#i also don't think Zelda would have allowed it either

[luimagines]

(( sparring match & don't make the child mad imagine ))

The chain and blind are in warrior's hyrule and lucky in the castle training ground were soilders train as warrior zelda notice the chain with impa. Blind holding wind hand and listening to all the sounds around them til they feel a magic presence of zelda and smile.

Zelda: link you return.

Warrior: hey zelda good to see you.

Warrior induction his zelda and impa to the chain and blind and she smile greet them all and ask the chain, warrior help on help training the soilders since some of them are untrained and blind can hear from their right to faintly hear a group of soilders talking about the chain in not a good light and the child grip their hand tightly that wind flinch since he holding their hand.

Wind: Heya blind ease up on-

Blind: sorry big brother ,zelda?

Zelda look to the cute child and smile answer the child with a yes.

Blind point their finger to the small group of soilders to their right.

Blind: can I spar them?

Time was going to step in to say something but blind owly look to were they think their papa is with a look of let me do this and zelda allow it and she take blind hand to walk them to were the main training ground is as the chain follow worry for blind as those soilders that was speaking ill of the chain get armed with wooden swords.

Zelda hand blind a wooden sword too and blind test out the wooden sword by touch then lightly tap the tip to the ground to how were the tip is as the three soilders chuckle saying how easy this sparring match will be but when impa give the ok to start the match blind listen to the three soilders move and swings go and use the wooden sword to block them all and swing back calculated and fast. That two of those soilders fell to the ground since the child swings hard.

The first soilder try to do a dirty trick on the blind child but blind can easily tell he's lying and dodge so blind upper cut and the angle that that the tip of the wooden sword break off but the chain flinch to see that soilder is going to have a hard time walking later but the spar match is over.

Blind: say mean things about my family again and I'll make you regret saying it.

Zelda giggle and take blind hand to walk th back to their family *chain*

Blind: sorry big brother warrior, this wooden sword is broken.

Warrior sign and glad that they did it because someone talk bad about them but seeing two soilders groan to the bruises and the other well need a ice pack wind very very glad he's their silbing cause he doesn't want to get a hit like that ever in his life.

The soilders fear the child more than Ganondorf and doesn't dare speak about the chain in fear they'll upset the blind child.

Fierce is grinning his grandchild on their first sparring and have the child by his side since time ask him to watch them.

Wow... that's one tough six year old.

Gotta admit though- I have trouble with this one since I don't think the chain would have allowed them to spar to begin with. It would be one thing if the child used their magic to attack from afar- but this doesn't match my perception.

Good on them.

[narsh-poptarts]

my dark link thoughts coalesced into wonderful headcanons and crazy amounts of forced perspectives and dutch angles

also sorry HW i would have included your dark link(s) but i do not have passion for your game <3 maybe next time

Some thoughts below

I have thoughts about dark link that boil down to basically two things: 1. it's always the same dark link, and 2. dark link has a very difficult time changing.

No matter how many times dark link is brought into existence, he is formed from the shadow of link usually to test link's will. that shadow can be duplicated (as seen in HW) but generally speaking it's the same guy, sharing the thought space, you know how it is. In terms of sentience/thinking for himself, I don't think there's all that much of it. He is a dark reflection/shadow of link, so shares his abilities and thought patterns (for combat) with added aggression and. evil. i guess.

As said by navi, "conquer yourself", and all that. He's a challenge to the inner will power.

That being said!!! he can have a little bit of individuality, as a treat. Just in the form of being mean and sadistic <3 he's got thoughts, he's not just a combat doll (tho in times of low power, or a greater power having the reins, he reverts to that), so he can be frustrated, vindicated, happy, etc etc. though when your thoughts are mainly "evilevilevilevilevil" your idea of these emotions are a bit skewed.

When he's summoned for each different link, i hc that it's all the same magic, so the same dark link every time. he "remembers" in an abstract sense of his role in the same way a link or zelda "remembers" their own reincarnation. tho his is less of a reincarnation and more being used over and over again. a persistence.

The iteration that's summoned reflects the current link at the time, the part of link that needs testing/defeating, so it's not an existence that he himself can change to match the present. he's locked to that first copy/shadow only. So if he were to have a second encounter with an older link, he'd look like the first time they fought, unless he was specifically re-summoned. i hc he's got limited magic, so this is not something he can do himself.

in a links-meet scenario, his form would be limited to those specific forms of the links, and it would always be the points in time in which he first encountered them, unless there's other magic either he or someone else has access to to allow him to change forms to match.

now you might be saying at this point "wouldn't he be a weaker match if he was put up against an older link?" yeah probably lol. but also!!! i like the idea that with the limited magic he has, he's able to change juuuust enough to stay relatively evenly matched. being able to play to different strengths and all that. but the base stuff is still the same, so he is decently easy enough to read if link remembers the kind of stuff he was pulling back when he originally fought dark link.

dark link also knows about all this so while limited to the particular skillset, is able to adapt slightly.

but yeah been thinking a lot about a links-meet au where dark link is there choosing a different link to be every time he appears to the party.

though there are a couple links that he never impersonates in their games!!! so can't change into those guys unless he gets a new round of copycat magic.

Anyways goodbye guy standing there with standard camera angle, i have dutch angles and forced perspective

[jullbnt]

@aikoiya The post was getting long again so here's a new one!

I knew you were going to answer that saying "this is unfair" isn't real life logic haha (and I agree that life hasn't been fair to Sky and Sun anyway). It's just that such an ending would probably leave me feeling unsatisfied and even a bit robbed, and I think it would require a lot of other changes to be made to the story in order for it to work properly. But anyway you're right, as things are now this would just be happening behind the scenes so what I'm saying doesn't really make sense. But just thinking about it changes my perception of SS in a way I don't really enjoy, so it's not a theory I favor.

Yes in that setting I'm pretty sure that the other Sun would not make herself known to Link and Zelda and would let them have their happy ending. But I think Zelda would likely suspect her existence and know that something is wrong. I guess even Link could notice that the Temple's doors are suddenly open and would ask Impa a few questions.

I had no idea Tingle called Farore the Goddess of Wind in WW, so I went on a little quest to see if I could find the same quote in the French version of the game. Apparently it's in Tingle's description of Outset Island and I never had the chance to play with the Tingle Tuner mode. I can't find the same quote in French anywhere and I don't even know if this was included in the HD remake (I guess I'll have to wait for a Switch version to find out… if they ever release one). This has me wondering if this quote isn't something exclusive to the English version, but I can't be sure and I'd like to know what the original Japanese text says. The French wikis mention that Farore is the Goddess of Wind in WW but don't provide any quote, it just looks like the pages were translated from English but that they couldn't find the same quote in French. It's really frustrating!!

Anyway that's a bit weird because WW already establishes Zephos as the God of Wind, and he seems to be a minor deity compared to Farore. The way I see it, wind is just the element that Farore tends to be associated with, and since a lot of myths might have been lost with Hyrule in WW this could just be a mistake on Tingle's part. I mean this is the game that gave us the Golden Triumph Forks haha.

I'm not limiting Nayru/the Golden Goddesses to a singular domain, quite the opposite ^^ To me Nayru being the Goddess of Wisdom includes different concepts such as order, law, science, magic, etc., and even time (since she's introduced as the creator of the world's fondamental laws), while calling her the Goddess of Time doesn't include all of that. That's why I wrote that I found it a bit restrictive. But sure she could have both titles, the same way Farore could be known most commonly as the Goddess of Courage and also called the Goddess of Wind in some situations.

Oh I didn't think of the blocks from OoT! I would say though that they don't really use any time powers, they're just random blocks that appear or disappear for some reason when Link plays the Song of Time (it's just as absurd as playing the Song of Storms to open holes in the ground haha). But yes they were blue and associated with time, and of course Nayru is too. The difference with Hylia in my theory is that Nayru created the rules of time (if that makes sense) among other fundamental laws, while Hylia's power specifically allows her to manipulate time and foresee the future. In a way I see Hylia as Nayru's spiritual daughter who inherited some of her powers over time (and that's why the color purple she's represented with is very close to blue).

The Master Sword has also been depicted as either blue or purple though, so that asks the question of the true color of all of these things! Nayru is definitely linked to time so it makes sense that the timeshift stones are in Lanayru (and Hylia also doesn't have a province named after her).

"From the edge of time" could definitely just be a poetic way to say that Hylia kind of recorded a message for Link before dying haha. But I find it interesting that she would phrase it like that, I like to see it as a clue.

Well if Zelda simply sent Link to a point further back in time, wouldn't there be two Links existing at the same time in the Child Timeline? But sure Zelda creating a brand new timeline also raises a few questions that kind of... make my head hurt. I'm not sure what happens exactly, I've always wondered! All we know is that Link finds himself in the Master Sword's chamber with the Door of Time already open, which hints at things happening in a different way this time (because he definitely doesn't have the three spiritual stones and the Ocarina of Time yet since this is before Ganon's coup, and the ending seems to imply that this timeline's Zelda doesn't know him yet). That's why I believe Zelda might have done something a bit more complex than sending him to a point further back in time, but there's no way to be sure. The Triforce of Courage is also visible on Link's hand during the ending, and we also know thanks to TP that the Triforce is still separated in the Child Timeline despite Link and Zelda preventing Ganon from entering the Sacred Realm this time. So maybe Zelda isn't able to change everything? It's complicated haha.

Anyway, whether OoT Zelda creates a new timeline or just sends Link further back in time, that's still huge time powers and that's not something Link is able to do by playing Zelda's Lullaby.

I also believe it is more likely that Talon inherited the ranch. True, Talon might not always have been so lazy, but maybe if that was the case the game could have hinted at hit. All we know is that he leaves his daughter alone with Ingo and only comes back after Link deals with the situation, which does not make him look so great. And he only promises to work harder after that.

I'm kind of bad with names so I'm impressed you're going through all of that trouble to rename the settlements!!

I haven't gotten to developping the technology that much yet, but I'm really interested in seeing what the different races could do with it! I love the idea of using the Sheikah to infiltrate the Yiga bases. I wish TotK had done something like that and shown the Sheikah helping Link that way.

Same, I was so excited when I heard about these pirates… and then so disappointed to find nothing more than a bunch of bokos with no backstory.

Vignoble is not related to noble (though I kind of make the association in my mind, especially since vignobles are sometimes called châteaux).

Yes I thought you could maybe use clos! Aquaticlos is funny, it can work! Though maybe you could use the same logic as for the raisins (I love this Raisins de Terre idea by the way, it makes sense!) and say that what the Zoras call a clos already refers to something that's underwater, since that's probably the case for most of what they cultivate.

I don't mind helping you with French, I'm glad to do so! You put so much effort and thought into this, it's really interesting.

[linksthoughtbrambles]

Tells

Part 21 of Adventure Log+ (sequel to Link's Thought Brambles - best to read in order, also on ao3). Warning for strong language.

'He who wields the sacred blade.'

Sheik?

'Hph. Most of the time.'

'It's just us, Sheik. Why don't you take your mask off?' Those red eyes. Always so serious. Always just out of reach.

"It won't do, Link."

'Look harder.'

"Mm." What…?

"We cannot allow all of Hyrule to believe we have perished."

Cold. Where did he go? Someone. So tired. But she's "much better."

"W- what is?"

"You. Food helped?"

"Well. Yes, my energy level is improved. The stew was delicious. But that's beside the point, Link. The populace shall panic."

Heavy eyelids. Stay open. "Margil, Beraya… Daile… won't tell anyone who shouldn't know." Neck cold, blanket up. "Hphhhhh. The others shouldn't either, if they follow protocol."

.

Zelda?

Wow. I haven't had seriously-stern royal-eyebrow turned on me since the day the Slate went nuts. At least now I know it doesn't mean she detests me.

"Link. I'm pleased you feel well enough to smile, but even ifkhHh. Khh-kh- khHHHhh. Mgh. Hhh. Even if every soldier refrained from the gossip which typically runs rampant through the barracks, we were seen by a myriad of people, and Purah knew where we were headed."

"Ugh." Yeah, Purah and the entire Royal Lab. She's right, but "I still think we can't risk a message." Because we weren't enough for this. He could be waiting for us, or his monsters could, anywhere between here and the castle. Which means he could intercept a messsenger, too. Those fricking fireballs would also roast a homing pigeon right out of the sky, and frankly that's better than the possibility of him getting hold of one that ISN'T burnt to a crisp and actually reading whatever message we send. Fi? Do you think so, too?

.

"KhhHhh-h-kh."

Fi?

.

.

"Fi?"

"Link?"

"I- she- she didn't answer me."

Sideways Zelda-worried-face? Maybe I should sit up.

"I'd noticed earlier—her absence on the Slate."

Oooh- ooh, no that takes way too much energy better to stay- but there she goes wasting HER energy getting the Slate, or maybe not a total waste because if somehow we've lost Fi that is not at all good and might mean the sword's not with us anymore, did they leave it somewhere? Zelda said it was too heavy-

"I don't see her recently, either."

Not good

"It seems she hasn't spoken at all since we were rescued."

"She goes quiet sometimes…" but not like this and you both know that. "What was the last thing she said?"

She's looking and looking, it must have been on the cliff if there was nothing after OH S$*(% "STOP!" PAIN my back, holy-

"Why?!"

don't be yellingYELLING?! I just yelled at Zelda! "I'm sorry!" The way she's clutching the slate to her chest, I am SUCH AN ASS

"M-khHh-khh. KhhHH-h."

get up and apologize to your Princess, the throbbing in your back can pack itself off to hell! "I'm sorry, I'm so-OhOOh-"

"Link!"

Yeah okay so I'm dizzy, that's to be expected and it's really, really fricking cold "Fff-f-f-f-f."

"Link, please rest! I'd interrupted your sleep with my- my brooding to begin with. I ought to be the one apologizing."

But I see the way your eyes look. I scared and confused you and "f-f-h-f" take her hands, Link. Put the Slate aside.

"Oh- Link, you are much too warm-"

"I know, I'll-" NOT shiver, NOT "f-h-f-" damn, don't be weak, don't worry her on top of it. "I'll go back down in a minute. I just- need you to know- I didn't mean to raise my voice like that. I'm so sorry. It's because…"

How do I say this without giving away anything? "…Fi told me something."

"…And?"

"She said I couldn't tell you."

She's looking between both my eyes, looking for some clue in either one of them. Must be. She looks…

"Khh-hh. "

…hurt.

"What in all the land could your sword wish you to keep from me?"

Her face in your hands, Link. Ignore the wound-blood-throbbing. "I don't really understand it, myself. I love you- so much. I don't want to have to keep secrets. Fi- Fi thinks I'm so bad at it that she wouldn't really explain, anyway, but… you're a lot smarter than me. If you read it, maybe it would make sense to you, and then…"

"Then what, Link?"

"I- don't know. Except that Fi said it was very important for you not to know- whatever it is." Something about her power not being done cooking yet, but what fully-cooked means, I have no idea. Other than it's how my brain feels.

"…It is… supremely difficult to keep secrets from one with access to your very thoughts."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." Kiss her forehead. She really needs reassurance, now, you dumbass. Am I ever going to be able to think BEFORE I open my mouth? WoOoah- no swerving either, Link, and try not to breathe on her too much, pretty sure even my breath is too hot.

"So… the urgency in your voice was meant to stop me from reading whatever Fi said as we climbed?"

"Yeah, I- there's no excuse."

"Link, I khH-mg-ghm… quite understand that people's emotions, particularly sudden flares of them, can produce disproportionate reactions."

What… is that face? It's like a little of a smile but now a pout and no no no no she's going to cry! "Hey- hey- I- I really, really didn't mean to yell at you- I'm so sorry!"

"Phh. Hh."

"How can I make it up to you?"

"Ph-hh. It's not that, Link. Ph-h-hh. Not at all. Truly, hehe-ph, what you consider to be unacceptable vocalization is quite phh- tempered compared to- others. I just- I rather thought-ph-h… phh-h-hh- that you were ph-hh angry with me. Ph. Phh."

"What? Why would I be?"

"For- ph. Ph. Reading through the Slate- while you were unconscious. Phh-hhhh. I- I must have, to have known Fi hadn't spoken since our rescue. But I am quite-phh- sincere, Link, I did not intrude upon your thoughts. I was seeking Fi. When I found her, I stopped."

"No, no- no, you have my voice." Her hands to my heart. Press them there.

"Phh-hhh-h."

She has to feel how much I mean this. "It's my gift to you."

"Phh- hh-h-h. Phh. Khh-hh. And my gift to you- phh… my extraordinary knight- phh-hh… is trust."

Guess my hand knew to find her cheek again all by itself. Glad it did, because I'm feeling pretty slow. My fingers aren't the best handkerchief

"Heh-phh."

but I'll be damned if I don't wipe her tears away anyway.

"Hphm."

She's leaning in so hard. Nuzzling. Eyes shutting.

"I trust you, Link. I- hhh-h- trust what you do and do not choose to say. I do not need to see your omissions."

"I love that you can see them."

.

"Heh." Look at her looking at you, Link. Her smile. Peeking out. Slowly. There and then not, like she's not sure what she heard. Is it weird that I'm kind of petting her? I hope not.

"…You do?"

"I do. I, uh… didn't at first."

"HehekhHhhh-kh-hh. Quite evidently."

"Hehe-hh." Yeaaah I gave that game away fast, didn't I? 'Oooh look, bunnies!' Damn, I haven't seen Bazz yet, I have to remember the bun knees thing and LINK, now is not the time! "I-eheh. I'm pretty sure I don't remember half the things I think about. And a lot of them are about you. Why wouldn't I want you to know when I think things like- like-" oh come on Link, you think nice things ALL THE TIME about Zelda, what are they?

"Like… phh-hh. My smile is like the Sun?"

"…Exactly like that." It's not quite the first time she'd really smiled at me, but it was the first time after I pulled the sword, and how could I forget? "See? I wish I'd told you that out loud." Her hair's like threads of gold under my hands, right now, too. Might as well be liquid sunshine.

"I oughtn't scour your thoughts for such things at length, regardless of how sweet they are."

Hmm not at length, huh? "But for a short time, maybe?" Ooooh blushy-blushy Zelda, smiling? YES, good, she's feeling better aww "You don't have to hide!"

"I truly oughtn't even be tempted."

"Wehhhll… let's not forget how incredibly useful it's been, too. It's a great reason to still look. It lets us have silent conversations."

"…Well. Half-silent."

"Pff- yeah, true. Two thirds silent if you count Fi."

"Indeed! Hhh. I shall- I shall not cease to take advantage of its utility. Hh. I simply will not obsess over it as I had been."

"Oh?"

"Goodness, yes. I hardly slept."

"Ha- hahahaha really?!" Throbbing, Link, don't laugh-

"Well, initially I believed you would reveal your disdhh-khh- disdain for me if I watched carefully enough."

"Nooo."

"And then I was patently- shocked- and- forced to reconsider my errant perspective."

"For which I'll be eternally grateful."

"And then… well. You know."

I DO know, and there goes the left corner of my mouth again. It just can't contain itself.

"Kh-kh."

She sees, but it's making her smile change into something else. This face on her- this is one I want to have memorized down to the tiniest details. That cute little crease between her eyebrows, I always loved that, but there's more to it and there's so much I can't figure it all out at once. She lifts her face up. Bares more of her neck. Something changes with her shoulders, too, and her nose, and lips. She gets- gets pink. Her lips part.

I know what it means, even thoughOh- two Zeldas, that's not right- cut it out, head! Guess I need to lay back down soon, but the back of her head isn't hurt. I can stroke her hair there- cradle her. She likes when I move in slow. It makes her shake. In a good way. And slow is my speed right now.

Every time my nose brushes her skin, her breath shivers on mine and then I shiver too, and it took very, very little for this to start happening to me. Just… stay light. My lips. Hers. I'm so sorry they're so chapped. Maybe we're not really up for this, but I can show her how much I love her, even though my back's full of pounding blood and the room just started to spin a little.

"Hh-h."

I love those little gasps so much. Little breaths. They shoot straight downohOH but which way's up? Eyes shut, eyes SHUT before you fall down, guess I need all that blood for my actual head, swallow- swallow, control yourself, stay up.

"…Link?"

Breathing good, lots of breath.

"Khhhh-hh."

Her hands. My cheeks. Her forehead to mine.

"Link, you have warmed further, and so quickly. Return to your reclining position. I shall assure you fully tucked in. Consider that a royal-"

"SIR-"

HOLYKNOCKINGspinning

"Hh!"

"MA'AM-"

"KhhH-hkh-kh-hhh-khh-hh."

oOOoh too much spinning could they be any louder?!

"UNBOLT THE DOOR, PLEASE."

"Oh…"

Poor Zelda she didn't need that scare could their TIMING be worse?! Actually, yeah it could've been. If Zelda and I had actually gotten going and then they knocked, that would be way worse.

"Sir FinnkhHH-h… is perhaps unused to either entertaining guests or kh-h- keeping prisoners."

At least we were un-getting-going anyway. "Guess we should open it."

"I-hh- should open it, Sir Knight. You need to rest."

"Sorry, Princess. Door duty is knight-duty, just in case." Though I might not be much use in a fight right this second. "They want me resting, so I bet they'll let me soon."

Gather yourself, Link. At least a little. Take a few deep breaAH

"SIR! MA'AM! OPEN THIS DOOR, PLEASE!"

"We heard you the first time, holy crap- fricking-" okay, no deep breaths managed, just open it woOah. Slowly. One foot in front of the other. At least the shock calmed anything that might've been socially problematic down fast.

Unbolt and ready, just in-

Oh my Goddess.

Holy Mother Hylia.

My- Holy Goddess. "Dad?" Too many things going on in my chest way too many my eyes too what's wrong with me nothing's changed, Reida, Huiru and Not-Erl are still out there with Goddess-knows-what on the plain between us and the castle, I'm not a kid and I'm not safe just because my father's here and am I seeing things? Why is he- he looks absolutely furious, what the hell?

"Back up. Now."

"What?"

"Back up into the room."

This- no, no this seems wrong why is he looking at me like that, no Link don't stumble and DON'T look at his face, stay sharp, look at his stance holy s$&%, what the f#$&*?! S$&%, s$&%, S$&% the way his spine's curved he's curled in just a little it's his only tell holy F$&$ he's ready to ATTACK Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda watch my hands I'm reaching for you your forearms, your wrists behind me, all behind every inch of you behind me he is deadly and he knows me, it's not like other people he knows the s%*$ I pull and he knows my tells and I'm feeling more messed up by the second the room isn't spinning, no it's not and why the f#$& would he be looking at me like that?!! Something's wrong with his eyes-

"S- Sir Lyle?"

All she gets is a quick glance?! I thought he was formal as s#$&-

OH.

"Khh- khh- hh-h."

Link, don't- don't be stupid again, not when you and your Princess are trapped in a small space. He IS formal as s#$&, and he never looks you right in the eye, that's why it looks wrong.

His eyes boring directly into mine. Looking like he wants me dead. Looking half-CRAZED, not just ordinary angry. Doesn't make much sense, does it? I drive him insane, but he doesn't want to kill me. Not for REAL.

Be suspicious, Link.

"I received a message."

Watch his whole body, what is that voice? That's not his angry voice, it's not calm enough, even angry father's always calm, it's shaking like he's just barely holding back it's off it's WAY off, no NO Link! Don't look weak do NOT, you do NOT have a fever right now, you're not allowed to be sick, don't waver

"Apparently, Princess Zelda and her Appointed Knight had arrived, seriously injured, at the Tabantha Overlook Garrison."

don't shiver

"Hh-khhHhh-kh-khhh-h."

don't look like you have to breathe faster than normal, is this Yiga magic? But the person doesn't know how to act? Fi? Fi, please for the love of Hylia, now is the time to speak up, is there one of those repression fields?!

"I had little choice but to see for myself."

The emphasis on SELF was that a clue? Not-his-self?

"So."

Zelda, no, arms behind, everything behind me, nothing for him to grab, corral her forearms (so cold!), please understand, please stay

"Tell me one thing only you and I know."

…What? "…What?"

"Anything."

"Why?" Death-glare DEATH-glare back off more, back off!

"You know why."

"No I don't." NoOo, Link you're not allowed to be dizzy

"Link- Link, he-"

The glare he just gave her would melt Death Mountain itself, what the F*%(, that is not him and she actually went SILENT I've never seen anyone do that to her before, not even her father, she must be very scared

"M-khh-h."

I'm so sorry Zelda, I'm thinking, I promise, she's right to be scared, though, I'm standing but woozier by the second and we're stuck in a room with a single, small, barred window, and no weapons-

Except there is one.

They didn't know about my pouch. It's right there, and that means my old sword is, too. The wrap's somewhere in Zelda's chamber or maybe mine, but who cares. And for f$*#'s sake, Link, your stance changed, just a little but your father KNOWS you and oh f#$^, he sure picked up on it REAL FAST his is changing too it's the spread fingers, a FRACTION, he's so good at hiding it but wait wait wait is it him or not?! He DOES move like that and he knew my tell but why be so angry at me and the EYE-LOOKING is wrong

"One. Thing."

"Or what?!" Oh that surprised him a little maybe it was the weird tone that totally gave away that I feel like absolute s#$&.

"Sir Lyle!"

Zelda, stay-!

"It is plain you suspect we are not who we say we are."

…Oh s#$&.

That makes sense, Link, of course he does- and s#$&, it makes sense whether it's him or not, because if I was a Yiga and I had a chance to convince everyone who already thought we might be Yiga that we actually were, it would be a great excuse to turn the whole garrison against us and if it IS father- if it's him- he'd be pissed beyond belief at anyone pretending to be his kid. Or the Princess, for that matter.

So which- which is it?

Lungs, please stop asking for so much more air, I can't let him see I need it.

He's just staring at her.

"You need confirmation from both of us. Correct?"

Livid.

"When- when I was six."

Why'd his whole face pinch?

"Ykhhyou- khh- found me asleep in my study. The pages of the book open beneath my head were wet, for I'd been crying in my sleekhh-p. Hh."

And now- he's gone totally still.

"You awakened me, and- and handed me a handkerchief. When I looked up at you, moonlight caught on a tear. It was on your left cheek."

If he's a Yiga, he's faking it really well, now. His mouth opened a little and I know that face especially with the beard growing back in (is that a clue, would a Yiga know when he did and didn't have a beard?!), it's him when he's shocked.

Is it? Is it him?

Don't relax too much Link, Holy Hylia, you just swerved a little don't do that keep the adrenaline just in case and of course he noticed and he's eyeing you again.

"And now, Sir, if you please. After frightening the life half out of us, we quite deserve equal assurance. I insist you describe the handkerchief."

That was royal-eyebrow-voice.

…Your Princess is very smart. And extremely tricky. If he gets this wrong, she'll let me know.

.

…Does he not know? Careful. No tells. No tells. No tells. You're totally calm and confident he's going to answer and in no way visualizing how to get to that pouch while keeping Zelda safe. I'll have to pull her into a roll with me and it'll really hurt both of us but I'll pull her out of it with me too and it'll be within reach, I'll keep her back-

"It… was white, with… thin, scalloped edges, and embroidery… in pale gold and sky blue… set in a square nested evenly from the outside. Most of the embroidery was feathers. The direction they pointed alternated. One corner depicted a bird in flight. The opposite bore lettering."

"Hhh."

That… was so a sigh of relief, is- is it him?

"Thank you, Sir Lyle."

And that's a nod-

"Princess."

-and the eyes are boring into me again and ohhh no, no, he just assessed how easily he could get her away from me.

…I… know that because I know him.

It's him!

No, NO, Link, don't relax and don't let your chest start all those things again

"Khh-khkh-hh."

HE hasn't relaxed because he thinks I'm a Yiga, Holy Hylia my own father thinks I'm a Yiga, I have to think of something- think, think, think thinkthink

"I'm still waiting."

There has to be something, something only Link would know, not some Yiga impersonator but if he believes her, why not believe me too?! Reading to Chee! "When you came home, when you were-" nono Link, you're not too hot, you're fine- "I mean- I was- ten. You tried to read Chee's favorite book to her. The one- heh- hehe-"

"Link?"

Sorry Zelda, get ahold of yourself, Link, yeah it sounds STUPID but it's the book she liked. "The one with old hero legends in it. She liked the one with the egg on the mountaintop best. But she kept complaining that you were reading it wrong." What is his face, that's like nothing ever ever what is even happening which way's up? "You weren't doing the voices, and you weren't singing the song, and when she got you to sing you weren't making the instrument sounds. She got up to get me so I'd show you how to read it, but I wasn't in the house. I was listening outside the little bedroom window. Because she'd wanted you all to herself, but I wanted to hear you read it, too."

Hahhahahaa yeah he didn't even know that part

"…Chee knows this story."

WhatwhatWHAT why more pissed?!!

"It doesn't qualify as something only Link and I know."

Oh COME ON. "The part where you take me fishing at Lake Sumac the next day so I can teach you how to make my instrument noises does."

"That's not why I took- Link."

"Horses#$&." And I have never said anything like that to my father and I feel like I just committed way more sacrilege than at the Ceremonial Ground. He seems to think so, too NOO, STUPID LINK, this isn't the time for suspiciously new things!

"My wife knows that part of the story."

"So that doesn't count either?"

"No."

Spinningspinning "Oh for-hh-h-" have to end this fast "what do you want from me?" I'll go down, what if I drop before he's convinced? Ooh and now with the looming.

"M-khhkh-kh."

Zelda for Hylia's sake, she's trying to support me isn't she but her hands on my shoulders hurt. We're lucky it IS him, I'd have to take him on and trust Zelda to run, to get past the guys at the door watching the show, but she so wouldn't, she'd help me-

"Link."

"Z-" Oh f#$& Link, this is NOT the time to say it wrong- "Yes, Princess?"

"He very much must have assurance. Quite reasonably so. We discussed this. You remember?"

Discussed? My father? When? "F-f-h" noLink, no shivering you can't- can't look- weakCOLD "F-F-H!" her hands are SO COLD my forehead is an ice block now maybe that's why it can't fit through anything, Chee was right, I'm square-

"Sir Lyle, please. Give him a moment. The fever..."

The sword! Right "The sword."

"Link- hh- we discussed that, too. Your sword is not here, in any case-"

"No, no. The other one." Swallow, Link, stay steady, hold up your hands, nice and wide and high (and cold). "F-h-m. That pouch on the table. Princess, can I-" NOT shiver- "please ask you to take my old sword out of it? The one- we took the wrap from to secure the Slate."

"Out of that?!" "He's delirious."

"Certainly."

Ohhh yeah they all think we're both crazy now and who the hell knows what my father would do if I suddenly had a sword in my hand but he believes that's Zelda so it's okay, it's okay- she- yeah.

"Wha?!" "Holy…"

There it is. "My- old sword. Minus the wrap."

"…You cannot possibly believe magically producing a familiar-looking blade would suffice."

"I don't. Here's- what will." Okay, Link, you can do this, see straight long enough to get through at least a few of them. "The sheathe. If- ah- the Princess turns it around, just under the hilt there are letters tooled into it. They're hard to read because when it was your sword- mgh-" focus, Link- "you used to run your thumb along them over and over, and I know that because when you gave it to me, you caught me doing the exact same thing that very day. It's in the perfect thumb-spot if the sheathe's at your hip. You told me not to, not because you cared about the letters so much as it's bad to have the habit. It would become a tell, you said-"

"KhhHHh-khh-hh."

"-because I'd stop when about to draw. I asked you why the leather was all worn in that spot, then, and you said it's because no one warned you and that's also why you have a scar on the inside of your left bicep."

Oh Goddess he's just staring, it's not enough. "You seemed surprised when I listened to you and didn't play with it." What else what else "There's a nick- Princess, could you please draw it?" Good good there are lots of nicks, one of these has to meet his conditions. "There's a nick along the right-hand edge about three quarters of the way down- ah- right, as in the Princess's right. That happened when I was clearing out a couple bokoblins and a moblin that had gotten way too close to the village entrance. The moblin got a hold of a real heavy pitchfork, and it was smart enough to try and grab my sword with it. I realized and got the sword free before it twisted it, but one of the prongs left that mark. When you came home a few months later, we sparred as usual and you asked me about it. The next day, you brought a hefty pitchfork to spar with instead."

Is that enough? "F-h-f" NO, Link, focus, you can be sick when he believes you.

"Khh-hh."

He's not saying anything. I guess- I guess wherever he got the pitchfork from, maybe he borrowed it or bought it or whatever so technically that person knows part of the story so it doesn't count? "On the hilt- there are a ton of little scratches—if the Princess turns it that way—yeah. All those scratches, most of them running the same way. That happened in Zora's Domain. I was fourteen. I'd been with Mipha, Bazz, Rivan, Kodah, and Gaddison at Mikau Lake, climbing up and then diving into the deep part. It was a lot easier for them because they could swim right up the waterfall, so they got more dives in than I did-" Link for f$&#'s sake, he doesn't care, get to the part no one but him saw! "My overclothes and belt and sword, all that, were on the little plateau next to the waterfall when you and Seggin arrived to bring us back," which is when I realized I was an idiot.

Swallow, Link, don't pant and oOh- stand up straight. "So… Seggin took the Zora home while you waited for me to grab my stuff. I got dressed and started climbing down. I wasn't going to dive and soak my clothes and I didn't want to dive with the sword attached or toss it down, either. The rocks were wet, though, and when I got close to the bottom my right hand and foot slipped."

"M-kh-h- khh."

"I did this weird pivot-thing where I still had a grip with my left hand for a second, but then slid the rest of the way down the rockface. The sword's hilt got scraped up and I got banged up. The underside of my left forearm was scratched pretty bad and my left ribs, side, hip, and thigh had nasty bruises from the sword getting bashed into them. You got me cleaned up, and you didn't seem angry exactly, but you drilled me on how I could've avoided it. You kept me away from Mipha for a couple days because you didn't want me to get used to having injuries just fixed by magic. You said the best thing to do is not have the accident in the first place."

.

Does that not count either? Do enough people know some of that story? I didn't think he told anyone about the parts that happened when we were alone, but- he's just staring at me.

Staring- not at my eyes, though. He's doing the thing where he looks everywhere else. It's still AT you, it's just not in-the-eye. And his eyes STILL look wrong, what's the matter with him, did he take a few hits to the face earlier or something?

.

Believe me?

Please?

"Khh-h-kh."

…He needs more? "You… bought me a paraglider. Not long after that. I used it, heheh- heh. We did. To get away from the fire. I thought it was funny."

"Funny?"

Why so unhappy about that?! "Yeah, it- seemed more dangerous than climbing, to me. I was surprised you didn't think so. Not that I minded. It was fun to use."

Maybe I'm just too messed up, everything seems strange.

"Sir Lyle? Has Linkhh-h- eased your doubt?"

Her voice sounds strange, too.

He does believe me, doesn't he?? I don't understand. He's not so keyed onto how I'm standing anymore, which is "hh-" barely. Legs, I promise- down soon.

"…What were the letters?"

Letters?

"On the sheathe."

Zelda's whole stance just deflated and couldn't I just read the letters if I looked closely enough? I guess they're turned the other way right now. "They're the mark of the smithy at Fort Hateno, your initial, and the letters of your byname. F-H-S-L-O-H" And if he's going to be pissy about it, so am I. "What about your letters?"

"Mine?"

"The letters in the Princess' story. On the handkerchief. If I have to tell you mine, you should have to tell yours, too."

.

Well, that hung him up. Zelda?

She doesn't look like lack of letter-knowledge seems suspicious to her. She looks like she feels bad. And maybe a little confused.

"Z-L-O-H."

Zelda?

She's hesitating a little.

"I must admit, I don't recall the lettering itself clearly."

Is that a problem?

.

No?

Why just me?

"…Tell me…"

Cold sweat, that was sudden.

"…About the first time I trained you in swordsmanship."

We're getting specific now? "D-" no. No, what am I doing? Don't argue, it's not like you don't remember, it'll be faster. "We were in Zora's domain. It was a while into our first stay, I'm not really sure how long, but looking back I think you were trying to get me to behave instead of randomly launch myself at the soldiers like I did with Jeralt."

"Heh-khHHHh-hh. Khh-hh."

Zelda's relaxed a bit if she can laugh, and his breathing changed a little. Another win for me, I think, but hurry before your knees give out. "I was annoyed because you kept making me switch to holding the sword in my right hand. I told you it didn't feel right. You said I should learn it that way because the stairways in towers spiral in the direction that makes it easier to defend them with your right hand. I said that means if you're going up the stairs, it's easier with your left. You said that's true, but if you're going up you're the attacker, and you hoped I'd never be assaulting any of the castles in this realm." I've got him, that look on his face, there is nobody else he ever told this to for SURE I've got it this time, keep giving him more! "When I said most of the time, I probably wouldn't be on a staircase anyway, you pointed out that if I seem right-handed, I'll be able to surprise enemies by switching to my dominant hand. Pretty sure my eyes lit up when you said that, but either way I stopped arguing. And I stopped tackling your men. Asked them for lessons instead. Constantly- well, not constantly. Just constantly whenever they were around and didn't seem too busy. Which, to like a four-year old, was still way too often."

.

Come on. Say something.

I know I got it right and I KNOW he believes me. What's the issue?

"How…"

…'How can I continue not to even say hello to my own son?' would be a valid question but somehow I doubt that's what he's going to ask.

"Khh-hh- mh."

Zelda's resheathing the sword, that's probably a good idea, and she's coming back over here and oh no no no Zelda oh s$&%, he totally sees now, before he didn't think it was me so he didn't bat an eye when I corralled her or when she touched my arms or my forehead, but now that he DOES he's looking more and more freaked out by the second just by her fingertips touching my shoulder and we're both half naked, he's eyeing her hand so hard, though the bandages give away at least some of how bad this was, concern is totally warranted, and is he in pain?? He looks like-

"You're alive."

…Oh my Goddess. "D-hh. Father-"

"Commander?"

"Sir Finn."

No, no, SHUT UP Sir Finn!!

"This… is your son?"

Zelda knew, didn't she? She tried to say.

"He is Link."

He thought I was dead.

"My Goddess."

"It's really…" "Hoooly mother." "We locked up the Princess." "Are you s#$^^ing me?"

"Shh!"

And here comes Finn, of course, because now that I'm not a Yiga he's going to-

"Excuse me, sir."

"FffFff!" do THATcold hand in armpit, really?!

"Back under that fur—right now. You too, Princess."

"I amkhHhh- well enough."

"Let's keep it that way."

He went real pale "FFff-f-f-f." Under the fur, there you go legs. Ho"OH-ly-fff." Even the weight of the fricking blanket hurts and now father's looking at the couches and the fact she's getting on the other one and they're literally pushed right up against each other and there are so many things going on on his face right now he's thinking about ALL of it, isn't he, just trying to decide what to ask or do first, and he hasn't even said he's glad I'm not dead, keep it- keep it together, Link- "Father-"

"Is it the wounds?"

"Yes, commander."

Oh, that's better than I expected, actually, I thought it would be 'Get the Princess her own room immediately' but hello? "Fa-"

"Ewiter."

What the f#$(.

"Yes, sir?"

Back to business-as-usual already?

"Tell Captain Bherlan to send an urgent request for medical aid to the Sheikah down in the village."

"Yes, sir!"

Fight urge to say 'I'll be alright.' I've beat things like this before, like that time with the moblin snot.

"Lynd."

But that doesn't mean I should take the chance.

"Yes, Commander?"

Especially since so much rides on me not dying pointlessly.

"Now that it's clear who our guests are, their accommodations are inappropriate. Have the opposite room prepared."

OOH I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT!!

"Ye-"

"Not happening." S$#(.

"Indeed not."

I am so not up for this argument- a BIG blink at the ground, that's new, what does that mean-

"…Excuse me?"

He totally wanted to say something else, didn't he

"KhhHHh-kh-kh."

but he couldn't because the Princess said no, too, so he had to be polite.

"Hh- m. KhhhHHh."

Instead of looking crazed, he looks like he thinks I'M crazy, which at least is an improvement, and isn't that unusual though he usually thinks I'm an absurd kind of crazy

"Ahh... Temda, let's tell Wilmina to get up here soon and tend to the fire."

not keesesh$%-crazy.

"Y-yes, Sir Finn."

His face says I'm keesesh$%-crazy.

"Forgive me, Sir Lyle. I know it is unusual, but Link and I must not be separated."

"…Princess. We are at the heart of this fortification. We will assure your safety."

"My own safety is not my only concern, though I must admit, I feel far safer with Link at my side."

Ohhh his head is listing to the side, that's totally what he does when he can't believe what he's hearing. No, can't even TAKE IN what he's hearing.

"He… is… unwell."

"Indeed."

"His usefulness as your guard is therefore minimal."

…That was less pissy than I thought it'd be, is he trying to make sure I rest? "I won't be standing guard duty. But the Princess and I should stay together."

"Being her Appointed Knight does not mean you belong in her room."

But I get stern-voice? Even though you should be happy, or at least relieved? "It does if we're being hunted." …And I just screwed that up, the things that tried to kill us aren't really the point-

"I beg to differ, my extraordinary knight."

Wow, she said that in public-

"Only I have the right to decide who may and may not remain in my chamber."

Ohhhhhh s#$( am I in trouble now, too?

"And I say Link and I both remain here."

Oh. Oh no, father was in trouble.

Good.

He totally just tried to look out the window, but it's shut. Actually, maybe it's that he can't quite look at me. Or her, at the moment.

"That is highly irregular, Your Highness."

"How carefully have you read correspondence from my father, Sir?"

That… came out of nowhere, I don't even know what to make of that. "F-f-f-f-h." He's shaking his head, too.

"I… must assume the last letter I received was false, Princess."

"KhhHhkh-hh-hh- khHHh."

"Did it say I got shot at a festival?"

"…It did."

"It was real."

Wow, he- looks like he feels the arrow himself.

"…Then how… how are you here?"

"Mipha was there. She healed me." Why's he shaking his head? She's done that loads of times.

"The King wrote that both your lungs were pierced."

"…Yeah." Don't touch the spot, Link.

"No man lives an hour with such an injury. He said Mipha's gift had been spent. You'd have to wait a full day."

"I did."

"…Your son is the strongest man I've ever met, Sir."

.

I'm not that strong, Zelda. Not when I have to fight so hard to keep it together because my father doesn't even seem happy I'm not dead. No smile. No nothing. "F-"

"And your presence here, specifically?"

Seriously?

"We were beset on Irch Plain, Sir. We'd been on route to the Royal Laboratory."

That's the third time.

"This is quite far from that course."

Just… let yourself be sick, Link.

"Bokoblin riders were waiting just beyond the southwestern ridge of Elma Knolls."

Close your eyes.

"They had stolen horses."

Three interruptions.

"We investigated."

He doesn't want to talk to me. For whatever the f#$% reason.

"…You…"

Just let Zelda do the talking.

.

…Why does this feel like a very, very heavy silence?

Guess I have to open my eyes back up ohhhh ohhh he's glaring at me, and it's different this time because he knows it IS me.

"You… brought the Princess into an unsecure situation?"

Oh s#$#, Link, the answer is 'It was her choice' but then it sounds like I'm blaming her.

"The decision was mine, Sir."

Double-s#$%. His livid-face is coming back.

"With respect, Princess… Sir Link."

Ohhh ohh okay, NOW he wants to talk to 'Sir Link' now that I've done something wrong-

"Your first duty is to the life of your charge."

"My first duty is to follow the Princess' orders."

"Not if they endanger her."

"It's her choice."

"Not if it endangers her."

WHAT?

"Sir Lyle, I must disagree."

"It is your right to disagree, Princess. It is our duty to ensure your safety regardless."

Holy F$@&, the King said 'often at odds with his charge'

"KhH… khHHHh."

and THIS IS TOTALLY WHY, ISN'T IT?!

"The correct course of action-"

"No, no no no." Ohhh that surprised him, too, he's not used to me disobeying him even in THEORY. "The lab got attacked, too. They were- SO after us, father. They-"

"Knew you were coming?"

Well. Yeah, I guess-

"Meaning the proper course was to do as I was about to say—to return to the castle without delay."

.

Oh.

"Hf."

That was I-can't-believe-Link's-behavior huff, I've heard it way too many times.

"Sir Lyle, I cannot allow you to place the blame for this on Link's shoulders."

Wow, ZELDA even gets an I-can't-believe-your-behavior-face in her general direction-

"I woukHHhld- not have agreed to retreat."

"That would be a marked change of behavior."

WOAH?! HELLO??

"I have experienced quite a few changes as of late."

ZELDA PISSED

"One of which is the understanding that I am not some helpless child to be coddled."

WITH GOOD REASON

"I meant nothing of the sort, Princess. You are, however, irreplaceable."

Does he not even realize?!

"If you mean, Sir, that I must live long enough to seal the Calamity-"

"I mean, Princess-"

Should I be telling him off for interrupting her?!?!

"-that you are our late Queen's only daughter. We would be gravely remiss to risk your life in any capacity, Calamity or otherwise."

"It shkhH-hh- khHhkhhhkhh-"

And he's suddenly watching her like an islander hawk.

"-hhHh. Hhh. It- shall be unavoidable, in the Calamity's case."

Freaked out again.

"…I hope not, Princess."

"Hh." Don't laugh, don't laugh "h-hh." It's just so unrealistic. I understand, though.

'I'd have run anywhere, had it meant saving my beloved wife.'

Hello, King Rhoam. Didn't realize you were right there.

"Over the past days, Hylia has quite clearly revealed her plan for me is not one of prayer and seclusion. Despite this, and despite his encouragement and support in regard to exercising my newfound power-"

His FACE, he didn't know!

"-my Appointed Knight repeatedly requested my retreat. I refused—repeatedly. I am the one who ordered the investigation of Irch Plain—and I ordered our company into Serenne."

He kind of looks like he doesn't believe her.

"Into Serenne?"

"Yes."

"Was this in response to the fire?"

"Yes."

Oh f$%& now that livid-face is fully turned on ME, not just hypothetical Yiga version of me, he's looking me over, all over, up and down like he can see past this blanket I'm shaking under.

"…If you were more experienced… and were you not… the chosen of the sword…"

Yeah nothing, no smile for that either, of course not

"…I would relieve you of your duty to our Princess."

Of course you would.

"Sir Lyle, I cannot allow that."

Just a quick, disapproving glance for her.

"I don't intend to, Princess. Though I would be within my rights to do so."

"No you wouldn't." That sounded real spiteful. Good going, Link, you just lost the moral high-ground.

"Hphhh."

…Kind of surprised he didn't say something. It's always infuriating, whatever it is. Curt. One or two words. Something like 'I would.' Or 'Not so.' Ish.

It would give me an excuse to break the news that I outrank him. He actually can't relieve me, and he can't order me out of this room, and if he hasn't heard about her power yet, he hasn't heard about that, either. Guess he only got the urgent letter. They probably sent out a runner. "F-h-f-f-f." Everything else is sitting on a desk somewhere or something.

…Why isn't he saying anything? Oh look at that, my eyes closed all by themselves. Real heavy to open them.

He looks like he's in pain again. DID he get hurt? Maybe he took an ice lizalfos blast to the face after all, a lot of his skin is kind of red.

"I have arrangements to make. Particularly with regard to doubly securing this garrison. I will need every detail of your- detour."

Tactful, for him.

"You shall have it."

Oh she gets an expressionless little nod, that's annoying.

…Link. You really were an idiot for doing EXACTLY THAT to her for months.

"I will return for that after you've rested."

Keep your mouth shut, Link.

"KhhHHh-kh-khh. Hh."

Hyla knows what'll come out if you don't.

And there he goes, not even- oh?

"Rest."

Side-eye. That's all. And he's gone.

Just forget it, Link.

Why didn't he write to you, you wondered?

Maybe the answer's really simple. He just plain-old doesn't like you. Glad to get rid of you. Didn't even stay at the castle long enough to help you get your bearings. Just told people s%#@ about you and left. (I thought he loved me, though) he does. He does. He wouldn't care how many mistakes I make if he didn't.

Remember smiles?

When I buried him in the sand.

When I played with baby-Chee.

When I disarmed him for the first time. Like REALLY disarmed him, not just him letting me get away with it.

He's… a superb swordsman.

"Link?"

"Yeah?" Get… your voice together, Link.

"Can- can you rest?"

"Yeah." Her hand. Under my blanket. Trying to make sure I stay warm. There's no confusion there at all, just bandage-muffling keeping all of mine from feeling hers.

"Please do. It's alright. Pay- try to pay it no mind."

I'll try.

It just won't work.

…That was her humiliated voice.

I've never been so mad at him. Too tired, though. Too tired to slam the door back open and tell him all the ways he just behaved like a total asshole. He's probably not in the hall, anyway. Long gone.

------

Follow this link to read chapter 22.

Follow this link for the chapter list.

Follow this link for my masterlist.

[tia-amorosa]

Episode 39: Cool breezes

Evansdale County

The morning is cool. Not only because it's also fall here in Evansdale County, but also because we have Zelda's house right by the sea. But it's definitely too cold to go swimming. “No message from him again… I'm going crazy”

Again and again, Zelda took her phone out of her pocket and checked to see if she had received a message. But she knew that staring at the display over and over again seemed to be in vain at the moment. “Four days… I haven't heard from you for four days, damn it! I'm worried”.

“Basically, I know that I don't have to worry about you. If necessary, you're happy to punch someone in the nose. But it's not usual for you not to write at all. There's always at least one message a day, no matter what time of day it is…hh… I have to keep distracting myself before I go crazy.” Since her first encounter with Roman, Zelda had been in contact with him almost daily, either by phone or when he managed to visit her. But there had been no news from him for days.

A little later. “It really wasn't necessary to pick me up, Amelia"/ ‘I was just in the neighborhood and you seemed to want to go somewhere’/ ”Yes, but by tour bus? Well, I don't have to pay the gas money… Hey, just let me out the front left here…“/”O.k….”. …

A popular meeting place in the city is the University Park & Grill, which was actually intended for students to offer them a place to relax after their stressful day at university. But the other residents also liked to come here. “Hey, you're making a terrible face, what's going on?"/ ‘If you play a game of pool with me, we can talk.’ In the meantime, Zelda had made friends with some people from Sunset Valley with whom she had never had close contact before.

Twyla had become quite a good friend to her by now. But she always had a strong opinion about everyone. “let me guess… Roman?"/ ‘hh, I still haven't had any sign of life from him for four days now’/ ‘is he still at the front?’/ ‘Actually, his mission should have been over by now… He always managed to get in touch’/ ‘I bet he's in bed with someone else and has written you off’/ ‘Rubbish!’.

“Why rubbish? Those soldier guys have girls sitting all over the place to have fun with them"/ ”But not Roman! Maybe he's in trouble or worse…"/ ”Oh man, don't get your panties in a twist, okay? Maybe he's got another special assignment, they're always needed somewhere”.

In a way, Zelda liked Twyla's direct manner. But when it came to Roman, she was a bit touchy. “I hope you're right…"/ ‘My goodness, you really have a crush on him, huh?’/ ”The last time he visited was six months ago. And those three days were far too short…"/ ”hh, he'll get in touch, okay? Otherwise you would have heard something in the media by now about whether something happened to some soldiers on a mission…”.

“Yeah, who would hide the fact that soldiers have been killed in action. Hh I don't feel like playing anymore, I'm putting most of the bullets in again anyway,” she smiled a little tiredly. “You're really good, despite your slightly bad mood… It's fine, you don't have to torture yourself unnecessarily"/ ‘I think I'll go and visit someone else’/ ”as you wish. And believe me, I'm sure there'll be a sign soon”.

It's Saturday, Zelda would normally be sitting at home writing her new song right now, but her lack of concentration and worries about Roman just don't allow her to continue working on it at the moment. So she took the time to visit old friends. And new ones… “No one at home? Hey, how are you, Leighton?”.

“hn, hi, you handsome one. It's hard to get used to looking at a horse with the same name as a former good friend. But I guess there was a reason Sam gave you that name. Where did the others go? Probably to the fall festival or maybe to the fish restaurant? You can't tell me, I know. And You're not worried that they won't come back, are you?”. .

Zelda lovingly stroked the soft nose of the stallion, who had been living with the Wolffs for several months now. “hn, you're a really nice guy. So was our Leighton. We all miss him. OK, if there's no one here, then I'll go again for now, OK?”. Zelda left the Wolffs' property devoutly and somewhat wistfully. Morgana was probably on duty at the hospital today.

Traveling on foot. This was something that Zelda learned to appreciate after the great catastrophe. It was often not worth taking the short distances to various locations by car or bus. She didn't have a bike, so in good weather she explored the area without a vehicle. “Roman?, No, just Blair sending baby photos again…hh, she's really lucky though”.

Lost in thought, she headed back towards the house. She was really lucky to get something cheap right by the sea. Such houses are usually in high demand. But even the house next to her is still available. “There's no point in driving myself crazy… I think I'll just pick up where I left off… this song has to be finished at some point”… the closer you got to the sea, the cooler the air became again. Zelda mentally prepared herself for a quiet evening. But things would turned out differently…

---------------------------------------------------------

@greenplumbboblover , @solorisims , @honeywinesims 🌤

[crazylittlejester]

Okayokay, so at the time this au takes place, it's been about 5 years since the War of Eras and he has been promoted to the rank of General (like Impa I think) and is like a cool uncle figure to the knights in training.

Like most characterisations of hw Link (I'll call him 'Captain' because he would hate being so directly associated with the War), my guy has a shit ton of trauma that he's working through. For now I'm going to talk about the physical injuries he's had. Basically, at the start yk how Volga beats up this kid? Yeah, that's left a lot worse scarring. Like, Zuko from atla level scarring on his face, and it extends down onto his chest and the entirety of his right arm. As a result, the areas are either numb or he can't stand the feeling of anything rubbing against it (basing it on my own burn scar but anyways). Oh, and he's also got a massive scar across his throat from a messy attempted assassination. He only survived because of a fairy. Impa gifted him the scarf because he didn't want anyone to see the hero as someone that could be killed or scratched (completely ignoring the burn scars but he's a Link, he doesn't hold the triforce of wisdom).

Another thing is that when people found out that the War started over Cia wanting the Linkussy (I'm sorry) many harassed him and blamed everything on him, like to the point where people only ever saw him on the battlefield or sprinting back to his tent. Eventually it devolved into people saying the war wasn't worth fighting because he wasn't even beautiful (they said this because of his scars). At one point some soldiers managed to drug him until he was basically comatose and they snuck out in the middle of the night to deliver him to Cia and hopefully end the war.

He refuses to talk about what happened there. When he was eventually rescued, both of his legs were broken and he had Cia's name engraved in his back. Since then, touch has been difficult for him to accept.

Even after all that, he refused to turn bitter and still helped his teammates, even if they hated him, because he figured that if he was the hero then he needed to act like it before he was left to rot for being useless, or in case they decided they didn't need a hero.

How does toon Link and young oot Link play into this? They fought alongside everyone else, and were unofficially adopted as younger brothers by Captain. They were the only ones other than Impa and Sheik/Zelda allowed in his tent. He only took off the Hero mask around them because he refuses to lose who he was to who people expect him to be.

When the War finally ended, Captain slept for a week and woke up in the royal infirmary. He's lived in the Castle under royal protection ever since, because during the war somehow his home was destroyed and his family killed by monsters. This was retaliation after he was rescued from Cia.

Needless to say, Zelda got his twink ass in therapy. It's helped a lot, and now he can actually appear in front of people and take care of himself. He's still got a way to go, but now he can actually see a future for himself. Now he still works in the Hyrulean Military, but I don't know much about military stuff and it doesn't seem that interesting so cannot provide many details. But he's good friends with both Impa and Zelda and hopes to be a good influence on new recruits.

When my au happens, he's still depressed but he's functioning, and he serves as a lighthouse of sorts for the other Links. A person to talk to, someone to inspire them to keep going. The person he wishes he had when he was at his worst. He still refuses touch, but he shows love in other ways. Only Mask and Sailor really knows how it is a sign of just how much better he's gotten since the War, and they will stab anyone who badmouths him.

Side note: he's the only one who can get Mask to actually speak in this au.

Also, he isn't perfect. On his worst days, he can't stand the idea of anyone perceiving him and will have a full blown panic attack if touched by anything or he sees any eyes on him. Sometimes he accidentally lashes out at the other Links when they do something that unintentionally triggers him, and he believes they may betray him.

Anyway, I can't think of much more, sorry for the ungodly amount of text !!

(sorry i didn’t answer sooner i wanted to make sure i had the time read the whole thing)

I don’t think any of us are capable of giving this man a good time we all give him the worst life ever. DAMN. THIS POOR GUY (i say as if i treat him any better)

OUGH. im glad he got therapy 🥺

[zarvasace]

I've been going through your ao3 bc I've n been having a hankering for Four/ colors content

Hyrule's fic where he has the loftwing tattoo is ouch in the good ways. Boy had it ROUGH and if I found out that happened to my bestie I would also puke so I get you, Sky.

And the one where Red and Vio grow up in a cult and Red is the perfect little cult angel so they'll be allowed to LEAVE and they haven't seen the sun for 16 years like my heart. Those poor boys. They just want to see their brothers and Red was too young to even remember them ;-;

I picture that Red and Vio found a nice house with a big garden and they spend all day relaxing in the sun and hanging out and nothing else happens to them and they're happy and also Red helps Zelda and the knights find and put a stop to the cult cause Red has alllll the information about them now.

Well I certainly have my fair share of Four and FS boys content. XD I've actually been meaning to add on a bit to the cult one, so here's a fun little epilogue! ~1k words, some CWs for implied religious trauma, some cursing, and moderate angst.

(said cult-themed fic is here! It's a whump fill and imo one of the more intense ones so.)

---

Green wipes his hands off on a towel and heads to the doorway to poke his head into the living room. “Hey, Vio.”

“Sorry!” Vio says, startling. The book in his hands jumps as he shuts it too fast. He looks up at Green, then blinks and settles. “Sorry,” he says again, this time apologizing for apologizing. 

Green takes a second to bite his tongue—he harbors an eternal, ice-cold hatred for the people who'd somehow managed to get it into Vio’s head that reading was something to apologize for—then shrugs in what he hopes is a nonchalant way. “I just wanted to ask if you had a preference between tomato sauce or cheese sauce for dinner. Blue and Red should be back soon.”

Vio slowly reopens his book to the page he'd been reading. “Um, I think Red likes cheese better.”

“Okay, well, what about you?” 

“I don't really have a preference.”

“Cheese, then,” Green says, just as the door to their little house swings open. 

Green’s little question had startled Vio, but Red's loud, enthusiastic greeting very much does not. 

“Viooooo! Guess what I have!” Red bounces in, wearing something a lot like what he'd worn that first day. It's red and yellow and reminds Green of festival robes. The thin fabric accentuates the way he dances in and presents a set of ominous-looking black iron keys to Vio in both hands. 

Those keys mean absolutely nothing to Green, but Vio raises his eyebrows. “You really did it, then.”

“Did you doubt me?” Red smiles. 

“Can we melt those down?” 

“Oh, I definitely plan on it.” 

Blue follows Red into the house, closing the door behind them both. He wears Vio’s old grayed cloak with the heavy leather mantle, though now there’s a splatter of blood across the side. Where Red is clearly very pleased with what they've done, Green can see Blue’s anger simmering beneath the surface. 

In a flailing of angry movement, Blue rips off the hood and tears the mantle off his shoulders. He bundles it all up and dropkicks the thing into the wall with a shout. 

“Woah, Blue,” Green says, stepping in but not touching him yet. “You okay?” 

“I'm fine!” Blue snaps. He throws his hands into the air. “I’m just dandy! I'm totally not traumatized at all! And I bet you aren't either!” He gestures to Red and Vio, who watch him warily. “We're all really well-adjusted members of society! Nobody treated me like shit while they thought I was you! Nobody at all!”

Green drops his towel and grabs Blue’s arms to stop him from throwing a punch at the wall. He's done it before. “Calm down!”

“Why should I?” Blue keeps shouting, but Green can see the shine in his eyes. “They kept saying, oh, they're good people, just misled, just take care of some of the leaders and everyone will be fine, but you know who gave a damn about me? About Vio? When we staged that—that—”

“Blue!” Green shakes him, hoping to snap him out of it, but all he does is shake the tears out. 

Blue is more prone to punching out his feelings than crying about them. The tears that fall down his face are out of the ordinary for him. He looks at Green like he did every time he became despondent: like he hopes desperately that Green can fix the world. His rage is quickly giving way to full-out sobbing, and it's a bit startling. This hasn't happened in years. 

Green has gotten good at dealing with Blue’s moods, but Vio and Red very much have not. Red has moved to stand half in front of Vio, as if to protect him, and Vio’s eyes have gone calculating. Then Red leans back to whisper something, never taking his eyes off of Blue and Green, and Vio responds, too quietly to hear. 

Blue starts to push away from Green, red in the face, but Vio is right there, hands raised as if he doesn't know what to do with them. 

“Um,” Vio says, “I'm sorry.”

“No, I'm sorry!” Blue interrupts, his voice breaking. “I didn't mean to—to get mad—and we didn't find you—and I had no idea—” 

Red taps Vio on the shoulder and whispers loudly. “Ask if he wants a hug.”

A short, wet laugh interrupts Blue’s tears, and he shakes his head as if to say it isn't necessary. 

Vio’s face goes tight in a wince, and Green starts to move to interrupt, but then Vio raises his arms and wraps them around Blue, and Blue’s sobs go quiet almost instantly. After a few seconds, they readjust so Blue can hold Vio back. Vio definitely isn't crying, but he does hide his face behind his bangs and Blue’s neck. 

Red looks like he's about to cry, too, so Green nudges him. 

“Want to help me make some sauce for pasta?” 

“Really?” Red says, looking up. “Yeah. I do.”

“Come on.” 

Red drops the keys he holds on top of Vio’s discarded cloak, then follows Green into the kitchen. He's a little subdued, but still enthusiastic. By the time Red burns his half of the sauce (surprising no one), Blue and Vio have shifted to speaking quietly on the old couch. 

It's going to be a long road of healing, even considering how far the four of them have come so far. But now they know that the cult isn't going to come after Red and Vio, or kidnap anyone else, for that matter, since they got the princess and knights involved. But Vio has begun to keep his books in plain sight, and Red curses a little more every day. Red goes outside into the sun most days, and drags Vio with him every so often. They moved to a nice little house, and visit their father at least once a week. Blue has been happy, and so has Green. 

It's a long road, yes, and doubtlessly it's an uphill one. But they're on it together. 

[rawliverandgoronspice]

behold: my second least favorite string of words in the entirety of Tears of the Kingdom.

(it's a little less transparent why this time so I'll explain my thoughts under the cut)

So why do I not like this?

In so many words: because if you remove it, the scene still works, but you lose the moral certainty of what is going on.

This single sentence does so much legwork for the entire game (the kind I dislike), to the point where I'm about 60% sure it's the product of a rework that realized how ambiguous Rauru's position was as the Good Rightful King and needed to nervously reassure the players that Ganondorf Is and Always Was the Invader, Actually.

(no matter that it leaves the gerudos in this awkward in-between state of both invaders and victims, while never dwelling in the specifics of their history and their own agency in the entire thing; brushed off as a sin they have to expiate through loyalty to the winners of that particular strife, but without explicitely blaming them either to avoid the implications of what that would have looked like)

If you remove it, not only do you lose a pretty clunky line that detracts from Ganondorf's intimidating presence (who is he even speaking to? who needs to hear this right now?) that honestly speaks for itself when it comes to his experience with warfare, but also you lose any tension and any mystery regarding why he is attacking in the first place.

You also... kind of rob Ganondorf's motivations of their meaning. "Hyrule will bow down before me" leads to asking... why? What does he want? What does he see in those lands? And what little we get with Rauru and then Link during the final fight begs more questions; why do you prefer hardship to peace? Why do you value strength? What leads you to want to rule a land devoid of survivors, become a king without a kingdom? I don't think we ever get satisfactory answers. If you remove this sentence, on the other hand... Subtextually, it becomes pretty clear that his motivations is that he felt threatened by Rauru's power, which is ripe with subtext and questions about whether this is a legitimate reaction, whether his "no survivor" stance is due to a feeling of betrayal when his own people turned against him post the Demon King shenanigans... I'm not saying it would fix the entire game's writing, far from it, but it would already do *so much more*.

(genuinely, I think he could have stayed completely silent during the Molduga Assault, speaking only in the Show of Fealty before going completely nuts after Sonia's murder, and it would have worked MUCH better in terms of characterization but anyway anyway

EDIT: ALSO!!! that way he wouldn't speak hylian to fellow gerudos, which is weird inherently)

Without this line, the core of the tension between the gerudos and Hyrule comes front in his conversation with Rauru; it allows the cause of his hostility to be Rauru's invitations, that he would have taken as a threat, and would have still made him warlike and domineering without making him cartoonishly flat, because, once again, Rauru is not acting in a particularly more legitimate way when Zelda arrives in Ancient Hyrule; and it would have been... fair to point that out. And make for better characterization for Rauru, and Sonia, and Mineru, and everybody. But the priority was for Hyrule to be pictured as unquestionably holy; always legitimate, always truthful, always beautiful, always just.

Also, and this is more of a nitpick but: why would Ganondorf want Hyrule, specifically, to bow down before him also? Was he at war with the rest of the disparate tribes before, and just carried on his ambitions to the very very newly-founded kingdom as they allied under a new banner? (though it seems to be implies the lands were crawling under monsters in a generic sense, and not Ganondorf's attacks in particular) Why would he even consider Hyrule a legitimate entity worth taking over then, if it is so new, born from the will of a powerful rival, founded by what is basically a stranger to these lands? Why would he covet something so young instead of destroying it and just calling the lands Gerudo Lands II or Grooseland or something?

I don't think any of that was even accounted for, because, beyond everything else: to me, this sentence is so clearly and painfully crammed in here to shield Hyrule from any potential blame and immediately characterize Ganondorf as Bad without having to remove any of the causes that could lead one to side-eye Rauru's little pet project as equally questionable.

Beyond the clumsiness, it is cowardly --and, I think, a little damning.

[themarydragon]

So my friend sent me this link to a youtube video about why the TotK lore isn't interesting. I couldn't get through it without a ten-screen discord rant (on my PC monitor, not my phone) so I thought I would put some thoughts here.

I don't delve too deep into TotK story but there are def some spoilery statements below, consume at your own risk.

The initial assumptions here seem to be that (1) BotW was more respectful of "The Lore" than TotK, and that (2) TotK made some unforgiveable sins that BotW absolutely avoided.

Both of these are completely false. And I am NOT saying that neither BotW nor TotK shat upon accepted lore. They did. There is no recovering the Hyrule Historia timeline, objectively. Instead I contend that the truth is the precise opposite: Nintendo has NEVER actually cared to try to make LoZ games have ANY amount of continuity.

Take the slide at the 5 minute mark of the video linked, above, in which we see the Master Sword was created specifically to be used against Ganon, and then the 7 sages set out to find somebody valiant enough to wield it (this is from the user manual of A Link to the Past, from the SNES, which also was about The Imprisoning War). Which, if you're playing the home game, you know got ret'conned TWELVE YEARS AGO by Skyward Sword. He's using the slide to explain why it was ridiculous that Ganondorf was able to shatter the Master Sword in the prologue to TotK, which tells me they didn't pay much attention to the mechanic in BotW in which the Master Sword "runs out of power" if you use it too much. If Ganon is an aspect of Demise (again from Skyward Sword, far more recent lore than the slide being used in the vid) then the secret stone he's wielding is amplifying DEMISE (WAY stronger than just some dude), which is why he's able to shatter the blade - but still isn't enough to destroy the sword. His entire complaint about the Sword being broken suggests to me he either didn't play Skyward Sword or has forgotten it existed, and has DEFINITELY forgotten the 'weapons breaking' mechanic started in BotW.

He makes another complaint later about there not being an explanation for the disappearance of the Divine Beasts. Which, sure. I wondered what happened, and figured the 5ish years since then made it old news nobody was talking about it anymore. I get why that might have been a breaking point for somebody else. But it's not just a TotK problem; BotW didn't address it, either. We see the Divine Beasts being dug up by the Sheikah in Rhoam's flashback - how did they get buried? The towers shoot out of the ground, how did THEY get buried, after the last calamity? Who put the guardians underground? How? HOW, if nobody is allowed into the tunnels under Hyrule Castle? It didn't get explained for BotW, so why is that an unforgivable sin in TotK? They give more than a passing suggestion that Purah has repurposed the guardians - just LOOK at the Skyview Towers. The jumpscare for BotW players when you get grabbed in the Lookout Landing tower TELLS YOU where the guardians went.

There is a significant section in which video creator is quoting an interview I haven't seen (and don't give two shits about), and I think it needs to be said: what is in the game is canon. What is in the interviews from other people is, by definition, not game canon. If it was meant to be game canon it would be in the game. Neil Gaiman talks about this when people ask him for clarification of his stories, go check his FAQ if you want a really good delineation of canon from somebody with way more clout than me.

So let's just look at the lore he's defending from BotW. The map is wrong. Straight up wrong, from all the earlier Zelda games. Nintendo cannot decide where the Lost Woods should be, much less Spectacle Rock. The Temple of Time, which again is mentioned early on as a clear homage to the lore, is in the wrong damn spot. If this is the new Hyrule formed post-WindWaker (as indicated by the existance of Rito), the Temple of Time should have been destroyed. And why do the Rito and the Zora both exist? According to WindWaker, the Rito evolved from the Zora, who couldn't live in the salt of the sea. Which is a pretty big jump from the original game that had Zora in the ocean, and the two games following THAT in which they were straight-up monsters. I don't want to get into ALL the ways BotW breaks from the established lore, but there's a LOT. They don't mention the fucking Triforce ONCE, ffs, that's sort of a big damn deal.

I get there was a canon timeline published in Hyrule Historia. I bought that book for that exact reason. And, as someone who has loved this franchise since I got that first golden cartridge in 1987, I looked at that timeline once, laughed at it, and moved on with my life. BotW de-canonized that timeline already, in a LOT of ways.

So saying that TotK is evidence that Nintendo no longer cares about continuity or lore, and by NOT villifying BotW (or TP or SS) for the exact same problem is disingenuous at best. Saying that TotK is just nostalgia-baiting is ignoring the BotW map (Lake Saria, anyone? Ranch Ruins, anyone?) in general, as well as all the game-specific loot that had NO other reason to be there but straight-up nostalgia. The only reason for Zelda to mention the other heroes in the blessing we hear in the first memory is to (1) destroy the established timeline (skyward bound, adrift in time, or something about twilight, all in a world where Rito exist), or (2) prey on our nostalgia. TotK isn't any worse for putting the WW shirt and the Awakening armor into the game, in terms of wrecking the timeline or trying to feast on our nostalgia.

I'm not going to try to hypothesize what this person (or all his commenters) didn't like about the game, or why they're so willing to overlook all these problems in BotW to villify TotK. And everybody is welcome to like to dislike a game for whatever reason they want, IDGAF, you do you. What I AM saying is that for someone who's upset about the lore, he really doesn't seem to actually be aware of how inconsistent it's ALWAYS been. If TotK is the game that taught you that Nintendo isn't trying to follow their own lore, then I don't think you have been paying attention to the lore for a good long time.

tl;dr this is still my favorite series and if you hate that it breaks its own continuity then you've been asleep for the last 12 years of lore drops my good dude.

[everygame]

"One of the finest of his generation of critics"—Kieron Gillen (Die, The Wicked + The Divine) Fifty-two essays composing the very best of veteran video game developer and writer Mathew Kumar's "Every Game I've Finished" project, published for the first time in print with commentary from the author. Releasing October 21st, 2024 in print, and available for pre-order now for Kindle or as epub/pdf. Games covered include legendary icons (Wizardry: Proving Grounds Of The Mad Overlord), indie darlings (Papers, Please), beloved obscurities (Attack of the Friday Monsters!), Triple-A franchises (Mass Effect) and modern classics (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild). Essays take the form of everything from straight critique to strategy guide, and represent an overview of the state of the art in video games across its history distilled into ten years of highs and lows. A book that takes video games as seriously as any art form and as deserving of collected criticism. “Mathew’s project, to finish the games he plays, and to write about those he finishes, can be simply stated but it represents a noble act of critical commitment. When taken in concert, these reviews –– unflinchingly acerbic, truthfully stated, and deeply unconcerned with external factors of fashion or consensus –– provide both a diary of criticism, and a long view of the judders and lunges of this still-evolving medium; A charter, too, for what we might cherish, and what we might disdain, in this emergent art form.”–Simon Parkin (A Game of Birds and Wolves, Death By Video Game)

---

Phew! When I announced exp. 2601 I mentioned it was the ten year anniversary of Every Game I've Finished in 2024 and that it might be important, and here it is, a celebration of my last ten years of writing that you can buy as a book that you can own in your house. I didn't originally plan it this way! I intended to release Every Game I've Finished 14>24 as a (somewhat) quick and dirty ebook release, and I did the majority of the work at the beginning of the year pre-exp. 2601, but after realising it would only take a "little" more work to self-publish the book physically I decided if I was going to vanity press, I might as well do it for real.

Of course, it's taken a lot longer than I expected, but I finally have a proof in my hand that I'm satisfied with, and it really does look very nice. 

Vanity press or not, there are a few vectors to this release. Firstly, if you've ever enjoyed any of my writing of the past ten years, here's a nice way to support me and either get a lovely physical or handy digital edition. Secondly, if you haven't, here's a way to immediately get fifty-two of the best articles I've written which you can peruse at your leisure.

Thirdly, I just honestly think that there should be a culture of criticism around games just as there is for literally every other art form, and I think that this book existing makes as much sense as, say Clive James On Television, so I'm just fucking going for it.

That all said, Every Game I've Finished 14>24 is being released on October 21st 2024, and is being released in print on Amazon. I'm no happier about this than you are, but it's the simplest method. I would love to offer copies here on Ko‑fi for launch day, but they (sneakily) give author copies a long lead time and (of course) it's impossible to compete with Amazon's postage rates.

Amazon also--for bafflingly unclear reasons--won't allow me to offer a pre-order of the print edition, so please mark the date in your calendar or follow me on Bluesky or (spit) Twitter if you want to get a copy.

However! If you're just looking for the ebook, you can pre-order it on Kindle or epub/pdf right now! Subscribers will receive their shop discount on the digital edition, so don't forget you can support me for just $1 a month. This release has been, and I know it's a cliche, a real labour of love, just as Every Game I've Finished has been a labour of love for video games (even if it doesn't always read like it.) I can't wait for you to get your hands on it, and I'm so thankful for all of you who have joined me on this journey.

[riddlerosehearts]

vil/idia valentine's day headcanons 💜💙

(as usual this post ended up more detailed and lengthy than i originally planned it to be, but i hope someone will enjoy it because i love this silly little ship of mine.)

idia has never liked valentine's day. it always seemed so pointless and frivolous, and there's so many people out talking and holding hands and kissing. probably all judging him for being alone. the only reason he cares at all about it is because many of the games he plays have limited-time valentine's events, so he usually just stays in his room all day playing through them.

and sure, idia loves a good romance anime, and he has more than a few favorite ships he thinks should totally be canon, but that's all just fiction. it's an escape from a reality where true love doesn't exist.

or so he used to believe. he never thought he'd find someone he really wanted to be with, or that they'd want him in return. not until, somehow, vil became that person. all the dating sims in the world couldn't have prepared him for this.

he knows he can't just hide out in his room on valentine's day when he has someone so important to spend it with now. but how can he give vil the happiness he deserves?

he could build a high-end custom laptop from scratch for him, or buy him a bouquet of his favorite flowers and take him to the fanciest restaurant in all of twisted wonderland, even though the latter idea utterly terrifies him. he could use his tech skills and his family's money to give vil the world, but if he knows his boyfriend at all, he knows that he probably doesn't want anything that extravagant.

(and besides, if the vil schoenheit tried to go out in public with his partner on valentine's day they would just get swarmed by paparazzi and idia is sure he'd roll a 1 and fail the stealth check required to avoid them. yeah, that's a quest path he will not be choosing anytime soon.)

idia knows it would be best to get vil something simple, but still thoughtful enough to make him feel special. and in the shoujo manga he likes, people always give handmade chocolate as a gift. but his cooking skill is stuck at level 1, and even if he could grind it up to 100, vil wouldn't want a box of chocolates loaded with sugar and calories. it can't just be some normie thing either--it has to stand out from the flowers and candies and love letters he gets swamped with by his fans.

remembering how vil has praised his gear designs for ortho before, he decides to buy some purple and gold beads and string them together to make a necklace. in the middle he places a small heart-shaped bead, adding an LED light inside that makes it pop with a subtle glow.

he also makes a handmade card that with a design that lights up at the press of a button. i imagine he'd put a pixel heart inside of it similarly to this zelda themed pop-out card i found:

they're both very simple projects for idia, but he feels certain that vil will love them.

and as for vil, he thinks valentine's day is a lovely holiday. it's an opportunity for people to celebrate the beauty of love, and to relax and take better care of themselves. even if you're single, you can still pamper yourself and celebrate with a friend. vil always tries to take the day off from any obligations if he can, though sometimes there are things he just can't slack off on.

this year, though, he absolutely will not be doing any photoshoots or interviews. this year he has a boyfriend, and yes he knows that idia hates the holiday but in his mind that's even more of a reason why he needs to be there for him. he won't allow idia to spend even one more second feeling lonely and unloved on valentine's day.

he initially has no idea what he should get idia, and ends up getting laughed at by cater who catches him googling "valentine's gifts for gamers" on his phone. look, just because he's acted in a few romance films and is considered a teen heartthrob by countless people who don't even know him, doesn't mean he automatically knows everything about dating.

cater and idia are friends, though, and cater knows enough about what he likes to be able to help vil pick a couple things out.

the first thing vil settles on is a lego building set that depicts a bouquet of roses. it would be fun for the two of them to build them together, and he wouldn't have to worry about idia inevitably forgetting to water them.

he also gets a card that's even dorkier than the one idia made for him--i'm specifically picturing this:

he tucks a note inside of it, with a short list of just a few of idia's best qualities. he hopes it can remind idia of why he likes him and wants to be with him and not someone else.

and lastly, he purchases a pack of bath bombs made to look like colorful D20 dice--relaxing, good for the skin, and aesthetically in line with idia's interests.

when valentine's day comes, they exchange gifts in vil's dorm room at pomefiore, where they've planned to spend the day. vil thinks the things idia has made for him are beautiful and he tells him as much.

but when idia recieves his gifts, he starts mumbling something about how a weirdo shut-in otaku like him doesn't deserve to be seen as a viable love interest and how vil must have had a confusion status debuff on him this whole time.

vil: "excuse me? you're not insulting my SSR boyfriend, are you? you don't think that i would try to max out the affection points for your route if i wasn't sure you were the perfect option for me?"

idia, who just knows the tips of his hair are turning pink: "s-sorry... i ran into a glitch that triggered the wrong dialogue. what i meant to say was, of course you picked a genius like me to be your player 2 instead of some lame normie who you'd have zero percent compatibility with! how could anyone but me match up to your top-tier stats?"

vil just smiles and rolls his eyes.

idia then reveals that he actually did get vil something sweet, but originally felt too nervous to give it to him.

it's a pack of candy flavored lip glosses. vil laughs and insists that they'll have to kiss enough times to taste test each flavor. idia's whole head of hair turns pink.

they spend the whole day together, doing things like watching an old romcom that vil adores or playing a co-op game that idia picked for them, and of course putting the lego rose bouquet together.

they also eat a nice meal together in a private place that vil set up for them in pomefiore--and all the other students know they'll incur their dorm leader's wrath if they dare to bother him on his date.

[loregoddess]

Ask: Top 5 Zelda universe facts

In no particular order...

The fact that WW Link isn't even considered "the hero of the era" like, even before Skyward Sword retroactively added Demise's curse to explain the fateful reincarnation of "the hero's spirit", the dialogue between The King of Red Lions and Jabun confirms that Link is literally just Some Kid with no connection to the legendary hero whatsoever--but this Link is So Determined he ends up proving his worth to the gods and becoming the hero like, I dunno. I feel like LoZ leans into the "fated/destined roles" trope a lot, which is fine I like it plenty, but I like "random dude saves the world out of spite" a lot too.

There is an insane amount of hidden dialogue in Twilight Princess, and some of it even changes depending on which order you meet NPCs, to the point where I've never actually found a 100% complete game script of TP bc I've replayed the game so many times and have seen a lot of the hidden dialogue that I know some of the stuff that's missing. Like, did you know that early on in the game you can return to Ordon like, immediately? I can't remember if you're allowed to return before the Forest Temple or right after, but there's unique dialogue that all the Ordon NPCs have that vanishes I think shortly after you enter the Eldin twilight area, and it's some of the most heart-wrenching dialogue in any LoZ game ever. Also as soon as you have the option and ability to go to the Lakebed Temple, you can instead go to Telma's Tavern where the Resistance members (sans Rusl bc he would have recognized Link, iirc he's still wounded back in Ordon at this point) will like, mercilessly tear into Link and tell him to get the fuck out bc they think he's some random weirdo (Shad is especially vicious with his verbal mockery of Link's outfit which is SO funny to me, I don't think a lot of people know this goofy city-boy nerd has apparently 0 fear of mocking a guy who's literally decked out in weapons and armor). If you do this, it also changes the dialogue that Wolf Link listens in on when bringing Midna to Zelda after the Lakebed Temple is completed, and also the dialogue for when Link "officially" meets the Resistance, which is like, an insane amount of attention to detail and extra work on the part of the writers and the coders.

Super minor detail, but I do love that the animators for the first Hyrule Warriors hid a lot of easter eggs within the actual battle animations for characters, like, specifically a few of Ganondorf's trident attacks are actual attack animations used by various Ganons and Ganondorfs in mainline games, and I thought that was a really neat extra bit of work to add in.

I know BotW/TotK are officially Their Own Separate Thing but like, the fact that the Zonai and the Oocca share the same description of "beings even closer to the gods who either made Hyrule or were directly involved in it Making Hyrule A Thing" is so funny to me. Considering what the Dominion Rod does, and the automatons of the Zonai like, I don't think it was entirely coincidental.

Not gonna lie, Santa Canon In LoZ is excellent...I hope we get more LoZ Santa lore one day. I think he should be connected to the Minish somehow.

[emathyst9]

Introduction!!!

Hello hello random people on the internet, I'm Emathyst, but you can call me Em or Will, and I'm an especially William Afton obsessed digital artist that likes to draw, ramble about my interests, share some important real world things, and who also may very rarely post some traditional art

I mainly like FNaF, Touhou Project, Genshin, Honkai Impact and Star Rail, but my other interests include Kirby, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and other mostly game media (and Dead Plate even though it's not a series)

This isn't a yumeship centered blog, but I do mainly selfship with William Afton, and Vita from Honkai Impact, just to let you know! I am a sharer with all characters so doubles are safe!

It would be appreciated if you decided to like and/or reblog some of my posts, or maybe even follow me if you want (seriously i feel like my stuff here doesn't do that well so it would mean the world)

More stuffs!!!

My DMs are open, though I'm not good with conversation so apologies if you DM me and don't get a quick response

My asks are also open, so ask me anything you want about any of the media I like or even send me some drawing ideas if you want! (please i beg you i need ideas I get art blocked soooo easy but also expect a delayed response because I am an overthinker that takes too much time thinking about how to respond to people)

I am attempting to organize stuff here so these are the main tags I use

#em says stuffs - My talking/rambling tag for text posts

#em draws stuffs - My art tag of course, for all the silly things I make

#em answers stuffs - The tag for my answered asks

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An elaboration on my "general DNI" and before you follow criteria

Please do not follow if you are an explicit NSFW account only I do not want that stuff here since I just don't care for it and I want this to be a safe space for minors

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While you're here, please consider donating to some verified campaigns! Like this one for @/save-mohamed-family's family in Gaza!

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That's all folks, thank you for reading!

Oh also I have a Straw Page you know the thingy people use on Twitter it's here if you want to send stuff that would be nice especially if you feel it's easier than directly talking go right ahead (also it's basically just a bite sized version of the info here but I would still appreciate the read, though I don't post the responses here I do that on my Twitter)

[oyasumi-ashurii]

Okay, so it might be a little hard for me to cohesively put all my thoughts and feelings into why I care so much about Final Fantasy VIII, but because of the 25th anniversary and seeing a lot of you talk about your love of the game I'll try the best I can. So here's my embarrassingly and extremely long personal history with the game and why it will always be my favorite.

Before FF8 I was mostly a Nintendo kid. Mario and Zelda were all I really knew, and as a hyperactive as I was I didn't really have the patience for anything story-heavy that took a lot of reading. Though I did I get a PlayStation later on I hardly bothered with anything other than Spyro or Crash. Anything similar in graphics to FF7 or 8 was mostly foreign to me too, with maybe the closest being my cousin having the first Resident Evil and I was far too young and too scared to bother with anything like that. So you can imagine the complete and utter shock kid me had going to my uncle's and seeing him play FF8 for the first time. I don't think it had been out too long but he was already on disc 3 in Esthar and, bless his soul, he let me play his save for a while. Being able to fly around the map on the Ragnarok?? The realistic proportions and animations in battle?? The absolute BANGER of a soundtrack?! All of it had me excitedly begging my parents to buy me the game. Nine year old me didn't know roman numerals, though, just that it was called Final Fantasy with some weird lettering. I had no idea of Final Fantasy as a series and I didn't know it was the eighth game or that there were eight of them at all. I couldn't remember what the cover looked like either and my uncle not long after that was going through his own personal troubles so I wasn't able to visit or ask him. We didn't have internet at home until the early 2000s (it was AOL dial-up too, jesus, I don't miss that) and my parents were strict about internet use, so I was stuck. My dad did eventually buy me an FF game as a surprise when I was eleven, and lmao can you believe I was genuinely upset because it was Final Fantasy VII?! That being said, I have an INSANE amount of love and respect for 7. Considering how much easier I think the materia system is to understand for newcomers, having it as my first, full FF experience was a bit of a blessing lol. FF7 hit me in a different way than 8 did, and maybe I'll make a post about it sometime.

So other than the brief times on the internet (I was only allowed on for an hour or two before I was kicked off) and reading gaming magazines I had hardly any access or knowledge about FF8 until years later. I knew the characters briefly and read some small stuff here and there about the world, but that was it. Even so, I STILL loved it. I would draw them (I've drawn most of my life, and I still do occasionally as a fun hobby), write about what I thought they were like, so, so much of me embarrassingly obsessing over it and driving my small group of friends in school bonkers (oh lordy I just remembered my preteen username I had used on an FF forum and now I'm cringing.) You get it. So why did I cling to the game so much, even though I barely played it? Why did it mean so much to me? Because around the time I was twelve I was deeply depressed, and throughout my middle school and early high school life video games and their stories were the only joy and comfort I had. I'm not going to go into much detail because it feels too personal to write on tumblr about and I'd rather not think back too much. If you want the gist it was at a moment in time I was mostly on my own. I felt isolated and alone, and due to growing up in and around strict, conservative circles I struggled with feeling far behind my peers, so my personal and school life suffered. Things got better though and I'm happy in my life now, so that's really it.

As I got a little older I had played other FF's and RPGs in between that I also fell in love with (especially Kingdom Hearts) and funnily enough horror games, but I still didn't get my hands on 8 until I got it on my fifteenth birthday and I was over the moon. That night and many nights and weekends after that I played every single bit of that game. I had printed walkthroughs and a guide of the junction system, with overly-detailed notes I had scribbled down and highlighted. I had written down all the rules of triple triad, weapon upgrades, item refinements and what you get from monsters, side-quests, all of it. I had never went all in into a game before, but I did it because I wanted to experience the game that gave preteen me comfort everything it had to offer. And I remember vividly when I finished it I cried until I was almost out of breath.

But you know, I didn't get emotional because of the nostalgic school-like feel and inspired real-world setting, or the overall main plot with magic, sci-fi and sorceresses. It wasn't even the deeply interwoven love stories, the theme of fate or the gameplay either, though I grew to love all of those things dearly with time.

It was because I was a socially-awkward and lonely fifteen year old girl that watched an equally as awkward seventeen year old boy overcome his own deeply-rooted fears and trauma and come out at the end of it all on the path to healing.

And I knew I'd be okay, and ever since then this game has and will always be that reminder and comfort for me.

Thanks for reading.

[neverchecking]

I wanted to check if your requests were still open or rather if your inbox was open. But since I have the green light, let's get this trainwreck happening :D (This is a lot of text and I apologise)

Her name is Tia and she's a reincarnate isekai. Maturity-wise, she's about middle 20's, but her physical and chronological ages are two wildly different numbers. She has memories of our world and of the LOZ games. She remembered her past life at the age of seven. She doesn't like her birth name. Her priority is always Link. Her moral basis is mostly "A kingdom that writes its peace in the blood of children is a kingdom that deserves to burn." Tia has since spread this belief. She also believes in learning self-defence and is a decent swordswoman. She keeps her hair long and in braids.

And she reincarnated as Flora.

(Let that sink in.)

Tia calls her past life 'visions' and plays on the whole 'prophecy runs in the family' to get people to listen to her. This allowed her to save a lot of lives during the calamity, but rather than falling protecting her, Link fell protecting other citizens. Tia had to do the whole century-long calamity thing, but since she also knew about her time powers, she managed to save the champions, the backup she ensured they had on the Beasts, and several pockets of survivors. She also managed to act as Link's travelling companion, guiding him and helping when she could. (She couldn't take full human form so she travelled with him as a fox spirit. Link nicknamed her Foxy.)

(I like to think that the gods aren't stupid enough to give Zeldas obscene amounts of power while they're still kids and growing so they either have to grow to the age of wisdom [17] or Ganon needs to be a threat to Hyrule. They still gotta earn it though. Flora turned 17 but didn't earn it until Link fell. Tia managed to unlock it a bit earlier, but she unlocked all of her power and her body nearly tore itself apart due to barely not being physically old enough to handle it, leaving scars all over her body like cracks.)

She also warned people about the Upheaval, the Demon King and prepared them for it. Hyrule walked into that particular paradox, ready and prepared. In terms of certain side-quests, Tia told people why she blocked off certain things or why she was borrowing certain items.

She also warned people about an imposter (IYKYK) and made sure she could be identifiable by wearing something green. Her imposter never wore green. And she told Link everything she could and wrote it all down for him, helping him in any way she could. She also warned him about her fate if things played out like her 'visions'. Which they did, but Link had full permission to use whatever he needed from her (IYKYK). She prepared the sages, past and future, for the long term. She always made sure to ask for help and never implied about Link being the one to face Ganon, making sure he had a choice. (She really hoped Revali would take up the mantle of Wind Sage, but knows she can't control fate and prepares for all outcomes. Tulin is still the Sage and Tia is so proud and so pissed.)

Tia does everything she can to protect Link but always gives him the choice. Link is her priority since 'none of her ancestors ever really did so.' (Tia can count on one hand how many of her ancestors she actively likes and still have fingers left over. [Rauru and Sonia don't count])

So take all of this and then throw her into Sage's Hyrule.

Watch the trainwreck.

(Meanwhile, her Hyrule is in uproar because Tia has never just vanished like this. Especially without telling her Link who she has a very deep platonic bond with.)

Here's a doll-maker pic of her in casual clothes. Because I can't draw

Thank you for letting me ramble. I just wanna share my girl.

So, first off,

I LOVE HER HFOFHF I LOVE HER

And her morals? I love them. I'm adopting them.

The whole vision bit is always so interesting to me because you can play around with it so much. And with her being reincarnated as Flora? Even better. Like this is so much better than whatever the hell Flora was doing. Saving the champions, keeping the hold on the beasts, AND GUIDING LINK AS A FOX HOFHFO

(While I do think the gods are in fact that stupid, I think they still have to earn it, hence the whole BotW/AoC thing where Flora/ Fauna had to go to the springs and stuff constantly. However, with that amount of power I can imagined that would be a lot for a single body. My own OC has issues handling her power as well, which is another thing I love playing on when it comes to OC's.)

Her explaining things is so much better. ( I do know!) And giving Link a choice in any world is always great, just butters my biscuits like- hfiofhf GIVE HIM A CHOICE- Honestly, and don't get me wrong I love Tulin to absolute bits, he's my favorite Sage, but why wasn't it Teba?...The ADULT?

Sage being faced with someone who's so involved in a choice, and saving him before anyone else??

MMMMM-

AND HER HYRULE GOING INTO MASS PANIC BC THEIR SWEETHEART IS GONE?

I'm just picturing-

Tia, to Sage: I gotta get back to bed before Link realizes I'm gone!

Her Link: Tia?

Her Link: T I A?!?!

[labyrinthdancer]

alright ima gonna start dumping my linked universe/zelda AU's thought thingys

some headcannons that apply to all of these AREEEE hero's shade passing on? never happened. dude still kicking around hes also like super old talking 1,000+ old the portal to the twilight realm nerver closed i'll start with what i'm callin Monarces Will i guess? its all just world building the golden goddesses didn't abandon the interlopers COMPLETELY when they banished them to the twilight realm they made it so that all the monarchs would have a divine beast, a light dweller that's been touched by the divine in some way. when a divine beast dies they become a ghost and go to some special forest somewhere in the twilight realm and live with the other beast helping the current beast while waiting for a prophecy foretelling the destruction of the twilight realm to come to pass and rise to help the twili. at some point a corrupt monarch came to power and didn't like the fact that a light dweller had so much free rein over the realm so he made a spell called Monarch's Will that forced the divine beast to do what the monarch commanded, this spell inadvertently connected all monarchs souls with their divine beasts allowing both sides, to an extent, feel what the other is feeling and even have an inkling as to what they're thinking. in response to the continual abuse of this power the divine beast at the time made a counter spell called 'Chain Breaker' that would break the connection between the beast and monarch and make the spell useless. switching over to some twili customs the twili monarch is decided by combat or on special occasions elected. someone can challenge the monarch at any time but there are certain events where it is socially acceptable to make a challenge, the rules of the challenges are as follows the divine beast is the judge of the fight and must be present the battle ends when either the monarch or challenger is dead the divine beast can step in at any time if they think the battle will end with both the monarch's and challenger's deaths if the divine beast stops the battle a rematch will take place at a later date if the divine beast has to step in a second time both the monarch and challenger will be deemed unfit to rule and both will be executed a vote by the twili people will take place later to decide the next monarch. if the divine beast is still alive when their monarch dies they will start serving the next monarch BUT they will not have any connection with the next monarch and 'Monarch's Will' will not work also the monarchs and their divine beast complement each other! these are the pairs I have divine beast Athena the Pashiont and her monarch 'Guy I Don't Have A Name For' The Bloody, Atlas the Giant and his monarch Aquasha the Gental, Hero's Shade and Midna's dad, and obviously twilight and Midna canonically there are hundreds but I've only come up with two pairs so far