#spent all morning doing this

[delicourse]

lesbian pride moment 😳🌸

[owleanders]

sorry we put your host in minecraft yeah they're punching trees with their bare hands . yeah they got blown up by a creeper and lost all their stuff sorry

[rox-of-iu]

cannot believe i took a crack at animating again after almost two year break just to do something this silly lol. on brand honestly

[organised-disaster]

[westywallowing]

what I wouldn't give to get some coffee from her cafe/bakery 🥺

[front-facing-pokemon]

[riddlemearose]

Twin Stranger

(CW: temporary character death)

“Champion!”

Link twists as much as he can, cursing under his breath as his arms wobble violently and the piece of rubble presses down harder onto his ribs. Wild drops into a crouch beside him, one hand squeezing Link’s shoulder. Link can't shy away from the touch like he usually does, but thankfully Wild doesn't let his hand linger.

“Are you hurt badly?” He asks.

Link shakes his head, gritting his teeth. The question, the implication of incompetence, stings. “Get it off.”

“Already on it.”

Wild reaches for the Sheikah Slate at his side but pauses, ears twitching. He twists on his heel, a shield quickly stitching itself into being from ribbons of Sheikah blue. A Guardian beam slams into the metal not even a second after Wild raises the shield, and the force of the blast makes his heels dig into the dirt.

Link strains his neck the best he can to look and kind of wishes he hadn’t. Several Guardian Stalkers – infected with malice, great – are scuttling across the grassy field towards them. The toxic magic drips off their legs and leaves burning pools in their wake.

Wild curses, hunkering closer to the ground so the shield can cover Link better. His eyes dart between the Guardians.

Link tries very hard not to look at the burns that cover his alternate self’s face. Everyone has been reticent to talk about just what, exactly, had happened to Wild, but the scars on his face and body say more than enough.

He’s been wondering if he and Wild – and every other version of them that may exist – are always doomed to fall to the Guardians. It’s something that’s been in the back of his mind over the last three days, ever since the stranger with his face arrived and helped free Mipha and Vah Ruta.

He doesn’t know if he’s ready to learn the answer to that question, to learn what fate has in store for him.

Wild breathes out hard through his nose and squares his shoulders. “Ah, fuck it.”

A Guardian beam slams into the shield, causing him to snarl. The metal begins to buckle and strain from the force. Link can feel the heat of the blast ripple through his hair.

Another Guardian starts to line up its shot; Link can hear it beeping rapidly.

Wild jams his eyes closed.

“I know you guys are there, and I know you can hear me.” He says softly, speaking to someone Link can’t see. “I need your help. Please.”

The air around them thickens. An unseen presence brushes kindly against Link’s forehead, and moves on to settle onto Wild’s shoulders.

When he opens his eyes, they glow slightly, illuminated by something inside him that hadn’t been there before. He grins at Link. “It’s gonna be okay, Champion.”

The beeping of the Guardian reaches a fever-pitch. Link knows Wild’s shield will not hold this time. He takes a breath, wanting his last one to be peaceful, and whispers an apology to Princess Zelda and to his family. He thinks of his little sister, remembering her bright, toothy smile.

The Guardian lets its beam loose.

Someone very familiar yells.

Fire erupts around them as the world turns teal and orange.

Link stares as Daruk appears out of the teal fire, his Protection closing around them. The Guardian beam ricochets off the barrier and sets the meadow to their right ablaze. Smoke and burned blades of grass eddy into the air.

Daruk looks down at Link, eyes solemn and sad, and vanishes.

Wild, on the other hand, lets his shield fall to the ground with a dull thud, and takes off in a full sprint, pulling the Master Sword from his Slate as he goes. The blade chimes loudly, glowing a bright, divine light.

For a moment, just like it’s done every time Wild has held it, Link hears a soft whisper of “Master,” on the wind.

It’s hard to watch from this angle, but Wild streaks across the meadow, cleaving straight through one of the Guardian’s legs. As it topples, unbalanced by the sudden loss, he leaps up and buries the Master Sword to the hilt in its eye.

As the Guardian begins to flash and shudder, Wild drops into a crouch. Five targeting lasers lock on and spirit flame dances around him once again.

This time it’s Revali who appears and launches him skyward with barely a second to spare. As the five Guardian lasers destroy the ground where Wild had just been, he plucks a bow from the Slate and pulls the drawstring back.

The world slows to a crawl, the sudden deprivation of sound making Link’s ears ring. He watches as Wild lets ancient arrow after ancient arrow fly all while Revali’s ghostly form swoops around him, using his Gale to slow Wild’s descent.

Each arrow finds its mark, striking the Guardians’ blue-fire eyes. Revali turns his head, barely slowed by the Champion ability Link and Wild share, and meets Link’s gaze head-on. Just like Daruk, Revali looks solemn, but he still throws a mock-salute Link’s way.

Wild lands in a roll as time snaps back to normal. The Guardians around him explode, purple smoke twisting up towards the blue sky. As he gets to his feet, another Guardian laser flies towards him and slams into Daruk’s Protection a second before it would've hit Wild. He still staggers from the surprise of the hit, and the three remaining Guardians close the distance rapidly.

Daruk doesn't vanish this time. He murmurs something, inaudible over the clanging of the Guardians’ legs, but Wild nods. The Master Sword chimes again, the sound almost vicious, and Wild raises his free hand, snapping his fingers.

Daruk’s figure is replaced by Urbosa's. She tosses her hair and bares her teeth as lightning strikes all around them. As the Guardians freeze, circuits shorting out, she turns to seek Link out, and her proud expression softens into one of sympathy.

She snaps her fingers again, raining more lightning down onto the Guardians. Wild darts around her, a blur of blonde hair and divine light carving through the Guardians’ legs and chassis with ease.

The Guardians crumble beneath the Master Sword’s blade, malice wisping up into the sky above as they explode, and Urbosa’s form gently fades away.

All that’s left behind is Wild standing amidst the destroyed husks. He begins picking his way towards Link, carefully stepping around the puddles of malice strewn across the grass. Link watches him, a million different emotions swirling around inside him, with frustration and bitterness chief among them.

It’s not the first time Wild’s saved him, but he still doesn’t know how he's supposed to feel about it. He's not given the chance to decide though, because two things happen in quick succession.

The first is the Master Sword, sheathed on Wild’s back, lets out a furious chime that's so loud it echoes in Link’s ears. The second is one final Guardian comes charging over the crest of the hill.

Its targeting sight finds Link’s pinned body, blue energy already gathering around its eye as it beeps rapidly.

He sees Wild whirl around to face it, mouth open as he yells. Instinctively, both he and Link pull on their Champion ability in a vain attempt to stretch the seconds out, but the world only stutters, time tripping for a moment before carrying forward undaunted.

The laser flies true. Link thinks he manages to scream before everything goes black.

He floats within oblivion, surrounded by nothingness until someone's hands reach out to cup his face. Teal light dances behind his eyelids.

"LINK!"

He chokes on a cough, wheezing, and feels hands roll him onto his side.

"Hey, hey, you're okay, just breathe." A high, panicked voice chatters above him, holding him steady.

Someone else is talking too, someone Link recognises. He struggles against the hands holding him and manages to end up on his back again.

Wild cradles his head carefully, letting Link come to rest in his lap. His face is bloodless and pale. Mipha sits beside him, shimmering with teal flames.

She smiles when his gaze lands on her and reaches a hand out to rest against his cheek. The touch is so cold it burns against his skin, and Link barely suppresses his flinch.

Mipha's eyes are so, so sad.

"Rest, Link." She tells him, voice distant as she begins to fade away. "You're safe now. You're going to be okay."

Link stares at her disappearing form, swallowing back another wave of bitterness that clogs his throat. He doesn’t look at Wild.

Mipha’s grief-stricken eyes are the last thing he sees before fatigue pulls him under.

(This is now a full fic on AO3, which you can read here)

[somegrumpynerd]

HEY. POINTS FINGER… any thoughts on how everyone reacted when the other joined the team? as in how did killer react when dust came, how did he and dust react when horror came, how did they all react when cross came, etc. i love love LOVE your bad sanses thoughts way too much they make me so happy. if i write hurt you write comfort and it’s awesome. also how do you think they slowly started to get closer? just.. bah give me your thoughts on them!!!! any thoughts!!!!!!!!!

You fool!! You’ve given me a chance to ramble about my special little guys and now this post will stretch on forever!! Mwahahahahah >:3c

No but seriously this is probably gonna be wicked long cause I have 1 million thoughts about these guys joining and meeting each other so uh, readmore for everybody’s safety and sanity

(^ I wrote that in the document before I started typing out my actual thoughts and uh

yeah no kidding, this is like a fucking essay so proceed with caution)

OKAY SO

I’ve said before that Nightmare got Dust for two reasons; one being that Dream had just recently started working with Ink (and soon Blue) so he and Killer were no longer able to gang up on Dream. He wanted somebody else to bulk up their numbers and give Killer a little back up. He also was starting to realise that Killer didn’t handle being alone very well, since this was when he most often got worked up and broke things around the castle (and sometimes tipped over into stage 3). Dust would be a perfect fit since he had the same amount of lvl and fighting experience as Killer, and since they were so close in circumstance they would be practically like brothers right?

The irony that he thought this about a guy he was recruiting to help kill his brother was apparently lost on him.

They absolutely hated each other. Like, it was instant. Killer saw him as a replacement, why would boss go out and get another sans - one with almost the same backstory as me - when I’m right here? Does he think I’m not good enough? Am I disposable and this is the backup for when I die in combat? He didn’t take it well. He took it all out on Dust too, not cooperating in battle, trying to start fights in the castle, etc. He couldn’t outright kill him because Nightmare had given him strict orders not to, but Killer loves a loophole. If he roughed Dust up down to 1hp and something else happened to finish him off, technically he’d followed orders.

Dust just straight up didn’t want to be there. Nightmare just showing up and yoinking him had worked fine with Killer, but Dust had wanted to sit in his empty au and die, he had no intention of joining a team or doing work of any kind - good or bad. The only reason he didn’t just lie down and refuse the entire time was that he had to fight back against Killer, as much as he wanted to die he refused to give this ass the satisfaction or lvl. He didn’t intend to be any help out in the field either, but again, Killer was making sure he got fired at so he had to retaliate to stay alive.

Eventually it got bad enough that Nightmare had to pull Killer aside and demand answers. In the year or so of knowing him Killer had never willfully disobeyed orders before, so Nightmare needed to know what had gotten into him. He dispelled the replacement rumour right away, he still wasn’t quite softened up enough to be sappy about it but he made sure Killer understood what a good worker he was and that Nightmare had no intention of losing him. It didn’t help a lot, they still hated each other for other reasons, but it eased a little.

Killer still had pretty frequent dips into stage 3, except now he would go straight for Dust usually. Nightmare had tried to explain what he’d learned about it to Dust, but he didn’t really believe that it wasn’t just Killer deciding to try and kill him for funsies. He only accepted it after a particular episode where he attacked Nightmare instead, which Dust knew Killer wouldn’t try in his right mind.

After he came back to his senses he sought Dust out. The air around Killer was very different after a stage 3, sort of sombre and almost calm, so Dust let them sit together and Killer apologised for giving him such a hard time. They actually talked for the first time in months while Killer was still calm (or tolerable, as Dust describes it), and it didn’t magically fix everything but, things were a little better. They still fought and argued and bothered each other but it wasn’t as sharp, there was a lack of real murderous intent in it all, and sometimes after an episode they would talk a little bit. It was the best Nightmare was going to get for now, so he took it.

They were still completely incompetent about taking care of themselves though. Neither of them would eat unless prompted and Nightmare didn’t have good enough knowledge of mortals to know when that should be to stop them passing out from hunger on the job. Not to mention the stars were now a full team, and with the way Killer and Dust would sometimes rather target each other on the field he could do with more backup.

Horror was the first of the group to get a choice in joining. Nightmare had taken note of how much Dust didn’t want to be part of things, and while it was in his best interests in the long run given his situation, Horror’s au was still mostly intact - though a little in disrepair. Horror was also the first in the group to have a good (and ongoing) relationship with his brother, so Nightmare knew he couldn’t just pop in and steal him, he had to be a bit more diplomatic with this one and offer a deal.

He gave Horror some time to think on his proposal - he would set up regular deliveries of food to Horror’s au in exchange for him joining their team - and was quite surprised when Horror agreed, with some stipulations. Horror was equally surprised when Nightmare agreed so easily to his terms (that he didn’t want his brother to know what he’d be doing, and that he wouldn’t kill). A little down the line the terms were altered to add that he would also be left to visit his au every week or so.

Horror was not impressed meeting the other two. He didn’t need his power as judge anymore to sense the lvl coming off them both, and given who they were working for he was instantly distrustful of them both (the uh, brother situation did not help). He was also in a place that had an abundance of food for the first time in probably years, so he was doing a lot of going hog wild in the kitchen and then getting very sick as a result.

Dust didn’t particularly feel anything for him. This guy hated him, sure, but it wasn’t forward and slashy like with Killer, it was just quiet loathing which was fine. That’s how Dust felt about himself so, y’know, mood. He did kind of feel sorry for him though, not just because of the whole famine and everything, but also because he was watching this guy eat like his life depended on it and then get sick and undo it day after day. He was the one who suggested Horror getting his food in moderation to Nightmare, which did help but was an absolute ordeal to enforce. Y’know how some people get hangry? Imagine that but you haven’t had a proper meal in years and now these people give you tiny amounts of food and don’t let you eat more for hours. The hunger mood swings were a sight to behold, you would never have guessed in those days that Horror specified not wanting to kill.

When his ability to eat had evened out and he was in better shape, Horror made a point of apologising to Dust for being aggressive with him. Over time he’d kind of softened up on him from his initial impression, since he could see plainly how wracked with guilt Dust was over his situation. It was a little easier to imagine that whatever he’d done was truly out of desperation and not just for fun, as Horror had assumed at first sight. 

They also both retained that classic sans laziness, so it was easy for them to share a space while saying and doing nothing. It made Horror the first person that Dust willingly spent time around in the castle (and vice versa since Horror was still largely suspicious of Nightmare and Killer - the deal seemed too good to be true and the stage 3 episodes didn’t help). As time went on, Horror kind of became Dust’s emotional support skeleton in a way. Dust had become quite averse to touch in his solitude and Horror very slowly brought him back out with casual gentle touches, until not only did he no longer freeze or stiffen at being grabbed but Dust would seek him out to flop next to on the couch. Horror claimed it was just returning the favour for helping with his eating situation, but really it was nice to have something resembling a friend here.

Killer, for his part, was going through This is My Replacement 2: Electric Boogaloo. Not to the same degree as with Dust, since Horror was quite a bit different, but Killer was still wary of this new addition. He didn’t really instigate anything though since, to be honest, Horror had the intimidation factor. He was like a foot taller than both of them, he had a cracked skull and completely different magic and it seemed like every time Killer saw him he was eating bread like a wolf eats a deer. So while he was going through his food moderating, Killer mostly just stayed quiet and kept his distance.

Horror had not softened on him like he had with Dust, since Killer didn’t openly show remorse. He still watched him with distrust, especially after seeing the way he scrapped with Dust for seemingly no reason other than for violence’s sake. Killer was still mostly targeting Dust in his stage 3s, but Horror had to be careful to stay out of his way since he was still working with much lower hp than the other two. What did start to convince him was seeing how similar Killer and Dust were after a stage 3 episode. Once Killer was slightly more composed (ie stopped crying), he became so tired and quiet and blunt about things he normally joked his way around. It was a little startling, but also started to bring Horror around to the idea that Killer might regret his actions too, just buried under several layers of whatever the hell is also wrong with him at any given time.

Killer and Horror only really started interacting after talking about Dust. Killer was asking how he got Dust to like him since he seems to hate everyone and everything else, Horror told him very pointedly it was because he wasn’t trying to kill Dust. Killer admitted he wasn’t trying to kill Dust, at least not anymore, he just wanted to fight for fun. It opened up a better channel of understanding, knowing that Killer did not actually have murderous intent behind his swings (stage 3 notwithstanding). It made it easier for Horror to occasionally get involved in the roughhousing which Killer delighted in, knowing that the other two knew how to hold back enough to keep him from dusting.

Speaking of stage 3, it was around this time that Killer and Dust made a very important deal. After a particularly rough episode with a little too close of a call, Killer showed up in Dust’s room and begged him shakily to make a promise - that if he ever got too out of control during one of his stages, Dust would kill him. He’d been told over and over by Nightmare that it was impossible for Killer to hurt him since he was immortal, but now there were more people around him where that wasn’t the case, and he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he came out of a stage and found himself alone. Dust promised.

It’s also worth mentioning that, once they were all close enough to be on speaking terms, Horror started bullying the shit out of these two about eating. Now that Horror knew neither of them were going to kill him, he felt safe enough to pick them up by the scruff and set them at the table to say they weren’t leaving until they had at least a snack. He let them pick what they would eat - he wasn’t that cruel about it - but he had to see them eat at least 3 times a day or they would hear about it.

It was by no means perfect or regular, but after about half a year Nightmare finally had henchmen who ate food and worked together (mostly).

Now here’s the problem… I still haven’t really figured out how or why Cross joined the team. Like, obviously there’s some kind of point in the events of underverse where it splits off into an alternate timeline, but I haven’t really figured out where yet so. Leave that one with me just a little longer. Cross joins.

Nightmare really truly didn’t intend to take anyone else in. They were (mostly) getting along, they were pretty well matched to fight the stars, he had no need of more mortals.

…but he was also pretty soft at this point. Every one of them had taken a blow to his I’m immortal I’m an island I don’t get attached to others persona and he’d gotten pretty damn fond of them all. This was why when he felt the sheer weight of loneliness radiating off of Cross, he just couldn’t bring himself to leave him.

So Cross entered the castle. 

He did not particularly intend to stay or make friends, he was trying to get his world back and nothing more. He even revealed a little down the line that he outright refused to kill, and was quite surprised to find that Nightmare was fine with that. At the start he was polite but not friendly with the others and mostly kept to himself.

Dust, as is often the case, did not really have an opinion. Another new guy, this one was self sufficient and didn’t bother him so he had no reason to get involved. He was content to be in the same room as Cross but didn’t start up any conversations.

Horror felt the need to speak to Cross, since Dust would happily stay silent for years and Killer was, well, Killer. Horror was somehow the closest thing to normal they had, so he was the one that made small talk. Mostly asking what Cross would like for meals and encouraging him to pick something he liked when he got the answer of “anything is fine”. As Cross settled in a bit more and actually opened up, they bonded over being the only two to enjoy food. Horror made a point of adding chocolate to the stock they kept in the kitchen and making tacos here and there for Cross.

Horror was also the first Cross kind of warmed to, mostly because he was the one devoid of lvl and Nightmare had mentioned he’d also said he wouldn’t kill. Learning a little about his au’s situation only softened Cross to him more, especially seeing that he still cared a lot for his brother and was trying to protect his home (even if Cross found it unthinkable that he lived away from it). It was through Horror that he also got accustomed to Dust, how being quiet and distant was kind of his default and that he also felt deeply haunted by the loss of his world. They weren’t exactly friends, but it was comfortable enough.

So now boss had taken in another new person, someone who takes orders like a soldier and fights with knives and ruthless precision and aims to be his righthand man, and Killer was ecstatic. By now he’d mostly put his fears of being disposable behind him, Nightmare had gotten a bit less subtle in showing how important they all were to him and Killer felt confident he wouldn’t be replaced. Which was a little bit funny, because the only guy he didn’t feel threatened by was the one who absolutely competed for his spot.

Cross needed to prove he was useful, he had to feel like he earned his keep and that all the training and suffering he’d done was for a reason. When Nightmare sent them on missions, Cross aimed to be the fastest and the most efficient and to report to Nightmare without question. Horror and Dust looking on would have expected Killer to see this 100% as a threat to his position as (self proclaimed) Nightmare’s second in command, and to go for this guy’s throat when nobody else was around.

But Killer was fascinated. Cross was completely different from any of them, bar Nightmare whose au is a whole different kettle of fish, so he had a certain element of unpredictability to him. Horror and Dust were both based on classic sans just like him, so to a certain degree he knew how they would feel about most things and what they might say, the only differences being in what they had experienced through their own timelines. Cross was based on a swap sans and his au had taken wild twists and turns away from usual events, so Killer had to learn everything about him by poking and prodding for answers or observing from a distance, much like back when it was just him and Nightmare. Cross was something new to be studied and Killer loved taking notes.

Cross did not see this as friendly. He was competing with Killer for approval, not realising Killer was playing their contest like a game. When he saw Cross training he would jump in to spar for fun, but Cross saw his rival trying to get a jump on him and take him out of the running. When Killer would hang around and pester Cross in their off time with questions, it didn’t seem like someone taking interest, it seemed like someone being nosy and looking for weaknesses to exploit. When Horror mentioned that Killer was being surprisingly contained and friendly, Cross really thought he was fucking with him.

The first time Cross was willing to even consider this was the case was when his locket came loose on the field and Killer ran back to find it, since one of the notes he’d taken was how the locket wasn’t something Cross would play about (the same as Horror with food). It didn’t make sense for someone who was seriously competing to have him kicked out to just hand his necklace back, no ransoms or attempts to crush it to upset him, just some vague remark about “owing him one” and then right back to Nightmare for orders.

Cross had to give him something of a chance after that, Horror helped a lot by telling him “he doesn’t want to hurt you, he just doesn’t know how to be normal”. It was mostly a playful jab at Killer, but reframing their interactions changed it significantly for Cross. Now they were sparring playfully and having friendly competition on jobs. He wasn’t as put off when Killer went into stage 3 because he knew he could match him in combat and the others were always on hand to help restrain or distract him. Cross also took note of how Killer calmed down a lot for physical touch, not unlike how Dust had warmed up to Horror. It went a long way into not only making him a little less combative for attention every day, but it seemed to put longer stretches between his episodes (which Cross had also started tracking so they wouldn’t be caught out by them as much).

For his part, Killer has disobeyed instructions in the past to benefit Cross, usually ignoring the task to help him if he’s hurt. He’s also given Nightmare nudges towards praising him because he’s noted that that’s what Cross needs in the same way he needs touch (not that Nightmare doesn’t praise them normally, but when Cross is going through it and needs something). He also doesn’t particularly like chocolate but has made a point of not admitting this to Horror so he can give his chocolate to Cross.

(It’s also worth noting that Cross is the only one, besides Nightmare, that has been to Horror’s au. He offered to help out during the food delivery and got to meet Horror’s Papyrus (who he is a little intimidated by but ultimately friendly with, even though it’s a little weird since he’s a good bit different from his own Papyrus). Dust and Killer can’t really visit for a few reasons, mostly because everyone will notice their lvl immediately and know what they’ve done. Dust especially doesn’t know how he would react to having a Papyrus in front of him again and doesn’t want to put Horror's family at risk to find out. Whenever he visits, his Papyrus asks about Cross now and sometimes tries to make tacos for him (key word tries, he’s still a Papyrus after all). He may have joked that seeing Cross sometimes is “like having another brother but younger and less lazy” and when Horror told him this Cross may or may not have cried.)

And that’s where we are now!

They’re a very strange group who’ve been through some inexplicable events and have all changed each other in one way or another. And whether or not it can be admitted, they are a family c:

Now onto how Nightmare was made emotionally open by each of them!! In this essay I will no just kidding could you imagine this is already like 7 pages long

If you got to the end of this post please drink some water and get yourself a snack

[transmechanicus]

Sometimes love feels like you’ve splattered yourself against a wall and there’s really no dignified way to get back up from that

[rylsticfm]

me when the only good opportunity to draw my favorite doomed besties is when they kill each other

[thelighthousemp3]

slow morning

[blueberry-ink-93]

just finished studying yesterdays leftovers. im going to weep in vexation 🙃

[krispiecake]

tell me why i can hear another tenants fucking music from my flat. HE DOESNT EVEN LIVE IN MY BUILDING. HE LIVES IN A COMPLETELY SEPARATE BUILDING ON THE SECOND FLOOR AND I CAN HEAR HIS MUSIC FROM MY FLAT. MY FLAT WHICH IS IN A DIFFERENT SEPARATE BUILDING.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

bioware character creator screen: have you considered a multi-winged eyeliner, two shimmer shades, and gold glitter for your daily eye look?

rook: WE ARE IN DAILY PERIL

[berryunho]

the answer-verse of it all

[faaun]

Trying 2 be so normal rn