#but specifically pre lu

[skyward-floored]

The Lost Woods aren’t so bad.

Not after traversing them more times then Link can count, at least. Sure the paths shift, and monsters occasionally slip their way inside to hide in the bushes and trees, but Link knows the way to the clearing where he needs to go.

The forest only needs to let him.

His boots cut through soft grass, an occasional crunch belaying a leaf. The song of the woods is on the wind, and Link follows its winding tune, the pipes of water, strings and drums of leaves and branches. Quiet giggles make his ears twitch, but Link knows to ignore them.

He plays the game of the Woods, walking its paths, watching poes with a careful eye to see where they lead. The song dances by, high and low, loud and soft, and the flute that sometimes joins it makes his heart ache.

Time stretches strangely under the canopy of trees and fog— Link feels like he’s been here for hours now, but the glimpses of sunshine that peek through the branches are no different from how it was when he arrived. Link passes through another clearing, doubt beginning to nip at his heels. They’re not called the Lost Woods for no reason after all, and he’s starting to wonder if he hasn’t passed their test this time.

Is it because of what I’ve done since last I’ve been here?

But then something in the air, in him, clicks, eases, Link doesn’t know the word. But it’s like a fog lifts from his vision, and the path he needs to take is suddenly obvious. Link follows the pull past flowers and stones, over a barely-there path. It guides him through the yawning mouth of a log, and birds softly chirp as he emerges into a familiar clearing.

Fog drifts past his boots as he looks around, and a single shaft of sunlight breaks past the trees, drawing his vision to sparkling blue.

Link exhales, and steps forward, squirrels and other small creatures darting away into the bushes. He steps up onto the small stone platform, and doesn’t move for a long moment, looking at where the Master Sword sits with wisps of fog and sunlight dancing around her. Waiting for him.

“Hey old girl,” Link says softly, and for some reason his throat aches as he rests a hand on her hilt. “Been a while.”

The metal under his skin is both hot and cold, warmed by the sun’s light, and cooled by the stone it rests in. Despite years exposed to the elements, the Master Sword isn’t covered in greenery like it was the first time Link found her. Nor is her shine diminished in the slightest. Her blade is dimmed only because she rests, her power waiting for the next hero who needs her.

Who just happens to be Link again.

A shaking sigh escapes him, and Link puts both of his hands around her hilt, the electrifying hot-and-cold sharp-and-soft thrill of her power zipping through him as he pulls.

The Master Sword slips loose just like it did when he pulled her the first time, and Link raises her to the sky, the fog parting and fading away. The sunlight brightens somehow, making her sparkle and glow, and Link’s throat tightens again.

He hadn’t realized until now how badly he’d missed her.

Link lowers the blade again, running a hand over her cool steel as he studies her, looking over her finer points to familiarize himself with the weapon once again. Something is different, he realizes after a minute or two. And when it finally dawns on him what it is, he holds the Master Sword tighter, almost hugging her.

“I’ve grown,” he says quietly.

The blade fits his size now.

Instead of the still-pudgy hands of a child grasping at her hilt, there’s the worn hands of an adventurer ghosting along the metal, scars catching in her grooves. There’s blood staining his hands now that wasn’t there before, yet she still allowed him to pull her.

“You fit better, now,” he continues, voice shaking a little. “Hopefully this’ll... make things easier.”

His breath hitches, and Link swallows it back, clasping the sacred blade in his arms like one would an old friend.

He squeezes his eyes closed.

“I guess I thought I wouldn’t be doing this again,” Link whispers, ghosting his fingers along the gem in her hilt. “Not... not after the last one.”

Not after what I did.

The metal seems to warm just a hair, like the sunshine got pulled into it, and Link rests his head against the Master Sword, allowing a single drop of saltwater to trail down his cheek.

“Thanks,” he croaks, and the softest, faintest of chimes echoes in his heart.

It’s enough to pull him from the grief that was threatening to swallow him up again, and Link sets aside the weight of an island, and focuses instead on the weight of the sword, and his kingdom.

He’s needed. He can’t get lost in grief.

Link breathes out, running his hand along the steel one more time, and then he gently sheathes her, stepping down from the platform.

“Here we go again old girl,” he says as he steps outside of the clearing, weary with grief, but determined to stop the evil returning yet again.

He closes his eyes.

“One more time.”

A single pure note chimes in his chest, and Link feels something other than grief wrap itself around him, urging him forward to take another step, to press on despite the weight.

It feels a little bit like hope.

[anadorablekiwi]

Twilight Princess Zelink

summary: Link gets sick while out, and asks Epona to take him home

words: 962

[housederiva]

I was looking at pictures from that veilguard leak last year and this picture specifically caught my eye. At the time, we assumed the person in the doorframe was Rook but that's Lucanis' armor so maybe this is pre-mulet Lu and the 2nd companion on companion specific missions will do more than just chill in the background?

[chiangyorange]

Do you have any LoZ/LU fic recs?

i have many! they wont be organized in any particular way tho

i started just hucking links at this until i realized, oh this is gettin really long actually, so im going to shove everything under the cut with the link to the fic itself and some personal notes from me to hopefully get you to read them!!

for Linked Universe;

Two Moon Pearls and the Master Sword by serbii

the chain get sent to the dark world and literally everyone but four, sky, and legend get to turn into animals about it. also baby legend is there <3 this also has an in progress sequel!!! its so fucking good!!!!!!

Absence by Anonymous

wild forgets he has to TELL PEOPLE that he has amnesia. this has consequences. i love wild and warriors dynamic so much theyre such a duo. if i believe in my heart other people can see the vision too.... sobs. WAILS EVEN.

Dearly, Departed by boo_boo_thefool

a series of post-lu oneshots revolving around each of the heroes!! hasnt reached all 9 of the chain yet but still a damn good read. if i think too hard about this one i can and will cry. on command even.

The Missing Link by SparklingWonderQueen

ongoing fic about if the chain met wild riiiiight at the beginning of totk when hes still missing!

willow bark and chamomile by schrodingers__cat

a REALLY fucking good read. like oh my god i just got SUCKED into this from start to finish. if ur a legend fan yes the fuck you are. get in there. go.

Dawn of the Fourth by LazuliQuetzal

also a damn good read!!! time gets de-aged and wind goes "haha im the big brother now. ... OH NO IM THE BIG BROTHER NOW!!!!!!" fucking hilarious. absolutely heart wrenching. these things are both true at the same time

ageless quest by fandomsandshit

OOOOOOOH YOU WANNA READ ABOUT THE CHAIN SEEING THE LIGHT DRAGON AND CONTEMPLATING THEIR OWN ADVENTURES SO BAD OOOOOHHH (theres three installments so far and if i think about THIS ONE i will ALSO cry on command about it. man i fucking love totk zelda so much why did they do that to her poor girl)

To Share, to Speak, and to Hear by NajikaSun

i cannot explain to you how much i love the knights trio. i have many feelings about them and they will sit riiiight here. its about the weight of legacy its about the weight of trying to fulfill your duties. you get it.

darning the threads as they fray by Ammo_Writes

this ones not done but bow howdy does it get my brain CHUGGING!! the tone... the haunting feeling.... augh... AUGH !!!! WHERES MY BOY I MISS HIM SO MUCH.

sorrow, immortality, and hope by virtualpng

READING THIS MADE ME WANT TO TEAR MY FURNITURE APART WITH MY TEETH!!! OHHHH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDD ITS SO GOOOOOOOOOODDDDDD this author's other fics within the series also fucking slap. hard. god. the chain (who havent met wild yet) meet a stranger in ordon

Applejuice Stains on the Past by MjsKindaHere

HEY REMEMBER WHAT I SAID ABOUT THE KNIGHTS TRIO??> sky gets de-aged and wild is NOT normal about it. legacies and expectations and burdens etce etc. you get it

Young volcanoes by jelly_dragons

wild is incredibly fussy about how he was forced to wear the big clunky ass flamebreaker set in his journey meanwhile sky just gets some fancy shmancy earrings about it. the duo go into a volcano. hilarity ensues.

The Ruin They've Made Me by CluelessMoose

botw link's last battle did NOT go well with calamity ganon and leaves him possessed by the damn thing. and then the chain pop in. (owwwww OWWWWWWWWWWW)

Twin Quasar by StrixEye

written before totk released and its still unfinished but MAN AM I A SUCKER FOR GOOD COMPELLING TIMETRAVEL.

hold on, reaper by virtualpng

the chain before they ever meet wild but they pop into his hyrule anyway while hes in the shrine of resurrection. wind meets a ghost at fort hateno. god i fucking lost ghost stories.

steady going under by rebornofstars

the boys.... theyre sleepy.... specifically on top of twilight...

I'm A Riddle In Nine Syllables by SilverheartSP

GOD i fucking love ghost stories. pre-lu in botw where wild meets the chain as ghosts first, and THEN actually meets them

The Legacies You Leave Behind by Eureka5215

flora-centric study about her interactions with the chain. because she cant ever escape the overwhelming weight of a legacy like me too girl so real. yes this is part of my fixation on the knight trio. their haunted sadwoman air surrounding all four of them have captivated me mind and soul

Untarnished by Tashacee

MAN I FUCKING LOVE GHOST STORIES!!!! lovelovelove tash's hero's aspect au obvs the 2nd piece of fanart i did for this fandom was FOR heros aspect but man... MANNNNNNN UNTARNISHED HITS ME DIFFERENT!!!!! first..... ily king <3<3<3

In Flux by zippe

FUUUUUCKCKCKCKKCKC I LOVE FUCKY ASS TIME TRAVEL it can be to heartwrenching and this one is exactly thattttttt augh. AUGH!!!!!! i lose it ever time remembering this one

~~~

LOZ in general, but mainly botw/totk(and some aoc);

For The People by myfairstarlight

hey girl where did the divine beasts go. sidon is NOT having a good time about it hes EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED to that thing!!!!

That Brilliant Blue (A Bittersweet Goodbye) by myfairstarlight

hey. what do you mean sidon and mipha are doomed siblings. ill cry.

VIRTUE IS DROWNED, WITH HOLY HANDS, BY SORROW by lizandre

totk zelda in her time in the past. she is. not doing well!!!!

Again by Drich (drich147)

botw timeloop fic. yeah. theres this one scene where its revealed that guardians have a fuckign partymode???? thats hilarious.

so i'll never die when i'm dead by arashi_the_pancake

OW. FUCK. au where after turning into the light dragon zelda keeps her consciousness about it. shes not doing well!!!

[calitsnow]

Summary of all mentions of members of Hong Lu's family in the game + comparison with the original book

Summary:

Mention of his “family” in general in the game

Mention of the family elders in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his grandmother in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his grandfather in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his father in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his siblings in the game + comparison with the original work

Mention of his brother (Jia Huan) in the game

I wanted to recap all the times Hong Lu talks about his family or a particular member of his family while at the same time comparing them to their version of the original novel by giving some info on the latter (assuming that Hong Lu = Jia Baoyu ). I excluded from this list the uncles and aunts by marriage as well as Baoyu's cousins ​​ for various reasons (too long otherwise, not mentioned...) but I will perhaps do a part 2 to talk about them.

Was also excluded, the entire branch which stems from Jia Yan (the brother of Jia Yuan (the father of Jia Daishan, the husband of Grandmother Jia)), a branch which remains important since it is this one who leads to the actual Head of the Ningguo Mansion (Jia Zhen) when the story takes place. But since, they are distant relatives/cousins ​​of Jia Baoyu, that was taking me too far and so I had to remove them from this list. But I still wanted to mention it since it is an important branch of the family

The Jia family is mainly composed of 4 great families: the Jia Family, the Xue Family, the Wang Family and the Shi family in other words those who were born with the name Jia and those who joined the family by marriage / alliance / by being the brother / sister of one of the grooms… (born Xue or Wang or Shi).

There are also other families like the Xing or Lin family joining the Jia family but whose name appears (very) less often and which are also not considered as one of the great families of the novel.

This list of family members is made in relation to the place they occupy in relation to Jia Baoyu.

I/Mention of his “family” in general in the game

LCB sinner, chatter#3

Abn. logs, Pink shoes: lacking data

Abn. Logs, Sign of Roses: level 1

Abn. Logs, Sign of Roses: level 3

Liu Association South Section 5, story

Liu Association South Section 5, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, post-uptie chat 2

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, Idle

Main story, Canto II, episode: 3

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, Miracle in district 20, episode: 13

Main story, Canto V, episode: 2

Hong Lu’s promo pre-limbus company release (Hong Lu also mentions the family’s chef’s side dishes but I didn’t include it because it was not about his family specifically)

II/Mention of the family elders in the game + comparison with the original work

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, story

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, story

Main story, Canto IV, episode: 27

To tell the truth, I don't really know what the term "elders" is supposed to encompass in this context in the sense that, I don't know whether or not parents and/or uncles/aunts should be included in addition to the grandparents.

In my opinion the term "elders" refers to all the generations who are above the one who uses this term (in this case Hong Lu / Jia Baoyu) so I would tend to want to count the parents and uncles / aunts but I cannot say this with certainty.

I will therefore base myself on my interpretation so that it will allow me to talk about more characters of the novel but do not hesitate to let me know what this term encompasses!

1st generation:

Grand parents:

Jia Daishan:

Son of Jia Yuan

first Duke of Rong

husband of Grandmother Jia

father of Jia She, Jia Min and Jia Zheng

grandfather of the three first Spring Ladies (Jia Yuanchun, Jia Tanchun and Jia Yingchun), Jia Zhu, Baoyu, Daiyu, Jia Huan, Jia Lian

died before the beginning of the novel, reason why we don’t know much about him

Grandma Jia (the Dowager):

Daughter of the Marquis Shi of Jinling

Wife of Jia Daishan

Grandmother Jia is a generation above the oldest member of the Rongguo Mansion (Jia Jing)

Thus, members of the Jia family all defer to her

For further information, refer to the paragraph dedicated to her below

Great uncle(s):

Dowager’s brother:

We don't know much about the Dowager's brother

He is Grandmother Jia’s brother

He is the father of Shi Ding and Shi Xiangyun's Father

He is Shi Xiangyun’s grandfather

died before the beginning of the novel, reason why we don’t know much about him

2nd generation:

Parents:

Jia Zheng:

Jia Zheng is the second and youngest son of Jia Daishan and Grandmother Jia.

He has a wife, Lady Wang, and two concubines: Zhao (with whom he had two children) and Zhou

For further information, refer to the paragraph dedicated to him below

Lady Wang:

Daughter of one of the four most prominent families of Jinling (Wang)

Primary wife of Jia Zheng

Mother of Baoyu and Yuanchun

Because of her purported ill-health, she hands over the running of the household to her niece, Wang Xifeng

In the eyes of her servants, she appears as a statue of a lifeless Buddha.

Although generous, she is described as without will or conviction.

Lady Wang seems kind and caring but can be cruel and ruthless when her authority is questioned.

She shows excessive concern about her son Baoyu's romantic relationships and closely monitors his maids.

Lady Wang plays a role in the death of Baoyu's maid, Qingwen, due to her suspicion and cruelty toward maids she perceives as threats to her son's virtue.

Uncles:

Jia She:

Elder son of the Dowager

Big brother of Jia Zheng and Jia Min

Husband of Xing furen

He has 2 concubines: Yingchun’s mother and Jia Cong's mother

Father of Jia Lian, Jia Yingchun and Jia Cong

He inherited the title of Marquis Rong

He is treacherous and greedy, as well as seductive/woomanizer.

He feels jealous towards his younger brother, favored by their mother.

He was later stripped of his title and banished by the government.

Father of Wang Ren and Wang Xifeng:

Lady Wang’s brother

Also brother of Wang Ziteng and Wang Zisheng

Father of Wang Ren and Wang Xifeng:

Wang Ziteng:

Lady Wang’s brother

Also brother of Wang Xifeng’s father and Wang Zisheng

Wang Zisheng:

Lady Wang’s brother

Also brother of Wang Xifeng’s father and Wang Ziteng

Aunts:

Jia Min:

Daughter of Jia Daishan and Grandmother Jia

Sister of Jia She and Jia Zheng

Wife of Lin Ruhai

Mother of Lin Daiyu

Xue Yima also known as Aunt Xue:

Sister of Lady Wang

Sister of Wang Ziteng, Wang Zisheng and Wang Xifeng’s father

Mother to Xue Pan and Xue Baochai

She is generally kind and affable.

However, she struggles to control her rambunctious son.

III/ Mention of his grandmother in the game + comparison with the original work

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, story

W Corp. L2 Cleanup agent, chatter #1

K Corp. Class 3 excision staff, post-uptie chat 1

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, S.E.A, episode: 4

If Hong Lu is indeed the equivalent of Jia Baoyu in the world of limbus company, Hong Lu's grandmother should be the one known as Grandmother Jia, née Shi:

Grandmother Jia:

Also called Dowager Shi or simply the Dowager

She is the daughter of the Marquis Shi of Jinling

Grandmother Jia is a generation above the oldest member of the Rongguo Mansion (Jia Jing)

Main elder of the great family, she is the oldest and most respected authority of the Jia Clan

Of an enjoyable temperament, she does not intervene in the private lives of her children provided that they do not disturb her, even if they have become debauched or high rollers.

It was she who arranged for Daiyu, her only "outside" (i.e., maternal) grandchild, to come to the Rongguo Mansion

She spoils her grandson Baoyu whom she carries in adoration

Despite this, she does not approve of his love for Daiyu

She is the one who supports the marriage arranged by Sister Pheonix (Wang Xifeng) between Baoyu and Baochai

She will die at the ripe old age of 83

Maybe it's just me, but she seems to be one of the people if not the person who pays the most attention to Jia Baoyu's jade, reminding him to take care of it, asking him if he knows where it is his jade when he is not wearing it, paying attention to the stone...

IV/ Mention of his grandfather in the game + comparison with the original work

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, Yield my flesh to claim their bones, episode: 4

Abn. Logs, Pink shoes: lacking data

Hong Lu’s promo pre-limbus company release (yéyé" (爷爷) meaning "grandfather" or “grandpa”. It is an affectionate term used to refer to one's grandfather in Mandarin.)

So we don’t really know which of his two grandfathers Hong Lu is referring to but knowing that in the novel only his paternal grandfather is mentioned and died before the novel begins, I think the "grandfather" Hong is talking about is Jia Daishan (and that he probably died in the world of Limbus Company too)

Jia Daishan:

Son of Jia Yuan

first Duke of Rong

husband of Grandmother Jia

father of Jia She, Jia Min and Jia Zheng

grandfather of the three first Spring Ladies (Jia Yuanchun, Jia Tanchun and Jia Yingchun), Jia Zhu, Baoyu, Daiyu, Jia Huan, Jia Lian

died before the beginning of the novel, reason why we don't know much about him

V/ Mention of his father in the game + comparison with the original work

LCB sinner, chatter#1

If Hong Lu is indeed the equivalent of Jia Baoyu in the world of limbus company, Hong Lu's father should be Jia Zheng:

Jia Zheng:

He is the second and youngest son of Jia Daishan and Grandmother Jia.

He has a wife, Lady Wang, and two concubines: Zhao (with whom he had two children) and Zhou

Father of Jia Zhu (deceased), Jia Yuanchun, Jia Baoyu, Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan

Confucianism had a great influence on him: he is a Confucian scholar who tries to be an upright and decent person, he fulfills his duties of filial piety towards the Dowager, and wants to educate his children strictly

Afraid his one surviving heir will turn bad, he imposes strict rules on his son (Jia Baoyu), and uses occasional corporal punishment.

Jia Baoyu is afraid of him

He has the ambition to become a good civil servant

But he lacks experience and is easily deceived by others, which earns him a bad reputation.

VI/ Mention of his siblings in the game + comparison with the original work

Main story, Canto III, episode: 2

Detour Tales, Chapter 5.5, episode: 13

Abn. Logs, Pink shoes: lacking data

If Hong Lu is indeed supposed to be the Jia Baoyu of the world of Limbus Company, then, if we refer to the novel The Dream of the Red Room, Hong Lu should, like Baoyu, have 4 siblings:

Jia Zhu:

First son of Jia Zheng and Lady Wang

Big brother of Jia Baoyu and Jia Yuanchun and half-brother of Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan since they share the same father.

In the original novel, Jia Zhu is already dead prior to the action of the novel, so we know very little about him.

He had a son (Jia Lan) with Li Wan

Jia Yuanchun:

First female family member of the quartet of "Springs", first daughter of Jia Zheng and Lady Wang

Big sister of Jia Baoyu and Jia Yuanchun and half-sister of Jia Tanchun and Jia Huan since they share the same father.

She is about 10 years older than Baoyu.

She was raised by her grandmother

As an older sister, she taught Baoyu to read and write when he was liitle like his mother would have done.

Originally one of the ladies-in-waiting in the imperial palace, Yuanchun is later promoted to the highest ranking of imperial concubine "Xiande”, having impressed the Emperor with her virtue and intellect.

Despite her prestigious position, Yuanchun feels imprisoned within the four walls of the imperial palace.

She died at the age of forty, following an illness, in total isolation.

Jia Tanchun:

Third female family member of the quartet of "Springs", second daughter of Jia Zheng and his concubine, concubine Zhao

Big sister of Jia Huan and younger half-sister of Jia Zhu, Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu since they share the same father.

The fact that she is the daughter of a concubine is still such a burden that she often claims Lady Wang, Baoyu's mother, as her own

Tanchun is a very clever and capable person, as much as Sister Phoenix for comparison

But, as the proverb says, "he who comes last will have fewer opportunities than the others", and this is what happened to her, because when her family declined she had not done much and she was sent to a distant region following an arranged marriage

Jia Huan:

Third son of Jia Zheng and his concubine, concubine Zhao

Little brother of Jia Tanchun and younger half-brother of Jia Zhu, Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu since they share the same father.

More info just below

VII/ Mention of his brother (Jia Huan) in the game

Main story, Canto I, episode: 30

Main story, Canto V, episode: 18 (there we don’t know if he is talking about Jia Huan or not but there are not many other options and from what we can deduce from Jia Huan’s behaviour (in game and in the book too) it’s not very out off character)

Jia Huan:

Third male family member of the generation of the Jia household, son of Jia Zheng and his concubine, concubine Zhao

Little brother of Jia Tanchun and half-brother of Jia Zhu, Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu since they share the same father.

He is described as ugly and clumsy

He and his mother are both reviled by the family, and he carries himself like a kicked dog.

He is very cunning but mediocre, he shows his malignant nature by spilling candle wax, intending to blind his half-brother Baoyu

That’s all! If I have forgotten any moments where Hong Lu talks about his family, don't hesitate to tell me and I will add it! Also, I tried to verify and proof-read all the info and everything should be correct but if I made a mistake feel free to point it out to me :)

[zarvasace]

It’s “appreciate yourself” hours! Pick five pieces of writing/art that you’ve done that you love and talk about them! ❤️❤️❤️

Ahhhh okay, thank you!! 💜🌻 I finally have a free moment (aka work is slow) so I'm going to work on drafting this out :) I have far too much art I'm proud of—I'm at a stage in my progress right now where I think my art looks pretty awesome. So this list will be stuff from my Greatest Hits collection on AO3. In order of oldest to newest, I think:

incandescently happy

An LU post-adventure work, one of the first longer fics I posted. I released one chapter a day over the summer of 2022, so a lot of the notes have something about my day in them. It's about 30k all told.

I absolutely adored expanding on what the boys might do after the whole LU adventure happens (though I did forget about the fact that I think Time and Malon have a kid during this time!) This work features some proto-Shatterproof stuff, like Wind having a prosthetic leg and Four starting to specialize in crafting prosthetics/disability aids. I gave Hyrule longer hair and a job making maps for the royal family. Legend got another adventure but also started a magic garden/orchard, which pulls in more business than Ravio's stuff. Four and his grandpa adopted a single mother and her two kids. Man I went off with some of these headcanons. I've always considered writing more in this world, but I think it stands very well on its own. Maybe someday I might revisit and rewrite it with some of my new skills. :)

Rise and Shine and Fall

Whumptober 2022, focused entirely on LU! Guys this thing is almost 78k. I realize now that most people pre-plan or pre-write for things like Whumptober, but I wrote these one by one every day, which was extra-hard because I had both college classes and a day job at the time. I came up with some fun AUs, learned a lot about writing (especially whump), and proved to myself that I can do hard things like this!! I've adored doing daily challenges since, though I haven't done it in a while. I look forward to this year's whumptober though!

I really like the table of contents in the first chapter—it makes things easy to find. I know individual works are probably more accessible, but I was still getting to know AO3, and those big numbers are fun. XD I have a hard time picking favorites, because I really went off on these, but I'd say a couple of them are:

Chp 3, "Right Here" about Sky

Chp 7, "Proof of Life" about Four and Shadow

Chp 18, "I'm onwy a babey :(" about Wind

Chp 21, "6:13" about Hyrule and Time

Chp 26, "Silence is Golden" about Wild

Chp 31-32, "The Worst Thing About Earth" about Legend, but kind of more specifically the rewrite/expansion I did last year... haha...

The Marvelous Misadventures of Wind and His Merry Band or Maybe-Human Heroes

It's been a while since I updated this story (56k, 6/8 chapters), but it's constantly on my mind. I've started chapter 7 twice, and I know what I want to happen, but I am easily distracted by the siren call of some other whump fics. XD

I freaking love this story, though. I really want to finish it. It's kind of an... experiment? I guess? I want to get published someday, and I picture myself writing middle-grade novels. This story is sort of my attempt to hit that tone. Also I just love Wind so so so much. Let him be cool!!

Blood-Sucker's Guide to High School

56k Four Swords completed story! I wrote this in a frenzy of like two or three weeks, then took another two to edit. It takes plot points from a vampire novel I enjoyed and twists and applies them to a story about Shadow and the Four Swords manga boys. I'm very proud of what I accomplished here, and that it's a complete story! I think it worked out really well. I learned a lot about plotting and handling larger stories, and it helped that I had the half-remembered structure of an existing novel to use as training wheels.

I love the worldbuilding in this story! The premise is that Shadow is an evil soulless vampire from a (rather abusive, not that he sees it) family of the same, but then he gets the ability to walk in the sunshine. He's assigned to go to high school for a while to get a feast for the vampire gala, but meanwhile he's developing a conscience and getting very attached to these human boys. I think I did a good job. I love rereading this, every scene is just so fun! :)

Counterbalance

55k exactly of a stupid LU darks AU. This started life as a series of oneshots and then the plot progressively got more and more convoluted and I love these stupid boys so much. The plot is very much not tight, in contrast to Blood-Sucker's Guide, but I learned a lot about how I write and how I like to plan with this one, too.

The characters are stupid and the plot is just kinda silly and there is both a bathhouse scene AND a spa scene. Legend blows up multiple things, my lovely nasty little Dark Links need smacks and therapy, and Prince has a legitimately emotional moment at the end. I love how it turned out, it's like an ugly little stuffed animal I made and hug until the eyes pop out.

That's five but I would be extremely remiss if I did not also mention something from Shatterproof:

The Incredible Shrinking Chain

About 10k, this is entry 31/68 in my series Shatterproof, which is a close-canon AU in which each of the boys has a different physical disability. This series also plays into my publishing ambitions, because whatever I publish will very likely have some disability representation. I'm rather passionate about it, actually! Shatterproof is close to my heart, and I'm so honored that so many people seem to love it too. :) I need to work on the next entry again!!

This entry in particular is so much fun. In it, the whole Chain sans Four is stuck mouse-sized, and Four has to travel out to Twilight's castle with them to get Dusk to help break the curse. They all have to figure out how to navigate while tiny, and Four pulls some very silly stunts. I love them.

Anyway, there's my list!! I've written a lot over the last like two and a half years, and I'm so so glad that I get to be here and part of this community. The LU fandom as a whole (or at least the parts I've seen!) is so welcoming and positive and I try to give back where I can! I'm going to suggest looking through my bookmarks and ultimate rec list collection to find some new favorites from some very talented authors! :) (oof I need to update the collection soon!! I've been seeing some awesome stuff!)

[sumerianlanguage]

Silim!!

I was thinking about bees (don't we all), and was wondering if you may know/ have sources that may know about beekeeping in Sumer? I know hives have been recorded in Egypt, but wasn't sure what the words and practices were like for Mesopotamia

🐝

Silim! Turns out this answer took more research than I expected, since bees weren't prominent in Mesopotamia as they are today.

Wild bee honey has been harvested across the greater Near East and North Africa for many millennia, dating back at least to the last ice age. Bees were first domesticated and kept in manmade hives around the third millennium BCE in Egypt. They were used for pollination of crops as well as honey production, and honey was both a significant economic product in Egypt (people sometimes paid their taxes in honey!) and a major export from there.

However, beekeeping didn't arrive in Mesopotamia until after the Sumerian period. The earliest references to beekeeping in cuneiform literature come from after 1000 BCE, long after Sumerian was no longer the major spoken language of the region, and bees appear rarely or never in pre-1000 BCE Mesopotamian art.

There are a number of references to honey in Mesopotamian literature; usually it is used as a metaphor for opulence, rarity or sensual pleasure. For example, multiple balbale to Inanna make reference to honey: In Shu-Suen B, it says lale dangega / e kinua lal hab duggaba "let me bring you honey / in the bedchamber dripping sweetly with thick honey" while the Song of the Lettuce has a whole long section about the lu lale "honey-man" shuni lale merini lale "with honey hands, with honey feet". (This "honey-man" is intended to be alluring and praiseworthy, not sticky and gross.) But words like lal "honey" could also mean "date syrup" or other sugary foods, so it's not always clear if specifically bee honey is meant. (I've previously answered about the Sumerian words for "honey" and "beeswax" here.)

In contrast to honey, I can't find a single reference to bees themselves in the entirety of the ETCSL, nor in any of the dictionaries I have access to. They may have had a word for the bee, but given the lack of beekeeping or use of bees in text this word hasn't been passed down to us. The Sumerians' successor, the Akkadians, did have several words for bee, most notably ḫabūbītu, also source of bēt ḫabūbāti "beehive", and nūbtu "honeybee", source of pār nūbti "beeswax".

If anybody has more Mesopotamian bee references, please let me know!

[therealslimshakespeare]

I just wrote a tiny little scene with an interaction between them!!! It’s very Jack Brady centric and it’s before Sanchez’s trust has been won over or before Cleven offered her the job or her being trusted with info Pre-Miscarriage but it’s still like 🥹 because it’s them

AHHHHH I LOVE THEM

Sneak peak? It’s a rough draft but…

They stayed in the hall for as long as they dared, up until the shadowy silhouette of a camp guard showed behind the glass of the main doors and they both hit the floor like scared children, plastered to the wood in hopes he’d think it empty.

“We can share my bunk.” Lu whispered to him from the floor once the guard had passed.

She actually took his hand when he stood up, leading him like he was some scared child being put back to bed. He felt himself sob, it wasn't a noise but a jerk of his chest and a stinging in the nose; he was disciplined enough not to betray it wholly, had learned the right way to shove it down in flight school and then perfected it in the bunks of Thorpe Abbotts with his men beside him and a sleepless Bucky Egan opposite.

The one they called Sanchez, the fighter pilot, was the only one still sat up at the table when they entered the bunk room and she gave them a look like a mother catching violators of bedtime. Brady shook Lu’s kind hand out from his own.

“All well?” she asked Smith with a decidedly sardonic lilt to her voice.

Lu Smith was a terrible liar but she nodded her tear stained cheeks vigorously and gave a chirping, “oh yes, fine, all fine.” before ducking into her bunk and pulling off her boots, placing them with Ida Brady Approved regulatory tidiness under her bunk. “Jack needs a blanket.” her wobbly voiced explanation only sealed the aura of falsity surrounding his reason for being here. Yet retreating back into the hall, risking a guard coming to investigate, that was out of the question. And if Jack could be quiet enough, like he’d trained himself, Lu would be a safe one to feel him falling apart if he did.

“Shit luck.” Sanchez commented in commiseration that was about as fake as the fictional loss of his ratty blanket.

Brady bounded into Smith’s bunk, filed by rage and grief, taking up a stubborn position facing the wall; he didn’t want to punch a Mexican fighter pilot, she was his ally and she was a lady and she was always gruff and was always being shut out of crucial insider knowledge because they didn’t know if they could trust her. She was vinegary because she was rebuffed, and he was angry at Adolf Hitler. The two did not combine and should not be mixed. He faced the wall and he seethed. Raged specifically at whichever of those SS fucks thought his sister wasn’t the purest, most giving, most infuriatingly strong woman they’d ever meet, or that they’d know that and that they’d do this, they’d try this, burden her with this.

Try to break her like that.

Cause her to die like this.

And they expected him to go to sleep.

[ilovereadingandstuff]

People!! people...

Do we...do we remember episode 7 from season 1 when Dou Dou was kidnapped...

in this scene specifically, we know that CXS was possesing Dou Dou while ALSO appearing right in front of Qiao Ling.

By this train of thought, and as also is confirmed later at end of season, some of CXS moves were already predestined to happened the way they do to the timeline to work...right? that's kinda de conclution i ended up making, but after rewatching the show WITH the knowledge from season 2...couldn't this be solely a work of Lu Guang by molding reality to his convenience for keeping CXS alive?!?!?!

what if this pre-established event (just as many others later), that seems to need-to-happen-this-way for the timeline to be as consistent as it is, is what LU GUANG WROTE on stone himself?!?!

Just like these times from season 2:

Episode 8

In Dub at least, Cheng Xiaoshi says "so I've already used the photo?" to make the point that it's supposed to happen this way of him travelling to the past and arranging all the event to keep the timeloop of him diving back in time (similar to what happened with Shanshan's serial killer situation, that cxs had already talk with the killer to arrange a meeting at the studio)...

Episode 9 'Lu Guang' not being discovered by the guards

The guy conveniently not turning around.

So, my not here is...What if all this convenient events are the work of Lu Guang?!?!?! He "carved in the rock" what he needed to in order to solidify in this timeline that cxs must live?!?!

Really.

The possibilities are endless with that new info season 2 gave us...

Lu Guang, you freak, I love you so fucking much.

Note: also, i'm aware this interpretation of mine has a BIG PROBABILITY OF BEING WRONG because in the show, there are scenes where Lu Guang seems surprised, seeming as he is oblivious of that info just like cxs at the moment, so not everything on this timeline could be the work of him if he seems surprised of what's happening. if he planned it all, then he would react differently.

[spilledstars1234]

First post! To start this blog off, i'd like to vomit a random Link Click theory that I thought of recently after finishing Season 2 a couple of weeks ago

You know, the whole “Lu Guang taking the photo in his hospital room” scene’s been on my mind a lot. Because that part was a liiiiitle strange. ‘Cause, I don’t think LG even left his phone there for CXS to find. And why? Because he doesn’t even know that CXS knows his phone passcode. My evidence? When Qiao Ling asks Cheng Xiaoshi how he knew LG’s passcode, he replies with “I just happened to see him put it in.” MEANING: LG didn’t tell it to him. Which is kind of odd, because if he left the phone specifically for CXS to find and dive into, wouldn’t he have told him his phone password beforehand in order to have gotten the plan to work smoothly? 

SO! What if he left the phone for HIMSELF to find, and dove into it after CXS’ death and after CXS transferred his ability to him, so he’d have like a backup plan-ish sort of thing just in case CXS might've died that night???

And bonus! So if that WAS him, then the whole thing with the boat would make sense! ‘Cause when it first shows the whole “Lu Guang leaping on top of CXS” scene (back when we didn’t know CXS dives into the photo), it shows LG having zoomed his way there to the docks on some random boat. So this brings me to the conclusion that this had all been pre-planned (aka LG from the future going back and saving CXS), because like, where’d he get the boat? Did he just hijack one or something? Or… did he have one prepared in advance? (see where i’m going with this??)

 And when we see CXS as Lu Guang, notice how HE didn’t take a boat there, and just ran all the way to the docks? (while risking the small matter of LG’s intestines spilling out… buuut cartoon logic!) So this brings me to thinking that the Lu Guang we saw the first time was actually Lu Guang! And that was him from another timeline and not CXS like we all thought.

And therefore, the “LG & CXS lying on top of each other scene” could’ve actually happened (so CXS wasn’t being narcissistic there, lol!), since that could have been Lu Guang the first time around (and Lu’s little smirk and the whole “Fortunately I caught up to you” thing could’ve been y’know, actually from him and not CXS just saying that to himself).

But then… there’s a loophole in this. Because the Lu Guang that is shown first starts busting out all these moves… and we all know CXS is the one who’s more adept at fighting, and we can kinda guess Lu Guang probably doesn’t get off the couch (he isn’t called an old man for nothing y’know). So, maybe that was actually CXS to begin with…

In conclusion? I genuinely don’t know! But I like to be delusional so I like to think that it was LG in another timeline (c’mon studio lan, you can’t just give us that scene and pass it off as it actually being CXS because of censorship pls). Or maybe I’m dumb and this theory’s super wrong because I completely missed something, I dunno.

(edit: HANG ON, i totally forgot about the scene where cxs gets shot and LG immediately went to beat the crap out of qian jin. So maybe all it takes for LG to fight is when he sees CXS in danger~)

[moosemann404]

Random bullshit headcanons for LU pre-GLaDOS I illustrated instead of talking to my family for Christmas

Look in shock and awe as I draw them completely differently each time

Now close ups and yapping abound

I’m actually horrible at drawing clothes and being time accurate at the same time uh oh. Doug seems like the kind of guy to have like 5 or 6 outfits and that’s it. At least 2 of those outfits are just what he wears to work. Also likes collars and buttons. The way he goes from work to casual is just taking off the coat and slipping on the vest. Hes got a suit jacket somewhere but that’s for when he needs to not be at work but also be dressed up.

I’m also horrible at facial hair so just… be nice to the man on the end he looks like shit.

Wheatley is a little more time period specific but also EXTREMELY outdated. His ass is NOT keeping up with trends. He’s a man who enjoys layers. I stole the upper half for his work clothes from @underhell69 because it was better than anything I could come up with.

This one down below was the first one I drew and you can tell I wasn’t exactly confident in drawing them just yet lmao

It’s always one of the default smart people things to have them be good at chess, or if the story is really going for lazy shorthand, they can solve a Rubix cube. So no, they’re both terrible at it. Wheatley suggested using house rules, but Doug was pretty sure that would break the game further. They prefer mancala.

Doug has insomnia. That is all. Wheatley usually puts a blanket over him if he finds him, or tries to use something as a pillow.

Not always in a bad mood but like 4/5 times, he’s angry or upset and he just wants to feel like a dancing queen. Wheatley is a big pop girlie, I will not elaborate. Man fucking loves his Eurovision.

Yes, that’s gen 1 Star Scream he’s holding. Despite Doug being primarily a programmer, he was pretty much forced to learn how to handle the hardware. Things Wheatley has asked Doug to build, despite this knowledge: lightsabers, a Dalek (no Doug, if you make it really small it’ll only exterminate bugs), many variety of Time Machine (he WONT break anything, stop saying that), transformers as seen above, a proton pack despite not believing in ghosts, a hover board.

Things Doug has actually built: A gundam from a kit (he has never watched gundam, he found it in a clearance bin), a number of small trinkets solely for Wheatley to fidget with, the outer casing of a lightsaber (the laser bits real hard)

Yes this is a Kafka Metamorphosis reference

I finally figured out how to draw them isn’t that neat. I stared at @beanzabear ‘s art until shapes made sense (sorry if this mention is annoying but you deserve credit for that and for getting me to use a softer color as my background :P). Is this kind of a spoiler if it’s something that happened in the past? Yeah, at some point they moved in together. Yes. They were roommates.

I could draw so much more but it’s getting to be a real problem, I think about them so much, my friend seven-gill had to tell me to go to sleep. I gave myself brain worms, no one else.

[aufi-creative-mind]

Updates about what I have been up to.

Things that are in progress!

Currently, my main focus is on completing the LU Spirits series (Formerly known as Farore's Spirits). It is my most ambitious personal project - 9 (12) part series - that I am undertaking by myself. I hope to finally fulfill a 5 year long promise to myself to give this series the artistic glow up that it deserves.

I am also part of the upcoming Denouncement of War: A Hyrule Warriors zine. So do check this out if you are a fan of the OG Hyrule Warrior games!

.

Things that I want to work on.

I plan to shift more focus towards my BotW-TotK Family and Legacy series. I have a lot of stories that I want to show to you all about Link's family and their individual character stories, Pre-Calamity, Post-Calamity and even present day BotW-TotK events. That includes fan fiction stories, including one I have started - Getting to Know You. You can read the first two chapters on A03 and HERE on this blog.

Chapter 3 is slowly being written out with a potential Chapter 4 planned as well.

I also have three folders worth of other Zelda concepts and stories that I want to show as well. Such as the pre-TotK Zelink sketches that I had impulsively made in the lead up to TotK's release last year. I might release them as soft sketches rather than fully rendered pages.

.

Things that are put on hiatus...

I have been asked by several people about my LU: Sword's Reveal comic pages and whether I am continuing it. And unfortunately, I will have to put it on hiatus until further notice.

This is because I started that comic long before TotK's release. Specifically when Nintendo made that delay announcement with that teaser of the decayed Master Sword. And the hype that created. So I was originally running on that hype energy of the unknown then. And the other reason was that....I lost the original script for the comic. And what notes I was able to retrieve no longer reflects on what I now know from completing TotK and what have in mind for the story.

So I'm not abandoning the LU Sword's Reveal comic! But it will be some time until I am able to come back to it and rework on the script and the draft pages.

.

Things that I am thinking of doing...

For those who may not know, I work as a liasion officer in medical accommodation for families with sick children. And as such, it does take up a lot of my time and energy - physically and especially emotionally - that I am unable to dedicate as much time to making art as I wanted.

I have been considering opening a Ko-Fi or even a Patreon account, but still unsure on how to go about it. I would love to hear your suggestions or feedback on this one!

.

So if you've been able to reach this far into this update. Thank you so much for taking your time and wishing you all the good vibes!

[honeycrispjamz]

Do you have any songs you heavily associate with Mistynat ? ^_^

YESSSS 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅 I have so so many. These are just the ones I’ve been listening to recently

With this one I can just imagine older Mistynat dancing in a rundown bar, a little drunk and way too close to be just friends,,, maybe Natalie whispers something in Misty’s ear that makes her blush and order another round of drinks,,,

Doomed pre-crash and post crash Mistynat vibes,,, makes me want a cigarette when I think about the line ‘you carry all that suffering like a gun between your arms’ in relation to Natalie 🚬😔🫰

THEEEEEEEE Mistynat anthem im so sorry everyone else,,,, but this one gets it,,, and yes specifically this cover cause it is superior 🙂‍↕️ but when I listen to this I see Natalie humming this while she plays with Misty’s hair out in the wilderness,,, refusing to tell Misty what the song is when she asks,,,,

Typical Misty yearning,,, hurts my heart to think about her so desperately wanting to connect fully with Natalie and never getting that,,, big rip

[hongluboobs]

new crack theory: dante is hong lu's sibling. evidence? his family seems important and it's said dante was someone important. that's it that's all the evidence

im obsessed w this but. we have MORE evidence...

How does he know this? maybe because Dante is his sibling...

And here we learn his younger sibling is a hater. And what do we hear out of pre-clock headed Dante?

Nothing but hating. Seems pretty cut and dry to me but there's even MORE evidence...

Why would his sibling want a red passport specifically? Maybe because they created their entire personality and aesthetic around the color red...

And of course. "sibling" instead of brother or sister. As we all know Dante is the only non-binary person in the city (who wasn't a lobcorp employee or a librarian) this can ONLY mean one thing: Dante is Hong Lu's sibling.

Ignore the sheer mismatch of having siblings named Hong Lu, (Jia) Huan, and Dante and the lack of cohesion to the source material. Anon i think you're cooking. I think you solved Hong Lu's backstory. And Dante's. we can all go home now

[luna-loveboop]

I presume from your Time love life help post you're a miphlink shipper? If so, that's cool!! And if not, that's also cool because you seem really nice! ^^

Hello yes you are getting five different reactions on varying degrees of intelligence

Because miphlink in Lu is very cool and I have a lot of thoughts on it

Hmm so like. I'm kind of neutral on miphlink. And by neutral I mean overflowing with love for everything to do with Mipha ever. I love love love Mipha. I love their pre-calamity love for each other- whether it was purely romantic or not they were so close. And I adore the life they maybe could have had. But even before totk, I was always more for zelink in botw

For Lu, in the scene with legend, he starts to call Mipha his fiancé before settling on friend (what he was going to say was confirmed in the tags). Since Lu takes place fresh after botw but before totk for Wild, he seems to still be attached in a sense to Mipha- there hasn't been enough time for certainty. But also, Jojo did refer to Sidon as Wild's 'theoretical brother in law', so at this point I think it does edge a bit more towards Miphlink. I think it is well done to see him grieve what love he had, even if he doesn't understand it entirely or what form it took.

Let him grieve the love that was there- even without fully understanding it, it's a loss. She was going to propose to him. A princess.

I like to think that before totk he remembered more about Mipha. In the "memories" comic, the brief glimpse of the memory Wild recovered shows the Zora, and he says he was swimming. So maybe he remembers more about Mipha- giving closure. (And then hopefully he and Zelda can move on- learn together how to recover from the past, and grow closer in a healthy way- by totk zelink is canon for me)

AND!!!! Let's not forget! Wordplay!

With Mipha, Malon, Midna, and Marin, this creates an insane amount of joy for me-

Redheaded loved female who's name starts with M

Times is the only ones left (alive, existing, or in this world), so he is the leader of the "redheaded girlfriend who's name starts with M" Club

He, Legend, Twilight, and Wild form a "secret" club from the others. They will sometimes sit in a circle a little bit away from camp looking secretive. It drives the others (specifically wind and wars) crazy that they aren't allowed in the meetings. The meetings consist of group therapy with Time trying to lead, before they end up just cracking jokes or whatever, having a normal conversation the others aren't allowed in. Also Wild cooks cookies.

[ryin-silverfish]

Have you heard of the modern myth growing around Meng Po and Yue Lao? There's barely anything said about these two deities' origins in pre-modern mythology, except that Meng Po was a water goddess and Fuxi's daughter before being reimagined as an underworld goddess. The modern story casts them as a pair of tragic lovers who, either out of divine punishment or their own pride, can never marry until all ghosts are at peace and there are no more lonely hearts. They've grown old while doing their jobs, but still stubbornly keep to their missions because they know one day they'll succeed, and once they guarantee everyone else is happy, they'll be free to seek their own happiness.

Oh, that is indeed an interesting development! Pairing two completely unrelated gods together: the time-honored tradition of Chinese folk religion.../lh

As for Mengpo in premodern mythos: though she is known as a goddess of wind in the Southern Song dynasty 云麓漫钞, and venerated as one of the two boat gods, "Menggong and Mengpo" in southern China, I've never come across any sources that said she was Fuxi's daughter.

Did it have something to do with the same source mentioning that she might have come from the ancient water/winter god, Xuanming, because "Ming" sounds similar to "Meng"?

One Ming dynasty source, 留青日札, also had a scholar, Lu Shixiu, state that she was the "daughter of the Emperor" (帝之女) in the Book of Mountains and Seas, accompanied by wind and rain whenever she appeared...

Yet the section of the book (specifically, 中山经) mentioned a "daughter of the Emperor" twice. The first time, it was an unspecified daughter whose dead body turned into magical grass that allows you to charm people.

The second time, with the wind and rain and all, mentioned TWO daughters dwelling in the mountains of Dongting, which might or might not be the daughters of Sage King Yao who married his successor Shun——E'Huang and Nv Ying.

If you have a link to the "daughter of Fuxi" thing, please give it to me!