#alt.2

[alicewritingstories]

Whumptober Prompt Fills Part 10: Failure

~Also on AO3~

No. 29: “I only sink deeper the deeper I think.” | Scented Candle | Troubled Past Resurfacing | “What happened to me?”

Alt 2: Aftermath of Failure (Replacing 16)

Warnings: Discussion of past failure, implied trauma and flashbacks, mention of injury

Central character(s): Time, Wild

The battle was effectively over; even as Time looked around, sword at the ready, the last gold bokoblin fell to a combined attack by Wind and Four, leaking black blood on the ground for a moment before it exploded into smoke. Time sighed and nodded to himself as the others instinctively gathered around the wounded: Wild had been trampled by a lynel as it made its final charge - he'd shot it in the throat just before impact - but was stirring feebly under Sky's hands. Warriors was pulling an arrow out of Hyrule's shoulder while Legend held him down, telling him firmly that he was to accept healing for himself before going to check on Wild and that squirming was just making the wound larger. They all had the usual collection of cuts and bruises, but overall had got off lightly apart from those two.

"I'm going to check there are no more lying in wait," he called.

Twilight had joined Sky kneeling over Wild and was uncorking a potion, but he looked up and nodded. Four and Wind also looked round from hovering between their injured brothers and Four hurried to a ruined wall to climb up it and get a good vantage point. Wind stayed where he was, looking around carefully, his sword still in his hand.

Time smiled proudly and set off.

The battle had taken them into the edges of Wild's Castletown: a sad collection of ruins that, unlike other ruins in Wild's Hyrule, had not been taken over by nature. Only a few green shoots were starting to sprout between cracked stones and the shadow of the deserted castle fell ominously over everything. Once Time had turned a few corners away from where his boys were recovering from the battle, it was mournfully quiet.

Familiarly so.

As Time looked around the ruins of Castletown, destroyed by Ganon while its hero was deep in a magical sleep, his armor suddenly felt strange. He almost thought he heard Navi's voice in his ear, so clear that it made him look round for her.

In the distance he saw Vah Medoh, resting peacefully on its perch, and that reminded him that he was in Wild's Hyrule, not his own. That he was a grown man, no longer a child suddenly thrust into a teenager's body.

He shook his head hard and hastily continued his patrol, just watching for movements and trying not to look too hard at the empty, roofless houses marked with scorch marks.

He couldn't get back to the others too soon.

They had set up camp a little way further from the town and both Wild and Hyrule had been healed. Time smiled and spoke to them in something close to a daze, ate dinner without really being aware of what he was putting in his mouth, brushed off concerned questions, and went to sit on a rock overlooking the town. He knew it was a bad idea. He knew sitting and looking at a standing reminder of the moments after he had left the Temple of Time wouldn't help anything, but he felt drawn to it despite himself.

With a sigh, he picked up his ocarina - not the Ocarina of Time, but his own - and started playing it softly, settling into Zelda's Lullaby to stop himself drifting to the Song of Time.

"Time?"

He startled and looked up as Wild came and crouched down on the rock next to him, balanced on the balls of his feet. The champion nodded a greeting to him, then looked out over the ruins with a sigh.

"How are you feeling?" Time asked softly.

"Still bruised, but barely worth mentioning." Wild shifted to sit down normally and rested his elbows on his knees. After a long moment he said softly, "I hate coming here."

Time looked round at him again.

"I don't remember it except ruined and full of Malice and guardians. I've been back with Zelda a few times - she has big plans to rebuild - and she tries to tell me what it was like before, but…" Wild shook his head.

"What does she say?" asked Time, curious and glad of the distraction.

Wild shrugged. "Busy. Colorful. It sounds like it was a lot like your Castletown, actually."

Time looked back at the ruins. "Yes. It does remind me of my Castletown."

He could almost feel Wild's stare, but wasn't sure how to elaborate.

"I suppose… the fountain is in the same place? Relative to the castle?" ventured Wild.

Time sighed, shaking his head. "Sorry, it's… difficult to talk about. You remember I told you that when I took on Ganon the kingdom was already in ruins?"

Wild nodded.

"Well… Before that happened, the sword made me sleep for seven years while Ganon triumphed. When I emerged…" Time gestured to the maze of crumbling stones in front of them and the dark mass beyond it. "This was what I found."

Wild looked back at the ruins. "How many times did you defeat him? Ganon, I mean?"

"I hardly know the answer to that myself any more."

"But he never defeated you. Well…" Wild's eyes flicked back towards the camp, where a sudden peal of Legend's laughter had just rung out. "I see why you don't like talking about it. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt."

Time chuckled. "Indeed. But to respond to what you're really saying, I did fail. I was a child and I couldn't stop Ganon and that's why I was forced to sleep for seven years until I was taller and stronger, but in the meantime Zelda and the people of Hyrule saw Ganon rise and suffered under his rule and when I emerged from my sleep a thriving town was a deserted ruin." He glanced at Wild and patted his shoulder. "Seven years, a hundred years, and it comes to the same thing in the end."

Wild scowled. "I wasn't a child, though. I just… I don't even remember what happened. Just a couple of moments that tell me we ran." He picked up a small stone and threw it morosely to rattle down the slope towards an empty street. "I don't know why. I don't know what I saw or what I tried to do or if I even tried anything to fight. You did, I assume."

Time remembered Ganon looming over him and laughing as he lay on the ground, a helpless child not even worth killing. "Oh, yes, I tried. But even if I might not recognise Princess Zelda's Appointed Knight, I know the Hero of the Wild and I can't imagine he was all that different. I can't imagine you didn't even try."

Wild made a noise halfway to a bitter laugh.

Time laid a hand on his shoulder and said softly, "It's OK, Wild."

Wild shook his head.

"Wild. It's OK."

Wild shook his head again, but this time he leaned a little closer and let Time wrap an arm around his shoulder. After a moment, he relaxed his head onto Time's shoulder.

"It's OK," said Time again, resting his cheek on the top of Wild's head. The silence stretched as they looked out over the ruins, but Time felt better. His Castletown and his Hyrule thrived. This one was as scarred and weary as its hero, but Wild was healing. One day his Hyrule would do the same.

[1-800-dnkichu]

Whumptober Day Eight: alt. 2 (aftermath of failure)

Pairings: Itadori Yuuji & Choso (PLATONIC!!! nobody come around if you ship them. thats nasty.)

Summary: Yuuji is not doing well and Choso is struggling to let him have the space to feel his feelings.

Note: this is a rewrite of a fic I've been wanting to rewrite for a while. I dunno if it's cheating to rewrite something for whumptober, but I changed enough things that it's definitely worth a reread if you read the OG version!

(5,441 words)

[whumpdoyoumean]

Whumptober #10

xxx alternate prompt 2~stabbed

“You alright, Silver?” 

“Oh, yes,” Silver says with a nervous chuckle. The escaped prisoner is standing behind him, one hand gripping Silver’s hair, pulling his head back to expose his throat, the other hand holding a knife to his Adam’s apple. “I seem to have found Calamy!”

“Quiet!” Calamy gives his hair a vicious tug, and it’s all Silver can do not to cry out. “And you, Flint, you stay back or I’ll open your man’s throat, deep enough to kill him but not so deep that it does the job quickly. Lower your weapon.”

Flint doesn’t move, pistol still raised as he stands waiting, no doubt, for a clear shot. His face remains stony, and, to the untrained eye, unmoving. Silver, though, knows him and can see the small changes--the slightest narrowing of eyes, the almost imperceptible tightening of the lips, that tiny twitch he gets to the right of his nose. Anger is being replaced by a cold and a silent rage. 

“If you harm him I will blow your educated brains out of your fucking head,” Flint says, voice low. “Let him go and you’ll end up in the brig instead of dead."

Calamy lets out a short, barking laugh as he moves slowly into the doorway, Silver having no choice but to move with him. “We all know you don’t have a clear shot. And if you move to try and get one, I will kill him."

Flint opens his mouth--to further threaten, Silver is sure--so he speaks quickly. “Captain!” The grip on his hair tightens, the knife pressing a little harder, enough to draw blood. Flint’s eyes widen and he takes a step forward, on instinct, probably, but it’s enough.

Calamy lets out something between a growl and a roar and then the knife leaves Silver’s throat and a fraction of a second later there’s an impact to his front side that pushes the breath out of him. He folds forward with a gasp and Flint’s eyes go big and he starts forward with a cry, only to stop again.

“Bastard!” he snarls, but he doesn’t move forward any further. 

Probably, Silver realizes grimly, because Calamy’s still got ahold of the knife that’s now buried inside of him. It takes every ounce of his willpower to keep from panicking--the man’s a surgeon. He probably knows a dozen ways to disembowel a man and leave him awake to feel it. It’s with that thought that the wound starts to make itself known to Silver, by way of a deep, horrible pain that makes him want to wail but he doesn’t. He looks up at Flint’s face instead, where rage is now mixing with worry. 

“‘m alright,” he says, and even manages a weak smile through his own fear.

“It’s true, Flint. He is alright...Well, relatively speaking,” Calamy says. “But he won’t be for long. I haven’t hit anything vital, I don’t think--I don’t usually work on men from this angle, you see--but the knife has gone in deep, and once I pull it out he’ll begin to bleed rather heavily. He won’t last very long without someone keeping pressure on the wound.”

And then he’s yanking the knife out.

Silver can’t help it now, he screams as he falls to his knees and Calamy is running out the door behind him. Flint fires and misses, stares out the door after him for only a second before he turns to Silver.

“Lie back,” he commands, getting down on one knee, pistol clattering to the ground beside him. 

Lying back sounds painful and like more trouble than it’s worth and Silver would just as soon stay kneeling with his hands clasped to his side. He makes a face which, despite his best efforts, comes out as more of a grimace than a smile. “I’ll be fine.” 

His body chooses that moment to remind him, painfully, that there is hole in it that doesn’t belong there, agony starting somewhere deep in his side and spreading outward like a match dropped on oil. His fists ball up almost against his will and he curls in on himself with a sharp intake of breath, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his jaw against the unrelenting pain. He doesn’t even realize he’s listing to the side until he feels two strong hands gripping his arms. 

“Lie back!” Flint, repeating his earlier command, though his tone is harsher now. His tone is harsher, but his hands, gentle as they guide Silver’s tensed and wounded body into a lying position, don’t match. Silver opens his eyes and looks up at the pirate captain. 

“Move your hands,” Flint says, looking down at his own shirt as he tugs it out of his pants and rips off a strip of cloth from the bottom.

He really doesn’t want to do that, and he shakes his head once. “R-really, I, I thank you for your concern, Captain, but I think I should just leave them where they are. ‘m fine!”

“You’re not fine, damn you!” Flint snaps. He takes a breath, his expression softening just enough to be visible. His voice, however, betrays him completely, surprisingly soft as he continues. “Your hands are shaking, Silver, and you’re still bleeding too much, I can see you bleeding. Now are you going to move your fucking hands or am I going to move them for you?”

“I…” Flint’s right; Silver’s hands are shaking. He hadn’t even noticed. He sighs and, reluctantly, lifts his hands away from the stab wound. 

Flint is moving immediately, balling up the torn piece of his shirt and pressing it to Silver’s side, and then he presses some more. Silver clenches his teeth so tight he’s sure they’re going to shatter, his breath coming in harsh bursts through flared nostrils, and he feels himself break into a cold sweat. And then Flint presses more, and Silver lets out a ragged cry, one heel scraping against the floor that’s slick with sea water and blood. 

“I’ve got to get the bleeding stopped before we can move,” Flint says, almost apologetically. “Which means, as unpleasant as it may be, I must keep the pressure on.”

Silver just nods, taking a moment to catch his breath and biting back another scream. He takes some deep breaths and the pain seems to fade, just a little. And there’s a tingling in his hands that he thinks is probably a bad thing. He ignores it. 

“Why-” he says, voice hoarse from the screams that have been tearing at his throat. Flint looks up. “Why didn’t you go after him?”

The captain looks more than a little baffled at the question. “What do you mean?”

“He stole from you.”

A corner of Flint’s mouth lifts, brow furrowing, and he lets out a short chuckle. “So did you, once.”

“Yet here…here we are. You-you saving me, instead of, uh…stopping him.”

Flint looks down at his hands and then is silent for a long moment. When he finally looks up and speaks, face and voice are carefully measured. “As much as I hate to admit it, Silver, you have become, for the time being, somewhat of an asset to me. A temporary affliction, I’m certain, but one I must bear for the time being.”

Silver studies the man’s eyes, and his lined and hardened face, searching for...something. Anything. It’s Flint who finally looks away first, and when he does his expression changes, eyebrows climbing up his forehead. 

“Damn! Still bleeding...The bastard said he hadn’t hit anything vital…” He looks up sharply. “How do you feel?”

“I feel…” Silver had actually forgotten to think about how he was feeling, for a few blissful moments. Now that he does think about it, though, he feels...Heavy. And cold, and… “Tired.” His eyes begin to slip shut, and he feels Flint’s hand cup the back of his head, his thumb brushing Silver's face. 

“Do not sleep,” Flint says, his voice quiet but firm.

Silver responds with the biggest smile he can muster and is going to follow with something witty and insolent except that there’s a ringing in his ears and black clouding the edges of his vision and he just can’t seem to lift his heavy lids. 

“Silver!” Flint’s voice cuts through the ringing. “Silver, open your eyes!”

And then even that fades, and John Silver slips quietly into oblivion.

xxx 

[frankencanon]

Is it just me or does this line hit different when you remember that David Tennant actually has a non-binary kid who uses they/them pronouns, and has worn this non-binary rainbow pin to a bunch of interviews in support of them—?

---

[Update] David Tennant continues his trend of being a trans ally respectful & supportive of non-binary people & gender neutral pronouns in the Doctor Who Special: The Star Beast (2023)

[drownthehatch]

[itsdefinitely]

he thought they were sharing things about themselves

[waterme-stories]

Chewing on a headcanon that Wade let Cable walk away... and he wasn't going to make the same mistake with Logan

[800db-cloud]

i’m literally shaking buy them brown contacts pls

[nastiagarachtchenko]

[teamfurtress]

Scottish sheepie

[smittyw]

[fautiger]

What I imagine they'd say if they could see her (no pressure, Melinoë)

[u3pxx]

EDIT: CLOSED NOW! thank you everyone

---

will be closing on JAN 29, 9 AM PHT/JAN 28, 5 PM PST

thank you so much to those who donated! i wasn't expecting to have a considerable backlog from just the 3 days since i've posted this, that's why i mentioned before that i'll be leaving this up for a week. still, i'm afraid i'll have to cut this short since i've lots more drawings to do and i unfortunately have college to juggle at the same time.

i am extremely thankful for all the generous people who have emailed me about donating! i'll be closing this at 9 am tomorrow (my time) since, again, busy. so if you've been thinking about donating and getting a doodle from me, there's a little bit of time left!

---

hello there! i’ll be doing character doodles for donations (donations done after i post this) for gaza!

what will these doodles look like?

the characters will be drawn from the shoulders up! the higher the donation, the more polish that doodle’s gonna get!

what do you need to do for a doodle?

you could either:

donate e-sims to palestine (starting from sims priced 14+ usd). the post linked includes tutorials, relevant links, and discount codes you can find in the replies. instructions can be also found on https://gazaesims.com/ (you can donate another/more sims for an extra doodle or more polish, you decide)

donate 14+ usd to care for gaza. you can donate to them via paypal over here

or donate 14+ usd to palestine children's relief fund

afterward, take a screenshot that you’ve successfully donated to any of the ones mentioned above and send the proof of donation to u3pxx.contact@gmail.com as well as:

the amount you've spent/donated in usd

the name/reference pictures of the character you want me to doodle (ocs included!)

now, please note that my work is for personal use only, not for commercial use/profit/merch/ai training/nfts. you can use it on icons, headers, etc. but please credit me and do not crop/edit out my signature.

i'll end up being a lot busier in the following weeks so this will be available for a limited time, i'll announce it here once i close this. thank you so much, free palestine!

[wormzandgutz]

Hello spacerocks community

[seventh-district]

Making Incorrect H:SR Quotes Until I Run Out of (hopefully) Original Ideas - Pt. 5 - I Finally Finished the 2.2 Main Quest Edition

[Pt. 1] [Pt. 2] [Pt. 3] [Pt. 4] [Pt. 6]

[9ndreus]

Them: It's been months... Are you finally going to stop obsessing over Good Omens and be a normal person now?

Me: