#talus took it literally

[tinygayproductions]

i love stone mommy

[strangeduckpaper]

Power Rangers Rewrite: Mighty Morphin'

Season 1 & Background

Because the Boom Comics actually expounds on their backstories, Rita & Zedd have their comics backstories. Rita is specifically from a planet known as Bandora, which has a lot of magical practitioners, including an organized order of witches.

Bandorans are taller than humans, and to a human eye always look a little sickly.

The Power Coins used to belong to a multi planetary team (the Zyu Rangers) with explicitly Alien Zords resembling the 2017 movie. Rita killed the Green Ranger and took that Coin, thus control of the Dragonzord.

The 90’s Zyu Rangers interpreted the Zords on the Coins as artistic renditions of Earth animals, thus minorly reformatting the Zords when they’re finally brought to bear.

Jason actually beats Tommy during their fight like in Zyuranger.

Season 2

Grace Sterling gets introduced, and Zordon tells the story of the 1969 Rangers.

The Stone Canyon Trio are introduced, giving an outside perspective to the Rangers.

Zedd doesn’t arrive…yet. He does send messages to Rita in the form of nightmares.

No Thunderzords, the Zyu/Dino Megazord survives, since I wanna keep the Dairangers (Thunder Star Rangers) in my back pocket.

In the same vein, Tommy doesn’t get the White Tiger Power Coin after losing the Green Power Coin, instead he gets a White Brachiosaurus Power Coin that ties him to Titanus, which itself is reformatted to serve as armor and weaponry for the Zyu Megazord.

Tommy’s Ranger Suit is white and gold, with the MM sculpted mouth helmet and Dragon shield, but with elements of the Dino Thunder Black suit, while Saba is literally just a repainted Bracchio Staff.

Before Tommy comes back, Rita launches the Dark Ranger’s scheme from the comics, which comes to an end once Tommy arrives, destroying the Dark Ranger’s Power Source (A Dark Mockery of a Zeo Crystal?)

The Rita putty escapes, albeit heavily wounded, to fight another day.

Kiya comes to Earth following the Dark Rangers, chasing the power source used. She sticks around for a while.

The first half of the season ends with a final confrontation with Goldar when he attempts to throw Angel Grove into the Dark Dimension during Jason, Trini & Zack’s graduation, and is struck down by Tommy and Jason. The Stone Canyon Trio helps.

Jason, Trini and Zack decide to take a gap year, and are given the Omega Morphers to help Kiya hunt down the source of the knockoff Zeo Crystal, while the Stone Canyon Trio take their places.

Rito arrives afterwards, with some new mercenaries to give the Rangers trouble, including Dayne. Scorpina, meanwhile, leaves, vowing vengeance against the Rangers.

Their adventures include a crossover with the Masked Rider of Edenoi.

The season finale is Zedd’s arrival, Serpentera in tow, and challenges the Rangers to combat.

He destroys the Megazord with Serpentera, before taking them on 1-v-6, rendering the Power Coins useless one after the other, until only Tommy is left with his powers.

Tommy tries, but Zedd captures him, and brings him back to the Moon Castle, leaving the other Rangers to lick their wounds and wallow in their powerlessness.

Season 3

With the Power Coins useless, the Omega Rangers out of contact and Zordon unable to access back-up Ranger powers, Zordon sends the Rangers to Ninjor to create powers of their own.

In the meanwhile, he calls for reinforcements, the Rangers of Aquitar (known as the Doron Rangers), with more on the way.

Zedd sends more monsters to delay the Rangers, and gathers forces fromDark Spector, including Master Vile, to attempt and summon the dark god Lokar from the Talus Dimension.

The Rangers pass Ninjor’s trials and gain their Ninjetti Power Coins and Zords, with all new suits coming with them.

They have elements of the American Ninja Ranger uniforms, the Dairangers, with MM helmets remodeled to reflect their new Zords.

Meanwhile, Tommy is being held by the villains, where he strikes up a friendship with Finster, who eventually helps free him.

During this escape, he finds remnants of the tools used in the corruption of the Green Dragon Power Coin, and takes it.

The Rangers return to Earth and meet the Doron rangers. There’s some chafing, especially between Billy and Cestro, though that rivalry shifts into something more…amorous.

Tommy arrives, Finster by his side and arcane secrets in hand. Finster and Alpha duke it out at least once.

In the background, we’re introduced to new transfer students Tanya Sloan and Kat Hillard. Kat gets mind controlled but it gets broken.

Eventually, Finster, Alpha, Tideus and Delphine figure out how to reactivate the Dragonzord, dormant since the loss of the Green Power Coin, and Tommy uses the power of friendship to bring it back under control.

Master Vile attempts to interfere, but the Rangers strike him down with Ninjor’s help. 

Deciding to take advantage, the rangers attack the moon palace, reinforced by the Masked Rider and the Omega Rangers (Now with Yale replacing Kiya)

The Rangers win, destroying Serpentera, and wrecking the moon base, though Lokar is summoned.

In order to seal him, the Mighty Morphin Rangers sacrifice the Ninjetti Power Coins to do so, while Tommy’s powers once again become unstable.

In the aftermath, the rangers disperse. Kim goes off to pursue her gymnastics career, Billy leaves for Aquitar as a representative of Earth, NASADA, and Prometheus.

Aisha also leaves to join humanitarian aid.

Tommy, a bit adrift, decides to stay with Adam and Rocky, and possibly form a new team.

After all, while they did beat them up, they never saw Rita, Rito, or Zedd actually fall…

<-Prev/Next->

[phiralovesloki]

Tonight, on Tears of the Kingdom:

We were delinquent for a while because it's been a shit week, took us a little while to remember what we were doing

Found one of those double koroks and I was just like, "I'm going to carry him over, no way am I building a boat," but on the other side of the bridge was a battle talus, so I built a boat I guess!

Misko's treasure has produced the following frustrations: - WHERE IS THE CLIMBING ARMOR YOU BASTARD (we found it but I'm angry) - Excuse me, I didn't realize that there were WORSE like likes - Yay, killed a Bubbulfrog! What's that battle music?

I miss remote bombs SO MUCH

This one lady was fighting bokoblins and we helped, but one of the bokoblins literally fled the scene before we could kill it; since we didn't finish killing all of the attackers, she wouldn't thank us and give us stuff--rude!

We have learned about Pony Points, and all I can say is that if this is Nintendo's way of trying to make me care about horses, it's not going to work

Found our first hearty truffle and I literally squealed

We forgot we named one of our horses Achenar (he's blue)

[o-wyrmlight]

Go ahead I want to hear it

Okay so like. Putting this under a Read More because Spoilers or whatever for Tears of the Kingdom, involving story spoilers and progression spoilers.

I am. Also going to go into a bit of detail about the journey thusfar, so. More spoilers in that regard.

So to start off with, the first story progression tidbit I did was with the Rito--because that's what the game strongly implied I should do. I met my nephew, Tulin, helped the Rito with their business, and proceeded to fuck off to do other things, including:

Ride on the dragon Naydra for literally 24 in-game hours

Explore the depths and fight the Yiga Clan and Kohga before realizing I have literally nothing to worry about and deciding to let him do whatever in Lanyru Mine

Kakariko Village, where I try to figure out how to see the last tablet for the ring ruins before eventually giving up on it

Finishing Lookout Landing's Depths missions, which let Robbie go back to Hateno Village

Explore the Depths for. Fucking ever, man. I was down there for a while.

Little side quests here and there.

So then I reach Hateno, and I talk to Robbie, who activates my shrine locator. He informs me of some other aspects of the tablet, but the one I actually need to work on is the Travel Medallion--because I'm cool and hip like that and good at taking pictures of random things.

And I think to myself, after running around and doing some other things--I.E. the school missions up to the second one--I think, 'Oh! The school needs monster extract, which they said is in Tarrey Town. I can go to Tarrey Town on the way to get the Travel Medallion and maybe hit up Death Mountain to get started on that quest.' Because the game nodded toward that as being the intended path.

So I go onto my map, and I mark down where I think Tarrey Town is. And I start heading north--climbing mountains and trying to find shrines and the like. And eventually, as I'm going along at the top of a hilly mountainous ridge, I come across something I. Hadn't seen before.

It looks like gloom, but thicker. It's a different color. It makes disgusting... gross sounds. And I'm just standing there for a minute, wondering, 'What the fuck is that? Is that some sort of bog? If I step into this fairly large blemish, will I sink or get hurt?' Tentatively, I step into it, step out--step in, and I don't sink. But I move so... so slow.

And I think, 'Oh, this is new. I wonder if there's a new mini boss like the Talus around that uses this... mud. This slimy stuff.' So I'm looking around for that as I continue toward my destination, and I come across more puddles of this gross sludge stuff. Until, eventually, I find my way shambling over the hill, and I see something that I don't comprehend at first.

It takes me a while to recognize it. Something blue like a line with brown stuff on the other side, like it's holding it back. Eventually, it clicks in my brain that this is a dam. Eventually, it clicks in my brain that the brown stuff is water.

Very quickly, I realize where I am, and I'm. Honestly kind of horrified.

Somehow, I've found myself in Zora's Domain instead. Because instead of pinning Tarrey Town on the map, I pinned the main hub for the Zoras instead.

And then there is stuff falling from the sky--globs of it, steady streams trickling from above way off in the distance. At first I assumed it was some weird waterfall, but it turns out, it wasn't. It was sludge. Pollution. This water is polluted.

And I'll be honest. Mipha's storyline is my favorite in Breath of the Wild. So it felt like a duty and an obligation to see this taken care of.

So I meet with Sidon. I roll up my sleeves. I get to work.

And that's what I did last night. I got to work.

(As a side note, I was legit SO angry and upset when I saw they took down Mipha's statue from the Zora's Domain square until I found her in Mipha Court. Of course I paid my respects to her--a moment of silence for one of the best arcs in BotW.)

[thegeminisage]

i've decided to start in central hyrule & work my way outward re: shrines & seeds. reason: i am weak af and if i do this i will collect materials along the way which will help me upgrade my armor, or at least give me something i can cook and/or sell, and seeds and shrines will help me with weapons/health/stamina. win/win/win if collecting korok seeds doesnt make you wanna end it all

obviously i am gonna have to do this in Small Doses. i'm thinking every x number of seeds/every area i stop and do one of the sidequests in my backlog to keep it interesting

i'm on the other island next to hyrule castle looking for the chasm the map swears is here. i'm starting to wonder if i cant sneak into hyrule castle via these, even though there's a wall, because there's a deep spot on the other one. i am not <3 going to find out

so it is Not here. i can't find any sort of cave entrance or anything it could be in, like the other one...does it unlock later...? is this too part of the fifth sage quest

eigh the hyrule castle music coming it. stop i know i know im too close!!!! such different vibes from the deceptively peaceful central hyrule of botw...

IF OUND THE CAVE!!! ANOTHER FROX!!!!!!! i'm scared!!!!!!!!!!

OH EWWWW WHEN YOU'RE IN THE AIR IT TRIES TO CATCH YOU IN ITS MOUTH THAT IS SO GROSSSSS

i used. almost literally. every weapon i had left. i have like a fire wand a mining stick and two shitty swords. what the fuck what the fuuuck

luckily there's a lightroot like right here. i saw it when i got in but i was Uh. busy.

well there is fuck all else down here so now my new priority is finding weapons. i know lookout landing has some...hinoxes usually carry good ones...AUGHGHGH

god the ones here SUUUCK i am in such trouble.

i cant fight a hinox with no weapons...so thats out

maybe a construct camp...? i could start in the great sky islands. literally back 2 basics

luckily i still have lots of arrows and many good strong bows, so i can use that to my advantage

took out a construct camp. got one (1) Pretty Good sword

okay, with some fusing i now have 2 pretty good swords, one pretty decent sword, and two shitty ones, plus a fire rod, mining stick, and...an actual stick, that i picked up off the ground, just in case. i think i can work with this

landed in the deya village ruins! i've been wanting to poke around here actually...then i'll get back to central hyrule lol

very nostalgic...this is where i got my first blood moon in botw...since it was already night, the ruins were creeping me out, they remind me of a spooky location in okami. and i had no idea what was happening when the sky went red and the music changed because i hadn't seen the red moon rise, i was looking at the ground!! it really freaked me out lol, i'll always remember it

yooo there's a shrine in this well!!!!!

there's a talus down here KICKING my ass. his little thingy is on his back and i never know how to defeat those 😭

I MISS STASIS >:(

got him. jesus fuck

on the bright side this is another cool thing to add to my weapons. my supply is refilling itself rather nicely

back in central hyrule and i found a little island absolutely COVERED in flint and arrows. environmental storytelling.........not sure WHAT story they're telling but i see them telling it

OHHH my god. when i was flying over. some gloom hands just. SPAWNED BENEATH ME. TOTALLY SOUNDLESSLY. AND NOW I'M STUCK UP HERE BC IF I GET DOOOWWWWWN

this is the thing. this is the thing. when i said "guardians are scarier" i'm not implying these motherfuckers are not scary. bc they are. but u have to understand my first encounter w guardians was a complete and total surprise. just, bam, piano, YOU'VE BEEN SPOTTED, the sheer terror of fleeing for cover

but the hands. everyone talked about the hands before i got there. i saw them spawn down at the bottom of the labyrinth at a good distance away. i had time to absorb what was coming and it was not remotely a surprise

and then they spawned in the dark, without a single sound

and then they spawned UNDERNEATH ME, without a single sound

THERE IS NOT EVEN MUSIC PLAYING RIGHT NOW. EVERYTHING JUST WENT SILENT.

these are the antithesis of guardians. a guardian will scream its presence at you and the scream makes you wanna duck and cover. the hands will be killing you before you even know they're there. anytime anywhere no warning whatsoever. it's apples and oranges. they're both fucking scary

anyway i can't get down from here.

i can't get down and i do not want to fight them I Do Not Want To I Do Not Want To I DO NOT WANT TO

if i wait long enough, will they despawn...?

ok no. i gotta go for it. im so scared

went for it, made it, barely. the music didn't start but they looked up with their horrible eyes and they were on their way to me. i went over a hill and i stopped hearing the sound effects and now i hear normal music again but i sort of have to go that way a teensy bit to get ym korok seed and i'm too scared. what if they're still there! when do they despawn!

ok. i'm gonna go for it and if i see even a hint of them i'll fast travel away >:(

absolutely zero signs of them of COURSE it's way too far away but some chuchus jumped out at me and scared me shitless

at least guardians don't keep scaring you AFTER THEYRE GONE. theyre def cooler tho

okay i have to quit now bc it's bedtime and also for my own mental wellbeing. EUGH those hands!!!!!

[halfwayanywhere]

HRP Day 12: Decisions I wake up before sunrise, and the weather isn’t looking good. After sleeping early yesterday to wait out the weather, I am disappointed. My hope was this would have blown over last night. Instead, I find the ground outside covered in snow. I go back to sleep. Waking up again a few hours later to the same weather (and with far too many hours of sleep behind me), I decide to hike out. However, after being unable to find a route up the mountain and not being able to see the ridge where I’m going, I decide the smart move is to retreat to the shelter, and I do. Good thing I have a lot of podcasts downloaded. Again attempting to wait out the weather, I start to get a bit stir crazy. A couple more hours, and I decide to detour around this peak/ridge via a slightly lower route. It adds a couple of miles, but it means I will stay a bit lower, and hopefully, I can make my way through the weather without issue. I can't stay in this shelter any longer. This alternate route proves more complicated than I had hoped as it still requires me to cross two high cols (cols I would also cross if I took the initially intended route over Pic de la Géla). The climb to Hourquette de Héas (which I guess is an Hourquette and not a col - whatever that is), is snow-covered, but I manage it without too much difficulty. However, the other side is far steeper and holds much more snow. I fall on my ass a dozen times, picking my way down steep, snow-covered talus and scree. I traverse to and climb to Hourquette de Chermentas before a steep descent (this time snow-free) and lots of contouring through clouds. The HRP’s next section climbs to a peak and follows a long ridgeline - not something I want to do in weather. I could drop to a low route, but this would be a large bypass, and I am still not frustrated enough with the weather to do this. An even more basic shelter than the one I just came from (literally just an empty square cinder block room) is my home for tonight. Don’t let me down again tomorrow, weather. Cabane des Aires to Refuge de Barroude Distance: 9.95 mi / 16 km Elevation: 3,730 ft / 1,137 m #hauteroutepyrénéenne #pyreneeshighroute

[delphiniumarchangelmoon]

How do you use map icons in totk cause mine are:

Leaf: foraging area for rare/useful materials (fun fact you can get hearty bass at that low gravity island with the mirror puzzle, the water never refills but the fish still spawn and just around on the floor. It’s part of my “post blood moon rotation” of foraging points and enemy spawns.

Skull: enemy I can’t reliably defeat yet (I finally got all mine off my map! TAJE that silver lynels you fucking suck ass)

Sword: mini boss/tough enemy I can reliably defeat

person looking one: Addison sign or backpack korok to return to later

Crystal tower thing: depths ascend point

Cooking pots: overworld cooking pots in useful locations so I don’t have to rely on portable ones all the time

Hearts: korok puzzles or areas I think are going to be used fir a side quest later

stars: anything else, usually related to whatever I’m working on at that moment

Bonus content: my material grinding routine for every blood moon as a paranoid newbie to this franchise who is not going into the final fight until I’m considerably over prepared.

Immediately go to the Lanayru Promenade and teleport to the O-ogim shrine, ascend up and defeat the three lynels that spawn in a line heading northwest from that point. This is both farming for weapons and fuse parts AND practice with dodging and flurry rushes (it took me a Long Time to figure them out and I’m not going to stop until I can get 5 in a row)

Then I open my map again and teleport to two locations where Gibdo’s spawn (gibdo bones my beloved) generally the underground cemetery then the ancient altar ruins, it’s generally worth putting a travel medallion down in a Gerudo cave of your choice cause desert travel is awful and most of the caves for some reason don’t have shrines

Then I teleport to several sky islands rapidly:

Ga-ahisas shrine in the North Tabantha Sky for aforementioned fish

Josiu shrine in north Necluda sky (then to the island north of it with the pond) for a big radish + everything else those islands grow

And finally the water temple, as it’s my preferred location for farming Construct parts. I like combat in low gravity im a sniper at heart just let me have infinite bullet time

(my current plan for Ganondorf is a full inventory of rocket shields + multi shot bows + gibdo bones. everything else is a backup plan. I hope I don’t need the backup plans cause they’re not very good. One is literally to look up on YouTube how to build an indestructible car and just run him over till he dies)

Then I stop off at Sturnida Springs Cave (north + a little west of Rito Village) aka the crazy mushroom cave. Also a decent place for a travel medallion tbh, it’s fairly far from any travel points.

Then its Hateno to harvest from the school field and set the new crop (I’m usually rotating between endura carrots and hearty radishes) and buy out anything useful at the store, mostly pumpkins. And arrows. I consider anything under 150 to be running low.

If I’m running low in cash I track down a rare stone talus or two, there’s two fairly close to the Gerudo Canyon tower.

Then I spend the remaining time either defeating gloom spawn/boss rematches in the depths/more Lynels depending on what I’m running low on, or farming parts from a dragon (I try to rotate but. It’s usually Dinraal cause she’s my favorite dragon)

And when I inevitably get bored of this I switch to collecting poes in the depths to buy bomb flowers.

And yes. My link does have a severe addiction to speed elixers. That’s none of your business. It gets the job done. Gan won’t know what fucking hit him (it’s bones and bombs. He’s getting hit by bones and bombs)

And anyway I don’t want to do the final boss until I’ve done the majority of things to do in the game, it feels like the finale should be… final, yanno? I’m not gonna find every korok seed or anything but I do want to get all inventory upgrades, get every armor piece and upgrade most of them, do all the side quests, fill my compendium most of the way, etc.

but even then I’m still REALLY close. I’ve got like… three shrines, five quests, 4 wells, and maybe 2 armor pieces left and SURELY more m close to getting all the Addison signs I mean I never slacked on those. I already have plans lined up to get upgrades for the armor pieces I already have (fuck the goddamn star things I just want to upgrade my own damn canonical armor and you want falling stars AND dragon parts? Literally fuck off) so. Im running out of things to do to avoid the ending 😬

[neopoint]

!! you studied ecology:00 that is one of the majors i was interested in studying ^^ it's such a cool science, i would love to hear about your favorite ecology topics!

i did yes, one of the majors in my double major was ecology/evo bio! it is such a cool science i'm happy you're interested in it, i definitely do recommend taking some courses even if you don't pick it as a major ^v^

i have so many favourite topics honestly!!! other than just the idea of all living things being more closely tied together and reliant on each other through ecological relationships than people think like that post said bc that's def my top one, i think one of my other favourites that i took a course for was physiological ecology, because it was so fascinating to see the very specific ways in which physiological processes in organisms are matched with their environment, and in the current day, how environmental changes can be incompatible with certain physiological adaptations. a case study animal that we looked at in that course that i wrote a short article on (and one that was also one of the mascot organisms of my first ever course in that major that we're all required to take lol) is the american pika - they're actually thermal specialists and well adapted to a cold narrow alpine niche, but that niche as you can imagine is disappearing with climate change as temperatures go higher and higher, and there is only so much they can move upwards in altitude in search of cooler temperatures because mountains well... end

they have a super high metabolic rate and they're actually a part of the lagomorph family (rabbits) which was so shocking to me because i assumed they must be a rodent of some kind!!!!!!!! they lack the distinctive bunny ears because longer ears radiate out more heat so they have tiny ones and a super round body to conserve their heat 🥺 in the summer months they usually find cooler spots under talus rock formations to avoid overheating, and in cases where they're unable to find cooler temperatures, they literally will die because they cannot form a metabolic response in high temperatures and the heat stress is too intense even at a temp as low as 25C (which is also like #me bc i hate any temperature above 23). this means that they are becoming an endangered species unfortunately, and we also learned about so many other types of specialists that have gone or will go extinct as the face of the environment changes rapidly under anthropogenic causes, because the rate at which we change things is much much more rapid than the rate at which species genetically adapt to their surroundings, and they are often way more specifically adapted to a niche than ppl would expect so they can't just move. that niche also includes other species that they've coexisted with and not just the physical environment, the removal of one member of the system can cause collapse of other species too, even just looking at trophic levels and predator-prey interactions on a rougher scale (which also starts to go into behavioural ecology). everything in the natural world is connected in so many ways!

okay i was gonna try to talk about some other topics and maybe link a few papers but i think i rambled enough already JGFJSFSHBSDFF im so sorry 😭 i love healthcare too obviously but i miss learning about this stuff quite a lot. i just think it's beautiful how every creature is made for where it lives and also incredibly tragic that we disrupt ecological processes the way we do when indigenous groups were able to live as members of these environments in harmony for so long. anyways probably a boring rant to anyone else but i promise ecology is actually really really interesting!!!!!!

[deafeningdreamerthing]

Revalink prompt - Mute Revali

- Okay so, I’ve read a bundle of stories where Revali learned minor signing in order to communicate with Link better, but it got me thinking about Revalink sign conversations and all of a sudden I just sat up and thought “What If Revali got turned mute?”

- Like an incident just took his voice away for a few weeks (or better yet, his voice gets stolen by Astor and he’s gotta track that bitch down to get it back)

- and Revali would be crushed because he can’t be silent, he gotta talk and boast and be the thespian he was always meant to be! How will anyone know how great he is without him reminding them all the time? There’s gonna be moments when he opens his mouth trying to talk and just suddenly... can’t. And things he does and wants to say just get skipped over because of it.

- At first he tries to ignore it, but by day 3 literally everyone can see that he’s going insane just because of the issues it’s causing. First little stuff to piss him off. Like the Innkeeper couldn’t understand him saying he wants to be waken in the morning and Revali wakes up at noon pissed.

- But eventually dangerous miscommunications start happening. Revali was told to scout ahead, and now couldn’t properly convey there was a frost talus heading for them so the gotta mOVE NOW!

- And the best part? He always mocked Link for being mute, and now he himself cannot talk. And now Link’s gotta teach him sign. Meaning he’s forced to make nice with the person he hates or else he doesn’t get any form of communication at all.

- Bonus points if only Link is fluent in sign and the other’s only know little tidbits, making Link the only person Revali can actually have conversations with. (Plus now they get to have secret conversations only they can understand).

- Revali suddenly has to spend all his time with Link because he’s the only one he can actually talk to. Though he hates having to swallow his pride and point to stuff to ask what the sign for it is.

- Revalink scenes galore

- plus they end up bonding over things like people assuming stuff and idiots not knowing sign just being irritating. Just being mute in general. Plus Revali eventually realizing how (not just degrading) but outright rude it is to assume you know everything about a person that doesn’t talk. And that sign is a actually really important language to know because the people that speak it are physically unable to commicate in any other way.

- Revali learning that- no, the silent knight is not dark and mysterious and thinks himself higher than everyone else, he just can’t speak and has a very neutral face even when impressed. Even better is when people assume Link and Revali are exchanging super secret information when they’re really just signing about how fucking humid the weather is down in Faron. (Humid weather make’s Revali’s feathers fluffy).

- Insert scene where Revali watches Zelda have a one-sided conversation with Link where she goes “I don’t need you hovering, I’m cabable of taking care of myself” When he was trying to tell her something helpful. Cue shocked Revali being like ‘does that seriously happen?’ and Link goes ‘All the time’. And Revali being appalled at the amount of assumed ill intent behind everything Link does.

- Tons of signing conversations

- Revali gets a couple months to see what it’s like to be in Link’s shoes, and realizes a lot both about himself and about Link. It’s the wake up call he needs.

- When Revali finally gets his voice back, he offers to be Link’s translator. They go everywhere together. They’ll still have signing conversations with each other too.

[hyrule-kingdom-updates]

Lonc time

Launo was born in Hateno, his dad, a printer and mother, a baker. His childhood home is the old house in Hateno Village that you can buy in Breath of the Wild. (It also might interest you to know that a certain magic Hartell hung out there for a bit and conversed with a certain magical soul dealing statue)

When Launo moved to Rauru, and eventually became a knight, he specialized in large, heavy weapons like axes, claymores, and hammers. He was ranked the 8th best in his class, 1st being one Arcadius Hartell.

Launo lost his leg when helping out at Fort Hateno, trying to rake in a few more rupees and all that. There was giant Stone Talus on its way to Hateno Village, and Launo and a few others were sent out to take care of it. The explosions that day are the reason for some of the irregular holes within the Cliffs of Quince, and although the Talus was driven off, it wasn’t before it threw one of it’s boulder arms at Launo. He barely dodged the fatal attack, as it crushed his right leg and foot. It took an entire day to lift the rock off him because everyone was afraid of amputation

Larc, at the time, was still in Rauru with the kids. He, at the top of his knight class, became the youngest captain at 22, and had been rising through the ranks ever since. Just a week prior to the talus incident, he had been given a new regiment to lead and was under a lot of stress during the whole ordeal. This was when Larc, for the first time in years, reached out to Siv and beg him to watch his family while he rush Launo to Zora’s Domain in hope to save his leg.

Mipha could not completely heal Launo at the time, and it was the Zora blacksmith, Dento, that crafted his first prosthetic. At the news of this, the Knights immediately booted Launo to an early retirement because they didn’t think a guy with only one leg could keep up. Launo was pretty beaten up about this at first, but eventually found a new hobby, and eventually career in learning blacksmithing at Zora’s Domain. Launo stayed in Zora’s Domain for a year and a half, (LinkLink and Aryll coming to visit every now and again) before eventually returning and starting his new business in Rauru--Iron Bone Forge. (A name that had Larc chuckling, although with a few weak oppositions and concerns about) Launo typically sold sweets to customers while they waited for their weapons/armour/etc to finish. The business is also an extension on their own house and not an entirely seperate building.

While they were already married at this point, Launo couldn’t wear one of his fancy boots that he had originally wore during their wedding. So his first self-made prosthetic was essentially just his old metal leg painted white with a blue bow placed on it, which matched decently to the other actual boot.

Launo has made over 20 types of prosthetics for his leg over the years, including a gag leg that had a whisk on it so that he could “multitask” as he put it. He doesn’t wear it but sometimes Aryll uses it to churn butter

Even thought Larc literally had nothing to do with Launo’s leg situation, he still feels some guilt, so he attempted to “apologize” by getting a dog, and that’s when they both discovered that Launo’s allergic to dogs. that’s also when Launo gave him the talk about how he loves him and how he doesn’t have to feel guilty about anything, in between sneezes. (The dog was later adopted by a nearby stable)

Larc loves bird watching and has dragged their honeymoon out to several places across Hyrule, including Mount Satori, North Akkala, and the then port city of Lurelin. Launo doesn’t really get the appeal but likes seeing Larc happy (and now has a lot of very specific bird facts that he doesn’t know what to do with)

They can’t have birds in the house since Aryll is allergic, but Launo and her did give Larc a plush rainbow pigeon for his birthday. Larc loves it but never gave it a name. The plush sits above their bedframe.

And yeah that’s all I got right now

[twotwinks]

A list of Things that have happened during my first ten hours with Breath of the Wild:

Died two minutes in by slipping and falling off the first tower

Died approximately ten minutes later by climbing halfway up onto a flat ledge, slipping, and falling

It wasn’t even raining

Skipped at least three shrine chests because I suck at using the paraglider

Got sat on by a stone talus

Wasted about five arrows before remembering that you have to use fire arrows on explosive barrels

Missed a jump onto a bridge, fell into cold water, accidentally climbed onto one of the bridge supports with half a heart left, couldn’t get back on top of the bridge, fell back into the water when trying to jump for it, died

Died about three times to the bokoblin camp on Hateno Beach before deciding that maybe I wasn’t ready for that side quest

Accidentally whistled no less than ten times because I can’t remember which buttons do what

Especially when trying to switch arrows

Ruined my sneak attacks about five times because of it

Got attacked by two members of the Yiga Clan because I suffer from Gotta Talk To The NPCs Disease

Ran away both times because I can’t figure out how you’re actually supposed to fight them

Literally just rode past a bokoblin camp on my horse while on the way to Hateno Tower

Somehow didn’t get noticed

Rather than sneaking past the moblin by the tower I just galloped straight at it which seemed to freak it out enough that by the time it decided to attack I was already off my horse and out of range

Decided to go a different way when leaving the tower so I didn’t have to go past the bokoblin camp again

There ended up being a whole ass moblin on the path I took instead

It was fine though I actually managed to kill it

And there was lots of ore there too

Discovered you can just chuck the iron sledgehammer at ore you can’t get to

Found out that the path was a dead end so I had to turn around and go past the bokoblin camp anyway

Climbed up an entire mountain because the Sheikah Sensor started beeping at me

Never found the shrine

Turned off the Sheikah Sensor

Luckily the top of the mountain was the perfect spot to glide over to my first memory by Mount Lanayru

Warped back to Kakariko Village after getting it because there was a lynel in front of me and a moblin behind me and FUCK that

Very excited to see what happens next

[botwstoriesandsuch]

I'd like love headcanons about the new champions. Specifically like how they would interact with their Divine Beasts, how they would socialize with the Champions' spirits, and how they interact with Zelda. I love your blog by the way, it's so creative and I love your stories!

Thanks a bunch! Sorry this took a bit, I had a ton of ideas for the Divine Beasts…

Anyway, let’s get into some

New Gen Champion Headcanons!

So Hyrule is saved and now we just got a bunch of giant mechanical beasts laying around

What to do, what to do…

No one can seem to really control the Divine Beasts as it requires a telekinetic connection, and the beasts have to recognize someone’s soul and spirit as worthy…yada-yada

Even Link was cheating a bit, as he only controlled the terminals of the Beasts with his Sheikah Slate. He didn’t have the power to actually tame them, he could only just tilt them around a bit. Hylia knows Link doesn’t need four giant machines capable of causing mass destruction anyway

Zelda, as usual, takes the initiative to find a solution. Who better to tame these Divine Beasts than the ones who helped defeat them!

Enter, the New Champions 

Sidon was excited when Ruta responded to him. I mean, such a creature had judged his sister Mipha worthy of commanding it. So the fact that he could also control Vah Ruta resonated with him, as it meant that maybe he could live up to his sister…

Of course, some of the older Zora, including his father, were wary, considering the Divine Beasts were so closely linked with Mipha’s death

But Sidon is determined, he wants to be useful and help Link (aw) and all of Hyrule. He’ll convince everyone that it’s his duty as a noble to help everyone with the Divine Beast.

“Besides, my sister will be watching over me!”

Sidon and Ruta very helpful whenever there’s droughts or a bad harvest. People don’t even need to report anything. Sidon and Ruta just instinctively know if people need rain.

And Ruta does have a mind of her own. She (yeah we’re using she for all the beasts, like boats, ya know?) is sort of playful and just randomly splashes water on Sidon every now and then. 

I also like to think the trunk doubles as a speaker, and Sidon just blasts music whenever he feels like it

It seem Yunobo was the only one bewildered that Rudania responded to him’

“W-what?! Why me? All I did was tag along with Link and headbut it a few times…”

It would take some convincing from the elders that he was up for the job

“Nonsense kid. You did what none of us could do. You’re the one who tackled that old lizard head on! Plus, you’re graced with Daruk’s protection. You helped save Goron City, You got this, brother!”

So Yunobo became a Champion, able to tame Divine Beast Vah Rudania. He’s a bit flustered with this new found fame, but he gets through it. After all, the whole ordeal with Link has made him a bit braver

I like to think Rudania’s personality is serious, an all work no play kind of guy. Purely because it clashes with the personality of both Daruk and Yunobo so much. (Hc that’s why Daruk was struggling with his Divine Beast originally)

Rudania moves on their own, without Yunobo’s input sometimes, so they can move out of the way of falling rocks and stuff. The lizard acts like a big old grump

Anyway, the Goron mining business is BOOMING, literally. Those turrets and drones that Rudania has? Super helpful when scanning dangerous areas by Death Mountain, and for identifying valuable ore. 

Also Rudania’s fireproof-ness is great on checking on how active the volcano is, a super helpful asset under a slightly anxious Goron youth. Fun!

Teba takes up the job, no questions asked. No one’s that surprise that the best warrior is the successor for the Divine Beast, but he cares a lot about living up to Revali’s legacy. He gets Medoh to respond immediately, and he’s probably the most skilled out of the four new champions with his beast. 

However, it takes time for him to warm up, to Medoh. The thing almost killed his best friend, and shot a laser at him after all. Teba does what’s necessary to maintain Medoh, and nothing more. 

Vah Medoh basically is a mama bird. It uses its Sheikah tech to keep the inside toasty for whenever Teba comes, she glows warmly in the night, even the propellers are used to blow fast gusts of wind to help Rito get places fast. 

Eventually, Teba gets along with Medoh when he practices archery with Tulin on Medoh’s back. The updrafts of the grates there are even better and faster than the natural ones at the flight range. 

Vah Medoh’s cannons/turrets are helpful when dealing with the numerous monsters near the Hebra Range. Talus? Gone. Ice Lizalfo camp? Obliterated. Hinox? Dead. This part is probably something Teba enjoys too, he’s a warrior first and foremost anyway, so dealing with monsters so easily boosts his ego, just a bit.

Everyone was ecstatic for Riju. Everyone, especially Bularia, is so proud. Look at all those achievements under her belt! Youngest Chief, has a sand seal prophet, defeated Vah Naboris, oversaw the reclamation of the Thunderhelm and the Yiga Clan Hideout (although that last one was mostly Link, but no one knows that because, he’s a guy, scandalous)

Riju works well enough with her Divine Beast, the Thunder Helm pairs well, and she feels like she’s growing into it anyway. 

Naboris is a show off. Stomping for no reason, hanging out in thunderstorms and sandstorms just to look cool? Yes. And Riju plays along with this because what kids doesn’t wanna look cool with a giant mecha beast? With Naboris, Chief Riju is starting to outgrow her fears of being seen as a bad leader, cause a Divine Beast is a pretty good testament to how hard you work for your people. (Aw, her mom would be proud)

Let’s talk about those Electric Generators. This Divine Beast can harness energy from the earth? And has natural electrical systems? So, so, helpful not just for the desert, but for everyone in general. Naboris’ electrical power is used to power other machines and technology, allowing for heating, water systems, lights, the whole sha-bang. And the fact that there’s a lightning rod to attract the lightning, which not only keeps people safe, but harnesses the natural elements of the land? *chef’s kiss* 

You bet your ass Zelda hangs out with Naboris a lot too, reverse engineering portable electricity could help all of Hyrule get back on their feet. I’m talking Industrial Revolution baby, (but without the exploitation of the working class and poverty, ya know, only the good stuff)

But besides that, Riju uses Naboris to navigate the desert. You don’t need to worry about sandstorms and such when you’ve basically got a walking house. It’s lights also serve as good waypoints for travelers, or beacons for those that are lost. 

Now as for the original Champions…. Well the ending of botw was pretty clear that they had passed on. They sorta disappear…cause they found peace…and all that. I know the point of fanfic is to ignore canon and create your own endings and ideas, but if I got into how I think the Champions would be revived this would be a much longer post, lol.

So we’ll just leave it at, everyone happy. Hyrule is prospering, Zelda and Link are leading a new generation of Champions and helping the people of the land. Everyone gets together and has a sleepover and Link’s house every now and again. And Teba adopts everyone because he is basically the only adult. Yay!

[paellaplease]

Firebird | Chap.7

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

I’m back!

Chapter 7: Of Monsters and Metals Part 2.

...but by the restless heart that refuses to falter.

*

   Contrary to popular belief, whilst she was well accustomed to it, years of sweaty work hadn’t endeared her to the less glamorous aspects of working in a forge. It was hot, and oftentimes stuffy, making water breaks important as the hours passed on and her arms began to tire. Working through the summer was unbearable, with no amount of mountain air able to cool the uncomfortable redness on her face and arms.

Whilst Teacher could walk around the forge like it was her second home, it took months of discipline for Maiya to tolerate the place. How ironic that it seemed to follow her everywhere like a rope tightly wrapped around her wrist.

Shifting in her seat, she was thankful that the constant exchange of air above Jackdaws had rid the forge of the usual sulfurous stench of burning coal. This quiet, unassuming workshop kept close between Wayra’s rock and stone, like a beating heart beneath living flesh.

....But of course it would take a miracle to completely filter out the unmistakable burning smell of hot steel and the lingering taste of metal on her tongue.

A small drop of sweat rolled down the back of her neck. If I close my eyes, she mused, it would be like I never left home. Her head lolled forward, the previous hour’s excitement catching up to her. It wasn’t everyday a Rito takes you flying.

She was sinking in her seat, a single voice one of the only things standing in the way between her and an impromptu nap.

“…almost impenetrable rock like bodies completely covered in ice! I have heard with enough prolonged contact they could also freeze exposed flesh in seconds. It’s incredible...”

Oh. Right.

It took all her might to peel her eyelids back open. Of all the challenges she was bracing herself to encounter from Rito Village, she didn’t expect ‘being lectured again in another forge’ to be one of them.

Yep, definitely just like home.

In the reddish glow of the forge, Uleh gesticulated with a graceful turn of a poised hand. The Zora appeared fresher than a daisy, a completed sword blade resting on the anvil next to them, gleaming almost as bright as their teeth. Where they got all their energy from after what would have been hours of gruelling work was one of the many greater mysteries of Hyrule.

They spoke words that, whilst probably important, unfortunately fell on deaf ears as the Enchanter dozed off. The heaviness of her eyes continued to fight her as they settled on a rough sketch of the monster. Drawn in haste, it appeared to be one big blob with two smaller blobs attached at its sides to act like its appendages. It was a literal rock. A giant, dangerous rock. Larger than a house, the Zora had said. She briefly wondered if Uleh was having her on.

Guess so long as we don’t get within arms reach it should be fine.

“I suppose we’re not befriending the Talus and escorting it back home?” An exasperated voice called from a corner of the room. Maiya leaned her head back, her brain supplying an upside-down image of Revali testing the balance of a Falchion on one of his wings.

“Unfortunately not, but how uncharacteristically nice of you, Master Revali." The Zora replied, evidently unbothered by the archer’s sarcasm. Propping their head up with a hand, their smile was natural. Easy. "Making friends with monsters? We should table it for a later venture.”

The blue Rito opened his beak to protest, but was cut-off again by the Zora’s ringing laugh. “Ahah, you may be onto something though. Managing to form a positive connection would make your jobs easier. I mean, since you’re getting up close and personal anyway.”

“Hmmm...yeah.” Maiya sat up and stretched.

A beat passed as her brain finally decided to process the last sentence. “Wait.”

“Not to worry. It shouldn’t be too difficult.” Uleh said, totally misreading her panic. They tapped the side of their skull for emphasis. “The ingredient should be in the ore poking out of its crown. You can’t miss it. It’s usually right at the top of its head.”

Years of accumulated dust motes floated into the air as the Hylian slammed both her hands onto the aged writing desk. She gripped the edges in shock, the hardwood creaking. “Sorry.” A breath. “Can you run that by me again? Starting at the part where you said this wouldn’t be difficult.”

Uleh caught the tipping candle-holder before it fell, saving their map from going up in flames. They tilted their head down to look at her, wide-eyed confusion making her feel a little guilty. “Forgive me Miss Enchanter, had I said something wrong?”

“No.” She huffed, refusing the need to anxiety-pace around the room. “I mean yes. It’s just...” It was ridiculous. This is crazy. “You’re saying that the ingredient is found on a sentient boulder that wants to kill me.”

Adopting the countenance of a wise sage imparting worldly knowledge onto their pupil, the Zora clasped their hands and set them gently on the shaking table. "Not quite a boulder. Picture it more as a hulking, moving, ah... mini mountain. Encased in ice.”

"And it wants to kill me."

"And it wants to kill you, yes.”

This was bad. She should say something. She could feel Revali’s eyes piercing into her back. Goddesses, Maiya. Get a grip!

Was talking to the Blacksmith really worth the risk of getting hurt? Forging swords, setting traps, and being semi-decent with her throwing knives for self-defence were nowhere near enough to qualify her as a monster-hunter. A rabbit, fine. But a rock monster more than quadruple her size? I must be delusional.

She scrubbed her face wearily. “What makes you think this is a good idea?”

“Well, I’m speaking to one of the last known Enchanters of Hyrule and the Pride of the Rito. Why, it should be a doddle with two living legends on the case.”

The two responses from said Enchanter and Rito came at the same time:

“I’m not a legend.”

“Pah, naturally.”

Maiya inhaled deeply. “Why don’t you help us fight it, then? Three against one would mean surefire success.”

The furnace behind them crackled, sending sparks into the air. It illuminated the iridescent shine of the zora’s scales, their many jewels glinting in the gloomy atmosphere of the forge. It was a little funny. In contrast to their surroundings, they looked like an angel who had wandered into the wrong afterlife.

Uleh mulled over her question, idly spinning the charcoal in their hand. Whilst their smile remained, there was a tenseness that wasn't present before. After a minute, they finally regarded her, golden eyes far away as they cleared their throat to reply. “It’s because—

A disgruntled sigh interrupted them. “Honestly, enchanter. Must I throw the rulebook at you? It’s rather shameless really, asking the other party to help fulfill your part of the agreement.”

Maiya whipped her head around, leaning back so fast her chair nearly tipped over. “Lecturing me on manners now? That’s rich coming from you, Rito.”

“Why, I don’t understand your meaning. I’ve been nothing but a gentleman this entire time.”

Running a hand through her unruly hair, she would have marched directly up to him to give him a piece of her mind if it wasn’t for Uleh holding her back. She whipped around to look at them, realizing she’d forgot to drop her glare when they nervously coughed and released their hold on her shoulder.

“Ah, um.” They idly ran a claw down the silver chain decorating the two flat fins that hung on the sides of their head like hair. “I’m sorry for interrupting whatever’s going on here. You’re both right, in a way. It’s logical that the chances of success would increase with extra hands. In fact, if I could lend you my aid I would, but…”

Shrinking back, they went quiet again, words bashful and barely audible. “I’m no good in a fight.”

Maiya stared at them quizzically. Growing up with Teacher had its many challenges. For one, the Sheikah could read most people with ease, be it a guilty child who had just scribbled on a newly painted white wall or even a fully grown, extremely stoic adult trying to cheat her out of what should be reasonably priced eggs. For a young Maiya, it made stretching the truth risky, and lying to her mentor out of the question.

Whilst she was no expert in body-language, spending most of her teenage years under her mentor’s watchful eye had taught her a few things about common tells. Maybe it was in the way the Zora’s golden eyes lost their gleam? Or in their sudden shyness. Either way, whilst they may have been sincere for most of the conversation previously, Uleh in that moment wasn’t telling the full truth.

She pressed the bottom of her palm to the aching spot above her brow. This was getting too complicated. Her chest ached from the stress. She winced when the rune bit at her skin. The pulse at her wrist felt strong under her fingers, beating out a warning call.

We’re wasting time. So what if they’re lying? Anything for Enchanting, right? Wasn't that the goal? To further or find what was lost whatever the price?

There was no point in turning back now. Pressing the issue wouldn’t change the fact that it would just be her, Revali, and this Talus tomorrow. If she wanted to meet the Blacksmith and actually have him listen to her demands, then this seems like the most direct option available. Beggars can’t be choosers, she already failed in uniting the Enchanted dagger with an owner. Teacher would never forgive her for letting go of a lead like this.

“Alright. Deal still stands.” She decided.

Standing up, Uleh raised their hands to the ceiling to stretch, the relaxed grin they had before returning to their face in full force. They leaned over the table, annotating a place in the map marking ‘West Rospro Pass’ before rolling it up and sealing it with a clip. “Well then, time and tide wait for no one.”

Maiya reached her hand out, jumping when a blue wing beat her to it, swiftly taking the map from the Zora’s hands.

Beside her, Revali rolled his shoulders. Seeing her annoyed expression, he lightly tapped the map on the top of her head, his feathers puffing up at his excitement to leave this hellish hot-box. “Careful, Hylian. Your face will get stuck if you keep frowning like that forever.” He said, poking her cheek with a pointed feather.

She couldn’t help the surprised squeak that escaped her mouth, Revali’s smirk growing even wider.

The fact that the feather pressed to her face was unbelievably soft pissed her off even moreso. She quickly swatted him away, face warming. “Buzz off,” she groused.

The Rito chuckled, but complied, withdrawing his wing to haughtily cross it with the other against his chest. “Tomorrow you’ll have front row seats to watch a true Master at work.”

The silence that followed made him sigh. He looked at her pointedly. “Would it kill you to be a bit more lively?”

“Yipee...”

“Amazing. Your sincere exuberance is truly heart-warming.”

She rolled her brown eyes as Uleh gave them both a thumbs up. The Zora's laughter, like chiming bells, filling the dark forge. It was infectious, and she couldn’t help but crack a tiny smile in return.

Perhaps tomorrow wouldn’t be so terrible after all.

   Birdsong greeted Maiya as the night sky slowly brightened into a lavender hue, the first signs of dawn peaking over the horizon. She tiptoed down the outer staircase of Swallow’s Roost, careful not to wake the travellers who rested peacefully on the other side of the wall.

She rubbed her eyes, fighting back a yawn. Wisps of smoke left the tops of chimneys, chefs and bakers preparing their iron cook pots for another working day of feeding an entire village and more. A gust of wind brought the scent of charcoal and firewood, acidic and earthy...

— Fire. Burning. Melting feathers and flesh. An arrow piercing skin and muscle—

The Enchanter pressed her knuckles into her temples, attempting to relieve the pressure forcing her head to burst. Another night, another terrible sleep in Tabantha. She knew this wasn’t normal; these night terrors. Her bones ached from hours of tossing and turning, waking up in a cold sweat and forcing herself to relax, only to be met with the same dream once again. Perhaps when all of this was over, a visit to the village healer would be a good idea.

However, against her better judgement, there was something invigorating about the new day. This was crazy; mad! Teacher would never have allowed it had she been in the same room when the decision was made. And perhaps that was exactly why her stomach felt like it was doing dumb, excited flips, her mouth turning up at the edges.

This was her chance to prove herself, show her mentor how dedicated she was to the cause and her studies. It was a little unorthodox, but she was sure Teacher would understand once she comes home with new information. In fact, she could omit most of the details from the letter anyway and leave in the non-life threatening bits that won’t cause any alarm.

She nodded to herself, hands tightening around a relatively empty backpack. She patted down her front and sides to check that she had what she needed. Throwing knives, waterskin, materials for basic first-aid, and a hammer and chisel from Uleh to help her collect the ore pieces later.

“That’s everything, I think. As well as…”

Her fingers froze as they brushed the raised embellishments on the enchanted dagger’s hilt, reality running up to slap her in the face. Hands curling around it, she felt a torrent of shame wash over her. What was she doing? This wasn’t the time to act like an overexcited child. This was serious, so much was riding on her getting this right. And her mentor wouldn’t be happy if she were to fail. Wait. Her stomach dropped. What if I do fail?

What then? She wondered. Would she even be alive to report the bad news?

Sighing, she forced her hand away from the dagger, turning to look beyond the railing and into the world beyond. If anything, at least it was a beautiful morning.

A voice appeared to her right. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“Hylia’s left tit— ! Cheska!” She all but screamed, grabbing the railing in a death grip.

The innkeeper tipped her head inquisitively when a brief spark of blue flashed in her eyes.

“Uh!! Hello!” Maiya floundered. She hid her hand behind her back, feeling sweat build on her brow when Cheska’s eyes followed the action. “G-good morning. If this is about the late dinner you brought up last night, thank you so much! It was really, really good.”

She swallowed her spit, her nervousness still bubbling. “Not to say that your food isn’t always good. It’s just that I rarely eat fish. Not to say fish isn’t delicious. It’s just that where I live in Akkala we’re not really close to the sea so— ”

“Hylianlla! Slow-down.” The Rito laughed. “Jeez you are jumpy today. Take a deep breath. That’s it. In and out. Before the wind snatches it away— ah, I sound like my mother."

Cheska smiled warmly. Her rounded golden earrings reminded Maiya of two small suns, catching the light as she idly transferred the small paper package she held from one wing to another. “No worries, silly chickie. I’m always happy to feed a hungry traveller.”

The Hylian nodded, taking this as a sign that the conversation was over. She stepped to the side, moving to shuffle around the innkeeper, only for the Rito to block her path once again.

“However!” Her eyes sparkled. Maiya had a bad feeling about this. “What have you been up to yesterday that led to being dropped off by a mysterious and handsome blue-feathered stranger with the famous Great Eagle Bow?”

The Enchanter made a face. She was not mentally prepared to be having this conversation. “I can confirm that it’s not whatever you’re cooking up in that head of yours— and please stop wiggling your eyebrows!”

In an effort to distract herself from the blush that was snaking up her neck, her eyes strayed to the pink and orange sunrise above them, the clouds moving across the sky like white rolling waves. “As to what I’ve been doing. Well...not much really. Read a few books at the Archive. Got a tour of the village. Had a fight with the local blacksmith that led to striking a deal with the Zora that lives in the depths of the ancient rock supporting all of us right now.” She cringed at how crazy it sounded. “Did you know that by the way?"

“Uleh? Duh, they pass by from time to time.” She idly brushed a wing down one of her earrings. “We have the best chats. But tell me more about this tour!”

Despite the stress weighing on her mind, the Enchanter laughed, digging her hands in her pockets. “Of all the things...judging from your description I think you already know who this mysterious stranger is. Wouldn’t recommend it, but he’s all yours.”

“He’s all…” Cheska paused, voice breaking. She stood still, expression rapidly switching from confusion, realisation, to deep and feather-raising mortification.

Tilting forward, she began to giggle. Maiya stepped back in surprise, watching it transition into full blown laughter. “Uh, Cheska?”

The Rito doubled over and slapped a wing over her beak. “Revali?! Ha HA! Qoyllur-cha?” She sucked in a shaky breath, before dissolving into peals of incredulous laughter once again. “Heck no, amiha. I’m sure Mr. Grumpy is well and truly enamored with himself anyway.” The innkeeper wiped a tear from her eye. “Ah, Blessed Nayru. You’re a hoot!”

“Right,” Maiya said slowly, cheeks reddening at her social blunder. “Are you finished yet?”

“Yes,” the Rito snorted. “Okay I’m done. For real. I’m sorry!”

Forcing herself to keep a straight-face, Cheska shook her head, composing herself. “Goddesses. You just caught me by surprise is all. I’m recovering after an old friend showed up to the village yesterday. Big fiesta, great fun even though I couldn’t stay too long.

Jini brought out the good pisco this time.”

She smiled at Maiya’s blank expression, unperturbed by the lack of an equally excited response. Stepping back, she offered the Hylian the package she’d been holding on to. “Anyway, on a completely unrelated note, that mysterious blue Rito stopped by to leave this for you before dawn this morning.”

The Enchanter looked at the brown-paper package. She wondered if it was a good time to open it, but could feel Cheska’s poorly hidden curiosity bearing down on her. Might as well. Without much hesitation, she pulled on the thin rope holding it together.

A piece of cloth fell into her waiting hand.

It was a bandana. Dyed an azure blue, it reminded her of clear summer skies and the blue nightshades that glowed in her mentor’s study. Running her thumb over the soft fabric, she found that whilst it was simple and unpatterned, it was soft and very well-made. Unfolding it, a delicate piece of paper fell out, fluttering to the floor before she caught it.

She smiled, wondering if this was the prideful Rito’s version of an apology. Unbeknownst to her, her heart warmed at the thought.

Maiya quickly read the note:

So your haphazard hair doesn’t endanger us today - Revali.

The Hylian scowled, crumpling the message and stuffing it in her pocket. “Why am I so surprised?” She muttered. Despite her ire, she delicately smoothed out the blue bandana in her hand, pulling it around her hair and knotting it with irate conviction.

Saying a quick “Thank you and Good Morning” to the innkeeper, she began to angrily brisk walk up the village stairs.

Cheska waved her goodbye. “And where are you off to now, hylianlla?”

“I’m going to fight a Frost Talus.” She called over her shoulder casually.

“You’re what?!”

“Bye, Cheska!”

Revali was already waiting for her at the top of the stairs. He tapped his talons on the ground, leaning impatiently against the archway. The armour he had on the day they first met was fitted securely around his form, slightly hidden away by a flowing white scarf wrapped snug around his neck.

His back was to the sun, making it necessary for her to shield her eyes as she approached. Whilst there was no royalty amongst the Rito, he looked every bit like an irritable prince as light streamed from the heavens behind him.

His honeyed, infuriating voice called out to her as soon as he saw her hand leave the banister.

“You’re late.”

Maiya wordlessly tossed an object at him, the Rito Warrior snatching it from the air with ease. He looked down at the warm pastry that nearly hit him in the face, its icing topping and cinnamon scent unmistakeable. “A sweetroll?”

“Breakfast.” The Enchanter said, falling into step beside him as they walked down the ramp and onto the expansive launch point. The breeze was strong from this open landing, the battered wind markers around them whipping chaotically in the open air. These were the kind of conditions favourable to sailors, carrying amazing wooden creations to places unknown.

And I guess Rito as well, she thought, narrowly avoiding a tall, orange-feathered figure that landed a few feet away. Maiya righted herself, nearly stumbling backwards in surprise.

"Sorry, chika!" They called out, stepping around her quickly and making a beeline for the stairs.

The Hylian looked on in bewilderment, tugging a little self-consciously on her bandana as she turned back to face the archer. “What the...ah, anyway. I was on my way here when I realised I hadn’t eaten yet. Decided to stop by the bakery.”

Revali took a bite from the roll, making a small hum in approval before reaching into the utility pouch attached to his belt. Pulling out a glass vial, he passed it to the Enchanter. “My thanks then, as well as your payment.”

“What’s this?” She asked, narrowing her eyes at the vermillion liquid within. She uncorked the stopper and took a whiff of the unknown substance. It was pungent and sharp, making her pull away.

“Spicy Elixir. So you, pardon my bluntness, avoid freezing your pointed ears off whilst we’re traversing through the mountains.”

Maiya smelled it again, wrinkling her nose.

Revali tut-tted, though his eyes gleamed with barely hidden amusement. That bastard. “I don’t want to hear any complaints. The arctic chill is merciless. You need to drink it if you plan to keep all your limbs intact.”

She looked at the Spicy Elixir again, watching the dubious liquid slosh to the side—Oh Hylia, is that a butterfly wing?— before throwing it back as one would a shot. The warmth that came was instantaneous, as if an invisible force had suddenly encased her. It wrapped around her in the same way a blanket that had been left to heat close to the fireplace would. She was filled with a renewed sense of energy and realised then how cold her joints really were even in her heaviest of clothes.

Revali chuckled.

She opened her eyes, the curve of her mouth falling into a frown. “Care to share?”

“Not that I was speaking any falsehoods regarding the warming effects of the elixir but,” he smiled crookedly, shaking his head. “You trust too easily, Hylian.” Securing his bow to his front, he faced north and crouched.

Her brow twitched. “Me? Trust you?” Maiya shot back defensively as she hoisted herself up, minding this time not to grab on too tightly onto any feathers. “When Death Mountain freezes over.”

   Deep breaths and reign in the attitude was what she told herself as they left the landing. The drop still terrified her, her chest sinking to her knees everytime Revali so much as bobbed with the wind. She was thankful at least that the weather was favourable enough that he chose to forego the dive. Instead, he caught the gale with his outstretched wings, flapping and gaining height as they progressed forward.

Some adventurers on horseback looked up as they passed, many of them gaping in awe at the blue feathered warrior who sailed above them. Revali made no comment, head facing forward and beak an impassive line. Though the subtle fluff to his feathers gave him away, betraying the fact that he was basking in the attention.

Behind her, Rito Village became smaller with every passing minute, slowly disappearing behind the clouds until even the largest windmill was but a wink in the distance. Glittering waters turned into grassy forests as flat ground made way to grey rocks and white tipped bushes.

Revali’s wings caught a strong gust of wind, gaining speed as he advanced them forward through to the Hebra Mountains. Clouds parted, the white shroud slowly lifting to reveal a whole different world.

She felt like they were flying amongst giants. White capped peaks dominated the landscape from all directions, filling her peripheries and extending out into the distance. Reduced visibility combined with the blinding ivory void made it seem like it could go on forever. She’d never seen mountains like this before.

The wind also sounded different here. She would have thought that as a Rito, perpetually at mercy to the gale, he would find it troubling. Between these icy mountains it was wild and unruly, every gust pushing into them from different directions. However, as they ventured deeper into Hebra, it became apparent that Revali felt no fear.

If the breeze slammed into them at full force, he always knew just how to angle himself. Tilting, flapping, flying—anything to propel himself higher and further than ever before.

When it rebelled, he would soothe it. When it dropped away, he would easily reclaim it.

And when it calmed, a steady push against his wings, he would truly soar.

It was a literal breath of fresh air. Maiya could have sworn she was dreaming, still asleep in her room at Cheska’s inn. Up in the air, Revali was far from the gloating asshole who had nearly killed her with an arrow and never apologised. At this moment, he was quiet and precise, riding the gale like he was born amongst the clouds.

They flew behind one of the many snowy peaks, an empty mountain pass coming into view. Keeping close to the exposed mountain face at their left, Revali began to slow, aiming for a far-away spot jutting out perpendicular to the cliffside.

Landing on a slab of extended rock, he gestured for her to sit down, surprising her when he did the same.

The Hylian tried not to look down. They were suspended about 50 feet above the ground. Wind sifted through her hair, dancing around them and lightly ruffling the feathers along his side. She took this time to catch her breath, the mountain air surprising her with its sweetness. Vaguely she could detect the scent of the pine sticking up like pillars in the pure-white snow underneath them.

Temporarily shutting her eyes, she focused on her other senses. Cold rock underneath her fingers. Whistles from the wind. The smell of the pine trees mingling with something else. Wax and oak, with a hint of honey. She racked her brain for a reason why such an odd combination was now familiar to her.

Something cold touched her nose.

Maiya opened her eyes. She watched as snowflakes fell from the sky, imprinting temporary patterns on her clothes and melting on her exposed skin.

Then, like most times, panic decided to reel in its ugly head from out of nowhere.

Now seated and breath returning to her lungs, deep trepidation filled her. One scenario came after another, joining together and mixing into a single, big clusterfuck of a ‘what-if?’ What if she couldn’t fight? What if her knives never found purchase?

What if she froze? She could see the moment playing out clear as day. The fear would paralyze her. Glued to the ground with an angry Talus rushing towards her. Stuck in place until she was crushed underfoot like a bug.

“Stop that.”

Maiya turned to see that Revali had taken out his bow, running a feather down the gears. It was an intricate weapon, painted a steadfast dark-blue and embellished with geometric patterns along its sides.

“Stop what?”

“Thinking so loudly.” He explained, grunting with effort when he tightened a screw.

Her eye twitched in annoyance at his tone. Must he always pick a fight with me? She frowned indignantly. “I’m not allowed to plan ahead?”

“You call that planning?" He scoffed. "Don’t fool yourself, enchanter. I’m not blind. You’re running your mind ragged again, overly ruminating on imaginary events that have yet come to pass.”

He began to adjust the bow’s string, running a feather down its side. “If you continue looking behind only to lose your head in the endless possibilities of potential threats, then you are defenseless to the already existing enemy running towards you. Expecting to survive like that is foolish. You will be better off fighting with your eyes closed.”

He set the bow down on his lap, training his full attention onto her. Her breath hitched. She found herself at the mercy of eyes a deep, emerald green. Piercing and sharper than any of the knives she was carrying, not a single detail escaping his notice.

“You will not be able to face your opponent effectively if you keep battling yourself. Truly look at what’s in front of you. Do that properly, and you will not miss.”

The Enchanter was silent, still feeling very much pinned under the intensity of his gaze. He’d only known her for a day or two and had already managed to find the holes in her armour, striking at them with such precise accuracy that she didn’t know whether she should thank him for the honest assessment, or push him off the ledge for his blatant rudeness and reading of her character. Her hand twitched as the rune sent a jolt up her arm, dancing along to the erratic beat of her heart.

But why…, she found herself wondering, unable to stop herself from staring back. Unknowingly, she leaned forward ever so slightly, flecks of snow falling around them. Why is he looking at me like that?

The mountainside shuddered, making them both jolt up in surprise. Hurriedly, she rushed to the edge of the short rock platform, the tension on her shoulders tightening in a vice grip at what she saw below.

It was colossal. Terrifying to the point where it almost crossed over the line to awe-inspiring by the sheer characteristic of its size. Rising from the earth, it shook and shuddered as if possessed, hobbling forward and slamming its gargantuan stone fists into the snow covered forest floor with so much force that it shook the mountain and their platform once again. From her vantage point, she could see the piece of ore at the top of its head, sparkling in the morning light like a jewel on a crown.

When the Talus’ hands came away from the ground, Maiya saw that they were coated in red. Not blood, she thought, too pink and thick. Though the longer she looked, she noticed the same pinkish red substance coating its body in different places. On its bare face, along its leg, all across its rock appendages. It flowed and bubbled, creeping along the Talus’ body like a parasitic weed, dripping like acidic rain and melting the pure white snow below.

Uleh did not mention that.

She coughed, her throat suddenly dry and scratchy. “I think that’s our target.”

Revali exhaled a small cloud of air, unbothered. “Hm? That’s new. I thought we would have to lure it up from the ground. Seems it has done most of the work for us.” He pointed to the quiver of arrows on his back, some arrowheads curled and shaped to resemble a single flame. “It will go down easy with a few of these in its body. After all, a monster that relies solely on a barrier of ice stands no chance against the blaze of fire.”

He stood up, brushing the snow from his shoulder, a futile gesture as more began to rain down anyway. “No rush, it won’t be able to see us from up here.” He tapped the rock floor with his talons. “It uses the vibrations in the ground to make an ‘educated’ guess as to where its victim would be. From our vantage point, it’s like we don’t even exist.”

She tilted her head to the side, watching the Talus amble and sway from left to right, still feeling apprehensive at how relaxed Revali was in this situation. Warriors really are something else.

He brought the bow to his front, stretching his wings to the sky like he was about to go for a leisurely run and not, well, fight a rock monster that would crush you if you so much as sneezed on it. “Well then, enchanter. I do hope this seat provides you with an adequate view for the show this morning. Just sit back and get comfortable.”

Maiya stood and stalked towards him, not caring that she was invading his personal space as she stabbed a finger into his chestplate. “Get comfortable? What are you talking about?”

He took advantage of the height difference, looking down at her past the tip of his beak like he was appraising a petulant child. “You honestly believe I would let you fight that thing?”

She wanted to rip her hair out. “This venture is purely for my benefit, I am not letting you do all the dirty-work while I sit on my ass and watch like some useless piece of shi-”

The ground shuddered again. Both barely had time to react when a boulder was sent flying in their direction.

She blinked, suddenly finding herself gripping onto Revali’s front as they hurtled to the ground below. The Rito Warrior somersaulted in the air, the seconds of uncontrolled flight and pure free fall eating up the scream bubbling in her throat.

Then, his wings were outstretched, miraculously by the Goddess' grace catching the wind, slowing their descent before they hit the snow covered ground with a painful thud.

Her brain rattled, eyes fluttering and struggling to clear the fog blocking her vision. Her ears rang as she heaved in a breath, the very action making her cry out in pain. Her ribs hurt. Her hand...her hand was—!!

Shattered rocks rained above them. The Enchanter yelped, Revali’s voice loud in her ear as he gasped in alarm, wrapping his wings around her and rolling them to the side just as a large chunk of what used to be their platform stabbed into the spot where their bodies were half a second ago.

The Rito released his hold on her, standing up and equipping his bow in a single fluid motion. Through the haze of her clouded vision, she watched as he took aim, pulled the bowstring back and fired.

It surprised her how a monster without a mouth could make such a chilling sound. Cracking rock and a screech so glaringly inhuman reached her ears, making her blood run cold.

There was truly no turning back now.

In the next moment, her arm found itself in a vice grip as Revali hauled her to her feet, pulling her along as they sought cover in a nearby sparse grove of trees. Chest heaving, her brain struggled to catch up to what had just transpired. Barely, it managed to process the feeling of blue feathered wings running down her arms, tilting her head from left to right and brushing the hair away from her eyes.

“W-what are you doing?”

“Checking for injuries.” He said tersely. “Where are we?”

“Huh?”

Head snapping up, his eyes once again commanded her undivided attention. They were the same emeralds as before, except this time completely void of any kind of relaxed confidence, replaced now by a sharp focus and a clinical detachedness that made her stomach clench. “Hylian, do you know where we are right now?”

“Rospro Pass.” She said, remembering the words on Uleh’s map.

“Good. Did anything hurt when we were running towards the trees?”

Maiya blinked quickly. “No. Oh, well actually— fuck!” She screamed, hands slapping Revali’s wing away as she pulled her arms in to wrap around her aching torso. Her left hand shook and spasmed, strings of energy rattling through her veins like barbed wire cutting into her skin. This was too much. Mortifyingly, tears sprang up in the corner of her eyes. She’d been through much, much worse, but no matter how many times her rune had tortured her, pain is no different. Feeling something stuck in her throat, she spat it out to the side, a glob of fresh blood hitting the snow.

“Sorry,” Revali said quickly. “I need you to move your arms away.” With a little more prying, she agreed, too caught up in her panic for herself and the active and angry rune in her hand to feel embarrassed that he was lifting up the edge of her shirt, his wing poking the reddened, inflamed skin above her ribs as she hissed.

“One of them is fractured, but not severe enough to pierce the skin or anything important internally. At least from what I can see. Can you take some short breaths for me?”

She nodded, wincing at the sound of her wheeze.

“Then you’ll live.” Both their heads shot up to the direction of the same otherworldly screech from before, echoing not too far away from their current position. “Tch,” the Rito archer straightened up, reaching into one of his side pouches and pulling out a wide bandage. He made quick work of wrapping it around her middle, tying the knot and yanking her shirt back down. “You need to run away, enchanter. Follow the path down the mountain, there’s a guard post at the foot. Tell them to bring reinforcements.”

She glared at him, eyes red and venomous. “No! Not without you. I already told you, Rito, this is my mess and I am seeing it through.”

“We don’t have time for this,” he muttered, frantically scanning the clearing for some other kind of cover and coming up blank. “I’m still unsure as to what it is, but there is something wrong with this Talus. I’ve fought only two previous but I am confident that this one is different. It’s faster—smarter somehow.”

“And it can see us.”

“Yes, either through sheer dumb luck or something else entirely. Its movements are unpredictable. Almost like it’s being controlled from the sidelines.” He gritted out, annoyance shining clear at having to solve such a puzzle under immense pressure. He swiped the fallen snow away from his eyes, growling.

She directed her gaze to the floor, focusing on the patch of red seeping into the snow by her feet. Her blood was a stain against what was once uniform purity. Another roar echoed through the trees, this time accompanied by the crash of heavy footsteps, dragging through the snow. “I know you’re one of the best of your people, but even then there’s no way you can hold it back for that long without getting hurt.” She tried to reason.

Revali shook his head, squeezing her shoulder before turning to bolt past the grove. “I’ll distract it. Run!”

“Wait!” She reached out to pull him back, but her hand was met with only empty air. Pure dread stole the breath from her lungs as she watched him exit out the trees and into the open clearing where the Talus waited to meet him. Another jolt of pain rocketed through her hand. Combined with the stabbing ache in her chest it was almost unbearable. She inhaled shakily, moving forward and following the tracks that Revali’s talons had made on the ground, fighting for her eyes to stay open as she stumbled out into the light.

Snow lightly fell from the sky, brushing down azure feathers that fluffed at the edges as Revali levelled his bow. He fired three in quick succession, cutting a red line through the air like a shooting star. Each sunk into the Talus’ icy exterior, melting patches with a low hiss and exposing the black rock underneath.

Falling forward, the monster sunk back into the ground. Revali took advantage of the situation, sprinting away towards the cliff face to gain more distance.

Maiya took this chance to move as well, footsteps sinking into the snowy ground as she struggled forward in the direction of the Talus. The ground shuddered again as she launched herself at it, a knife in each hand. She dug the blades into its exposed interior, holding on for dear life as she scrambled to gain purchase.

“What are you doing?!” A frantic, angry voice yelled out.

“Fire more arrows!” Bracing her feet on the Talus’ surface, she took a chance and let go of one of her improvised hand holds, grabbing another knife from her bandolier and swinging it up to stab it into the last open patch of rock. She hoisted herself up, screaming out in agony but nonetheless refusing to let go. “Please!” She called out, feet slipping against the rock’s surface.

Something whistled past her ear. An arrow embedded itself into the space above her, rapidly evaporating the ice. Then came another, and another, marking a pathway up to the Talus’ zenith. Again she freed her opposite hand, fractured ribs shifting and aching as she stabbed a dagger upwards, pulling herself closer to the ore.

The strange parasitic pink substance flowed down next to her, emitting a stench of rot that made her gag. Carefully she maneuvered around it, not wanting to find out for herself what would happen if even the skin of her hand were to brush it.

Continuing to climb, she struggled against another monster, one intent on taking full control of her wavering resolve. It was a beast formed of intense fear and regret, tugging at her mind and causing her hold to grow shakier with every passing minute. Why didn’t you run away?! It roared.

The thud of another arrow spurred her forward, her adrenaline running high as she devoted her focus solely to reaching the top.

Almost there. For a moment, she could finally see the ore’s surface, shining only an arm’s length away from her. Maiya reached again for her bandolier, shaking fingers brushing an empty pocket.

“Fuck sakes,” she cursed. She was out of knives.

Clouds of air escaped her mouth as she leaned her head on the monster’s surface, an intense feeling of hopelessness freezing her movements. Everything felt heavy, the swinging scabbard at her hip weighing her down and threatening to weaken her hold on her knife.

Wait, there’s still...

Her hand drifted down to where the enchanted dagger was sheathed. In response, the rune spasmed, sending a shock through her veins in disagreement as if it knew exactly what she was going to do.

Not once did Teacher mention what would happen if she were to use an enchanted weapon of her own make. She was neither Master nor an unworthy stranger. So many things could go wrong. Would it kill her? Would it even work? What would happen if—!

Underneath her, the Talus shuddered.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Slowly, the surface began to move, lifting itself from the snow. All around her, the parasitic fluid coating its body came alive, calling out in celebration. Several arrows rained down from the sky, piercing into the Talus’ armour but failing to deter it from its course. The monster began to stand.

Maiya unbuckled the enchanted dagger from its scabbard. Grabbing the hilt, she lifted it up, and with all the strength in her body, swung up and stabbed it into the Talus’ ore.

There was a flash of light, an ear piercing screech, and suddenly she was in the air again.

It was like a bad dream. She could see the white ground hurtling towards her. Curling into herself, she braced just in time before her body collided with the snow. Something solid hit her head, rattling her brain and causing her world to turn black.

.

.

.

Wa…ke…!

Fire. Everything was on fire. She was drowning in a sea of fleeing people, ribbons of smoke were filling her lungs and the smell of burning and rot was choking her. A blood moon was in the sky.

Wa...ke….p

A figure was standing at the doorway of a crumbling house, calling out to her. Their feathers were burnt, dissipating into ashes as the skin underneath began to melt to the bone.

“I’m sorry, there are too many people!” She tried to scream, voice refusing to leave her lips as she fought helplessly against the tide. “Don’t just stand there! You need to run! I can’t— ”

A lilting voice, warm as sunlight, whispered in her ear.

“Hylianlla. Please. Wake up.”

.

.

.

In a disorienting second, her surroundings slammed back into place. Maiya sucked in a shaky breath, her cheek throbbing. Cold snow melted underneath her, seeping into her clothes and stinging like a thousand needles pressing into her skin.

The ground began to shake. A familiar voice was calling out to her. “Get up! Valloo damnit, enchanter! Stand!”

Every vein, every cell and atom in her bruised body cried out. She wanted to go back to sleep. This was too much.

Weakly, she rolled onto her stomach, the pain in her ribs causing her eyes to snap open. Coughing, she spat more blood onto the snow, her arms and knees shaking as she slowly began to stand.

She’d been thrown into the midst of an earthquake. Dazed, her head lolled upwards, watching in frozen horror as the Talus barrelled towards her, its heavy steps falling in time to the shuddering of the world underneath her feet.

Behind it, Revali furiously loosed arrow after arrow. Not one missed their mark, but not a single shot had managed to melt through its ice encasing. Belatedly, she realised that the archer had run out of fire arrows. The odds were stacked against them.

Yelling, she threw herself to the side, dodging a giant rock hurled in her direction. Desperately, she scrambled back onto her feet, avoiding one stone after another by the skin of her teeth. The monster continued to gain on her, quickly closing the distance between them.

Maiya blinked away the sweat from her eyes, the fear in her heart that had kept her alive for this long gradually losing its hold over her to the pull of fatigue. If she devoted herself to running, she wouldn’t be able to avoid the Talus’ attacks. If she slowed her run to focus on dodging, it would catch up to her in seconds.

I’m not going to make it.

Mind reeling, she didn’t notice the rock jutting up behind her. She tripped, falling face first into the snow. The monster shrieked in delight. Shaking violently, she tried to stand again, falling back down as the muscles in her legs seized from overuse.

The Talus was but a metre away at this point. Even if she tried, she wouldn’t be able to outrun it. A rare moment of peace settled over her as she slowly stood up.

If she were to die here, she wouldn’t die lying down.

As the monster approached, she managed to catch the glint of her enchanted dagger still embedded into the cracking ore. It was uncontrolled, spewing out flames in an unfettered act of rage. Her greatest creation was violent and angry, but the Talus remained unshaken. It would take days for it to make a noticeable dent.

What have I done?

Standing her ground, she watched as the Talus raised its fists to the sky, blocking out the sun as it readied itself to slam down and put an end to her life. She didn’t know what to think. Light escaped from the seams of her glove, the rune all but bursting into flames. Hylia, did it hurt. But it didn’t matter. This would all be over soon.

She kept her eyes open, making a quiet wish somewhere deep in her tired soul that despite all the odds stacked against them, Revali would escape.

A streak of red sailed through the sky.

Equal parts shocked and horrified, Maiya watched as the Talus’ movements suddenly came to a halting stop. All reality slowed. Rock arms, once raised high as a terrifying monument to her mortality, dropped to its sides as it turned around.

Facing completely away from her, the monster directed its attention to the Rito archer behind it, revealing to the Enchanter the single fire arrow protruding from its back.

Revali dropped his bow, every one of his arrows completely expended. Out of options, he unsheathed the hunter’s knife strapped to his belt, gripping it tightly between both his wings. “Hey, blockhead!” He called out, beak curved up in a mocking, open smile. “Face me.”

The repulsive pink parasite bubbled and writhed, releasing a vile, high-pitched wail. Its host shuddered to life, starting forward and dragging its hulking body along the snow in the direction of the Pride of the Rito.

Her body moved on its own.

West Rospro Pass melted into a mess of sound and colour. The pain that rippled through her chest, the frustration, the fear; all of it blended together and were cast aside as every fibre in her being rallied and converged on a single goal.

Nothing mattered beyond Getting. There. First.

Bringing her hand to her mouth, she sank her teeth into the glove, ripping it away. Energy sparked and crackled underneath her skin. Beams of blue light spilled from her scar, warming the surface of her cheek and begging for release.

“YOU STUPID BIRD!”

Revali lifted his head, green eyes stunned when he saw the Hylian sprinting closer.

The earth trembled as the Talus neared. In a last ditch effort she grabbed the Rito by his white scarf, yanking him behind her and placing herself between him and the path of the monster.

It was only steps away now, close enough for her to feel the chill of the ice on the tip of her nose. Operating on pure instinct, she raised her left arm, trying not to flinch as the shadow of the Talus’ form fell over the both of them.

Panic seized her unexpectedly. She was dumped into the ocean again and rapidly sinking, struggling to keep her head above the waves as the storm thrashed mercilessly around her.

Caught in the undertow, she fought to stay afloat.

This is my fault.

I did this.

I can’t let him die.

I can’t let him die!

I can’t—

Someone held her shoulder. Warm breath fanned the hairs on the back of her neck. Revali’s voice, lacking its usual sardonic edge, was but a gentle whisper on her skin, piercing through the water and pulling her up from the depths.

“Maiya.” He said, grounding her.

Without another thought, she plunged her glowing arm into the core of the Frost Talus. The parasite screamed and thrashed in alarm. For the first time in her life, she allowed herself to let go, letting the pull of the rune take over.

Her outstretched hand sunk past the ice with ease, beams of blue light escaping through the cracks of the rock and illuminating the Pass.

In mere seconds, her vision was full of nothing but fire. The Frost Talus, in its unfathomable enormity, was lost and overtaken in the light of the flames.

[redwylde]

I finally finished Breath of the Wild the night before last (well, defeated Ganon for the first time) and I am. Stunned. Just stunned.

What a gorgeous game, I'm so glad I took the chance and gave it a go (after being meh about it because I'm not really into tLoZ in general). I've never played such a fun open world game with so little mandatory story. I spent hours just gathering and cooking things, taking pictures of animals and dragons and shrine hunting. Seriously incredible, I now understand why it's so highly acclaimed. Everyone should try it out, just for the experience.

Some fun stuff.

My first discovered stable: Dueling Peaks Stable

Order I did the Divine Beasts in: Ruta, Medoh, Rudania, Naboris.

Favourite Divine Beast battle: Medoh

First horse: Birch

Favourite outfit: Snowquill outfit

Did I obtain the Master Sword?: Yes

Favourite Champion: Urbosa

Favourite Champion's Skill: Revali's Gale

Lynels killed: Red and Silver

Favourite region: Hebra or Akkala

Preferred weapon: Sword and Bow

Number of hearts on completion: 18

Favourite species: Literally everyone, I love them all. I'm exceptionally partial to the Zora and Rito, but can't outright say they're my most favourite because I just love everyone.

Favourite music track: Hateno Village or the Talus boss music.

Most feared enemy: Lynel

Favourite ingredient to cook with: Fish and spicy peppers.

Favourite pastime: Mountain hopping and taking pictures of the dragons.

Favourite village: Rito Village and Tarrey Town

Favourite Stable: Snowfield Stable

Preferred method of killing Guardians: Ancient Arrows

Favourite maze: Lost Woods (Great Hyrule Forest)

Weirdest/Best thing I've tamed: Stalhorse or Lord of the Mountain. Or the bears actually.

That's all I can think of at the minute but feel free to talk about it with me!

[olivereliott]

The Rut 50K: A Race Report

High on the east ridge of Lone Peak, at about 10,500 feet or so, The Rut 50K started to feel like a cartoon, in which an idiot, me, runs and hikes up an incline at a fast (for me) but hopefully sustainable pace, as the grade gradually gets steeper and steeper, until, just before the summit, the idiot tips over backwards and rolls back to the start. 

This, of course, is not true. The elevation map of the race course actually looks like this:

But right around Mile 20, I felt like I’d been carefully picking my way up Lone Peak’s east ridge for six hours, three feet in front of a guy from Eugene the entire time. With the steep terrain, fatigue, altitude, a decreased amount of readily available oxygen for breathing, and the mental exhaustion of climbing a neverending pile of rocks while trying to not dislodge anything onto people below me, many elements were coming together to crush my morale, and me. 

This is also not true. I was just one of 500 or so people to sign up for The Rut 50K this year. The Rut is an annual event that is essentially a European-style sky race held in Big Sky, Montana, designed by two American sadomasochists named Mike (Foote and Wolfe), with several events ranging from a Vertical Kilometer to the 50K. One way to look at the 50K race might be, “Hey, I ran the Chicago Marathon last year, and The Rut 50K is only five miles longer than that.” 

Here are some words and phrases from the website for The Rut 50K: 

“extremely challenging”

“EXTREMELY STEEP & TECHNICAL” 

“exposure” 

“potential rockfall hazard”

“true mountain course”

“rockfall hazards”

“mountainous and technical nature” 

It’s probably good policy for mountain running race organizers to use strong language in describing their events, just so no one gets in over their head and then later says things like “no one told me would be this hard,” or “suddenly, there I was, staring death in the face,” or “[sounds of a person sitting on a pile of rocks and weeping uncontrollably].” But also, you could probably be forgiven for a tiny bit of skepticism as far as race marketing is concerned, i.e. “I don’t know, has anyone ACTUALLY died doing this ‘Death Race’ we’re signing up for?”

There is at least one spot on The Rut 50K where you could legitimately fall, and possibly not stop falling until you were dead and/or have way more than 208 bones in your body. 

I did not, as may be obvious at this point, die doing The Rut. I did perhaps underestimate it a tiny bit. 

The race started at 6:00 a.m., a few minutes before sunrise, in three waves, five minutes apart, each wave a few hundred runners jogging uphill, a stream of headlamps, nerves, and chatter leaving the Big Sky Resort base area. Where should I start? Certainly not at the front of the first wave, where the elite runners and other super-mutants would be, ripping off three-minute miles uphill or whatever. Probably not at the back of the third wave, based on my previous race results. I really had no idea what to expect, so I did what I always do: Start way too far back in the pack, and then waste tons of energy frantically trying to pass people during the race. This is probably some combination of impostor syndrome and Midwestern over-politeness, or maybe I’m just not that smart.

Another role I had signed up for: running with a younger friend, Devon, and theoretically helping him not go too fast for the first few miles of the race. Devon had finished an 18-day traverse of the Wind River Range literally 60 hours before the start, and is a full decade-plus younger than me, so for the first nine miles, we settled somewhere in between me holding him back and him dragging me up the trail. When the route went from fire road to singletrack, there were bottlenecks of single-file lines of people, where we literally stood waiting in line for a couple minutes. 

In the first nine miles, in any spot where the trail widened in the forest, Devon and I accelerated around runners in front of us, sometimes one at a time, sometimes a handful of people. I did have a small bit of anxiety knowing that at a certain point, the course would hit a 1.2-mile section climbing 2,000 feet up the ridge of Lone Peak, where it would be pretty difficult to pass anyone without them very graciously stepping off to the side of the path, so I was motivated to pass people early on, where it was easy and safe. But I had more anxiety about running myself into the ground in the first 10 miles of the race by going way too fast way too early. Just before Mile 9, I told Devon to go ahead without me, because although I am not smart, I am also not proud, and he shot off through the trees like a gazelle, finally free. 

I had thoroughly studied the course map and elevation profile in the days and weeks leading up to the race, but still found myself surprised at all the ups and downs as we tromped through the forest, popped out above treeline, then dropped back into the trees again. I had downloaded the GPX map of the course onto my phone and could open it at any time to see where I was on the course, but I decided to just keep plodding on in ignorance, following the flags. Somewhere around Mile 14 or so, the course went from what I would call “pretty normal” to “OK, this is not an actual hiking trail that anyone uses for anything not named ‘The Rut.’” At that point, I was thankful I had talked myself into carrying trekking poles, ignoring the advice of at least one friend, who was well-meaning, but who also drastically overestimated my VO2 max. I mean, they weigh 10.5 ounces, and are very handy when you want to lean on something and shed a few tears, instead of collapsing all the way to the ground to convulse with sobs. 

I managed to under-eat the morning of the race, and was hungry the entire day, shoving down Clif Bloks and Honey Stinger Waffles whenever I could, often chewing while mouth-breathing in huge gasps as I hiked steep uphills. I had packed something like 2,000 calories for the day in my vest, in hopes that it would keep me from wasting time at aid stations, because I often unintentionally spend more time gazing at the layout of M&Ms, chips, pickles, Oreos, etc. than most people do putting together a plate at the Sizzler salad bar, and then end up confused at how six people passed me in the time I took to fill one water bottle and walk away with a double-handful of Cheez-Its. 

At the 14.5-mile mark, we started climbing up steep talus. The pack had thinned out and I had found a pretty appropriate spot, every once in a while passing someone or letting someone pass me, but for the most part able to settle in, put my head down, and watch my feet. Surely, I thought—without actually checking my GPS app to see where we were on the course—this must be the big climb up Lone Peak. Here we go. 

Imagine my internal dismay 40 minutes later when the route started going downhill from a high point of about 10,100 feet. Going down always feels good, but not as good when you know you’ll have to climb right back up every single foot you descend. We dropped to 8,280 feet, hitting a fire road, which was nice for a few minutes, I guess. But the course’s high point was 11,166 feet, somewhere above us. 

  If you hit Mile 17 during a flat-ish 50K, you’re psyched! You’re more than halfway to the finish! If you hit Mile 17 during The Rut, you are … not as psyched! You are more than halfway to the finish … in mileage only! You are about to spend an hour or an hour and a half grinding up a steep incline, 2,900 feet in 2.5 miles! You will “run” a 40-minute mile! Your fancy GPS watch will, instead of showing your pace per mile, will display a series of dashes, basically saying “you are not moving—are you OK?”

The good thing is, you eventually get to the top. Maybe you’re motivated by finishing the race, maybe because everywhere you look you’re surrounded by angular blocks of rock that would not be comfortable to sit or lie down on, maybe because finishing the race will be a visceral metaphor for other things you hope to face in life, or maybe because you know deep down that literally hundreds of other people have done the same thing so you can too, and some of those people have literally gotten a complimentary Run the Rut tattoo at the finish line, a real tattoo, not a temporary one, because that is a thing they do at this race. 

At the top of Lone Peak are some nice people handing out water and snacks, including, when I was there, a shirtless man wearing a full-length fur coat. The actual aid station we passed through was a solid 30 or 40 vertical feet below the summit of Lone Peak itself, and for a moment, my inner peak-bagger felt conflicted about getting this close to the summit after working that hard to get there and not actually tagging it, but I decided to keep moving forward, and down the mountain. 

The route down Lone Peak is steep, starting with dinner-plate talus, then scree, then steep trails. I had seen people wearing running gaiters at the beginning of the race, and as I made my way down and kicked rocks into my own shoes, I thought this might be the one place I could have used them in my life. Alas, I did not have any. Nor did I take the time to do proper self-care/self-preservation practices, like, I don’t know, emptying the rocks out of my shoes at any point during the final 11 miles of the race. 

I enjoy lying to myself during races, a tactic I believe is a form of positive self-talk. I do not enjoy it when I catch myself in the lies I have told myself earlier. Such as “You’ll start feeling better when you only have five miles to go,” or “That weird feeling in your lower intestine is unlikely to turn into anything remotely explosive before the end of the race,” or in this case, “That was the last big climb—it should be a cruise from here,” and “We’re back below treeline, so it’s probably just gently rolling from here on out.” 

I had read some race reports from previous years, so I should have been well aware that the last 10 miles or so seemed to be generally demoralizing. True, all the “big” climbs were out of the way, and most of what was left was below treeline. But before the finish, we still had a 500-foot climb, a 900-foot climb, and a 400-foot climb. I started up the beginning of the 900-foot climb, on a steep trail that I’m pretty sure I heard had a rope on it at one point for runners to use to pull themselves up the incline, and found myself surrounded by a glut of people in various states of mild to extreme discontent: our pace slowed to an uphill crawl, some people muttering half-jokes about how terrible they felt, others hunched over with their hands on their knees or leaning on a tree, maybe about to throw up. I kept going, thankful I had trekking poles, both as life support and security blanket. 

This, I think, is where many people start to hate the Rut. You start to ask yourself what the point of going up and down these hills is (as if the whole idea of the race isn’t also contrived and pointless, in the grand scheme of human existence), why they would send you this way instead of a route that’s more friendly (or even just flat), and maybe why you didn’t sign up for the 28K or the 11K instead of the 50K. 

The singletrack gave way to a road, which started to ease up as I inched closer to an aid station. Spectators waiting for the runner(s) they knew to come through dotted the sides of the road, cheering everyone who came past. One woman yelled, “Nice job, you’re almost there,” and I said “Thank you, existentially, we’re already there, aren’t we?” I power-hiked into the aid station and a young gentleman named Dash filled my water bottles and I grabbed a couple half-bananas and gulped them down. 

The course wound mostly downhill through intermittent forest, finally topping out on the last climb a half-mile from the finish line, where a couple guys sitting on the side of the fire road told me Nice job, you’re really, really done with the last climb now, and then another guy 100 feet later said “Those guys are lying,” and I laughed as I jogged past, the ski area base within view, and around the corner from that, the finish line. Which is where, I think, people begin the transition from hating the Rut to loving the Rut. As is common in this sport, the same person who, at 1 p.m. one day carries themselves along a trail on fumes of motivation and curses everything that brought them to that point, 24 or 48 hours later will earnestly tell people who ask about their race, “It was great.” Whatever that means. 

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The post The Rut 50K: A Race Report appeared first on Semi-Rad.com.

[wildlingknight]

Jumping on the Linksona bandwagon because I adore AUs where there are multiple versions of Links hanging out. I can’t draw so have a screenshot I took that accurately sums up the Link of my play through.

Name: Lucky

Personality:

-The luckiest son of a gun to ever grace the earth, if something can go wrong, it will, yet he always manages to scrape his way out of it.

-About 20 y/o and is forever surprised he’s made it this far.

-Will fight literally everything except Lynels but his favorite are Talus’ and will go hunting for them.

-Scrappy and sometimes flirtatious. Is smooth and flirty until you start to flirt back then gets self-conscious. Physically affectionate to those he likes. Very nice to people he knows but wary of strangers,  when a fight kicks off becomes very intense and focused. Will break his silence to strangers if the opportunity for sass presents itself. Will tell you outright if he doesn’t like you. Quite blunt because he hates wasting time.

-Loves climbing everything and being near water. Loves to cook and considers eating more of a recreational activity than a necessity. Eat the feelings away. Always has grass stains or dirt on his knees.

-Has awful depth perception. Stands either way too close or way too far away when taking selfies. Will swing and miss enemies leaving himself open to attack but what’s the point of a fight if you don’t get a scar out of it right?

-Will think he can definitely climb something only to find out ⅔ of the way up and stamina in the red that he absolutely cannot climb this.

-Loves his fast horses, his favorites are a red called Pumpkin and the white called Parsnip.

-Tiny buff pastry puff. Loves that people underestimate him so he can kick their ass and wipe the look off their face.

-So many scars, he’s so proud of them.

-Relies heavily on the sheikah slate (“There’s a rune for that.”)

-Does not sleep until he physically can’t avoid it anymore (AKA physically collapses from exhaustion) and will choose to camp out in the middle of nowhere instead of an inn or stable, but loves his bed back in Hateno.

-Always vaguely anxious about how long he’s keeping Zelda waiting but still procrastinates defeating Ganon like hell.

Outfit:

-Mostly the hylian trousers with the climbing shirt or hylian tunic dyed blue, but will change into cold or heat resistance clothing when absolutely necessary.

-Also quite likes the ancient armour set.

-Dislikes his head being covered so will choose to wear circlets or earrings with his outfits. -Messy hair don’t care.

Weapon:

-Sturdy shields because he parrys and perfect guards like a boss (and also enjoys shield surfing down every slope he comes across) paired with one handed weapons like swords or yiga weapons.

-Rito bows because of their precision, hoards arrows like crazy, will go looking to recover his arrows if he knows he missed his target.

-Spears help with his depth perception problems so will use them against elemental enemies where keeping his distance is useful. -

Also really enjoys guardian weapons and will max out his set with those if he can.