#also this feels like a risk but hopefully it’s allowed lol

[uglyducklingofthe2000s]

Hello, me again lol. I just wanted to thank you for writing my max request, it was beautifully written and I loved it 😃.

I also wanted to as if it was alright if I made another request if its not too much. Can it please be another max verstappen x reader where its rivals to lovers (the reader can be his teammate or a driver from another team, u can pick), and there's pining from both sides, more so max's than readers. And it ends all fluffy please

Rookies, Rivals, Race Wins & Rogue Crashes - Max Verstappen

We're going with a Mercedes rival and waving goodbye to Lewis as they replace him with y/n!!!! Fr tho when Lewis retires, how cool would it be if they were like "and we're bringing in a female driver"? Also there is some slightly harsh criticism of George in this, don't get mad if you love him. It's nothing personal and its nothing I haven't seen online a million times by this point.

Bitchy!reader (when handling the media trying to rip into her) also completely unrealistic driving capabilities for reader, but like she's amazing and we have to make her someone that Max almost envies for the ability of.

When Mercedes announced that Lewis was leaving his seat in F1, the F1 media, fans and community as a whole was stunned. Too stunned to speak initially and then there was the theorising of who would take the seat, would it be a Williams driver. Perhaps Mick was being trusted with the position.

But nope.

Y/n Y/l/n.

Hardly anyone knew the name, but she was someone a few of the teams had noticed. Lewis gave her name as a recommendation and when Christian Horner had seemed to praise her in an interview last year. Mercedes chose not to lose out on the opportunity of bagging a young driver who stood out for her talent without forcing Mercedes (or any other team) to turn their heads. Instead they looked at her on their own.

They already lost the chance of Lando, Max, Charles and Oscar. With Lewis gone, they took a risk especially pairing her with George who has potential but equally struggles under pressure and can't always manage well in a race. To say Singapore made them doubt he could carry them after Lewis leaves, it would be an understatement and now they've got a rookie who didn't even go through F2.

More of a Kimi story with very few races in a single-seater. The FIA aren't exactly thrilled to allow her a super-license but they let her get away with it.

"So Max, you have been setting record. Going into 2024, now we've got an unexpected addition, y/n, to the grid. Do you think that we might see you be challenged?" The journalist asks as they sit in the Bahrain press conference, y/n smiles and waves at Max as he turns to look at her when they mention her name.

"I don't like to speak too early. But I do believe that I've seen and heard evidence that maybe all the men on the grid should be threatened. Including me. I think for Lewis to notice and then tell his team that she should take his spot, that's a big deal and for Mercedes to follow through on that and clearly they are confident in her abilities which...I can't see a reason for as to why they wouldn't be." Max nods making the rest of the couch seem to agree.

"Y/n, that's a bit compliment to have no only one but two world champions who hold many records in the sport."

"It is, yeah. I mean we'll have to really wait and see. I know pre-season testing can actually be deceptive. I'm looking forward to seeing what the season holds. Hopefully some battles with Max to knock him down a peg or two."

"Wow, that might be warning for some others to not be getting in your way."

"I won't be giving any special treatment." Lando comments from his spot between Max and y/n. "Feel like I'm already in the way for a brawl."

Most of the questions seem to go to y/n or Max. Her as the promising rookie with a lot of expectations and Max as the three time world champion now going into fighting for his fourth.

But honestly every time a question is shot at y/n, even the ones don't try to hide their judgement and attempts to tear her down. She answers without filter, without considering their feelings and basically telling them she's clearly better than them if they're the ones asking questions while she's the one answering them.

"Y/n, just finishing off. Do you really think out of everyone, you really deserve the Mercedes seat?"

"I mean if you were the interesting and talented one between us, you'd be up here with people trying to interrogate you. But instead most people watching probably don't even know your name and you're asking me if I deserve a seat that was not only given to me, but offered with insistence that there was no one else that they wanted. So even if someone else deserves the seat in your opinion, Mercedes didn't want them in the seat."

Jaws were dropped and silence follow that.

"Thank you." Y/n smiles making Max smile, having no reason to be proud of her but feeling an overwhelming sense of pride for the young woman.

The press conference is called to an end and she takes off with a very distressed Mercedes marketing personnel scolding her while Lando and Max walk alongside each other.

"If that's her ruthlessness off the track, we might really need to watch out for her." Lando comments while Max nods a little.

"I think she's planning for that to be the case anyway."

-

Max kept an eye on y/n through the practices and while Mercedes hasn't built a car that is necessarily the best. It's competitive and in y/n's hands it's looking like it might pose a threat more than it does with George.

Qualifying is where it really matters and Max has made it clear to GP he wants to know where McLaren, Ferrari and y/n specifically are falling.

"Y/l/n, where is she?" Max asks as they finish Q1.

"She's on a flying lap, personal best sector 1, purple sector 2. Waiting for her to-she's...P3. Locked up on the final corner but just managed to not run wide." GP states making Max nod.

"Copy. McLaren and Ferrari."

His race engineer lists off the other position as Max is backed into the garage to wait for Q2.

Y/n makes it through Q2 taking P5 after track limits deletes her best lap. But she seems to be getting more confident in Q3 and just with her banker lap, sets the fastest lap off the bat with no track limits and she's nearly a whole second above Charles at P2 with a 29.8.

"I don't know if anyone is going to beat that she got a 28.9." GP states sounding honestly in shock.

"What did I get?"

"30.0. P4."

Max grumbles beginning to see that y/n might be a replacement for Lewis and she might just completely destroy him in that if this is foreshadowing her season. Then she might be a rookie who takes the championship.

Not only that but she's clearly going to be a threat to Red Bull's streak and she has made it clear she won't be apologising about being a talented driver. Which he can't fault her for, but it's going to be an annoyance for him.

Bahrain is usually an easy-going track for rookies as it's one that is used by some of the support races too. But y/n wasn't int he support races so he thought she might not perform. Sadly, pre-season testing and the practices were apparently enough for her to feel comfortable.

"I'm getting that P1." Max declares to GP as they wait to send him out on track.

"You'll get it."

Max doesn't see it but GP shares a look with Christian of doubt. The car is good, but y/n pulled off a miracle lap. They're not even sure she can outdo it.

After Q3 comes to an end, Max is P2 and P1 is y/n. Starting her first ever F1 race on a pole. An achievement of itself and beating the reigning champion. A promising talent before she got on the track today. But after being on track, she's just proven herself a more than worthy opponent.

"Y/n a pole position in your first ever race. You did something special out there with that banker lap."

"Yeah, well qualifying only counts if I keep the position tomorrow. So we'll see if I can do something special when I need to." Y/n smiles slightly breathless from her team in a frenzy of excitement over her.

"That's a very rational head you have on your shoulders for someone so new and young but we certainly have to credit you regardless. You should be very proud of yourself young lady."

Y/n smiles giving a thanks before she tilts her head for a moment. She gives a quick hug to Max as the two engage in conversation.

"Guess I do have to look out for you and your miracle laps." Max states trying to ignore the feelings of admittedly being impressed by her.

"I think that might be wise for you." Y/n hums as she removes the upper part of her driver's suit.

In the end, neither y/n or Max win the race with Charles instead managing to make his P5 start a win. He does love the Bahrain track and always do well. But she got P3 after Max overtook her in the third last lap. But a P3 on a debut as a rookie with such little experience, she is not going to let it get to her head but equally she's not going to lose confidence.

-

By the time they get to China, y/n has lost out on any wins but she took a P2 in Saudi Arabia and then again in Japan where she beat Max who didn't even make the podium after being on the receiving end of damage from George who told the team his most famous line "he just turned in on me".

Y/n and Max find themselves yet again in the press conference next to each other, since the two are beginning to be rival pitted against each other.

"Y/n, you haven't got a win but you are proving that Mercedes made a good investment with you. How are you feeling about getting a win?"

"I mean I would never want to assume that it's close. I'm young, I make mistakes and I'm still learning. But I want more than a first win or a singular win. I want to take a win and then collect them like the man sitting next to me did last year. I just don't know if I can do that with where I am now."

"Thank you. And a question for Max, do you think that the loss in consistent competitive form is going to risk you taking the next championship title?"

Another question about how Red Bull isn't beating the rest of the field without struggle like last year.

"No." Max answers simply making y/n smile from beside him and nod in approval of his simply.

-

The fans online began to notice y/n and Max growing close, mainly because of the consistent number of times they're getting top three positions in qualifying or taking podiums.

But more importantly, they're noticing the way Max looks at y/n is in complete and utter adoration. Every time she puts an journalist in their place (much to Mercedes PR team's dismay) or shoots down attempts at painting her as anything that she isn't.

People are treating her quite like they treat Max. They love her or despise her. And her closeness with Max is beginning to grate even more on those who don't like her.

The drivers love her, though some believe that she is doomed to make a costly mistake soon enough that will be humbling to her F1 experience so far.

"Do you live in Monaco?" Max asks as they walk out of yet another Thursday press conference.

"I do. Only just moved there recently but I do live there now." Y/n confirms with a small smile. "Why...?"

"You should come play padel with some of the drivers and I. We play quite often when we're between races." Max states earning a slightly shy smile. "And if you want a comfortable trip home, I have a private jet and helicopter."

"Oh...is that an invitation?" Y/n questions jokingly while nudging him a little. "You must be wanting to feed those rumours about us."

Max is more than aware of the rumours, mainly because there's been some questions about whether Max has a crush on the young woman. He's yet to properly deny the suggestion but nor has he confirmed it.

"Maybe I do." Max smirks making her head whip around from where she'd turned to look forward.

"E-Excuse me?" Y/n chokes out clearly in shock of his words.

"Maybe I do."

No wavering and no doubt in his own words while she looks at him in shock of his words.

"I-"

"Can just say yes to the padel game offer and come back with me on my jet." Max pushes making her face flush, completely speechless as she looks at him.

Y/n is pulled away before she can properly agree but Max feels confident that he's finally found the courage to say something and confident about the outcome.

Meanwhile, y/n gets through the weekend only managing to actually focus on her job when she's actually in the cockpit.

"Y/n is closing in again. 1.2 behind." GP warns after a few laps following them pitting at the same time.

"You can do this, y/n." Her own engineer, Vinnie states calmly in her ear.

There's 7 laps lefts and if she gets him, he could fight back. If she forces him to defend then it will cost him.

"Gap behind?" Y/n checks making sure she is not about to attack and possibly fail then fall right into someone else's clutches.

"Norris, 5.9 behind. No threat at current."

Not threat at current meaning, take this opportunity and take P1.

Y/n sucks in a breath as she lunges down the inside of the corner, late breaking and managing to get ahead. Keeping ahead of Max is the issue and they're side by side going down the straight.

"You've got this."

"Stop talking." Y/n demands gritting her teeth, she's ahead going into the turn and now all she has to do is focus on breaking DRS. Which is near impossible so defending until that is the case or putting her foot to the floor is the only solution.

She's risking it, her tyre management out the window as she does everything to pull out of Max's reach.

"He's fighting to keep up. Last lap, do not ease up but no risk."

Y/n body is buzzing with adrenaline.

It's in her reach rookie season win, what everyone has said she's incapable of.

But of course, nothing comes easily. Her tyre fails and the car spins, her hands removed from the steering wheel and her eyes clamped shut. It's slowing down but not fast enough and when it comes to a fast stop, her body screams in pain.

The win gone and her car totalled. All in the last seconds.

"Y/n? Y/n, are you ok?"

Y/n takes heavy breaths, twisting the steering wheel upright and pressing the radio button.

"I'm ok." Y/n chokes out, pain encompassing her as she feels emotions catch up. "I'm sorry."

"Help is-

Fingers lift her visor distracting her from the voice in her ear.

"Y/n?" Max questions looking into her visor, the tears shining in her eyes as she drops her head, a sob escaping before she can capture it.

"You-"

Y/n unclips her radio as the medical team shows up, cutting Vinnie's words off. She shoves her steering wheel onto the car then standing up, she's bruised both emotionally and physical as she takes a moment just sitting on the halo.

It takes a few moments, sort of shaking off the initial shock of her crash as she is helped with getting her helmet off by Max and it's then she realises he stopped on track next to her to rush to her aid.

"I'm ok. I'm fine. Really." Y/n insists as the doctors fussing over her while Max stands nearby.

"That's one way to guarantee a win by the way." Max states making her shoot up up to meet his gaze. "I had to pull back to not crash into you. But you got over that line and won."

"I won?" Y/n chokes out earning a nod. "Oh my god, ah! Oh my god!"

Y/n jumps onto the Dutchman and laughing, though the pain ripples through her body before she grabs her helmet and everything else, ignoring the awaiting medical car that wants to drive her and allow her to do the podium before they insist she be checked over.

Her legs ignore the bone deep ache as she sprints to the pit lane tears streaking down her cheeks as she is caught by the Mercedes team.

"I won. I fucking won."

"And you made it the most memorable win in the world." Vinnie laughs as Max appears actually taking the lift from the medical car and congratulating Lando on his P3.

"Didn't take you as much of a hero." Lando comments to Max who just shrugs toff while Lando smirks before y/n appears hugging Lando and congratulating him.

Max is jumped on again held tightly in a hug that he is more than happy to accept.

Eventually interviews are conducted by Jenson and he looks thrilled for her. Just as everyone is.

"Y/n, you just won your first race by literally crashing across the line. That has to be the most memorable and iconic win ever. Never mind the most amazing win as far as first wins go. You literally drove yourself half to death, we could all tell you were willing to risk it to take the win."

"Yeah...I actually thought I bottled it and lost the win. I was sure of it."

"Well you certainly have amazed everyone. I know we are trying to rush this along so you can have your podium celebrations then get yourself to the medical centre."

Max and Lando are interviewed too before they all head up, straight to the podium, skipping the cool down room.

Trophies are handed out, she gets her medal and then the champagne is stayed, her own body and suit soaked with the alcohol before she taps bottles with the boys and swallows a mouthful.

"Can I see you when your debrief is done?" Y/n asks as she walks with Max, Lando already having rushed off ahead of them.

-

Y/n smiles stepping out of the car as she steps onto the tarmac. Her body has recovered in the past 12 hours since her race winning crash.

Now she's stepping towards Max's private jet to get home to Monaco.

"Flying in luxury might be something I could get used to if this is an open invitation." Y/n jokes before sitting down next to Max. "Oh you have no idea how many edits I've been tagged in of the moment you jumped out your car and rushed to me...It was pretty...tear-jerking."

"Stop making fun. It was a huge crash. I heard later that it was 42g that you took and walked away from-ran away from."

"I guess I deserve more credit and praise then." Y/n jokes before sighing softly. "It hurt pretty bad, but I was more upset because I thought I'd just fucked up a win out of determination to pull away from giving you DRS."

"It is a win for the history books, y/n. Don't underestimate what you did and how much you just changed the sport. A rookie win for a female driver with such little experience. You just changed everything." Max states while she smiles softly. "I am your biggest fan."

"Self-appointed biggest fan." Y/n laughs then resting her head on his shoulder in a comfortable and private atmosphere which makes her feel completely safe to be so affectionate. "I think you might be the best travel buddy too."

And that's how they end up spending the entire flight home cuddled into one another, y/n talking and using the time to get advice and discuss the race. Also making plans together and talking all about padel and the possibility of what it might be like to spend more time together.

[bioethicists]

hi! just saw your post asking for advice, and while hopefully there's someone who can give more concrete advice than mine, i have experience with what you're talking about.

i have either gastroparesis or cyclical vomiting and it's tied into my dysautonomia, which skews my advice. but other than zofran my best practical tips are 1) avoiding heat and humidity at all costs (when i'm feeling sick my first lines of defense are ice packs to the back and scalp, cool water to sip, fans and excessive ac.) 2) humming and singing as loud as possible. it doesn't prevent much for me but it does seem to stabilize, i think it calms the vagus nerve? 3) other things that make my gi system relax are using a tens unit on my lower back and doing extremely gentle core exercises. i have a back injury so this is me anecdotally saying my pt for that helped my gastric emptying lol. 4) the most effective thing is definitely a long shot, but if you have access to supplementary oxygen, going on my oxygen machine for 15-30 min after eating keeps my stomach from spasming. it's "experimental" but it works. i know some places sell cans of oxygen for runners now and it may not work the same at those doses but it could be worth a shot if you're experimenting. some people recommend diaphragmatic breathing which could be worth something, i just hate it personally.

btw, it may be too late to get it anyway, but i've heard that some gi's that are stingy with zofran will prescribe the scopolamine patch. other than that benedryl tends to take the edge off for me- at the very least it lowers my throat inflammation a bit which helps, and it lets me sleep. i also chew on rock salt, which is likely not an option, but salt tablets might be, or something like pedialyte. ginger and mint are obvious but they help me a lot. ime they're most effective for preventing esophageal spasming from heavy burns, and i've definitely survived off the sugar in candied ginger before, yikes. id be careful of ginger fibers but mint tea is ideal.

i did throw up post wisdom teeth surgery several times. i got dry socket but it was most likely unrelated. either way i would majorly advise irrigating the areas as much as or more than recommended and doing a full rinse of the whole mouth and all the healing areas post vomit, as well as a sinus rinse if that's allowed and something you can manage, as i've found that minimizing burns in the area reduces sinus infection risk. i also always keep at least 1000mg of mint tums on me and take them right before i throw up, and id recommend that too, to neutralize as much of the acid as possible before it hits the mouth.

anyway best of luck to you. i don't have a magic bullet but if i figure if i throw enough stuff at you, even if you already know most of it, maybe something will be helpful. also happy to come off anon.

thank u so much this is so thorough!!! the worst of the wisdom tooth nausea has passed but i am perpetually nauseated for some reason or another so this will definitely be helpful. i don't see a GI doctor partly bcuz i have no insurance + partly bcuz my stomach problems are caused by my eating disorder so i feel too embarrassed/afraid to talk to anyone about it, especially since i feel like most of them would be like "wtf do you want me to do about this???"

[withlovelunette]

Hi Lunette! How've you been?

So full disclosure this is about a self indulgent fanfic with a self insert oc lol but anyway I still want it to be good™

The characters of the actual show have super tragic backstories and my oc is just a regular ol girl, but she's still like.. an emotional/sad character, do I need to give her a tragic backstory for it to make sense & for her to be able to connect with the other characters?

Hello hello!! Upfront, sorry for the super late reply; I began answering this almost immediately when it came in, but then I fell ill again shortly afterwards and struggled to get myself to write anything, and I didn’t want to give you anything that was half baked, hence the delay :,) Aside from that, I’ve been good! And been looking forward to tackling your question!

Firstly, my short answer here is no, you don’t need a tragic backstory for a character to be tragic, nor does your character need to be tragic to connect with tragic characters! But I figure you’d like something more in-depth, so I’ll try my best to provide something more concrete.

I think it’s actually a very good exercise to practice making characters connect despite not having anything specific in common backstory wise. The reason I say this is because I often find that this can be something of a crutch for writers, and there’s a risk of this connection coming off as somewhat superficial. Don’t get me wrong; there are incredibly well written character relationships where part of their bond is shaped by their shared tragedies, but this should never feel like a component that their connection depends on. If removing their equally tragic backstories suddenly breaks their bond completely, then there’s likely something else missing there (the notable exceptions here would be more dysfunctional/codependent/complex relationships). Try and see if you can find some other components than tragedy (such as shared themes, opportunities for narrative foils, opposing or shared ideologies, etc.) that your characters can connect over!

I also think that writers (myself included) can sometimes overemphasise backstories as a "function" for why a character is a certain way. Sometimes, characters can just be a certain way without there being a blatant cause-and-effect in play! Some people are just naturally more emotional and sensitive than others, and have an easier time connecting to other people as a result of that.

There is also an inherent sadness to such characteristics which you might be able to play around with. A character who is very emotional and has an easy time connecting with other characters, but maybe has a difficult time allowing others to connect with her in that same manner. There's a lot of vulnerability that comes with putting in so much emotional labour into other people, which somewhat generates a certain tragedy to her own arc without having to explicitly give her a tragic backstory to justify the way she acts. That in and of itself could be something for your character to connect with other characters (I'm speaking a bit vaguely here, since I don't know what media this is for. Hopefully that's ok!)

A very longwinded answer to what basically amounts to just a "no", but I hope I was able to help you churn some ideas and get the gears going :,) Thank you for trusting me with your question! And again, very sorry about the delay in my answer. If there's any follow-up questions or anything you'd like me to explain more thoroughly, don't hesitate to send in another ask, and I'll do my best to help out!

[thelazyhermits]

Welcome to Twisted Wonderland!

After falling down the Twst rabbit hole and dealing with Twst brainrot for the last few months, I finally decided to give writing for this fandom a try. I’m not the most confident, but hopefully, what I wrote is not too bad lol

I made this a Reader Insert since that’s what I’m used to writing, but it’s written with my Yuu OC in mind. She’s from the BNHA world which is why Quirks, which are basically super powers, are mentioned. You don’t really need to be familiar with BNHA to understand this.

Also, while my Yuu is female, her pronouns aren’t ever mentioned here, so the Reader is technically GN.

Where am I?

When you open your eyes, you find yourself standing in a dark room, facing a large mirror that has many coffins hovering ominously around it.

You’re immediately on your guard once you realize you have no recognition of the room you’ve found yourself in, especially since you can’t even remember how you ended up here in the first place.

Your mind frantically races as you try to think back to the last thing you remember. I remember winning the cage fight that was scheduled for tonight, but after that, my memory gets hazy. Did someone use their Quirk on me and kidnap me?

But that doesn’t make sense. Who would dare lay a hand on you and risk incurring your manager’s wrath? Everyone in the underworld knows how well connected Mumei is, which is why they avoid doing anything to get on his bad side.

A sudden chill runs down your spine. Unless this kidnapper is even more well off than Mumei. Could it be that someone has a grudge against him and is going after me because I’m his largest source of income?

That’s the only explanation that makes sense. After all, why else would someone go after the likes of you?

As your heart rate drastically increases, you frantically start looking around in hopes of finding an exit. For some reason, you haven’t been tied up, so you need to make the best use of this freedom to escape whatever your captor has planned for you.

Unfortunately, despite all your efforts, you’re unable to find any doors or windows, which only increases your unease. Just what kind of place have you been brought to?

It’s at that moment the mirror before you suddenly lights up as green fire appears in its reflection. “Ah…My dear beloved.”

With a gasp, you quickly try to find the owner of the unfamiliar voice you just heard, only for your search to come up empty. There must be some kind of intercom system in this room. That would explain why I can’t identify where exactly the voice came from.

Your hands clench into tight fists. “Who are you? What do you want from me?”

As if not hearing your questions, the strangely jovial voice continues, “A lovely and noble flower of evil. Truly, you are the most beautiful of all.”

Could it be that the intercom system only allows your captor to speak into the room? They can’t hear you? Or are you just being ignored?

You can’t decide if you should feel annoyed about the prospect of being ignored or creeped out by what your kidnapper is saying. Am I actually dealing with some kind of stalker rather than an enemy of Mumei’s? 

If so, you might be in even more trouble than you originally feared since a stalker can be extremely dangerous, especially one that sounds as delusional as this one. 

You scrunch your nose. “Noble flower of evil? What the hell does that even mean?”

Once again, your question goes unanswered. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, please tell me. Who is the…?”

For some reason, the voice cuts off before that last sentence can be finished. You patiently wait for the speaker to pick up where they left off, but they never do.

As silence permeates the air, you raise an eyebrow. Ooookay. Sounds like I’m dealing with a real weirdo here.

A sigh escapes you as you tiredly drag a hand down your face. Great, just great. Just what I needed.

Your weary gaze focuses on the mirror, which is still glowing an ominous green. Soon after, recognition dawns your features. Wait a minute. I’ve seen that mirror somewhere else before, but where?

After racking your brain for a moment, you remember what your captor last said, and your eyes widen. Mirror, mirror on the wall…That's from the movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. That’s where I’ve seen this mirror!

Which means my stalker-slash-kidnapper must have an obsession with that movie for some reason. They were talking about beauty earlier, much like the queen does in that movie. You think to yourself. I just have no idea how this all applies to me. After all, I am no Snow White. If this creep is looking for a pretty princess, he went after the wrong person.

Just as you’re considering saying as much out loud to see if that would garner a response from your kidnapper, you suddenly hear what sounds like a horse approaching with a carriage.

Bewildered, you once again examine your surroundings, and of course, find nothing that would explain where the sounds came from. The only explanation you can think of is that the sounds came from the intercom system, which you have yet to find.

Filled with unease, you swallow nervously. This stalker is getting weirder and creepier by the second. I seriously need to get out of here.

Since the only part of the room you haven’t checked out is what’s behind the mirror and floating coffins, you decide that’s where you should head, even though going near those eerie coffins is the last thing you want to do.

Right after you start slowly moving forward, the unfamiliar voice from before finally breaks its silence. “Those who are guided by the dark mirror, as long as your heart desires, take the hand that appears in the mirror.”

Wide-eyed, all you can do is gape as a literal hand appears amongst the green flames in the mirror’s reflection and proceeds to extend outwards until it completely protrudes through the glass. 

With a yelp, you scuttle backwards. “What the hell?! What kinda Quirk is this?!”

A Quirk has to be behind this. After all, hands can’t just magically appear through mirrors.

It’s either that, or this is all just a very creepy dream. There’s no other plausible explanation. 

When the possibility of this being a dream crosses your mind, you find yourself wondering if that is what’s going on here since that would explain how you suddenly found yourself here and why you can’t remember the events leading up to your arrival in this strange place.

Quickly, you pinch yourself as hard as you can and promptly wince. Either this is a very realistic dream, or I really am awake.

After trying a few more times to wake yourself up and failing, you sigh. Guess I’ll just return to my plan of escaping this room and hope I’ll either wake up soon or find a way out.

The only thing you do know for sure is that you will not be going near that hand in the mirror. There’s no telling what would happen if you do, and you have no interest in finding out.

That said, you unfortunately have no choice but to head in the general direction of the mirror since that’s the only part of the room you haven’t examined.

Warily, you slowly start walking forward, making sure to keep your eyes on the mirror at all times, just in case any other developments happen with it. You also keep an ear out for any suspicious sounds, not wanting to risk someone sneaking up on you while you’re distracted. 

For some reason, your kidnapper hasn’t said anything since instructing you to take the hand that appeared in the mirror. As a result, the room has gotten very quiet, so quiet that the only things you can hear are your footsteps against the dark marble floor and your breathing.

You fight the urge to shiver. This place is so creepy. Why are there coffins just floating around? And what is up with that crazy mirror?

From what you can recall, the mirror from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs didn’t do anything like this. All you remember it ever doing was talking to the Evil Queen via the green face that would appear behind the glass.

What’s really eerie about this situation is how the hand in the mirror hasn’t moved since emerging from behind the glass. It just continues to remain perfectly still, like it’s a part of a statue.

If you hadn’t seen it move earlier, you would’ve thought it was a fake arm since there’s nothing about its appearance that suggests it belongs to a living being.

Doing your best to ignore the creepy arm, you move past the mirror, so you can examine what’s in the area of the room located behind it.

Regrettably, no matter how thoroughly you search, you fail to find any kind of exit. There really is nothing in this room aside from the mirror and the coffins.

Your brow furrows. But that’s impossible. There’s no such thing as a room without some kind of entrance and exit. Otherwise, there’s no way to explain how I got here.

Sure, a teleportation Quirk could’ve been used on you, but that would mean someone used their Quirk to put these coffins and mirror in this room, which makes absolutely no sense.

When the mirror returns to the forefront of your thoughts, a theory comes to mind. What if that mirror is the only way to get in and out of this room? I just witnessed that hand come through it, so it obviously can be used to bring things into this place. And that hand came out expecting me to take it, which makes me assume it intends to take me somewhere else.

Of course, that begs the question of why you were even brought to this room in the first place if your captor wants you to go elsewhere. Did they just want to toy with you first, or is there another reason for why you were brought here?

You frown. Does this mean I really have no choice in the matter? It’s either I stay here trapped forever, or I go wherever that hand will take me?

Neither of those options are the least bit appealing to you, but unfortunately, it doesn’t look like you have much say in the matter.

Honestly, you really shouldn’t be surprised. It’s not like you ever have a say in anything anyway. Why should this situation be any different from everything else that goes on in your life?

With a scowl, you reluctantly move back toward the mirror and come to a stop in front of it, making sure to put some distance between you and the still extended hand, which looks as lifeless as ever. 

Just as you open your mouth, intending to chew out the bastard who put you in this horrible position, you hear a voice coming from the mirror, a voice that’s completely different from the one you heard earlier.

“There you are, Yuu. I’ve been waiting for you. What kept you so long? You know how I feel about tardiness. Don’t tell me you found yourself caught up in trouble again thanks to those card soldiers of mine, not after I had just warned them that it’d be off with their heads the next time they caused another disturbance.”

Your earlier anger immediately vanishes due to the confusion those strange words evoke. “Huh? Card soldiers? What are you-?”

Before you can finish that question, another unexpected voice addresses you. “You’ve got a lot of nerve keeping me waiting, Herbivore. Just because you’ve become comfortable in the lion’s den doesn’t mean you can just do as you please. Don’t get cocky.”

All you can do is stare, your confusion steadily growing. “Herbivore? Lion’s den?”

“My, my, Yuu-san, it seems you’ve once again found yourself in a predicament. Shall I lend you my services? Since you’re such a valuable employee, I’ll even offer you a discount.”

When another voice joins the fray, you take a nervous step backwards. There are multiple people involved in this kidnapping? 

Your face pales. Don’t tell me all these strange people are a part of some crazy cult. That’s even worse than a stalker!

While it might seem like a bit of a stretch to go from delusional stalker to crazy cult, you can’t deny that it’s a possibility. After all, that would explain all the oddities of this room and all the weird statements you’ve been hearing since waking up. 

Thankfully, before your wild imagination can get the better of you, you get distracted by another voice.

“Yuu? Are you alright? If you’re feeling down, you should come over to Scarabia! I’ll throw a big party for you! That should cheer you right up!”

This new voice sounds completely different from the others. It’s so friendly and warm, so unlike the voices you’re used to hearing at home.

While you’ve dealt with people who pretended to be nice, who used a cloyingly sweet tone in order to get what they wanted, before, you know that’s not the kind of person you’re dealing with right now.

No, this person’s voice is completely genuine. You can tell just from listening to them that this is not the kind of person who’s capable of deceit.

They remind you a lot of All Might, the pro hero whom you admire more than anyone, and for that reason, you find yourself unconsciously relaxing. This isn’t the kind of person who hurts others. Either they’re someone who has been brainwashed into helping people they wouldn’t otherwise associate with, or…

Or there’s more going on with this strange group of people than you first thought. 

You take a deep breath and slowly release it. I need to keep my cool. Getting worked up by all this craziness will only hurt me. I need to keep my wits about me if I hope to figure out what the hell is going on. 

“That’s a good potato. If you stress yourself out unnecessarily, you’ll only give yourself wrinkles, and we can’t have that, can we? I won’t allow you to ruin all my efforts to bring out that potential of yours.”

You raise an eyebrow when you hear how this new voice addressed you. “Potato? What kind of nickname is that? If it wasn’t for the rest of what you just said, I’d think you were insulting me.”

It’s at that moment you realize something very important, something you can’t believe you took this long to notice. Hey, wait a minute. Most of the people that just spoke referred to me by my actual name. How the hell did they know my name was Yuu? No one knows that except for Tokumei and Mumei.

Normally, people always call you by your stage name “Prophet”, your manager included. The only one who refers to you as Yuu is Tokumei who was the person who gave you that name once you came to live with him and his twin brother, Mumei, since he thought it was impractical for a child to not have an actual name.

For all these years, Tokumei has been the only one to call you by that name, yet here are these total strangers using your name so casually, acting as if they’ve known it forever.

What in the world is going on here?

“Y-Yuu-shi, can we go already? You know how much I hate leaving my room. My HP is almost at zero; I don’t know how much longer I can last.”

Despite yourself, you can’t help but feel amused when you hear this new voice since there’s a slight whine to their tone. Whoever this person is, they are obviously not enjoying themselves right now and want to get back to their room as soon as possible.

That definitely doesn’t sound like a crazy cultist. It sounds like a teenager who has had enough of whatever they’ve been dragged into, and you can sympathize with that sentiment wholeheartedly. 

The remaining tension in your frame begins to fade. Now that I think about it, none of these voices have sounded the least bit threatening. I don’t know if I’d use the word friendly for all of them, but they definitely don’t sound like dangerous kidnappers.

Not to mention, you don’t think you’ve heard a single lie out of any of them. It’s a little surreal for you, considering you’re used to dealing with people who lie as easily as they breathe on an almost daily basis.

While you wouldn’t be so reckless as to write all of them off as being non-dangerous, you can’t help but wonder if these people are actually completely different from the people you first assumed them to be.

“Child of Man, you need not worry. I will not allow anyone to harm you. As long as you are under my protection, you will be safe.”

It’s the latest addition to this strange vocal cast that has your breath hitching. “Y-You…”

The rational part of your brain tries to convince you that it’s an empty promise, just pretty words to get you to let your guard down, but even though you are normally quick to listen to that rationality, you find yourself hesitating this time.

Because that person wasn’t lying.

Whoever that speaker was, they truly meant it when they said they’d protect you - that you’re safe with them. 

There was nothing but warmth and assurance in that voice - two things that are very foreign to you because of the place where you’ve spent the last ten-plus years of your life.

Before you even realize it, you find yourself raising your hand toward that voice - toward the hand still outstretched before you. 

However, after remembering how often you’ve been disappointed in the past, you find yourself hesitating. What if this is all just a cruel lie - a charade that you can’t see through?

What if this person really is just like everyone else?

“Yuu-chan, you’re too tense! Relax, relax! Let’s have some tea and unwind. I’ll find some cute cat pictures on Magicam for us to look at together! I know how much you love those!”

Another cheerful voice enters the fray, this one sounding just as energetic as the one that had first caught your attention. 

Immediately, you find yourself wondering what Magicam is and how this person knows of your love of cats.

Before you can bring yourself to ask, a new, much calmer voice says, “If you need help unwinding, you can join me in the kitchen, Yuu. As per tradition, I’ll make sure you get the best bite as thanks for your help.”

And apparently, this person knows about your love of cooking. Just how much do these people know about you?

More importantly, just how many of them are there?

“Geez, ya really are a handful, aren’t ya, Yuu-kun? How about ya come with me to see if Sam-san’s got some work for us to do? That way I can keep an eye on ya, and I’ll get to enjoy the pay raise that Sam-san always offers on the days you’re working at his shop. Shishishi.”

While there’s a mischievous tone in this new voice, there’s no mistaking the underlying fondness that you hear, which just makes you even more confused. Just who is this person, and who in the world is Sam?

“Shrimpy, I’m bo~red! Let’s get outta here and do somethin’ fun! You don’t wanna be here anymore, right?”

“You do seem to be quite tired of your current circumstances, Yuu-san. Being the benevolent people that we are, my brother and I would be more than happy to do whatever we can to assist you. Let us help you find a much more interesting way to spend your time. Fufu.”

For some reason, a chill runs down your spine when you hear those two particular voices. While they don’t exactly inspire fear, there’s just something about them that puts you on your guard.

That said, you also can’t help but feel a little amused when you hear your newest nickname. “Shrimpy? Where are all these weird nicknames coming from?”

As expected, you don’t receive an answer to your question. Instead, someone else’s voice pipes up. “Yuu, it’s good to be cautious, but you don’t want to let this opportunity pass you by. Only a fool would give up the chance to obtain the freedom they’ve been seeking all their life. Don’t you agree?”

Your eyes grow large. “Freedom?”

By freedom, do they mean real freedom? As in you don’t have to return to your previous life and never again have to suffer at Mumei’s hands? You’ll be able to do whatever you want with your life without fear of punishment?

Surely, this is too good to be true. They’re just trying to whittle away at your defenses in order to finally make you give in and go along with whatever scheme they have planned for you once you take the hand that has been offered to you.

You bite your lip. But is anything really worse than what I already deal with? Even if they don’t give me the freedom that I want, they’re likely to still be better than Mumei. After all, I can’t imagine too many people actually being worse than him.

“Oh, my dear Trickster, it pains me to see you struggling so. You are in good company here, I assure you. We all truly want what’s best for you and wish to see you experiencing the kind of joy you deserve, because you are our beloved friend. No one wants to see a beauté like you hidden away in the shadows where no one can enjoy your brilliance.”

If it wasn’t for the genuine tone of this person’s voice, you’d think they were just trying to butter you up by using such flattery, but since you can detect no deceit, you have to accept that this person truly means every word that they say despite how hard it is for you to believe.

It’s steadily becoming more difficult to refuse the tempting offer before you.

“You truly are a fighter, Yuu. Even now, you have your guard up, and I cannot fault you for that. However, even the most highly seasoned warriors know when it’s time to reach out to those around them, and I hope that you too will learn to rely on others rather than continue fighting all of your battles on your own.”

“Yuu, you can rely on us. We’ll help you in any way we can, because you’re our friend and we care about you.”

Your legs grow weak at their words, causing you to fall to your knees. Tears cloud your vision as you brace yourself against the cold, marble floor. “I…I don’t understand. Why do you all care about me? Why does it matter to you what happens to me?”

For as long as you can remember, no one has ever shown such care toward you, so why are these people different? 

While you’d like to rationalize this as them just putting up a caring front in order to earn your trust, you know that’s not the truth, because all of these people have been nothing but sincere. When they say they care about you, they genuinely mean it.

And you have no idea why.

For a while, you remain in that same position, trying to collect yourself and figure out what your next move should be. All the while, the mirror remains strangely silent, making you wonder if all the members of the group involved in your current predicament have finally said their piece.

You’re incredibly conflicted about this. On one hand, you don’t want to play into anyone’s hands, but on the other, could that really lead to circumstances that are any worse than what you already deal with on a daily basis?

This situation has “deal with the devil” written all over it, but considering the demons you’re used to facing, you can’t bring yourself to feel too scared. Surely, anything has to be better than the life you’ve been living for all these years.

….right?

“Grrrr…”

Your body stiffens when you hear a loud growl coming from behind you. With great trepidation, you turn to look over your shoulder and promptly blanche at the sight before you.

In the area that was once completely empty now stands a large, four-legged monster with black fur and a mane of blue fire. A chill runs down your spine when you look into its piercing blue eyes.

Without thinking, you unconsciously scuttle backwards across the floor, wanting to put as much distance between you and this creature as possible, not caring if this means you’ll consequently make contact with the mirror.

Strangely enough, your back never makes contact with anything despite your close proximity to the mirror. This prompts you to reluctantly pull your eyes away from the monster, so you can look behind you.

Much to your surprise, when your gaze eventually falls onto the mirror, you see that it’s now several yards away from you, on the other side of the large clearing you’ve somehow found yourself in.

Your mind races with questions as you try to make sense of what’s going on. First, this monster comes out of nowhere, and now, the room has turned into some kinda dilapidated clearing, as if this monster just blew out all the walls, but that doesn’t make any sense! 

Nothing about this situation makes any sense unfortunately, and you don’t think you’ll be getting any answers anytime soon. 

Realizing there are more important matters to worry about, you hurry to stand and start steadily backing away from the monster, hoping it won’t pursue you if you avoid moving too quickly.

All the while, you assess the threat before you. There is no way I can fight this thing. Even with my fighting experience and my Quirk, this isn’t an opponent I can handle. One swipe from its paws will be enough to do me in, so I can’t afford to let it get close to me.

Which means escape is the only option you have. The only question is: Will you be able to outrun this monster, or will all your efforts be futile?

You clench your trembling hands into fists. I will find a way to escape. I refuse to die a meaningless death here. I’ve survived this long, and I have no intention to let everything I’ve done up until this point to stay alive go to waste because of some crazy monster.

Now, you just need to figure out how to ensure that your escape will be successful. Should you try to tire out the monster first before making a run for it, making use of your great stamina, or would another strategy be better suited for this situation?

Before you can ruminate on this matter for too long, you get distracted when you hear a playful voice coming from the mirror.

“Hey, Yuu, don’t you think you’re thinking a little too hard about this? It’s pretty obvious what you need to do here. Don’t tell me you need me to spell it out for you.”

Your brow furrows. “What are you-?”

Before you can finish your sentence, you get cut off by two new voices.

“Yuu! You can rely on us! That’s what best friends are for! We’ll always have your back!”

“While it probably makes me sound like a hypocrite, I do think you try to do too much on your own, Yuu. Why don’t you follow the advice you’re always giving me and ask us for help for a change? Being a lone wolf doesn’t suit you.”

“Ask for help?” You incredulously whisper, “That’s…”

Completely foreign to you. When was the last time someone offered to help you because they genuinely wanted to? Without expecting something in return?

You’re drawn out of your thoughts when three new voices chime in. 

“We know how strong you are, but you shouldn’t have to do everything on your own. I’d much rather have my friends rely on me when they need a hand, so don’t hold back, Yuu-san! You can count on me anytime!”

“You’re not alone, Yuu-san! Nii-san and I are on your side, just like everyone else, because we’re friends! And friends are always there to support each other through thick and thin, just like what the protagonists do in all of my brother’s favorite shows!”

“Hmph. As always, you’re causing trouble, human. Fortunately for you, I am feeling very generous today. That’s why I will graciously offer you my aid. Be grateful! As long as you have my protection, you have nothing to fear!”

For some reason, after listening to those six voices, the tension in your frame has completely disappeared. Why does your heart feel so at ease thanks to them?

While you can’t answer that question, you at least now have an answer to the question of how you can escape the monster, which has miraculously not started attacking you yet. 

After taking a deep breath and releasing it, you turn around and promptly start sprinting toward the mirror, doing your best to ignore the loud roar you hear behind you. 

Quickly, you activate your foresight Quirk and focus all of your power on predicting your opponent’s movements. This allows you to see that the monster is capable of firing blue fireballs from its mouth.

Blue fire starts appearing all around you thanks to the monster that’s now on the offensive, but thankfully, none of its attacks manage to hit you, because you’re able to foresee its attack pattern and dodge accordingly.

All the while, you determinedly keep running forward, straight toward the mirror. “I really don’t understand you guys! I don’t understand why you act so familiar with me or why you seem to actually care about me, but....”

Your heart pounds violently inside your chest, both out of fear of the monster and of what could happen to you if you take that hand that’s still extended toward you. “But I want to! I want to understand! So, please!”

You reach out to grab the hand in the mirror as soon as it’s within reach. “Please take me to wherever you are!”

Take you to a place where you can get a taste of what freedom is like - where you can be around people that actually give a damn about you

Take you to a place of safety that’s far away from the “home” you’ve been trapped in for as long as you can remember - to a place where your future is bright rather than bleak and hopeless.

Behind you, the monster releases another powerful roar, but you pay it no mind, too distracted by the warm hand you’re now holding that comes to life as soon as you make contact with it.

Before you can even so much as blink, the hand tugs you forward with an impressive strength, knocking you off balance and causing you to fall straight into the mirror.

Rather than hit the glass, you pass right through it and find yourself completely submerged in an endless sea of darkness.

For some reason, a strong wave of exhaustion immediately washes over you, and you find yourself unable to fight against the irresistable urge to close your eyes and fall asleep. 

Just as you’re on the verge of losing consciousness, you hear all twenty-two of the voices that spoke to you from the other side of the mirror address you in complete sync.

“Welcome to Twisted Wonderland!”

[thegeminisage]

okay i have another zelda ask for you. save for whenever you want a meaty ask. in my recent zelda youtubery people have been revisiting/laughing at that wacky animated series or whatever, like 'lol this was SO bad we will never get a zelda movie now'. which.. i'm not even sure if i want in the first place. but i did think, "well liz could write a good one". so if nintendo kidnapped you and forced you to write the zelda movie. what's your vision for the vibe/big plot points/character arcs? or like. what would it need to be good. just for fun! i hope you never get sick of me sending you random zelda asks. xoxoxo.

I WILL LITERALLY NEVER GET SICK OF THIS. i am literally SO flattered you think i could do it justice. you are gonna regret asking me though because the more time i had to think this over the more elaborate it got. so. (also, i have seen the animated series in its entirety. a long time ago now but i did. it sure was an experience; some of it i liked and some of it i really hated.) also sorry this took me so long to do i took a week’s break in the middle to read 1.3 million words of fanfiction. I BET YOU THOUGHT I FORGOT well i didnt. i have devoted so much brainpower to this. too much brainpower even

anyway. the first obvious and easy answer is that i would simply have them shoot ocarina of time. with only the most nuanced of performances, the most tasteful CGI, the best on-site locations for shooting, a score by koji kondo himself which is then of course performed LIVE exclusively by tokyo philharmonic. this is the movie of my dreams. or, hell, i’d have them shoot, in particular, the movie version of the fanfic i wrote when i was 14, adapting ocarina of time. this was my first ever fic so as you can imagine it was a complete bastardization full of OCs and character death and i will forever be sad it was lost to the sands of time. 

HOWEVER. that’s the short boring answer, and having adapted it myself i know that oot is a challenging game to put into a story that doesn’t involve audience interaction, because a great bulk of the game is spent inside dungeons where, strictly plotwise, Nothing Happens. also i don’t think that’s the movie nintendo would want to make, or allow me to make. i think nintendo would want a new story with a new link, just like they would for a new game, to make it accessible for people who have never touched a zelda game before. (i think, mistakenly, they would want to make the movie primarily for that audience, but more on that later.) i also think that with the major game movies lately there’s been a push for things to be Funny - detective pikachu and the sonic movies are all packed with jokes, and from the looks of it the mario movie, while hopefully less successful (chris pratt...die), will attempt to be too. i also know that nintendo has a habit of trying out really risky ideas that sound bad but then work out well in the execution (smash brothers, to name one humble example - the mario movie will be an exception to this). i ALSO know that the most popular zelda games by and far are oot and botw, so while this project would require a new story i (and hopefully this hypothetical nintendo) would want to draw from and reference those games the most.

so. here is the movie i think nintendo would make, or allow me to make, if they trusted me a lot and were willing to take a few risks with me. THIS IS SOOO LOOOONG LOL (i am not kidding this post is ~7500 words) unfortunately this has to behind a cut. nobody is obligated to read it, it’s fucking insane. it would never fit into a 2-hour movie experience without feeling rushed, but we can just pretend i’m a deft enough writer to make it happen and execute it perfectly. i am going to reiterate that NOBODY needs to read this, oh my god, but anyway, here goes nothing:

ZELDA THE MOVIE (LIZ EDITION)

does link talk?

FIRST THINGS FIRST. this is undoubtedly the biggest question in any zelda movie, right? link talking is weird and not who he is, but how can you have a movie where the main character does not speak? in old games it didn’t really matter that he didn’t talk, but i think botw did a great job in showing us he does talk a little, sometimes, when he has to, without us ever actually hearing him, and that he has Believable Reasons for usually choosing not to do so. so i’m gonna go with something like that - link CAN talk, but usually doesn’t, probably due to some backstory reasons. i think he could speak in the film, but maybe only once - 3 times max, and each time it’s only one sentence or phrase. VERY limited. words are a precious resource.

animated or live action?

i think the previous question’s answer actually takes care of this one. now i LOVE animation, 2D or cgi, so this is a really difficult one, but i think a true human performance will almost always be able to capture more nuance, and if you are going to have a protagonist that is mostly nonverbal, you NEED an actual actor to be making good informative faces. i could POSSIBLY accept an actor informing the animation of a virtual character, like they do for tlou and quantic dream games, but it’d have to be like, pre-rendered, and not generated “in-engine,” if that makes sense, just for quality purposes. i don’t want this movie to look like a video game, even a really nice looking video game - i want it to look like a movie. i think it makes it fresher for old fans and more accessible for new ones!

the score

for sure we need old zelda tunes for this; my biggest disappointment re: the sonic movies was that there wasn’t enough of that jammin’ sonic music in them. so for zelda i think it’d be fun to have someone from nintendo collab with someone from hollywood to make a mix of something that’s faithful to the games and evocative of decades of nostalgia but also FEELS like a movie score. like, koji kondo + hans zimmer or something. that soundtrack, assuming those stingy bastards ever sold it, would FLY off the metaphorical shelves. it’d be really fun too to maybe some really well-known, very skilled fan musicians put in a few of the covers! a video game movie is FOR the fans, so it makes perfect sense. like letting that one guy sing in the sega 30th anniversary concert. i’m not saying let seth evermann and toby fox and david erick ramos and brock hewitt and theophany have tracks in the movie, but like, let them have tracks in the movie?!?!

i also think mashups between modern and classic games would be fun. if you’ve never heard this one that combines the botw labyrinth/lost woods theme with zelda ii’s temple theme, you are missing out! please feel free to listen to it while you read this, because i would definitely use it or something very similar to it as a theme for a dungeon scene. for the opening titles we OF COURSE need oot's iconic title theme i will accept nothing less

slightly related, i think if we need to pick a particular direction for the soundtrack (the way botw’s was breathy and quiet and full of piano, or the way link’s awakening’s was quirky and cute), i’d pick a slight techno/edm direction, owing to the setting i have in mind (more on that in a minute), but something that could veer into the traditionally orchestrated as well. tbh the tron legacy soundtrack was sort of edm and orchestrated at the same time so maybe something like that??? now i’m just showing my bias LMAO

the cast + the audience

animated or live action, i actually have no idea who i’d cast - oot link was actually based off of leo dicaprio in titanic, but he’s way too old now and also that’d be weird. like i’m not the person to do fancasts bc i don’t follow any actors and the like (idris elba could make a great ganondorf though). but i think the smart thing to do for link and zelda would be to get someone extremely talented but largely unknown. so we look at them and see their characters, not their very famous actors who are bound to have the wrong connotation for SOMEBODY. that is very hard! but this is a fantasy, this is never going to happen, so we’ll assume nintendo, who still has me at gunpoint, will take my advice to spend their vast millions finding the perfect link and zelda. i know they are out there somewhere

“but what about attracting new audiences” WELL i touched on this earlier but maybe we need to chill with attempting to grub for new consumers! of course nintendo’s instinct is to get new butts in those seats and make them want to buy zelda games bc they have dollar signs in their eyes (yen signs?) and diehard fans will ALREADY keep buying every zelda ever made no matter what. i have paid for ocarina of time like 5 fucking times now and if they port the 3D version to switch i’ll fucking pay for it again and thank them while i do it! but that’s my point exactly. like, look at the sonic movies: they get mixed reviews from critics unfamiliar with the series but sonic FANS will go to war for them. the people who are gonna show up to midnight release and pay to see Theee Zelda Movie in theaters like 6 times before it releases to video/streaming are the people already fucking obsessed with zelda. i think for this project it would be crucial to strike a perfect, PERFECT balance. if the movie fucking sucks bc they were just trying to use it to sell games there won’t be a sequel. there won’t be rewatches. it’ll just go down as another lame cash cow. but if the movie doesn’t attract ANY new consumers there also...still won’t be a sequel, and it still won’t be regarded as a success. so.

i think we should make up the Fame Factor of the protagonists being nobodies by having the side characters voiced by some big names. if/when people like malon, impa, groose, the sages/champions/etc appear they could be played by famous people. i think it’d also be fun to get some cameos in there - have shigeru miyamoto, eiji aonuma, and charles martinet show up like stan lee in a marvel movie. zelda williams too if she’s comfortable with that! the more the merrier! get that star power in! make that $$$ so our corporate overlords allow us to make a sequel and also don’t fucking shoot me! and the biggest star of all should be...

the partner

if link is nonverbal, SOMEBODY in this joint needs to be delivering the dialogue. i know the lack of a partner was a big hit in botw, and it worked really well there, but while books and games can survive without dialogue it’s much harder for movies - that’s the main method of communicating information to your audience. a good nonverbal performance certainly helps with communicating information, as do clever camera shots and other techniques for dialogue-less storytelling, but in the end, for a mainstream movie, link would need SOMEONE to be his voice, that’s part of why he HAD partners for so many games. it’s an age-old technique in games with a voiceless protagonist to have other characters guess at or describe what they want to say to pass the idea along to us, so i think it could work very well in film too.

now i think nintendo would want to make a totally new partner, since there’s a new one for each of the games, and they would want to cast the Most famous person possible to get non zelda fans in those seats, but again, if i was in charge of this thing i would advise heavily against it. casting the most famous person they can afford is fine if it’s not chris pratt, but we need a character fans already know, and my gut instinct tells me it should either be navi or fi. 

now, hear me out, because i know BOTH are characters that kind of annoyed players initially due to frustrating gameplay mechanics, but the fanbase’s impression of their CHARACTERS in-universe has softened a good deal over time. i think how annoying they are could also be played for a little bit of comic relief/nostalgia, which is good since zelda is often quite serious in its plot, and this character would be onscreen nearly constantly, likely having the biggest speaking role, so you could drop that comic relief in whenever you liked. 

reasons it could be fi: connected to the master sword, has been with every iteration of link from the very beginning and can explain the reincarnation/cycle thing, good way to induce a call to action or whatever

reasons it could be navi: plays on the nostalgia of ocarina of time, the undisputed KING of “best zelda ever” until botw, she could be with link from BEFORE the movie starts and know him a little better, and even express desire to resist the call

being a 90s kid i am favorable to navi, but i think the plot could work with either of them. just not a new character!!!

the setting

i’m actually gonna take a little bit of risk with my setting here and suggest all those flirtations nintendo has had with adding urban elements and tech (and space invaders?!) to the legend of zelda become real. the sheikah tech in botw came VERY close, so it doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch to have link wandering around a tlou-like hyrule, one that used to resemble our own modern urban life, or maybe even something even more futuristic. 

and i say tlou-like because oh yeah i think this also needs to be post-apocalypse. this one is not at ALL a stretch - even before botw, we also had versions of hyrule that were destroyed and/or taken over by hostile forces in the original legend of zelda, a link to the past (dark world) & a link between worlds (lorule), oot (bad timeline), wind waker (got mcfucking flooded), minish cap (hostile takeover leaving statues behind), twilight princess (coup + twilight realm), not to mention majora’s mask being ABOUT an oncoming apocalypse, and of course we can’t forget koholint either. give settings like this or this or this or this some of that quirky hylian flare that only nintendo can do, add some monsters (more on this in a sec), and i think you’ve got a world that is both easily understandable by audiences unfamiliar with the series AND one that is both nostalgic and fresh for old fans - in the same way that botw’s hyrule was.

but i don’t think this is the ONLY hyrule we should see. this leads into (at last)...

the premise

i’m just gonna say it: time travel.

obviously not a stretch by any imagination, since THEEE zelda game of all time involved time travel and helped produce the finalized branching timeline as a result, but we don’t actually time travel too often outside of that...like i said, i want to draw a lot from oot! 

i also want to explore the cycle of reincarnation* introduced in skyward sword. skyward sword and botw are very exciting to me as a longtime fan because these are the first attempts we’ve seen at pulling the games all together and making an entire universe/connected story out of them instead of letting them just float around in the ether as a collection of stand-alones that sometimes have barely-connected sequels if they’re lucky. botw in a way felt like the first proper sequel we’ve ever REALLY had. 

*yes, it’s actually more complicated than simple reincarnation, since the zeldas are all technically separate people and ganondorf never dies, but i think it’s good shorthand and tbh i wouldn’t mind if we switched to “link and zelda are always reincarnated but ganondorf never dies” or “everybody is reincarnated” for the movie just to make it more digestible to the Masses - i feel like a relatively small portion of the main fanbase would complain, especially if the rest of the movie was good. using the same actress for zelda in every timeline is easy visual shorthand, similar to using the same actor for link, whether it’s animated or live-action. it’s just easier!! sorry, this may a bit unpopular to our hypothetical hardcore fans.

i’d also like to explore what it means to accept the call of destiny/call to action and to refuse it. i had an anon once (posts here, here, and here) who talked about playing botw as someone who’d never touched zelda before and they had a totally different experience than me and how they wanted to refuse to save the world, and there’s also this comic! and i think that's the craziest brainiest shit ever so of course i’d want it in my movie.

and finally, i know it’s partially because botw2 will never give us this, but i am chomping at the BIT for some good guy ganondorf content, especially since skyward sword basically told us he didn’t ask for it to be like this anymore than link and zelda did. a lot of fanon around botw2 rehydrated ganondorf has him having been really close friends with a link and zelda at some point before being overwhelmed by his curse, and i like that a lot. because then not only is he a formidable villain, but he’s also a villain with STAKES - we like him and we want him to be saved from himself, and the monster he becomes. 

anyway, what with multiple timelines/hyrules (termina and koholint etc are also fine, they’re still from link’s adventures), it would be cool if the “older” hyrules had more traditional music, and the tracks for modern hyrule were a little more slamming. that’s a little risky, though; might be better to just straight edm or orchestrate all of it without a split.

the plot

so, i’m not getting into the specifics of each scene or how it should go because at that point i’m outlining a fanfic i’ll never write, and i have at least three ideas for how any given major beat could play out anyway, so think of this as more of a general overview.

i thinking something like: link roams the urban apocalypse landscape on his lonesome (or with navi if that’s the partner character) hunting treasure in the ruins to sell and living off the land the way he does in botw. (maybe he has steampunk goggles lol.) he’s a friendly guy who tries to go out of his way to help people but he does not have a Purpose. i’m thinking an early scene where he tries to save some passerby from monsters** and lacks a proper weapon (his is rusted or gets broken), or maybe a bit where he gets caught by monsters while looking for treasure, and again his weapon breaks, and that can throw us into the action. then later he sells his treasure to a merchant, and the people around him can give exposition on why the world is like this (something to do with ganondorf, of course - i’m thinking similarly to botw, he fucked shit up bigtime before he got sealed away by zelda) and how hopeless everyone is that anything will ever get better. again, navi can be link’s voice during this part, if she is his partner - explaining he doesn’t talk much, answering questions on his behalf.

**i am very firm on this: we need either newly designed monsters for the movie (likely what nintendo would do) or a mix of the monsters from various games. i don’t want to ONLY use monsters from botw for example, because this isn’t the botw movie, it’s the zelda movie. (i’m already drawing SO much from botw i’d be reluctant to use any monsters from it at all that weren’t exclusive to that particular game.) so maybe the botw guardians, the oot redeads, the wind waker moblins, etc. i think a guardian would actually be a great first encounter because they’re fucking terrifying and the piano chime coming in would have an entire theater ready to jump right out of their seats!! anyway

i think link should maybe get a glimpse of the master sword during that adventure, or see it in a dream or whatever, and if fi is gonna be our partner she can lead him to it as she did before in the night, or he can go back looking for it, but either way the next thing he does is find the sword and pull it out of the stone. LEFT-HANDED. idgaf which hand the actor is dominant with. it’s a movie! act! i hate righty link >:( both the sword from the stone and the lefty link are CRUCIAL imagery.

ANYWAY, this is why i like navi being the partner character. i think fi could and would come out of the sword, and explain why the world is like this, and tell link what he must do to save it, and beckon link towards the call of adventure. but i also think that is a little bit boring and lacks narrative tension. i think it would be more fun to actually give navi a plotline where she wants to REFUSE the call, because it would conflict with link’s stubborn insistence on always doing the right thing.

let’s say this navi is THEEEEE same navi from ocarina of time, right? that she remembers all of that, and she remembers how ocarina of time is actually the saddest zelda game, and she had a good reason for leaving at the end. (the actual reason is that apparently she had romantic feelings towards link, but that’s weird and bad and i don’t like it, so i am ignoring it, since nintendo also won’t fess up to it on record.) and so now she just wants to hang out with link and keep him safe and happy or whatever. adventures are hard! they’re sad! link has to sacrifice and suffer every time he’s called to save the world! ganondorf is fine where he is, so why bother! (link would not know or remember any of this - obviously, he wouldn’t remember his past lives, but it’s very possible he doesn’t remember his own life before navi came to him either; maybe he was in whatever wrecked hyrule and slept for a hundred years like in botw, or maybe it was like this when he was born, but this is, crucially, all navi’s big secret to carry.)

fi could still come out of the sword as a minor character in this instance to argue with her, but eventually link would successfully be talked out of taking the sword and put it back in the pedestal - which makes the spirit of the sword, whether she is seen onscreen or not, rebel and send him back through time. i am undecided on whether it’s an illusion and he just goes back to relive his old memories or whether he actually for real time travels - there are pros and cons to both approaches! either way navi would go with him (unless fi is the partner character and then i suppose she could) because link does still need a voice!

this will now be a call to adventure more convincing than any possible sword spirit: a glimpse of what link’s missing. the hyrule he winds up in could be HIS hyrule with all the future-y stuff but before the apocalypse fucked it up. the sky is blue, the sun is out, there’s no monsters! i think it could have kind of a solarpunk vibe, honestly. familar landmarks we passed before are restored, people like the ones he maybe couldn’t save are walking around. but in order to get back home link has to find the master sword in this era and put it back in the pedestal of time (or something like that...details aren’t important), so he spends a little time here, and, most crucially, meets zelda.

zelda and ganondorf

i think this will probably be the most important 5 or 10 minutes of the movie. you know how at the beginning of “up” you’re like ready to start bawling from 10 minutes of content bc it was that good and meaningful? we gotta do it like that. i’m not sure what happens, if it should be like an actiony adventure scene or just them hanging out, but even if they span days or weeks or months in-universe we would have 10 minutes, i think, to make the audience absolutely fall head over heels in love with this girl. possibly this is the first time we hear link actually speak - the fact that he says three entire words in front of her is a sign she’s something really special. but our movie-goers need more than anything to really believe link would want to save her, that she’s not just some chick he’s saving because that’s what you do. i think the entire conflict of the movie would rest on this premise: navi representing the part of link that wants to refuse the call, and zelda representing the part of him that wants to answer it.

it might be a good idea to have link meet ganondorf here, too, but not see too much of him, because i also think it’s a good idea for him to witness the beginning of hyrule’s destruction. we’d be due for an action scene, and also it makes the instinct to jump in and fight stronger. but when link finds and touches the master sword again (or whatever) - bam. different time.

i am picturing a non-linear jump through multiple hyrules, in which link meets many familiar faces (this is where our cast can be star-studded if budget allows) and tours many familiar locations, all the while trying to solve the mystery of the disaster in his own time and how he can make it right. it’s even possible that he could flip back to his own hyrule here and there - it would depend on the logistics of the actual time traveling mechanic. what he finds out as he goes back and forth through these various hyrules is twofold: that he has prevented and healed great suffering, but also suffered deeply himself, which again adds to the long list of pros and cons of saving the world or letting it fend for itself.

in this section link also finds out about demise’s curse, and the cycle he and zelda and ganondorf are all trapped in. if the ten minute opener to Old Hyrule was meant to make our audience fall in love with zelda, i think this section should make them sympathize with ganondorf. i would like to show him doing good things and bad things - i want to see the half-feral freak from twilight princess and the remorseful noble antagonist from wind waker. i think it’d be really neat to have link thrown into a final battle at one point, since if ganondorf is a “good guy” it’s not likely it’ll happen any other way and i’d hate not to have one. and of course we’d also have to see demise - it’s important to show that ganondorf’s agency over his own actions was somewhat limited. it’s a gray area because he chose to do some of it but how much choice did he really have in any of it? a scene where he’s sort of fighting with himself would be really good, because in struggling to decide whether or not to enter back into the cycle and suffer to save the world AGAIN, link is struggling with himself too. or maybe something where he’s looking at the aftermath of what he’s done and is horrified and wants link to put him down? idk!! there’s so many ways it could go - even before demise’s curse was canon, wind waker ganondorf sort of painted a picture of a man who was backed into a corner by the unfairness of life, which is again something link and zelda are very familiar with.

and we definitely wouldn’t leave zelda out of these sections! the goddamn series is named after her. like i said, every zelda would be probably played by the same actress, and while it’s always nice to see her, it’s not the same as knowing the zelda we met first is safe and happy. we can get to know her and her own struggle with living up to her role of protecting the kingdom, we can see her interact with ganondorf, and she she can help link figure out how to get to the next hyrule and dodge enemies, but in the end, he always has to leave her behind, and he has yet to find out what happened to the first zelda he met, the one from “his” hyrule, before the apocalypse.

i think it is in this section that someone, zelda or ganondorf, expresses the hope that there’s a way to break demise’s curse so they can all rest. there should be some back and forth on this - it could be possible, it could be impossible - but i think there should be a glimmer of real hope beyond “surely there’s a way!” but no guarantee. i think the triforce would be a good way to accomplish this - its power is theoretically unlimited, but you’d have to unite it first, and the only one who usually does that is ganondorf, and because he’s cursed, it responds to his evil wishes with evil. so it’s theoretically possible but practically impossible, you know?

and okay, like, you’d think ganondorf would think it was pointless while zelda would hold out hope that it could still happen, but i think it’d be fun to actually subvert those expectations! i think for ganondorf, who arguably suffers the bleakest fate***, to have the most optimism, would endear him greatly to our hypothetical audience, and make them want to save him too.

***bro, at least link and zelda get to be heroes and people are glad to see them. ganondorf is hated and feared by all and he doesn’t even get to DIE. he always loses and even when he wins his reward is unchecked destruction. yikes.

the bad guy (not ganondorf!!)

i think in addition to needing to solve the puzzle of his and zelda’s and ganondorf’s incredibly complex histories, and the history of hyrule itself, link should also be running from something, to give the film urgency and action scenes. if ganondorf is the good guy, we need an antagonist and a threat. you know how in zelda ii, all the monsters want link’s blood because it could revive ganon? i think that would be a RAD callback, and also give a bad guy a reason to chase link through time - with his blood, they can unseal ganondorf. 

i have two candidates in mind for this. technically three, because the first candidate is twinrova/koume & kotake. they have the potential to be wickedly funny and pants-shittingly terrifying (they were both in ocarina of time, because they bicker but they also do scary mind control), they are ganondorf’s surrogate mothers, AND they have canonically tried to resurrect ganon(dorf) before. the other person it could be is dark link. dark link wouldn’t be as funny or as talkative as the witches, but he would be lots scarier and it would give link’s actor a chance to do a little vocal performance. (just because link doesn’t talk doesn’t mean his evil shadow can’t taunt him mercilessly.) these are both REALLY appealing to me, but if i had to choose, i’d go with dark link, because struggle with the self is a defining factor in this arc i am building. it’s also a good callback to zelda ii, where he first appeared, and where the “blood of link” plotline comes from. if we already have navi, i don’t think it’s fair to have another oot-specific character no matter how funny she/they would be.

so twinrova or dark link is heading up a monster posse chasing link through time, trying to draw his blood so they can go back to the present and unseal ganondorf. meanwhile link is hopping from era to era with navi trying to figure out what it is he’s supposed to see or know so he can get back home and maybe save everyone. i imagine he’s generally only one step ahead of the monsters, and i think it’d be fun if there was at least one early fight scene with dark link in which link gets his butt kicked and barely gets away, because it would be fun to have another one later where the results are reversed.

navi/the reveal

during the course of this adventure, i think it would be kind of fun if navi, like i said, KNEW what she needed to know, but kept trying to keep link from finding out, sabotaging his efforts to answer the call because she wants them to refuse it so badly. but it was never gonna work, because link can’t go home until he figures out how to go home. you know? 

so the very last hyrule link would go to is the much-beloved ocarina of time, where, unbeknownst to him, he and navi first met. we’ll say that maybe she left to figure out if there was a way to break the cycle, even though we never saw her find out about it in oot because it didn’t exist yet, and though she looked for thousands and thousands of years, she never found one, so eventually she decided to return to link. she was there the day the apocalypse started in “his” hyrule, and she saw that ganondorf went mad trying to resist what demise’s curse wanted him to do, and eventually snapped and idk torched everything. and that means she saw what happened after, and how he was sealed - zelda herself sealed him, just like she did in botw, and she’s stuck with him inside the remnants of hyrule castle. (is it still a castle if it’s all futuristic? maybe something like this or this or this except, you know, hylian.) she’s not conscious and suffering trying to hold him back the way she was in botw, i think they’re both just frozen in time or something, but nonetheless - the only way to free zelda is to also free ganondorf. 

and that would start the cycle anew, which is why navi tried so hard to let them just stay where they were. 

link learns other things about his life in oot’s hyrule, i think. this is veering into headcanon territory, but i always read oot’s link as an outcast; he’s stuck between two worlds, and in kokiri forest he was a bullied kid, and all but tossed out on his ass even after he saved them, and not recognized or welcomed upon his return because of how different he looked as an adult. and he also lacks a proper place in the world outside the forest; as a little kid, no one takes him seriously, and he has no family or adults to take care of him so that he might lead a normal life. people are usually glad to see link in oot after he becomes an adult because he’s rescuing them, but as a kid i feel like most of the time he’s told to buzz off and go play. 

anyway, since navi was a firsthand witness to this particular journey to save hyrule, i feel like you could definitely swing her reading of those events as “the world rejected link and only wanted him when they needed him.” i don’t think it’s true, and i don’t think link thinks it’s true, it’s obviously way more complex than that, but it’s a good way to show that in addition to link, zelda, & ganondorf suffering because of demise’s curse, the people who love them (navi, who in this case is standing in for us, the audience, who hopefully by now loves them very dearly) suffer along with them, and want to help ease their pain and regrets. “why would you want to save a world that doesn’t want you?” is a very good question, and it gets right to the heart of who link is as a person, in EVERY iteration: someone who cares deeply about others and wants to do the right thing.

and i think this might be the first break between link and navi’s partnership - he’d want to save zelda and hyrule, and she wouldn’t. and if she had told him about it honestly from the beginning it would have made a compelling argument, and part of him maybe wants to give it up just because he wants to spare her that pain, but the other part of him knows he can’t, and is hurt about being lied to and sabotaged, because he thought she was on his side. i think maybe they fight about it? inasmuch as you can fight with someone who doesn’t speak. (and see, if the partner character were fi, link would just have to be transported back to the apocalypse and watch zelda seal ganondorf herself. lame.)

the climax

BUT THEN. before they can finish fighting, before link can finish deciding what to do, dark link (or twinrova ig) & the monsters show up. i prefer dark link for this because he represents link’s struggle. link can’t save zelda and hyrule without going back into the cycle (and he’d have to fight ganondorf, who we like!). dark link also wants to restart the cycle but for the wrong reasons (he wants to bring back ganondorf with link’s blood). since he’s a bad guy, he makes navi’s suggestion of just leaving things as they are, which initially seems cold and selfish, look more reasonable by comparison.

so link and dark link would have to fight in oot’s hyrule (classic!), maybe in hyrule field with lots of rain, or the water temple, or perhaps an ever-shifting background like in final destination in smash bros yes i really said that. i think this is the “final boss battle” of this movie - this is an all-out fight with special effects and action and high stakes. it’s possible that link speaks in this battle because it’s a very important moment, possibly ironically to tell dark link to shut up. dark link could even put navi in a bottle or something, i don’t know. this is the reason i wanted an earlier fight with dark link (or again, possibly twinrova) where link got his ass beat, because it would establish him (them) as SCARY, and establish how badly things could go if link loses. 

i think for this fight, link would falter in the first half, not yet settled in what he wants to do, but eventually, navi would do something to help him out - warn him about a blow or take a blow or heal an injury - to show that she has finally accepted the call herself, she IS on his side no matter what that means, and that she’ll support whatever his decision is. when they fight together, they win handily, illustrating the newfound strength in their bond. 

the ending

finally, link goes back to his own hyrule, master sword in hand, free at last of dark link and his monsters (or who knows, maybe they are still chasing him and he only just got away again). navi could be with him, but if we wanted an awful cliffhanger, we could have her sacrifice herself to get link to where he needs to be, and now the enemy has her, and we don’t know if she’s okay. i think the ending scene might be more dramatic if link was alone, but it could go either way.

at this point i think fi could lead link back through the underground tunnels or wherever he is towards the ruins of the castle, similarly to how she may have led him to the sword - if fi isn’t in this at all, he could just have a feeling, a curiosity. but we see him walk through a cave much like the one in the botw2 trailer, and maybe some soundbytes from earlier in the movie play - lines about how there MUST be a way to stop the cycle break the curse, and lines about what a bad idea it would be to try. this is why i think navi might need to be absent here; link alone should make the choice, not influenced by anyone else, and soundbytes are a good way to show that he’s still struggling with this decision.

and he goes on and on, and the tunnels get darker and darker, more and more destroyed, and he has to shine a flashlight, and he looks just like he did at the start of the film when he was hunting treasure or whatever, but this time he’s alone. 

his flashlight beam maybe like falls across ganondorf’s snarling face, suspended in time, for a little jumpscare. a wider sweep reveals he’s found zelda too at last. the triforces on their hands are glowing, they’re locked in battle, it’s sad and scary. there is something like desperation in zelda’s eyes, but in ganondorf’s too. all three of them are all trapped in a moment in time, reliving it over and over, and they can’t get out. and link looks at them, and his little soundbytes play, and then he has to decide if one tiny impossible hope for breaking demise’s curse is worth accepting the risk of so much pain and suffering for all three of them, and more people besides.

close in on link’s bloody hand white-knuckling the sword. the triforce of courage is flickering to life on his own hand, because he is considering making the most courageous choice of all, to face down his fear of the oncoming suffering to fight for who he loves, for what is right. but he opens his hand, drops his weapon, and it flickers out. and you think, yeah, okay, he’s giving up navi asked him to, right?

then link lifts his hand, still bleeding, so close he could touch ganondorf and undo the seal at last, and the triforce blazes to life--

and we roll those motherfucking credits.

the midcredits scene/sequel hooks

zelda is such a complex series that it seems nearly impossible to sum up the entire thing in one movie. i’m sure in real life even the most skilled of editing couldn’t cut this concept down to an acceptable movie time without something feeling rushed. but we definitely don’t have time to set up the problem AND give it a satisfying resolution, hence the cliffhanger. 

after the initial animated cool credits, i think we’d need an epilogue scene. i am thinking something like, maybe we had a fakeout and thought navi and dark link were both dead and/or beyond link’s reach, but then we pan back to the battlefield and see that oh my god, navi’s okay! but whoops, so is dark link. he puts her back in a bottle or something and does a cool villain laugh and navi is like WHATS SO FUNNY and he’s like HAHAHAHAHA MY MASTER LIVES to confirm that link did indeed wake the slumbering beast

things the sequel would need to address: getting navi back (link looking for navi is a great callback to majora’s mask), fighting dark link again maybe, what happens when ganondorf, who has already gone evil this time, wakes up, how to save zelda from ganondorf, how to save hyrule, and of course, how to break the curse (whether or not it’s possible with the power of the triforce, and how it will go now that link got his piece). a sequel movie probably wouldn’t feature the same wide array of characters and settings as the first, but with the benefit of developed characters and plot that’s already been set up, it could tell a more satisfying story without having to rely on nostalgia and fight scenes for as much of its fun. it would also be a great chance to explore the futuristic hyrule which we wouldn’t have gotten to see as much of in movie #1

with all that potential, if i somehow managed to pull off that first movie, nintendo would SURELY greenlight a sequel in which link finally faces his greatest foe of all: not ganon, but destiny itself. not even the games have done that so it would be perhaps fucking AWESOME. but it's also quite likely that nintendo now regrets kidnapping me lmao

in conclusion/tl;dr

a perfect zelda movie needs classic zelda music, a nonverbal link + a funny partner, and lots of cameos. it has to strike a good balance with old and new fans and save the star-studded cast for the side-characters, not the main ones. it also needs to leave room for a sequel!! the most important plot point would be breaking link, zelda, and ganondorf out of their curse, because i am OBSESSED with that. obviously the games can never do it bc then there’s no more games, and nobody wants that, but if you’re going to change mediums, you can use that medium to what it is uniquely suited for - a showdown that is ultimate and final. there only need to be two zelda movies (MAYBE three if people just want a trilogy, but idk how you could possibly stretch it), which means they get to have something the games never could: an ending.

THANK YOU!!!! for coming to my motherfucking ted talk.

[eiseryn]

Pieces of Her Heart

Lei has three people who are the most important to her: Her three friends, Ceres, Elise, and Vail. She doesn't believe in unconditional love, not knowing that she unconditionally loves her friends. So unknowingly, she has given them all pieces of her heart. So throughout the campaign, it has been difficult for her as the events of the campaign has made her doubt and distrust her friends. But I believe that at the end, if she lives, she'll continue to view them as her friends. After all, her friends are why she's risking her life to go on a suicide mission which hopefully will succeed and thus save the city (I hope?)

There's a lot of symbolism in this piece! Details I'm particularly proud of include the greyscale stripes as the wallpaper/background, which resemble prison bars. Are her feelings toward her friends Furthermore, the circular "spotlight" that shines in the image and focusses on Lei might also resemble what you see through a rifle/gun scope (cuz uh she's almost been killed a few times). The intricate parts of the mirror portraits are from a tool on CSP! But ofc did the shading myself. Vail and Ceres are smiling softly because they haven't done "betrayals" as Elise did. So Elise's portrait, which is facing away from Lei (because SPOILER: she sedated Lei in the neck when Lei turned away from her LOL) and cracked (showing the fractured trust). This is why Elise's expression in her portrait is also rather sad and downcast.

Vail and Ceres are smiling in their portraits because Lei has decided to trust her after the events that caused her to mistrust them are partially resolved (It's complicated). In these portraits, since they are supposed to represent the pieces of Lei's heart, she imagines them in their best state and she loves to see her friends smiling. She wants to protect their smiles, Ceres', especially, because Ceres is a light in this dark, dark world, that Lei desperately wants to make sure doesn't get extinguished. As for Vail? His talk about dreams makes Lei feel like she might also be allowed to dream and hope for better things for herself, even in such a harsh and unforgiving world.

She loves her friends so much 🥺🥺🥺 I love her so much.

And if we want to talk about Lei herself, her expression is a quite empty (because of all the things she's had to experience) and the light is again, gone from her eyes... She's a very quiet crier (because she's been scolded for making too much noise from her mother) so she's used to having tears stream down her face, silently... If only someone could comfort her 🥺🥺🥺

BONUS: The image without all the dramatic lighting. I had to render it to this point, after all.

[knickynoo]

After Doc reached his breaking point with Alex in the crossover AU, what do you think would happen?

AU post here.

I actually don't think Doc would reach a true breaking point, at least not in the sense of him losing his cool or anything. I mean, Doc's only human, so he definitely does have his limits, but I can't picture him reacting with anger or frustration unless the situation really called for it.

So, in my little AU world, any breaking point he reaches would yield a pretty subtle reaction. It's funny, because there are a lot of facets of both Doc and Alex's personalities that have the potential for them to get along really well. They're both very smart, highly driven/motivated to succeed, and are the types who can focus in on one specific area and just be completely consumed by it until they achieve whatever they're aiming to achieve. These things would allow them to work well together.

HOWEVER...there are many areas in which the two of them could clash. Because when it comes down to it--and this is kind of funny to say, but it's true--Doc absolutely has the upper hand when it comes to social etiquette. As much as he does enjoy his solitude, Doc really is good with people! I mean, just look at how in tune he is with Marty and how suave he is with Clara and how well-liked he is by the townsfolk in 1885, etc.

Alex is. Alex is not good with people. He's brash. His capacity for being in tune with those around him is shaky at best. He just Says Things without much consideration as to how his words come across or will impact others. In all likelihood, he would be pushing Doc's buttons left and right from the moment he shows up (with only a vague awareness, if any, that he's doing so). A lot of it would be in the form of prying questions as to Doc's history--his family and schooling and whatnot. And yeah, he'd also drive Doc a little bananas with his incessant chattering about economics or law (hopefully Alex doesn't somehow discover that Doc's dad was a judge because LOL rip Doc; Alex would be firing off a million questions about that). And yes, Doc would be getting asked every 20 minutes to play chess because Alex really, really loves chess. It would be the perfect scenario for our favorite scientist to go a little mad.

Upon reaching his breaking point though, Doc wouldn't really show it too much?? I just don't think it's his style to lash out at others. If anything, he would just remove himself from the environment for a little bit. Be like, "Um, excuse me, Alex. I need to attend to a quick errand. Be right back." And then he would go to a room on the other side of his mansion and lock the door and just sit in the quiet for a while, haha. And the good part would be that it would work every time without even the slightest risk of Alex having his feelings hurt or suspecting anything is up because Alex's ability to read between the lines is almost non-existent. He'd just be like, "Huh, that Dr. Brown sure does have a lot of secret errands to run. Oh well! Maybe he'll play chess with me when he gets back. :)))"

Thanks for the ask!

[llocalgoblinn]

anyways, lol

life has been insane and busy and i feel like i've been doing lots of painting and sketching and writing in other places but i haven't sat and had a nice garbage brain dump rant in a while so i'm going to do that because i'm sleepy and i want to nap but I CANT or else i'll get nothing done the rest of the night so i must stay awake!!!! and my roommate is in the kitchen and i am overstimulated and furious but have to be Normal.

so a little rant about how dating is so fucking challenging: i feel like trying to find a balance between being my fully unhinged WORST mentally ill anxious attachment self and fully dissociation zero risk zero vulnerability self has been. nigh impossible. also trying to like, be considerate of another person and provide them with the kind of space i'd want to exist in???? plus he is cool and attractive and talented and weird, and i like him and that makes me extremely. nervous!! i keep forgetting i'm a bad bitch hahahahaha anyways.

i don't know, it's all very hard and confusing and nebulous. i want to be able to be myself, be "too much". i'm realizing i don't really know who that is. i'm not sure i can tell the difference between ME/my values/my actual needs&wants, and The Trauma Responses. it makes me feel disorganized and more than a little insane which is then just fucking EMBARASSING and somewhat guilt inducing. although my therapist has begun to call me out on internalized ableism so i am not quite as hung up on the idea of being "work" and that impact on whether or not i am allowed to date. blegh.

in any case, i think i have to suck it up and challenge myself to do the mortifying work of. being known, via expressing what i want and need and just. repeatedly. fighting the impulse to be ashamed of how i am.

okay and now i need to go for a walk because my roommate is driving me crazy BYE hopefully someday i will write a post that's just "getting married to the hottest weirdo ever, yeehaw :)"

[stayxlix]

Hiiii! I haven't been on Tumblr since July more or less and I could read the last two chapters of OTDE only recently. I can only say this story just captures me in and I'm devastated whenever I finish to read a chapter lol. Each chapter is better than the other (and longer, but I'm not complaining 😅) and I didn't expect the smut parts at all after you robbed us the first time 😂😂. I really liked the part in which Felix started thinking about the others and how his relationship is unique with each one of them. It felt realistic and I loved it. I'm just a bit sad about Hyunjin because I feel bad for him and at the same time I can't stop seeing all of them as a big family and this bond between them almost feels wrong, even if they're not relatives so it's all good in the end. Now I'm curious, how strong is their bond? How much did they get close? I really felt the stung in my heart when the reader realised they have matching rings lol. I also LOVE Minho so much and if it weren't a Felix x reader I would have shipped her with him 😂. I also have some theories of mine about her mother and I'm so curious about her story.

Can't wait to see how the story will go on, but I promise I'll be here patiently, ready to read another masterpiece of a chapter of yours. Sorry for the long review; when I start writing I never know when to stop 😅😅. Bye bye 👋

hiiiiiii👋 omg thank you so much for taking the time to catch up and share your thoughts.💕 i’m thrilled to hear that each chapter has kept your attention...and that you don't mind the longer ones (hopefully you don’t mind long responses either😂😭).

even though i don’t want you to be devastated (please forgive me lol) i’m really happy to hear that the story has evoked such strong emotions in you, and that you’ve allowed it to reach you in this way.💕omg and im so sorry to randomly come in with the smut like that, hopefully you weren’t too shocked.😂😭 at first i wasn't going to include any because it was a bit out of my comfort zone to write it myself, but im growing more comfortable with writing it and i really like being able to explore those intimate moments between lix/mc..so i think i’m glad i decided to include it eventually (hopefully you agree lol😭).

i’m so glad you enjoyed the exploration of felix’s relationships with the others, this really means a lot because its such an important aspect of the story to me.🥹 as for hyunjin…ah i totally understand your mixed feelings. it was definitely challenging to write the relationship between them and i guess i knew from the start that it was going to be kind of a risk choosing to take that path (i really like exploring the gray areas of emotions/connections so it might have been a bit self indulgent to go this way with their bond lol). i’m sorry if this turned you off in any way, but rest assured i can promise you they are definitely not related (lmao😂😭) and i hope this doesn't prevent you from seeing them all as a big family moving forward. i really love that you're curious to find out more about the dynamic between them and the extent of the past they’ve shared, and i promise more will be revealed in time.🥹 thank you again for sharing your thoughts on this with me, i really do appreciate it.💕

what you said about minho brought such a smile to my face because i have the biggest soft spot for him (and if i’m being totally honest i’d definitely ship mc with him too if the story wasn’t felix x reader😂). i’m also super intrigued about your theories surrounding her mother and i’d honestly love to know what they are/if they end up coming true.🤭

thank you again from the bottom of my heart for your thoughtful feedback and for being such an engaged reader.🥹 you are very kind.😭💕 and i really can’t wait to share more of the story with you as well. your opinion and interest means more to me than words can express, and i’ll always be here if you want to chat more. no need to apologize for the length of your review, it’s what keeps me motivated to write<33 i hope you have a wonderful weekend dear!! much love.🤗💕

[chiruba]

JJK BOYS' BEING SCARED TO CONFESS !

an. thank u for 100 + followers!! <3 holy fuck inumaki’s was hard to write bc of the letter LOL also heres to hopin my tags actu work for this post

ft. gojo, inumaki x gn!reader

wc. 1.2k

genre. fluff, angst if u squint in gojo's

► MASTERLIST ► TAGLIST ►

GOJO SATORU ►

— OK so usually i wouldn't imagine him as being scared to confess

— but,

— if he really likes you, i think his hidden insecurities will start comin out

— yes, gojo is the strongest sorcerer

— but even the strongest sorcerer can't save everyone

— he knows you'll be targeted if you're openly with him

— so gojo represses his feelings as best as he can

— which for some reason involves him -

— flirting with you one day

— and then completely ignoring your existence the next

— eventually you just get tired of it

"satoru!" you yell, surprising yourself from the sheer volume of your voice. it's clear he knew you were coming, but you still see the way his shoulders tense when you call his name. gojo at least has the decency to stop, and you're unsure if it's because he doesn't want to risk making you angrier, or if this is one of the days' he'll actually talk to you. you huff in anger before gripping his wrist to spin him around, and you can tell he's avoiding your eyes despite the black blindfold around his eyes.

"well?" you ask, tone cold and straightforward. gojo decides to take a glance at you, and sees you standing there with crossed arms, looking at him like a disappointed parent. "are you going to stop giving me the cold shoulder and tell me what's going on? i'm not in the mood to play some childish game, gojo." the use of his family name coming from you makes his heart ache, and he panics at the thought of you being genuinely angry and upset at him rather than mildly annoyed.

"i'm not playing some game," he says, and you feel yourself straighten up at the seriousness in his voice. your eyebrows furrow together in concern as you try to think of your last few interactions with gojo. he hadn't been acting this way with anyone else but you (you know because you'd asked nanami, and nanami knew all), and if this wasn't some game he was playing, had you done something to make him upset? the thought makes you feel guilty, remembering how you'd scolded him like a child just moments earlier. was it the joke about his forehead? surely he'd know you hadn't meant it, no matter how true it was-

"i love you-"

"your forehead isn't that small-"

...what?

you blinked at him once, then twice, then thrice, and then a fourth just to make sure you really weren't dreaming right now. your best friend of years, with his cocky attitude, cute dumb jokes and flirty remarks that made your face heat and heart race was in love with you? gojo lifted his blindfold suddenly, cocking an eyebrow up at you.

"hey! what about my forehead?-"

"i like you, too." you breathed out, voice shaky with either excitement or nervousness, you couldn't choose. gojo stared at you with those ocean coloured eyes of his, and then broke out into a grin.

"hmm?" you braced yourself, already knowing gojo's incessable adorable teasing was coming, "i don't exactly think i said like, did i?"

INUMAKI TOGE ►

— i def see inumaki being more scared to confess

— 1. because he can't think of a proper way to tell you his feelings

— a text just doesn't feel personal enough or embed his true feelings

— which leaves inumaki in a dilemma

— obviously, panda is quick to catch onto inumaki's feelings

— when he learns about inumaki's dilemma, he just bursts out laughing

— panda offers him the very simple solution - write a damn letter

— inumaki was so caught up in his feelings he literally just did not Think of it.

— spends hours writing the letter and tearing up it several times while also rehearsing how and where he would give it to you

— until the moment actually came, and all inumaki could do was shove the letter into your hands, yell tuna mayo, and run away.

— … yeah

your early sunday mornings had started consisting of heading down to the field every tokyo jujutsu school student used as early as your first week as a first-year, causing you to quickly develop a routine - get changed into your gym clothes, head down to the field earlier on to relax before maki kicked your ass, and then rush back to the dorms for a shower. except this time, you were pleasantly surprised to see that halfway through your routine, you were met with the familiar cute face of a fellow student, cursed speech user inumaki toge.

"inumaki?" you say, giving him a smile before slowing down your own steps to allow him time to catch up, watching as he sped to you. "you're up early for once," you teased, knowing how grumpy he can get without his allocated sleeping time. once inumaki catches up to you, you continue walking on, fully expecting inumaki to just continue alongside you. only for him to catch you off guard completely, gently spinning you around to face him once more.

seeing inumaki up close, you quickly take notice of the flush of red on his cheeks, popping out from under his collar, along with the sudden dark eye circles. inumaki's breathing is muffled, but loud enough for you to hear he's panting, the rapid rising and falling of his chest confirming it. you furrow your eyebrows in concern, also noting the way inumaki had practically sprinted to you moments before for no reason, along with the absence of his usual cheery - "kelp!"- greeting.

"inumaki?" you say once more, your tone both obviously worried and confused, "are you feeling okay?-" you have to practically plant your feet into the ground to stop from stumbling back when inumaki shoves something into your hand suddenly, only realising its a slip of paper when you feel it crinkle in your palm after an experimental squeeze. you look back at inumaki for even just a hint of an explanation, and instead all you get is -

"tuna mayo!" he yells, and then takes off running. you're left in a daze as you watch inumaki's figure become more and more distant, and only when you can no longer see him do you remember the paper currently crinkled up in your hands. the first thing you notice are the little onigiris drawn on the top of the paper, an inumaki staple as you'd like to call it. this time, the onigiris have blush streaks on their 'cheeks' as they hold hands, a single heart bouncing off their heads.

to you,

toge here! obviously i know it's not february anymore, as you (probably? lolol dumbas) know, but panda i'm tired of letting my chances slip past me.

there are so many things i want to say to you every day, but now that i'm here i don't even know where to start, so i'm just going to say it properly. i like you like a shitton. i wish i could say this to you properly, if i had the confidence if i could, i would scream my love for you to the world. i may not be your first date, kiss or love, but i want to be your last, just as i hope you'll be mine.

there are thousands of other things i want to say to you, but i'll save it until i get your reply. please don't feel pressured to accept me, no matter what, you'll always have a special place in my heart, my first love.

from hopefully yours,

toge inumaki. 🍙

ill give u a kiss goodnight if u reblog <3 

©  2021 sinrinyoku — please do not repost, translate, modify or plagiarize my work! i will beat the shit out of u (maybe)

[redwinterroses]

Honestly I'm very conflicted on the hermatrix plot because on the one hand I Fucking Love Lore and storytelling and shit but also like. Hermitcraft not having Hard Canon is kinda part of why I love it? Like in a world of dsmps and the like, hermitcraft has always been, for me at least, a kinda turn your brain off nothing matters kinda deal. Like if I was too overwhelmed by Lore Shit I could just flip on something from one of the other hermits that just didn't live in the vicinity of the Hermit doing Plot and I could just vibe with them. Though to be fair I'll still have TFC for that he doesn't strike me as the type to actually. Engage in Lore™ in any kinda meaningful way, similar to Zedaph. Heck Zed literally only acknowledged Moon's Big one time lol

Idk I guess I just needed somewhere to talk through these thoughts?

Valid, I suppose? I'm a storyteller at heart and my absolute favorite genre of anything is "light and silly on the surface but incredibly nuts once you dip below" (Gravity Falls my absolute beloved.) So for me, this is JUST the thing I needed to take me from "I really love Hermitcraft" to "Oh my gosh Hermitcraft is the best freaking thing on the planet."

It's totally fine for people to have different opinions on this stuff. You like what you like and dislike what you don't. That's cool.

My one irritation with this fandom right now -- or at least the tumblr side of it -- is that there's this vibe of "The Hermatrix thing was bad" (either because Hermitcraft Isn't Supposed to Have Lore or because of the unreality aspect of it) "And if you like it, you're wrong."

Like. LOL. Chill out, y'all. This is the Hermits we're talking about -- it's not like this will likely have hugely lasting influences on anyone's series except maybe Ren and Doc, and I say maybe because they act like it's coming back but Stargazer ended on a bit of a cliffhanger too and Ren barely even mentioned any of that this season so... It's no big, ya know?

As for the two criticisms I keep seeing -- Look. The Hermits can do deep storytelling if they want. This is THIER game, their story, their server. We're just privileged to get to enjoy it as an audience. If they want to do Big Story Stuff then that's 100% their prerogative. And at the risk of sounding very callous, which I do not intend: folks who don't enjoy that don't need to force themselves to watch it. Don't choke down content you don't enjoy. Life's too short for that.

And the unreality stuff... Like, I'm very sympathetic to folks who struggle with that. I understand that it's got to be hard and I in no way judge or criticize anyone for curating their media intake to avoid things that will trigger them. That's responsible story consumption. Keep doing that.

But as I said in the notes on another post: someone else's need to avoid something: a) doesn't make it a BAD thing in and of itself, and b) has no bearing on whether or not I'm allowed to enjoy it.

Like, for me personally? I really have to avoid content that has a lot of gore. It makes me physically sick and I can't handle it. But does that mean I should stand over here and say something is bad because it triggers my anxiety? Or criticize the creators of said thing for not having my particular needs in mind? Nah, fam. I just... ya know. Don't consume content with gore.

All of this is a long and hopefully firm-but-polite way of saying: it's great if you dislike something about this last season of Hermitcraft or want to avoid aspects of the story or even just toss it out the window of your particular headcanons.

But maybe don't come into the inbox of people who blatantly and loudly LOVE this content just to criticize or complain about it?

And, anon, please understand that I'm putting this on your ask because of the six or eight asks that were far less measured than yours that I've simply deleted. Because I don't feel like there's any point to me answering asks that are all "I hated this. Thought it was dumb. Refuse to acknowledge it" when I've made no bones about the fact that I LOVE the Hermatrix plotline.

So to all those anons who's asks I deleted... that's nice. Please leave me to enjoy the things I like in peace. And to this anon in particular: thanks for your input, man. I hope you can continue to enjoy Hermitcraft in the future -- especially as I expect that next season will very much go back to the more "normal" flavor of everything. <3 See you in s9!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 324: Is There a Force Field Around Him??

Previously on BnHA: Flashback!Rat Principal was all “please tell Midoriya that I spent a concerningly small amount of money upgrading U.A. into a wacky physics-defying funtime grid so as to make the final battle much more confusing for everyone.” Present Day!Mic (or Present!Mic, if you will) and Jeanist were all “if only somebody could deescalate this dangerously unhinged mob, we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas.” Ochako was all “LISTEN UP PEOPLE.” The mob was all, “god??” Ochako was all, “NO, IT’S ME, OCHAKO. I’M REALLY HIGH UP ON THIS BUILDING AND THE VISIBILITY IS LOW DUE TO THE RAIN, SO I CAN SEE HOW YOU MIGHT MAKE THAT MISTAKE. ANYWAYS, DEKU WAS OUT THERE RISKING HIS LIFE FOR YOU CLOWNS EVEN THOUGH HE’S JUST A KID, SO I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IF YOU COULD ALL REMEMBER HOW TO BE DECENT HUMAN BEINGS, THANKS.” Let’s see if her Big Scolding Energy has any impact.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “so I have this speech planned out, and it’s really good, but it also only really needs about 6 to 8 pages, but I’m gonna see if I can stretch it out to 17 pages so I can kill time before we get to the next volume cliffhanger two weeks from now.” Anyway but it really is a good speech though. There are feels, and tears, and more talk about how Deku is so in need of a shower that just looking at him requires a tetanus booster, and more feels, and more tears, and bonus ship drama, and an iconic callback to the very first chapter which reframes the entire series in a new context in a totally epic and moving way, and it’s all very good. Except that Horikoshi is determined to never let anyone actually give this kid a hug. Who hurt you, dude.

omg we are opening on a callback to chapter 212, a.k.a. the chapter with by far the cutest flashback that doesn’t involve any baby Todorokis

baby Ochako is lethally cute. she could literally murder someone with her cuteness. I just want to scoop her up and play airplane with her until she accidentally activates her quirk while we’re spinning around and we both helicopter up into the air never to be seen again

“a child’s insistence” huh well that’s all well and good, but I sure hope this doesn’t mean we’re going to drag out the whole “sternly lecture the obnoxious citizens” plot for another whole chapter. no offense but I think we’re good

so page 2 is just continuing the whole happy/worried faces monologue, which of course is very important to Ochako’s character as it provides the context for why “who protects the heroes” ended up becoming her thing. and this is making me think we actually are in for a whole second chapter of this sob. when will my boy finally get to rest

OH MY GOD SUDDENLY THESE PEOPLE HAVE EYES IMAGINE THAT

HORIKOSHI: [reaches for a box of tissues while tearfully penning an homage to his beloved Spider-Man 2, specifically the train scene where the crowd sees Peter without his mask and they suddenly realize just how young he is]

HORIKOSHI’S HOMAGE SCENE: “COME TO THINK OF IT, I GUESS IT WAS KIND OF MEAN FOR US TO PICK ON THIS TEN YEAR OLD KID WHO WEIGHS 75 POUNDS AND LOOKS LIKE HE LOST A FIGHT WITH SATAN’S MOLDY OLD BASEMENT”

lol at this one guy who can feel the mood of the crowd shifting and is all “WAIT, NO, I WANTED TO KEEP BEING AN ASSHOLE DAMMIT”

as many pointed out last week, this man is wearing an All Might shirt. that’s some fantastic irony there

-- SDKFJWIGKS

“LITTLE GIRL, I HOPE YOU’RE NOT SUGGESTING THAT WE SHOULD ALL BE WALKING AROUND DRESSED LIKE A SOVIET-ERA BUS STOP.” heh. last week I said I was ashamed of BnHA being my favorite manga. that was a lie, actually

(ETA: in the original Japanese Ochako’s next two lines are basically “the only ones covered in mud will be us heroes!” followed by “please give us some time to get rid of the mud”, with that second line basically being the single funniest thing I’ve ever read rdslkjl. Ochako thank you so much for supporting my running gags. “YEAH WE KNOW HE’S DIRTY. WE ARE GONNA TRY AND CLEAN HIM UP, BUT IT MAY TAKE A WHILE, I’M JUST SAYING. I MEAN LOOK AT HIM. HE LOOKS LIKE AN ASBESTOS COSPLAY.”)

doesn’t the megaphone kind of look ever so slightly like an axe that she’s wielding maniacally here

easy there Lizzie Borden

also that’s a really bold claim to make there. and not one she necessarily should have to make, either. but as we all know, there’s nothing that shounen manga likes more than having its heroes bravely hoist heavy burdens of responsibility like good self-sacrificing citizens

p.s. lowkey loving how Kacchan is positioned here standing slightly behind Deku. not presuming to stand in front of him all overprotectively (because he would hate if anyone ever did that to him), and kind of being unobtrusive and letting others take center stage -- but still being close enough to Deku that he can catch him if he stumbles or passes out again

(ETA: or maybe not lmao.

DEKU: [falls to his knees]

KACCHAN: [glancing up from his phone a few minutes later] “someone just sent me the stupidest meme about milk crates -- oh. uh. you good...?”

really, son. “the burdens you can’t carry, we’ll carry them for you. ...later, I mean. right now it’s late, and we’re all cold and wet.”)

also lowkey loving this OchaTsu moment here

I was going back and binging Ochako chapters this past week for reasons, and I gotta say it really stuck out to me just how often these two are paired with each other. they do everything together. it’s a really sweet friendship that often goes unappreciated but it’s very cute

meanwhile, not to be outdone by the OchaTsu, Iida is staring at Ochako with open admiration talking about how she’s fighting too. it’s been so long since we’ve had any IidaRaka you guys. I was starving and I didn’t even know it

oh my lord IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING

THE LIGHT IS BACK. he finally looks like him again. what a cathartic fucking moment omg

ffklkdw

“I KNOW YOU ARE ALL SCARED, BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS, WE DEFINITELY CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR SAFETY AND WE ARE ALL SCARED TOO!” good pep talk there kiddo

BUT, jokes aside, truth be told this is the exact right approach to take imo, and something that’s long overdue. I’ve said this before, but this new generation of heroes is shaping up to be much more transparent than the All Might generation. they’re basically abandoning the almighty, untouchable Superman “heroes as gods” concept in favor of the more nuanced “heroes as people” concept instead. and that’s a good thing. seeing their heroes as humans, with human limitations and weaknesses and flaws, will hopefully not only lead to more scrutiny and accountability, but also more awareness of how hard some of them are working and how much they’re sacrificing. that’s something All Might never quite grasped back at the start of the series -- that the weak, vulnerable, injured him could be just as inspiring as the mighty, invincible him -- perhaps even more so. there’s a power in seeing otherwise ordinary people show extraordinary bravery and compassion. it inspires others to try and do the same

SSDLHK AIZAWA SIGHTING AAHHHHHH

so he was still back at the hospital this whole time?? smdh at this disrespect. that feeling when your sexy self-insert character’s powers of rationality are too strong, and so you have to nerf him so that he doesn’t ruin your Deku Angst arc twice over by (1) immediately talking some sense into Deku and making him come home Right This Instant Young Man, and (2) not allowing him to leave U.A. in the first fucking place. excuse me, you want to do WHAT now, Midoriya?? that’s it, go to your room

also living for Katsuki and Hawks’s soft expressions. Shouto’s too, although his is tinier and harder to see. and Jeanist’s 12-foot-long neck. imagine Jeanist’s head with Mic’s hair. maybe Jeanist had a mohawk back in the day and that’s why U.A.’s doors are so big now

speaking of soft faces, Enji’s is also excellent

what could this random close-up possibly imply?? hell if I know. but Horikoshi truly fears no discourse and that’s what I love about him

OMGGGG

“smh my child is so dumb.” poor Ochadad. your child is cute af count your blessings

SDOFFHSMH

I’m telling you guys. lethally, catastrophically cute

this speech is still ongoing lol. Horikoshi you’re doing so good but I think we get the point now my dude. you gotta learn how to transition out of these things

UNEXPECTED TOGA WHAT

“there we go” Horikoshi says, crossing off the last line on his list of Ochako ships. “that’s all of ‘em”

poor Ochako is just repeating the same “LET HIM REST, PLEASE, WITH EVERYONE’S COOPERATION, IF YOU DON’T MIND, WE APPRECIATE IT” talking points over and over again hoping someone will throw her a bone and acknowledge her already. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP HER

literally they’re all just staring up at her silently omg. work with me people!!

now she’s saying it for the 56th time but more dramatically all of a sudden

they got so dramatic that for a minute I thought she had suddenly leaped off the building or something

look, not to rush you or anything Horikoshi, but I’m starting to get the feeling that this is yet another one of those “the volume is ending soon so I need to either hurry things up or slow things down in order to make sure we end it on my perfect cliffhanger ending” chapters where you go to ridiculous lengths to drag things out much to the exasperation of your week-to-week readers

(ETA: ftr, volume 31 ended on chapter 306, and I’m predicting that vol. 32 will end with chapter 316 (a.k.a. “you’re next!” [explodes]). I’m guessing vol. 33 will follow suit and likely end on chapter 326, so keep your eyes peeled for a big cliffhanger in two weeks’ time. Deku’s dad?? All Might in peril?? U.A. traitor at long fucking last?? we shall see.)

is Deku straight up falling in love with Ochako right on the spot lol what is happening

I know I just said that I enjoy when Horikoshi gives zero fucks about discourse, but shipping discourse is a whole different beast lol. I hope he’s prepared

(ETA: and for the record, I have no interest in shipping discourse either, as always. and I think this scene can be interpreted as platonic, tbh, with the context being that Ochako was literally introduced as someone who was willing to help him so casually without a second thought, and now here she is saving him again.

I don’t think it really fully hit Deku until this moment how much he needed saving. like I said in another meta somewhere, selflessness is basically just selfishness on behalf of others. and Deku is selfless to a fault, but that’s okay, and it doesn’t mean he needs to change -- he just needs friends who are willing to be be selfish on his behalf in turn. and I think the full emotion of what it means to have friends like that just hit him at last. everything his friends have done for him, how much he needed it and didn’t even realize, and how grateful he is. anyways what a terrible day for rain.)

-- son of a --

is he apologizing?? or pleading?? please tell me that’s not the case, because what the actual fuck. Deku you beautiful precious radiant selfless child, this is the exact opposite of how this should be. all these motherfuckers should be on their knees apologizing to you

DEKU WHY

I DIDN’T ASK FOR THIS FREAKING BOMBARDMENT OF EMOTIONS GODDAMIT. OUT HERE ARMED WITH YOUR FREAKING TREBUCHET OF FEELS TO LAUNCH AT ME UNPROVOKED. WHAT’S WITH THAT

FREAKING CHRIST. THIS BOY IS CRYING HIS EYES OUT AND HORIKOSHI IS JUST ZOOMING IN WITH THE CAMERA, LIKE CAN WE JUST CUT HIM A BREAK ALREADY. ENOUGH OF THIS. HE’S SO YOUNG AND HE TRIES SO HARD AND I JUST NEED HIM TO FEEL SAFE, HORIKOSHI PLEASE CAN YOU JUST GIVE ME THAT ALREADY WHAT IS THE FREAKING HOLD UP!!

GIGANTIC FOX LADY!!!

GIGANTIC FOX LADY PLEASE BE MY HUGGER BY PROXY!! SERIOUSLY GIRL IF YOU JUST HOLD YOUR UMBRELLA OVER HIM OR SOMETHING AND DON’T GO THE EXTRA MILE I’M ABOUT TO LODGE AN OFFICIAL COMPLAINT. THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS NOW

!!!!

A KOUTA IS GOOD TOO!!! oh my god if Kouta hugs him I will seriously 100% straight up cry. go on and test me

FOR THE LOVE OF --

is this man expressly forbidden from drawing hugs in his contract or something. DO YOU DO IT JUST TO SPITE ME?? this is tyranny, sir

AND I KNOW, THIS PAGE ACTUALLY CHALLENGED THE VERY PREMISE OF THE SERIES ITSELF, AND HERE I AM COMPLAINING ABOUT HUGS, OR THE LACK THEREOF. “this is the story of how we all became the greatest heroes.” and just like that, he waves a polite middle finger at all of the Strongest Greatest Chosen One shounen protags of old, in favor of something much less conventional, much more interesting, and much more suited to Deku’s character. because if that one sentence doesn’t just sum up Deku to a T. he gladly relinquishes his Greatest Hero status in favor of acknowledging the hero in everyone. what a class act. that’s my protagonist

I love this kid so fucking much I swear. only just PLEASE. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. GIVE HIM HIS HUG