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wishcamper · 5 months

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KILLING AMREN

Here is my submission for @nestaarcheronweek 2024!

The prompt “Nesta killing Amren” won my poll, so here is the result! I love the show Killing Eve and thought it would be fun to give them a sort of Eve/Villanelle dynamic.

CW: murder, gore, violence, major character death

Read on ao3 or after the cut!

The hours, the long, grueling hours Nesta had spent trying to connect to her power, the pain, the disgust, all of it amounted to nothing. She’d often wondered if Amren simply wanted to drain her dry, if the fire disturbed the female so deeply she’d do anything to get rid of it even if that meant putting herself in danger of the ricochet.

But there were other times, times when Amren looked at her sidelong with an almost lustful gleam in those silver eyes. As If Nesta’s power were a thing of wonder, terrible and beautiful to behold, and Nesta herself was a goddess reborn. It wasn’t sexual, she didn’t think, but there was something possessive about it, an entitlement that made Nesta feel like she was twelve years old on display in her mother’s parlor.

So shock was not among her emotions when she found Amren in the vault below the Moonstone Palace staring hungrily at the crown of the Dread Trove. Its golden spires glowed in the dim faelights and bounced off the female’s face, casting her in a sickly yellow.

“Lady Death.”

“Amren.”

Nesta heard her own voice echo in the vast chamber, the air cool and smelling of iron. Her power leapt at the sight of the crown but she willed it down with the slow, measured breaths that were always her anchor.

She had to admire Rhysand’s flair for the dramatics - in the middle of the emptiness, Amren looked every bit the scheming villain when she sneered, a red-taloned hand still hovering over the wards surrounding the crown atop a small stone pedestal. “We both know you haven’t the guts to kill me, girl.”

“Is that what this will come to? Only if you insist.” Nesta tried to school her expression, desperate not to let Amren see how fucking scared she was. In the years since she’d gone into the Cauldron, the female had delved into darker forms of magic that had caused a rift between herself and the High Lord. There were whisperings of horrid rituals, haunting incantations. No one knew anymore what she was capable of.

“Let me keep the crown and I’ll set you free.” Amren grinned with all her teeth then, and half-hidden in the shadows she looked like a nightmare come to life. “Think of what we could do together. How we could rule. You’d never be subject to another’s power again.”

A deep sadness hit Nesta then, to think of those days they’d communed in their grief after the war. Back then, Amren was the only person beside her sisters who understood how it felt to be completely altered. But while Nesta had reached toward hope, toward her friends and Cassian, Amren had fallen further into bitterness and cynicism, her more vicious instincts returning with every passing year.

So Nesta knew the lie the moment she heard it. Because Amren craved the blood, craved the violence. Could never champion peace for long.

“Though I'd be subject to your power, I take it.”

Amren waved a hand, as if it were merely semantics. The gesture cast gruesome shadows along the walls, and Nesta shivered as she remembered the creatures in the cells below. “You need someone willing to do your dirty work. Unless you’re ready to sully your own hands.”

“No more killing, Amren.”

“Your sanctimony sickens me.” The female curled a lip, silver eyes flashing in the gloom. Nesta sucked in a breath, remembering how Amren had threatened to lock her in the Prison to protect the rest of Prythian, the poison she'd whispered in the High Lord's ear. Perhaps her former friend had wanted to eliminate anyone who could check her.

“I can’t let you take the crown,” Nesta said softly, on the edge of both tears and blinding rage. She felt her power morph into a dagger in her hand, the hilt shuddering in anticipation of her will, ready to strike wherever she intended it. The promise to herself - no more killing, never again - hung in the air between them, waiting to be shattered.

Amren snarled and raised her arm high, and for a moment Nesta feared she’d have to throw the knife to stop her speaking a spell. But Amren paused, as if sensing herself cornered. And for the strangest moment Nesta thought she saw a flash of regret in Amren’s eyes, a deep longing for that closeness they’d shared over bottles of Rhysand’s expensive wine back when Nesta still drank.

Without another word, she took a step backward and vanished.

In the following year they found no clue of her whereabouts, no hint of where she’d disappeared to, if she was even alive.

And then the killings began.

—

It took three murders to find the pattern, and only one more to realize it was Amren.

They tracked her for decades, losing her for years at a time before the trail would surface again. At all the scenes there was a single fae victim, drained of both magic and blood. But she never killed the same way twice, unveiling an array of gruesomely creative murders that carried a signature of her somewhere, an imprint of the cruelty that was uniquely hers.

Rhys was convinced she was taunting them. Nesta knew better.

Amren was bored.

Nesta could see the soul-crushing malaise in the corrupt governor crushed to death under a pile of coin, the vain heiress felled by poisoned cosmetics. Amren had even once committed a murder in plain sight in the streets of Adriata, onlookers believing the drowning male was a performer and not her latest vigilante target, for the crime of hoarding water in a drought.

Varian went into hiding for years after that one. It didn’t help in the end, his heart cut out and spiked through the long dining table in his secret estate in Spring. There was a bite taken out of it, the teeth marks small and delicate.

It was all so obvious , Nesta thought, the cliche premises held up by a flashy presentation. Amren was trying to prove a point, trying to show them violence could be a tool for good, however perverted her sense of justice. Some people deserve to die, she seemed to say, and some people deserve to kill.

Always, Amren left something for Nesta. Sometimes it was a small token, her favorite flower (lilacs), a tin of her preferred tea (Valerian root). Sometimes it was the way she staged the crime scene, the careful tilt of a horned male’s head to cast a beastly shadow in the shape of a crown. On Nesta’s birthday one year she beheaded an aged Tomas Mandray, leaving a single scarlet kiss on a handkerchief clutched in his withered fist.

Cassian hated it. Hated Nesta’s continued participation in the investigation, even during the years the trail ran cold. It almost made her quit on several occasions, unable to take the pure terror and devastation on her husband’s face every time she returned to the field. But even as their life became quiet and serene, tucked away on a wooded island near the border of Day and Dawn, Nesta felt haunted by Amren’s freedom, knowing with all her being that she was the only one capable of stopping this.

The only one with a power Amren respected, even feared.

Rhysand’s sigh was heavy as he crouched over the latest victim, a notorious Velaris loan shark suffocated in the safe where he kept his ill-gotten riches. The rest of his shop was pristine, the jewels and precious metals glittering atop black velvet in their glass cases. Flaunting her restraint, Nesta thought.

“She was in our fucking city,” Rhys said grimly. “We should’ve killed her when we had the chance.”

“You mean I should’ve?” Nesta asked, though she already knew the answer.

In the debrief after Amren’s disappearance, Nesta expected Rhysand’s fury for not stopping her. Her brother-in-law had surprised her by retreating within himself completely, taking every crime that followed as a personal failing. She’d been even more surprised when the incident brought them closer, when he opened up to her about the burden of his power, his fears of being corrupted.

“No,” he answered as he straightened, his dark brows drawn together. “I always knew who Amren was. I thought I could temper her worst instincts by showing her the benefits of a moral life. These deaths are mine to bear.”

Nesta spotted the token at last, tucked into the male’s chest pocket. She bent to pluck out a small slip of paper with a single word in a spidery hand.

Well?

“We won’t find her unless she wants us to,” she said as they exited the shop. Rhys stuffed his hands in his pockets against the chill.

“I believe you’re right.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, and she knew from their late-night commiserations that his magic was pressing at him, begging to be released. “I’m just afraid of what it means when she wants to be found.”

—

Nesta winnowed home exhausted and discouraged after sharing a quiet dinner with her sister and nephew. Rhys wasn't up to company, and Nyx had turned into a somewhat anxious young male as his parents dealt with their trauma at last. He benefited from another stabilizing presence when one of them was struggling, and that was worth delaying her desire for a bath and a cuddle with Malka once she got home.

But the cat was nowhere to be found when Nesta deposited her coat on the hook by the door, the cabin hushed and tense as if holding in a breath. She rounded the corner to the kitchen and froze to see Amren sitting at her table, her face cast in shadow in the faelights.

“Cassian will be home any moment,” Nesta said, willing strength into her voice despite the trembling in her legs. Her mind was cascading with thoughts of how to get Amren to surrender, how to get out of this alive, Rhysand’s words echoing. The female rolled her eyes.

“Then we best talk before the dog returns.”

She looked distorted, like her edges were less solid than they used to be. A streak in the front of her hair was now a pure white, the pupils of her eyes turned to snakelike slits.

“Are you here to kill me?” Nesta asked, and Amren looked even more exasperated.

“Now where would be the fun in that? I have a proposition for you.” She gestured toward the chair opposite her. Nesta found herself sitting even as she said, “I don’t want to hear it.”

“I think you’ll reconsider.”

“I promise you, I won’t.”

“Elain lives in Day now, doesn’t she?” Amren smiled then, and Nesta suppressed a shuddered at the pointed edges of her teeth. “I hear she often forages alone, while her mate is otherwise occupied.”

Nesta flushed with rage, gripping the edge of the scrubbed wood table. “If you ever come near my family, I’ll fucking kill you.” She felt the power roll under her skin, setting her eyes ablaze.

“There it is,” Amren murmured, and the shame burned in Nesta's stomach at the temptation to destroy. “You say you’ll kill me? Do it.”

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you, if I became a monster like you. Then you wouldn’t be alone.”

“Saint Nesta, who killed a king and then swore off it forever,” she purred, and Nesta was tired of playing this game, tired of dancing around each other. "Such a waste. I think your mother was right after all."

“What do you want, Amren?”

“For you to join me.”

Nesta blinked slowly, still reeling. The air felt thick around them, the strings of fate charged and humming. She remembered that promise from the crown's vault, how her magic still craved liberation.

“We could be free,” Amren said, her voice seductive. “Your power could be free. You could rule as you should, with me by your side. High Queen.”

As if in answer, Nesta felt her power swirl, a serpent charmed by the sorceress' song to reach across space in her mind to retrieve the crown. Yet she knew in that untouched part of her, the part that resisted glamour, the corruption of power, that she wouldn't be the one wearing the it. Nesta scowled. “You’re lying, You’d cross me the moment I turned my back.”

“How can I convince you of my sincerity, girl?”

A silence hung between them, and in her mind Nesta saw a flicker of a night Amren confessed relief at the loss of her powers. The soft press of a small hand gripping hers.

“Stop.”

Amren squinted, scrutinizing her. “If I do, will you consider my offer?”

“Yes.”

A boom of wings sounded above, and fear jolted through Nesta’s body, rushing her back to reality. Cassian would attack on sight and she couldn’t risk it, not knowing what dark magic had turned Amren’s skin so sallow, made her fingers so long and spidery. She squared off with the female, looking her directly in those eerie, catlike eyes.

“Ten years. No murders. Feed your horrid appetite some other way. If you can make it that long without harming anyone, I’ll join you. For the rest of your life.”

Amren squinted before giving a curt nod. “Deal.”

Nesta felt the bargain tattoo burn the skin of her scalp, hidden beneath her hair in the path of the coronet that wound around her head. A cursed crown for a wretched queen. She closed her eyes against the pain, and by the time she opened them, Amren was gone and Cassian was landing on the upper deck, shaking the snow off his wings.

She pounced on him the moment he descended, crushing her mouth against his with a desperation she’d only felt when they had first fallen together, when every touch seemed like it could be the last. He met her enthusiastically, believing his wife was just particularly happy to have him home today. Nesta buried the secret deep within her heart, only let herself sob in the bath after he was soundly sleeping.

—

Rhysand remained on alert for the first few years, unconvinced by Nesta’s assurances that Amren was subdued. She’d spun a story that the dark sorceress had fled to the continent and been imprisoned by one of the Jarls of Valhallen, which had worked well enough. Only Azriel looked at her a little too long, though he seemed just as glad to be rid of their exiled former second as anyone.

The countdown to the end of the decade was easy to ignore most days, and there were stretches when Nesta forgot it altogether. But inevitably a curl of ink would peek through when she brushed her hair and she’d remember all over again, the secret pressing beneath her skin, fighting to get out.

As the date loomed, Nesta found herself wanting to move slowly, to savor every bite of Elain’s freshly baked bread, every one of Cassian’s sweeping hugs and Gwyn’s laughs. Emerie kept asking if she was pregnant, and she almost wished she still drank to make it clear a child was nowhere in their plans anytime soon.

With days left, Nesta felt the fear creep in at last. Each deep, even breath felt borrowed as days became hours.

Sunrise was approaching when the knock came at the door. They’d gone several rounds in the night, Nesta feeling shaky and desperate for as much her husband as she could hold onto. She’d lain wide awake after he passed out the last time, watching the shadows shift as the full moon drifted across the sky.

“I’ve got it, love,” Nesta said softly when Cassian stirred, and he gave an indiscernible, sleep-thick mumble before turning over and settling once more. Her dread grew as she rose from bed and approached the door, knowing what was on the other side. Who. She swung it open.

Amren was near unrecognizable. Hair patchy and thin, her face had a waxy quality to it as if she’d rearranged her features several times. There was a slight sulfur smell in the air, and the purple veins in her hands stood out starkly against her pale skin when Amren opened her arms wide.

“I made it,” she said, and Nesta was startled by how rattly her voice sounded, how easily it was swallowed by the wind from the sea.

“Well done.”

It was like handling a child, she thought, the way Amren smiled widely at the praise.

“Will you keep your word, Nesta Archeron?”

“You know I will.” Nesta pressed her lips together, trying to hold back her tears. She’d had a lot of time to think about this moment, but now that it was here, she didn’t know if she had the fortitude to follow through. “I just need to say goodbye.”

Nesta kissed Cassian’s brow, gathering all her strength to leave him slumbering peacefully. She desperately wanted to wake him just to see those hazel eyes, but the Mother gave her a different kindness instead. He smiled in his sleep, her name on his lips, her face in his dreams.

Amren was waiting near the bluff’s edge overlooking the small bay and the village below. She turned as Nesta approached, a flicker in those silver eyes, her deep green cloak flapping about her frail body. Nesta drew herself up to full height, reached across space in her mind for the crown. Amren’s eyes glittered when it flickered into being in Nesta’s hands.

“My queen,” she said, smirking, then bent on one knee and bowed her head to receive her prize.

So she didn’t see when the false crown reformed into a silver dagger in Nesta’s raised hands. Didn’t see the silver tears that fell from Nesta’s eyes, didn’t hear the sob she couldn‘t suppress over the roar of the sea.

The blade sunk into the base of her neck, that beautiful death power draining her life. Nesta forced herself to look as Amren jerked her head back in pain, fell to her knees to guide the female gently to the grass. She could see it all on Amren’s face, the disbelief, the rage, the fear, could feel that rending in her soul, her blood.

But they’d both died before. Knew there was nothing to fear, in the end. And there, in the final flash of her silver eyes, the pupils round - relief.

Nesta built a small pyre from their stores in the woodshed. As the sun crested the horizon she stood vigil as Amren left their world just as she’d entered it, star-bright and burning.

#nestaweek2024 #nesta archeron #amren #fanfic

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tenshiharmonia · 10 months

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The Fourth Piece

"Courage that is untempered by kindness risks eating itself forever. Wisdom that is untempered by kindness is no wisdom at all."

I recently played Tunic, and the above quote reminded me of something I wanted to write about for quite some time now, in regards to The Legend of Zelda. You see, I'm a big enjoyer of the "Tetraforce" theory. I guess the name is pretty self-explanatory, but for those who don't know, it's the belief that the Triforce as it is is incomplete, and that there is a fourth, missing piece, taking the shape of an inverted triangle meant to fill the hole in the middle of the sacred relic*.

Now, I'm fully aware that it will likely never be a thing in canon (I even heard that the theory has officially been addressed and refuted, but I never really checked the veracity of that statement, so make of it what you will), but hey, as far as my headcanons are concerned, it's quite a fun and interesting idea to toy with. :3 Of course, if you're a fan of the Zelda franchise, you probably know that a core aspect of its mythology is that each of the existing pieces of the Triforce corresponds to a certain quality. We have Power, Wisdom, and Courage, so the question is : what ideal would this hypothetical fourth fragment stand for ?

I think you see where this is going, but personally, my favourite take on the matter is that the lost piece would represent Kindness. This is definitely not an original idea, of course. As you may know, it initially comes from Majora's Mask, where four of the great fairies who inhabit the world are referred to as the Great Fairies of Power, Wisdom, Courage and - you guessed it - Kindness. So it already has some basis in the series' lore (even if the great fairies have technically nothing to do with the Triforce XD ), but most of all, I really like how well it complements the other three pieces. Kindness fosters harmony. It helps bring balance. For Courage and Wisdom don’t amount to anything without Kindness, as explained by the line I quoted earlier from Tunic. And Power will just set the world on fire without it. They need Kindness to temper them, but Kindness also needs them to help guide its efforts. Really, I love the dynamic it creates, if that makes any sense.

Alas, Kindness and its champion are missing from the world. But what would happen if they were to awaken ? Who knows, they might hold the key to putting an end to Demise’s curse, the curse that was born from wrath and hatred… On the other hand, the events and context that led the fourth fragment to be "missing" in the first place also make for an interesting topic. First of all, the existence of a fourth Triforce piece naturally implies the existence of a fourth deity, a deity who would be on a par with the Golden Goddesses and who would have also partaken in the creation of the world. But once again, what could have led to their contribution being erased from the legend ? I mean, considering the level of almightiness we are dealing with, it can reasonably be assumed that it could only have been the doing of the other three creators - or at least one of them -, but even then, it doesn’t tell us much. XD

Really, there are so many directions this story could take. I’m almost afraid of picking one ! So here is a bunch of mostly inconsequential details I was musing about instead. :p

First thing first, I should probably mention that I like to imagine this fourth deity as a god rather than a goddess. Don’t take it as a statement of any kind, I just like the immediate contrast it creates. XD (Also, I love the idea of Kindness being represented by a buff and burly - yet gentle and caring - man. :p )

I was also toying with the idea that he could be related somehow to the "Fierce Deity" whose power imbues the eponymous mask. Maybe it could be an incarnation of the rage he felt after getting erased from the world’s history. I don’t know, but it could be interesting…

Since Din, Nayru and Farore are respectively associated with Fire, Water and Wind, it’d be fitting for their "brother" to have an elemental attribute as well. And it just so happens that we are missing one of the four classical elements to have the complete set : Earth.

Which, based on the iconography of Minish Cap and the Four Swords games, means that his dedicated colour would likely be purple. (I was going to say yellow**, to match the aforementioned Great Fairy of Kindness (and because I kind of feel like it complements the other three better), but the colour is already associated with the Triforce as a whole, so it’d probably be redundant…)

As for his name, I’d like to base myself on Twilight Princess. Since three of the game’s four provinces are named after the golden goddesses, it’d make sence for the last one (which is apparently not considered a part of Hyrule) to reference the fourth deity, one of the few hints of his existence left in the world. That’s where it becomes a bit difficult, considering how vastly different the English name (Ordona) is from all the other versions (that are mostly variations of the Japanese name, Latoan). Naturally, the version I’m personally used to is the French one, Latouane, so you can guess which one I’d base myself on. :p (I was thinking, maybe something along the lines of "Latoun", but there is obviously nothing definitive about it.)

Another thing to consider is what his contribution to the world’s creation could have been. We know that Din modelled the earth and everything material, Nayru defined the laws of nature, and Farore was the one who created life, so what does that leave us with ? My first idea was that it was him who gave living beings a heart (metaphorically speaking, of course), bestowing them with free will and a sense of self, as well as the power to defy destiny. Which, naturally, could have contributed to his ultimate erasure. But once again, I’m just brainstorming out loud…

By the way, is it just me, or does it start to sound like I’m basically recreating the Diamonds from Steven Universe ? I mean, four impossibly powerful beings, each tied to a particular colour and elements, with the fourth one being strongly associated with Earth and freedom and having disappeared under mysterious circumstances ? I swear it wasn’t intentional, but the similarities are definitely here. XD (Even the Diamonds’ sigil seems to hark back to the Triforce in a way, especially the triangular version used after the shattering…)

Anyway, this is pretty much everything I had to say on the matter. As you can see, it’s quite a mess of ideas. I would have said it’s a work in progress, but let’s be honest, it barely counts as a work to begin with. XD Still, I needed to get it all out of my system. Of course, if you have anything to say about the content of this post, I’ll be more than happy to hear you. As I said earlier, there are so many directions you can take with this concept. But then again, it’s also what makes it so fascinating in the first place. ^_^ (Also, go play Tunic if you haven't already ; this game is an absolute gem. :p )

* Note that while "Tetraforce" is an useful term, the object itself would probably still be called "Triforce", as the fact it was already named as such when there were only two pieces seems to indicate that it likely got its name from its shape, and not from the number of components… ** Which is actually purple’s complementary colour, funnily enough.

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amiharana · 1 year

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My thoughts are still plagued with revalink streamers au 🛀😟🪑

THE EMOJISKDJFD i miss streamers au too </3

i'm thinking about the champions coming back for another round of Love or Host with link as the bachelor of the game. at this time, the CSMP is in full force and is gaining popularity at an exponential rate, the champions are now a well-established streaming group, and revali and link are now in their weird bickering/flirting stage where no one really knows if they're being fr and both revali n link are starting to realize they might? have? feelings? for each other? i've decided that for this au, kohga is going to be fulfilling the role of austinshow (this one's for you lucha john---baptist i love u)

if you've never heard of Love or Host before, it's kind of difficult to explain if you've never watched it?? if you have some time to spare, here's a link to a video of quackity's LOH when he participated a couple years back. but basically, it's like a livestreamed dating show where one person is the "bachelor" looking for love and the other contestants are competing to "love" or "host" — "love" meaning they are also looking for love and "date" after the show (it's not serious though, it's just for the drama. they don't actually end up dating if they don't want to lol) whereas "host" refers to looking for fame and wanting to get their stream hosted to get more views or something. idk it's kind of weird but still a fun twist to dating shows.

link gets invited by TheKohgaShow (this shit has me howling i'm sawryy) to be the bachelor for this round of LOH, since he's one of the most popular streamers at the moment. he agrees because why not and tries to get the rest of the champions to apply to be contestants for the game. daruk and urbosa call off because they aren't comfortable with the idea of possibly playing for link's hand romantically given their age gap, but they are livestreaming the show on their own streams and providing commentary, but mipha and zelda are fine with it. except for revali because he's a party pooper :]

"this is ridiculous," he grumbles over their discord call. "why are you going on that show again? wasn't meeting there enough?"

"it would be fun!" link insists. "it would be funny to see how much our dynamic's changed since we all first met on LOH. it's not that serious anyway, bird brain. unless you're scared you'd fall in love with me?"

"shut the fuck up," revali snaps. thank goddess he has his camera off right now because he can feel his cheeks beginning to burn. "the whole event is just... asinine. i didn't even want to be there the first time, and i still don't understand why you would want to go back."

"don't be mean, revali," comes mipha's voice, soft and cheery like a little bell. "it is just a casual event for fun anyway."

"and you could get a leg up over link by choosing host," urbosa muses. "you don't have to choose love, you know—"

"i'd eliminate him before he could try," link snickers.

"shut the fuck up," revali repeats, scrunching his nose up. "the entire format of such a show is just absurd. all dating shows are. none of it is genuine and it's all for drama and views anyway. there are far more productive ideas of substantial quality that could achieve the same goal."

"revali, it's really not that serious," link says, rolling his eyes and sitting back in his chair. his camera is on and revali can't help but follow the movement. "whether you apply or not, i'll be there as the bachelor. just don't get jealous if i do find love there."

daruk guffaws and mipha titters on the other ends of the call, but revali's jaw tightens. he wouldn't actually care if link found love on that stupid show. he wouldn't.

(once the notification that applications are open drops, revali applies and interviews for a position on the show in the next two hours. he gets it. after he logs off for the night, he realizes that doesn't really know why he ended up applying, but urbosa is going to bully him so bad when she sees him on the show tomorrow.)

the show goes live on kohga's channel the next day at noon, with the final contestant lineup as follows: revali, mipha, zelda, sidon, yunobo, paya, beedle, pikango, regan, and traysi. (in canon, regan is an npc who left lurelin village and who you can save from monster attacks, and traysi is the girl who writes the rumor mill articles left around hyrule). revali scoffs at the roster; if link was really looking for love, this wasn't exactly a group of prime pickings. (sorry to miph n zel. revali loves them as friends even if he won't say it out loud, but he knows they've been seeing each other on the downlow. LOL). when kohga starts the show and has everyone turn on their cameras, all of link, zelda, and mipha's eyes bulge out of their heads when they see revali in the roster. he rolls his eyes at his friends' reactions and tries to keep a straight face. his phone is buzzing with messages, probably from all of the champions in their shared gc, but he keeps his eyes on his computer screen.

i'm too impatient to write out a whole bunch of scenarios of link getting to know everyone and eliminating people and shit, so here's a bullet point list of ideas instead

surprisingly, link goes for zelda's head to bicker with first instead of revali (he didn't think revali would actually apply so now he's nervous), and he threatens to eliminate zelda in the introduction round. they bicker for a full a minute, escalating until kohga has to step in and stop the fight

sidon is absolutely flirting with link and link is flirting back. revali's face grows even more sour as he watches the whole exchange. his phone buzzes again, and this time, he can't help but check his phone. it's a message from urbosa that says, "Hey, Link told you not to get jealous if he finds love on the show." he rolls his eyes and reacts to the message with a thumbs down. whatever.

traysi pisses everyone off right away from how annoying she is. it's going to be a real surprise if link doesn't eliminate her right away.

pikango, regan, and beedle are all smaller streamers that link has interacted with in passing or has collabed with before so they're playing a game of catch-up for the few minutes they talk. something about how casually link talks with them irritates revali. he doesn't know why.

paya is a smaller streamer who voices in the nearly most inaudible voice ever that she's been a big fan of link's content. "awhh, thank you, that's very sweet of you," link says, smiling kindly at her. a vein twitches in revali's temple.

when link finally gets to him, for a moment he stares with wide blue eyes and if revali squints hard enough, a faint pink flush dusting his cheeks. "revali," link says. "fancy seeing you here."

"you should fancy me at every point in the day, no matter where i am," revali replies smoothly. flirting bickering with link is an instinct at this point.

link laughs. "i don't think i want to or ever will," he says, resting his chin on his hand and smiling into the camera.

"well, trust me," revali says, the corner of his lip curling up barely as he sits back in his chair. "by the end of this, you will." shit, where did this bravado suddenly come from?

but link's eyes widen and this time, the pink flush revali thought he was hallucinating makes itself known. kohga makes an "oooooooh" and ends the introduction round, introducing the premise of the next round, but link and revali are still staring at each other, watching each other's webcams.

(later, a clip of zelda rolling her eyes at this moment of time goes viral. she qrts the originating post with "these two are going to make me homophobic.")

LIKE I SAID I'M IMPATIENT I JUST WANNA WRITE THE SCENES I WANT TO SEE so yadda yadda yadda the elimination order goes traysi → regan → pikango → beedle → yunobo → paya until mipha gets eliminated and zelda votes herself out in an act of solidarity, telling revali to win for the honor of the champions LOL. only sidon and revali are left, so kohga alots 10 minutes for each contestant to go on their final "dates" with link and prove that they should be the one that link chooses.

sidon goes first and it's very cute :) he's very gentlemanly and sweet and talking about where he would take link on their first date, and just some sappy shit about how he'll give link the world. link is very enamored with him and his promises <3 leaning on his chin and gazing dreamily at sidon while he talks, sidlinkers are going nuts in the chat

but when it's revali's turn for the "Date", ohoho....... a tension so thick you can almost taste it develops in the call and the stream the moment sidon is taken out of the call and revali comes in and unmutes. link immediately straightens from his leaning posture on the desk and he's on high alert, chewing on his bottom lip and watching as revali settles into the call. revali looks relaxed and nonchalant, the complete opposite of the electricity beginning to fizz throughout link's veins. the timer has already started, but neither of them say anything, just staring at each other in the call.

"are you going to say anything or are we just going to stare at each other for 10 minutes?" revali finally says, the corner of his lip curling up just slightly into a hint of a smile.

link rolls his eyes and scoffs. "i would, if i had anything to say that you deserve to hear," he replies playfully. he resumes his initial position of placing his chin on his hand and leaning into it, smiling into the camera with half-lidded eyes.

"is that so?" revali says, raising an eyebrow. "do you mean to say that i'm leaving you speechless right now?"

link gives revali a look through the camera. "i have plenty to say, thank you very much."

"then say it all," revali says, his smirk growing a little bigger. "or do i make you too nervous to speak?"

"shut up," link responds, squinting. and they continue bickering for another 3 minutes, before kohga steps in to re-navigate the conversation back to the "Date".

"okay, okay, fine, revali where would you take me on our first date?" link says.

"i would take you to the top of a tall building and throw you off," revali replies smoothly.

link slams his head on his desk. "are you ever gonna give me a genuine answer?" he groans.

revali rolls his eyes. "i suppose i could attempt entertaining the subject of the question, just this once," he sniffs. then he sits back and looks up, crossing his arms and humming thoughtfully. "if i ever felt the desire to take you out, it would be an all-day endeavor."

"all day?" link says, tilting his head to the side. his curiosity has been piqued; sidon's first date plan consisted only of a dinner and a late-night walk in the park. "you'd plan the whole day for a first date?"

revali gives him a look. "do you think so lowly of me that you think i'd half-ass our first date?" he says snippily. "perhaps some reminders are in order for you; i actually care for the quality of my work, you know. i'm more than happy to welcome you to my twitch and youtube channels to assist in the rejuvenation of your memory."

link returns revali's look. "just continue."

revali hums and settles back in his seat. "right, well before i was so rudely interrupted," he says, "i would utilize the entire day for our date. we'd start with brunch at the new cafe in lanayru promenade, because goddess knows you are not a person of the early morning."

"i could wake up early if i really wanted to, thank you very much," link grumbles. "but lanayru promenade?"

"you mentioned that you've been wanting to try it in the discord calls..." revali says, voice petering off and he looks away. he actually didn't think about what his plan would be if he took link out on a date. he hasn't! it's not like they'd ever date in the first place! but the words just keep spilling out of him and he can't stop... "but that you haven't had a chance. i think you'll like the hylian mushroom toast. it's just as absurd of a meal as you are."

when revali looks back at the screen, link's eyes are wide and he's staring intently back at him. "yeah?" he says. "and what do you have planned after that?"

"i'd take you to the great plateau museum," revali continues, rather softly. "i heard they're opening up the temple of time ruins to the public again. you said you had been waiting for the opening for a long time, but you weren't able to get tickets because the exclusive opening sold out."

"you remember that?" link says. his eyes are wide, shimmering in surprise. "i only said that in passing and that was months ago..."

"well, unlike you, i actually listen when people talk," revali says, finding his bite again. but now he's nervous; why did he remember that? and why did he bring it up as part of the date? "we'd likely be there for the rest of the afternoon, and for dinner, we'd eat at 'sanidin'."

"mm, that's fancy," link muses. "you have 'sanidin' money?"

revali shrugs. "being a quality streamer and youtuber pays when you actually put the work into it."

"is that supposed to be a read?"

"if the shoe fits, you can wear it, darling."

"oh, shut up—"

"and for the grand finale of the night," revali swiftly cuts link off, "i'd take you to my favorite spot in the city and admire the stars." he says it with a level of finality and the call goes silent, as if link and kohga were waiting with bated breath for revali to continue. but he doesn't.

"and where would that be?" link says quietly, his voice almost a whisper.

revali tries to imagine link with him under the cherry blossom tree at the satori observatory park, the night breeze tousling his golden hair. revali tries to imagine link smiling up at him with that pink flush dusting his freckled cheeks and nose, wide blue eyes sparkling. he tries to imagine wrapping an arm around link's waist to pull him close and— surprisingly, it's not hard to imagine at all.

revali leans back in his seat, the barest trace of a smile across his lips. "that's for me to know and for you to find out, if you choose me," he says.

and link pauses and blinks. "what," he says. "you can't just cut your plan off like that when—" the timer signaling the end of the "Date's" duration rings. link stops mid-sentence, mouth agape as kohga unmutes and calls the time. "no, wait, i— he wasn't done—"

"the ten minutes are over, link! play fair!" kohga cackles. "it's time for you to choose your final contestant — one to keep, and one to eliminate! alright chat, we're going to set up a poll for you to guess who link is going to choose, while link DMs me his choice—"

the chat is going fucking nuts, full of #SIDLINK and #REVALINK, people have already clipped revali's entire date plan and it's going viral on twitter, they're #1 on trending, both of their mentions are blowing up, the champions gc is just full of urbosa and zelda teasing revali, and revali is starting to sweat. what if link doesn't choose him? it would be embarrassing if link didn't and that clip of revali talking about their hypothetical first date was just always held over his head. not that any of this is real anyway. he and link would never date. they wouldn't! he's just in it for the views... right, the views...

"okay, chat, everyone!" kohga announces. "link, it's time to make your final decision! according to the name that link has DM'd me... the one he's carefully spent time with and chosen... the winner of this round of love or host..."

"are you going to continue to drag this on?" revali drawls into his mic, but his heart is slamming against his chest. "i think we'd all like to find out who won within this lifetime, you know."

"stop!" kohga whines. "it's for the dramatic effect! you wouldn't understand, this vocal craft of pausing was carefully passed down from my father's mother's father!"

"you are going to become the 'father's mother's father' of your great grandchild by the time we find out who link chose," revali replies wryly. "get on with it, will you?"

"hmph," kohga sniffs. "no appreciation for the arts whatsoever. the winner of this love or host is..." kohga's mic is suddenly full of the sound of paper being shuffled around. "in a strange twist of fate, revali!!!"

revali blinks as kohga screams wildly and sidon smiles good-naturedly, clapping politely. link is smiling but he's averted his gaze away from the camera. revali thinks his face looks a little pink. he wasn't actually expecting to win.

"congratulations on your victory, revali!!!" kohga yells. "however! remember that the contestants had the opportunity to choose either 'love' or 'host' in this game. and sidon chose... love!!!"

sidon tilts his head to the side and smiles again. "i think we would have made an excellent pair if you chose me, link," he says. "i wish only the best for you in the future. thank you for allowing me the opportunity to play with you."

"oh goddess, why did you phrase it like that," link says, turning red and covering his face with his hands. kohga wheezes in the call.

sidon blinks. "what do you mean? i meant playing the game with you."

after sidon is removed the call, it's time for kohga to reveal what revali chose, and now link is the one sweating. he thinks back to the discord call from yesterday, where urbosa said that revali could choose host just to ridicule link. if link knows revali, he knows that revali would take any chance to do so. and why would he choose love anyway? he was probably just bullshitting the whole date idea (which somehow makes link wilt internally; it sounded like a really nice date idea, too...)

"the results are in!" kohga says. "before the show began revali had the chance to choose love or host: love as in looking for a chance to fall in love with link, or host for a chance to get hosted and get those views in! the time has come for us to finally reveal the choice that revali made before the show!"

"it seems to be that i've made a choice before the show started," revali says dryly, and link snickers. "i wonder what the choice was about."

"and revali chose...!" kohga continues, pointedly ignoring revali's comment. there's more papery shuffling behind the mic (why is kohga shuffling papers? both revali and link made their choices over dm), and suddenly a loud, prolonged gasp. "he chose love!!!"

while kohga continues screaming over the mic, link's eyes widen and he blinks. it's revali's turn to not look at the camera, rubbing at the back of his neck. the chat is exploding with messages, "HE CHOSE LOVE???", "get it link lmao", "REVALINK IS REAL".

afaik it's customary for the two people to go on a "date" after the show ends if the contestant chose "love", and by "date" i mean they just sit in a call together and livestream it. idk it's kinda weird KDJHFDKJ but link and revali do exactly that, the livestream gets moved to link's twitch channel and it's just him and revali's cams side by side on a screen, the both of them just silently staring at each other while the chat blows up. neither of them know what to say, fucking losers KJHDFJKD

"so... you chose love?" link finally says breaking the silence. "i didn't expect that from you."

"i had the element of surprise on my side," revali replies. "there's not a better feeling in this world than catching you off guard as much as possible."

link snorts. "you're such a dickhead. i really thought you weren't going to apply for the game."

"call it a change of heart." they're both silent for a couple moments, just staring at each other. the chat is still going a million miles per hour. link's camera quality is so good, revali might be able to count all the freckles on his nose if he really tried.

"were you being for real about your date idea?" link says next. his voice is soft, uncertain, and revali is unnerved by it. link never sounds this vulnerable...

revali waits a beat. "it's real if you want it to be," he answers vaguely.

link's mouth curls up into a smile. "even the dinner at 'sanidin' part?"

revali rolls his eyes. "i told you, caring about the quality of your content pays well. don't doubt me."

and the blond giggles, a sweet sound (that unbeknownst to revali, softens his expression on camera to which revalinkers immediately clip and post onto twitter). "okay. i'd like that, then."

"okay," revali repeats softly. "let me know when you're free, and it's a date."

"it's a date," link echoes, smiling bigger. they're quiet again for a couple moments, link's cheeks turning pink and revali beginning to fidget. "we still on for CSMP tomorrow?"

"of course, we need to build bigger and better spaces for medli and epona. i grabbed some vines from our last trip to the jungle for medli's room, and i think we should add more hay bales to epona's. you're practically starving her, you know."

"i am not!" link says indignantly. "i feed her so many golden apples. how dare you accuse me of starving my child."

they continue bickering for 10 more minutes about their minecraft plans, and then sign off for the night. after link ends his stream, revali sits back in his chair and sighs. what a simply asinine day.

"feeling okay?" link says. revali almost forgot he was still on the call with link and that he still had his camera on. link's eyes are as wide as they always are, shimmering blue with a look of concern on his face.

"i'm fine," revali says. "love or host was longer than i remember."

link hums. "yeah, i guess." he chews his bottom lip for a moment, then continues in a quiet voice. "did you really mean it? the date?"

revali pauses and blinks. "as i said, it's real if you want it to be." the thought that link might want to back out instead makes his heart sink. "unless you don't want to—?"

"i want to," link says firmly. "i want to go on that date with you. if you want to, too." he adds the last part quietly, shyly, unsure. revali doesn't like it.

"then we'll go through with it," revali says softly. "as long as you want to, then... i wouldn't mind going out with you either."

"okay," link whispers, eyes impossibly wider. "okay. let's do it, for real."

revali snorts. "are you sure this time?"

"yes i am, birdbrain, let's fucking gooo—"

"shut the fuck up," revali replies, but a smile is growing on his face. "i'm logging off. you should too and rest up. you've had quite an interesting day."

"you and me both," link says. "bye revali, have a good night. and... thank you."

"mm, a good night to you as well." link waves at him and revali waves back, letting himself smile a little wider. he disconnects, shuts off his computer, and goes to wash up and get ready for bed.

(as he settles for the night in his bed, the distinct sound of a discord notification pings from his phone. revali grabs his phone and checks the message:

Discord master streamer zero 💯 gn vali :] <3

revali snorts and taps on the notification, beginning to type into the app.

Revali 🪶 Goodnight, Link.

and after a moment's hesitation:

Revali 🪶 ❤️ [😧][🫶][⁉️]

Revali 🪶 Dumbass.

master streamer zero 💯 YOU SENT A HEART IM KDJFDKJDFJKD

Revali 🪶 Goodnight, Link. [🫡][😴][❤️]

revali shakes his head, snorting again, and puts his phone down settling into bed. perhaps today wasn't as asinine as he originally thought it was.)

#revalink #loz #botw #loz botw #legend of zelda #amihan's revalinkverse #ask #noraiir-arts #streamer au #I ACCIDENTALLY SENT THIS PREMATURELY AND I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK BC I THOUGHT IT WAS GETTING DELETED #the next scenario i wanna write is revalink in the shared champions airbnb when they go to twitchcon >:]#this was lowkey kinda ass i feel like i went more ooc (for my perception) than i wanted #oh well i hope this was still nice to read :)#it was also kinda self-indulgent too #i don't even watch loh streams that much i only watched the ones that quackity was on #'sanidin' is a reference to the sanidin park ruins btw #just imagine is like a real fancy restaurant #i hope you understood what i was trying to do with the discord messages #i was trying to emulate discord reactions KJDHFKJDF #they are such dumb losers i love them so much #do you think revali would buy link discord nitro #link but he's revali's discord kitten #discord mod!revali x discord kitten!link

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raayllum · 1 year

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Would you say Rayllum is your all time favorite ship or do you have one you like even more? Where do would Rayllum rank in your top five ships?

Oh Rayllum is my all time fave, 100%. Nobody else even comes close in terms of like 1) got me right away (even before the season came out), 2) delivered beyond my wildest dreams, and 3) just has so much of the like, personalities and themes and like, dynamic stuff that I adore and am weak for every time, and so well executed. Then there's also the way they remind me of me and my partner (the Rayla to my Callum I think) and other aspects of how the ship has been interwoven into my personal life, and just... They literally have every aspect of every other ship I've ever loved in my life, it is incredible and I could not adore them more. #1 for life

That said, overall, I'm not that ship centric? Like there's a lot of media (Trollhunters my beloved) I adore that is primarily for the story or villains or found family, which is all true of TDP as well - I love everything about it as much as I love Rayllum - but in terms of fandom engagement, I suppose?

That said here are some of my other favourite ships which definitely show off a pattern, I think, of being a lot like Rayllum as well

Kaz/Inej from Six of Crows (just a far more heavily traumatized version of Rayllum + touch aversion + sweet thematic religious undertones)

Percy/Annabeth from Percy Jackson (childhood friends turned slowburn lovers, dorky and devoted, she has major abandonment issues + he's "to save a friend you would sacrifice the world" & "as long as we're together)

Jesse and Lake from Infinity Train (is probably the most Rayllum-esque dynamic on here and all 4 seasons of Infinity Train are Amazing)

James and Sarah from Liberty's Kids (because I know who I am as a person, and probably my most 'argumentative/bickering' ship)

Other honourable mentions: Kai/Jinora from The Legend of Korra; Patroclus/Achilles and Orpheus/Eurydice from just about anything, but especially The Song of Achilles and Hadestown, respectively; Jane/Peter Pan from Peter Pan 2: Return to Neverland because I unironically think that's where my standards of love came from; Zelda/Link from The Legend of Zelda (BOTW/TOTK in particular) and Corona/Hunter from Spider Riders (2006) (yes seriously) for those sweet goddess incarnate + loyal goddess' champion type vibes.

#shipping #also rebecca/nathaniel from crazy ex girlfriend & zukaang/kataang/maiko from ATLA #everything you ever need to know about me as a person TBH #thanks for asking #dragons rambles #forbidden op lore #also shallura from vld (my non canon beloveds) and jackrose from titanic #BC ONCE AGAIN. I KNOW WHO I AM AS A PERSON #and i am almost always susceptible to class differences in relationships #except the notebook fuck that movie

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jankwritten · 1 year

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Hey for ur vld!pjo au id LOVE to know who pilots what Lion and why 👀👀👀

[Also ur initial post and the snippet u wrote have me !!!!!!!]

i Have SO MANY THOUGHTS on who pilots each lion and why.

I have 2 PJO/VLD crossovers already that are ~150 pages each, which I wrote while I was in high school. In one of them, Percy pilots Black, Jason pilots Blue, Leo pilots Green, Frank pilots Yellow, and Nico pilots red. I feel like that's a pretty basic line-up, TBH. In the other one, everything is the same except Jason and Percy are swapped.

I don't like those dynamics anymore, though, and I think there's some WAY more interesting stuff that can be done.

I think Annabeth should be Allura, right off the bat, though. NO matter what, that role fits her best, to me. She's the knowledgable princess who is the heart and center of this war, she is the reason there is a fight to be had in opposition at all. Without her, Camp Voltron doesn't exist.

Jason makes sense as Black paladin to me - the one who was always made to be the leader, pushed himself despite all the potential reasons not to (for Shiro, it being his illness. For Jason, it being a fundamental rift between who he actually is versus who the world thinks he should be). The one who wants to be a mentor and a helper for everyone, the one who gives everything to save the others. Shiro throwing himself into the ring as the Gladiator, the Champion, so Matt didn't have to? Exactly like Jason dying so Piper didn't have to. To me, that one is a no brainer.

The rest is where I get pretty iffy. I like Percy as Blue because, duh. But I think he would also be a good Red. He's impulsive, his plans aren't always thought out and usually he charges in knowing he has power to back him up, and nothing else. I wouldn't necessarily call him hot headed, but he definitely isn't the type to just roll over and accept whatever leadership tells him to do. This is the dude who snuck out of camp to go after quests, the dude who blew up a volcano, Percy as Red just makes sense to me.

I know Nico is usually slotted in as red because Keith, but I almost see Nico either as not a pilot at all, or as a Blade member gone AWOL. Maybe he tags along when the Earth crew goes after Jason because he knew Jason, Jason was the only human he trusted. It's not like at that point they would know that they'll be piloting the lions, right? Or, maybe Nico DOES know about the lions, but holds that information to himself, because he thinks that maybe, just maybe, he's finally found the people who can help him swing the war. Because that's how Nico is - he operates as a one-man army, trying to take everything into his hands, pull all of the strings.

I have a lot of different ideas for how Nico could go in a VLD crossover, TBH. He could be half Altean, half Galra, like Lotor. He could be a version of Coran's character. He could be the red paladin who inevitably leaves because he feels the team doesn't trust him, thinks he's a freak, the red paladin who doesn't come back. Reyna could be a Blade, maybe the one who saves Jason, the one who recognizes the Galra in Nico. There are so many options!

I almost like Frank in Coran's role, because he gets to be meek and timid to a point but also knowledgeable. Plus, I feel like canon PJO Frank didn't really love fighting? And I could see him-as-Coran having an interesting history 1) with Annabeth, he sees her as a friend and maybe even a sister, because they were raised together and all that and 2) Maybe he knew the Galra, and was friends with a lot of them before everything changed (thinking along the lines of, the Galra being the Romans. Like, Octavian as Sendak kind of thing. Some of the gods/goddesses being other high power Galra, like maybe some corrupted versions of Jupiter and Juno are Haggar and Zarkon. I DID just almost put Zoloft instead of Zarkon.)

I love Hazel as Green, which might be due to my recent fondness for the transfem!Pidge headcanon. I headcanon Hazel as being a trans woman ever since hockey AU. I also think that Hazel has an interesting connection with Jason (Romans) and Nico (siblings) like Pidge does to Shiro and Keith - even though they don't all exactly align, I still like the parallels. Pidge sees Shiro as an older brother - Hazel sees Jason as an older mentor figure who, in my HC, she becomes genuine friends with through Nico. And then, Pidge has a fondness for Keith because they canonically both feel like outcasts and whatnot, and, obviously, Hazel and Nico in canon are the underworld siblings together. There's some interesting stuff to be done with the whole, Hazel and Nico but also Nico and Bianca and all that.

Plus, if Hazel is part Galra too, then that means Nico doesn't have to be on Voltron, he could just be a Blade. Because we can have Hazel as the "omg we have a Traitor Among Us" and the camera pans over and it's 5 foot shit Hazel with a dagger and space buns.

Also Galra Hazel??? HEllo??? how has no one done this before I'm barking.

....omfg HAZEL as Red???? HELLO????

AS FOR YELLOW. I mean .Leo. come on. He's the comic relief, he's the mechanic, he's the fourth wall breaker and the one who eats all the weird shit and fantasizes about getting home so he can make and eat homemade meals. Y'know? Like, it just makes sense to me. Plus the we get the fun dynamic of a Lance-like character being in even LESS of a position of "power" in the team, because he's NOT the sharpshooter, he's NOT the second in command. He's just...Leo. The seventh wheel. He wants to be more but he doesn't know how.

Piper is another option for a bunch of roles, too. I could see her fitting in as Green, of course, but she could definitely also fit as, say, Coran's role, the role of one of the blades, maybe even as one of the reoccurring characters like Shay or Nyma. I think there could be a way to work Piper in as Red, but that would have to be in an AU where Jason Leo and Piper are The Main Trio, versus what I'm aiming for here with Annabeth Percy Nico and Jason being the main Group.

(My Jercabethico agenda lives on.)

I'm trying to think of other characters I would give important roles to. TBH I think any other remainders it would depend on the story - like, Luke could be Zarkon in some of these AUs, whereas in others he might be Lotor (misguided with a crazy mom and an absent/abusive father??? bro). And in some maybe he's Sendak, or he's his own insane antagonist that doesn't have anything to do with the original VLD bros.

And then there's like, the rest of the gods. Who are they, what are they doing? Hades and the other underworld Cast would absolutely be Blades or Galra of some flavor. But what about Aphrodite? or Poseidon? Are they perhaps the leaders of other planets?

(Does this give us the opportunity to make everybody aliens???)

SO ANYWAY. These are my word-vomit thoughts on VLDPJO crossover. They are subject to change and also I might immediately forget about all of this as soon as I hit post. But just know that right now I FULLY believe in this. Hell yeah.

#asks!#pjo #vld #pjo/vld crossover #jason grace #nico di angelo #percy jackson #leo valdez #hazel levesque #annabeth chase #frank zhang #this was so fun to ponder fuck yeah

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kiwibirdlafayette · 11 months

Text

hello my sillies!! since there was a bit of interest in more ab the nonsense that is my take on godswap mianite AU i went and dug up some of the brainrot I wrote last year but never shared outside of a private discord server + new stuff that I've recently came up with :D Enjoy! ❤️

- Jordan was born to parents who are priests of Mianite and raised in the temple- and ultimately was meant to be Mia's champion, and was trained as such for the majority of his life. However, being around mianite for most of his life made him cynical of the god and his principles, and went he got older, he left to seek out the god's brother, pledging himself to Dianite and wanting to bring about chaos. Amused and flattered by the man's near blind loyalty, Dia makes Jordan his champion

- His primary weapon is a firework crossbow gifted to him by Dianite himself (has piercing 8, mending, quick charge and unbreaking V (and flame on it, for use with arrows)) Plays off the sparkly and the fact that this man is a goddamn amazing sharpshooter no matter what universe he's in

- Mianite instead finds his champion in Tom Syndicate, the formerly deceased son of lighthouse keepers in the realm- and is brought back to life by the god (Mia never explains why specifically Tom was chosen, is described to people as just a "godly omnipotence" kinda thing)

- Shortly after Jordan, Tom, and the priests (aka FyreUK, with Wag and Matt under Dia, K.Tom under Mia) arrive and start making a mess of the realm with their shenanigans, a pirate ship captained by a 4th priest named BruteAlmighty "Phil" and two people- a parrot shapeshifter by the name of Sonja OmgitsVoidparrot and Tucker Jeriicho (normal human... allegedly)

- Sonja and Tucker both grew up in Ianarea, and with Phil's arrival from the End, have been searching across the realm for their missing goddess, and their messages led them to the Spawn Island (which I wish was canonically named istg) where supposedly a ruins containing information is hiding (Jordan and Tom both claim they know where this is. they dont)

- When Sonja was younger she was named Ianite's champion at a ceremony in Ianarea and was gifted her shapeshifting abilities as a way to hide from forces of evil and get into places more secretly

- Idk how canonically Nadeshot/The Modesteps enter the realm in character but basically at some point a flying ship appears and from it drops Captain Engine Failure and Skipper Coppereyes, more Dianitees (probably there to mess with Jordan) because Dianite having the most members is hilarious to me

(I got an ask about EF so I'll elaborate on her dynamic with everyone in a separate post >:] But bottom line put two chaos makers and an explosives enthusiast (Copper) in the same room it never ends well xD)

- I'm still thinking on this but with FyreUK, their priestlyness was given to them as a group due to the presence of the shadows from the get-go. When the Darkness began encroaching, the gods all sought out their respective priests and gifted them with powers to protect their respective domains (Dianite took in two- one to look over his temple in the nether, one to keep in the overworld because. chaos agenda- that one's Wag) and guide their champions when they found them

- Wag takes Dec's place by this logic i guess, he lives by the nether portal and will be anyone's personal tour guide because he likes doin it. and yes he absolutely uses any excuse to mess with people to mess with people he can be a menace a lot if he wants to

- Also Dec is a Wizard, I haven't developed him yet (he also has no design dont worry about it) but yes. Mans took on Athar himself he's just built different

- Syndisparklez and Foxxsize agenda always love me a good enemies to friends to lovers kinda shit. most of it is Capsize/EF flirting horribly with Sonja (and her not sure how to reciprocate but wants to) and Tom and Jordan with their usual "i fucking hate you i wish you were dead (read: i want to kiss you so bad)"

#mianite #mianite godswap #i think that's all i got for now. if i think of other stuff I'll add on :D #but yeah. go rb the art it makes more sense if you see the art #mianite au #ive given up on SkOD atm so i can finally let my brain rattle these shitheads around a little #i have an idea of the general plot already but i just dont feel like. writing it out LMAO #beyond that the plot is spurred by Tucker Sonj and Phil's arrival #then theres shadows stuff but. still workin at that

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finasol · 6 years

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I was originally heartbroken that Vax dies, but I feel less sad knowing he’s probably living it up with the Raven Queen

#I love that Vax/The Raven Queen is almost canon lol #Listen I love Vax'leth and Vax'more #I really freaking do #But for y'all who've been with me for awhile know what my thing is #And that's POWER COUPLES #Especially power couples with a power dynamic that complements each other #It's even better that it's a goddess and her seemingly beloved mortal Champion #How can I not #vax/the raven queen #personal #critical role

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notsogoodangel · 3 years

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May I present to you all an idea: Chaos Incarnated Trio with an essay about their dynamic and headcanons

Before I start, I want to clarify this is an idea of Grian within the Dream SMP lore, but will make reference to some of Grian’s lore as a whole.

Drista, in the lore, it’s the Goddess of Chaos, or The Devil, and brings chaos to the server. Usually destroying buildings, ignoring rules set by Dream/XD, such as not intervening with the prison and giving illegal items connected to The End, such as shulker boxes.

Almost as importantly within Dream SMP headcanons there’s two things usually working alongside a god: an angel/messenger, think of Phil being the Angel of Death, and the goddess of Death is Kristin; and a champion. Sometimes people think that Technoblade is not the blood god himself, but works for him, as his champion, as he is the one who gives him the most tribute by killing a bunch of people in his name. Note that they are not necessarily god’s favorites people to interact. Like XD loves to hang out with George, but it’s not the same way around. This differs from Philza who literally married the Goddess of Death, so by all means, he probably has some favoritism. The same goes for Tommy. While Drista and Tommy are not always interacting whenever she is online, the 6 times she has, he most stuff happens when he is around to hang out with her, and it’s usually when the most chaotic stuff happens…. What I’m saying is that Tommy is probably Drista’s champion as he is literally one of the most chaotic people on the server and everyone in the server knows that (in a similar way that everyone know to not mess with Techno as you will probably die).

Finally, there’s Grian. Grian it’s implied to become a Watcher at some point, but I like to propose this idea: that’s just a promotion. Grian originally was a messenger of chaos, as he is, like Drista and Tommy, it’s described and depicted as “a gremlin, chaotic child” despite being old in both out and inside canon. While angels usually just give messages, they usually tend to reflect some trait of the god they are a messenger for. Again, Philza it’s the Angel of Death, what is his first action of DSMP? Bring Death to his son, and his most notorious thing he has done is, both dying in Hardcore worlds and living forever. Grian bring chaos to whenever he goes, for himself and for others. Part of me thinks the reason why he hasn’t being killed and put in red in Last Life it’s because the participants believe if they do that, they will unleash a chaotic monster. Like, he didn’t need to be in red in 3rd Life to cause chaos. Beside, he just generally steals and causes problems in the more pacifist server he is in: Hermitcraft.

Another thing I have noticed is that they are all depicted as very young. Like Grian is older than a lot of the people in the Hermitcraft server, yet he is always depicted as a child, or at least very young, even younger than people who are younger than him IRL, and I’m not just referring to Mumbo here that guy always was an old soul. While Tommy it’s the youngest in the Dream SMP, and everyone knows him, none of the older minors/children in the server get called a child as much as him and once again, people usually draw him as if he was younger than he is. Drista, she is 14 in real life, and that idea of her being so young IRL influences the depictions of her of looking like a child, despite being a literal god that is possibly older than most people in the DSMP, I only say most because how old is Techno and Phil???

All I’m getting at, the chaos incarnated maybe more literally than we think, but only because Drista is literally chaos incarnated in the Dream SMP, Grian being the perfect person to deliver it and Tommy was just chosen to be her champion. Probably even more because canonically Tommy and Dream hate each other, and Drista loves to annoy Dream whenever she can and sending someone who doesn’t listen to him would be the fucking best.

Also, don’t let them be in the same room, just Drista and Tommy are enough, they don’t need someone who knows how to actually play Minecraft.

#dsmp drista #dsmp tommy #tommyinnit #drista #grian #hermitcraft #dream smp #I mention 3rd Life/Last Life but they are just notes not that important #angel's art #if someone knows if they actually have a trio name I will love to hear it #but yeah just 3 blond gremlin chaotic children

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going-fancognito · 4 years

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I was thinking of a jealous s/o over a close friend of Revali or Sidon (maybe both of them ??)

BWAHAHAHAH!! I’m sorry, but I can easily see how both of these lovable dorks just make the situation worse.

Revali:

Lol, I see Revali with two types of friends: The sharp tongued ones, and the admirers

You had a hard time with one of the admirers

Revali assures you that they were only a friend

But, did they have to cling onto his wings like that?

Being a Champion, it was normal for people to admire your Rito, so this type of thing shouldn't bother you

However, Revali seemed to especially revel in his friends flattery

Sure you were proud of him, but you knew better than to over-feed his ego

(His head was big enough as it is)

But watching him take pleasure in his friends praising, doubts began seeping into your thoughts.

Does Revali prefer that kind of behaviour? Perhaps, he wasn’t satisfied with your support as a partner?

(Oh hello insecurities, where’d you come from?)

For the next two weeks, you shower your boyfriend in endless praise, even playing up your reactions to his boasting achievements

You’re acting sweeter than a Disney Christmas special

And it was really freaking Revali out

(Yeah, looks like your plan backfired)

He has no clue what caused your sudden change, but doesn’t like it

He wants a refund

Eventually, you’re confronted about your 180* turn in demeanour

But it wasn’t by Revali

It was his friend

They noticed the tension whenever the three of you were together, and Revali isn’t friends with an idiot

They connect the dots pretty quick, and decided to step in before things got out of hand

(’steal yo man’ cliché dodge)

They quickly explain that their friendship with Revali took on a more ‘student and mentor’ dynamic. No romantic feelings from either side

Plus, while they certainly idolized him, they’d rather be slow roasted over a fire then date him

(Honestly? They want to give you a medal for handling with his more.....challenging moments)

However, they do insist that you talk about this with Revali

(PSA: Communication is key for any relationship)

After enduring one his smug speeches (Well, I can hardly fault you for your envy Y/N. After all, I AM quite the catch.) He does what he can to help quell your worries

Makes more time for you between training, spontaneous dinners and your personal favourite, impromptu cuddling

You and his friend even wind up becoming besties

They have a lot of tea on your boyfriend >:)

Sidon

Oh sweet baby fishcakes

This guy is like a giant teddy bear with scales

(and abs *swoon*)

Combined with his naturally friendly personality, who could resist loving this Zora prince? (Not you, obviously)

So why did it bug you so much to see him around his childhood friend?

Maybe it was the knowledge that they’ve been together since hatchlings, or that you would always find them being physically affectionate (by that I just mean they hugged or held hands, tame stuff)

They were also stunning, with an athletes physique and scales that practically shined under the sun

A nasty voice in your head noted how they would look good with Sidon

(Shut up brain, no one asked you)

The two of them were also swimming buddies

Now, Sidon was undoubtedly loyalty to you

Shark babe would go live in the desert before he’d even think about being unfaithful

(Please don't ever let him try though, poor baby needs his water)

But that doesn't stop your worries, that his friend might be looking for more than friendship

Oh Hylia, what if they went swimming, when they actually wanted to go ~swimming~

(Congrats, you’ve officially belly flopped into the river of paranoia)

One great thing about Sidon, is his sensitivity.

It gives him a knack for sensing others emotions

,As his s/o, this goes double for you. So it doesn’t take long for him to pick up your unease

(He could give Revali some lessons)

He sits you down somewhere private and softly. inquires about what’s troubling you

Try to deny those puppy shark eyes of his, I dare you

All of the fish cuddles after you tell him

“Oh my darling, you have nothing to worry” He wraps you into an embrace. “They are merely a friend, we see each other as siblings”

You figured as much, but hearing him say so out loud finally put you at ease

“Besides,” He caresses your cheek in his palm “not even an angel could tear my eyes from the Goddess in front of me.”

(Pft. Wow Sidon that was so cheesy)

(No wait, that doesn't mean I wantyoutostopcomeBACK-)

After some shark cuddles, Sidon decides to let you in on a little secret regarding his friend

It turns out their affections were already reserved for a certain Goron

Looks like Yunobo has a secret admirer

(He’s been wondering who was sending him those rock cakes)

#revalixreader #sidon x reader #botw headcanons #botw imagines #botwxreader #my writing #revali #sidon #botw asks #revali x reader #botw x reader #botw ask #botw

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botwstoriesandsuch · 4 years

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Whoopsie King Rhoam’s a dick but I gotta flesh him out so

Read Part 1 here!

Part 2

If you’re on mobile, and tumblr hates this post, follow along on this google doc!

Rules/overview this rewrite in the beginning of Part 1

‘sup ya beautiful bastards it’s time to gush about the process of storytelling and writing as we fix up the fix it fic so let’s just jump into it

- - - - - - - - - -

A quick recap of Part 2, and I swear this recap is faster than the recap last time: Chapter 3 of Age of Calamity opens with a more substantial scene the beginning points of Revali’s character, and contrasting the old position that Link and eggbot have, so that their later changes in this chapter (well, at least for Link in this chapter) are more pronounced. We edited a bit of the dialogue to make Revali’s intentions make a bit more sense, while also putting some little foreshadowing points with some camera tricks for the Hollow Champions. The Hollow Champions can now speak, which means their potential for being used to bring out the flaws or bitter aspects of each character is more readily available further into the story. And of course, we’ve introduced the main antagonist of Astor, and coupling his presence and dynamic with Zelda’s insecurities. While his intentions of needing Zelda for something is clear, his motivations and backstory remain a mystery as of yet, the only true clue we have so far being some sort of connection to eggbot.

I didn’t get any big asks or comments about Part 2 so I’m going to assume that it was mostly well received (although I will note that I promise I’m going to flesh out Revali to be more than he has been presented as of yet, this is just the very very start of this development don’t you worry your feather loving butts) that being said, you should totally critique me or give me your opinions or comments. I’d love to hear them! Although, keep in mind that I am restraining my rewrite to the guidelines already said, so don’t get mad at me for not killing off all the Champions or something. Thaaat’s a rewrite for another time. So yeah if you reblog you get a little kiss from me because believe it or not I spent a lot of time trying to rewrite an entire storyline while keeping it’s tone and integrity intact. So thanks much <3

Okie dokie then chaps! Let us finally delve into Urbosa lesbian vibes, a zest of Zelink angst, rants about pacing, and a couple tablespoons of Astor backstory, all starting in the latest stage of Chapter 3: The Road Home, Besieged

So right of the bat, big problem here. This Chapter follows directly after the events of Korok Forest, so you assume that maybe “The Road Home” refers to the team, going home, back to the castle, to tell King Rhoam what’s up. But...that’s apparently not the case.

So this entire stage, firstly, it brushes over any scenes where Zelda, Link or the other Champions might talk to King Rhoam about the Master Sword, or the Deku Tree, or...hmm what else happened last stage that might be interesting to see—oh yEAH HOW ABOUT that mysterious magic guy that tried to kill Zelda and was going off about the future and stuff?? That guy that wielded a bunch of dark magic and malice looking stuff and, uh yeah, you’d think it might be important and interesting to see the King’s take on was is essentially a wanted traitor to the crown who may or may not be leading the entire movement for the Calamity’s uprising. But nope, no one asks questions, no one says anything or has interesting conversations that reveal stuff about the plot. It's just….just all about Zelda and ooooOOooo she can’t awaken her powers oh no what’s a gal to do!

And I do mean that quite literally, this entire stage is all centered around two scenes with Zelda. The first, an admittedly narratively important scene of Zelda having a quick flashback about eggbot after he sings her a song, but it lasts for five seconds. And the second, being a pep talk with Urbosa as Link eats rocks in the background. For the majority of this stage, it’s all focused on Zelda, and pacing wise, it does virtually nothing to progress the narrative/plot forward.

And on paper, there’s nothing wrong with that! Hell, people read entire fanfictions dedicated to character development and relationships that have absolutely no external plot. Having a scene dedicated to just character development is completely fine, it’s something that’s pretty common and even encouraged to an extent. The problem arises when you remember that this is a story being told through the medium of a video game.

Now, I am going to try and breeze by this because, similar to Age of Calamity, I have to also construct this post with pacing that keeps my audience engaged, while progressing with my core narrative and story. But I highly encourage you to watch through this video by hello future me (On Writing: How to Master Pacing) because a lot of what I know about this I’ve picked up from his videos, and if you’re a writer or just someone who thinks storytelling is cool, it’s a great guide to the art of pacing.

youtube

Anyhow. There are two levels of pacing within a story. There is the small type of pacing, like for the structure of a singular scene. And there is the pacing of the overall core narrative, how the larger beats of the entire story is revealed. Good pacing for your core narrative is about whether the reader feels like they are getting closer to the big thing, the big climax or answer or promise of satisfaction. The smaller type of pacing, for your singular scenes, focuses on that timing between how close you get to achieving new information, this refers to your slow and fast pacing, tension versus rapid action.

So, overall the rule of thumb is: the amount of time you invest into your smaller scenes, even put together, that must correlate with a big enough payoff in the core narrative. That’s what good pacing is. (And that’s why people make stuff like the Three Act Structure to help visualize this pacing process but obviously other forms of pacing guidelines exist like the Five and Seven Act Structures but that’s too complicated for this Nintendo Game anyhow that’s just some educational flavour for ya to impress your highschool English Teacher I guess)

So knowing that, the question now is: Does The Road Home, Besieged contribute good pacing to the story? This is going to be my excuse for changing up other later scenes in the game, so when I mention pacing and narrative again, remember this. The time spent playing for thirty minutes, minimum, in the game, to only be paid off by two lines of character development isn’t good pacing. So the answer is “no.”

Delving as long an amount of time as thirty minutes, means that pretty much everytime a stage is complete, you must introduce new substantial progress to your story. A game like this just doesn’t have time to waste it’s valuable cutscenes on character development alone. There’s an even further wrench in the issue when you consider you also need to account for sidequests, so you could really be forcing your player to go through hours of gametime before you introduce new details in the story.

Obviously it’s not always gonna be cut and dry like that—sometimes you have to account for how enjoyable the gameplay is, and sometimes the amount of character development offsets any lack of narrative development—but for the majority of stages I’m gonna change, they all suffer this pacing problem. In a game that's entire story hinges on these cutscenes, bad pacing is just something it doesn’t have time for.

Anyhow anyhow anyhow, I got to get my dose of serotonin by talking about pacing writing structure and stuff and blah blah, so now I shall grace you with the changes that address these problems that would theoretically lead to vast improvement. I gave you this reasoning and backstory to writing because I am making hella changes, to hopefully make the experience more “poggers,” which is something the cool kids say these days if you didn’t know.

Firstly, timeline wise this stage is gonna take place directly after the Korok Forest battle. The gang is returning home from the battle, with Link, the new wielder of the Master Sword, along with this new information regarding a certain Astor character.

We open the same way it does in game, focusing on Zelda’s face, before the frame is suddenly blocked by the pommel of the Master Sword. A wordless way to express how the sudden revelation of Link being the hero has forced its way into Zelda’s mind, great use of camera Koei Tecmo 10 outta 10

Now I don’t want to immediately jump into Zelda’s “oh poor me I can’t awaken my powers” dialogue because—and this is something even Breath of the Wild is guilty of—This game seems to forget that there are other characters besides Zelda. It’s marketed towards kids, sure, but I assure you that kids playing this game have a longer attention span than 2 minutes. You don’t need to keep reminding the audience every single scene about how Zelda is anxious about her powers. It gets redundant, you waste the audience’s time, and therefore you waste your own time, because you could have been using that precious screen time to develop some other thing further. So anyhow, goes a bit like this.

Zelda’s walking, the Master Sword comes into frame. Zelda looks down at the ground but keeps walking, but you can tell from her expression that she’s troubled. Don’t need to waste time on dialogue for her here, show don’t tell, we need to make the most of the scene here. Camera is still on Zelda, but the focus blurs shifts from Zelda to the Champions behind her. We can start with Mipha, I don’t have my heart set heavily on any specific dialogue, but I want her to say something along the lines of “how proud she is of Link” and what an honor it will be to fight by the side of not just her dear friend, but also someone selected by the goddess to be the hero. Subtextually, I want her to say this in a tone that suggests that she doubts the need for her to be here at all. She’ll say something like “He’s grown so…” glances up at Link who's just walking ahead, “...so much stronger than I could ever imagine. [Something Something] His power has grown so much over the course of a few days, more than I have achieved in a lifetime.” She looks down, but she still has a sweet smile.

Now I’m doing this because I want to develop further this plot line of “getting stronger” that Age of Calamity sets up but never does anything with. Remember how in Chapter 2, Mipha asks Daruk to train with her to get stronger? I really like the possibilities of this arc with Mipha as it can not only parallel with her feelings for Link, but also make her character better as an individual. Mipha wants to get stronger so that she can protect Link, but now she thinks that Link’s already growing stronger to an extent that she might not be needed. She’s not jealous of Link, nor does she wish him to be weaker, she simply wants to be more than she already is. This is literally echoing her words that she left her father, about how leaving the Domain and experiencing new challenges would be “good for her.” So I wanna run with it. The dialogue here establishes Mipha’s motivation to grow stronger, almost equivalent to a rivalry of sorts.

So after Mipha says this, Revali scoffs and butts in. Again, I’m not too set on any particular dialogue here, just something like “Hmph! Well, I don’t know about that. Seems to me all that’s happened is some magic sword gave the knight an ego boost. Blade’s only as strong as the little Hylian who wields it, and—based on my own extended experience and professional observations of course—I’ve yet to see this ‘stronger’ boy that you speak of.” Another camera pan to Link a ways in front of them. “If you ask me, hero or no, that knight is still exactly the same as I first met him.”

Revali places a wing on his chest dramatically. “Perhaps if you’re truly keen on seeing growth in skill and strength, Mipha, you’d do well to—”

“Flattering of an offer as that may be, Revali,” Urbosa interjects, “But I think Mipha might find it difficult to observe growth from one of the shortest Rito in Hyrule.”

Cue laughter from others or snickering or something. We just need some banter to add a bit more flavour to the characters. Revali can do a little huff and cross his wings or flip his scarf or something. But then Urbosa continues.

“Although...he is right about one thing.” Urbosa looks straight ahead. “A sword does not alter a hand, just as strength does not alter character.” She puts a hand on Mipha’s shoulder. “Grow as he might, there is no doubt in my mind that he is the same boy as he’s always been.” Urbosa looks up in the direction of Zelda. “Whether you realize it or not.”

Ok so, scene’s not done yet, BUT quick gush on the dialogue flow here. I’m trying to establish parallels in these character perspectives based on the flow of conversation. We started with Mipha who, like I said, wished to grow stronger along with Link. This flows into Revali who also has a similar parallel as he wishes to grow above Link’s shadow. But the distinction between Mipha and Revali is that Mipha think’s Link’s strength is earned, and Revali thinks he cheated, gaining authority through a magic sword, and not through merit and skill. Thus, leading to Revali’s perspective of Link being exactly the same as he’s always been, he believes the sword doesn’t change anything. Urbosa then speaks, because she thinks exactly the same thing. However, her distinction is that Link is the same as he’s always been: a determined young boy earned his place and cares for his friends. Then she looks to Zelda who, as we know, will develop a perspective that contradicts this. So you get it? This scene is like 20 seconds long but it already mirrors nearly all the character parallels and perspective, that’s why the flow of dialogue is important. And I know half of you probably think these kinds of details are a stretch but I promise you it’s not, just look at any movie or show ever and I guarantee you can find similar stuff there too. Ok moving on moving on—

Urbosa looks up at Zelda, comments her, “He’s the same boy, whether you realize it or not” piece of dialogue. Camera shifts back to Zelda and Link, who, idk if I mentioned this, but in the scene there’s enough distance between the Champions and Zelda and Link that the Champions can speak without the other two listening. So they didn’t hear any of this.

So the camera is back on Zelda, and now we can get her “How can I…..If I am unable to awaken my inner power….” line. Eggbot senses her sadness, does his little cheer up dance, Zelda gets a flashback.

One small change I wanna make to this flashback: Instead of just a baby Zelda going “nighty-night” I want there to ALSO be a figure in the background behind eggbot wearing a silk royal blue dress. And said woman has blonde hair and she’s by the table back there. We don’t have to show her face or anything because Nintendo hates that. Just place the woman somewhere in the back somewhere

Also possibly you could add the shadow of another figure by the doorway, maybe? It would serve good continuity purposes for the plot points that I’m telling, but that part is not as necessary. I just need at least the woman there.

Then Zelda is like “I remember you” to eggbot and all that and blah blah… Now, instead of Impa offscreen just yelling “enemy ahead!” I just want it to be a full on ambush. Not like a major one, but just enough where the group is surprised a bit. Maybe on the cliffs above, a lizalfo throws a boomerang, or a bokoblin shoots and arrow, or even just throws a rock. I don’t really care. I just need this to happen because…

As soon as this danger is presented, Link turns around to grab Zelda’s hand and they start running again. And he can like use his body to try and shield her a bit, I need it to parallel how he acted during Chapter 1 on the road to the Royal Tech Lab. However, this parallel has one important distinction because…

Zelda rips he grip from Link’s after a moment. “You don’t need to coddle me!” She says, or something along those lines. “Y-You...You’re the hero aren’t you! I’m perfectly fine, you don’t need to spend your precious time playing babysitter to me.” In the distance, a horde of monsters is beginning to form. Zelda looks between the monsters and Link’s Master Sword, her expression unreadable. “Well? Just...just go do what you need to do.” Link hesitates, looking between her, and the approaching monsters. Zelda speaks more sternly now, “Go!” So Link, not one to disregard an order from the Princess, gives one last look to Zelda before setting off towards the monsters. Maybe Zelda can take a deep breath to steady herself after he leaves, but as soon as Link unsheathes his sword, the metal glistening in the setting sunlight, it cuts immediately to gameplay. Start battle.

For essays’ purposes this is the part where I explain why this is better than the original. So here’s my reasoning:

Uhhh, it just is. :3

Ok but seriously, I’ve already talked a tone about why the pacing and dialogue flow is better than the original. But also this scene doesn’t just say “Ooo Zelda is sad about her powers,” because that’s not interesting. Like I said, it’s redundant information. What is interesting is see how characters deal with that internal conflict and how it affects their relationships. AKA Zelda’s relationship with Link, who now basically embodies the success that she’s been working so hard towards but never achieved, is deteriorating a bit. I wanted to get that sense of the Zelda that we see in Breath of the Wild because all things considered, they should be roughly the same character.

So that’s that, you fight the battle, the Hollows show up a bit, so insert “dark evil Champion” dialogue because if you’re gonna use the evil clone trope might as well use it to the fullest. Then you fight the Talus and hurray horrah the day is saved.

Then we have that iconic Urbosa motherly pep talk to Zelda as Link eats rocks in the background. Now honestly, I’m not that big a fan of the first half of the dialogue, so I wanna change it into something more interesting. But the rest of the beats and camera work go roughly the same.

Zelda: “Link is...so much stronger now”

Urbosa: “‘And yet I have not.’ I presume that’s what you’re thinking, hmm?”

Zelda: “Well it’s true, isn’t it? More and more, monsters have been appearing around Hyrule. It is a sign that the Calamity draws near. So...there isn’t much time. And still, no sign of my power awakening.”

Urbosa: *sighs* “Little bird…”

Zelda cuts her off, in an attempt to change topics: “Why do you call me that?”

Urbosa: “Hmm?”

Zelda: “Little bird...I feel like I’ve heard it before. Why do you call me that?”

Urbosa, after a beat looks off in the distance or something: “A long time ago, my dear friend would call me to the palace, or perhaps invite herself over to mine, [she chuckles] ...and she would talk with me all day, and ask me to gaze upon her little bird with her. Her dearest daughter...a princess”

Zelda: “You mean my…”

Urbosa just smiles with a soft nod: “Back then, times were a bit different. The destiny that you have was still upon the Queen, who worked day and night to refine her powers and fulfill her destiny. In just a few short years, I went from being friends with a Queen, to friends with the destined sealer of the Calamity.”

Another pause, before Urbosa speaks again: “But...she was still the same woman I had grown with. Still the same loving mother who spoke about her little bird with joy. She had not changed one bit.”

Urbosa: “Even when your mother passed, her loving smile was there until the very end. She always loved you—believed in you, Zelda. She had great hope, great faith that her daughter would grow into the beacon of light Hyrule needed. That even with her gone, you would spread your wings and fly, because you were just that amazing to her.” *Urbosa puts her hands on Zelda’s shoulders.*

Urbosa: “Destiny did not change your mother’s love, just as it does not change Link’s courage, or your value.” *the camera can pan to Link eating rocks now*

Urbosa looks directly at Zelda now: “Look how hard we’ve all worked to get this far, how hard you have worked to get here. While we may grow in strength, in that regard, we’re all one in the same.”

Zelda: “...I….well…”

Urbosa: “What did the Great Deku Tree say? There is no need to fret princess.”

Urbosa: “Our faith, Link’s, your mother’s, it’s all as strong as ever. And everyday, with every moment that you travel towards your destiny, it just grows. It is always with us. So believe in that, have hope, yet, little bird.” *Eggbot can scurry up and make cute noises here next to Zelda*

Urbosa: “I know, you are where you need to be. You must accept that too.”

Zelda: “...”

Zelda gives a solemn nod: “Thank you, Urbosa.”

So that’s that scene! Don’t let the length fool you, it’s technically even shorter than the original scene in Age of Calamity. So why is it, in my opinion, better? Because for one, we actually get an insight into Zelda’s mom and Urbosa’s relationship, something that was PROMISED To us but never given and I’m still a bit salty about it. Anyhow, in addition to just getting some lore details, that relationship between the Queen and Urbosa is important for this scene because, just like Urbosa spells out, it’s in direct parallel with Link and Zelda.

Before the Queen suddenly got sick and died, she was destined to seal the Calamity. But she didn’t let that destiny change her, she was still the same loving mother to the end. Now that is something that Zelda needs to realize about Link, as his newly acquired destiny doesn’t change who he was before, the knight who cares for her and wishes to protect her. Zelda needs to realize he’s the same and that she can still trust and confide in him. Hence, that’s why this mom backstory is in this scene and not somewhere else, because it serves to the narrative but also more impactfully to the character development.

The dialogue could probably be polished a bit more but come on, not half bad for an improvement yeah? So that concludes Chapter—

SIKE we’re not done yet. We still have to move into the entire point of this stage, the road home, to the castle.

So, badabing badaboom, I’m adding an entirely new scene from scratch right here at the end, because it is VITAL that I set up something new about the story, as a sort of clincher. So anyhow

Zelda is alone with her father, let’s set it in the royal library (Intact, not ruined, of course) because we don’t see enough of that location and it’s really cool. So Zelda is briefing her dad about the events in Korok Forest and on the journey back home. I know I always gush about cinematography but it can’t be fully appreciated since I’m….writing,,, this, BUT I think it might be fun if the side shots of Zelda have her background be some bookcases of the library, maybe half bookcases and the other half the ornate walls. Then the background for the King’s shots is the full symmetry of the elegant staircases.

[And if you needed the specific reasoning for that, because it makes camera shots more fun. Like when Zelda says something that aids in her scholarly side, the camera angle can change slightly where the bookcases take up more of the frame, and then when the King’s will takes more power, then the book cases can be angled a bit more out of frame. And then the symmetry of the King by the staircase is a way to show his higher power dynamic to her, and contrasts well with Zelda’s shots since the bookcases are dark and the stone is lighter, so on a meta level is also makes it easier for the audience to understand where they are. Shot composition is fun ok, and that’s not even getting into color theory (Thinks about Baby Driver and LaLaLand....even videogames like Undertale and Hollow Knight have such wonderful shot composition and use of color theory hhhhh love it)]

Ok so Zelda’s briefing the King in the library, she’s standing while he’s sitting at a desk. There’s maybe two or four Royal Guards on the staircase entrances, but for the most part, they’re alone. You can tell that this meeting between them has been going on for a bit now, as from Zelda’s dialogue, she’s retelling events midway through the story.

The King is flipping through some paperwork, not really looking Zelda in the eyes. She continues speaking.

“And so...with the malice cleared and the monsters being dealt with, Link and I made our way into the heart of Korok Forest.”

The King hums a response, flipping through another page. “And this is when Link pulled out the Sword that Seals the Darkness then, I presume.”

Zelda paused, as of thinking of how to phrase her next words. “Not exactly. I...we both encountered someone beforehand. A man, with a pale face, and dark hair and robes, and he had the power to control malice, using a strange object in one of his hands.”

Rhoam stops writing in his journal or whatever. He doesn’t look up, but the sudden stop he makes is obvious. Zelda notices, but continues.

“He talked about...the Calamity, and my birthday...destiny, and the future….I’m not quite sure I can remember his intentions word for word. But he did introduce himself as—“

“Astor…” Zelda and the King say simultaneously. The King has fully perked up now, looking at Zelda. She’s pleased to see a reaction from him. The King rises from his chair, and starts pacing a bit, stroking his beard thoughtfully like the asshole he is.

“So you know him then? This Astor man? Who is he, father? What does he—“

“Were you alright? Did he hurt you, or mention anything else?”

Zelda pauses for a moment before shaking her head, as if the concern he was expressing was uncharacteristic. “N-No. No, I’m fine, and Link was there. During the battle, as Link fought him off, that was when the sword was pulled. Then Astor fled, or...” Zelda pauses for a beat, “retreated...he expressed his wish to speak with me again.”

Another beat of silence, as Rhoam gets up, hands clasped behind his back. “He used to work at this very palace.” The shot is now directly on Rhoams back, as he faces a bookcase, although it’s clear that he’s just deep in thought, and not just staring at books. Rhoam is in third column of the shot (he’s to the right, not in the center)

“A trusted advisor. Someone gifted with foresight, who many years ago, had first predicted the coming Calamity.” Cut to shot of Rhoams face, the camera being by the bookcase, so that we see Rhoam’s expression and Zelda’s.

“In truth, I thought him dead. For the last time I saw him alive—truly, truly alive—was ten long years ago...” The shot goes back to the original establishing shot, of Rhoam facing away from the camera, towards the bookcase, he’s standing to the right, hands still clasped behind his back.

“...when your mother still graced this earth.”

From left frame, a younger Astor walks up and stands beside Rhoam. He runs his fingers along the books. Rhoam looks to his left, as if he is seeing Astor. Camera cuts to Astor’s right, as if looking at him from Rhoam’s perspective. He continues brushing his fingers against the spines of the books, before he finds the one he’s looking for. Pulling it out, he opens the book, flipping through its pages, before giving a genuine smile. Cut back to wide angle behind them. With the book, Astor starts walking back out left frame, but this time the camera follows him. Filter fade to a memory tint as the camera pans right to left

[when the camera fades fully into the Astor memory, the figures can have that silhouetted effect like you see in botw. Cause I know Nintendo hates making new character models for some reason.]

So if it wasn’t clear already, even though the memory filter doesn’t come immediately, Astor isn’t actually there, but it’s just a flashback. I’m a sucker for merges, which is something this game and botw NEVER do which bugs me because there are so many creative ways you could introduce flashbacks without just doing “ooOooOoo fade to sepia filter and then oooOOooOOO we fade back to reality and no time has passed.” I apologize if my explanation of the camera doesn’t make sense as it’s hard without much visual aid, but hopefully it makes sense so far. Anyhow! Let’s continue.

We’re now fully immersed in this memory, but King Rhoam’s voice still narrates overhead.

Astor brings the book to one of the desks in the library, where a woman sits writing something onto paper. News flash, it’s the queen. Astor hands her the book and starts speaking about something, although you can tell the tone of their conversation is light, almost akin to Zelda rambling about Sheikah Technology. The Queen laughs about something unheard, as Astor continues ranting about something, his hands moving to like a professor giving a lecture.

Rhoam Narration: “When he had first predicted the Calamity, things were much more hopefully for our kingdom. As although his foresight granted him only glimpses and fragments of a future, he was almost certain that with the Guardians, and the strength of your mother’s power, our victory would be absolute.”

Scene changes to the Queen walking down a corridor, Astor is leaning against the wall by a window.

Rhoam Narration: “He and your mother would often work together tirelessly to study the ancient arts, to make the most of the powers given by the goddess.”

The Queen has walked up to Astor now. She crouches down and gestures to her left, the side not yet seen by the camera.

Rhoam Narration: “In fact…”

The camera changes to focus to where the Queen was looking towards—a young Zelda, crouched behind her mother’s dress, stares up at Astor.

Rhoam Narration: “I would not be surprised if you found within yourself, a memory of such.”

I would prefer if you could see the expressions of Astor (giving Zelda not a smile, but not really a frown or anything rude either) and young Zelda. But I guess it can also just be silhouettes too cause again, Nintendo hates giving us younger character models outside of first person POV stuff. Anyhow.

The scene fades, the light from the window dimming as everything darkens.

Rhoam Narration: “I often times wish we could go back to such a time, when victory and pride swam in every corner of this castle. But of course…”

The scene brightens again, although not as bright as before. It’s the exact same corridor with the large window, but now it’s raining. A young Zelda stands alone in front of it, looking outside.

Rhoam Narration: “Such a time did end…”

We now cut to a new scene, King Rhoam is walking down a hall, the camera’s perspective is of a bird’s eye view, like we’re peering in from outside a window. We can see the shadow of Astor chasing after him, as he starts speaking frantically about something, not quite, but almost to the point of shouts.

Rhoam Narration: “After your mother died, the visions of the future shifted drastically. No longer was there glimpses of rolling fields and shimmering skies, but instead, of rubble, red earth, and death.”

You can now more clearly hear the words coming out of Astor’s mouth. He is telling something about failure, and souls, and the Calamity to the King’s ear. He’s still walking forward.

Rhoam Narration: “He was adamant that our demise was now coming faster than ever, and that without your mother, we were doomed. That even you, should you take up your mother’s mantle, could not save everyone.”

Astor: “I’m telling you Your Majesty, if you go down this path, there is no going back.”

King Rhoam: “There is no other choice, we are moving forward.”

Astor: “I don’t think you quite understand the true gravity of the fate you’re choosing for yourself. It is a guarantee that you, me, and countless others shall die.”

King Rhoam: “I don’t want to hear it.”

Astor: “And of course, there are a multitude of possibilities, but the end result is the same.”

Astor: “Do you have a preference, perhaps? Crushed by rubble? Suffocation under ash?”

Rhoam’s tone is deadly: “Stop.”

Astor: “I’ve seen fire too. I’m not yet quite sure the exact circumstances that lead to flame appearing and spreading so quickly, but rest assured that if you—”

King Rhoam: “Stop.”

Astor: “If you saddle someone else with this duty I am absolutely certain that you and I will—”

King Rhoam, voice not shouting, but still with a booming intensity: “Just like you were so certain of our victory 10 years ago?”

Astor’s face darkens. He’s silent for a moment, collecting his words before practically spitting the first articulation: “...That, future, was the one that would come to be if Her Majesty was alive. If you’re so unsatisfied with my departed wisdom you can go ahead and flail around with destiny alone. You think I choose for these events to happen? You think I lie when I saw I want what’s best for this kingdom—”

King Rhoam: “What’s best for you.”

An ugly pause.

King Rhoam: “It is decided, Seer. It’s time you accept this. My wife is dead. That is the truth. Thus the role of sealing the Calamity shall pass to my daughter. She will work to awaken her own ability. It will be her duty to save us.”

Astor half laughs: “A child?! Surely you don’t need the supernatural to see how foolish that is.”

King Rhoam’s voice is even more stern: “You are living proof that the future is not absolute. Therefore I...must place all belief in her ability.”

The King walks away, leaving Astor alone. Weirdly, he smiles. Perhaps to mask some other emotion.

After another moment, Astor yells to the King: “I’ll fix this! Alone if I must!” He’s chuckling as he shakes his head. “Your useless faith may cost many lives, but even so mark my words, I will fix this.”

The King looks back, but says nothing, his expression unreadable. He continues forward, leaving Astor alone chuckling, or perhaps something in between chuckling and crying to himself.

Rhoam Narration: “We haven’t spoken since that day. I simply left him to his devices. If he was so determined to find another way to stop the Calamity, then who was I to stop him. I doubt my word could have swayed his mind regardless.

We’re now looking at a room, the camera is just by the doorway, looking at an office, circular and domed. It’s stone brick walls are covered in parchment and ripped books, covered in symbols and frantic writing. An old Sheikah tapestry hangs crudely on the left wall, and the window on the right seems to tint grey, or even a deepest crimson. Centerframe, is the back of Astor, robe hanging just above the paper ridden floor. He is flipping through something on his desk.

Rhoam Narration: “Fixated as he was on the perfect future that you mother might have led, I still had hope that with time, he might still assist you with your destiny one day.”

The camera slowly comes closer to Astor. We can see more clearly the type of stuff that sprawls the papers and books and diagrams across his office. Some depict stars and constellations, and even a few notes on Ancient Technology, although in a noticeably cleaner font. However, as the camera moves close and closer to Astor, the papers and books depict only one clear topic: the aura of death that comes only with necromancy.

Rhoam Narration: “It seems…”

Astor finally reacts to whatever he was doing on his desk. You don’t see his eyes, but as he fully turns around to face the camera, you see his smile, along with him holding a dark orb of unknown energy. It hovers in his hand.

Rhoam Narration: “...I was mistaken.”

The camera cuts to a wide angle, looking at Astor from behind a stack of books on his desk. The stack of books on Astor’s desk brighten in color (from the memory dull filter), until the scene fully fades back into the Royal Library. The camera is now focused on a similar stack of books on the desk behind Zelda, where Rhoam was working before.

Zelda is still looking at her father, who is still turned away. Now, he turns back around to face her.

“He had disappeared completely one day, so it was my understanding that whatever he was working on killed him. However, if he is truly back as you say…”

Rhoam walks closer to Zelda, close enough that he might have put a hand on her shoulder, but his arms stay behind his back.

“It is in your utmost interest to prove him wrong. I know not what he plans on doing, but it would be wise to stop him before he does.”

Rhoam turns away now, pacing back to the otherside of the desk. “But, your more important priority is unlocking your powers, understand? Now more than ever, is not the time to get distracted.”

Zelda, taking this all in, takes a deep breath. She then nods at him. “I understand...Father.”

After a moment, the King makes a motion as if to dismiss her. She starts to walk away, her thoughts churning in her head, heart thumping to the same beat as her echoing footsteps. Suddenly, Rhoam calls,

“Zelda.” It’s not a question, but the tone is asked like one.

She turns back, looking at him, expectantly. Rhoam only stares at her, an uncharacteristic moment of uncertainty for him. The words he wants to form seem stuck in his throat, until finally, he lets out a quiet breathe through his nose, before simply saying:

“You must.”

Zelda can only frown, her shoulder’s slumping slightly, as she ducks her head and leaves.

- - - - - -

And that’s that! That’s the complete end of Chapter 3. So tune in next time for Chapter 4, including a new slight but important story changes, Yiga husbands, and shocking turns of events.

Edit: I forgot that posts with link’s dont show up in tag results so a rb is appreciated :p

#Hwaoc: The Kip Cut #fuck this is the biggest one yet #hwaoc #age of calamity #hwaoc rewrite #hw age of calamity #hyrule warriors age of calamity

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livvywrites · 3 years

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🪡!

thank u for asking! i am going to talk about elaena + alinora for this bc they actually have a relationship in pirate's bane and im enjoying it thoroughly

SO. elaena is a reaper. the first reaper. death's oldest daughter. it's a big deal. she's basically a minor goddess as far as the people of eldora are concerned. she's an immortal being, been around for ages, & she will not hesitate to remind u of that fact. that said. she won't admit it, but. she's also really fucking lonely.

yes, there are other reapers. but she's their first. they look up to her. & she feels awkward around them, a lot. it's ODD for her to interact with them, so she just... doesn't? really? the little ones, maybe, but. otherwise... no. and the other gods' spirits are... much the same way. elaena is older than most of them, and the ones she's not, she either doesn't get on with or doesn't have time to spend with them now that fate has forced fear to go to war with them.

so. she's lonely.

and then she gets assigned to watch over alinora, & help along the various components of kai'os resistance, and... well. one thing leads to another, and now she's training death's champion. so she's definitely not bored or lonely anymore.

& then there's alinora, who was also really fucking lonely---though she would sooner stab someone than admit it. maybe literally. she lost her people, then spent ten years living with her guard up, wondering if the next day would be the day that kai'os finally sent someone to apprehend and/or kill her. she didn't make friends. she didn't want to lose them, or find out one of them had betrayed her.

and then she joined the group and ALMOST let herself have friends again, before [REDACTED]. and now she's training with elaena, in the celestial realms.

& like... it's rocky at first. alinora doesn't trust easily & she doesn't want to let anyone in, for fear of getting hurt. elaena has similar issues---being immortal, making friends with mortals is. difficult. but they have no choice but to spend time together, so! bit by bit, things change.

they grow closer, as they learn more about each other through... proximity & time spent together (though admittedly, elaena has an advantage, having spent a lot of time watching over alinora). elaena is able to ignore alinora's prickliness & get to know the actual person beneath, and alinora doesn't mind when elaena says off-the-wall things or acts reapery. they also share a similar sense of humor, which helps.

by the time PB rolls around, the two are able to communicate without words (which actually happens in a scene, but. i can't share it bc spoilers, rip). they banter a LOT, & are generally pretty in sync. also, as of the moment, they're the only ones who actually. Know about the whole fate thing, & secret keeping is always such a lovely bonding experience :P

[ send me a 🪡 (threaded needle) and i will tell u about some of my character dynamics ]

#elaena mortis #alinora mynerva #vivji #asks and answers #metach #meta ch

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lairofsentinel · 4 years

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Mystra

I'm so new in the Forgotten Realms lore that everything I read needs always further research. So far, what got me between disbelief and mistrust was Mystra stuff meddling with humans to such deep level. Because, really... what the fuck these Gods? I always have problems with Gods in fantasy worlds. I don't like them when they are like Greek mythology entities. I prefer them when they are a mere illusion of mortals.

However, here, in the Forgotten Realms, we got them as entities like Zeus... so they can have mortal fun. UPDATE April 2021: What it’s said in this post about shadow weave and shadow weave magic and shadow magic are incorrect. In 5e, shadow weave is not mentioned, apparently a non used concept anymore. In 4e it was collapsed with the destruction of the Weave, and Shar attempted to recreated it, failing at it because she never “was” the Shadow Weave. Shar always rejected that level of commitment. However, according to bg3 [Ethel’s words] shadow magic currently is the same as netherese magic, described by Gale/Narator also as “Primal weave” or “blackest weave”. No book from 5e says a word about shadow weave anymore.

According to what I've read, Mystra was, in fact, a young peasant girl with non-trained skills in magic, but somehow, she became the Goddess of Magic when Netheril fell. [I need to read a lot of Netheril because apparently everything bad comes from there. It's the Tevinter of the Forgotten Realms. I honestly don't understand how you just become a goddess out of the blue. One day a mediocre mage, the next one, Goddess of the Magic itself. What a gap there.]

As a Goddess, she has a system to determine who is her “Chosen One” (hence why Gale explicitly said that word, it was not by chance). The Chosen Ones have unique access to the Weave and therefore they cast powerful magic. Among their responsibilities, they need to research new magic, wander the Realms fighting the evil (and/or doing research), and to stop the abuses of magic and the imbalances of the Weave. This makes Shar followers an easy target for them to strike so far I understand, since Shar crafted an alternative Weave (Shadow Weave) from where she drags the power that infuse into her followers. However, it's a mirror Weave, extremely dependable of the normal Weave. Like Gale explained, when Mystryl died, the Weave stopped existing, and with it, the Shadow Weave fell apart too. It seems that Shadow Weave is an aberration, an imbalance of the Weave itself. [So, Shadowheart and Gale may have strong discussions on the matter.]

The man who was Mystra’s first Chosen One was a lesser god called Azuth (we found some books of this guy in BG3). The man was his devotee (despite being a low rank deity as well), his servant, his chosen one, and later, his lover (when Mystra was still Mystryl). It seems he shifted his role to a more fatherly one when Mystra was reborn [Oook]. He also was in love with another Mystra's chosen, so... divinity polyamory we have here.

Then she proceeded to accomplish a strange plan [details of this atrocity here]: to have seven immortal Chosen. So she possessed a sorceress who conceived seven immortal women with her husband [thanks god it was with her husband and not with a random man that Mystra fancied]. These women are known as the Seven Sisters, all of them are “chosen ones” of Mystra, and in a sense, they are also her daughters. [oh, boy. Greek Gods-like stuff.]

She also named Chosen One a necromancer called Sammaster who was doing research related to metamagic and dragons. The story says that Mystra appeared before him and they “spent 10 days together”, turning him into his Chosen One for a while. She apparently had a whim to choose him because soon a previous chosen one was going to die in battle, so she wanted to sort this out sooner than later. The story also says that this encounter made the necromancer feel as though they were in love. [I see the pattern now....] What it's worth highlighting: this man went into deep undead research all his life showing that Mystra has a weird moral sense of what is good from evil, which makes sense, since (magical) knowledge by itself has no alignment. Magical knowledge is never good or evil, it depends on the use you give to it (It’s also worth noting that the previous Mystra was True Neutral while the one reborn in Midnight was Neutral Good. There are two different Mystras in history.). But returning to the necromancer, the guy, in the end, manipulated by a priest of Bane, abused of his powers of Chosen and Mystra removed them. He concluded that most of his problems have been caused by accepting Mystra's role as Chosen One. Soon after that Sammaster became evil and succumbed to madness.

In short, Mystra is a goddess who loves to play favourites, and encourages research in a competitive way using a certain degree of seduction for that. So that, the Arts and the arcane knowledge will be always expanding via competition [she has such a neoliberal-magic ideas]. So, being her Chosen One seems to bring a lot of responsibility and troubles. However, it also grants you fancy benefits:

Casting more spells with less effort.

Natural detection of magic (maybe some residual effect of this ability is what makes Gale able to sense shadow magic in Shadowheart or in the Main Character if they are a user of magic. Hence his “that gust of weave”. Gale also presents sensitivity to detect magic via smell (mirror) and taste)

Development of magical immunities, and sometimes even poison and disease immunities.

The chosen ones become harder to kill, kind of tank-wizards. [Which feels like an oxymoron, lol.]

And the most important blessing: silver-fire [this is the fire Gale speaks about when his spell failed] Which is an overpowered ability in the Forgotten Realms. It can destroy any barrier and does massive damage. It can be cast once each hour, which is... wow. It can destroy “dead magic zones”, which are zones disconnected from the Weave and therefore, places where no common magic can be cast. With Silver-fire, such zones are reconnected to the Weave and become part of Mystra's influence once more. And finally, it allows precise teleportation once a day.

What we can infer now from this info and Gale, is that... when he got Mystra’s attention, it was not just because he was a prodigy alone. It had to be whether he was doing some research that interested her (probably not) or his fate was going to lead him to unknown knowledge in a future. Considering what he did with the netheril orb, one would say that maybe Mystra saw that event in a future, and considered it interesting enough to choose Gale as the one dealing with that bit of hidden and dangerous knowledge. Because so far I read, it’s clear she can see future or potential in a certain degree, and determine who replace her chosen ones. We also saw she favours those who explore the unknown without moral issues, and she has no reserves to exploit that by seductive ways.

Now, unlike Sammaster, why did Gale stop being his Chosen one if his fate was to retrieve that netheril orb? I believe she removed his title of chosen one when Gale got that orb stuck in his chest, not because his action was an aberration before her eyes (we remember she is quite flexible in her morals) but because the artefact was dangerous to herself. That orb looks to me like something that imbalances the Weave in great escale; it’s basically a necrotic black hole which feeds on Weave. Maybe she removed her favour on Gale because now the man had a power that could consume her. Remember the Chosen Ones are constantly in “touch with her body/weave” [lol, horny gods these gods], and considering that thing sucks all Weave... it seems obvious that could eat her up. So, maybe, all this stuff of Gale being Chosen One was just another of her plans to access to the knowledge of that tiny bit of primal Weave, completely hidden from her, and she is expecting for Gale to resolve it in order to recover his benefits as Chosen one.

She certainly is a super smart goddess, basically a mastermind, who doesn’t care to whom she uses and discards in order to obtain knowledge. So, using Gale this way, without explanations.... it could be one of her plans. Turn into her lover a young man that would be desperate enough to risk reaching dangerous spaces to offer her precious unknown knowledge. The plan became too dangerous to Mystra, so she severed the deep link between them out of preservation, and now she is waiting for him to solve it, offering her the knowledge obtained from the process. Absolutely possible.

But we’ll see. So far, I know a little bit more of Mystra.

Update of several days after writing this: The more I think about all this info, the more I wonder if Mystra’s Chosen One system splits her champions into two different groups: The “valuable” Chosen Ones, where Elminster and her seven daughter fall; they are the embodiment of the good use of magic in favour of neutral or good uses. And then, you have the “disposable” Chosen Ones, who seem to be more like victims of a certain degree of manipulation of the Goddess. In this category falls the necromancer Sammaster (and potentially Gale?). They can have more grey morals, but as long as they provide new knowledge and advance in the Arts, she favours them anyways. I mean… so far I read, Elminster was never “in love” with Mystra, and all that crappy dynamics between Goddess and mortal was never part of his relationship with her. His lover, though, was one of the Seven Sisters, so maybe that’s why Mystra controlled herself. I don’t know xD [These horny gods]. But when it comes to the necromancer’s story… it feels as though she encourages this seduction so the wizard will take all the necessary risks to go beyond the limits of knowledge to get her attention and favour. There is something manipulative there.