#Flora rambles

[floralcavern]

Rambling about character design

I could talk hours about this topic

This will include examples of my own characters and characters from media!

I personally love when people take the concept for their character and incorporate things like: Backstory Personality Etc into their design

For example! I have a character who’s a spider monster. And you can still incorporate spider like details into her without making it to obvious. Liiiike, the sides of her bangs cut down and curve inward, resembling spider pinchers

Also, clothes help a lot with this as well if you want things like subtle character design

Shape language is also great. I have a character whose main shape is hearts. I gave her high pigtails to resemble the shape of a heart. But she’s also a villainous character, so if she’s in the middle of battle and the wind is in her hair, her pigtails fly up and resemble the shape of horns

(ALSO WEAPONS OMG!!! So, i gave her two weapons. A bow and a staff. I gave her the bow for two reasons. One, to represent Cupid (not the heart themes). But also to represent her personality. In her regular civilian form, she’s very distant and reserved, always keeping people at an arms length. That’s what the bow represents. But for her staff, which is used for violent bludgeoning, it represents her villainous persona, where she’s extremely violent and forward. The reason why in this story i wrote for her, she’s the only one to get two weapons is because every other character who is a hero uses their personas to amplify and be the person they want to be. But with this character, neither her civilian nor her villainous character are who she really is. Weapons can do so much to tell you about the character)

This guy explains it better than I can

One of my favorite character designs is of Ahiru from Princess Tutu. She is heavily based on Swan Lake, The Swan Princess, and The Ugly Duckling. In her regular form, her hair puffs up at the front in order to represent bird plumage.

But in her transformed appearance, her underpart of her hair is white to represent feathers and a transformation, her tiara looks like a broken egg shell

Small details like that can go a long way with telling people who your character is and can indirectly take someone’s brain to a certain idea or image.

And silhouettes are hugely important as well!! Recognizable silhouettes can do so much to get both you as an artist and your characters to be so iconic. Even for basic human designs, you can do so much. An absolutely iconic example of this is Sailor Moon. Her whole silhouette is basic and normal,

but one simple aspect of her, her hair, can tell the viewer immediately who the character is

Colors too are huge! An example of a good and recognizable color scheme is what I call the pixel rule

When you see these pixel, does a certain character come to your mind? Are those colors in the order making you think of someone?

If you said Mabel Pines, you’d be correct!

Ok, let’s get a bit trickier.

What about this one? It’s a bit longer, meaning there’s more complexities to her design. But do the colors in that order make you think of anything?

Recognizable color patterns can do so, SO much. And that’s not even talking about color theory!!

I’m not nearly skilled enough to talk about color theory, but I’ll do the basics. Warm colors can make a person think of comfort, safety, and kindness. An example is Anna!

Her colors are heavily summer based to contrast:

Elsa, who has cool colors. Cool colors can make a person think distant, cold, and reserved.

But warm colors don’t always automatically mean a safe and comfort feeling. An example is Toilet Bound Hanako. This series is known for prioritizing warm colors 24/7

It makes the environment seem cozy and comforting, but the series knows how to use this safe feeing of colors to its advantage.

This image is still warm, but with the dark colors and eery shades of red-pink, it no longer feels comforting or safe.

At the moment I can’t think of anything cool colored that manages to subvert expectations as well, but it definitely is possible.

Anyways, thank you for listening to my rambles ❤️

[chaifrog]

oh fuck you for making me love you so much

[sapphicseasapphire]

Thoughts to ponder.

Tears of the Kingdom spoilers (and lots of rambles) under the cut

When I started the Chain as Cryptids au, I didn’t really think I’d be able to work Tears of the Kingdom in, seeing how much I had changed Wild’s story. He’s a spirit with no memory of the Hylian he once was. He’s a force to be reckoned with but can be easily spooked- much like a wild animal. He avoids Flora like the plague since she’s his connection to the life he used to have. The life that isn’t his anymore.

But then… I had an idea. Flora would be desperate to find her Link again after discovering that he’s still alive (or… not really alive. Not quite a Poe but not quite a Hylian either). Regardless, after the events of Breath of the Wild, she’d start a search party and scour every corner of Hyrule to find him.

She never would. When spirits don’t want to be seen, they aren’t. But… this whole time, I imagined that Korok Forest acted as a sort of home base for Wild. Wild cannot speak verbally but can communicate telepathically with other spirits and spiritual beings. The Koroks and Blupees would be like siblings to him, the Deku Tree being like a parental figure since he basically started life over when he died. (Two Links raised by the Great Deku Tree. He and Time can bond over that later).

ANYWAY. Wild used the Master Sword for about half of the events of Breath of the Wild. But when it would need to recharge, he’d place it back in the pedestal in Korok Forest where it could become stronger under the watchful gaze of the Great Deku Tree. Then he’d be off, never staying in one place for too long, wandering the sandy shores of Necluda or the lava banks of Eldin.

This pattern would stay in place for years after the defeat of Calamity Ganon: Wild stopping at Korok Forest to reunite with his family and let the Master Sword heal and then disappearing into the wilds once more. And over the years, Flora’s search party would shrink until it was just her scouring the continent for her missing knight. Okay, yeah, maybe she’s a little desperate, but she can’t bear the thought of him alone out there. Not when he died because of her. Not when he’s all she has left.

And… when the Master Sword is recharging, that’s when Flora would finally take her search to Korok Forest. She finds the sacred blade but her knight is nowhere to be seen. The Deku Tree allows her to take it, urging her onward, warning her that eventually, she’ll have to use it. She heeds his wisdom, pulling the sword from her resting place and securing it on her back. Then she begins her search anew.

She doesn’t find him.

She trains with the Master Sword while she travels Hyrule. She starts to rebuild. She gets to know her people. And from the cover of countless trees and stone, a certain spirit watches her and his sword.

During her travels, Flora encounters a strange red-black mist that makes her people ill. They call it ‘gloom.’ And, what’s worse, it seems to pour out from under Hyrule Castle. The castle has laid untouched for years now, ever since the Calamity was sealed away and she set out on her search. But now, it would seem that she’s needed once more at the site of her greatest battle. The subject of her nightmares. The place where she los the last piece of her home.

Without her knight at her side, she makes her way to the forgotten foundation of her old life. She’s alone when she travels through the caverns, alone when she follows the melancholy most past murals and carvings that she itches to explore. Flora is alone when the Master Sword glows in warning. Alone when she battles monsters waiting for her in the depths.

The princess is all alone when she discovers a mysterious mummy being held in place by a single glowing arm. She watches as the appendage falls away, a stone falling to the rocky ground with an unassuming click. As she reaches to pick it up, the corpse reanimates. It stands tall, more alert and aware than any Gibdo she’s seen on her journey, and fixes her with a stare that she’d crumble under. She drops her torch and draws the Master Sword, holding the unfamiliar yet warm stone to her chest, and the mummy laughs at her.

It knows her name.

And it attacks.

Flora is alone when the gloom ravages her arm. She’s alone when the Master Sword is the first to crumble under that pressure. She’s alone when the very ground beneath her gives in to that same pressure.

She’s alone when she falls, pain lacing through her arm and golden light enveloping her.

But Flora is not alone when she wakes.

For the purposes of this au, Flora’s time in the past is going to be very similar to canon. She still meets Rauru and Sonia. Still meets Mineru and the Sages and Ganondorf. She still trains to control her secret stone. However, Rauru fixes her arm almost as soon as she arrives in this strange world. He doesn’t give her his, not like he does for Link in TOTK, since he needs it to seal Ganondorf away. But he and Mineru work together to combine construct parts and their own light and spirit magic to make her new muscles and machinery to aid in moving her own ruined arm.

The Imprisoning War is the same.

Sonia dies. Rauru sacrifices himself. And she still has no idea how to get home. How to heal the Master Sword and destroy Ganondorf in her own time. She still speaks with Mineru… and she comes to the same conclusion that she did in canon. This time, though, she’s taking much more of a risk. She can survive the centuries as a dragon, she can heal the sword. But she can’t be sure that her Link will be there to take it and finish things. She hasn’t even seen him in years.

… she doesn’t have a choice.

From Wild’s perspective, it happened in moments. He blinked and suddenly there were islands floating in his skies. Hyrule Castle floats ominously, red plumes of gloom branching out from underneath. Massive sinkholes give way to more of the poison, seeming to drop forever. His forests are ravaged once again, the climate in corners of the continent changing drastically.

And the princess he’d been following is gone.

While trying to get a grasp of what changed so suddenly, he figures out a way up to the Sky Islands. And to his surprise, he discovers a new dragon.

Now, Wild is familiar with all of the dragons in Hyrule. Farosh, Naydra, and Dinraal are just on the threshold of Spirit and Mortal, but they definitely qualify as spiritual beings. Meaning that Wild can speak telepathically to them. Their thoughts are always muddy and jumbled up, so he never gets much out of conversing with them. But he can tell that they enjoy his presence. So he rides with them in the skies of Hyrule for hours at a time.

This new dragon is smaller than the three he knows and flies much higher. Its ears are shorter, hair golden, eyes stunning. Instead of six legs, this one only has five. A scarred stump at its front and a glowing object on- no in- its poor head. Wild makes his way over as fast as he can, desperate to learn more about the beast.

The new dragon’s thoughts are just as jumbled up as he’s used to but he’s caught off guard by how miserable it feels. No. She. How miserable she feels. Wild places a glowing hand on her snout and tries to calm her, but it’s no use. Her thoughts may be chaotic and disorganized, but he senses her distress. She wants- sword. Knight. Link Link Link. You must find me, you have to save them all!

Wild takes the Master Sword from where it was buried in the dragon’s golden mane and is nearly thrown off by her shock at the action. But when his sword is once again in his capable hands, he feels an overwhelming gratitude from the dragon. It’s gone as soon as it came, replaced again by misery. Dread. Grief.

During the events of Breath of the Wild, Wild did not fight to save Zelda. He did not fight to save Hyrule. He fought for the land. For his fellow spirits that were being destroyed by malice. For the forests that were burned down by guardians. For the water that was poisoned by monsters. He defeated Calamity Ganon for his family.

He fights Ganondorf for the same reason. Except… maybe this time, he’s extra motivated by that strange new dragon. She seemed… so sad…

THIS IS GETTING WAY TOO LONG. But suffice to say that after the events of Tears of the Kingdom, Flora does not 100% recover from being a dragon. She keeps her telepathic connection to Wild and her immortality. She keeps her horns and scales and SHE gets the Master Sword. She’s a Cryptid as well, and she’s closer to Wild than she ever was.

. . .

Uhhhhh that was super long I apologize. But rambling like this is so much easier than trying to be coherent and careful when I write. I might to it more often if you think it’s legible haha. Feel free to ask questions haha, I love any excuse to talk about my Cryptid boys and their relationships with people in their worlds.

Wild’s Origin!

[straykidsholicleigh]

☆*:..... LEIGH'S FAMILY !!!!

don't question this shit, i advice u to just read and scroll bcs... my family is weird af but yeah idfk lets just- yeah-

if anyone wants to join this crazy, everybody-is-fucking-around-, zoo family, dm me :)

and y'all kinda need a discord too so we can keep track of shit for this family thing. yes, 13+ is allowed btw :)

btw we all live in a big ass castle with 50 rooms and @double-knxtt is building a zoo at the back for the animals.

divider by @cafekitsune ♡.

@yessa-vie - my wife

@double-knxtt - my older sister

@kaiyaba - my second wife who im cheating on yessa with

@thatonedemigodfromseoul - my daughter from my second wife- (her sperm donor is xiao from wayv now idk)

@fauna-flora11 - the bestie grandma obsessed with cats (mina and helia, run, @yessa-vie she ya mother)

@silverstarburst - my older, older sister

@michelle4eve - ash's daughter (my niece)

@atinyniki - also ash's daughter who's feral (my other niece)

@wooyo-bae - yessa and mari's daughter (yes, yessa was cheating on me with my own sister and now she's my niece and step daughter at the same time 🤡)

@heihaneul - the cat

@queen-of-hobgobblers - the rich aunt who talks shit about everyone (she's cadence's sister)

@hynjinniesworld - my psychotic lover (yes, im cheating on yessa and cadence AGAIN ps. we met at a bar and she drugged me so not my fault-)

@ashitshowforalot - the gay cousin (she's ash's daughter so she's my niece-)

@miche-i-dont-know - a peacock (grab a gun and shoot me)

@capitainesyallin - my sister who is the other rich aunt and travels often (better then an animal, tg-)

@hyuuukais - the family friend (they're sane unlike us-)

@robynnn-nnn - the horse (idk wtf blame @yessa-vie)

@hwangism143 - my kid sister who i was estranged from and recently connected with from ancestry.com (idk but i love this-)

@jinnie-ret - the neighbour's cat who comes round the house all the time to visit and steal our food

@sona1800 - unicorn in the endangered area in the zoo

MOOT LIST: ✨ - @yessa-vie | 🧚🏾‍♀️ - @double-knxtt | 🦝 - @kaiyaba | 🌻 - @thatonedemigodfromseoul | 🤡 - @fauna-flora11 | 💟 - @silverstarburst | 🧜‍♀️ - @michelle4eve | 🍡 - @heihaneul | 🤰- @wooyo-bae | 💀 - @hynjinniesworld | 👩‍🦲 - @atinyniki | @sona1800 - 🌷

[viveela]

Caretaker role but make it gardening

[legendofzoodles]

Wind: We can handle it, hang back if you wish.

Ravio: Don't you worry, I've had my fair share of tussles.

Wind: Like the mushroom?

Hyrule: Those are truffles.

Wind: Like the sprout?

Twilight: Those are brussels.

Wind: Like the trout?

Legend: THAT'S A FISH!

[palustrine]

went on a walk up the hill today ~☆

[dougielombax]

I love it when an endangered animal species is able to make a comeback.

Same for plants too.

And fungi.

[onefey]

most unrealistic part of totk is that zelda didn't take ANY pictures with the purah pad while she was stuck in the past

[ladye-zelda]

Ok so this has kinda lived in my head rent free but when sunset part 10 came out I thought Flora’s hairstyle was reminiscent to Princess Genevieve’s hairstyle from Barbie and the 12 princesses and

Now I know they’re not the same now that I’ve compared them side by side but just. Imagine

That would be awesome

[cosmetichorror]

MAJOR TOTK SPOILERS

FINAL GEOGLYPH SCENE SPOILERS

.

So I still have beat the game yet but I know Zelda becomes the light dragon, so I’m assuming she stops being the light dragon at the end. Now, the chain re-meets up with Wild after he’s taken away for Totk, and now not only is Wild significantly more feral, they have to deal with Flora, who is tripple the amount of feral. She still has dragon like tendencies like growing and stuff. Now, her nails are also sharp, her eyes are still dragon like, and she has a thousand yard stare. She’s also noticeably taller than Wild, more so than before. And Wild just shows her off the the rest of the chain like

“There she is! Look at her! My former dragon gf!!! Isn’t she so pretty!”

And then Flora just stares at them all and tries to smile and act normal, but since she’s been a dragon for so long she’s kind of forgotten how to and just comes off as uncanny. Also she has sharp teeth.

[misteria247]

Do you think that Flora is a bit haunted by the fact that she and Wild have done this song and dance before when it comes to the Triforce and Ganon? Do you think that as soon as she seen the other heroes she was filled with this dreadful sense of knowing?

Like Flora looks at them, she sees Time and sees just how much of a toll being the Hero of Time has taken on him. She sees Sky, the very first hero and sees how burdened he looks sometimes. She takes in Wind, and sees how he's barely a teenager shouldering the world already. She notices Legend and his absolute bitterness towards the Goddesses and his fate. She notes how Hyrule always seems so worn down despite his hopeful attitude, and she gets glimpses of Warriors and the scars of war that he now carries with him. She observes Twilight and how he was torn away from his quiet village to become a beast for the Goddesses. She takes heed of Four and how his journey has left him changed and different forever in so many ways.

Flora sees them all, these heroes who were ancestors or reincarnations of one another. All of them born for the sole purpose of the Goddesses plans. All of them forced to become heroes, to fight against a fight with an evil that refuses to die. Flora looks at them and sees how they are all broken in their own ways, and then she sees Wild, her beloved knight and sees that he's joined the long line of heroes chosen by the Goddesses. Who's life will never be the same.

And then she thinks about the other variants of her. Of the other princesses who came long before her, and she can't help but wonder if they saw what she sees. Can't help but wonder if they too are haunted by the knowledge that their heroes are doomed to fight in a war that shouldn't involve them to begin with. Yet they are pulled into it each and every time.

Do you think that Flora grows to dislike the Goddesses? Because they have not only made her suffer but because they have made Wild and his brothers and their princesses suffer as well. Do you think that Flora grows to resent Ganondorf because he refuses to stay dead? Because he refuses to let them have peace?

Like do you think?????

[summertimemusician]

Unenlighted: Sky and Wild don't have that good of a relationship due to Sky's guilt and Wild not feeling he's good enough when compared to any of his predecessors because he failed the kingdom once and it gets exacerbated by the events of TOTK, similar case with Flora and Sun.

Enlightened: Sky and Wild have a pretty good relationship, but it's still strained because of both their problems and the strain grows bigger after TOTK when Fi breaks, Sun likes Flora just fine as a descendant while Flora is incessantly tormented by the fact she always believed her entire life she'd never measure up to the other Zelda's because she couldn't fulfill her duty anymore than Wild could, and it causes communication.

Ascended: Sky and Twilight having a full blow custody war in the back because they both see Wild as a better successor than he believes himself to be due to the parallels to BOTW, TOTK and Skyward Sword even though it's technically Twilight Princess' spiritual sucessor (since it was originally made to be a sequel to that game) and Sky and Wild both get along well with one another, and instead of getting angry at Wild for breaking Fi he's more so worried for him and her equally (and then has to be held back by the rest of the Chain along with Twi to not eviscerate whatever's left of Ganondorf's body) meanwhile Sun all but surprise adopted Flora as a sister and is super supportive of all her pursuits and number one hype woman because she was as unhinged as her at her age and Flora is flabbergasted but really really happy and relieved she doesn't see her as a disappointment or anything and they get along like the sister she never had growing up. Specially since they can both bond over not being quite regular humans anymore and can help one another deal and learn more about it.

I will not elaborate.

[sapphicseasapphire]

Hii! Hello, I really love your Cryptid au!!!

Something I'm wondering about, if it makes any sense

So like, Time is A God, right? And over however many hundreds of years, he loses his connection to humanity?

So, in the far future, maybe like around Botw, he'd probably be more like the other deities and more well known, right?

Would characters like Flora or Impa, for example, if they knew who he was, be like super amazed about the fact that there is just straight up A God talking to them?

ahh if that makes sense, it's kinda hard to explain!

Hi! This is a great question, thanks for asking! Allow me to ramble and hope that I answer it in a roundabout way haha!

(Under the cut because long)

So, Time’s journey into Godhood is a very long one. His progression from mortal to deity goes quick, but he doesn’t truly embrace his power for centuries after his mortal lifespan is over. In his own era, with Malon and his children, he tries his best to just be a normal guy. He wants to be a dad, a husband. He wants to worry about the fate of the ranch, not the fate of the world. Mostly, he’s afraid. He never wanted to be a God. He never uses his powers.

(He’s like this for the majority of his travels with the Cryptid Chain)

Every Cryptid Link that comes after Time’s era has a different version of the God of Time, the earlier ones not really having an established God but being influenced heavily by his power, and the later ones knowing plenty of myths and legends about the God of Time, but his impacts on their lives are much less obvious. Easily written off.

Time’s most important era, other than his own, would be Twilight’s. This happens only like a hundred or two years after his own life should have ended, and Time is very committed to protecting his family. And so, as the Man of Many Faces, he personally sees to it that Twilight learns how to fight. As the Hero’s Shade, he trains the young Shapeshifter and rewinds time to save his life or give him another chance when things get rough.

He watches when Twilight finishes his adventure. He watches when Twilight leaves to go on the Cryptid Chain’s adventure. He watches until the journeys are over, the battles are won, and everything is quiet. He watches Twilight breathe his last.

After that, he decides that he can’t do that anymore. And while he still protects his boys in their future adventures, he doesn’t get nearly as involved. And it’s not just the Links that he stops interacting with- it’s all mortals. He still does his job diligently. He keeps the timelines in order, he protects his people. He receives prayers and answers what he can, but he does his work from the sidelines.

Because of this, as he truly ascends to Godhood, he is a mystery to mortals. Like I said- earlier Links have been more personally impacted by Time but didn’t know who he was (he was too fresh of a God to be established) and the later Links have been more indirectly impacted by Time but it could be interpreted as mere coincidences. Time would be more well known, but less detectable.

By the time he’d reach Wild’s era, he’d be very reclusive. Flora, the history major we all know and love, would absolutely know about the Hero of Time and all of his titles and names. Impa, Paya, the religious leaders, would also be very knowledgeable about Time’s legends and myths. Purah, our favorite Sheikah researcher, 100% knows all about him! It’s common knowledge, I think, in Wild’s era, but these ones are especially familiar with Time’s history.

Except… the God has not shown himself to the world in thousands of years. I actually do have a scene in mind for one of my storylines where Flora meets Time. She doesn’t know exactly who he is- Cryptid era Time doesn’t act very God-like, at least not like any that she’s come to know of- but there’s something about him. Power rolls off of him in waves, his mere presence is overwhelming. He seems to shine with subtle iridescence, his voice is quiet but it carries. She knows, on some level, that he has authority over her. Over All. (Time would deny this to the ends of the earth, but there’s no denying the truth: he is a God. There’s no escaping that).

I hope this makes sense??? Trying to talk about Time’s lore gets confusing since there’s so many time jumps and rewinds and skips. To summarize, Time stops interacting with mortals so he becomes somewhat of a mysterious God. So while Flora would know of him, she wouldn’t know what to look for. When she meets Time, his present is her past- her present is his future- and present Time is nothing like future Time, so Flora doesn’t recognize him.

This is all Pre-God Reveal, of course haha!

I hope this answers your question?

[uncleskyrule]

Recording a podfic and I'm curious what everyone else thinks...

[solomiracle]

me when the fantasy dating sim doesn't work like a fantasy rpg