#it's a No Magic AU as well so i can't even “literally handwave” them away :(

[nostalgia-tblr]

...turns out i have written enough faux-historical porn to have trouble adjusting to writing about the characters wearing modern undergarments

[ganymedesclock]

well shit, re: the botw SU!AU, what you outlined would probably be a more compelling plot, like: Steven's been enclosing the castle for X amount of time not just because he's warding [COLOR] Diamond, but because he's doggedly attempting to talk them down. But it's been like, well, a 100 years, and he's all on his own, and Connie can't just let him sequester himself away forever! He deserves help! He ought to know that someone is willing to fight through the wilds to help him! etc etc

Sometimes people really like certain plots, but it’s important to consider themes and character behavior in AUs or crossovers- Connie and Steven have a very different relationship with this concept of destiny. Connie fits a bit in Link’s role in that she is allegedly of no magical bloodline but takes up a noteworthy sword, while Steven fits more in Zelda’s role not only as a barrier keeper but as the person of ‘royal blood’ (almost literally if Rose Diamond theory, but, even if not, the son of the leader of the Crystal Gems and successor to her power) with massive sleeping arcane potential.

(also, between dreamwalking and Steven’s aptitude for barriers in the first place, it’s not a stretch at all to imagine Steven accomplishing much of what Zelda does in that series- given the assumption that his Gem heritage or some property of the bubble could prevent him from aging during that time)

Thematically I like the implications of it being White, with the idea that the corrupted Gems would be the main obstacles/creatures populating the wilderness that Connie would deal with, though that’s not to say there might not be leftover Gem technology (is it really a BotW AU if Connie doesn’t have to live in fear of Guardians).

Mostly with the way Calamity Ganon is presented, as a past enemy who’s transformed somehow and people assume they’re a mindless beast but oh whoops they’re a lot smarter and more aware than that. Also because considering how much of a mess YD is, I doubt it would take Steven over a century to try and wheedle down her defenses- but with White, especially corrupted, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was very intensely touch and go.

Maybe just- maybe we can just handwave that Greg was in a jar somehow also so he’s still alive 100 years later, because I don’t really want to imagine a SU AU without Greg or with Greg as a ghost. Rose fits a lot closer to the role of spirit adviser/King Rhoam, especially since he’s apparently actively bound to the Great Plateau by his regrets and how he responded to this by building a house and engaging with a bunch of things that were completely useless to him (like cooking)

Also just imagining Rose and Connie reenacting Link and the Mysterious Old Man’s early conversations

Rose “Did I say one treasure? There’s four of them.”

Connie, who is probably trying to pull off a mad near-naked sprint directly for Hyrule Castle armed with this moderately pointy rock she found “WHY”