#thanks spacebeyonce :)

[newtsnaturethings]

5, 7, 13, and 16!

5. Favorite form of potato:

Cheat answer: sweet potatoes 🍠

Real answer: a good boiled potato is always nice, but roasted with rosemary and garlic is a treat

7. What animal do I look forward to seeing at the aquarium

Oooo it’s so hard to pick. Okay I’m honestly very fond of the rays. They’re just. Flat swimming sharks. With loooooong tails. And goofy lil faces. I love them.

That said I can also just….stare at the jellyfish exhibit for HOURS

13. First thing I’m doing in the purge:

…okay well the FIRST thing on the list is to yell at all the people who make customer service workers jobs a living nightmare. Just for the catharsis. Then I’m gathering my things and running into the woods

16. Thoughts in mint chocolate chip:

Why does one want toothpaste flavor with chocolate? I am confused

Thanks for the ask 🦎

#newts asks #thanks spacebeyonce :)

[squid789]

Squid's Trigun Fanfic Recs

Hey, so I'm done with self promos so its time appreciate a bunch of you guys in line with @trigunfanfic appreciation week! A lot of this is gonna be straight up vashmeryl, heads up. Although we all know what I'm about, so I guess have fun! :3

Gonna start with one of my best friends and also my beta, @eomma-jpeg. You may know her from her millynai epic, In the Meadow. But right now she's working on a vashmeryl college au fic called What a Shame! By far one of my favorite writers! She also wrote a companion millywood oneshot for Sea Foam as well called Refuge from the Storm that I want to get printed for myself.

@scoundrels-in-love is another prolific writer I usually look forward to! Man, they sort of write a little bit of everything in regards to ship and canon. I mostly know them for mashwood, but my all time favorite fics of theirs is If this is communication, I disconnect. its everything I could ever want from a post max vashmeryl fic. Absolute gold!!

Okay, here's the thing. I am a slut for vashmeryl, but @ladymaliwan's writing is so good to convince me to branch out. Their stryfewood fics are to die for and imaginative and thank you for sharing so much of your snippets with me!!! They mean the world to meee ;3;

Next up is @eezybree's Bluebells. Man, ngl, Sav you give me a lot of writer's envy with this fic. AHHHH it's so fucking goooooood. I know I'm a chapter or two behind but man they get emotions across so well and that fluff is to die for. Comletely wonderful post max vashmeryl

Another one I am woefully behind on. But I remember way back last year when @faindri was still doing a lot of the concept art for EBS. I'm not usually one for aus but who can resist a space opera? And the amount of detail and worldbuilding in this fic is astonishing and actually super inspiring!

Okay I feel like @wandererriha's Get Help series is criminally underrated. Again, usually not a fan of aus, but this modern au is charming as all hell and I find myself coming back to it whenever I feel down.

Also shoutout to the folks who I have no idea have a tumblr account or not or just plain too scared to say hi too but also highly recommend Birds do it, bees do it, plants can do it by RambleFox, Condensed Trigun by SugarPill, Horticulture Blues by dweeblet, The End by ginger_mosaic, Reporter's Notes by @museqmeg, No Reason by @eilwen, this is our body (come out of the bath) by @spacebeyonce, and Arcaronar by JackelJamboree. All of these are on AO3! Also on ff.net, I recommend looking at Their Life by cmr2014. It's a super short post 98 vashmeryl oneshot that makes me super giggly when I read it! My FINAL rec is After the Fall by Girl.Interpreted, also on ff.net. If any of you have known me for a while, you'll know that this fic has some sentimental value to me personally. To start, its an unfinished post 98 vashmeryl fic with a healthy does of adventure and A LOT of trimax references. Way baaaack about a decade ago, I had just trimax for the first time after rediscovery of trigun, which was first introduced to me as a kid by my weird, weird dad. And man was I craving more trigun. So I went on ff.net for the first time ever at like one in the morning and this was the fic that got me into fanfcition just as concept and a hobby. I wouldn't be writing fic until early college, but man this story STUCK with me in ways I couldn't begin to imagine. But the writing and the story and just everything... AHHHHHHHH Anyways go read After the Fall!!!! I doubt it will ever be finished, but I can dream But literally, GO READ ALL OF THESE FICS! GO ENJOY THEM!!!!!!! IM BEGGING YOU!!! Happy Trigun Fanfic Appreciation Week!!!!

#trigun #trigun fanfiction #trigun fanfic #trimax #tristamp #vashmeryl #millynai #stryfewood #trigunfanficappreciation

[fiercynn]

Get to Know Me Tag

thanks to @hyeoni-comb for tagging me!

Do you make your bed?

i used to, but since developing long covid it has not felt worth it because i’m often in bed for a lot of my waking hours as well, sigh

What’s your favorite number?

4!

If you could go back to school, would you?

probably not. i realized recently that if i create a project out of something, i can motivate myself to devote lots of time and energy to it, and that includes things i would have previously thought of as academic pursuits. so i’ll probably just continue doing that to learn more about (and write about) the subjects i find interesting

Can you parallel park?

yes! my parents were incredibly insistent that i be good at parallel parking so they drilled it into me

A job you had that would surprise people?

i…honestly can’t think of anything surprising? all my jobs have been pretty in line with what people would know about me lol

Can you drive a manual car?

yes! another thing my parents were insistent on when i was first learning to drive. also, i don’t enjoy driving in general, but when i do, i prefer driving stick to driving automatic because i find it less boring

Tattoos?

one so far. i’m hoping to get more, including another within the next month or so!

Favorite color?

i’m bad at names of colors but blue-green? like the bluer end of teal?

Do you like puzzles?

yes! i love crosswords and most word puzzles I’ve encountered. jigsaw puzzles can be hit or miss for me, not really based on the puzzle itself but more on my mood lol, and same with number-based puzzles.

Any phobias?

this is wayyyyyy too minor and inconsequential to be a phobia, but i thought i’d share since it’s unexpected/kind of funny: i get low-level panicky if i see photos or videos of ships sinking, even in fictional media

Favorite childhood sport?

@hyeoni-comb said four square for this, which is a fantastic answer and probably a very close second for me! but my first is kickball. (although i will say the best four square i’ve ever played is on one of those square floating docks in a lake, where to try and catch the ball if it’s going out you have to jump into the water… it makes four square even more epic!

Do you talk to yourself?

sometimes!

What movies do you adore?

my favorite movie of all time is 101 dalmatians (1961)

Coffee or tea?

chai! (as in black tea with milk and sugar made with various spices like cardamom and cloves, not necessarily the drink that is marketed as chai in western coffee shops, though i do often enjoy that to)

First thing you wanted to be growing up?

a writer :)

absolutely no pressure to do this but tagging @rinsedrice @cryptenby @tododeku-or-bust @spacebeyonce @queerplatonicsolid if you want to!

#knowing meme knowing you

[zeldaelmo]

First line tag game!

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written less than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

Thank you for the tag @novantinuum! 🥰

The Promise:

Mechanically, Link stroked the rag over Epona's side.

Magical:

Zelda leaned her head onto the cold, unwelcoming stone that framed the stained glass of the sanctuary.

Heart to heart:

"I love you." Zelda mouthed the words on her way to the plaza.

The thing with the matching Christmas Sweaters:

With great care, Zelda lifted the neckline of her Christmas sweater over her styled tresses and her make-up.

Dismissed:

"Ah, Sir Link. I appreciate your swift arrival." The King gestured toward his desk and Link approached his usual spot, the thick carpet swallowing the sound of his steps. 

Believe:

Link drew his knees closer and pulled the thin blanket provided by the mobile home over his head like a hood.

No Place Like Home:

"What?" Link grins, turning sideward on Epona and ruffling his hair. "Do I have something on my face or what? A bug?"

Somebody That I Used to Know:

One last time. 

Stolen Kisses:

Despite his rather grim surroundings of the heavily damaged Hateno Fort, Olivar had a jovile tune on his lips as he arranged his tools on the stone floor.

And, because I'm a tease, and can't wait for Thursday when I finally publish the next chapter of The Promise, here's the first sentence of chapter 6!

Link woke up to straw tickling his nape.

How telling, right? 🤣

I'm tagging @deiliamedlini, @fuwametal-writes @spacebeyonce, @aurathian, @jenseits-der-sterne, @adrift-in-thyme, @silentprincess17, @linktheacehero, @itcantbe, @aheavenscorner

#Zelink #legend of zelda #I'm so close to a follower milestone so if you like what I'm doing... Hit that button! #zeldaelmo writes

[bahbahhh]

Tagged by: @spacebeyonce (thank you!)

Rules: Tag nine people you want to get to know better

Three ships: zelink, zutara, inukago

First ship: oh that's tough... maybe Sakura & Syaoran Li from Cardcaptor Sakura? I was like...10 woof

Fave colour: Green!

Last song: I've been listening to the God of War Ragnarok soundtrack for like a month straight

Last movie in theaters: I can't even remember...something before 2019

Last show: The Last of Us

Currently watching: The Last of Us, sobbing, crying throwing up every week

Currently reading: work related - grief therapy book

Currently working on: TOTK theory comic, I also have a GOW and TLOU wips that are glaring at me and @aheavenscorner and @pastelsandpining are making me want to do a master study and I have like 4 pieces pinned for it.

Current obsession: wanting to get my haircut, knowing I've wanted it long since the LAST time I cut it short but also I saw ONE photo of a French girl with beautiful, chic short hair and automatically think I'll look cute too but really, I'm overworked, overtired and I look like a feral squirrel if I don't braid my hair or put it up in a bun because I don't have a second to myself to style my hair

Tagging: @cooking-with-hailstones @flutefemme @drsteggy @pastelsandpining @zeldaseyebrows and anyone else who wants the tag!

#tag game

[snidgetwidgeon]

Word Find tag game

Thank you for the tag @drsteggy!

My words are castle, story, light, saddle and green. Excerpts taken from Insurrection, my post calamity Zelink longfic.

Castle

“Enjoy your trip,” Zelda managed lamely. When his head disappeared down the path to the village she walked closer to the edge of the hill and collapsed forward into the grass. Rolling onto her back, she stared at the castle on the horizon upside down, imagining that the sky was a great sea below the spires of an inverted island. I’m such a failure.

Story

Vaedra nodded and softly agreed, “Yeah.” Her brows furrowed as she contemplated her her history, her legacy. She had learned this story many times and during each retelling, she experienced the plight of her people anew. She studied the tapestry, the faces of the Sheikah fearful as they fled their oppressors, and was filled with a yearning to correct these wrongs. Eons had passed and yet the sting of this betrayal still smited under her skin, boring into her very bones and instilling a sense of duty. She decided on her purpose.

Light

Link noticed when Zelda excused herself, Sidon following shortly after. It was a momentary distraction but he needed to finish what he started. He could now speak about Mipha in a whole new light, her memory enriching his heart in a multitude of ways he never imagined.

“I feel like I can finally say a proper goodbye,” he admitted softly.

Saddle

Link shifted slightly uncomfortably in the saddle as he left the memory of his traveler’s tryst behind him. He looked around shyly, a blush upon his cheeks, although there was no one to see the evidence of his reverie.

Green

Unsurprisingly, Karson found Hudson was also relaxing after work on the roof deck near Granté. The gear seller was deep in conversation with a trader who was making eyes at him.

Karson sighed. Every woman that came through town made eyes at Granté. It almost wasn’t fair, the man had grown up with only his reclusive parents on a hill and still turned out to be Mr. Suave.

“Looking a bit green there, K,” Hudson joked before taking a long swig.

“Keep that down,” Karson said sternly behind his teeth as he sat to join his mentor.

“I’m afraid that if there is an option to rib, or not to rib, I will always rib,” Hudson said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Yeah, well, one of these days your ribbing will get you a punch in the ribs.”

Next round words are: Bulbous, Effusive, Viscous, Rain, and Purple

Who would like to play :D @strangebeautiful, @ghostgirl19posts,

@embyrinitalics, @airplanned, @spacebeyonce

#tag game #writing #word find tag game #snidgetwidgeon scribbles

[vinnie2757]

gooood morning, 2, 4, 20, 30, and 36 for cidshera from that ship ask thing

:( I lost the original answer and I was so proud of it

2 - How’s their team work? Do they share well?

They’ve always worked really well as a team, it’s been one of the key developing factors of their relationship. They were teammates on building the rocket before anything else, and for all Cid makes noise about her being slow and taking a hundred years to do anything, he trusts literally no one else with his life or his work, and she absolutely trusts him with her safety. In terms of sharing, they do a lot of it without thinking. If she smoked, he’d give her his last cigarette without question. In terms of sharing her actual physical being with someone else though, no. Cid does not share well at all, and he will be the biggest child if someone else shows an interest in this woman that he knew was going to be his wife before he even knew her name, even if he didn’t admit that to himself for about ten years lol. She’s only marginally better at it because she has Rocket Town’s single braincell for at least 2 hours a week on loan from Reine, who is the only person to be trusted with it for any extended period of time.

4 -  First impression of each other? Was it love at first sight?

Shera thought he was a bit weird, but he was BESOTTED with her. He didn’t admit it for the longest time, but he was so gone on her from the moment he saw her, it’s almost sickening. They didn’t have any room for love when they met, he was focused on his dream of going to space, and she had no interest in boys, but they fell, and they fell hard. She admitted it to herself first. He’d admit it to himself, and then sandbag it and pretend like it never happened. He thought the entire universe shone in her eyes and she thought he had a nice butt. They were in their early 20s and knew no better, bless them.

20 - What does their home look like? Their room?

Their canon house is this

Which is adorable and I love it. I have it that ShinRa had the cabins shipped in as prefabs that were only marginally better than statics, so the mechanics weren’t sleeping in tents. Over time, they stabilised the builds and extended them - Cid added the garage for his hunk of junk car that he built from scrap because of course he did. The room with the couch was originally his bedroom, but after the failed launch and Shera moved in for some unknown and utterly inexplicable reason, he ended up putting a set of stairs up into the attic space outside, because who puts stairs inside, not Cid, that’s who. He converted the attic into two bedrooms, but they’re not the most exciting of bedrooms, he literally couldn’t care less, the man hasn’t had a full night’s sleep since he was about 12. He’s more likely to sleep against the fridge than he is his bed, but that’s another matter entirely. When they finally become a couple, she half-moves into his bedroom. All of her things stay in her room, but he gets a new bed and mattress and bedding, and its the first time he sleeps a full 8 hours in years. It becomes a cosy little room with a patchwork quilt and they repaint the walls to get rid of the smoke stains, and it’s nice. They spend a lot of time in there.

30 - Could they manage a long distance relationship?

They kind of are in one during the meteor crisis. He’s halfway around the world getting his ass handed to him by some monster or another, and she’s mostly stuck at home worrying herself silly. All she’s got is his assurance that he’ll make it home, and he’s always come home before, so there’s no reason to believe this would be any different, but it’s scary because this is world-ending trouble, not him having a tantrum and going for a fly around the world. They’re used to being in each other’s pockets, though, so it’s hard.

36 - What’s their greatest strength as a couple? Their weakness?

Their weakness is absolutely that they have poor communication, and Cid certainly has never expressed an emotion in his life. But when they actually manage to put their cards on the table and talk about things sensibly, they become such a powerhouse. They’ve always worked well as a team, and they’ve had so much happen over the years that they have really good stable foundations, and it’ll take a lot to shake them apart. They’ve had pretty good relationship role models too, which helps. They can’t put their fingers on why they’re so strong as a couple, but it’s probably because they’re willing to die for each other and then not discuss it afterwards.

#cidshera #cid highwind #shera highwind #thanks my dude #spacebeyonce

[newtsnaturethings]

I was tagged by @wanderingnightingale to list 10 songs I like by different artists. Here we go:

Spirit in the Sky - Keiino

Cathedrals of Mourning - Belzebubs

Holiday - Green Day

Montreal Song - Ben Cosgrove

Collard Greens - Schoolboy Q

End of Time - K-391, Alan Walker & Ahrix

Dynasties and Dystopias - Denzel Curry, Gizzle, & Bren Joy

Let’s Hurt Tonight - OneRepublic

Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us - Robert Plant & Allison Krauss

I’m Still Here - John Rzeznik

(Bonus: Give that Wolf A Banana - Subwoolfer cause it’s been stuck in my head for weeks)

I’ll tag @jenseits-der-sterne @zeldaseyebrows @pastelsandpining @dawn-the-rithmatist @linksthoughtbrambles @spacebeyonce @airplanned @voltfruits @ghostgirl19posts @jessa-jake if you wanna join.

Thanks for the tag 🦎

#newts thoughts #tag game #music #my taste in music hasn’t changed much since middle school lol

[party-gilmore]

Thanks to @spacebeyonce and debilitating menstrual cramps i decided to try out that Tiger Balm for the first time.

I have.

I have gone on a journey.

[airplanned]

Ah thank you so much!! I would love some author or story recommendations!! I’ve been away from tumblr/the fandom for quite a few years now, so much of what I was aware of have gone quiet now. I’m looking forward to jumping back in!! :)

Okay...oh, now IDK where to start. Everybody I link has more stories you should check out. And I really don't mean to leave anyone out, but most definitely will.

I'm going to start with some oldies that you might have read, but the first two are much less sweeping and modern AUs.

*Wavebreeze's Girl at the Museum (Modern AU)

*CrazygurlMadness' To Those Who Wait (TP modern AU), but they also have a Long BotW story

*Lyxie's Into the Woods (AU fantasy setting)

These are some pillars of BotW fic. The first tow are sweeping, but the last two are one-shots:

*Starkraving's Interim (post BotW, and Ganondorf is there. Note that this is incomplete)

*Meriandr's Rise (Pre-BotW. Unfinished, but still so good. I actually like their story Strand more tho.)

*Honest Ground's Practical Anatomy (post-botw funny smut. All their stuff is good)

*Advocaat's On Propriety and Unconventional forms of Communication (Post-BotW)

Some newer stuff that isn't getting enough attention:

*ClaraAeri's Bolt from the Blue (Post BotW. All their work is lovely)

*Wildly Breathless' Reckless (Post BotW with himbo!Link and Grumpy!Zeld)

And then here's a big list of authors who are cool people, and I'm out of steam, so go explore:

jenseits-der-sterne, bhujerbanwrites, intangiblyyourswrites, spacebeyonce, ashleyswrittenwords, SpicyChestnut123, deiliamedlini, OmegaZeta5, Embyrinitalics, Lonelylorena, Zeldaelmo, aquaticpal, drsteggy, snidgetwidgeon

Also, you should follow newtsnaturethings. They don't write fic, but they draw vine fan art. And mistress-light does rad mods and posts .gifs

#Zelda #fic recs #this is a mess of a rec list #I'm sorry

[eerna]

hello hello, here are some other botw fics that i think are really really good!

Displaced series by socksock (Post-calamity, really great characterization of Link and Zelda, great exploration of political factions and coping mechanisms, and slight sexual themes due to eventual smooching but it isn’t outright smut. Also Zelda being a nerdy scientist and Link being an oblivious, reckless adventurer is an amazing dynamic, and the overall imagery of this fic series has ingrained itself in my mind at this point. Supporting characters like Purah, Symin, Paya, and so many more are well-developed, and honestly the author is amazing at making use of everyone. The first fic is finished, but the sequel fic is ongoing!)

intrepid series by arystocrat (Pre-calamity and in-game role reversal au where Zelda is the chosen hero and Link is Hyrule’s crown prince! It’s a very very interesting take on how things would change if the two had different roles, especially since the viewpoint character of the first fic of the series is Zelda’s father, Rhoam. Ongoing!)

hyrule world tour series by spacebeyonce (Post-calamity, a comforting journey of Link and Zelda re-meeting one another and making peace in this new world before them. It’s very sweet and honestly perfect for the irl worries we all have about the pandemic and how do we move forward from it. I think this fic’s depiction of Zelink and their friendships with everyone in the new world is one of the best i’ve ever read!)

you are not icarus by arystocrat (Pre-calamity, unresolved mutual pining of Link and Zelda to one another. It’s beautifully poetic, and I think it’s just so good at exploring their dynamic especially once they start opening up to each other.)

Soldier’s Log by Advocaat (Post-calamity, Link-centric due to it being in his POV! A light-hearted and fluffy exploration of the possible rebuilding process and futures that both Link and Zelda have after defeating Calamity Ganon.

Oh thanks a ton~!!!

#eernask #eernanon #recs #it's so funny. i read more botw fics than for any other fandom. and yet i havent heard of like 90% of these #the perks of being into one of the most popular series of our time i guess

[muselover1901]

I was tagged by @jenseits-der-sterne and @spacebeyonce ! Thanks friends 🥰

10 songs I like by different artists:

All I Need by Jacob Collier

High and Dry by Radiohead

Tapestry by Grayson Erhard

Zephyrus by The Oh Hellos

Hard Times by Paramore

Would That I by Hozier

The Grabtown Grapple by Artie Shaw

Hypotheticals by Lake Street Dive

Land Back by The Halluci Nation

Thinking by Louis Cole

It was soooo hard to put only 10, I kept thinking of more. Maybe I’ll add another 10 later since I got tagged twice 😉

Tagging @bhujerban @whatthehorsedoicallthisblog @airplanned @intangiblyyourswrites @batgirlsay @nokaru @raediation if you want to!

#tag game #meme thing

[jenseits-der-sterne]

Thank you both for the tags @spacebeyonce and @muselover1901! This is a fun tag game, let’s gooo!

Rules: Spell your URL with songs, and tag as many people as there are letters in your URL

Gosh. There are So Many “e’s” in my URL, wow. Those were kind of hard to come up with, but I think I made a good go of it!

J - “Juice” by Lizzo

E - “Electric Lady” by Janelle Monae

N - “No Matter What” from Steven Universe with Michaela Dietz and Zach Callison

S - “Save It for a Rainy Day” by Stephen Bishop

E -  “Everything She Wants” by Wham! 

I - “Instant Crush” by Daft Punk and Julian Casablancas

T - “Twilight” by Electric Light Orchestra

S - “Summer Rain” by Smokey & Miho

D - “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac

E - “Everything is a Holiday With You” by Estero feat. Sean Lennon

R - “Rich Girl” by The Bird and the Bee (cover of Hall & Oates)

S -  “Susie Save Your Love” by Allie X and Mitski

T - “The Weekend” - Funky Wav Remix by SZA

E - “Evil Woman” by Electric Light Orchestra

R - “Rikki Don't Lose That Number” by Steely Dan

N - “Nobody” by Mitski

E -  “Extraordinary Machine” by Fiona Apple

I had so many alternate songs I almost put in here, like apparently I have a million “S” songs, “T”, and “N” songs. Anyways, these are pretty good and I feel like would make for a decent playlist 🤔 hmmmm!

Okay, I’m definitely not going to tag 17 people, my username is way too long, lol Instead, I’ll tag 7 people! @drsteggy, @sassafrasss, @zeldaelmo, @itcantbe, @newtsnaturethings, @aquaticpal , @wanderingnightingale

#tag game #song picks

[zeldaelmo]

This is my contribution for the @behind-the-fic MFC contest! It's an old story (the first chapter, actually, but I figured it would work as a one-shot as well). I am working on something else, but I’m slow and the new story is very much out of my comfort zone, so who knows if I’m able to finish it to my satisfaction until 01.08.

I'm not fond of the idea of competition when it comes to my creative hobbies, so I don't want to win anything. I just like to be part of it because I was too shy to do the podcast as a non-native speaker.

But enough of me, you are here to get sad. 😉

tw: Link is an orphan in this one and the loss of his parents is mentioned as a backstory. Nothing horrible, but I want you to be aware.

Well. And warning for horrible proposals. 😆

Oh, and this story was inspired by a scene of @spacebeyonce Halloween fic ‘draw me like a magnet (to the sea)’ !

A fool such as I 

He knew he was a fool when his eyes scanned the passing sidewalk for a woman with blonde hair from the passenger's seat of Pipit’s car. 

He knew he was a fool when they entered the charity gala, and he couldn’t stop himself from looking for a pair of blue eyes. 

He knew he was a fool when a bell-like laugh made him turn around to find out if it was her.

It was not. 

It was never her. 

“Link,” Pipit nudged him in the side, rolling his eyes at him, “you are doing it again. Get yourself something to drink and enjoy the evening, for Hylia’s sake! I didn’t drag you here to look for your imaginary girlfriend!” 

Sighing in defeat, Link grabbed a glass from the tray of one of the waiters, not caring at all what fancy drink he might have gotten himself. Old habits die hard – the point wasn’t that Link didn’t know Pipit was right. It was just... he sipped his drink to distract himself and the bitter-sweet taste of the bright orange aperitif rolled on his tongue. 

This wasn’t the first time they'd had this conversation and if Link was honest with himself, it wouldn’t be the last, either. He knew that looking for her was like looking for a needle in a haystack. His heart, however, knew not. Every time he convinced himself to give up, every time he tried to move on, his pulse thrummed against that faded scar on his palm, and he did it again. 

Like a fool. 

He had been eight when he first met her. 

It had been his mother’s last summer alive. She had been suffering from a mysterious lung disease the doctors couldn’t explain and couldn’t heal. They had sent the whole family to Skyloft, a famous climatic spa, in a last, desperate attempt to save her life. His parents hadn’t told him how severe his mother’s condition was, perhaps to spare him or perhaps to spare themselves from the truth. They just spoke about a long vacation with him, an opportunity for him to meet new friends and to stray over the little island on his own. He had loved the idea immediately. 

The girl arrived three days after him, her cheeks lacking color, her hair coiffed in two neat braids, and her proper cotton dress dancing around her knees. She was without her parents, just with her nanny – a stern-looking woman named Impa. The curious child that he was, he asked her in the following days why her parents didn’t accompany her. She shrugged and said, they were extremely busy and their jobs couldn’t afford a summer break and that was that. To him, it didn’t matter anyway, because sneaking her out was much easier this way – Impa never caught them. 

The physician had diagnosed her with general weakness and a susceptibility to illness and therefore she'd been sent to Skyloft. Link couldn’t detect anything ‘ill’ on her. Her face lit up every time she saw him in the eating room and after she winked at him over the huge bowl of pumpkin soup, he followed her in a safe distance to her room on his tiptoes. Impa, whose room was on the opposite, frightened him, so he didn’t dare to knock in case she would hear him. Instead, he bolted out of the back door and threw little pebbles on her window to get her attention. She opened the window with a wide smile, and he knew immediately that he had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. 

The days flew by after that. 

They met at the Goddess statue whenever she had free time between her treatments, and she sneaked out every evening to sit with him at the little pond. Her cheeks began to grow rosier from day to day and soon her blue eyes sparkled in the summer sun. 

She hadn’t been ill – she had been lonely. 

He taught her how to catch bugs and butterflies with a butterfly net, and she taught him their correct names. They read stories from the books of the little library, she more often than him because she was already a fluent reader while he was a beginner. Later in the summer, he even showed her how to swim and when she was too frustrated with her lack of stamina, they ended up in a giant water fight until their giggles made their faces and stomachs hurt. They raced over the island together, always hand in hand, stealing apples at the market and hiding sky stag beetles under seat cushions to watch the poor owner of the cushion being pinched from their hiding place. ‘Oh, will you look at these cuties!’, the adults exclaimed when they saw them, or, ‘Ah, to be young and in love again!’ and they both blushed in the warm summer sun. 

One afternoon, after they got a large piece of pumpkin pie from one of the farmers for helping to harvest the earlier pumpkins, she even kissed him. ‘You have pumpkin on your lips, Link,” she whispered, and then she pressed her lips to his and he was sure that he would burst into tiny pieces any moment out of sheer happiness. 

Like every summer, this summer too, had to end. She sneaked out of her room for the last time to meet him at their favorite place. They sat closer together as usual, both searching for comfort in the other, instinctively unwilling to separate from each other. Their hearts heavy, not many words were spoken, at least for eight-year-old standards. When the light of the sun turned slowly in a glowing shade of orange, she took his hand and turned his palm upward, stroking a line over it with her index finger. 

“Do you have your carving knife with you?” She spoke under her breath, “I want to take an oath.” He had and so he traced the stinging, bloody cut in his palm when he watched her part with Impa the following morning, swearing to himself that he would do anything he could to keep his part of the promise. 

They would see each other again, no matter what. 

And if that made him a fool, so be it.

“Earth at Link, earth at Link, we need you down here!” Pipit waved a piece of paper in front of his face. His friend had been busy filling out the symbolic check for their donation and was obviously expecting his input. Link blinked at him. “How much do we usually give? 3000 rupees?” he asked, trying to cover his slip into the daydream before his friend would shoot him another remark. Fortunately, Pipit was used to his aversion to numbers in general and didn’t grow suspicious. Pipit was the book-keeper and planner of their little security firm, while Link stuck to the operating tasks like installing an alarm device or overlooking a festivity in addition to the regular stuff of another rich family. His job description was a mixture between bodyguard and engineer, but usually, he liked to be on the road and working with Pipit was a huge pro as well. 

His friend nodded in agreement to his question and tapped the pen at his lips. “Well, write 3500. I’ll cover the rest.” 

Pipit blew a whistle. “What’s up, Link? Feeling generous tonight?” 

“It’s for an orphanage this year, Pipit,” he sighed. “There are too many kids who don’t have the same luck I had back then.” 

And that was true. Life didn’t give him much opportunity to think of his promise at first. His mother died only weeks after their return from Skyloft and his father followed her half a year later. A broken heart, the doctor said with thin lips when he squeezed his shoulder. He ended up in an orphanage for a few months but was lucky enough to find a family who was willing to adopt him. It was very unusual that a child of his age found a family at all. His adoptive parents said that they loved his messy hair and his honest smile from the very first second, and no matter how ridiculous that sounded to him, he was immensely thankful. Of course, it took some time to grow to love each other, but they managed somehow, and he didn’t feel so lost anymore – at least regarding his family. 

A year after he had left Skyloft, his life had changed dramatically, but he hadn’t forgotten his friend at all. Dreaming of her smile warmed him inside when the grief shook him to the core and thinking of her hand in his, anchored him when he was on the verge of drifting off. His new family knew nothing about her and although they shared a robust trust after a while, he was hesitant to share this treasured piece of his old life with them. 

Instead, he secretly started to look for her whenever they were in new places. Stood on staircases to get a better look over a crowd. Glanced at all the other tables when they were eating in a restaurant. Stayed near the door of a bus to observe if she might be one of the people who hopped on or off the vehicle. 

She was never among them. 

As a teenager, he gathered his courage and made a serious attempt to find her. He had little to start - they hadn’t thought of exchanging addresses or even last names. The horizon of eight-year-old children only extends so far. So, the administration of the health resort in Skyloft was his first shot. The files of the patients were only stored for five years, and they wouldn’t give him further information anyway unless he was related to her. He scrolled through the homepage of the staff next and contacted the few faces he recognized, stumbling through his lines on the phone. Nobody remembered a blonde girl with her name.

The last hint to her was Impa. He tried to find her instead, hoping an adult would leave more traces behind than a girl would, but the internet was dead silent about a nanny named Impa. It was hopeless. He was stuck looking for her everywhere he went.

Pipit coughed in his fist beside him and nodded in the direction of a brunette a few steps in front of them, hissing, “Babe alert!” 

“You are married, Pipit.” Link rolled his eyes at his friend. “Karane won’t be lucky over the fact that you are pining after other women.” 

“I’m talking about you, you moron. Or are you still dating Peatrice?” 

Link groaned and waved his hands. “Don’t get me started on that girl. She was so clingy, horrible.” 

He had tried to like her, really. She had begged him for a date, and he had given in. They had done all this dating stuff, watching films in the cinema, dining in a restaurant, even holding hands on a walk in the park. It had always been the same, after two hours more or less, he hadn’t been able to stand her anymore. The mindless chit chat, the exaggerated admiration for him, the false lashes, everything about her had put him on edge. 

Like a clockwork, his scar had begun to itch, and he had fled from her presence. 

“She wasn’t her.” Pipit narrowed his eyes at him. “That’s why. Because you are still chasing rainbows. Link, man up and move on!” 

“She was clin-” Link stopped. 

Looked again. 

Took a few steps forward. 

“Link?” He heard Pipit asking somewhere behind him, but he was already on his way. 

Could it be? His pace quickened when the people in front of him revealed a glimpse of blonde hair once again. The beat of his heart drummed through his veins, all the way down to his fingertips and his toes, too loud, too fast, and he tried assertively to push it back into his rib cage. 

He had been wrong before. 

He was most likely wrong again, the people and the yards between them made it difficult to be sure. Her calf-length evening dress was pink, yes, but who knew if it was still her favorite color? She had been eight. 

When she turned and his desperate eyes slid over the curve of her nose, her lashes, her powdered cheeks, a stubborn thing called hope expended in this chest. The bright, powerful hope like the sun after a summer storm, not the simmering, obstinately hope like a smoldering fire which had accompanied him for so long now. 

She was talking to someone, an elegant gentleman with long white hair, and her face lit up just in time when he was near enough to confirm that her eyes were blue. And then she smiled, a polite, practiced smile only, not even reaching her eyes, but it was proof enough to let his heart skip for far too long as it should be medically explainable. 

He had found her. 

Hylia above, after all these years, he had truly, finally found her! Tiny, shaky breaths left him, in and out, which did nothing to calm his nerves, and he took her in again, just to be sure. She looked different, of course, but her eyes had still the slightest trace of sadness that they had when he had seen her for the first time. Her features had grown out of the roundness of a child and her cheeks were rouged to hide the lack of color again. 

It had to be her – his heart beat nothing but her name through his veins. He had nearly caught up to her now and raising his trembling hand, he called, “Zelda!” Her head snapped up and his chest expanded nearly painfully from joy – it was her. It was her! But before their eyes could meet, a security guard in a black suit tapped her shoulder and led her away. 

No! 

Someone on the stage announced the charity entry of the princess, but he didn’t pay anything around him mind, nearly batted the unpleasant noise away with his hands. Setting his shoulders once more and squeezing through the people, he tried to follow the way she had left. He would not lose her again, now that he had finally found her. Never again! 

The stage and the backstage area were closed off with thick red ropes, a bodyguard with a stern face on each side of the stage, who already eyed him when he gave the rope a frustrated slap. He couldn’t look for her here. 

Fretfully, he turned around only to realize that he was trapped. Every single attendant of the charity Gala had gathered around the stage and it was pointless to try to get through these people, let alone find her again. Rolling his eyes, he braced himself for the next minutes of what would probably be a boring charity speech from the princess while he was dying to be on his way to find Zelda once again. 

He had never been particularly interested in the royal family – he wasn’t even sure if he would recognize one of them beside the King on the street. The King was the figurehead of the parliamentary monarchy and gained the main interest of the journalists and the people, while the rest of the royal family lived a relatively secluded life. Every now and then one of the members would participate in a charity event much like today. 

Sure, there was some kind of gossip press, too, but Link had always believed himself having more important things to do than following ‘reports’ of people he would never see in real life anyway. In the past, he had watched the New Year's speech of the King on television every year with his adoptive family, and he still did sometimes now he lived alone to keep the tradition up. Therefore, in all honesty, his curiosity about seeing the Princess wasn’t as great as it seemed to be the case with the people around him, but now that he was standing in the first row, he might as well take a look at her. 

The moment he turned around was the moment he realized he hadn’t been only a fool. 

He had been the greatest fool of all. 

Zelda. 

Zelda was the Princess of Hyrule. 

His heart dropped in his stomach, no to the floor. Suddenly, everything made sense. Impa hadn’t been a stern nanny; she had been a bodyguard. Her parents hadn’t been able to accompany her because they were the King and the Queen. Of course, she had been pale and lonely and well educated, because she had spent so much time on becoming a perfect princess as a child. Nobody remembered a blonde girl because they all only recalled the one summer the Princess was in Skyloft. He had never seen her on the bus because she had her own chauffeur. 

His knees nearly gave out under him, the edge of his vision blurring, when he tried to process the new information. Zelda was the Princess. That changed everything. Or did it change nothing at all? How was he supposed to think straight with that soundscape here?

He quashed the urge to block his ears from the horrible sappy violin music, his eyes returning to her instinctively, searching hers in vain. She was so sweet and beautiful and familiar; he couldn’t tear his gaze away. Oh, how he had missed her! 

So, what if she was the Princess? He wouldn’t let something like that get in their way. A promise was a promise was a promise. He just had to talk to her somehow when she left the stage – then they would pick up their friendship. Perhaps, if they still clicked like all these years ago, he even dared to hope for more. 

The piece of music the fiddlers were playing reached an even more sappy height and a guy with an odd, red pompadour he hadn’t noticed before stepped up to Zelda. He nestled with something in his pocket before he dropped down to one knee. Link’s eyes widened in horror, his body frozen in place. No… No, stop it! Not now, when he had finally found her! An icy fist gripped his heart and refused to let go. This had to be a cruel joke of destiny. 

One long, wonderful moment she said nothing, and he dared to hope that – yes, what? That she looked over, realized her undying love for him, so they could ride into the sunset on his non-existing horse? 

He fled when she nodded and the idiot raised again, not hesitating to kiss her. The people in front of him barely parted, and he stumbled, tripped until he found himself breaking down on the grated steps of the emergency exit. The cold of the autumn evening crawled under his skin. Or maybe it was the cold sting of realization. If he had found her ten minutes earlier, a week earlier, a year earlier, he might have stood a chance. Now, every moment he had looked for her had been in vain, her fiancé didn’t look at all like the type who would tolerate a rival, even if they would just be friends. 

What a fool he had been! 

He pressed his palms to his eyes, casting the world out. Who was he kidding, she was the Princess. Princesses didn’t stick with orphaned country-boys running a little two-person-operation, which made barely enough to donate a little sum every year. Princesses married rich company heirs, fancy musicians, or whatever this guy was. 

He wasn’t sure how long he sat with his face buried in his hands, hot tears dwelling at the corner of his eyes, unwilling to shed, when he heard the metallic click of the door. It could have been minutes. Or hours – and now Pipit had finally found him. It was time to move on anyway for him. 

A delicate hand stroked his back once, twice, before it withdrew. 

“A break-up?” A soft voice asked and when he raised his head, the tears finally fell. 

Rainbows. 

He had been chasing rainbows – she didn’t even recognize him when he was directly in front of her. 

It took him two attempts to get the words through the stinging lump in his throat. “Kind of,” he finally choked out, torturing himself by looking at her face from so close. 

She smiled that polite, meaningless smile, saying, “You’ll find someone else, eventually.” 

“I guess I have to,” he whispered and tore his gaze away, his heart shattering into a million pieces. The silence hung between them like the moon between the stars, and he waited and hoped and hated himself more for it with every passing second. 

Finally, she sighed and rubbed her arms. “I’m sure it’s a beautiful night somewhere, for someone.” 

He didn’t dare to look in her eyes again when he unwound his white-blue shawl and placed it on her shoulders. Denied himself to let his fingertips linger. To enclose her in his arms to shield her from the cold. From the world that forced her to paint her pale cheeks with rouge.

“Thank you,” she breathed, quiet, earnest. 

He looked at the moon again, taking his time to breathe in and breathe out, failing to prepare himself for a goodbye he had dreamed of as a beginning. A goodbye, he had never meant to say. 

“Congratulations on your engagement.” 

She looked at the rock on her finger, fidgeting the underside of the ring with her thumb. “Ah, yes, that. Thank you.” 

Despite himself, he took her hands in his and pressed a kiss on her knuckles, his fingers brushing her scar and hers brushing his for a terrible, perfect moment before he left. 

“Goodnight, Zelda.” His voice was as quiet as his heart was loud.

The emergency door fell shut after him with a heavy thud and the crowd of the gala swallowed him without hesitation.

She really should look happier, but it wasn’t his concern anymore. 

Perhaps it never had been. 

Psss... if you are like me and can’t stand a sad ending, check out the rest of the story here.

#zelink #a fool such as I #zeldaelmo writes #modern au #behind the fic

[spacebeyonce]

the last chapter is up!

guys -

thank you 💕

#breath of the wild #botw #zelink #it's DONE and I'm kinda sad lmao

[newtsnaturethings]

WIP TAG GAME

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs (or as many peeps as you want, really- ‘tis just for fun!)

So I was tagged by @ghostgirl19posts to share my WIPS. I’m…uh…not a writer but I do have art WIPs. MANY art WIPs.

Working titles:

Cloud studies

Water studies

Mountain and rock studies (shading and PAAAAAIN)

Draw all the plants

Urbosa run run run bitch

Baby Zelda and Mama Urbosa

Edward Elric is a bad bitch

Winry my beloved

Alphonse third wheels 3D

SMOOT

Unsolved AU

Mummy AU

Learn to animate a damn hug

Tp Link and Tp Zelda say fuck it to the authorities and hang with goats

Tp Link curses like Scottish Twitter

Sheik Hannah Montana???

Zelda vs the Witch King of Angmar

And this isn’t including pages and pages of random doodles lmao.

I guess I’ll tag @spicychestnut @spacebeyonce @airplanned @bhujerban @jenseits-der-sterne @voltfruits and anyone else who wants to share stuff.

Thanks for the tag :)

#tag game #newts wips