#though I'm sure they eventually did

[skyloftian-nutcase]

He Runs, She Follows (Skyward Sword ficlet)

Whumptober day 15 - Suppressed suffering, "I'm fine."

There was something calming about the wind. It was a constant companion up in the skies, always caressing or pushing or fighting or helping. It sang or it screamed, carried leaves or uprooted plants. It was always there, always present, a familiarity in a world of change.

The wind on the Surface was different. Its noise was different, a rustling and whistling as it passed through mountains and trees. There were so many barriers to the wind on the Surface that sometimes there was no wind at all. The silence, the stillness of the air… it had been one of the most disturbing facets of that strange new world.

Link sat atop a lone sky island, staring down at the clouds beneath his feet as he dangled his legs over the edge. His loftwing lay curled up and fluffed beside him, feathers gently tickling his right ear. The wind played with his hair and his companion’s plumage alike, peppering a spritz of moisture against his face. His loftwing buried his head further into his feathers, fluffing up further against it.

The world looked so small down below. It was amazing how it was so vast. So empty. So overwhelming.

So exhausting.

Link had never been a particularly energetic person, but his energy had been present. He just wasn’t the best at directing it into focus sometimes. But ever since his journey… he’d just had no energy at all.

He’d tired to attribute it to his illness that he’d gotten at the end. Apparently he’d almost died. He remembered very little of it, and it… honestly didn’t bother him or surprise him that much. He supposed he should be more upset that he almost died, or grateful that he hadn’t, but… it wasn’t his first time almost dying on his adventure, and honestly… he didn’t have the energy to care.

Zelda was safe. It was over. That was all that mattered.

But it wasn’t over, was it? There was no going back to the way things were. He wouldn’t want to go back to the way things were. He was exhausted, but he was restless too. He hated the mixture, such a strange sensation of anxiety, of needing to do something, but also wanting to do absolutely nothing. His mind and body were constantly at war and he never could tell who won anymore. All he knew was he wanted to be alone.

He… felt so empty. His mind, once filled with contentment, was instead blank. When someone approached him he would grow irritable. Today he even started getting short with Zelda, and that was when he’d decided to fly away for a bit.

What’s wrong with me? Why am I always so tired now? I mean… I used to be sleepy before, but this is…

It wasn’t the same. Link wasn’t the best sleeper – he would go in spurts, and he often stayed up most of the night with bouts of energy that would end up with wood carvings aplenty and late morning sleeping and naps anywhere he could find them. But now… even sleep didn’t fix it. There wasn’t enough sleep in the world to heal whatever was wrong with him. And he hated it. It scared him and hurt him and he hated it.

Crimson stirred, his head poking out of his feathers, and he gently bumped his beak against Link’s head. The Skyloftian glanced up at his companion, tired eyes meeting wide, curious ones, and the knight-in-training crumpled in on himself a little. He hadn’t even been spending as much time with his loftwing as he used to because he just hadn’t had the energy to take care of him. The innocent gaze from his beloved companion was enough to make guilt settle into his heart, and he felt all the more wretched for it.

How much time had he wasted lying around doing nothing now? How many people could he have helped? How many times did he almost refuse to help others during his journey as it had dragged on? How often had he pushed Zelda away since its completion? How much had be abandoned his loftwing? Had he even spoken to Groose in the last few days? What was wrong with him?

His eyes stung, but the wind dried his tears before they could fall too far, its whooshing call covered his hiccups as he leaned into his loftwing, hugging his neck.

He almost missed the call of another loftwing over all the noise and emotion, but Crimson stiffened and perked up, calling back. Link hastily wiped the tears away, looking out to see Indigo, Zelda’s loftwing, circling the island. When his eyes caught movement below the loftwing, he saw that Zelda had leapt off and glided down to meet him.

Link tried to muster the strength for a smile. He really did.

“Hey,” Zelda said a little hesitantly. Her soft voice and careful gaze cut into him like a knife. She was approaching like it was her fault he’d been mad earlier, she was trying so hard to be understanding and kind, it wasn’t fair that she had to deal with him like this.

It wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t fair that anyone on Skyloft had to deal with his lack of energy and short fuse. But most of all, he had no right to be putting any burden on Zelda.

Link swallowed the lump in his throat, chest too constricted to speak.

Zelda slid hesitantly down to the ground beside him. His loftwing clacked his beak welcomingly, nodding his head a little, and then returned to curling into his little fluffy ball.

“You okay?” Zelda asked, staring out into the distance.

Link immediately felt himself grow colder than the wind could ever make him. He bit his tongue, he thought of something completely irrelevant, something logical or distant or funny to shut off any emotional reaction he was having. “I’m fine.”

“You weren’t… acting fine earlier.”

That cloud in the distance looked like a kikwi. How lovely. Kind of cute too. “Sorry about that. I think I was just tired. But I’m fine.”

“If you’re tired… maybe we should go back to the academy? You can get some rest, I can get you something to eat and drink.”

Movement meant using energy. Skyloft meant people and dealing with socializing. He felt the anger return, prickling on the back of his neck.

He kept his mouth shut. He didn’t like the person he became when his exhaustion drove him to speak too sharply. Not to people who sincerely meant well, at least. So he just didn’t speak.

“Link?”

He felt like he was made of stone. Immovable and emotionless. But the anger still bubbled, spreading from his back to his chest, scrunching it in like bunched up cloth in his hands. He bit back words once more.

“Link, what’s wrong?”

She didn’t deserve to be treated like this. She didn’t. It wasn’t like she hadn’t gone through hell and back, like she hadn’t had to sacrifice herself to protect everyone. Had he even considered how her journey had left her feeling? Especially since Impa had died?

“I’m sorry,” he finally choked out, and it was like opening a hatch to those geysers in the ancient cistern, because damn it all he could not keep his heart off his sleeve for long when it was bleeding so much. “I’m sorry I’ve been like this. I’m sorry I’m always tired. I’m sorry I’m—”

I’m not okay. I’m not okay I’m not okay I’mnotokay—

The silence was filled with the wind. It pushed the words back into him, pushed the thoughts away so he could just… exist again. Zelda’s eyes were intense on him, a heaviness and heat that was scorching him like the sun, but he ignored her, continuing to look at the kikwi shaped cloud.

“I’m sorry too.”

Link finally looked at her. Her gaze was on her hands, which were bunching up fistfuls of her skirt.

“Don’t,” he immediately said before emotions caught his voice in a chokehold. He swallowed against it. “Don’t be sorry.”

“This is my fault,” Zelda argued, her voice wobbling. “You almost died because of me, you’re exhausted because of me—”

“And if I wasn’t?” Link fired back, facing her, his anger spilling out of him. “If you hadn’t chosen me? If you were just down there alone with Impa? You would still be sealed away in that crystal, forever trying to hold Demise back only for the seal to break and for him to destroy everything and everyone. I would have died if you hadn’t chosen me.”

Everyone would have died. Not that Link was trying to emphasize that he rescued everyone… it honestly still didn’t really click. It felt wrong to even argue that point now. But what did feel right was to be angry, to immediately tear down Zelda’s faulty logic, to make sure she knew that this was not at all her fault.

But the tears on her face immediately made the anger recede, and he was left feeling guiltier than ever. He tried softening the blow. “Besides, Ghirahim’s a creep, and you definitely would’ve met him if he wasn’t too busy whining to me about everything.”

This finally pulled a laugh from his friend, though a sad little hiccup followed, and she wiped her tears away. It gave Link a moment, just a moment, to find a shred of energy in himself to actually be empathetic.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated his earlier apology.

“You don’t get to start that too,” Zelda huffed sadly, giving him a weak punch in the arm. “If I can’t apologize, then you can’t.”

Honestly, he needed to apologize. His argument to Zelda had been correct – she couldn’t help the circumstances they had ended up in. She couldn’t help that destiny had demanded they sacrifice their innocence and sanity to protect everyone else from another war, from an apocalypse. But he could help snapping at everyone. He could help his own behavior. However, trying now, pushing past her rebuttal, would only bring the tears back and he… didn’t have the energy for that. He didn’t want to deal with that.

He felt so drained. He dropped the subject altogether.

“Link… are you sure you’re okay?”

This conversation was going in circles and it was going to drive him insane. Crimson grew agitated, sensing his own frustration.

“Look,” Zelda continued, rising to her feet. “I… I don’t know what’s wrong, but I know something is. And if you can’t talk about it, then… then okay. But… at least let me help?”

How the hell could she help?! What sort of help could anyone offer? He was just tired, he wanted to be left alone.

But this was Zelda. He couldn’t say that to her.

Link closed his eyes, and the wind blew harder. He took a deep breath, letting the moving air overinflate his lungs, giving him a dizzy spell, speeding up his heart rate as the gust pushed him back into the island a little bit. He tilted forward to fight it, losing himself to the sky for a moment.

Zelda was grieving and he had no right to add to that. Zelda was processing everything and he had no right to add to that.

“Let’s go back to Skyloft,” he said to appease her, though he didn’t move.

Zelda was quiet for a long time. When she finally acknowledged him with a small okay, it didn’t sound any more reassured than before. Crimson chittered anxiously, slowly standing and stretching one wing.

Link took another breath, energy flooding him with some unnamed emotion as the silence grew too deafening, the wind too quiet, Zelda’s stare too intense, and he pushed himself off the island altogether. The instant lift in his stomach, the immediate disappearance of the earth below, the sudden sensation of freefall overtook him, and goddess above he just wanted to be like this forever, freefalling with nothing to land on, nothing to hurt him, nothing to catch him, nothing to run to, and nothing to run from.

His loftwing flew alongside him, awaiting his call. The clouds grew closer, though the barrier they used to create was long gone. He passed through a small wisp of one and was instantly soaked and freezing, the air knocked out of his lungs. The jolt of reality came back to him, and his fingers found their way into his lips to whistle, bringing his loftwing below him.

When he started to climb once more, settled on Crimson’s back, Zelda and Indigo flew alongside him. He threw her a smile, and she gave a small one back.

The pair circled Skyloft for a minute or so before they both leapt off their mounts. Link landed closer to the academy so he could interact with as few people as possible. Zelda followed him.

“Link,” she called as he made his way to his room. He turned to her, and she gave another smile, small, hurting, but hopeful. “We’ll get better. I promise.”

Her words were so simple, and had so little energy behind them. She looked as exhausted as he felt. He was overcome with guilt once again, but this time he didn’t have energy to maintain it. Instead, he just walked towards her, falling easily into her embrace as the two leaned against each other. He remembered catching her just a week or so ago when she had exited that wretched crystal. He remembered how she’d trembled when she’d been walking alongside him. He held her tightly, trying to support her, but by all that was holy all he wanted to do was just sink into her arms as she had into his. But he wouldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t.

“We will,” he promised in return.

[galactaknightyaoi]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GALACTA KNIGHT!!!! And congratulations to Meta Knight for experiencing the Cain Instinct for the first time.

Galacta Knight, as you might've been able to tell already, is one of my favorite characters, and KSSU is one of my favorite games (the original SS was my introduction to Kirby!) so I wanted to go all out. Happy day, old man. I pray for at least 20 more years.

Oh, and don't worry! He's not upset about the cake smash, he thinks it's funny. And he got back at him.

As for the in-universe explanation for there being 16 candles in his cake?

... 500+ didn't fit in safely.

The birthday boy and his family were just a bit too flammable.

[helielune]

i'll angel in the snow until i'm worthy (snow angel)

[feroluce]

So I went to the wiki page for the henghill Bullet & Brain mission of 2.2 looking for some dialogue I had missed and

a) I found something incredibly tasty that slotted into some other thoughts I'd been having, more on that on another day, and

b) I saw this super fun little trivia at the bottom, which!

I knew Penacony characters like Boothill took a lot of inspirations from old movies, but I didn't realize it was even in his and Dan Heng's relationship, that's so cool!!

It fits them very well, it's such a fun reference. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" was an old buddy Western film (from 1969- nice) about a pair of outlaws. Butch Cassidy was the leader of a gang, and described as clever, affable, and talkative. Meanwhile, his closest companion, the Sundance Kid, was known as a man of few words.

Cassidy's original birth name was much more plain, but similar to Boothill, he took on a new moniker when he became an outlaw. "Cassidy" had been the last name of his beloved mentor, who taught him how to shoot and ride. And Sundance Kid was known as he was because Sundance was the name of his hometown, and it was the only place that had ever managed to catch and jail him, back when he'd been younger (also similar to Dan Heng, but ouch).

These two stick together like glue throughout the length of the film- through Cassidy's leadership of the gang being challenged, through a train robbery gone wrong, through being pursued by mercenaries, and even through fleeing to Bolivia and trying to start over together.

I don't want to say too much more, since the mission title is referencing one specific movie that I've never seen. I kinda wanna watch it now, though, just to see the inspiration that went into Boothill and Dan Heng and how they get along. I just think it's really sweet that these two were literally made to be the best of bros, how lovely is that. 💕

[dawnsies]

Since I've been jojoing it up lately, I figured I should bring my old Part 4 OC from 2020 back and revamp her

I first created her before CDDH was announced, so does that mean I technically predicted Hol Horse being in Morioh? ;P

[jnpje]

dishes are forever

[moongothic]

You know I am gonna go on a limb and say that Dragon isn't a bad father who "abandoned his child"

Like we didn't need confirmation that Dragon is an ex-marine to come to this conclusion, but it does add to the fact that Dragon would've known that if he ever fathered a child, that child would be in grave danger simply for being Dragon's child. Dragon would've known he couldn't have stayed with his child

The Government went out of its way to hunt for the Pirate King's literal unborn child, hurting countless people, innocent pregnant women, their husbands and babies in the process. Because Roger's blood was "evil" and so was the child for carrying that same "evil blood"

And mere years after the hunt for Roger's child, the Government would put a gigantic bounty on an 8 year old child because she could read forbidden texts. And we know the Ohara Incident became the final straw that transformed the Freedom Fighters into the Revolutionary Army.

Dragon was the head of that Army. Even without being an ex-marine, he would have known that the government would treat his child (and partner) the exact same as Ace and Robin. But knowing he was an ex-marine, it might have even given him extra insight into just how fucking bad the Government was

The Army would have been no place to raise a child in general

And being raised in the Army would've robbed the child from ever having any freedom, the ability to choose from themselves who or what they wanted to become and make their own path

If Dragon ever wanted Luffy to be free, he could not have kept the child with him. The child had to be left somewhere safe, away from him. And if Dragon knew Ace had been entrusted to Garp, then he would've been 100% certain Garp would be willing to take care of his son (as Garp was clearly bending the laws for Roger's kid, like surely he'd then do the same for his own grandkid)

Dragon was in a shit situation and in the end, I do genuinely believe he did the best thing he could to give his child a future by not endangering him with his own existence

[papermonkeyism]

Ah.

Remember when I said I should be careful with having normal coffee on the days I take the brain meds?

Sooooo. I may have forgotten to ask for decaf when I stopped by a coffee shop while doing grocery run today.

Did you know caffeine can keep people awake? Like, it's not "sleep and relax" sort of calming drink for some people? Wild.

This is absolutely baffling new concept to me, and it's so weird that it's happening to me.

Who could have ever predicted this??

[kakusu-shipping]

Me? Writing my Balan Wonderworld: Maestro of Mystery, Theatre of Wonders Self Insert chapter? Yeah why not. The tag's already full of OCs and S/Is, might as well add mine into the ring.

Bookworm

Balan Wonderworld Self Insert fic based on the novelization

Streetbeat ran his hand along the brick walls of the town around the Checkered King's castle as they walked, staring at his shoes as he pictured the girl, Fighter, and the man in the hat in his mind.

Who were they? What did they want? Why was he the only one who didn't see anything else...?

The texture along Streetbeat's fingers pulled him from his thoughts. He turned to the wall to see no longer medieval stone work, but books lined perfectly on a shelf that seemed to stretch up into forever.

The floor beneath his feet was no longer black and white tiles, but deep, chocolate brown wood. The narrow alley replaced with tall, cherry red wood stained bookshelves nearly over flowing with thickly bound novels.

Clocktower Kid and Pensive Pierrot turned a corner, with Streetbeat close on their tail, and came out to a skylighted library lobby. Plush seats, couches, pillows, and reading nooks filled every space that wasn't occupied by tables with piles upon piles of books. Transparent residents sat scattered around the area. There was a hush of chatter that never grew loud enough to make out words, like a soft static.

Clocktower kid made her way easily though the maze of plush chairs and towering book stacks to the front desk, which was just as over run by books as every other flat surface. She knocked politely on the large oak desk and called out into the room behind

"Helloooo? Bookworm, are you in?"

From around the corner came a puff of white hair, followed by the face of a young man. His bright red eyes looked almost unnaturally large behind a pair of oversized golden glasses.

"Ooooh! Clocktower kid! Pensive! Hello hello! One moment please!" The man called Bookworm called excitedly before disappearing back into the room behind the desk.

Streetbeat navigated the maze of chairs with the help of Pensive Pierrot and found himself glancing around the building he'd found himself in.

The walls were tall, and while in the stacks the bookshelves seemed to stretch indefinitely, from where he stood now they seemed completely reasonably sized, though he couldn't see the end of alleyways they made. On the ceiling was a large pane of glass in the shape of a tear drop, like the strange crystals that appeared in everyone's stage. Evening sunlight poured in and made the library almost seem to glow with warmth.

Finally, Bookworm stepped out of the backroom, placing a pile of books taller than himself on his desk, "Sorry for the wait." He spoke, pushing the books off to one side, "Shelving."

Bookworm's eyes fell on Streetbeat and lit up in realization.

"Oh! You're Streetbeat! It's so nice to finally meet you." He smiled and reached out a hand, Streetbeat assumed for a handshake and met him half way

"Yeah, likewise-" He began, only to stare in wonder as Bookworm placed a novel in his out stretched hand.

The book was wine red with golden lettering, the word Waltz was written in cursive at the top. There was no author or any sort of cover photo, just the title.

"what's...?" Streetbeat was so caught off guard he couldn't form a full question, he just looked quizzically up at Bookworm, who beamed back at him, seemingly proud of himself.

"Ah, that's how Bookworm welcomes people, he liked to recommend us all novels in his collection. I still haven't finished the one he loaned me..." Pensive explained, scratching the back of his head with a shy smile.

"I finished mine!" Clockwork Kid bragged, "And it was sooooo good I started reading it AGAIN!"

"Oooh, I'm so glad you liked it~" Bookworm cooed, resting his elbows on the desk, leaning closer to Clocktower Kid, "You know when the Prince stole poor Mary away-"

"Aaaaah I read all night to get past that part! I couldn't imagine Mary with anyone other than Atticus!!" Clocktower Kid squealed, pacing a bit in place.

Bookworm nodded, "They get there in the end of course but that carriage accident, oh and the poor bunny, it's just all too stressful!" The short man sighed, then sat up straight and clapped his hands, "But enough about that! Are you three here to peruse the stacks?"

"Actually," Pensive spoke, "we came to talk to you. We think something bad might be happening in Wonderworld."

As Pensive Pierrot explained the visions everyone had been having of the girl and the man in the hat, Streetbeat took a moment again to look around the library.

Every stage so far had been missing something, something obvious to everyone but the stage's inhabitant. He thought it was weird the novel Bookworm had given him didn't have an author on it, but it wasn't unheard of, so he decided to do a little snooping, just to be sure.

Streetbeat picked up a random book from one of the stacks on a nearby low table, it was a deep forest green with the word Nightfall written in bold golden lettering. The one under it was a soft baby pink, the word Daybreak was seemingly stamped on in a deep blue simple font.

The one under than and the one under that followed suit, a single color cover with a one word title and no author.

Streetbeat put all the books back where he'd gotten them and turned back to the group, where Bookworm was now standing with his arms crossed, biting the tip of his thumb.

"I... I have... seen them..." He admitted hesitantly, glancing at the stack he'd pushed to the side before, which seemed now unbalanced and ready to topple at any moment.

"Did you see anything else?" Pensive asked as Streetbeat came to his side again.

Bookworm seemed to hesitate, biting harder at the tip of his thumb as he glanced around the library lobby.

"I saw a monster," Clocktower Kid admitted, putting her hand on the desk in front of Bookworm, "it was scary.. I didn't wanna talk about it either.."

Bookworm released a sigh he'd been holding at Clocktower Kid's confession and placed his hand on hers, holding it. He closed his eyes a moment and took a deep breath, the tower of books next to him stopped swaying.

"I saw a building... It was huge, and the doors were open like I was supposed to go in but I... I felt like going in would be my doom... Like I'd be trapped there forever..."

Clocktower Kid held Bookworm's hand tightly in her own, a look of sympathy on her face.

Bookworm took another deep breath, "Who is he? The man in the hat?"

"We don't know," Streetbeat placed his hand on the desk, "But we think something bad's going to happen."

Bookworm looked between the three of them, then squarely at Pensive, "Have you spoken to Lance?"

Pensive winced at the question, glancing first to Streetbeat, then Clocktower kid, before sighing, "Yeah... He warned us to stay out of it..."

Bookworm released Clocktower Kid's hands and stood up straight, "Then that's what I'll do." He turned and picked up half the books from the stack beside him, then walked off into the bookselves.

"Wait!" Streetbeat followed quick on his heels, Pensive hesitating only to follow as Clocktower Kid raced after the two of them.

"Aren't you worried? Somethings happening, these visions, they're not nothing!" Streetbeat argued when he caught up to Bookworm, who shelved books without so much as looking.

"If Lance says it's better to stay out of it, I trust him." Bookworm spoke matter-of-factly, pushing along a large latter on wheels.

"But what if something happens to Wonderworld?"

"Lance will take care of it, he takes care of us."

"But-"

Pensive Pierrot put his hand on Streetbeat's shoulder to stop him, he and Clocktower kid both shook their heads.

Streetbeat sighed and nodded, admitting defeat. He looked down at the Waltz book in his hand before setting in on a nearby self.

He followed the two down the seemingly never ending rows of books until they found themselves standing amidst ancient ruins, the stage of a man called Invisible Custodian.

[mel-addams]

KARASU SAYS

[Image ID: an illustration of Karasu from Yu Yu Hakusho, glaring while two of his bat-winged-eye bombs fly near his shoulders. In place of his typical mask, he is wearing an N95-rated one. Along the top and bottom of the image, in allcaps, is the text: "wear a fucking mask; yes this is a threat."]

HI I'M TIRED

You don't know if a place you're going is gonna have someone high-risk there (because some disabilities are invisible), and folks can be contagious without showing symptoms, and long covid can absolutely fuck you up, SO PROTECT YOURSELF AND THOSE AROUND YOU ANY TIME YOU GO OUT WITH A WELL-FITTED MASK, PLEASE

Also please heckle the CDC/local politicians/etc. if you can, to get them to implement better protections because layering multiple methods is more effective than trying to rely on just one. (Yanno like scientifically appropriate isolation length instead of ONE FUCKING DAY, paid time off so folks don't have to weigh safety against finances, better filtration indoors, etc.)

[shit-wcue-players-say]

BREAKING NEWS: canon character banned from own series for being "too problematic" (by the same community that also thinks visibly disabled characters(and likely people in general) need to be censored or otherwise hidden because "some people think that's gross" which is a mixed signal at best. Do we care about their feelings or not)

[sskk-manifesto]

!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[salmonsaur]

Dessert Table and Snowy Walk 🍰🌲 (2022)

[sysig]

Bowtie Charm! Inspired by @zarla-s​‘ super cute rendition hehe 💕 (Patreon)

Bonus collar breakdowns:

Changes depending on the doodle!

[deadbeandrop]

i Do think it's funny how much dead bean drop has specifically like... been such a starting point of everything that's been going on in my mind but they really did just manage to hit a bullseye being all like "oh yeah and lumpus and slinkman went to camp together as kids" like Ugh. You can't just say that to me. Come on. look at this Stupid thing

"and there's so much potential there" - ME ABOUT PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING I'VE EVER GOTTEN MY HANDS ON

[doggytail-duck]

Someone stop me before I buy what materials I need to start practicing printmaking