#i just wanted to give them a new main weapon haha

[draklorn]

The harsh winds threatened to rip the Frostguard from their saddle, billowing off the sheer drop to a ground covered by clouds from their narrow path against the mountainside more ice than stone, now. Summer's Bane's walk had slowed as it pushed itself against the invisible barrier, sharp hooves stomping into the snow path in an attempt to get some footing. Both steed and rider kept their heads low to not challenge the wind's strength, Gauntleted hands gripping the horns sprouting from the creature's mane more intensely than leather reins. This path had been taken for its isolation, so that they did not come across heretics who bounded across the white meadows of the Freljord, confident in winning their petty squabbles. Who, in their blinding arrogance, forgot the power of those who protected them from themselves. Devan had not expected the blizzard to strike, its dense clouds rolling over from behind the mountain range they could not yet see beyond. There would be no caverns or outcroppings to seek shelter in along this pathway barely wider than their steed's burly width. They only prayed its full strength is what pelted the duo now, and that once they were no longer shielded from its side and found themselves in the open, they were not sent barreling off into that hidden landscape below the cloud they were in.

As the sheer mountainside rounded itself into a wider field, it revealed a river of snow softly flowing down a basin's smoother decline, before cascading down the drop far below in a makeshift, frozen waterfall, only to most likely join the blizzard on the lower fields below. Devan had carefully dismounted before testing the power of the wind here, taking the lead with reigns in both hands, and their split cape quickly tied around armoured arms to stay out of the way. A quiet sigh joins the endless howling around them when the only buffet they faced out here was the constant moving snow slowing their pace, and the Draklorn takes no time in moving away from the hazardous ledge.

Until something struck them, quick and hard on the helm.

There is a moment that is lost to Devan, before they come back to, with half of their body hanging off of the side of the cliff, one hand tangled in the reigns as Summer's panicked eyes look down at them from a strained neck. Battling against the daze of their mind and the torrential waves of snow, the Frostguard scrambles to solid ground. There was a sharp dent in their helmet where the arrow - they suspected - had hit its mark, and blinking away the snowflakes on their lashes, Devan frantically searches the white landscape for their supposed attacker. It was too dangerous to seek shelter along the narrow ledge in their stupor now, and so they march into the basin, drawing their sword and pulling their obedient steed behind them. Another arrow is loosed, finding a direct hit on their wrist. Shielded by their metal bracer, Devan still feels the shock rush through their entire arm and flexes their hand open on reflex, letting their sword fall aimlessly into the snow. It is pushed away and covered up to the blade almost immediately, and although they swipe at it, Devan knows it is a fruitless endeavour as its handle quickly disappears. Their shouted swear joins the howling choir, and they swing their attention to the rocky mountain side above them. Their attacker had to be nearby to aim so true. Gritting at the pain in their wrist and throbbing headache, they clamber over to the saddlebags, quickly reaching for their prepared long bow and a handful of bolts, before hitting Summer's back leg to signal it to flee the area. While its stampeding hooves made a break in the rolling snow, a black bolt was nocked and pulled taught. Devan's vision was uneven with their splitting headache, and frantically searching the spotted landscape for their foe was a near-impossible feat. It is at least a miracle they noticed the simultaneous figures arising.

The ambush charged with three brutes hurdling toward them, but their bow snapped and fired at one of the two other archers who appeared from the rocky cliffside. The whistle of their arrow was quickly lost to the wind, and their attention moved to the first heretic fast approaching. Her mace of antler was ready to swing up toward the Frostguard's helm. The gauntlet holding their bow meets her face first, carrying the weight of the weapon with it and making the warrior stumble. The next is close behind, dragging a warhammer behind him, unsteady as he underestimated the snow current rushing his footsteps forward. Devan rushes to meet him too, but kneels into the surging current, bow sweeping his legs as the momentum of the hammer swung carries him over. His landing is only temporary, and his yells are quick to evolve into distant screams as his grasping hands find nothing to hold his weight as he falls over the cliff face. Another arrow flies over Devan's head. "Svaag Black Clad!" The first raider had finally shaken off their strike, spitting blood and taking another run at them. Devan exhales a growl in return as they stand and face her. The third of the attackers was taking their arrogant time approaching. The Draklorn's opponent had her back to the void of grey now, but if following her companion into that perilous chasm worried her, it didn't show on her blood-smeared snarl. Devan's grip on their bow adjusts, and the other holding the arrows grows tighter. If they used the bow to fight, it might snap if drawn again. If they didn't, they were going to die in this valley.

Her attack is announced by her warcry, the axe swinging violently as it searches for a weakness in the Frostguard's armoured shell. Devan is a flurry of dark fabrics as they move with the attempted strikes, armour taking the brunt with inflicted scratches, and any swipes that get too close to joints are deflected with a bow limb. The raider gives an outburst of energy into one that aims to nestle between shoulder and neck. Devan jumps back into the rushing snow current, only to work with the momentum to rush back at her while the axe was finishing its arc. The bow is brought around her head until her neck caught between the string and lower limb, and Devan hauls the weapon to the ground hard. Cough stifled by the snow quickly falling over her face, a heavy, sharp outsole of an armour boot is raised as they aim for her neck. Until their helmet is yanked backwards by a powerful force. Tumbling to their feet, several arrows are lost to the snow drift. But Devan is far more focused on the third raider who had finally reached the action. They were not a short Iceborn by any means, but she stood more than a head higher even while hunched over, shouldering the pelt of a fully grown wildclaw. The fierce halberd in her grip looked too small in comparison. "Where's your pack, little priest?" The words rumble from her, footsteps heavy as the snow gave way to her wake. Devan's boots begin to skirt back in an attempt to keep some form of distance, but a bolt landing just behind them clearly sends the message they would not get very far. There wouldn't be much time to decide their next move anyway, the polearm is swung with one arm toward them. The force behind it is more than winding. Even when they had brought arms out to brace, the impact throws the Draklorn aside, helm flying as it was struck.

"No fun with only one mutt to kick around." The larger raider jeers over her shoulder to her battlesister, swinging the halberd in her grip like nothing more than a toy. The other was more solemn, chancing a look over the cliffside once she had found her footing again. A mess of decorative bone and hair covers Devan's features while they struggle to shake the daze, but they barely get the chance. The boot that kicks their torso meant harm with the dent that it left, but the grunt of pain and the little distance moved revealed the disappointment. "Oh just kill 'em, Kyrja!" The smaller one exclaims as she paces, out of frustration rather than cold. Perhaps she held hope for her other companion, even after that fall. Devan's thoughts lay elsewhere as they prayed for the will to stand and fight again, feeling something warm and wet quickly turn cold against their skull. A rough hand grabs at their neck, settling around their jawline as they were pulled up to and beyond their footing. Their bow tangled in their hair around their elbow, and one arrow stayed in their weak grip. Energy drained, Devan can barely call upon the strength to look their enemy in her eyes. Their own rolled into the corners, they watch her grip on the long weapon rises to their exposed, soft skin. In a burst of energy, Devan's teeth are brandished and close down on a course finger holding their chin.

Only having to bite down one more time before the index bones give out, their final arrow is sent directly down into the forearm holding the weapon at the same moment. The large raider, Kyrja, lets out a confused cry, not even giving the dropped weapon much notice as she looks at her hand in perplexity. Bloody-mouthed and reinvigorated with new life, Devan lands with the halberd quickly spun into their grip as they weasel their way about her legs, and swing at one of the fur-sewn boots. The other raider looks up at the sight with an angry and surprised cry, looking toward the archer as she lunged forward at the Forstguard. Devan snarls with bloody teeth in return. The halberd's beak catches her side before she even has the chance to swing her axe. Finally recovering from losing her digit, Kyrja returns to the present with a furious bellow, swiping furiously at the weapon to grab it back. Reinvigorated and heart pounding in their dented armour, the Frostguard bats the attempts away with the weapon's blade as they neared the rocky edge, until one over-reach allows them to maneuver around her. Point stuck in the ground, Devan heaves their weight into the air with the polearm's help, sending their boots into the raider's back with enough force to make her stumble over the edge. The grounded weapon keeps them barely on the side to scramble back up, leaving the pelt and its wearer to fall into the clouds.

Dark eyes spend little time observing the sight, locking on to the axe-wielder, who was seeing the bloody-mouthed, ragged Frostguard in a new, disturbing light. Instead of rushing her, Devan leans back as another arrow barely misses its mark. A smile creeps up their pale features, never breaking eye contact as the halberd to picked up, and a string around their neck is fished out from beneath worn layers. A makeshift, little horn appears in their adrenaline-shaking hand before it is brought up to cracked lips in a silent call. Unceremoniously dropped to clatter against deformed metal, Devan begins to march slowly forward. A drum of hoofbeats in the distance.

"O revered mistress, bless me with vision to perceive the dangers in the blizzard. Grant me the sense to feel the avalanche before I hear its growl. Gift me a tongue strong enough to call for aid as it bleeds. And with all I ask, be it enough to survive this darkest of times."

[fereldanwench]

⚠️ do not reupload or edit my shots without my permission ⚠️

At the beginning of 2023, I started working on this story set following Valerie and Goro doing a gig for Wako. The premise is that Goro and Valerie are looking into an unsanctioned Tyger Claw weapon manufacturer trying to cut Wako out of a deal and they have to find proof of that betrayal, but shit kinda goes badly when the place goes boom. And of course, there was supposed to be plenty of bonding and banter between the blorbos.

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, I never got around to finishing it. -_-

Mostly thanks to technical issues: this era was pre-custom poses (well, widely available custom poses + public knowledge of how to make them) and before I had started using PMU, but right after AMM updated to give us the ability to select poses right from the menu. I wanted so badly to make the new pose function work with my process because it seemed like it should have been easier (raise your hand if you remember the dark days of having to reload the game pretty much every time you wanted to change an NPC pose!!!), but the way characters would reset the pose anytime you moved them made it really time-consuming and frustrating for me.

It was a very good learning experience, though, because a lot of the hiccups I dealt with here made it easier for me to do this big story set just a couple of months later.

By the time I was able to return to this one, I could not find my notes for the main beats and dialogue (still no idea what I did with them) and I was like, fine, whatever. My workflow and style had also evolved by that point. It was time to move on, haha. But I shot probably 85% of what I wanted to shoot for it, and not sharing it at all just kind of seemed like a waste. So under the cut are 40 panels of Goro and Valerie being badasses and starting to fall for each other. Enjoy!

[syndxlla]

best friends don’t look at each other the way we do

A low stakes, high reward and self-indulgent Zelink fanfic. Canon-compliant, takes place between BOTW and TOTK

Chapter Two: You’re Safe

Read Chapter one here

Song: Sick of Losing Soulmates by Dodie

Summary: Link introduces Zelda to their new home in Hateno, and Zelda begins to face the reality of what her life has developed into.

Warnings: PTSD, body-image, mentioning of scars, passing out

Word Count: 4.9k words

Author’s Note: This shit is so sad I promise its going to eventually get happy haha.

It’s late afternoon when they get to Hateno, just when the sun is starting to low hang in the sky. The gate is quiet, probably because it was their day of worship. Little kids who usually play tag on the main road were praying to the Goddess in their houses, and farmers who practically work in the field studied their devotionals in their kitchen. Link hopped off of Epona when they got into town, guiding her and Zelda through the back road, past the Bolson homes, and over the old wooden bridge to his house.

He leads his horse to the old stable, and then helps Zelda off of her by lifting her at the waist and gently placing her onto the ground. Zelda looks around at her bearings while Link removes the bridle and saddle from his steed, refilling her trough with some water from the well.

“Well… this is it.” He presents the building with his arms open, as if it were a mansion. Zelda doesn’t say much, she just observes the structure with her hands held together, arms bed at the elbow. He leads her through the front door, waving his hand around the dust and coughing once or twice. “I haven’t been home in a while.” He awkwardly smiles. It’s dark and dank there, so quaint. “It’s no palace, I know. But I could afford it, and I really needed a place to store all my extra junk.” Zelda walks up to the weapon displays, seeing the weapons of their dead friends. lined up one by one.

Link drops his equipment, placing the Master Sword on the table, which had nothing on it but a few knife cuts and a dead flower. He moves to open a window, which creaks loudly as he pushes, startling Zelda. “Sorry, sorry.” He sniffles. The window allows the light to pour in, the sun getting slightly golden. He turns to see her staring at the portrait of all the champions that Link hung not six months ago—when he was here last. He moves towards her, nervous and apologetic. She’s so hard to read.

“Look, I know it isn’t perfect. But it’s got a bed, a kitchen, and a bath, and we can clean it up.” He places a tentative hand on her bicep, standing behind her. She looks around. “If you really hate it, we can get a room at the Inn downtown, or we can go up to Purah and Symin’s-“

“It’s perfect, Link.” She stops him and turns around. They’re about the same height, so their eyes meet perfectly.

“What?” He was talking it up out of embarrassment, this place is a dump.

“It’s perfect. Anywhere is better than that throne room. And I wouldn’t want a castle, I’ll be happy here.” She smiles, and if Link didn’t know any better he would pull her in for a tight hug. He doesn’t think they’re that close yet.

“Really?” He asks. She nods.

“It needs some cleaning up, and as much as I love your tributes to the Champions, I think we should return these weapons to their people. I think we should give them a proper burial. Finally put those four to rest.” She explains, sounding like her old self again. “You and I will never move on if we coexist with these.” She admits, and Link agrees.

They stand quiet for a moment. The dust settles. “I‘ll draw a bath for you, if you would like.” He says. “I can start on some dinner, too.”

“That would be lovely.” Zelda smiles.

They have to catch a frog that was sitting in the wooden tub before Link starts bringing in water from the well, and as they chase the bugger, Zelda hears Link’s laugh for the first time in a hundred years. His real laugh, not a polite chuckle or a distant giggle as she watched over him from the Sanctum, but an actual, full-body laugh as he chased the frog. Her entire demeanor softens as she hears it, her heart racing. He rarely laughed when he served as her Knight, and it would always be because of something Mipha said. His laugh now sounded joyous, safe. She needed to hear it.

She looks at the warm bath, Link taking time to heat the water with coals underneath before she gets in. He goes to yank the screen closed, leaving behind a towel, and some soap made out of goat milk from the farm up the mountain. He explains to her that he’s gonna take care of some things outside of the house while she’s getting clean. That he won’t leave, but he’ll get out of the house so she has total privacy. He rambles about taking care of Epona and then picking some endura shrooms for dinner. With a toothy grin he teases about maybe finding a truffle.

“Just yell my name if you need anything and I’ll come running.” He says as he places some folded clean clothes on a stool for her. “Tomorrow we can go to the general store and get you some new clothes. For now you can wear these. The trousers might be a little big, but the shirt is from when I first woke up and I was a skinny little thing. The ghost of your dad actually gave it to me.” Link laughs, clearly happy to have a companion. “I’ve bulked up since then.” He jokingly flexes his bicep and Zelda giggles.

“Link-“ She tilts her head, almost scolding him.

“Alright, alright, I’m going!” He leaves, and Zelda can’t stop smiling. He’s come out of his shell so much. A hundred years ago he never spoke, and mainly communicated through sign language. She wondered if he even remembered his signs. The two of them would speak frequently through them. He taught her the entire language, it took the full year they spent at each other's side, but by the time all the divine beasts were being piloted she was almost fluent. She misses that. Sometimes he would sign things to her as she stood behind her father, trying to make her laugh and get her in trouble. It worked one too many times.

And he really had bulked up, even from when she knew him first.

She shakes her head, reminding herself that she mustn't think like that. Not about her closest friend. She sighs, truly alone for the first time in a century.

She looks down at her hands, dirty and frail. She kicks her sandals off and her feet are so sensitive to every feeling. In fact, every part of her skin feels hyper-sensitive to every sensation. She takes a deep breath, she had forgotten what it was like to breathe in. She does it ten times. Zelda then touches the water with her hand, sighing at the feeling of it. She forgot what water even felt like.

The princess stretches, and then goes to take off the white goddess gown. She freezes, not being able to bring herself to do it. Her hands start to shake, and she frowns.

“Pull yourself together, Zelda.” She mumbles to herself. She then pulls the dress up over her head, dropping it to the ground and leaving herself naked. Along with the dress, she feels like she pulls off a piece of her identity. She was truly relieved and thankful the fight was over, especially because it felt like it would never end, but she’s terrified of what comes next. She wore that damned dress for one hundred and three years. And as easy as it went on, it came off. It came off along with her jewelry, the bracelets and necklace. She stands there in complete vulnerability, heart racing.

A lump forms in her throat and she pushes it down. Looking at the white rags on the ground. She carefully steps into the basin of water, gasping as she sits in it. It takes a moment for her to control her breathing. When she doesn’t, she sighs and settles into the water, her heart relaxing. She closes her eyes and then dunks her head underwater, letting all of her long hair get wet. She blows bubbles out of her nose, and runs her hands up and down her skin. She resurfaces, tilting her head back to keep the hair out of her face, and then wipes the water off of her eyes.

Baptism. She thinks. Washing away her sins, and restarting.

She cries exactly three tears. She isn’t sure if it’s because of relief or anxiety or exhaustion and excitement or all of the above.

She sits there for a long time, not moving. It feels good to be in the water, she feels comfortable and safe. She tries to bring herself to move but can’t, maybe her muscles were finally settling into exhaustion. She just sits there, not even really thinking, just existing quietly.

It was simultaneously silent and blaring loud all of the time inside of the trance-like-state she lived in while sealing away The Calamity. Her heart rate finally relaxes, and her eyes even droop for a moment. She has to repeatedly remind herself that she was safe. Maybe one day she would be able to believe that. The water started to get cool, and so she finally moved. It was nice to experience real peace for the first time maybe ever.

Zelda reaches for the bar of soap.

She scrubs away a century of dirt and grime, and it comes off with very little effort. The soap is soft, she appreciates that it came from the locals, and that Link had it at all. He isn’t half as put-together and tidy as he was when he served as her knight. His hair is longer, and it sticks out in all sorts of directions. He’s missing a chunk of cartilage from his right ear, and he’s more scarred, especially on his face. Zelda hopes that isn’t the result of carelessness, she couldn’t bear the thought of Link being put in danger even though he is the most capable person in all of Hyrule. But ever since he nearly died in her arms at Fort Hateno decades ago, she can’t stomach it. She watched in pain and disarray as he threw himself at every monster, every challenge, unfaltering and unafraid.

When she gets out of the bath, she starts to shiver, her body still not used to regulating its temperature again. Zelda quickly dries herself off and gets dressed. The clothes are even a little big on her, and more revealing in some places than she would have ever worn in her past life. She shrugs, and pulls the screen open.

Just as he had promised, he wasn’t in the house. She glanced around, taking in the surroundings even more, trying to get her bearings again. Link doesn’t have much, and what he does have looks mostly like junk. Zelda wasn’t sure how long she was going to be here, but her guess was a long time. It’s not like she has anywhere else to go anymore.

Knowing that Link won’t bother her until she goes looking for him, Zelda takes this as an opportunity to snoop. Not out of malice, but simply because she wants to know more about this new Link, and she’s too afraid to ask still. In her heart, he’s the same devoted and stoic Knight of few words, but she knows deep down that’s not who he is anymore.

In the corner of the room, there’s a work table, one with an old bow on it. She walks to it, examining the weapon. There’s a series of knots on the body of the bow, some Rito and some Gerudo. He seemed to be practicing on the bow, not using it for any combat. There’s a broken-up ruby on the desk, too. Zelda turns around, the front door is open, but she can’t see him. She continues her exploration.

The kitchen is lovely, nicer than anywhere else in the house. Clearly Link had spent some time fixing it up. There were dried herbs on the wall, and a few pieces of paper hanging up with recipes scribbled on them. His handwriting has not improved since she first knew him.

She notices all his different pairs of shoes by the door, he must store his extra clothes that he doesn’t use very often here. She’s never seen him in anything other than his Hylian boots, but here there were a pair of Shekiah sandals, Gerudo Voe slippers, and a pair of snow boots. His feet were big, she picked up one of the shoes, examining it. She noticed there was more wear and tear on the left shoes than the right, implying that he preferred his left side. She sets the shoe down and looks up the stairs to the loft. She peers out of the door again, making sure he wasn’t nearby. She didn’t want to invade his privacy, but couldn’t help her curiosity. Besides, Link has never been that private anyways.

Zelda creeps up the stairs, and when she gets to the top she nearly collapses. She does not have the strength for stairs yet. All there was in the loft was a single bed, it was a double size, though, and a dresser. On top of the dresser was a vase. It was full of flowers that Link had surely picked. All of them were beautiful still, and most importantly, all of them were silent princesses.

Zelda’s favorite flower. She swallows back a tear, walking to them. A few had wilted already, she wondered when he picked them. If he hadn’t been here in nearly a half a year, they couldn't have lasted that long. Or could they? She wasn’t sure. In her youth she never dared pick any because of how rare they were. Are they still so rare? Do they have prolonged longevity? Her mind started rising with questions, and her heart started racing out of excitement, the way science and asking questions used to make her feel. She picks them out of the vase, examining them in between her hands and even smelling one. The scent was diving, and she sighed as she exhaled.

She freezes after processing what the flowers were, what they could have stood for. Did he really collect all of these for her? She shakes the ridiculous idea out of her head. What a silly, schoolgirl thought to have. She sets the flowers back.

Zelda wastes no more time snooping, and instead decides to step outside. It was golden hour now, and the warm sun felt incredible on her skin. She took it in for a moment, savoring every single human moment she experiences because she never thought she would get them again.

She savors the feeling of the grass against her bare feet, wiggling her toes with joy. She can’t help the smile that grins across her face. Her skin tickles with it, the feeling still incredibly sensitive. She giggles a few times, and then turns around the house where the stable was, in search for her friend.

A shirtless, toned and sweaty Link tosses a bale of hay into a pile, lifting it high over his head with ease. His biceps flex as he tosses it, his skin slightly sun kissed from the work, and his hair somehow even more disheveled than before. He discarded his shirt on the fence, letting it hang out next to the undershirt he wore, and some chainmail. His chest glistens in the sun, sparkling from the light peppering of sweat over his pectorals. He’s scarred to high-heaven, old cuts and gashes healed with scar-tissue that stretched along his muscles.

Zelda’s face goes bright red when she sees him, immediately turning around to go back inside, but that’s when Link sees her.

“You’re finished!” He chimes cheerily, jogging over to her. She turns around slowly and painfully, her entire body tense because of the sight. Of course she had seen him shirtless, he was practically naked as the day he was born when he woke up in the Shrine of Resurrection, but she was watching him through lense that made it feel more detached, less real. And before the two of them were sealed away from the outside world, she had never even dreamed of seeing him in such a state. They were both too uptight with their titles. Oh how the times have changed. Even if she had seen him partially-nude, it was never this close, never this…detailed. She could smell him, the scent of hard work and horse-hair displayed in the most appealing aroma of a man she could think of. She makes a special effort to look at him directly in the eye, not daring to look anywhere else. The cherry on top? Link had no idea what he was doing to her.

“I-It was lovely,” She stutters over her words like a fool, She takes a shaken breath and then chooses to sign “Thank you.” She forces a smile, was he going to remember.

Link smiles wide and immediately signs back “You’re welcome, I’m happy you know how to sign, too!” And then he dropped it as fast as he picked it up, he used to rely on it so heavily but he doesn’t need it like he used to. He continues speaking verbally: “I’m glad! I’ll go drain the bath! Hudson and Bolson made this fancy contraption that dumps the gray water into a big ole bowl under the house!” He articulates with his hands, showing just how big the bowl really was. Zelda’s heart dropped a little, she was sad he didn’t remember that he was who taught her their special language. But at least he remembered.

She looks at him, pulled into his elaborate explanation of the water invention…his skin looked so soft, so inviting. “And then it drains into a monster camp down the hill! They drink it or something and everyone’s happy! It’s really quite clever, you know.” He smiles a wide, toothy grin. Zelda had never seen him get so excited about anything before the calamity. She was struggling not to fall apart out of embarrassment as he talked, though.

“Fascinating… I would like t-to see it.” She smiled politely, hoping she doesn’t look as foolish as she feels. “D-do you have a comb?” She asks.

He smiles and nods.

Inside of the house, it started to get dark. Link lit the few oil lamps and candles inside, but it was still dim.

Upstairs, Zelda groans frustratedly as she attempts to braid her hair. She looks at her reflection in the old mirror sitting on the dresser. No matter how hard she tries, she can’t seem to get the plaits to lay the way they’re supposed to. For whatever reason, she is incapable of being able to braid her hair in any way. She can’t seem to remember, and no matter how hard she tries, the hair just won’t knot correctly. Link heard her frustration, and out of both curiosity and a desire to protect her, he steps away from the dinner he prepares, and treads up the stairs carefully.

“Zel? Is everything okay?” He asks gently.

“I’m fine!” She sighs exasperatedly. Link stops in his tracks, not wanting to bother her, but still being concerned. She was clearly not fine. He observes the situation, and sees the problem. He walks towards her, not wanting to upset her further, but wanting to be helpful.

“May I?” He asks, gesturing to the comb he let her borrow (that he “borrowed” from Riju… she still doesn’t know he has it).

She sighs, “No.”

Link is a little taken back by that.

“I don’t need your help.” She swallows, looking at herself in the reflection, a frown plastered across her face.

“Okay.” He nods and turns to go. Accepting her wish. “Dinner is ready, come down whenever you feel like it.” He says over his shoulder before continuing. She watches him, frustrated with herself and embarrassed that she can’t do something so simple anymore. When he walks down the stairs and is out of sight, she lets go and silently drops a few tears. Only a few, and she quickly wipes them away. How pathetic she thinks to herself.

She stands up, taking the comb and walking downstairs.

He plates the food he made, whistling a distantly-familiar song as he did so. Zelda sits with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders at the table, watching him, now he has a shirt on, finally. It wasn’t his blue tunic, however, it was a soft, emerald green tunic. She didn’t recognize it. It was big on him, like it was supposed to have chainmail and an undershirt, too. Either that or Link was just too small for it.

“What is that song?” She asks.

“Hm?” Link turns around with the bowls in his hand, “Oh, I’m not sure. It came to me in a dream once.” He whistles it again, down middle up, down middle up. It was the song of forests, and fairy children, but neither of them knew that. “Here, it's vegetable cream soup. I know it’s not the most glamorous mela but I was able to get the ingredients in town while you bathed, and it's filling.” He sets it down in front of her and she looks down at it. He then sets his serving across from her, and sits. The two looked at each other, neither knowing what to say.

How do you save the world and rid it from the most demonic and ancient of evils one day, and then the very next you’re sitting across from another eating a vegetable soup?

Link digs in first, purposefully eating it with one of his two spoons instead of swallowing it down like a shot. Zelda was a princess, after all.

Zelda stirs it around a bit, but brings some up to her lips, sipping it. She hums, “That is incredible, Link.” She says, and takes a bigger bite. “Where did you learn to cook?”

“Your dad taught me a lot, actually.” He says, “Back when I first woke up and he wasn’t really your dad.” Link takes a few more bites, trying to satiate his hunger but not pig out in front of her. “And then I just picked skills and recipes up from stable to stable. I really enjoyed it, actually. It gave me a hobby that didn’t have to do with strategy and how to kill the most bokoblins with the fewest arrows.” He shrugs, “By the wayLin, I can kill six bokoblins with two arrows and an acorn. I’ll show you sometime.” He speaks nonchalantly.

Zelda laughs at it and he looks at her with a puzzled look.

“I’m serious!” He defends himself.

“I believe you!” She smiles, “That’s what makes it so funny! No one would stand a chance against you.”

“Awe was that a compliment?” He teases and she laughs more. He succeeds at his attempt of cheering her up. “Don’t start giving me compliments, Zel, you know how my ego handles them. That has not changed in the last hundred years.” He jokes with a lighthearted air. She smiles, the two feel warm, and comfortable inside.

Could you really truly feel happy after an event like what they went through yesterday?

They both believed so.

They believed it because of the other.

Link finishes and stands up, “If you don’t want my help, I understand. But I would be happy to braid your hair for you. It’s not a problem.” Link says in a voice so gentle fairies would come to him. “And if you don’t want me to, that’s okay too. My feelings aren’t hurt.” He turns to the kitchen, leaving the choice up to her.

She sits in contemplation for a moment.

“I’m so embarrassed that I can’t do it.” She sighs. “I used to before the calamity,” the word feels like cotton in her mouth. “But I tried and I just… can’t. My fingers don’t remember how to.” She pushes the emotion down.

“Hey that’s okay!” Link places his bowl in the basin, “I had to remember how to jump when I woke up.”

She smiles, “you’ve recovered so much. I’m glad.”

He turns, “You will, too.”

She wanted to believe that.

“You taught me how to sign”. She signs to him, “Do you not remember?”

Link frowns, “I don’t, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Zelda sighs, “It was our special thing, none of the other champions could sign. Not even-“ She catches herself and doesn’t finish the sign.

“Mipha?” Link spells out her name, there wasn’t a sign for it.

“Yes…” Zelda responds verbally, a little ashamed.

They look at each other, youthful eyes who have seen horrors connect with each other.

Zelda picks up the comb and holds it out for him. He smiles and moves behind her.

He takes the comb and runs it through her long, golden hair. “Your hair grew while you were sealed away.” He says as he holds the soft hair in his calloused hands.

“What?” She asks. “No it did not!”

“Whatever you say, but I think it did.” He hums, parting it and then setting the comb down before beginning the plaits. “What do you want?” He assumes her classic hairstyle of the braided crown, but she lifts her hand to stop him when he starts braiding by her ear.

“Just one braid, all of my hair in it, please.” She asks.

Link nods and lets go of the strands he had in his hands, moving to a different part of her head to restart. He’s always been a very talented braider, even before the calamity. He does it fast, and he is very gentle with her scalp as he does it. When he gets to the bottom, the hair tapering, he realizes he doesn’t have a hair tie to secure it with. Instead of making her hold it while he looks for one, or having to restart, he pulls the blue one out of his hair, and ties Zelda's hair with it. He drapes it over her shoulder and walks away to close the window by the kitchen, his back towards her.

Zelda notices the blue, and looks up to see his hair loose and messy.

Her heart does something because of that.

“I would like to go to bed, I think.” She says. “Would you like me to sleep down here?” She asks.

Link turns around, puzzled, “No?” He furrowed his eyebrows, “I want you to sleep upstairs.”

“I thought that’s where you slept?”

“Nope, I mean I do. But not now, not when you’re here.” He shakes his head. “I can sleep outside with Epona, I sleep better that way anyways.” He shrugs. She looks at him with a blank stare, “What! The bed is clean I assure you.” He chuckles, so charming it’s stupid.

“No that’s not it.” She sighs, “You would sleep with an animal instead of inside?”

“Yeah… Do you not want to sleep in the bed?” He cannot comprehend what she was implying.

“No! I mean yes! I mean no!” She drops her head into her hands, “I would like to sleep in the bed, yes.”

“Great! I’ll sleep outside.”

“Link!”

“What?”

“Just… sleep inside, it's safer.” She suggests.

“But-“ He pauses to think about her words, folding his arms. “I do not understand? I am happy to sleep outside.”

Zelda chuckles, exhausted with his thought process. At least that didn’t change. “Fine. But really, I do not want to take your bed from you.”

“Please do! I don’t need it.” He pushes.

“Okay, okay.” She goes to stand up, but when she does, she completely collapses to the ground, hitting the wood floor hard.

Link wastes not a single second before running to her, calling her name. He kneels on the ground next to her, rolling her onto her back, and supporting her head under his hand.

“Gods, are you alright?” He asks, but she isn’t answering. “Zelda!” He calls her name, and she doesn’t answer, so he calls louder and louder, placing both of his hands on her face to try and wake her.

Link swears, and he grabs her hand to check her pulse but he’s so shaken up that he can’t feel anything. He leans his malformed ear against her lips to see if she is breathing, but that was the ear that he lost his hearing in a year and a half ago when fighting Windblight Ganon. He places his hand on her chest to feel, not caring that he was touching her in a place that he never should, just thinking about her safety. It’s rising and falling but shallow, and he quickly must consider mouth-to-mouth, grabbing an elixir that was too far away, or yelling her name one more time.

He chooses the latter.

He yells at her again, the loudest this time, at a volume that he never used, not even in battle. With a gasp for air, She finally comes to, her eyes opening but hazy and confused.

“Oh my goddess, you’re awake.” He gasps, pulling her against his body, cradling her against his chest. It felt like she was out for an eternity. “Thank Hylia.” He holds her tight.

“Link?” She asks, her voice weak. He squeezes his eyes shut, keeping her close.

“Shit please don’t scare me like that again.” He says, his voice quivering. He pulls away from her and she looks up at him, her eyes welling with tears. “It’s okay, it’s okay I got you.” He holds her again, “You’re safe.”

You’re safe.

—

Chapter three

[skyward-floored]

Well I have been unmasked as an enjoyer of IAU/DIAU. Not that I was trying to hide it. XD

If you'd like a little prompty ask, maybe consider an extra villain/hero posted outside the Forester residence as the whole Arrest Thing goes down, watching, waiting to see if anyone emerges.

XD Hey I'm really flattered you like them!! It means a lot, especially since this au is... a little complicated by merit of it being several alternate universes in haha. I tweaked your prompt a little, and my allergies and/or cold is hitting hard today, but I hope you enjoy regardless XD

...

It had been fifteen minutes since he'd heard any noise.

Yuga blew out a breath through his nose, tapping his foot impatiently. He'd wanted to keep an eye on this mission, not be assigned directly to it, but here he was, waiting for the squad to come out with the targets in hand. Apparently this was something of a big deal, and Dark had insisted on him being here.

Yuga didn’t really care. Dark had his agenda, and Yuga had his.

Admittedly though, a part of him was eagerly anticipating getting to see that idiot teenager Ravio be dragged out, maybe even begging for mercy and apologizing for ever daring to work under his nose. But he'd wanted to do it from the comfort of his office. Not... here.

Yuga wrinkled his nose as he glanced around the neighborhood again, the drab domesticity of it making his gorge rise. There was certainly no beauty to be found here. Well, apart from his own, anyway.

At least he was just here to monitor the situation. He wouldn't have to get his hands dirty, though he was technically prepared to do so if the situation arose. He'd rather prefer not to though.

"Sir?"

Yuga whirled around, one of the soldiers that had been sent inside having come up on him without his notice. "What is it?" he snapped, and the man swallowed, trying to surreptitiously wipe some dirt off his uniform.

"We've successfully arrested Malon Lon Forester, code identifier "Malanya". Cryonis has secured her," he reported.

"Is that all?" Yuga sniffed suspiciously, and the man shuffled his feet, looking awkward.

"No, sir. The uh, other targets are... currently unreachable."

"What?" Yuga hissed, and the man shrank back.

"W-well sir, the targets escaped down to the basement area, but a stray shot from Cryonis blocked off the door... we have no way of entering the area until the ice melts," he admitted, and Yuga gripped his hands into fists so tight that he was sure they left marks on his palms.

"Well then why aren't you calling HQ and requesting someone with fire powers?" Yuga growled, his eye twitching.

"B-because, uh... we got the prisoner to reveal that there's a secret exit, and the targets are likely nowhere near here by now?" he squeaked.

"YOU COULDN'T HAVE LED WITH THAT?!" Yuga roared, and the man squeaked again, fumbling with his weapon. "GO CALL IN A PYROKINETIC! I WANT THEM FOUND!"

"Yes sir!" the man said with a yelp, and scurried away, leaving Yuga to fume at the news that Ravio had escaped him again.

That child... that idiot, tacky-clothed child... had somehow gotten away?

Yuga shook in place, so mad he almost considered going after the soldier and firing him on the spot, but then the main group came out of the house, and he turned his ire on them instead.

"Cryonis!" he snarled, and stomped his way over to the man. He had blood running from his nose and his hair was far from the neat style it usually rested in, but Yuga for once didn't care. "You lost us more than half of our targets! You couldn't even capture a couple of children?"

"I can't control everything that happens in battle," Cryonis said in a somewhat stuffed-sounding voice, giving him a cool look. The prisoner glanced between them, and Yuga noted that despite the blood and mess on her face, at least she had some beauty to her. "I got one of our two main targets. Ravio and the other children were second priority, and the healer wasn't even here."

"It was still your fault they got away," Yuga said in a low voice, and leaned in close to his face. "I will be reporting this to your superior."

Cryonis shrugged, looking exhausted. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

Yuga glared at him, but Cryonis returned his attention to their single prisoner, taking her by the arm and forcing her away from the house. Yuga watched them go with narrowed eyes, still furious at the less-than desirable results they'd ended up with, and then strutted away towards the building.

Idiot super. It seemed like Cryonis especially was making more and more mistakes like that. At least he’d managed to do one thing right, even if it wasn’t the one Yuga wanted done.

He huffed as he strode through the ruined door, his boots crunching across broken glass. If it came to it, he’d chip that ice away himself.

He wasn’t letting that brat get away from him again.

[humanjeff]

Scarlet Nexus

got gifted this 2021-era game randomly by a friend, and ... it's kinda great actually?

it calls itself "brainpunk", which is exactly like cyberpunk only with the word "brain" stuck in front of everything to denote that it's weird psychic technology. this doesn't quite work, but I freely admit that I would definitely 100% call psychic texts "brain messages".

"I AM SENDING YOU A BRAIN MESSAGE. FROM MY BRAIN." <- all my friends would get this Brain Message every single day, until they Brain Blocked me

anyway, first I should cover the bad: this is an anime-style game; some of the characters have semi-skimpy outfits (however there's zero fanservice). the main character in the male playthrough is of the Romantically Oblivious subtype that - naturally - all the girls incessantly flirt with. some of the jokes are ... dated, or poorly translated. at it's heart it's a JRPG, so there's a fair bit of grinding. etc.

now the parts I like: the game is all kinds of fucked up.

[I'll try to stick to non-plot spoilers (i.e. background info) but I probably won't 100% succeed.]

at the start of the game, you pick one of two different characters, which follow two radically different plotlines - I chose the male, Yuito. both characters are psychokinetic (though their weapons differ), both are new volunteers in the psychic branch of the military. after selecting your character you get to watch as the special brain equipment is attached to you and your fellow volunteers/conscripts and you all collapse screaming in agony. perfectly normal start to a game.

yeah so straight away it's revealed that most of the soldiers - not just the new guys - look like teenagers, and are being given grown blockers to slow their aging (to various degrees). if you pay attention to what one of the characters says about how she was forcibly conscripted a few years earlier, you start to realise that the occasional Actual Children you see walking about are extremely powerful psychics subjected to mandatory enlistment when they were very young; they invariably outrank you.

older-looking soldiers are either new adult conscripts (that everyone expects to die) or child soldiers that the growth blockers are ceasing to work on.

also hey there is government censorware in your eyes that prevents you from seeing certain things. don't worry about it!

so on to the game itself. first of all, you don't have skills as such - you modify your own brain. sometimes the map of your brain gets larger and more irregular. don't worry about it!

you are in a squad of guys with variable powers (different to your own) that you can briefly share. as you hang out in your Secret Teen Hideout and become closer and more compatible, this sharing will start to last longer, and you will begin to have visions of your friends that will help you out. sometimes you become them, just for a second. this is normal and fine. sometimes you forget little things, like who is supposed to be giving you orders, or which side you're on, or how you got here, but on the other hand nobody is stopping you from dressing as bad as you could ever want.

haha you can put a stuffed owl on your head! there's a hole in the sky that nobody talks about any more.

after a while, you unlock the Brain Field power, or as I prefer to think of it, AKIRA MODE, where you become psychically overpowered and get to smash everything. your character staggers around drunkenly, clutching their head and laughing and saying things like "I'll destroy EVERYTHING!", "WITNESS my POWER!" and so on. it's unbelievably fun, and will immediately kill you after a few seconds. none of your friends - who see all this - ever tell you to stop doing it.

none of this, though, prepares you for the moment when the media - having had all their computers trashed - releases a sketch of a suspected criminal (the other playable character). I'm putting it behind a break for reasons that I hope will be self-explanatory.

(the effect this picture has on your squad is devastating, by which I mean it immediately cures them of all some of their ailments.)

[macgyvermedical]

Hi! I am working on a fic in which the main character (superhero in the MCU) gets hit by a villain's unknown gas that causes extreme and irritational fear/paranoia/anxiety (sort of similar to the DCU's fear toxin, I guess). I'm just wondering how this would work medically, as the character will obviously see a doctor after the fact. I'd like the conclusion to essentially be "you'll just have to let the toxin/drugs run their course," but what kind of tests would be run, and would they be able to determine what exactly is in the character's system? (Since it's a reality-flexible universe, there can be elements of the toxin that aren't actually real or familiar/recognizable to make it cause some of the reactions I'm wanting.) Is there any sort of meds they might give the character? Any insights you might have to make the conversation with the doctor at least a little realistic would be very helpful, thank you! :)

Sounds like a pretty standard day on my observation unit haha.

There are lots of drugs, particularly stimulants, club drugs, and THC, that can cause paranoia and anxiety. The thing is, none of them do it consistently enough that you could easily make them into a chemical weapon like you're describing.

The closest IRL chemical weapon to a fear toxin is called QNB (aka BZ). QNB is a deliriant/incapacitant, meaning that it causes incapacitating confusion, hallucinations, and probably paranoia and anxiety as well without causing death. There is no antidote that has been identified, and the drug really does just need to run it's course.

Let's say your character went to the emergency room. They'd probably draw some blood and take a urine sample. The blood would mostly be used to see how the person was doing physically (what their electrolyte levels were, how many red and white blood cells they have, what their blood glucose is, etc...) and maybe get an alcohol level. The urine would be used to do a urinalysis (basic test to determine whether someone has a UTI or has things in their urine that shouldn't be there, like blood or mucous) and a urine tox screen.

Unlike what most people think, a urine tox screen won't identify everything. It will just identify the top 10 commonly abused drugs. It's the same test that they run when people start a new job. If the fear toxin is a common problem in-universe, though, they might have a specific test for that that could also be run on the blood or urine. We don't have a specific test for QNB.

Once they got all the tests back and they were normal, they would know this was probably either a drug they couldn't identify or a psych problem. They might gets seen by a psychiatrist in the emergency department, but if intoxication was suspected (as in, the patient reported that their symptoms started when they were exposed to a drug), psych would probably want to wait until the person was sober.

For this they may be admitted to an observation unit to let the drug run its course. They might also be given an antipsychotic medication like olanzepine or haloperidol, or a benzodiazepine like lorazepam to decrease agitation/paranoia/anxiety.

If the person was a flight risk due to their paranoia and it was deemed that they couldn't make good decisions for themselves, they might also have a 1:1 sitter or a video sitter to stay with them and stop them from leaving (or in the case of a video sitter, alert nursing staff to them trying to leave).

[harus-simp]

Everything's alright

-Gunwook x reader-

Warning:none,just really fluffy 😚

Requested: heyyy could u do a gunwook one in which y/n, who's a really strong person, always tough, doesnt cry easily .etc, suddenly starts crying one day while watching a sad movie and how gunwook gets shocked and comforts them,yeah bye haha (Anonymous)

Author's note: hey there anon,here's your request ;))

Thank you for waiting patiently, I really hope you like it <3

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When someone asks gunwook to describe you strong is the first word that comes to him, however his opinion might have changed due to a small act of yours.

When someone thinks of you they don't immediately relate you with a fragile and vulnerable person, quite the opposite actually.

You are known in your school for being like a hard rock, not in the sense of being too serious or too stone faced, but rather having a hard exterior.

In all these years spend at this school nobody had seen you cry once, not once. You don't consider yourself insensitive tho,it's just you didn't need to cry to express your empathy or your understanding in itself (at least when other people were present)

Gunwook your boyfriend found it at first admirable and a little scary at times, because he was the complete opposite. He considered himself a crybaby, he really was a lot more sensitive and connected with people easier.

But throughout time he got used to your behaviour and accepted it completely.

However today was the day were he would see a completely new side to you.

.

.

.

The day was too cold to go out so you both just decided to stay inside and enjoy each other's company. Being as close as you could was an absolute blessing for him so he was really grateful for the weather that day specifically

You had opted to just cuddle and watch a movie which you would obviously pay no attention to, or so did gunwook thought.

He first brought a huge blanket to wrap you both in order to heat you up and keep you warm. Then he came with a bowl full of popcorn because what is a movie without it? Well still a movie, but the fun is not there (you know what I mean, right?💀)

As he had brought the essentials,now was the time to actually choose the movie, which always resulted horribly as y'all's tastes were completely different. While you preferred horror movies and those kind of creepy ones, he was really fond of these cheesy romantic ones. Two complete opposite genres.

"Babe please let's watch this one, you know I don't like horror movies"he said while putting his best puppy eyes so you could give in.

"And I don't like romantic movies!!!!"you whined

"Yeah, but the past few times we've watched what you wanted, now it's my turn!"

(Don't know if you seemed like an old couple bickering or siblings tbh hashjwj)

"But-"

"Pleaseeee"

And before you could protest he used his lethal weapon, his gummy smile. He began smiling and laughing at the situation purposely for you to give out to his petition.

And who were you to turn him down, with that cutie grin that was on his face? Nah, incapable of that.

"Alright..."

And that's how he got what he wanted, yeah that pretty smile of his was definitely a problem at this point.

However, the cheesy movie turned quickly into a quite sad one. The main leads were going through a harsh breakup.And that's one of the reasons you didn't like this type of films. You were really cold towards the outside, but in reality you were actually quite sensitive.

Sad things made you cry quite easily, but you didn't want to show a vulnerable image towards others, so when the nostalgic and sadder part came you inevitably started sobbing in silence, not wanting to worry your boyfriend.

But gunwook was not dumb, he noticed it instantly being shocked about it.

"He-hey, jagiya are you okay?"he said pulling you closer to his embrace and engulfing you in a bear hug holding you close.

"Yeah"

"What is it babe? You know you can tell me, I would never find anything weird or silly if it comes from you,you know".

And that was enough for you to break and tell him how you felt.

"It's just that this movie is really sad"you answered hugging him tightly

And that made him giggle lightly at your cute behaviour.

"Awww, don't worry y/nnie it's just a story"

"Gunwook, please let's not end like that"

And he didn't even hesitate for a second, kissing your lips softly preventing you from talking. And as he separated he took your hand and gave it a light peck.

"I would never let that ever happen to us y/nnie, I love you too much to let you go through that"

"Thank you gunwookie, I love you so much"

"I love you too y/nnie"

And just like that you cuddled for the rest of the day as he would refuse to let you go in that state (and perhaps he didn't want to break apart either ajssjs).

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[dr-docktor]

Local Docktor thinks its a fantastic idea to crossover his two biggest interests at the moment.

First for some context (don't worry, I'll keep it brief). One of my best friends has been working on a table-top RPG since like high school called Percentile. And its the main game that the group plays for our campaigns. Thus, it never leaves my head.

You know what else doesn't leave my head? Spies are Forever.

So here I am. Planning out what theoretical character sheets would look like for Owen and Curt. I'm so normal. I swear. Below the cut includes my insane ramblings on this topic.

I will also be playing a little fast and loose with some of the rules here because making character sheets in this game, while fun, is LENGTHY. And I'm insane but I'm not THAT insane

Ok so I want to start with Owen because I'm making him a mage and I LOVE building mages.

For the sake of simplicity I'm gonna keep 'em both human. (boring I know. but the list of ancestries is so long it almost overwhelms me for this)

To quickly explain the percentages: That is basically your rate of success on any given skill/action. So the higher the number, the more likely they are to succeed!

Owen's Stats

Power represents magic. POW is just another word for mana. And size mainly only impacts things like how easy you are to tackle/grapple and what spaces you can squeeze into.

So he's got 10 HP

14 POW

2 Soak (armor, it takes 2 points off of whatever damage they were hit with)

+28 initiative bonus (initiative dictates who goes first in combat. The higher your number, the more likely you are to go first)

and can move 5 squares per turn (turns last 6 seconds), or 6 if he runs.

All fairly standard for a human mage. The interesting stuff starts with choosing his spells.

In Percentile, the standard mage can have a few collections of spells called Spell Schools. They can only have one spell from each school prepared at once but can spend 6 hours a day switching them out safely (or do it within seconds if you wanna feel the consequences)

So here's the spell schools I think he'd have

BLAST -> its in the name, you get several spells that are just different types of blasts. So magical bullets, lasers, etc.

CHANGE -> He'd probably use this spell school mainly for his DMA disguise but instead of a mask he can physically change his appearance for several hours a day.

VISION -> Great for espionage and detective work. Spells include making you really good at looking for stuff, being able to see events that transpired previously within a room, and gathering information.

WOUNDING -> Gives him access to several magical bladed weapons. Good for Torture and homosexually sword fighting your ex lover.

really good... ouch.

Skills/knowledges are another story and are one of my least favorite parts of character building so I'll briefly go over it.

High intimidation, spot hidden (looking for stuff. almost every percentile character needs a decent spot hidden), move quietly, resist, and rapine (rapine is like sleight of hand, pickpocketing, handling small and/or delicate things)

Middling physical skills like jumping, climbing, etc. first aid, hide, and survival

Low grapple.

His knowledges would include

High performance (haha actor man), espionage, and literacy

Middling lore

Low cooking. and everything else. He can cook its just all post WWII British food which I think should qualify for being bad at it.

OK NOW FOR MY FAVORITE PART: Traits and Scars.

SCARS

his scars include more physical stuff like reduced hearing and chronic pain (player would roll a dice to see how bad the pain is that day to see if he needs to use a mobility device). But also include

Untrusting - CHAR INT based - compelled to roll an idea check to see if someone is lying every time he starts a new interaction with someone. On a fail he believes they are lying no matter what

POSSIBLE TRAITS

Magic Hair, for my long-haired Owen fans. Basically he has hair that's so cool it makes him more charismatic.

Strong Promises. Whenever the character makes a promise, they get a bonus to whatever stat that will help them achieve that promise.

Plotting. Whenever characters with this trait record or speak out a plan, it functions as if they practiced it for an additional day. Perfect for villain monologues.

Pull At Soul. Characters with this trait declare a goal during each level up. These goals can be something like “plan with everyone in the party about the mission & use that plan”, it can be “avenge my fathers killer” “seek out & find the sage” or more abstract things, “Die & be born anew in the eyes of my community” or “See the moon as it truly is”. They cannot tell any other characters about this goal. Once they achieve this goal as determined by them & the GM, anytime they are at 1 HP they can choose to level up.

Buddies! -> Select another character. Decide on a secret handshake, set of gestures, or exchange. It does not have to be uniform, but does have to be meaningful. Anytime you perform this with them, and one of you gains exhaustion, instantly both of you gain 1d3 to a stat. They do not have to be the same stat, select them when you take the maneuver. If the other dies, this trait is removed, granting the character back the trait points, and the character gains a -1d3 to that stat forever.  (THE FUCKING HANDSHAKE)

I think that's all for Owen!!

It's Curt's turn!

God I was SO tempted to make him a Ragamuffin for this. But I'm sticking with humans. I don't even know why. I just think it would be funny. Something fun about the 'brute' being made of fabric and fluff.

Anyway. Stats!!

12 HP

8 POW (not important given he's a fighter and not a mage)

3 soak

+27 Initiative bonus

and can move 4 squares per turn, 6 squares if he's running.

Instead of spells, fighters get weapon proficiencies and maneuvers! Maneuvers are basically fancy fighting styles and actions.

Possible weapon options: Short sword (what they fight with in the show), a gun, and fisticuffs. Mages also get a weapon or two and tbh these could all apply to Owen too.

Possible maneuvers:

Taunt -> It is what it says on the tin, mock your opponent to try and make them get sloppy and target you instead of your allies.

Reckless Strike Back -> When dodging an attack, you can take one extra damage to attempt to hit your opponent back. If you fail you take extra damage.

Induced Sloppiness -> Make yourself unpredictable! on a success you get bonuses to damage and to land hits. Those attacks are really difficult to parry and dodge. On a fail your opponent gets a bonus to parrying and dodging.

Dodging into My Blade -> you must have this maneuver readied. If you opponent dodges your or your allies attack while this is readied, you can basically say "Lmaoooo" and attack them again

Skills!

High physical stuff like jumping and climbing, resist, move quietly, hide

Middling intimidation, spot hidden, repine, and grapple

Low first aid (scared of own blood) and listen.

Knowledges!

High linguistics, cooking, and espionage

Middling riding arts (for cars and stuff)

Low almost everything else (doesn't mean he's dumb. Fighters just aren't built for having a ton of knowledges)

Possible Scars!

Alcoholic - CON based - Roll a withstand check upon the GM's orders to see if you feel the urge to take a drink. On a fail you either take a swig or suffer withdrawal

Bad With Magic - POW and CON based - Anytime characters with this scar roll a check involving power expenditure, the GM describes it as if they are deeply unsettled by it, that it seems strange, random and scary, and that they are somehow making a mistake, regardless of what the magic does, how it functions, or if they succeeded or not. 

Possible Traits!

Buddies! -> Select another character. Decide on a secret handshake, set of gestures, or exchange. It does not have to be uniform, but does have to be meaningful. Anytime you perform this with them, and one of you gains exhaustion, instantly both of you gain 1d3 to a stat. They do not have to be the same stat, select them when you take the maneuver. If the other dies, this trait is removed, granting the character back the trait points, and the character gains a -1d3 to that stat forever.  (THE FUCKING HANDSHAKE AGAIN)

Poison Blood -> Anyone eating characters with this trait takes 1d6 necrotic damage per SIZ consumed, and the character can take 1 HP from themselves to coat weapons in their blood, which deals 1d4 necrotic damage or stuns the enemy for 1d4-1 turns. It will add this effect to 1 attack until it dries in 3d6+CON turns. (something something alcohol-poisoned blood)

Sturdy ->  While at max HP characters with this trait cannot be reduced below 1 HP in one hit.

Natural Jester -> Anytime characters with this trait crit fail any check, anyone who witnesses it must roll a withstand check or be stunned for 1 turn. 

Fast to The Fight -> Add +3 to initiative rolls (can be taken more than once)

There's actually a TON of traits that could fit Curt but I'm capping it off here because I will go overboard.

Anyway thanks for reading! Sorry if any of this is incomprehensible.

[drawnaghht]

btw, if you liked my post analysing just the magnet "holsters" in Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles, I'm eventually gonna post more outfit description/analysis! just cuz I've already been writing some longer descriptions for a while now - that's one of my fave things to research and write about, since it can be good art reference for my own drawings, and especially since I can go through the episodes looking for anything new to write down or connect :)

Also, thank you so much for the replies on my post! LOVING the reactions I'm seeing on it, I didn't expect this to do numbers at all but I'm pleased people enjoy reading me ramble about details in a show I like haha xD I don't usually get replies on my other fandom posts, so this is very surprising, even here. I'm touched!

Replies below! :)

@ranarenee - I already replied to you on the original post, but I genuinely just wanted to feature this comment cuz I'm glad ppl are having a positive reaction to this post xD

I also think it was probably a bit easier to animate them! in addition, because it provides an interesting change of technology in the world of Usagi Chronicles, it means that it might have become more interesting to design this hypothetical descendant-world. I'm sure they might have also just thought it was an interesting and unique element of what they were making, but from Art Director Khang Le and Stan Sakai's CBCC interview, and the SDCC@ Home 2021 panel I remember it was mentioned a few times how many clever things they found to make the production spending smaller on the more trivial things.... so the magnetic holsters feels like a thing that might have hit many birds with one stone, so-to-speak. You have the easier drawing of boards and maybe a few things made lighter for the 3D crew (no extra models or rope to animate, for example), but you also have a pleasing design element to give the main fighters in the cast - Usagi, Gen and Chizu - as well as other characters who would happen to wear weapons on their person aside from Karasu-Tengu. Like mentioned in the post, Kitsune is an interesting exception here, because of course, she's based on UY Kitsune who is also not a direct fighter or anything, but also, the world of SR appears to be at peace of some sort, and it's mentioned several times that there were wars at some point, so not many ordinary citizens of Neo would even have these unless they wanted to use or carry weapons every day. Kitsune wants to blend in with this ordinary citizenry and does so quite well.

I just thought of this today and I guess my post sort of mentioned it, but this existence of the magnets also seems to imply some hierarchy of income or money flow. Kitsune doesn't have any because she doesn't need them and she wouldn't spend money she doesn't have on them anyway. Chizu is Lady Fuwa's favourite student despite how she treats her - and gets the best undercover gear, so like Gen and Usagi, custom magnets. I suspect also that Chizu deliberately somehow got herself assigned to the temple-job (headcanon for now), or perhaps hoped it would be something like that, because she didn't want to get any of the more victim-heavy missions the Neko Ninja do. Gen obviously has spent his own money on the holsters and they are there out of pure practicality - can't be a bounty-hunter without wepons, can you? So the magnets seem more like they're ordinary but custom for the outfit. And Usagi, as discussed before, possibly inherited them because of the clan mon adorning the inlay of the magnet.

@kinokothere - thank you!! I will probably continue making posts like this even if I have no audience! why I made this blog at first was to collect my SRTUC fandom theories and drawings under a more organized platform compared to twitter, where this specific fan-account started. I now write almost explusively about SRTUC so you can bet I have way fewer notes than if I wrote about shipping or something else popular for example xD

Thank you @0yasumi-0-ya-su-mi! it's a fun little world-building detail that I really liked when I started wtaching and I hope other fans also include it more in their work x3

@umhuhwellthen x3 thank you!! i love seeing reactiong tags like this one!

[pyro-madder]

50 for the ask game pls!! As I remember, you have Morgana and Nicholas, they were both very funny and cool in your drawings!

yeeesss morganico !! unleashed............

nico looks so damn lost without his mask it cracks me up everytime

first things first, they were both pre-existing OCs that i decided to play as, rather than come up with a new guy on the spot. this is a disclaimer of sorts -- any similarities in design and naming between nicolas and a certain canon character are coincidental, i swear ! although, as i've come to joke : "the line is thin, between the nicc, and the micc"...

So, Nicolas, my blind first run - he's an alchemist, so I picked "professional" regardless of what stats it would give me, ending up with a skill + strength build in the long run. He uses the saw spear and pistol, and wears the student robes above the hunter set.

Being my first run in my first fromsoft, he's a fairly basic, generalist build, so now that I'm acquainted with the game i would like to experiment with beasthood gameplay - because lore-wise nicolas is supposed to be the "beast" to morgana's "arcane". I'd also like to play around with fire and electricity, being an alchemist and all. That will be for when i pick up his NG+ ...

Nicolas is quiet and mild-mannered, and unfuriatingly unreadable at times. Being a scholar, he's able to push on through The Horrors for the sake of his own curiosity ; I felt so validated when Simon told him that the Byrgenwerth spirit lived on within him...

Now Morgana. She's a witch, so naturally I took the class "cruel fate" for the arcane boost, though this would end up fitting for reasons I'll discuss further down. She uses the threaded cane and the blunderbuss - I know that when it comes to arcane the moonlight greatsword is right here, but in a game that introduced trick weapons, I am not interested in swishing Basic Big Fantasy Sword around X) her gear is completed by the Eye + Augur, with the Call and the Shell if I need extra firepower. Her default outfit is the doll shawl worn over the Yharnam hunter set.

As an OC, Morgana was heavily, unsubtly inspired by Bayonetta : she's skilled and confident, doing as she pleases in extravagant fashion ; so as I've mentionned before it's extremely fitting that, as my second run, she went through the game with far less trouble than Nicolas did ! (with some exceptions...)

Both foreigners, Morgana and Nicolas hunt as an elusive pair. The latter originally came to Yharnam to enroll in Byrgenwerth, but with the college shut down shortly after, together they pursued their own research on beasthood and arcane, independently from the Healing Church, thus branding them with heresy. They don't have sworn enemies, but don't aim to join any organization either. Just a power couple that mostly keeps to each other sdfghj

If I wanted to incorporate their (loose) original storyline in the game, Morgana would get the "Honoring Wishes" ending (not out of respect for the MP, merely didn't have what it takes to resist her) then bestow the "Yharnam Sunrise" ending upon Nicolas. The latter would awaken, keeping his memories at the cost of his humanity, to seek a hunter that would find the missing piece and succeed where they didn't. And if I pushed that crossover to the end, that hunter would be their daughter Amy, aka my main OC, haha !

-

A small addentum regarding Nicolas - as an OC he was less developed than Morgana when I started playing, so I ended up building him directly from his experiences as a hunter, and in turn, based my general headcanons for the Paleblood Hunter from him ! I wanted to mention it because it gets confusing in my early fanarts, but now they are distinct characters, even if I depict them with the same face/hairstyle and a similar personality. Here's a chart for better understanding :')

and phew, hopefully i didn't forget anything ! thank you for asking about them (heart hands)

[shadylex]

I see those tags and i wanna know about the (former) kingdom hearts oc real badly now

Oh my god, am I really going to go off?

Am I about to really embarrass myself at my literally 18 year old OC who is the whole reason I got into writing in the first place? And the weird obsession I have with any media/character that has to do with memory manipulation and mind reading?

I sure as fuck am, I'm about to talk about my OC that has basically been my face on tumblr for the last seven years at this point.

You're all about to meet Lexen, and how she came into existence.

Kingdom Hearts 2 released on December 22, 2005, and it was around this time that my ex-friend gave me this game as a sequel to the first Kingdom Hearts I had previously played.

I didn't make any OCs for the first game. I was just so enraptured by being able to play a video game with Disney characters in it and the frankly odd amount of platforming in this game. It was when I was given Kingdom Hearts 2 right after finishing the first one did it all really start to sink in.

Little 11 year old me was FULLY invested in anything edgy or cool looking, as with all kids around this age, and Organization XIII basically took me by the throat and never let go. This was my first jump into fandom and fan art and writing and a whole world that I now was able to read and look. I never really joined any big communities, I actually have a sour experience with the KHInsider website at the time so I really missed out on community.

Which is fine, I think I would've turned out much more toxic if I was part of a large community. What is more important is that KH2 was the beginning of Lexen.

Lexen is a self-insert of myself. Full on, just me thrown into the Kingdom Hearts world and having a good time, marysueing it up and just living it up in the haydays of FF.net. Then I started getting more creative and made a whole new character to investigate a thing that was barely touched on in KH2's plot.

The fact that Sora lost a lot of his memories between 1 and 2. I didn't realize at that time that Chain of Memories had happened, so the only exposure I really had was Namine who is the only character in-game that had any reference to memory manipulation.

So little ol' me though, "I could do better. I can make someone cooler."

And made Lexen.

Lexen is the secret 14th memory (very creative at the time, haha) and was specifically a living weapon that Xemnas used to both seed worlds with darkness and to keep Xemnas protected from danger and potential betrayals within the Organization.

My main concept for her was the fact that Nobodies within KH were said to have no emotions, merely mimicking their emotions from memories they have when they were alive. So... what happens when you are reborn but have no memories?

You have no frame of reference, no ability to experience emotions. At that moment, you are a blank slate. And all it takes is one person to pick you up and basically rewrite you however way they want.

Xemnas was the one to find Lexen first. Give her a name. Give her a purpose.

And Xemnas became Lexen's whole world and universe.

There was a devotion not born really out of loyalty, though that came about later, but because there was a lack of direction for Lexen. There was no reason for her to doubt, so she just followed without thought.

It was discovered fairly early on that she had an ability to mind read and to also extract memories out of a person. Xemnas saw potential in this power and trained her to be more autonomous and skilled with her powers. Eventually getting her to a point where she could made decisions for herself, but they were always to the benefit of Xemnas. To the Organization as a whole? Not always, it wasn't Lexen's job to question that. Just to follow orders and do them successfully.

Somewhere in her training and growing, it was also discovered she had a bit of Darkness within her. Not like she was harnessing Darkness as a power and using it herself, just a ball of Darkness that lived in her body separate from her soul. And it was growing more and more as she went to different worlds to plunge them into Darkness.

Until it eventually got strong enough to manifest as a whole new being.

Introducing: Berserk! The person who has been my icon on tumblr for the last 7 years!

She is not an alter ego to Lexen. She is not a power up move for Lexen. She is a completely separate identity and being that just happens to live in the same body as Lexen. Two minds, one body. And Berserk really wants to have sole control over this body to just cause untold amounts of damage towards anything. Not exactly something Xemnas wants out of his living weapon.

What he wants is total control and total loyalty to his word. Berserk (the name was given to her after she tried to kill him) was a wrench in the plan, but perhaps useful in specific situations.

My personal headcanon for Xemnas' power (which is Nothingness) is that he is an equivalent God to Nobodies. He can manipulate them, solidify their existence, and also erase them. It was how I justified his position as head of the Organization and how most everyone followed his word without asking too many questions. Those who did well... I eventually learned about Chain of Memories and added that to the lore.

So Xemnas used his powers to create a mental wall between Lexen and Berserk. Lexen would always have control of the body, was the dominate mind, and Berserk was locked away in a box to never be released unless used for specific means. Lexen was thrilled about this, no need to worry about the second person in her head. Berserk grew to have an absolute vendetta against Xemnas and Lexen for being her jail and jailer.

And it all came to a point by the end of KH2. When Xemnas was in the final showdown between himself and Sora and Riku. Lexen was waiting on the sidelines, looking for a signal to jump in and save Xemnas. But it never came, but Lexen decided to make the choice herself but she never was able to save Xemnas. Because as Xemnas was getting his ass handed to him by Sora and Riku, his focus on Lexen and Berserk's mental barrier faltered and Berserk took over.

Berserk and Lexen fought at this moment. A mental battle over who would have control over the body and have access to the rest of the universe. It concluded with Lexen having formed a mental barrier herself and blocking off Berserk long enough to regain sight and hearing with her body, but it was all over by then.

She had failed in protecting the one person that was her entire reason for living, and he was dead. The world she was on was falling apart. She has to decide right now if she wants to escape and keep living, or give up and let Berserk take over and never be seen again.

Lexen obviously took the step to escape. Was it out of survival? Maybe revenge? But she don't have the emotional output for revenge, and what good was it afterwards when her person that gave her purpose is dead forever?

These are all questions she had as she escaped onto a ship and flew off into space. Questions she never had reason to think about until now. It was now down to Lexen alone to decide what to do with this life and non-existence she was given and to make a person out of herself.

I dub these her Wandering Days.

And this is where I usually hang out in my internal exploration for Lexen, because there is where I can drop her into any fiction work without changing her character to fit the place. I start reading a book series I like? Throw Lexen in there straight from Kingdom Hearts and just let her explore. I'm watching Star Wars now? Just throw her in there with the Jedi and have them be confused at her magic powers and mind manipulation without the Force.

This is also my way of having Lexen experience lots of different cultures and people and learning that she can make something of herself. She doesn't need to be a living weapon. She doesn't need to devote herself to a singular purpose or person. In fact, as time goes on, she grows to see the logical disadvantage to being unjust, cruel, and malicious to people. She starts interfering in worlds that are oppressed to try and help them out.

But why would she do that, if she doesn't have the emotional capability to empathize and feel sorrow?

Well, I figured that if there was no emotional response from Lexen, then she solve all things with logical conclusions. And even from an emotionless, non-existent being who was cruel and ruthless before she could still logically come to the idea that it is better to not be like that anymore.

And this is a very, very, very messy summary of Lexen and Berserk. I haven't even touched on how the two minds interact with each other in their mind palace sort of dealio. Or my explanation of how Lexen's memory removal powers work as well. Or how my username is a mash-up of an old name I had and Lexen shoved together to make my new identity!

If you got to the bottom of this wall text, thank you very much!

I deeply appreciate anyone who read all of this and enjoyed even a second of it. Lexen is my heart and soul of a lot of creative writing I do. I keep working on her, updating her story with new ideas and lore as it comes to me and maybe one day I'll share her full experience to the world.

[dumbfinntales]

I had a bit of an RPG itch and wanted to play something, so I ended up giving Outer Worlds a chance. I remember it was touted as a "Fallout new vegas, but in space" back when it released, but got a lot of poor reviews and some folk said it was bad, so I never played it. Until now. And honestly? Not a bad bite sized RPG.

The Outer Worlds is an RPG much in the style of Bethesdas Fallout games set in space, where you are just some guy who gets revived by Rick Sanchez and you get wrapped up in a lot of nonsense. Nonsense dosed with plenty of humor and over the top capitalism. This being an RPG you of course get to make your character, choose a set of skills for them and take the story into several different directions.

I feel the way you build your character is pretty impactful, and you can tackle missions in many ways depending on your set of skills. I'm sure a hacking/stealth oriented playthrough is very different from a combat focused one. I went for a 100% pure melee build with some intimidation on the side and it was fun, although the combat got a bit stale after a while. Depending on your skills and choices I felt like your decisions were meaningful. Especially once you see everything when you beat the game.

I was most impressed with the sheer amount of dialogue in the game and your companions. There are at least 5 different companions who all have dialogue between each other, and their own reactions and thoughts to whatever is currently happening. I loved the fact that your companions would comment on what you're doing, join in on conversations and NPC's would actually acknowledge your party members. It made them feel really involved and adds some replayability depending with who you wanna run through the game.'

Although I appreciate meaningful choices, clever NPC's/companions and such and such, I felt like the game was lacking on certain aspects that I found more meaningful. For one exploration felt very dull. I'm sorry, but my enthusiasm for exploration died out in the Emerald Vale. Walking everywhere and looking through every house only to find just endless amounts of trash and ammo. I never felt: "WOW what a discovery! This new weapon/armor is so cool, I'm glad I explored the random cave!". Even in the DLC's I really didn't find anything. On Eridanos I found a hotel workers uniform that was pretty neat.

You're not really rewarded for your exploration. Because I knew you barely find anything out there I would just run to my objectives, and if there was a house or something I'd quickly skim through them (only to find junk, once again) and be on my merry way. I think I can only remember a few moments in the game where I found something by exploration, like at the start of the game you can find a minigun in a nest of big apes. But most things are either handed to you, you find them on a linear mission on an NPC for example or you just follow a quest. Like for the science weapons. You do have to look around a bit for info, but once you get it the game will tell you where the weapon is. If they make a sequel I hope they improve the loot and sense of reward for exploration.

I also found the side quests mostly dull. A lot of talking and dialogue with somewhat interesting stories, but for the most part they were very boring. The closes thing to an interesting side quest was when you had to solve a maze in the DLC and decide who gets the prize in the middle of said maze. The companion quests were probably the most interesting of all side quests, because they had interesting stories. Like helping Parvati get a date, or reach enlightenment with vicar Max.

The lack of enemy variety was also very off putting. Even in the DLC's you fought just reskinned versions of main game enemies. You fight the same 5 monster types + humans and robots throughout the whole game. There's also just one boss in one of the DLC's and even that is just a resized worm enemy that you've been fighting all game, haha.

Quickly about the DLC's: they were alright. More of the same, and not very interesting. Gorgon felt no different from the main game and I didn't care much for the mystery. Murder on Eridanos was a bit more interesting with a whole DLC centered around you trying to figure out a murder, it was fun! Especially with the banter from your magnifying glass gun.

Overall it was a fun experience, even with it's flaws. I did start feeling a bit worn out by the game around at 35 hours, so I'm glad the game wasn't any longer than that. I know there's a sequel coming, so I can only hope they don't neglect exploration, side quest and enemy variety.

[lividcryptid]

Heyyyy so remember when I wanted to yap about my project moon ocs? Yeahhhhh here’s Psycho car!

Disclaimer: Anything that I write does not reflect my own views. They’re written this way for me to look at new perspectives, to explore toxic dynamics, and for me to improve writing. I do not condone any of their actions.

TW: Religious topics under Babylon, traditionalist views under Lady, sorry guys Lady hates men a lot;;;,

Rivers:

They/Them

Weapon: Scythe

Believes that people nowadays don’t value life due to technological advancements such as getting a prosthesis or K-Corp combatants always using HP bullets on the battle field. It’s disgraceful to the natural way of life. If you die on the battlefield, you should die for good

Decides that it’s their job to remind everyone how short life truly is

They so delusional to the point where they believe that they are a proxy for Death and that they are doing people a service

Hates that people are “cheating their way out of death” by using prosthesises

Tbh if they met Kromer, they would’ve joined Nagel und Hammer because of how their views align

Is the main reason why Psycho Car takes on so many assassination requests

Has an early 2000s club goer attitude

Lady:

She/Her

Weapon: Meat Cleaver (main), will use other cooking utensils as weapons

Has a victim complex

Believes that she is a poor sheep about to be sent to the slaughter house; thinks that everyone is out to bully her

No matter what you think, you will be punished for it

If you agree with her views, she’ll think you underestimating her strength as a woman and that you believe she’s too helpless to the point where you’ll kill her. She’ll instead kill you to “protect herself” even if you weren’t planning on attacking.

If you disagree with her views, she’ll think you’re bullying her. She’s just a poor woman who is in need of assistance and yet you deny her that. How dare you. She’ll kill you for that too.

Has very traditional views but tends to also contradict them due to her job (Ex: Women should always be pretty for her man (she’s scared of and hates men), women should always be prim and proper, always in the kitchen and take care of her fellow members, etc)

Refuses to be the driver of the car. Like. Ever. She doesn’t believe that the lady should drive the car and that it’s a man’s job

Oddly enough, she always targets the men first in assassination requests

Babylon:

Any pronouns

Weapon: Whip

They’re the reason Psycho car was even formed in the first place

It’s technically her own way of starting a cult or at least having a crew to help them gain followers

Believes that the gods do not exist at all and that humanity should place their faith onto them and tgem alone

The Babylon name refers back to the story of the Tower of Babel. Since the name means “Gate of God,” it gives him some kind of irony haha

Has a saying that goes “There is no god, so place your faith in me as if I were one.”

Babylon doesn’t really identify with any gender or wants to be perceived to be anything like that tbh

Is the main driver for the car because they actually have a license and is technically the most responsible (?)

Crow:

They/She

Weapon: Meteor Hammer

There’s not much to know about Crow’s life before joining the group. Their excuse is that no one asked, therefore there wasn’t a need for the past to be known.

The only person who has gotten close to figuring out Crow’s past was surprisingly Lady. She knows that they’re more alike than what meets the eye, especially with their views on men.

Crow took their new name because it’s somewhat ironic in a beautiful way. Crows are typically associated with death and are seen as the messengers for the other side. It doesn’t quite fit someone who is aware of their overwhelming beauty. Yet, it does. Despite the negative connotation, crows can also be seen as symbols of mystery, intelligence, and fate; they’re all traits Crow possess.

She’s the closest to Rivers due to their carefree, selfish attitude. It’s refreshing in a way compared to their old life where they lived for others.

Crow may appear reserved, but they’re not quiet. She’ll respond whenever she feels like it, which is pretty often. Though, their responses are very crude and blunt.

[aeoki]

Seven Bridges - Hate Control: Chapter 16

Location: Tanabata Stage Characters: Mitsuru & Mao

Mao: Putting that aside for now, one of the main features of this year’s “Tanabata Fest” is the fact that there are a total of seven stages.

For example, Venue 1 is in the Yumenosaki courtyard while Venue 2 is in the auditorium. There are similar stages set up in a variety of places.

Thanks to the establishment of ES and the new students multiplying campaign (?), it feels like there are way too many idols… There’s no way all of them can fit in one venue.

And there’ll definitely be idols who won’t get the chance to stand on stage. “Tanabata Fest” is an event that’s only held at night, so it’s possible the night can end without their turn ever coming.

But Anzu probably didn’t want that. She’d want to let as many idols stand on stage as much as they want.

That’s why we increased the number of venues. It’s seven times what we had last year.

Of course, that meant our work also increased sevenfold and I was THIS close to dying.

Mitsuru: Are you okay? You want to stand on stage too, right, Student Council President Nii-chan?

Mao: I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m used to the hecticness. This is nothing compared to the performance that became the trigger for our revolution – AKA the very first “S1” last year that no one knew how it’d turn out.

This is an event Anzu poured all her time and effort into making a reality – I know for a fact that it’ll definitely be a success ♪

I also know that it’s highly unpredictable and that it’s something unhead-of, so it’s possible something unexpected can crop up.

Mitsuru: It’s okay! The sky’s clear too! Tanabata is a day that’s all about making wishes come true, y’know!

Mao: You’re right. Haha, I feel better after chatting with you. “Ra*bits” is great.

Mitsuru: Heheh ☆ We’re doing our best to make sure everyone knows that, y’know!

That’s why this Venue 4 is one of our challenges.

Mao: Ohh~ This area is the art division, right? Looks like you guys can’t use your usual weapons, huh.

Each of the seven “Tanabata Fest” venues have a set theme, like cute things or western music.

…Or even a sexy theme.

Mitsuru: Why were you kinda hesitant to say that?

Mao: There are a lot of female idols making an appearance this time, so it’s, uhh, one of the last things I need to see.

Mitsuru: Nii-chan also told me that’s the one venue I shouldn’t get close to, y’know! Why not? Why not? I wanna challenge everything, y’know!

Mao: You’re still too young for that… But I don’t think Venue 4 is suited for “Ra*bits” either because the theme is based on art~ You guys would be unparalleled if it was the cute venue, though.

Mitsuru: Not exactly! It looks like the culture for female idols and their audience is kinda different, so Tomo-chan and the others were saying how we might have a pretty hard time, y’know!

But it’s fun ‘cause it’s hard! It’ll make this year’s “Tanabata Fest” worth it~♪

Mao: Haha. Well, I’m happy to see you’re enjoying yourself.

Oh, I was totally speaking like a “producer” there. I’m also an idol, so I’ve gotta do my best in that aspect too.

Besides, I’m not in a position to give any sort of advice pretentiously, either.

This time, each stage has a certain theme so we kinda stand out from the crowd in the other sense; “Trickstar” doesn’t really have anything specifically unique.

We don’t particularly specialise in one thing. We’re not like “Valkryie” which has an art theme or “Akatsuki” whose concept is based on a traditional Japanese style…

But on the good side, we’re a wild card. On the bad side, we’re just “normal idols” with nothing special about us.

In a good way, we’re like a commonplace meal that anyone can eat at a family restaurant.

We don’t have any weapons like the other units. I guess that’ll be our goal in the future, huh.

Mitsuru: Hmm~? Tomo-chan says similar stuff but you guys aren’t normal at all, y’know? In my eyes, you’re all special and unique people.

Mao: I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’d like some sort of unique trait, so that everyone could see us that way. Actually, it’s always been my goal since I’ve never had anything that I could call a weapon.

That’s why, this time, we’ll break into all the venues with the mindset of learning what we can do in each of the themes.

If we’re in the cute venue, then we’ll fully embrace our cute side! If it’s the art venue, then we’ll show our artistic side! We’ll do our best and see how far we can currently get with each theme!

I feel so thrilled about it that I don’t think I can contain my excitement! It’d be nice if “Tanabata Fest” could go on forever ♪

Mitsuru: I think so too! No, I think everyone feels the same way, so I’m sure our wish will be granted, y’know!

Mao: Yeah. Anzu will definitely come up with fun events for us again, so we’ll be able to experience this happy feeling over and over again for sure.

We definitely have to work really hard and make sure this “Tanabata Fest” is a success first.

This is an event our “producer” created while thinking of us.

…Although, it does look like the things between the “producer course” and the “Peace Party” aren’t exactly straightforward. Well, it should be fine. We’ll do our best to back her up.

We’ve stood by her side and overcome our difficulties time and time again. It’s the same this time and it’ll continue that way in the future too – I’m sure of it.

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[teecupangel]

I'm new to Unity but I'm having a hard time earning those sync points. Every time I do co-op missions I get my ass kicked.

Hello, nonny!

I hope you’re enjoying AC Unity :)

Just in case anyone is wondering: it is possible to finish the main story of AC Unity without those sync points.

And it is possible to bulk up Arno enough to take down any enemies too in open combat but I’m stealth-focused so these tips would be for a stealthier approach.

(This is easiest if you do this after finishing the main game tbh but I suppose it’s possible to do it earlier, just… gonna be hard)

So, first of all, focus on getting these skills:

Disguise ← this is the best skill for a stealth-heavy Arno

Master Locksmith (Master needs you to clear Sequence 9 though and, yeah, the earlier Locksmith skills would work too, some sync points are easier to access via unlocking locked doors)

Optional (if you have points left): the tools and upgrades in the ranged skill tree would give you more option

Second thing:

Here’s an IGN article with maps to where those Sync Points are for the Coop missions that have them.

General Tips while looking for sync points:

You still keep the sync points even if you have to restart the coop mission because you failed an objective so what you can do is get the sync points first before actually doing the objectives.

Disguises are the best way to walk around restricted areas without getting aggro’ed. As long as you have an NPC that is allowed to be there in your sight, you can use them as your disguise. NOTE: Disguise disappears if you jump or climb (and I think run? Don’t remember about the last one) and it has a time limit. Before time is up, go to a safe room or hide, wait for it to charge back up then pick your next disguise.

Phantom shots will be seen even if you are hiding in a crowd (especially if you aim first) but berserk shots are the best way to cause a distraction while thinning the enemy numbers.

Low profile assassinations end faster than high profile assassinations.

Once the sync point appears on your minimap, it will appear on the map menu and you can mark it if you’re having problems finding it.

Get the best equipment and weapons as soon as possible. Either wait to get paid like a capitalist trust fund baby OR do the “It Belongs In A Museum” trick XD

If you want to fuck everyone up but don’t want to finish the story and don’t mind getting spoiled (well, if you know how Élise ends up, that’s… the main spoiler XD), you can access the Dead King DLC without finishing the main game and travel to it using the carriage near the cafe. From there, just finish the prologue until you have access to the entire DLC area and finish Suger's Legacy sidequest to get the best weapon in the game, a one-handed sword that freaking blinds your enemies at random. XD (as far as I know, Dead King DLC is free as an “I’m sorry for the horrific glitches Unity had at launch” gift from Ubisoft) You can return to the main game by using the carriage.

Other than that…

Uuuhhh…

Here’s my equipment to give you an idea of a stealth-focused Arno:

Haha, I’m kidding. I just use the Altaïr outfit because his real outfit is… BEHOLD!

This man should not be able to hide in a crowd XD

Anyway…

I mostly min-max’ed him to be pure stealth BUT the Suger Sword saves me whenever I screw up XD

I focus on lengthening the duration and range of Eagle Vision as someone thought it would be a good idea to give it a cool down (ʘдʘ╬). Eagle Vision would let you keep track of the possible enemies you can use as Disguise and generally just let you plan ahead.

Mostly for the Disguise radius and duration but the detection rate is also a plus if the Disguise is at cooldown.

I just went with what would give Arno more stealth XD

This gives additional berserk blades which is nice.

The most important one is the lockpicks because I suck at timing in the lockpicking minigame. More tools (especially smoke bombs and medicines) are always nice.

I hope this helps and, I guess, my final suggestion would be… I think some people are still playing AC Unity so you can probably find a coop player if you’re really having problems with it and don't mind playing online. I know I managed to get, like, one or two strangers in coop 2 years ago XD

[tobiasdrake]

We're making bad choices. :D

Wait, is that Chrono Trigger influence I smell? We've got the party that stays externalized and follows you around, and turn-based RPG battles that happen right there on the map rather than in their own psychedelic wonder-zone.

This world map layout was the last piece I needed to say this game definitely took inspiration from the greatest RPG ever made.

I wonder if they have a New Game+ with a ton of goofy bonus endings based on when you decide to suddenly quit the main story and go fight the final boss instead. :P

In any case, Operation "Do what we're expressly not supposed to do and then brag about it to our authority figure" is a go!

But first we're going to have a bite to eat. Honestly, I agree with Garl. Right before getting into the most trouble of our lives is the best time for a snack.

And that sandwich looks immaculate. I'm a little jealous.

Oh wow, we are troublemakers, aren't we? These sandwiches weren't just good; They were sacrilegiously delicious! ...sacrilecious!

Okay, enough tasty treats, time to make mistakes.

HAHA! I am the best Winter Solstice whatever! This is going to prove to be a terrible mistake in a moment but right now I am riding this high. Let's race inside at a reckless sprint!

There's just something invigorating about, after much effort and practice, finally managing to complete a task you were expressly told not to do in the first place. Like scaling an office building on government property.

Oh good, so we're already in deep trouble. I was worried we'd have to go and tell him that we should be in deep trouble.

Nah, screw that. I want to do a good old-fashioned dungeon delve. Maybe we'll find a Big Chest that has a weapon inside of it. We can give it to Garl since he has no opinions about what weapon he wants.

LET'S GO, TEAM!

GOOD JOB, TEAM! We made it to the very first room and now we're screwed.

It occurs to me only now that, as all of our weapons are presently hypothetical, this may have been a mistake. I don't think the rainbow slugs are going to be very impressed if we lob Garl's backpack at them and run away.

They don't take a monster census in the forbidden cavern, Garl.

OKAY BUT HOW THO

That passageway is a straight shot to the entrance. It's a pretty tight passage with nowhere you could have been hiding while we were tromping through. It is physically impossible for you to be cutting off our exit right now, and I expect - nay, demand - that you cease any and all un-causal existing, and vacate from the impossible reality in which you have now found yourself.

...

Any minute now. Any. Minute.

Is it preparing to vanish in a puff of logic because otherwise--

That thing has a sharp horn pointed directly at the small of my back. This is going to be bloody. Why did I turn around?

GARL NO

I am immensely grateful to you for shielding me from that attack with your body. That was a super heroic thing of you to do and I appreciate you so very, very much.

But why did you use your face to block the horn!? You have a backpack, my guy!

We are in deep trouble. If we run deeper into the cave, we will most certainly be gored to death by monsters. But if we stay here, we have to face Moraine and own up to what we did.

...

I'm weighing my options.

Oh wow. And we're right back to screw Moraine. Can we seal the cave up behind us and leave him in here?

I want to give Garl the biggest hug and be besties for life for what he did for me. T_T But instead the future says we stop hanging out and never see him again. This flashback is ripping my heart in half.

Why do I get a bad feeling about that?

Our training began not on the basis that we have promise and the school recognizes our talent, but rather on the basis that we can no longer be permitted to go unsupervised.

We're the class screw-ups.

Well, at least he shows a more gentle side when he's not interacting with us, directly or indirectly. So maybe he's not a jerk. Maybe he just doesn't like us specifically.

Garl lost an eye and his two best friends all in one night. What a terrible night. That sandwich we all shared together is the last happy memory before everything went south. The symbol of our sacrelicious bond.

I hope he's doing better now. He's had ten years to move on with his life. People heal and grow and change. I'm sure we'll see him again; The game wouldn't be bringing him up if we weren't going to. But I hope he's in a good place and not, like, the Darth Vader of the plot.

"Go to your room and think about what you did FOR TEN YEARS" is a bit harsh of a grounding, dude.

And there it is again. Let people make their own choices! Obviously what happened here today was a terrible mistake committed in the ignorance of youth but come on. He wants to be our bestie so bad he sacrificed his eye for me. He's my gosh darned hero. T_T