flockrest

[flockrest]

the thing about revali is that he's the only one who's really aware of how much he's holding back when he opts to be civil on account of. y'know, being himself, so there's this skewed and hilarious perception of i am GREAT at being chill and unaffected he has of himself that literally nobody who knows him would ever agree with

[flockrest]

reason #5 that tulin was put on this earth: to be everybody’s little brother and you should definitely adopt him as such. but watch out

[flockrest]

sometimes i think about dineli and his council deciding official political ties with hyrule would not be all that actually, and where a front of total neutrality would lead re: what hebra and peaks among the ripples would look like by the time pre-botw rolls around. the idea never goes anywhere concrete but sometimes. it is thought about

[flockrest]

unplanned but hopefully not unwelcome clan pandioni, nest dineli rambles ahead because they are on the mind once more! for those who need the reminder ( which i'm sure is everyone but me ): nuili and rika are dineli's beloved children, whose adoption process happened post-the imprisoning war and was a fairly quiet affair in that they ( and pretty much the rest of the entire flock ) realised dineli was their dad before he ever did dskfjf

nuili:

is older than rika by ~5 years, came to dineli at ~6 years of age

situationally mute, but also just. a taciturn kid by nature. very much like dineli in his youth, which taki makes a point of affectionately joking about ( "it's in the blood!" ) A Lot

follows in dineli's steps the most as a warrior and his protege. calls him "master dineli", sometimes "elder" when either of them are in a mood

dineli was still working out how to be a proper guardian for a bulk of his pre-rika time with them, so the feel of their relationship primarily grew from a master-disciple backbone. the father-child vibes are very much there though, and everyone who knows them can see it! they just respect the interpretation nuili's gone with re: their bond and follow their lead in addressing dineli as his master as opposed to his dad ( except taki, but taki gets a pass for 90% of the bullshit they pull in this nest aslfkjs )

for all that they're the most alike dineli, did not become elder after his retirement

please imagine with me, for a second, tiny fledgling nuili on dineli's back — so fearfully clingy at first before he learns to trust that his mentor won't let him fall...! tiny fledgling nuili being taught how to ride updrafts and properly glide and fly...!

rika:

came to dineli ~3 years of age

missing half a leg but comes to make her way around her surroundings just fine as she grows. she has a prothesis to help out with this, especially vis-a-vis flight

her journey is one of self-security! i think that's the word for it, at least asfldkjf there is no particular, focused negativity @ the limb loss, it was more like. hard to feel she could be safe in every sense of the word? the type of baby who anxiously clung due to barely processed abandonment issues

been calling dineli "dindin" since they met. "master dineli" is used with non-rito to keep up appearances

being a child of dineli inevitably meant trying to see if the warrior life was for her ( a decision she made out of genuine curiosity )! when she found that she didn't really vibe with the bow or anything, they turned to Songkeeping — and guess what! she's a great Songkeeper!

also did not take up the elder mantle from dineli after he retired

eventually took to travelling to spread her father's Songs and collect others', dragging her older sibling ( who was more or less her unofficial Scriptweaver at that point ) along with her

bonus taki because they play a bigger role than i was expecting in dineli's life and nest sldkfj:

has known dineli the longest and most intimately out of anyone in the flock ( and so understands him the easiest ). grew up together with him! they've seen him through a lot of things

would-be qpp, honestly. sworn siblings sort of energy at the minimum

they hatched in the same season, dineli just came to peaks among the ripples from the outside

has been supporting dineli since they met! < a lie they like to tell everyone because their friendship actually started off as a rivalry that verged on bullying

loves calling him "neli". won't push it around strangers, at least ( small mercies )

[flockrest]

#love how that's his equivalent of a 'combat' trial where the others actually got to defeat smth #idk...smth to be said about how for all his vainglory in his combative skills#the 'markers' of his archery prowess that purportedly had me.doh recognising him as its master #didn't actually have him felling anything. i don't have the brain capacity for the dissertation rn. but smth #about the defiance of incredibly unforgiving shots + one that verges on sacrilege #given that that's a spring spirit/servant! #it's also extremely funny thinking about it from di.nraal's side. like damn #either you've been madly disrespected or one of your sacred duties really is to just get shot at jslkfsdg

so i have enough of the brain capacity needed for this now and it is about the defiance of it all. the in-your-face-ness of everything. dinraal is a Divine Dragon Spirit and shooting at them to prove his Worth is probably as explicit a statement he can at once very intentionally and very unintentionally make to everyone ( especially the hylians' gods ) without being outright offensive; the four simultaneous arrow shots he worked so hard to easily and consistently perform is part of the ongoing fuck you to anyone who doubted or dismissed him in his younger youth; once again, it ties back into making a name for himself by mapping it into a goddamn constellation himself so that nobody will ever skip their gaze over him again. "you can't do this, revali" / "watch me ( fail or succeed, WATCH ME )"

ngl i think it's sick af that revali got to shoot a dragon's horns as a part of his trials

[flockrest]

a meme resulting from a very fun discussion with @flockrest

presenting:

The Babysitter Trio.

[flockrest]

found my to-do list on metas to write again and are you guys ready for the unhinged-about-rito mutual to be unhinged about rito again

[flockrest]

unprompted / always accepting / @gloryseized ( Link )

     So it's a pretty slow-going night for collecting star fragments, as it turns out.

     Which is totally fine! Really! They can't all be winners — and it gives Tulin all the more time to get Link caught up on everything that's happened to the flock while he was away!

     But. Well.

     Even in knowing this, the disappointment that ruffles his feathers is a hard thing to ignore. It's been too long since they'd last hung out like this, both ( mostly Link ) too busy with their own dedications and responsibilities ( mostly Link ) to find the chance to have fun just for the sake of having fun, and now the fun's not even gonna have the decency to start when they're all prepped for it to?

     Go figure.

     He chatters on some more 'bout the ( thankfully harmless but very hilarious all the same ) explosion Molli accidentally ignited on Master Revali's Landing the other day, continuing to try pacing his restlessness out along the deck of the Stormwind Ark near where Link's seated himself, before eventually flumping down beside him with a sigh he can't quite keep locked behind his beak. He lolls back 'til his head's on the hero's shoulder, semiplumes squished up 'gainst Link's ear and cheek.

     "Sorry it's so boring up here," he says, feeling ridiculous for it a second later 'cause it's not like Tulin has any sorta control over when and where stars fall. It still feels like it's kinda his fault for how things are going, though — they were s'pposed to be in Necluda's skies tonight ( they were s'pposed to be there two moon phasings ago, actually, but who's counting ) as per their routine, but his brother had arrived at their peaks real tired and Tulin hadn't wanted to push him into being, like, dead-tired. Even if Link insisted otherwise.

     The shoulder beneath his head rises and dips in what he's fairly sure is probably a snicker. Tulin turns then, playfully offended squawk already building up in his chest, 'cept Link isn't actually laughing at him.

<< I'm glad you're here. >>

     Oh.

     Feathers puffing with a delighted, tickling warmth, Tulin feels the joy that always sweeps over him when Link's being real nice like this all the way down to the tips of his talons. To all the tiniest spaces between his bones! They're flock and nest, 'course, so this isn't the first time he's been told something along these lines, but the love that radiates from that quiet smile and those assured signs just seems— heavier. Fuller. Link's-talking-'bout-more-than-right-here-and-now-er. It's seriously hard to resist bowling him over with a hug in the face of it.

     Tulin's getting better at not immediately ruining a peaceful moment when he sees one though, and that tends to require a more delicate touch. ( Or, uh, as delicate a touch as he can manage. )

     "That makes two of us!" he laughs, beaming with barely contained giddiness and nudging at Link with a wing. Then, y'know what, he gives the night sky around them one last look, scoots closer, and plops the back of his head right down onto his brother's lap. If the stars remained still for whatever time they have left before they gotta go, Tulin decides he wouldn't mind it if it meant being together like this just a while longer. "I'm glad you're here, too!"

[flockrest]

send me   “eavesdrop”   and my muse will describe your muse like they’re talking to a third party. 

[flockrest]

[HAIR KISS NIP] Affection, tenderness: a gesture of affection and care. ( from r. revali )

Meme Tag -- @flockrest

Link's cheeks are flushed, breath misting in the cold air as he finally allows himself to take a break, the raw ache in the place where his right arm used to be doing most of the work to bring him to the ground. Mechanized bits and bobs have rubbed the reminder of the stump on his right arm raw, and he hisses slightly as he reaches up to release the strap that holds the replacement mechanical arm in place.

The arm is the work of Robbie and Purah's--they're pride and joy as far as Link can tell. Their joint effort that Link can't help be suspicious that the pair took too much delight in creating for him. Most days, Link is grateful to be able to have functionally two arms again, especially after the hand granted to him by Rauru vanished once the spell on Zelda ended. But there are also days when he's reminded that this new arm did not transition quite so seamlessly as Rauru's had. He doesn't even have any sort of sensation in this new arm, except for the burning in his stump where it rubbed.

And he knows he should take it slow too, allow his body to grow more used to the prosthesis, but if he has to sit in one place for any longer, he might do something drastic, and Zelda already has enough on her plate, shifting back into the rebuilding process for the realm. Besides, Purah said he should remain active with his new arm, although she probably didn't mean attempting the strenuous Rito archery range, shifting from bow to paraglider and back again. He's completed several runs at that, although his aim is a bit off, and he lands heavily at the observation tower to take a break. Maybe call it for the day?

But no, Revali is there. Looking like himself more than ever, and still Link can't even begin to read his expression--a cross between concerned and vaguely constipated, as far as Link could tell. He's surely about to get some kind of reprimand, a mocking commentary about how even a 'nestling could hit the targets with more grace, flare, and style' than what the Champion has just witnessed. And Link wrenches the prosthetic arm off his body, the sweat beading the area and heat rising off his body from there too. Just a short break then. He can't be seen resting too long with Revali there.

Resisting the urge to throw the mechanical arm into the snow drifts below, Link sets it down on the wooden platform next to him, taking a swig from his canteen before searching through his pack for medicine or food, whichever comes first. With his eyes locked on what he's doing, he doesn't actually see Revali grow closer, although he does feel it, expecting the remarks to come at any time, but instead of his usual words, Link feels a brush at the crown of his head, brushing some hair out of his line of sight as he looks down, followed by several more lines drawn through his hair.

Gentle, oh so gentle. Not the pulling he's felt when brushing his own hair, and especially not the pain he's felt after he's forgotten to tie his hair back or it's gotten particularly dirty. No, this is a different sensation, and Link looks up sharply to see Revali's face suddenly very close to his own.

Goddess, is he blushing? Can Rito blush? A distracted part of Link wonders as the Rito fluffs the feather in his chest. 'You looked like a fledgling after their first flight,' Revali says, a scolding in his voice somehow, although Link isn't exactly sure what he's being scolded for.

Bemused blue eyes blink up at Revali before something almost like a smile tugs the corner of Link's mouth. Eyes drop down again just as quickly, hand tapping once to his mouth before swinging forward. << Thank you. >> he signs politely, confused thoughts still racing around his mind.

[flockrest]

unprompted / always accepting / @gloryseized ( Link )

<< I'm glad you're here. >>

     Revali almost doesn't catch it. Almost wishes he hadn't. It's a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye in the low lantern-light, fingers hurried and tucked in closer than Link's words usually are: as though some secret blurted, or a deep embarrassment realised, or— maybe, maybe, stars, let it be so, it's simply a trick of the dark. Anything else would mean Link really just told Revali he's glad he's here, too furtively for it to be his brand of pity, and that isn't— that isn't.

     Something swells beneath his feathers, near numbing in its capacity yet thawing in all its touch; a sudden rooting of a feeling he can't make out or place. As with every other indiscernible thing this Hylian has roused from him, Revali doesn't want to examine it.

     Ruined as his body still is from that century in Vah Medoh, he can't escape it.

     For all the do-good kindness he practically embodies, Hyrule's hero can be unexpectedly cruel sometimes.

     From the down bed he's been confined to, Revali carefully breathes through this completely fine — completely fine — development and does not move. He's lain in such a way that plausible deniability isn't so farfetched an excuse. He could feign preoccupation and open with, "Did you say something?" Save the both of them the acute awkwardness of trying to do anything with Link's...confession. Moment of vulnerability.

     Whatever it is.

     He turns his head towards the hero in full. The glow of the inn's lights washes over that face with a certain kind of warmth, accented by what more reflects off the curtain screens surrounding them. He's grateful for them to an extent — the privacy of a curtained-off corner is valuable even if the narrowed space feels too much like a narrowed world: with the two of them alone like this, no witnesses but the Windlines and skytrails to what will be shared, it isn't so difficult to see why Link might think it appropriate to...well.

     Revali opens his beak. The lantern by his roost flickers, and he watches its light dance across Link's eyes.

     "I'd hope so," he says, truly unable to escape any of this. He could stand to sound rankled about it, some part of him thinks, or at least a modicum of bothered. He tries for a sigh that only ends up sounding exhausted (unfortunate but unsurprising), then lifts his gaze back up to the roof.

     "...I suppose it's...good. That you're here as well."

[flockrest]

part one of penn's inventory post! things so far:

1) logbooks for his field notes! the one currently being used is kept in a compartment that's easy to get at, older ones are bound together and buried deeper within. takes up about a third of his bag's space. used to keep them all in his satchel, but the oldest ones he knows he won't be revisiting or needing anytime soon are now kept back at his desk in the lucky clover gazette. they're all filled with rito shorthand and sometimes illustrations — his renditions of things that may be of Serious Note.

he always bookmarks his latest used page with a ribbon wrapped around feathers that he clips onto the spine. it's a pain to have to shuffle through them with his fairly large remiges, otherwise.

he keeps his pen securely attached to his aviator hat when it's not in use!

2) various balm-like pastes, medicinal or nutritional powders, as well as dried herbs from rito village's apothecary, kept in ceramic containers and string pouches respectively. the pastes are for topical injuries, mostly burns or cuts, and need to be thoroughly rubbed in. the powders can be dissolved in liquids or sprinkled on cooking meals for whatever effects. he likes steeping the dried herbs. ( rito apothecaries don't dabble much in medicinal liquids or elixirs, because they're constantly soaring at altitudes that don't bode well for preserving or containing them. doesn't mean they don't make them at all, they're just way less common! )

these are usually wrapped tight with cloths and some refined sapphire gems.

penn doesn't get these in bulk, so he makes occasional visits to rito village to restock every now and then :)

3) pretty expensive accessories inlaid with sapphire, the first ever things he commissioned from the village lapidarist and armourer ( who, at the time, was the same person ) as a youth preparing for travel. the set includes a brooch, a pin he can weave into his crest under his hat, and bangles. he needs to wear at least two of these when going into gerudo province and similar areas, where the heat would be a massive problem as a rito. wrapped up in cloth when not in use!

4) food! usually keeps two or three small meals on him at a time, with some snacks. this takes up the bulk of his bag's space. snacks include things like nuts and toasted mushrooms. the meals aren't really hearty, usually just steamed or grilled fish, a pie if he's in the mood for it, or riceballs from traysi or juannelle. anything easy to make, take, and travel with on-the-go. ( he really appreciates inns and eateries for this reason asflkdsjf any chance of getting anything close to home-made in the hearty way? that he won't have to cook himself when he could be doing other things? he'll take it. )

5) pieces of flint that he keeps wrapped in the same compartment he puts his accessories in. as a traveller, having a reliable way of creating fire takes one huge worry off his list of things to be wary of!

6) a weapon-and-instrument-in-one that past nor present me has figured out quite yet, but it'll be coming in his next inventory post.

[flockrest]

hey, so you know how i said i wouldn't be dropping anything,

[flockrest]

source.

hello hello, we're still alive! ft. @gloryseized's lad ♡ these two are idiots their whole journey through whatever the fuck they've got going on and that's all you really need to take away from this afkldsjf

[flockrest]

— Frank Bidart, from “Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016; ‘The Third Hour of the Night’", published c. 2017.

[flockrest]

You're dead serious. I'm alive silly. We're not the same

[flockrest]

unprompted / always accepting / @gloryseized ( Link )

     It isn't so terrible an afternoon, all things considered.

     Revali's Gale is still a distant reality with the glacial pace of his recovery, but recent trips to and from the Flight Range have him plagued more by slipping Windlines than the exhaustion that used to so easily visit him. Today, their paths even remain wholly within his grasp, from the first take-off to the return home. It bodes well for prospects of more: more that he can do, more that he can endeavour towards ��� and as he approaches the flock's nest, he's almost able to put the feeling spurred from the sight of Hyrule's hero awaiting on the landing aside.

     Almost.

     He considers, for a tempting moment, forgoing a descent altogether. Link visits often enough that his presence is no longer a complete surprise, but rather something of a stone to grind down — or a heavy taste to sit with. It's this certain, inexplicable type of itch that makes Revali want to wheel around, to feign a case of overlooking like his eyes aren't among the sharpest of his people.

     He lands. The urge to do otherwise feels too akin to retreating.

     "Back again?" he chuffs, a greeting all of its own. He draws close, not quite taunting, just to the point of proximity that the pretence of even footing might hold. "And how long will I have to endure you this time, hm?"

     Revali means to leave it there, certain the Hylian must be waiting for someone else and already turning to curve around him, except—

Making a face, Link reaches up to adjust Revali's scarf, the blue fabric having come slightly dislodged in the Rito's flight.

     His entire being stutters to a halt.

     What—

     What?

     The space between them, suddenly, is far too small. He can scarcely breathe past the tightness Link's fingers have squeezed around something in his chest. Have they always been so tiny compared to his pinions? Revali cannot feel them the way he would if they were in his feathers, running through them equally carefully, but his mind follows the thread and—

     What?

     "You���!" he lurches a step back, plumes puffed in a blasted, damning display. A harried wing is lifted to shield his scarf, yet even as every instinct shrieks to remove Link's work, he stops short of actually touching it for some preposterous reason he refuses to think about. "What do you think you're doing?"

     Eyes— they must be drawing nearby eyes with all the fuss, so he continues in a strangled hiss. "Do you truly think me so incompetent that I can't even— do you realise—"

     No. No. Forget it. He'd rather not know, actually. Burning with an acute memory sensation of the desire for Medoh's solace, and well against any sound judgement, he spins and begins reaching for the Windlines to stir them for his Gale.

     ( It's either gall or ignorance that drives Link's boldness. Revali can't tell which would be worse to have confirmed. )