#we are so (temporarily) back

[shebelongselsewhere]

quick warmup

[luimagines]

Broken Heart Broken Kingdom (1400 Follower Raffle)

Our second place winner was @sadlonelybagel and they asked for a reader who's partner was Link but Link is dead. This reader instantly doesn't like the chain for their similarities to their late lover. Enjoy.

Masterlist

Content under the cut!

When they first walked through the portal, they couldn’t help but see the state of the land. There was a reddish haze over the sky with broken trees and burnt grass and with the faint smell over smoke of the land.

“What happened here?” Legend’s jaw was slack. He had fought so hard to keep this from happening. But here it was, his worst nightmare come to life.

“War.” Warrior answers bluntly, not bothering to sugar coat the circumstance. “A bad one by the looks of it.”

“But how can it get this bad?” Four looks around in just as much shock coughing a bit to clear his lungs of the smoke that hangs around.

“They lost.” Wild answers with just as much fact as Warrior does. No one bothers to challenge his statement.

“Who are you?!” A stern voice calls out from the side. The sudden sound startles them and they draw their weapons on instinct. Their grips tighten at the sight of the weapon this new person holds. They viscerally react at the sight of the group but manage to hold their ground. They steady their hand and adjust their stance, albeit they look less angered and more heartbroken. “Who are you!?”

Hyrule raises his hand. “....Link.”

“Don’t mock me!” They hiss. “You can’t be Link.”

Sky looks around uneasily. “...But we are. All of us. You seem to know him. Do you know where we can find him?”

Their eyes well up with tears as they stare the boys down. “How dare you.”

“What happened?” Warrior interjects. “What happened here?”

Despair covers this stranger's face. They don’t seem to want to believe the implications of his words. “What happened? What happened? How can you not know what happened?! Ganon happened!!”

“We can gather that.” Time says gently. “But why is this the case? Where is your hero?”

“Dead.” They choke on a sob, righteous fury entering their gaze. “That demon killed my husband. I’ve been fighting in his stead.”

They group fall silent once again, shifting their weight awkwardly on their toes. Time in particular feels a heavy sort of dread drop his stomach through the crust of the earth, filling the void to the top of his throat. Part of him wants to vomit. He doesn’t think he’ll be allowed.

“My condolences.” Wild breaks the silence first. “I’m sure he was a very strong man.”

The stranger’s bravado wavers and the tears fall. This poor soul has clearly shoved aside their need to grieve for the protection of this land. But as they are not the chosen hero, their efforts are akin to pushing a boulder up a hill during a race. Progress has been made, but at the cost of much lost ground.

They lower their blade and use the hem of their sleeve to wipe away the tears. The water clears away the dirt on their cheeks. They look younger that way. “...You’re the first person to tell me that…”

Wind puts his hands on his hips and looks around the world once again. He asks for their name and they give with only minimal hesitation. They seem unable to look most of them in the eye. But Hyrule, Wind and Four get their full attention when they begin asking questions. Sky can almost get them to look his way but then they spot the sword on his back and scowl and look away again. Twilight pats his shoulder. He’s sure it’s nothing personal. They seem unable to meet more of them in the eye however, most likely due to the fact that they look the most similar to one another. Including Wild.

They can easily gather that they’re the ones that look the most like the hero.

Or rather- their dead husband.

It must be a bitter pill to swallow- and one that they clearly weren’t ready to so much as hold. It’s saddening more than it is insulting.

“...Well I guess we’re here to help.” Legend says solemnly. 

The local can only look at the ground and the blade in their hand- eyes haunted and heart heavy. “...You’re a little late for that.”

“We’re not here by choice.” Twilight says evenly. “But had we known the option and the circumstance, I assure you that we would at least attempt to help when you-.... When he needed it. But we were in our own homes, in our own worlds.”

They swallow harshly and look away, not willing to open their mind to the concept. This is an open and deep wound. Twilight sighs. He sees the signs of grief. There’s no getting through to them at this rate. “Just point to the direction of the threat and we’ll get out of your hair. I’m sure you could use a break.”

Something behind their eyes snapped. They grit their teeth, growling at the Rancher. “Do you honestly think-?!”

“We’re here to do a job whether you like it or not.” Time interrupts them. He can already see where this conversation is going. It’s not something he wants to entertain. “We can go head first into the danger with only our wits about us or you can help us at least know what we’re about to get into. This is bigger than us.”

His words strike a cord and they straighten- guarding their face once more. “Fine. This way. Try to keep up. I won’t slow down for you.”

“Lead the way.” Sky steps forward, looking back at the group nervously. Most shrug and follow this person through the war torn land and to what they can assume is a safe haven from the battles and from Ganon’s forces. They see more of the land and it’s just as bad as the first glances.

This person does not trust them, that much is obvious. They don’t like them, something that is abundantly clear. And this person does not want them here, but no one here can change what has happened.

Hyrule still needs a hero.

[arthur-lesters-left-arm]

if you’re relying on a time traveling blind man with a gun and control of only one arm, you can’t expect him to make the shot every time

[dawnbreakersgaze]

“The man who lives in darkness is fast to delight in the smallest rays of sunshine, while the man who lives in light will quickly lament a moment of shade. Let the darkness unfetter you and teach you to savor the good. Let the shadow remind you just how bright a single beam of moonlight is.”

I'm back with another small installation of the Dawnbreaker Dark Edits because all three of these poses were making me Feel Things™ but LoRDT that first one those handssssss 😩💜 Anyway I hope everyone is doing okay and I love you all!

[solar-halos]

hey divas ! me and mr diva (if i can even call him that anymore…) are on a break! just wanted to lyk just in case you’re like why the fuck is she more annoying than usual. in related news, what’s up? what’s going on? how are you feeling in this exact moment? do you have anything fun to share? any questions you need answering? any distractions you wanna give? mwah

[beefstrugglenoff]

Ok on the back of that 'the obsession with being skinny' post tag like. (Just to save being prickly in the tags of someone elses post, lest I blow the doors down just to missread the room), And I say this as someone who's been and gone through a pretty good disordered eating moment for a good minuet back there + this is a CONSIDERED opinion.......and an extremely personal one at that, but ok listening to the opinions of fashion (and maybe even art actually) from people on tiktok who get sponsorship deals outta their undiagnosed orthorexia is like asking a farrier to fix your phone screen. What could you possibly have to add?

[nemo-of-house-hamartia]

imma be honest.

Sometimes it's frustrating drawing a character THAT YOU CREATED, and not remembering how to.

like.

wtf brain.

You brained this freaking brainchild.

It's like a mom forgetting the name of the child they birthed.

HOW.

everytime I tell myself that I need to make references sheets, and everytime I fail miserably because I don't have enough patience nor focus to do so lol

thank goodness I keep all my old artworks in HD lol

[freakinflipflop]

Wait so hold on. You're telling me that marvel rivals has lore and that Clint canonically saves Bucky??? You're telling me that THATS why winterhawk has had a resurgence lately??? Damn I'm gonna have to read up on that lore that's so crazy

[tazzykiki]

If another Thing™ happens I'm blowing up the world

[soupmanspeaks]

random FNAF Ever After High AU where Michael is Raven and the Evil Queen is William and Maddie is Jeremy okay, and CC and Lizzie are Dexter and Darling, but like, as twins, and they empathize with Michael so much that uhhhhh they become good friends and surrogate siblings (yuh) uuuuhh after William got trapped in the SpringMagicMirror (idk man 😭😭😭) and then Michael lived with Henry "Emily" White, Along with Charlie, and Sammy White and Charlie is the Next snow white according to destiny™️ Idk I saw the common themes of Legacy and the Next generation and my brain neuron activated LMAO

[buckevantommy]

another delicious plotpoint about the potential of gerrard becoming interim captain of the 118 (if not in charge at a higher level) is that: hen and chim know what it's like to work with the guy, eddie probably knew guys like him in his army days, tommy (still over at 217?) was under garrard the longest.. but buck? buck has only ever known one captain and he found a father in bobby. i think he would struggle the most with working under someone like gerrard, especially hearing the stories from the others, and now with his newfound bisexuality. ravi would also struggle, but ravi has been a minority his whole life whereas buck is new to being on the minority side of things. i don't want gerrard to stick around but i do see the potential for a 3+ episode drama arc.

[dyavol]

[howlonomy]

If part of your stress has been from doodles and asks, then first of all sorry for adding to that and second of all it might be a good idea to do the whole "close asks for a while" thing until you are no longer stressed. Mental health is very important and MUST be focused upon. Also congrats on 1K followers, I hope the creature found dead in Miami is revived and nursed back to full health

i thought about it but the rate of asks isnt that bad!! its just a matter of sitting down and sorting thru em, dw!! i have pretty good boundaries w myself regarding when/how long i do ask stuff, so its not stressing me out too much!! i just mostly feel bad making people wait LOL

the creature found dead in miami will get over it eventually…… just a matter of time :p

[forcebookish]

have you ever cried because your cat loves you so much

[sapphire-weapon]

My favourite thing ever is the way Ashley gets Leon to smile. Honest to god, his most sincere and genuine smiles are the ones he's given Ashley.

Now if she could just get him to laugh, that would be something completely unprecedented.

Sorry, it just occurred to me literally today that Leon never laughs -- even one time -- at any point in this series. Other protagonists, at the very least, laugh at how stupid a villain's plan is sometimes. Not this guy. Not our Leon. He's too dead inside. Bro doesn't even laugh at OG Salazar, who may as well have circus music playing in the background any time he's on screen. We stan a depressed king.

I was actually thinking about this a little last night -- again, in the context of the whole "Ashley is Leon's anchor to reality/his road back to himself" thing that I've talked about before, while also paired with the shitpost-but-not I made the other day about Leon's sense of self-worth and identity.

Leon drifts further and further away from himself as the series goes on, and not only does he not smile anymore, he becomes downright sullen. There was a time -- a significant period of time, actually -- where you could have said that one of Leon's defining traits was his optimism. That stops being true by the time of Damnation; Leon's optimism is replaced by hollow machismo in a poor attempt at a coping mechanism in that movie -- and, by the time of Vendetta, even the machismo has fallen to the wayside. By the age of 37, Leon has completely and utterly embraced the creeping sense of despair that's been hounding his steps for years.

That has never been who he was. But it's who he is now.

And, as soon as I had that thought, something occurred to me that I somehow had not noticed in the 18 years since RE4 OG has been out:

Ashley is a foil for Ada.

That wasn't her intended purpose when she was created, but it's the narrative role that she's come to inhabit as the series has gone on and Leon's character has progressed without her.

In OG canon, Leon thinks of Ada as a part of himself that he can't let go. But the longer he clings to her, the less of himself he becomes.

And the last person to actually see him as his true self, lifted up from the despair, and without hiding (fully) behind a veneer of machismo was Ashley -- someone he did let go. Even in OG, he is very genuine and very sincere with his affection for her (platonic or not) in a way he really isn't with anyone after RE4.

So, when you point out that his smiles for her are genuine, there's really something to that. He trusts Ashley with a piece of his heart that he doesn't show to anyone else post-RE2. Like, literally, the last person who probably saw him like that was Sherry, and we already know that Leon estranges himself from her almost completely after they're taken into CIA custody following RE2.

And the Remakes make this way more obvious than the OG games did, too -- not only because of the RE engine being great for facial expressions, but because of the way the script changes make certain parts of Leon's character more noticeable. If you go straight from RE2make to RE4make, the entire opening sequence involving the cops and the hunting lodge is absolutely horrifying. If I was a new fan coming in from RE2make to RE4make, I would be knocked on my ass and going "This is not my Leon. This is not the sweet boy that I know. What the fuck happened to him?"

RE4make does such a good job with sharply juxtaposing who Leon was with who he is now. By the time of RE4make, Leon is so beaten down and tired and closed off and angry and, honestly, scared -- that he almost kind of feels like a completely different character. Except, he's not a different character. He's still Leon -- just, Leon with his blinders ripped off and his heart broken.

And, we know that he's still Leon, because every once in a while, the sweet boy that we know comes back. It's infrequent, and it's only for a few moments, but he's still in there. And it always -- every single time -- is only ever Ashley that pulls it out of him.

And Ada? She forces him to retreat again immediately, and he locks himself back up tight.

So, when Ashley gets permanently erased from Leon's life and Ada becomes more of a permanent fixture in it, that sweet boy from RE2 disappears, and he's replaced entirely by the version of Leon that's heartbroken and angry all the time -- because Ada is a constant reminder of all that he's lost, whereas Ashley, as his only true success story, was a hopeful reminder of all that he could potentially be.

I honestly don't think that Capcom even realizes that this is how they've written Leon's character. I don't think it was intentional for Leon's smile to fade with Ashley's absence in his life.

But that's just kind of how it happened.

[mercymaker]

screaming crying ripping my hair out at ysera's goodbye cinematic