#Saria's turn up

[haxorus612]

actually i'm going to list it here too sdlkfjsd

How i would personally "fix" the arknights "meta" *meta defined here as operators whose kits i personally find unbalanced or too powerful in a way that's unhealthy for the game. i will give no opinion on operators who are strong but i like sdklfjs

Eyjafjalla: she just does the entire job of splash casters while half the cost, either with her s2 or s3. unfortunately, that is also her entire identity as a unit. the real solution wouldn't be to change eyja, it'd be to make splash casters stronger as an archetype. barring that: s3: instead of hitting up to 6 enemies, it only hits 1 enemy at random, but it also deals a bit of splash damage, (1/2 or less) like her s2. to compensate for reducing dps by approximately 83%, the sp cost should be lowered and the duration increased to put it on equal footing with more modern skills. typhon deals >120k with her s3 at a 40 sp cost...

Silverash: he just does (did) way too much damage with his s3. like, did you watch how everyone dropped him nearly immediately after ch'alter's release? what about mlynar? he has more things he can do, technically, but the damage was always the main draw. take it away and those other niches become more interesting s3: halve the attack buff and drop the defense reduction. ideally, it would turn entirely into a support skill: instead of dealing huge damage himself, he'd apply a small fragile against all enemies that he's hit, then a much larger fragile to all invisible enemies within range. i'd even make it explicitly not buff his own damage

Thorns: same as silverash, except instead of just raw damage, he's just too dang convenient. range + damage + regen? the damage is the biggest draw, and the main way he stays alive: the enemies can't hurt you if they're dead. s3: does not double stats, doesn't last forever. instead, it'd be sick if it worked like blaze's module. first activation, it just gives the normal stats, second, it gives him a large defense boost, third, he gets resistance, fourth, his regen lasts even while attacking, etc etc. maybe it still does last forever, but you have to activate it 4 or 5 times first. thus killing the damage and convenience, but making him a very interesting pure laneholder

Skadi the Corrupting Heart: kills the entire bard class, and most of the medic class. her s2 combining healing, attack boost, and a defense boost is ridiculous role compression and convenience compared to the inconvenience of using sora, aak, or warfarin's comparable skills. s2: literally all you have to change is give it a limited duration. lower the SP cost a lot, give it a pretty long duration, maybe buff it a bit, and it'd still be useful.

Surtr: i've talked a lot (not here?) about how removing any piece of surtr's kit would instantly make her pretty reasonable. it's a combination of so many powerful abilities all on one skill that add together into a monster. s3: halve the attack buff, but add a stronger version of her s2's condition that deals bonus damage to singular targets. reduce target count, and raise the speed of HP loss. instead of capping at 60 seconds, 40-50 would be more reasonable. between the slow start HP drain and her invulnerability talent, she actually gets ~34 seconds with no healing support at all, which is quite good even on such a long timer. she'd still be fantastic between her res ignore and invulnerability talent, and she could still kill bosses (as long as you clear out the vicinity) she'd just be a bit harder to use.

Ch'en the Holungday: extremely boring kit. she gets ammo, the best mechanic, and all her skills do the exact same thing. if it were up to me i'd just remove her from the game sdlkfjs, or replace her with a more thematic ch'en alter. something to do with liberation and respect rather than. waterguns. ch'en defender alter that mirrors hoshiguma, ch'en caster or medic that forces her to really approach fighting from a different angle. as it stands though, fixing her is stupid easy s3: remove "attacks deal two hits". also, lower the ammo and ammo consumption respectively. she'd still be a monster, true AOE crowd control + defense ignore + massive damage is a great combination, but that sheer damage is the reason people build her.

Młynar: i fucking hate this guy so much. great character. he's an excellent shithead foil to nearl's impossible heroics, but as a kit he's atrocious. he outclasses his own skills for no reason. there are 3 skill slots, but for some reason the 3rd skill always gets a dozen extra lines s3: literally just remove the line "increase trait effect to 2x" and it's fine. very, very strong, but much more fine. personally, i would also change his extra damage from true to arts to be more consistent with tequila. no i do not think the thematic synergy with nearlter is worth it. she shouldn't have true damage either. blemishine made do with arts damage and you can too.

Texas the Omertosa: in contrast, an interesting and cool kit that you can really tell they tried to balance. her s2 isn't totally outclassed by her s3, they both have different, interesting roles to play. the numbers are also deceptively small. i would suggest only removing her "texas tradition" talent. it's just so impossibly versatile. you can use it as a bomb by dropping her on a weak enemy next to a strong enemy, you can nearly double her skill timer by dropping her on an elite while another important enemy is walking into range, you can even use it as a pseudo-revive. she'd still be absolutely busted without it, but you'd need to play a little more carefully.

Kirin R Yato: honestly i don't think she's that bad. i know she's like, busted, but she's got plenty of weaknesses. if i was going to nerf her, though? s2: lower the attack buff from 150% to 120%. when the skill level is less than 7, it reduces her attack instead of increasing it. s3: lower the attack buff a little. the amount of enemies that it's stupid strong against is so low that it isn't a huge problem.

Typhon: the fact that her kit has a lot of self-nerfing features is a really good sign. she's still very strong, but there's enough situations where she sucks that you can't throw her into every team composition. s3: increase SP cost. ammo + low SP cost is unreasonably versatile. give us one or another trade-off, please

Myrtle: look, it's kind of their fault. vanguards are barely necessary in the game modes that all but force you to use them. she's "strong", but only because vanguards are a weird bit of half-baked game design. to fix vanguards, you need to rebalance the entire game. let me propose two off-the-cuff solutions - make natural DP gen go down instead of up, you lose the map/lose HP seals if it hits zero. vanguards can be deployed for free (limited # of times?), generate passive DP and also generate heaps more DP. - DP does not generate naturally without a vanguard on the field, once they all die or leave the field it resets to zero. vanguards don't cost deployment limit, and can be repositioned for "free" once or twice per deployment. both of these add severe punishments for not having and not protecting your vanguards, which would fix the problem, but make the game way less fun. honestly, i think it's fine the way it is. i mostly use vanguards to open on certain maps before the enemies have time to move, therefore making it less "you need vanguards to play" and more "you can use vanguards to do very specific strategies"

anyway here are some of my meta thoughts. if you work for hypergryph just leave this on the CEO's desk and i'm sure they'll all be implemented by tomorrow. tysm.

[procedurebybyte]

icebreaker games has been fun bc all my partners have been rolling up with the mlynars and the mueleyses and the eyjalters and the texalters and i have been without fail bringing my leonhardt every single time

[maple-the-awesome]

He Becomes a Dad! || Part 1/2

PART 2

Pairing: Time, Four, Legend, Hyrule x Reader

Overview: Congratulations, you're new parents 🎉 Some of the Links are prepared. Others...might need a moment to gather themselves. But rest assured! At the end of the day, they're all going to get a handle on this whole dad thing. I'm a sucker for family tropes and there simply aren't enough out there for the Chain to quench my thirst, so here it is, I'm adding my contribution👍 Btw, there will be only two parts for this prompt since Wind will be excluded for obvious reasons. Baby making isn't a platonic activity🤷‍♀️

Zelda Masterlist 🩵Fandom Masterlist

You only brought the topic of children up to your husband once. It was at some point during the early half of your marriage and after a particularly lengthy day of enduring Malon’s well-meant pestering. Time, beside being caught slightly off guard, delivered a straightforward answer:

“It wouldn’t feel right bringing kids into this world, especially when I would hardly be home to help you rear them.”

Now, you can’t lie and say you weren’t at all disappointed by this answer, although you wouldn’t say you had the rug completely pulled from beneath you. You understood the true implications behind Time’s statement right away. It’s the same reason he took so long to let himself marry you. It’s not you nor a disgust towards children, but rather an unspoken fear of building a life where he’s too happy - one that could be ripped away from him at a moment’s notice as has seemed to be the case for his younger years.

Although his worries are needless, you never pushed against his boundaries because you could at least see the sense in his argument. Sure, the idea of having children did always appeal to you deep down, however between Time’s constant traveling and your hard work helping at Lon Lon Ranch, it would be difficult to squeeze a family into the schedule. There was no sense in forcing him into a commitment he wasn’t ready for nor one you weren’t in a  position to properly foster.

Twelve years of blissful marriage passed before your plans changed. The blame lies with those other heroes, too. One would think traveling alongside a group of unruly young boys would’ve made someone more certain of their decision to never again subject themselves to such a headache, yet it apparently had the opposite effect on your dear husband.

Discovering first hand how much pride he could feel towards a descendant was life-altering, to put it light. Twilight was living proof that somewhere along the line, Time does something right. Whatever kids he might have will grow up to have children of their own and so on…Not to mention Twilight isn’t a terrible outcome by any means. To raise someone with the possibility of them turning out like him and to do so with you of all people? Well, needless to say, it was settled rather quickly after that: Time wanted kids.

Call it baby-fever if you will, but he was suddenly rather eager about the concept he had once avoided like the plague. He brought it up through not-so-subtly hints at first, then when you outright asked him if he was being serious, he went on a slightly nervous spew about your home being too quiet and how he could officially retire from traveling to be home more and it’s really a shame that you have an extra bedroom just sitting around - You just had to kiss him to shut him up which eventually led to…other things. Let’s just say you both got started right away.

It took you twelve years to realize you did indeed want kids yet less than a year to actually be holding them for the first time. It turns out even the universe was impatiently waiting for you both to come to your senses, so once you finally had, it decided to award you with not one, but two beautiful girls whom you affectionately named Saria after Time’s old friend and Mallory, a mix between melody and Malon, their ever-so-excited godmother.  

It’s safe to say that the twins are pretty spoiled. Malon has been over almost everyday, bringing you plenty of baked goods as a bribe to let her spend more time with her favorite goddaughters and you have practically every baby related item that you could need, courtesy of the Queen of Hyrule herself, but of course, it’s their parents who love them the most.

Never in his wildest dreams did Time think it would be possible to feel so at peace with the life he’s built. For so many years, he feared true happiness was impossible - that every turn would result in the same cruel fate he had been subjected to during most of his existence - and yet for the last couple of nights, he’s held it in his arms. He’s watched the moon rise outside his window while playing soft lullabies on his ocarina, you cuddled by his side with your daughters shared between you both. You wear a small smile even in sleep and he swears the girls match it, too; he definitely does himself…This is a priceless treasure he’ll give his life to protect.

Four and you had already been married for a few years by the time you found out you’re pregnant. It’s not to say you were actively planning for it, although you also weren’t actively trying not to either. 

It had been agreed upon early in your relationship that kids would be nice should they come your way, therefore you were both equally excited that your wishes were finally being granted, so much so that the nursery was finished within the first month (courtesy of your handy husband). It’s painted in beautiful pastels that are easy on the eyes and decorated with many toys Four had hand-carved himself; a useful craft he’s now very appreciative towards Sky for teaching him.

Seeing as this was already a somewhat anticipated next step in your lives, Four’s pretty relaxed throughout the process despite its many challenges. For starters, pregnancy itself unfortunately isn't as much of a 'blessing' for you as some have made it sound. You’re rather sick from beginning to end. If it isn't your inability to keep food down (especially in the early stages) or your fluctuating blood pressure, then it’s the aching you constantly feel thanks to both your very heavy bump and extremely active baby who just loves to make sure you never forgot about their existence by kicking you as hard as possible day and night. 

Worry not. Four has made your struggles more bearable by being a darling husband through and through. He’s by your side during each doctor’s visit, does his own personal research on all things baby-related, and helps with every chore he can to give you at least some rest even if just for a quick nap, however most spectacularly, he does all of this without ever being too overbearing. 

Although certainly concerned for your health, Four can recognize your strength any day of the week, especially when you've been rolling with the punches like a warrior queen during such a draining pregnancy. Anxious, sure, but not afraid. Why would he be? He’s confident that you’re both prepared to face anything together! …That is, until you actually went into labor…

Yeah, remember that previously mentioned, relaxed and darling husband? Forget about him. Your water broke and so did Four's calm demeanor, but can he really be blamed? You went into labor early - and not just by a couple of days either. Oh no, we're talking a couple of weeks early. 

Regardless of his newfound fear, Four does his utmost best to still present himself as calm and collected in front of you, not wanting to freak you out any more than you’re already freaking out yourself. He first helped you lay down with plenty of pillows and cushions before running to get help. After that, he doesn’t leave your side, encouraging you throughout the process with a smile on his face, however don’t be fooled: the second you turn your head to the midwife’s voice or close your eyes to scream, your poor husband’s face reflects his inner thoughts as the situation fully begins to sink in. 'Scared shitless' - that's a good word to describe it; eyes wide in terror with a mouth that’s hung agape and slightly twisted in pain as your nails clawed into his hand.

As said, he never leaves your side - not even for a millisecond. You don’t have to worry about him being the type of guy to get grossed out by natural fluids or complain about your expressions of pain; none of that is remotely a concern of his. He’s just grateful to see you okay and even more so to hear his baby crying as they should.

A girl; small like her daddy, but healthy all things considered. Four couldn't wait to hold her, knowing damn well he was going to cry the second her soft skin touched his, but he isn’t ashamed of it in the slightest. Who wouldn’t cry holding something so precious?

Then you scream again. He thinks something must be wrong until the midwife announces that it isn’t over - that there are more squeezed in there waiting.

At the end of the day, you're just relieved to finally breathe easy without going through agonizing pain while Four, on the other hand, is left in shock staring at not one, not two, but three little babies, all healthy girls who wiggle and whimper in their parents' arms, but oh well. The nursery may have to be expanded, although there's plenty of love to go around. At least he can thank Hylia that it wasn’t quads (he's had enough of those).

Legend and you have been in a relationship for several years, although you had mutually agreed earlier on that neither of you were big fans of the whole 'marriage' thing. What difference would a ceremony and piece of paper make, anyway? You already act as any officially married couple would. You live together, go on dates, occasionally argue, and even share a bed which is exactly what resulted in a recent, unplanned detour in your lives: a baby.

When you first told Legend the news, he panicked, asking himself all those stupid questions like ‘what now’ and ‘how could this have happened’ even though he knew damn well how. Then he left. Giving some half-assed excuse about needing fresh air, he turned his back to you despite your pleas and didn’t return for hours. 

Now, rest assured, he did immediately regret having that reaction and apologized for it as soon as he came home. He didn’t mean to scare you with the thought of abandonment, but as he would quietly confess during his apology, the thought of being a parent had just been too overwhelming in the moment. Neither of you had ever talked about having kids, and while he could at least have some peace of mind knowing you’ll obviously be a great mom, he fears that the same won’t be applied to him.

You have always been the light in a dim room, as Legend would put it. You’re fun, sweet, and amazing with kids. Any child of yours, planned or not, will love you with all of their heart exactly as he does. Meanwhile he’s stubborn, cranky, and the last kid to cross his path literally started sobbing. Maybe it had to do with him being covered in monster blood after just having crawled out of a dungeon but he’s pretty sure he traumatized a kid nonetheless…The thought of being just as bad around any kid you share together scares the crap out of him.

Deep, deep down, Legend’s actually somewhat excited to be a father. Although he’s too stubborn to admit it to anyone other than you, he’ll sometimes daydream about how nice it would be to tell a little replica of you both about all his adventures or to teach them how to use some of the items he’s collected over the years like his trusty boomerang. Seeing the excitement in their eyes would definitely be worth listening to you scold him afterwards. If that’s all there was to being a father, Legend wouldn’t have a single concern, yet it’s his insecurities that always have a habit of souring things. Would his kid actually find his stories cool or would they just be tempted to throw the boomerang right at his head?

You’ve done your best to reassure him, often falling back on the argument that the baby will be a part of him. Like father, like son, right? Legend was almost ready to believe you, too, especially upon laying eyes on his child for the first time. As you passed the tiny bundle over to him, he thought that maybe being a dad wasn’t going to be that scary after all, and it might not be so bad to even have more someday either…However, his worries were quick to return when the baby started screaming two seconds after being set into his arms…

Baby screams if he holds him. Baby whimpers if he looks at him for too long. Sometimes, Legend swears the thing starts crying simply by hearing his voice in another room. It doesn’t happen with anyone else, though. The baby just adores you as predicted, but what Legend can’t stand is the fact that the baby seems to like Ravio, of all annoyances, over his own dad.

He’s forced to watch as the little brat happily lets Ravio cradle him, the sight filling him with bitter jealousy and sorrow. You’re convinced that he’s just overthinking everything - that he should give himself time to adjust to his new position as a father instead of holding himself to unrealistic standards, but how long is he exactly supposed to wait until it clicks? It’s been a whole month already and he still feels as confused as day one! Will he ever get the hang of this whole dad-thing or is he a lost cause…?

If there’s any comfort Legend can have, it’s that even Ravio doesn’t know what to do with the baby once he starts crying, so at least he’s not alone in that aspect. The only problem is you’re busy making lunch and stubbornly refuse to pause your efforts. Instead, you shove a bottle over to Legend, insisting that he be the one to feed his son since it should be a ‘good bonding exercise’ for them. You won’t take ‘no’ for an answer and judging on your glare when he tries to protest, you probably wouldn’t be happy if he tries passing the task onto Ravio either.

Thus, Legend is left to awkwardly sit down and take the baby into his arms. He already knows it’s obvious he has no idea what he’s doing, Ravio doesn’t have to point it out, but luckily after some swift around, he manages to hold his son more securely against his chest before shoving the bottle in his face. The baby continues to fuss while turning his head away from the bottle, and Legend’s almost tempted to call for you in defeat until at last, the room falls silent.

Looking down, he watches in quiet awe as his son accepts his meal eagerly. His little hands quickly rise up, gripping onto Legend’s which holds the bottle in place. They’re so tiny; barely able to wrap around a single finger - Oh, and his eyes as well! They’re wide as he stares up at his dad with unbroken eye contact. It’s like a wordless conversation - one more valuable than any he’s heard before.

You return, offering to take your son now that your work is done, but Legend is quick to shake his head. Why don’t you take a well-deserved break while he handles this little troublemaker? It would be a shame to bother him when he looks so comfortable in daddy’s arms.

You've been dating Hyrule for longer than either of you can really remember, however you aren’t in any big rush to get married, figuring that it would make no real difference in your commitment to each other. You love Hyrule and he loves you. What more is there to say? For a while there, you were both perfectly satisfied with simply taking things slow and letting fate decide your course, although more recently you’ve had to switch up that method to something more stable for the baby. Yes, a baby.

You wouldn’t necessarily call it a surprise, but you also can’t truthfully say it was planned either. You had agreed that kids might be nice if the goddesses ever blessed you with any in the future, however you weren’t exactly trying for them…You just weren’t being very careful…

Hyrule must admit he was rather nervous at the start. The only prior experience he really had around kids was with Wind, but there’s a pretty big difference between a young teen and newborn. Pair that with his not so ‘kid-friendly’ world and there’s plenty to worry over. Anything could happen, but Hyrule’s determined to be the best dad and partner he can.

First thing was first, of course: you needed a place to stay. Traveling is fun and you both enjoy being on the move, but that’s no life for a baby. Hyrule and you had actually already considered the idea of settling down someplace before, so you didn’t think of it as a massive loss to take off your adventure boots for a while. If anything, it was a welcomed change once you remembered how lovely it is to be able to kick your feet up for a rest or be surrounded by warmth during a terrible rainstorm.

Again, Hyrule takes his job as your partner very seriously which wasn’t ever a surprise to you. He found a small house for you both to rent in one of the safer villages around; a perfect place for raising a child. While he might not have a talent for decorating or making a place feel ‘homey’, he does thrive when it comes to making sure you’re comfortable, his spare rupees definitely going to fluffy wool blankets and a rickety rocking chair that he saw at a market.

Early on in the pregnancy, you noticed that your boyfriend also began showing a new found determination for cooking which did scare you a bit at first - Okay, so maybe a lot. Hyrule began taking cooking lessons from some kind elderly ladies in town who must have an endless pool of patience because while you can’t say every dish is a masterpiece (or even editable for that matter), you are happy to say Hyrule can now make things like toast and tomato soup successfully. It’s progress.

There aren’t a ton of doctors in your time and none in your village, so you have to take a lot of notes from local women regarding the process. Hearing all their stories and the possible ‘what if’s for what could go wrong made you anxious, especially once you finally go into labor, but it doesn’t faze Hyrule - not on the outside, anyway. He does an excellent job of swallowing his own fears for your peace of mind, talking you through each painful contraction and doing his best to distract you from it all until it comes time to start pushing.

Some people may get squeamish at the thought of childbirth, however Hyrule isn’t one of them. He’s fought through some terrifying dungeons and has bore witness to more than a few gory injuries over the years, so bodily fluids don’t bother him one bit. He’s kneeled down right in front of you without a second’s hesitation, multitasking between mentally reviewing what he’s been told to do and reassuring you even though he’s sure you don’t hear a word of it over your own screams.

One minute Hyrule’s encouraging you to keep pushing, the next he’s holding a small, crying baby in his arms. His movements after that feel almost automatic as he carefully cleans her off and just admires the fact that this baby - this tiny, precious gift of life is his. She’s yours and his and she’s beautiful despite having come into existence within such a broken world filled with more hardships than he could count…

Your tired voice brings him back to reality - asking if the baby you hear crying is okay. You clearly feel the same thing Hyrule does upon seeing your daughter for the first time, the two of you sitting side-by-side as you soak in this wonderful emotion. Hope...That’s what she represents. Hope for a brighter future...

[cerastes]

What's your take on MumuDoc in Lonetrail?

Muelsyse in Lone Trail felt, in many ways, like seeing someone diving in a pool, and at first, you're not alarmed. They know how to swim. You don't really think much of it. But then a minute passes, and they are still underwater. Concern sinks in, and you make your way to the pool, and as you're about to jump in, their head surfaces, they are back up. They cough, they tough it out, and are a bit nervous about diving again, but you're going in the pool with them now, and they feel more at ease.

Take this, intensify it a hundredfold, stretch it a hundredfold, and scrutinize it a hundredfold, and you end up with Muelsyse, in her barest form, like a diamond born from a chunk of charcoal that had too much pressure put on it.

I can see Muelsyse's dynamic with Doctor being romantic. I can see Muelsyse's dynamic with Doctor not being romantic. Both are fine interpretations, if you ask me, I mean, her theme song is very much a love song, and at the same time, she feels desperate to find anyone who can just... Empathize in even the slightest of ways to her. Either read is fine, outright discounting either feels a tad disingenuous.

Alienation. Complete and utter alienation, an edge sharper and more injurious than isolation. This is, if you ask me, the main theme surrounding the Rhine Lab arc and cast.

Saria is alienated. She cannot find common ground with anyone else around her for the longest time. She used to have a shared dream with Kristen, but that bridge has burned and frozen and turned to ash all over. Kristen is alienated. She simply cannot see a point to anything except that obsessive doggedly persistent dream of hers, and it has been weighted more important than her humanity. Joyce is alienated. Forever a partial prisoner in her own head, there are few and far between that will ever put up with the unique intricacies of having to deal with someone that talks like her, has sudden Oripathy attacks like her, and falls asleep on the spot seemingly at random like her, fully cognizant of how high maintenance she can be on others. Ho'olheyak is alienated. On borrowed time, without kin or friend to call her own, living for a transcending mission far bigger than her and so, so small in the overarching beats of a world that can't be bothered to stop for her. Silence. Ifrit. Dorothy. Tin Man. I could go on. Alienated, all of them. Not isolated, because isolation would imply the lack of physical company. This is far colder, far darker. It's alienation. It's seeing the other side of the cliff, and no possibility of a bridge to connect it to your end of the cliff. Isolation stings, it's a pain you know is there. Alienation drowns, because you can see the surface, but you are convinced you'll never make it there, and it's a hundredfold worse.

Muelsyse is no different. Muelsyse is alienated, and goodness she has tried and tried and tried, she swims so, so hard to reach the surface, but she can't reach it. Being in Rhine Labs necessarily means you need to resort to some cutthroat cloak and dagger, it becomes routine, all for an ultimate goal, but is that ultimate goal even possible? With every step taken by Muelsyse, it seems two new steps materialized at the end of the staircase. Everyone she's met, for years now, has either been someone looking to use her, or someone she can use for her own advantage. Usually simultaneously. And it's in this context, when the 9 to 5 becomes tricking, blackmailing, snuffing and silencing that by chance, she comes across someone, possibly the sole person, that can actually understand the sheer weight on her shoulders: Doctor, someone who doesn't own their own past, but is shackled by it, someone who has no one to relate to, someone surrounded by sufficiently similar but ultimately infinitely different people to themselves, someone who by all means should be drowning in the same pool as her, but somehow, this person reached the surface. It's very easy to see why she'd become so utterly fascinated by this person, who shares many similarities with her, and yet, who seemingly has it so good, has it so sweet. It could have easily been jealousy, but end of the day, Muelsyse IS a sweet person. Yeah, she plays it up, always so cheerful and whimsical, but end of the day, Muelsyse is playing up something that is already there in the first place. Instead of jealousy, it brought her happiness, because maybe, just maybe, she could enjoy a bit of that je ne sais quoi that Doctor seems to have in spades and she is completely bankrupt of.

The first interactions between Muelsyse and Doctor are telling of this overwhelming rush of emotion: Muelsyse less talks with Doctor and more talks at them. She vomits words, emotion, whimsy, as if trying to put these emotions into words and actions after so long, emotions that was ready to never need to put into words in the first place. It eventually becomes a dialogue between two parties, but Muelsyse's interactions with Doctor are initially extremely one-sided, and they remain one-sided to some degree even moving forward. It was heartwrenching to me, honestly, to see the sheer joy Muelsyse radiated while around Doctor, because that is an almost manic amount of joy simply from possibly finding someone that gets it. Muelsyse has not had a bridge in so, so long, and suddenly, the finds someone that not only resembles her a lot, but also seems to have bridges in spades. Muelsyse and Doctor's dynamic should never be considered in a vacuum just between the two of them: One of the first things Muelsyse saw with her own eyes was that Doctor had a pretty friendly relationship, mutual respect included, with Saria. That, is immediately very telling of Doctor, given that Muelsyse understands exactly how difficult that is. We also know Muelsyse sneaks around Rhodes Island and chats with Ifrit now and then, and Ifrit also expressly has a very high opinion of Doctor. It simply makes sense that Muelsyse would feel as enthusiastic about her Dorothy's Vision brush with Doc, and all that Lone Trail entailed: It's terribly sad, because they don't even know each other, and even then, it's the shiniest ray of hope for herself that Muelsyse has had the chance to bask in: Doctor's essence, Doctor's existence, in and of itself, is a massive beacon of hope for Muelsyse.

And it's so damn sad, that this perfect stranger is the most familiar comrade she'll ever find.

Is this romantic love? Hell, the molotov cocktail of emotions involved might as well be, either now or in potentially in the future. Is it something unhealthily dependent? Yeah... Yeah. It might just be the euphoria of knowing that she can reach the surface, after all, that bridges, too, are possible for her to have, with not underlying motive, with no ulterior motive, without needing to offer something or to extract something. To put in the most basic of terms, Doctor, to Muelsyse, might as well represent the very first person in who knows how long that she can relate to at all. It is an immensely sad emotional starvation, and she finally found something to sink her teeth onto.

This is personal, but the way Muelsyse struck me, it felt to me that when she had even the barest of handles on Doctor, she related to someone for the first time in forever, and it shook her to her very core. It may have been the first time she saw, in someone else, a potentially happy Muelsyse.

It's extremely bittersweet. If you've ever dealt with alienation, think back on the first time you found someone who truly "got you". Add to that the fact that her routine of interacting with people had become to see others as tools, and to always be on the lookout for those wishing to use and expend you as a tool. Then, add to that that there are definitely more Elves, but Muelsyse is so fundamentally different to them that the sheer differences in temperament and culture make it so it's impossible for her to relate to them anyway. What could be lonelier than that? It's called Lone Trail for a reason, because alienation is a main theme for all of these people.

In finding the sole person that could possibly relate to her in circumstance and temperament, it's easy to see where Muelsyse's interest in Doctor comes from. Whether you interpret it as romantic or otherwise, it can't be denied that this immensely strong interest exists. It comes from finally seeing a way to reach the surface after the world told her for decades that she simply could only drown. Because Doctor is the only other person that could understand her in being the last of their race and in having no past and maybe even no future, and yet, Doctor having so many bridges, while she has none. I think Muelsyse craves companionship, not necessarily romantic, from Doctor, and, this is important, also wants to have what they have, and be part of it, of so many bridges built without ulterior motives.

[asumofwords]

Smoke, Fire and Ash

Warnings: This fic includes noncon, dubcon, manipulation, violence, death and inc3st. Tags will be added as the fic goes on.

This is a dark!fic. 18+ only. Read at your own discretion. Please read the warnings before continuing.

Summary: You are the eldest daughter of Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen. You are forced to navigate the difficult surroundings of your upbringing and the eventual disintegration between your family and the Hightower's relationship. What will happen when your older and estranged uncle suddenly takes a more sinister interest in you? (Dark!Aemond x Reader)

Masterlist

Characters: Aemond Targaryen X Reader, HOTD characters.

Note: As always, your kind messages and comments bring me so much joy, I can't even explain it in words! I am working on transferring the works to AO3 as well!

Chapter 41: Fools dreams

The Maester sewed your wound back together, though he uttered concerns that the scar would heal much larger now, and that the stitches may not assist anymore, but continued anyway on the off chance it would and at the behest of your father. 

Saria and Aella bathed you with a wet cloth, scrubbing the grime and dirt away from your skin before gently brushing your hair, pulling the tangles and knots away from your scalp before tucking you into bed to sleep.

Sleep came to you quickly and although you slept deeply, you did not dream. Even your mind was far too tired to concoct visions for you in your slumber. You drifted off into the darkness and went with it calmly.

It was your first night back home.

When you woke, your chambers were well lit with light, and the fire place still burned. You shifted in your bed before turning your head to look about the room. The large curtains at the balcony had been opened wide and the sky was bright and warm.

It would be midday.

The air beside your bed stirred and you turned your head to look.

Sat beside you was a very tired and slumped Jacaerys. His jacket was gone and his dress shirt was unbuttoned and loose. He wore no shoes and leant heavily against the back of the chair beside your bed, head in his hand. 

“Jace.”

The younger boys head shot up to look at you face alert, but once he took in your relaxed demeanour he immediately calmed. His hand came to brush his short hair back with a smooth swipe, giving you a lopsided smile.

Small, tight.

Unsure. 

“How are you feeling?” He asked gently, scooting the chair towards the bed, the feet scraping agains the stone loudly.

“Like I’ve been trampled by horses.” You joked, giving him a wry smile.

Jacaerys gave a small and sad laugh.

“You look it.”

You huffed a similar laugh as you slowly wriggled yourself up the bed, leaning heavily against the back of the bed, rubbing sleep from your eyes as you lazily looked at him.

“Is that how you treat your sister who is back from the dead?” You mocked, trying to make light of the situation but all it did was make the boy swallow thickly and look down at his lap.

You did not know what to do.

Nor how to act.

What could you do in such a situation as this? Who would ever be prepared to socialise after all you had been through? After all you had lost? And then to come home to the people who not only grieve that loss with you, but also not know how to tend to you.

You felt suddenly guilty for poking fun, and before you could apologise he looked back up at your face, before making a show of looking at your side.

“The Stranger clearly sent you back. Not even they could handle you.”

You laughed in earnest, side twinging slightly as you looked at him sadly.

“Gods, I have missed you.”

The boy sniffed.

“It has been far too quiet here without your terrible singing.”

“My singing is not terrible.” You argued.

“Oh no? Then why does no-one compliment it?”

“The people simply are not ready for such a talent.”

A quiet fell across the room as you smiled at each other, unsure how to go forward. How were you to behave or react? What was the appropriate way to grieve a loved one? One that you failed? How does one recover from such a loss? Will you ever be the same? Will Jacaerys ever be the same?

Luc and Jace had always been inseparable. As children, Luc would follow Jace around, never leaving his side unless by yours. And Jace was a fierce protector of Luc, always reassuring him and comforting the young boy should he ever need it.

Lucerys had been protecting Jace and your cousins the evening he took Aemond's eye.

How was Jacaerys supposed to move forward from this? How had he been coping? Would he ever forgive you?

“I’m sor-“ You began, though Jacaerys intercepted your apology and instead redirected the conversation elsewhere.

“Mother sat here all night watching you sleep. She had only just finally gone to rest, but only because I had to practically drag her from your chambers.”

You smiled at the thought.

“Where is Daemon?”

Jace smiled again.

“He was also here, pacing about the fireplace. I was worried he would melt holes in the stone flooring with the speed he went.”

You let out a small giggle as you looked to the fireplace, imagining your father pacing about like a madman. It was comforting to know.

“And where were you for all of this?”

“I was sleeping soundly in my room. You needn’t three mad men in your chambers whilst you slept.” He grinned.

You grinned and closed your eyes momentarily. Allowing yourself to wake up fully as you pushed yourself higher up on the bed, grunting as you went. 

That quiet was back, and it unnerved you. The sounds of the waves outside crashing on the cliffs caused a constant stream of white noise into the room.

When you opened your eyes to look at Jace, you noticed that it had unnerved him too.

“It is quiet, isn’t it?”

Jacaerys nodded.

“It’s almost unbearable.” You tried to joke, but it came out as a grimace. 

“It’s so….” You fought to find the word, “still.”

The brown haired boy nodded, looking down at his hands.

“I’m sorry.”

“We thought we lost you both.” His voice was quiet, he still didn’t look up at you.

“I thought so too.”

The tide began to surge inside you again.

“I’m so sorry, Jace. I’m so so-“

“Stop it.” His voice was kind and soft.

You stared at each others eyes wet, before his hand came to grasp yours in his, softly squeezing your hand as he looked at you.

“It's not your fault.”

You shook your head as a tear began to fall down your cheek.

“I mean it,” His hand came to brush the tear away, “We all know it too. Do not hold this unbearable weight on your shoulders. It will bury you.”

You sniffed and nodded your head before moving your legs to the side of the bed. Jace gave you a funny look. His hands move to push you back into bed, but you shook your head.

“I want to be with you all.”

“All the Lords and Ladies are at the Painted Table. I think you should rest.”

You shook your head again and stood.

“No. I will rest when this is over." You sighed, "I have had enough time to rest.”

Knowing he could not argue with you, Jace gave a small nod, before leaving your chambers to fetch your maids. The girls came and dressed you, braiding your hair back tightly against your skull before you moved to exit your chambers.

When the doors opened your eyes met those of your Knight, Ser Darke. 

He bowed deeply, “Princess. It is good to see you.”

Your hand came to touch his shoulder plate as you gave him a warm smile.

“And you, Ser Darke. Come.” You nodded your head away as he gave you a puzzling look.

“Princess, You should be resting. I was told to ensure your rest.”

“The Greens do not rest, so nor shall I.” You stopped and looked back at the man who still stood at your chamber doors looking at you with uncertainty. 

“Come.” You commanded, and so he did.

Your Knight walked you through the halls, maids and servants bowing their heads as you passed and guards stiffening in respect. Ser Darke arrived to the Painted Table before you, walking down the stairs as he announced your arrival.

“Princess Y/n Velaryon, eldest daughter of Queen Rhaenyra, First of Her Name.”

A hush fell over the room as you walked slowly down the stairs, head held high. Your mothers eyes carefully watching you with uncertainty, whilst Daemon stood up the back proud, chin high and back straight, small smirk on his face. 

All bowed their head to you as you walked to the table, small uttering of “Princess” as you passed. The table was lined with the usual allies, and you made your way to stand beside your mother. 

Baela and Rhaena beamed at you softly and you smiled back nodding, you would reunite with them later. Rhaenys stood off to the side behind the girls, not quite at the table, but not far away either.

It seemed that she still had no taste for starting a war, but it had already been started.The Queen Who Never Was gave you a proud nod before looking back at the table.

Your mother watched you as she fought back the urge to tell you to rest. You pulled your hands behind your back as you stood and looked about the room. Although the same men were present, the air had changed.

Your mother no longer stood cautiously to the edge watching, instead stiff and strong by the side of the table.

War was here.

The Noble Men all stared at you, unsure of how to proceed after your entrance.

“Please, do not let me distract you.” You waved a hand around the table, “Carry on.”

And so they did.

“We have word from the Blackwoods that the Brackens have sided with the Greens. There have been small rebellions in the Riverlands, and whispers of an upcoming attack.” Lord Bartimos spoke out, continuing his updates to the table.

Queen Rhaenyra looked down at the table where the Riverlands were carved. Her silver head lifted to look at Lord Bortimos before she responded.

“Then we send a patrol to the Riverlands, stamp out the rebellion before it begins and deal with the Brackens before they attack.”

The Lord nodded before speaking again.

“Our support from the Starks and Arryns mean we have a larger force that Aegon. We could send some of the Northmen down to the Riverlands to prevent the Greens sway.”

Your mother nodded before looking to Lord Staunton, who stood still staring at you rather than the table before him.

“And what of House Tarly?”

“The Tarlys have sent a raven, declaring their support for you, Your Grace.” He confirmed.

“With The Vale of Arryn and The Eerie secured, we have a strong hold in the East and North. Is there any news from the Lannisters?”

Silence around the table, until Maester Gerardys spoke gently. 

“The Lannisters have declared Aegon as their King, Your Grace.”

Anger rippled across your mothers face. 

"Right, as was expected. Then we have no allies past the Golden Tooth. You say that we have the full support of the Blackwoods?”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Our hold in the Blackwood Vale will help us take Riverrun, which will shut off the Lannisters from most trade.” You commented, and the energy at the table shifted.

It was tense. Uneasy.

Uncertain.

You stepped towards the table, pointing your finger to the Red Fork, where the House of Blackwood had been since the First Men. 

“Though, once we do this, we should expect the Brackens to use their might. The Blackwood and Bracken Houses are ancient, and have power in the realm that should not be underestimated. The Brackens may have sway in smaller towns or settlements that we may not know of.”

Your mother nodded at you, before commanding an envoy to travel to the small settlements to keep them at bay.

“And what of the Greyjoys? Any news?”

“The Greyjoys have declared for neither you, nor Aegon, Your Grace.”

“I see. We should also expect House Martell to be of no use either.” She hummed, fingers touching the edge of the table as she looked down in thought.

“House Darklyns support allows us to have Duskendale secured. With Lord Corlys’ fleet, we may have the port there protected.”

Lord Corlys sat on a chair beside the table watching your mother, his chin was rested in his hand. The white haired man nodded and all went back to looking about the table to plan.

It was quiet as everyone thought, until Lord Bortimos' voice disturbed the still air.

“Princess Y/n, please forgive me for any offence at what I am to ask…” All eyes were on you.

You nodded warily.

“You were at the Red Keep for some time, yes?”

The tide began to rise, though you quickly squashed it.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. 

“I was.”

Your mother stiffened.

“And did you see or hear of anything whilst there? I only ask a-“

“I did not see, nor hear any plans of future attacks, or whispers from their allies.” You interrupted him.

The Rogue Prince was staring daggers at the Lord before you started again.

“In my time at the Red Keep, I was imprisoned. No-one was permitted to speak, nor talk around me, and the Dowager Queen barely spoke a word. As you can imagine, I was not invited to the council meetings.” You glared at the man, before continuing, “Though, there was a palpable tension there, Aegon and Aemond still bicker as they did when they were children, and Alicent becomes more frayed as the days go by. Helaena is no longer a threat to us, although I would argue that she never was. So we can rule her out as a Dragon Rider.”

The men nodded at the table as the Queen stared at you.

You continued.

“In my short time in Dorne, I quickly learnt that none of them see Aegon as their King… Nor you as their Queen, Your Grace. So we can definitively say that Dorne would be no threat, nor would they accept Aegon’s request. Borros Baratheon has sided with the Greens, as I am sure you are all well aware of by now, at the promise of a marriage between Aemond and one of his daughters."

You breathed a sigh.

“Thank you, Princess.” Your mother nodded, before turning to begin again.

The Lord's all seemed to be staring at you before they looked away to the table. It made you feel useless. It made you feel defeated, and angry and bitter.

They thought you had nothing to offer but losses.

“There is more.” You blurted.

Now you had their undivided attention. All waited for you to speak as you pushed down at the swell inside you, the mounting tide trying to drag you down.

“At Storm’s End, Aemond had intercepted our mission to seek allies. Borros Baratheon took great delight in this, which seemed to aggravate Aemond.” You cleared your throat. 

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

“Y/n.” Prince Daemon called to you, a subtle hint that you did not have to continue.

You blinked and started again.

“Lucerys and I took to flee, when Aemond threatened to take his eye. A fight ensued on dragonback, and Lucerys was slain. I was knocked from my dragon and fell, I do not know what happened next, except waking up in the Red Keep.”

Your mother was stiff beside you.

“Vhagar is barely controlled by Aemond, and he is more unhinged now than he has ever been before. He is dangerous. I was able to sneak into his chambers and stab him, though unfortunately,” You drawled, looking at your father whose eyes widened in delight, “I was not able to kill him, but he was injured nonetheless.” You grinned.

All waited for you to continue.

“Aegon drinks more heavily too. The Greens have their weaknesses, and they showed their hand when I was there, despite all odds. Alicent even implored that I take Aemond’s hand in marriage, to unify" You scoffed, "our families and prevent the war from escalating further, despite his proposal to the Baratheon daughter. I believe that Alicent knows they stand little chance.”

You took a breath, the tide was still.

The table was still.

And all who gazed at you were quiet.

You waited for anyone to respond. For anyone to use that information at the table, but no-one stepped forth. Could that have been useless to tell them? Had all of that been for naught?

“If Alicent is shaken, then there is reason for it.” Jacaerys stepped to the table.

“Aemond’s lack of control and Aegon’s demeanour combined will be the end of the Greens, and she must know it.”

You nodded, thankful for him stepping up.

“The Greens even treated Y/n when she was at the Red Keep, keeping her alive. Why did they not let her die?" He asked the room, "There is a reason she is here before us today, and a reason for the Greens keeping her there.”

You waited for anyone to add their thoughts, though most looked at you in pity.

You hated it. 

“Send word to the Blackwoods. Tell them that we shall be sending men to assist in keeping a stronghold from the Brackens. A small fleet is to be sent to Duskendale to patrol the water and skies. If Aemond is unpredictable, then we must be ready for anything.” Queen Rhaenyra looked at you as you spoke. 

You nodded, feeling a wave of relief spread across you. You had helped in some way.

It was not all for nothing.

“Send a raven to Lord Cregan Stark to update him with the news and return of the Princess.”

The table was then dismissed, and the Lords and men went to their duties to fulfil the Queens wishes. You and your family stayed behind, all looking at the table, waiting for one person to finally break the silence.

You didn’t want to wait.

“This is good news. The North is large and to have the Starks support is a turning point.”

Your mother softly nodded before coming to hold both of your hands.

“You should be resting.”

“I have.” You smiled.

She looked at you softly before kissing your hairline.

Daemon still stood on the end of the table staring, unsure of what to do, whilst Jacaerys was behind you. Rhaena and Baela stood to the side with Princess Rhaenys and Lord Corlys.

Rhaena caught your eye, and suddenly the tide was back.

Her posture was far too stiff as she stood to the side, and her eyes were stormy and dark. Not only had she lost her cousin, she had lost her betrothed.  Someone she had loved and grown with. Laughed and shared memories with.

Planned a future with.

“I am sorry for your loss, Rhaena.”

She looked at you sadly, before looking away. Baela held onto her hand tightly as she watched you.

“My condolences, cousin.” She uttered to you, her voice quiet, though a simmering rage beneath it.

The quiet came again and it made you shift on your feet. Why were they all looking at you like that. You felt agitation begin to boil inside of you, until suddenly Lord Corlys spoke to you.

“Only my granddaughter could escape away from the Red Keep, full of guards, surrounded by enemies, only to find her way back on a ship with not one, but two Dornish men.” He gave you a smirk.

“I must admit, the dungeon was empty when I escaped.” You gave him a small smile.

Daemon's eyes followed your every movement as you stood beside the table with your family, your knights and guards in the corners of the room.

“I can see you all have questions, but are either too polite, or too frightened to ask me in fear that I may break. I can assure you, if I was to break, I would have done so already. So I ask you to please, stop looking at me as if I am about to fall apart.” You snipped.

Jacaerys lowered his head and no-one replied which made you more mad.

“I did not survive as I have just for you all to cast me aside, thinking I am weak. Broken. Too fragile to assist.”

“Syndor is dead.” The Rogue Princes voice was sharp.

You felt another piece of you die alongside Lucerys. Your heart cracked and a broken sob almost worked its way up your throat. And although you knew in your heart that he was, and that when you fell you witnessed the fight begin, you had still kept out some small piece of hope. 

Taking a breath you sniffed and nodded. Rage bubbled within.

“I assumed as much. Have the other dragons been claimed yet?”

Your father titled his head at you, jutting his hip out, hand lazily rested on the hilt of his blade.

“No.”

“Good.”

Thanks so much for reading along with me, if you wish to be added to the tag list please let me know :) Likes and reblogs are greatly appreciated ! Enjoy <3

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[zeravmeta]

you know for the longest time I've been of the opinion that the rhine labs trio dynamic is a parallel to the dynamic that doctor-kaltsit-amiya have and honestly this event is giving me more to play with

because like. saria is The Boss. like she is very much The Guy that everyone in rhine labs looked up to (and even still look up to) that could handle basically anything. rhine labs was the dream that kristen and saria made together, where even as further and further conspiracy and questionable experimentation took it over, people still trusted her. and thats so reminiscent of babel, the dream that theresa and doctor shared and the eventual fate of that, with one (saria and doctor) so clearly just supporting the other (kristen and theresa) because they cared about them. Saria always had a strong moral center, but years of having to slowly look the other way and cover up more and more made her numb to that sort of thing, up until the breaking point with ifrit, which has left her with so much guilt she literally Cant do anything except atone. Much in the same way, doctor was once just a medical practitioner who had to step up and fill in the diminishing ranks up until they turned out to be very good at war, from which they sacrificed more and more of their humanity until they were a cold machine of war, with post amnesia doc living with that sword of damocles always hanging over them that they'll eventually have to answer for their past selves' sins. it's this particular wrinkle that contextualizes sarias own relationship with doctor, because she can so clearly see herself in them and yet, much in the same way she has to stop kristen, she Would step to stop doctor if they ever became the same way again.

silence and kaltsit also have an interesting parallel in this aspect, as both have a very specific strained relationship with saria/doctor due to what they caused. notably, both of them looked up to saria/doctor, but were left feeling betrayed after seeing just how much they were willing to justify for their goals. the key difference with them here is that kaltsit being an immortal left her taking action and planning for literal centuries on how to fix all these problems, whereas silence is basically on day 1 working to dismantle and reform rhine labs. they also fundamentally share the same types of feelings to saria/doctor, where that, while there isnt only loathing and resentment, a whole bunch of their interactions are indeed colored by that feeling, and that even if the other truly is working to right their wrongs, that doesnt mean that those feelings of bitterness just dissappear, and justifiably so.

ifrit and amiya may not seem like complementary characters at first but in fact I would argue that due to sharing Hypergryphs Favorite Character Archetype (the girl who will end it all) they actually overlap significantly, but they just have one key difference: ifrit didn't have to grow up quickly the same way amiya did. the point of silence and sarias intervention is that ifrit was not forced to take up the mantle the same way amiya did, and a lot of their respective dynamics hinges on how they treat ifrit/amiya: ifrit is very specifically protected by saria and silence, both of them willing to completely drop their history for her sake, while doctor and kaltsit, while protective, are also subservient to amiya. the two might be the adults in the room, but its amiyas goals that they are supporting and amiyas dream that they are fighting for. they even both have the same type of relationships with their caretakers: even though saria/doctor did wrong them, they still heavily admire and look up to them, with silence/kaltsit being someone they also deeply cherish but are more willing to push back against.

you can even extend these parallels to the idealism that both trios drew from their true leaders: kristen and theresa. in a weird way, these two characters share the trait of genuinely and unconditionally loving their "other half" (saria and doctor) but are so committed to their dreams that it inadvertently destroyed their other half. Kristen was perfectly fine committing atrocities for her dream, even if she was willing to take every detour if it meant that saria would stand alongside her again and support her, while theresa, even though she hated war, was perfectly willing to let doctor become a war machine to win more and more of their harsh battles (a trait thats also passed along to amiya).

the real difference is that kristen's dream was always for herself, while theresa's dream was for everyone else, and the fallout of that is drastically different: kristen burned her bridges for her dream, while theresa's death completely shattered hers. saria, silence, everyone in rhine was betrayed by kristen, whereas thereas death splintered the organization and left so many mourning.

they're all a sort of twist on each other in that way. saria is a doctor who never spiralled into the war machine that pre amnesia doctor was, silence is a kaltsit without the agency or control that she has, and ifrit is an amiya who never had to grow up as quickly.

what makes it so good to me too is that the rhine trio isnt a dark reflection of the rhodes trio, it's the opposite.

true reconciliation between saria and silence *is* possible, and very well the path that they're headed in. for everything that happened, they are working together and slowly rebuilding that trust because they've already had their reckoning. with doctor and kaltsit, there's simply too much history and (justified) loathing on kaltsits part for their past relationship to ever be truly salvaged, even moreso because both of them are willing to follow amiya to the depths of hell for her dream, while saria and silence would die if it meant that ifrit would never have to pick up a weapon again.

maybe one day, if doctor does get their memories back, and true closure can be achieved in that shared history, they might be able to salvage their relationship, but as it stands theres still too much to answer for.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

I waffled a bit about making this but I don't have much else to be doing and it is only 10:30 in the morning and I already feel like I've been up for 22 hours so let's talk about Shu S3 versus Saria S3.

An important note I'm going to bring up here is that while Shu S3 is very good, it does technically lose out on heal coverage to Blemishine S3 under ideal circumstances. A Blemishine who is constantly attacking and taking pressure will cycle through her skill way faster than Shu ever will, even with her talent in play. It is a bit difficult to compare Blemishine's Offensive + Defensive recovery skills to an Automatic Recovery skill on principle though, and IMO the skills are meant to do different things. Blemishine's S3 is meant to turn her into an offensive threat while giving her the stats she needs to tank enemies. Shu is a healer and support unit. They aren't working on the same axis.

In looking at Shu's S3 compared to Saria's S3, I'm going to compare them directly. They are built in a lot of ways to do exactly the same things, with Shu being a much newer version of Saria's skill. I'll be comparing them on:

Range of their skills

SP Cost

Healing efficacy

Buffing capabilities

Support capabilities

Crowd Control

Range

If we compare the ranges of Shu's S3 to Saria's S3, Saria's range is bigger, having four more tiles of access than Shu. Shu does get the ability to cover a ton of tiles with her Sowing, however, so the range advantage is pretty marginal for Saria.

SP Costs

The biggest advantage for Shu is the SP costs of their skills. Saria's skill will be faster on deployment, taking only 10 seconds to charge compare to Shu's 15, but Shu's 45 SP cost on her S3 means it will be active a little less than twice as often as Saria's S3. This is huge for Shu, as one of Saria's problem is that she doesn't have great coverage with her S3, and so this skill often takes a back seat to S1 or S2 if you're using Saria for healing reasons.

Healing Efficacy

Shu blows Saria pretty much completely out of the water. She has a HPS of roughly 1,289 with her talent going at max power, and it's even higher if she's healing a target with under 50% HP. Saria's skill will usually only heal roughly 275 HP a second, bumping to 316 with her GUA-X module trait, and 286 HP a second with her GUA-Y module, and this is assuming she's been on the battlefield for the full 90 seconds she needs to reach that juicy passive +40% ATK buff. Shu's passive 85 HP/s regen and 17% Sanctuary really makes the comparison worse. Mitigation is damage you didn't need to heal after all.

Buffing Capabilities

Shu's advantage here is that she will buff operators no matter what damage type they are using: Physical, Arts, True, Elemental, they all benefit from Shu's buffs. Saria, however, provides better numbers for Arts damage, and this might initially seem like it shouldn't be true. For an Arts operator, Shu's buffs would give them an additional 56.25% DPS, which is better than Saria...by a very slight amount. But, this is assuming an operator has no ATK or ASPD buffs active at that time.

Let's take Haze for a minute as a clear example of this. Haze's normal DPS with her S2 active is 1,092.8 damage per second. Haze over the course of her skill deals about 25k damage, which is not too shabby for a 4-star! With Shu's buffs, her DPS will improve to 1,461.0, which is an impressive jump! However, it is only a 33.69% improvement on her damage, because the ATK and ASPD buffs get diluted by diminishing returns. Saria meanwhile always gives a 55% improvement on DPS, because her buff is a damage multiplier, which is applied after the other parts of the damage calculation.

So is Saria better for buffing Arts damage? The answer, genuinely, is that it depends. Saria will often give you the biggest numbers possible, but Shu has better cycle times with her buffs that Saria does. If you need your buffs to align better or you need them more often, Shu is definitely going to be the pick. If you need a big burst damage moment or your DPS points are far enough apart, Saria will be better.

Support Capabilities

Strictly speaking, neither S3 really supports outside of buffs, but the benefit from talents is important here. You need to compare Shu's Sowing with Saria's SP generation talent. Shu's tiles will give an 85 HP regen and 17% Sanctuary buff, while Saria will provide 1-2 SP every time she heals. This is another point where Saria really isn't strictly better or worse than Shu is. Shu's talent remains actively constantly, and provides an ok regen along with some damage mitigation. Saria's talent only applies if the target is healed (if they are at full SP, they do not gain SP) and can be tricky to set-up, but potentially triples the speed in which they will be able to access their skill. A common skill pairing is Saria and Shalem, which have great synergy with each other. Shalem's skill is Defensive Recovery, and burns most of his HP away. Shalem's HP is just high enough that he will recover most if not all of the SP he needs off of Saria's 10 heals, at which point he can activate his skill during the last 20 seconds and take full advantage of Saria's buff. Stages with DoT are great for Saria, who can pump an entire squad full of yummy SP.

Crowd Control Capabilites

Saria and Shu both have access to potent crowd control abilities, with Saria having access to a chunk movement speed reduction while Shu has access to her teleportation gimmick. Shu's teleportation is a bit difficult to understand from her description, but essentially, if an enemy steps onto a sowed tile while Shu has skill active, and then moves 2 tiles away from the original tile, they will be teleported directly back to where they started.

Two tiles seems like a lot, but remember that enemies typically enter a tile from its edge, and suddenly Shu's crowd control aspects become very powerful. If Shu has a sowed tile 2 tiles in front of the objective box, enemies will not be able to enter the objective box for the entire 30 seconds her skill is active. They'll just reach the edge of the box but not enter it before being teleported back. This makes Shu a much better crowd control option than Saria, although Saria is not bad by any means. This skill has a TON of unintended interactions with various boss and enemy gimmicks, on top of clustering enemies very tightly together and making them vulnerable to AoE and splash damage.

It's really good. I initially wrote this off as a funny gimmick ability but it's a great piece of crowd control and makes Shu a much more well rounded operator for having it.

Conclusion

It's often the case in gacha games, and typically in any long running game content, that after four and a half years, game pieces released by this point thoroughly outclass game pieces released at launch. Is Shu better than Saria? Yes, for the most part. But it is worth saying that Shu does not necessarily completely replace Saria. Saria has good niches to fit in as a support operator in her very powerful Arts damage buff and SP charging capabilities, but even more than that there is an entire conversation to be had about Saria's better ability to tank physical damage. Saria can have almost 1000 DEF with her talent at full power and has a 15% damage reduction on top of that.

In addition, Saria is definitely better at using her S1 than Shu is, thanks to her higher ATK and SP charging capabilities. It's not a huge niche but Saria's S1 packs a pretty potent punch that Shu's doesn't.

Shu's S3 is definitely mostly better, but Saria has moments where she shines and Shu does not.

[arkiwii]

Kristen Arknights is giving me brainworms this cannot continue

Before Lone Trail, I was really convinced that "ah yeah so she's really evil", like what, she approved and conducted the Diabolic Experiment? She approved the experiment at Site #359 and was probably looking at the giant Hub from her window, presumably while eating popcorns, and when Saria arrived to scream at her "WHAT THE FUCK" Kristen just replied "Oh hey I knew you would solve it"? She also funded Loken's Watertank and collected his data on children experiments after he got arrested??

Any sane person would be calling her an egoist, a betrayer, a seeker, a loner

And yet, she was a pioneer.

Lone Trail dropped and now, I don't even know what to think anymore of this character. Like I don't approve what she has done, but also, I don't hate her. She put me into a state of mind I can't think straight anymore. This dog is TRULY fucked up.

She was obsessed, truly obsessed by her dream. She wanted to achieve what her parents had failed to do. She wanted to honor her family, to prove something to the world. To find the truth. To break the sky.

And she fucking did it. She absolutely did. She achieved it, she had done what nobody has ever done before. Regardless of the methods, regardless of morals and ethics, what she did was HUGE. That night, everyone on Terra looked up at the sky. She made a huge step forward, she revolutioned and changed things. The moment she pierced the starpod, a page in the history of the world had been turned, a new era has started. This event was major. And countless scientists will look up upon her, and for ages, her name will be praised.

And she did at what cost? Everything. Her own life, her friends.

I can't stop thinking about how much she tried to keep Saria away from her. I thought that Kristen was using Saria, that she didn't care about her, but actually it's... Something else. She does care about Saria, but it's Saria who was completely obsessed with Kristen. It's Saria who refused to let go. Of course, Saria devoted her life to protect Kristen, she wanted to stay with her until the very end. Kristen did not wanted it, she wanted Saria to continue to live on. It's her dream, and she's ready to die to achieve it. Not Saria's. Nor Muelsyse's.

I can't stop thinking about how she tried EVERYTHING to stop Saria. She studied her Arts, found ways to supress them, created Power Armors to neutralize them, she showed coldness to Saria to keep her away. But god, Saria was clingy as hell. If Kristen had to get to install a trap door in her spaceship SPECIFICALLY for Saria, that's to say how much Saria did not want to let go.

Saria was ready to die for Kristen, she was ready to stay with her until the very end. But Kristen always had in mind to go alone.

And in the end, she had to show Saria that she deserves to live, to continue, that there's still people who need her. Rhine Lab needs her. Ifrit needs her. Silence needs her. Rhodes Island needs her. She can't join Kristen like that. She can't die yet.

Even if Kristen was obsessed by her dream, she was still able to care enough for Saria and the people around her.

And god fucking damn I'm crying

Kristen is absolutely the best antagonist of all Arknights there's absolutely no way we can't do better, I'm standing on my ground

[huneyproses]

Concept: LU all boys meeting their pre-adventure selves (as a chain)

I'm posting in shorter parts than will be posted to AO3.

Part 1/? (Aiming for 20/10)

Note: Switches POV throughout, I am a firm believer in "give them some oddities funny little man" It is explained in this part (with reasonings), but for ease of reading: Soldier -> Warriors Guard -> Wild Rancher -> Twilight Farmer -> Legend Crimson -> Sky Smithy -> Four Traveller -> Hyrule Outset -> Wind Green -> Time

Oh how glad he was to never grow up.

Link placed his hands below himself, giving a small cushion for his tail bones to rest on. The harsh rock of the cave floor had begun an all out war against his rear end with how many positions he had shifted to in an attempt to get comfortable. Oh how he wished to return to the soft cushion of his own bed back in the forest, sleeping till the sun began wain in the sky, and only waking up from Saria’s incessant shouts at the base of the latter. There was always something to be done—always something Link would forget about until she reminded him.

He brought his knees in closer, resting his forehead on them. He really did miss her. Not just her, the whole lot of them. The very forest itself.

They had been trapped in the cramped cave for a long time. He wasn’t fully sure how long, but time felt immeasurable during the tense silence that had preceded the discussion. When they had arrived in the cave, the man that appeared to be a Hylian soldier motioned for immediate silence, only whispering a short “Do not speak” before turning his attention to the gap between the stone. 

Link had assumed, based on how easily the man had commanded authority over the eight that he would be the one to break the silence, but instead it was broken by an all too pitiful yip from the small brunette in a ratty cloak. It was difficult to see with the little light streaming in, but even so the bright red of his cheeks was somehow readily apparent. A few had responded with a chuckle, Link, himself, even let out an involuntary giggle. 

His hushed explanation—“It was a really big spider”—and the muddled, yet frantic apologies made it difficult to not let out another laugh. 

But with the glare the soldier had levelled at them, any jovial atmosphere that could’ve emerged was snuffed out. He had followed it up with a loud sigh, dismissing any sort of plan he may have had with a wave of the hand. And following, the man began his interrogation, citing the need to be familiar with those he would need to fight alongside—and, based on the way his eyes flicked towards Link and the other three younger boys, protect.

It almost seemed like some sort of game they would all play back in the forest. The soldier had instructed them all into a circle. Saria would’ve named the rules, taking charge as she always did. Eventually, halfway through the game, Mido would’ve gotten fed up with losing and have started some dumb argument that somehow was always Link’s fault. They’d fight, kicking and scratching their way through an argument—all before someone threatened to tattle and it ceremoniously ended with forced, muttered apologies. Despite how at-odds Link and Mido seemed to be, Link still found him to be a comfortable constant. He never changed, and his antics could be amusing. Sometimes.

But he wasn’t in the forest, these people certainly weren’t his friends, and going around in a circle naming their names, oc-u-pations (?), and fighting ability wasn’t a game. Link drew his gaze up once again, avoiding the eyes of the older men, looking towards the fidgety brunette. He seemed incredibly downcast after the silent reprimand the soldier had shot them. Without thinking, Link nudged himself a tad closer to the boy. If it was for his comfort, or the boys, Link wasn’t all that sure.

Though, the more introductions they went through, that feeling of defiance and wariness had shifted to befuddlement. Occupations, Link had surmised, meant jobs. That was all fine and dandy; A farmer, a smith's apprentice, a rancher, and quite a few knights. The loud boy didn’t have a job, and the boy beside him called himself a traveller. All the knights seemed confident in their fighting experience, and even a few of the others seemed to have training, which was probably good news, if the loud grunts of the monsters stalking the perimeter of the cave was anything to go by.

But somehow there was something wrong. Something very odd. Each and every boy began their introduction with their name: Link. They were all named Link. It sure surprised Link (himself)—sure, he’d never been out of the forest before, but having 9 people all with the same name, that was definitely odd, right?

Link (him, Link. This was already annoying!), was the last of the group, having refused to speak the first go around, the soldier offered another chance. But, given the pure look of awe mixed with indignation Link gave the man, he simply let out a sigh.

“Right.” Soldier-Link had started, brows knit in a mirrored way as a majority of them, “We…all share a name. That will get confusing quickly.” He crossed his arms, closing his eyes for a moment, “I suppose we can refer to each other via occupation, though a few of you have none…therefore…”

“I will simply assign one.” With a forming smirk and a renewed confidence, Soldier-Link leveled a pointed finger at each Link.

For himself, “Soldier.”

To the stoic boy with a ponytail, “Guard” for his occupation of being a guard for the princess (however dismissive the eye-roll Soldier-Link posed while giving the name—he still gave it).

The boy beside him denoted “Traveller” for simply being such. For a short second the brunette caught Link’s eye, offering a reassuring smile. Link turned indignantly; he was trying to comfort the boy, not the other way around!

The same was true of “Farmer” and “Rancher” and “Smithy”; the former two being older boys. One looked like he could toss Link across the room, another that had a deer in the lantern light look about him. The latter was the younger of the three with relentless strands of tuft out the back of his head that gave a real funny look to him (especially with his contrastingly wise face).

The sickly boy with a weird outfit was nearly coined “Knight'' but was deemed too confusing with the other two. After a moment of deliberation, he offered up “Crimson”, with an explanation cut short by a sudden fit of coughs with intermittent apologies. Rancher gravitated closer, bringing a hand up to his back.

When Himself-Link refused to speak (he began to be unsure if he was doing so because of a lack of trust, some complex, or because he was genuinely frightened), he was called only “Green.”

“And for you—”

“Outset! I’m not anything yet so that makes the most sense since it’s the island I’m from.” The boy with messy hair and bright expression blurted out, “Plus I’d rather not be called, like, lobster.” He gestured to his shirt (The same thing Link was definitely named after), before placing his hand on his hips. He must be proud of one-upping the older guy, Link sure would be.

As if to confirm, the Soldier huffed, “So that was why the air smelled salty.” brushing his hair back, he moved to lean against the wall of the cave. He had opened his mouth to speak before the serious one—Guard—spoke up.

“—We are nowhere close to the sea.”

“Hm?”

“I don’t know exactly where we are but…” He trailed off, bringing his attention to the side of the cave, tracing around the wall to the entrance. “These caves were carved as encampments—as safe havens from the creatures, but also for the possibility of war before…” He trailed off momentarily before continuing, “The entrance is marked. They were only built in certain areas around Hyrule. None are close to the ocean.”

Soldier remained silent, having brought his own gaze towards the slitted entrance of the cave. After a moment, he scoffed incredulously, “You’d think a soldier of the castle would know about safe havens;” challenging Guard, he moved closer, “Lying about something as great as being the Princess’ royal guard when it's so easily disprovable. You’ve sure got some balls.”

Guard remained silent.

Suddenly, Soldier grabbed the collar of Guard’s shirt, lifting the smaller man with discomforting ease, “Stop fuc—” He cut himself off, glancing towards Link, “Stop lying. Who are you? I won't hesitate to throw your sorry excuse out of here if you don’t answer. You’re short, certainly not Sheikah, and not to mention a man, so you’re certainly not her highness’ guard.” 

Guard matched Soldiers vitriolic glare, gripping his arm with a vengeance even Link could tell wasn’t going to end well. Rancher stood from his spot, placing his hand firmly on Soldier’s shoulder.

“You need to calm down man; we can do this later. You’re gonna scare the kids.”

Soldier glanced between him and Guard, taking a deep breath before dropping his collar. He leaned into Guard’s ear and whispered something indecipherable. Turning around he pushed back his hair again, “Weapons. What do we have?”

“I have a sword,” Traveller said, bringing it out into his hands. Guard followed suit, flashing a shiny sword with a purple and green hilt. Compared to travellers, it was stunning. Alluring in a way Link couldn’t understand. It had a triangle with four smaller triangles inside at its base. It was so long it nearly stood at half Guards’ height. It was probably too big for Link to even hold. 

And yet, just looking at it made him feel an indecipherable sense of dread. He looked away, tucking further into his knees.

Soldier had approached Traveller, from what Link could tell, his voice echoing from directly beside him. He had even squatted down to meet their sitting position, “Do you mind if someone borrows it, Traveller? I assure you it will come back—if not I shall purchase you an even better one.”

His voice was deceivingly sweet compared to his earlier disposition, but, even so, Traveller handed it over, if the steps following the exchange were any indication. 

Link turned his head towards Traveller, legs crossed as he focused on the fate of his blade. He hadn’t had a good look at him before, but with their renewed proximity, he got a better sense of the brunette's features. He was definitely close to Link’s age, with girly features and freckles dotting his face. Were it not for his name and clothing, Link certainly would’ve definitely thought him as a girl. He was pretty.

“Green?”

Oh—he hated that nickname, “...You really gave your sword to that guy?” He cursed himself for how pathetic the voice that echoed from him sounded: quiet and frightened with a higher pitch than he swore was normal. Link discreetly cleared his throat.

“Well he’s an adult. He seems to know what he’s doing with it—well, better than I would anyway. It’s mostly just for protection.” He let out a small laugh.

“He’s some adult. You really trust him?”

Traveller blinked, averting his gaze as his smile fell. After a moment, he shrugged, “I don’t have a choice right now.”

“What?” Link sat a bit straighter, furrowing his brows, “Why wouldn’t you? It’s your sword.”

“If I want people to stay safe, it isn’t. I shouldn’t be reckless. These guys work with the kingdom from what they’ve said; they know how to handle a sword better than me. I’d rather have them wielding it.”

“You trust them more than yourself, then?”

“No!” Traveller let out a short laugh, earning a glare from Link, “Sorry, sorry—I don’t mean to laugh at you. Of course I don’t.”

“Then why are you giving them your sword?”

“Um…” His bright expression had all but dissipated, leaving only the trace of a smile as he finally set his eyes back on Link’s. Suddenly, his face seemed a lot older than it had before, “I just think it’s the best thing I can do to keep everyone safe.”

Link crossed his arms incredulously, breaking off the conversation with a discomforted huff. That conversation gave him more questions than answers. He supposed that could just be what Hylians were like—confusing! The guy’s reasoning was dumb. How can you give away your protection for someone else’s and still say you trust yourself more?

Watching the quiet conversation between Soldier, Crimson, and Farmer. Soldier gestured towards them a few times before they both nodded, eventually turning their backs on Soldier and venturing closer. Link spotted Traveller’s sword on Crimson’s back. At least it’d be close to Traveller.

At some point, Outset had also joined the newly formed group, hands lazily laced behind his head. Smithy followed him at a distance, fidgeting with the band on his head.

“We’ll split into two groups.” Soldier started, gaining everyone's ear, “Guard, Rancher and I will get the attention of the monsters. Farmer and Crimson will take the kids east towards some stable that should be there.” Link didn’t miss the distrusting glance Soldier shot Guard before continuing, “It’s a risky plan, but it’s our best chance of getting out of here before night falls and we become stuck without food or water.”

Link glanced at a few of the others. Guard hadn’t offered a readable expression since the encounter with Soldier. Smithy looked uncomfortable, tossing his gaze around the room. Outset had a sour expression, pursed lips in a pout with his gaze towards the cave wall. Rancher looked sceptical, scratching the side of his head with averted eyes, yet spoke nothing in contrast to it. Traveller and Farmer looked worried and uncomfortable respectively. Crimson had placed himself beside a cave wall, head leaned against it with his eyes scrunched closed since Soldier had begun to speak. 

All in all, great plan. 

But it wasn’t as if Link was going to offer anything better; As little as he trusted this Hylian soldier, it wasn’t as if he had a choice. No weapons and no real fighting experience bar practice duels with other Kokiri….

“Alright, we’ll head out on my signal.”

They all shimmied their way toward the mouth of the cave, Soldier remaining just outside the entrance. For a discomforting amount of time, he waited with his right hand palm up. Yet, with the ambient sounds of the birds and unfamiliar buzzing whirring outside, silence had yet to add to it.

Suddenly, his hand moved. Three fingers up—

Two—

One—

“Now!”

[captainn-hook]

Kokiri kid:

TW: Blood, splinters.

"MIDO"

Mido sighed where he sat by the entrance of the path to the Great Deku Tree. One of the triplets came running to him, Ludo, he thinks, as he could see the tiny scar on the base of his nose where a tree ranch had hit him once (he'd laughed at him, he remembered). The boy came to a stop right in front of him and panted, trying to catch his breath. Mido sat there, cross legged with his chin in his palm looking bored already, until Ludo took a breath and said "Link's hurt."

"..."

"Okay? What do you want me to do about it?"

"well, he's bleeding a lot and crying real loud and we thought maybe you can come and check him out and-"

Mido stopped him right there. "So get Saria" he said in a matter-of-fact tone, like he should know this since he's a know-it-all brother. "but she's in the lost woods again! And before you ask me to go get her, Fado and Finoa went to look for her and couldn't find her."

Mido was still unimpressed. He was no babysitter, that much was certain. And besides, why should he be responsible for that twerp anyway? But Ludo was pulling the puppy dog eyes and he couldn't resist any longer. His face twitched before he threw his head back and sighed loud enough to let the other know he was being a nuisance.

"Fine," he spat out, "go get my bag".

Ludo smiled and rushed to Mido's house.

Mido strolled extra slow to where the others were playing before, and then a little further up to where the sound of Link crying got louder.

Link, the youngest and most peculiar Kokiri of them all, was sat with his bloody knee drawn to his chest and tears flooding his face. Mido rolled his eyes. He would never understand why Saria took such a liking to this kid.

Zono and Rimo (the remaining 2 triplets) and Nelo were all surrounding Link in a poor attempt at comforting him while freaking out because, admittedly, it was quite a bad gash. Just how the hell it happened, Mido didn't even want to know.

"Quit suffocating him and go do something useful, like cleaning up all the toys you used before I take them away again."

They did as they were told, like they always did when it was just Mido and not Saria, because he's the oldest and by birth right, he was the boss (also Saria wasn't there to stop him).

He turned and looked down at Link who was still helplessly sobbing.

"Alright, alright, calm down, I'm here" he said in the driest tone he could muster.

Link immediately ceased his wailing, though the pain he was feeling still prompted him to cry, albeit softly.

Mido crouched down and gently took Link's knee into his hands and inspected it. It had bled a lot and there were a few splinters stuck here and there, but overall, he only needed some water and a bandage.

As he started to pick out the splinters, Ludo jogged up with his bag and wordlessly went to help the others clean up at his glare. It was just the two of them now.

"You need to be more careful when you're playing with the others, they're older and bigger than you, you should know that they play rougher" Mido snapped.

Link hiccuped and nodded, tears still flowing out of his eyes.

"Stop crying" Mido mumbled and brought his palm up to brush the tears off his face. He immediately relaxed and leaned into his brother.

"S-sorry" Link whispered.

Mido's face softened just a bit, his drawn eyebrows unknit themselves slightly and his frown lessened. Sometimes it took a little reminder to remember that Link was just a child, and not the 'l've been a kid longer than normal- I'm a Kokiri' type of chid, he was a 'child' child.

Link was delivered to the Great Deku Tree as a 'baby', something the Kokiri had never seen before. Actually, Mido himself happened to be the one to find the small bundle of blankets one night while in the lost woods looking for Saria and Fado. Of course he picked up this strange creature and took it to the Deku Tree because, naively, he thought the little thing was hurt, what with all the crying it was doing at the time (much like now actually). When he arrived with this tiny Kokiri-like 'thing' in his arms, the Deku Tree welcomed it as his new brother. The tree had told him that its name was 'Link' and that he should stop referring to it as an it and to stop making that face whenever its, his name is said just because it doesn't end in an 'o' or an 'a', like his and Saria's and all the others' names.

The Deku Tree also said that this 'Link' was a 'baby' (a month or two old), and that one day he would grow up and become just as tall as Mido, and then taller. He had scoffed at his father and told him that it wasn't possible.

Now, he thought, 6 years later as he wrapped up his little brother's knee in a clean bandage, that he was foolish to ever doubt his father.

Link had fallen sound asleep under Mido's care, soft breaths leaving the small boy with his back on the forest floor and his injured knee placed on the others lap. When Mido finished adjusting the bandages, he carefully lifted Link, who didn't so much as stir, and sat him in his lap. Other than the kid's busted knee, the only other injuries seemed to be a few scrapes here and there and a small bump on the side of his head. With that in mind, Mido shifted so that Link was on his back, the stood up, leaving his bag (knowing someone will pick it up and return it to its place) and made his way over to Link's house.

Once he got there, he realised his mistake. How the bloody hell would he climb the ladder to the tree house with the kid on his back?! He grumbled and kicked at the dirt.

Eventually, after a good bit of brooding and glaring up at the house, he turned away.

It was getting dark and he was starting to get tired.

-

Saria felt awful for not being there to help Link when he hurt himself. She was playing her favourite melodies to the skull kids when Finoa found her and told her of Links tumble off one of the platforms.

Although she did her best to make it out of the forest as quickly as she could, she ended up back in Kokiri forest not long after night fell.

Rimo walked up to her, his brothers both trailing behind, all three ready for bed.

"Hi Sar, you don't gotta worry about little Link no more, Mido dealt with 'im!"

She sighed and put a hand on her cheek, "that's what I was afraid of."

No matter, she knew she would be cleaning up some sort of mess.

She set off to Mido's house to hopefully find out what happened.

The walk to his house was short and she quickly made her way to the front door and knocked. When no answer came, she quietly let herself in.

She knew she had to be careful because Mido was a early sleeper and didn't take to being woken up with a start too well-

She stopped.

Mido was sleeping in his night clothes, arm draped around a tiny Link curled up ontop of him.

He had his usual pout on his face while he slept, but his head was turned towards the younger in a sort of protective manner.

Saria wished she could have kept this memory forever.

Mido had put a cushion under Links hurt leg and had changed him into clean clothes, which made her smile.

As much as she wanted to just stay there and burn every other detail into her mind, Saria knew it was time for her to go.

She shut the door with a soft click.

[dragonfelling]

Snippet Sunday - The War Room Proposal

Old snippet of Taifun speaking in the war room.

“Would you shut your mouth. Who even let you in here? Nobody gave you permission to speak, woman. Would you sit down and stop wasting time?”

The entirety of the war room quieted at Seanes' frustration and turned to look at him. He was confident at first, believing his point was made… until the realization hit that the silence was a dumbfounded anger and not respect for his opinion on the matter regarding Lady Taifuns words being held with weight behind them.

Tai was not the only woman in this room. Jan and Mirka both glared daggers. If looks could kill he’d be on the floor.

Seanes' mouth twitched and he sat back down. He scowled. He always scowled but now his eyebrows furrowed farther and his fists clenched on the table. 

Taifun narrowed her eyes at him, raising her head and giving him a strangely warm smile.

She respected Seane in some way. He was arrogant. Rude. Cruel. Downright miserable to be around; but he was a veteran and the best surgeon one could get their hands on. Hells, he was good at keeping his mouth shut too and did not question the use of pennyroyal. 

He had contributed beautifully to prior discussion. This was stupid though. He was a stupid stupid man so she gave him nothing but that unfaltering smile for the next 20 seconds until he looked uncomfortable.

Kurtys was about to bark at him but it seemed that look his wife gave sufficed.

“As I was saying-” Taifun hummed, looking around at the men and women before her. The doctors. Xavier. The Aeraki. Azaiah. Then her husband. Her smile melted into butter at the way his eyes glowed up at her.

She placed her fingers over the papers she brought and slid them atop the map in front of the little Pinna figure used to represent the largest ship fleet and then looked back to Xavier to address him. This was his war after all…

“Monarch Caleb remains single, correct? Pressured by his parliament to find a queen?”

“20 years without a queen let alone an heir.”

“Your brother Caleb, as we discussed, is not the man the public knows him as. While Ishidans like myself have no qualms over the legitimacy of their heirs so long as she comes from the major Superior, it's abundantly clear this is important to both the Aeraki and you Canes…” 

She tapped her nail where Caleb sits on the family tree drawn out on the parchment. 

Kurtys squinted up at her, full of confusion as to where her point would land. Not only that, but Caleb was a bastard? He was aware of Amaras lineage making her ineligible for the throne but Caleb?

“As Xavier has been aware of the past year, Caleb is a bastard much like our dear Princess Amara. By that, they are not related through Lady Saria, Vis-à-vis  the late Monarch, Zachariah Cane.” She tacked on, in the end, “May his soul be burning in his hell.”

The room all collectively blinked. The Cane brothers shared a frowning, but knowing glance before they turned their attention back up to Taifun. Xavier nodded,

“Go on…”

Kurtys’ brows furrowed in thought. Amara was Crown Skalonos but not Crown Sarias. Saria was Monarch Zachariah's and Queen Aideens. So… Monarch Caleb was Zachariah's but not Aideens…?

Kurtys narrowed  his eyes up to his wife as he muttered, “what?”

Which was talked over by his own father, Fluvius, who refuted, “Queen Aideen was pregnant at the time of his birth. Not that it truly matters given Amara is not related but given that you're implying-...” Fluvius shakes his head in disbelief, crossing his arms. 

“Yes. I'm implying we send Amara. Janu-” she addressed the princess, smiling towards her, “You trained her well and I trust she’ll do us well. We still have time to continue her training in the meantime as well; focusing on courting the Monarch. Her mother should train her in Midonian etiquette as well. She should be proposed as a marriage candidate by Autumn.”

“Yes. I'm implying he too is a bastard and im implying we send Amara. Janu-” she addressed the princess, smiling towards her, “You trained her well and I trust she’ll do us well. We still have time to continue her training in the meantime; focusing on courting the Monarch. Her ahem- mother should train her in Midonian etiquette. She should be proposed as a marriage candidate by Autumn.”

[she-wolf09231982]

Chapter 1-Rosaria Marie Leone

Summary: Chicago native, Rosaria Leone (leh-OHN), was stationed in Aldourne, England awaiting further instructions to her next duty location. She finally received orders to Bastogne after the 326th Medical team was captured on their way to the town by German soldiers.

The church in the town was converted into an aid station to lodge wounded soldiers that came in from the front lines, but with medical supplies running low and shortage of medical personnel, the Americans were in desperate need of more medics and nurses to keep up with the workload. To her surprise, she finds a few silver linings by befriending a local nurse, Renée Lemaire, and Easy Company’s medic, Eugene ‘Doc’ Roe. 

A/N: OC Introduction/Rosaria Marie Leone (leh-OHN), EugeneRoeX!FemMedic, WW2, Character introduction, Post D-Day, She/Her Pronouns, Military Terminology, Band of Brothers References, Mentions of Weaponry, Smoking, Mentions of death, Blood, Medical Terminology, Italian and French with English translations

Story takes place during Episode 6-Bastogne

*These stories may not fall entirely in accordance with the TV series timeline. I do not know the real soldiers the actors portray in this series, so please understand I show no disrespect. Some or most of historical events and character interactions in my fanfics are fabricated purely for the sake of the enjoyment of fiction*

~~~~~~~ 

Bastogne September 1944 

“Rosaria Marie Le-Leeee-on-” the charge nurse, Agatha Hannigan began with difficulty, as she looked over her spectacles at the orders given to her by the young woman standing before her. 

“Leone.” The young lady articulated. She was used to people mispronouncing her last name. 

The older lady’s lips pursed into a thin line, clearly displeased with being corrected by a replacement. She scribbled a few things on the orders. The charge nurse looked back at the young woman, scanning her from head to toe with every ounce of disdain behind her eyes. 

“Why are you wearing soldier’s fatigues? Where is your ward dress uniform? And your apron and head scarf?” Hannigan snapped. 

“This is all I ever worn, ma’am. I’m a field medic, so this is my initial issued uniform.” she explained. 

Hannigan sniffed at her, then wrote a few more notes on the orders. 

“Alright, Rosaria Leone-” 

“It’s just Saria-” 

 “-you and Renée report to me and I report to LT Doc Ryan.” she explained paying no mind to Saria’s statement. 

Saria sighed, “Yes, ma’am.” 

As she followed Hannigan, they approached a young nurse stirring a large metal pot hanging over a pit in the fireplace. The smell of the steam proved it wasn’t any kind of food she had been mixing but used bandages that were being laundered. 

“Renée-” Hannigan bellowed. 

The girl turned upon hearing her name. She met the charge nurse and Saria halfway as she dried her hands on her apron. 

“-this is our new nurse, Rosaria Lenonni, just in from Aldourne.” Hannigan introduced. 

Saria rolled her eyes but remained silent, not bothering to correct her again. 

Renée extended her hand, “Bonjour! (Hello!)” she greeted in French. 

“Buongiorno. (Good morning.)” Saria returned in Italian with a warm smile shaking Renée's hand. 

“You speak Italian?” Hannigan asked. 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“Hm, a lot of good that’ll do you here. You do know you're in Belgium, right? Renée, you got her from here.” Hannigan snipped, waving her hand as she walked away. 

“Oui. (Yes).” Renée replied turning back to Saria, “-Don’t mind her. You’ll get used to her.” she whispered with a grin. 

“I’m sure.” Saria responded. 

“Viens avec moi (Come with me), I’ll show you around.” Renée gestured to Saria to follow her. 

~~~~~~~ 

December 1944 

The months flew by and before Saria could blink, a layer of snow covered the grounds in and around Bastogne. She quickly befriended Renée and the other Congolese nurse, Anna. Together, they worked side by side tending to the wounded, and endured the aftermath of what happened outside of the Church/aid station when soldiers were brought to them. The horrors of blood and gore came in overwhelming waves, but Saria, Anna and Renée worked through the carnage as a team to do what they needed to do to save the men that were brought to them.  

More often than not, soldiers have succumbed to their injuries because medical supplies were becoming scarcer. There was very little of everything they needed, and it seemed more and more men were being brought to them daily. They were unable to evacuate the wounded or receive medical supplies due to heavy German advances. Not only did the Germans prevent escape for the injured, but they also captured the 326th Medical team and integrated them into their own medical team to tend to their wounded soldiers.  

“Lost another one today.” Renée said to Saria as she sat next to her on a pew against the wall. 

Saria shook her head, “Seems to be happening more often, doesn’t it?” she acknowledged. 

“Peut-être (Perhaps).” Renée replied as she reached into her apron pocket pulling out a half-wrapped bar of chocolate. 

She removed the paper and broke off a piece, handing it to Saria. 

“Chocolat?” she asked. 

Saria looked at the candy in Renée's hand and smiled weakly as she took it from her. 

“Merci.” Saria thanked. 

“Prego.” Renée returned in Italian, “Your French is getting better!” she added. 

Saria laughed, “You don’t have to be nice about it, Renée, I know it needs work.”  

“No, I insist! Your practicing is paying off, mon ami (my friend).” Renée encouraged. 

“Well thanks to you.” Saria pointed out. 

As they sat there enjoying the sweet treat, a handful of soldiers came in with an injured man on a stretcher, as a medic walked in after them. 

Renée and Saria rushed to the men with the injured soldier. 

“No, no. Here. Put him here.” Renee instructed. 

“Yes, ma’am.” the head soldier carrying the stretcher obliged as they lifted him onto a bed. 

“Is he bad?” Saria asked the medic. 

“No, lower-leg wound. No morphine.” he replied in a deep calm voice. 

Renée took a quick look at the right leg then nodded. 

“I’ll get more bandages.” Renée relayed to Saria. 

Before Renée could leave the medic was following her, “Nurse, have you got plasma I can--?” 

“Wait. Please.” Renée urged before disappearing into another room. 

The medic furrowed his eyebrows, discouraged by Renée's response. Saria felt a wave of guilt for him.  

She looked back at the soldier on the bed that they just brought in, “What’s your name, soldier?”  

“They call me Skinny.” he responded with labored breathing. 

“I’m Saria. We’ll get you squared away, ok?” She reassured him with a warm smile. 

He nodded with a forced grin since he was obviously in pain. She covered him with a blanket and turned to the same medic standing alone in a doorway watching Anna pack a thigh wound of another soldier while Renée assisted. 

The medic turned to Saria, “Hey, what’s going on here? Why aren't these men being evacuated?” 

Saria was a little taken back by his dismayed tone. 

“We can’t evacuate. We’re cut off, this is far as it goes.” she replied as she side stepped him to get to Renée and Anna. 

~~~~~~~ 

Renée and Saria had returned to Skinny with a bottle of liquor and a glass, pouring him a hefty amount to drink as a pain remedy. 

Skinny looked up at the two nurses then looked at the medic, “I think I’m in heaven, Doc.”  

The medic smirked briefly. 

As Renée and Saria began walking away, the medic called after them, “Nurse-” 

“This way.” Renée said, as she motioned him to follow. 

The medic walked along side Saria while they followed Renée to the rear of the church where all the supplies were being stored at an extravagant altar. 

“I need Morphine. I need bandages. Whatever you got. We’re down to nothin’.” the medic explained. 

“Ok, I can give you a little, but not a lot.” Renée replied gravely. 

Saria picked up a small wooden crate filled with IV bottles, syringes, and a few syrette cases. 

“You can have this today. Do you want that?” Saria asked him. 

“Oui. You got plasma?” he questioned urgently. 

“A little. Are you a surgeon?” Renée queried. 

“No. We don’t got no surgeon.” he replied with a bit of sting behind his voice. 

Saria placed a handful of torn cloth into his crate, “What’s this?” he asked, holding up the bulk of cloth. 

“From the beds.” Saria replied. 

“What, sheets?” he clarified. 

“Yes, for bandages.” 

A look of shock appeared on the medic’s face as he stared at her. 

“It does the job.” Saria said with a soft smile and a shrug. 

He nodded, placing the bandages back in the crate. 

He stood tall before Renée and Saria when they were done packing the crate with supplies,  

“Merci.” he thanked in a low honeyed southern accent. 

“Prego.” Saria responded. 

The medic shot her a look of confusion, tilting his head studying her like a puzzle. 

“Comment vous appelez-vous? (What do you call yourself?)” the man asked Saria and Renée. 

Renée looked at him, then looked at Saria expectantly waiting for her to reply. 

“Go on, this is a perfect time to practice, mon ami. (my friend).” Renée encouraged Saria. 

Saria’s eyes flitted between Renée and the medic,  

“Uh-” was all Saria could manage until she heard Renée again. 

“Tu peux le faire, mon ami (You can do it, friend).”  

Saria took a deep breath, “Je m'appelle Rosaria Leone (My name is Rosaria Leone).”  

A smile tugged at the corners of the medic’s mouth. 

“My name is Renée.”  

“I’m Gene. Eugene Roe.” 

“Where are you from?” Renée asked Eugene. 

“Louisiana. Half-Cajun. Et toi? (And you?)” he returned. 

“Bastogne.” Renée answered. 

Eugene looked at Saria. 

“Chicago.” 

His eyes widened like a deer in the headlights. 

“Oh, I thought maybe you-” 

“No, I’m American. My parents were born in Tuscany, Italy.” Saria explained. 

“I see.” he discerned. 

There was a brief silence before he nodded at Saria then turned to follow Renée to the exit. 

“Arrivederci, Eugenio. (Goodbye, Eugene).” Saria called after him in Italian. 

Eugene turned while still walking away displaying a coy smile. 

After some time, Renée returned from showing Eugene out. Her cheeks were rosy, and she wore a subtle smile as she mindlessly stirred the boiling pot of bandages.

“Renée?” 

No response. 

“Renée?” Saria said again a little louder. 

Renée looked at her startled, “Oui?”  

Saria laughed, “You were gone for a good couple of minutes. Où étiez-vous? (Where were you?)” Saria stated. 

Renée smiled, “I caught up with our new friend to give him some chocolat.” 

“That was nice of you, Renée.” 

“You can see in his eyes he’s seen some awful things. He needed to be shown some kindness.” Renée explained. 

~~~~~~~ 

It wasn’t the last time Renée and Saria saw Eugene Roe. The second time he had visited, Renée and Saria were frantically trying to stop a soldier from bleeding out from his mid-section. As Saria tried to pack the wound where the source of the bleeding was while Gene had been wiping the blood away so she could see where the artery was. The soldier expired leaving Renée, Gene, and Saria disheartened and lost in their own thoughts.  

Saria sauntered towards the spiral staircase to the main entrance so she could go outside to get some air. Eventually, Renée and Eugene joined her. Saria sat by a pile of broken furniture in front of the church, with her face buried in her hands. Renée sat next to Saria draping an arm across her shoulders pulling her in for a side hug. 

“Ça va mon ami? (Are you alright, my friend?)” Renée asked. 

Saria only nodded; not even sure she really was ok. 

Eugene observed each of their hands. Saria’s hands, bruised with remanence of the soldier’s blood after failing to wash all of it off her knuckles and nails and Renée's hands bearing the same appearances. Renée pulled a new bar of chocolate from her apron pocket and began tearing away the paper.  

She broke off a section, nudging Saria, “Tiens, belle amie (Here, beautiful friend).” 

Saria accepted the chocolate, “Vous êtes trop gentil. (You’re too kind).” 

Renée offered Eugene the candy, but as he took it from her, he smiled. 

“What?” Renée asked. 

“Your hands.” Eugene gestured to her and Saria. Saria slowly looked up at him. 

“Our hands?” Renée reiterated. 

He nodded, “You’re good nurses.” he complimented. 

Renée looked at her hands, “No. I never want to treat another wounded man again. I’d rather work in a butcher’s shop.” 

Eugene’s eyebrows drew inward hearing her statement. 

“But your touch calms people.” he defended, “That’s a gift from God.” he added. 

Renée shook her head, “No, it’s not a gift,” she flipped her hands over to look at the back of them, “God would never give such a painful thing.” she proclaimed. 

“Renée, you don’t mean that.” Saria insisted. 

“Oh, mais je le fais, mon ami. (Oh, but I do, my friend).” Renee said with a weak smile. 

A jeep pulled up with yet another wounded soldier, “Nurse! Nurse! We need some help over here!” 

Renée looked over her shoulder, “Stay and rest awhile longer, mon ami. I’ll take care of this.” She said to Saria as she gave her an encouraging hug before she stood up and ran off. 

A moment of silence passed before Eugene spoke again. 

“Is that how you feel, too?” he asked her. 

Saria sighed, “No. I don’t.” she replied confidently shaking her head before meeting his gaze. 

“Glad to hear it.” he affirmed with a slight smile as he looked back down at the candy bar in his hand. 

Saria folded her hands in her lap. 

“Comment se porte ton français? (How’s your French coming along?)” Eugene quizzed her with a mischievous grin. 

Saria looked at him alarmed, and slightly embarrassed. She rubbed the back of her neck and began to blush. 

“Oh, uh-” she began, “-tellement, tellement (so, so.)” she replied. 

Eugene chuckled, “I've heard you do better than that.” he declared, “Tell me something new you’ve learned. Peut-être que je peux aider. (Maybe I can help.)” he offered. 

Saria felt heat rise from her collar. 

“Ce serait généreux de votre part, Eugène (That would be generous of you, Eugene),” she managed to say, “-merci.” 

“Prego.” Eugene answered modestly in Italian with a welcoming smile. 

Saria laughed aloud at his playful response. 

“Guess I could return the favor and teach you some Italian.” she suggested. 

“Sure.” Gene allotted. “Guess I’ll be heading back to the line then. See ya around, mon ami.” He stood and ran towards the jeep to hitch a ride. 

Saria watched the jeep speed off with Eugene in the front seat, saying a silent prayer to herself for him to be safe when he makes it to the front lines. 

~~~~~~~ 

Christmas Eve 1944 

The third run in with Eugene, he brought in an Easy Company soldier, with an IV already applied. As they carried him in setting him down onto a cot, the receiving medic, Jones, began hounding Gene for the man’s information. 

“Where’s his tag?” Jones looked all over the man’s person, then looked at Gene again, “Where’s his tag?” 

Eugene stared at his buddy lying on the cot unable to move. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Jones pushed. 

Eugene looked at him calmly, “Paralyzed.” he responded simply. 

“What?” Jones asked. 

Eugene sighed, “He’s paralyzed. Can’t feel a thing.” he clarified. 

Renée saw him from across the room, “Eugene?” 

Gene looked at her, his spirits lifted the moment he saw her smile. 

“Eugene.” Renée greeted him. 

“Renée-” he replied with frail delight in his voice. 

“Are you-” Renee started to ask before she was interrupted. 

“-Renée, I need some help over here!” Jones called from the back. 

“Are you all right?” Renée continued as she walked towards Eugene. 

“Renée! We need you!” Jones called again. 

She looked towards the rear of the church where Jones was then huffed in frustration. She met Gene’s disappointed expression, gave him an apologetic smile then scampered off. 

“Bonjour, Eugène.” Saria greeted. 

“Bonjour, Rosaria, mon ami. (Hello, Rosaria, my friend),” he returned with a fleeting smile. 

Saria looked Gene over, “You ok?”  

He met her concerned guise with soft tired eyes, “Oui.” he responded plainly. 

Saria gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “Je suis toujours là, mon ami. (I’m always here, friend.)” Saria reassured him. 

He looked at her and nodded, “Merci, mon ami.” he replied managing a genuine smile. 

Saria returned a smile then proceeded past him. 

“Oh, and Eugene-” she called back to him. 

He turned to her. 

“Joyeux noël. (Merry Christmas.)” she projected somewhat cheerfully to him, sending him a wink before he could reply. 

Eugene smiled to himself, feeling that bit of warmth in his heart that he hadn’t felt in a long time. 

~~~~~~~ 

Eugene returned to the line, only to have to go back to Bastogne to bring LT Welsh to the aid station that night. Upon entering the town, everyone was in a panic, running to find cover from an imminent German air raid heading towards the town.  

Upon hearing the siren alerting the town of the attack, Renée and Saria began assisting the wounded who tolerated the ability to move to evacuate the church.  

On the other side of the town, Eugene could see the enemy aircraft approaching. He started to race towards the church to see if Renée, Saria, and Anna had been able to reach safety. As he sprinted towards the aid station, the bombers passed overhead releasing shells on every building in their wake until one hit the church, releasing a mushrooming blast from the steeple. Another bomber deploying a bigger explosive, shattered the foundation of the stone building, sending it to shambles to the ground below. 

Eugene stopped in his tracks, shielding his eyes from the piercing light from the blast. Frozen from shock and disbelief, his mind began piecing together the possibility that Renée, Saria, and Anna were still in the church during the bombing. To this thought, he began running again, pushing through the crowds to reach his friends. 

~~~~~~~ 

Eugene searched relentlessly for the three nurses. As dawn approached, he began to lose hope. He had asked everyone he bumped into if they had seen Renée, Saria, or Anna. Everyone he asked either hadn’t known the whereabouts of any medical personnel or had conflicting stories of who made it out or not.

Just when Eugene was ready to give up, he saw a familiar figure sitting on a pile of stones that had collapsed from the church. As he cautiously approached, he recognized the face of this young woman seated before him. 

“Rosaria?” He addressed the woman with strain behind his voice. 

Saria turned slowly; her bloodshot eyes met his hopeful face while tears trailed through the dirt on her cheeks. When she saw it was Eugene, her tear flow increased beyond her ability to see. 

“Eugene.” she gasped as she tried to stand to meet him. As she did, she lost her footing on the gravel. 

Eugene snaked his arms around her, pulling her into him so she wouldn’t fall forward. 

“Hey, now! Je t'ai eu (I got you).” he exclaimed. 

He helped her stand up right, pulling her square to him so he could talk to her. 

“Are you ok!?” he asked. 

“I-I’m alive.” Saria stuttered. 

Eugene kneaded her shoulders with his hands. 

“Et Renée? (And Renée?) Anna?” he dared to ask holding Saria steady by the shoulders. 

Saria looked away from Eugene and began to sniffle. Eugene waited. 

She reached into her pocket, pulling out a blue head scarf and handed it to him. He took it from her, realizing it was the same one that Renée had worn. 

He stared at the blue cloth in his hand as everything began to sink in. 

“We-” Saria tried to explain but her overwhelming anguish had her struggling to speak, “-we were evacuating as many men as we could. Renée had----gone back inside to find Anna right before the first shell dropped on the church-”  

Eugene redirected his eyes onto Saria. He swallowed hard, biting back the tears he felt building up. 

“When the first bomb hit, I tried to go in to get her...then the second one hit blocking the entrance to the church. I couldn’t get to them, Eugene.” Saria whispered, staring over his shoulder reliving the horrific scene as if it was replaying in front of her on a movie screen. 

She started to shake her head, “If I had only gotten there sooner-” 

“No,” Gene placed a hand on each side of her face bringing her attention to him, “what happened to Renée and Anna is not your fault. You hear me?”  

Saria’s tears spilled over like waterfalls.  

He pulled her into his chest, allowing her to sob into his jacket as he stroked her hair. 

“Ssshhh,” Gene soothed, “Je suis là, belle amie. Je suis là (I’m right here, beautiful friend. I’m here.)” 

~~~~~~~

[jheselbraum]

Imagine you're a Kokiri child and one day your tree dad dies under mysterious circumstances. You're pretty sure the weird quiet kid who showed up nine years ago is the one who did it, because he was the last person to talk to the deku tree and he fucking books it immediately after it happens and of course, Kokiri who leave the forest fucking die, so obviously someone leaving is in truly dire straits. Anyways seven years pass and the monarchy you didn't know you had collapses and the new guy in charge lets a bunch of monsters loose in the forest so you have to lock yourself inside your home to stay safe. Then this fully fucking adult man appropriating your culture shows up, takes out all the monsters, and as a bonus, your dad's alive again (or at least, a clone of your dad with all his memories is alive). So you're like "great!" and bid the stranger a fond farewell. The weird quiet kid's house is still empty, no one's moved in since he left, but one day you hear noises coming from that house so you go to investigate, thinking maybe with the monsters gone the weird kid has returned and you can finally bring him to justice.

And there's just a fucking cow there.

In the tree.

Sometimes the weird adult man comes back to milk the cow, but it's just. Up there.

And then later at this huge party everyone's throwing to celebrate the defeat of the evil king or whatever, the new princess who's apparently the old princess comes up to you all sad and says "I'm truly sorry about your friend" and you're like "what friend?" and she goes "Link? The Kokiri child? Surely you saw him during his many trips to the Kokiri Forest in our efforts to defeat Ganondorf"

So, okay, turns out the weird quiet kid wasn't a Kokiri and didn't kill the deku tree and everyone in the forest except Saria was horrible to him and he still saved all of you so you have to sit with that and process it, but also this means that the princess was with the weird kid and so you have to ask, because otherwise you'll never know:

"where did the cow come from?"

And the princess just stares at you blankly and goes "what cow?"

[adrift-in-thyme]

Congrats on the follower milestone!!

Well... I am in a particular mood right now, so is it alright to ask for oot zelink kid? Maybe particularly being a menace because they take after their parents?

Tysm @louwhose !! <33 And thanks for the prompt! It was very fun to write some shamelessly fluffy oot zelink

—————-

Zelda breathes in deep. The chilly air nips at her face and brings tears to her eyes. It is pleasant though, beautiful. She is not usually one for icy days when the mere act of stepping outside cuts her to the bone. But it is so very nice to escape the castle, even if just for a moment. And it certainly helps that the company is decidedly pleasant.

She turns to look at her husband, his angular face silhouetted against the gray of sky. He looks down at her, a smile on his face. It is a blessing to see it. A smile from him is such a precious thing.

“You always look beautiful,” he murmurs, squeezing her hand, “but I think you are even more so in the snow.”

Zelda smiles as they come to a stop, facing one another amidst the snow-kissed shrubbery and trees. It is where they first met, so very long ago, where she had handed him the ocarina of time before he journeyed off to Termina.

She supposes if she is thankful to the goddesses for anything, it is that they always come back here. They always come back to each other.

“And you, dear Link, are as handsome as ever.”

Link chuckles and she laughs along with him. Such flowery words are seldom their true way of expressing their love. No, that is communicated through soft embraces and soothing words, through expressions of loyalty and utter trust.

Love must run deeper than beauty and compliments alone. Especially for people like them.

Link leans forward, resting his forehead against hers. Their shared breaths are smoke clouds in the chilled air.

“It’s lovely to be out of the castle,” Zelda whispers. “Alone.”

“Indeed.” His voice is hardly above a murmur, as though he is afraid of disturbing this tender moment. “It has been far too long.”

He is right, of course. It has been far too long. Between getting married — small and discreet though the ceremony had been — and ruling Hyrule together, trying to make it the kingdom they both want it to be, there has been little time these past years for the bonding moments they enjoyed in their youth.

And then there is the small matter of a certain gift they were blessed with such a short while ago. It had been seven years now, yet Zelda feels it was only yesterday.

As though reading her very thoughts, a familiar giggle sounds from the bushes.

“Mother and Father are going to smooch,” comes a voice she knows all too well.

Zelda pulls back slightly, suppressing a sigh.

“Saria, what have we told you about eavesdropping?”

A little blonde head protrudes from the branches, Link’s green cap situated crookedly upon it. A smile with mischief to match her father’s lifts small lips.

“To not to.”

“Indeed. And why is that?”

Saria steps from her place of concealment, still looking decidedly unapologetic.

“Because if you wanted me to hear it, you’d say it to me directly.” She huffs a sigh. “But Mother, I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop! I just wanted to show you these deku nuts I found! Didn’t you and Father use these when you were fighting that big bad man?”

Zelda and Link exchange glances. Link releases her hand and squats down, reaching for one of the deku nuts.

“Mother and I did use these while fighting the big bad man. In fact, I dealt the killing blow with one of these. You must be very careful with them.”

Saria’s eyes grow wide, lips forming an oh. Zelda stifles a laugh behind her hand. Link winks at her before scooping up a handful of snow. Carefully, he forms a ball with it.

“This, however, this is a less dangerous weapon, though a weapon nonetheless.” He gently pries Saria’s fingers apart and places the snowball within it. “Wield it with care.”

There is a beat in which Saria studies him, a slight frown on her face. Then, she hefts the snowball more firmly in hand…and sends it flying into Link’s face. Link falls back, spluttering.

“Saria!” Zelda exclaims, completely failing to hold back her laughter now. But the only reply she gains are the mischievous giggles of the girl as she streaks in between the trees. Swift retribution is certain and she is all too aware of that fact.

Link gets to his feet with Zelda’s help. He runs a hand across his eyes, wiping wet slush from them. He is grinning, however, when he looks at his wife.

“That is your daughter.”

She smirks. “I believe that is your daughter. Or am I wrongly remembering how you were an infamous prankster in your younger years?”

He inclines his head. “Touche.”

And then he is off with a cry of warning, racing after their young daughter, braid already becoming undone by the wind. Zelda watches, chuckling as they trade blows, hurling projectiles from behind trees and shrubbery. Link bides his time well enough, careful to let Saria believe that she has an advantage before he makes his move. Just as she reels back to throw a snowball, he ducks out of sight. And while she searches the garden with narrowed eyes, he tiptoes up from behind.

The squeal she makes when he scoops her up into his arms echoes across the space. Quickly, it dissolves into giggles.

“Behold!” Link cries as he carries her like a sack of grain back to where Zelda stands. “I’ve snagged the intruder!”

“Ah, so you have.” Saria grins at Zelda and Zelda grins back. “Though, it seems you have let your guard down where others are concerned.”

Link’s eyes widen for a split second before Zelda’s own missile hits him in the chest. He stumbles, loses his balance and falls into a heap of snow. Saria wriggles free, laughing, her hair flying in tousled wisps about her head.

“I won, Father! I won!”

He sits up, gazing at Zelda with a look that wails “you too my dearest?” But he is laughing too when he tackles Saria back into the snow.

“Not yet, you haven’t!” He cries over the sounds of her continued laughter.

Zelda gazes down at them, smiling. Warmth has blossomed within her at the sight of this, this happy family she never allowed herself to believe she could have. Then, a booted foot catches her feet out from beneath her and she joins them in the icy stuff, thoughts shattering like the crystals upon the window panes.

But as she laughs and presses a kiss to Link’s nose, as Saria squeals and hides her eyes…she thinks – not for the first time – that she wouldn’t trade this for the world.

[asumofwords]

Smoke, Fire and Ash

Warnings: This fic includes noncon, dubcon, manipulation, violence, death and inc3st. Tags will be added as the fic goes on.

This is a dark!fic. 18+ only. Read at your own discretion. Please read the warnings before continuing.

Summary: You are the eldest daughter of Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen. You are forced to navigate the difficult surroundings of your upbringing and the eventual disintegration between your family and the Hightower's relationship. What will happen when your older and estranged uncle suddenly takes a more sinister interest in you? (Dark!Aemond x Reader)

Masterlist

Characters: Aemond Targaryen X Reader, HOTD characters.

Note: The reader really needed to let all of that anger out, and all those unsaid words and thoughts and gosh we are thankful for it. In times of war comes times of trouble... and desperation...

Chapter 46: Burdens of the realm

You spent the rest of that day in your chambers. Refusing entry to anyone except your maids who brought up your bath and steaming hot water, which you sank into slowly.

Their soft hands had brushed through your hair, pulling away the knots as you bathed, and washing the ash and smoke from your long tendrils.

The bathwater turned a deep sooty colour by the end of their careful washing, and they had left your chambers to bring up new water to rinse you with.

Saria brushed scented oils into your hair before braiding it into a single, long braid down your back for you to sleep in. You had spent considerable time in the bath pulling the ash from beneath your fingernails, the dark soot encrusted in the lines of your palms.

By the time you were out of your bath, and dressed for bed, the sun had been set for many hours and a dark glow had settled in your chambers. You sat on your chaise, staring into the fireplace, watching the flames dance as you let your anger simmer inside of you.

The flames flickered and waved.

Even after all you had done, it would never be enough.

It would never be enough that you had done more than your male peers, because you were a woman. It could never be enough for the realm to be you. You were not a son.

You would never be a son.

You could not completely fault your mother to this. Change does not happen immediately, it will take time, but time is something you were short of. You hoped that during your mothers rein that she could change things.

If not for you, for others to come.

As you stared at the flames, a knock was heard on the thick wooden doors.

You turned your head to look at the carved wood, taking a deep breath to steady yourself, and deciding to ignore the unwanted guest.

A moment passed, and you turned your attention back to the flames again.

Another knock.

You breathed heavily out of your nose, before pushing yourself to stand, ignoring the twinge in your side as you walked to the chamber doors. The grain of the wood crawled the same way, its dark oak smoothed by a steady hand.

The oak echoed with the thud of three soft taps.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

You stared at the entrance as your fingers moved to touch the handle of the door, fingers curling around the cold steel. You took a breath, and pulled the handle towards you, opening it up to allow for a gap in the door to look at your visitor.

Rhaenyra stood behind the door, hands clutched together at her front as she looked at your through the gap.

Her eyes looked sad. 

“Can I come in?” Her voice was soft.

Maternal.

You said nothing as you looked her over.

“Please.” She asked again.

You sighed, pulling the door wider, allowing for the Queen to enter your chambers. The door was shut behind her as you stood waiting. If she was to talk, she would need to begin. You had said all that you needed to.

She watched you, eyes scanning your face.

“Could we sit?”

She was trying.

You gave her a soft nod, before following her back in front of the fire, to sit by the chaise. She sat first, looking up at you as you hesitated, before slowly sitting beside her. Your thighs touching hers. 

You loved her more than you could express. But it hurt.

Her head tilted as she watched you, her expression mournful. It reminded you so much of Lucerys. There was just so much of her in him.

She breathed deeply in thought, hands fidgeting in her lap as she thought of what to say. Then as sudden as that meekness came, the power came forward. Her hand came to grab yours, pulling it into her lap.

Physical touch was important to show her affection. You couldn’t remember a single time as a child where she had shown you love without holding you. 

“I have thought all night of how to talk to you, but I find I am lost for words.”

You looked down into your lap. 

Why did you feel guilty? 

Mothers had that sort of power.

“I have watched you grow into such a fierce strong woman…” She paused.

You waited for her next words. For the but that felt like it was coming, for the other shoe to drop. For her to tell you how she resented you. How you were a disappointment, how your actions had changed you forever in her eyes.

“And I could not be more proud.”

You head snapped to look at her.

You were shocked. This was not what you had expected.

“You are everything that I could have hoped for, and more. Unfathomably kind, smart, courageous. Your love and devotion to your family is your biggest strength, and also your weakness.”

There was the other shoe. 

You looked back down, and she squeezed your hand tighter.

“If the realm was different, if this was different, you would be my heir. How could you not be? But the realm is cruel, and unkind to women. They believe us to be better fitted for bed chambers, as decor to the men who hold us on their arms." She paused to breath, her fingers stroking yours in her hand.

"In saying this, I know it is not fair to you. We women are built up, only to be pushed back down, no matter if you are of noble birth or common. Rhaenys had tried to warn me once, when I was younger and I didn't listen.”

You straightened your back.It felt like rubbing salt in the wound.

“I tell you this now, because I had planned to name you my successor. I had plans for you to rule after I did. That is why I prepared you. It was not all for naut, for me to just pull the rug from beneath your feet unkindly. But then... Viserys died…” Her thumb rubbed against your hand and you felt her gaze fall away from you. 

As you looked up, your mother was staring at the fire, watching the flames in the same manor as you had.

“And Aegon was crowned King. The realm was divided before, but now I fear, more than ever, that there may be no winning this war. Even if I sit upon the throne, there will be those who do not accept it. There will be those who conspired with the Greens to place my brother on the Iron Throne, so that a woman would not. To name you successor, would be to put an even larger target on our backs. On yours.”

Rhaenyra’s side profile glowed from the warm light of the fire. Her brow was furrowed as she watched the flames. You looked down at your hands, where her thumb had ceased its comforting stroke.

It was your turn to comfort her.

You reached your other hand to hold hers, pulling it into your lap as you looked down, not raising your eyes even as you felt her gaze come back to you.

The warmth from her hands settled you. 

“I know that you are angry. I know that you are bitter. And you are right to feel this. I felt it the day Rhaenys came to tell us Aegon had usurped the throne. I felt it the day Otto came to give us Aegon’s terms. I know that there isn’t anything that I can say to make this better. To make you not resent me, or your brother, but please know it was not because you aren’t fit to wear the crown.”

The ring on Rhaenyras hand glinted in the flames as she spoke to you, your finger coming to fiddle with the gold.

Anything, but look up at your mother.

“What you did at Riverrun…” She sighed, and you waited. “Was reckless. You could have died, and I had feared I had lost you again… I worry about you… About this… anger you have.”

“Fear is the strongest ally of all.” You murmured.

“I suppose it is.”

“They should fear you. Us.”

“They will.”

"I do this for you. And if not for you, then for them. For Visenya. For Lucerys. For Syndor.”

“You are far too young to know such loss.”

“This is war.”

“Ñuha dōna riña.” (My sweet girl.) She cooed, before pulling your face to her lips, letting them brush against your temple gently, as she placed three kisses there, as she always did.

Like how she always did for Luc.

“I want to fight.” You whispered beneath her.

“Y/n.”

“Please. I cannot bear to sit in these chambers and do nothing. Let me fulfil my duties, if not as your heir, then as your daughter. To the crown. To you.”

You watched her eyes as she thought.

Those light purple irises glowing in the low light of the room. She held so much beauty. It oozed from her pores, from the way she held herself. From the way she just was. 

Both of your mothers hands came to frame your face, holding you to look at her before she nodded.

“I suppose I cannot stop you, even if I tried.”

A smirk pulled on your lips. 

"Give me your word." You demanded softly.

The Queen looked at you unsure.

"Give me your word," You repeated, "That you will let me fight. That you will let me fulfil my duties to ensure your ascension to the Iron Throne. No matter the cost."

Rhaenyra continued to watch you, not answering, eyes full of thought.

"I swear to you, that I will consult you before I act. As my Queen, and as my mother." You assure her.

The silence in the room was heavy as you waited for her to give you her answer. For her to swear to let you fight. To be a true Targaryen Princess. To give your all to her cause and help win back the throne.

"I give you my word." She breathed, and you let yourself relax into her.

It was done.

She pulled you to lean against her shoulder, as you sat in silence, letting the days tension burn away with the fire.

“Is Jacaerys alright?”

“He is fine. Only worried about you.”

You hummed.

“He loves you. More than you know.”

You both sat in silence for some time, held tightly against your mothers side as she brushed a gentle hand up and down your arm, soothing you. There was not much more you could say to each other, but now there was more of an understanding. 

As you felt your eyes begin to grow tired, and slowly drift shut, Rhaenyra gently pulled you up and led you to bed. She tucked you underneath your covers before leaving a soft kiss on your forehead, her lips lingering gently against your skin, then leaving you to fall asleep.

When you woke the next morning, you built up your courage to go and apologise to Jacaerys in his chambers. You had your hair brushed out of its braid, and into a new style, the oil from the night before making your hair smooth and soft to the touch. 

You dressed in all black and at your breakfast slowly, delaying the inevitable.

As you picked at the bread on your table, your door opened, and Jacaerys walked into your chambers, without announcing himself.

“I knew you would be avoiding me, so I came to talk.”

You swallowed the mouthful of crust that sat on your tongue.

“I’m not avoiding you. I had plans to come to you.”

The young prince pulled the chair beside you out and away from the table, before sitting into it heavily, leaning back as he looked at you expectantly. He wore a deep red tunic today, with dark silver buttons lacing him up. His brown hair brushed neatly atop his head.

You rubbed at an eye, as you inhaled deeply, ready to begin your disgruntled apology to your brother.

“I forgive you.”

You cocked your head to the side, brows furrowing.

“I have not apologised?”

“You were about to. Whenever you have to say sorry, your lips pull into a grimace like it pains you to do it.”

You frowned.

“To win this war, we can’t fight amongst each other. If we stand divided, the faster we fall. I know that what you said came from a place of hurt, and anger. And you were right. What would I know of sacrifice?”

You opened your mouth to argue, but he cut you off with a hand raising into the air.

It reminded you of a King.

“Let me finish. You did enough speaking yesterday and now it’s my turn. I will never truly know what it is like for you, or mother, or Rhaenys. I will never know what it is like to be a woman and to have the men of the realm look at you as nothing of consequence. I will never understand the burdens that are placed on your shoulders from birth, nor will I ever begin to understand the ones that you will carry until death. But you can help me understand. Tell me before you get to your breaking point. Do not hold it all in.”

You reached forward to full more bread off of your plate, rolling the soft flesh into a ball before placing it into your mouth to chew. You leant back in your chair watching your brother, waiting for him to continue.

“I was expecting an argument.” He commented.

“None so far. Continue.”

It was like he was apologising to you.

“I had told you before in the Throne Room back in the Red Keep that you deserved the throne, not me. And I meant that. But that is not the way of the world, as much as we both wish different. Hope is a fools ally, and-“

“Don’t quote the Lords now.”

“I don’t wish to see you broken. What you did was stupid. I will not apologise for that. You could have died. You could have cost us the war. You could have given them the upper hand, by having you again. But you didn’t, and so you afforded us a win amongst a sea of losses.”

You watched as Jacaerys leant both elbows onto the table, hands coming to grasp his own on the table in front as he looked at you.

“You are my sister, and I am loyal to you. I will do whatever is in my power to protect you. But I will not fight with you about the succession of the throne. I refuse to. It is a mute point. And something that neither I, nor you, can change. If we are to win this war, we need to do so together.”

“You sound like you’ve spoken to mother.” You smiled shyly.

“I may have. And I hold no shame for it. She is wise, wiser than she lets on.”

“She is.”

“I love you, y/n. And I cannot even imagine what you have endured for all of us. I cannot imagine what you have kept from us in order to protect us. Much like mother. But you can’t keep this going on. You can’t keep sacrificing yourself for others. I know you have that fire inside of you, but one day it will burn you up, and everyone else in its path.”

“Now you do sound like mother.”

“I mean it. You get this look in your eye, it frightens me. And the way you razed that army to the ground like it was nothing? We got word today that there were no survivors. Not a single tent left unburnt, bodies torn and mangled…I do not wish to see my sister become another Maegor.”

“It would be what they deserve.”

“Even still. It comes at a cost. Yourself. And I- we, cannot afford to lose you.”

You nodded, as he watched you. His soft brown eyes watched you before cocking his head to the side lazily, leaning back in his chair to bring his arms to cross in front of him.

“I’m sorry," Your hand came to grab his as you let out the two words,

“I will do better. But I will not sit back and do nothing. I will fight in this war, and you cannot stop me. I will do what is needed, whatever it is, to give us the upper hand. To give us time. To win. I will not allow us to endure any more loss. I will do what I have to, to ensure mothers claim, whatever the cost.”

Jace held your hand as he looked at you, brows furrowed.

“I know you will... And that's what worries me.”

You let out a gentle laugh and went to place more bread in your mouth, watching him observe you with a certain unease. 

“I won’t break.”

Jacaerys eyes do not leave yours.

The chambers are quiet, and in that moment you realise the depth of the silence.

His eyes were so much darker than you remember Ser Harwin's being. They had this deep, brown to them, gold flecked around the edges, so that when his pupils were wide, his eyes looked completely, and utterly black. 

As you stared at each other, the stillness blanketing the room, neither of you responding, it was then, in that moment that you realised what Jacaerys was saying.

He thought you had already broken.

That was what scared him.

Thanks so much for reading along with me, if you wish to be added to the tag list please let me know :) Likes and reblogs are greatly appreciated ! Enjoy <3

Tag List:

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[terriblewomanyuri]

Arturia/Ho'olheyak for the ask game. Would Rhodes Island be safe from such a high level of trolling?

This is actually one I've thought up independently. I've mentioned my Saria/Arturia ship a couple times, as well as my Saria/Ho'olheyak ship. I thought about Arturia/Ho'olheyak to make a fucked up polycule and I really enjoy the dynamics and Arturia/Ho'olheyak as it's own ship.

In the triad it's something like Arturia thinking "I can fix her," about the other two, Ho'olheyak thinking "I can make her worse," about the other two, trying to use Arturia a bit to break down Saria, all while Saria tries to distance herself from these two madwomen.

But focusing on Arturia/Ho'olheyak, I think this could be fascinating depending on what Ho'olheyak is like beyond all the conditioning and implanted memories. If that pursuit to bring back the glory of the K'ulk'ulkan really is so thoroughly entwined with her sense of self, what would happen when Arturia used her Arts? Would she become even more driven to find that old glory?

And what would it mean if she wasn't? We've seen some glimpses of her outside the usual taunting exterior, and if we take her song (Dormant Craving) to be canon, then she has a shockingly sincere side as someone with an earnest passion to study history.

So I do think Arturia actually could fix her.

On the other hand, if she just makes Ho'olheyak worse, I'd enjoy that too. They're both women who have a tendency to loom over another person's shoulder in a sinister fashion, though, so I'm not sure how they'd be able to figure that out.

I do also think that Arturia would be interested, maybe even obsessed, with Ho'olheyak to an extent that would even creep her out. At the very least, Arturia would see her as someone bound by so many strings to a past she simply needs to cut. I wonder how Ho'olheyak would react to someone trying to feel her emotions... it might be interesting to see Ho'olheyak geniunely afraid of someone who can exploit and manipulate her without being affected in turn. I am a sucker for a woman who tries toying with another only to discover that she is painfully out of her depth. And Ho'olheyak trying to escape only to find that it's simply not possible would be... interesting.

But no matter how this ship turns out I'd love to see it. My url is terriblewomanyuri for a reason.

Verdict: REAL AS FUCK