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rawliverandgoronspice · 2 years ago

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The Dondon Post (or: the bizarre TotK's side content counterpoints to its main quest's immuable binary morality)

Speaking of strange TotK Choices, I think I have one singe post left in me about this game; and it's about the Dondon quest, "The Beast and the Princess".

(and about other stuff too, you'll see, we'll get to them)

More specifically: about how... strange of a thematic point it feebly attemps to make in the larger context of the storyline, and how it seems to be yet another mark of a world that, perhaps, once tried to be more morally complex that it ended up becoming.

Buckle up: it's a long one, and it gets pretty conceptual.

(good gem boys notwhistanding)

The Princess and the Beast

So, a couple of things about the setup. We are investigating potential Princess sightings; but at this point, either because we have already completed a bunch and know the general gib, because we have met a couple of wild Fake Zelda shenanigans, or through the simple fact that we are completing a side quest, we know there's a good chance it won't lead to an actual Zelda information. So when we ask Penn about what is going on and he replies with the ominous "we saw the Princess riding some kind of beast --a frightening one with huge, brutal tusks-- that the princess seemed to control", we get Ideas. Then the sidequest is registered: "The Princess and the Beast".

So. You know me. And if you don't know me, here's what you should know: my brain immediately flared up with the thought there was no way in hell this wasn't some kind of wink towards Ganondorf's renowned boarish beast form, especially given tusks were given so much focus.

My first assumption was: that's a miniboss right? I will get to fight some small boar-like thing that Fake Zelda rides sometimes. Cool! I didn't hold too hard onto my hope that the relationship of Zelda and/or Ganondorf to the natural world, or to each other would be expanded upon, since I had already been burned before, but my interest was piqued.

You have to understand how starved I was for any hint of complexity or mystery or ambiguity at this point. I was extremely eager for the game to throw anything at me that would surprise me, enlighten something pre-established, make the exploration lead to a meaningful discovery or deepening of characters, world or themes (and not just slightly cooler loot, or a bossfight, or a puzzle devoid of emotional context --cohesion and depth is what motivates my play sessions, especially in an open world game that I want to believe is worth losing oneself into). This was about the most intriguing task on my to do list at the moment, and so I plunged in immediately.

After really REALLY misunderstanding what I was supposed to do (I stalked every corner of every forest surrounding the tropical area at night or during blood moons in hope to see something --which was very much the wrong call), I arrived to the other stable, then was guided to the other side of the river where Cima awaits and explains that these creatures are actually a new species discovered by Zelda; that they are gentle and kind and not at all scary ("Dondons aren't beastly, they're adorable!"), and even somehow digest luminous stones into gemstones. They like the company of people and liked Zelda in particular.

I was... I felt two different ways about this conclusion, and I think it's worth to explore both: disappointment and some sort of... "huh!" Hard to describe this emotion otherwise.

I'll get the disappointment out of the way first, because it's the least interesting of the two. While I think the little emotional arc I was taken on was not devoid of interest --I was indeed taken on by the rumor and intrigued by its implications-- I wanted, well. A little bit more. And if the creatures were to be Zelda's pet project, I would have loved for them to be actually terrifying and feisty, and for her to develop an interest for these creatures in particular regardless. It could have been very interesting characterization that veered out of the perfect princess loving the perfect world floundering around her, always bringing her clear, practical benefits from the interaction.

(I have made another post that speaks of my discomfort that Zelda does everything everywhere and everyone loves her for it --I get what they were trying to go for, but it either lacks conflict for me to buy into that dynamic at the scale of several regions, or they went on too hard for my taste, as she is, at once and in the span of a couple of years at most: a schoolteacher, a gardener, an animal researcher, a scholar, a traveler, a military expert, a knower of landscape, a painter, a horse rider, an infrastructure planner, a [...] princess --at some point it begins to sound made up, "Little Father of the people"-esque to rattle the hornet's nest a little bit, especially if it's not shown as either a clearly godly characteristic or, even more necessary imo, a negative trait; another expression of her killing herself at work to compensate for a perceived flaw she's trying to earn forgiveness for, like she did in BotW. But that's another topic, and the clumsiness of her character arc has been well threaded by basically everybody disappointed in the story already.)

But, if I decide to be a little graceful, I'd like to explore my "huh!" emotion, and take it apart a little bit.

I think there's something interesting to have such strong parallels to setting up a story about the relationship between Zelda and Ganondorf ("The Princess and the Beast", like come on guys that's the conflict of over half the series), or at least Zelda and the concept of Evil since Ganondorf pretty much represents it in this game, and then have it go: actually, there was a horrible monster that everyone was afraid of, but Zelda was wise and patient enough to approach it and realize its potential beyond the tusks, what beauty can be brought upon the world if one makes the effort to look for what exists underneath. It says something a bit deeper about the world and about Zelda in particular. It intrigues, at the very least.

Is it a reach? Probably! Is my first interpretation that the quest is actually about "eww you thought Zelda would be interested in *disgusting vile monsters* and not sweet and gentle and human-loving animals that literally shit jewlery when cared for? jokes on you, she never would feel any ounce of sympathy for anything that isn't Good and Deserving" uhhh definitively truer? Probably! But I also don't want to dismiss that the quest made me think about it. If I had completed it earlier, I might have even felt like it was (very clumsy, not gonna lie) setup about the main conflict.

But that's also a good segway into my next section: the arbitrary limitations between the animal and the creature, the monstrous and the human.

And the fact that TotK points directly at it.

A Monstrous Collection

(these two guys are just. doing So Much and being So Valid despite being massive weirdos the game wants us to be slightly repelled by. I, for one, respect the Monster kinning grind and their general Twilight Princess energy.)

So. These two guys. There is so much to say about these two guys. I don't think I have seen the Trans Perspective on Kolton on tumblr, and I would love to get it because. I feel like it's a worthwhile discussion (just, how gender and identity is handled in TotK overall, I feel like it's a very complicated conversation and I have not seen super deep dives and I'd be very interested in hearing more).

Beyond the throughline of voluntary consumption of magical objects to turn into less human creatures being a weirdly prevalent plot point in TotK (Zelda, Kolton and Ganondorf casually transing their entire species for funsies --Ganondorf being particularly relentless with Fake Zelda, mummy/phantom shenanigans, Demon King and then literal dragon), I want to focus on Kilton a little bit.

Kilton is genuinely the only NPC in the game willing to acknowledge the inherent personhood that monsters have (the game does showcase them picking up fruits, mourning their boss if you kill them, being cutesy and happy to identify you as one of their own if you wear the appropriate mask --and that's not even getting into creatures like the Lynels, who seem to really edge on the limit of being a conscious creature with a system of honor and property and many other things). He does encourage us to think of monsters as more than a species whose only worth lie in how fun it is to eradicate them; even more, gameplay-wise, he does give us a reason to interact with them in other ways than just our sword with his museum. He does encourage us to see that beauty for ourselves and then select what we think is coolest/most intimidating/cutest/eight billion ganondorfs in every pose imaginable

The fact that Ganondorf is considered a monster was a great win for this feature in particular, and is very funny, but it's also... A lot, if we dig at it a little more than warranted. Beyond all of the Implications and all of the things of representation and political conflict and values already discussed ad nauseum: when did he stop being considered a human? What does that mean about the flimsiness of what is a monster and what is a creature and what is an animal and what is a person and what is even a hylian, as sheikahs got absorbed into the definition in this game? Especially with the stones taken into account, how profound changes in nature are a huge part of the plot (even when reversed and ultimately pretty meaningless): how easy it is, to make that slip? Who decides when that slip has been made? What is acceptable to hurt without remorse? What is beautiful and worth preserving? What is both at once? What is neither?

And again, in a classic Zelda conundrum (appreciative(?)): who the fuck gets to decide that, when, and why?

The Bargainers and the Horned God

(major shoutout to these big guys for being the sole and only providers of actual depth to the Depths, and for looking cool as heck)

So. Let's move the conversation to the Depths.

Conceptually: what an interesting idea!! And so well executed (initially)!! A mirror world to the surface, dark and hushed and full of unknown creatures; haunted by gloom and sickness and the unknown. Not a first in the series, far from it: from ALTTP to ALBW, and even taking the Twilight world of TP into account, this idea of a Dark World acting as a deforming mirror to Hyrule and revealing many interesting aspects as we get to explore both is always a very interesting take on corruption and envy and fear/weakness and/or some sense of darkness looming under the perfect exterior. I'd argue even the Lens of Truth of both OoT and MM's serve a similar function, both gameplay-wise, but also in terms of theme: not everything is as it seems. In the world of Light, darkness must hide itself; but darkness also possess its own beauty, its own hardships, and will stare back at you without blinking if you go seek for it. It's, in my opinion, one of the series' most compelling conversation about the cyclical nature of fate, the coldness of godhood, and how small one feels in the face of a universe that is more complicated than it initially appears --which is why Courage must be invoked to push forward regardless.

The Depth's otherworldly ambiance is truy wonderful, whether in the plays of light and shadows, the creatures native to the environment we meet there (wish we met more!), the soundtrack, the strange aquatic/primordial plants, the fact that the dragons visit this place and connect them to the outside --invoking ideas of balance and interconnectivity, that the tree branches look like veins. The coliseums, the mines, the zonai facilities and the prisons do seem to poke at many things about what the relationship to the past was to this place; was it ever truly a place? Did it look like this back then? Why was it buried? Why did it come back? But in spite of it all, I think the Depths struggle overall to question or reveal anything about the surface that we couldn't already assume going in (that the only thing congealing there is Ganondorf's gloom, his lonely domain of Wrongness, only shared by Kohga and the yiga --the only naysayers of Goodness and Light, contemptful and blinded by self-importance and rage). The zonite is mined by gloomy monsters --why, what for?-- so any notion of greed and over-expansion that could have been associated to the zonai is now reabsorbed into Ganondorf's general evilness, since it needs to be reminded he is everything and anything bad with the world: darkness and conquest and greed and capitalism and pollution and bad weather and sickness and darkness and violence and war and death and betrayal and fakeness and lies and patriarchy and exploitation. No matter that he never does a single thing with zonite in the game; rather set up elements of conflict that never go anywhere than, for a second, let the foundations of absolute goodness and absolute evil risk becoming shaky --and you coming to this unwelcoming dark place that hates you, killing the miners and taking their resources for yourself is, on the other holy, royal fur-covered hand, utterly legitimate. The resources were once Rauru's after all, were they not?

And this is what I would say, except... except for the dead. The fallen warriors, the poes, and, most important of all: the Bargainer statues.

The Bargainers are, in-universe, godly creatures guiding the fallen to a place of final respite, regardless of moral alignment. The poes are all, fundamentally, cleansed of judgement: they are lost souls whose past reality does not matter anymore, and all deserve that peace regardless. In spite of the heavy paradise/hell parallels drawn in that game, with Rauru/Zelda/Sonia as the guardians of Light where Ganondorf gets to become a Devil-like figure, it is confirmed here that no such thing exists when you actually die in this universe.

It almost feels as if the fabric of Hyrule itself, in a brief moment that refuses to elaborate on its own point, goes: "yeah, whatever is happening here between Light and Darkness, it doesn't actually matter. This conflict is futile and doesn't understand the real nature of being alive, dead, a god, a person, a monster, an animal. The truth lies elsewhere --but you will never be told what it is."

It's: wild.

One of the game's most striking traits of narrative brilliance in my opinion --to the point where I'm wondering whether it's there on purpose or was effectively an oversight since every other aspect of reality breaks its own back trying to reassure us that everything is at its correct place, receiving the appropriate treatment by the universe in a way that is never to be questioned.

Another case of that ambiguity being allowed to exist without being immediately crushed and repressed is the case of the Horned God (interesting parallel to Ganon's actual horns that he develops in this game in case the hellish parallels weren't clear enough already): a demon Hylia sealed into stone and pushed far from humans in a clear case of questionable behavior since, while the Horned God isn't exactly nice, does propose a different philosophy you are not punished for exploring; and yet, a proposal that has seen itself persecuted in a very real sense by the goddess of absolute goodness, patron of hylians, Zelda, and many more. Pushed away from view.

Interesting.

And Yet, Light Must Prevail

Okay, so, after all of this, we're left to ask... What the fuck is up with morality in Tears of the Kingdom?!

What do we trust? These half-breaths in the occasional sidequests that Light and Darkness is just the wrong frame of reference, that nature cannot be this simple, is ever-shifting and can be recalled or reaffirmed by arbitrary forces, and might even not matter at all in the universe's fabric, despite having so much of its lore soaking in the dychotomy? Or... everything else about the game, this insistence that Good must not only be assumed as whatever tradition the kingdom has passed down for thousands upon thousands of years, but remain utterly unquestioned the entire time? That Bad is without cause, graceless and unworthy of investment?

Are the Bargainer's statues the only thing worth listening to, that morality is a fable the living tells themselves --or should we be moved when Darkness destroys Light, when Light suffers to preserve itself and the world --but not when the Other is rightfully slain?

Was Kilton correct to see beauty in the monstrous? Was Kolton onto something when he let go of his previous form because there is no clear distinction between what should receive an arrow to the face and what shouldn't? Or should we rather focus on Zelda losing her human form as a beautiful and tragic sacrifice --but something that never actually altered her nature as a hylian, the descendant of a lineage of Good Kings meant to rule forever?

Is the Dondon good because it always was, or was it worth Zelda's love in spite of the fear it initially provoked?

Either way, at the end of the game, evil is slain. Ganondorf is, not killed, but --like his angry BotW boar counterpart-- destroyed, as monsters tend to be. He explodes over the lands of Hyrule, freed from Darkness; freed from everything wrong, since the foreign menace that embodied it all was wiped out in one fateful sweep of a holy blade cradled in sacrificial love. Nothing wrong remains. The Sages reaffirm their vows to protect the kingdom forward, and a very human --hylian-- Zelda smiles: Hyrule now forever and ever basked in eternal Light.

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beryllineart · 4 months ago

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Do you have any OCs ? ^^

I'm limiting myself to five. I don't have any Undertale OCs, I've just got some aesthetic au versions of existing characters (Steamtale Gaster is my favorite) but I've got lots of D&D style characters. I'm a big fantasy fan, and making fantasy OCs gives me the chance to create fantasy worlds at the same time.

Tamal is my D&D bard (with potential to become a bardlock). His dad sacrificed him to eldritch beings a while back, so he doesn't have a face, and he wears his skull mask at all times. However, he does like music and singing, even if he can get a bit tongue tied in front of people. This is the character I will be playing if I can get over my social anxiety enough to join a D&D group.

This is technically two characters combined into one, also known as a 3/2 character. This is my character design practice character, because I have a lot of trouble making my OCs visually interesting, so she's going to (hopefully) look a lot different later on. The basic story idea is that the girl is sick of being sheltered because she's a noble, so she runs away from home in the hopes of becoming a soldier/knight. Somehow she finds a magical sword who can talk, but he doesn't want to fight. He wants to study to become a wizard. Eventually he agrees to teach her to fight so he doesn't get left out in the middle of nowhere, but their conflicting interests lead to amusing shenanigans.

This is the Shakespeare therapy bot, also known as Will, Willy, Bill, Henry, or Romeo, depending on who you ask. It used to be a repair bot on a starship, but one day it started trembling uncontrollably for an unknown reason. The crew started off by just cushioning the bot to stop it from rattling, but eventually they dressed it up like a Shakespeare character because they needed something to occupy their time. It is not intelligent (it's about as smart as a parrot or a dog) but it can communicate using phrases from Shakespeare sonnets and plays. The captain doesn't like the bot or the attachment the crew has to it, but he's got debilitating anxiety/depression, and eventually it becomes his emotional support animal except it's a robot.

The Goblin King is a character I made purely to kill off in a comic. Then I gave him a backstory and now I feel bad about it (and I've been procrastinating ever since). Anyways, there's this prophecy that the person who kills him will be the hero who saves the land, and you know, he doesn't want to die, but he also wants his daughter to grow up in a world that is safe, so when the hero does come, it's kind of bittersweet. Also, the goblin with the birthmark and earring is his daughter grown up, she did not like losing her dad. I made him look too youthful, I was trying so hard to make him look small and cute. His battle music sounds good so far though.

Oh my gosh, this guy, this guy is hilarious. I love him so much! Basically I was drawing a bunch of random characters and I drew a shy skeleton in a wizard's outfit. My dad saw it and said it looked like a necromancer, and my brother suggested giving him a rose because he was a nec-romance-r. So I did, and thought, "Hang on, I can take this one step further!"

So meet the Neck-romancer, a former vampire who was turned into a skeleton due to a misunderstanding. See, he advertised his services as a vampire date-for-hire by calling himself the "Neck-romancer," but a couple of people didn't get the joke and hired him to help with a ritual, thinking he was an actual necromancer. Since he didn't actually know anything about necromancy, he bungled it all up and was turned into a skeleton. (No idea what happened to the other guys) Thankfully, vampires are resilient creatures and he remained able to live life as normal, albeit as a skeleton. He lost a lot of his vampire powers too, though now he can be in the sunlight without turning to ash, so that's something.

Now he's a merchant who sells wares from his wagon. I plan to have him appear to sell magical items to the Undertale gang in my Undertale plays D&D campaign, but he also exists in the goblin king's universe because he's way too awesome to use just once. He's a huge fan of puns and wordplay and still calls himself "the Neck-romancer," even though him being a skeleton in wizard robes leads to even more misunderstandings. I don't have a good reason for why he started wearing the robes, but I do know they're comfortable.

Anyways, those are some of my OCs! Thank you for your question, it was really nice to have an excuse to ramble about them! Sorry if it was a bit long, I couldn't choose just one though.

#original character #my ocs #answered ask #dungeons and dragons #dnd bard #tamal duskbringer #goblins #vampires #robots #thank you so much for the ask!#beryll #beryllineart #the neck-romancer

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fallenbhaalspawn · 6 months ago

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4, 12, 23, and 43 for your choice!! ^-^

4. What’s a hobby they used to have that they miss?

i think coronach very genuinely misses studying medicine—they enjoyed it very much even apart from the violence they used it for. and they were good at it! non-zero chance they were about to discover blood types before the tadpole!

unfortunately even if it wasn't caught up in a lot of their moral injury stuff they find it frustrating to (re)study because its a bunch of stuff they already half know but still cant manage to remember due to their memory issues. it mostly ends with them intensely frustrated whenever they try to pick it up again

12. What’s something that makes them laugh every single time? Be specific!

cor and wyll have an Ongoing Bit throughout the entire game where when one of them loses track of one of their flowery metaphors (happens often) they both start doubling down until one of them cracks

and answering these ones for vuze !!

23. What do they feel guilty for that the other person(s) doesn’t / don’t even remember?

when vuze first met wyll they assumed bc of the warlock thing that he made the deal for power and was just a huge hypocrite. until the transformation scene where its revealed that no, he is genuinely just a Good Guy. then they kind of try really really hard to not think about his pact and that they are getting him out of it for reasons that are totally unrelated to their feelings about their own pact guys its fine. stop asking

they feel kind of bad about this for most of the game until [Act 3 personal quest i made up for them Shenanigans]

wyll is not aware of any of this at any point lmao

43. What do they commonly misinterpret because of their own upbringing / environment / biases? How do they respond when realizing the misunderstanding?

i go back and forth on the details a lot, but ultimately vuze used to be a highly ambitious artificer who was religious only out of practicality and was realizing they were not a man + the underdark was not conductive to that for a lot of reasons (some of it was gender stuff, some of it was class stuff) and this ended up in vuze fleeing the underdark with a new warlock patron - and the surface was not really more welcoming

due to All That, vuze kind of assumes the defensive by default no matter what (everyone is Out To Get Me so i might as well bite back preemptively) and kind of gets caught off balance when this isnt the case, which leads to a lot of interpreting earnestness, kindness, and connection as an insult, lie, or power play. they thought the weave scene with gale was a veiled threat lmao

when proven wrong i think they get kind of stilted and embarrassed about it honestly. very much immediately tries to change the subject if possible. if not there is a very stiff apology that they sound like they want to die giving

#vuze uh. doesnt really get along with anybody at first. except laezel #oc: coronach #oc: vuze avkarion #01 #bg #majorasnightmare

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earthstellar · 1 year ago

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Everyone has already pointed out that Rodimus and Bravern would almost certainly get along as they are this close to being the same person lmao

So here's a premise:

Rodimus goes on a solo away mission after getting into a minor argument with fellow command staff regarding scouting a local planetary system for resupply

Instead of landing on the nearest planet, there is a cosmic disturbance -- Turns out this is caused by the Deathdrives, as this is their homeworld.

The cosmic disturbance is actually a portal, which dumps Rodimus on Earth, where Bravern is deployed after a brief misunderstanding in which Rodimus is believed to be a Deathdrive himself

Once Rodimus convinces everyone that he's not a Deathdrive, Bravern (and all the humans) are super interested in the idea of a mechanical lifeform that doesn't require a pilot (or have the ability to utilise a pilot at all)

Due to the military etc. involvement Rodimus chooses not to divulge too much information about Cybertronians, which everyone finds somewhat suspicious, so Bravern is tasked with hanging out with Rodimus in an effort to determine if he's actually not a Deathdrive or what the fuck

This leads to various shenanigans, including Rodimus being really weirded out by the idea of Bravern's piloting/control systems (and a minor panic about losing any degree of direct control over his frame-- being piloted freaks him out as a concept) and Bravern turns out to be equally as unwilling to divulge much personal information about his origins etc.

(Gay Option: Rodimus might end up thinking about it a little more after listening to Bravern go on and on about having a pilot and their ~beautiful connection~ etc. and wonders what it might be like to integrate another person into his own frame, would it be like a spark merge? Does Bravern have a spark? Can they test this in any way...?)

So they agree that they're both probably fine, humans are mostly pretty fun, and they do a bunch of dumb himbo shit together

Also Rodimus helps fight an actual Deathdrive at some point and the team up is solid

If I get the time I might end up writing something along these lines lol but I still haven't seen Bravern LOL so I'll need to wait until I actually find somewhere I can watch the show just to be sure I have the details right

Ok. im dumb. before watching bbbb i thought it's a part of tf universe like a spin off or something and i was like "ok all the robots are gay but THIS ONE!?!?!?!?" before i found out it's actually an entirely different franchise. But. Just IMAGINE a Bravern and Transformers crossover au. I'M NOT EVEN SAYING ANYTHING JUST IMAGINE IT I'M CRYING

#bravern #idw rodimus #rodimus prime #fanfic idea #crossover idea #maccadam #maccadams

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002yb · 2 years ago

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Jaybin who secretly crushes on Roy. Dick almost beats the shit out of Roy when he flirts back (flustering jaybin like the maiden he is!) and oh, he tries so hard to convince himself he’s /not/ jealous, just fulfilling his duty as a protective older brother 👀

This is such a cute little scenario, ahhhhhhhhh!! Thank you for this, anon. Absolutely precious. ♥ Admittedly I'm torn between two situations because like...

1) 'Platonic' Route: Dick completely misunderstanding Jason, assuming his little wing has a crush when really Jason just thinks Dick's friend is cool. Dick unwittingly getting jealous over how Jason's attentions stray to Roy. Conflict because Roy is a great person, but also snippy irritation because Roy isn't letting Jason down at all what the fuck, Harper? Roy being 1200% aware that Dick is a jealous and possessive ass and sort of just being in awe over how oblivious Dick can be.

And omg Roy telling Dick that he's not interested in Jason like that after Dick starts to become a bit too much of a protective brother complex brother. Only then Dick turns around and gets irrationally irritated because why the fuck not? His little wing is cute as fuck and just as capable and wonderful. What's Roy saying, huh? He'd be lucky to have Jason.

2) Crush Route: Where Jason has a genuine crush on his older brother's cool friend. Dick only realizing it when Jason gets uncharacteristically distracted as they're training/sparring. And sure, it's Dick that ends up kicking Jason in the stomach (because Jason forgets Dick is even there - the kid doesn't block or dodge or anything - wholly caught up in watching as Roy passes them by), but it's Dick who feels the brunt of it straight in his gut because oh no. No, no, no.

He'd put the pieces together so fast his own thoughts would be reeling. It's the blush high on Jason's cheeks that gives it away. And it would only get worse as Roy startles at what happened, jogging across the gym to check in on their new Robin while teasing Dick about not being so rough on the kid, come on Grayson. You okay, Jaybird?

Then Dick would just exist on the fringes as Roy checks on Jason. As Jason's expression shifts through the full range of human emotions before settling on something so uncharacteristically timid (and sweet and sheepish and boyish and who the fuck is this?) As Jason smiles (and again - it's different and leaves Dick feeling a little unsteady).

Obviously there are two ways that he can handle this. 1) Be supportive. 2) Be petty.

Roy tells him not to worry about it. It's a puppy crush - it'll pass. Dick doesn't know about that. Roy's kind of amazing, doesn't he know? Which would almost take Roy out at the knees if only Dick wasn't so grumpy while saying it. Petulant as Dick is about the matter, the compliment is genuine though and Roy just rolls his eyes because Dick is being highkey dramatic.

Needless to say, pettiness wins out. Only Dick isn't even aware that it wins - it's just what happens. Or rather, possessive jealous feelings happen. Which Roy again rolls his eyes at because Jason might have a puppy crush, but what about Dick? Being kind of intense there, Grayson.

To which Dick defends himself by claiming to be being a big brother. And Roy laughs because yeah, sure thing brother dear.

Then like - just a bunch of Dick running interference where it isn't needed. Roy having the patience of a saint because like Jason he's been charmed by the demon night terror that is Dick Grayson. Jason playing at being irritated at Dick's change in behavior but really? He doesn't mind all of Dick's sudden attention because it's not only Roy Jason is crushing on. Which Roy is very aware of and Dick is just - not.

Which leads to even more shenanigans of these three falling into a relationship together somehow and it's wonderful.

Personally vibing with a true poly situation but like, DickRoy sharing Jason without having a big thing between them themselves is also cute.

#dickjay #dickroy #jayroy #royjay #dick grayson #jason todd #roy harper #fair warning for age difference #jaybin content

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mishkakagehishka · 3 years ago

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Hihi Korka!!! I bring you another Natsume request because I love your writing and also this has concept has been marinating in my head all night;

A student of the Producer course who decides to produce for Switch, but kind of ends up falling for Natsume; but Natsume seems oblivious to the Producer's attempts at hinting to their crush. But Natsume himself is also harboring a perceived one-sided crush, leading to a bunch of misunderstandings and pining shenanigans~

I hope this all made sense lol. Thank you once again, Korka <3

Whew!! Ay, I'm ngl. I looked at this and went "Oh this would go so hard as a 20k slowburn idiots to idiots-in-love multichapter" but if I were to write multichapters, it'd take literal years, I think, so. Best I can do is implied past pining and a confession scene preceded by a misunderstanding that gets resolved relatively quickly. OTZ

Word count: 1737 Summary: How do you ask out someone who seems to be completely unaware of all your advances? Directly. Be warned: the really oblivious ones won't even get that one. "KitTEN" count: 2 Notes: they/them pronouns! I hope this is fine, again. I'm always a bit more nervous ab writing for mewchies, I feel like I need to wow you </3

Being in the producer course meant being fought over and for by the various students and units who frequented the idol course. That was simply the natural order in Yumenosaki school – as each year a lot more applicants would apply for the idol course over any of the other courses. And, of course, it’s best to have a producer who’s only dedicated to your unit. However, that simply isn’t possible in a lot of situations, and a single student of the producer course will often have to juggle multiple units – which prompted the cycling method to be implemented. So, instead of a single producer having to split their attention into working with multiple units at the same time, all of the producer students would simply switch who they were producing every once in a while. But, despite that, if a single producer clicks well enough with a unit, and vice-versa, they can claim exclusive rights on one another. This was, naturally, another way to encourage developing professional relationships amongst classmates, as switching units and producers right when they’d gotten used to each other was generally considered bothersome.

This is the path that the unit Switch decided to walk on when they chose their permanent producer. And this was quite the feat, considering not just Switch’s popularity, but also the fact that their leader was one of the so-called Five Eccentrics. As the name said, he was quite the eccentric young man, and he never really made an effort to become closer to any of the producers. Except for that one. It was as if that one enchanted him. It was obvious to everyone except to him, who thought he was being so cool about his changing feelings. Although, to his credit, thanks to his general odd behaviour, nobody really figured out why he was treating them so specially. It certainly took him a few weeks to realise, too – but Natsume Sakasaki had a crush for, what was probably, the first time in years, if not ever.

It didn’t start off that way, of course, at first that Producer was just one of the many who were assigned to Switch. And he didn’t even think to bother getting close to them, despite Tsumugi and Sora welcoming them with open hands – as they treated every producer. The Producer was just as professional, seemingly not caring for Natsume’s cold behaviour towards them one bit. After a few days of that, Natsume realised he was getting frustrated with their behaviour. He just couldn’t figure out why it bothered him that they were so unbothered by him ignoring them. But the week passed, and they switched units, and… he couldn’t forget about them. In fact, he couldn’t stop comparing every next producer to them. “That’s not how they would do THAT,” and “They were so much more skilled and fasTER,” – most of the student body noticed that he’d somehow gotten even pickier and stricter with the producers.

So, when the cycle closed, and that Producer was assigned Switch again, he changed his behaviour towards them ever so slightly. Instead of ignoring them, he was now watching them almost too closely, as if waiting for a mistake to be made. In part, that was what he was doing. Natsume had noticed that none of the producers were good enough for Switch (for him), except for this specific Producer. But he still wanted to be sure that he wasn’t being selfish or centring himself – they were a unit, after all – and so he spent the week carefully observing them. How they planned, how they talked to the higher-ups as well as the members of the unit, how they adapted to sudden changes in plans and how quick they were at coming up with solutions to problems that commonly arise in the business. And he was pleased with the results.

By the end of the week, Natsume had sat down with Tsumugi and Sora to talk the matter of offering the Producer the title of Switch’s producer over. And the offer was made on Friday, accepted on Monday.

But Natsume hadn’t realised that he had a crush on them until weeks later, at which point he cursed himself for not trying to cast a spell on them sooner – by then it would have worked – and the fact that he had to start trying to win them over only from when he found out his own feelings. Even though he tried to make his intentions known to their Producer from that moment onward, he was being very charming, and rather subtle about it. Too subtle, maybe even, as the Producer never really noticed his attempts at flirting. Which frustrated him more than the way they shrugged off his behaviour back during their first week as colleagues.

Perhaps, most frustrating of all (or, it would have been frustrating to him had he known) was the fact that his flirting didn’t fly over their head for no reason, or even because they weren’t interested. Rather the opposite, actually. The Producer never noticed because they were too busy trying to subtly let him know of their own crush on Natsume. So, their back-and-forth attempts at flirting and seducing one another without even realising their love was reciprocated was quite the sight to behold – and one Tsumugi and Sora had fun observing.

“KitTEN,” one of the more obvious methods Natsume employed in his flirting was that pet name for them, “tell ME, what’s your favourite coLOUR?” He’d cornered them in their classroom just to ask such a simple question. “Hm,” the Producer thought for a moment, looking deeply into his eyes, as if hypnotised, “Yellow. A similar shade to your eyes, actually.” Well, it was possible that the Producer wasn’t as subtle as Natsume was oblivious. It was as if he didn’t even hear that their favourite colour just so happened to match the colour of his eyes, he was instead thinking of flower language and which yellow bouquet best to buy for his Producer – framed as a gift of gratitude for their support, naturally. “YelLOW…” he mumbled while dragging a chair over, placing it between their and the desk in front of them so he can sit directly opposite them. “It’s a colour that would really emphasise your beauTY.” They laughed. “Is that all you came to ask?” “It IS.” He made no effort to get up from his seat and leave. His eyes never left theirs. “You won’t mind if I ask you something, then?” “Of course NOT. Ask aWAY.”

It took a moment for the Producer to settle into asking, fidgeting slightly with the textbook that sat on their desk, waiting for the class to start. “I wanna ask this guy out.” Natsume frowned. “What do you think is the best way to do that?” It’s not that he was in shock. He was just a bit surprised, really. Did they seriously never notice his flirting? He already noticed his magic doesn’t work on them, but was he really being too subtle? “Who do you want to ASK? I can’t give you advice without knowing any deTAILS.” He quickly pulled himself together. While he wanted to be supportive, he couldn’t deny how disappointed he was. “That’s not really important, I just want to know your opinion. Do you think I should give him something, like a chocolate or a letter or-“ “KitTEN, you’re being awfully cruel by asking me for advice on asking someone else OUT,” though said like a joke, it was more of a warning. He didn’t like the conversation anymore. “I’m just curious!” “Well, maybe you should go ask him, then,” Natsume snapped, before he had a chance to stop himself. And though he bit his tongue, it was too late to make a difference. He didn’t apologise, however, instead he just lowered his head, yet still keeping an eye on the Producer from the corner of his eye. They… didn’t seem to have taken it personally. In fact, they were laughing. “Okay,” they said between giggles, “I didn’t know you got jealous so easily. So, how do you want to be asked out?”

It took him a few seconds to realise just what they were trying to say with that. And when it clicked, his face flushed a bright red. Whether it was shame at his outburst or the embarrassment of having confirmation of his feelings being reciprocated shown so suddenly, he wasn’t certain. All of the natural charm he’s shown in the past while openly flirting with them seemed to have evaporated in that moment, as he just sat there in total silence, head still turned to his lap, where his hands were folded politely. The Producer called out his name. “Wh-what?” “Well? How do you want to be asked out?” “… Maybe don’t start by pretending you’re going to ask out somebody ELSE. It’s a bit of a mood kiLLER.” “Sure thing!” They laughed again, which eased Natsume’s nerves as well. He breathed out a bit, trying to hide what was left of his blush with his hand. Once again, a bit too late to make a difference. “Do you want to walk with me to the station after school today?” “I’d love TO. But I’m going to take you on a proper date this weekEND.” He tried his best to save face, and whatever was left of his pride, by attempting to appear as assertive as possible with the offer. He was thankful they played along. Seeing them smile in agreement was enough to have Natsume relax.

Truth be told, he never really imagined that his feelings would be reciprocated. Instead, he thought of the Producer as entirely out of his league; a being that floated above him and whom he was really only allowed to gaze at from a distance. And to think it would be them themselves who would end up reaching out their hand to him, that it would be them who’d be asking him out. He’d be embarrassed if he wasn’t overjoyed. But the clock’s hands nearly overlapped, signalling the start of the lessons for that day, and serving as Natsume’s cue to leave for his own classroom. With one last promise to meet him for lunch, he bowed out and left as quickly as he’d arrived, still composed on the outside, but nearly screaming of excitement on the inside. He was already anticipating the weekend.

#i love natsume but writing his dialogue is so. i have to keep a dictionary website open for syllable breakdowns </3 #ensemble stars #enstars fanfiction #nastume sakasaki #sakasaki natsume #natsume sakasaki x reader #reader insert #my writing

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reachexceedinggrasp · 3 years ago

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blah blah blah, I ramble about stuff. today, this:

Knox's film career and how he was underutilised for a bunch of it

A problem I have with some of the parts he's been put in is that they feel like casting directors not understanding him as a screen presence. A lot of them seem to want to cast him as straightforward sleazebags or douches who are effective characters/funny because they are awful, sleazy, obnoxious assholes with no redeeming qualities. And I understand this impulse from people who know about Jackass but do not watch it. They think that's what's going on there, that it's a bunch of dudes being irredeemable assholes and that's the appeal. They think they're casting him to his persona and taking a shortcut to the effect they want.

But it's a mistake. The reason no one has been able to replicate the huge and enduring success of Jackass despite loads of other pranksters and daredevils being available is that there's more to it than that; it has a deep sense of joy and camaraderie and incongruous innocence which people who dismiss it out of hand don't get. It's special because of the people and the spirit they bring to it, not least the man himself, who sets a unique, cohesive tone nothing else has. It should probably go without saying that Knoxville is also a massively charismatic person, because the entire franchise would almost certainly never have existed if he weren't. People putting him in movies know this and that's often why they want to cast him. The thing is, he doesn't have 'magnetic asshole' charisma, he has 'effortlessly endearing' charisma. His most profound quality is a disarming air of affability which gives him this irrepressible boyish charm. People want to like him.

He comes off as a loveable mischievous scamp and not a menace to society, even when doing things that are pretty borderline menacing to society, and that's because of his deportment and like... aura. The innate vibe he has is just super positive and personable, his attractiveness is weirdly wholesome. So, what I think they've missed is that any time you cast him as someone we're not supposed to like, he is actually playing against type. It requires more effort on the film's part, not less.

He can still be a bad guy if that's really what they want, he does great shady, but he doesn't work in those flat heel roles that are just meant to be instantly and thoroughly detestable. He's fantastic as a conman where he can be using his natural allure to manipulate people and he's also good in the sort of 'harmless lackey' villain roles (like Big Trouble or MIB2) because those characters are allowed to be endearing. Dirtbag is fine if it's a lovable dirtbag, though having him play idiot clowns can be kind of waste imo. But idk, it seems it isn't very often that someone in Hollywood realises you need to put him in a role that acknowledges he's handsome and charming rather than insisting the audience instead accept he's repugnant or gross or gormless. Because he's really handsome and charming. It will be the first thing you notice. You want to look for something redeeming or secretly sharp in his comic characters even when it is not intended to be there and film makers should be aware of this.

tl;dr I rewatched failed screwball comedy Life Without Dick for the first time in years and remembered how sick that movie feels because it totally relies on you being so repulsed by his character that your sympathy is with the leads while they get into a bunch of sociopathic romcom shenanigans surrounding his murder. Doomed from the outset. The comedy isn't consistently black enough to cross the threshold while still being deeply fucked up, played with a silly tone. Dick, we're reassured as we reveal the reason she killed him was a misunderstanding, was still just the worst (and thus deserved it?), but he's too humanised for us to laugh at his death. The absurdity is generally grim instead of funny, the leads are not likeable, and the assumption we could cheer for them was very misplaced. That and the poor direction, which makes everyone seem super awkward.

And also Harry Connick Jr's acting is real bad. But Craig Ferguson was amusing. I still quote his 'do you like them lattes?' line. That's funny.

#and also also HCJ in a scene with Knoxville where HCJ is supposed to be the handsome prince to Knoxville's evil ogre #and I'm sorry #I won't say it but I'm very sorry #no.#johnny knoxville #life without dick #so many of these roles are just so... like he got the attention to get here bc he is the most charismatic and was just born with star power #I have literally never seen someone describe meeting him for the first time without mentioning how charismatic he is #but then they cast him in roles that don't acknowledge that at all as shit like 'generic gross asshole'#'generic man child'#'generic someone's idea of what the kind of dudes who would be on jackass would be like'#without realising 'wait this guy is becoming/is a legit ICON bc he has a very specific dichotomous genteel energy ppl love'#(and is no joke extremely funny and talented as well as being marquee leading man hot)#'maybe we should play to that'#and then there's Barry Sonnenfeld who understands he is funny and cute but does not understand that he is sexy #watching an interview with Preston recently where he said he told Knoxville Jackass was a terrible idea and he should do a talk show #because 'he's charming as hell'#which: true #but can you imagine the format of a talkshow where he was in charge?#tune in next time if I ever post my stream of consciousness ramble about Rosy and how I wish I knew what the point of it was #I review movies almost exclusively with long tangents about themes and random commentary on details I noticed I'm not sorry #some of his middling films only work as well as they do bc of his charisma- why r we rooting for DC in Action Point? it gives you no reason #at face value he should be in jail and we should not like him at all #but we do bc it's him and he's just loveable- drunk negligent danger to the community? nah! champion of fun!#that is the kind of part he's a huge asset to- just let us root for him and he can carry a whole movie on his back

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cautiouslyyyoptimistic · 2 years ago

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Ok, elaboration time! I know the first thought in people's heads for a ranma 1/2 bingqiu au is to make shen qingqiu the one who falls into the girl pool and give him the gender shenanigans but I can't get the idea out of my head to give luo binghe the ranma role and give fem!shen qingqiu the akane role (mostly to preach my fondness for fem!bingqiu in some shape or form😅😅)

Like, picture the classic ranma first episode set up where luo binghe in his new girl form fighting with his dad in his animal form (im having trouble picturing what animal tianlang -jun would be... Maybe some sort of cocky bird?) While on their way to the shen residence/dojo because luo binghe and shen qingqiu's fathers made a promise that one of their children will get married to the other. And when they get to the residence it leads to the classic scene where shen yuan and luo binghe are bonding in the dojo and they form a connection, SY thinking she made a really cool new female friend because she doesn't have many of those, while binghe... Is. Down bad. Extremely.

But then uh oh! The jig is up! Luo Binghe was actually originally a guy this whole time! He's just being plagued by the girl pond curse at the moment and SQQ is shocked. Betrayed. Absolutely embarrassed. Thinking she had a brand new little sister type friend to dote on to the max but in actuality she's been getting close to some boy! How shameless and weird of her! Guys and girls can't just be friends! Thats just not how things work. Well, it works for other people but not shen yuan. Only she's not allowed. It all makes perfect sense in her mind.

Anyways, the shen patriarch (I have no idea for who should be in the role. A made up character for the purpose of the au maybe?) Is like "ok so as long as you stay as a guy once you eventually get married to one of my daughters I guess it's fine. But maybe you should also look for a cure while you're living with us, going to the local high school, and getting to know you're fiance."

Binghe immediately claims shen yuan as the fiance. Because she's like, the only option. I'm thinking fem shen jiu as the older sister? Taking on the role of nabiki, the material wealth obsessed one with a weird relationship going on with the class president yue qingyuan. Binghe is not touching that with a ten foot pole even if he wasn't already infatuated with shen yuan. The dads also think this makes the most sense as well. Shen yuan is... Not thrilled.

Not because there is anything wrong with luo binghe! They're gorgeous in either form! It's kinda ridiculous how unbelievably pretty and likeable luo binghe is... But she's still feeling a bit embarrassed and miffed that she got her hopes up on having her very first and only gal pal to ever gal pal. no homo. And her future husband can't be half girl! Its just not done!!

So shen yuan becomes the biggest supporter and contributor to the search for a cure so she can be engaged to binghe without feeling... Some type of way about it👀👀 binghe doesn't really care. They're just along for the ride. Bonus points if there's this weird thing where shen yuan is like SUPER physically affectionate and doting when luo binghe is in her female form because in shen yuan's clown brain the affection doesn't really count because they're both girls. I'm talking sleeping in the same bed, sharing food, hanging off of each other like they're each other's jungle gym, the works. Totally platonic stuff. But when luo binghe is in his male form shen yuan gets REALLY awkward and distant. No physically touching allowed. It leads to a bunch of angst and misunderstandings between the both of them they'd have to clear up later on.

Drama! Campy fight scenes! Love rivals! Gender swapped shenanigans! Animal transformations! Ect! Ensue as they learn more about each other and their quest to ungirlify binghe for good! (Possibly? Who knows. Shen Qingqiu is probs the only one really passionate in finding a cure after the hype of the curse dies down in the household.)

Bursts through your front door, out of breath, takes a moment to clear throat before yelling: "BINGQIU RANMA 1/2 AU!!"

#liu qingge and many others appear as love rivals later on of course #i imagine SQQ and LBH take turns battling for each other's hand in marriage because they both equally have the same amount of suitors.#well #sqq might have a couple more #zhuzhi-lang gets cursed after tripping into the drowned snake pond of course #i imagine hes like the ryoga of the au where sqq has no idea his new pet snake is an actual person and zzl is soaking up all the affection.#lbh is FUMING #uhhh anyways plz dont take this too seriously #i just wanted to imagine another au to make sqq look like a clown like usual✨✨#*slaps bingqiu ship* this baby can fit so much gender fuckery and dumbassery #we vibin #svsss #bingqiu #scum villain self saving system #shen qingqiu #shen yuan #fem!shen qingqiu #luo binghe #definitely not cis!binghe #but he vibin

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wootwoothoot · 3 years ago

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Anyone else want a sci-fi comedy where a bunch of humans have to interact with an alien race comprised entirely of neurodivergent people?

Just, imagine the shenanigans. Language is figured out pretty quickly, so no one realizes that there’s even a communication gap. And it’s these slight gaps in comprehension that lead to misunderstanding after misunderstanding which devolve into ridiculous situations that are ripped straight from a nineties sitcom. And even though both sides are weirded the fuck out, they still play along in the name of peace.

Until a burned out autistic that forgot to put their filter on just strolls into a negotiating room and just fucking asks, in perfect alien, what the fuck is happening here. And things just continue to spiral into madness. The mostly neurotypical negotiating team that was there before just dips, and gets replaced by a whole spectrum’s worth of neurodivergents (that have been isolated and discriminated against in their respective fields). And when the whole team shows up, they immediately click with each other, then they become real buddies with the aliens, and when the aliens hear about all the shit the diplomats have to deal with in human society, they offer them a place in their society, to which the diplomats happily accept. And then both parties work together to delay the treaty signing as long as possible by whatever beaureacratic bullshit necessary until the humans can be properly integrated/protected.

But when neurotypical command finds out what’s happening, they just say “fuck it, take em. We didn’t want em anyway” and that’s the story of how human migrants showed up on Mars.

#neurospicy #neurodivergent #comedy #sci fi au #sci fi tv #neurotypical #aliens #comedic #tv shows #my ideas

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crafty-business4130 · 4 years ago

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ELLO this herre be a timeline of season six for my Hermits Duplicates AU, which is about all of the hermits duplicates aka NPC Grian (who is called Dustic in this AU for lore reasons) Robot Grian, Evil X, renbob ect ect, who together and becomes friends and make a share base. This AU is a large mix of Isolation Misunderstandings and most importantly Found Family.

ive also opened up a discord for this AU so if ya liked this post check on in to there! there’s a lot more to this AU than what ived shared here today. now without further Ado check under the cut for the timeline!

Season six

Dustic and Ro stayed with TFC during the beginning of season 6 for a good few months or so before they took off and on the insistc of Dustic, they sought out Evil Xisuma and “tricked” him into friendship

Later on through chance, Badtimewithscar and Truesymmetry happen upon their now shared and slowly growing cave town base. It took some time to convince them into joining the base and to become friends but within less than a month's time BT and Truse have fit themselves in

Time flies by and the base is worked on even more with the additional help from BT and Truse, shenanigans a penalty as well, a small hand full of pranks on the hermits (Truse may or may not be the jinger and Dustic may or may not of been the salmon man) and upon their own little group

7 months and 2 weeks into the season Evil Xisuma is banned from the server and immediately Dustic starts working on getting him back. After some careful planning Dustic, Truse, and TFC work together and manage to pull Ex out of the void and back into hermitcraft with the other hermits being none the wiser. Ex self imposes himself into exile and stays away from the main hermit island and lives full time at the duplicates base, though for the most part he was already doing that so the exile isnt too impactful

The next 2 and half months are filled with some tension with both Ex getting banned into the void (which had dustic not gotten ex out of the void, Ex would have either gone mad/insane due to being within the void or would have been consumed by the void and would not respawn) and the soon to come village and pillage update that would lead to the hermit potentially finding them by going out to the new terrain. Things simmer down after the update falls upon the server

Roughly 2 months later Renbob has spawned into the server then on

July 19 2019 Renbob leaves New Hermitville in somewhat of a panic and crash lands into The Cavern Town (suggestions for a name for the base are very much welcome) and stays till Renbob hears the intergalactic hippie horn and then comes to aid Grian and Ren to help fight against “The Man” (aka the government)

Renbob sticks around the hippie commune till the end of the 77 ark, during this time renbob does his thing and helps out to the best of his ability. The German Tourist (Gtm76, or more commonly known as simply Gerry) joins the game on september 4th to visit docm for the first time since they both escaped together from experimentation in captivity

(backstory; some group of scientist ran a series of experiments trying to make a living sentient life-form. It took them 77 trys and Docm was their crowning achievement that was also their undoing. Gerry was the 76th try which while sentient his body had some defects that while with some cybernetic enhancements fixed the problems but it wasn't good enough for them so docm77 came to. Doc also had the same body problems but those didn't crop up/became unavoidable till later)

Anyway back to Gerry joining the server, he walks about and takes in the views before encountering Docm, who upon seeing Gerry bonks him over the head and throws Gerry into one of the cells fully convinced Gerry is an alien imposter and nothing Gerry saids can convince Docm that he is not an alien.(one of the problems doc had was memories. his life before getting his cybernetic enhancements was very hazy and he does not remember how he actually escaped nor the fact that he escaped with another person) Gerry stays stuck in the cell forgotten and alone with nothing but the uncomfortable prison uniform that reminds him far too much of the uniform he had to wear during his early life whilst in captivity.

During the area 77 raid Gerry realized that someone besides Docm and Scar were in the building and tried desperately to get their attention alas his cell was just far enough that the hippies in thier excitement to reunite with villager grian and the time machine they completely missed Gerry’s cell in the way back of the compound.

After area 77 is opened up as a amusement park, renbob returns to see if he can find his lost glasses (renbob was briefly stuck in a UFO that scar and docm confiscated then renbob was retrieved from the hold of it) renbob upon not seeing his glasses on the firset floor moves to the bottom floor and in his search he finds Gerry’s cell and Gerry manages to convey to him to open the cell even though the language barrier. They both leave Area 77 together and board Renbob’s van and heads for the Duplicate’s base where they all stay at for the remainder of the season.

Not even a week or so later Tomato Yoshi comes stumbling out of their nether portal, after completing his quest to be good at minecraft he then went back into the portal wishing to go where someone may be in need of his teachings. After moving in with the duplicates he helps them through their problems and initiates a weekly Therapy Group. He also trains Truse on how to fight blind, so that if she loses her goggles she can still protect herself.

During the time of demise they all for the most part stayed hunkered down and worked on finishing the base with a touch of everyone’s building styles mixed together. Then comes the end of the season.

With the Infinity portal came a dilemma, do they go with the hermits to season 7 or move onto a new world? The duplicates wait a week’s time before they leave the season which gave them all time to fully consider this new found option. BT came to the conclusion that he wants to be there for any new duplicates that may spring up in the upcoming years, to show them that they’re not alone. Truse and Ex decide to stay too for the same reason. Gerry decides to go with renbob and explore hyperspace in Renbob’s Rv. Dustic, Ro, and Ex go through the portal with Truse at the lead. Once on the other side Truse changes Ex’s entry message and Dustic teleports himself Ex and Ro down and into a cave system below spawn. Then they move towards the coordinates they all agreed to head towards once they've made it to season 7.

And that’s everything i've got for season 6 of the Duplicates AU, i've started a discord for the AU so if you liked this please stop by and say hello! I’ll be sharing a bunch more for the au over there as well.

#hermit duplicate au #hermitcraft #hermitcraft season 6 #evil xisuma #evil x #badtimeswithscar #BT #truesymmetry #truse #npc grian #dustic #Robot grian #Ro #renbob #the German tourist #Gerry!#Tomato Yoshi

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1-of-those-things · 4 years ago

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Fanfic Master List (All Doctor Who)

OneOfThoseThings on AO3

(Updated 8/19/21)

Doctor/Donna Standalone Fics

The Best of Times (Amnesiac Remix)

A mind-wiped Donna runs into Martha and gets some good old fashioned human help realizing her potential all over again. Word has gotten out through the twenty-seven planets she saved though, so there are a few more aliens following her around… including one very specific alien who really shouldn’t be there.

Ship: Tenth Doctor x Donna Noble

Also Featuring: Martha and Jack

The Noble Neverwere

A timey-wimey fantasy fic in which the TARDIS finds a way to keep Donna Noble, but has a little trouble with the details like anchoring her in time and space.

Canon-compliant in the sense that it's never been explicitly stated that there isn't a time-fluid echo of a certain ginger companion haunting the TARDIS.

Ship: Tenth Doctor x Donna Noble

Also Featuring: Missy and Twelve, with cameos by Ryan, Mickey, and Rory

Standalone Fics with Other Pairings

The Volatile Nature of Binary Stars

A dark(er) AU in which the Master happens upon a mind-wiped Donna and gives her a little boost the rest of the way to full Time Lord status. Then they both return to the TARDIS and an unsuspecting Doctor.

Spoiler: Unlike most fix-its, in this one Donna is Not pleased that she was abandoned and does Not magically just get over that.

Ships: Doctor x Master (Simms) AND Doctor x Donna

The Beat Between Measures

A missing scene from Revolution of the Daleks, in which the Doctor and Jack get a proper reunion

Ship: Thirteenth Doctor x Jack

Universal Lost and Found

A fix-it in which Martha runs across a mind-wiped Donna and helps her (re)claim what the Universe owes her.

Ship: Donna x Martha

Note: Doctor x Donna and Doctor x Martha are implied, but this one is a Donna x Martha fic

Polymorphism

The companion polycule fic you’ve all been waiting for. The TARDIS pulls her Bad Wolf through to a parallel world where she’s still travelling with the Doctor. And Martha. And Donna. And things are a bit friendlier this time around.

Ship: Rose x Martha x Donna x Tenth Doctor

Note: This is really Rose x Martha x Donna with the (arguably canonically Ace) Doctor not left out in the cold. It’s not even a little bit a harem fic.

Series

Nice Things; Good Things

A blatant canon divergence from Journey’s End where Donna just lets the metacrisis Doctor and Rose right back onto the TARDIS and then they all just go back to traveling together. Pretty soon after that, Jack gets added in and then it’s just the whole team enjoying themselves for once instead of having just endless tragedy for the sake of character building.

As the series goes on, it gets more and more polyamorous, but it’s set up so that each fic can be an acceptable stopping point so that anyone who isn’t on board can just hop off whenever they like and not have to deal with a bunch of unresolved cliffhangers.

Individual fics are carefully tagged (which makes for a hilariously long list of tags for the series, in case anyone is wondering.)

It Has Been 0 Days Since the Last Incident

The most standalone of all the fics in this series.

Ships: Eventual Doctor x Donna and Tentoo x Rose (in the background)

A New Path (Optional backstory for Jack getting added)

Doctor x Donna

Tentoo x Rose (in the background, leading to Tentoo x Rose x Jack)

A Series of Perfectly Reasonable Misunderstandings

Doctor x Donna

Tentoo x Rose x Jack

(Starting down the poly path)

Indisputably Well-Laid Plans

Doctor x Donna x Jack

Background Tentoo x Rose x Jack

A little light Tencest (as a treat)

Hints at pretty much every combination of these 5

Note: this fic also marks the shift into explicit ratings territory

Proper Communication

Donna x Rose

All Together Now

Ten x Tentoo x Donna x Rose x Jack

Too many subsets of that to bother writing out— just call it shamelessly poly

Modern Arts (and Crafts)

Ten x Tentoo x Donna x Rose x Jack

Just a full stop poly PWP

Standard Courtship Rituals

All 10 pairing subsets of Ten x Tentoo x Donna x Rose x Jack

10 ficlet-style dates

Interspecies Compatibility

A series of semi-standalone, loosely-strung-together stories about the Doctor and Donna working through some of the many differences between humans and Time Lords.

This series tries not to actively contradict major canonical events. But a lot of liberties are taken around that.

Some of the stories are more or less crucial to the ‘plot,’ so the optional ones are handily marked ‘(Optional)’.

Ship: Doctor x Donna

Biological Specificity

A detailed lesson in Time Lord biology

Can be read as platonic, but only if one doesn’t keep reading this series

Acclimatization

Hard to call this one entirely platonic, but could be if one ignored alien cultural implications

Ecological Fitting

Probably not platonic unless you’re using an interesting definition of platonic

Symbiosis

Pretty solidly outside the boundaries of platonic here

Contact High (Optional)

A fun day out

Spandrel (Optional)

A casual day in

Synesthesia

This is where this goofy series starts to take a real turn toward shippy

Atavism

This is where the ratings should probably tick up

Exaptation (Optional)

An optional morning after

Coevolution

The obligatory Midnight fic

Survival Without Recovery

The fix and official end

Not particularly shippy

Lazarus Taxon (Optional)

An optional epilogue with a slightly less happy-go-lucky tone

Also Featuring: Cameos by Eleven, Twelve and finally Thirteen

Open to Interpretation

Less of a “series,” more of a “collection” of fics that are open to interpretation by the reader.

Platonic, shippy, ace-- you decide.

Just Act Natural

Donna gets the Doctor to Martha’s wedding. Shenanigans ensue.

There’s an optional sequel, “Compatible Lunacy” that is just straight up shippy.

Interspecies Communication

The Doctor fails to read the room and Donna has to deal with it.

Originally written as part of Interspecies Compatibility, but it actually makes more sense as a cracky standalone.

Bathtime in B Sharp

Donna and the Doctor have to take a medicinal bath. Pointless fluff.

Cuddles in C Minor

A shag-or-die setup in which the aliens severely overestimate the Doctor’s mating drive and an indignant Donna gets a thorough cuddle.

Absolute Shameless Fluff

Compatible Lunacy

Optional sequel to “Just Act Natural.”

Split into two parts because “Just Act Natural” could be read as platonic but “Compatible Lunacy” makes the whole thing more shippy

Ship: Platonic or Doctor x Donna (If you read “Compatible Lunacy”)

Tension in D Minor

Donna tries to get some alone time with someone with matching human urges. The Doctor takes it a bit personally.

Ship: Tenth Doctor x Donna Noble

Morning Cuddles

Originally part of “Nice Things; Good Things” but it probably makes more sense as a little standalone cuddle ficlet.

Ship: Established Tenth Doctor x Donna Noble

Arguments That Did Not Go As Planned

Donna tries to train the Doctor, one argument at a time.

Ship: Sort of Accidental Tenth Doctor x Donna Noble

(Moody) Gen

(It Breaks You Down) A Little Bit More Each Time

Five times Donna Noble died, in escalating degrees of severity. (Not actual death, but y’know.)

Collaborations

Aurous and Auriferous

Aurous is a Journey’s End fix-it in which the metacrisis Doctor has to save the Time Lord from himself (Written for the DW HopeZine prompt “Plastered in Gold”)

Auriferous is an optional (significantly less “Gen”) sequel for people who think Gen Fixits are all well and good, but want a little Tencest to round it out.

A collaboration with the insanely talented @denzikken and @fritzmetzger

Ship: Ten x Tentoo (mildly implied in Aurous, actively happening in Auriferous) Also some light background Donna x Rose (for flavor)

Special thanks to anyone who’s read, given kudos, and/or commented on anything I’ve put together! Lots of love to the whole fandom!

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medea10 · 5 years ago

Text

My Review of Rent-A-Girlfriend

How did I get into this anime? Let’s just say due to a few websites I frequent around decided to be little whore-ish, I became curious by this particular title. Let’s just say they were mentioning this one at least every other day prior to the premier. So out of natural curiosity and knowing nothing of what I’m getting into, I decided to add another Friday anime to my watch list. I guess Fridays are my busy day for watching anime!

Kazuya Kinoshita is a 20 year old college student. Life seems to be going well for him until his girlfriend decides to dump him.

Not even 30 seconds into this anime and this sad-sack gets dumped!

SERIOUSLY! 18 SECONDS! NEW FRIGGIN’ RECORD!!!

So after Kazuya gets dumped, he ends up on a website and before you know it, he’s made arrangements to go on a date with a rented girlfriend! Yes, these are very much a thing. You can go to a website and pay a woman to go on a date with you. Apparently, Japan has a lot of these services and it does get a little ewwie with it so I’m gonna move on with the synopsis.

The girl he ends up going out with is named Chizuru Ichinose. The first date seemed to be going well, but Kazuya felt off by this girl. He just thought Chizuru was just playing with her clients hearts, plus he’s still a little heart-broken from his previous girlfriend, so he gives her a bad review. So when they go on their second date, Chizuru’s cutesy, sweet act is replaced with someone who is tempermental and sassy.

Just then, Kazuya gets word his grandmother collapsed!

I know it’s weird in the synopsis, but just go with it!

With word of his grandmother in the hospital, Kazuya ends up taking Chizuru to the hospital with him. Turns out Kazuya’s family jumped to the obvious conclusion that this girl is his girlfriend and they went nuts. Mostly at the fact that their son actually got a cute girlfriend! Add another layer of WTF to this cake, Chizuru’s grandmother is in this exact, same hospital as Kazuya’s grandmother. And both ladies are over the moon that these two are dating (even though that’s far from the truth). Chizuru hasn’t even told her family that she’s working at Rent-a-Waifu! Well, let’s just break things off and let the family down easy.

Oh, look! They both go to the same university. Oh look! They’re also next door neighbors. I smell shenanigans!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: At this moment, the only one streaming this series is Crunchyroll. A few weeks into the premier, Crunchyroll started airing a dub. As for the sub, this is my first time really listening to the main lead’s seiyuu, Shun Horie. But the rest of the cast has a nice mixture of memorable voices like Aoi Yuuki, Rie Takahashi, Sora Amamiya, Gakuto Kajiwara…oh fuck!

DAMMIT ASTA, STOP HAUNTING MY EAR-DRUMS!

As for the dub, Crunchyroll is currently publishing an episode once a week. The dub is just okay in my opinion, really nothing to write home about. The only thing I can say is that Aleks Le did a fairly-decent job voicing Kazuya. After voicing Zenitsu last year, he’s got a knack for voicing wimpy twats. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Kazuya is played by Shun Horie

*Chizuru is played by Sora Amamiya (known for Toka on Tokyo Ghoul, Aqua on Konosuba, Miia on Monster Musume, Akame on Akame ga Kill, Elizabeth on Seven Deadly Sins, and Yachiyo on Magia Record)

*Mami is played by Aoi Yuuki (known for Iris on Pokemon BW, Madoka on Madoka Magica, Kayo on ERASED, Yuuki on SAO II, Tatsumaki on One Punch Man, Tamaki on Fire Force, and Kinako on Inazuma Eleven GO)

*Ruka is played by Nao Touyama (known for Chitoge on Nisekoi, Koga on Bunny Girl Senpai, Nii on Blue Exorcist, Akira on Kono Oto Tomare, Momo onAi Tenchi Muyo

ENGLISH CAST: *Kazuya is played by Aleks Le (known for Zenitsu on Demon Slayer and Ake on Shield Hero)

*Chizuru is played by Lizzie Freeman (known for Cardinal on SAO: Alicization, Iwanaga on In/Spectre, Trish on Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Pt. 5, and Felicia on Magia Record)

*Mami is played by Laura Stahl (known for Ray on The Promised Neverland)

*Ruka is played by Sarah Williams (known for Sayaka on Madoka Magica, Felix on Re:Zero, Nonon on Kill la Kill, Mirai on Boruto, Lisbeth on SAO, and Puck on Berserk 2016)

DISLIKED CHARACTER: And now, a poem…

Roses are red Mami’s a cunt…

That’s the poem.

SHIPPING: I can honestly say I didn’t expect the Rent-a-Girlfriend and the Ex-Bitch to meet each other in the second episode. Even after going on a few dates with Chizuru, Kazuya still finds himself “beating his meat” to the thought of his ex, Mami. Only for the girls to beat your meat to change places just a few episodes later!

Oh yes, it’s that kind of series! Kazuya jacks off quite a bit.

Kazuya x Chizuru: At times it feels like Kazuya is really falling for Chizuru for who she really is and not the façade she puts up as a rental girlfriend. But I guess the number of awkward setups and situations these two have been thrown in throughout the series can do that to Kazuya. I mean, how else do you expect Kazuya jacking it off to Chizuru when he’s trying to think of his ex?! Yeah, he’s lied to his family, Chizuru’s grandmother, and all of his friends about this relationship and this relationship is as fake as a three-dollar bill. But there are a few genuine moments that show these two care for each other. Kazuya was ballsy enough to jump off a moving boat to save Chizuru when she fell overboard. And Kazuya felt concerned when Chizuru was thinking about leaving the rental girlfriend profession. Though that could be Kazuya being a pathetic sack of shit and wanting to continue this farce relationship and paying a girl for some attention! It’s so hard to say something kind about Kazuya wanting this relationship to work. But for what it’s worth, I like the farce ship better than the next thing I’m going to speak about.

Kazuya x Mami: I don’t like this bitch and I hate this ship. From the get-go you go in hating this succubus. And when we see her again in episode 2, bitches be bitches! Getting drunk in a public setting and making fun of Kazuya not being man enough for her (in the sexual sense). Then, we get Mami trying to go home with Kazuya when Chizuru is gone. But we don’t stop there, she’s trying at every opportunity to make Kazuya drop everything and fall in love with her again. She’s the one that dumped him, but can’t stand seeing Kazuya with anyone else (no matter the awkward circumstances). It’s clear that Mami has severe jealousy issues. I mean, Chizuru is prettier and nicer than Mami. Meanwhile, Mami is a manipulative scum-wad with the charm of a poisonous snake.

Kazuya x Ruka: Ruka was a rental girlfriend from a different agency and was on a double date with Kazuya, Chizuru, and Kazuya’s idiot friend that sounds like Asta. But due to several misunderstandings between Kazuya and Ruka, turns out Kazuya is the only man to get her heart rate up. So Ruka cuts ties with the idiot friend who hired her and has set sights on Kazuya. And she will fight for her man no matter what. She’s even ballsy enough to interrupt Kazuya’s family celebration of New Years by coming in like an asteroid to fuck things up. At this point in the series, Kazuya’s grandmother is dead-set on him marrying Chizuru. Any other girl is shit compared to her! But Ruka will continue to do her thing. Even applying to the same job that Kazuya works at!

Kazuya x Sumi! You expect me to say something about this? They had one bleeping date! And she’s barely seen outside of the opening and ending themes. If there’s more interactions in season two, holla back at me because this ain’t happening. Although, I’ll support the fuck out of this ship over Kazuya x Mami!

BIG SIMPIN’: So being an older millennial (or X-ennial as I’m currently classified under), I am not hip to the lingo of these youngins. Because of Kazuya, the internet uproared by calling him a phrase known as a “simp”. Well, I don’t want to seem like some out-of-touch boomer. So I’m just going to look up this “simp” term and see if this is legitimate. Let’s see what the Slang-tionary says.

“Simp is a slang insult for men who are seen as too attentive and submissive to women, especially out of a failed hope of winning some entitled sexual attention or activity from them.”

Okay. I think it’s time for the rap interlude of this review.

I don't know what you heard about him But a bitch will get every dollar out of him No cherry-poppin’ as you can see That he’s a motherfucking S-I-M-P

ENDING: Being a rental girlfriend isn’t something Chizuru wants to do, but this gives her practice in what she really wants to do, which is become an actor. And as of recently, Chizuru has been thinking about quitting the rental girlfriend agency. So what would happen if Chizuru quit being a rental girlfriend? That’s a question for another day and another season!

So only a few people have learned about Kazuya and Chizuru’s relationship being the most complicated farce in anime history. Halfway into the series with Ruka’s introduction, she caught on about Chizuru being a rental girlfriend. And because of that incident, Kazuya decided to come clean to his idiot friend, Shun. When Shun hired Ruka to be his rental girlfriend, dude was on top of the world. But when Ruka exposed what he did in front of Kazuya, Shun got severely depressed. Kazuya decides to pay for Chizuru to take Shun out on a date. That’s when Shun finds out that Kazuya hired Chizuru after Mami dumped him.

You know what? I have to spring this up! How long did you think Kazuya was going to hide the rental girlfriend thing to his friends? He’s friends with a bunch of stinkin’ virgins. Lonely, stinkin’ virgins! Plus, if Chizuru is rated #1 on a Google search for top rental girlfriends (as it was established in episode 10), I’m surprised no one else caught on, including the grandmothers. Kazuya’s grandmother is constantly playing on her smart phone. Shun is on the internet all the time. I’m surprised there isn’t an annoying pop-up ad in Japanese Google that would flash at them at any point saying, “Meet legal Japanese chicks in your area” redirecting them to the rental girlfriend website. Followed by giving you a gnarly computer virus!

Well, we’re 10 episodes in a 12 episode series. Why not finally introduce the fourth girl that we’ve been seeing in the opening and ending themes all season?! Chizuru asked Kazuya for a favor to go out with the new rental girlfriend at the agency to help boost her confidence. Enter, Sumi! The best way to describe this silent, moe-blob is a less busty version of Mikuru Asahina. Kazuya and Sumi’s date went over somewhat okay. Kazuya saved Sumi from a bunch of thugs. And while Sumi was silent throughout the entire date, she managed to squeak out a thank you at the end. So not a bad date, right?

Unfortunately, during the date, Mami saw them and trailed them. And it went down just as you would imagine! Mami confronts Kazuya, Kazuya comes up with some bullshit lie to Mami, Sumi is still silent, and Mami is up to no good after she leaves.

Because Mami learned Sumi’s full name, she went to the internet to find a profile or something on a social network. That’s when Mami learned that not only Sumi was a rental girlfriend, but Chizuru as well. It’s not so bad that Shun knows about Chizuru, but if Mami finds out, game over. Game over, Kazuya! So what happens next?

Mami catfished Chizuru by calling her out for a date using the rental girlfriend website! Then they go to the karaoke bar Kazuya works at for their “date”.

GAME OVER KAZUYA! GAME OVER! You lost all 5 lives. Please return to world 1 and may God have mercy on your simpin’ ass!

Kazuya watched their date from a distance (and this time he didn’t get caught eavesdropping like the last time he followed Chizuru). And after a cute mention of the singers to the opening and ending theme to the series, Mami and Chizuru end their date with an exchanging of words. All this proved is that Mami is still a jealous bitch with a dead look in her eyes and Chizuru likes Kazuya. We think! Either Chizuru meant what she said to Mami or she’s a really good actress. When Chizuru came back to the apartment complex, Kazuya met her outside and thanked her for what she said to Mami followed by a confession.

Ah yes, a confession of love! As the credits roll, we see flashbacks of the past 12 episodes and end the series on a cute note and a possible opening to an OVA and we can end from…

Oh wait, there’s more!

Kazuya says he wants Chizuru to continue being his rental girlfriend. Because he knows she’s planning on quitting the rental girlfriend business! So he smooths that over! Both played this off with a wary poker face, but behind closed doors, they are sweating bullets.

OH, and season two has been green-lit. Fabulous!

This anime was addicting to watch. I don’t know if it was as addicting as Uzaki-chan. Then again, I picked to watch Rent-a-Girlfriend over Uzaki-chan. But this was an addicting train-wreck! Watching this dumbass try to fool his family and friends that he really was able to get a cute girlfriend for a full year! How the hell could anyone fall for that mess? People still watched this dumpster fire of a relationship right, so why bitch about the stupidity of Simpy McSimperson over here? I am glad we’re getting a second season because we really didn’t get a chance to see much of Sumi. I know she’s no contender when you put her next to the great Chizuru, but good golly, give this girl some screentime aside from the one episode she got. They made her seem like she was going to be a big player in this anime, but only getting a bit role. I also want to see if Mami is going to redeem herself from the cunt we saw since 18 seconds into the series. I seriously doubt it, but it just gives me more reason to cuss at the computer, calling her every horrible name in the book. And as for Ruka…there’s nothing to say. She’s just gonna be second best no matter what the fuck happens.

As addicting as this anime was, I can’t ignore how many times I had to facepalm at every, stupid action done by Kazuya. I mean, several times per episode, butt-for-brains does something stupid that makes us say, “Dude, WTF” or “Bruh”. Lying to your family, lying to your friends, giving a bad review to your rental girlfriend for giving you great service, jacking it to your ex when you’re clearly hot for Chizuru, following a guy around because he spends the day with Chizuru, and it just goes on and on! You want to root for this twerp in hopes he gets the girl of his dreams in the end, but at the same time, you’re like, “This guy is a total dink.”

Oh, let’s see what season two has to offer…whenever that comes.

In the meantime, if you’d like to check out Rent-A-Girlfriend, Crunchyroll has all 12 episodes available in both sub and dub.

#anime review #rent a girlfriend #kanojo okarishimasu #kazuya kinoshita #chizuru ichinose #mami nanami #ruka sarashina #sumi sakurasawa

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seekingseven · 5 years ago

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The Most Sincere Kind of Lie (Ch1)

Chapter 1 of my Linked Universe fanfic, let’s see how this baby goes down! Also available to read here on AO3

┍━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━┑

Hyrule's Hyrule did not feel like a Hyrule.

A calm, somber, empty wind threaded its way through the sky and forest and swamps, stirring up the stagnant dust lying on abandoned pathways and tugging curiously at the Links' clothing. The road they walked along was hard and flat, unfamiliar with the shifting anxiousness of wandering travelers and unwilling to leave any memory of their footprints behind. Streams mumbled and grumbled to the south, and the dark, seductive lullaby of the forest wafted in from the north. Hauntingly beautiful and terribly desolate was the only way to describe this place. Not even three hours of walking had yielded sight of a single other traveler aside from themselves.

Hyrule wasn't bothered by this, however. In fact, the traveler had an extra skip in his step and sparkle in his smile, excitedly weaving through the crowd of his incarnations and pointing out distant shadows of distant places with infectious enthusiasm. Infectious enthusiasm was the only proper term for it; Hyrule's amicable and eager attitude had contaminated everyone in the group. Sky hummed a lullaby as they walked along, bopping his head slowly as Wind thumped out the time signature on his chest. Four, Wild and Wars were all huddled around the traveler, trying to guess the names and places of things ahead of them while Hyrule laughed and occasionally applauded their efforts. Even Time and Twilight stared at the darkening sky and pointed out the timid pinpricks of light above, grinning like love-struck fools when Hyrule named each constellation and detailed the lore behind them.

On the other hand, Legend was very much bothered by their current situation. Even after hours of walking, he had no idea where Hyrule was taking them. He had no idea where, or even if, they were going to sleep tonight. Were they going to have dinner? Discuss a battle strategy or cover story for their ragtag group before they eventually ended up in some Nayru-forsaken town? Legend glared at the armor on Time's back. Of all people, Old Man should have had the presence of mind to lay out some semblance of a plan. But instead, he had an arm draped around Hyrule's shoulder and another on Twilight's, looking up at the stars as if they were the answer to all his most profound questions and desires. A smart bunch his incarnations were, Legend thought. They might as well run off the path at full speed and wait for wild monsters to tear them apart if everyone was going to be this idyllic and dopey. Yeah. Idiots. That's all they were. Legend brooded and nurtured his dissatisfaction with paternal meticulousness, almost enjoying the feeling of disgust blooming between his ribs. He thought of how much his feet hurt and how heavy his eyelids felt. What he would give for a good meal and a warm blanket and twenty seconds of reprieve from the noise and racket around him. His eyebrows slipped low over his face, his mouth twisted into its typical grimace, his movements slowed as he began to lag behind the rest of the group.

Goddesses above, he was so, so, so tired.

The silvery, boisterous sound of Sky's laughter shattered the silence Legend had grown extremely fond of over the last few minutes. The disgruntled hero stared up from his feet and stifled a groan as he processed the chaos in front of him. Wind was carrying Sky on his shoulders, swaying back and forth as the former's power bracelet twinkled crazily under the moonlight, and a piggyback race had been declared. Four had hoisted himself on Warriors' back without a second thought, and the two were off, sprinting down a path they weren't familiar with, and towards a horizon they'd never met. A brilliant thing to do in a foreign Hyrule, Legend thought bitterly. At least Time, Twilight, Wild, and Hyrule had some semblance of dignity about them. Oh, scratch that, the insane cook had stripped down to what he called his Sheikah Speedos (whatever on Farore's good green earth that meant) and was now sitting atop Twilight's shoulders. Legend hoped for a split second that Twilight would be level-minded enough to dissuade his protégé from such a reckless pastime. The aforementioned hope melted in the air when the pair shrieked a stream of sacrilegious boasts and sprinted after Wind and Warriors' retreating forms. Hyrule, who was still leading the whole group -- even though they were in his Hyrule, Legend had a sneaking feeling that this was a bad idea -- tossed his shield underneath his feet and quite literally sledded down the path. Legend sighed dramatically. Apparently, Wild's wasteful hobby had tainted even him.

Idiots, the lot of them.

Humid fog skittered over from a nearby river and settled onto Legend's lashes and cheeks. He blinked slowly and yawned again. The arsenal on his back pulled him downwards, and Legend made no motion to resist, relishing the feeling of slack muscles and half-closed eyes and hair flopping in front of his face. He didn't notice how far forward he was slumped until his hands dragged across the floor and scratched the rough skin of his knuckles. Legend glared furiously at the dust beneath him, as if to reprimand its audacity. The half-asleep hero proceeded to slog forward with even less intention than before.

Maybe if he fell asleep in the middle of the path, they would all stop their shenanigans and put their heads back on their shoulders.

"Hey, Legend! Pick it up, yeah? You're moving about as fast as Wind's gramma on a summer afternoon!"

That stupid cook couldn't even let him sleep, huh?

Legend didn't have a comeback, so he just sneered at Wild's silhouette as Wind did the job for him. Sailor boy had quite the vocabulary -- not exactly vulgar but certainly brazen enough to make the aforementioned 'Gramma' blush had she been here. The lazy smile was still plastered over Legend's face when Time broke away from the group and sidled up next to him.

"What do you make of all this?" Time questioned.

"Nothing much. It's all pretty stupid, to be honest." The veteran hero didn't look up from the floor, addressing his sleepy words to the dust underneath him.

Time gave Legend a sidelong look. The sound of laughter and smell of sea salt carried on the wind and grazed the tips of Legend's ears. The Old Man's gaze didn't falter, somehow becoming more childish and bright as he tilted his head genially to the side and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Legend took one look at the dopey look on Time's face and rolled his eyes.

"Not a chance, Old Man. I might hurt your back."

"My back? Oh no, you misunderstand. I'm more interested in receiving a piggyback ride than giving one."

Legend took an involuntary step back and stared up at Time with incredulity splashed all over his face.

"...?!"

"Ah. You're a poor sport, I see."

"... you're not going to manipulate me into something as humiliating as that."

"Oh well. Worth a shot. But what about Hyrule?"

"??"

"Everyone is getting rides except him. I have a feeling he would appreciate it very much if you would swallow your pride for his sake. Why not help him win that race?"

"Yeah," Legend grunted, "and I would appreciate it if you got off my case and let me be."

They walked on in silence. The Old Man's armor chinked in time with the sea shanty Wind was belting out at the top of his lungs. A few of the other Links joined in, even though they didn't know the words, their voices exploding into an ungodly crescendo as Wind tossed his hands up into the sky. Legend remained silent. He kicked the small pebbles in front of his feet and glowered at the shifting shadows lurking around the path's corners. There was no need to worry -- Hyrule had made it clear that as long as one stuck on the road, there was no chance of being attacked by any monsters -- but Legend's sleep-deprived brain sparkled with anxiety regardless. Snorts and giggles and quips and retorts echoed in the cold air; Time smiled at them, Legend glared. He just wanted to get to a town, eat something, nap, and wake up when Hylia's little shtick was all over.

"Time!" Wild shouted, snapping Legend out of his reverie, "can you hold these for us? Twi and I have a race to win, and alla these thingamajiggers aren't doing much to help us out." Twilight stumbled over to them, trying to balance the hyperactive wild child spazzing out on his shoulders, and started to say something before Wild promptly dumped an assortment of swords, shields, and shirts into the Old Man's outstretched arms. Twilight stared apologetically up at Time, opening his mouth to speak before Wild tugged his hair demanded they rejoin the fray. Legend had to hold a hand in front of his face to avoid breathing in the dust Twilight kicked up. Time stared on fondly, slinging the swords over his shoulders and scrutinizing the abandoned things around him as the two crazies scampered off. He sat on his knees with a grunt and started sifting through his bag, apparently looking for a sliver of space to put the random shields and clothes he'd been handed. A few random weapons and supplies had to come out before anything else could go in, and Legend scrutinized them with the jaded eye of a seasoned mage. Time pulled out a hookshot (typical), bow (even more so), three separate quivers of ice, fire, and light arrows (untouched for years, if the fine coating of dust around them meant anything), and a strange magnifying glass with a magenta frame and indigo lens. Well, well, well. What could that be? A familiar cold fire tickled the back of his throat -- the same one that prompted him to begin his first journey and propelled him through the rest. It only grew stronger when Legend noticed how the lens bent and scattered the moonbeams falling around it; it was almost as if the artifact was trying to avoid the light. His eyebrows flickered up, and a smirk pinched the corners of his lips. Legend tossed a quick glance first at Time, who was still slowly shuffling around the materials in his bag, and another one at the rest of the Links, who were still racing and tripping and shouting like a gang of toddlers. In one fluid movement, Legend swiped the lens and held it up in front of his grinning face.

The lens was heavy, not just because of the metal handle, but because of the ocean of magic seething and roiling within. Dark magic, without a doubt; the thick, somber, molasses-like heartbeat of the enchantment couldn't be chalked up to anything else. But said dark magic had obviously been tampered with in some way; there was none of the electric, fiery malevolence ingrained in most cursed artifacts. Perhaps it had been enchanted by a mage with a pure heart and proficiency in the dark arts? Legend's eyebrows pressed together. His fingertips itched to pull out his Magic Mirror and compare the two.

It took Legend a few seconds to register that Time's singular eye was boring into him. Legend startled and took a few preemptive steps back, just in case the Old Man got it in his head to make a lunge for the strange lens. The veteran hero smiled at his companion, balancing the artifact on the fat part of his palm.

"Fascinating. Where'd you get this, Old Man? Never thought you were a connoisseur of corrupted magical artifacts."

Time shrugged his shoulders and stood up, slinging his bag and assortment of swords around his neck. Legend tried very hard not to become uncomfortable under his unflinching, unreadable stare.

"I don't suggest you play with it," Time finally said.

Legend grinned even wider and pressed the strange artifact to his chest. "You don't say?" He flicked the crimson barbs adorning the top of the lens and tapped the handle with a fingernail. "I can feel the Dark Magic pouring through this lens -- if it even is a lens and not a portal of sorts." Holding it up to the moon, Legend's face contorted in curiosity as the lens snuffed out the light around it. "The weird thing is that there's no malevolence behind the magic. Must have been cast by a powerful mage with no intent to harm."

"Perhaps it was." Despite his words, Time's deadpan words hung thickly in the air and betrayed his complete disinterest in pursuing the conversation further. He held out his hand in front of him, an invitation for Legend to return the lens so the both could continue on their way.

Legend slapped the hand away.

"I don't think so," the veteran teased. "Wanna tell me why you don't want me holding onto this thing? Hiding something, Gramps?"

"Aren't we all?"

"Oh please, spare me your existential-crisis inducing lectures. What do these engravings on the side mean?" Legend squinted at the fine letters etched into the rim. "Hmm...Lens of Truth. Is that what it's called? How odd. Hey, what do you say will happen if I look through it?"

"The same thing that happened to my eye."

Legend's fiery curiosity dimmed and his sense of self-preservation flared. The veteran cradled the lens in his palm and widened his eyes, searching Time's face for any hint of duplicity.

"Really?" Legend whispered.

"Nope." Time replied. The skin around his eyes crinkled. Legend groaned loudly. He should have seen this one coming.

"Ugh. You really had me going for a second there."

"Hmm. Now give it back."

"C'mon," Legend urged, "don't be such a grump. Can't I just hold onto it for a little bit? You know how careful I am with artifacts of all kids, magical or not. Now that I think about it, I'm probably the best person to keep it with. Not like it's doing anything in that bag of yours."

The silence was heavy and disappointing. Legend was about to appeal to his character and reliability once more before noticing the childish glint in Time's eyes.

Oh no.

"Well, maybe if…" Time began.

"I'm not giving you a piggyback ride."

Time's baritone chuckles muffled the sounds of dust crunching beneath their feet. "I was only going to ask you if you would be able to carry all these things for me."

Legend blinked quickly, then sheepishly nodded his head. This was a pretty good deal, actually. He slung Time's bag and the array of swords Wild had dumped off around his shoulders, wincing as they dug into his skin. A sharp prick of jealousy pierced his heart as he watched Time sprint ahead and swing Hyrule onto his shoulders. He shook his head, trying to ignore the sound of Hyrule's soft, shy laughter, and busied himself with the lens in his hands.

What a fascinating thing it was. "The Lens of Truth," huh? Much more enigmatic of a name than "Magic Mirror." He idly bounced the lens in his hand as he thought. Why was it filled with dark magic but free of actual darkness? What kind of truth did it claim to reveal? Why did Time have such a strange artifact sitting at the bottom of his inventory?

His curiosity burned even brighter, and Legend found himself almost skipping down the path.

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Saria Town smelled like salt, dirt, and the sweat of a community living on the fringes of the world. At Hyrule's insistence, the Links slid off each other's shoulders and sauntered over to Legend to grab their swords, shields, and -- in Wild's case -- clothes. The veteran smiled half-heartedly as the weight on his back was lifted in bits and pieces, eyes and mind still trained on the Lens of Truth. It had been half an hour since the strange artifact had first been handed to him, and he was still no closer to finding any explanation for its weird magical aura.

"Okay, everyone, just some things before we head in." Hyrule's faint voice carried clearly through the crisp nighttime air. "The only building in this town big enough for all of us to stay at belongs to Saria Town's Wise Man. You guys need to be really nice and polite to him, or we won't have any place to sleep tonight."

"Are you saying we aren't always nice and polite?" Sky questioned. Laughter rippled through the assemblage of heroes as Hyrule awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, I'm just saying that some of us struggle, maybe just a little, with that last one?"

Everybody's eyes fell on Legend.

"What?" The veteran said.

Hyrule turned bright red and sputtered out an apology, trying to explain that he hadn't meant to single out anybody with that last statement and he was just trying to make sure everybody knew what the townspeople would expect and that he was so sorry gosh just so--

Legend held out a hand in front of him and bounced the Lens of Truth between the fingers of the other. "I'm not mad," he finally said, walking past Hyrule towards the rickety wooden bridge that led to the small town. "I'll be going now. If anyone feels like joining me, be my guest."

Saria Town was somehow even quieter up close. A smattering of squat, grey buildings pressed their stomachs to the floor, tender blades of grass carpeting the ground beneath them. Soft light poured out of open windows and spilled on the ground. The sleepy villagers perked up at the sight of Hyrule and widened their eyes at the sight of his entourage, waving shyly and grinning when the whole group waved back.

Hyrule stopped in front of the biggest building in the town, hesitating for a split second before knocking. The Links clustered behind him. A woman dressed in purple answered the door, light spilling out from the crack in the door and glinting off the polished wooden porch. Her eyes widened when she recognized the figure at her doorstep.

"Hello, Link! Oh, you look so tired! Do you need a place to stay, darling?"

"Yes, ma'am," Hyrule said, "and so does my family."

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#linkeduniverse #zelda #fanfiction #angstTIMES!:D #seeking7 #LU

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