#the first text/light green is hyrule

[powdermelonkeg]

I'm certain you've talked about power sources for the Ancient Sheikah text, but what about Zonai tech? What are they powered by, if not just the same thing?

Okay, so I think that Sheikah tech is powered by grains of Timeshift stones, given how those look when powered.

Zonai devices don't have that, though. Any power they show off is green.

When they break, or when Zonai devices dissolve, it's in an explosion of blue-green light:

Which looks STARTLINGLY like the kind of power that permeates other, non-mechanical Zonai aspects, like the Shrines and Rauru's arm.

And that, we know, comes from light.

So, at its very, most rudimentary basic, I think Zonai use light as a power source.

But how does light become that green power?

So you know Lightroots?

Each of these can be found in the Depths, able to be activated with Zonai power, and connecting to a Shrine overhead. The only exceptions to this rule are the Shrines in the sky, which we can assume have been cut off from their lightroots—maybe that's why there are so many gloomroots in the Depths.

Look at that. Withered, seeping gloom everywhere, like decay.

How does this connect to Zonai machinery, though?

When you activate a lightroot, it doesn't just glow. Light cascades down THROUGH the base of the root, seeping into the ground, where it disperses and brings life to the area around you. That light all has to go somewhere, right?

And it does.

Here's how I think the whole process works (excuse the MS paint, I'm at work, it's the best I have):

Light becomes sealed in a Shrine, to "purify evil" (ie, to kill some monster that was trapped there).

The energy from that reaction travels down into a lightroot, where it builds up over time.

The light then filters upwards and infuses stone and metal, turning it into Zonaite.

Which then gets processed into Zonai machinery.

This has been going on LONG before Rauru; we know for a fact that his powers are hereditary, given how Sonia validated Zelda's existence due to sensing both their powers in her.

Monsters have existed long before the Demon King took control of them. Rauru's ancestors very likely used this as a way of dealing with them, which led to the creation of Zonaite in the first place, which they could then fully take advantage of. It's a sort of self-sustaining cycle built off the back of Hyrule's curse.

Which, in turn, gave rise to the ecosystem of the Depths.

And, depending on if you believe Luminous Stones to be connected to Zonaite, parts of the surface ecosystem, too.

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan]

Guys. Why is there even a debate here. Some of the games were explicitly written to be connected, some of them weren't. Not everything has to fit into one cohesive timeline. As a matter of fact, they can't. Now, there is some more nuance to it. Read below for my explanation (infodump) plus a more nuanced chart.

Red and blue lines are canon within the games' text. Ambiguities are filled in with green. I'll get more into that later. Let's first explain the two completely separate mini timelines.

The Four Swords miniseries stands mostly alone. The Master Sword and the Triforce are present in every other game or (mostly--looking at you, Master Sword in LoZ and AoL) have a good reason not to be, but they are not present at all in these three games. Instead, we have the Four Sword and Light Force. The only wrinkle is that Ganondorf shows up in FSA... so I don't know about that one. I don't think anyone does.

As for BotW and TotK. Oh brother. What do we do with these. Skyward Sword is intended to take place seemingly millennia, or at least several centuries before Ocarina. We see the founding of Hyrule with the first monarch and her chosen knight, the cycle of recurring evil and heroism being established, and the forging of the Master Sword

Wait. What about Rauru and Sonia? I thought they were the first rulers of Hyrule. And if the Zonai were around long before Hyrule, where is any of their presence in Skyward Sword? Huh. Alright. We don't know how much time passed between the first Calamity and the second, but from the past era of TotK to its present, we can account for at least 10,105 years of history. We don't even need to get into how Zora and Rito coexist or anything smaller like that. There's just no fucking way these two games fit with any of the others. Fine, that's fine. Moving on.

There's also a little hiccup around the Oracles. Nintendo seems to go back and force on whether the Oracles feature the same Link as in ALttP and LA, but if they do, it probably makes more sense that Oracles happen before LA (the linked Oracle game ends with Link boarding sailing off on a small ship and LA starts with him on one). So like... I guess they fit there?

Either way, let's take a second to look back at where this idea of a timeline split happened. Remember that WW and TP both clearly take place after OoT. That isn't theorizing, that's in the actual text of each game. The thing is, they're mutually exclusive. TP has Ganondorf being executed, as he would have been after the Hero of Time goes back to his original era and warns Zelda that her plan to get to the Triforce first isn't going to work (which is implied to be what happens at the "The End" screen of OoT). WW has Ganondorf coming back by breaking the seal put on him, and the Hero of Time didn't appear to stop him again (as would happen if Link was sent back in time). Fans started theorizing way back in 2006 that OoT created separate timelines, with WW and TP being mutually exclusive sequels to it as the evidence.

Some fans have asserted that Nintendo just "took" the fan theory. But come on, put everything together here. The texts of OoT, WW, and TP HEAVILY imply the timeline split. The only reason we called it a theory is because the writers didn't literally say "And then the timeline split in two". The texts are pretty clear though. It's the only thing that makes sense. That isn't to say that there needs to be a cohesive timeline, and that the split is the only way to fit it together. No, OoT is connected to both WW and TP no matter what. That was the intent. It's just that the explanation for OoT to have mutually exclusive sequels actually fits neatly into the texts of the games.

And now we come to the tricky part. Put yourself back into the 90s real quick. ALttP seems to have been written as a prequel to Zelda 1, showing Hyrule before its period of decline. Alright, let's just accept that because it may as well be true. The lore at that point was so thin that it made enough sense. I kinda slapped Zelda 1 and 2 at the end there to show it, because we do have a cohesive timeline from ALttP to TFH. That's fine, all well and good.

Likewise, OoT seems to be written as a prequel to ALttP. We see conflict over the Triforce, the origin of Ganon, the seven sages, and an earlier iteration of the Master Sword. Back in 1998, we had no reason to not believe it. These are tenuous connections that are not explicit in the games' text, so I've paired them with green lines to show it.

But wait. ALttP is ALSO mutually exclusive to TP and WW. Oh brother. What do we do about this? Even after figuring out the timeline split in 2006, fans didn't know what the fuck to do with the first four games of this franchise. They could go after TP, but that's even messier than putting them right after OoT. Yuck. This doesn't feel good at all. Oh yeah, and then there's the Four Swords games that don't fit anywhere.

Now you can imagine the position the writers of Hyrule Historia found themselves in when they were tasked with creating an official timeline. Some of the games have certain explicit connections, as detailed in my first chart. But they had to cram everything into one timeline. Well. They knew they had a timeline split in OoT, because that's what the texts of OoT, WW, and TP collectively say. The lore of ALttP also mentions seven sages (or wise men, but let's call them sages), but not a legendary hero. So... if you really stretch your brain out here... it kinda makes sense that there's a timeline where the Hero of Time died fighting Ganon. Maybe. Kinda. Not really, but kinda. And then there's the Four Swords miniseries. Fuck it, throw them in randomly.

The two-way split doesn't disagree with OoT's text at all, which said that Link won. The three-way split does disagree with it by asserting that Link lost. But if we're really trying to fit everything into one timeline, that is the cleanest place to put them. Some people really hate this, but it does seem that those are the same people that demanded that there be an official timeline in the first place. ie the same people who were gonna be pissed off with anything Nintendo gave them that wasn't exactly their own theory being confirmed.

Alright, real talk. The producers of the Zelda series have said time and time again that they think of what would make a fun game then write a story that fits around it. The Wind Waker devs wanted you to sail around the ocean. Then the writers decided "oh, we could put this after Ocarina! After all, weren't they left without a hero? What if Ganon came back with no one to stop him? How would that problem resolve itself? What if the gods just flooded the world?" Then the Twilight Princess devs wanted a spiritual successor to Ocarina, with an epic adventure on horseback across the traditional Zelda kingdom setting. So the writers went "hey, in Ocarina, Link warned Zelda about Ganon, right? What if he was executed then, and then the world was never flooded?"

We have to realize that trying to put games with this design philosophy into a neat little timeline is a futile effort. It's never gonna work because it wasn't designed to. More so than any other storytelling medium, video games take so many approaches to continuity. The Halo games were all meant to be sequential and fit neatly into a strict timeline. Pokemon is all canon within itself but the ties between games are less important than the stories of each game. Mario essentially has no canon except for recurring characters and settings. Zelda is gameplay first, canon second. That's why the two most recent mainline games don't even try to fit in the canon of the previous eighteen. That's just how it works and we're gonna have to accept that.

[neverchecking]

I wanted to check if your requests were still open or rather if your inbox was open. But since I have the green light, let's get this trainwreck happening :D (This is a lot of text and I apologise)

Her name is Tia and she's a reincarnate isekai. Maturity-wise, she's about middle 20's, but her physical and chronological ages are two wildly different numbers. She has memories of our world and of the LOZ games. She remembered her past life at the age of seven. She doesn't like her birth name. Her priority is always Link. Her moral basis is mostly "A kingdom that writes its peace in the blood of children is a kingdom that deserves to burn." Tia has since spread this belief. She also believes in learning self-defence and is a decent swordswoman. She keeps her hair long and in braids.

And she reincarnated as Flora.

(Let that sink in.)

Tia calls her past life 'visions' and plays on the whole 'prophecy runs in the family' to get people to listen to her. This allowed her to save a lot of lives during the calamity, but rather than falling protecting her, Link fell protecting other citizens. Tia had to do the whole century-long calamity thing, but since she also knew about her time powers, she managed to save the champions, the backup she ensured they had on the Beasts, and several pockets of survivors. She also managed to act as Link's travelling companion, guiding him and helping when she could. (She couldn't take full human form so she travelled with him as a fox spirit. Link nicknamed her Foxy.)

(I like to think that the gods aren't stupid enough to give Zeldas obscene amounts of power while they're still kids and growing so they either have to grow to the age of wisdom [17] or Ganon needs to be a threat to Hyrule. They still gotta earn it though. Flora turned 17 but didn't earn it until Link fell. Tia managed to unlock it a bit earlier, but she unlocked all of her power and her body nearly tore itself apart due to barely not being physically old enough to handle it, leaving scars all over her body like cracks.)

She also warned people about the Upheaval, the Demon King and prepared them for it. Hyrule walked into that particular paradox, ready and prepared. In terms of certain side-quests, Tia told people why she blocked off certain things or why she was borrowing certain items.

She also warned people about an imposter (IYKYK) and made sure she could be identifiable by wearing something green. Her imposter never wore green. And she told Link everything she could and wrote it all down for him, helping him in any way she could. She also warned him about her fate if things played out like her 'visions'. Which they did, but Link had full permission to use whatever he needed from her (IYKYK). She prepared the sages, past and future, for the long term. She always made sure to ask for help and never implied about Link being the one to face Ganon, making sure he had a choice. (She really hoped Revali would take up the mantle of Wind Sage, but knows she can't control fate and prepares for all outcomes. Tulin is still the Sage and Tia is so proud and so pissed.)

Tia does everything she can to protect Link but always gives him the choice. Link is her priority since 'none of her ancestors ever really did so.' (Tia can count on one hand how many of her ancestors she actively likes and still have fingers left over. [Rauru and Sonia don't count])

So take all of this and then throw her into Sage's Hyrule.

Watch the trainwreck.

(Meanwhile, her Hyrule is in uproar because Tia has never just vanished like this. Especially without telling her Link who she has a very deep platonic bond with.)

Here's a doll-maker pic of her in casual clothes. Because I can't draw

Thank you for letting me ramble. I just wanna share my girl.

So, first off,

I LOVE HER HFOFHF I LOVE HER

And her morals? I love them. I'm adopting them.

The whole vision bit is always so interesting to me because you can play around with it so much. And with her being reincarnated as Flora? Even better. Like this is so much better than whatever the hell Flora was doing. Saving the champions, keeping the hold on the beasts, AND GUIDING LINK AS A FOX HOFHFO

(While I do think the gods are in fact that stupid, I think they still have to earn it, hence the whole BotW/AoC thing where Flora/ Fauna had to go to the springs and stuff constantly. However, with that amount of power I can imagined that would be a lot for a single body. My own OC has issues handling her power as well, which is another thing I love playing on when it comes to OC's.)

Her explaining things is so much better. ( I do know!) And giving Link a choice in any world is always great, just butters my biscuits like- hfiofhf GIVE HIM A CHOICE- Honestly, and don't get me wrong I love Tulin to absolute bits, he's my favorite Sage, but why wasn't it Teba?...The ADULT?

Sage being faced with someone who's so involved in a choice, and saving him before anyone else??

MMMMM-

AND HER HYRULE GOING INTO MASS PANIC BC THEIR SWEETHEART IS GONE?

I'm just picturing-

Tia, to Sage: I gotta get back to bed before Link realizes I'm gone!

Her Link: Tia?

Her Link: T I A?!?!

[linkedworlds]

The End Is Where We Begin, Part 1

Thank you for your interest in Linked Worlds. My name is Yuki, also known as @yuki5930, and I am finally ready to release the first chapter of Linked Worlds. Unfortunately, since I am not skilled in digital art, I will be releasing this as a text-only version until I have enough courage to try drawing it. I hope this does not disappoint anyone, however, I will do my best to learn digital art in my free time.

I hope you all enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it. The Legend of Zelda is my lifelong hyperfixation, and I am glad I have enough courage to release this tale.

Please enjoy the start of Linked Worlds.

“Link…! Link!” A faint, nurturing yet urgent voice called. “Wake up, sleepyhead! We’re going to be late!”

I jumped from my slumber, looking around. My nerves were immediately soothed at the sight of my awakener.

”You slept like a rock last night. How were your dreams?”

I sat up, stretching my sore muscles as the figure pulled open my window hatch. The morning light flew through the opening directly onto my face, warming my cheeks. “Good morning, my Sun.” I smiled.

”Good morning, my Sky.” My blonde sweetheart beamed back in my direction, our eyes locking with pure love. “We don’t want to be late for the ceremony, do we?”

My eyes widened. I scrambled out of bed, and began digging apart my wardrobe. “That’s today?!”

”I told you last night, silly.” She remarks, crossing her arms with the most adorable smirk on her face.

“Well, it looks like I forgot. No matter, I have my uniform here somewhere…” I managed to dig to the bottom of my wardrobe, yet my knight uniform was nowhere to be seen. “Darling… have you seen my uniform?” The urgency in my voice made my fiancé chuckle under her breath.

”I have seen it. In fact, I prepared it for today's ceremony. I wasn’t going to let you wear a wrinkled uniform in front of everyone in Skyloft, you know.” She walked over to her closet, and revealed my uniform. It was in pristine condition. The green cotton tunic looked as beautiful as the day I received it. The chain-mail shined in the sunlight. The emblem on my sailcloth had another coat of navy paint. The master sword and sheath had been polished for the third time this week. My pleather belts have been lacquered. My uniform looks to be washed, ironed, and some of my worn-out embroidery on the tunic itself was retouched.

“Darling… this looks amazing! Thank you so much!” I pull her in by her waist, giving her kisses all over her face.

”You’re very welcome dear.” She giggles and returns a few kisses. “Quickly, get changed and meet me at the ceremony. I’ll see you there.” She began making her way towards the door, yet she stops at the threshold. “You got this. I believe in you.” Her smile glows at me as she sees herself out of my room.

I got this. I got this… You can do it, Link.

Link dashes out of the front door to their abode, making his way to the Sacred Grounds. He begins losing his breath halfway through his run, but decides to push on due to the sake of time. As he arrives, the crowd turns their heads towards the exhausted hero, who is wheezing from the hardcore exercise. He strolls forward to be by the side of his lover. She gives him the look, as he scratches the back of his head nervously.

”Citizens of Skyloft! Today is the day where we finally unite with the rest of the world, and establish a nation of our own!” The crowd rejoices, hooting and hollering with excitement. “After five long months of restoration, expansion and adjusting to a new way of life, we have grown as a community, and we shall grow even more as a nation! We are all gathered here to declare Hyrule’s founding! The founding of this nation will be commenced by the hero who saved this world from ruin, and protected Skyloft with every ounce of his being. This could not have been possible without the courage our hero possesses. Hero of the Sky, please draw your blade from its sheath and point it Skyward.”

He draws his blade, its gradient glistening in the morning sky. The hero holds it towards the sun, as it charges with a ray of light.

“To declare our nation as founded, the hero must strike the Goddess Cube right in front of us.” She turns her head towards her lover. “Link… you may strike the Goddess Cube.”

Link takes in three deep breaths, counting down in his mind. ‘Three… two… one… now!” He let’s down a powerful swing, striking the goddess cube directly. The cube begins glowing radiantly.

”By the power of the goddess, I declare Hyrule’s founding to be set in stone with time.” The crowd roars in applause and cheer. Glasses were clinking, children were running around, and some villagers began to dance with glee. The sun glistened upon us as I gazed over to my sun. She looked back at me, leaning in for a kiss.

Rumble… Rumble… Rumble…

They pulled away, looking at each other with concern. They then looked at the crowd, who seemed just as confused as they were. “Stay here. We’ll be back shortly.” Zelda looked over to her sweetheart. “Let’s go investigate this, Link.”

He nods, as they dash off towards the source of the rumbling. As the lovebirds passed through the gates in the Sealed Grounds headed towards Faron Woods, the rumbling became far more intense with each step they traversed. Link had blade and shield drawn, as Zelda held her lyre in her right arm.

As they sprinted for what felt like forever, they reached the source of the rumbling near Lake Floria. The water in the gorge grumbled as the earth shook beneath the two. Upon reaching the platform Link once used to dive into the lake, they noticed a dark violet vortex mixed with a swirl of scarlet in the middle. It let out a large shockwave into the ground that made the couple nearly fall down with its sheer strength.

“What is that…?!” Zelda breathed out what air wasn’t knocked out of her.

“No… idea….” A familiar gruff voice stumbled from behind them.

”Groose? Where the hell have you been?! You missed the ceremony to solidify Hyrule as a nation! This was a big deal, you know!” Zelda hollered over the rumbling.

”Now’s not the time for arguing, little lady. We got this thing on our hands.” He approaches the vortex, only to get knocked on his rear end by another shockwave. “YEOWCH!” He scurries backwards and hides behind Link. “Link man, you go check that thing out!”

Link lets out a distasteful sigh, rolling his eyes to the side. “Fine.” He looks over to Zelda with a gentle demeanor, “Stay here darling. I’m going to see where this leads, okay?”

“We’ll be right here if you need anything. Just, please… be careful.” She worriedly gazes at her fiancé.

”I will be, I promise.” He smiles. He turns back around, takes a deep breath in, and approaches the vortex. He hesitantly reaches out his hand, waving it through the vortex. He looks back to his sweetheart and mildly annoying friend, nods, and walks through the rest of the vortex.

Colors spiraled around the boy, disorienting his vision and sense of perception. His head began violently throbbing with pain, along with it came a numbness that covered his whole body. It felt like he was falling, and he felt lightheaded. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was a sight of luscious green grass at the very far end of the vortex.

A loud thud rang through a secluded, sunny-patched forest of larch and cedars. Swallows sang beautiful songs as the sun finally came through the trees. The hero's eyes fluttered open, met by a harsh light. He covers his eyes with his forearm as he lays on his back.

‘… Did I die?’ The dirty-blonde boy thought to himself. He took in a deep breath and heaved his body upward to sit. He rubbed his eyes, and blinked a few times, taking in the scenery. The green grass was blooming with color, plenty of flowers, and shrubbery surrounded the boy. He raised an eyebrow, as he’s never seen this area before. He looks in all directions around, coming to the sudden realization that the vortex he entered was nowhere to be found.

”Oh, crap!!!” He scrambles to his feet, panicking. “Zelda?! Groose?! Anyone?! Can you hear me?!” He began wandering around a bit, hollering into the empty forest. “Please?! Someone?! Anyone?!”

Snap.

The boy whipped around near the speed of light, drawing his blade, expecting to be faced with some sort of monster. To his surprise, there was nothing. He scanned his surroundings, not letting his guard down for a second until he knew the coast was clear. He let out a sigh, putting the master sword into the sheath on his back.

Suddenly, Link felt a large weight slam down onto him. His body smacked into the ground with a loud thud. He felt something sharp against his neck, and his arms were pinned behind him, immobilizing him. Ever so slightly, he turns his head to see what; or who; was on top of him.

”Who are you, and what are you doing so close to the Minish Village?!” An orotund voice with a slight growl hollered at him.

Out of breath and with his vision blurry, the hero tried explaining himself. “I-I-I climbed into this portal thing… and I ended up here! I have no idea where I am, who you are, or where my friends are! I-I-I promise, I don’t mean any harm…!” He deeply inhaled air, trying to regain half the senses the tackle lost him.

”You’re not a monster? Vortex? Are you some sort of evil sorcerer are you?!” The voice roared.

“W-what is a sorcerer?! Let alone an evil one… I’m a hero! I’m the hero of Skyloft!” Link wheezed out.

”Skyloft…?! That nursery rhyme?! That place is an ancient legend!” The voice refuted.

”Ancient…? What are you talking about?!” Sky raised his voice out of frustration.

”What are YOU talking about?!” The figure released the blade from his neck, scooting off of him. “Let’s just… talk for a minute. I’m… very confused.”

”I would have liked to have done that to begin with, but here we are…” Link huffs, sitting up with his arms crossed. He is finally able to study the figure in detail. He faces a blonde boy with a harsh cut bob hairstyle, with bangs being pulled back with a green cloth headband. His most interesting feature were his multi-colored eyes, which matched his tunic. Interestingly enough, the tunic had a green hood with golden tassels at the end of it. The hood also seemed to have gemstones embedded around the base. The tunic was sewed together with golden string, with the tunic representing a checkerboard, but with different colors. The top two colors on his tunic were green and blue, while the bottom two were red and violet. Those were the same colors that beamed in his eyes. He bore a leather belt with colored embroidery around its borders, with a golden buckle holding it around his skinny waist. The boy also had a pair of dark leggings, and his leather exploration boots had insulation to handle colder terrains. He was quite short, and he looked like a child. Despite his size, the hero experienced his strength first-hand. He seemed to be a warrior, as his sword and arm braces resembled the ones the hero was wearing.

”Who are you?” The blonde tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow slightly.

”My name is Link… I am the hero of Skyloft.”

“Link…? Your name is Link?” The blonde boy was taken aback.

”Yeah…” the hero muttered sheepishly.

“That’s interesting… I’ve never met someone with the same name before. I am also named Link.”

“HUH?!” The hero was baffled at his remark.

”Yeah, it seems we share a name…” Four also studies the hero up and down, but particularly focuses on his face. “It also seems that we share a few features…”

”Really? That’s interesting…” Sky nods and shrugs. “Who knows, we could be related somehow. Anyways, did I fall to the surface? Where am I?”

“The… surface?” The other Link tilts his head sideways. “We’re in the Minish Forest, just outside the Minish Village.”

“What’s a ‘Minish’?” Sky tilts his head, mirroring his name twin.

”You don’t know what a Minish is? Well, how do I explain this…” The blonde puts his chin on his knuckles, pondering. “Well, us Hylians know them technically as Picori… they resemble small mice, and they have our pointy ears…”

”Picori, you say… I’ve never heard of a Picori before.”

“Not a lot of people have, they’re more known as rumors in Hyrule.”

“We’re in Hyrule?! Hyrule was just a small village when I left, there’s no way it could have expanded overnight…” Sky rests his head on his hand.

“Hyrule’s a nation that spans over hundreds of miles…”

“HUH?!” Sky shoots backwards, in absolute awe. “There’s no way I could have been out that long!”

“There’s only one explanation that I can think of… You mentioned a vortex previously, right?”

“Yeah, I walked into some sort of vortex and I ended up here…”

”It might have been a portal across time… You time traveled.”

“Time traveled?! That’s a real thing?!”

“I guess so. Ezlo has told me stories about sorcerers who have time traveled.” The blonde seems stumped. “I just didn’t know he was telling the truth

“Time travel, you say… Then… What about my fiancé, and my friends?” The hero asked, his voice wavering.

“Let’s not think about anything drastic. They’re still alive and well in your time.” The blonde put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

“Right…”

The two sat in silence for a minute, as if they were trying to find words to break the ice. “So, since we are both named Link, how about we create nicknames for each other?” The tiny one’s eyes gleamed.

“I don’t see why not, it will make things a lot less confusing.” The hero nodded.

“Well… you said you were from Skyloft, right? In that case, your nickname will be… Sky!” He smiled.

“Sky… That’s exactly what my fiancé calls me, funny enough. Let me think of one for you…” Sky studied his features for the second time. “Your eyes are four different colors, and so is your tunic… Would the name ‘Four’ be okay with you?”

“That makes a lot of sense… Sure, Four it is.” Four smiled. “Well, it’s starting to get dark out. We shouldn’t be out too late, but judging by your sword, it seems you’re used to dealing with monsters.”

“It’s my job as a knight unfortunately… That’s why I usually take morning shifts.”

Four lets out a giggle at Sky’s comment. “I’ll introduce you to all of my friends in the Minish Village, now that I know you’re not a threat. You startled everyone earlier with your yelling.”

Sky itches the back of his head awkwardly, “Sorry, I was pretty distressed, falling from a vortex and all.”

“I would feel the same way if I were in your situation, that’s for sure.” Four nods, standing up and reaching out his hand to Sky. Sky smiles, stands up, and shakes his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you. I look forward to our friendship.” Four nods and does a tiny bow out of respect.

“The pleasure is all mine.”

Thank you for reading the first chapter of Linked Worlds, I appreciate your interest, and I hope you look forward to the next chapters’ release.

Signing off, @yuki5930 .

[blurbry]

Rambles

Rambling Day 1:    AO3 WARNING!!!! LONG POST AHEAD!            FIRST BULLET POINT!: I have a Pseud now. For when I have the feeling or need to write *EHEM* fics. However I Most likely won’t go into too much detail as said things actually make me flushed sometimes.(While I’m Not repulsed or uncomfortable talking about it or writing about it, I just thought I’d touch on the fact that I’m still experimenting with sexuality and am not too sure if I’m actually asexual or not.) A small warning, It may contain oc x character shippings, not just head-cannoned shippings.  I will most likely not post them Publicly as most of them would be physically for me to reread and improve my writing skills, rather than to cause discourse with one who may be Uncomfortably settled with such a subject.  Even if I do Post them Publicly on tumblr, They’ll be tagged Respectively and placed on a Main blog and art blog separate blog. still so the tag can be blocked and ignored. Tumblr added nsfw Content filters for the reasons sole for you to be able to browse your content without being hit in the face with a discomforting subject.   SECOND BULLET POINT!: I’m rewriting all my old fics.  Those of you who followed my AO3, whether you ended up there through lost in dysphoria, or perhaps you were there from my very first fic Broken Glass Shattered Spirits, You’ll notice they’ve all been deleted (except for the ones I’m particularly proud of.) This is because I’m freshly applying a new coat of paint!!  Rather than a baby tiny 1000 word fic, There will be more words, more filler text to make it more interesting. More Development in situations rather than a Rushed feeling of Needing to get this out. While doin so will take me a few months, due to having the most ADHD brain in my family, I assure you when a project has been begun it hasn’t been forgotten, it’s just been pressed aside for a later date. All I ask is Im not rushed or demanded to write faster, because that’s what leads to my sloppy 1000 word writing. Schedule for writings:    Begin Lost Family Au Writing and Master Explanation. Lost Family: An Au I Made which is a Link Separate Au. All the links have tragic Life stories about Siblings or parents or how their lifestyles effect them, Leading up to the events of the Four swords being pulled, and the four meeting each other. IN this AU, the swords are four elemental blades locked deep within Temple systems, that each of the four are called to pull when the time is right.  Begin Raptured Hyrule: Raptured Hyrule is another AU I began working on in 2021 with my friends, and finally decided to publicize in 2022. This AU is if darkness was never fended, and in a way, if Zelda was corrupted by dark cloud rather than killed. It’s very angsty........     Rewrite dancing in the starlight(bluexErune) so its less short and develops more to the relationships. Dancing Scene will still apply.     Rewrite Bluebird(Blue x Vio) Blue at war, Vio is a damsel in distress waiting for him to come home, only having letters and little embroideries and crochet projects to litter the house with.     Rewrite Broken Glass Shattered spirit.(Vidow) Vio is ignoring Shadow for deep studies, Shadow goes off to find something interesting to do and has a run in with a few threatening old friends. Rewrite Angels Flying High, Originally this fic was a RedxShadow Pure angst where Red Died, and Shadow destroyed the mirror a second time just so he could get that final ounce of happiness with him. However, I’m going to change its full aspect and Make it Angel!Red Au. It will still be Shadow x Red. Rewrite Sunsets and Lavender tea (Blue x Shadow) Poor Blue is suffering nightmarish trauma from being frozen alive and Shadow is there to help *cool~* his spirits (I’ll go back in the bad berry corner again) Rewrite Darkness Within: Green/Red Corruptive AU. At a last ditch effort to save the dying light that Red brought to the world, Green performs a dangerous and irrational ritual which results in Red becoming a creature of darkness. At first Red is weary, and its oh so torturous trying to tango with such a creature when He can only come out during the hours that one needs to sleep, but its so worth it when people suddenly become less afraid of Shadow because of Red’s doings. (Look lorulians can be nice people too, don’t fight me ) Rewrite: Everything is okay (Vidow Angst) Vio sustains injuries on the battle field by a mob of Moblins, Blue took his eyes of his back for only a second, only to turn and watch him be run through with a lizzal spear. Blue has a panic attack, He promised Shadow he’d make sure vio came home unharmed.. Vio almost dies, but miraculously was saved by a fairy and a very, Very upset travelling shadow.  These will not be redone in the exact ordering of this post.    

[transskywardsword]

Dungeon Crawl - Bramble and the gang transverse an underground water temple in hopes of breaking a curse

okayyyyy i finally finished this. i'd make it longer, but im worried abt hitting tumblr's character limit so this is what yall get haha. enjoy a bramble-centric fic, some world-building for nes loz/aol's world, and a cameo from out favorite original princess! NOTE: wilds is from after totk (which i technically havent finished, hence why i haven't updated his character sheet oops) so there are some mentions of game mechanic spoilers but no story spoilers. also, he is completely mute and uses the slate as a text to speech device. i hope yall enjoy!

[image description: a digital artwork of Bramble, a Link from the loz au Heroes Gate. They are a young teen with mousy brown hair, light brown skin, and a broad large nose. They wear a pinkish purple fur shoulder cloak over their dark green tunic and orange sleeves. In the first drawing, they stand against a gloomy dark blue background, shoulders hunched as they protect a lit red candle that illuminates them in its glow. End description]

Moving out of any of the other heroes’ Hyrules and into Bramble’s home was always jarring for Twilight. There was almost a feeling of whiplash as the green and blues of their eras transformed into the ash and dust of Bramble’s; though he would never say it to Bramble, Twilight hated visiting their era. The group had hoped for a breather after their last stop in Mini’s world. The battle they spent slicing down the magically charged followers of Ganon hoping to free Vaati had proven to be unusually difficult, and everyone had been looking forwards to Grandpa Smithy’s soft beds and the bakery in Mini’s Castle Town. Instead, as soon as the last creature had fallen, the world around them froze and the brilliant blinding blue of a Time Gate flickered open before them. So, with much grumbling and groaning, the twelve walked through the Gate, trading the green lush forests and picturesque towns of Mini’s Hyrule for the decay and destruction of Bramble’s.  

Lana hadn’t gifted them with an objective this time around, and her constant vagueness was going to give Twilight a permanent twitch. It would be bad enough wandering aimlessly for days in a good Hyrule, like Quartet’s or Spirit’s, but ages on foot in the crumbling wasteland that was Bramble’s Hyrule sounded truly miserable. The group seemed to agree with Twilight, though none of them would say it out of respect for Bramble’s feelings. Somehow, despite the destruction, the teen loved the place. It was mind-boggling, but while the group stepped around puddles of toxic water and tried to avoid breathing in too much dust, Bramble walked with spring in their step, whistling brightly. Bramble led them along the winding riverside, occasionally giving a stern reminder to watch for river Zora, and promised they knew the perfect place to stay that was less than a few hours of brisk walking. Bramble never used a map; they never seemed to need to, moving as if the jagged riverside was as familiar to them as their own home. Though, if Bramble’s jumbled stories about their childhood were to be believed, then the outdoors of their crumbling Hyrule had served as home for them.

Twilight quickly worked out that Bramble wasn't taking them to a cave or protected campsite like they usually did, but to the towering, if worn, castle that sat on the horizon. North Castle. It always struck Twilight as a little odd that they all had a Hyrule Castle—even Waker, though his sat beneath the waves—but Bramble didn’t. Twilight once asked why, and Bramble’s face had gone dark and sad, the way it did anytime the reality of Ganon’s destruction was discussed.

“It was deemed beyond saving,” Bramble had said. “Besides, the North Castle is nice! Especially now that Zelda I is awake to help with reconstruction.”

Hue and Legend had exchanged that Look of theirs, and the group adjusted. North Castle replaced Hyrule Castle in their vocabulary, and the old castle was added to the growing list of things Ganon had irreparably destroyed in the young teen’s home.

 It had been weeks since the chosen had been in Bramble’s Hyrule, and even more since they all had last visited the castle, and Bramble practically vibrated with excitement. There weren’t many guards in North Castle and no servants—the government of Hyrule was still small and unstable, and there were more pressing matters than ladies in waiting. Bramble’s heroics had inspired a new wave of knights, but they paled in comparison to the numbers—and, frankly, skill—of the knights in Twilight’s Castle Town. No, these men weren’t soldiers, just farmers and wanders inspired by a teenager with a magic sword, now willing to put down their lives to rebuild what a century without a Triforce had destroyed. It was a noble effort, Twilight would give them that, even though it seemed rather pitiful compared to the might of the other standing armies in many of the group’s times.

North Castle was far from the grand spiral towers of the rest of their Hyrule Castles, instead just a haphazard pile of stone in a shape that spoke of an echo of splendor. Twilight had no doubt that the North Castle had been beautiful once—now, all that was left was a dingy stone structure stuffed with civilians searching for refuge.

It was a tight squeeze as they moved past the main gates and into the controlled chaos of the courtyard. North Castle was the last place to hold against Ganon and his armies, and it was the heart of rebuilding efforts. Refugees watched the heroes with wide, mistrusting eyes as they passed; Twilight had learned early on that trust was not something easily given in Bramble’s Hyrule, and that paranoia was what it took to keep you alive. Twilight and the others had been to the North Castle at least twice now, and still, Hyrule’s people looked at them with distrust. Or, at least, they looked at most of the group with distrust: each person smiled when Bramble passed, and Bramble seemed to know each one’s name, shaking hands and kissing cheeks and ruffling children's hair. Finally, the crowd thinned as they left the courtyard and moved deeper into the castle, and Bramble led them through winding halls up to a large door. The library.

The North Castle’s library might have once been a thing of beauty—the door’s design was weathered but clearly ornate, and even though the tapestries were muted with soot and the carpet was moth eaten, they cared an echo of grace. Bramble had been beyond excited to show the library to the group the first time they visited the castle, boasting that it was the largest library in all of Hyrule, and the sight of it had broken Twilight’s heart. It was tiny, the books damaged and worn, and it had clearly been ransacked once or twice and was still recovering from the violence. But Bramble was proud of it, and if it made the kid happy to pretend to be impressed by it then darn it, Twilight would lie until his face turned blue.

A middle-aged woman dressed in pale pink ruffles with a simple circlet on her brunette curls stood at a table, the top of it covered in unfurled scrolls, and a man in simple but high-quality clothing stood beside her, saying something about fertilizer and branching out past Hyrule’s border. Her eyes flickered to the door as soon as it opened. Twilight was big enough to admit that he squirmed a little under her gaze; Queen Zelda II of Hyrule was a deeply intimidating woman and reminded Twilight greatly of his own Zelda. They shared the same stern dark eyes and the same determination to protect their people, no matter the personal cost. She held up her hand, cutting off the noble mid-sentence.

“Thank you, Sir Ruben. That will be all.”

The man—Ruben— huffed but complied, pushing past them, and as soon as the door slammed behind the heroes Zelda II’s demeanor melted into something sweet and soft.

“Link!” She cried, rushing to Bramble’s side. She kissed their cheeks and Bramble flushed. Zelda II took their face in her hands and tilted it up, pressing her forehead to theirs.  

“It’s been too long, friend.” There was a moment of softness between the two of them before the Queen pulled back. “Zelda and I have been worried sick— but never mind that. How long can you stay this time? I’ll prepare a suite for your companions. I’ve finally gotten enough bedding together, and each one of you can have a mattress of your own.”

‘And isn’t that an idea?’ Twilight thought as Zelda II beamed at Bramble, allowing the smallest amount of bitterness to creep in. ‘A castle where having a pillow to yourself is a luxury.’

"We can find our own place to stay—" Bramble began to say, but Zelda II waved off their complaint.

"Nonsense. Stay, all of you. A friend of Link's is a friend of Hyrule. Come, come, I've a favor I've been waiting to ask you."

She pushed aside scrolls of something resembling trade routes from the table.

"I'm afraid I don't have enough chairs..."

"We can stand, your Majesty," Sky said with a gentle smile. "We've suffered worse than swore feet."

Zelda II's eyes softened at that, and she reached out to touch his arm.

"I'd rather you didn't suffer at all." She said solemnly, then cleared her throat, smoothing out the pink folds of her dress. The color seemed childish for a woman of her age, but she wore it well. "Link, I have a quest, should you accept it."

She unrolled one scroll, exposing the first map of Bramble's Hyrule Twilight had ever seen. Bramble had always traveled from memory, their impeccable sense of direction leading the chosen heroes well, and seeing a map now left Twilight to marvel at just how big Bramble's Hyrule was—and just how devastating losing the Triforce must be for such a massive country to be so decimated. Hue mentioned Lorule often, and how the loss of their Triforce was catastrophic for their country, but this, this was proof Twilight could see with his own eyes. For a power given by the Gods, the Triforce could destroy just as much as it could bless.  

“I’ve been trying to find a way to renew some of Hyrule’s failing natural resources,” Zelda II said, smoothing out the map. “There are so many things Ganon destroyed… infrastructure, agriculture…” She blew a tuft of hair out of her face. “We’ve been looking to establish trade with the land beyond Death Mountain. They have a vast coastline filled with Zora and the Zora allowed me to speak with their Queen. She believes the violence from the river Zora comes from toxicity in the water. Should we purify the water…”

“The Zora stop trying to kill people.” Bramble said, running a finger across a squiggling line of river on the map. “So how do I purify the water?”

“There is a temple we recently unearthed: the Hall of Waters. It was one of the first temples taken over by Ganon, almost a century ago, and it had all but faded into myth. Now, we know for sure that it is far from that, and from the recognizance we have been able to do, we have discovered it houses a mighty curse. I believe that the curse is what is affecting our water. Break the curse, fix the water.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Bramble said, and the queen gave them a soft smile.

“I knew you would help.”

“For this kingdom?” Somehow, despite their hunched frame and soft voice, Bramble seemed ten feet tall. “Anything.”

---

The hike to the Halls of Water was a long one. Nestled deep in the marshes of northeastern Hyrule, the air surrounding the Hall was thick and humid, and smelled positively foul. There were no plants in the marsh; anything the shallow water touched fizzled away, the toxins in the water acidic enough to eat through wood and stone. Still, Bramble was in high spirits.

“Can you imagine?” They said, jumping over a puddle, “Clean water! Zora just as peaceful as all of yours! This could mean so much—irrigation for agriculture, shipping routes over rivers, heck, safe drinking water!”

Hue grinned and ruffled their hair. “If anyone can break that curse, it’s you, kiddo.” Bramble ducked out from under his hand, biting back a smile.

Stepping carefully around puddles and standing water, the heroes came up to what had once been a waterfall. There was the occasional sluggish trickle of water over the edge of the cliff, but most of the waterfall had long since dried up—and there, hidden amongst the stones of the cliff, was an entrance. Someone had tried to barricade it shut with the rocks from the waterfall, but others, likely the recognizance Zelda II mentioned, had managed to pry them away. Spirit leaned their head in, squinting into the darkness.

“I can hear water,” He said, “and movement. Not much else though.”

“Well,” Quartet said, clapping the teen on the shoulder. “No time like the present!” Spirit yelped as he pushed him through the doorway.

“Quartet!” Sky hissed and Quartet snickered. “There could have been a drop! We don’t know what we’re walking into. Caution, please.”

‘Come on, we’re wasting daylight.’ Era signed. He tugged on Quartet’s collar, yanking him towards the temple door. The group trickled in after them, candles and lanterns at the ready. Wilds lit up his Sheikah slate and held it high to illuminate the entrance room.

It was steep, the stones slick with erosion, and sure enough, Twilight could hear running water somewhere in the dark. Waker whistled as he took in the room around them. The entrance might have been small and cracked, but the main hall was magnificent. The ceiling was domed and towered above them, so high that none of their lights reached the top. The ground was a smashed mosaic, the tile telling some sort of story involving Zora and smooth gems. It was almost impossible to make out, but beautiful nonetheless. At the edge of the room were three doors, each one massive enough to take up an entire story of a house, maybe two. Sky cleared his voice.

“You know the drill,” he said, the usual softness in his voice melting away into what Mini had lovingly dubbed the ‘serious leader tone’. “Groups of four. Hue, Mini, and Spirit with me. Era, Quartet, Legend, with Waker—”

“And Wilds, Mask, and Bramble with me.” Twilight said. He hooked his lantern to his belt and turned to Bramble. “Ready?”

Bramble nodded.

“Who’s taking the head?” They asked. “You, right?”

Twilight smiled.

“You, obviously. This is your Hyrule; you know it better than us.”

Bramble blanched. “Me? I couldn’t possibly—”

Sky clapped Bramble on the shoulder and gave them a simple smile. “Have faith. You’re the Hero of Hyrule. You’ve got this.”

Bramble swallowed then hesitantly nodded. “Okay. Okay.”

“Meet back in an hour!” Sky called as he drew the Master Sword, its holy light illuminating his face. He shoved open the door closest to him, and with a small wave from Mini, the three heroes disappeared after him.

“Don’t die,” Waker called over his shoulder to Bramble as he pulled open his door, and Twilight gave one last look at Lana’s chosen before pulling open his own door.

---

The Hall of Waters was beautiful in an eerie, quiet sort of way. Bramble kept an ear open for the call of monsters, but so far, the hall had been silent save for the splash of their feet trudging through the shallow water that flooded the hallways. Wilds held his slate up to the walls, soaking in the murals and mosaics that lined them and taking occasional photos. It was pitch black, but between the lantern, Bramble’s red candle, and the brightbloom seed Mask had cheekily tangled in Wilds’ hair, visibility was comfortable.

“It tells a story,” Wilds’ slate chirped, the robotic, feminine voice echoing through the still air. Bramble would never not be amazed by the text-to-speech function that allowed Wilds to have a voice without needing to rely on his voice or signs. “There’s the river Zora, and the ocean Zora—and a stone? It looks like they are giving each other something, and this smooth stone is the center of it all.”

“Hue mentioned a smooth stone he retrieved for the Zora during his first adventure,” Bramble said. Twilight nodded, and Bramble hoisted their candle higher for a better look. The mosaic was brittle with age, but the colors were protected from the sun, allowing the stones to glitter brightly when brought into the light.

A woman with blue skin, flared fins, and a wide, crested forehead stood, covered in fine jewels—an ocean Zora, and a high-ranking one at that. She was flanked by an entourage of blue Zora, also ocean, and in her hands was a smooth, beautifully carved golden stone. In front of her, kneeling at her feet, was a strange, humanoid creature made of green and red scales. Fire fell from its lips as it tried to kiss her feet. Inscription in gold circles the scene, and Wilds snapped a picture.

“Don’t recognize the language.” He said, “I might be able to get the slate to translate it but… Is it anything you’ve seen before?” He turned to Bramble and Bramble scrunched their face as they tried to make it out.

Reading was hard enough for Bramble as it was, but this looping handwriting and erosion mixed with the old fashioned spelling and strange dialect to create something truly impossible for them to puzzle out. It was their Hylian, but old, far too old. If Legend or Hue were here, they could probably translate it, but Bramble was still practicing his own local dialect, let alone Gods knew how many centuries old ones. They turned to Wilds, flushing.

“I can’t…”

Wilds smiled, his teeth ghostly in the gloom. Wilds was comfortable in the dark in a way none of them were, and Bramble had a feeling he was helping light up the room out of kindness, not necessity. They didn’t know if Wilds could see in the dark, but he certainly moved like he could, like the dark was a second skin. Not at home in the blackness, but not an outsider either. Bramble thought it might have something to do with the chasms that littered Wilds’ home, but they had never asked. Wilds had made it very clear those were not to be messed with, and Bramble respected the Champion’s words.

Wilds hand glowed with a pale, eerie green as he clicked photos of the inscriptions. The slate chirped as it began translating it, and Wilds bit his lip, tapping in words.

“There’s something about a Queen from the Ocean—Rulet? Erulte? It’s hard to make out the name—and she came to ‘the Baren Place’ to give her Gift to the ‘Unenlightened’.

Wilds stepped forwards to take another picture. In this one, the ocean Zora were tearing away the fire breathing creature, wresting it away from the Queen, but she raises an elegant hand. She knelt to the creature’s level and cupped it’s face—then offered it the stone.  

“The Unenlightened were creatures of the same blood, but unblessed with Nayru’s wisdom. With the golden smooth stone gifted by Lord Jabu Jabu, the Queen gifted them with the wisdom of Enlightened creatures.”

The Unenlighted swallowed the stone in one vicious gulp, and sapphires and lapis lazuli glowed in the dim light as they circled around the creature. It rose to its feet, and instead of a monster stood a river Zora.

“Upon feasting on the Queen’s smooth stone, the Unenlightened became like Zora and swore to forever protect the ocean Zora’s gift. That’s it.’

Bramble reached out and touched the golden pearl that represented the smooth stone as it sat in the river Zora’s belly. “The first ever river Zora…”

Twilight snorted. “Hey Wilds, your sexy shark friend came out of that? Guess I’otta give Godly evolution quite the round of applause.”

Wilds smacked him on the arm.

“What!? I’m just sayin’, moving from that to seven feet with abs is impressive!”

Mask scrunched his nose. “Twilight, that’s disgusting. I don’t want to think about the shark like that,” he signed.

“Like what?”

“Guys—” Bramble said, finger resting on the stone.

“Like—like—You know what I mean!”

Twilight laughed, the bright, merry sound echoing off the watery walls.

“Oh no, am I offending your delicate sensibilities?”

“Guys--!”

“I thought—”

Bramble slapped a hand over Twilight’s mouth. “Look.”

Where the stone had been was a golden ball of light. It slowly grew, leaking into the stones of the mural until the entire river Zora was aglow.

“Quench my hunger.” It rumbled. “Fill my belly.”

The four heroes glanced at each other.

“We should circle back,” Twilight said. “Find the others, then return as a group. Safety—and wisdom—in numbers.”

Twilight was right. Safety, and wisdom, in numbers. But…

“Feed my belly.” The wall began to shake as the river Zora crumbled, leaving a gaping hole in the wall where it used to be. The golden light moved back into the chasm exposed by the crumbling wall, and black tendrils sped from the hole across the water around their ankles like dark eels. The swelled, growing, forming towering creatures of black. They had the head of a squid, with dozens of tentacles tipped with razor-sharp, jagged barbs, dripping something purple and viscous that hissed when it hit the water. The creatures screamed. Two, no four, no 7—8? It was hard to tell. The squid creatures blended in perfectly with the dark, and in a second Twilight was prone, smacking into the far wall, lantern fizzling out. Wilds spun and yelped as a tentacle swiped at him, ripping out a chunk of hair—and putting out the brightbloom. Leaving just Bramble’s candle.

“Get another brightbloom!” Mask shouted in Wilds’ general direction as he drew the Great Fairy Sword, hoping its pale glow might help illuminate the gloom. There was a grunt from Wilds and Mask swore.

“What do you mean you ran out?”

Wilds grunted again, hands more focused on his sword and shield and less on his digital voice.

“You can yell later,” Twilight said as he pulled himself to his feet. Darkness had quickly begun to swallow the room—no more lantern, no more brightblooms, and the light on Wilds’ slate had gone dim. The only light left was Bramble’s red candle. There was no way they could fight these things—in the light, yes, the four of them could certainly take them, but with just the light of a Bramble’s lucky candle, they couldn’t even see how many monsters there were.

“We need to fall back,” Bramble said as they dove to their left, a tentacle barely missing where their left arm had been. The candle flickered dangerously; somewhere north of them, Mask let out a frustrated hiss, then a sound of triumph, followed by a squeal from a squid as a blind swing landed.

“We can take them,” Twilight said. At the edge of the candlelight, he hacked at a vague, sharp shape in the dark.

“Not in the dark we can’t. Come on, Twi, we can come back with the others, but there is no way we walk out of this fight triumphant.”

“Bramble is right,” Mask called from... somewhere. “I’d rather not get sliced to death by calamari today.”

Twilight lunged to the left, spinning at a vague shadow and swore when he struck the wall, missing the tentacle completely. His lip twitched in that strange, doggish way that signaled frustration, but nodded, his face gaunt in the candle light. Suddenly, there was a yelp further in the room.

“Wilds!” Twilight yelled, spinning around, and squinting into the dark. “Status report?”

There was a rough sound of acknowledgement, and heavy breathing, and after groping through the gloom, dodging invisible limbs, Twilight found him. He passed Wilds over to Hyrule, who could feel the heat and wetness of blood.

“Fuck.” Bramble said, feeling for the wound. Wilds groaned.

“Watch the language, kid,” Twilight said, only be yanked to the floor by Mask. A tentacle whipped across where Twilight’s gut had just been.  

“Where’s the door?” Mask grit out, Great Fairy Sword humming in his hands.

“Somewhere back there,” Twilight replied. “Maybe a few hundred yards.”

“Back where?”

“Back—no, not there, back there!”

“Shut up!” Bramble hissed, and the three heroes looked at him with wide eyes.

“I don’t know if we can make it back there in the dark, but there is a gaping hole right there. I say we take it.”

“Bramble—”

“We don’t exactly have a lot of time, Twi. You put me in charge. I say we take the hole.”

Twilight’s mouth opened and closed, before looking to Wilds and Mask for help. Mask shrugged.

“You did put them in charge.”

“Fuck you.”

Wilds snorted, and Bramble swung his arm over their shoulder.

“You good?” They asked softly, and Wilds nodded against their neck. His breath was hot and Bramble could smell blood, sharp and tangy, but he wasn’t dead weight, which was a good sign. “Then let’s get out of here.”

Dodging enemies they couldn’t see, the four of them ducked down into the chasm and promptly fell, fell, fell until a pool of water swallowed them up.

The water was freezing. Bramble gasped as it sucked all the air from their lungs, and for a moment they simply flailed, before two strong arms wrapped around their middle and yanked them back up above the water’s surface. Bramble coughed, and two glowing, slit-pupil eyes stared down at him. Bramble gave Mask a half-hearted smile, and he nodded, Zora body thrumming with unworldly magic.

“My—my candle!”

Mask held it out and Bramble let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

When Mask smiled, the teeth in his Zora mouth were sharp and plentiful as a shark’s. Bramble knew magic well, especially transformation magic, and Mask’s Zora mask always felt cold and sharp, beating softly, like a fading heart, and carried the same tug at one’s gut as the ocean’s riptide did. Bramble longed to try it on, if only to see how the transformation felt, to compare it to their own magical shifting, to take note of how switching from one body to the other felt when your bones were shifting and scales were growing as opposed to limbs shrinking and wings poking their way out of ones’ skin. But Mask was painfully protective over his masks, and even more so of his full transformation mask—trying one on, even for science, would never be allowed.

“Do you see the others?”

As a Zora, Mask had the best eyesight out of all of them. He nodded and pointed to somewhere in the dark.

“Shore.” His voice was raspy, unsuited for air, “Take you, get others.”

Bramble nodded, and Mask scooped him up, moving quickly through the still waters to the far end of the room, where the glowing light hovered, exposing a rocky shore. Bramble pulled themselves up and with a flick of flint against their sword lit the candle.

Mask returned with Wilds first. In the dim light, Bramble could better see the gash that ran from under his left armpit to his sternum, jagged and torn. The leather straps and armor of his Champion’s leathers had protected most of his vitals, but blood still seeped down his chest.

Bramble winced in sympathy. Ow.

“Do you have any elixirs in the slate?” They asked, and Wilds moved to grab the slate and hissed as the movement pulled at his pectoral. A new round of blood bubbled up from the gash and again Wilds tried to grab at the slate on his hip, hands shaking.

“Here,” Bramble took the slate from him and held it up to where Wilds slowly, moving as little as he could, began to type.

“Think I have one fairy tonic. Meant to make more. Got distracted.”

Bramble nodded, continuing to hold the slate as Wilds magicked—scienced?—out a tonic. He took a deep swig, and the tenson in his face faded some.

“1-10?”

Wilds held out a 5.

“Real answer?”

Wilds made a face, before finally holding up a 6 and a half. Bramble nodded. Not good in the slightest but could be worse.

“You’re not using that sword arm,” Twilight said behind them. Bramble jumped, whirling around to where a sopping wet Twilight stood with his arms crossed. “I don’t want you moving it until we know if the gash damaged any tendons in your shoulder.”

Wilds made a choked nose, yanking his point finger away from his chest in a rough one handed ‘but’.

“No buts.”

Wilds scowled, snatching the slate from Bramble and stomping out a rebuttal, “You’re not the boss of me!”

“Don’t make me pull rank.”

“Bramble is the boss, and he hasn’t said I cant fight.” Wilds said, as if his arm wasn’t shaking. Mask snorted.

“I think you should be on defense.” Bramble said softly, gently taking the slate from him and hooking it to his side. “Twi’s right, until we can get a better look at that shoulder, you’re benched.”

Wilds glared but didn’t complain further. Mask, mask removed, cleared his throat. Before him, lit dimly by the glowing light, was a giant statue. It resembled the river Zora from before, but towered far, far taller, its scales covered in moss and algae. Its mouth was open, water pouring from between its wide spread teeth and into a basin at its feet. Bramble leaned down and touched the water. It thrummed with magic, and something rough and bumpy was at the base of the basin. They gestured for their candle, and Wilds handed it to them. It was hard to make out, but it seemed to be some kind of trap door. Something round and heavy covered them, possibly metallic. Hypothetically, they might be able to open it, but between the metal and the water, it would be too difficult. They needed to turn the water off somehow and raise the bars.

“I feel a trapdoor. I think there's bars over it—I can't really tell, but it's definitely heavy and there's no way we could lift it with the water flowing, “Bramble said.

“Well, Twilight said,” then I guess we have to find a way to turn the water off. And I’ll bet you five rupees once we get that water those bars come off too.”

“Basic dungeon crawl one-oh-one,” Mask said, and Twilight laughed.

“Dungeon crawl 101.”

Wilds made a face. Bramble knew the teen hated dungeon crawls, found them out of his depth. After all, he spent more time in his shrines than he ever did a proper dungeon. Bramble bumped his shoulder. There was a flicker as Twilight tried to relight his lantern. The wick caught for a moment before going out.

“Well shit. Looks like the oil leaked out in the fall. So we’re down to the candle.”

Bramble nodded, cupping a hand around the flame. It was warm and cheerful, promising light and safety. Bramble could perfectly remember the dungeon they found it in. The Demon, as they’d taken to calling it once they saw the demonic face the rooms made, had been carved under the Fairy Fountain of a Great Fairy long since died—three bosses and countless puzzles waited inside the graveyard of a Great Fairy, all in pitch blackness. The promise of the final Triforce piece spurred Bramble on, but once their blue candle finally melted into nothing, they were left to wander in the nothingness, trying to fight monsters they couldn’t see until—until he’d bombed the right wall on accident, desperate for a way to escape a room of goriya, and found it. The red candle. Their saving grace. If not for the item, they would have died down in the Demon, and the Princesses would be been damned. Their lucky candle.

“You held onto that even after that drop?” Twilight commented, and Bramble quickly shielded the flame as water dripped from the ceiling onto their head.

"What's so special about a candle anyways?" Twilight asked.

 "It's... it's lucky."

"Just lucky?"

Bramble shifted their weight, using their body to shield the flame from the dripping waters. "Yeah. Just lucky."

The group took in the cavern to the best of their ability, limited to the glow of the red candle. They’d found themselves on the shore of an underwater lake, the walls lined with more mosaics, and the water crystal clear, exposing elegant architecture just below the surface. Still, only Mask and Twilight had the means to breath underwater, and Bramble wasn’t fond of the idea of them splitting up.

“We hug the walls and circle around,” they said, and Twilight nodded.

“After you.”

They moved slowly, Wilds panting growing ever louder, and Bramble debated handing him their candle, if only to give the Champion something to do. The teen hated feeling helpless, useless, and Bramble imagined right now he was feeling both.

Wilds grunted, and the other three turned to him. He pointed at the far wall, where water fell from a passage high on the wall, forming a small, slow waterfall. Twilight nodded.

“Do you have your Zora armor on you?” Bramble asked Wilds, who rolled his eyes and nodded exaggeratedly.

“We could have you grab each of us and bringing us up one by one, and then continue the search up there.”

“Can you lift others?” Twilight asked, and Wilds bit his lip.

“I’ll wear it, I’m closest in size.” Mask said. Wilds nodded, bringing his fingertips down from his chin.

‘Thank you.’

“Whatever,” Mask said, but there was a smile in his voice. With a bit of shuffling between the two, Mask had pulled the Zora armor over his tunic, and wrapped an arm around Bramble.

“Ready?” He asked, and Bramble nodded.

“Ready.”

Going up a waterfall felt almost like flying and almost like drowning, and it confused Bramble’s lungs and guts every time. They gasped as they hit air, spilling onto the ground of the passageway.

“Be back,” Mask said over his shoulder before dropping down below, and Bramble flashed him a thumbs up. Slowly, they pulled themselves to their feet and relit their candle. Before them was a floor of moving spikes, shuddering in and out of the ground and walls in a staccato, only a few seconds of bare ground visible before metal stabbed up. Bramble took in the sight, counting the beat of the spikes. On the far side of the room was a switch. Well, at least it was a simple enough puzzle. Get across the room without being impaled and hit the switch. Easy.

“Too far for my clawshot,” Twilight said behind them. Bramble did not jump, thank you very much. It wasn’t their fault if the man was as quiet and stealthy as the wolf under his skin.

“Hookshot too,” Mask echoed.

“I could find something to throw across and use Recall, but that’s a long throw, even for Ultrahand.” Wilds said, slowly typing into his slate. He looked pale in the candlelight, and Bramble had a growing suspicion that the wound across his chest was worse than he was letting on. They’d make sure the Champion stocked on a thousand and one potions and elixirs after this.

“I could Jump.” They said, and Mask let out a surprised laugh.

“Kid, it’ll take more than a run and a jump to clear that.”

“I can do it. Trust me.”

“Wait—”

But Bramble was already going. They sprinted forwards and squeezed their eyes shut, digging deep, deep , deeper for that tingly warmth inside their stomach they associated with magic. They sunk a hand into the ball of power and pulled, pushing it into their thighs and heels, then jumped.

They soared. It took just two jumps to clear the room, taking a split second to land half way through, balancing on the tip of a spike before being off again. In a blink, the switch was in their hand, then on the ground as they tugged down. Nothing, except the spikes disappearing.

Mask whistles. “Damn, kid, you should have mentioned that ages ago.”

Bramble flushed and shrugged. “Didn’t come up.”

“What else can you do?”

“Well, uh. You know. Stuff.?” They said, shifting under Mask’s gaze. They didn’t like talking about themselves.

“Wait! I think the water on the statue stopped. I can see the doorway—no more bars either.” Wilds called. “Great job, Bramble!”

Bramble made their way over to the teen and looked over the edge of the entrance.

It took a little maneuvering and a bit of fumbling with paragliders, but eventually, the heroes found themselves back at the gates. The light from before stopped hovering, spun twice, and sped down below, through the entrance. Now that the water was gone and the bars open, they found themselves with another problem.

“There’s no way we can get through that,” Twilight swore, gesturing to the absolutely tiny doorway, but Mask shook his head.

“Bramble could.”

“Me?” Bramble squeaked.

“You’re the smallest out of us.”

“But I…” Bramble swallowed. Mask was right. They were the only one who would fit.

“You can do this,” Twilight said, clapping a hand on their shoulder. Bramble nodded.

“Right. Yeah. Of course, I can.”

They took a shuffle step forwards before sitting on the edge and scooting forward, grip on their candle painfully tight. One breath, two, then they pushed off the edge into the dark and wet, leaving their friends behind.

It was a tight squeeze into the entrance, and once they got in, they immediately took the candle and relit it. The light was cheerful, lighting up a room of skeletons. Bramble took in a sharp breath through their teeth. Bones. Bones, bones, bones, as far as the eye could see. All Zora. They must have been guarding the temple when… Bramble shivered as moved past as fast as possible, eyes firmly in front of them. Find a door, or a switch, or something, and get back out to their friends. Easy. No problem.

The magical light sped in front of them and Bramble gave up trying to figure out where they were or where they were going, following it instead. It seemed to… like that? It bobbed and weaved in from of them, almost dancing, until they came to a dead end. Bramble leaned forward, fingers almost brushing the light.

“What do you need to show me?” They whispered, and the light inched back into the wall. Huh. Bombable, maybe? They felt along the wall. The stone here was newer than the rest of the temple, and the grout was poor quality. With a bit of elbow work maybe they could… yep. Out popped out brick, then two, until soon with some extensive shoving and kicking, a Bramble-sized gap in the wall had been made, exposing a light so bright that Bramble’s eyes burned. Sunlight drifted down from the glass ceiling, reflecting onto a shining pool lined with gold and silver. And there, in the center, was the same statue as the pitch dark room, but immensely tall, the place in its belly where the fake stone had been empty.

It has said to feed it.

That’s why the Zora were acting like this, wasn’t it? They had lost their stone, and were back to hostile, unintelligent monsters instead of proper Zora. Bramble crept closer.

“Where did your stone go?” They said, running their hands over the jewels. “Who took it from you?”

Drip

Drip

Drip

The hairs on the back of Bramble’s neck stood up. The dripping continued, and slowly, slowly, they turned. Something had risen out of the water, a story tall thing with inky black skin not unlike an eel and dozens of tentacles. Its teeth stretched on and on, longer than Bramble’s forearm, and it squealed as it flung its head back, one wide eye rolling, before flashing a barbed tongue.

The curse. It had to be.

Bramble drew their sword.

The boss lunged forward, tongue whipping wildly, and sent a trio of tentacles down with a screech right on Bramble’s head, sending them scrambling to the left. Fuck—they hadn’t expected something so big to move so quickly. It circled him, letting out taunting flicks of its tongue, eye locked on and filled with feral hate. Bramble locked their sights onto the boss, sword hand itching. The boss hovered above the ground, just out of reach. Damn it, they needed a way to bring it down.

The boss let loose a flurry of flame from it’s octopus beak like mouth and Bramble swore, rolling to the side to the red hot spray. They could feel the heat of the fire just above their head, and smell burnt hair. Bramble waited for it to flick out more tentacles, drifting lower and lower as it lashed out, broke into a sprint.

They sprung onto the spongy, slick back of a tentacle, balancing on the thin material, and moved as quickly and carefully as they could to the creature’s face. With a leap, they were on the boss’ head, and with another, their sword was plunged into the boss eye.

The boss screeched and clawed at Bramble’s legs, His trousers shredded easily under the barbed suckers sizzled, and with a jerk at their leg the boss sent Bramble tumbling to the ground, sword still sunk deep in its eye.

Crud, crud—

Bramble rolled out of the way as the boss lunged at them, sending a spray of fire that Bramble only barely dodged. Their tunic did little to keep out the heat of the magical flame, and Bramble hissed as the air grew too hot, searing exposed flesh.

The boss raised its tentacles again, and Bramble never wanted their hands on their sword hilt so badly. The creature screamed, sucking in water and fire alike, and Bramble groped desperately in their bag for their bombs.It was a better idea than nothing and, saying as their sword was stuck in the very thing they were trying to kill, they were very close to nothing. Bramble let the bomb fly, watched as it was sucked into the swirling air, and detonated.

Boom!

The boss staggered back and slunk down half in the water, trying to recoup itself, and Bramble seized his chance. They jerked forwards and grabbed hold of the hilt of the magic sword. They drew the weapon halfway out before plunging it back in and twisting, over and over. The boss howled, wrapping a sharp suckered tentacle around their leg, and Bramble grit their teeth against the sharp pain of barbs cutting through fabric and into flesh. The sword went in and twisted, over and over, black-purple blood splattering across Bramble’s face and chest.

The boss’ screams became gurgles as its eye swelled and, fucking finally, the eye exploded into a shower of gore, the creature going slack below them. Soon it was just a husk on the floor, breaking apart and melting into the waters like an oil stain on white linens. Bramble sighed and sunk to the floor, leg pulsing.

There, where the creature’s eye had been a stone, smooth as a baby’s cheek and gold as the Sun. Bramble took it with reverent fingers. It hummed against their skin, and they turned to the statue.

“Here,” they whispered. “Please, give us clean water. Please.”

They fitted the golden smooth stone into the statue’s empty stomach and it rumbled in thanks. The air was filled with a sweet, fresh scent, and then Bramble’s skin was warm and tingling as magic wrapped around them, breaking them down to their very atoms to magick them back outside.

“Wait!” They called, “My friends, they’re still down here!”

"I shall see them returned to you, Hero of Hyrule", the statue said, voice like rocks tumbling down snow. "You have my thanks. My belly is full."

Bramble felt the magic hugging them tight, tight, tighter, and then the world was gold as the Hall of Waters sent them back to the outside world where they belonged.

[artemistorm]

Ok so for me and longfics, this is what I do: I get an idea and I scribble it down in my story ideas document. I write down any notes or random scenes I have brainrotting, and when the story is more than one page long, I "graduate" it and grant it the right to its own word document. In shorter fics, I do everything in the same word doc--brainstorm, outline and write the story, but longfics get their own folder with separate word docs for each chapter and at least 1 doc for outlines and notes and ideas (I call that document the Master Outline.) (photos and more words below)

This is my file folder for Wild and Hyrule Have a Hard Time.

I have a specific format I use for writing every oneshot and individual longfic chapter. This is my blank template:

The first section is just general info: ideas for a title, summary, tags, and author's beginning and end notes. It helps to have this section here so then the whole time you're writing the story, you're also working on ideas for titles, summary, etc. Short outline is just the list of chapter names or is the very basic oneshot outline. Notes and Ideas is random thoughts for scenes, or little details or foreshadowing. Long outline is the outline but with every single detail that I can think of. And then under Story I write the story.

Making the title of each section a different color is important so I can easily scroll through and find the section I'm looking through. In fact, I love color coding everything in the story.

I color the backgrounds of the text with green if it completed--light green for completed and fully edited but unpublished, dark green if it is posted. Yellow means that part of the story is in work. Red is chapters/scenes that are not written or only fragmentary. I do this not just for outlines, but for the actual story text too (this is from an unpublished fic, not from H&W Have a Hard Time):

I use red text in square brackets and put notes, reminders, editing instructions for future me, bits I don't wanna bother writing right then, etc. I tend to write only 1 draft although I might rewrite individual scenes 2 or 3 times. I edit as I go generally. I'll write a paragraph or a couple paragraphs and then go back to edit them (unless I'm on a roll with writing). Then once the who story/chapter is colored green and there's no more red bracketed notes, I'll do one or two last read-through and editing passes and then I upload it to AO3.

Another thing is that I keep track of "Strands" as I call them, or individual mini story arcs that change and progress throughout the story. Every chapter, as I am finalizing what the chapter's outline will be (and as I do the final edits), I make sure to include whatever things from this list that I need to.

For example, to follow the decay infection strand, in chapter 4, the decay infection only infected Hylian mushrooms, but in chapter 5, it infected all mushroom types, and in chapter 6, it infected other adjacent plants that were not mushrooms, like grass and moss. And as I work on later chapters, I'll have to make sure to keep that decay infection progression going. This system of using strands is excellent for figuring out foreshadowing stuff and planting details ehehehe >:). And it's fun to keep on adding strands to the story. The more the merrier!

As for my actual everyday writing process, I usually write in the mornings after breakfast and when the cats settle down for their morning naps. I sit on the couch with tea, a snack, music, and my laptop. My daily word goal is 600 words and I try to write 2-4 times a week, although when I'm in classes, it is more like 1-2 times per week. Sometimes I write directly into microsoft word and sometimes I use my favorite writing program StimuWrite 2.

Stimuwrite 2 is a super helpful free program you can download and it helps provide background stimulation as you write--useful for ADHD/neurodivergent folk. The background image moves and for every keystroke, you are rewarded with emojis that appear on screen. Once you meet your word goal, you get an emoji party with lots of emojis. It usually takes me 1-4 hours to write the 600 words, depending on how focused/in the zone I am.

And there you have it. This is how I write and organize my writing. If you have any questions/comments let me know! I'd be glad to talk more about this!

@hotcheetohatredwastaken this is my system. @anicomicqueen I know you like Hyrule and Wild Have a Hard time, so here's some background info about that story. @ladye-zelda I saw you were taking notes about how other people do things, so here's how I do them.

OK, so I was inspired and now I wanna start a bigger conversation and I wanna know: fic writers, comic makers, au creators, etc. how do you do it? How do you go from plot bunny or story idea to completed chapters/story/comic update? What's your process? What programs do you use? Do you draft stuff? Outline? Storyboard? Do you chart or sketch? How do you settle on characters and characterizations? How do you plot (or do you)? I wanna know all the nitty gritty details. It's just so interesting because everyone does it so differently.

[rivalmelty]

am i funny? no not really but i can pretend like i am 🤩

[powdermelonkeg]

Tears of the Kingdom: Final Trailer Analysis (Part 3)

Part 2 here!

Continuing where we left off, we have a panning shot of the Great Plateau

Another rune in sight, so we know where to get one early on.

This incredibly unsettling shot of Bokoblins being spawned by the Blood Moon—that confirms that the earlier malice-fueled explosion was something special, since this is what Blood Moon meteorfall looks like.

A king bokoblin? I'd call him a moblin if moblins weren't already distinct in this generation—he reminds me of King Bulblin.

A Lizalfos and a weird, helmet-horned moblin.

Then Link here, riding Epona. We have the weird, smokey, malice-infested castle again, but look up at the sky.

Again, we have that strange cloud shape. At almost looks like it could be hiding FSA's Palace of Winds.

This next shot, I questioned why it was here for a moment. It just looks like the cliffy area near Gerudo.

Right in the middle, though, is a Molduga.

Link's surrounded here by Guardian-like claws, and the enclosure he's in has Sheikah-red curtains. The text on the circle reads "Transport," like our normal teleportation circles, but interestingly, planks have been built around its edge. An invention of Purah's?

Also, what's this spool for?

Another part of this same scene:

We have a Sheikah eye, confirming both that this is still in use in present day and that it isn't a Yiga-controlled area.

We can also tell that this happens at mid-early game, since Link has yet to don his green and tan outfit, but he still has the hand and battery charges.

Worth noting, too—the hand has Sheikah-like swirls on it, like you'd see around the base of a shrine.

A king bokoblin blows a horn in the Taobab Grasslands, surrounded by uniquely horned blue bokoblins.

There are some rounded off black chunks in the back. Parts of the sky isles?

A hinox with a head spike chases Link while underground. The ball around his neck looks more like a light source than any kind of puzzle component.

Like paraglides near Thundra Plateau. There's a huge isle up in the sky above him-

And some more off on the horizon-

But then, if we look closer, there are some geometric ruins of some kind on the ground.

They look a bit like the Korok puzzles from the first game.

Link rides through Hyrule field, but there's this weird...shadow-y figure in the background, like a giant Lynel.

And then this

The monsters from the beginning of the trailer can carry bokoblins anywhere.

This is why I called them kargarocs in the beginning, because that method of carrying reminds me a lot of Twilight Princess's kargarocs.

The Bokoblin has an axe, which is a new weapon separate from Breath of the Wild. It could be a one-handed variant for cutting trees with.

And this'll be continued in Part 4, because image limit.

[twin-chains]

Profiles for the twins are here!

Star

age: 18 years

pan, polyamorous, he/they

games: BS Ancient Stone Tablets (started at 13), BS The Legend of Zelda (started at 18, completed 3 months ago)

wears a blue cloak with many rips from throughout the years, he stitched it together and hide the stitches with lines of constellations sewn on

has messy teal-green hair he covers with a baseball cap from their hometown, St. Olen (The Town Whose Name Was Stolen)

was transported away from his shitty hometown and lives in a small cottage with their sister, not far from Hyrule Castle

spend most of his day working as an apprentice to Gaspra, an astronomer who migrated from Tolemac (Zelda's Adventure reference!); Star also visits town a lot too and makes fast friends with most people he meets

traits: focused, quick-witted, has a big heart, tries to appear serious/nonchalant but fails often, sometimes lets his emotions get the best of him

likes: astronomy, gossip, hats

dislikes: bright lights, being restricted, the hero before them

weapon(s): spells from Book of Magic, magic cane (not featured), silver arrows, small dagger, sometime uses the wooden sword

he has 5 basic spells he uses: heal, freeze, burn, summon blocks, and instant death (doesn't use the last one often, blood magic)

fighting style: relies on magic, quick and efficient no matter what

specializes in spells, astronomy, charisma, navigating, and sewing

Sun

age: 18 years

lesbian, she/her

games: BS Ancient Stone Tablets (started at 13), BS The Legend of Zelda (started at 18, completed 3 months ago)

wears a red cloak around her body/waist and wears a sun-shaped brooch in the middle of her tunic

ties up her messy red hair in a ponytail with a white ribbon

was transported away from her shitty adopted family in St. Olen, met her long-lost brother on her first adventure, and lives in a small cottage with him near Hyrule Castle

bad at making friends due to her loud and brash nature but doesn't mind, all she needs is her brother and the princess

works at the library in the evening, likes to study ancient texts with Moon, borrowing the Book of Mudora from her

traits: loud, brash, bright, can be annoying at times, sometimes apathetic towards others besides those in her closest circle

likes: sunlight, acrobatics, reading

dislikes: bees, old people, abuse of power

weapon(s): level 4 sword, magical sword, red shield

fighting style: uses a sword and shield or dual wields swords, knows basic hand-to-hand combat if needed, super agile and acrobatic, can be devastating in battle when given a reason

specializes in acrobatics, dual-wielding, hunting, and languages

Star and Sun

Here's the beta designs for Star and Sun so far! Plus their Zelda whose nickname is Moon <3

(References under the cut)

In BS TLOZ and AST, their only unique in-game characteristics are Star's green hair and white baseball cap vs Sun's red hair and white ribbon, so playing around with different outfits for each of them was really fun!

I think they turned out alright for now, I'm especially proud of Moon's design. Star's outfit was a little difficult since the baseball cap doesn't match the vibe of the traditional green hero tunic so I just gave him a fancy blue cloak to hide it. And to match, I gave Sun a simpler red piece tied around the belt rather than over the shoulders

Profiles for the twins on the way!

[ablegaming]

The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild accessibility review

Game title: The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild

Platform(s): Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U

Languages: English, Japanese, French (France), French (Canada), German, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Latin America), Italian, Russian

Age rating: ESRB E 10+, PEGI 12

Multiplayer: None, single player only

Genre/theme: Action fantasy, open-world exploration and item collection with a bit of combat, cooking, and even photography. The hero Link overcomes great odds to defeat an ancient evil force with the support of Princess Zelda and several native species of the land of Hyrule.

Violence: Mild-medium. Sword and bow combat, no blood or gore, dead bodies disappear instantly. Most enemies are skeletons, robots, and goblins. Hunting, catching, and cooking play a large role in healing and buffing your stamina and other abilities, hunting is not absolutely necessary though and various wild fruits, veggies, and herbs can be cooked or eaten raw. Boars, deer, goats, bears, horses, rhinos, water buffalo, moose, foxes, wolves, coyotes, seals, squirrels, frogs, and several species of birds, fish, and insects can all be hunted or caught.

Maturity: No sexual themes, nudity (though the fairies don’t wear much), or foul language. There is a brief alcohol reference, one shop owner sells the NPC characters “drinks that are just for adults” and people can be seen hiccuping after drinking.

Difficulty modes: Standard mode, Master mode

Complexity: Medium. The physics puzzle shrines and inventory management are the most complex aspects of the game.

Instructions, saving, story recap, menus, & waypoints: No physical instruction manual included in game case, ability controls can be checked at any time in the system menu for a quick refresher. The game does a great job of gradually introducing new features in the first few hours, as well as providing backstory and world lore. Main and side quest information and progress can be found in the pause menu, these set visible waypoints on the map. Several custom visible map waypoints can be placed as well, with customizable icons. Fast travel is also available. The game can be saved at any time.

Subtitles: Yes, relies almost exclusively on subtitles, with little voice acting.

Text customization: Only message window transparency can be adjusted.

Volume settings: No adjustable options.

Voice acting: Princess Zelda's voiceover and a few excitable reactions from various characters are the only voice acting in the game, Link (as usual) doesn’t speak but makes grunting sounds when swinging his sword.

Photosensitivity: There are a lot of flashing light issues unfortunately. When Link hits an enemy with either a melee weapon or an arrow there is a flash that pops up at the point of impact. This in itself may be a dealbreaker for gamers who are sensitive to flashing lights, though it’s not nearly as bad with brightness and contrast turned down.

There are flashing lights when fighting the Guardians, when each robotic leg is chopped off flashing sparks occur, many of these encounters and combat trial Shrines can be avoided though. Combat trial shrine Guardians also shoot bright lasers and swing/spin bright swords, I found this to be hardest part of the game to look at, and only got past it by turning my TV's contrast way down and barely looking at the screen.​

Lightning flashes during thunderstorms and can strike Link if he's wearing or carrying metal, this is avoided by switching to cloth outfits and wooden weapons and shield. You can also go inside of a building or cave and fast travel away from areas with active thunderstorms.

Making menu selections results in a small white flash on a dark menu screen background. There are flashing light glints on all collectable materials in the wild. Using Stasis on an object makes the object flash bright red. Using Stasis on an enemy makes them flash bright yellow?/green?/can't tell I'm colorblind.

There is a bright light at the beginning of the story, when entering shrines, and there are also bright sprites at the great fairy fountains. Bonfires have flickering lighting effects.

There are no customizable lighting options so this can only be remedied by playing in a well-lit room and adjusting screen brightness (TV or handeld), backlight (TV), contrast (TV), and color settings (TV). Additionally, wearing blue light lens glasses, tinted lens glasses, or even sunglasses may be helpful.

Camera and motion-sickness: Third-person directly behind, you can swing the camera all the way up or down with the right thumbstick. Mild motion-sickness with gentle right thumbstick movement, worse with fast/jerky thumbstick movement. Camera sensitivity can be set to: slow, normal, fast, or very fast.

Colorblindness settings: No customizable in-game options, can only be remedied by adjusting TV color settings.

Controller rumble: Yes

Remappable controls: Only the jump and cancel buttons can be switched, and thumbstick pitch can be inverted.

Quick-time events: None. Flurry attacks require precise parry timing but don't require any quick button mashing.

Physical impact: Fairly light, can play for extended sessions. Majority of the controls are thumb input, so gamers with thumb or thumb joint struggles may have to set the controller on their lap and play using their fingers but this is definitely doable. Combat is well paced and spaced out so button mashing fatigue and pain aren't much of an issue.

Adaptability and input: Can be played one handed when console is connected to TV, bow combat is the greatest challenge one-handed but is easier when using the Joycon controllers instead of the Pro controller. Bow combat can also be set to use motion controls which might make things a bit easier.

Can be played with Switch Joycon controllers, controller-docked Joycon controllers, handheld-docked Joycon controllers, Switch Pro controller, Gamecube controller, Sony Dualshock 4 controller (adapter required), Xbox One Bluetooth Controller (adapter required), and the Wii U Pro Controller (adapter required). No touchscreen or voice functionality.

To read more about how you can pair different controllers with the Switch, check out my recent post on the topic: https://medium.com/@AbleGaming/how-to-use-your-favorite-console-controllers-on-nintendo-switch-and-pc-and-how-to-use-your-switch-64d7a7bc7b7f

Overall accessibility score: 3.0/5.0 (Please note that this score does not reflect the entertainment or enjoyment value of the game, it represents the range of accessibility for gamers who have specific limitations.)

Breath of the Wild supports a wide range of languages and controller inputs (though a bit lacking in control remappability), and is thankfully pretty easy on the arms and hands, allowing for longer play times. Where it suffers is the use of flashing lights, which may be too much for epileptic or highly photosensitive gamers, though this can be greatly improved by changing brightness, backlight, contrast, and color settings on your TV. Lack of a colorblind mode may require adjusting your TV's color settings as well depending on which type of colorblindness you have. Anyone opposed to hunting may want to focus on collecting fruits, veggies, and herbs instead, or may want to sit this one out altogether.

My review can also be read and listened to (text-to-speech) at:

https://medium.com/@AbleGaming/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-accessibility-review-d264c41c13ca

[attllhak]

Flora’s Musings

So, here’s the WingAU fic I mentioned. It’s the first one I wrote and features the fun trope of “The Unreliable Narrator That Is History”, which I had a lot of fun with.

I, don’t have a tag list for this AU at this point. So, this part is just my preamble I guess. So, preamble over, here’s the fic.

-------------------

Zelda ran her fingertips between her shoulder blades. She tried not to think about what wasn’t there.

Her wings would come in, she hoped, no she knew they would. They had to. As the princess fated to stop Calamity Ganon it was her duty to unlock her sealing powers, face him, and earn her wings.

It was why she was down here now, in the hidden and secret library they’d excavated. No one cared about this area of the castle, but Zelda loved it there. It was so full of knowledge, and there were records about the Queens and Princesses of the past, ones who had wings themselves.

It was certainly a good excuse to hide down there and do research.

There weren’t many documents on the founders of Hyrule, but she’d translated a few of the ancient texts and had learned much. Apparently her powers came from the fact she was descended from Hylia herself! There were exactly three paintings of her down there, and all of them were old and weathered. Two, one of her alone and one next to her husband, the first King of Hyrule, who was holding the Master Sword, his own wings giving him away as the first of Link’s incarnations, were so old almost all of the colour was gone. The last one, however, had been tucked into a book and, protected from the elements, retained some of its colour.

The goddess reborn had gold wings, bright and shining and as beautiful as everyone expected them to be. Her Hero, however, had red wings, a bright crimson with soft gold flight feathers. What was more, this painting seemed to depict them in their downtime, the goddess still dressed up and all, but leaning over the edge of her throne. Her Hero sat on the dias and leaned against the throne, and was messing with something in his hands that the goddess seemed to be watching, though age obscured what it was. It was entirely unprofessional and sweet, and it made Zelda happy. It made them seem less like untouchable figures of pure good and more like real people. She liked that they were people too.

There was only one picture of the next Queen, and it was so old and weathered that Zelda was scared to touch it lest it crumble into dust. This queen had smaller wings, though Zelda couldn’t tell what colour they were supposed to be. Her Hero was there too, and he had four wings, and Zelda couldn’t be sure but it almost seemed like each wing was a different colour. She couldn’t find any other record of these two, and so she’d taken a picture of the image on the Sheikah Slate to preserve it. This painting was important.

One of the Queens came from the point in history called the Split, a strange period of several thousand years where very different events happened at the same time. They had, through the records in the castle libraries and the temples across Hyrule, figured out this Queen had lived three different recorded lives. Regardless, she always looked the same, or similar at least, in all of her lives. She was a warrior, and her wings, indigo and white and flecked with gold, were always held in a way that showed pride.

Her Hero wasn’t always with her, in two of her lifetimes she ruled alone. In one of them, her Hero had died trying to fight Ganon, and was buried with wings wrapped about him, as was traditional for Heroes and their Queens. The Queen had been Princess then, the books say, and was only 17. I made Zelda uneasy, Link had turned 17 just a few months ago, and her 17th birthday was fast approaching. To think the Hero of Time could die at 17 made her worried for her own Hero. The next of the two he just, wasn’t there. There was no record of the Hero after he defeated Ganon, he just vanished without a trace. Zelda still wanted to know why. The last life gave the most information on the Hero, but he wasn’t listed as a Hero at all. There was no fight in this life, just peace and a failed arrest. As far as historians could tell, this was the most accurate life of hers, but Zelda wasn’t so sure. After all, she and the head of her Royal Guard both had wings. Something had to have happened. These were the only records of the Hero of Time where his wings were visible. A beautiful metallic copper, with darker bronze flight feathers. He seemed to keep them close to his body, like he didn’t want anyone to pay attention to him or them. He apparently married a farm girl in this life.

There were different heirs in each of these lives. For the first life the Queen was a fighter, one with all kinds of magic at her fingertips. Her wings were pink and red, and when she spread them a little bit of gold could be seen at the base of them. This was a Queen who never shied away from the many, many issues her people faced. And many issues there were, records argued whether the number of quests her Hero went on was five or six or twelve. He seemed grumpy in every painting, but after seven-ish quests Zelda would be too. His wings were pink, a million different shades at once. He also seemed to prefer long tunics or dresses to pants. Apparently he didn’t like pants.

After them came a pair of Queens. Zelda initially thought they were cousins, but apparently one was the other’s ancestor, as bizarre as that was. Only one of the two had wings, a soft amber or honey colour, a safe, warm brown. The Princess didn’t have wings, but was no less important if the records and paintings were to be believed. Their Hero didn’t look like much, but his wings, a deep, dark green with earthy brown flight feathers, told of his heroics enough that his looks didn’t have to. Records said he married the Princess, but they never had children, instead helping the Queen raise her bastard twins as a group. Zelda wondered if perhaps the three had all been together, so to speak, and the twins were actually his.

In the second life, there was only one heir, a woman who was named ‘Tetra’ and not Zelda. Her wings were blue, with red separating the blue from gold flight feathers. It was a beautiful colour. Her Hero was usually pictured at her side, his silver tipped sea foam green feathers shining next to her. Those two were always painted outside, and usually on a boat of some kind.

Following the timeline that was decided to be ‘true’, the Queen following the Queen of Three Lives was her great-granddaughter. Her wings, sleek and graceful, were solid black save for the lowest layer of feathers, which was a soft golden-orange colour. Her Hero was hardly ever at her side, history said he spent most of his time in his home village or on assignments for the Queen. Zelda didn’t know if they didn’t get along, or if he hated the city and castle, or why it was that he was never around his Queen, but there was only one painting of him next to her. His wings were big, wide and strong, a range of soft oranges with a rare black feather scattered across them. He also wore a strange charm on a rope around his neck, but no one seemed to know what it was.

The only other Queen, save for the one from 10 000 years ago, was one with a story so outlandish that historians debated on whether or not she was real. She always held a sword or bow in hand, and her wings were either spread for flight or held in close for combat. They were gold, with white flight feathers that seemed to go indigo at the base of each feather. Black flecked the gold, making it obvious she was a fighter. Her Hero was always with her, his wings out behind him, flared up in a show of pride or confidence, a rallying cry for his troops. They fought in a war, so the records claimed. His wings were gold, shiny silver spots scattered over his wings, not dissimilar to the stars in the sky, that made his wings look like they glittered. He was beautiful, as was his Queen, and it was clear that the two were very close.

There weren’t any records on the wings of the Queen 10 000 years ago, nor her Hero, and Zelda didn’t know why that was. Perhaps those records were lost when the Sheikah split. It was unlikely she would ever know.

Zelda didn’t know when her wings would come in, and some days she feared they never would. It was a comfort at least that Link’s wings hadn’t come in yet either.

He found her a few hours later, bringing her a blanket and some food. He sat with her and politely signed a request for her to read to him. They read all through the night, and Impa found them the next morning, Zelda leaned over the desk with her head on her arms and Link leaning on the side of her desk, head tilted back and drooling. She left them there.

When the Calamity hit and she didn’t get her wings she felt like such a failure, especially since Link’s wings had just broken skin a few moments ago, greyish brown wings that were still all fluff coming through the slits in his tunic designed to accommodate them.

She sat next to him in the Shrine of Resurrection, just before they sealed it. His wings were still small, they had never had the chance to come in fully before he fell. She reached over and brushed hair from his face, watching his relaxed features and ignoring the burns on the rest of his body.

“Don’t worry, Link,” she whispered. “I’ll make sure they’re all safe until you wake up,”

She marched on the castle then, staring down the Calamity and ready to give everything she had to keep him at bay.

She reached forward, holding her hand out to the monster and ready to fight. She could feel the triforce on her hand burn in response, her body spilling a radiant golden light. The monster dove for her, and she held her ground, eyes open and ready to stand and fight.

A push on her shoulders, then the pressure bursting and wings spread out behind her.

Blue and white feathers sat on the ground where she was moments before.

(---)

Link stepped into the castle, tiny wings fluffed up in anxiety and nerves making them quiver. He paused as he moved towards the heart, lifting one foot.

Under his boot, was a pair of blue and white feathers, perfectly preserved from when they fell there 100 years before.

[astral-catastrophe]

Ok, I’m not super proud of this rn, but here’s the first part of the modern au

@triforceofchaos @twink-between-worlds

“Has anyone seen my mask?” Sky asks, rushing down the stairs and into the kitchen in a panicked frenzy. His hair was a mess, sticking up in every direction, he had just woken up and didn’t have time to try to take his hair. He was wearing his normal light green hoodie with jeans while he was carrying his sneakers in one hand. He picked his phone up from the kitchen table, checking to make sure he had no messages from Sun as he looked to his oldest brother.

Time didn’t even look up from sending a text to their mother while sitting at the kitchen counter. “Wind has it. He and Twi just got in the car.” He looked up to their brother. “And mom wants to know if we are still picking up Sun.”

“Yeah.” Sky nods, running his free hand through his hair and trying to steal his nerves. “Yeah. Her dad is out of town and her car broke down after practice yesterday.”

Legend entered the kitchen with the traveler. The two had been near the bedrooms in the back of the house. Hyrule was holding the bag with Sky’s other fencing equipment, he must have grabbed it from Sky’s shared room with Twi. “Rule and I are gonna get in the car.” Legend looked around, shoving his hands into the pocket of his hoodie.

“We have all three of your swords, spare buttons, your jacket, and your gloves,” Hyrule adds. “We just checked.” He offered Sky the bag.

“Thanks guys.” Sky breathed a sigh of relief, taking the bag and checking his supplies anyways.

“Well, we are gonna get in the car. Twi and Sailor are already ready to go.” Legend replied, grabbing the traveler’s arm and pulling him toward the door. Hyrule sheepishly waved to his brothers as he and Legend left to get in the car.

Time chuckled. “Put your shoes on Sky.” He grabbed the car keys from the kitchen counter.

“Has everyone else left?” Sky asks, pulling on his sneakers while trying to balance on one foot.

“Mom left with the rest of our siblings. She wanted to get a good seat to watch you and the team.” Time responded, turning to the door. “Come on.”

Sky rubbed the back of his neck, glancing down at the tiled floor. “You don’t really need to be that close to see everything,” he said, knowing that his mother definitely insisted on getting seats as close to the team as possible. He quickly moved after Time.

They walked out the door and Time climbed into the driver's seat, starting the car. Sky shuffled into the back. The seat next to him was open, presumably for Sun, with Wind in the far seat, while Legend and Hyrule had sat in the last row of the car and Twi joined Time up front.

“I dunno, Sky, it is kinda interesting to watch how similar you all fight while still clearly having different fighting styles.” Time pulled out of the driveway.

“True!” Hyrule added from the back. “Like, Sun’s posture is more loose and Pippit holds his free hand in a fist like he’s gonna punch someone, while Groose angles his head weird sometimes.”

“He’s trying to keep his hair from flattening inside the mask.” Legend said, glancing up from texting Ravio. Wind cackled.

“Didn’t you guys see his hair after the last match?” Twilight asks, looking back at his siblings. “It was kinda a disaster.”

That made Wind laugh harder.

Hyrule chuckled and leaned forward to poke the back of Sky’s head. “Is everyone on the team coming today?”

“No. I think Karane is sick today.” Sky turned his head to look at his brothers in the back of the car. “I’ll text her to make sure.”

Sky quickly sent Karane a message to confirm whether or not she was gonna be there and looked back at his siblings again. Hyrule was leaning over Legend’s shoulder to look at something on the Vet’s phone.

“Uh-“ Sky began, only to pause when Time started to talk.

“Aaaand we're here.” Time pulled into the driveway and parked, unlocking the doors. “Go get your girlfriend.”

Sky chuckled. “I’m going, I’m going.” He opened the door, ducking under Wind’s food as he climbed into the back row of the cars so Sun could sit by Sky and not have to be next to the Sailor. Sky got out of the car and looked down at his feet, checking to make sure his shoes were tied so he wouldn’t trip in front of Sun again.

Sun’s house was a large, pale grey building with lots of big windows. Inside everything was so open and clean that Sky couldn’t help but think it was a nice break from his own chaotic home, as much as he loved his siblings.

Sky knocked on the tall white door, nervously shuffling his feet.

Dusk opened the door and faced Sky with one of those infamous, unimpressed glares. “You’re here for Sun?”

Sky quickly nods. “Yes.”

Dusk slammed the door in his face, and about half a second later Sun opened the door, face flushed from having sprinted to the door.

“Hey, Sky,” she breathed. Her hair was loose and hanging around her face, and she was wearing a grey shirt along with some normal jeans. “Come in. I’ve just gotta grab my stuff and put on my shoes.”

Sky stepped inside, following Sun toward the stairs. The entryway led to the large and spacious living room. There was a set of stairs to the right and up those stairs were most of the bedrooms. The walls were painted with a light gray and there were plenty of windows.

“Sky!” A young voice yelled.

Sky turned, seeing Fi upstairs, looking over the banister. Fi rushed toward him, down the stairs and into the living room. Sky crouched down, easily catching the hug from the younger girl.

“Hey, Fi,” he smiled as Sun jogged off to get ready. “How are you doing today?”

“I’m ok. But I can’t watch you and Sun today because I have to work on a project for school.” Fi pulled away from the hug and led Sky to the living room. They both sat down on the couch.

“Aryll told me about that.” Sky nods. “Isn’t it an art project?”

“Yeah!” Fi replied. “Sun is letting me use her paints and it looks cool!”

“Well, you're gonna have to show him later.” Sun walked into the room.

Sky got up and Sun quickly hugged Fi. “I’ll call Dusk to let you all know how we’ve done, alright?” Sun patted her sister on the head. “I won’t be home right away because I think we are gonna go somewhere afterwards.”

“Sounds good!” Fi nodded excitedly, grinning at both of the fencers before rushing off, sprinting past Fable, who was heading to the kitchen.

“Good luck.” Fable said plainly before going to the kitchen. Sky assumed this was the first time she had left her bedroom that day, even though it was around noon, and she was on the hunt for food.

“See ya!” Sky said politely.

Sun chuckled as she took Sky’s hand and pulled him toward the door.

***

It was still mostly warm outside. There were clouds in the sky and it looked like it could rain later that day. Sky would have loved to enjoy a rainy day with his girlfriend, but they had to go stab people. As bad as that sounded without any context.

Sun got into the car, putting her gear next to Sky’s as he got into the car after his girlfriend.

“Hi Sun!” Wind yelled, grinning. “Are ya ready to stab someone?”

“It sounds bad when you phrase it that way.” Hyrule said quickly, turning to lean over Legend to chide his younger brother. Legend just snorted.

“Oh yeah,” Legend started looking to Sky. “Ravio is coming with Malon so they both can watch the match.”

That made Sky feel slightly nervous, but since Sun was still holding his hand he tried to ignore his nerves. “Sounds cool. We haven’t seen Ravio in a while.”

“Because Flora hasn’t helped to break him in recently.” Legend added, looking back to his phone as Time and Twi started to chat with Sun while driving.

“Wait,” Sun turned away from the conversation she was having. “Flora breaks into your house?”

“I normally let her in so she can annoy Wild. So technically, no, technically yes.” Legend nods. “And sometimes she brings Ravio along with her.”

“He closed the window on Ravio yesterday.” Wind said to Sun. “It was pretty funny.”

“Normally Ravio is faster than I am, but I was faster yesterday.” Legend shrugs.

“Ravio twisted his ankle at our last track meet.” Wind turned to look out the window. “That’s why he was slower than he normally would have been.”

“You’re in track together?” Sun blinked.

“I don’t think you’ve actually met Rav,” Legend said after a moment. “I think you’ve only seen him and heard about him.”

“We’re here!” Time said, interrupting the conversations in the back of the car.

The group of kids quickly filed out of the car and rushed toward the large multi-sport building. Grannie Impa had reserved the place for the fencing team today, and this was going to be a larger event than the Skyloft Knights had seen in a while. They were excited, for the most part.

The moment they entered the large doors Mrs Farore had waved at them wildly to get their attention as she started toward them from another set of doors.

“Hey kids!” She said as she ran over to them. “Sun, Sky, your team is in the locker room and I think that it’s almost time to start.”

“I know mom.” Sky tightened his grip on Sun’s hand.

Sun just grinned at Mrs Farore. “We’ll go over to the team then and figure out which events we are doing today.”

“Good luck kids!” Mrs Farore beamed as she led the rest of the Farore kids over to the arena seats she had reversed for the large group. And sure enough, Ravio was sitting next to Malon, but the moment he saw Legend he had gotten up to hug the Vet. The two had fallen over because Legend wasn’t expecting it and Hyrule rushed to help the two up.

Sky and Sun headed toward the locker room with matching smiles at the sight of the Farore family. The moment they entered they were met with a cheer.

“Cap’n Sun is here!” Groose yelled, quickly picking up both Sun and Sky in a tight hug.

“Let them down Groose,” chuckled Fledge as he pulled on his jacket.

Groose set them down and the two looked around. The locker room was open, full of benches and lockers lining the walls. The team had their fencing gear scattered around the benches. Both Pippit and Fledge had already put on their jackets and were holding their masks under their arms.

“Glad you managed to wake up on time, Sky.” Chuckled Pippit as he clapped Sky on the shoulder. “And it’s lovely to see you today, Sun.”

Sun grinned as the two high-fived. “Are Stritch and Crawlin here today?”

“Nope. I think they might be sick too.” Groose answered. “So, counting them we are down three fencers, but that’s alright because I heard that the team we are against only has five people too.”

“That’s good. We won’t be at as much as a disadvantage, taking into account which swords we are best at.” Sun nods.

“True.” Pippit sat down on the bench. “And if push comes to shove we can always throw Sky at ‘em.”

Sky felt his face flush. “I’m not that good, guys-“

“Don’t be humble.” Grannie Impa hummed as she walked into the locker room and smacked the back of Sky’s head. “It’s almost time to start. Are you all ready?”

Sun looked at Sky and smiled. “Yes, yes we are.”

[talesofsonicasura]

Magnification

Practice drabble involving more of my MAG Spirit. This isn't the final product when I eventually come to this point in his story. This is the first bit I wrote if you want more context. Warning: mild body horror via transformation. Enjoy.

Ever since Spirit had joined the group, the monstrous Hero of Spirits was an enigma. The 13 year old… a truth that had been hard to swallow knowing this 12 ft titan is actually a boy freshly into his teen years. At first, he was reluctant to interact unless needed. Time would often see Spirit huddled to the far side of camp away from everyone.

Now Spirit would happily share his stories or things involving his world, his adventure and himself. How he went from communicating in sign language to finally speaking with his voice. If you asked the older members of the Chain, they were happy that the boy feels comfortable with everyone.

Spirit definitely became more eager to show the gremlin side that every Link has. He would often be with Wind and Hyrule for mischief making or hanging out. In short, the Hero of Spirits deserved to act like the child he is, not a shut in that only comes when called.

However, it didn't solve the mystery of how the train conductor ended up in this form. What could change such a small child into a powerful beast for battle. Every member in the group had their own secrets to share, only a few had come out. In the end it was Spirit's tale to tell.

However it seemed other forces said otherwise. It began when they had made it to Twilight's Hyrule. The people of Ordon Village housed them as the Chain began to restock on supplies. A villager had spoken about a mysterious cave that was recently discovered. Really just a simple side quest of checking the area out and then report their findings.

Simple wasn't a thing that stuck with any Link. Spirit had found a weird stone in the wall and the next thing everyone knew was a loud scream then an all consuming harsh red light. Time had been the first amongst his fellow heroes to awaken in this strange gray room. The one who noticed the missing Hero of Spirits. And the one who saw what could be Wind's twin climbed in through the red tinted window.

"Is that Spirit?" His question had everyone look at the much smaller boy. Yet, it didn't seem like the child saw them at all. They watched as the smaller Spirit pulled out a familiar looking whip. "We must be inside his mind." Hyrule's inquiry left a haunting suspicion at what they were about to see.

A thought that grew more dreadful as Spirit sprinted deeper into this strange facility of gray and its blood red sky. How the boy dodges the patrolling faceless gray clay creatures strewn throughout. Spirit then dove into a room bearing a sign in an unknown language to avoid getting spotted.

Realization Warriors first like a stampede when Wind's twin quickly ducked into the strange metal cylinder. On how the snake-like whip currently poked the boy's lower back…where his tail began. "This…!" The glass panel on the wall began to short circuit as red text flashed about it and the metal cylinder seals itself with Spirit inside.

Crimson light poured out from the slim crack while the hero banged against solid steel screaming. Time had run over, his heart ignoring that this is a memory and not something he could stop. How the top half of his body phased through to witness the horrible scene.

Spirit's body grew and stretched through the blood electricity that pierced his body. Bones snapping into different positions with loud painful cracks, green crystals piercing the flesh of his shoulders in a twisted coat, tears pouring down his face now bearing a familiar monstrous maw looked back at him.

How Time went to hold the apparition as the small boy grew into the very titan that they all became accustomed to. Trying to provide comfort throughout this hellish transformation. One all too similar to what he met on the path to Termina. "You met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

Only when Time opened his eye again did he realize that they were back in the cave. His arms barely wrapped around the trembling large form of Spirit. The boy was crying on his shoulders, no doubt aware that they saw his personal hell.

No one spoke a word as they trudged back to Twilight's home. No one left the Hero of Spirits by himself either. They all stuck together providing company and comfort to the solemn child. A soothing symphony filled the night beginning with a soft ocarina then ended by the charming tone of a pan flute.

I wasn't lying about Spirit having a bad time. This train conductor is gonna have it rough but with some comfort to go alongside it. Also Time, you now have another traumatized kid to care for and Twilight is getting a younger brother!

Also you guys got a vague view of Nevada, the place Spirit ended and was drastically transformed in. This is from Madness Combat, a Newgrounds series made by Krinkels. Our drabble here is part of the Lost Train tale, where our transformed Link is on his own before meeting the Chain.

The opposite, Of Train Tracks and Swords, is an alternate tale where Spirit is apart of a team before getting involved with our heroes. Lost Train is more vague when it comes to the Madness Combat side of MAG Spirit's origin. This is basically for anyone who has a specific preference when it comes to material not LoZ based being in a story.

That's all I have for now. Until next time folks, I'll see you back in Hyrule.

(For anyone wondering what kind of bullshit tends to happen in Madness Combat, something like this. 👇 RIP Spirit's sanity.)

[kyoupann]

Please do more of the writing head canons. It’s really interesting to see other people’s ideas on the topic, so if you can be bothered, I would highly appreciate more, thanks bye <3

Y’all don’t know how happy I am to talk about these headcanons, they are my babies and I love them so much :’) thanks for asking g <3

Handwriting Headcanons

Same dynamic as before, try to guess whose handwriting it is before reading and tell me how many you got right! <3

You can find the first post here (no need to check it tho)

Quick disclaimer: halfway through making my initial notes, I remembered I had one (1) single lesson of graphology in my applied linguistics class, but that was a year ago and some information might be off. I just thought it was neat to include.

Another quick disclaimer: I don’t know much about Hylian, but I like to think it has a similar stroke system to Japanese, so the pressure and accuracy of your strokes play a major role in your handwriting (among other things, ofc.) so there are some parts where I focus more on that

(First Row, from left to right)

Sky

Our first boy is mother hen! Believe it or not, he has the prettiest handwriting out of all of them! Sky: probably has nice, even elegant handwriting because Sun forced him to practice when they were little. In the end, that paid off because his handwriting is the prettiest one. There’s no pressure, but he is confident in what he writes that his lines aren’t thin. Mistakes? what is that? this boy has impeccable grammar and spelling. No mechanic errors to be found in his letters! I’d like to think that many of Hyrule’s classic/staple poems were originally written by the firt king aka sky child. Like, imagine, after a retiring from being a Person of Power (as the first ruler), Sky finds comfort in the arts: revisits his old woodcarvings and starts writing poetry about the world he still doesn’t fully understand. wowie. tldr: sky writes poetry and you can pry it from my cold dead hands.

This is what one of his letters would look like: 

Next one is the one and only, our Hero of Time

2. Time

I’ll die on the “Time didn’t know how to read and write” hill. His handwriting is simple, not pretty but not messy. It has some grammar and spelling mistakes here and there. Can become unreadable if writing in a hurry, he sorts of forgets spaces between words are a thing/letters have different sizes and lowercase letters end up the same size as capital letters. I’m not saying he sometimes forgets to write articles: he just doesn’t want to. Honestly, he just has this dad-neat handwriting. He is a gentle dad and writes like a dad, if he puts too much pressure onto the paper, his handwriting become too sharp/angle-ish and ends up looking ugly. And as much as he would like to not care about it, in the end he does (:

Malon taught him how to write and it was quite the experience. At first he didn’t want to because he was ‘too old’ to learn and it was torture at first, but now look at him devouring his cowboy novels. 

A chunk of his handwriting: 

*sniff* such a dad quote.

3. my mansss, your  4x1 deal at Target: Four

Look, my boy is patient! He could do some nice and fancy lettering if he wanted to. He was taught that handwriting and spelling said a whole lot about him as a person, you know, like a first impression kinda thing; so he always proof reads more than twice before sending ­a letter. Super rare grammar mistakes.

The faster he writes, the more slant his writing becomes. Under stress/ when not sure how to write things down, run-on sentences are everywhere and his handwriting is inconsistent in general (I don’t headcanon each part of him having completely different handwriting because handwriting becomes muscle memory over time. It’s just slightly different variations of the same, like idk  Vio’s handwriting is neater than Green’s and Red writes hearts instead of any dot/circle and no, I do not take constructive criticism on that, jk i do.) Adding on to each of the colours’ handwriting, I’d think Red and Green write with words slanted to the right( inclined), Vio is a mix of the opposite, so reclined and straight, and my mans blue a true neutral writes straight (kinda like Time’s).

The logic behind this is that inclined writing supposedly means honesty and need for giving (and getting) affection; reclined means, as you can probably imagine,  defensiveness and repression of true feelings, but also shows great concentration; straight handwriting means self-control, observation and reflection as well as distrust and indifference. But as complete being (tm), Four just writes as in the image example which is not too straight and not too inclined, and I believe that’s a good middle for him

HOWEVER, if I’m feeling in the mood for crack, I totally accept this boy to have the ugliest, chicken scratches-looking handwriting! :’D It’s just funny to think that someone like him, who has to be precise and careful in his work, can't write neatly to save his life. 

One of his letters would look like this: 

Also I just LOVE how his hero titles look in this font ksksks

and that’s

(Middle row, from left to right)

4.- Mister Bunny Boy - Legend

His uncle taught him how to write. I’d call his handwriting pretty and neat at a first glance, but he presses too hard on the paper, most of the time staining the back or the following page. Sometimes will retrace some words if he doesn’t like how it looks (which only makes it messier). According to my notes, a thick or strong handwriting represents determination/commitment.

As I also headcanon him to know many languages, mechanical errors are more present than grammar ones; that is, weird capitalisation of words. Punctuation is somewhere in between; uses too many commas when he should just cut the sentence. he mixes punctuation from two languages or more in writing when too distracted (or too focused, because, well, pressure.); when he writes for himself, he has almost no problem following said language’s punctuation rules. Also, this is just polyglot culture, and I’m projecting a bit, but when he forgets a word in the language he’s writing, he just replaces it with its equivalent in another language because we don’t care about fluency, but rather functionality. in this household (more on that in my language hc, ksksks).

An example of his writing:

so powerful

4.-  Mr. Wolfman, howl me a song - Twilight

I don’t have much for him because 1) I don’t think he writes a lot and 2) he is a hands-on/visual learner, I’ll die by that. He only learnt how to write because Ulli insisted it was important and he was not about to disrespect his momma; he IS That Guy, but doesn’t really write enough to have neat handwriting.

Many people seem to overlook the fact that his house is filled with books and write him as completely illiterate (which if not explored properly, ends up feeling a bit disrespectful and full of prejudice, but go off I guess; and that’s on my core Headcanons for Twi); however, he sticks to simple sentences. Knowing how to read and understanding a text is different from knowing how to write them. Like, when we would see a semicolon and understand its position in the text, but didn’t understand the nature of it. Is this clear? idk i’m sorry. So yeah, boy reads a lot, writes very little.

As for his Actual Handwriting, as opposed to Legend, his handwriting is thiccc but not because he presses into the paper; he is just that messy, he has no sense of ink-flow-control, he does what he can with what he has. To the untrained eye, his handwriting illegible letters like v, n, u are very similar; when he makes notes for himself he does it in the form of doodles or small ‘icons’. But! He reads a lot, so he rarely makes spelling mistakes (: he is your go-to guy when you don’t know how to write a word.

An example of his writing:

He keeps a journal, sue me.

3. My first born- Warrior

Okay, first off... I accept this is completely biased. I saw the idea and said “That’s True”. If you haven’t, please read Effective Communication; or The Lack of Thereof by htruona, a fic where the boys reflect on the language barriers between them. It’s incredibly funny and probably what made me start making these silly notes. So, if you’ve read that fic, you know where I’m going.

My man, Warrior, can’t fucking write. I mean, he physically can, but it’s very bad. Here’s the reason for it, tho, and it’s not his fault: Technically, he knew how to write alright but he joined the military and whatever note he had to write had to be concise or in the worst case coded. He mixes capital and lowercase letters. If we consider that he joined the military at around 15, his handwriting and grammar had yet to continue developing. Just think about how after summer break, your handwriting was always slightly worse than before because you didn’t write for an entire month. Now think what 2 years can do to that. Hmm, not cool, dude. He makes quick notes, when writing he’s all gotta go fast. he is the lighting mcqueen of writing; good for emergency messages, not ideal for love letters. His punctuation also suffered a lot, he only know full stops and commas and hardly uses them. A sentence for him is either one word or fifty without a single comma, no inbetween.

His hero title and an example of his writing.

(Bottom row, or what I like to call “fuck cursive” row)

7.- Magic man - Hyrule

I’m basic and I do agree with the popular headcanon of he not knowing how to write because well, y’all know his Hyrule. He only knows how to write his name because that’s important, same with numbers. I don’t see why would he write/read except checking the roadsigns. (he can even use this as an excuse for getting lost frequently; he thought it said something different.) But I do think that because his habitual reading consists of roadsigns, his ‘punctuation’ is weird af and places full stops/points/periods at the same level of his words and his commas/question/exclamation marks below them. Yk, creative license. Sadly, I don’t have much about my magic hands man so here’s what his writing would look like if he actually wrote a paragraph:

Man, I love Hyrule.

8.- Man, I don’t understand this boy -  Wild

Cursive? ain’t nobody have the time for that. He woke up and had to save the world in his underwear while not knowing how to read nor write.  He learnt during his journey and was taught by multiple people from different regions, that explains his inconsistent spelling of things and names for them. So Wild knows language variations for many items and uses them interchangeably (even if they aren’t exactly the same). Another headcanon related to writing/language skills that I’ve been thinking about is that if the shrine was able to cause amnesia, I’m sure there were other areas in the brain affected which leads us to language disorders such as agraphia and aphasia. But that’s a story for another day ksksksk

An example of his writing (after relearning)

9.- The best of sons - Wind

I don’t have much for him and that makes me sad. Look, he’s a kid, doing kid things like stabbing dudes on the head. This boy was taught cursive by his grandma, but could never do it and no one needs it anyway. His handwriting is good enough for his pirate life, Tetra is the one to handle Official stuff, he just gotta sign. Spelling and grammar mistakes abound. He is still relatively young and can correct his handwriting if he desires. But same as Wild, with how many times he’s been thrown out and hit his head, I’m starting to consider some language disorder for him as well.

An example of his writing:

aaand that’s it.

Thanks, y’all for showing interest in this silly thing uwu it was fun to finally talk about this. If you ever want to discuss ideas/headcanons(especially if they are related to language and culture), I’m your person (: I’m always happy to hear new headcanons. Feel free to add anything to this post either in a reply or in a reblog, I’d love to hear from y’all <3<3

[lorelylantana]

Savageries of the Heart Chapter 5: Homecoming

First-Previous-Next

Ao3

Chapter rating: T Overall Rating: E

“How did this happen?” she asked, setting the slate down to look at her husband. He looked sheepish.

“It didn’t happen overnight,” Link explained, “After the Sheikah were banished from the Kingdom of Hyrule they came to us for protection after their own military forces were lost, and the other races opted for their own independence. That much is true, and it was for centuries after. The Sheikah don’t really have a desire for leading outside of their own people, so as long as the Zonai reinforced their borders and funded their research they were content to share the fruits of their knowledge. 

“We’ve always believed in extending a hand in aid where we could, so on the occasions that the other races reached out for help, we’ve been the first to respond. We built the dam in Zora’s domain and we killed the Lynels haunting the Rito snowfields. When the Gerudo canyon collapsed we’re the ones that cleared the rubble to let them travel safely once again. Bit by bit the other races began to see the benefits of being a unified nation again, so we expanded the railways, the Sheikah streamlined communications, new Wardens were named, and we came whole again.”

“Not completely,” Zelda interjected, oddly defensive. She felt Noodle’s nose bump into her chin, perhaps in response to her racing pulse.

“Not completely,” Link agreed, “But it was a king on Hylia’s throne that fractured the continent in the first place, and the Sheikah have long memories. Even with the countless records locked away, they knew it wasn’t the first time they had been made to vacate Hyrule, so they advised us to keep the royal family in the dark and wait.”

“For what?” Zelda asked. He looked in her eyes.

“For the right Queen.”

Fat chance of that one, considering her uncle sat on the throne and she was the Hollow Daughter of Hylia.

“Tell me more about the Wardens,” Zelda said, uncomfortable at the implied expectation.

Link scooted over, taking the slate in his hand he fiddled with the map settings until Zelda watched the borders she was familiar with reappear. Noodle uncoiled from her spot on Zelda’s wrist to sniff at the screen, her snout tapping on the small region north of Mount Lanayru, if that was indeed it’s name and not another lie told to her people. A box appeared with white text.

The Wellspring

Warden: Dorephan [Contact]

Rising Warden: Mipha [Contact]

“Each region is governed by a Warden,” Link explained, his breath tickling her ear and his arm slipping around her waist, “Dorephan is the current Warden of the Wellspring, but he gave his notice of retirement last year, so Mipha, his daughter is carrying out the majority of his duties until she slays a great beast and takes over his position completely.”

Zelda tapped the harbor their icon was inching towards, highlighting the region that Zelda originally thought to be the entire Zonai nation.

Dragonlands

Warden: Link

Rising Mother: Zelda Lana Hyrule [Contact]

Zelda noticed that the word ‘contact’ was written in green. Curious, she tapped it, expecting the screen to change. Instead there was a chiming from her headdress. Zelda tensed up. Link gave a little chuckle before pinching her translator between his fingers for a moment.

“What was that?” Zelda asked, but he only held up his finger again, shooting her a wink as he got up and left the the observation deck

“Can you hear me?”

Zelda flinched, startled. Her husband’s voice had replaced the mechanical words from her translator.

“Yes,” she responded, walking to the window to see her husband walking into view below. In her ear she could hear the sea breeze until his voice returned.

“A secondary function, though a recent one,” Link said, waving up at her.

Zelda looked at the slate again.

“Why can’t I call you?” she asked, noting the option to contact didn’t appear next to her husband’s name.

“That’s my personal slate, it would be like writing a letter to myself.”

He began walking up the stairs, and she could hear his footsteps, which was a bit disorienting without a stair in sight. They spent the rest of the trip eating their lunch while Link explained the basic functions of a Sheikah Slate. Zelda pressed an icon with a small blue circle, and a glowing blue orb appeared in her hands. Link mumbled something in Zonai that the Zelda’s translator interpreted as a string of curse words that had her ears burning. Link took the orb from her hands, chucked it through a window he’d opened before pressing the ‘cancel’ button right next to the one labeled ‘detonate’.

“That was an explosive,” he said by way of explanation. Zelda’s eyes widened.

“Does everyone else on the continent have access to explosives?” she asked, alarmed. Link shook his head with a laugh.

“Farore above, no. The slates given to Wardens and have greater capabilities than most citizens’. Standard issue slates are much more limited. Identification, communications, and finances only.”

“What does it mean by ‘Rising Mother?” Zelda asked, now holding the slate at arm’s length.

“Being my wife makes you the Mother of the Dragonlands, but since you haven’t officially accepted the title you’re listed as ‘Rising’.”

“How do I accept it?” she asked, Link smiled, bright and relieved. 

“I’ll show you when we get home.”

She liked that sentence because of the assumption. There was a warm undertone to the flippant reminder that she had a home here. She was in a foreign country that wasn’t at all like she imagined, but she had a place set aside for her. It was enough to banish the dissatisfaction of her question going unanswered and allowed her to walk hand in hand with her husband with a spring in her step. As they descended onto the dock, she couldn’t help but notice that it was pretty deserted, though she did see a large building at the top of a large cliff. Link led them down into the sand. They came across a strange platform on the ground before Link placed his palm on a screen covered pedestal. After fiddling with the screen Link took out a vial of simmering red liquid she recognized as an elixir and pressed it into her hand. She drank it, savoring the kick that she recognized as a spicy elixir. Link watched as she swallowed it.

“How did I do?” he asked, brow raised. She took another sip.

“It’s a tad overdone,” she admitted, “but effective,”

He nodded, satisfied with her answer. She shook out her limbs, the heat spreading to her fingers and toes like a fever.

“It’s a little warm for a spicy elixir, isn’t it?” she asked, quizzical. He winked at her, resting a palm against the blank screen. After a blue line ran up and down the pedestal chimed and the world faded away.

The world returned in slices, descending bit by bit to create a small alcove tucked in the corner of a much larger room filled with plush chairs and couches facing a strange black rectangle set upon a table. Despite the questions burning through her mind, she found herself transfixed by the opposite wall. Rather than the intricate stonework that made up the majority of the room, the wall they walked along had an almost translucent, iridescent quality to it, orange light shining through that mimicked the sunset outside. She pressed a hand to it and dragged her palm along its smooth, chilled surface, her breath coming out in clouds in front of her. Link showed her a large glass box filled with vegetation and a lamp which, in a notable departure from the standard blue light fixtures around the room, shone with a warm yellow light.

“For Noodle,” Link said by way of explanation, opening the box.

Zelda beamed from ear to ear, reaching into the terrarium to let the serpent climb onto one of the winding branches. She could have sworn she saw some of the blue scales glow, but it was probably a trick of the light.

“Say Noodle again,” she said, tucking her hand into his elbow.

“Why?”

“Because it sounds cute in your accent,” she admitted, cheeks flushing slightly.

He gave her a quizzical look but nonetheless obliged her, “Noodle.”

She giggled, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder as they walked down the hall to a larger, yet somehow more intimate room.

 Zelda stepped forward and turned to examine their bedroom. The walls were carved in hundreds of illustrations of plant and animal life alike, each shape crafted with a myriad of stones that must have been gathered from all corners of Hyrule. A fox made from the rich Eldin rock, wolves shaped from the cool blue of Upland Zora, and pigeons carved from Necluda stone. The lush scenes of the wild were dominated by sprawling depictions of dragons lording over it all. She recognized the serpent she glimpsed on their wedding day coiled protectively over their bed which, while lower to the floor than her own, was far wider than any bed she’d ever scene and stacked with silks and cushions. 

After the stress of the day, Zelda was ready to lie down, but her husband had other ideas, taking her hand and pulling her to the corner on her left, where another dragon curled around a bath that looked far too big for just the two of them. Nevertheless, Zelda followed him gratefully, glad that at least one of her preconceived notions of the Zonai held true.

Owlan had told her the Zonai viewed baths an intimate affair, which she had understood. The difference lay in that married couples were supposed to bathe together, and often. This practice was apparently so common that newlyweds were not considered fully united until they blessed their marital home with a bath. Thus, when Link’s hands began to unravel the cloth around her chest, she made no comment, only moving to undo his belt.

When they were both stripped down they stepped over the lip of the massive tub. Link took the lead as the welcoming spouse, turning her around so he could run his hands down her back. Despite the spicy elixir having a good deal of time before it wore off, the water felt cool. Not enough to feel uncomfortable, but impossible to ignore. If her elixir couldn’t hold off the chill, she wondered how frigid it must be. Zelda was dissuaded from asking questions by Link’s touch, warm and steady as they started to rub soap into her back. She sighed and felt her head roll to one side. Zelda let her gaze rest on the luminescent stone of the second dragon. Unlike Farosh, the horn of this creature almost resembled a crown, spikes pointing away from the creature’s face. 

“I saw Farosh on our wedding day,” Zelda said idly, her shoulders easing under his touch. He hummed and started to work on her arms.

“The gods approve of our marriage.”

This intimacy in the water was softer than what they shared in their honeymoon, but no less potent. Perhaps this gentle caress was one of the unsung sides of love, often overlooked for that wildfire lust that overtook them so many times. And yet, as Zelda grew warmer under his ministrations a deep sense of peace took root, easing away the emotional strain of the day’s revelations. For all the deceit revealed to her, his growing affection for her felt genuine. 

Link pulled her to rest against his chest so he could reach around to her stomach. When she relaxed and let her arms rest back in the water it became clear that the heat wasn’t just from his embrace but from the bath, once so cold it broke through her elixir’s protection.

“What happened to the water?” she asked, dragging a hand through the bathwater. It was heated as a hot spring. “Zonai leaders have always drawn strength from the land, wielding magic both consciously and instinctively.” he explained, washing and rinsing her hair, “This flow is strongest in the springs and other sacred sights, giving us enough protection to render even the harshest weather mild.”

Link turned her around to look her in the eyes as he took her leg into his lap, “We swore to each other before our people,” he explained, massaging her calf as he spoke, “we’ve proven this union to one another in our bed. But only here, alone in holy water atop a sacred mountain, do we verify our marriage before the gods. You are Mother of the Dragonlands, and now all the spirits watching over us recognize you as such, and give their power freely.”

Zelda smiled, security pulsing steady in her chest. The feeling was compounded by small, swirling clusters of energy she could now feel brushing against her skin and shielding her from the unrelenting cold of her new home. After pressing a quick kiss to his lips she urged him to turn around.  Relishing in the heated water, she took the cloth from the lip of the tub and lathered it in soap so she could start to scrub his back and arms. She traced some of the paint on his bicep before wiping it off.

“What do the markings mean?” she asked. She had watched him apply the paint several times since their wedding, though never as much as he did the night itself.

“It’s less about design and more about location,” he answered, “The paint makes us stronger. We use it to stimulate the muscles we use most in battle.”

She rubbed his other arm clean before moving on to his chest. He smiled lazily, resting his hands on her hips, his thumbs circling idly.

“How’s it made?” 

“I’ll send you the recipe.”

Zelda raised a brow, “Just one?”

“The only one that works.”

Now that was an intriguing prospect. Alas, it would have to wait for another day, as Zelda started to yawn when washing his legs and feet and her eyes had started to close on their own accord when they dried off on the steps leading up to the tub. She heard Link give a low chuckle as he pulled the towel from her hands and began to rub the moisture out of her hair, massaging her scalp in the process. His touch put her at so much ease that she ended up dozing off with her face resting against his thigh. Zelda only stirred when he did, sliding off the lip of the tub to take her in his arms. She didn’t open her eyes when she was rocked in his arms as he crossed the room. She felt the cool, smooth sheet covering the bed before it dipped to accommodate her husband’s weight. Zelda reached for him blindly and was rewarded by his arms wrapping behind her back, pressing their bare chests together. She felt Link’s lips on her forehead.

“Goodnight,” he whispered into her hair. She nuzzled his shoulder and kissed what felt like his collarbone.

“Goodnight.”