#the all-clucking cucco

[glorious-chainsaw-method]

Linktober

Day 17 - Prophecy

#linktober #linktober2023 #zelda #totk #the all-clucking cucco #cucco

[solarwreathe]

let’s not talk about this, ever

#totk #tears of the kingdom #yiga clan #totk link #totk yiga #totk meme #totk fanart #loz #legend of zelda #all clucking cucco quest gave me trust issues #if they can illusion magicks themselves into anything how common are these incidents #'aw man the beloved family dog turned out to be a freeloading yiga spy again. can't have shit in hyrule' #totk spoilers

[beyondtheglowingstars]

Ok but what if Spirit were part of the chain- somebody needs to whack me on the head with a bat

Bullying Legend is my hobby btw

Unsuspected Beast (LU Chain + Spirit)

Word count: 2.2k WARNING(S): None General info: How was Legend to be at peace when one of his enemies was freely roaming around his brothers? Not only that, but what was he to do when nobody believed his warnings and instead, mocked him? Spirit might just have a solution.

“Can someone just… get it away from here?!”

The Veteran pleaded as he tried to discourage his tormentor from getting any closer, waving his arm around in hopes of scaring the vile creature. It was to no avail. Now Legend had to keep his cool as best as he could while one of his sworn enemies hung around him, ruining his plans of getting a pleasant rest.

He tried to ignore them, crossing his arms as a bead of sweat ran down the side of his face, frantically looking for a way to distract his mind and forget the fear. But it didn’t work, nothing did, it didn’t matter what he did. He was also beginning to grow annoyed by the rest of the heroes as no one did anything to help him. A few muffled snickers made their way to Legend’s ears, he could already imagine who those belonged to, rubbing salt on the wound and his cracked pride.

“Bunch of reliable friends you all are.” Legend huffed and cursed under his breath, standing up and backing away slowly from the terrifying creature, never taking away his eyes from it.

More snickers joined the first, a few members of the chain had begun to gather around the veteran in amusement. The intimidated hero could only groan in annoyance, the frown on his face somehow managed to increase in intensity.

“Vet, are you afraid of cuccos?” Four stood beside Legend, looking at the taller man with eyebrows arching in a questioning manner and a teasing smirk.

Legend did not meet his eyes, he instead took a step further away from the smith. He let out a sound of annoyance that was similar to a growl more than anything else, feeling his face heat up considerably and his cheeks take on a faint red hue.

“Of course not, I just merely don’t like them.” Replied Legend, dryly.

They had all found out he feared the chickens, it was impossible to not notice it now with the way he was trying to avoid the avian that had walked into their camp. But even if everyone had caught on by now, Legend would never outright admit he was afraid of chickens not even if he were lit on fire on his deathbed; best he could do was to hide his fear in the most believable way possible. After all, disliking something didn’t necessarily mean that you were afraid of that thing.

“Yeah, and I was born yesterday.” Piped in Warriors with a cocky grin, enjoying the veteran’s reaction to the bird.

Just as Legend suspected, no one bought his lie. Had it not been for the strong feeling of shame coursing through his body and he would have choked the captain with his own scarf right there without hesitation. It did not help that the cucco stopped clucking and instead, stared right at the veteran, making him curse Hylia in his mind for assigning him this fate.

Those beady, black eyes made him feel uneasy, froze his body on the spot. Four noticed the silent interaction and then Legend’s body language, he was slightly concerned for Legend now.

“It’s okay, I’ll take care of it.” Sky spoke as he approached the two heroes and the chicken, a prominent grin on his face that indicated he might have been laughing a little about Legend’s predicament as well.

As the bird enthusiast elected by Hylia herself, Sky had no fear about kneeling down on soft grass right in front of the rooster and looking at it with a friendly expression.

“Hello, little friend. Would you mind coming with me for a second? We won’t harm you.” The skyloftian spoke in a soft voice to the bird.

The cucco turned its head left and right to scan Sky up and down as best as it could, emitting and dragging out a high-pitched noise that lasted a few seconds. Meanwhile, Sky had been moving his hand closer to the animal. The chicken did not seem to have suspected a thing, and if it remained in the same place, Sky would be able to grab it very soon. But just as the knight is already celebrating in his head, the bird seemed to have become wary of the hand getting closer each second, examining the extremity.

In a very unexpected moment, the rooster pecked the brunet’s hand faster than he could have reacted. Strong enough to pull some of the skin on Sky’s palm with its beak, making the young man flinch and pull his hand away from the animal as he grunted in pain. The bird only trotted to somewhere else on the camp and away from the hero, as if nothing had happened and it didn’t leave a mark on the man’s palm that would remain imprinted for a few days.

“And you all were making fun of me for not trusting those things!” Legend exclaimed with a smidge of superiority in his voice now that he had more ammunition against cuccos.

“Calm down, vet. It’s not like the chicken ripped his hand off.” Stated the captain, firmly placing a hand on Legend’s shoulder while Sky could be heard voicing a similar thought to the one that Warriors shared, just not in a mocking manner.

“Why don’t you wait for it to go away? It’s gotta leave at some point.” Suggested the rancher, probably more concerned for the rooster than he was of the veteran.

“Or you could lure it away with some food.” The smith suggested in his usual tone, no longer as entertained by the scene.

Legend’s face couldn’t possible get any more red than it already was due to the mix of embarrassment and frustration.

“Do you two seriously think that-” The veteran brought his hands to his head, gripping his blond locks and ruffling his hair in irritation as he groaned.

And so began a loud back and forth between Legend against Sky, Four and Twilight, who were trying to reason with the vet and calm him down, and the captain, who was really only interested in adding firewood to the violent flames that Legend’s state had become.

Time held his head in his hands with a sigh leaving his lips. Hyrule awkwardly watched everything go down from the spot he was sitting on, but was saved by Wild initiating conversation with him while he cooked. The sailor and Spirit watched from a few feet away, with Wind giggling to himself and the engineer smiling in great amusement.

“Why do ya think the vet’s so afraid of chickens anyway?” Wind directed the question at his successor with a grin from ear to ear.

“I dunno, maybe… maybe a bad experience from childhood?” And it was only until he spoke those words that a pang of guilt hit him.

He almost laughed at Legend’s panicked state earlier, while failing to realize that he might associate the birds with a previously traumatic experience in his life.

“Ya think? But what if something really funny happened to him instead?”

It’s almost as if Wind had read his mind and had tried to cheer up his mood.

“Maybe, you never know.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Spirit spotted the long forgotten chicken again. Who seemed to be heading for the arguing group. The sailor was throwing around possible ideas on why the veteran was deadly afraid of cuccos but the engineer wasn’t there, utterly transfixed as he paid close attention to the bird’s movements. Wind went on for a couple seconds until he noticed the other teen’s eyes not on him; face expressing a puzzled look, wondering what Spirit could be looking at until he followed the general direction the engineer had his eyes on and then he noticed it too.

“… Should we tell him?” Wondered Spirit, watching as the rooster walked with a funny strut towards Legend.

Too late to do anything or for Wind to even reply. The cucco had lightly pecked the veteran on the leg for an unknown reason, Legend’s neck snapped quickly in the direction he felt the tap on and instantly jumped a few meters into the air with a yelp; not realizing that he was gripping Warriors’s tunic for dear life as he tried to scare away the chicken by flailing his leg. The cucco did not flee, instead, it felt challenged and jumped at Legend’s leg with its feet out in attack.

Attention was back on the group and this time it was impossible for everyone to stop their laughter. Twilight wheezed from his comfortable spot on a log as he watched the show, a few others slapped a hand to their mouth to stiffle their sounds, Wind was on the forest floor openly laughing, hell, even the old man was clearly enjoying it.

The captain would have laughed too if he didn’t have to keep his balance and had Legend not accidentally hit him on the face during the commotion from earlier. Even if Spirit had felt bad about getting a few chuckles from the veteran’s misfortune, he had to admit that he found the current situation more humorous than the last and now he laughed openly as well.

Half a minute passes and it doesn’t look like it’s gonna get any better, with Legend still clutching the captain’s clothing and close to the brink of screaming as the cucco keeps launching itself to attack. Spirit was the first to recover from laughter and chose to help, standing up and taking the Spirit Flute in his hands. Having walked towards the edge of the camp, he brings the instrument close to his lips.

The amount of practice he’s had become apparent as he expertly blew into the pipes to create a beautiful, soft melody. Spirit enjoyed himself as he played a sequence of notes he knew all too well, one of his favorite songs. The forest was quickly filled by the Spirit Flute’s sound, reaching every corner and delighting anyone that heard the music. It was a short melody, it was over sooner than he realized, everyone’s eyes on him the entire time.

“What was that for?” Asked Wind with big, curious eyes.

Spirit made a motion with his hand as a way to communicate ‘Wait’ as he put away the flute, and that reply seemed to please the sailor judging by his body language. Meanwhile, Legend was relieved to finally see the cucco not focusing on him and instead, run to where the engineer was standing. Spirit looked at the bird with a smile as he slowly lowered his body and picked up the chicken without any difficulty, hearing several sounds of surprise come from the other heroes right after.

A few seconds after and one of the forest birds comfortably perched atop Spirit’s head, then it was another bird on his shoulder, and then another taking a spot on his other shoulder, and then a brown bird watching from a nearby branch.

Wind watched the spectacle with stars on his eyes, believing it was the coolest thing ever.

“Wow! I didn’t know you could do that!” The sailor cautiously extended his hand towards one of the birds on the engineer’s shoulders, and when he noticed the avian didn’t feel threatened, he pet the animal with pure glee.

Sky joined the pair of younger heroes with the same interest Wind had shown.

“Mind teaching me how to play that, Spirit?” The brunet, too, pet one of the birds resting on the train conductor.

“Sure!” Replied Spirit with a grin, excited at the thought of spending more time with Sky in the future.

Meanwhile, the other heroes still at camp had gone back to their business, although Legend and Warriors were still having a quarrel about the mishap from earlier; Time could only pray that they would both stop soon, before he had to step in.

The argument stopped abruptly, but it was due to a reason no one could have predicted. Warriors and Legend remained silent as they heard more cucco sounds in the distance, getting closer each second. One chicken popped out from the vegetation and ran at the engineer with great speed, making Legend jump from and he was back to death-gripping the captain’s tunic. Warriors was about to make a mocking remark but another cucco appeared from behind him, flying high enough to collide with his head, making him squeal and run his hands through his hair as if to make sure the bird didn’t get stuck there.

Legend was about to begin laughing at the captain’s misfortune until a multitude of chicken sounds from deep within the forest were heard; one cucco ran past them, then another one, and another one and next time they blinked a horde of chickens was making their way through the camp towards Spirit. Legend was screaming bloody murder as he and Warriors held on to each other for dear life while they watched the birds invade their space more than they were comfortable with.

Wind gasped in surprise as he witnessed the chickens forming an organized line one behind the other and stood before Spirit. Sky and everyone else were just as amazed at what had just happened. Several Links approached the trio and avians with newly peaked interest, while the engineer sighed and then giggled at the sight of that many cuccos.

“Guess I’ll have to find all of you a new home.” Spirit held the rooster from earlier in front of him with a grin.

A/N: God this was so dumb lol. Also don't worry guys, Legend just watched a monster hit a cucco once upon a time and witnessed how said monster got disintegrated for doing so, he never got harmed. It was a similar experience for Warriors.

#linked universe #lu spirit #lu legend #lu wind #lu sky #lu four #lu warriors #lu twilight #lu time #lu hyrule #lu wild #cosmic writing

[bluevaractyl]

Courage comes in many forms

From this post

Link followed the grateful woman inside and stepped into the hidden tunnel in the back of the house, well used to the ritual of it all by now. At the bottom of the steps, an Old Man waited, kindly eyes peeking out from his long white beard. He gestured Link forward.

The Old Man said solemnly, “I will teach you the Fairy spell. It will allow you to reach high and narrow places and evade capture by the monsters who seek you.”

He raised his rod and murmured a word in the tongue of magic. There was a bright flash and a rush of heat. Link shook off the familiar dizziness and opened his eyes. He blinked. Something seemed off. Had the Old Man’s robe been that shade of red before? He suddenly registered how tall the Old Man was. Wait a second—

Link looked down and let out a squawk of surprise. Instead of his green tunic and brown boots, he found white feathers and clawed yellow feet.  

“Oh dear. It happened again,” said the Old Man, sounding mildly put out. Link tilted his head back to look up at him incredulously.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he cried, but all that came out was another squawk.

The Old Man watched him for a moment, stroking his beard, then shrugged, turned on his heel, and inexplicably disappeared.

Link spluttered a moment and shouted at the empty air, “HEY, WAIT! You can’t just—SIR, I NEED YOU TO FIX THIS!” The distressed cucco noises did not bring the Old Man back.

Link huffed, which resulted in a soft clucking sound. He wasn’t really worried, since the spells always wore off after a while, but he had really been looking forward to an easier way to get around. Unless...

He turned his head and was pleasantly surprised to find he could see his own back with little effort. Having a wider range of vision would certainly be useful for keeping monsters from sneaking up on him. He lifted his wings and gave a tentative flap. There was no way he could get off the ground with them, but perhaps he could glide?

Link gave an experimental hop. He gathered himself, broke into an awkward run, and leapt as high as his short legs could manage, flapping madly. At the last second, the air caught in his feathers and lifted his wings. Then he crashed into the ground.

Well, it seemed there was a chance this spell could be useful after all. He couldn’t fit through any keyholes as a cucco, but there were still places he could reach that he’d otherwise be too big for, and he could already think of several places in his journey when gliding would have been handy. Part of him still hoped the cucco thing was a fluke, of course—maybe the Old Man had put emphasis on the wrong syllable, or he hadn’t been focused enough—but if not, he could make this work.

~

Two days later, Link was a lot less sure he could make this work.

He caught his breath on the rocky ledge of the cave and gazed across at the opposite side. His target, another protrusion barely large enough to stand on, taunted him. It was too far to reach as a hylian; even with the Jump spell, he wasn’t sure he could make it, and the consequences for missing were dire. He considered himself quite good at falling safely, but there was no safe way to fall that far.

Hence, the Fairy spell. Or rather, the Cucco spell, as it had unfortunately been taught to him.

This would be so much easier if he could fly, he thought mournfully. He idly preened his chest feathers and eyed the distance again. He took a few steps backwards to give himself space for a running start. Then, he charged forward, wings pumping, and leapt into the air. There was a heart-stopping moment where he thought he hadn’t pushed off hard enough, and then he was scrabbling up onto the rock. His small heart beat fast at the near-miss.

While Link wasn’t worried about landing safely as a cucco, he really didn’t want to have to climb all the way back up. It had taken several hours to get to this point. He determinedly avoided looking down as he looked for his next perch. Spotting a promising-looking shelf, he shuffled back, jumped into the air, and easily landed on it. Suddenly, the stone under his talons gave away, sending him plummeting downward. He managed to open his wings and right himself in time to make it to the ledge he had left moments before. With a croaky groan of frustration, Link plopped himself down on the rock and tucked his head under his wing, since he currently had no hands to bury his face in.

Hopelessness rose up, threatening to drown him. He felt small and insignificant and lonely. Could he really do this? Surely there was someone stronger and braver and better suited to the task. He tried to picture walking away from it all: from Princess Zelda, from her sleeping ancestor in the palace, from the townspeople, from the monsters, from Hyrule itself...but he couldn’t. He loved the land and the people too much to abandon them. He could help, so he would.

New resolve filled Link. Perhaps there was someone out there who would be better at all of this, but Impa had asked him, and he wasn’t going to give up now. He got to his feet, sized up the distance, and continued.

~

Linked Universe Bonus:

Hyrule joined the others gathered at the edge, careful not to knock anyone off balance. In the darkness, he could just make out the glint of a golden key. Twilight was looking for somewhere to anchor his clawshot to swing over the chasm to it. Legend seemed to be debating whether his hookshot could pull it over to them. Wild didn't understand why they needed the key in the first place.

Hyrule ignored them all in favor of carefully judging the distance and height between the platforms. With a sigh, he drew up his magic and spoke the magic word. He settled into the familiar feathered form and launched himself off the ledge. Bewildered shouts sounded behind him, but he focused on gliding straight. Backwinging to slow down, he landed lightly and grasped the key in his beak. Then he flew back, wobbling a bit from the extra weight, and inelegantly landed before the astonished heroes.

Concentrating, Hyrule let go of the spell and returned to hylian. Everyone started shouting questions, but Time looked him in the eye and clasped his shoulder firmly. As the din died down, he said seriously, “Good thinking, Traveler. Nothing ruffles your feathers.”

@zolanort @ladye-zelda

#this feels out of character but that was kind of inevitable #please enjoy the most ridiculous thing I've ever written #blue writes #Zelda II: The Adventure of Link #legend of zelda #adventure of link #linked universe

[skyloftian-nutcase]

A Feathery Encounter (Dad Squad)

The stables were by far Rusl's favorite part of Abel's world... at least the ones that were somewhat functional. It gave him a little piece of home, though it made his heart ache because oh how Link would adore these places.

Rusl found his heart heavy once more, riddled with worry for his boy. He tried to push past it as best as possible. Link was a strong young man, and though Rusl was absolutely doing everything in his power to find him, he had to remind himself that Link was a capable fighter on his own as well.

But if those Yiga hurt a hair on his head... or pelt...

"A what?"

Rusl turned as he listened to the gossip of the few travelers in the area. Most of Abel's Hyrule was fairly desolate, but this one stable was known to be the most visited in the entire country. They'd headed here in the hopes of getting some intel since it would be a haven for people from all over Hyrule, each of whom might have some different information for them.

"I'm telling you, it's true!" the other person said to her companion. "The cucco actually spoke! The rumors were true! This was so worth the journey."

Rusl furrowed his brow. A talking cucco? What?

"I need to go talk to it too!" her companion announced excitedly. "I hear its prophecies are always true!"

A prophetic talking cucco??

Rusl watched the pair rush up a hill, tracing their path towards a large tree. A distinct clucking emitted from just in front of it, though the small crowd gathered there made the cucco impossible to see.

Well. It certainly wasn't the strangest thing that Rusl had encountered. The Ordonian headed to the other side of the stable where Abel and Fierce were quietly eating some food Rusl had forced into their hands. It was already apparent that Abel was quickly slipping into an exhausted and food-driven nap, barely able to hold himself up. Rusl really wanted to let his friend sleep, but this phenomenon required investigating. It could potentially give them a lead, assuming it was true.

"Have you heard of a clairvoyant cucco?" Rusl asked.

Abel froze mid bite and stared at him, brow furrowing in a manner that quite clearly said what the actual hell did you just say.

He supposed he hadn't heard of it, then.

"Is it your golden cucco?" Fierce questioned curiously.

Rusl laughed. "Oh, no, she isn't clairvoyant, just strong as an Ordonian goat."

Abel remained motionless as if he were still trying to process Rusl's first statement.

"The folk here are talking about it," Rusl explained before his friend's mind shorted out. "They say there's a cucco that can talk and tell prophecy. Everyone's flocking here for answers."

The joke immediately went over the deity's head, as predicted, but it at least spurred Abel to unfreeze. The former knight straightened instead, lowering his food to his bowl, though the look of utter bemusement hadn't faded.

"Perhaps it can guide us in finding the yoga performers," Fierce suggested, rising.

"They're not--never mind," Abel tried to say before sighing heavily.

Rusl was going to offer to investigate the matter himself; he simply wanted them to be informed. Nevertheless, both Fierce and Abel followed him to the hill where people had gathered. The warrior god clearly didn't understand the concept of a line and walked by everyone, and though some threw him annoyed looks, no one dared speak to the massive otherworldly man. Rusl gave an apologetic smile as he followed him, while Abel had the look of a man who would prefer the sweet embrace of death over investigating a talking cucco.

"Why don't you try to get some sleep?" Rusl offered to his friend.

"Oh no," Abel replied dully. "I have to see this."

The clucking grew ever louder until Rusl saw Fierce approach the seemingly normal-looking cucco. The bird watched him a moment before flapping its feathers excitedly.

"Thou hast come," came a strange voice from the cucco, though its beak didn't quite move in sync.

Rusl and Abel stared.

"It does talk," Rusl commented aloud in wonder. "Ha! Maybe it can help us, after all."

"This doesn't... this is..." Abel muttered, clearly trying to wrap his mind around the situation.

Rusl laughed, patting him on the back. "The world is filled with far more strange wonders than you can imagine, friend."

Fierce cocked his head to the side. "You carry a strange magic to you, feathered one."

"I am a sage of prophecy," the cucco answered. "Thou must comprehend that I can give thee what thou seekest."

This cucco kind of spoke like the light spirits. Rusl stepped forward hopefully. "Do you protect this land?"

"I do," the cucco replied.

"I'd love to see it fight a guardian," Abel grumbled.

"Thou seekest... a Hero," the cucco said slowly, immediately garnering the men's attention.

"Yes!" Rusl immediately confirmed. "Do you know where they are?"

"For thou to gain such knowledge, thou must complete trials," the cucco pronounced gravely. "Dost thou wish to continue?"

"Speak," Fierce commanded, crossing his arms.

"The first trial... is to feed all the horses in the allotted time."

The men stared. That... was a trial? What?

Rusl glanced at the stable and back at the cucco. He supposed, sage or not, the little feathered creature was just a cucco. Its priorities would likely be different than his own. Not that he didn't mind feeding horses, but... that was supposed to be a trial?

"Prepare thyself."

Rusl turned as the cucco gave them their time limit and counted down. As he quickly made his way back to the stable, he saw that Abel remained behind while Fierce accompanied the blacksmith.

"What sort of trial is this?" Fierce thought aloud. "It tests very little of our abilities."

Rusl shrugged. "I suppose its intelligence only stretches... so... far..."

Honestly, the more he thought about it, the less sense it made. The light spirits were no fools, after all. Nevertheless, they completed the trial quickly enough, though Fierce's offering to 'gather all the horses together to feed them faster' was quickly shot down as Rusl did not want to watch the strange man haul horses singlehandedly into the air to pile them together.

When the pair returned to the cucco, Abel was waiting with his arms crossed, and he cut them off.

"I know what's going on," he hissed quietly. "This is a Yiga trick."

"You think everything is a Yiga trick," Rusl pointed out. "I'll admit this is odd, but it's at least worth inspecting."

"Yoga performers do not have this magic," Fierce assured him.

"They're not--" Abel cut himself off, frustrated. "You know what, just watch."

Storming over to the cucco, Abel glared at it. "Oh great sage, I have a question for you."

The cucco clucked noncommittally.

"Do you like bananas?"

"Oh! I adore bananas!" the cucco immediately answered, its voice pitching in excitement. "They are the most blessed of all food!"

Abel looked pointedly at the pair.

"That... what?" Rusl stared at Abel, confused. Sure, a cucco liking some food he'd never heard of was different, but what in the world was Abel getting at?

"What do you mean what?!" Abel snapped, gesturing irritably at the innocent bird. "Don't you understand?!"

"We have completed the task," Fierce said instead, looking at the cucco as he gently plucked Abel out of the way, making the man hiss expletives his way and flail helplessly in the air, held in place by the back of his tunic. "Give us the information we seek."

"Oh, that's it!" Abel finally yelled, pulling out a bow and arrow.

Rusl yelled at his friend, trying to stop him from slaying a harmless cucco, but he loosed the arrow just as Fierce jerked him away. The knight really was erratic, attacking people (and now animals) at random. Thankfully, the deity's quick motion prevented the arrow from hitting its mark, but the bird jumped nonetheless.

And then vanished in a puff of smoke and red paper.

Rusl finally felt his patience growing thin. "Could you not attack everyone who isn't us?!"

"It's Yiga!" Abel snapped. "Now put me down, dammit!"

A laugh rung through the air, setting Rusl on edge, and immediately four people dressed in red--

Dressed in red. Like the attackers from before.

Fierce immediately dropped Abel as the knight drew his sword, and Rusl followed suit quickly. They dispatched the attackers swiftly, who left behind ruppees and yellow fruit in their wake.

"Those... weren't the performers from Clock Town," Fierce finally said.

"That's because they're not yoga performers." Abel said exasperatedly as he picked up the treasure. "They're Yiga traitors, and they're the ones who took my son."

"They're on to us, then," Rusl figured. Staring at the yellow fruit, he asked hesitantly, "Are those bananas?"

Abel shot him a flat look. "Yes. They are. Glad you have your priorities straight. The good thing about this is that it means we're close. They usually travel alone if they're venturing far from their base."

Fierce glanced off into the distance. "Then we should keep moving before their leaders notice their absence."

Rusl nodded in agreement, glancing a little worriedly at where the cucco had been. He had no idea how they could disguise themselves as such an animal, so he hoped they weren't actually abusing a cucco to use it as bait. When he saw no animal in sight, he figured it did indeed have to be some sort of magic disguise, and he sighed.

This place was stranger than he thought. Perhaps Abel's paranoia was... somewhat warranted. But at least now they had a lead.

I'm coming, Link.

#this is what happens when totk insanity inspires me #that game is just so delightful #so spoilers technically for a silly little side mission #I'm not tagging it officially though because like... it's a yiga chicken. I don't think that spoils any of the main story stuff LOL #it's just yiga antics XD #writing #Dad Squad #rusl #abel #fierce dadity #Rusl: so uh there's a talking chicken #Fierce: cool let's talk to it #Abel: *brain short circuiting*

[link-is-a-dork]

Cucco?: "*cluck* *cluuuck* *cluck* Thy name... What is thy name? Ah, I sense it. You are...Link. And you're searching for someone... Ah, yes... Princess Zelda. "I know all. "And what I know...is that thou wilt face trials that will reveal much to you. So...will thou take these trials?"

#Legend of Zelda Series #tears of the kingdom #cucco #link #totk link #botw/totk cucco #birds #animals #video game animals #nintendo #nintendo switch #character dialogue #2023 #screenshot #liad post #a chicken is a good animal for the yiga to transform into if you go by the american interpretation of chickens being cowardly #no shade really i love the yiga but theyre so dumb lol #liad.txt

[only-by-the-stars]

TotK is so frustrating because there are genuinely several things I would love to incorporate into fics (mostly items, but also some NPCs and a handful of concepts and little areas), but Unfortunately the Plot. if it was just mediocre, that'd be one thing, but it's so disconnected from BOTW and so disjointed from itself that I'm at a loss for how I'd even begin to salvage it without doing something else that barely resembles it. at that point I might as well come up with my own plot, you know?

what I'm gonna end up doing is just... taking all those little scraps and working them into various AUs. like the Adventure Time one, for instance. that one's the most ripe, I think, for a lot of this.

hmm. gonna make a list, I think, under a cut.

first of all, let's not lie to ourselves: 'secret passageway under the castle that contains long-concealed/sealed Horrors' is a banger of a concept. unfortunately. unfortunately this was not executed as well as it could've been. I would love to do something neat with this sometime. I think it would fit especially well in the AT AU as stated. perhaps even with a take on those nuclear warnings.

Penn was a genuinely entertaining new NPC and I enjoyed the Lucky Clover Gazette chain of sidequests for the most part. like, could've done without the stuff setting up Zelda as being omni-talented and so super special (it really flattens her character, you know? such amateurish writing), but the concept of investigating rumors for a newspaper was fun. also the All-Clucking Cucco one was hilarious.

the Stable Trotters were so charming! I really liked this sidequest chain too.

the Stormwind Ark was actually kinda cool too, gave me Skies of Arcadia vibes. I wonder if I could do anything with it...

I want to stress, before I go any further, that if you've read or are planning to read my fic Song of a Champion... Yunobo using the Boulder Breaker and Riju using scimitars are things I had planned before the trailer revealing this was a thing in TotK. it is yet another entertaining instance of me predicting/guessing things correctly. xD

if I ever do anything with a version of the Depths, they're gonna have more, well, depth. they should've had settlements, or at least the ruins of them, or... something, you know? love the concept, meh on the execution. :/

same with the sky islands. and the explanation for the Great Sky Island in that one sidequest there was... really not satisfying, sadly. deffo something I could toy with and improve on.

Hyrulean pizza. 'nuff said. I applaud wholeheartedly the decision to give us cheese and tomatoes and let us make one of the greatest culinary creations known to mankind.

I'm iffy on the mushroom fashion/additions to Hateno, but I like the idea of Cece opening a shop in Hateno and selling some of those new outfits I like. I especially liked the sets based on the three dragons, this would be a neat way to get them on Link in that SoaC follow-up I wanna do. especially because Mipha NEEDS to see him in the slutty ones

if I ever do a version of the episode Wizards Only, Fools for the AT AU, the Depths outfit would make a neat disguise to get Link in.

obviously I plan to have AT Link lose his arm. obviously.

the wells and caves were pretty fun. though I do wish there'd been something genuinely creepy at the bottom of at least one well...

the Desert Rift is something that I would love to put into the desert area in the AT AU, it has tons of potential. I definitely have Ideas.

I really want to have Mipha and Link go to the salt spa in Lurelin as a couples' thing. it's a small thing, but I think it'd be cute.

I do actually enjoy weapon fusion and I think those magic rods/staves in particular would be a neat addition to some AUs.

almost every enemy was a great addition to the roster (I say almost because THOSE ARE NOT PROPER GIBDOS I AM STILL MAD ABOUT THIS). hopefully the next game will have even more things to fight (I especially want ReDeads and ACTUAL Poes back).

speaking of Poes, I just. sigh. so many interesting things that could've been done there, that just... weren't. at bare minimum, if they were adamant about making them a form of currency, it would've been more fun to bring back the Poe Collector than have those statues. I want to work him into the AT AU (and I have ideas that kinda meld how Poes worked in past games with this one, I just need to sit and nail them down).

back on foodstuffs, I liked all the new ingredients. I already worked golden apples into Under a Strange Moon, and I'd love to find uses for the elemental fruits somewhere too. stambulbs and sundelions are neat too, as are the new pumpkin, the oil, and the mushroom and fish that make you glow.

on the less edible side, puffshrooms and especially muddle buds were a LOT of fun to play with.

on the "dubiously edible" side (because you can turn these into elixirs but not straight up FOOD), I really like the design of the deep fireflies. the sticky frogs and lizards were also really handy!

brightbloom seeds/flowers could be neat to use too...

that's all I can think of for now, but I'm sure I'm forgetting something

#loz #totk salt #it's not all negativity though? #like there are things i genuinely like and want to work with #it's just... the Other Stuff. you know. #but finding potential in otherwise not so great things is kinda my brand

[totkdaily]

Day 53: The All-Clucking Cucco, and Koltin

The researchers at Foothill Stable are grateful to be clothed again. Jora says he still can't find his friend Dillie - they lost track of each other round Rebonae Bridge, near Wetland Stable to the south west. From what Jora says, it sounds like Dillie might have fallen in a cave. I'll keep an eye out, but I'm not headed that way for a while - I hope he's got rations. 

The korok up the hill by the stable is trying to reach a friend who's basically on the way to Akkala, just up the road. I hitch up Peaches to the stable's cart, load up the korok and set off. 

The old monster camp by the Akkala Road is empty - because they're on the bridge now!! Good grief. I charge Peaches through and we race for the stable. 

We reach South Akkala Stable just as a storm blows in. I give Addison a hand. 

Jana in the stable is preoccupied by a drawing of a beast on the wall. It's supposed to be this mystery beast I've heard about once or twice before. I don't know what to make of it.

Jana also mentions that her little sister Gleema is fascinated with a cucco oracle - whatever that is. What is it with this family and creatures - last time I was here, I think it was Gleema who wanted a bunch of dragonflies. 

Dmitri, who runs the stable, wants a picture of the Unity Bell in Tarrey Town. There's a tradition that two people who ring it will be together forever. His four daughters would love it - and I'm headed there.

Kaifa is another of his daughters, caring for the sheep. But she's lost a cucco - not the prophecy one, apparently - and it won't lay eggs unless one of the family is nearby. 

Penn is here! He's got no leads, and he wants to try the cucco prophecy to get some - or at least interview the people who come to see it. 

Kaifa's cucco is in the well - but I can't figure out how to get her out. 

Tenne is taking care of the horses - she wants to go to Tarrey Town one day and order a dream home. But first she wants a partner with kind eyes who knows how to bake - she hopes hanging the Unity Bell picture will help her dating life. Sweet.

After beating Parcy in an ore-smashing contest, I head up the hill to this cucco oracle. 

Gleema says horseys, not bugs, is her new interest. She wants to ask the All-Clucking Cucco if she'll be a horse one day, but the line is too long. 

Fashionista Falmark says he heard Cece was influenced by someone in Tarrey Town - maybe Hudson's wife? He stopped here to see the oracle, and the cucco told him there was treasure on a remote island in the northeast. He hopes this means clothes, but I think clothes being treasure is specifically a Misko thing. Unless this is a lead to one of Misko's chests? It's such a vague clue.

Lonnie is the only person still in the queue, but she needs more time to think and lets me go first. 

The cucco knows my name, and that I'm seeking Zelda, but that's hardly a secret. It says I will face many trials - the first of which is to get to the top of the Stable.

It takes me a second to find a place to ascend, but I do, and reach the top.

The second trial is… bring logs.

And the third is - the Yiga Clan! It's been so long! I'd almost forgotten about them, I can't believe they're still knocking about. I survive the ambush, and agree with Penn's assessment - the All-Clucking Cucco was nothing more than a Yiga scam. I wonder what it was supposed to achieve… 

It's pouring down. I think about heading into the stable for the night - but then I turn to check the skyline and see the familiar glow of Kilton's balloon, just past Ulri Mountain Skyview Tower. Except that he gave it to Koltin, didn't he? If that guy's still looking for bubbulfrog gems, I have plenty for him. I run and glide through the rain, ignoring the tower for the moment in case I miss the window and Koltin picks up for the night. I'm not sure what his schedule's like.

He gives me a moblin mask and tells me he can sense nearby bubbulfrogs now he's eaten some of their gems - strange that he still can't seem to catch any of them himself. He gives me three hinox toenails, the mystic robe, eight fire keese eyeballs, a lizalfos mask and five ice-breath lizalfos tails before I run out of gems for him.

I can see Tarrey Town from here. And it looks as though another town has sprung up on the banks of the lake below? 

I head back to the tower as dawn approaches. It would be silly to be so close and not to activate it.

#totkdaily #day 53 #first yiga sighting! #i'd honestly forgotten about them apart from in the depths #totk #loz #zelda #legend of zelda

[mellotchi]

Bless the all clucking cucco

#tears of the kingdom #tloz #botw totk #the legend of zelda #cucco #loz cucco #digital art

[pocketseizure]

I was waiting for you to open the asks to ask this question, what was your favorite part in Tears of the kingdom?

I love all of Penn’s “Potential Princess Sightings” quests! My favorite is “The Beckoning Woman” at Outskirts Stable, but “The All-Clucking Cucco” at South Akkala Stable is a close second. The Yiga Clan are not-so-secretly the stars of Tears of the Kingdom.

Because I will do anything for Master Kohga, I’ve also been spending a lot of time exploring the Depths. I feel that this area doesn’t live up to its full potential, but it’s fun to wander around the underworld while taking notes on its representation of paleobotany and formulating theories about the Bargainer Statues.

#TotK spoilers #asks #thanks for the ask anon!

[randomwriteronline]

part of @cantankerouscanuck's Bionicle/LU AU

The whispers had already been... Peculiar enough.

After all, as Dusk had pointed out to her deeply puzzled when Midna had casually mentioned some up and coming Cucco magnate had established her company in an abandoned factory near the outskirts of the biggest Steltian city, who in the name of Karzhani bases an up-and-coming industrial empire solely on a species of mostly flightless and often temperamental bird-like Rahi?

The following investigation had then revealed that the base of operation of the misterious "Cucco Mistress" was no less bizarre than her franchising plan.

For starters most of the structure seemed completely untouched from its previous terrible condition, courtesy of a horrid accident involving volatile chemicals, twelve unsafe power cables, safety exits the doors of which were operated via electrical current, and a tendency to cut corners by using material that was barely above waste level for the building's construction.

Furthermore, the various half-hazarded patches in missing walkways or walls or pavements were also noticeably nest-like, implying the architects bethind such avantgarde maintenance were the Cuccos themselves - a hypothesis partially corroborated by the fact that no male Vortixx worked around, on or in the factory and that the place was positively overrun with endless swarms of the small apparently inoffensive Rahi, which no doubt functioned not only as renovation crew but also a well trained and bloodthirsty security corp.

They were certainly very thorough in their search when they stopped the two females before they could enter, gently pecking at Vortixx and Toa alike to sus out anything suspicious the two of them could have carried.

Dusk's presence had however seemed to put them at ease, and the pair had been allowed to advance safely.

Midna decided to just accept that without question.

As some Matoran say, you don't look a gift Ussal crab in the mouth.

Their journey up to the supposed office was an arduous one, more for the accidental environmental hazard than the surprisingly docile Rahi themselves, who mostly clucked around and minded their business while expanding their nests.

Their surprisingly mild-mannered behaviour was perhaps the thing that put the Vortixx most on edge: to tame such a large swarm of beasts known for being able to level a small town with the same fightening ease of a Mana-Ko, or even a Tahtorak, one had to be either formidable, deranged, or formidably deranged. And she had no idea which one of those was the worst to be up against.

Just in case, she grazed Dusk's arm in a silent heed to be cautious and ready for anything.

The Toa did not turn her violet eye to meet her gaze, but she did subtly strengthen her grip around the costum made Rhotuka Cannon hanging from her back, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

A Cucco with a subtle golden sheen to its body perked up as they approached what seemed to be the only door in the whole building: it craned its flexible neck left, then right, to get a good look at them, bubbling a few clucks as if interrogating the few of its brethren that had followed the two females up until this point.

At last it straightened and crowed so loudly that the sound shook the entire structure hard enough to make the walls wobble.

"Come in!" an imperious voice called.

Oh, this was no Vortixx. She was definitely trying to sound like one, imitating their confident tone, but there was a slightly trembling quality to it which betrayed a little anxiety that no serpentine being worth her salt would have allowed herself to display.

Midna and Dusk inhaled deeply, steeling their nerves.

Whether through diplomacy or violence, they'd both be getting out of there in one piece.

The Cucco pecked the door open for them, and the magnate turned.

She was trying to shove what seemed like a modified disk launcher under what could only be described as a desk carpet - since it very much was just a chunk of an old thick carpet slapped on top of a makeshift desk held together with... A few miracles, probably, seeing the lack of any screws or glue of any kind - in a poor attempt at hiding it while appearing perfectly relaxed and at ease. The failure was evident, as they'd clearly caught her by surprise: as Midna had predicted, this unprepared mess was the furthest thing from a Vortixx one could expect.

In fact, she was a Toa.

One of colors Midna had frankly yet to see.

She narrowed her twilight eyes and flashed the Kakama-wearing magnate a grin: "Good evening, fellow entrepreneuresse," she drawled amiably.

The Toa coughed to clear her throat: "Good evening! What, what brings you, uh, here? To my - humble, beginnings?"

"Curiosity," Midna replied - which was true. "Your venture is quite the... Unusual one. You offer services of Rahi taming, I understand, considering your entourage?"

"Uh, no, just - well, yes, but only - only Cuccos."

"An excellent choice. Small, incospicuous, known for coming in large numbers... A bonafide army at your lucky client's disposal. Ah," and she elegantly gestured over at Dusk, who stood perfectly still by her side, mismatched crimson eye gleaming softly in the penumbra: "You don't mind my bodyguard watching over my visit, do you now?"

The supposed magnate nodded a bit too quickly, sparing the Toa of Twilight a glance. Then she blinked, and turned to look at her sister better: she squinted behind her mask, bent her neck forward, tilted her head...

"Dusk?" she finally asked, baffled.

Dusk squinted back at her.

Reaching out with her Psionic powers, she rummaged briefly through her sister's memories and thoughts.

Then suddenly her eyes went wide with recognition: "Linkle?"

"Yeah?" the other Toa nodded: "What are you doing here?"

Midna coughed with a sound that was closer to a growl: "I'm sorry, you know each other?"

"We trained together a while, spent time in the same fortress - what are you doing here!" Dusk replied. "The last time I saw you, you were supposed to go to a mission on Zakaz!"

"I did!"

"Did you?"

"I mean - I did leave for Zakaz, I didn't really reach it-"

"What - Linkle, Zakaz is north-west of Stelt, several kio north-west. You mean to tell me that you've been here for seven hundred years and you had no idea?"

"I didn't just stay here!" Linkle replied, almost offended. "The road there was long!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that the road there was long! The map was a mess so I had to rely on the compass, and then there was this misty island that messed up my navigation at one point, too - but they did have a really pretty city and delicious food, it was great, they let me stay there a week or so before I went on - and then in the islands I ended up there was always some kind of problem so I stuck around to help, and then I heard there might be a need for Toa back in Hyrule, and my brother, Warriors, you remember him?, he might be there? I think? So I thought to go there, but I told you, the map was a mess, so I just, you know..."

Dusk pinched the portion of her mask between her eye sockets: "You based your navigation on nothing but your compass?"

"Of course! What's wrong with that?"

"You're a Toa of Magnetism--"

"Magnetism?" Midna tried to interrupt.

"--Your powers are almost designed to mess with it, of course you never got to Zakaz!"

"My powers don't do anything to my compass!"

"You got lost, didn't you?"

"Yes, but it's not for -- and what's with you anyways? With all the dark marks and the red eye and stuff? Also is that a cannon? Can I try it?"

"Magnetism?"

Caught between two fires, Dusk held out a hand to stop the slightly younger Toa from chewing her audio receptor off, grabbed Midna with the other, and dragged the Vortixx into a corner.

"She is a Toa of Magnetism?" said being continued to think extremely loudly, eyes blown wide. "You know a Toa of Magnetism? You knew one this whole time? Do you know how few of those there are out there? She's a collector's piece! That's how few there are! In the entire universe! I've seen fellow Xians engineer weapons to kill them with! I've been at those weapons' testings!"

"Maybe don't tell her right to her face," Dusk whispered through their telepathic link, hoping she could keep her calm.

That hope proved to be in vain when the Vortixx silently shook her by the shoulders: "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for her to be here?! Even more than Xia?! How many beings would jump at the opportunity of killing her or incapacitating her to sell her to the highest bidder?! Oh, Mata Nui, of course she has all these Cuccos around her all the time, she'd never survive otherwise!"

"No, the Cuccos are just a thing she does."

"They're what?"

"It's a whole - she's always done this, it's not important right now. Midna, listen--"

"What do you mean she's always done this?!"

"It's like a hobby of hers. Midna--"

"A hobby?! She tames Cuccos as a hobby?!"

The Toa wrapped her hand around the befuddled Vortixx's long snout, using thin shadowy tendrils to hold it shut - despite the fact that, due to their conversation being completely telepathic, it was effectively completely useless to do so.

"Midna," she thought sternly into her head: "We need to go with her."

Midna blinked.

"Why?" she dared to ask.

"Because if we leave her to her sense of direction, she is going to get lost again. With her luck she might walk all the way into Karzhani. You said it yourself, she is endangered - here and everywhere else. Are you going to leave what is maybe the last Fa-Toa to die because she can't read a map?"

From Linkle's perspective, some wordless and incredibly sapphic thing was happening in a corner of her would-be office and she was awkwardly wondering if it would have been rude to shush her more curious Cuccos out of the room before they grew interested in the intense if perfectly quiet exchange going on right in front of her and tried to get a better read on the situation by pecking at the parties involved, who very likely would have not enjoyed being interrupted.

In short, she would have liked to be elsewhere.

She was as such very relieved when whatever that was ended and the two females turned back to her, perfectly composed.

"So you're not planning on staying, if I understand," Midna inquired.

"Uh... No, not really," Linkle nodded back at her. "As I said, Hyrule... My brother... You know..."

The Vortixx hummed: "Well, we won't be staying too long around here, either," she said in a casual tone. He bodyguard replied to her sideways glance with one of her own, complicity crackling between their thoughts. "Perhaps you could give us a lift to newer shores. Let's see - how would you like a cannon like Dusk's as payment?"

#bionicle #linked universe #midna #dusk lu #linkle #random writing #WOMEN. YOU AGREE. REBLOG

[linklewinklewoman]

@yigahideout9 [ foot soldier] what's this? It would seem there is an apparently magical Cucco standing before Linkle so everybody says. " Cluck cluck, You are Linkle a farmer girl. " not suspicious at all not at all they are time to mess with her.

"You guys suck at this. The cucco isn't even paying attention to me and mind talking isn't out loud."

[ghirahimbo]

Fictober 2022 Day 12: "You're making my head hurt."

Word count warning: this is about 2800 words long. I don't know why ;-;

Genfic, post-BotW. No warnings apply. The Champions have moved on after Calamity Ganon's defeat—or so everyone thought.

[ao3 link]

--

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in—

"You're making my head hurt," Purah muttered.

Dimly, Link thought he knew the feeling. He could feel the dull, undeniable signs of a headache pulsing to life just at the base of his eyes, exacerbated by the heavy scent of incense hanging in the air. Still, he tried to let it all float unexamined through his mind as he'd been instructed—Purah, the headache, the incense, and his own increasingly dour thoughts.

Breathe in. Breathe—

"Now you know how the rest of us feel on a regular basis," Impa murmured dryly, though not without patience. Link suspected that waiting for a hundred years for a swordsman in a cave to wake up had wrung out whatever impatience she'd once possessed. "Perhaps you have been six for too long if you can no longer sit with your own thoughts for even as short a time as that."

Link’s brow furrowed, and he attempted to block them out. Another few moments passed, and then—

"What is this supposed to accomplish, anyway?"

"This is for Link’s benefit," Impa reminded Purah softly. "Not yours."

"It's not working," Link muttered, his eyes flying open abruptly. The incense was too heavy in his nose now to float anywhere, and he could feel the warm, wooden panels of Impa's home pressing in on him. "Sorry. It's nobody's fault, I just—I need some air."

He limped a bit standing up, his leg gone numb from sitting for so long. The Sheikah must have had some special way of meditating on those thin cushions for hours at a time, but Link still didn't have the trick of it down. 

Not looking to see who, if anyone, followed after him, Link made a beeline for the large, wooden doors of Impa's home, pulling them open roughly. The cool, mountain air on his face brought instant relief, as did the open blue sky above—but he didn't stop, taking the stairs down two at a time and pulling the hood of his cloak up to avoid the curious stares of villagers about their daily tasks. Fresh air was good, but he needed to be unobserved. Unexamined.

Only when Link reached the top of the hill where the shrine sat overlooking Kakariko Village did he finally slow down, collapsing against the grass at the foot of an apple tree. His heart was still pounding faster than the climb up the hill could account for, so Link closed his eyes, breathing in deeply to slow it down—long, natural breaths rather than the strangely forced, timed method that Impa had demonstrated.

As he started to calm down, shame rose up inside him. Why had he reacted like that to something as simple as sitting still and breathing, no matter how unnatural it felt? The incense hadn't been that strong, really. Not when they'd first started out.

Did he want to find out the truth, or was this just his way of running from—

"There you are."

Opening his eyes, Link craned his neck to look but otherwise made no move, sprawled limp as a doll across the ground.

Zelda had followed him after all, panting a bit herself as she ascended the final few steps up the hill. Her pale hair, cut short now for convenience's sake, had begun escaping in strands along her hairline from the braids that kept it back, framing her look of concern in a wispy blonde halo as she stood over him.

Link closed his eyes again, the shame curling in deeper.

For a long moment, the soft cluck of a cucco scratching in the dirt nearby was the only sound he could hear. Then the thin grass rustled as Zelda sank to her knees beside him.

"Do you want me to ask Purah to leave?" she tried tentatively. "I'm certain she wouldn't mind at this point. She's probably just... curious to see if something happens."

"She's fine," Link sighed. "I really just need a minute to..."

He faded off, not really sure what he needed. There was something calculating in Zelda's silence this time as she hesitated.

"Link," she started carefully, and it was all he could do not to flinch. "Whatever it is that's happening... you know it's not your fault, right?"

Link squinted his eyes open again to stare ruefully up at her. Whatever was happening wasn't on purpose. That didn't mean it wasn't his fault.

"We don't even know that this is a bad thing yet, necessarily, " Zelda continued matter-of-factly. "There are any number of explanations for what happened. For example... maybe it's only their gifts that have lingered, and not the Champions themselves."

Link wanted to believe that. When Calamity Ganon had been defeated all those weeks before and the Champions' spirits had vanished from atop their Divine Beasts, the gifts they'd given Link—their Grace, Protection, Fury, and Gale—had vanished along with them. They had been pieces of the Champions' spirits, after all, so it made sense for them to withdraw when the greater part of their spirit moved on. He was sure he had felt them leave.

...Sure, that is, until a few days earlier, when a wild horse had caught his head with its hoof in a freak accident as he'd attempted to mount it from behind. One moment he'd been flying backwards, the ringing in his ears chasing out consciousness; the next, he'd felt the familiar flow of Mipha's Grace through his aching head, soothing the pain away.

He knew he should have been grateful for it, and he was. He was also terrified of the implications.

"What if their spirits are trying to move on, and I'm the one who won't let them?" he whispered, giving voice at last to his deepest fear. "What if I'm trapping them here because I can't let go?"

"That is another possibility," Zelda admitted. "But only one of many. We can't know anything for sure until we find out more."

Which was why Purah and Impa had been consulted in the first place. Purah had suggested a number of tests to attempt to quantity whatever presence might reside inside Link, all of which had come out inconclusive. Impa, on the other hand, had recommended a more spiritual approach.

Neither had worked so far, but it was all he had to go on.

"I'm ready to try again," Link said at last, not feeling ready at all. With a grunt, he pushed himself up to sitting, already dreading that dark room and its cloying incense—and stopped when Zelda held up a hand.

"Actually, let's... try something different," she suggested. "Impa is incredibly well-practiced in the Sheikah way of meditating, of course, but there are others. I should know," she added dryly, and Link realized that she must have tried nearly all of them in the hopes of unlocking her ancestral powers.

Head tilted, he awaited her assessment. He'd be more than happy to try anything else.

"For you..." Zelda considered him for a moment, her finger tapping absently at her chin. "I think sitting right here under this tree might make a world of difference, actually... somewhere outside, yet secluded. You might consider using a focus, as well. It can be easier starting out to have something to point your mind to that isn't just your breath. Does that… make sense?"

"Maybe," Link said slowly. "I... used to stare into the fire for hours. Not really thinking, just... staring. Do you mean something like that?"

"Exactly like that," Zelda said, smiling encouragingly. "It can be a physical thing like a fire, or a short phrase, or even a repeated movement." She paused. "Considering what you're hoping to achieve, maybe something that reminds you of the Champions? That might help you unlock..." 

She spread her hands helplessly. Neither of them were exactly sure what Impa thought he might discover in his own head, but if the Champions' gifts (or goddess forbid, their spirits) were nestled somewhere inside him, it only made sense that he should be able to connect to them somehow.

Link cast around in his mind for something that might work, his eyes wandering across their pastoral surroundings—and stopped as he caught the faintest hint of blue nestled in the grass beside him. Reaching out a hand, he unearthed a small, crumpled feather, blue with a reddish tip—a cucco feather, he realized, examining it more closely. Its shade of blue didn't quite match his memory of Revali's feathers, but...

"This," he said, holding it out for Zelda to see. Examining it, she bit her lip.

"A... cucco feather," she said, her voice quivering strangely. He thought she was suppressing a laugh. "For, um... for Revali, I suppose? Don't you think... I mean, Mipha is the one whose gift you used, right? Maybe—maybe if you tried to connect with her instead—?"

"Let's try this," Link decided, shifting around beneath the tree in an effort to get comfortable. "If this doesn't work, we can go fishing later."

"Oh." Zelda's hand was covering her mouth now, her voice more strained than ever. "That... is a more literal interpretation than I intended, I think? But yes, let's—you might as well try this first." 

Link nodded and sat back, his breathing evening out already without effort. Maybe it was a subconscious result of one hundred years spent enclosed inside a shrine, but ever since awakening, he'd always felt most comfortable outside. Was that so apparent that Zelda had seen it in him, too?

"Remember how it felt to sit by the fire." Smoothed of its laughing edge, Zelda’s voice became gentle, and calm. Link's breathing evened further as he settled in to listen. "Look at the feather, and let your mind... drift. Notice its color and curled shape. Pay attention to how it feels between your fingers. If you should find that your attention has wandered, simply guide it back to the feather. No pressure, no judgment. Just look at the feather, and let your mind..."

She was good at this, Link thought absently, his eyes half-lidded as he twisted the feather slowly between his fingers. Impa was, too, to be fair, but she hadn't had the mountain breeze or the smell of grass, or dappled light from the leaves above in her favor like Zelda did now.

Breathing in, he did as he was told, and focused on the feather.

Link still didn't remember Revali very well, though he was no less sharp in Link's memories because of it. All of the Champions were like that now—impressed sparsely in Link's mind, but deeply. The gifts they had given him had only strengthened those impressions each time he used them, offering a glimpse inside that tiny piece of their spirit that brought an intimacy Link sometimes feared he hadn't earned.

Revali… he was proud. And abrasive. And wistful, filled with a melancholy longing that hurt Link to examine too closely. 

And stubborn. If any of the Champions' spirits would need coaxing out of hiding, Link knew it would be Revali, which was part of why he'd chosen the cucco's feather in the first place. Proud, stubborn Revali would never let such a comparison slide without telling Link exactly what he thought of it.

Smart boy.

Oh, please. You give him too much credit.

Breathing out, he focused on the feather.

Mipha, if she was in there somewhere, could probably be brought out more easily. She had already reached out herself, protecting Link with her Grace, and her spirit had very nearly quivered with the desire to help whenever he used it. Was she really in there somewhere? Was Link keeping her there?

His calm wavered. Breathing in, he focused on the feather.

Keep going, Link, you're almost there! You're doing wonderfully.

'Wonderfully,' really? When it's taken him this long to even notice us?

Come on, give the kid a break, will ya? Good going, Link! 

Daruk's spirit had always felt the most encouraging to Link—strong and good-natured, which matched his memories of the Goron Champion exactly. Urbosa… well, there was a reason her gift was named Fury. She had been encouraging, too, in a ruthless sort of way. Urbosa had wanted to see Calamity Ganon suffer.

Then again, so had Link. He breathed out, thought of the feather, and felt the crisp burn of lightning on his tongue.

He is awakening. Are you ready?

Nooo, I think I'd rather hang around unseen for another few months, wouldn't you?

Revali, so help me—

But he had let them go! He had let all of them go… hadn't he?

Link’s face twisted, and he forgot that he was supposed to breathe in and out. Forgot about the feather. None of the Champions had deserved their fate—a fate that Link himself had so narrowly avoided. Still, there was nothing Link could do to change it… but did a part of him still think he could? Was some distant part of himself, without even realizing it, still trying to save them?

Come on, little buddy, open your eyes!

Wake up, Link!

He took in a deep, shuddering breath, the feather clenched in his fist. Link almost thought he could feel them now, their memory so clear and vivid in his mind he could practically put words in their mouth—

Link stopped, going rigid with realization. His eyes snapped open.

The sun had moved in the sky since he'd first sat down with Zelda, though he couldn't say by just how much. Zelda herself was still seated cross-legged in front of him, eyes closed, murmuring instructions in a soft, droning voice that had long since faded from his notice—and beside her, pale green and flickering with flame, Mipha sat in a similar position, watching Link with weary encouragement.

His eyes wandered slowly. Urbosa stood tall just behind Zelda, one hand resting unnoticed on her shoulder. Daruk, big as a boulder, was laid out across the trail like a translucent green roadblock—and Revali, leaned up against another apple tree and watching Link closely, was the first to catch his eye.

He grinned sardonically at Link’s stunned expression.

"And there it is."

"Link?" Perking up at once, Mipha leaned in close, examining his face. "Can you… does he hear us now?"

"More than just hear us, I think," Urbosa said dryly, giving Zelda's shoulder a squeeze that went unnoticed. "Excellent work, little bird."

"Hey, Link’s back!" Daruk cheered, rolling to his feet and pumping a fist in the air. "Good to finally have you with us."

Link's eyes darted from Champion to ghostly Champion, joy and fear warring in a strange mix inside him that even Link couldn't begin to decipher. His mouth fell open as if he might say something, though he had no idea what. He'd never expected to even hear their voices again, much less see or speak to them… but they shouldn't be here. Why were they here?

"You can drop the feather now, by the way," Revali said, more than a bit snippily. "I think it's done its job, don't you?"

Blinking, Link looked down at the ragged blue feather still clutched in his fist. He'd forgotten all about it.

"I don't know, Revali. I think Link should keep it as a momento," Urbosa murmured, her green eyes alight with mischief. "Maybe tie it in his hair to remember you by?"

Revali puffed up angrily.

"Excuse you! I don't go around degrading Gerudo customs, do I?"

"It's okay, Link," Mipha said, reaching a tentative hand out to cover his. It felt cool somehow, like the brush of a stream. "It's all going to be okay."

Staring at her hand, Link cleared his throat.

"Zelda?" He knew his voice sounded strange. Zelda’s eyes fluttered open, and she gasped as if coming out of a trance herself.

"Link! Did you—" She cut off, watching him closely—one of five sets of eyes doing the same. "You look so pale. Did you… feel anything?"

Nodding dumbly, Link’s eyes wandered across the assembled group that only he could see before landing on Zelda once more.

"I… found them. All of them."

Zelda gasped again, a hand covering her mouth.

"Link, that's… that's good, right?" she said eagerly, unaware of Revali's sarcastic 'I should say so' spoken right on top of her. "You found their gifts, or…?"

"More than their gifts." Link's voice cracked, and he licked his lips. Words were never his strong point, even if they came more easily to him now than they had before. "Um… Revali says hi, I think?"

"I said nothing of the sort!" Revali snapped, and Link bit his lip.

"Sorry… I guess I was wrong. He doesn't."

#botw #fictober 2022 #my writing #*jazz hands* #another story to consider continuing... eventually... #because i don't have enough of those

[wouldyoustilllovemeifiwasawyrm]

All-Clucking Cucco

Linktober 2023 Day 17: Prophecy

The sprinkling rain had just begun to let up as Spot’s hooves clopped along the northern trail to South Akkala Stable. Frogs splashed into muddy puddles, croaking in delight as their skin absorbed the sky’s waters. Link pushed back his hood, feeling the weight of gathered water slide down his back. That water-proofing layer Sayge added to his Hylian hood was worth every rupee.

He pulled on the reins, clicking his tongue to bid Spot to slow. The horse obliged, settling into a walking gait as they rounded the bend and ascended a small slope to the stable. All the usual comforts of the stable system greeted him: a warm smile and a friendly wave, the scent of meat roasting in a cooking pot, a traveling musician filling the air with pleasant melodies, and the promise of a good night’s rest in a comfortable bed. It would be another full day of travel before he reached Terry Town. While he could wait and save his rupees for a stay in Kapson’s inn, he could also take a detour north to the Ancient Tech Lab to pick up that Travel Medallion.

While he was still making up his mind about which way to go next, a familiar voice called out to him.

“Hey, partner!”

Link pulled back again on the reins, bidding Spot to stop. “Penn?”

The Rito journalist jogged up to him. His ruffled feathers and flight goggles still over his eyes told Link that Penn had also just arrived. “I should have known you’d come here too, with all the rumors going about.”

Link raised a brow but said nothing. He’d not exactly been hanging out in populous places as of late. He’d taken a rather circuitous trip through the foothills of Eldin on his way back from the Great Korok Forest. That was hard enough to enter on its own, given the time he had to spend in the Depths just to get to it. And then there was that whole matter of the spooky malice hands and the creepy demon thing with a sword that tried to kill him, not to mention the whole speech about still not having his sword. He hardly needed a lecture from a tree. To say that Link hadn’t heard any rumors would be the understatement of the century. He wasn’t sure he’d even spoken to another person in over a week.

His silence must have conveyed enough, as Penn soon explained. “There’s been a very alarming prophecy.”

Now, that was interesting. He’d heard of prophecies before. One in particular sent all of Hyrule into a panic over a century ago. If this was anything of the same sort, he’d better take notice. “What sort of prophecy?”

“They say that-“ Penn looked around him, though Link wasn’t quite sure for whom. The Rito lowered his voice and leaned closer. “-that the hero will die.”

Link straightened up in his saddle. So, some oracle is out here predicting his death? They’d better get in line. “That’s pretty vague. Everyone dies eventually, even heroes.”

Penn shook his head vigorously. “No, you don’t understand! The prophecy is that the hero will die in a fight with his greatest adversary!”

Greatest adversary? Shit, who was his greatest adversary? That mummy underneath the castle would probably count as that. He couldn’t really think of anyone else who fit such a description. If this thing was predicting that he’d die in a battle with that mummy, Link might be tempted to lend some credence to it. But, then again, the first prophecy hadn’t proven itself exactly watertight either. “And…people believe it?”

“They do!” Penn exclaimed. “The cucco hasn’t been wrong about anything yet! Come on, I’ll prove it!”

Well, this should be good. Link hopped off his horse. He led Spot by the reins to the stablemaster, who gladly accepted care of the animal after an exchange of rupees.

“Dmitri, this is my partner. We’re investigating a story on the All-Clucking Cucco.” Penn gestured toward Link, who the stablemaster acknowledged with a nod. “Tell him what you told me about the prophecy you received!”

Dmitri smoothed out his mustache (if such a split caterpillar could be rightfully called one), thinking. “Which one?”

“Which-? Any of them will do.” Penn answered. “Haven’t they all come true?”

“Sure have.” The stablemaster confirmed. “The first one was pretty basic. Cucco said it was going to rain that night. And it poured!”

Penn gestured excitedly to Link, who fought to keep from rolling his eyes. Anyone can predict the rain. This was Akkala. It always rains here!

The stablemaster frowned. “Then it said we’d be haunted by the crowing of a lonely spirit. And sure enough, every night since, a lonesome echo has haunted our pasture out back. Awful sound. We’re hoping the cucco soon predicts that it will stop.”

A lonesome spirit? Now, that felt more likely. He’d known Koroks to play such tricks on people. He’d have to investigate for himself later. It was probably nothing more than a repeat of that poor girl who practiced her singing in the bottom of that well.

“And what else?” Penn asked, scribbling notes. When did he get out the notepad?

“Oh, that.” Dmitri shrugged. “It wasn’t about me, so I didn’t pay it any mind. It said the hero would soon fall to the sword of his greatest adversary, whatever that means.”

Penn snapped his notebook shut. “Yes! Exactly! Thank you so much! Do you know anyone else who has gotten their fortune told?”

“Sure.” Dmitri pointed to a group of travelers eating supper in the corner of the stable. “Just about everyone here has had their fortunes told or are waiting to ask for a fortune themselves. That one in the mushroom hat won’t shut up about his.”

Link gave the stablemaster a nod of thanks, letting himself be led by Penn over to the group of travelers. Maybe he could sneak a bowl of meat and mushroom stew while he was here…

“Excuse me, sir!” Penn pushed his way into the group, sitting on the bench between a young man in a CeCe original and a middle-aged woman who looked like she wouldn’t touch fashion to save her life. “Have you spoken to the All-Clucking Cucco?”

The man’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Have I! You wouldn’t believe the incredible things that bird said to me. Firstly, it said: ‘Thou wilt find a treasure on an island to the northeast!’ Or, something like that. I can’t recall the exact words. But that was the gist of it. Treasure, northeast island. I’m not sure which island it was referring to, but I’m very sure that such a treasure exists!”

Penn nodded enthusiastically. “And what makes you so certain, if I might ask?”

“Well, my sister was up this way just the other week. She visited the cucco and had her fortune told. It told her she’d meet a handsome stranger on the road who would change her life.” He grinned broadly. “And she did! On her way from Terry Town, she met Granteson! He told her about some fairly cheap land up here in Akkala and the new dream home project that Hudson started, so she bought a plot and is encouraging her family to join her!”

Penn scribbled down more notes, nodding along. “Did you receive any other prophecies?”

“Oh, yeah.” The man frowned, stirring his stew with a spoon. “They said something troubling about the hero getting chopped to pieces by his greatest adversary.”

Chopped to pieces?! That was a little excessive. First, it was defeat, then it was fall to the sword, and now it’s chopped to pieces? That’s not very nice of a bird to say.

Penn shuddered, obviously equally perturbed by the prophecy. “Er, thank you. What’s your name? I’d like to credit you in this article I’m writing on the subject.”

“Falmak.” The man replied. “That’s with a K, not a C. I know it’s not the usual spelling.” Far be it from Link to know what was and was not the usual spelling of any name in Hyrule. “If you’re doing a report on the All-Clucking Cucco, you could go up with Lonni!” He suggested, gesturing to the woman beside him.

Her eyes widened in surprise at the attention, her features reddening slightly. “Oh, um, yes. I was planning to go up after dinner to have the cucco, um, tell my fortune.” She took a quick sip of ale, not meeting their gaze.

“Wonderful!” Penn jumped up from the bench. In the flurry of feathers, Link grabbed a bowl of stew, hiding it behind his back. “What are you going to ask?”

The woman blushed. “Well… I’m not quite sure yet. I thought maybe I’d ask it about my true love.”

Aw, that was sweet. Good for her, at her age, for still believing she’d meet her true love. He hoped she would, cucco or no cucco.

“An excellent idea! We’ll meet you at the bottom of the hill, then!” Penn decided. He led Link out of the stable, his steps light and excited. “You see it, don’t you? The predictions have all come true! If word of the hero’s imminent death reaches the people of Hyrule, they’ll panic! We have to get to the bottom of this and fast. Who knows what kind of chaos will unfold if-! Link, where did you get that stew?”

Link drained the last sip, his cheeks full as a squirrel. He swallowed quickly and tossed the bowl into the bushes. “What stew?”

True to her word, the woman soon emerged from the stable. She froze upon seeing Link and Penn waiting for her, her hands balling into nervous fists. “Ha, well, here we go, I suppose.”

The two reporters followed her up the hill. Fallen leaves of yellow and red littered the path, dyed a more vibrant hue by the fast approach of sunset. Whatever they intended to do about this bothersome bird, they’d have to do it quickly. Link wanted to get a full seven hours of sleep for once.

When they approached the tallest tree on the slope, on which an unassuming (and rather confused) cucco sat on a stump beneath it, Lonni stopped. They waited in silence.

And waited.

And waited.

“Um, Ms. Lonni?” Penn asked. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

“O-oh! Oh. Yes. Well, um…” She stuttered, wringing her hands. “It’s just that, asking whether, or when, or if, I’ll meet my true love… it's a bit overwhelming, you know?” She fanned herself with one hand, her face rather reddened. “I mean, what if the cucco says I don’t have one? Wow, wouldn’t that be completely and totally devastating? Or what if it says that I wasted my youth and my true love is already in an unhappy marriage with someone who never loved him the way I should have? Or even worse, what if it says I’ll meet my true love tomorrow?!” She shook her head. “I can’t do it. You boys go on ahead and talk to it first.” She stepped away from the cucco, muttering to herself about being ”the biggest coward in all of Hyrule.”

Penn rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeesh. That’s a little more than I bargained for when I came up here.” He cleared his throat. “Well, partner, let’s see what this clairvoyant cucco has to say about our futures!” Penn flapped his wings, fluttering up to the cucco. He made some noises in his throat, something between a squawk and a coo, trying several different pitches and lengths.

The cucco responded with a handful of clucks of its own. Penn set his hands on his hips with a huff. “Should’ve guessed. Cuccos aren’t that bright.”

“What did it say?” Link asked. While he’d heard that Rito had a special language that they shared with the birds of Hyrule, he seldom got to hear it spoken. The Rito spoke only Modern Hyrulean when he was around.

Penn shook his head. “That’s just it. It’s what the thing didn’t say, which was anything coherent. I asked it for my fortune, and the clucker only said, ‘Worms! Corn! Coop!’ Which is about what one might expect from a cucco. That’s all they ever think about.”

Link wondered if “clucker” was perhaps Rito slang for a Hylian word with a similar sound.

“Wait!” The cucco suddenly spoke, in perfect Hyrulean, flapping its wings. “My apologies! Thy fortune! Yes! Thy fortune!”

Penn crossed his arms, glaring at the bird. “Go on, then. What’s my fortune?”

The cucco squawked. “Thou art a traveler of many miles and skies! Thou hast gone from thy homeland, seeking another. But that is not all thou seekest, oh writer of many words!”

Link narrowed his eyes. The way this bird held itself didn’t seem quite right. Never mind that cuccos didn’t typically speak. Something about this poultry was off.

“Yes, I see it! Thy fortune is intertwined with that of this man here.” The cucco continued. “Thou art seeking Princess Zelda.”

Both Link and Penn started, taken aback by a semi-accurate prediction.

The cucco clucked in delight. “Thine stories will tell of a great battle! From thine pen will the world hear of the hero’s demise at the hands of his greatest adversary!”

Again with this nonsense? A twist of worry tightened in his gut. If this cucco had been right about everything so far, and again repeated tales of his doom to his face, what if…what if it was true?

“Who?” Penn asked, eagerly writing down all of the cucco’s words. “Who is the hero’s greatest adversary?!”

“We are!” The cucco declared, clucking in triumph. “The Yiga Clan! Attack!”

A poof of red smoke filled the air. Link coughed, waving it away with his hand, his vision obscured. The smoke and setting sun dyed the whole air deep red.

From the smoke, a blade sliced across his field of vision. Link barely saw it, dodging out of the way enough that it only nicked his arm rather than taking his head clean off. He drew his weapon, a Lizal Reaper, and darted away from the smoke.

The cliffs overlooking the stable soon greeted him, a steep drop down into the pasture below. He pivoted on his heel. Three Yiga footsoldiers rushed out of the smoke, their curved blades glinting in the red sun. As the first reared back to swing, Link felt his heart rate slow. He let out a breath.

His feet launched his body up, dodging the strikes of the three soldiers as he leapt over them. He swung his weapon, striking each with disarming blows to their sword arms. By the time he landed on the other side, the Yiga were stumbling, howling out in pain.

Two of the Yiga immediately retreated, disappearing in a burst of magic paper. The final lurched forward, clutching the wound in his shoulder. “You! You! You wretch!” He spat. “You may have bested us this day, but mark my words! Our prophecies always come true! You’ll die by our blades, hero!”

With a final burst of paper, the Yiga disappeared. Link sheathed his weapon.

A squawking cough drew Link’s attention back to the tree. Penn waved away the last of the smoke with his massive wing. “Ack, gross! Did they make those things out of sulfur? Disgusting. I’ll never get the smell out of my feathers.” He shook himself, his feathers puffing up and laying back flat again. “Are you okay, Link?”

Link nodded.

Penn squawked in surprise. “Partner! You’re bleeding!”

Was he? Link looked down at his right arm. A new gash seeped above where his Zonai arm met Hylian flesh. Huh. It didn’t hurt. It was probably just superficial. He shrugged.

Penn rushed over, clucking with worry. “Oh my Goddess, I am so sorry! I had no idea this story would be so dangerous! To think that our All-Clucking Cucco was a Yiga this whole time! And what’s odder, that they seemed to have you mixed up with the legendary swordsman!”

Link bit his tongue. “Yeah. Weird.”

Penn shook his head. “Come on. I’ll pay for your lodgings and make sure that cut is taken care of. What a story this will be!”

Link nodded, following along after Penn. He flexed his arm, watching curiously as Hylian blood trickled down a Zonai arm. It should hurt. He thought back to other instances where the Zonai arm had gotten injured. He couldn’t recall ever feeling pain there. All his senses were dulled on that hand, though he had thus far been attributing it to the fur.

He stole a glance back at the stump as Penn prattled on about the newest article. Every other prophecy had come true, they said. He could easily write it off as a mere sleight of hand, saying what was obviously true anyway. Of course, it would rain. Anyone could predict that a traveler along this route to Terry Town would meet Granteson. Maybe the Yiga really had learned about an island that housed treasure. If that weren’t the case, if they actually had some credence to their predictions…

Link shook the thoughts from his head. He had his own destiny to write. He sure as hell wouldn’t let a fake cucco decide his fate.

#linktober 2023 #tears of the kingdom #totk fic #penn totk #link totk

[phoenixmaiden-gaming]

Penn showed up after I beat the Yiga Clan and he said he had a suspicion that a Cucco couldn’t talk, but didn’t think it would be the Yiga Clan. They walked into this one at one mention of Princess Zelda, but it would make for a good newspaper story. We have worked on 4 stories now and he gave me my pay of a Purple Rupee and a bonus from Traysi, a Froggy Sleeve! It’s one part of the froggy outfit she was going to give me. Cool! Penn then said he was going to go work on his story and he took off. Side Adventures – The All-Clucking Cucco (complete).

#phoenix be gaming #gaming #gameplay #video games #games #gamer #gamer girl #gamer fun #game #entertainment #playthrough #gamer life #nintendo switch #the legend of zelda tears of the kingdom #nothing is queue everything is permitted

[skyloftian-nutcase]

THERE IS A QUEST CALLED THE ALL-CLUCKING CUCCO.

THIS GAME IS RIDICULOUS AND I LOVE IT 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

#tears of the kingdom spoilers #tears of the kingdom #totk spoilers #legend of zelda