#not your own

[yanderelinkeduniverse]

Start of a Cycle | Part One

@gliphyartfan @imprisioned-in-the-hole @screaming-until-god-hears-me Here’s something I’ve been working on that I decided to post now before I spend another week working on the second half. (Mind the tags)

This is heavily inspired by @my-insanity-is-an-artform’s AMAZING “not zelda au,” just taken in a different direction.

Kokiri designs are heavily inspired from @earthnashes redesigns for them, specifically the ones in this post.

The sound of the wind blowing through the trees and birds chirping softly were the first things you heard when you came to. There was the feeling of warm sunlight on your skin and soft green grass under you and when you groggily opened your eyes, the you saw the sky that shade of blue you can only really see in the early morning.

A groan left you as you slowly sat up, an ear ringing headache pounding through your skull. What happened last night?

As you sat there, trying to figure out how you fell asleep in the woods of all places, all your memories of last nights events came flooding back to you.

The portal.

The dreams.

The shadow.

Your eyes widened as you realized that you had been kidnapped by a shadowy doppelgänger, literally taken in your sleep. The shock of the sudden realization has you shooting up and off of the grass, looking around frantically. To your dismay, nothing about these woods seemed familiar to you.

Okay, calm down, you thought, taking a deep breath. You tried to assess the situation calmly and look on the bright side.

For example, at least you were tied up in some dingy cabin out in the middle of nowhere!..Although that could just mean that you’re going to be hunted for sport-

Not helping!

“Alright..alright, I’m just going to walk out of these woods and find the nearest civilization,” you stated firmly, refusing to allow panic to settle in.

Setting off on foot, you headed in the direction that looked like it had the least amount of foliage, though that was hard since this forest was dense with plants. Plus, there was a thin layer of mist that seemed to cover everything like a blanket.

As you walked, you took note of how the trees were incredibly large, wide bases and trunks that grew high into the sky. You also noticed quite a few structures placed in odd places around the forest, ranging from small stone statues to wooden bridges leading to nowhere.

Is this like…a playground or something? you thought, continuing on and hoping that you were getting close to the forest’s edge.

It felt like you were working for a solid ten minutes until you ended up…exactly where you started.

“Oh come on!” you yelled up at the sky in frustration. All that time spent trecking through the foliage, getting leaves and the occasional twig stuck in your hair, and you had apparently walked in a complete circle like a dumbass!

Not a circle/You just got lost/Please don’t ever call yourself dumb

“Ugh, what do I do now?” you groaned to yourself, pacing back and forth as you contemplated going in a different direction.

A sudden giggle brought you out of your thoughts and you snapped your gaze over to the source.

Peaking out from behind a tree was what appeared to be a little girl with long green hair pulled into a long braid. You nearly yelped out of shock when you noticed the wooden antlers atop her head.

Oh my God, where did that stupid shadow drop me, you thought, eyes nearly bulging out of your head at the sight of the little girl. Well, at least you could ask her some questions.

Unfortunately, as soon as the girl noticed you noticing her, she darted off.

“H-Hey! Hold on just a minute!” you called out, immediately running after her.

You chased the young girl through a new part of the woods. There were the same large trees and statues and structures, but there were also hollowed out tree trunks that served to connect other areas.

Strangely enough, it seemed like the girl wasn’t really running from you, but rather leading you somewhere. Whenever you ran out of breath and were forced to stop, you’d always find her peaking out from the opening of another tree trunk, watching you with big open eyes.

But every time you called out to here, trying to explain how you were lost and needed help, she’d dart away as quick as lightning. And if you were pretty sure you heard her giggling more than a few times.

If it weren’t for the fact that she was incredibly fast, you’d think she was just playing a game with you.

She is/Children of the Forest/They love games

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of running, you managed to catch up with the strange little forest girl. Or rather, she had stopped running, allowing you to catch up with her.

“Geez, kid…I’m not..as fast as you…!” you panted out, hands resting on your knees as you desperately tried to catch your breath.

When you looked up, your eyes widened as you took in just how odd this girl’s appearance was.

Wooden bark matching that of her antlers crawled up the girls arms and faun-like legs and small flowers dotted her hair and the antlers atop her head. The only piece of clothing she wore was a small, dark green cloak with a golden clasp depicting a symbol you couldn’t recognize.

Holy crap she looks magic! you thought, mouth agape as you took in her appearance. There’s no way that’s cosplay, is it?

As you studied the girl, she seemed to be studying you too. She slowly circled around you, observing your clothes and eyeing the bulge in your pocket where your phone was. When she was done, she stood right in front of you and made direct eye contact, eyes sparkling with curiosity.

“There have been visitors who come to the woods before, but I have never seen anyone like you..!” she explained, voice filled with wonder.

“Oh, uh, thanks?” you responded, wondering if that was supposed to be a compliment.

The girl smiled from ear to ear, bouncing in place a little as she squealed loudly like a kid on Christmas.

“That’s wonderful! We haven’t had anyone new come to the forest in such a long time!” The girl suddenly reached her hand out. “My name is Cyra, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance!”

Though a little surprised by her outburst, you politely shook the girl’s hand, giving her a smile of your own. “It’s nice to meet you too, my name’s (y/n). Could you, uh, actually tell me where I am?”

“Hm? Don’t you know if you came here?” Cyra inquired, blinking in surprise as she let go of your hand.

“Yeah I didn’t really come here as much as I was…kidnapped and dropped off here,” you stated bluntly, rubbing the back of your neck awkwardly.

Cyra looked up at you like you were crazy and you couldn’t blame her, but it was hard to come up with a better story to explain your situation when you barely understood what was going on in the first place.

“Oh no, that’s horrible! We should go ask the Great Deku Tree for help, he’ll know what to do,”Cyra advised with a determined look.

The Great…Deku Tree…? Why did that name sound familiar?

Father/You know him/He knew you

As Cyra began to walk down the path leading deeper into the forest, you in tow, you continued to wonder why that name rings a bell. It was only when Cyra pulled aside the hanging vines that blocked your way that you realized where you heard that name before.

The Great Deku Tree…was a character from the Legend of Zelda series.

At the exact moment you came to this realization, eyes widening as it dawned on you just where you were, you were greeted with the warm sight of a forest village bustling with little children that looked similar to Cyra, except they lacked her cloak. Alongside them you spotted a multitude of little wood babies running around and playing with the bigger kids.

And not too far off distance, you finally saw the top branches of a truly humongous tree, the Great Deku Tree himself if your hunch was correct.

“Come on, let’s go!” Cyra chirped happily, not noticing your internal plight.

You swallowed thickly, a nervous sweat building up on your forehead, and nodded slightly.

Oh Christ, how did I get into this situation?

[mahgck]

you have to outlive donald trump

[arnab-factory]

Fascinated by this phenomenon

[everythingwasnormalhere]

pls rb if you think cuddling doesn't have to be s3xual

im tryna prove a point to my bf's mother help me out

[sanguinifex]

You gotta read and watch some old books and films that aren’t 100% modern politically correct. I’m not saying you should agree with everything in them but you need to learn where genres came from to understand what those genres are doing today and where media deconstructing old tropes is coming from.

Also, more often than you might think, they’re not actually promoting bigotry so much as “didn’t consider all the implications of something” or just used words that were polite then but considered offensive now.

Kill the censor in your head.

[ganymedesclock]

I think cis people should also be their gender of choice. Like, if you're a man, you should get to really enjoy being a man- have fun with it! If you're a woman, take the parts of womanhood that really deeply make you happy. If being a little androgynous or ambiguous or hidden is the part that really makes you happy, you don't have to be trans for that. If you wanna lean really hard into being femme or masc- do it! You have one life in your body, do what makes you happy. Ditch the stuff you don't like.

My sinister queer agenda is I think that everyone should be the gender they like in the way they like it.

[canisalbus]

✦ Pebble ✦

[idontmindifuforgetme]

Honestly it boils down to reparenting yourself & rewiring your own neuronal pathways & telling yourself a firm “stop” when you notice your mind slipping down negative loopholes & being present in the moment & enjoying being mid task rather than waiting for it to end & not thinking of inertia as your baseline and natural way of living

[12neonlit-stage]

you're allowed to discuss and work together, reblog for a higher sample size or something

You have 1 week, good luck!

[artemisdesari-blog]

A writer friend told me something that broke my heart a little bit today; they're going to quit publishing their fanfic.

My instant thought was that they had been trolled or attacked or that something terrible had happened in their life because this person is so passionate about their writing. It wasn't any of that. Engagement with their works has been going down, as it has for many of us. Comments are like gold dust a lot of the time, and just looking through the historical comment counts on old fics on ao3 demonstrates this trend very clearly. It was not simply the comments dropping off which caused them to decide to stop posting, however.

My friend came across a discord server for their fandom (I should point out here that their fandom interest and mine diverged a couple of years ago, we stay in touch but don't currently read each other's posts because I'm not into their fandom and they would rather gouge their eyes out with a wooden spoon than read anything Star Wars) and specifically to share fic in that fandom. They joined, because we all love a good fic rec, only to discover that their latest multichapter fic, which has almost no comments and very few kudos, is being hotly discussed in this server as one of the best stories ever. Not one of these people has bothered to say this to them on the fic. When they asked, none of participants could see the point in telling the author of the fic they apparently loved so much that they love it.

This discovery has absolutely destroyed my friend's love of sharing fic. They share because they love seeing other people's enjoyment, and fic writers do that through comments and kudos/reblogs/likes because we don't get paid. There is no literary critic writing a blog post/article about how amazing the story is for us to copy and keep/frame. There is no money from royalties. All we have are the words of the people reading our works.

Those people on that server could have taken five minutes of the time they spent gushing about how amazing my friend's story was to other people and used it to tell the one person guaranteed to want to hear that praise how much they loved it. They could have taken a moment to express their opinion to the person who spent hours upon hours plotting, writing, editing, and posting those chapters. Instead, they deprived my friend of thing that keeps them sharing their writing, and in the process have killed their love of it. My friend now feels used and unmotivated.

I won't be sharing a link to their fic, they said I could share their experience but not their identity. I know they plan to post one final chapter. I know they intend to express their hurt at being excluded from the praise for the thing they created, and I know they intend to announce that as a consequence they will not be posting for a long while, if at all.

So please, I beg you, don't hide your love of a story from the writer. It's just about the only thing we have.

[minart-was-taken]

Autism be upon ye

[reality-detective]

1963 Refrigerator 🤔

[goldensunset]

advice i think we should tell children is that when adults say stuff like ‘now that i’m an adult i get really excited about stuff like coffee tables and bathrooms and rugs etc’ they don’t mean ‘and now i don’t care about blorbo and squimbus from my childhood tv shows anymore’ bc your average adult still loves all the same pop culture stuff they always did; they just have a greater appreciation for the mundane as well. growing up just means you can enjoy life twice as much now. you can get really excited about a new stuffed animal AND about a new kitchen sponge. peace and love

[bardofavon]

not to be controversial bc I know this is like…not in line with shifting opinions on fanfic comment culture but if there’s a glaring typo in my work I will NOT be offended by pointing it out. if ao3 fucks up the formatting…I will also not be offended by having this pointed out…

‘looking forward to the next update’ and ‘I hope you update soon!’ are different vibes than a demand, and should be read in good faith because a reader is finding their way to tell you how much they love it. I will not be mad at this.

‘I don’t usually like this ship but this fic made me feel something’ is also incredibly high praise. I’m not going to get mad at this.

even ‘I love this fic but I’m curious about why you made [x] choice’ is just another way a reader is engaging in and putting thought into your work.

I just feel like a lot of authors take any comment that’s not perfectly articulated glowing praise in the exact manner they’re hoping to receive it in bad faith.

fic engagement has been dropping across the board over the last several years, and yes it’s frustrating but it isn’t as though I can’t see how it happens. comment anxiety can be a real thing. the last thing anyone wants to do is offend an author they love, and that means sometimes people default to silence.

idk where I’m going with this I guess aside from saying unless a comment is outright attacking me I’m never going to get mad at it, and I think a lot of authors should feel the same way. ESPECIALLY TYPOS PLZ GOD POINT OUT MY TYPOS.

[ghosthorse-tracks]

Lesser-known steps of the writing process:

Finding all the paragraphs where you used some hyper-specific word more than once

Rearranging paragraphs that you swear you wrote in the right order but turned out to be totally backwards

Going for a walk, coming up with the perfect line, and forgetting it as soon as you get home and open your laptop

Creating a separate document where you can dump all of those nice sentences that no longer fit in anywhere

Waking up in a cold sweat because so-and-so was supposed to be barefoot but never actually took his shoes off