#this HAS to be a big deal to them

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Breath of the Sky Ch 10 (SS meets BotW)

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE :D :D :D

Okay okay, I'm not... entirely happy with this chapter but I'm not unhappy with it, either. It's just kind of awkwardly paced, I feel like, but if I kept going it would take a century to get this sucker out and probably even longer to read it. So here we are.

Summary: When Princess Zelda goes to the Spring of Courage to pray, accompanied by her appointed knight, a giant magical cog spitting out a goddess is the last thing she expects, but it is what she gets. Meanwhile, the Spirit Maiden Zelda is trying to figure out what the heck is happening and where her missing husband/chosen hero is.

(AO3 link)

Chapter 10: A King's Request

Something made a strange noise, pulling her from the inky darkness she'd slipped into. Light. There was light. Taking a slow, deep breath, Zelda furrowed her brow a little as the light pierced through her eyelids, casting an amber glow in front of her eyes.

Amber.

Her eyes opened in an instant. But she wasn’t drained and collapsing into Link’s arms in the Temple of Hylia. She was…

Ah. That’s right.

Zelda shifted, feeling the cotton sheet scratch her bare skin. She was a little chilly, but not uncomfortable, though she did shuffle under the heavy blankets a bit more, pushing some disheveled hair out of her face. She stretched briefly, feeling her blood flow through her body, and glanced to the other side of the bed. Link was snuggled under the blanket all the way to his nose, his fluffy dirty blonde hair barely visible. Zelda smiled, her heart full.

Last night had been magical.

Slowly, she made her way over to her husband, holding him close against her for some extra warmth. Link mumbled in his sleep, turning towards her slightly. She lightly rubbed her nose against his, giggling as he scrunched his face and sniffled in response.

And then she nearly jumped out of her skin when there was a knock at the door.

Heart racing, Zelda bolted up, looked down at her less than fit-for-company appearance, and then snatched the blanket and shoved it up to her chin. Link shivered a little, rolling away from her and taking the blanket with him.

“Link!” Zelda hissed in protest as her fluffy shield was stripped away.

There was another knock at the door. “Your Grace, Hero of—”

“J-just a minute!” Zelda said, trying to sound commanding and only succeeding in sounding like a teenager caught in the midst of breaking some kind of rule.

Looking around frantically, Zelda saw a sash in one corner of the room, her dress in another, Link’s trousers lazily hanging over the chair, and accessories scattered in multiple nooks and crannies. It was a veritable puzzle that she had to piece together. She scrambled out of the bed, face flushing as she immediately went to the window to slam the curtains closed (what time was it? She felt like she'd only just fallen asleep), and then began to gather different articles of clothing.

Link continued to snore in bed. Zelda glanced at him at one point, exasperated. How could he sleep through this?!

Zelda felt something sharp and prickly dig into her heel and she hissed, hopping on one foot for a few seconds, leading to her balance being thrown off as she unceremoniously face planted onto the floor.

Snoring continued to float lazily from the bed.

“Your Grace, Great Hero, is everything all right?” the voice called from the door. It was unfamiliar, whoever it was, and that made Zelda all the more agitated.

Groaning, she pulled herself up from the floor, now shivering. “Yep! Fine! Just another minute please!”

Her foot throbbing in pain, Zelda glared down to see that the offending object that had caused the injury was her headdress from last night. Grumbling, she grabbed the cursed item and threw it onto the chair where it was less likely to cause damage. From her vantage point, though, she could see her dress, all crumpled up by the bed where Link was wrapped up at least three times over in two different blankets, his hair sticking out like he was some freshly harvested vegetable.

Zelda hastily threw the white garment over her head, growling as it fought against her desire to wear it, pulling in odd places with different layers sticking up. This fit just fine yesterday, why was this being such a pain?!

After finally managing to at least get the garment to flow freely from her head to her toes, she padded over to the door, trying to take a calming breath and slow her frantic heart rate. She smoothed her hands over her hair—which she immediately regretted because she could feel how tangled it must have looked—and cracked the door open.

And promptly felt her heart get stolen from her chest.

There was a woman in front of her, roughly around her age, with copious amounts of thick white hair tied in a half up, half down style. Her red eyes were wide, somewhat nervous but holding a fierce determination to them, and her face was stony.

But her forehead… it bore a symbol that Zelda had only seen on one other person.

Impa.

“Who are you?” Zelda asked quietly as she slowly straightened her posture, the door opening wider of its own accord.

The woman in front of her genuflected. “Your Grace, I am Impa of the Sheikah. I come to—”

The rest of her message was lost to Zelda. Impa?! How could this be Impa?! This made no sense!

Wait. Wait. The princess… her name is Zelda. The Hero’s name is Link. This woman must be a descendant or at least of the same people as Impa, then. The name is an honoring, just as the others are.

Zelda took a steadying breath as logic helped calm her whirling thoughts. She knew she had to be right. After all, this woman bore little to no resemblance to the Impa she knew apart from her eyes and the symbol.

The current dilemma, then, was that she was genuflecting, clearly expecting a reply, and Zelda had no idea what she had said beyond her name.

Zelda felt her dress push into her neck uncomfortably, and she pulled the collar down her chest a bit, swallowing. “I’m sorry, Impa, I… I didn’t… it’s nice to meet you, but what is it that you want?”

Impa slowly glanced up at the disheveled teenager and bit her lip, her cheeks blushing slightly. She quickly looked down again, as if ashamed or timid, like she bore some secret that she didn’t want revealed. Zelda grew confused, felt her dress ride up at her neck again, and yanked it irritably.

“Your Grace, I come bearing a message – a request for an audience from the king.”

The king? What could the king want at this hour of the morning? Zelda felt pretty tired, and it was still early light out; surely this could wait?

She supposed she didn’t have much right to argue, though. The king had been nothing but accommodating, and he’d thrown the most extravagant feast in her honor that she’d ever seen, past or present. Zelda sighed, running a hand down her face. Suddenly she felt both obligated and frustrated. How much longer should this farce even go on? She’d come here to find Link. That issue had been more than resolved.

But everything that she’d learned last night…

“Very well,” she said. “I just… does he want me to come right now?”

Impa glanced up again. Zelda finally realized she would remain genuflecting unless told otherwise.

Interrupting whatever the woman was about to say, Zelda hastily waved her hand upward. “Please, get up.”

Impa obeyed, straightening and standing at eye level. It made Zelda almost take a step away. The woman’s gaze was strong, though not as stern as the Impa she’d known. But the red eyes were unique, something that undeniably reminded her of the servant and friend who had guided and protected her for millennia.

“Your Grace, I believe given the situation, it is best to take your time and prepare for the audience.”

“What situation?” Zelda questioned, growing more anxious.

Impa cleared her throat uncomfortably and folded her hands behind her back, tipping her head towards Zelda.

The confusion returned, quelling her worries. “What is it?”

“Your Grace… um, you might want to check your dress.”

“My—“ another firm tug on her collar “My dress is beautiful, I don’t know who made it, but—”

“Your Grace. Check your dress.”

Zelda blinked, bewildered. Looking down, she immediately understood.

She was wearing her dress backwards.

Her cheeks burned, and she knew they likely matched the same shade of crimson as the woman’s eyes. “Ah. Uh, right. Right. I’ll just… um, please tell the king I’ll see him after breakfast and… yes. I’ll see him later.”

Impa nodded mutely, her eyes downcast as she tried to help Zelda save face.

Link snored loudly all of a sudden behind her.

“Thanks!” Zelda yelped, slamming the door in Impa’s face.

Groaning, she turned around and leaned against the door, sliding to the floor.

Well that was a great first impression.

XXX

The morning air was sharp in his lungs as he inhaled with a hiss, dodging a blow by a hair’s breadth. The creamy white trident gleamed in the sunlight, its fiery rose highlights catching his eyes before he pushed the weapon away with his shield.

“Oh! Link, are you alright? I almost hit you!” Mipha said, withdrawing a step or two.

Link hated to admit it, but Mipha was right – she had almost landed a blow that he could usually dodge easily. He wasn’t sure if she had improved her technique so substantially in her absence or if he was that distracted.

Mipha had certainly grown in her fighting prowess, but Link would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little out of sorts.

After last night’s fiasco, he’d spent the rest of the party meandering with the champions. Mipha had kept him fairly distracted and entertained, and he’d appreciated the gesture. It had mostly worked, too, but then he’d gone to bed and the anxieties he’d started to feel came up and clutched him by the throat.

Least to say, he hadn’t slept well.

Link breathed out as evenly as possible. He’d found Mipha first thing in the morning for sparring – he needed to get the energy out, he needed to feel like he could handle this blade once more.

It seemed this wasn’t helping much.

“I’m okay,” he said with a small attempt at a reassuring smile. “Let’s go again.”

But Mipha was distracted now, her gaze somewhere over Link’s shoulder. Confused and a little concerned, he turned to see what she was watching.

Several feet away in an adjacent part of the garden stood in the Hero of Myth.

Link immediately felt his mouth go dry and his body freeze. The Hero hadn’t noticed them yet, staring off somewhere, standing in profile to them. He was wearing the white undershirt and trousers from his outfit last night, substantially more dressed down in its untucked manner. His hands traced along some bushes absentmindedly, gaze distant, face cool and collected. It reminded Link eerily of himself, and he didn’t know what to make of that.

Mipha nudged him from behind. “Link, you should go talk to him. Maybe you two can spar together? Imagine what you could learn from him!”

Link felt his world practically flip upside down. He couldn’t say no; he was too choked up to say anything. He prayed Mipha would notice that he wasn’t in the mood to speak.

Mipha at least picked up on something. His dear friend turned to face him fully, her hand resting on his shoulder, the one warmth in his entire frigid body. He felt a cold sweat start to materialize on his brow, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He felt like he wanted to burst out of his skin and was going to throw up.

“What’s wrong?” she asked quietly so as not to alert the Hero.

“How did you get this blade?”

The question had been nearly hissed, almost accusatory. Link had been agonizing over it all night. Had the Hero not believed the tale told by the bard? Had he doubted that Link was actually the bearer of the Spirit of the Hero? How could he tell Mipha that the person he was supposed to live up to thought he was a failure already?

He felt a sharp, agonizing sympathy for Zelda all of a sudden.

There was a sound in the garden up ahead, and Mipha and Link both returned their attention to the Hero.

He’d noticed them.

Link’s eyes locked with his, and his chest tightened so much he couldn’t breathe. He didn’t know what to do.

The Hero of Myth watched them carefully, eyes boring into Link’s soul. His face looked pale in the morning light, and then—

And then he coughed harshly, bending over and rushing somewhere out of sight. Link could still hear him, and Mipha, the healer that she was, immediately ran to his aid.

Was… was he getting ill? It sounded like it, and it made Link’s own stomach churn uncomfortably.

Uncertainty held him back, but a natural empathy urged him forward. Link walked stiffly to catch up with Mipha, who had already run to the Hero’s side, just out of sight around a bend. When the two came back into view, the Hero was on his knees dry heaving into a bush with Mipha kneeling beside him, hand on his back.

“I’m going to get you some water,” Mipha said, rising. She looked pleadingly at Link. “Please keep an eye on him.”

A pang of irritation and horror combined into a strange mixture of a dizzying headache that made him snap to attention and want to scream all at once. Instead, he jerked his head forward in a stiff nod. Mipha watched him a moment longer, the concern in her eyes familiar, but it did little to soothe his anxieties when she’d practically thrown him at the one person he wanted so desperately to avoid.

He supposed there was little point in avoiding him now. His father would tell him to face his fears, anyway.

Link swallowed bile and awkwardly stepped forward, unsure what exactly he should do. Considering the cold reception he’d gotten last night, he was certain the Hero of Myth wanted nothing to do with him. He tried not to think about that.

“S-sorry…”

The weak, hoarse word was barely audible over the Hero’s pants for air, but it cut through the tension in an instant. Link shifted weight between his feet, wondering what he should say or do.

He really couldn’t say anything. He wouldn’t dare. Not after last night.

But Hero or not, this person was clearly feeling horrible. Link… wished he was better equipped for this, but…

The Hero glanced over at him a moment, pale and sweaty and suddenly looking so small. His eyes shifted from Link’s face to the sword on his back, and then he squeezed them shut, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Goddess above…”

Link stared, completely lost. Was the Hero disgusted at the mere sight of him?

Could this morning get any worse?

“Maybe you’ll have better luck than me,” the Hero muttered, his tone deep and dark and biting. Link flinched at the remark, and the one part of his brain that wasn’t just screaming really registered the words.

The response scraped out of him before he could stop it. “What?”

Oh goddess. Oh goddess. What did I just do, shut up shut up SHUT UP—

The Hero rose, wiping his mouth with his sleeve and facing him. He looked… incredibly tired. Placing a hand on Link’s shoulder, he squeezed it for a moment, some strange expression of empathy and worry and pity and guilt at war on his face, eyes constantly flicking from Link to the Master Sword, and then the Hero stepped away, letting his hand fall.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, walking away, leaving Link reeling in the garden alone.

What... what?

Link stood there for one, two, five minutes. And then he heard Mipha approaching.

Overwhelmed and confused, he ran back into the castle before anyone could find him. He...

He needed to talk to Zelda.

XXX

Zelda had come back to an empty bedroom after washing up, eating something, and putting on her knight attire. Though it worried her that Link was already up and about without her even knowing where he’d gone, she had still promised to meet up with the king to discuss… whatever it was he needed.

This was her last day of politely going along with this charade, however. Link was better. There was literally no reason for them to stay here anymore. They… they needed to go home.

Her mind whispered words that had been spoken last night. Legends of a calamity coming over and over again. She shook her head violently.

Maybe Link had been right. Maybe it was a different problem and they attributed it to Demise.

But it wasn’t just that, was it?

The king. The princess. They’re our family. We built this place.

She wanted to stay and learn more. She really did. But they’d just disappeared in the midst of a destructive accident back home. People had to be worrying by now.

Sighing, she clenched her fists and determinedly left the room, allowing the servant Impa to guide her to the main area where the king would be waiting for her. Following a Sheikah named Impa to her destination was so bizarrely familiar and out of place all at the same time that her world was spinning.

How could things be so different and so similar all at the same time? How could things be so astounding and amazing and magical and horrifying all at once? How could this place elate her and terrify her? It was like discovering the Surface all over again. At least here she had Link… but she desperately missed Impa now.

Zelda entered the same room as last night’s festivities, the one where she’d originally met the king. He stood on the ground level awaiting her, his face serious.

Zelda watched him warily. This… didn’t look good.

“Your Grace,” he acknowledged with a deep bow as the doors closed behind her, leaving them alone. “I hope you enjoyed all Hyrule had to offer you last night.”

Zelda lingered a little too long on what had transpired last night, and a blush colored her cheeks. She cleared her throat, shaking the thoughts and feelings away. “It… it was amazing. I appreciate the effort of showing us what Hyrule grows into.”

And she truly did appreciate it. Truly. But… she had a feeling that wasn’t what this meeting was about.

“Your Grace,” the king started slowly. “I… understand that traditions vary, that legends change depending on who speaks them. We did the best we could to maintain our history over the years, but I… cannot help but think that the story we gave you last night was not quite correct.”

Zelda raised her eyebrows in surprise. Had... someone actually figured out that she truly had no idea what the hell was going on? Had the king realized that, despite her past, she was still just a knight from Skyloft? Could she finally put her past behind her?

“I… do not understand the nature of your war against the Calamity,” the king explained. “Only that you and your Hero won it. However… the words spoken of its impending return are true. A prophecy was made many years ago, while my daughter was still a child. The Calamity will come.”

There was such a finality to those words. It wasn’t a matter of if the demon king would return, but when. Zelda felt the bottom drop out of her stomach as the cold, hard realization slammed into her.

Demise was still alive.

Golden Three. How was he still alive?! How was that possible?!

Was… was the king about to ask what she thought he was about to ask?

“Hyrule needs your help, Your Grace,” King Rhoam said finally. “…Zelda needs your help.”

Her mind immediately snapped back to the prayer last night.

“Goddess Hylia, I pray you give me the strength to protect my people.”

Oh. Oh, no. What… what were they expecting of her?

“My daughter is destined to seal away the Calamity, as you once did,” the king continued, unaware of Zelda’s internal crisis. “But she… she has been… having difficulty accessing her powers. She is the key to everything, and if she fails, Hyrule will fall. I… I beg of Your Grace. Please. Help my daughter fulfill her destiny. Help her defeat the Calamity as you once did.”

What?

She… he… he wanted her to be the princess’ guide? But—but she—this was—

What was she supposed to do? Was there a seal keeping Demise at bay? Where was the Triforce?

How had he survived?!

She had no plan here, she had no knowledge, nothing. Despite the confusion, despite the fear and the wonder and the chaos of her adventure, her memories had helped her at least know what she’d needed to do. She’d had a plan in place.

She knew nothing here.

“Where is he?” she asked. “And where’s the Triforce?”

The king’s expression turned to surprise and confusion. “Your Grace?”

“Where is he sealed?” Zelda asked slowly, hating everything about this. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She’d thought the war was over.

She heard Link’s screams in her mind. She felt her soul being ripped out of her body.

Shaking her head subtly, she pressed on, trying to keep her voice even. “Is the seal weakening? What about the Triforce?”

Was this the true reason Link had been thrown into the future? Was this some other plan Hylia—she had put together and she just hadn’t unlocked the memory yet? She… she’d sworn it was over!

“We don’t know where he is,” the king answered, shaking his head. “And the Triforce… the Triforce is an item of myth. I understand it must have been present during your time as the legends state, but… we no longer know of its location, if it even still exists.”

Zelda felt her blood freeze. She had sacrificed everything to protect the Triforce and it… was gone?!

“The ancient Hero of ten thousand years past was able to defeat the Calamity with the assistance of the divine beasts and the princess’ divine power,” King Rhoam spoke. “The Triforce was not used then, either.”

“No!” Zelda suddenly snapped, losing her mind and her composure. “Don’t you understand?! It’s not about sealing, it’s about killing – you can’t kill him without the Triforce!”

Her words echoed in the room, screaming in her mind. Brokenly, she said, “How can it be gone?”

This… this was a nightmare.

So this was what it all amounted to? Everything she and Link had fought for had been lost?

No, she argued back defiantly, closing her eyes and shielding her face with her hands. No. It isn’t all lost. Just look at everything around you! Look at the kingdom they made, despite all the odds!

But…

Impa. The countless beings in her memories. The humans who hadn’t been able to leave the Surface. They’d all died for nothing.

Zelda fell to her knees.

So this was why those legends existed. This was why Demise came back again and again and again.

But how had he survived the first time?! What could she do to stop him?!

Why was this happening?!

“I… I didn’t think it was possible to kill such a beast.”

The king’s voice was so quiet, so unsure, so frightened. Images of people hiding behind her and seeking her aid and protection seared into her mind, and a wave of protective ferocity drove her to lower her hands and open her eyes.

“Your Grace, I…” the king stammered uncertainly, looking downcast. “I have failed you. I do not know anything of the Triforce. But I… I beg of you, please… let me take the fall, but save my people. Help my daughter.”

Zelda let out a shuddering breath, and slowly rose. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know how to fix this.

But she wasn’t going to just leave them like this.

“I’ll help,” she said quietly. “But I need you to do something for me.”

The king’s sad eyes brightened, filled with hope and eagerness. “What does Your Grace need?”

“Send knights to the place where I appeared. A lot of them,” Zelda instructed. “And guard that area so no one can access it.”

She wasn’t making the same mistake as last time, after all. Nobody was going through the Gate of Time.

Golden Three, was… was that why? Was that the reason Demise was still here, countless millennia later?

Zelda’s head was spinning. She couldn’t wrap her mind around this anymore.

“Of course,” the king acknowledged with a nod of his head. “I’ll send my finest soldiers, as will the other leaders. You will have an army of Hylians, Zora, Gerudo, Rito, and Gorons protecting it.”

Gorons? At least she knew what Gorons were.

She supposed she’d be sticking around long enough to figure out the rest of them.

How in the world was she going to explain this to Link?

Oh, Link. She knew that between the two of them he had probably been far more eager to go home. Not to mention…

The only way to defeat Demise was with his help.

But… Zelda wasn’t quite sure how this was going to work. Her entire plan had relied on the Triforce. Link had been chosen because of his unbreakable spirit – the criteria was literally that the power and allure of the Triforce wouldn’t corrupt him. Zelda had held Demise at bay, the Master Sword had guided Link, and…

The Master Sword. That knight.

This was… a mess.

“Thank you,” Zelda muttered, her mind already a million miles away from the room, spinning and confused and so utterly lost. She had no idea how she was supposed to fix this.

I guess I can start by talking to the princess.

XXX

Link was hopelessly lost.

When he’d first awoken to an empty room, he’d wandered outside. The sight of tiny birds was enticing, and it would provide a good distraction. As amazing as last night had been, it was over, and the heavy thoughts weighing on his mind were trying to return.

So naturally he’d had to run into that knight. The new Chosen Hero. The person whose life he’d probably destroyed from his own ineptitude. That had been an entire fiasco, and he was just trying to find his way back to the little house given to him and Zelda inside this large structure. He’d thought it would be easy to find his way back – this place couldn’t be that big, right?

He’d been wrong. This place was huge. He swore it was bigger than Skyloft itself.

Sighing heavily, he leaned against a stone wall as the fires crackled on the torches. He’d been up most of the night with Zelda, and it had been, well, incredible, but also now he was exhausted, he’d already gotten so overwhelmingly stressed he’d gotten ill, and he had no idea where the heck he was.

I’ve got to be close, right? He thought desperately, his head starting to ache.

Link took a fortifying breath and started to walk again. At least he’d finally adjusted to the climate. Surface Sickness could be a pain with the lingering fatigue it often brought, but he’d been down here long enough that he’d adapted. He was sure Zelda felt the same way.

Where even was Zelda? He hadn’t seen her all morning.

A familiar anxiety tried to well its way into his mind, but he shook his head. No one here was going to hurt her; he learned that much from yesterday’s celebration.

Whispers of doubts, worries, and observations started to overwhelm him, and he shook his head again. No. He wasn’t going to think about it. He would just keep moving forward like he always did. Everything was fine.

Link felt some hope spark within him as he saw a door up ahead. That had to be it, right?

Picking up his pace, he opened the door to find himself in an unfamiliar room. White and grey tiles lined the floor and were occasionally covered with red velvet carpet. The stone walls had many bookshelves lined along them aside from multiple arched windows. A desk was in the corner, a vanity on the other wall beside a large four post bed, and a massive spiraling staircase was in front of the wall opposite of him.

Link bit his lip. This wasn’t the room provided to him, so he wouldn’t find Zelda here. But he was so tired, and he couldn’t tell what time it was, but the sun was definitely still hanging heavily, slowly crawling up into the sky. His mind was a fog, trying to hide words of curses and malice in a haze that left him feeling incapable of thinking straight. A nap would do him so good; he could find Zelda when he could actually focus.

Making his way to the bed, he promptly collapsed on top of the blanket, immediately falling asleep.

XXX

Princess Zelda scribbled some notes into her research journal and then leaned back in her seat. After the festivities earlier in the night she’d buried herself in work. She was eager to talk to their esteemed guests about the guardians and the divine beasts, and she was even more eager to learn about their era. Perhaps they knew about the divine beasts? Perhaps they were the ones who had ordered their construction? It was hard to tell – the tales spoke of their development ten thousand years ago, but there were other myths of different heroes and enemies and she didn’t know how they all fit together. Organizing it all in her journal would help.

It also gave her confidence to even approach them. Her brief interaction with Hylia last night had been exhilarating, but there was still a degree of timidity involved. As for the Hero of Myth, he was somewhat of an enigma; his gentle and soft features were unassuming and kind, but his mannerisms sometimes were contradictory. He had much more confidence and boldness in him than her appointed knight; sitting on the arm of the throne so casually with his arm draped around the goddess was quite the gesture, and everyone had commented on it. Zelda wasn’t really sure what to make of him. Still, if she’d learned anything from her experiences with her friend, it was to not judge a book by its cover.

Closing her journal, the princess stood and stretched. She’d probably take a walk around the castle a bit before heading to bed. When she exiting her study, however, she jolted to realize that it was early morning light.

Oh. Oops. No wonder I’m tired.

The princess had a momentary panic as she thought about whether she had any duties to attend to in the morning. When her addled mind found none, she relaxed. Perhaps she’d have time to sleep for a few hours before she was needed. Zelda walked across the bridge between the tower and her quarters and thoughtfully made her way down the spiral stairs into her room.

And then she stopped dead in her tracks as she heard soft snoring.

Her heart racing, she slowly crept towards her bed to see… to see…

Is that the Hero?!

Princess Zelda stared, completely flabbergasted. The Hero of Myth Descended from the Sky was prone on her bed, not even under the covers, not even in sleep clothes of any sort. He looked like he’d just belly flopped onto the mattress and passed out.

Zelda looked around wildly as if she should find someone else in the room. What was—why was he—what was she supposed to do?! What was happening?!

To be in her bedroom – such an action could have someone thrown in lockup, but this was the legendary Hero, this was—this was…

Zelda just stared, her brain fried. She didn’t know what to do.

The Hero continued to snore quietly, undeterred by the princess’ anxiety.

Gulping, Zelda tiptoed closer to her bed. Perhaps… he was unwell? And he just found her room? Or perhaps he had wanted to talk to her? Oh goddess, had he been up all night waiting for her?! No, that doesn’t fit, why would he be sleeping in my bed?!

Following her initial logic, she looked him over to see if he looked ill. Although there were bags under his eyes, a testament to his heavy sleeping, nothing else seemed unusual.

Shaking her head, she reached a tentative hand out and lightly tapped the young Hero on the shoulder. Nothing. Zelda gave another, more confident tap. Still nothing.

She cleared her throat. “E-excuse me.”

The snoring continued.

Starting to grow annoyed, Zelda huffed, “Excuse me.”

The Hero shifted, just a hair, and Zelda’s confidence vanished in a heartbeat. She took a startled step away, but it was for nothing. The Hero remained asleep.

Now what?!

She debated calling a guard or even her father, but she thought better of it. It wasn’t like he was doing anything too offensive, she supposed, even if it made absolutely no sense. Should she keep trying to wake him up? He clearly was exhausted.

Zelda bit her lip. She’d lost her boldness from earlier, no longer wishing to disturb him. She… she guessed he could just stay there. But where was she going to sleep?

Looking around the room and stepping away from the bed, Zelda’s gaze fell on the comfortable red chair in the center. Well… there was that.

I don’t want to sleep in a chair, she grumbled internally, and a part of her was incensed to awaken the Hero once more.

Energized, she tried again, but poking did nothing, speaking did little more than make the man occasionally twitch, and huffing in exasperation fell upon deaf ears.

Good grief, he is a heavy sleeper!

Eventually, Zelda gave up entirely. She didn’t want to bother going to one of the many guest quarters as they were nowhere near her room – and the instant she left her room she’d likely get absconded into some matter or another. She was almost too tired to care at this point.

Resigned to her fate, the princess dragged her feet to the chair, trying to get comfortable in some awkward position, and attempted to fall asleep. Her neck started to ache at the way she had it on the arm of the chair, and she felt confined in her dress, which she didn’t dare change out of while the Hero was in the room.

Well, she supposed she could grab her nightgown and change in the study, but… she didn’t feel comfortable doing so. Besides, what would that look like if a servant came in? She would be practically indecent with a married man, the Hero of Myth, her bloody ancestor in her room.

Maybe since he was her ancestor it wouldn’t look as scandalous? Or would it be even more so? She didn’t know.

Zelda sighed irritably, but then a sound caught her attention. It wasn’t gentle snores. It sounded… it sounded like a whimper.

Stiffening, she listened and heard it again. Uncurling from her chair, she glanced in the direction of the bed to see the Hero turning, his brow furrowed and his nose scrunched in what looked to be fear or worry. Was he waking up?

The Hero continued to shift, looking uncomfortable, and Zelda realized that he was still very much asleep.

A nightmare. He was having a nightmare.

Did heroes have nightmares? What could possibly scare him?

Zelda shook her head. She should know better than to ask that now. Link was spilling with anxiety at all times with the pressure he was under. She wondered if he had nightmares too.

The Hero let out a small whine. Zelda felt her chest clench. She couldn’t just watch him like this.

Rising, Zelda slowly and hesitantly walked to the bed. The Hero was on his side now, facing away from her. His body was tense and occasionally twitched, and he was subtly curling in on himself.

He looked so incredibly vulnerable. So normal. He didn’t look like a mythical hero, or the progenitor of the royal line, or the champion who triumphed over the original Calamity.

He was just a person, like Link. Like her.

Grabbing a hold of her resolve with this thought in mind, Zelda placed both hands on his arm and gave him a hard shake.

The Hero inhaled sharply through his nose, and his body froze. His breathing, initially rising to a level of gasping, was now evening out in careful, measured inhales and exhales. Though the princess couldn’t see his eyes, she could tell he was now awake.

She cleared her throat, trying not to startle him. The mild jump that shook his entire body indicated she didn’t quite succeed.

Quickly turning onto his back, the Hero’s eyes pierced into her, his face a little pale. Zelda swallowed, her nerves returning under his deep blue gaze. She had grown used to long, silent glances from Link, but his eyes somehow seemed… she didn’t know, the lighter blue made them less mysterious maybe. This Hero’s eyes were dark, like oceans that held so much in their depths that she couldn’t see. He seemed to be analyzing her for a moment, making her skin crawl, and then his eyes softened, his body easing into a more comfortable posture.

“Hi,” he said hoarsely, and his face relaxed.

Zelda blinked, not quite expecting such a simple greeting. “Um… hello. A-are you alright?”

The Hero gave a small smile, his head tilting somewhat into the pillow, and Zelda felt her heart melt as her muscles stopped clenching quite so hard. “I’m okay. Are you?”

Zelda bit her lip. “You were having a nightmare.”

His smile faded a little, and he looked away. “It happens.”

Zelda didn’t know what to say to that. She hugged herself, unsure what to do next. The Hero sighed and glanced back at her, asking, “Is this your bed?”

Her exasperation from earlier resurfaced, and she folded her arms. “Yes, actually.”

He hummed a moment and then said, “Is this your side of the bed? Do you have a side?”

Zelda blinked. What?

“There’s plenty of room.”

Zelda blinked again, horrified. What?!

The Hero smiled and stretched, closing his eyes, and then beginning to fall back asleep.

Wait a bloody second— “Um, excuse me.”

The Hero opened his eyes.

“This is my bed.”

The Hero stared at her. “Yes?”

Clearly, there was a miscommunication going on here. Zelda felt her cheeks blush as she grew flustered. “So I sleep in it.”

The Hero twisted, looking at the other side of the bed, glanced back at her, and pat the empty space beside him, bemused.

Was he—?! “I can’t sleep with you!”

The princess didn’t quite mean for her voice to sound like a near squeak when she said that.

The Hero looked even more confused. “Why not?”

“Why not?!” Zelda spluttered, feeling her ears redden as well. “Because—because it isn’t proper!”

“Proper for what?”

Zelda stared at him, mouth agape like a fish out of water.

The Hero furrowed his brow. “A bed’s for sleeping, after all. And there’s plenty of room for you to sleep here too.”

Zelda shut her mouth with a click on her teeth. She opened it again to protest and came up with nothing.

This was… this was ridiculous. But she was running out of both nerve and energy trying to explain how this was not okay, thank you very much.

But… he looked… so confused.

Who was this guy?! This legendary Hero of Myth from the Sky was the biggest enigma Zelda had ever met, and he…

She sighed, defeated. “At least take your boots off.”

Her heart skipped a beat at commanding a legend as if he were a normal person, and then she banished the thought. He was a normal person; she was recognizing that more and more.

And he was certainly an uncultured person. Downright feral, even. Who didn’t understand basic etiquette?!

The Hero bit his lip, looking positively brow beaten. “Sorry.”

Before Zelda could say anything, he kicked off his boots, letting them fall to the side of the bed, and then he slipped under the covers with a content sigh, closing his eyes.

Zelda stared at him. Then stared some more. Then stared some more.

What just happened? Had she just chastised the ancient Hero of Myth? Had he just apologized like a child being scolded? And was he still sleeping in her bed?!

She sighed again, exhausted. There was no arguing at this point. And she was too tired to care. And…

You know what? Screw it. He’s innocent and naïve, there’s no harm to it… it can’t be that bad.

Grabbing her nightdress, she tiptoed to her study, quickly changed clothes, and then made her way back to her room. The Hero was already snoozing. She watched him a moment more, grabbed a robe and wrapped herself in it with flustered energy, and then took a deep breath and settled onto the bed as if she were lying on a bed of charcoals in Goron City.

She did have to admit this was much more comfortable than trying to sleep in that chair, though.

With that thought in mind, Zelda turned to face away from the Hero and settled into an uneasy sleep.

#breath of the sky #writing #Who knew a recurring theme in this story would be “Link snoozes peacefully while Zelda has a mental breakdown” #I sure didn't #Link sleeps where he wants #Zelda was raised on ~propriety~ #in a society where Link is worried about how he's perceived and thinks that a knight and a princess can't have any kind of relationship #and in a society where Rhoam and Zelda are concerned about how they're perceived #this HAS to be a big deal to them #cultural differences woot woot #I think I gave almost everyone a mental breakdown in this chapter #they deserve it #that's what they get for holding this story hostage so much #anyway everyone's looking for Princess and it's gonna be fun when they all converge #hopefully this turned out all right #breath of the wild #skyward sword #breath of the wild link #botw link #breath of the wild zelda #botw zelda #mipha #skyward sword link #ss link #skyward sword zelda #ss zelda #king rhoam #legend of zelda

[uncanny-tranny]

It's honestly frustrating that I've seen non-Russian queer people almost bragging about how they would be illegal in Russia, labeled an extremist or terrorist. Russian queers are in danger, their government has made it clear where it stands, and it's made this effort for the better part of a decade (even longer, perhaps). This will kill people, don't mistake this for a quirky little proclamation from a government, akin to somebody saying the sky is pink. Russian queer people were already expressing their fear, and the least we can do now is express our love for them, and advocate with them.

Russian queer people, I love you. I love you all so much. I am so sorry, I cannot begin to express the grief that I feel, and I hope that you are safe. Words cannot encapsulate how I feel as a non-Russian, and I cannot hope to comprehend how it feels to actually be in this situation.

#queer #lgbt #lgbtq #ofc this has been brewing for a long time and it has been really troubling to say the very LEAST #honestly i have seen russian queers joke about the situation which feels different. honestly it's almost admirable #i just can't find it funny to see non-Russians do it simply because the threat of prosecution or death for people is too high in my mind #it feels almost voyeuristic when non-russians joke like that to me #like i've joked about the state of (us)american queer rights when it feels too bleak but i live here #i guess when people only joke about it it tells me they don't think it's a big deal or that it won't affect queer people... #...because it won't affect them as an outsider likely #it's just shitty. all around. and it's the type of thing that i'm not sure what to do #queerphobia #queerphobia tw

[inkskinned]

100,000 dollars is not a lot of money.

it is also a lot more money than i will ever have. my student loans make up half of that - they're coming back, i'm told, like we all bounced back recently. the other day while paying for gas to go to work, i overdrew my account without knowing it.

i sat in the car and looked at the charge and tried to do the math. where the fuck is the money even going? i don't live extravagantly. i live in a hole in the ground, in an apartment the size of a sneeze; covered in ants. yes, i wanted to live close to a population center. maybe that's my fault. i've downloaded the apps and i've spoken to the experts and i've cut back on excess. i can't help the pharmacy bills or the medical debt.

i have a good, well-paying job. when i googled it to see if i was getting a fair salary, i found out i'd be making "upper middle class" money. which doesn't make sense - is "upper middle class" now just "able to afford a one-bedroom without a roommate". when i was younger, upper-middle meant a nice big house and a backyard and vacations and not flinching about eating at a resturant.

i was talking to my friend who is a realtor. he said 100,000 dollars is extremely cheap for housing. he's not wrong. 100,000 dollars would change my life. 100,000 dollars also won't really buy you anything. it could get you out of debt, potentially, if you were lucky and had a certain amount of scholarships to tack onto your degree. you could pay off the car and then have enough left over for "spending" money. how fucking amazing. one vacation, maybe two if you're thrifty. and then - like magic - the money would evaporate into nothing. people would sigh and tell you see, you should have put it into savings! like "upper middle class" people can't afford to value "actually living" over squirrelling wealth. you should spend your life only in scarcity. like that is what made the rich people all their real "actually a lot of money".

100,000 dollars would literally set me free. it also would just set me back to "earning normally" instead of paying down debt into infinity. god, do you know how many of us just want that? that our first thought is we could stop scrambling and just be free of debt if we won the lottery? that we don't even necessarily need to stop working - we just wouldn't have to worry about failing or falling?

and. at the same time. 100,000 dollars is next to fucking nothing.

#writeblr #me paying my taxes this year: #haha good to know im literally doing more for my community out of my tiny apartment #than most corporations will do in their entire scope! :) these motherfuckers will NEVER pay taxes!!! #bc they lobby others to be sure we CHOKE :) !!! #i hope this is clear like. this isn't someone being like ''haha if i got 100k it wouldn't be a big deal'' #it's more like. the gap between corporations and the ppl WORKING in those corporations #has become HORRIFIC. 100k to the company i work for is like. pocket change to them. #and it is LIFE CHANGING for me. #they could cut me a check for 100k tomorrow and not even budge their margin of error

[clairenatural]

okay but you see sam has ALSO fallen for dean's act. sam also believes dean to be the macho, daddy's soldier, beer boobs cars guy he presents himself as. this is why sam makes fun of dean whenever he even lightly steps out of that mold and thinks it's harmless banter instead of attacking an insecurity. it's why he laughs when john talks down to dean in the early seasons and it's why he seems surprised when dean is more comfortable with himself in the later seasons. it's why he just scoffs but doesn't push it when dean puts up a front and refuses to talk about his emotions and just accepts whatever excuse he makes at face value. it's why he offers dean a strip club to make him feel better when cas dies. and this isn't his fault!! dean has spent a very long time perfecting this image in front of everyone and ESPECIALLY to sam because along with it comes safety and security and stability and the only person. who has consistently been able to see through it. is castiel

#charlie also a bit bc dean doesn't have to be desirable to her as a man or as a son #altho i would argue that she doesn't see through him he just doesn't perform as much for her. cas actively sees through it #this is why sam has never caught on to dean being queer also. btw. dean isn't closeted he's just never made a big deal of telling sam #you never really know your parents just the version of them they want you to see etc etc #anyway this is also why sam is thought to be More Sensitive in comparison #by people who have also fallen for the Act. i call this the General Audience Dean Act #because it was who he was SUPPOSED to be from kripke's pen until jensen went ummmmm no. he has trauma :) and forcibly gave him layers #this is also not samcrit btw i always need to clarify that #i am bad at sam studies but i think you could also write posts (and ppl have) about how dean doesn't truly know sam either #bc he has Little Baby Brother zoned him forever even though he is almost 40 by the end of s15

[livwritesstuff]

a happening in the harrington house circa 2010-ish

(aka another example of Eddie being a kind, loving, gentle parent like Wayne was to him and Steve being absolutely fine with his children being mostly feral as long as they’re alive)

“Dad, am I adopted?”

Eddie blinks, then furrows his eyes as he looks at his seven-year-old daughter, Robbie (who he hadn’t even heard come into the room, to be honest), because he knows that he and Steve have been very upfront with all three of their children about how they’re adopted.

“Yes,” he tells her, “You’re adopted. You’re all adopted.”

“Then how come Hazel and Moe look like sisters and they don’t look like me?” she asks.

And Eddie feels his heart break a little bit.

“Oh, sweetheart,” he says, running a hand over her curls, “Well, first of all, you all look very similar, and you do all have the same mom, 100%. Sometimes genes are just weird that way.”

Robbie scrunches her nose, “Jeans?”

“Uhh…” he trails off, scratching his head and knowing full well he barely made it through sophomore biology (and that was almost thirty years ago).

When Steve comes home thirty minutes later, he finds Robbie Skyping with Dustin in Indiana and he’s got his camera facing a white board while he talks the first-grader and her middle-aged dad through a very basic explanation of punnett squares and genetics.

“What’s going on?” he asks skeptically, dropping his backpack onto the counter.

“Uncle Dustin’s showing me why me and Moe aren’t related,” Robbie replies, not taking her eyes off the computer screen.

“No,” Dustin cuts in emphatically.

Steve looks at his husband for an explanation.

“She thinks she’s not related to Moe and Hazel because she doesn’t look like them,” Eddie tells him.

Steve’s eyebrows fly up as he looks back at their daughter.

“Robbie,” he says, “Where’s your head at? You and Moe have the exact same face with different hair.”

“Moe has brown eyes,” Robbie fires back.

“And Hazel has blue eyes just like you. So what? All three of you are basically identical. When you and Moe were little, you were so tall that people always told me how cute my twins are.”

yEARS later, Moe and Robbie do that tiktok trend where the camera switches back and forth *very* quickly between their faces to show how similar they look, and their friends all comment shit like ‘wow y’all TWINS twins’

#jokes on them - moe’s the one with a different bio-dad #they don’t know that yet tho #look - hair and eye color is a Big Deal when you're little #i spent *years* totally convinced my brother and i weren't related because i was blonde and he has dark brown hair #steddie #liv’s steddie dads verse #steddie dads #steve harrington #eddie munson

[xero013]

Look at these three, definitely not troublemakers for sure.

🚇⚡

(Cringe 2022 vers.)

#nimbasa trio #submas #gym leader elesa #subway boss ingo #subway boss emmet #elesa #subway boss kudari #subway boss nobori #kamitsure #look at them all baby #they're all good students its just Emmet who sometimes start sht up because bored #Luckily he has twin big bro Ingo to stop him!! #unfortunately Ingo would have his hands full trying to deal not only with his twin but Elesa too #(who sometimes get dragged along in the end lol) #hmm expect this (thread? idk) to be added with more stuff #they are the ah dorks #they are friends #which would then become more as they grow older #they are living in my head rent free #redraw

[kirby-the-gorb]

#kirby #daily kirby #my art #digital #hal laboratory #nintendo #you didn't hear this from me but streetlight manifesto has 2 and only 2 tour dates scheduled so far for this year #one in their home turf and one in mine #it will've been 5 years since I last got to see them live #after 6 consecutive years of attending #I was genuinely and reasonably worried I might not survive to see them live again. #tickets don't go on sale for another day or two so it's not a 100% guarantee but. #it's like kind of a big deal tbh. #no not kind of. it's a big deal to me. #I'm emotional about it. #anyway check out my craft blog I reblogged earlier today or the merch catalogue in the pinned post so I can afford tickets lol #(honestly my wife and partner would probably cover the tickets if I asked especially since they're both coming with me) #(so the money part is realistically nbd)

[gottagobackintime]

I've seen some people say: “Trent shouldn’t have been gay, he should have just supported Colin anyway.” And it's such a weird (and bad) take.

Had Trent been straight we wouldn’t have gotten the scenes we did. Colin could have opened up and told Trent how he felt, but Trent wouldn’t have understood, he could have been supportive. But he wouldn’t understand where Colin is coming from. But because Trent is also gay he knows what it’s like being in the closet, living with fear and dread. Living with thoughts like “if I tell the people I love about my sexuality, will they hate me?”. You can’t get that from a straight ally, no matter how supportive and well meaning they are. Because they don't know what it's like. We need straight allies, we need all the straight allies we can get. But what Colin needs RIGHT NOW is someone who, while not a professional athlete, is involved in the world of football. Knows about homophobic fans, knows that there are a culture of toxic masculinity and homophobia in the clubs. That is why it’s important that Trent himself is gay.

Colin almost got runover by a cyclist in his desperate attempt to run away from Trent at the gay bar. But the relief when he understands what Trent is saying "I must have a good reason for that, mustn't I?" is so clear. Trent is also queer, Trent is safe, I can let Trent in.

And I think some people might read that line as "I haven't outed you because I'm gay too, but if I had been straight I would have" which isn't what Trent means, Trent is using that phrase to be subtle, to let Colin come to his own conclusion, because Colin is stressed out, he's scared. By letting Colin think for himself it gives Colin an opportunity to calm down (which is also why Trent holds his hands out as if calming a frightened animal, he also makes himself slightly smaller by bending his knees and leaning forward slightly). And he does, he realises what Trent is saying and he calms down. It's also an added layer of security it's not just, "I haven't outed you" it's "I haven't outed you because I am also queer". A straight person saying that they haven't outed you doesn't hold as much weight as a queer person saying it. Because you know that the queer person knows how important it is to be safe and to come out on your own terms wheras a straight person, especially an eager well meaning ally might try and encourage you to come out because "hey, it's gonna be fine", even when that's not the support you need at the moment (there are ofc exceptions, both when it comes to straight people and queer people).

But because Trent is also gay, Colin now has someone in his corner at work, who knows him, knows his secret. Who also carried that secret himself once. We’ll most likely get straight allies in the other players and the leaders at Richmond.

So no, Trent shouldn’t have been straight. Because that is not the support Colin needed at that moment. He needed queer solidarity.

#ted lasso #ted lasso spoilers #colin hughes #trent crimm #I saw someone on reddit saying that this whole thing with colin being scared of coming out was a bad storyline in 2023 #because it's not a big deal #and I was baffled #thankfully some people called them out on that #because colin just wants to live his life #he says he doesn't want to be a spokesperson but that's what he'll become if he comes out whether he wants to or not #because he'll always be the first active gay premier league player #and it's also arrogant to say that it's accepted to be queer in 2023 so it's not a big deal #when queer and trans people are stripped of their rights and their right to express themselves in the US for example #and queer and trans people are killed all over the world simply because of their sexuality and/or gender identity #and even if you live in a fairly accepting country like I do for example #it's still the fear that YOUR OWN family and friends will reject you #because to quote monty python ''we're all individuals'' #it doesn't matter how accepting society at large is because society are made up of individuals who has their own beliefs #so no the world isn't as accepting as people are led to believe and that's what I mean when I talk about straight people #no matter how well-meaning they are they will have a hard time understanding #nicole watches stuff

[ganondoodle]

some more ideas for the totk rewritten project (botw2);

underground general ideas i thought about what to theme the underground after, and since its vaguely like underwater in canon i thought id push it much much further, you cant actually dive and while id love that i do want to stay within a certain possible range of it still being a sequel to botw and somewhat based on totk- so im putting the low gravity effect away from the sky and instead in the underground, the ENTIRE underground, that way it is distinctly different in the way you have to play since you gotta work around the low gravity effect, the entire plant life and enemies will also be based on deep sea creatures- anglerfish like ones that half burrow and lure you with their light, those fish (or are they worms?) that hide underground as soon as you step too close, maybe they hide initially but only to make you go closer and try and snatch at you

much more glowy things too, basically everythings got some sort of light on it, there are different creatures flying around that all feature some sort of glow, so there is stuff to see but you cant immediately know what it is, theres a unique kind of plant that when you bother it spews out a dark cloud of spores (kinda like in tp) that dims any light you had; there are some landmarks you can activate or repair with the help of zelda but there is no way to illuminate the entire map and the lil light ferns expire slowly too

i also want it to be way more wet, not full with water but maybe a thin layer of water at most places and some drops from stalactites that fall constantly

there are shadowy ghosts there as well but they CAN aggro (still working on it), either by taking a weapon from their grave or some other things; also considered them or some other enemy that stalks you for some time and the only clue you get is maybe double sound of your steps or something at the very edge of your screen but you can never catch it when looking around (i dont want to make it a horror game but do want the underground to stay as creepy as when you first get down there), something elusive and shadow based that is rarely encountered but stays creepy for longer than the miasma hands sicne it cant get stuck on anything and the only way to be safe is while in the air

maybe some miasma reanimated corpses of ancient shiekah killed when the ancient hyrulean king turned on them (only foudn in the underground in this way; there are others but unposessed in alot of the broken shrines and old laboratories so seeing one suddendly move and crawl after you is probably pretty scary, kinda like the vroken guardians sometimes being still functional)

the dongos are the main friendly animal you can discover there and tame (still working out more details) they can climb around, always emit a little bit of light and the shadow enemy wont latch onto you as long as you are near a dongo, maybe even most enemies will leave you alone if you are riding one, as they are slower than horses, with the exception of gigamas (or a similar enemy ill redesign for that) as they are the natural predator of dongos; when you get to close to one it will react to it and if a fight is initiated it burrows away (you can call it and it comes back to you if you are out of range of that enemy)

tameable animals since i played skyward sword recently i just realized again how much fun it is to fly on a bird, sicne im already dividing the three map layers a bit more i thought it would be cool to make these layers more distinct, in some part by the tameable animals- the sky has birds (based on dinosaurs), the surface has horses, the underground dongos- neither of them can follow you to one they dont belong and the way to call them switches as you switch layers

im not sure yet if those birds should be ridable or are only able to give you a small boost upwards when you call them

magic bar so instead of actual batteries i planned to, as i said before, to put that into links shiekah arm prosthetic, and instead of giving you literal battery symbols on the screen it would be a bar right below your health and next to the symbol of the current selected arm ability

krog seeds a bit more to the krogs- as i said before they are no longer the way to make your pockets bigger- among an armor set i also thought about making the most expensive reward OR the end reward for finding all of them be the eponator zero- maybe it went missing during the cataclysm and maronus (engl. hestu) finds it at some point, so you get your bike back but its locked behind something bigger so you are unlikely to exploit it early on

(EDIT) (forgot to mention the dragons- im putting them each in one layer of the map- eldra in the underground bc gan is there and youknow, demise coming from the ground and fire being associated with the ground etc, farodra on the surface GREEN etc, and naydra in the sky, bc wisdom and owls and gods and all that weeeeee)

(on a sidenote im also thinking about ditching the building mechanic to some extent since i dont think it fits very well as a whole and it makes it too easy to completely skip stuff- i want the main way to move things or to get around be the hookshot/grappling hook part of links arm; still working on all that though .. so far it does seem likely like it will be much more limited)

#ganondoodles talks #zelda #totk #ganondoodles rewrites totk #also since alot of the shrines are now more like bigger caves and less in number i thought about making a broken tower into a mini boss #like a mass of miasma spilling from a hole in the ground like the big one in the gerudo area that wields the tower as a weapon #some of the bigger regional changes i wanted to mix it up alot more without redoing the entire map #so gerudo dessert might be flooded #the zora are dealing with all the water in the region having gone through a crack in the earth leading their area to dry up #rito area isnt just snowed in but in an actual blizzard that coated everything in a thick layer of ice #YES ICE PHYSICS WOOHOO #and made them flee maybe into vah medoh whos unfunctional and resting somewhere else #maybe isntead of floating hyrule castle is sunk into the ground .. tho im not so sure on that yet #.... listen theres so much stuff you could do with world to have it have actual changes #what if satoris mountain was half broken and sunk into the ground but the mountain is still there at night like a spiritual footprint #you know #make it actually feel like a big order destroying event has happened!!!

[smilesrobotlover]

The dads being cute with their lovers (sorta)

I hc that Rito kiss each other by touching the top of their beaks to something (their beaks aren’t touching but that’s just cuz I can’t draw 💀💀) so they’re doing a lil Rito kiss <3 I WISH we had more of them man.

#rip Leon and Talon they’re wives are dead :c #Linebeck and Jolene’s relationship is… complicated #Sarah is helping Ammon deal with phantom pains #she has a very calm demeanor and it’s nice to him #helps him relax when he’s overwhelmed #Uli and Rusl try not to be cute challenge #when Faima shrinks she looks like a regular Hylian with great fairy clothes #but when she’s big she has her pink hair #strangers across eras #if you put all of them together you have the wives #the exes #then you have the daughter which is Malon #and then you have Leon’s one friend Valensuela #oh Kass #gonna do a minor totk spoiler so stop reading now #problem with writing Kass is that I’m growing attached to him which sucks cuz he got frickin sniped in totk #like COME ON I MIS HIM WHERE IS HE

[intriga-hounds]

IT HAPPENED!!!!! milo finished his ISWS championship today with a BOB win over 13 other silkens. i am so excited to be DONE SHOWING HIM FOREVER!!!!! 😂😂😂 i am also so proud of him and so glad i didn’t chicken out of showing on a hot day. shows are expensive, and going to pick milo up for every show has been…a lot. but i’m glad i kept trying.

milo is now:

BISS ISWS CH KadlecStarfyreMtLassen@Intriga BFAST

(it’s a mouthful, i know)

not bad for a dog that only gets out to events like 3-4 times a year! and has also only been eligible to compete for almost exactly 2 years!!!

i’m glad sivi made me one good dog at least. 😅

#milo #conformation #show #fave #he is qualified in lgra and notra #and has successfully run in asfa singles #but he’s not consistent and i don’t have the bandwidth to get him there #i am happy with his accomplishments and can go forth in peace 😌 #decoding some terms for people who don’t know them: #ISWS: international silken windhound society #isws ch titles are modeled after akc ch titles so they’re achieved close to the same way #BOB: best of breed #BISS: best in specialty show (a Very Big Deal) #BFAST: title modeled after akc’s fast cat titles #it is pretty easy to get but shows potential for running ability perhaps

[lunarharp]

Very important conferences.

#witch hat tag #orufrey #some real serious discussions goin on in this atelier today. dont u doubt it. #agott is the only one who has ever thought about this because she is a 12 year old lesbian and UMM..FRIEND? LIKE FRIEND? IS THAT..LEGAL??? #this is all i drew today because silly things like this take hours lol. at least it's practice for poses -_- #i got the pattern of the girls' dresses wrong but i couldn't be bothered to change halfway through. #don't worry if you're like what is the naakiwan downs. is that name even mentioned in the main manga #ANYWAY i KEEP thinking about what if it's actually banned for professors and watchful eyes to date like that would make a lot of sense. #like maybe it should be banned. SO??? are they just low-key Aware of what the deal is and they're just Putting their feelings aside #until graduation??? take my tassel as an unspoken reminder of how i feel?? living together trial period?? this feels like it's truly it #When we're free to be together........ Sensei loves homophobia parallels without there actually being homophobia #Let's invent reasons why men cant be together. Ummm well whatever. i'm screaming in my head but it's fine. #this will probably form the theme of my orufrey for a while. i've thought of this before but for some reason today it's big for me. #i guess the tassels might not specifically be a part of that since they exchanged them before tower of books #and qifrey made his mysterious decision to be a teacher after that and..well whatever. I need more of backstory and just..everything? #But i also don't mind when vinanna interrupts my wishes with just a chapter of just being really dreamy? I love witch hat?

[mousetrappart]

About the dlc I’m sorry, I just? Really don’t understand how emmet could be in it? Like just from a game making aspect and gamefreak’s trend of storytelling it’s never been a possibility in my mind.

#idk I’ve always participated in this fandom with the understanding that we wouldn’t get any other submas content #simply because we’re not that big a deal really #ingo was put in pla for a pun and it just so happened to have a story that I and many others loved lmao #I actually wouldn’t Want a hint of submas in the dlc #I wouldn’t want them to just smack them into a game that already has a track record of being rushed #they wouldn’t do the story justice #which is while I’ll just sit in my tiny corner and daydream my own stuff #submas #just wanted to voice my thoughts idk #this is me coming from a place of confusion

[swordswaltz]

i loveeeee interacting with fandoms but only in the way that i want to. "i hate this ship they're so oversaturated" i only see them when i want to! "have you heard about the discourse around this plot point" no! and i will not! "oh my god this big account just got called out" okay! don't care!

#soukoku has been saved for me by ignoring how popular it is and ignoring the equal amount of people who hate it because its popular #i have friends and hobbies and things i can do outside of read 16 year olds argue about gillion tidestrider #and i have never cared about a 'big fandom account' in my life. at all #but seriously so many people hate skk bc its popular. yes i'd like to see content other than them on the main tag but it's not a big deal #i can fuckin. search up the tag for higuchi or kunikida or ango whenever i want. and see other things. heart emoji

[galedekarios]

The people going "it's not a big deal" confuse me. What other character gets shit on by everyone unwarranted and unprompted? What other character is told to not be themselves, because that would be terrible advice for them specifically? None of the devs or writers say that Astarion should be handed over to the Gur hunter and killed by them because as a vampire he's a monster anyway and this way it's a good end and he won't hurt anyone anymore. Lae'zel is brutal and aggressive, but instead of going "haha yeah isn't that so annoying, boo 👎" the devs defend her and say that audiences would not be saying that if she was a man instead. Shadowheart always has something to say, too, about Shar and Selune, and other things, but they don't call her annoying about her religion. Astarion can feed on PC and give you a negative buff, but that's fine. Gale needs a trivial color spray trinket, one of only three(!!) trinkets, and god he's just the worst. And that isn't even the end of it, that's just where I'm choosing to stop this already long message. After a certain point, if the ONLY place where Gale doesn't get shit on is when you're talking to him directly and choosing the nice options, then yeah I feel like there's a problem behind the scenes there. Especially when his story is about forgiveness, belief that you're enough, allowing yourself to love and be loved again, accepting and asking for help, and learning that you deserve to live, but the devs say that an ending where all of that is thrown away and even after telling him that he's enough you still have him sacrifice himself is good... then it's like what would have to happen for people to realize that Gale is treated differently than the rest? And what do they have to say for others to realize that they're going against their anti-suicide message? Because I don't get it. Is the world going to end? No. But that doesn't mean this isn't weird and hurtful. Escaping the cycle of abuse and becoming better is great is the basis of their game, unless your name is Gale.

i really have nothing to add here.

#people can have their own thoughts of course #and if it's not a big deal to them or they read it differently #more power to them #i don't really care #personally though i like to stick to what is actually said and written however #and the message it sends #and not make up excuses for a company and its employees #when everything here mirrors what's happening in the game and outside of the game #they didn't talk about this being of one the possible endings they very much specifically singled it out as the ending that feels 'right' #and that has a lot of unfortunate implications #that need to be looked at imo #ch: gale dekarios #vg: baldur's gate 3 #series: baldur's gate #text: asks #text: personal #larian critical #bg3 critical

[tswwwit]

i’m sooo curious on bill meeting dipper’s parents. i think i remember you mentioning at one point they kinda sucked and treated dip especially bad. i’m sure that’s caused a lot of his long term mental health/self esteem issues and i can’t help but think his husband wouldn’t be too thrilled about that. also they don’t even know he’s married so that’s a whole other thing lol

In the Familiar AU, Dipper's parents shipped him and Mabel off to Grunkle Stan back when they were twelve, actually!

This was initially excused as the twins 'needing to get used to having magic'. Which makes sense! Magical puberty is a heck of a thing, and getting some training's useful to cut down on random magic surges.

But by the end of the summer, they hadn't made any plans for picking the kids up. This when Stan twigged to the real situation.

And by the end of that year, Dipper knew his 'paranoid' assumption was absolutely correct.

So the twins grew up in Gravity Falls, with only very occasional visits back 'home'. Contact's been sporadic, and Mabel's been the one who's clung more to their parent's attention. Dipper hasn't spoken to them unless forced to in years.

So yeah! Bill's not exactly thrilled with the parents - but lucky for them, they haven't met him yet! And they definitely don't know about the marriage. Much less anything else.

#answers #In summary: The twins' parents found out their kids were magical and decided they Just Couldn't Deal with that #They're not magical themselves and giving your kids some Magic Training is a good idea #But at some point you need to actually *take them back* #Which they just. Didn't #Dipper abso-friggin-lutely has a whole mess of issues from that #Abandonment's a big one. Being worth something and good at something? Yep that's an issue right there #Not the least of which is that Mabel as a more Talented and Powerful magic user got more attention when they were still there #Then continued to get more attention via phone call when they weren't #Mabel's got some REALLY rose-colored glasses on about the situation #Dipper sees it for the 'well my kids are freaks but at least one of them is a Cool Freak' it is #That's a fact he's been stewing on for *ages*. A fact bomb that he could theoretically drop on his sister but never did #Needless to say he got the brunt of the Issues™ but Mabel's got her own in turn #I'm also betting there's more than a dash of homophobia in their parents considering their reaction just to Magic #So the parents aren't going to be very thrilled about either of their partners #In my head I picture the parents wanting a Totally Picturesque Family #And creating the visual of one is easier if you only have Pictures of the kids instead of them being there and being themselves #In summary: Yeah The Parents Suck #I started a fic for this once and I still intend to write one but that's a later type of project #I gotta have the right start for it to flow well