#i’m going back to deadland now

[purplina]

this is my participation

[violettwrites]

daughter of the deadlands — 01

prologue | next

a/n: hi !! welcome to the official start of dotd !! i do have to admit that the first couple of chapters may be a bit boring, but it’s just a look into madeline’s relationships with everyone but i promise it’ll get better ! i hope :]

anywho ! if you’re enjoying this so far, please don’t hesitate to reblog, like, and/or comment ! i love it when you guys support me 🫶🏻 also should i do a tag list !? let me know in the comments if i should do that !

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MADELINE GRIMES sat on a log at the edge of the camp, her damp hair clinging to her back as the warm georgia sun beat down on her. she had just gotten back from the quarry that was just a short walks away which was her only option to clean herself. ever since society had fell and the dead rose, basic things like having a shower or washing her hair were extremely limited.

her gaze drifted to her younger brother, carl, sitting at a makeshift table with a math book in front of him. his brows were furrowed, and his tongue stuck out between his lips, and it almost made her laugh. he was good at math, but that didn’t stop him from protesting. after all, why did he have to do math when school wasn’t even a thing anymore? but her mother, lori, as always, just ignored his complaints and insisted he do his homework.

madeline was grateful to be sixteen—old enough to avoid sitting with the younger kids and doing homework. besides, she was a straight-A student before everything went to hell. top of her class in nearly every subject—except phys ed. she hated sports. but everything else? easy A’s. she didn’t need to be sitting with the kids and working on fractions.

lost in her thoughts, madeline didn’t hear shane approach from behind until his hand landed on her shoulder. shane had been in her life since she could remember, being her dad’s best friend and all. she jumped, immediately scowling as she turned to face him. she hadn’t liked shane since her dad died. he had this hero complex, always trying to step into rick’s shoes. he claimed he was just protecting their family, but madeline wasn’t stupid. she saw the way he acted around lori—the way they’d sneak off into the woods together. they acted like rick had never existed, and it made her sick.

“hey, maddie,” shane said, sitting down next to her. she dropped her gaze to her shoes—her beloved converse. at least she’d gotten them for christmas before everything fell apart. “you doin’ okay?” he asked, his brown eyes full of concern for the girl, but she never believed it was genuine. there was just something different about him now. far from the shane she used to know.

madeline wanted to ignore him, but she knew better. her mom would just get mad and remind her to be polite—he was “uncle shane” after all. that didn’t stop the uncomfortable feeling in her gut. “i’m fine,” she muttered, inspecting her nails. she really didn’t care how they looked; she just hoped shane would leave her alone. that’s all she wanted nowadays; to be left alone.

he sighed, and she had to fight back a smile. she knew she got under his skin when she barely spoke to him. it was one of the few small joys she had left: annoying shane.

“you eaten today, kid?” he asked, removing his cap to run a hand through his hair before putting it back on. madeline nodded, a small ‘yep’ coming from her lips, keeping her answers short. she hoped he’d take the hint and leave, and, after a moment, he did. “alright, well… let me know if you need anything, ‘kay?” with that, he got up and walked back toward the camp.

her gaze lingered on him for a moment as he walked back towards the rest of the group, specifically her mother. the cocky swagger in his step was prominent, but you could also tell he was stressed. everyone was. and she did feel bad, but he just tried way too hard in her eyes– making himself the self proclaimed leader of the group, and everyone seemed to go along with it just because he had been a cop.

since learning about rick’s shooting, and the beginning of the apocalypse, madeline had withdrawn from everyone. she would constantly replay those moments in her mind; her mother sitting at the kitchen counter in their house, waiting for her eldest child to come home from school to break the news to her sixteen year old that her father was in a coma, and they didn’t know if he would wake up. and then she remembers a few weeks, maybe a month, later when lori had come into her room, telling her to pack her stuff because they were leaving now— without her dad. it had felt like a punch to the gut. shane had gone back to the hospital during that time too, later “confirming” rick’s death, claiming he’d checked for a heartbeat and found nothing. ever since then, madeline barely spoke to anyone.

it wasn’t just their family and shane at the atlanta camp either. other survivors had joined them. there were the peltiers—ed, carol, and their daughter sophia, who was close in age to carl. then the morales family: morales, miranda, and their two kids, eliza and louis jr. the harrisons— with andrea and amy. t-dog and jacquie, known as the douglas family, were there too.

glenn, dale, and the dixons also made up the group. madeline liked glenn; he was always kind, and they bonded over movies. he was a little older than her, only in his early twenties. dale let her borrow books from his rv—though most of them were boring, she appreciated the gesture from the older male.

as for the dixons, lori and shane didn’t want her or carl speaking to them. not that she was planning on it. merle pissed her off the most, especially when he called her “girlie.” daryl, on the other hand, wasn’t so bad. he didn’t talk much anyway.

deciding she’d had enough of the sun, madeline stood and made her way toward the rv to find a new book, considering she had finished the copy of ‘to kill a mocking bird’. most of dale’s books were old classics she had already read, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. once she was halfway there, she heard the c.b. radio crackle to life.

“hello. hello. can anybody hear my voice?”

it was a man’s voice, but the static made it hard to understand. madeline watched as amy, dropping the sticks she was carrying, scrambled to grab the mic. she knew finding other survivors was important, but why bother? it was just going to turn to shit for them in the long run.

if there was a long run.

she furrowed her brows at the commotion but kept walking. dale had given her free rein to the rv, and she appreciated the quiet escape it offered. once inside, she looked through the stacks of books and grabbed a copy of the catcher in the rye— another classic she had already read, but she didn’t mind it.

as she stepped back outside, book in hand, she spotted shane now trying to respond through the radio.

“hello, hello. is the person who called still on the air? this is officer shane walsh broadcasting to person unknown. please respond.”

madeline rolled her eyes. shane’s insistence on clinging to his cop identity annoyed her. it was like he craved the authority— the respect. and it worked on everyone else but her.

she used to be kind to him— hell, she used to love him, she really did. sometimes he’d pick her up from school in the patrol car when her parents had to go to the school for carl, or he’d always make sure to pick up a new barbie doll for her, every single birthday, but things were different now. and she resented him.

“he’s gone,” shane said, glancing up at the group gathered around him—lori, carl, dale, amy, and a few others.

“there are others,” lori said softly, “it’s not just us.”

from the doorway of the rv, madeline watched. she didn’t care much for the conversation anyway. instead, she turned back inside to sit at the small table and opened her book, letting her head rest on her hand as she read.

lost in her own little world as she read the angsty words of holden caulfield, she hadn’t noticed carl make his way into the rv until he was interrupting her.

“maddie?” carl was one of the only ones that called her maddie— besides her parents of course. usually, she preferred ‘mads’, only because growing up she had been bullied by a girl called maddie, but she didn’t really care anymore. the other maddie was probably dead now, anyway.

“hey, buddy. what’s up?” she asked, folding the corner of her page and closing the book. she probably shouldn’t fold the pages of other people’s books, but she didn’t have a bookmark.

“mom’s mad at shane,” he whispered, sliding into the seat across from her, his chin resting in his hands as he pouted at her. “she wanted to put signs up on the highway to warn people about the city, but shane won’t let her.”

madeline sighed, nodding as she stood up. she could care less if their mom was mad at shane. if it kept him away from her, let her be mad. “c’mon, let’s check on her,” she said, ruffling carl’s hair before following him to their tent. she noticed the tension between her mom and shane. she had noticed it ever since she had realised that shane had a thing for her mom, but she never said anything, because lori had never acted on it. not until now, that was.

“mom?” carl called as they approached, and when shane stepped out of the tent, madeline almost scoffed.

“what’s up, bud? she’s inside. go on,” shane said, ruffling carl’s hair before walking past them, his gaze lingering on madeline.

making her way to the opening of the tent, lori smiled at them both. she knelt in front of carl, holding his hands. “don’t worry, your mama’s not going anywhere, okay?” her voice was soothing, playful even, like when madeline was younger. she nodded reassuringly at carl. “yeah—yeah?” she smiled as carl nodded back. “good, now go finish your chores.”

madeline stood silently, arms crossed, watching her brother run off. then she turned to her mother. “so, you’re sneaking around with uncle shane now?” she narrowed her eyes, seeing the guilt wash over lori’s face. “real classy, mom.”

“madeline, it’s not what you—” but madeline wasn’t listening. before lori could finish, she turned on her heel and stormed off toward the quarry, arms crossed tightly over her chest.

the gravel crunched under her shoes as she hastily made her way towards the quarry, her arms still tightly crossed over her chest, jaw clenched as she fought the growing knot in her stomach. she could hear footsteps behind her but she didn’t slow down—she already knew it was lori.

“madeline, please! wait!” lori called out, but madeline ignored her, making her way to the edge of the quarry. she stopped by the water, staring out over the still surface, her back stiff and unyielding. she just wished she could keep storming off, wanting to just keep walking until she dropped dead, but the water in front of her prevented that.

lori finally caught up, her breathing labored as she approached. “maddie, you can’t just walk off like that.”

madeline didn’t turn around. her voice was cold, distant. “what’s the point in staying? so i can watch you and shane pretend like dad never existed?”

lori’s face crumpled, the words hitting hard. “that’s not what we’re doing,” she whispered, trying to hold on to her composure. “you don’t understand… this world isn’t the same anymore. he’s—” her voice cracked. “he’s gone, maddie.”

“yeah, and you just moved on, didn’t you?” madeline spat, turning on her heel to face her mother. “dad wasn’t even dead before you started playing house with shane. how could you do that to him?” she knew she was being harsh, but she was speaking nothing but the truth. and if the truth hurt, then so be it. lori needed to know.

lori’s eyes glistened with tears, guilt etched into every line of her face. “maddie, shane was just trying to help—”

“help?” madeline’s voice rose, anger spilling out in every word. she wasn’t one to get mad like this, not at her mom anyway. but she had been on edge since everything happened. she was finally bursting at the seams. “he’s not helping us. he’s helping you. you’re both acting like dad never existed, like he never mattered!”

“that’s not true,” lori said, stepping closer, her voice trembling. “your dad mattered. he mattered more than anything, but we didn’t have a choice. we had to survive.”

madeline scoffed, turning away again. “survive? by running off into the woods together? that’s how you survive?”

lori shook her head, her own anger mixing with grief. “it wasn’t like that, mads. you don’t know what it’s been like for me, for us. i had to make decisions. i had to keep you and carl safe—”

“safe?” madeline snapped, cutting her off. “don’t pretend this is about me and carl. this is about you not wanting to be alone. you didn’t even try to hold on. you didn’t wait. you just gave up.” she knew she was being mean, but she couldn’t help it. madeline had given up, herself.

lori’s breath hitched, tears slipping down her cheeks. “i never gave up on your father,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “i loved him—i still love him. but he’s gone, madeline. what was i supposed to do?”

madeline’s eyes filled with tears she refused to let fall. it hurt her, listening to how she was making her mom cry, but madeline was angry. “you were supposed to remember him. you were supposed to wait,” she said, her voice breaking.

the silence between them was thick, suffocating. lori took a tentative step forward, reaching out to touch her daughter’s arm, but madeline flinched away, pulling her arms around her body, as if trying to protect the pieces of herself that still ached.

“maddie…” lori’s voice was soft, desperate. “i’m trying. i’m just trying to hold this family together.”

madeline’s eyes burned with unshed tears as she turned to face her mother. “you’re not holding us together. you’re replacing him. and you don’t even care.”

lori’s face crumpled, her heart breaking at the accusation. “i do care,” she whispered, her voice barely audible. “i think about him every day. i miss him every day.”

madeline looked away, back to the water. her voice was softer now, but the hurt was still there, raw and exposed. “you don’t act like it.”

lori swallowed hard, wiping at her tears. “i can’t bring him back, maddie. i wish to god i could, but he’s gone. and we’re still here. we have to keep going, even if it hurts.”

madeline’s silence stretched on, the only sound the soft ripple of the quarry. she didn’t respond, her face set in that same defiant expression that had become her shield since her father’s death.

lori took a deep breath, realizing she wasn’t going to get through to her, at least not today. “i’m here, maddie,” she said quietly, her voice full of emotion. “whenever you want to talk, i’m here.”

madeline’s eyes stayed locked on the water, her expression unreadable. “you can go back to shane now,” she muttered bitterly.

lori opened her mouth to say something more, but the weight of madeline’s words silenced her. she turned slowly and began to walk back toward camp, her footsteps heavy as she left madeline standing alone by the quarry, lost in her anger and grief.

[burgundy-twice]

I should be there by now?

I can’t believe it takes this heavy of a deep dive and speaking to history professors I would never ever speak to in my broken ass kalosian to find out shit

The deadlands were another part of Kalos. Supposedly they were easier to pass through . Operated by the king at the time’s little brother and when war broke out the deadlands were. The target. For the weapon.

No one knows why the geology shifted so heavily in the span of 3,000 years and there’s nothing even written about it, only a change in maps .

I don’t know why. It. Would go there. Why It would slumber there after everything. It doesn’t matter. I’m getting what I want out of It. Wherever I am it ends one way or another. I am going to come back home alive and everything will be fucking fine again.

Is it wrong for me to play god when inaction means someone else dies of something I could’ve prevented? Or something. I don’t know this philosophy shit is stupid as hell Acicula is making my leg go numb I have to get her offffff

[everybodyknows-everybodydies]

The sun is low when a shout goes up from the lookouts. Long shadows stretch across the mountains. The evening light catches on a sunset-bright red head against the snow. She’s trekking up the faint and winding path more slowly than usual.

“Is that a… stick?” Baurus squints, shielding his eyes for a better view as they venture out to meet her. “Is it from the Deadlands?”

“It looks very much like a normal branch to me.” Martin cups his hands around his mouth. “My friend! Are you limping?” She’s tied something to her leg below the knee; he thinks it resembles a splint, a bit.

Her face scrunches up in a scowl. The stick thuds into the ground with a little more force than before on her next step.

Baurus offers an arm. Martin does not tell him he should probably be closer if he actually wants to help, because she does very much look like she might bite right now, fox in a snare. “Is it closed? Did you get the stone?”

“Yes,” she says, leaning heavily on the stick, “but, um. It hurt. A little.”

---

“Even a simple healing spell would have kept it from getting this bad,” Martin says reproachfully, unpicking the splintered bone where it’s begun to fuse back together the wrong way. The faint golden glow warms his cold fingers, crooked like a child making shapes with string.

Around the pair of socks stuffed between her teeth, Molly croaks, “Yep.” It comes out more like yet. The muscles have gone rigid, misplaced and inflamed, around the bone to try to hold it steady; he rearranges the layers as carefully as he can. She slams a fist into the ground with a strangled little noise anyway.

“You should have said sooner that you didn’t know any restoration. I can teach you at least a—”

“Understand the theory behind it just fine.” Her face screws up as he slots a piece of bone into place with an unsettling, grinding creak. “Nnngkk—just can’t do anything with it. Never have. —can’t you get it over with any faster—!” One of the smaller pieces snaps into position. She doesn’t yell, but she does jerk her knee towards her chest to pull the leg away from him.

“Stop that. Give it back. What do you mean you can’t do anything with it? I thought,” he starts, and then stops, because she’s cracked one eye to shoot him a monstrous, bloodshot glare.

“Don’t.”

“It’s just that,” he attempts more delicately, hands hovering over the fresh bruise blooming on her shin (he’ll have to be more careful; he’s usually very good about not causing new bruising), “I would have thought… er.”

“No, fine, go on now you’ve started.” She yanks the wadded socks from her mouth, rubbing at her jaw. “Maybe if I’m benevolently reminded there’s a Breton or six in every mage hall from here to Blackwood, my lifelong incapability will be overcome at last, miraculous—”

“Alright, alright. You are very unpleasant as a patient, you know.” Cross, he sits back on his heels. “Try standing now.”

She props herself up on her elbows, bracing herself for the lurch forward and upward with a grimace. “Did they already take the stone off to—wherever they put them?”

Rising to his own feet and offering a hand she doesn’t take (and she may never take it, he acknowledges, but he doesn’t know how to stop offering, all the same), he says, “Yes. They’re very keen on the enchanting properties, it seems.”

It takes her a moment to answer, all her focus caught up in the act of standing. After a series of movements reminiscent of some barely-born wobbly-legged animal and a truly impressive dedication to pretending he is not standing there with his hand patiently outstretched, she manages it, panting and tentatively stretching her leg out in front of herself, leaning on the table beside her. “Good for them. Have these stones got—souls—in them?” And then, before he can reply, she says miserably, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. Thank you.”

“Oh,” he says, eyebrows shooting upwards. “Does that mean it doesn’t hurt now?”

“No, it does.” To prove it, she puts all her weight on the leg and jumps back to the other almost immediately with a hiss.

“Don’t do that, then. You ought to get some rest.”

“Hm.”

“At least try.” He folds his arms as she sits on the edge of the table and pulls her leg up to poke at the bruise. “Stop.”

Making a face, she pokes at it again anyway. “It looks smaller than I thought it would be.” She leans over the table to drag her bag closer. “I will try,” she says, “to sleep. Before I forget, though.” Emerging with a small paper-wrapped and string-tied… something, she holds it out, not quite meeting his eyes. “Tried to keep it from getting crushed.”

He takes it, curious. “What, is this from Dagon as well—”

“No, Skingrad. Just—I don’t know what it’s like when I’m not here, but they never seem to have anything sweet. Blades, not bakers, or something like that.”

A sweetroll. He almost laughs. “They don’t,” he admits. “You broke your leg and stopped to buy a sweetroll?”

“Brother Martin,” she says defensively, “you should think better of me. I broke my leg and stopped to buy two sweetrolls. I ate mine already.”

This time, he does laugh.

[tc-doherty]

WIP Round-up

We are in the 2nd half of 2023 so I figured I would do something like this because I haven’t actually compiled information for a while.

Status updates, priorities, and which projects I’m dropping.

Backwards Tales:

 I’ve written Beauty and the Beast and I’m satisfied with that, I’ve written two pages of Cinderella and I’m relatively satisfied so far. I’m just going to see where time takes me with this one. I don’t currently have any specific fairy tales picked out for other ones but that won’t be an issue.

Celestials:

The Ghost is finished, but it will be getting some tweaks and a couple brand-new illustrations before it’s republished under Fabler :3

The Fairy, I’m about halfway through this draft, I think, but it has a whole new ending so it will still need another draft or two at least.

The Scholar, I’m more or less settled onto the idea of this but I haven’t written it yet.

The Knight, still in baby planning stages.

Coyote Song:

This is so stupid but I do love it and I still intend to rewrite it. I have to at least see if it has any value.

The Deadlands:

I do like the story but I’m slightly worried that it might get me sued unless I make some major changes so…status, unknown. I don’t know if I like it enough to put major structural repairs at a high priority at the moment.

The Desert of Claw and Fang:

I’m dropping this one.

Dragon’s Daughter:

Dragon’s Daughter is done except for the illustrations.

Dragon’s Choice, the first half is basically done, the whole second half is new so it’s sparse and needs plumping up.

The Gryphon of Sirray:

I’m still intending to write this one.

The Hildspel of Athelhyrst:

The publishability of this is 0% but I do intend to continue writing it whenever I have a free moment, which is not right now.

Hoofbeats:

This one has promise and I do intend to write a new draft of it once I get some other projects out of the way. I would say this is medium priority.

The Huntress of Anihwen:

I may be dropping this one.

Into the Witch’s Wood:

I’m almost certainly dropping this. I don’t know what it is about the story but I can never keep my interest up about it no matter how I change it, even though I like some of the cast members. Maybe I will just steal them and do something else with them.

Laero:

While this story may or may not actually ever work out, I fully intend to at least try to write a new draft since I’m much older and wiser now.

Magic Black as Knight:

I think I’ve written about a quarter of the plot. I do intend to finish it and see if it works out but it’s lower priority right now.

Miracles:

I just need to write the last couple of chapters, maybe 10 chapters or so. And then it will need a little bit more editing and filling out but it’s also basically ready for alpha-reading as soon as I write those last couple chapters.

Northbound:

I love these characters but I need to spend some serious time working out the politics before I go back to it so that I can make sure everything is intriguing enough but still makes sense. I would consider it medium priority at the moment.

The Race of the Midday Moon:

I 100% intend to write this one.

The Rose and the Egret:

I think I’ve written the first two fairy tales from this? I am going to finish it.

Second Chances:

This is in a weird place because it’s basically done except for minor tweaks and a little bit more fluffing (ready for beta-reading at least) but the idea of publishing it is strange to me due to Reasons(TM) so I don’t know what to do with it.

The Swan Husband:

This idea is still funny to me and I want to try it.

Temitope:

This is essentially still a novella and I’m having a little bit of time making it long enough but it’s still pretty far along in the process and I’m going to keep working on it.

The Thief Queen:

I will probably be dropping this one.

Untitled 1:

This may end up being one of the things that I just write for myself because it’s already extremely self-indulgent, we’ll see. I may also take the characters and do something completely different with them.

Untitled 2:

I pretty much have the whole plot line worked out in my head from what I’ve done so far, I just need to expand on some things and learn more about scriptwriting so I can do it properly. I love the story and this will be happening.

Untitled 3:

Absolutely, 100%, I’m writing this. Even if it turns out bad, I’m going to write it. I would like to write it soon actually, it’s relatively high priority for me.

Untitled 4:

I still intend to try this but because it’s a totally different genre and I don’t know if I’m suited for it it’s still fairly low priority at the moment.

Untitled 5:

This is still only a short story at the moment, I do have ideas for what I want to do with it but I would like to finish Temitope first given that they are set in the same universe. Not that they’re connected in any way, it just seems like I should finish the first one first and the second one second.

Untitled 7:

I’m dropping this.

[traveler-of-realms]

Find The Words tag game

Thank you for the tag, @dogmomwrites. It was a very bold assumption you made, thinking I’ve actually got any of my stories out of the notes phase and into the first draft phase. My words are: bird, fire, realm, gelid, and austere. Let us see what I can pull from my thirty documents that incidentally have nothing sensical in them.

Bird

“Hey, nosy bird.” Khonshu looked up from Steven’s things. “Layla’s coming over tomorrow. Stay out the way, right?”

Steven didn’t like the smile that grew on the god’s face. “Marc’s failed spouse and your little crush? I should have—“

“Enough,” Steven calmly said. “Here are the rules. You stay out of the way tomorrow, and you cause no trouble. And we’ll see about getting you back to godhood.”

Khonshu’s eyes glinted now. “It is a deal.”

Fire

“Back!” She screamed. “Get back!” The dazzling light of the torch kept the unnatural creatures at bay, but only for a moment. As soon as the dark shrouded them again, they came, snapping once-human jaws filled with wolf’s teeth at her. The fire would only last so long.

Which was worse, Asoomse thought sourly, being torn apart by beasts of the night or being married to the worst one of them all?

Realm

“You’re not from this world are you.” I stared absently at the odd creature hanging from my ceiling.

“Neither are you. We are one and the same, little one.” Wide, empty blue eyes blinked slowly at me. His, or hers, or its, head was at an angle that would kill the normal ones. “This realm is the playground of ones like us.”

“Mm. That would explain a bit,” I yawned. “I’m gonna make tea if you’re going to be here a while, clinging to my ceiling and making cryptic statements.” Then I changed my mind. “Actually, this feels like a black coffee situation.”

Gelid

The ice was eternal this far up the Throat of the World. Even Relann’s Shout of clear skies did little to curb that. “This had better be worth the climb,” he muttered sourly.

Finally, the peak was in sight. The first thing that caught Relann’s attention was a Word Wall. Half crumbled and near collapse, the only thing that held it together was the gelid finery it was clothed in. Absently, he ran his fingers over the ice coating the wall.

There was a roar. The unmistakable sound of a dragon closing in on him. His hands lit with magic as the dragon came into view.

Austere

Venistrus, as calm as ever, stood before the realm-gate. He studied it as though it was merely one of the many death certificates that passed his desk through a usual day. If only I had a shred of his austere demeanor.

I could feel my hands shaking as I approached it. The Dark Gate, the one that lead specifically to the Deadlands. But no, I was a high priestess, I was Venistrus’s chosen, and I could not fail. I tended to the dead for my entire career, passing souls from one realm to the next with last rites and dignified funerals. What was this, but a mere extension of my duty?

I’m tagging @theimperiumchronicles, @the-fae-are-taking-over, @wild-daffodils, and @knight-in-shining-boba. Your words are: opulent, wasteland, dire, gilded, and flimsy.

[crystalelemental]

Also I can’t find Manispear.  There’s a quest or something to find one in the Deadlands, but it won’t show up, which is infuriating because the first time I went over there I was level 8 or so, and the first encounter had a level 10 Manispear, and it kicked my entire ass.  But now that I’m actually looking for it, it’s impossible to find.  Also I’m sorry, I’m going now, nothing frustrates me more than lost progress over continuous crashing.

This ties into another frustration: the scientist guy wants me to find different types of monsters, and apparently they’re all relegated to just being backups to other fights.  So I just have to encounter like a billion thing and kinda hope it’s in this one.  I know you can visually see encounters, and that’s always a step above invisible random encounters, but when the majority of your monsters are hidden as the backup to what you actually see on the overworld, you’ve defeated the entire point.  I thought we figured this stuff out with Galar and the shaky grass bullshit.  If you’re just going to put the rare ones in hidden encounters anyway, why bother?  It’s way worse when your game emphasizes side-quests, because the emphasis is always on those rare monsters.

I guess it kinda helps, since progress on hitting 5* for remastering takes forever, but EXP yields on that front are so hilariously small that it’s frankly not worth it.  Meanwhile my characters feel stupid overleveled.  The captain I tried to fight was around my level, I may have even been a level above.  The only reason I wound up losing was I didn’t have my Fire Dog with me, and thus no type advantages.  But I found the lady that gives rumors on the trial captains, and apparently the one I found is maybe third in line at best.  So even though I could have won that fight, I was out of sequence entirely.  Which is weird to me.  It feels bizarre, having to be like “Yeah, I’m wildly overleveled compared to everything I encounter, but what’s holding me back is that nothing is 5* to remaster, so we can still get our shit rocked.”  It feels like it’s already running into the same issues with EXP All that Pokemon did.

The thing is, I feel like this is one of those games where the difficulty is at the outset when you don’t actually have skills, but it gets way easier once you do.  Because right now, the big money action is Fusion.  But Fusion is locked behind Persona Social Links where I have to do a specific questline with my human partners to access it.  So it’s just Kayleigh right now, but I’ve gotta work on the quest for the other two, who I definitely don’t like as much as Kayleigh.  What I’m saying is I’m now spending more time on obligations than things I want to be doing, because instead of building up my monster roster and playing favorites, I’m trying to tackle sidequests that aren’t giving me what I need, and getting my other partners to have critically important skills.  Starting to think maybe emphasizing having a playable cast of characters in a monster collection game wasn’t the greatest decision.

There’s still the issue of random encounters too.  Everything that isn’t wildly underleveled random encounters will get a hit in, and it’s probably going to hurt.  At this point, other human battles involve hits dealing like half HP or more in a single swing if they’re lucky.  I had one dude like 5 levels lower than me OHKO one of my options.  It wasn’t even type advantage as far as I’m aware.  And I think this kind of thing would be fine, if it weren’t for the healing situation.  Healing items are super finite, you can’t take many with you, and resting at campfires costs incredibly valuable resources in wood.  So I’m really not pro-camping, and have to return to town, and the only quick-travel points are the train stations you discover.  Which is to say, there are very few of them, and I’m spending a lot of time just running across terrain because something two-shot my Puppercut, and I had to haul ass back to town.

I dunno.  I was having fun for a bit there, but if this crashing stuff keeps up, I may well drop it entirely.

[kristsune]

I was able to participate in towga, and this was my contribution: A Short Laugh Compilation that includes all of the main crew past and present, and at least a little laughter from every guest that has appeared in the RQG feed. Both a list of guests and transcript can be found under the cut.

Ed Croft -  Story Jam Martyn Pratt - Meet the Crew Jonny Sims - Deadlands Alice Bell - New Year Special 2517! Sean Smith - Trail of Cthulhu  Anil Godigamuwe - Fiasco Holiday Special Helen Gould - Thanes of Beowulf  Mike LeBeau - Jason Statham’s Big Vacation Grant Howitt - Spire Sasha Sienna - Monster of the Week Lowri Ann - Not Far to Bermuda Tim Meredith - Space Pals Frank Voss - Apocalypse World James Ross - Roman Rogues Imogen Harris - RQG/STL Halloween Crossover Becky Annison - Bite Marks Maddy Searle -  The Quiet Year Finish with Benquest with Ending Cast.

ALEX NEWALL: I bring you an alpha male and this is how you greet him?

[Laughter]

JONNY SIMS: High school marching band

[Laughter]

ALL: Woaaaah!

[Laughter]

BEN MEREDITH: Bryn gets it!

JONNY: Oh, Jesus

BEN: Yes!

JONNY: Oh, Jesus no.

BEN: Ordinance 

[Extended Brynterval]

ALEX: No

JAMES: Yes, of course

BRYN MONROE: I was trying so hard… not to crack up

BEN: I forgot my audience

ALEX: I’m really sorry Jonny, 

[Brynterval continues]

ALEX: (con’t) I forget what it’s like for normals, trying to corral this

JONNY: It’s fine… it’s fine, it’s fine.

[Laughter]

JAMES ROSS: it’s quite a good plan

JONNY: That would’ve been lovely

[Laughter]

LYDIA NICHOLAS: Really if you gave her a form that said ‘cult’ at the top of it  

[Laughter]

SEAN SMITH: Funny you should say that

BEN: Where do you see yourself in five years? Leading a sacrifice

[Laughter]

ALEX: so you might even get advantage then on that

HELEN GOULD: (simult.) sink faster

[Laughter]

ALEX: yeah, but it’s what she wants so its okay

ALEX: Beowulf

[Laughter]

ALEX: Okay! 

HELEN: Wow

[Laughter]

GRANT HOWITT: Done with the Microsoft Office jokes now?

BEN: I’m totally done

GRANT: Okay cool. One more? 

ALEX: Just don’t go too loud or it’ll get Clippy

LYDIA: Yeah

[Laughter]

GRANT: Well done! Well done.

LYDIA: I’m worried after this none of them are going to Excel

[Laughter]

GRANT: Nice

HELEN: Grant Good Heavens Howitt

[Laughter]

GRANT: we’ll go to the barracks ... yeah

[Laughter]

BEN: Did a hair piece wrong you or something?

[Laughter]

SASHA SIENNA: Oh no everyone’s gonna hear my laugh now

HELEN: No! It’s fine!

SASHA: I’m really, uhh

HELEN: C’mon no one’s gonna mind your laugh

SASHA: No, I know

HELEN: Talk to Bryn, or me

SASHA: Oh god, after Bryn

ALEX: It’s fine, I can put, I can use my bad laugh today if you want.

SASHA: Could you?

HELEN: What’s your bad laugh?

[Laughter]

LYDIA: This is what happens when you allow too many women in the room. Alex is in the corner like (unintelligible) in hysterics but also pain. Like, I think possibly this kind of laughter doesn’t happen to him very much, they’re new muscles. 

[Laughter]

BEN: Wait, so you mean our ship is…. real thirsty

[Laughter]

BEN: Hot

ALEX: Hot

[Laughter]

LYDIA: I just wish that we could’ve gotten the cameras working cause like Helen’s parade of expressions

[Laughter]

LYDIA: And a special guest

JAMES: James Ross!

ALL: Yaaaay!

ALEX: Who let him back in?

LYDIA: Yeah

[Laughter]

LYDIA: I’m gonna give James a little while to think about what he said 

[Laughter]

IMOGEN HARRIS: Also actually Spacestation, no Starcluster. Go with your first instinct 

HELEN: You-You’re going to be fine at this you’re gonna get right in there.

HELEN: I barely understand it myself because - I just - I see a rule and my eyes glaze over.

[Laughter]

ALEX: I’d like to congratulate you on a mechanic that will actually physically force me to behave if I get out of hand... well, well played.

[Laughter]

BRYN: We will definitely create enough chaos for you to need to do very little in my experience.

BECKY ANNISON: Yessss!

[Laughter]

BEN: A group of people who were just like: I just want to eat the paste. I wanna. I just… I just need to know? 

[Laughter]

HELEN: Now, an important thing to note about discussions in this game is that they never result in a decision.

LYDIA: They’re familiar with improvised podcasts then.

[Laughter]

HELEN: Zolf the badger begins to walk away from his - 

BEN: Oh!.... what a good thing that I should’ve asked you to do…. Could you please describe your characters

[Laughter]

ALEX AS GRIZZOP: But I want you to know that you’re lucky I didn’t murder you for not trusting me

ALEX: and then Grizzop leaves.

[Laughter]

LYDIA: Goodness me. 

BRYN: Ohhh noo. 

[Laughter]

ALL: Byyyee!

[reginaofdoctorwho]

if anyone wants to recommend musicals to me I would fucking adore that. Until then, here are some suggestions:

Love in Hate Nation-- LET’S GO LESBIANS! 1960s sapphic love story taking place in a girls’ reformatory. Also, trans girl played by trans actress!!! Some of the amazing songs are “I Hope” and “Oh Well”. Susannah Son wants to be a singer, her performative activist boyfriend is gross and also wants her to marry him so he’ll have better options politically. Sheila Nail is so fucking cool and I love everyone in this. My brain cuts out about this I’m so sorry babes. There is not a cast recording but there IS an original cast bootleg on youtube.

Holy Musical B@man!-- If you liked the goofiness of 1960s Batman and Robin, but think “man, these guys should’ve been able to swear! And also should have had a candy themed villain!” this is the musical for you. Also if you’ve heard of the very queer Harry Potter musical that JK herself tried to sue over, it’s made by the same group <3. As usual with Team Starkid, whole thing is up for free on youtube by the creators.

Firebringer-- Speaking of the same group... Cave people sapphics who I think are bi or pan. I love them and they’re all so dumb. Also, if you’ve seen the “I don’t really wanna do the work today” vine, that comes from this. I do not remember any of the second half other than one of them taking the ring the other is proposing with... to propose. And the “*blows kiss*” “fuck no, Zazz” “duly noted”. Kind of like a shitpost musical. Once again, free by creators. Actually, check out any of their musicals.

The Prom-- In Indiana, Emma just wants to take her girlfriend to the prom, and in response, the PTA cancels it. With some help from some broadway actors looking for good publicity, they manage to pull it off. So, to summarize, teen lesbian gets gay uncle who knows what she’s going through!! This musical makes me cry every goddamn time. There is a movie now, and I’m very happy about that because *high profile gay rep on netflix*, but I personally did not like the direction they took with it. They put a weird amount of emphasis on biological rather than found family in the movie, and were a little too forgiving when it came to trauma from family for being gay. Also, they took away Emma being butch. This was sadly (loosely) based on a recent true story from I think 2012. Also, was the first gay kiss in the Macy’s parade. You know those movie musicals the straight girls in theater like? The music is similar, but gayer, and for some reason that makes me so fuckng happy. I think it’s because non-queer people have had musicals for so long, and those normally have a 60s vibe, and the music in this does too and it feels more classic?? Sapphic promposal song (het at the beginning). “Unruly Heart” and the end of Act 1 will break you. Please ignore the bad wigs.

Spies Are Forever-- GAY SPIES GAY SPIES GAY SPIES!! Curt Mega (played by... Curt Mega) lost his partner Owen during a mission. Now, he’s just trying to get back into spying like Owen would want. I fucking weep every time. Also, a song about comphet (at 6:36)!! And here is a video essay on how it relates to the Lavender Scare. I want you all to know that everyone also headcanons the femme fatale spy in it as either a lesbian or aroace, which uh, makes sense. Also high quality videos put up by creators. They had Jewish people making fun of Nazis while writing this, but “Not so Bad” is... kinda bad. “Torture Tango” has so much goddamn sexual tension and becomes devastating.

Hadestown--  If you know the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, it’s like that, except capitalism part 1. Orpheus is a poor musician, Eurydice dies, just like the myth. Except, the Great Depression post-apocalyptic setting that works better than it probably should. There are actually 3 soundtracks: the concept album, off-Broadway, and Broadway. I personally don’t like the concept album purely based on vibe. Off-Broadway has an absolutely gorgeous sounding Orpheus, and if you’ve heard of the disaster that was Spiderman: Turn Out the Dark, then you’ve heard of surprisingly amazing Broadway Orpheus Reeve Carney. The Fates are gorgeous and I’ve decided they’re queer. Tony’s performance link here. Explores relationships, with Hades and Persephone’s aging relationship mirrored by Orpheus and Eurydice’s relatively new one. Anyway, unionize.

Jasper in Deadland-- If you know the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, it’s like that, except capitalism part 2. Jasper is a teen who’s best friend Agnes is pretty much the one good thing left in his life. His mom left, he got kicked off the swim team (he’s manic pixie dream boy in this, especially for swimming), and Agnes dies at the beginning trying to show Jasper that she’s brave and he should be too. So, he bravely ventures into Deadland to find her, meeting Gretchen the tour guide along the way. He also finds out that since he’s still living, he can bring memories back to the dead. Songs like “Stroke by Stroke” (he’s uh, definitely a teen, guys) and “Living Dead” (I shared a prinxiety animatic of that on here a while ago).They blend Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Christian, and whatever Dante’s Inferno counts as together to create Deadland. Story’s kinda hard to follow from the soundtrack, so if u wanna learn how it all ties together message me.

Death Note Musical-- Okay babes, here’s where it gets tough. It was written originally in English, and there is a spectacular English concept album, but the only productions have been in South Korea, Japan, and I think Taiwan. Listen to it anyways, find a bootleg of it with english subtitles. It has so much gay tension and also a truly ethereal character who seems to be a lesbian who is also either demisexual or demiromantic. If any of y’all saw the anime like me, it kind of cuts out the arc after episode 26. I personally thought it was actually a better story for it.

Alice by Heart-- Okay, this one makes me fucking cry every goddamn time. In WW2, these poor goddamn kids are all alone in the Tube System (is that what y’all call it? genuinely asking here) with none of their parents but still some grownups. Alice’s best friend Alfred is dying of tuberculosis, and to try to have one last thing together they start reading Alice in Wonderland, only for Nurse Hart to rip it apart to try to separate healthy Alice from dying-from-TB Alfred. It doesn’t work, and Alice proclaims she “knows it all by heart”, She tries to linger in the story with Alfred to have more time with him, he keeps trying to move it along because he’s dying and wants to finish it one last time. Themes are growing up and grief I guess.

Last I checked, there is a bootleg for all of these on youtube. Have fun!

[nightingaletrash]

now that I’ve actually started Deadlands with Venaya, I’m being reminded of how weird the beginning is. It starts out with the set up for a regional conflict with the votive runes and Celdina plotting to destroy the daedra of Fargrave, which is a storyline in and of itself... and then it’s done in one quest because we need to focus on the Anchorite and the Cataclysts and the Deadlands. No finding a way to make the Grasp care about the votive runes (why did they suddenly decide to care anyways), no puzzling out the greater purpose behind them, no actual prolonged impact of the runes on the city or the main characters (or lack thereof in the Vestige’s case because they’re not wholly mortal), and no actual ‘oh shit we need to stop this!’ moment because it’s over so fast because it wasn’t the story ZOS planned to tell. They rush you through it to get to the stuff they want you to see and play.

It’s a shame because Fargrave on its own is so damn interesting. I wish the DLC had put more focus into making it a zone all on its own because as cool as ZOS’ take on the Deadlands is, we have spent plenty of time in the Burn already. We had a whole game of hopping in and out of there. Fargrave is different and new and not something we’ve really seen before, and honestly I wish the story had been about Celdina trying to take over the city. It would have tied the overarching conflict into a regional story, and honestly, imagine an entire zone dedicated to fleshing out a city.

Fargrave could have been huge and intricate as a zone, filled with points of interests and quests and delves. Maybe you can venture aways beyond the walls, but things get strange out there, so you can’t go too far. Imagine a questchain dedicated to figuring out the giant bones that are literally everywhere! It’d be a city scale matched by nothing else in Tamriel, making Fargrave even stranger and more spectacular to the average visitor. How many mortal visitors get lost or even vanish entirely, never to be seen again? The daedra don’t know and don’t care.

Different districts that are occupied by different kinds of daedra! The spiderkith having webs everywhere and all forms of unshielded flame is strictly forbidden to keep their district from going up in flames. The Nocturnal Shrikes and their shadowy wraiths linger in the darkest corners of the city - the locals know to steer clear, because the Shrikes might be beautiful and melancholy, but they’re the last daedra you want to meet in a dark alley. It’ll end badly for you. If you want to bargain with a Skaafin, be sure to speak with the middling sized ones. The smaller ones aren’t much good at it and will accuse you of cheating them even if you held up your end, and the tallest ones will find a way to cheat you. If they’re about your height, you should be okay. Maybe.

Fargrave is just such a unique location with so much potential, and it sucks knowing that we’ll likely not be going back because it’s part of a paid dlc...

[the-wereraven]

To the anon that asked about Blackberry’s scars in the mlp au, and everyone else who wants to read: Enjoy.

 A red rubber ball bounced in the air as two foals used their magic to bounce it back and forth between each other, at times jumping in a random direction to catch it before it could fall out of their magic’s reach.  ‘How long have we been going on for?’ Sparkling asked, eyes trained on the ball as it bounced back and forth.  ‘Uh…’ Blackberry muttered, ‘I think almost two minutes?’  ‘Hey! That’s a record!’

  Blackberry chuckled as she leapt forward to bounce the ball back to Sparkling, tail wagging. ‘Finally!’ she said, ‘We’ve been stuck at what, 1 minute and a half since forever!’  Sparkling laughed, but it quickly turned into a surprised gasp when the ball flew over his head and when bouncing and rolling away. ‘The ball!’ he exclaimed, and went running after it.  His magic wasn’t as powerful as the adults’, but he still tried to grab the ball with it. He was unsuccessful, no surprises there.  Eventually, the ball rolled into the forest bordering the town, and Sparkling skidded to a halt. Blackberry eventually caught up to him, trotting to a halt next to him as they stared into the forest.  Blackberry let out a small hiss, ‘Crud…’  Sparkling turned to her, ‘What do we do?’ he asked, ‘That’s our third one this month…’  His friend had no reply. Stars almighty, they were terrible at keeping track of their toys outdoors, weren’t they? Blackberry knew that her parents wouldn't be happy to hear that she and Sparkling had lost yet another ball…  ‘Let’s hurry to my place,’ Sparkling was saying, ‘I have enough bits saved from last week to get another one. We’ll just find a red ball from the shop and no one would know.’  ‘What? No, that would never work.’ Blackberry said, turning to look at Sparkling. ‘My parents keep a crazy track of their stuff, there’s like a 99% chance that they’ll notice we bought a new ball.’  ‘They can’t be that nitpicky.’  ‘You wanna try them?’  Sparkling huffed, ‘So what? You want to go find the ball in the Selvage Forest?’  ‘Yeah.’  ‘WHAT?!’ Sparkling didn’t think Blackberry would be serious, but she didn’t laugh it off or mutter another suggestion. Was she seriously suggesting to go look for their ball in the Selvage Forest?  One of the most repeated rules of the town was to never enter the forest without an expert or adult supervision, for the forest acted as a wall that blocked the town from the deadlands, a large region that once held a grand kingdom, but fell into ruin when mysterious sinkholes started to appear all around the kingdom.  That was thousands of years ago, and plants eventually covered the holes, but ponies can and have fallen into sinkholes that were ages old and ended up lost in an underground catacomb of ruins. And some said the forest has those sinkholes too, you just can’t see them.  And yet Blackberry wanted to go in.  ‘Are you sure we can’t just get a new ball? We can throw it around at the playground to make it look a little more beaten up.’  Blackberry shook her head, ‘No one’s gonna buy that. Come on, the ball shouldn’t have rolled that far.’  Sparkling was about to protest as Blackberry stepped towards the forest, but she turned to him and said ‘Look, we might get grounded for like, ever, if we don’t get the ball back. Like you said, it’s our third one this month.’  And with that, she entered the forest. Sparkling wasn’t sure if he should follow, and for a moment bounced between going to get his bits to buy a new ball or following Blackberry.  But in the end, he followed her into the forest and caught up with her quickly.  ‘Lights,’ Blackberry said, summoning a small ball of light on the tip of her horn. Sparkling nodded and followed her lead, lighting a small area around them in gold and blue and pink.  The Selvage Forest wasn’t just a border, but it was home to unknown creatures. Unknown only because they hid in the shadows, never stepping out into the daylight. They could just be rabbits for all they know, but the two foals weren’t going to risk it.  Together, Blackberry and Sparkling walked in a straight line, trying to find their missing ball or at least a faint path in the ground from where the ball had rolled or bounced.  But there was no sign of their ball anywhere. Did it roll off somewhere else? Or had a creature taken it? Would creatures play with a rubber ball?  ‘Uh… BB…’ Sparkling muttered, eyeing what he thought might be fur in the dark, ‘Maybe we should head back. We’ll just get the new ball, and if your parents know we bought it, maybe they’ll let you go since we bought a new one anyways.’  Blackberry sighed, she didn’t like the idea of Sparkling spending his diligently saved bits to buy a toy she lost, but if there’s really no other option…  ‘Alright, let’s head ba-’ Blackberry’s sentence suddenly turned into a scream as she suddenly fell.  ‘BLACKBERRY!’  She tumbled down a steep slope, unable to grip onto a root or dig her hooves into the dirt. She fell and rolled and tumbled until she finally hit the bottom and crashed into a wall.  Dust and dirt fell as Blackberry recovered from the shock and the impact, shaking her head as she slowly propped herself up into the sitting position. She groaned as her body screamed in protest.  As she rubbed her head and tried to get rid of the pain, she noticed that the dust and dirt hadn’t stopped falling… And something was groaning behind her.  She turned around to see what was once a majestic statue of a unicorn draped in waffle-patterned cloth. The dust and dirt rained from the statue as it groaned, then it moved.  At the top of the sinkhole, Sparkling trotted in place, worried and scared. He opened his mouth to try calling for Blackberry again, but before he could, he suddenly heard a loud crack, then a crash.  And soon after, Blackberry screaming again.  But she wasn’t just screaming from fear like she did when she fell into the hole, she was screaming from pain, and she was screaming Sparkling’s name.  ‘BLACKBERRY!’ Sparkling prepared to slide into the sinkhole, hooves digging deep into the dirt. But he stopped himself just before he could.  He wouldn’t be able to do anything if he went down, he didn’t know what happened to Blackberry, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to help. He had to go get the adults.  ‘Ha-hang on!’ he shouted down the hole, ‘I- I’m gonna get help! Ju-just h-hang on! Keep your light on!’  And with that he ran off as fast as his hooves would allow, retracing his hoofsteps out of the forest.  When he left, Blackberry could hear his hoofsteps fading, and for a moment she started to panic. She had been pinned down by the broken statue, and it felt like the heavy stone was going to crush her sooner or later.  But if the statue wasn’t going to crush her, the many bleeding cuts she sustained from the stone would do the job instead.  Blackberry wanted to try wiggling her way out, but moving was already painful, even if it wasn’t a wounded hoof. She couldn’t do anything, she was trapped. Trapped and alone and feeling weaker and weaker by the second.  But through her panic, she suddenly remembered Sparkling shouting at her to keep her light on.  That’s right, she was still in the forest… Sparkling went to get help, he’ll be back soon. But she needed to keep her light on and ward off any creatures that might enter the hole and find her.  So Blackberry concentrated on doing just that, trying her best to ignore the pain she was in and the fact that she had a high chance of dying. Light flickered into existence on her horn, but it was dim, and it would get dimmer by the second.  She hoped Sparkling would arrive soon… Did he get out safely? What if he fell into another old sinkhole? He would be trapped, and no one would be able to help him, or help him get an adult to help.  Blackberry hoped he was okay, she hoped that he got out of the forest unscathed. Maybe he was on his way to fetch one of their parents, maybe he was looking for someone right now, and she’s worrying for nothing.  The light on her horn flickered despite Blackberry’s best effort to keep it on. She was getting dizzy, and her eyelids felt heavy. She wouldn’t be able to keep the light on for any longer.  She was about to close her eyes when she suddenly heard a faint voice, then the voice became louder and louder, until Blackberry was able to discern that it was Sparkling who was shouting, and he was calling her name.  ‘Here!’ Blackberry shouted, hoping she was loud enough to be heard. But she wasn’t sure, so she shouted again, ‘Here!’  ‘Blackberry!’  Sparkling stood at the top of the sinkhole, he turned to her family and pointed down the hole, ‘She’s in there!’ he said.  Her older brother, Cinnamon, nodded and ushered Sparkling aside. ‘It’s okay,’ he said to the colt, ‘We’ll get her out. Keep your light on.’  Sparkling nodded, watching as Cinnamon and his parents levitated themselves down the sinkhole. He really hoped they would be able to help Blackberry.  When Blackberry saw the light from her brother’s magic, all the panic and fear she had felt washed away with a wave of relief. She was safe now, her brother was here, Sparkling had gotten help.  The light on Blackberry’s horn finally faded out, and she closed her eyes as her family rushed over to lift the broken statue pieces off of her.  Cinnamon, who had always been a little awkward and flustered, was surprisingly the calmest out of the three. And though he was an shocked as his and Blackberry’s parents when he saw the wounds that Blackberry had sustained, he was calm as he carried her out of the rubble with his magic, and despite her whines and shouts, he took his cape and wrapped her in it, trying to stop the bleeding.  When he turned to their parents, their father said in a curbed panic, ‘Come, we need to get her to the hospital.  Sparkling, seeing the three older unicorns levitate themselves out of the sinkhole, was more than relieved to see that they had Blackberry with them. But his relief was short-lived when he saw the blood covering the right side of her head.  Cinnamon turned to Sparkling and gestured for him to follow. He then galloped off, his parents and Sparkling in tow.  The group emerged from the forest and switched directions towards the town’s hospital. It was late in the evening, so the group were fortunate enough to not encounter any sort of traffic, and were able to reach the hospital without a hitch.  Cinnamon burst through the doors and galloped in. Sparkling tried to follow too, but he was stopped by Cinnamon and Blackberry’s father.  ‘Not so fat young colt.’ the father said, ‘You’re going home.’  ‘Home?!’ Sparkling exclaimed in shock, ‘But I wanna follow! I need to know she’s okay!’  ‘No! You are going home. End of story. You’ve caused enough trouble as it is. You’ll be lucky if she even wants to see you after this.’  Sparkling tried to argue back, but the father stepped back and slammed the door shut in the colt’s face, shocking the colt enough for him to stumble back and fall. And all Sparkling could do was stare in shock.  Was it really his fault that Blackberry was hurt…? Maybe it was. If he hadn’t wanted to play today, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.  But he couldn’t do anything. So he stood and made his way back home, ears brushing his cheeks.

 The next day, Sparkling left his house with a card and a flower.  He wasn’t quite sure about this, but his father had encouraged him to go visit Blackberry, and Sparkling didn’t want to just show up and ask how she was doing empty hooved.  He hoped she liked peonies.  Sparkling trotted to the hospital, wondering if Blackberry would be awake. Ponies who had to recover often slept from what Sparkling saw. Like when his dad had a fever, he slept a lot. Or when Sparkling’s mom injured her leg, she rested a lot too.  Oh well, if Blackberry wasn’t awake, he’ll just leave the card and flower. She’ll see it when she wakes up.  Once he reached the hospital, Sparkling went up to the reception desk and stood on his hind hooves. ‘Excuse me,’ he called to one of the ponies behind the counter, leaning against the wood as the pony turned to look at him.  ‘Oh, hello there.’ the pony said, smiling kindly at Sparkling, ‘How may I help you?’  ‘Can you tell me which room Thorny Blackberry is in?’ Sparkling asked through the card and flower in his muzzle.  ‘Thorny Blackberry huh? Alright, let me take a look.’  Sparkling watched as the pony picked up a clipboard from the side, flipping to some of the last pages and scanning the names written there. His tail wagged when she went ‘Aha!’  The pony turned to him and said ‘She’s in room 10 on the third floor. You should reach it when you turn left from the elevator.’  ‘Sweet! Thank you so much!’ Sparkling said. He turned away from the counter and trotted along, with the pony behind the counter waving goodbye.  ‘What a nice colt.’ she muttered.  Following the pony’s instructions, Sparkling took the elevator up to the third floor, watching the floor counter tick to 3 before the doors opened. He walked out and turned left as he was told, and scanned the numbers on the doors as he walked down the corridor.  At the room with the number 10 on the door, Sparkling stopped and looked through the little window on the door.  It was a private room, as expected of Blackberry’s parents. And much to Sparkling’s dismay, they were in the room, talking to Blackberry. There was no way he would be allowed to enter.  Maybe he should try again later.  ‘Sparkling?’  Sparkling jolted and dropped back down to all fours, turning to look at a curious Cinnamon.  ‘Are you here to see Blackberry?’ Cinnamon asked. When Sparkling nodded, he raised his head and looked through the window. ‘Oh…’ he muttered, understanding why Sparkling had been staring when he arrived.  Even Cinnamon knew that his parents didn’t quite like Sparkling, though he wasn’t too sure why. Blackberry absolutely loved to play with Sparkling. She would be happy if he visited.  Cinnamon hummed in thought, turning away from the window as he wondered how on Earthbread he could convince his parents to let Sparkling pay Blackberry a little visit. Then he had a brilliant idea.  ‘How about this,’ Cinnamon turned to Sparkling, lowering his head so that the colt didn’t need to look up, ‘I’ll show you a magic trick that’ll let you visit Blackberry. Would you like that?’  Sparkling didn’t quite understand what Cinnamon meant by magic trick, but he nodded in agreement anyways.  ‘Okay, hide right here,’ Cinnamon said, gesturing to the side of which the door opens, ‘Get ready for the best trick you ever saw.’  Sparkling did as he was told, and watched as Cinnamon entered the room. He pressed his ears up against the wall, and could vaguely hear Cinnamon talking to his parents.  After a couple of minutes, Cinnamon left the room with his parents in tow, leading them the opposite direction of Sparkling.  Quickly, Sparkling held the door open and quietly tip-toed inside, then let the door close on its own as he trotted to the bored filly in the room.  Blackberry turned away from the windows, and a smile appeared on her face as soon as she saw Sparkling. ‘Sparks!’ she exclaimed in joy.  She was covered in bandages and a cast had been wrapped around one of her legs, but they didn’t seem to bother her in the least.  ‘Hi Beeps!’ Sparkling greeted, he put the card and flower on the bedside table and hopped onto the chair that one of the adults had occupied before. ‘How do you feel?’  Blackberry shrugged, but then flinched when she did. Still, she smiled at Sparkling. ‘Could be worse. But I’m fine! I’ll be out of this place in no time!’  Though Blackberry giggled, Sparkling’s ears drooped. ‘Yeah… about that,’ he said, ‘I’m really sorry about what happened yesterday. I didn’t mean for it to happe- Hey!’  Sparkling almost fell off his chair when Blackberry pawed his nose. He covered it with his own hooves and looked at her, confused. ‘What was that for?’  ‘What are you apologizing for?’ Blackberry asked back, ‘I’m the one who went into the forest right? You were the one who said we should just buy a new ball, and I went into the forest anyways, right? I’m the one who should be apologizing, dummy.’  Sparkling lowered his hooves, ‘Well… I guess you’re right.’ he said. Then he regained his posture and smiled, ‘In that case, apology accepted.’  Blackberry chuckled. She turned to look at the card and flower Sparkling had brought her. ‘Did you really bring these for me?’  ‘Of course!’ Sparkling said proudly. ‘I didn’t wanna come empty hooved.’ He picked up the card and opened it to show Blackberry, ‘Look! I even drew in it!’  And indeed, there was a simple crayon drawing of Blackberry smiling on the card, with the words “Get well soon!” written above it, also in crayon of the same colour.  Blackberry giggled and leaned over to nuzzle Sparkling in thanks, but again flinched when she leaned too far. Seeing this, Sparkling leaned forward to meet her halfway, and she happily gave him a nuzzle. ‘Thanks,’ she said.  ‘Anytime.’  When the foals withdrew, Blackberry yawned, and Sparkling took that as his cue to leave her be to let her rest.  ‘I should get going, ‘ he said to her, ‘Don’t wanna ruin your resting.’  But when he jumped off the chair, Blackberry blurted out ‘Wait.’  Sparkling stopped turning away and looked back at Blackberry, who looked a little sheepish. ‘Can you stay? It’s so boring here.’ she said.  ‘You want me to stay?’ Sparkling asked, turning around to fully face Blackberry, ‘You serious?’  ‘Uh… yeah?’ Blackberry replied, ‘It’ll be like one of our sleepovers! Just… not in one of our places, I guess.’  Sparkling couldn’t help but chuckle and shake his head, ‘Alright,’ he said, ‘I’ll stay.’

 Cinnamon made his way back to Blackberry’s room with his parents, listening to them talk about how the malfunctioned vending machine could have been handled quicker if ponies didn’t panic and think it would explode.  It had been tricky to distract his parents long enough for Sparkling to spend some time with Blackberry, and frankly, it got a little out of hand. But Cinnamon considered it a job well done.  ‘I’m sure this will make a great story for little BB,’ Cinnamon said to his parents, opening the door to the room Blackberry was in.  When he turned to greet her, he stopped short with a surprised expression on his face. But then he smiled.  ‘What are you standing there for?’ his mother asked as she and her husband peeked over Cinnamon’s shoulder. They looked at what he was looking at and seemed surprised as well.  Blackberry was fast asleep, head resting on top of Sparkling. He was fast asleep as well, curled up on the bed so that his friend had more space.  Cinnamon thought it was cute. And though his parents might disagree, he knew they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. So he ushered them out of the room with the excuse of letting the foals rest, leaving the two foals in peace with each other’s company.

[queenof-literature]

Hey! Before anything I have to admit I found your stories and I LOVED them! And I just found out you were the author to those fantastic stories! I would love to read, from your perspective, how did our heroes met Wild! Or even better how all of them met! I’m sorry if this is a bother

Thank you that’s so kind! Not a bother at all! Sorry again about it taking some more time. I hope you enjoy!

Two months. It had been two months since a strange man introduced himself as Link and asked him to join him on an interdimensional quest. Because of course he did. The first few days it was just Link and him, and he realized he was the man that guided him on his quest to defeat Ganon, and therefore knew his secret. Link had jokingly taken to calling him ‘Pup’ so he growled and responded by calling him ‘Old  Man’. They stuck with those nicknames for a few days, until they were transported to another Hyrule. There they met the gentle Hero of Sky, as he introduced himself.

Twilight didn’t mention the way Time eyed the Master Sword. This new Link had called them the Hero of Time and The Hero of Twilight. Apparently the sword told him. At first, the newly deemed Hero of Twilight had no idea what he was talking about, then Sky had told them who had forged the Master Sword. Sky himself. And he had joined without a second thought, although he did seem sad when he mentioned leaving his Zelda. And now they were an official group of three, with official nicknames. The very night they found Sky, they were taken to another new Hyrule. Hylia wasn’t wasting any time, it seemed. 

Finding the next heroes was much easier. Apparently Time had had a hell of a time finding Twilight. Sky’s Master Sword seemed to whisper to him when they got too far off track, leading them through deadlands and tall trees. There they found the Hero of Hyrule. He was sweet and shy, not quite knowing what to do with his hands when he talked to them. It was obvious his Hyrule had suffered and he had grown up in the scars Ganon had left on the land. He joined, although he looked at all of them wearily. 

The next had been the Hero of Legend. Twilight thought he was an asshole. He was snarky and blunt and rude. Twilight had a hard time keeping his cool around him. Time had taken him aside and told him the Hero of Legend had been on more quests than all of them, and had most likely seen many horrible things. That made Twilight more forgiving. He still didn’t like him. 

Once again they were thrown into a different Hyrule. This time the Master Sword led them to a small blacksmith shop. There they met the smallest teenager they had ever seen. The Hero of Four Swords. They had no idea why the sword called him that, but they didn’t know the meaning behind each other's names at all really. Sky lived in the Sky, Legend had been on many quests, Hyrule saved Hyrule? Maybe Time saved a giant clock or something. 

An hour later they were in a new Hyrule. Hylia seemed to be getting more and more impatient. This time they found the Hero of Warriors, or as Legend called him, Pretty Boy. Twilight could see why. He seemed extremely popular with women in his Hyrule and he knew it. But he had a quiet power to him as well. Eyes that said he has seen war and triumphed. That explained the name. Hylia let them rest for a day this time, before tossing them somewhere else. How many Links were there going to be? Twilight didn’t know how much he could handle. 

They landed on a beach. More specifically an island, with a vast ocean that hit their noses with a salty smell. There they found the Hero of Wind. An enthusiastic and happy 14 year old boy. It sent a small stutter through his heart when he realized how young Wind was, but he seemed happy enough. Hopefully his adventure hadn’t scarred the boy too much. Warriors and Wind had gotten on like a wildfire, almost instantly gaining a bond that Twilight wouldn’t admit he was jealous of. Wind barley got to say goodbye to his family before they were thrown to another Hyrule. But this time, the sword didn’t speak. Finally they could focus on the mission Hylia was going to give them. They were a band of eight Links. 

It had taken two weeks to assemble all of the Links completely, and it had been six weeks since then. Over the few weeks they had managed to form some team dynamics. Time was the unanimous unofficial leader that no one really questioned, and that was fine with everybody. Twilight and Warriors would both try to assist him in leading when they split up or when Time was busy, which caused the two to butt heads on more than one occasion. No matter how annoying Warriors and the other boys got though, he still felt a strong kinship with them. Legend had taken a subtle shine to Hyrule, and Sky and Four had gotten close as well. Twilight shouldn’t be jealous, after all he has Time. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, something was missing. He never mentioned anything, he didn’t know if the others felt the empty hole in their dynamic, and there was no way he would be the first to mention it. Twilight knew Time was aware something was going on, but what was he supposed to say? Twilight himself didn’t understand what was wrong. 

It’s not that Twilight thought he didn’t belong, the others had included him in conversations and he has befriended all of them to an extent. There was just a missing piece that he couldn’t explain. 

“Pup. I’ve been trying to get your attention.” Time stated, not unkindly, causing Twilight to shake himself out of his thoughts. 

“Sorry, Time. I was just distracted. What’s up?” Time gave him an incredulous look, and Twilight noticed all of the other Links were looking at him as well. It was then Twilight saw a dark swirling mass ahead. Oh, a portal. When did that get there?

“Seriously Goat Boy? You missed an entire portal? You really must be out of it.” Warriors teased, but Twilight could see a hint of concern in his eyes. 

“Yeah.” Twilight scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know what’s going on. I’m just having trouble focusing today.”

“We’ll go through the portal and see what’s what.” Time thankfully changed the subject, though Twilight knew they were going to talk about this later. 

The group gave affirmative nods and began cautiously wandering into the portal two at a time. Six weeks together had given them plenty of time to practice ehat worked best when facing a new world. Going two people at a time allowed them to better defend against immediate threats if they were right past the portal. 

Twilight held his breath as he and Time went through the portal first, he always did. The portals all reeked of strange magic Twilight couldn’t place, yet still somehow reminded him of Midna. A lot of magic did... 

What greeted him on the other side of the portal was slightly surprising. When he emerged, Twilight was immediately met with trees full of beautiful leaves, each a different shade of red, orange and yellow. Looking up, he saw they were directly under a natural arch beginning a canyon behind them. Looking behind them, he could see a brightly glowing blue structure on top of a tall rock formation that seemed to be a tower. What in Hylia’s name was that? 

As the others emerged behind them, they were also slightly taken aback by the colors of this world, especially Hyrule. Twilight didn’t know much about his Hyrule, but he knew since he first visited that something bad had happened. Each of their Hyrules were beautiful in different ways, and this one was certainly no exception. 

“Is this anyone’s Hyrule? Or are we in another strange one?” Time questioned, only receiving negative responses. “Guess we’ll have to find the threat in this one too.” Time ordered, but his voice was slightly wary. None of them had seen their Hyrules in awhile, and it was starting to wear on them a little. Twilight knew why it did with Time, he had a wife waiting for him. Wind had his family. And some of the others just missed knowing where to go and places of comfort. 

They were all interrupted from their thoughts with a massive roar that echoed through the small canyon. Snapping their heads in the direction of the sound, they were met with a terrifying beast in the distance. He heard Legend shout something about a ‘Lynel’. It had the body of the horse, a huge face with beady eyes and two horns, and a long, proud mane. Before any of them could react, or ask Legend for advice on how to handle the creature, they heard the sound of an arrow being nocked, and a beam of light being launched at them.

“Move!” Time shouted, causing the boys to roll to the side just as multiple flames burst up right where they were standing, the portal disappearing now that they were all out. 

“Run! We don’t have the supplies to take it on!” Legend yelled. The rest of the boys listened instantly, since Legend seemed experienced on the matter. 

“They stop chasing eventually!” Hyrule yelled. Ah, seems he had them too. 

They ran in the direction of the glowing blue structure, feet beating on the ground and hearts thumping with adrenaline. They heard the Lynel scream again, but this time it seemed out of pain. Looking back slightly, Twilight could barely see a yellow field around the Lynel that was… shocking it? Twilight stopped and turned around, the Lynel wasn’t focused on them anymore, it was looking around trying to find something, probably whatever had hurt it. 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Legend yelled as he stopped too, about to drag Twilight away. Twilight simply pointed at the Lynel. Right as the others looked at the beast, an arrow pierced its eye from the trees. Whoever was helping them was apparently a skilled archer. 

“Do we help? What if they get hurt?” Sky asked, looking on with worry. Before anyone could answer, a lean figure launched out of the trees with a gust of wind out of nowhere, using an odd cloth to glide down. In a blink of an eye, the figure shot one arrow, then two, then three into the Lynel’s shoulders and legs. The Lynel roared in pain and shot a flaming arrow right at the figure. 

“Look out!” Cried Wind. The stranger simply dissipated the cloth in a ripple of blue before landing directly onto the Lynels back. 

The group looked on in awe and horror as their savior summoned a weapon twice the size of him from the odd slate on his hip, and began cutting into the back of Lynel, avoiding being bucked off. The Lynel charged forward and the stranger gracefully flipped off its back and summoned a small colorful shield encrusted with bright jewels.  The group could now see him a little more clearly. He was relatively small and covered in a large cloak, hood drawn. His tunic was sky blue, a bit lighter than Wind’s shirt, and he wore simple brown pants and boots. His posture was powerful and elegant. None of them knew this man, but they could see he was in his element. This was a battle fought many times. At the moment he was just standing in a loose defensive stance. 

“What is he doing?” Sky whispered fearfully. He wanted to thank the man properly, but he didn’t want to jump in the fight and get in his way when he had no knowledge of the creature's weak spots. The rest of the heroes all looked on nervously as the Lynel raised slightly on its hind legs… a threw a ball of fire from its mouth?

“Holy shit!” Twilight yelled as he ran forward trying to get there in time. There was no way he would make it in time, but the stranger was just standing there! Did he give into fear and freeze? Before Twilight could make it even 10 steps, he froze in astonishment as the man parried the fireball at the exact moment of impact, launching it back into the face of Lynel, who screeched in rage and anguish. Whoever this man was, was absolutely terrifying. Wreaking elegant havoc on the battlefield without batting an eye. 

“Twilight!” Sky whisper-shouted, gesturing madly to the now unwrapped sword on his back. Twilight recognized the faint glow and looked on in shock.

“He could just be vital to our quest. We haven't met another Link for six weeks, I doubt we’ll meet one now. Wrap the sword back up though. We don’t want him freaking out if he has a connection to it and he sees you holding it.” Warriors told Sky, who nodded and wrapped the sword back in its cloth. They had found it was better to explain first, then show the sword. 

The stranger ran forward again, sending arrows forward ahead of him that exploded on impact, fire rushing all around him and the beast. The beast charged forward and swung its massive sword, which the man dodged at the last moment, sending an impossibly swift attack to the Lynel’s legs. The Lynel was only just beginning to weaken, and Twilight can’t help but imagine how it would have gone if this stranger hadn’t shown up. Once again the Lynel spit fire from its mouth. The man’s stance grew sturdier and he readied himself for another parry. Only this time, the shield shattered on impact, still launching back the blast to the Lynel, but burning the strangers arm in the process, pieces of metal sticking in his lower arm. The group shouted in worry, but the man didn’t even hesitate, pulling another shield from his odd device, and launching himself at the Lynel again. He shot a final arrow into the Lynel’s other eye, and swept himself onto it’s back to deliver the final blow. The Lynel disappeared with a final roar, and the stranger began casually collecting parts left behind. It took the group a couple of moments to process what in Hylia just happened.

An insane hooded stranger just rushed into danger, jumped on a Lynel, rode it while hitting it, burned all the area around them, and defeated the beast single handed. And destroyed his arm! Oh wait. He destroyed his arm!

“That was amazing but are you okay!” Sky yelled rushing forward. The stranger whipped around as Sky ran towards him, the rest of the group following him. The man whipped out a sword, and pointed it in front of him, causing Sky to skid to a halt a couple of feet in front of him. 

“Put the sword down. We’re just trying to see if you’re okay.” Legend huffed only to receive a slap upside the head from Hyrule.

“I’m sorry, sir. We didn’t mean to scare you. We are very thankful for you saving us, we just want to make sure your arm is okay.” Four placated. The stranger had a white knuckled grip on his sword. While he seemed confident in taking the Lynel down, this was a different stance. This was a stance that showed he was more scared of people than he was of a terrifying fire breathing monster ten times his size. The man simply gave a thumbs up and stepped back slightly. 

“Wait.” Time stepped forward from the huddled Links, but not close enough to cause any more aggression with the stranger. “We apologize for running to you so suddenly. Thank you for saving us. We grew up sheltered and are very new to this part of Hyrule.” The lie they used to not alert anyone of their unnatural presence in new worlds slipped off Time’s tongue easily now. “I’m sorry to ask this of you after you saved us, but is there a place to rest around here? Perhaps we could buy you a warm meal as payment, and help you with your arm if you would allow us.” Time had a talent of calming a tense environment, like a true leader, Twilight mused. To their shock, the man didn’t speak, only lifting the hand not holding the sword, now bloodied and burned from the fight.

‘I can take you to the nearest stable. I don’t need payment.’ The stranger signed simply, trying desperately to keep the shakiness of his hand at bay. 

“Thank you!” Wind called out, a beaming smile on his face at the idea of a place with a roof. Wind certainly didn’t mind being out in nature, but it had been awhile since they got to stay in a building. Maybe this stable had a place to stay along the road next to it! Maybe it was in a large town he could explore!

The stranger simply nodded and walked ahead. The Links sent questioning looks to each other and followed behind. Wind ran ahead to be next to the stranger to see his hands, but kept a respectful distance. “What’s your name?” Wind asked enthusiastically. Warriors smirked. That little shit was gathering intel. 

‘Link.’ The stranger fingerspelled shortly. Wind glanced back at Time to confirm he saw correctly. They all could understand some sign, but some were far more rusty than others, and only Time and Sky to an extent could physically do sign. 

“Hi Link! My name is Wind!” If the stranger saw the name as odd, he didn’t show it. Only nodding politely. He kept a brisk pace, still having a tense hold on his sword in his non-injured hand. 

“Um. Maybe we should stop and take care of your hand? If you leave those shards in, it could get infected.” Four reasoned. Link simply kept walking forward. 

“Just because you saved us doesn’t mean you can be rude.” Legend snapped. Twilight attempted to put a calming hand on his shoulder, only to have it brushed off. “Why don’t you talk to us? We’re not going to hurt you.” Legend knew it wasn’t that simple. To just reassure the stranger they wouldn’t hurt him wasn't exactly an airtight plan. But past experience made being ignored absolutely infuriating. The stranger’s grip on his sword only grew tighter as he continued to move forward. No matter how much the group tried to talk to him, the stranger wouldn’t respond unless absolutely necessary, and never verbally. 

After about two hours of walking at a brisk pace, they had emerged from the small cliffs surrounding them and were approaching an oddly shaped building. Along the way, Link collected any mushroom or plant that crossed his path. He was certainly an odd man. He seemed constantly on edge with the eight of them there, but had no qualms about gathering strange and brightly colored mushrooms and shoving them into his odd looking slate.

The building they were approaching had a large head that looked to be a horse, and had the structure of a large tent. It looked strange, but also very homey. As they grew closer, they saw some Hylians for the first time in this gigantic world. There was what looked to be a guard of some sort pacing in front of a man at a counter. He must have been the owner. Some other men and women were heading inside. Along with the Hylians was a soft brown dog trotting around some goats and horses. With the small gasp Twilight gave, the group of heroes knew they would have a hell of a time getting Twilight away from this place. Sky’s eyes lit up as he spotted two cuccos among the goats, dashing off to hold them as Legend retched in disgust. The rest of the group laughed at his excitement, but Time could see twilight barely restraining himself from rushing off to pet the horses and goats and hold the dog in his lap. 

The new Link pointed at the man at the counter, most likely gesturing to speak to him as he made his way to the fire with a pot placed above it. Time nodded and went to discuss sleeping arrangements with the excitable owner. Having no other job to do, Twilight calmly made his way to the small corral of animals, before losing all composure and sitting amongst the odd-looking goats and cooing at how soft they were. Looking back at the new Link, he was throwing something in the cooking pot, before making his way over to Twilight. Twilight felt excitement grow in his chest. Now that they were in a safe place, would this new Link finally talk?

But Link simply sat down in the animal pen a good six feet from Twilight, placing his sword on the ground next to him, and reached out to pet the excited dog who had all but tackled him as soon as he sat down. Once the dog calmed down slightly, Link began to remove shield shards from his arm, not even flinching at the pain of removing metal from his skin. Twilight was surprised, but figured he should be the one to start the conversion. 

“We have goats like this in my H- where I come from.” Hopefully Link wouldn’t pick up on Twilight’s mistake. “I helped raise and herd them.” Twilight finished, looking up at the new Link. Link shook his head, then signed something Twilight didn’t understand. “I’m sorry, I know sign but I don’t know what you just said.” Twilight apologized. Link froze in surprise for a second, perhaps not expecting Twilight to know any sign at all. Then pointed to the sheep Twilight was petting and fingerspelling what he wanted to say.

‘Sheep.’ The word spelled out. Twilight’s eyes widened in realization. 

“Oh! Are these sheep?” Twilight asked, continuing to pet the creature beside him. Link nodded. Twilight wished he could see Links face, the hood did a great job of obscuring it completely. He didn’t think asking Link to take the hood off would go very well, so he just paid close attention to the little head movements he could see. Link abruptly stood, seemingly finished with taking the shield shards out of his arm, and summoned a pink liquid from his slate thing, and drank barely enough to heal his arm. Twilight was surprised and slightly worried with how little he seemed to care about his own injuries, musing on this as Link made his way back to the cooking pot to stir whatever he was cooking for himself, perhaps a meal to further help his arm?

The group could finally relax slightly. Sky loving on the cuccos, Time and Twilight paying attention to the horses and sheep, Legend and Warriors quietly chatting and bickering under a tree, Hyrule and Wind off running around and exploring, and Four reading one of his books, evening descended upon them peacefully. Twilight noticed a movement in the corner of his eye, Link seemed to be waving slightly to gain his attention. Twilight nudged Time and began walking over there.

“You okay, Link?” Twilight asked once he was next to the man. The man scooted away from Twilight, apparently deeming him too close, before signing a short ‘dinner’. That one took Twilight by surprise. 

“For us?” Time asked gently. Link nodded his head. ‘Rice.’ He finger spelled. “That’s very kind, thank you Link.” Time said with a smile. “Boys!” Time called, causing all of the Links to look up and Hyrule and Wind to come running back from the treeline. “Link was kind enough to make us rice for dinner.” Causing Link to sink deeper into his hood at the attention and thanks he received from the group.

“Wait.” Legend said, stepping forward.

“Legend.” Hyrule warned, but Legend ignored him.

“No, Hyrule. We don’t know who he is. We haven’t seen his face. He could be a sorcerer trying to trick us.” Although it seemed ridiculous for some of them, they could see where Legend was worried. Link’s hands twitched. He didn’t know why he wanted these men to trust him, but he did. So without letting himself think about it too much, he yanked his hood down and glared at Legend with as much force as he could muster. 

The first thing they saw were the scars. Twisting and webbing from his ear to across some of the right side of his face, before disappearing under his tunic, where the group could only imagine how horrible it was under there. The second thing they noticed was how young he was. Only a year or two older than Wind, far too young to have those scars. They had been calling him a man, but he was only a boy. Something seemed to click for them. This only confirmed it, this was another hero. Another hero they had not known existed. Why had Hylia waited so long? The sword singing in his head only grew louder,and without thinking, Sky unwrapped the sword from its cloth, and Link freaked out. Picking up his sword and backing away slightly, a hard look in his eyes.

“Wait! Don’t panic I can explain!” Sky rushed. Wild froze, but still kept his defensive stance.

“We are Heroes of Courage, just like you. We come from different worlds and different timelines. Hylia has sent us here to ask for your help. There is an unknown threat, strong enough to require multiple heroes. It’s an infection, spreading across timelines and Hyrules. I’m sure it will infect yours too. Please, join us.” Time figured that with this hero, short and to the point would be the best way of going about this, just like Legend. The boy looked skeptical, and didn’t put down the sword.

“I know you know this is the truth.” Sky said gently. “The Master Sword tells you it is.” Link froze. This man could hear the Master Sword? He had to be a hero of courage, no one else could feel it. Link lowered his sword, but kept his guard up. 

‘Can I touch it?’ Link signed. Sky nodded and reached the sword out, not letting go, but allowing Link to touch a hand to its blade. Instantly Link knew it was true. The sword spoke no words to him, but he could feel with all of his being that this was a part of his destiny. 

‘Okay.’ Link signed simply. 

“Okay you’ll join us?” Wind asked carefully, cheering loudly when Link nodded his head. The others smiled at him, although Legend looked slightly guilty. He could see the scars on the kid’s neck. Maybe that’s why he didn’t talk…

Time tried to put a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder, only to have him jump back as if he had been burned, and pull his hood up once again. Time looked upon the boy with sad eyes. This confirmed Link didn’t just not trust strangers. He didn’t trust anyone. After Link handed out the food, the group sat around the fire, Link staying far away. 

“Holy shit! He can cook!” Warriors cheered.

“Tbish ish amashbing!” Wild yelled with his mouth full, getting a smack on the head from Legend. 

“We’re keeping him.” Four stated simply. 

“Four, you can’t just claim someone.” Hyrule stated.

“I just did.”

“Guys. He’s trying to ask a question.” Twilight chided. Immediately the group swerved around to see Link with his hands up. 

‘Are you all named Link?’ He asked. 

“Yes. We all have nicknames based on our hero titles. The sword gives them to us.” Time answered. 

“Speaking of.” Sky held up the Master Sword as if preparing for a ceremony. The group of Links all leaned forward eagerly awaiting their new friend’s name. Even Legend perked up.

“Welcome, Hero of Wild.”

[tc-doherty]

Find the word

Tagged by @dogmomwrites thank you~

Empty - The Deadlands

She stumbled and steadied herself against River.

"Margherita?" asked Genevieve.

"I'm fine," she said. She turned to look across the desert, across the vast empty space to where the forest sat. Like the Meren, she knew where it was even when she couldn't see it. Marghe shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. "We should get going."

Genevieve allowed Marghe to help her onto Silver's saddle – sideways this time, perched up there perfect and painted like a princess from a tale. Even that sight, so strange and alien to this land, could not keep her from looking over her shoulder entirely.

"Is it the forest?"

Marghe nodded. "Tamers belong to the forest. It makes our hearts beat, and we could no more live without it than air, or water."

"Do you mean literally-"

"It's not far to Red Oaks now," Marghe said, cutting Genevieve off. She swung into River's saddle. The mare didn't need any urging today, she knew where they were and what it meant. All the horses knew it, and the wolves knew it. They were going home.

Shrug - Magic Black as Knight

"I guess a 'hero' would never do something like that, would they?" Iskandar brushed dirt off of more bones placing them gently outside of the grave.

He supposed that this was certainly something 'evil'. Although, it wasn't as if any of these people had any use for their bodies anymore. So what was wrong with making use of them?

Iskandar looked at the skeleton beneath him. But he felt nothing whatsoever about taking it for his own use. With a shrug he continued his activity. And when he had unearthed the entire thing, he gathered the bones into a bag, magically induced the dirt to fill in the grave, and made his way back to his workshop.

Making a construct wasn't really all that hard. It was nothing at all like actually bring someone back from the dead. As long as all the bones were in the right place, and held together with the right material, giving it the ability to move was more or less equivalent to simply pouring magic into it the way one would pour water into a pitcher. If it ran out of magic, it would stop moving until it was refilled.

Iskandar wasn't someone who had any problem knowing where bones were supposed to go. It was true that he mostly dealt with animal corpses, but humans weren't that much different in the end. It took him only two days to get the bone and willow entwined together, and then he started on the clay. Sculpting was a little bit harder.

If one only wanted brute strength, then the rough approximation of a human would be good enough. If one only wanted brute strength, one probably would've reinforced the bones with oak or some other sturdy wood. But if he wanted something that could move like a human and teach him to use a sword, he needed something much more agile, something much more accurate. So he took his time, building it bit by bit.

Hesitate - Laero

She did not allow herself to hesitate by the edge of the forest, but plunged right in.

The forest didn’t seem to appreciate her intrusion. Roots clutched at her feet. Branches scraped her face and tugged at her clothing. In the deepening gloom, Nelli had no way to avoid these obstacles. I’ve faced worse. The fact that it was true did not make her feel any better. Nelli stumbled over a rock on the ground and paused to lean against the nearest tree. I can’t just crash around like a drunken bear. I have to be more careful or everyone and everything in a twenty mile radius will hear me.

A wooden javelin buried itself in the dirt two inches from her left foot.

Something already has, I see. Nelli followed the trajectory and looked up. Even in the failing light she could make out a shock of red hair, a dark smear of tattoos, and the distinctive glint of a ceramic bell. It could only be one person – Geri’s missing older sister.

“You are long way from sea, Marzjen,” the other girl said.

Nelli almost groaned again, and only just managed to stop herself. Did it have to be now? I’m in no mood to put up with Winterlander brag and bluster. But it was either bluster or fight, and Nelli knew she was in no condition to fight. “You’re an even longer way from the Norforest, Laero,” she said back.

“Hmph,” the Laero said.

What was her name again? K something?

The redhead leapt out of the tree to land next to her javelin. She pulled it out of the dirt and inspected Nelli. Nelli crossed her arms but otherwise didn’t move.

“You are very wet,” the Laero observed.

“I swam here,” Nelli said. She studied the girl in front of her. The resemblance between Geri and her older sister was clear – the square face, the freckles, the unruly red curls, the slightly slanted brown eyes. But the differences between them were just as clear. Geri had played at being a warrior, all bluff and swagger. This girl had some of the same, but she did not need either. She stood like a warrior, held her lance like she was ready to use it, and her eyes were as cold, hard, and savage as Nelli’s blade.

A breeze flowed by and Nelli shivered. In the dark, wet clothes were not comfortable in the least. Best to get this over with. I don’t want to fight her. Not after seeing her up close. “As we came near the shore, Bozier and his men ambushed our ship. My captain sent me overboard in order to go to the south. There’s an army there, sworn to protect the people of this land.”

Escape - Temitope

"Do you do that on purpose?" Temitope asked.

"Do what?"

"Dazzle people."

Princess Sigrid grinned, and Temitope found herself somewhat giddy and lightheaded. "Don't worry about that right now. We have to plan our great escape."

Temitope shook her head to clear it. "I assumed it would be tonight before the merchant leaves," she said. "But everyone is still awake."

"They won't pay attention to you, you clearly have mastered the art of making yourself look unobtrusive." Princess Sigrid fell gracefully into a wicker chair beside the door. Temitope lowered herself on her bed. For a moment, the two girls simply looked at one another.

"So the witch…" Temitope said.

It was Princess Sigrid's turn to shake her head, as if she had been daydreaming. "You have to go up into the attic, until you find her great loom. That's the source of her power, and no one with magic of their own can get near it."

"I have to destroy it?"

Princess Sigrid laughed. She had a very beautiful laugh as well. "Hardly! We want to escape, not to have her hunt us to the ends of the world. What happened is that she rather wove me up into the palace and now I can't leave or use magic."

Temitope nodded, although she didn't understand at all. It seemed her borrowed wisdom could not explain matters of magic. "So I find the weaving that is yours and destroy it?"

"Unravel it," Princess Sigrid clarified. "It has to be unwoven or it won't work. The Queen should be busy with the after dinner entertainment right now, you won't get a better chance."

"What will you do?"

 Princess Sigrid stood up in one fluid motion. "I'll fetch your supplies and horse and meet you at the beach. Once the cloth is unraveled, you can leave everything else to me."

Moment - Miracles

"It's not that we're so frivolous!" Larkin felt the need to protest. "If you hang around here long enough, you'll learn that our gods are even bigger gossips than we are." That, he knew, was the truth. Larkin knew that one had to take any stories in the moral world with a thread of indulgence. It was the gods who gossiped, to each other and to their priests, and lovers, and any other mortals they favored. Any stories told among the humans would've been distorted from true events many times over – if not made up entirely for some political or social motive.

As for the stories made up by humans, the gods also seemed to find them funny to repeat and would even stage their own versions, whether a ballad, a poem, a story, or performance. If it was gossip in the heavens, it was gossip down here, and if it was gossip in the realm of men, it was surely a joke in the realm above.

Giscard shook his head. "Why even worship such creatures? What do they do for you?"

Cause trouble mainly, Larkin thought, but he didn't dare say such things aloud, no matter how irritated he was. He had already gotten into quite enough divine trouble. He tried to be diplomatic about it. "Gods have a lot of power, and they do answer our prayers and lend it to us when we need it."

"You could get along fine without them," Arwyn said suddenly. "Only that bloodline is naturally occurring in this country. Far better to worship them as gods and keep them placated and spoiled, rather than allow them to descend and become demons plaguing humanity."

Both Larkin and Giscard turned to stare at him. Arwyn was still staring vaguely into the distance, not at all concerned by the things he had just uttered. When he finally glanced their way, he seemed surprised to find them looking. He raised his eyebrows.

"Did I say something so odd?"

Larkin shook his head. He had never thought about such a thing directly but hearing it said that way did make sense, and it echoed some impressions he'd had in the past. He had thought, in some of his less charitable moments, that it was a good thing the gods were so lazy. Who knew what they would do if they were more ambitious? However, he'd never considered what they would do if they didn't get the worship of the public. "Nothing just… Isn't rather dangerous to talk that way?"

"Aren't sorcerers often considered quite blasphemous?"

"I… Guess?"

"Sorcery isn't something that came from the gods, so they don't approve of it. It was created by the night queen, whom they despise." Arwyn turned away from them again. "Sorcerers fall under the moon god's protection but the moon god belongs to the night queen, and who wants to rouse her ire?"

Tagging @oh-no-another-idea @autumnimagining @ladyazulina your words are fresh, excuse, difficulty, and danger.

Also tagging @bloodlessheirbyjacques @muddshadow for taglist reasons lol

[bebewrites]

find the word tag

thanks to the loveliest @ardawyn for tagging me! <3 and sorry i’m just now getting to this!!

the words are free, year, soft, and quick, and doing this for TNV.

free

Arden freed the horses, but before she could usher them into the trees, the fury flared its wings and lifted the caravan off the ground.

“Run, Arden! Run!” Asher yelled.

The creature let out a shriek as it let go of the caravan, sending it hurtling toward his sister. She dove, but Asher lost sight of her in the explosion of debris and dust from the road.

year

Each week during the Clearing, the one night a week the Veil dispersed, scouts measured the Deadlands. The lifeless, withered stretch of ground the Night Veil usually occupied. The Veil had been steadily expanding for almost one hundred years, but they hadn’t started measuring it until Asher’s stepfather took the throne—when Anverians living near the border claimed it was growing unusually fast.

soft

Everly watched him as he walked through the orchard back to the castle, the afternoon sun highlighting strands of gold in his hair. She hated that she noticed such things. Hated that, all at once, her heart could be thundering wings and the softest of feathers.

quick

Asher felt his body sag, relief coursing through him as his eyelids drooped. Footsteps skidded to a halt on the other side of him, and Arden was saying, “Quick, get me out from under this thing. Ash! Asher!”

It’s all right, he wanted to say. You’re safe now. But he couldn’t even summon the strength to speak.

tagging @kazenokaori @joshuaorrizonte @space-cadead @firstdraft @quartzess @thewhiteblades @blizabrth @iamnotahallucination and the words are grow, reach, protect, and strength. 

[slimy-eye]

How I Feel About Dagon

With the new Elder Scrolls Online chapter being set around Mehrunes Dagon and his oblivion portals, I thought I’d just ramble on about how I feel about Mehrunes Dagon personally, and why I’m excited that the devs behind ESO have a good chance to finally portray him as more than just a villain. I’m hopeful that he won’t be the main antagonist of the chapter after all, despite their marketing, though either way, I’m excited for the new story.

In any case, let’s talk about Mehrunes Dagon. He is The Prince of Destruction and Ambition. He is The Lord of Blood and Flames. The Father of Cataclysm. In every portrayal we have seen of him, he has been the villain. In Oblivion, his cultists assassinate the emperor, and nearly result in the collapse of the Empire. Additionally, the Prince himself enters Nirn, and duals the Aspect of Akatosh, where he is defeated, and pushed back into his realm, The Deadlands. But Mehrunes Dagon is more than just a king of destruction and apocalyptic end times. His sphere also revolves around revolution, and change. But even if we want to take a moment to focus on the ‘destruction’ part of his sphere, it’s easy to understand that even that doesn’t make him all bad.

Let’s take wildfires for example. They are lethal, destructive events of nature that Dagon heavily associates with. Wildfires destroy. They kill. They tear lives apart. But they also provide new life. The scorched land in the aftermath of a fire is ripe with newfound nutrients, all the better to insure that the life that grows there will be even stronger than what existed previously. New life will sprout and rise from the ashes. Old fields that were no longer good for growing are revitalized by the destructive tongues of the fire, providing a bountiful future for the farmer that lives there. And what about other natural disasters? Volcanoes destroy. They also create life. Does the creation of a new island teeming with life not fall under ‘change’, in Dagon’s sphere?

But Dagon, as we already know, isn’t just about destruction and change. His sphere is also tightly interwoven with revolution. When the government grows tyrannical and enslaves the people, it is Mehrunes Dagon that stirs the flames of ambition for a better life, blowing forth the fiery desire of rebellion. The people rise up against their cruel leaders, and pave forth a new and better life for themselves.

I think the games prefer to portray Mehrunes Dagon as a constant villain simply because it’s the easier path to follow. Most people prefer to cling to the whole ‘Prince of Destruction’ thing, as opposed to considering all the good that can come from Dagon’s sphere. It doesn’t help that his realm, The Deadlands, is a fiery wasteland of magma and ebony. Too many sharp edges to consider Dagon anything but evil, yes? Perhaps Dagon views himself as just as much as a menace as the people who curse his name, but even so, I think it’s important that we do not forget the potential good that can come from the Lord of Ambition.

That said, I’m not excusing his destructive personality, though we have very little on that as of now. He didn’t exactly talk or interact with the player in Oblivion, but apparently, he’s going to be much more talkative in ESO, so we’ll just have to wait and see what exactly his personality is like before we can judge him on that front.

I really hope the Blackwood Chapter doesn’t go the easy route and make Dagon the Big Bad of the story. I want to see the other sides of him, the ambition, the change, the revolution. I want to see the deeper aspects, not just the surface level ‘destruction bad’. It doesn’t help that in lore, most of Dagon’s cults tend to have world ending intentions, such as The Mythic Dawn. But still...diving into Dagon’s entire sphere would probably make Blackwood one of my favorite chapters. 

Regardless, I’m excited to discover how the ESO teams handles Dagon in their upcoming release of Blackwood.

[stylishanachronism]

6, 30, 57, 73, 100, and 125 for the book ask please^^

Lol this is v late but I had to make good choices. Anyways:

6: a book with a pink cover

I was going to say Agnes and the Hitman, by Jennifer Cruise, but it turns out I remembered the cover wrong, it’s white, so instead I’m going to rec Boy Meets Girl, by Meg Cabot (yes that Meg Cabot), which is the second funniest romance novel I’ve ever read. Not particularly sexy? Nobody blinked at me reading it at ~14, a lot funnier now that I’m vaguely in an office job. Copying the synopsis right off the back:

Meet Kate Mackenzie. She:

- works for the T.O.D. (short for Tyrannical Office Despot, also known as Amy Jenkins, Director of the Human Resources Division at the New York Journal)

- is sleeping on the couch because her boyfriend of ten years refuses to commit

- can't find an affordable studio apartment anywhere in New York City

- thinks things can't get any worse.

They can. Because:

- the T.O.D. is making her fire the most popular employee in the paper's senior staff dining room

- that employee is now suing Kate for wrongful termination, and

- now Kate has to give a deposition in front of Mitch Hertzog, the scion of one of Manhattan's wealthiest law families, who embraces everything Kate most despises ... but also happens to have a nice smile and a killer bod.

The last thing anybody—least of all Kate Mackenzie—expects to find in legal arbitration is love. But that's the kind of thing that can happen when...

Boy meets girl.

30: your favourite middle grade book

This is a tough one. Probably The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, by Patricia C Wrede? The first one is Dealing with Dragons, and it is a hoot. Princess Cimorene of Linderwall, where philosophers were highly respected and the number five was fashionable, whose interests have always fallen just outside normal princessy occupations, discovers she’s about to be married off to the most boring prince she’s ever met, and, more straightforward attempts to get out of it having failed, runs away to become a dragon’s princess. Hysterically funny, and very nice in that it doesn’t bash ‘girly’ skills (her particular non-Princess interests are Latin, cooking, and magic, among others, and several more traditional skills are important plot points), with a shocking amount of political intrigue considering it takes place almost entirely in a dragon’s cave, if you’re looking for a good time, this is it.

57: a book you want to hit bonk your head with

*cries* the goddamned history of Wells Fargo I’m slogging through. It’s an engaging enough read, but it’s really dense and not entirely factual (or like, the author skims over a lot of the intricacies of why, for example, everything went through Placer in the 1800s), and it was written in the 60s. Don’t read it unless you’re really into bank history or something, it’s not that good.

73: a good book with an awful cover

Gonna plug God Stalk, by P.C. Hodgell again, because it being a plot point in a couple of places that Jame has very little boobage, the most recent set of covers has so much cleavage oh my god.

God Stalk is the first of the Kencyrath series, which is criminally unknown, because they’re brilliant in every respect.

God Stalk follows Jame, who comes down out of the deadlands to the city of Tai-Tastigon, home of the gods. (Which gods? All of them, especially homeless ones.) Her memory is fractured; she came to in the Master’s House and found it filled with the haunts of her childhood household, and she has no idea where or how she got the things she’s carrying. Despite being Kencyr, whose honor is so thoroughly tied to their lives breaking their word can kill them, she’s caught up in the city’s thriving thieves guild, and must balance that, and everything that entails, with her need to find her brother, and the task the three-faced god, her god, has set for her.

If you read nothing else I recommend read this, because oh my god it’s been my favorite book since I was twelve and I get something else out of it every time I read it.

100: your favourite gothic novel

Is that a question? Dracula, obviously. Have to live up to the fake family history somehow!

125: your favourite autumn read

Mmmmm this is a tough one. A Stir of Bones, and it’s sequels? Spooky, queer, a little romantic. Red Heart of Memories especially was sort of instrumental in my obsession with haunted houses.