger sister to Star and Stripe, my former apprentice. She’s Quirkless, but she was adamant about applying. And it looks like she did quite well!!”

“Quirkless you say?” the woman raises an eyebrow and questions All Might. “I think you need to get your eyes checked, All Might. She and that boy knocked out that zero-pointer to save that girl. Present Mic, can you replay the zero-pointer scene from earlier?”

The blonde teacher presses a few buttons on the switchboard before the recording from the exam is played on the screen. All the teachers watched as the events from earlier were replayed - as Kassidy reeled her fist back to hit the robot’s foot, creating a sizable hole in the piece of metal and as the green haired kid punched the robot in the face, falling to the ground shortly after,

“She and that green haired kid totally knocked that zero-pointer out, yo!!” Present Mic exclaimed, throwing his head back and a fist into the air. His eyes fall onto his colleagues with a serious glint in his eyes. “Are you sure she doesn’t have a Quirk?”

A man with black hair and a scarf around his neck walked up behind the presenter, “Mic, bring up her file. I want to see it.”

The blonde, pressed a few buttons and brought up Kassidy’s file. There, shocking every teacher in the watchtower, was Kassidy’s file. The file had a picture of her latest high school picture along with the basic information the school needed for the exam. However, the detail that shocked the teachers was her Quirk, or lack thereof. Right next to it read ‘N/A’ in big, bold lettering.

“Who would’ve thought,” Present Mic turned around in his chair to face the other teachers. “That a couple of late bloomers would’ve become our top ten performers?!”

All Might and the black haired man look down at the zero-pointer that still needs to be cleaned up. “This is going to be an interesting year, Kassidy Bate.”

[trash----panda]

Dreampt

(tw. Owies, swallowed whole trope, fear, blood)

Kass was sprinting through the halls, after being hit with one if the blasters on the walls they were now no taller than a mouse, he scurried along like one as well still armed with a toothpick sword. At least he had BagHead... he didnt actually know much about him but BagHead was under Fass' control so it was probably safe to tow him around.

The assassin was put under Fass' control for awhile now, he hated everyone except Kass, Kass still treated him like a person. Not to mention wouldnt stop trying to figure out how his power worked. BagHead could move the powder on the front of his mask to make words and symbols but couldnt talk. Right now they were trying to keep it blank, this dumb little team of children had managed to drag him into Seraphim's layer... This would not end well.

A small team of guards rounded the corner and spotted them- well BagHead at least, all Kass saw was a shadow and the sole of someone's shoe, he didnt even get a chance to scream, he braced himself for the impact but the sound came from above him. When he peeked he could see BagHead overpowering the guards, he was an elite assassin after all. Kass hesitated before trying to move on, BagHead would be fine, he was on a mission after all. He knew Seraphim was powerful, sp he needed to be stealthy, or else he might get trapped in a marble too. He didnt know if it was tech or spells but he saw Buffalo get caught in one. He paused, peeking in a room, there it was. It was dimmly lit but he saw the marble on a desk. It didnt look like anyone was around so he headed closer, fighting to try and climb this desk.

Fingers

He felt them wrap around his torso and pluck him off like a beetle in summer. His heart racing as he spotted the several eyes starring back in the dark

"well" the voice cooed, it was full of venom, he knew he was going to die here "what do we have here" the larger male opened his palm, letting Kass rest in the middle as he used his other hand to grab the marble "are you here for this?"

"yah! I-" he was cut off, only able to watch as Seraphim put the marble in his mouth. Kass scrambled up to try and reach it, managing to grab onto his chin. They reached their arm inside, they could feel it it was right there-

Seraphim's lips closed around his shoulder, he pushed, desperatly trying to reach, it was right there, it was in reach, he just had to-

Glrk-

He could feel the muscles lurch forward, his mind racing as he tried to comprehend what just happened.

The mouth opened "all gone" he teased, he could feel the little guy's heart racing against him. Fass starred for a moment before it dawned on him just how much trouble he was in, using a gravity jump to quickly get down and try to run for it, Seraphim just kicking him in the stomach, flinging him across the room towards the door "pathetic, you didnt even try" he was gasping for air, his lungs felt like they were out of place.

BagHead had finished with the thugs and came in, freezing when they saw Seraphim "oh you! Goody" they felt the spell break instantly, this was his power, this mad man. "You can come back and work for me now, i was getting worried you know" BagHead knew it was a lie, as soon as the enemy was gone he's be taking Kass' place as his punching bag- wait, he spotted Kass "oh right your little captors, bring him here he probably wants to see his friend again" BagHead glanced at Kass who was trying to inch away, hesitantly picking him up, Seraphim saw that hesitation "actually" they felt the hair on their neck stand with that, the tone told them this was gonna be bad "how about you get some revenge, you eat him" BagHead felt his mouth go dry, eat another human? "Then you can come work for me again" they lifted Kass up a little. They were really gonna have to do it huh?

"ROSS" he screamed, watching BagHead lift his bag just a bit

"Flow!" No one awnsered, he could see the other's teeth

"baghead" they didnt even yell this time, tearing up a little, their body was too sore to fight. The only reminder of them being the buldge that disappeared all to quickly behind BagHead's collar bone

"excellent now for the others" he smiled, even with the bag on, Seraphim could feel the dread coming from the other, savoring it a little before they were inturrupted by Flow who'd heard the call. They froze when they saw them all, pausing before throwing down one of their smoke bombs, grabbing BagHead and running. Seraphim didnt even get a chance to try and catch them, swearing when he glanced down the halls and there was no sign.

Flow had managed to get everyone back to the trailer, trying to get BagHead to tell them where Kass was. He was still in a daze until Ross just slapped him "where is he?!" BagHead flinched, starring before hugging their stomach, trembling a little. She rushed him towards the sink "well get him out! Is he even there?!"

They started to gag themself, at first the only thing they spat up was stomach acid and blood, making the party yell at them more, they kept pushing until they felt something solid, spitting him out into the sink. He was covered in burns, curled up and hugging himself, he'd been crying. Flow pushed him out of the way, trying to rinse Kass dispite his protest of the cold water, lifting him to inspect him "what happened?!"

He flinched, starring before tearing up again "B-buffalo go eaten" he whimpered, the camper going silent as they all took in the news, BagHead the first to move, grabbing Kass. The tiny human struggled a little, still shaken, being pressed gently under their chin. The former assassin rubbing circles on his back to calm him down. The others were wary of leaving them alone but... they needed to sit down.

Despite all his training, all his losses and fears. BagHead was now a father of three spuerpowered kids.... great.

[headstrongblake]

@thewholecrew: ❝ i don’t want you to be alone tonight and honestly, i don’t really wanna be alone either. ❞ / kass & nick

not only has it felt like this past few weeks have lasted a lifetime, the last few hours with kassy? leaving his wall down while explaining how he'd managed to get himself all twisted up because of the meds- it's felt dreadfully worse. how many times was he going to be this shattered self, asking her to see him like she always has beyond who he's claimed to be? "i needed to get better, and it worked, i could function, i could..." nick hung his head as he flicked the end of his cigarette, ashing it as he sat with kassy in the backyard. all the meds allowed him to do was ignore the pain a little more convincingly and run off to look for his brother.

"and then...i would tell myself just one more day. one more day and i wouldn't need 'em, until it was the next day and the next and the fuckin' next and i stopped seeing me." shame burned up the back of his neck as he lifted his head, sad crystal hues moving to kassy as she took in his confessions. he offered a sad attempt at a smile but it fell short. "i came back and i...i couldn't see anythin' past another hit...and you." he admitted. "i always see you."

nick held kassy's gaze for a brief moment before he straightened, leaning over to his ashtray to stub out his smoke. "so that's it, don't be mad at o...i nearly tore her head off when she was here, that she called grant to help me out...i didn't...man, i've fucked up so much kassy, i really couldn't've handled messing up with you again." nick lifted his hand, coiling it around the back of his neck as he kneaded the muscles there, tense with shame and guilt. "but listen, that's enough of the sob story, i wanted you to know, i needed to be honest with you...you don't gotta stay here with me, i'm good now, honest."

although he'd give anything to spend time with kassy in his house like they used to, allowing her to warm his home like she does, just with her presence. he'd taken enough of her time as he went on about what happened here this past week. i don’t want you to be alone tonight and honestly, i don’t really wanna be alone either, kassy softly told him. his heart quickened in his chest, lurching at her idea of staying here with him. "yeah...yeah okay, you know you're always welcome here...always."

[noraiir-arts]

Anyway adding on to my growing list of revalink AUs

Revalink wild west au

-

Revali is the sheriff of Rito Village, a small, humble establishment that grew along a wagon trail which leads far out into the badlands. They very rarely get many travelers, those who do stumble upon their town are either lost or looking to fix up their wagon. Nothing ever happens in Rito, so you can imagine everyone’s excitement when a band of bounty hunters arrive overnight.

They stay at the inn, Cecili overjoyed to finally be able to put up a ‘no vacancy’ sign in the window. The one who seems to be their leader approaches Revali, a rolled up paper in his hand. He introduces himself as Ganondorf, a bounty hunter hired by the governor to bring back his kidnapped daughter. He unfurled the paper revealing the suspect: a young man with messy blond hair and gleaming blue eyes ( actually idk how revali would know he had blue eyes and blond hair bc they didn’t have printers that could print colors back then but just stay with me here 🤞)

Revali’s eyes widened at the price for his arrest; that’s more zeros than he thought was possible. Revali denied seeing the man or woman but said he would keep an eye out for them. ( he doubted he would ever see them, I mean, could you believe their chances? A supposed wanted criminal and the kidnapped daughter of the governor walk right into town, just missing the people out to find them? Revali would turn in his badge if that actually happened.)

Thankfully, he didn’t actually make that bet with anyone. He was making small talk with his deputy, Teba, when Kass, a singer who played in the saloon, walked in. He opened his mouth a few times before revealing that he just saw the man on the wanted poster walk into the saloon with a woman. Revali, blinking for a moment, slowly rose to his feet. “Well let’s get this taken care of, shall we?”

After a slight skirmish, Teba and Revali get the man into the sheriff’s office and the woman, who’s name they now know to be Zelda, into the inn to be attended to. Revali pats himself on the back. The man barely put up a fight! It almost seemed too easy… no matter! He would send someone out to catch up with the bounty hunters tomorrow and claim his, well, bounty. Revali leaves Teba to watch over the man, telling him to maybe try to get a few words out of him, and goes to check up on the woman.

When he finds her she seems a bit distraught, almost angry that they took the man in. She continued to claim he wasn’t her kidnapper, that she willingly went with him- however the doctor said she might be a little confused, especially after everything that has happened. The woman stopped and looked like she was about to yell, before she threw her head into her hands and started sobbing. Revali, suddenly concerned, went up to comfort her, but she threw herself into him, locking him in a hug.

Once she was done crying she said that she must be confused and she needed rest, asking Revali and the doctor to excuse her for the night, it was getting late after all. As Revali left he couldn’t help but feel that something about all this was wrong. But he dismissed that thought, heading back to his office to check in on Teba and tell him he could head home for the night. Upon his arrival the man in the cell lifted his head from where he seemed to be dozing off and Teba looked up from his paper.

Teba said that the man hadn’t uttered a word the whole time. Revali told Teba about Zelda and how she started crying in his arms, not caring that the man could be listening. After that he sent Teba home and locked up for the night. As he went upstairs he felt as though he was forgetting something, yet he ignored it.

Later that night he heard noises coming from downstairs ( he lives above the office) and went to go check that their convict wasn’t ruffing up his cell… only to find it empty. Yelling at the open door he ran outside; how could he have gotten out? He had the key on him the whole time- he reached down to his belt, only to find it missing. Things started to click into place now. The woman must have grabbed his key when she hugged him.

DAMN IT

He ran to Tebas residence and banged on the door, yelling that the man had escaped. Cecili came running outside and told Revali that Zelda was gone as well. Groaning, Revali looked around. They couldn’t have gone that far, the door was still swinging when he made it downstairs… there! In what little light was left by the moon he could barely make out two figures riding away on horseback, right into the badlands.

Cursing, Revali ran inside to grab his poncho and pistols. (Yeah he dual wields his pistols 💪) He ran to saddle his trusty steed, Medoh, before Teba ran to catch up with him.

“You can’t be serious about going out after them, it’s to dangerous to go out right now-“

“What, and leave Ganondorf to take all the credit? I don’t think so.”

Teba shook his head. “It’s only going to get darker”

Teba wasn’t wrong; large storm clouds were starting to block the moons light, promising a much needed downpour.

Revali scoffed and mounted Medoh.

“Someone has to herd their asses back here before they get caught in the storm. Your in charge while I’m gone.”

And just like that he rode off to find them. Little did he know what he was about to get swept up into.

-

Eesh so so far I have:

Tutor au

The Cutting Edge au

Eros and Psyche au that @amiharana got me going on

And now Wild West au

[fanonical]

Ideas for other characters that would be trans/the various societies' views on transness?

i’m taking kind of a slower approach to deciding which characters are trans, feeling it out & listening to my heart. strangely enough the first character i knew i would make trans was Kass, because who could say no to a travelling transmasculine parrot musician??? other than him i’m not totally married to any particular ideas — just that i want to inject as many trans & non-binary stories into pre-existing BOTW/TOTOK characters, so expect all flavours of trans characters — guys, girls, nonbinary people, closeted, stealth, out, transitioning etc i guess with an emphasis on how their gendered experiences are different across the four corners of Greater Hyrule.

Gorons obviously do not have a gender binary, and i think that whilst they would get it right most of the time they would struggle with pronouns. all pronouns. any pronouns. Gorons are rocks! rocks don’t have genders.

Gerudo, like in the base game, are all “female” with a single exception every 100 years, but my introspection of the Gerudo would also i think address Gerudo trans guys, their relationship to their hometown. like Gorons seem to be able to pass through Gerudo Town, because they’re genderless, so i wanna explore how Link might observe other interestingly gendered people and how the Gerudo treat them. i think over all the Gerudo are culturally on the more trans inclusive side — but perhaps that they expect a commitment to presenting a certain way? in BOTW it seems clear to me that many of the Gerudo in the town actually fully clock Link but just don’t care that she’s not a cis woman — this happens multiple times in this part of the game; i want to incorporate this into the fic. plenty of people will be able to tell Link is trans (or exploring her identity) but she’s not gonna get kicked out over that

Hylians have a very similar deal to us going on — i think there’s a bit less cultural transphobia (but also less cultural recognition of being trans as like an option) but an assumed gender binary that limits their imaginations a bit sometimes. that being said, Hyrule is full of magic. i think if you told somebody from Hyrule that men can become women and some people intentionally seek this because they’d prefer to be women, most Hylians would be like “oh that makes sense i hadn’t thought of that” they have bigger things on their mind i think haha

Zora & Rito i’m still working on, but i kind of want to give them unique gender structures too? or at least explore different parts of MY experiences as trans in these fictional cultures. unsure! i kind of like the Zora just already having a firm understanding of transness that doesn’t really translate well to Hylians? again, not sure yet. fantastic question though!!

[booksandchainmail]

Pale 8.5

Or, again, correcting herself, was there any way that the people who knew how Alexander had died, herself and Lucy, could run away?

ok, good to know that Lucy told her. And maybe good that Avery isn't here? I feel like she's the worst at deception

I reread the cafeteria scene in Worm a couple of weeks ago, and this is reminding me of it. Trapped in a mundane everyday location, surrounded by peers, having to hide a secret as the net tightens, knowing that reacting to strongly to protect yourself or get away will give it away, and having to remain calm and unsuspicious while panicking

“Raymond is asking if America or Liberty have any idea what happened to Alexander, beyond what was said here.  America answers that he probably died old-guy-hot.” Verona nodded.  Tough questions.

maybe we should put Raymond in charge of designing questions for the Carmine Beast investigation

"Raymond is now asking if they took any action, used any item, or performed a practice that would confound their answers or actions about Alexander.” “Would you know if you did?” Verona asked. “Should we have been asking-”

same line of thought from Verona I see.

Picking inexperienced kids who don't know what contingencies to cover as investigators must have been really useful for the murderer

I'm just hoping that the fact that John isn't bound at all and wasn't acting on their orders/request will help.

“Shh.  Let me listen.  Apparently… cheating the system to alter your mind or force a lie is something the spirits don’t like all that much.  Chase says that if America and Liberty pulled that, then they’d know.” So that wasn’t a thing. Right. “Know how?”

good to know! That impacts my methods list from way back in Arc 1

She considered herself okay at hiding her emotions and emotionally deadening herself, but she had no confidence right now, and she could remember messing that up when talking to Yadira and Kass, back when they’d been trying to sell themselves as tough and too scary to mess with. She’d tried to go emotionally dead and she’d just gone, what… sad?

...in my experience, keeping everything hidden and not reacting to your emotions works right up until something hits in the wrong way and everything you've been non-reacting to breaks out at once

“Like you guys and me, or you guys and Zed.  At odds one day, friendly-ish a few weeks later.” “I kind of thought that might be us.” “It isn’t."

I like the textual acknowledgement that this isn't an application of one of the standard protagonist powers

It’s not just losing a teacher and wondering what the future holds. It’s also knowing your parents might lose everything.

and that's something that they can't paper over with making personal friends, not if students are focused on their familial duties. Might be good to approach kids without family backing? Like Nicolette and Tanner, or the eastern practices boys

"Stuff doesn’t die and this world has a long, long memory. Unless you kill it. Unless you very deliberately ensure those things don’t follow you or weigh you down. Removing burdens and threats in a surgical way.”

so I think Nicolette might be on to them

“She has nothing,” Lucy said. “Except me, maybe,” Nicolette said. “You’re looking out for a lot of people,” Verona noted.

Nicolette is good! Maybe longterm she should get the school.

“A narrow path, maybe.  From Awakening to whatever lies ahead.  And whatever lies past that.”

if they do solve the mystery soonish, what then? They've served their main purpose to Kennet, does the town still need practitioners? It managed without for quite a while, but I guess there's more attention on it nowadays

Fernanda sat on a storage box by one of the bookshelves, seemingly not caring that it situated her lower, so she was looking up at all those people.

oh she cares, I'm guessing that's deliberate so she looks younger and helpless and unthreatening. Makes her less of a suspect and gets Nicolette's support

Verona sat there, silent, mentally banging her head against the wall.  Why were they here?  Why were they talking to her?  Each mental bang made her headache worse.

I have a bad feeling this is going to boil over in some way. Thinking back to when Verona felt trapped and pushed down after Avery got stuck on the Forest Ribbon Trail, and she responded by spitting in her dad's face

“Not girls either. Don’t get me wrong, boys are cute, they can be hot, but… no.” “No interest in boyfriends or marriage?” Zachariah asked. “Nah,” she said.

Stronger and stronger evidence that Verona is just aromantic.

I want to add a small caveat that what she's thinking of (and repulsed by) here is a very specific traditional kind of relationship (involving kids and cohabitation), and that it's entirely possible to have relationships that don't involve these specific details. But overall she's shown zero interest in romance, and seems to feel trapped by the thought of any romantic relationship (in a way she doesn't for close platonic relationships), so I'm comfortable calling her aro.

A lot of her discomfort, aside from the specifics of 9-to-5 and kids and mundane life, reads to me as being being deeply uncomfortable with the idea of being in a relationship with someone who wanted things from her she couldn't or wouldn't reciprocate. And that trying to meet those expectations would make her resent and hurt a partner she might genuinely care about.

Notably, this doesn't show up when she thinks about platonic relationships. Even very serious ways of tying lives together, like potentially becoming Lucy's familiar, don't make her feel trapped in the way a romance does. And I think that's because she isn't worried about not being able to meet the needs of a platonic partner.

Also, for not falling into allonormativity: we've been shown zero evidence Verona is allo, and plenty of evidence she's aro. So.

It felt like Nicolette was very, very wrong.  That there was this safe road running right down the middle of things and thinking about it made Verona’s stomach cramp. She’d rather fling herself over the side of that safe path, into Otherdom or hardline practice.

also, part of the reason she's eager to disengage from mundane society is to get away from what she sees as the inevitability of traditional romantic relationships. Adding "meeting adult aromantics/people happily single" to the list of things Verona needs, right after getting out of her dad's house.

Except without the marriage, like she’d just told Zach.  Unless it was purely for show and periodic nights together as the mood struck, with them each having their own space in a manor or whatever.  That would actually be kinda ideal.

that honestly seems pretty arrangeable. Though I guess most practitioner families would want kids out of the deal.

It would require some brutal amputation somewhere down the line, but she couldn’t make the mistakes Alexander had. If she went down the more serious, more ambitious practitioner path, then she couldn’t go all the way down that road. If she became Other, she’d need to do the same.  Maybe less surgery, since the surgery would be on herself.

Not thrilled about this new alternative path to becoming an Other. Serious practice, sure, but I'm not a fan of the ambitious practitioner route

mostly it was Verona struggling to figure it all out and reality would shout ‘Wrong!’.

being a teenager sucks

“My mom had him etch it, so it’s silent, so he doesn’t make such a racket in his workshop area.”

yeesh Zachariah was not kidding about his family being small-scale

“The meeting with Alexander, and Mari, I’m trying to connect the thought- oh,” Lucy said.

don't worry, I'm not getting it either. Maybe the thing about weaving your own style into a contract?

Verona could have kicked herself.  She hadn’t been building enough.  Hadn’t been taking steps.  Instead, she’d been leaning back, watching, looking for the right fit. And Lucy had been taking steps to build herself up, picking her implement, and Avery was giving herself gold checkmarks and going off on an expedition with Jessica.

... I want to make all the girls read each other's point of views until they stop with the self-esteem problems

Verona laughed in response.  This was why she’d needed to have her emotional balance, and be situated at a fake ‘neutral’.  To be able to laugh. The entire room fell silent. Conversations in the background stopped. Even Lucy looked a little startled. All eyes now on Verona. Laughing so soon after Alexander’s death.

Sort of the same stance as America, being weird enough about the death that it makes them less suspicious by not trying to seem unsuspicious?

"We can’t tell you stuff if you’re going to use it against us.” We can’t tell you stuff even if you won’t, but that’s at least easier.

love the strategy of being so outraged about being questioned (despite being guilty) that the actual questioning gets derailed

“Yes,” Lucy said.  “My new implement lets me hear things.  I heard what you and the other apprentices talked about as a group.  Interviews.”

oh clever answer. Using a legitimate reason to know more to hide the illegitimate reason. I have a feeling Ray is going to follow up on this more though.

“That’s the tone of discussion I was saying may burn bridges,” Raymond said, quiet. “A man died and you’re laughing.”

in the same way that Lucy responds to stress by getting more assertive, Verona responds by getting more flippant and offputting (affectionate). It looks a bit suspicious here, but I think she may have shown enough of a pattern of behveior that she can get away with it (much like the Tedds can)

“Just… he made plans to talk to Fernanda’s family, but Fernanda talked about that, too. He, um, he was plotting, rallying the troops, sort of. Talking to some mercenary types through America’s dad, um, he was serious about that revenge plot. I heard only snippets, so there was more I missed or only got fragments of.”

oh nice, she's slipping in things she heard Alexander say in person before he died and implying she overheard them just now from other students (bolded is heard from him)

“I don’t know what Avery knows, I assume it’s not much more than us, unless Zed or Brie or Jessica have said something.” “What about you two here?” “I only really know what Lucy passed on, what she overheard and observed,” Verona said.

good, getting cover for the other two to not have to answer questions in depth again

“This feels like it’s running against everything my parents tried to instill in me when I was young,” Lucy said.  “Talking to authorities and all.  Not having a representative.”

I don't think practitioners believe in Miranda rights

“I’m sorry.  I respect you more than most here, I appreciate you turning things around, but I can’t forget day one.  It wounded me.  You wronged me.  I have to account for the fact that you could do it again.” “Even with me looking out?” Nicolette asked. “Yeah,” Lucy said. “Sorry, I am, but… always.”

this is partly a distraction technique, but I think Lucy is being entirely honest here :(

“To answer your question, what else I know, yeah, what Verona said is right,” Lucy finished

and there's a non-answer! Verona's said a lot of things in this conversation. Also, what Verona said in answer to this specifically was that she only knew what Lucy had seen and heard, which is of course true for Lucy as well

Eyes like black windows with pale, shrouded figures within. White-wrapped heads and bodies with vague, distorted black shapes of unevenly-sized eyes and mouths all grouped in the middle of the eye, like a family or something staring through a window.

Is Verona seeing the spirits that found Nicolette a hallow? Her sight does seem more tuned to spirits and Others than most people's

Verona, despite herself, despite sense, sanity, and reason, laughed, interrupting him.

and there's the breakdown. At least it seems like it might be useful in deflecting questioning

"You ask me my feelings on him? I kinda liked the guy! I know my friends didn’t like or adore him but I thought he was sorta cool sometimes! Now he’s gone? And I can’t ever chill and talk practice with him? That sucks!"

I think Verona is the only one of the girls who could answer the question this way, because her interest in the practice emotionally outweighs issues of morality or justice

The tone that resulted was… pretty much the opposite of the strong image that Lucy and them had been trying to convey, before.  The ‘don’t mess with us’ image.

but I think it's a more approachable image. Maybe people will be less scared of your apparent ability to casually use deadly force if they see that you didn't want it to happen, it ecalated beyong your contorl and you're messed up about it

Venting emotion like a little bitch, like her dad.

so Verona may have some issues around toughness

“I didn’t want this, either. I didn’t do it, I didn’t ask for it. Avery didn’t either, for that matter."

Ah that lovely fact that John isn't acting on their instructions, he's just an ally

Wet snow splooged out in every direction from the circle’s edge, along with mournful wails and stuff.

lovely word choice here

Even being outside like this, waiting for Avery, it felt very exposed, and she felt a bit humiliated.

I strongly relate to feeling like having strong emotions, particularly a breakdown, in public is humiliating. I know it shouldn't be, and I don't judge other people for it, but hate hate hate if it happens to me

“Three times, a startling laugh. Taking control of the conversation by stamping it with your Self. Making it yours. But the tears were real. The words were real and unfiltered. And they didn’t finish questioning you.”

oh! I remembered that that was Maricica's advice, but didn't connect it to Verona's laughing. To be fair to me, I started this chapter last evening and read the interrogation this morning.

“Happy outcome, at least. Showing weakness, it got most of your enemies to back off. Most."

pretty much what I was hoping

[thewholecrew]

@headstrongblake said: what were you like as a child? / kass & nick

kassy looked up at nick, hands pausing on the christmas wreath she was making when he asked that question. they had been briefly speaking about holiday traditions and while she could understand the question she wasn't so sure how she wanted to answer it. with a kiss of her tongue making a tsk noise, she shrugged, continuing her craft. "what do you think i was like?" she asked with a quirked brow and small smirk as she glanced sideways at him. she plucked the pine needle branch he was holding for her from him as she tried to weave it the way trinity had shown her. "troublemaker or angel?" she bat her lashes at him before chuckling despite the distance that grew in her eyes.

"no, my sister was the angel, poor sierra is still trying to win over our parents affection." she shook her head, she had given up on that so long ago she sometimes felt like an orphan and it was something that her sister always argued against, what created the distance between them. there had only ever been one family that had made her feel like she supposed she should; loved, cherrished, noticed and enough. "did i tell you i moved here when i was around 7 or 8?" she doubted it, she didn't tell many about her life if she could help it. "i lived in new mexico when i was little and..." her nose scrunched and she took in a little breath. it was hard to talk about her childhood, not as if anything truly traumatic ever happened but it felt like a muscle she rarely stretched. however, nicklas had shared far more about his own life than she thought he ever wanted or needed to so, she continued.

"after we lost my little brother i mean, it was pretty much downhill from there with my parents, they let that grief destroy them." and in turn had completely neglected their other children. "they were in and out of the hospital a lot before he passed and well, during that time this lovely woman would babysit me." her eyes shined at the memory, exhaling a quiet sigh before adding the bows to the wreath. she didn't look at nick while she spoke, delicate fingers working the red bobbles into it as well. "her son went to preschool with me, we were practically best friends," a small, sad smile touched her lips before glancing at nick, "don't tell o," she teased before continuing with a shrug. "anyways, she babysat me and well, was probably the closest thing i've ever known to a real mom," she rolled her eyes at what she was even confessing.

"the whole family was.. was lovely," she admitted, "but her son was a terrible influence on me," kassy then added with a smirk and laugh. she had truly adored sebastian, had adored that time in her life even if it had been the saddest for her parents. his parents had always looked after her and she wondered what her life could have looked like now if she hadn't moved away. "but a few years later we moved here," she shrugged. "i wouldn't say i was the most rebellious kid. still did well in school, kept to my art, bit of a loner if you can believe it..." but she had been lonely. so terribly lonely in a way she wasn't sure she could ever explain, a feeling even to this day she still carried around. "you told me once that you were glad octavia found me, not sure where or who she would be..." she then pivoted before giving another small shrug. "i'm not quite sure where i'd be without her either. without all of you," she then added, glancing up with the slightest hint of vulnerability in her dark gaze.

[nonhoration]

Re: the last post the Kassandra reveal is one of THE funniest moments in Valhalla for me because of the setup, especially if you play it later in the game. Like yeah we the player know it's Kass and are chomping at the bit to see her lol but from Eivor's pov this is such a wild situation.

Like okay you are told by your village's seer that a woman who is at the very least a very close friend (potentially your love interest) is causing a plague of nightmares on the Isle of Skye - which would be impressive considering that she hardly ever goes outside - and that once you go there to confront her the two of you will "part ways forever." Which is like, okay, are you going to kill her? Exile her? Is she going to suddenly accuse you of killing someone you've never met and get uploaded into an alien computer indefinitely after stabbing you in the stomach? (Depending on how far you are in the game all of these are real things that may have happened to some of your allies.)

And you get there and see the absolute horrors these people are experiencing, and hear them cursing the "warrior woman with the braid" (Randvi has a braid, you say absurdly as if this is a rare hairstyle that you don't also have) and you know that prophecy or no, you have to stop this no matter what.

And then you get to the graveyard and you see her from the side and it's like oh you are about to learn some information that you really don't want to know about Randvi. You yell her name and she looks up and... it's just some random person that you've never seen before. Lex-luthor-unmasks-the-flash.jpg "I have no idea who this guy is" ass situation. Eivor experiencing shrimp emotions. It makes me cry laughing whenever I think about it.