#this is just a summary of the beginning

[recklessfiction]

There are two wizards, brothers. One lives on the top of a mountain, the other on the top floor of a skyscraper, a tower. They don't speak, there is resentment there. Until one day the wizard in the tower commissions his brother to create a relic, a skull he needs for a ritual he plans to perform. The wizard on the mountain agrees.

The skull is delivered to the cabin on the mountain by men in suits and sunglasses. The wizard takes it and tells them to return in three days. Over those days, the wizard works, carving hymns into the inside of the skull, chiseling runes into the bone and painting it with black ink. It is a beautiful thing, when it is finished, a lovely piece of art and a job well done.

The men return, pleased by the look of the thing, even though they do not know what the sigils mean, or in what languages the songs are written. There is a foul air of unearned arrogance about them. They pass along a briefcase full of money. Significantly less than what was agreed upon.

"You'll take it and like it, old man." One of the men says, foolish.

The wizard on the mountain takes the money and stays silent. Only passing a thumb over the brow of the skull, smudging it with gold paint. He says one word to it, before passing it over to the men who place it in a velvet lined box and bring it out to the car. The Wizard grins as he watches them go, teeth sharp.

The car makes it halfway down the mountain before the box begins to shake. Within it, the skull has already begun to reform its tissue, muscle and fat.

"What the fuck is going on back there?" the driver calls.

The box explodes.

Bone stretches and cracks, growing into spine and arm and shoulder held by bleeding wet muscle and flesh. There is screaming from the men in the back as blood and fat explodes from the growing body onto their clothes.

"What the fuck-!?"

"Stop the car!"

A panicked arm shoots out for the steering wheel from behind and in a craze, the driver swerves, slamming into a tree on the side of the road. The horn drones into the night, joined, at first by two screams and soon three.

The skull had grown its lungs and vocal chords.

The two surviving men in suits (the driver died on impact) clamber out of the car, white shirts soaked with blood and fluids. They scream and cry out for help until they see lights coming down the road. They wave their arms, shouting their horror and "pull over, please! Pull over!"

The car pulls off the road, an old blue pickup truck. The door opens and a figure steps out. The faces of the men fall.

"please."

BANG

One gunshot

BANG

and another

Now only one voice screams in the darkness and the Wizard on the Mountain picks his way through the bodies and debris of the crashed car towards the sound. He crouches low and pulls the once corpse-then skull-now body out from beneath the wreckage.

He drops the body into the bed of the truck before climbing into the cab. The soft start and sudden jolt makes the corpse's breath hitch and as the truck trundles back up the road to the top of the mountain, it's screams turn to quiet gasps and whimpers. The rain starts about then and its painful on the corpse's new skin. It can hear the sound of a radio from inside the truck. It can also feel the heaviness of a heart that had not been there a half hour ago, and something itches inside its head.

The car stops once they reach the cabin. When the Wizard comes around and lays a hand on it's ankle, the corpse tenses, and rightly so as it is pulled off the bed and onto the wet ground. The wizard drags it through the mud towards a small shed beside the house.

"The axe'll be easiest. You won't feel a thing."

The corpse kicks out, immediately understanding the words the Wizard says to it. Alas, it is weak and newly born, there is nothing it can do as it is brought before a large stump. It's leg is dropped as the Wizard goes to collect the axe and the corpse wastes no time in beginning it's escape, not that it gets very far.

"Ah," a sharp sound from behind, "where do you think you're goin'?"

A large arm hauls the corpse up, not gentle but not needlessly violent. Like pulling the leash on a big dog.

"Come on, don't make this difficult."

"No," the corpse croaked, squirming in the Wizard's grasp, "no."

"You got to see the stars, feel the rain, breathe," the shed was getting nearer again and the corpse felt its horrible, horrible heart slam against its chest, "What more could a dead man want?"

More. Everything. Anything more. Adrenaline coursed through new veins and it felt, to the corpse, like its body was on fire. It clawed at the skin that held it, not knowing the strength it had. Its teeth sunk into muscle and the Wizard, for all his great size, shouted out, dropping the corpse like a hot loaf tin.

The corpse moved, pushing itself up onto unsteady legs and running towards the light of the house. The Wizard's grin had turned to a snarl now as blood trickled down his arm and neck. Fingers curled around the axe handle and he pulled the blade from the block of wood before following the skull to the house.

"Fucking bodies. More trouble than they're worth."

This is an introduction to a story I'm currently working on called Freakdom. The aesthetic is based heavily on death metal and heavy metal music and art, movies like Mandy, Hellraiser, The Void, etc, and so far it's pretty cool! The resurrected skull is named Lazarus (appropriately) but I haven't gotten names for the Wizards yet. I'm having fun though!

[smilesrobotlover]

AO3

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Warning, this is a pretty dark one towards the end. A lil spooky if you will

Chapter 5- Something’s in Faron Woods

Zelda was exhausted. With the new problem of disappearances, her workload doubled. She was getting several letters from people claiming that they knew who was causing these disappearances, or people who claimed that they got caught and escaped. She was then dealing with the economy of Hyrule, then their relationship with Labrynna, then schoolwork for her daughter, and then trying to provide for the army. She’d barely gotten any sleep, but she supposed it would be fine. She’s had sleepless nights before, this would be no different.

She was eternally grateful for the resistance’s help, since she couldn’t do much on her own with the disappearances. She sent Ashei and Shad to help Hoz on his investigation, she requested Auru to ask around since he couldn’t do much in his old age, and she sent Rusl and Link to investigate Kakariko, knowing that Link’s wolf abilities would be useful. And she requested this all under her alter ego: Sheik.

She remembers when she first disguised herself as Sheik and went to help the resistance. They were dealing with straggling Bulblins who rebelled against their king. Sheik showed up to assist, and the resistance were rightfully distrusting towards her. It was difficult since Sheik wasn’t exactly a bubbly and kind person, but after a few years with her giving them correct information on situations, they started to trust her more, and she was grateful for that. It was nice doing more for Hyrule that she wouldn’t be able to do as queen, but it had made her twice as busy, and she almost had no time to do anything. Even spending time with her own daughter was severely limited, and even though she wished she could do more with her, she just didn’t have time. And she wasn’t willing to give some of her workload to Edmund.

They’d known each other since they were kids. her father was attempting to have an alliance with Labrynna and they saw each other often. They had a good enough relationship then, Edmund was very polite and kind, and even when they reunited he still was, but she couldn’t bring herself to trust him. He was never outwardly terrible, but she knew that if she gave him even an ounce of power, he would take it all and control Hyrule. She’d seen it with her father, she’d seen it with Zant, and she’d seen it with Ganondorf. All kings taking power from queens, why would Edmund be any different?

Despite her refusal to let him help her, she was exhausted, and sometimes she wished she could get help, but until she found more people she could trust, she would have to make do. Of course, it wasn’t easy to hide how she was feeling from everyone, and when she nearly fell asleep during a boring meeting, they all grew concerned for her well-being.

“My queen?” The representative for the Zora spoke up when she nearly fell over on the table, and she rubbed her face, sitting up straight.

“I’m alright,” she said quickly, and she glanced over at Edmund who stared at her with his brows pinched together.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m fine, just a little tired is all, we all get like that,” she waved their concerns away and looked down at the papers in front of her. She honestly didn’t remember what was being discussed, but she quickly skimmed over the details and caught up as much as she could. As soon as the meeting was over, she got up and left, with Edmund trailing behind her.

“Zelda?” He called out for her, and she groaned, turning around to look at him.

“Yes?”

Edmund let out a huff and put his hands on his hips. “What have you been doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. You look awful. You’re rarely eating, I hardly ever see you, and you’re never in bed when you’re supposed to be.”

“Maybe I don’t want to sleep with you,” she said coldly, but instantly regretted it. That was an inappropriate thing to say, and a hurt expression flickered across Edmund’s face. He looked away and ran a hand through his hair, frustration apparent in his face.

“Goddesses, Zelda. I— I didn’t want this arranged marriage either, but I’m trying to make it work for our kingdom’s sakes! It’s been ten years, why can’t you do the same?”

Zelda faced him fully and looked down, biting her lip. “I… I apologize for that comment, Edmund. It was rude of me.”

Edmund’s glare softened slightly. “So, what’s going on? Is it the disappearances?”

Zelda pursed her lips. “It’s fine Edmund–”

“No, it’s not fine. You’re clearly overworking yourself.”

Zelda turned away and let out a frustrated sigh, spotting the nobles and representatives getting closer to them. She grabbed Edmund’s arm and led him away to somewhere more private.

“It’s fine Edmund,” she reassured when they were tucked away in a corner, “these disappearances have been a lot of work to deal with, but it will pass. Besides, I have help from friends and Hoz to get to the bottom of this.”

Edmund stared at her for a moment, his brow pinched together. “Ok, so you have help,” he finally said after a moment of contemplation, “why don’t you let me handle the next meeting so you can… I don’t know… get some rest.”

Zelda’s heart spiked and she shook her head. “No, I do not need help.”

“Oh, so you’ll get help from Hoz and friends that I’ve never heard of before, but not from me, your husband?” Edmund’s voice raised a little, and Zelda sucked in a breath.

“It’s not your responsibility—“

“Yes it is! We’re supposed to have a partnership! We’re supposed to work together to keep our kingdom allies! That is why we got married! Why can’t you trust me?”

“Maybe it’s because you have no respect for my kingdom! Maybe it’s because you berate and criticize my people and my army! Why would I let someone who hates my kingdom try to rule it?” Zelda snapped. Edmund stared at her, surprised at her angry tone. She always spoke in a controlled tone, never letting her anger get the best of her since it was improper. Zelda took a deep breath and quickly composed herself, not wanting to escalate the conversation anymore. “Edmund, can we discuss this later? I have a meeting to attend to.”

“That’s what you say everytime I try to talk to you about it,” Edmund scoffed.

“Well I don’t have time.”

Edmund was about to say something, but he glanced up behind Zelda and his glare softened.

“Amber!” He greeted, and Zelda turned around to see her daughter walking towards them.

“Hello, mother and father,” she said when she walked up to them, her hands clasped in front of her. “I finished my studies and I wanted to catch you when the meeting ended!”

Edmund gave Zelda a look and he relaxed his posture. “Well, you caught us in time, my dear.”

Amber grinned at Edmund and gave a small curtsy to Zelda. Zelda nodded her head and forced a smile. The two stared at each other awkwardly, and Zelda looked down.

“I’m glad to see you, Amber,” she finally said, and forced another smile. “I take it your studies are going well?”

“Yes, mother.”

“Right…”

Zelda looked away and Edmund sighed.

“Why don’t you tell your mother what you’ve been studying, Amber?” He encouraged, and Amber’s eyes lit up. Zelda cringed internally, wanting so badly to stay and listen to her daughter, but she simply had no time…

“Well, I’ve been studying the founding of Hyrule, and I find it quite fascinating! I read that Hylians descended from the sky and made land here, creating alliances with the many species already living here. I just can’t imagine living in the sky! I heard that they flew on birds! Big birds that they would ride on and–”

“Amber,” Zelda cut in, forcing another smile, “I think it’s wonderful that you’re interested in history. I have a meeting I must attend, but you continue on with your studies.”

Amber’s expression fell which made Zelda’s heart twist in pain, and she looked down. “Of course, mother, sorry to keep you.”

Zelda couldn’t force another smile, and she simply walked away, trying to ignore the guilt creeping up on her. Goddesses she wanted to stay, she wanted to stay and to talk with her daughter. She wanted to ignore the meetings and to actually rest her eyes. But she couldn’t, there was too much to do, and she didn’t have the time.

Zelda couldn’t help but glance at the two when she turned the corner. Amber was still facing away, but Edmund was staring at her, and where she expected anger, there was nothing but sadness in his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Link watched the field around him carefully, sticking closer to Rusl this time around. Kori was no longer riding with him, and was inside the cart playing with his new toy, meanwhile Colin sat behind him on Epona. Talo was riding his own horse on the other side of the cart, grateful to no longer be alone on the trip back home. Link was also glad that they were with Talo as well, learning more about the strange disappearances have gotten him nervous. Rusl tried to make sense of it all, explaining how the scent probably got messed up, but Link supposed he couldn’t truly understand how bizarre the whole thing was. The scent wasn’t replaced, nor was it lost, it just vanished. The fact that he didn’t know why this was happening, or where to continue looking, chilled him to the bone, and he was anxious to get back to Ordon and out of the open field. Colin picked up on his nervous energy, and he rested his hand on his shoulder.

“Are you alright, Link?” His younger brother asked, and Link shrugged.

“I dunno, I just don’t like the open field,” he answered simply.

“I heard you and pa were investigating some disappearances, anything going on with that?”

Link sighed. “I don’t know, I tried to follow the missing people’s scent and I found nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Absolutely nothing. The scent just ends. Pa thinks that the scent was replaced or lost but… I honestly don’t think that’s the case,” he ran his fingers through his hair, letting out a breath.

“What do you think the case is?”

“I’m not sure, the only explanation is that the people got taken to… a different world or something,” Link felt the heat creep up to his cheeks as he said it outloud. The idea of different worlds wasn’t far-fetched to him, the temple of time literally took him through time to when the temple stood tall and proud, and the twilight realm was a world he could never forget. But to get to these places were nearly impossible, especially the twilight realm, so the idea that these people somehow getting taken to anywhere like that was ridiculous to him. Colin only hummed.

“You sure they’re not dead?”

“I’m sure Colin, I would’ve smelled it. Once we get home I’m gonna try to look further into it.” By the goddesses he was not going to let something like this continue. He was the hero for Din’s sake, he still had a responsibility to Hyrule. Link glanced over at the carriage to see Kori and Rela poking their heads out from the carriage, smiling at the nature in front of them. A protective feeling surrounded him as he watched them. He was going to make sure that his family, especially Kori, were never going to experience a dangerous Hyrule ever again.

They reached Ordon when the sun began to set, and everyone let out a sigh of relief as they got off their steeds or out of the cart.

“By the goddesses, it’s nice not being attacked every five seconds in the field,” Talo commented, stretching his arms after he got off his horse. Beth and Colin cheered in response as Link led Epona to his home, patting her neck and giving her a treat. Kori ran up to him and patted Epona’s snout.

“Thanks for getting us here, girl!” He said, and Epona lowered her head to nuzzle his chest, which Kori giggled at. Link smiled at the two and left them alone together as he went to help Rusl with unloading the cart. The kids stayed back talking and playing with the horses while Link and Rusl went to their home. When they opened the door, Uli set down her sewing project from the couch and met them at the door in seconds.

“You’re home!” She cheered, and gave Rusl and Link a hug. Rusl chuckled and pecked her on the lips.

“Hello, darlin’,” he said when he pulled away, and the two smiled at each other for a moment.

“How was it? How’s Renado?” She asked as they pulled away to put their stuff down.

“It was fine,” Link answered, plopping down on the couch. “Renado seems pretty overwhelmed, but otherwise it was ok.”

“What did Kori get?”

“A stuffed cat he named Jasper,” Link answered, stretching his arms above his head. Uli tilted her head and crossed her arms.

“A stuffed cat? If I had known that he wanted a stuffed cat, I would’ve made him one!”

“Yeah, kids are weird like that,” Link said with a chuckle, rubbing his eyes. “The moment they see somethin’ they want at the store, they ask for it even though you can make it at home.”

“It’s more special from a shop!” Rusl chimed in, leaning near the fireplace. Uli raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Are you saying that if I made it, it wouldn’t be special?”

Rusl’s eyes went big and he turned away. “Of course not… that’s… you know what I meant!”

Uli gave a quick laugh. “I know what you meant darlin’, I’m just messing with you.” Rusl glared at her and she simply giggled teasingly at him. She turned to Link and her teasing manner dropped slightly. “Well, I heard you two were investigating some…. Disappearances,” she started, “were you able to find anything?”

Link looked at Rusl and shrugged. “Not really.”

“We didn’t find anything useful at least,” Rusl added quietly. Uli frowned.

“Are you going to continue investigating?”

“Well, I kinda have to. Kori wants everyone to return home safely for his birthday,” Link said with a small smile on his lips. Uli grinned and ruffled his hair.

“He’s a sweet boy. He reminds me of a certain someone.”

Link looked down bashfully and rolled his eyes as Uli began to dote on him. Kori was a sweet boy. So gentle and kind, despite being a little mischievous at times. He couldn’t take all the credit for it of course, or really any of it. Midna raised him by herself for his first two years of life, and even though she's not with them all the time, she’s impacted his life in more ways than one. Goddesses he missed her. He wanted to tell her everything about Kakariko, he wanted her advice, her comments, her support. He just wanted her here…

Uli clasped her hands together and sighed after a moment of silence. “Well, where are the kids?”

“Dealin’ with the horses. I think they’re a little stir crazy.”

Uli smiled and gestured at the fireplace. “I have some soup cooking if you wanna drag our little ones over here?”

The smell of the soup cooking above the fireplace hit his nostrils, and he wiped some drool that suddenly appeared on his chin. Uli let out a hearty laugh and ruffled his hair.

“I’ll go get them ma,” Link chuckled, slightly embarrassed, and jogged out the door to find Colin, Rela, and Kori.

The three were excited for the hot dinner when Link told them, and they quickly put their things away as the sun set behind the horizon. Kori wasted no time showing Jasper the cat to Uli, explaining the complex backstory he gave to the plush, and how it connected to Billy the goat’s backstory. Uli listened intently, and Link let out a laugh. He always talked her ear off, but she always listened. Link wondered if he was the same way when he was younger.

“So, I take it Midna didn’t go with you?” Uli asked when Kori finished his story. Link shook his head.

“No, she had other stuff she needed to do back home.”

“What does she do anyways?” Colin asked, his spoon full of soup inches away from his mouth. Link shrugged.

“Stuff.”

“You always say that,” he said, sipping the soup from the spoon. Link shrugged again.

“Y’all weren’t supposed to know about her existence anyways. If she wants to tell you what she does, then she will. It’s not my business to tell you.”

“Fair ‘nough.”

“Well,” Uli started, standing up, “I already ate, but I can dish up some food for the rest of you.”

“Nah, I got two strong arms, I can do it myself,” Rusl said with a smile, grabbing a bowl and hunching over the pot.

“Nonsense! You’ve been traveling all day,” Uli began to argue, and the couple began to fight over the soup. Colin and Link exchanged a look and smirked as Kori and Rela jogged over to the fireplace, trying to break up the battle for service between the two lovers. When Uli finally admitted defeat, Link got up to the pot to serve himself and Kori, smiling at his ma who returned to her sewing project. But as he began to walk across the room, he stopped, his ears twitching. There was a sound, it was distant, and out in the woods, but as it got closer, the sound became more apparent.

Screaming.

Soon it got loud enough for Uli to hear it too, and they both looked at each other in fear. Kori stared at the two, hearing it as well.

“What is that?” He asked, and the whole family grew quiet, hearing the sudden screaming. Rusl got up, grabbing his sword and gestured for Link to follow him.

“Stay here,” Rusl said to Colin and Uli, who were about to follow him. Uli walked towards the kids while Colin reluctantly stayed by the doorway, and the two swordsmen marched out of the house. As they got closer, Link was able to spot three figures huddled together. He recognized mayor Bo’s large frame next to Jaggle, who was consoling a hysterical Coro. Bo looked up as the two men got closer, and he let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank the spirits,” he said, stepping away. “I was just about to come and get you two.”

“What’s happenin’ here?” Rusl asked, staring at Coro who looked to be a mess. “Why were you screaming?”

Coro raised his head and stared at the two. “S-something’s out in the woods!” His voice shook as he said it, and he was shaking in fear.

Link frowned, feeling dread and fear creep up on him. “What was it?”

“I– I don’t know! I don’t know!”

Rusl rested a hand on Coro’s shoulder and kneeled down. “Take some deep breaths for me, ok? Think about what you saw and try to explain it to us.”

Coro swallowed and took a deep breath. “Ok, you are all gonna think that I’m insane, but I promise I’m not! I know these woods, I’ve seen all sorts of plants and animals! But I was putting my things away f-for the night, and I heard somethin’ behind me and… I saw a black creature staring at me!” Coro wailed and buried his face in his hands, and Rusl gave Link a look. “It tried to kill me! I swear!”

“Did you have a light to see this… black creature?” Jaggle asked skeptically, and Coro gave him a glare.

“I didn’t hallucinate it if that’s what you’re implying! Trill saw it too!”

As if on cue, Coro’s bird, Trill poked out from his hair, staring at the men. Link expected him to begin chatting, but he was uncharacteristically silent as the men observed the bird.

“Can you… Uh… describe the creature again?” Jaggle asked, and Coro let out a frustrated huff.

“I know it sounds ridiculous, but it was a big, black creature with long arms! It almost swiped at me but I didn’t wait around! I thought something was off about the forest, Trill came to me a few days before talking about a bear, so I-I thought that he just got spooked! There hasn’t been a bear in these parts in ages so I assumed he saw a wolf! There’s been wolves around here right? But this wasn’t a bear, I don’t know what it was but it was no bear!”

Rusl, Jaggle, and Link all glanced at each other as Coro continued to ramble, and Rusl scratched the back of his head. “Sounds like you had a scare, Coro. But let’s think about this, it could’ve been a tree or something. They look scary at night, right?”

“Trees don’t try to swipe at you!” Coro yelled.

Jaggle glanced at Rusl and sighed. “You can stay with us if it makes you feel safe, we’ll be sure that the gate is locked extra tight, but–”

“No! You need to find that thing, now!” Coro grabbed Rusl and shook him slightly. “A gate won’t stop it if it found us! It’s too big! Don’t you remember what happened ten years ago? When a green monster burst through the gates and stole all the kids?”

Rusl’s expression grew dark, and Jaggle pulled Coro away.

“Now you need to calm down!” He yelled. “It’s gettin’ late, and it’s too dangerous to go out at night, we’ll hunt down whatever it was you saw tomorrow—“

“Jaggle,” Mayor Bo interrupted him, staring at the entrance, “perhaps we should find whatever Coro saw.”

“What? Bo are you crazy?”

“I don’t want anything attacking us at night when we’re most vulnerable,” Bo explained, his hands raised defensively. “We at least need to be prepared for something!”

Jaggle opened his mouth to say something but Rusl stepped up. “He’s right, it’s not dark yet, me and Link will check it out, the rest of you will make sure nothing happens to Ordon.” Link looked at his father in shock, but he avoided his gaze. “We’ll find whatever scared you, I don’t want anything to attack us at night either.”

Coro looked relieved and nodded. “Thanks, sorry to bother you folks–”

“It’s fine,” Rusl waved his apology away, “me and Link will investigate, Colin, Talon, and Beth will look after the village in the meantime, if it ain’t a bother.”

Jaggle let out a loud sigh and shrugged. “Don’t think Talo would be bothered at all.”

“Good. There’s still some sun left, once it gets too dark, me and Link will return, ok?”

Jaggle seemed more comfortable with that and nodded. Rusl nodded back and turned to head back to the house, with Link reluctantly following.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, pa?” Link asked softly as Bo led Coro to his home. “We don’t have a lot of time before it gets too dark.”

“We’ll be fine, Link. I take it it’s nothin’ serious,” Rusl said, but he didn’t seem too confident in his own words. “Besides, if something is out there, I don’t want– I don’t want another attack on Ordon.” Rusl’s voice grew quiet, but he didn’t turn to look at Link.

Link pursed his lips, but said nothing. When the two reached the house, Rusl quickly explained the situation to Uli and Colin. Uli protested against it while Colin grabbed a sword, determined to protect the village. With enough reassurance that they were going to be ok, the two bid their farewells, collected their swords and torches, and headed into the woods.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The forest was quiet save for the rustling of the leaves as they blew through the wind. The moon was full, which thankfully gave him and Rusl more light to work with. The sky was a deep purple, making the forest much darker than what Link would like. Sure there was some sunlight, but it wasn’t enough to investigate. It was uncomfortably silent between Link and Rusl, both listening intently to whatever could be out here. Link’s eyes were darting back and forth, his heart beating against his chest as they got closer to Coro’s house. He’s never liked the dark, but after the twilight invasion, he’s grown to hate it. Anything could be hiding in the shadows, watching him and his father as they walked by. It made his hair stand on its ends. Rusl seemed to be more relaxed than him though, a determined look on his face as he observed the trees illuminated by his torch and moon. When they reached Coro’s house, Link lowered his breathing to hear whatever it was Coro saw. His sword was raised in front of him while Rusl looked around the house. The silence was deafening, and the night air sent a chill up Link’s spine. He studied the ground around the house for a moment before looking at Rusl, who put a hand on his hip and sighed.

“Do you see anything?” He asked, and Link shook his head.

“I haven’t seen anything unusual, but something isn’t right.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I—I don’t know, something in the air isn’t right.” Link pursed his lips as he watched the trees around them. There was a good chance that he was just spooked, but the feeling of dread wouldn’t leave him. Rusl clicked his tongue as his head turned behind him.

“What do you think Coro saw?”

Link shrugged. If it was anyone else he wouldn’t be so worried, but it was Coro that got scared. He wasn’t scared of anything. Even when he saw Link as a wolf he seemed calm, even when monsters were right outside his home he didn’t care much. The only time Link has seen Coro frightened was during the twilight invasion, when shadow insects were crawling all over his home. A sinking feeling rested within his stomach as he thought about the missing people, but he shook his head. There was no way that there was another twilight invasion. The only Twili that were left in the world was Midna, and how she was able to be in this world was a mystery to him. No, it had to be an animal or a tree or something. Coro wasn’t afraid of anything, but everyone gets spooked every now and then.

“He probably saw a bear,” Rusl said softly, his brows pinched together.

“If it was a bear, then we should head back and hunt it tomorrow. It’s too dangerous to be out here at night.” Bears were rare in Ordon, but they showed up occasionally, and Link had heard too many horror stories from Rusl about them that he knew that they were a serious threat. But regardless, the idea of Coro seeing a bear scared Link less than any alternative. Rusl pursed his lips and stared at the ground.

“I’m not seeing any footprints though,” he muttered, kneeling on the ground and tracing his hand across the ground.

Link looked over his shoulder, the sudden feeling of dread overwhelming him as he stared at the darkness. Something was out in Faron woods, something dark and evil.

“Pa, we should go,” he said, trying to keep his voice from quivering. “We can lock the gates and look for it tomorrow, but we’re at a disadvantage here.”

“I know, Link. But it’s not too dark yet.”

“It’s dark enough for this to be dangerous!”

Rusl stared at the ground blankly for a moment, before looking up at Link. “You think he saw something out in these woods?” Rusl asked, and Link tilted his head.

“You don’t believe him?”

“I-I’m not sure. I’m not seein’ any footprints or anything around here. Nothing was by his house, I think he saw the shadow of a tree or something, but… I don’t want to take any chances.”

Link frowned as Rusl went back to staring at the ground. He didn’t want to risk a potentially dangerous monster attacking Ordon either, but Link knew that they wouldn’t last against a black creature at night. He looked behind him at the entrance to Ordon, shifting his feet nervously as he felt eyes on him from all sides. Rusl picked up on his nervous energy, and he stood up, eyeing the house.

“I’m just gonna look around some more, then we’ll head back, ok?”

Link nodded and watched as his father marched to Coro’s home. He lingered near the trees, watching them intently as if something would grab him. It was silent for too long, and he occasionally glanced over his shoulder to check on his pa, who was barely visible from the torch he was carrying. It was getting too dark, his patience was wearing thin, and his anxiety gnawed at his insides. He couldn’t wait out here any longer, they needed to head back now.

A snap of a twig caused Link to jump ten feet in the air, and he had his sword drawn out defensively in front of him as he glared at the darkness in front of him. His heart beat furiously against his chest as he strained his eyes to see what was lurking in the dark.

Was it a monster? A bulblin? A lost traveler? Several possibilities ran through his head as he searched the woods in front of him, fear nearly paralyzing him so much he couldn’t even speak. Another sound was heard, along with rustling, and something dark emerged into the light Link’s lantern emitted. Link jumped, yelling out as soon as he saw it, and when it was fully in the light, Link saw that the creature that spooked him so badly was a fuzzy rabbit, staring at him as its nose twitched. Link stared in shock, his breathing quick and his heart beating a mile a minute.

“Link?” Rusl called out worriedly, and Link heard his pa jogging towards him.

“I—it’s— a r—“ Link let out a sigh of relief as the rabbit hopped away, and he started giggling. Loud.

“Uh, Link?” Rusl sounded much more concerned as Link doubled over laughing.

“I—it’s a rabbit— a rabbit,” Link wheezed out between giggles, and Rusl raised an eyebrow.

“Ok…?” Rusl gave him one more look before returning to the house, his head shaking in confusion. Link let out a breath and stared at the ground lit up by his lantern, feeling slightly more relaxed. He picked up his lantern and stood up, but as he got on his feet, the light moved further into the darkness, and that was when he saw it.

A black hand, clearly human shaped, standing out in the lit up grass. It quickly disappeared into the darkness, but Link was able to see it. He felt his blood run cold as he shot up, his sword shaking in his trembling hands, the relief gone in an instant. Did he imagine that?

The feeling of dread began to overwhelm him, and he spun around to his father.

“Pa—“ he was interrupted by a familiar shriek. A shriek that paralyzed him to the bone. His body trembled as his heart beat so hard against his chest it felt as though it would burst. His senses were clouded, he couldn’t see, he couldn’t hear, he couldn’t feel. All he knew was fear. Until the strong paralysis went away.

Link gasped as he was able to move again. His head felt light, his heart continued to race, but he felt conscious again. He looked around, shocked that he himself was left untouched. His lantern was left on the ground, standing upright, still emitting light enough for Link to see. The sky was black now, the moon emitting barely enough light for Link to see beyond the lantern. He shakily picked it up and looked around him, his heart sinking into his stomach as realization hit him.

Rusl.

The other light that came from Rusl’s torch was put out, and Link’s father was nowhere to be seen.

“P-pa?” Link called out weakly, tears pricking at his eyes when he was met with silence. He ran to Coro’s house and searched the ground, but there was no sign of Rusl, all except his torch which was laying on the ground. Link wasted no time turning into a wolf and sniffing the torch, but he was only met with the eye watering scent of smoke and fire. Goddesses, how could he find him?

Link noticed some scuff marks on the ground, and he saw the footprints. They weren’t human, there were no toes and they were much too small, but he knew that whatever they belonged to, it was what took Rusl. Link took off running, using his wolf senses to see in the dark. The footprints went into the dark caves, and Link plowed through, luckily remembering where to go from traveling through them hundreds of times. He ignored the rats and keese that tried to hurt him, and he emerged from the other side. At the end of the cave, Link spotted something glimmering in the moonlight. Rusl’s sword. Thank the spirits.

With no smoke to cloud his senses, Link was able to pick up on Rusl’s sent. It led deeper into Faron woods, through the thick trees that used to hold poisonous gas. Link sprinted through, the feeling of deja vu of hunting down the missing tailor and Goron making him more and more anxious.

Please don’t be too late.

Link was so focused on running that he barely noticed that he actually passed the scent, and he skidded to a stop, spinning to where the scent stopped. The scent didn’t seem to end abruptly the same way the tailor and goron’s did thankfully, but the feeling of dread kept any feeling of relief shining through. The creature was here, and it was watching him.

Link growled at the darkness in front of him, and he heard something shuffling. A dark mass silhouetted by the moon revealed itself, growing more and more until it stood up straight, and Link felt his heart drop.

It was a shadow beast, but it was different. Its skin was black as the night, blending into the dark trees around it, all except the red Twili mark on its chest. Black tendrils jutted out of its body, mostly from its head. Two arms were laid awkwardly on its back, instead of a mask there was a mouth that snarled at him with yellow teeth, and it was huge. Bigger than any shadow beast Link had seen. How…?

The creature snarled and rested on its two front arms, the arms on its back hanging menacingly. Link’s growl got more low, his fear replaced by fury. This thing did something to Rusl, and he was going to make it pay.

A hand suddenly swiped at his side, and Link was barely able to move before it hit him. He barked and jumped at the beast, biting into its shoulder as hard as he could. The beast shrieked and threw Link off of it, slamming him into a tree. Link sucked in a breath, scrambling to his feet as his back ached from the impact. He shook his head and snarled at the beast. It snarled back. He moved back and forth, trying to figure out where to begin on fighting this thing. If it was similar to a shadow beast, then fighting it shouldn’t be too difficult.

Link charged at it again, sinking his teeth into the shoulder of the beast. It let out a cry, but Link continued biting, ripping it apart with his claws and fangs. Eventually he was thrown off again, but before the beast had time to recover, Link jumped at it again, this time aiming for the stomach. Link went much deeper into the soft flesh of the torso, and he was able to rip a good chunk of it out. The creature shrieked in pain as it slammed its fist down onto Link, but he dodged just in time. The beast hunched over, holding its stomach in pain as black goo fell out. Though this creature was much bigger and stronger than a shadow beast, it was simply too easy to fight.

Link went to charge again but the beast made a strange noise that stopped him in his tracks. It stayed on all fours, hunched over, gagging. Link could only watch as it gagged, his confusion holding him in place. He only came back to reality when the beast began to vomit, and soon he saw a hand flailing around from its mouth. Rusl!

Link quickly turned back into a Hylian, reaching out for the hand. He felt relief when Rusl’s hand quickly gripped to his own, meaning that Rusl was still alive and conscious, and Link pulled with all his might. The beast remained still as Rusl was slowly pulled out, and Link’s father let out a gasp as his face emerged from the mouth.

“Pa!” Link yelled out, and Rusl struggled to pull his other arm free from the throat of the beast. His face was covered in the black goo that poured out of its stomach, covering his eyes and hair. As Link pulled him out more, he noticed the teeth of the beast ripping up his clothes, but he didn’t stop pulling.

Rusl’s other arm was pulled free, and it flailed towards Link’s arm, and he weakly hung on as he was pulled out the rest of the way. But just as he was free, the beast suddenly bit down on Rusl’s leg, and Link gasped as Rusl’s grip went limp and he was pulled away from him.

“PA!” Link screamed as he was dragged away, and the beast snarled at him, leering over Rusl as if he was its prize. It scooped up his pa in one of the hands on its back and it took off running, deeper into the woods. Link cursed under his breath and turned into a wolf again, ignoring the pain that shot through as he transformed. He took off running, following the beast through a gate to where Coro’s bird’s shop was. Link pumped his canine legs, and was able to catch up to the beast and Rusl. When he was close enough, he bit down on its leg, attempting to drag it to the ground. The creature shrieked and spun around, ripping its leg from Link’s mouth. The beast snarled at him as Rusl hung limply in its hand, blood and black goo dripping down his feet and hair. Link barked at him, but he didn’t move. The beast backed away from Link as he tried to wake his pa up, its back arching like an agitated cat as it growled at him.

Link made sure he was merciless this time around. He attacked relentlessly, aiming for the arms resting on its back, trying to get it to drop Rusl, but its grip was tight around his father, so it never let him go no matter how hard Link bit into its arms. The beast smacked Link a few times as he attacked the arms, but he fought through the pain, fiercely biting and scratching the beast. Link had severely underestimated this creature, with it not giving out anytime soon. Shadow beasts normally would die after having their throats ripped out or being clawed to death, but it seemed that this thing was invincible. He didn’t know why, but it was stronger than any Twili creature he’s ever fought.

Link was smacked against a tree again, and he staggered slightly as he got on his feet. He was growing exhausted, he felt like he was doing the same thing over and over again to no avail. Though he’d just ripped part of its stomach out, it didn’t seem to be bothered by it. What was this thing?

The creature snarled at him again, having a more confident pose as it faced Link, and all he could do was growl at the thing. He didn’t care what happened to him, he just needed to make sure Rusl was safe. The beast charged at him, and Link braced himself, but it suddenly stopped, shrinking back into the shadows, making strange noises that sounded like pain. It looked up at the sky and to Link’s surprise, it dropped Rusl and sprinted away, leaving Link alone with his father. He quickly turned back into a Hylian, staggering at the sharp pain in his back, but he stood up, pulling out his sword. He ran to Rusl, standing over his father protectively in case it returned, but it did not.

Why did the thing run away? It was winning, it wouldn’t have dropped Rusl like that. The sun rising in the sky answered Link’s question, and soon the forest was lit up. Relief swept over him as he was able to see, and he knew he was safe. For now at least. It seemed that the—Twili beast— hated the light.

Link relaxed and put his sword away, exhaustion beginning to overwhelm him, but he couldn’t rest, not yet. He looked at his father who was still unconscious, and he turned him over. His entire body was covered in black goo, and some of it mixed in with blood from small cuts on his skin, possibly from the creature’s teeth. His leg looked the worst, with a bite mark circling around his calf and shin. It had stopped bleeding it seemed, but dried blood mixed with black goo made it look much worse. Rusl was breathing, though it was shallow and sounded wrong. Link hoped that his ribs weren’t bruised or broken, he wondered how tight that thing held onto him. Link took a deep breath and shook him gently, brushing his clumpy hair out of his eyes.

“P-pa?” He whispered, shaking him a little harder. Rusl seemed to be reacting to being shaken, so Link tried harder. He needed medical attention, and his mind thought of the spirit springs. He remembered fairies appeared at each one after he faced a trial from the great fairy, he wondered if they were still there. “Pa,” he repeated, a little louder. Rusl’s blue eyes began to flutter open, and he stared at Link confused.

“L-Link?” He croaked.

Link smiled a relieved smile and started to help him to his feet, but Rusl stopped him quickly, hissing in pain as he held his side.

“Somethings wrong,” he rasped, sinking into the ground. Link frowned and looked him over. His ribs must’ve been broken.

“C’mon, pa. We gotta get to the spring. You’ll feel better.”

Rusl stared at him, wheezing and holding his side painfully, but he didn’t stop Link from helping him to his feet. Rusl leaned heavily on Link’s side, and the two slowly walked to the spring. It felt like hours until they finally made it, at some point Link had to pick up his pa to carry him the rest of the way, despite his protests. He set him down in the spring water, immediately feeling comfort in the warm water. Rusl let out a sigh of relief as he rested in the water, but the relief melted into panic as he looked at himself.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Link asked, calming down his father.

“‘Don’t want to dirty the spring.”

“You’re not gonna dirty the spring, the spirit’s light keeps it clean,” at least he assumed, the water never seemed to get dirty no matter what was put in it. Rusl relaxed again and stared at himself, his brows furrowed. Link began washing the goo and blood off of himself, helping Rusl occasionally. Rusl was uncomfortably silent while the two cleaned themselves off, and Link wanted to bring up what had happened, but he couldn’t bring himself to talk about it either. After Link finished washing out his wounds, he stood up, limping towards the bushes to see if any fairies were hiding. Luckily he found two and he returned with them both, noticing Rusl staring at him with his brows furrowed.

“Some fairies,” Link said, handing them both to him.

Rusl silently opened his palm where one fluttered onto his hand, and it healed up his bleeding leg and bruised ribs. He let out a sigh of relief and stared at Link who still held the other one.

“You need another one, pa,” Link pressed, but Rusl shook his head.

“You’re hurt too.”

“Not as bad as you.”

“I don’t care, my leg is healed, you use it.”

Link was taken aback at his intense tone, but he was too tired to fight back. He held the fairy gently in his hand and it floated around him, healing up his aching back. It rested on his head when it finished healing him, and Link let out a sigh of relief. Fairies were wonderful creatures.

The two sat in silence, staring at the crystal blue water they were in, soaking in the sun as it rose higher and higher in the sky. It didn’t feel like they were gone all night, but with Link’s tired body, he supposed it made sense.

“Link,” Rusl broke the silence, continuing to stare blankly at the water. “We need to tell the resistance about this as soon as possible.” Link stared at him for a moment, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Rusl continued. “That… thing… it has to be responsible for the disappearances. We need to tell them about this.”

Link nodded. “We oughta tell them when we all meet up then—“

“I’m not waiting until the date Sheik set, we need to tell them now.”

Link stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, ok, I agree. I’ll send a letter, then we can move out tomorrow.”

“Link—“

“We move out tomorrow, pa. We need rest though, we’ve been up all night. Besides, we gotta tell the folks around Ordon to stay away from Faron at night, ok?”

Rusl glared at him for a moment, but it softened when he had no rebuttal. “Yeah, ok. We need rest.”

Link nodded. He was no stranger to staying up all night, but as he’s gotten older, it’s been much harder to deal with. He stood up, his legs feeling weak as he walked around, and Rusl followed, being careful on his newly healed leg. Link stared at his leg for a moment, then faced him.

“Are… are you alright?”

Rusl stopped walking and looked up at him. “I’m… fine. Thanks to you. Are you ok?”

Link pursed his lips and nodded. “I’ll be fine, pa.”

Rusl’s gaze softened and he wrapped his arm around Link’s shoulder. “Let’s head back then. I bet everyone is worried sick.”

[jascurka]

Be me, go to the book store, find manga section, choose some random title

Open on a random page

Look to your left. A random teen just materializes at your side. The manga you're holding is BL genre. The characters are fucking on the page you're holding open.

Close the manga. Move at the speed of light to the other side or the store embarrassed as shit you're checking out 18+ yaoi at the local bookstore. Wonder why there is no 18+ warning on the book

You want to casually put the manga back. The kid is still there. Check out the prize. It's not overly expensive. Just buy the yaoi. Just buy it don't look the cashier in the face just put the money on the counter.

First BL manga bought for adult money 🫣🤗

Open the manga again at home

The dicks are censored????!??!!!!

[yellowhollyhock]

what I learned from the 07 prequel comics:

okay I thought I was gonna list like two things and not be spoilery but. yeah here's a cut

Raph is even more baby than I thought and also much too trusting

Splinter is even worse than I thought

Mikey gets his fascination with food from Splinter

hmmm seems like Mikey has had his job longer than Donnie. inchresting

Triceratons apparently

OMIGOSH. RAPH AND APRIL PARALLELS. YESSSSSSSS

"I risked my life. I hope Casey will understand." GIRL. GIRL. Right after Donnie's issue too where we see him making the tracking technology and Raph not being home to know about it when he gets kidnapped. aslddjflaksdjaf

except, compared to what April's doing Raph's thing is a lot more noble..

Agh the way Leo has such decency from so deep within and yet can act like such a jerk to his brothers specifically... very much damaged by some phenomenally bad parenting.. which is exactly what was in the movie and I think part of me hoped I would see something else.

It is interesting how much he loves and protects Nature vs having a difficult time seeing anything good in Humanity. Hm. Kind of makes sense then why avoid New York City. much lots of people there

[deus-ex-mona]

lxl are the only ones who can get married twice and go on two honeymoons without being a canon couple (yet…?)

[beginningobserver]

Hey you, did you remember these two kids here?

(ignore the bully, i kicked him out of the pic, he's not allowed to be here)

So, the idea is something the server and I had been cooking yesterday. Last night. When we noticed those two kids are too similar to the kids going to Rui's party on his 8th birthday (Feb 29 2000) and we thought...

"Well, it doesn't seem like Ukkomon was controlling everyone 24/7 like Rui's parents... What if those two legitimately were Rui's friends at school? They seem to always have been his classmates since kindergarten..."

(※ I know there's a 3rd boy in the b-day party scene, but I don't think he's the bully, or the kid in the scene where Rui is greeting a girl in red backpack while they go to school together?)

And knowing that Rui was living in denial, believing that everything that had happened in his childhood was fake, or created by Ukkomon… Friends and I suspected that not everything was in fact fake or manipulated by Ukkomon. So this means, there would be legit connections Rui made while his self-esteem was boosted by Ukkomon doing “this and that” around. And you can see that in the kindergarten scene, Ukkomon is facing the bully. He’s not even controlling the other two kids in-scene.

If this girl and boy depicted in those two scenes kept being in touch with Rui before things went south… This means they would be… concerned with him suddenly disappearing from nowhere, or cutting bonds with them. They possibly heard the news of him getting hurt, parents suddenly passing away and him having to be taken by relatives.

And since the part of relatives in-movie is very very VAGUE, I took the idea that this doesn’t mean they were bad as his mother, but at the same time he was completely avoiding people in general. Because of “you know what” hidden under the eyepatch and his bangs.

But back to those two kiddos here… Yeah, we suspect they did like Rui with or without Ukkomon’s influence. And if they lost contact with him after that incident… One day they would simply get to meet him again. Maybe… Because they spotted a GIANT egg singing “HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR RUI~” and hatching into something that looked like that funny sea butterfly critter which was always with Rui?

Yeah... Yeah. And considering the idea of “not everything in your childhood was Ukkomon’s byproduct, or an illusion”… The server and I, while I was going on a spree of “HEY LET’S MAKE OCs SO THEY CAN BEFRIEND RUI AND LET HIM HAVE HIS OWN CIRCLE LIKE THE 02 KIDS!” (because if he were just attached to Daisuke & co, Rui’s entire character arc & growth would’ve been pointless) and tagging some cool friends for ideas and teamwork on building– i mean, introducing new friends to Rui again… We made this discovery and thought: Well, why not use those background characters instead?

You might remember that I adopted the Maki-Daigo’s team back in time, and then Shai named those three kiddos based on Daigo’s name and their assigned Holy Beast partners, right? And then quite recently, i think last year (?), Shiha and I were talking about this same group and imagining a whole fanmade prequel series exploring those five’s potential – which led me to do a new version of my ol’ redesigns for them + do a soft-redesign Maki & Daigo too to follow the style/aes, and i gave them personalities + roles!

Today, we got to do the same thing again. And we cooked something for post-movie events for Rui & Ukkomon ( •̀ ω •́ )✧ 

And yeah, i got Shai’s help again 💜 because naming things are not my forte, and she did a rough Adult version mugshots of them too…!!

So we got this idea… Of those kids reconnecting with Rui in some sort of post-movie event/headcanon. We gave them names, and a digimon partner for one of them.

Their names are Nakajima Ayame ( 中島あやめ ) and Koyama Hiroomi ( 小山広臣 ) 

Shai named them, except the first name for Ayame which came from a friend in-server. 

Here's some deets about them made by moi (^・ω・^ )

Ayame is a nice girl who doesn’t like to watch people getting into fights, so she keeps wishing to be able to have something in hands that could heal people. With this in mind, she decided to pursue a medical career – at least something little and not big, something like being a nurse to assist people in need, taking care of them. Before Ukkomon, she was a little nervous to talk with Rui, because he would always be the target of the bullies and she feared getting involved in those fights. But once Ukkomon appeared, she witnessed that strange creature standing up for Rui… She got courage enough to talk with him, and become one of his first friends at the kindergarten. She would always be carrying a first aid kit with her in her young days, helping Rui and Hiroomi. She might not like ugly fights, but she can stand up for others a little once she has gotten older, and she keeps simply checking on others like a good friend. She still uses pigtails, even if lower now as an adult.

Hiroomi is a good, funny and supportive friend type, but he had some issues of being a little coward. He could witness Rui getting bullied and would want so hard to go there and stop them, but his body would just freeze and he couldn’t even say anything. Yeah he had the trouble of not being able to help others due to fear. Ukkomon worked as some sort of role model to go and make a difference. He wouldn’t get into a fist fight with anyone, but he would simply call them out and keep cheering Rui up. His funny aura was quite captivating too, and he definitely noticed he and Rui had something in common which was them being quite non-confrontational, except Hiroomi was able to voice his needs and feelings quite better than Rui. When Rui suddenly stopped going to school in March 2003, he tried to ask everyone around about his friend, with Ayame’s help too, and this is how they learned by rumors that something had happened to Rui. But he and Ayame never had success in contacting Rui for a long LONG time. When he turned an adult he decided to dye his bangs, and adopted a more stylish appearance. He doesn’t know what he wants to pursue as a career, but his part-time job is just being a delivery boy. He likes vehicles though, and his scooter is his best friend (besides Ayame, of course).

Out of those two, Ayame is a Chosen Child who got a digimon partner later, but she never managed to talk with Rui about it because it happened after the said incident in 2003 – not exactly a day or two after it, and yes in the same year, but past March.

Ayame’s partner is a Cutemon (she/her). Which reflects her inner desire to be able to heal others, since Cutemon is a digimon who’s not a fighter and yes a healer. Cutemon never managed to evolve but she does not feel she’s the type to fight tough enemies, so she sticks by just healing everyone with her healing magic skills. She’s quite timid and resembles the child Ayame to some extent, but the difference is she doesn’t fear befriending others when she gets an interest in them and is willing to form connections.

By the way~

So the initial draft of a possible fic or more posts about those two and Rui-kun is:

The moment BigUkkomon hatched, Ayame was leaving her shift at the local hospital and got a message from Hiroomi telling her to immediately check this video he just made from the mysterious big egg while he was around the Tokyo Tower area, asking “Isn’t this big guy familiar to you??”

Cutemon wasn’t sure if she had seen that digimon before, but Ayame did notice it resembled Ukkomon. The weird singing also mentioned someone named ‘Rui’ and she couldn’t believe this was a coincidence at all. Neither Hiroomi, of course. It was the first time they heard about their old friend who had disappeared a decade ago.

Once things were solved – Rui made amends with Ukkomon, Ukkomon and the supposed greater thing connected to the digimon decided that the digivices weren’t needed anymore, and all the things Ukkomon had messed it up before were ‘undone’ (you know, the eye lol), Rui went back home with the alarm clock-sized DigiEgg and started to think what he and Ukkomon would do next time, when the egg hatches.

He did kept in touch with Daisuke and the others, but he didn’t want to keep bothering them all the time (he would often get invited by Daisuke to try the new dishes from the ‘Motomiya Ramen’ menu, or get any of those six send him tips about the digimon and some funny stories involving that group and digimon cases… Or get Hikari simply sending him a message asking how he was doing) or feel like he was ‘bothering’ them.

And then he got his own strange… visit to the Dark Ocean (the name he heard from Ken when Ken explained about that place to him) which just made him a little awkward to talk with the other four and their digimon for a while. With the exception of Daisuke and Ken, who weren’t slandering him nonstop in that place, he just started to work more about his own insecurities and that sense of guilt. Well, at least after building some courage he got a little closer from Hikari, Miyako, Takeru and Iori. Still he felt this group had known each other for a whole decade and… He didn’t feel it was right to disturb them and their long term relationships.

While he did still get in touch with Daisuke (because you can’t simply stop talking with Daisuke, he likes to be friends with EVERYONE, and he will definitely be there for ANYONE as well), he tried to form his own connections with other people by his own. It didn’t work very well because sadly he had become too awkward and afraid of people thanks to that eye that he would run out of things to hold a conversation longer. He wasn’t antisocial, but he felt completely lost. Daisuke kept inviting him to do things together, even if it were just the two of them and V-mon. He felt his friendship with Daisuke was the strongest of the ones he made with those six, so he would end up confessing a few of his frustrations to him.

Daisuke then asked what if he didn’t try to talk with some of the old people he met before, even before things went bad in this life… Like, some old friends from school. Rui did like that idea, but there was one problem: He had cut bonds with everyone since then, believing that all of those friendships he had were just fabricated by Ukkomon’s power… And he kept too isolated from everyone with the fear of his relatives and high school classmates calling him a ‘freak’ for having that digimon eye slapped in his face.

That was indeed a big big problem. But Daisuke wanted to believe that, deep down, something in Rui’s childhood was legitimate and real. Which didn’t seem to make sense to Rui at all, but he didn’t want to make Daisuke sad.

Then, one day… Someone named Ayame managed to get his phone number…? The text sent to his inbox said they were classmates since kindergarten. He wondered if this was a scam mail or something, but it didn’t include a fishy link embedded in the message…

Only something more… intriguing than a fishy link:

A photo from the time he was an elementary school student…

Would it be true that… something in that tragic childhood of his was legitimately real?

[todayisafridaynight]

whatever og text i had in mind for this post about ko shibasaki looking like sayama in this movie is completely cancelled on account of utsumi (this character)'s first name being kaoru and i only found this out cause i was looking up her name just to be sure when making this post

like jesus christ i legally have to make this post now

[dewwshi]

@davekatweek 2023, day 7: "beginnings"

(n.) the point in time or space at which something begins.

[artheresy]

Yingxing Appreciation 🎉🎉

hi, hello, it's Yingxing appreciation time and I'm dragging you into it bc he is my baby and I need more ppl to talk about him

Y'know I see a lot of people like in awe and hyping up DF and just giving him tons of appreciation while analyzing him specifically as an individual which is all so so valid, DF is amazing and very intriguing as a character and I love him sm, but I sadly don't see the same for Yingxing despite him I think also being so interesting. I also see him more so dismissed in the "literally God and some guy" kind of fashion sometimes

So I'm here to rant just a little bit about Yingxing, why I love him, why he's epic and why he ruins my day every single time I think about him! This is for any of my fellow Yingxing lovers who are also starved of any content of him

Firstly, this man is a genuine genius, like lest we forget this is from Baiheng's travelogue in which she met a young Yingxing who was still a child by this point.

He was a young boy but had already become a craftsman, a sign of his ability to learn exceedingly quick under Huaiyans tutelage. And his ability to work and progress incredible fast continues into his time as a young man on the Luofu.

We know he arrived probably somewhere around 18-21 (in my personal estimate) and by the time he saw Jingliu again (which itself was likely early into his stay on the Luofu given HCQ ages and timing), he had already impressed the Master Craftsmen of the Luofu's Artisanship Commission and earned himself a title.

There are also multiple things in game that emphasize his achievements and creations he crafted, some offhandedly mentioned in a readable or item while others are emphasized with importance.

Casually mentioned in the Discarded Ingenium Parts is his feat in the Great Trial of the Furnace (perhaps that trial is for gaining the furnace master title? Once again signifying an earlier achievement in his legacy) where it took him only a day and night to create a whole mechanical lion that moved and looked just like a real live lion from a bunch of defective parts and waste.

More recently in 1.5, they released a readable, the Ten-Lords Criminal Directory, which mentions an imprisonment method designed by Yingxing that keeps “Mirage” in a perpetual state trapped within a hallucination of their own making. Utilizing it’s own powers in order to keep it imprisoned. Something that with proper maintenance seems to have lasted for around 700 years so far.

And of course, how can we forget his most famous creations

The beautifully crafted weapons of the High Cloud Quintet, from Jingliu’s incredibly heavy sword remarked as being as heavy as three thousand catties, to Dan Feng’s Cloud Piercer with the ability to even cut through dragon scales, and the Devastator Glaive as well as Baiheng’s recurve bow. Each impressive in their own ways and seemingly crafted pretty early as well into his time on the Luofu with the HCQ given the distinction of Jing Yuan who (even if he likely was more a teen than a boy) still wasn’t an exact adult yet. So once again, let me emphasize this man’s skill here. With how many things he managed to do so so early into his time on the Luofu. A genius craftsman who deserved all of the praise he had garnered with his works.

Additionally, I know they keep harping about “ugh arrogant craftsman, ugh he’s so full of himself” but every single time we’ve seen his personality, he just seems like a genuine joy to be around. Bright, charismatic, sure he’s cocky but he also gives the impression of being incredibly fun and a bit silly if you ask me.

His behavior as mirrored by the mirage echo in Scalegorge Waterscape is distinctly playful even in what might be a more tense situation, lightly bantering with Dan Feng and even chuckling in certain languages.

In Jingliu’s character stories, it even furthers this bright, playful attitude he gives off with his distinct cheekiness shining through especially with that “toothy grin” of his. And if you listen to Jingliu’s (at least her English) voice lines during Clouds Leave No Trace when she speaks about Yingxing before getting into his transformation, there is a distinct fondness or amusement in her voice as she speaks of him especially that cocky nature of his despite her distaste for it at first.

While Baiheng is hailed as this kind figure in the High Cloud Quintet, perhaps their sun even casting light upon them, it doesn’t seem too far off to say Yingxing was a shining star among them in his own right. His easy going nature with them bringing about a bubbly playfulness similar to Baiheng given their closeness from when he was young. I could go into way more especially in regards to the casualness at which Yingxing seems to speak and treat others allowing for a more equal formation of relationships especially with Dan Feng but I’m saving that for another rant.

And all of this about him especially how expressive he seems at certain points he’s been mentioned, really just makes me so incredibly sad when thinking about Blade now. How severely separated he is from this identity. A division that exists from not only his death but from the way his mental state has been severely warped from his time with Jingliu and being affected afterwards by the mara.

The sheer dehumanization and lack of a personal identity in place of seeing himself as a solely a weapon when put next to Yingxing, with such a clear bold individual identity, really makes the transformation of one into the other all the more jarring and tragic. Especially with the emphasis on how Yingxing hated the abominations of Abundance only to become one himself, something that is still implied to have not been by his own hand. Blade is an immensely tragic character, but that tragedy only holds weight because of the life and identity Yingxing had. It is only with Yingxing’s light which shined despite the circumstances of his life that his descent into darkness hits harder, and it makes me so sad that I haven’t found many others talking or expanding upon this despite my searches because he really is such a well written character with so many details in his story that are both interesting and utterly heartbreaking.

And additionally, I want to say that I think there is a lost potential in examining the Xianzhou through Yingxing. Specifically in the way he is treated as a short life species. We know how the relationship between the Vidyadhara and the Natives, especially as it’s changed after Dan Feng, but there is a very interesting relationship to be explored between the Xianzhou and the Short Life Species the end up there, especially through Yingxing’s relationship to the different Artisans guilds whether on the Luofu or the Zhuming.

In the end, it becomes another sad element to Yingxing’s story. Yingxing managed to change his attitude regarding how the Zhuming masters treated him and even grew more of a confidence, but even in the Luofu's Artisanship Commission, he can never truly get as far as he deserves. Just as Jingliu says

Even with his work impressing the master craftsmen of the Luofu, even after more than showing his skill and earning the title of Furnace Master for that skill, he still would be denied higher positions and could only prove his true worth by the High Cloud Quintet.

And just let me say it again, him being a short life species allows for such an interesting examination of the world and people around him based upon that. While we don't know exactly how they met, we do know that Yingxing was Huaiyan's personal disciple and the only one he mentions of the celestial masters to treat him with respect and believe in his capabilities despite knowing he's a short life species. Through his treatment of Yingxing, we learn quite a bit about him. Through Baiheng's treatment of him as well, we learn a lot about her, more than anywhere else.

He's just UGH I need more exploration from Yingxing's perspective, the lack of it feels as if I'm being starved. He's so interesting, he's so fun, he's incredibly tragic, and he makes me cry every single time he crosses my mind. Please do yourselves a favor and think more about his character so you'll end up as sad about him as me. Or don't maybe. I dunno. All I know for sure is that you absolutely need to read Views of the Universe From a Starskiff: The Zhuming if you haven't. Anyways bye, thanks for listening to this rant, I gotta go cry over him.

Peep the tags also for a rant about my own characterization of YX if you wish to witness my insanity

[kingtomura]

hi I just wanted to say that none of my fics are abandoned lol I’ve been really busy and this summer was rough but I am working on them when I have time!

I thiiinnkk im gonna hold off on oneshots for a little bit and focus on getting Vitality through its first act and finishing Deja Vu since the manga is done and I have the ending finalized in my head

[tangledinink]

hey! I'm the author of At My Worst, the fic I'm Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now? was up against in the @/tmntausummit!

Congrats on the win! It was very much deserved and tmwn is one of my favourite fics so I'm definitely very chill with being defeated lol

I wish you the best of luck in the next round(s) o7

Ah thank you so much! ; w ; I appreciate it very much! Thank you for participating!

It's pretty simple, sorry, but here! I made this for you!

[forthedancingandthethriving]

(Context/Inspo)

Vitality didn't know what the hell was going on anymore. The past several hours had been a complete and utter whirlwind. She couldn't bring herself to go back to the Adminspace, purely because of what that prophet had said.

That damned coyote..

Vitality barley hears the doors as they open and the ensuing conversation.

Idly, she rubs her neck as she looks out the window. Her eyebrows furrow, seeing the sky darken a bit. Thunder distantly rumbled.

Her peacock feathers shuddered as she felt a jolt in the air. What-?

"You have to be kidding." Valiant's horrified voice brings Vitality out of her thoughts. She looks over, and her eyes widen, seeing the Pokémon, Ash, and his friends, but no Tama.

Oh no.

"Tama can't be- That can't be what happened-" Nimbus sounded panicked as she shook her head.

A pit grows in Vitality's stomach as she makes her way over. She half listens to the conversation at hand before nothing Hoopa - and how ill he looks.

"Oh goodness," she murmurs as she takes the Pokémon from Ash. "What's happened to him?"

"Absol said that it looked like all the teleporting that was going on was messing with him," Ash explains with a worried frown.

Vitality nods and, like a clock, she begins to work-

Only to freeze.

"No." She whispers as she feels that familiar code.

"Vitality?"

Ash's questioning tone barely registers as her own code gently pricks and prods at what's afflicting Hoopa. Clearing it all away, with more haste than is necessary.

It can't be his, it can't be!

He was meant to be gone, dead and gone!

The ground beings to rumble, and everyone stumbles, trying to keep their balance.

Vitality's gaze snapped to the window.

And her heart sinks, seeing the sky turn a sickly green.

○●○

Above the seal of Unus, kneels Tiresias and the frozen Tama.

"Monster," the prophet hisses to Damien. "Monster."

Damien can only smile as he draws a dagger.

..

Blood splatters, and the seal shatters.

And then another.

Another.

Another.

Another.

Another.

Anotheranotheranother.

And across the world,

SHRIEKING

and

SCREAMING

comes as the sky turns a sickly green.

Damien's model glitches.

And Disc grins.

[akkivee]

yesterday i remembered they posted a sneak peek of ichiro’s page in the next guidebook and since i was feeling kinda insane then, i decided to compare ichiro’s about summaries and it looks like it’s changed a little bit!!!!

the old summary talked about his compassion and sense of justice, him looking after his bros and his rivalry with samatoki but in this new one, it looks like they’ve replaced that info with stuff about rei and true hypnosis mic!!!!!!

[juustozzi]

happy new year and new art opportunities in 2024! this year was delightfully fun art-wise, after a biiig slump in last third of 2022.

here's also the summaries from the years I really wasn't posting in here, to keep everything neatly in one place! (and let's pretend I remembered to edit the year on 2021's one, haha)

[mortellanarts]

[honeypot-sapphic]

pov you sobbed your eyes out the night before thinking she wanted to break up with you and then the next day she does in fact break up with you