#sonia has tho.

[theajaheira]

i'm not going to be posting this to ao3 until i know what i'm going to do with it, so for now, have it as a special tumblr preview: xander and sonia's first meeting in the 'verse of what you make!

(for those who would like to read this without the larger context, all you need to know is that this takes place post s7, and xander is working for a new iteration of the watchers' council in a slayer-locating capacity.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The girls he met reminded Xander of Buffy in a way that made his chest hurt a little. Though their responses to their calling varied widely, they were always remarkably unremarkable—always concerned with how this would impact their homework, their time with their friends, their bid for Prom Queen—and it always made him think about how Buffy had looked, holding those pom-poms with her chin jutting out. She had been so determined to still be normal, not yet knowing how hard the world would make it to just be.

They were trying to make it better for the girls. They were. But the New Council was still in its baby stages, and the loose framework they’d set up wasn’t always enough to convince the girls that they wanted to join up. Most of their fledgling resources were being devoted to making sure that the little Slayers weren’t going to be walking demon magnets, whether or not they were actually planning to take a stand against said demons. And the worst part was that Xander couldn’t even blame the girls for not wanting this kind of a life. Who would?

Well. Him. But he’d chosen, and they hadn’t. Buffy had wanted to give the girls a choice, and that was what was happening. Two girls of the seven he’d met had chosen, and done so with youthful exuberance that had torn a little at Xander’s heart. More often than not, excited optimism about a calling like this one was a recipe for disaster.

“Are you here for anything?” said the secretary archly.

Xander blinked, shaking his head a little to clear it, before giving the secretary his best winning smile. “Can you, uh, call Sasha Rivera up to the office?” he asked.

The secretary gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look. “No, I cannot, uh, call Sasha Rivera up to the office,” she said. “For one thing, it’s the middle of the day. She’ll be in class. For another—”

“Yeah, see, I’m here on business,” said Xander, flashing his official Council ID in the secretary’s direction. “Our organization wants to recruit Sasha for—”

“What organization?”

“We’re a lot like a Gifted and Talented program.”

“Are you a lot like a Gifted and Talented program, or are you a Gifted and Talented program?”

“Look, I talked to the principal on the phone,” said a bemused Xander. “He said he’d be fine with me sitting down and talking to Sasha about some of the opportunities our organization offers. Is there some kind of a problem?”

Before the secretary could answer, a well-dressed older guy rounded the corner, bustling with cheerful importance. “You must be Alexander Harris!” he said, clapping Xander particularly hard on the back and smiling with unctuous importance. “Welcome, welcome! And thank you ever so much for your charitable donation towards the restoration of our gymnasium! Not that money is tight here, of course it isn’t, but we can always improve upon the existing infrastructure, can’t we?”

“Uh,” said Xander. The secretary was still staring daggers at him for some reason. “Yeah?”

“Splendid,” said the guy, who Xander was now starting to recognize from the briefing packet that Willow had sent them. Principal Tom Sanders. Kind of an asshole, interested primarily in the care and keeping of money, possibly embezzling but nobody had been able to make charges stick just yet. The important thing was getting him to let Xander have a conversation with Sasha, which had been pretty concerningly easy the minute that Xander had made a “charitable donation” to the school. This really wasn’t helping Xander’s feelings about principals in general. “Sophie, why don’t you call Sasha up to the office?”

The secretary’s lips pursed. She stabbed a few buttons on her phone with particular violence, then spoke into the receiver. “Would Sasha Rivera come up to the front office, please?”

“Try to smile a little while you do it, why don’t you?”

“Oh, hey, that’s really not necessary,” said Xander uneasily.

The secretary looked up at Xander and smiled—all teeth, and particularly unpleasant. Xander’s heart flipped over. “Thank you for your charitable donation to Silverfish Middle School!” she said, making charitable donation sound like extremely contagious butt rash. “Sasha will be with you posthaste. Will anyone be looking into making sure she has access to the lesson plan for the time she misses in class?” she added towards the principal.

“Why don’t you ask me that when you’re not on the clock?” said the principal pointedly. “There’s gotta be a separation, Sophie. As my secretary, your job is to make sure Mr. Harris here is able to meet with Sasha Rivera, and frankly, it’s hard for me to see why you wouldn’t be over the moon about her having an opportunity like this.”

“An opportunity a lot like a Gifted and Talented program?” said the secretary.

“Sophie,” said the principal.

Clearly there was something going on here that Xander was missing. He was just about to ask some kind of clarifying question when a girl stepped into the office—tall, gangly, dark hair in two big poofs. “Is everything okay?” asked Sasha Rivera, holding herself in a way that was somewhere between anxiety and defensiveness.

“Sasha, you’ve got a visitor!” said the principal brightly. “This is Mr. Harris of—what was it?”

“The New Council,” said Xander.

“The New Council!” said the principal, clapping Xander on the back again. Xander lurched forward and almost rammed into the wall. “He’s here to talk to you about an amazing academic opportunity that he believes you’re perfect for.”

For some reason, Sasha’s eyes flitted to the secretary. “An academic opportunity,” she said, drawing out the words. “That I’m perfect for. Me.”

The secretary pinched the bridge of her nose.

“…Do you mind if we use your office?” Xander asked the principal.

“Oh, no, go ahead!” said the principal jovially. “Anything at all for such a generous—”

“Great!” said Xander. “Thanks. Sasha, could you come with me for a second?”

“Okay, you know what, I am at my limit,” said the secretary, standing up at her desk with fire in her eyes. “Tom, my name is Sonia, not Sophie, and this is not the way you run a school. Do any of us have any idea who this man is or what his program is espousing? Just because he hands you a big, fat check, you’re willing to let him come in off the street and spend some time behind a locked door with my sister? How is that remotely safe in any way?”

The principal’s smile went all plastic. “Sophie,” he said, “I think you and I can have this discussion later, and not now, especially not in front of—”

“Oh,” said Xander, who had somehow, finally, put two and two together. “No, uh, Sonia, if you want to sit in on this, you definitely can. I didn’t know you guys were sisters!” That did not sound like a thing a Professional Scholarship-Giving Man would say. He tried again. “I mean, look, I can’t really get into the academic stuff until this guy isn’t here—”

“This guy?” said the principal, a little testily.

“Whose office, time, and patience I am very grateful for,” Xander added hastily. “Obviously. I just mean that this is something I want to run by Sasha first, and if Sonia is concerned, as a family member, I can completely accommodate—”

“Now, hold on,” said the principal. “Sophie’s on the clock. I’m perfectly fine if you’d like a meeting with just Sasha, but someone needs to man the phones—”

“Well, if someone needs to man the phones, couldn’t you do it?” said Xander before his brain caught up to his mouth.

Sasha snorted. Sonia pressed her lips together, but her eyes were sparkling with mirth. “Mr. Harris,” said the principal. “I think you should remember that I am allowing you a meeting with one of my students when she should be in class, not suggestions as to how I should run my office.”

“Got it,” said Xander, holding his hands up. “Sonia—”

“Sophie is not a part of this conversation.”

“No, she’s not,” said Xander, not missing a beat. “I was talking to Sonia.”

“You’re a regular little wise-cracker, aren’t you?” said the principal, still with that plastic smile. “Listen, Mr. Harris, that donation of yours doesn’t go far enough to cover my secretary’s salary. If you want to talk to Soph—Sonia outside of school hours, you can, but—”

Ignoring the principal, Xander leaned over the desk, warmed by the fact that Sonia was no longer looking at him with outright antipathy. “I’m obviously not gonna get into the details in front of Principal Moneybags here,” he informed her, his heart doing a funny little twirl when her mouth twitched, “but I would like to talk to you. Both of you. I don’t want to exclude you; you’re involved in this as much as Sasha is. Most of the time, we come to the school, we talk to the girls before we talk to the family, because the girls are the ones who need this information the most. But if you’re receptive to listening, this is definitely a conversation that it would be okay for you to be there for.”

“Mr. Harris,” said the principal testily, no longer sounding quite so friendly.

Sonia looked up at him—gorgeous eyes, Xander thought, as dark as the night sky—and said, simply, “Okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They met at a café a few blocks away from the school, Sasha cheerfully guzzling down a hot chocolate while Sonia delicately sipped black coffee. “I hope I didn’t jeopardize your job there,” Xander started uncertainly, eyes on Sonia even though they probably should have been on Sasha.

“No, it’s fine,” said Sonia tiredly. “I’ve been thinking about quitting for a while now. He keeps calling me Sophie and asking me to handle all the Black History Month stuff because I’d know more about it than him.”

“Which is racist,” Sasha chimed in. “He’s a stupid old racist.”

“Definitely do not say anything uncomplimentary about your teachers within their earshot,” said Sonia, fixing Sasha with the same terrifying Older Sister Look that Buffy had perfected. She looked back towards Xander with a lopsided smile, took another sip of her coffee, and added, “But yes. He is a stupid old racist.”

“…Uh,” said Xander. Usually, the talks with the girls were pretty straightforward. He did tend to fuck something up in the process, because he wasn’t always good at tapping into his inner Confident Xander, but this was the first time that talking to one of the baby Slayers also involved talking to someone this intimidating. And pretty. Intimidatingly pretty. That described this situation very well. “So. Look. I have something I need to talk to Sasha about.”

“Really,” said Sonia.

“Soso, don’t be mean,” said Sasha reprovingly, setting her own hot chocolate down. “Mr. Harris—”

“Xander,” Xander corrected.

“Really?” said Sonia.

“Again,” said Sasha. “Don’t be mean.” She turned expectantly to Xander. “Xander. What kind of academic thing am I up for?”

Now came the hard part. “Not an academic thing at all, actually,” said Xander carefully. “More like…” He hesitated. “Sasha, have you been experiencing anything unusual in your day-to-day life as of late?”

Sonia stiffened. Sasha’s gaze went down to the table. “So, what is this, some kind of X-Files investigation?” said Sonia, defenses up all over again. “You’re zeroing in on my sister with your perfect suit and your effortless charm and you’re going to cart her off to a government institution to do experiments on her?”

“Okay, first of all, if you want to cover up the weird happenings, you might not want to accuse me of being an undercover government operative,” said Xander, not sure whether he should be amused or concerned. “Second of all, if I was a government operative, I’d be the worst government operative ever, because I did just invite you guys out for coffee. And third—” Something caught his attention. “Effortless charm?”

Sotto voce, Sasha said, “My sister likes dorks.”

“Stop that,” said Sonia to Sasha.

“Do you not like dorks?” Sasha gestured to Xander. “Is he not totally your type?”

Xander decided to change the subject. Effortlessly. “HA HA HA ANYWAY,” he said, hoping to God that he wasn’t blushing. “UNUSUAL OCCURRENCES?”

“Why do you wanna know?” asked Sasha. It wasn’t as defensive as Sonia, but there was something of a warning to the question.

Relieved by a topic of conversation that wasn’t whatever the hell had just happened, Xander transitioned back into the usual Slayer spiel. “There’s a lot of stuff I’m gonna tell you right now,” he said. “Pretty much all of it is going to be hard to believe. When I’m done, I am going to show you categorical proof that my word is good. If you don’t want proof, or if you think I’m a total nut-job, that’s fine, but you need to understand that burying your head in the sand is going to put you in more danger than you’re already in right now.”

“Danger?” Sasha repeated skeptically.

“Danger,” Xander confirmed. “So listen up.”

[hajihiko]

Any chance you have more doodles of casual intimacy between the surivors? me and my homies Love that Good Platonic Intimacy rep, never be afraid to kiss/cuddle the homies <3

doodles? No. Hajime being Good With His Hands? I do now!

[b4kuch1n]

see, dearest, loving me did not save you. you scraped by just fine without. but it doesn’t hurt, does it?

[agalnamedlunasea]

They haven’t told anyone yet…

[socksandbuttons]

oh i read this fanfiction!

[waywardsalt]

im actually going to tear into totk’s dragon’s tears/ memories rn bc i remember feeling distinctly unsatisfied with them when i got all of them so im just going to write some general bullet points about them, about what i dislike or maybe what i do actually like about them, leaving out both master sword scenes and the mummydorf one because i’m here to talk about the stuff in the past not that

- off the bat (i play this game in english btw so all of this is based on the english text and translation i am aware some stuff is slightly different in other languages) im not really a fan of how the descriptions of all of the tears is just a literal description of what happens?? i think my issue with it is that some of the text is a little bit too in depth, as in it just tells you literally everything about the scene. this might be nitpick-y but i personally dont like it

- what’s up with zelda saying ‘but that must mean...!’ at the end of the scene. is it suggesting that she’s made the realization that rauru and sonia are the first king and queen of hyrule? because they literally tell her that like ten seconds before. i guess it’s suggesting she’s realizing she’s in the past but... idk the texts says ‘she’s left startled by a suspicion that she’s heard those names before’ yeah theyre the first king and queen of hyrule?? they tell her that. they tell her their names and that they are the first leaders of hyrule is she just now connecting the dots that she’s in the past? that’s what the next cutscene implies. but all of the surrounding dialogue and the description don’t suggest that that’s what she’s realizing i feel like this was kind of muddled in the translation

- why did sonia elbow rauru he was just standing weird he didnt say anything this isnt a nitpick im just confused. is it because he’s not being very empathetic towards what zelda’s going through? she elbows him and then she goes and talks to zelda why even elbow rauru. ordinarily you elbow someone like that if you mean for them to go do something why elbow someone if you’re going to do the thing you want anyways

- why doesnt zelda offer to help with the purah pad or anything like that. what happened to her sheikah tech fascination from botw. not even as someone actually familiar with the technology who could give mineru some points as to how it works

- what are sonia and zelda doing behind rauru when he shoots that insane fucking beam at the mulduga swarm they’re clearly doing something with their stones but like... are they amplifying rauru’s power somehow?? what do time powers have to do with the beam of light i dont- what were they doing please the text description only mentions him using his powers so are sonia and zelda just... supporting his powers? idk man

- dragon tear #5 is a whole can of worms with its worse-than-oot reenactment of that one scene from oot. why the focus on sonia and her tear btw. i mean yeah she dies to motivate rauru and zelda but like. why not aim for the new girl who probably doesn’t know how to use it as much and is probably more likely to be separate from the king who can shot insane lasers. im really not a fan of this scene for how strongly the game sides with rauru and zelda being passive and judgemental but ganondorf is literally the best part of it there’s a lot of character in just how he picks up his sword and stands up to leave

- putting memories 6 and 7 together just because of how there was just. no fucking care put into the idea of zelda learning to use her time powers. memory 6 zelda talks about wanting to use her time powers and sonia gives her tips on how she could use it and visualize the use of it and then in memory 7 she can just use it perfectly with great control and timing. why even bother talking about her nothing yet understanding how to use it when the very next scene she just uses it like it’s nothing. how much time has passed we get nothing to show us zelda trying to practice this power just. nope. she’s good she can use it perfectly. also more awkward dialogue sonia saying ‘what a picture zelda paints of him’ as she is. looking directly at zelda. change the line to like, ‘what a picture you paint of him’ she is literally looking right at zelda so why would she say it like that

- generally i feel like memory six should have been before 4 and 5 (4 being where she uses some power to... support??? rauru and it being before memory 5 so that there isnt this weird break in between the memories concerning ganondorf.) memory 6 does not have anything to do with memory 4 or 5 so just put it earlier so there isnt a weird shift in focus between the two big ganondorf scenes

- good god they introduce the idea of sonia and zelda being aware of ganondorf using a fake zelda but theres literally nothing about it having been a problem or them having experience or like. anything. they just TELL you that they know and suggest that it’s been like. a thing for a bit??? also obligatory ganondorf’s face model rigging is fucked comment he’s still the best part

- the pacing of these memories is just weird in general, memories 7 and 8 being separate but the same scene is strange when other memories are long as fuck but cover one event each, plus theres clearly barely any passage of time between memories 7 and 8 it almost feels like they were split up to fill space or just because otherwise it’d be... too long? man idk

- ‘queen sonia needs you!’ girl she is DEAD good fucking luck doing anything to help her

- ganondorf’s horse and its armor both look sick as fuck i really wish you got to see more of it outside the memory it appears in

- everything about the original sages honestly sucks. they aren’t characters they’re just walking macguffins. they have no names and are not relevant or mentioned or make any appearance until they are needed by the story. why does the zora sage talk about getting word about the attacked gerudo village in this scene when like. they’ve all met up and have clearly. been together for a bit. when she gives them the news it’s clearly the first they’ve heard of it... but... why would she wait until this moments to give this info unless for the benefit of the player watching the scene. why does the ZORA sage have this news and not... the gerudo sage?? what’s with the masks. they’re all made of zonaite or whatever sure theyre gifts from rauru but like. i hate that it kind of denotes them being subservient and lower than him and the zonai. honestly i really hate this scene in general mostly because of the uncomfortable showing of how rauru absolutely holds power over them and despite them being leaders as well they are expected to be wholly blindly loyal to him. rauru only gives them these stones when he needs their aid and they swear loyalty too him soon after but you also see that sonia and mineru have stones, too, so they’re clearly withholding these things despite it being kind of reasonable for him to give each race their own secret stone as further proof of their pact? there is so much shit to be said about the imperialistic themes or whatever in this fucking story and i really hate it

- i do kinda like how the next scene shows you that the one rock in the corner of that first hidden room in the forgotten temple is sonia’s grave

- zelda’s phrasing and description of how she and link found ganondorf is weird to me ‘he’s still alive’ ‘he lives on’ girl that was a mummy. he was not moving until you got there. he’s undead at best as far as you know. this is def a nitpick but eh. also the reliance on link is a... bit odd when zelda does not actually know that link is safe until she gets the master sword. its fine but still. also her shell-shocked expression after rauru talks about her being in the past for a reason is a bit... it doesn’t fit her emotion it’s kind of similar to the expression she had when sonia was killed

- the memory about the imprisoning war starts with practically the whole story up until now being repeated back to you by mineru with a decent amount of bias on mineru’s part and while it’s fine because of some of the extra stuff you learn but it does a lot more telling rather than showing when it comes to the actual imprisoning war and... idk the whole thing about their ‘fight’ kind of falls flat when you don’t actually see any fighting you just see that the sages have gotten their asses beat. i think it would have been a little interesting if in the god-awful repetitive sage-awakening scenes they had actually showed you the og sages fighting ganondorf instead of just. slow-mo freeze-frames for whatever. once again ganondorf if the best part of the scene

- the rest of the memories are fine idc

i get the feeling that the japanese-to-english translation was either all-around rough or somehow rushed, because some of the phrases in the game as well as some of the dialogue is really awkward and... could have been better. i don’t know how it works but it feels like a lot of it was very literal, direct translation and no one at noa thought that it ought to be tweaked just a little bit

these memories also do a fuck-ton of telling rather than showing and it really is like they don’t really trust you to connect the dots, and some of it does come off like they either didn’t want to make more memories or ran out of time or something. i felt like the memory of ganondorf just summoning his monsters and riding on his cool horse could have been a bit longer to actually show us the forces of hyrule fighting him and having a hard time with it

a lot of the character animations doesn’t have a whole lot of personality to them, ganondorf is the character who had the most distinct and interesting movements. rauru and sonia had their... singular movement (rauru putting a hand to his chin and sonia taking zelda’s hands) and zelda was kind of just... standing around and reacting to stuff, and neither mineru nor any of the other sages had any really interesting animations asides from mineru’s coughing fit in memory 16 (plus her reclining chair that was a nice touch). very few of their movements really express anything about the characters besides some really baseline values or traits.

the ordering of some memories is kind of odd, the excessive flashbacks in memory 17 are a bit much, the telling rather than showing, the sometimes awkward dialogue, a lot of the scenes are characters just... talking at each other, you don’t actually see very much of hyrule in the past or any characters beyond the main four, and it really did nothing to actually get me to care about these characters at all.

tldr i dont like totk’s dragon tears

[griseldafandom21]

💀Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom spoilers or whatever💀

The restoration of Link and Zelda at the game's ending is so contrived. The issues I have with it boil down to two things: permanent consequences not allowed and a missed opportunity.

First: Permanent consequences not being allowed, i.e. Zelda's transformation and the loss of Link's right arm. Right at the start, we are told that Link's arm was "beyond saving" and so Rauru removed it and replaced it with his own because of that and that it was essentially a breeding ground for Ganondorf's malice to grow and keep slowly killing Link. Then, there's the issue of swallowing a secret stone: "to swallow a secret stone is to become an immortal dragon; to become an immortal dragon is to lose oneself" which, coupled with Zelda literally shedding her memories as tears, implies that even if she became Hylian again, she'd be in the same situation Link was at the beginning of BotW.

Sure, Sonia has time powers, but they only work on objects, not people (unless it's people travelling back in time), and they only work on objects that are whole: Link is neither, and it wouldn't help Zelda's situation, either, at least not without rendering the entire plot of the game irrelevant and nonexistent. Additionally, both Sonia and Rauru are ghosts and neither of them are in possession of their secret stones anymore, therefore are without that power boost, and theirs and Link's own apparent inherent magics do not deal with transformations.

It just doesn't make sense.

Second: the missed opportunity. This one boils down to this: you can have Link's arm be gone and Zelda's transformation irreversible despite anyone's efforts to restore either. No need to pull a dues ex machina out of thin air, because the Legend of Zelda series has one built in already!

The triforce! An object with absolute power, able to alter reality with a single wish made by someone balanced in the virtues it represents: Power, Wisdom and Courage. BotW teased its existence, and that Zelda was probably channeling it to seal the Calamity, though personally, I think the triforce on her hand merely indicated that if she ever came across it, she'd be worthy of it.

Throughout the series, the triforce has been used for purposes as benign as lifting an incurable magic slumber curse, to utterly destroying all that remained of an old kingdom long submerged and mostly forgotten beneath the ocean, so wishing for Zelda to be restored, mind and body, and restoring Link's arm isn't outside the realm of possibility. There are even a few different quests in TotK that come in triplicate like Ousting The Giants, the skydiving islands and the Lomei Labyrinths. The latter of which are already set up to potentially be trials of power, wisdom and courage that could've ended in receiving a blessing or a key that Link could use to go to the sacred realm and make his wish after proving himself worthy of each piece.

Nintendo missed a golden opportunity to reintroduce the triforce back into the series. I wouldn't mind so much if it wasn't so obviously a solid narrative choice. We could have our cake: things happen that cause permanent changes; and we could eat our cake: but now the mission is over, and it's time to come home, and live happily ever after without a constant physical reminder (aside from the chasms, as the depths aren't inherently evil, predated Ganondorf, and are gloom free if the lack of malice fog in the cutscenes following the demon dragon's destruction is any indication).

And it could be done without being gimmicky without reason.

The triforce is inherently gimmicky, but it's also been around for 37 years, is the whole reason there's a story at all, and so is gimmicky with reason.

[deva-arts]

Happy Friday the 13th! I have nothing spooky to offer, but I do have Sonia.... Drawn using my computer's trackpad! Scaaaaaary!!!

Comics/lore featuring Sonia will come in due time, but for now, we can just enjoy looking at our dumb lil queenie <3

[tails-boogie-board]

Don’t- Don’t let Sonia and Manic learn about Tails’ plane, which turns into a mech walker, one which is equipped with guns, and MISSILES.

Oh, and GOD FORBID they learn about what happened during Tails Adventure (hint: Tails made Napalm and threw bombs at people who weren’t robots, as well as crushing a guy with a rock)

Tails talks about his plane and walker a lot and complains how antiquated the stuff in Mobotropolis is. It's a bit of childish humble bragging, but he does really miss his workshop.

He and Sonic also argue who the Tornado belongs to as a hobby, and Sonic having a plane is somehow more strange than Tails having one.

Tho I think they'd think the weaponry is cool in the right hands. But their sibling and a kid aren't the right hands, Sonia is worried that Sonic has a gun and what desperation he fell to without his medallion (man I gotta bring in Shadow bc that's comedy)

On the other end, she just patronizes Tails by agreeing, "oh wow, I bet you do!" She just thinks that he knows someone who is packing heat and is exaggerating like kids do. There's no real way to change her mind, or any reason barring Tails' ego, and he is fuming for hours after that convo. If she ever sees it though, it's mostly disbelief and slowly dawning horror

----

I don't think they'd ever believe it, even after they see Tails as competent. They've been in war and they know how hard it is emotionally and the mental damage it inflicts.

Despite their very worrying discovery of Tails' new found love of plastic explosives, he looks well put together and seems pretty stable so they'd think it's kiddy-boasting, or dramatizing - Sonic doesn't know either

[supermellowbouquetnightworld]

OKAY SO IN THE SONIC PRIME TAILER AMY LOOKS LIKE THIS:

BUT SHE LOOKS A LOT LIKE SONIA FROM SONIC UNDERGROUND

AND NOW I REALLY WISH SONIC UNDERGROUND WAS REFFENCED MORE

[hajihiko]

who does hiko fund therapy for? 👁️

Ryoma, Akane if she can be persuaded, Impostor if they can be persuaded AND if he works up the nerve (Impostor reads him for filth every time they talk it's so funny I imagine Fuyuhiko is a bit intimidated), Hajime in a non-apocalypse AU, Peko but it's money only and he stays far away from the Actual process (it would only complicate things). I think he would kinda do anything Chihiro asked so if therapy was even on the table there he'd already be on the phone

[shunin-gumis]

Nagi Birthday(2024) SSR Story

Best Wishes Snap

Happy Happy Day! (1st part)

The Yellow and white marker is Toi, Red is Ryui, Beige over black is Yodaka, Neon Pink is Netaro, and the All-black is (probably?) oshisha-sama (iykyk)

Messages Toi: Happy Birthday Nagi-kun! We love you 💖 Ryui: Happy B Day, show some energy. 🐙 Netaro: Birthday Boy 🌟🌟🌟 Yodaka: All happiness on your birthday ✨ Oshisha: My pet ➡️ Fun fact the rat ears doodled on Nagi is in reference to his radio persona named 'Nure Nezumi' meaning Drowned Rat!

Nagi: Haa.....

Boy: Mama, that man on the swing set has been staring at the ground for so long now.

Mother of the boy: It's not good to stare, we should leave him alone.

Nagi: I couldn't tell anyone it was my birthday today in the end.

Nagi: The "Random Present System"... I wonder if I was counted in it too.

Nagi: I'm sure the person who was selected to gift me a present has been decided, but no one actually knows it's my birthday today.... Besides, it must have been a hassle to get me something when the system was only just implemented....

Nagi: ...... Well, I guess it's fine even if my birthday isn't celebrated.

Nagi: Sonia sent me off with a smile and told me to enjoy the party, so I can't just go back to the shop now. I'll just return to Hama House, take a nice hot bath and sleep.

Nagi: I'm ba...ck?

Ryui: Finally! Where the hell were you off to all this time? You're late!

Nagi: Huh? Um, I'm... sorry?

Momiji: Welcome back, Nagi-kun.

Yodaka: We were just about to set off to find you.

Yodaka: It wouldn't do for the birthday boy to be absent for his own party, now would it?

Nagi: But I thought no one knew my birthday...

Netaro: What a silly goose you are Gii~ Surely you must remember the fact that you had to note down your birthday on your profile.

Momiji: It was in the company's documents too.

Nagi: Ah... you're right.

Toi: Ushio-kun prepared the cake -"Blooming Happiness ⭐ Full Bloom Flower Cake"! The flowers on top of the icing are all edible, isn't that amazing?

Nagi: Not just that, the entire table is packed with all kinds of food...

Nagi: You prepared all this... for me...?

Momiji: Nagi-kun, I've prepared a ton of vases so I can receive as many flowers as you want to give me later, so enjoy tonight as much as you want!

Nagi: ....!!

Everyone at Hama Tours: Happy Birthday!!

Renga: As fellow team leaders... let's do our best to get along and hype up HAMA.

Renga: This pink rose is my birthday gift for you.

Renga: It's thanks to your advice that my roses grew so beautifully, so you can have this one.

Nagi: ....hic.....

Renga: ...Wait, huh!? Are you crying!?

Ten: Ah... look at those tears. Renga-san, how could you do that to him....

Renga: Is this my fault!?

Renga: It's not like it's something specia- I mean, I did put a lot of thought into it, but!

Renga: O-Oi, stop crying already...!

Nagi: ....hic, I've never seen such a beautiful rose before. It's the most beautiful one in the world, no, in this entire galaxy!

Renga: I-Is that so...!

Muneuji: Hachinoya-san, please accept this watering can from me. I hope you can make use of it at your store. I wish for 'Flower Laundry' to continue to flourish and prosper.

Nagi: I-I promise to make my store one that everyone loves for the next 1000 years.

Liguang: ... He keeps crying every time someone greets him.

Ryui: He's a pain...

Nagi: Liguang-san, and Ryui... Even the two of you prepared a present for me?

Liguang: That's right. Grease and cloth included, I've prepared a maintenance tool set that you can use on your beloved bike.

Nagi: Thank you very much....

Ryui: This is a little something to ward of bad luck.

Nagi: Band-aids? It's even got a nice design...

Ryui: It's because you keep getting hurt all the time and getting Toi all worried. And stop bawling so much it's gross.

Nagi: ... Thank you for getting someone like me a gift. It's the first time my birthday's been celebrated like this...

Chihiro: Oh em gee, isn't Nagipeko crying a lil too much tho? You'll shrivel up at this rate!

Nagi: It'll be ok if I drink water right after letting it out.

Raito: Haha, guess I should prepare a pitcher for you in that case.

Nagi: I would really appreciate that.

Nagi: I want to give back all this gratitude I'm feeling. So that all of you can smile just like I am-

Nagi: I'll do a stand-up comedy right now.

Momiji: Eh, all of a sudden?

Tao: That's not what I was expecting from that speech!

Nagi: Even if you feel like cringing, please don't look away. I'd like you to accept my honest feelings of gratitude.

Momiji: Huh, wait, Nagi-kun...!

Nagi: Presenting my short skit, "How I surprised myself on my own Birthday."

Part 2

[ganondoodle]

was watching another totk video and through that found out what the reward is for completing koltins quests, honestly im not really surprised but also baffled and it really just shows, once again, that totk kinda does exactly what you shouldnt do in a sequel imo.. double down on all the bad stuff of the previous title

at this point i have talked about various problems in detail but i just keep realizing over and over just how much of the wrong lesson they seemed to take from botw, they recycled almost everything from botw by changing some paint or some words, made a giant game even bigger and filled it with boring and tedious busy work that has mediocre to insulting rewards EVEN MORE than botw

game too big and empty? make it TWICE as big, change barely anything about the map of the previous title and the new added map(s) is ONE biom that almost everywhere looks the same and even emptier with little to do

too many krogs? MAKE IT MORE and double down on the literally shit reward bc its the SAME just with one more stack of shit

too many shrines with short puzzles? ADD EVEN MORE and make them even shorter and easier to complete, alot of them not even involving a puzzle and multiple being an utterly out of place tutorial that could have been explained to you in a single text box

rewards in the overworld being mostly either a krog or a shrine which gets repetetive with shrines being ALOT and krogs being wayyy too many? add even MORE shrines and EVEN MORE krogs, but now add over a hundred of caves to it that all get repetetive after just a few of them and you only do them for a shrine or a currency you have to collect to get one cool looking but pretty bad to use armor set and a piece of cloth for your parasail that you can only use one of at the tiem and to switch have to go back to a specific NPC, theres ghost lights to collect which only serve to yet again buy one armor set from a set of NPCs and ar meaningless afterwards, the light roots dont require you to do anything but walk to them and the reward for finding them all is a "you did it" sticker that doesnt even stick (its useless)

weapons break too quickly? well make the weapons you can find even worse to force you to fuse a material to it so its at all usable BUT IT STILL BREAKS and when it does it breaks not JUST the weapon but ALSO a material, materials that you will need for now EVEN MORE EXPENSIVE armor upgrades too, weapons cannot be rewards anymore either bc they will always have to be fused with something to make them stronger bc none is strong on its own- this also applies to THE MASTERSWORD, something ALSO complained about that it still 'breaks' even after empowering it through the DLC in botw, and now it cant even BE empowered (bc no DLC) unless you fuse soemthing to it (to. the. MASTERSWORD.) EVEN THO EMPOWERIGN THE MASTERSWORD IS THE ENTIRE POINT OF ZELDAS ULTIMATELY MEANING- AND CONSEQUENCELESS SACRIFICE !!

the dungeons were to samey and simple? make them look different but keep the core structure (activate terminals in completely seperate from each other "puzzles", fight boss) while also makign them be even more skippable (climable walls, the ceiling jump ability- something the titans DIDNT have) with incredibly easy bossfights that end with an embarassing copy and paste scene that hits you over the head with long known and obvious information over and over

people didnt like how the story was so detached from everything in the present? well, make the story and the present EVEN MORE detached from anything in the present, so far in fact that there is literally no connection to it aside from zelda who is the only connective thread and is also only treated as such (she is as personality lacking as sonia as soon as shes yoinked into the past) and the suddendly and out of nowhere intruduced architecture and history that wasnt a thing in botw but is treated like it was always there

people didnt like how far botw was detached from all other zelda games? ok totk is not only FURTHER detached from those it also completely detached itself from its on predecessor :)

people didnt like the memory system? ok make it WORSE then, its a linear story now that you can ruin by seeing even one out of order, they are super short and dont give you anymore context to anythign than the things you could figure out yourself or were already told really, instead of giving you views into a characters personality you get to view a basic plot summary of a story that is so flavorless and predictable i knew what would happen from the start yet acts like its being vague and cool that i felt like i was beign treated like a literal toddler

too few enemy types? well, we will reuse the old ones EVEN MORE thant before over twice the map and the new ones that are there are either utterlly irrelevant to change up the gameplay or largely feel like the old ones just with a paint job (constructs), the griocks looked cool at first but are just a more annyoing version of the lynels (who feel like an actual duel, akin to a proper boss)

even the things that were adressed, or attempted to, didnt fully work, like the bosses ARE more unique, but also still so incredibly easy and ALSO have multiple duplicats just sitting around in the underground despite them being supposedly the root of the problems of the regions (i like refighting bosses, but id rather have a character that lets me choose ok i wann fight this one again and teleporte me into a vision or sth- also the most fun fights arent even part of it (koga) )

the rain complaint got a new effect type to counteract it, which ... doesnt work well, you need specific materials to make potions with that effect which you also need to upgrade the only armor set wit hthat effect that ONLY works once you upgrade it (i think ... i dont know how high i got it but if even the full upgraded set doesnt negate the rain effect i will not be surprised either lol) also it adds just yet another effect type that spams your inventory and you dont really need .... or i might be the only one that saw no value at all in the "attack up when hot" new type of effects bc it felt so specific and situational while also having a way better option (just make it a standard attack up thing?) at least in my eyes-

... ill stop here .... this got longer again didnt it O-o

[the-gateway-to-madness]

It's been really interesting to see all the takes on the end of TOTK.

Some people seem perfectly happy with the ending as is. I'm one of them! I'm so happy that Link and Zelda finally get to look forward to a future where Ganondorf is gone and they can choose how they want to live. It makes me cry with the best of 'em.

A lot of people seem to be pretty happy with it but think Zelda should have kept some draconic traits. And I get that too, for a number of reasons! Everything from "trauma doesn't just vanish and there should have been something remaining" to "it would invalidate her sacrifice for them to just disappear" to "it would just look cool".

My personal take on it is, yeah, it'd be cool and it would add gravitas to her sacrifice- but look at the fanart! The Dragon Zelda plotline already has unbelievable gravitas as is. She spent millennia enduring mindless suffering she probably couldn't remember the source of or fully comprehend.

Zelda remembers sensations from her time as a dragon- the fact she was asleep, how it felt right before she woke up (like a warm, loving embrace ;-;). Some part of her memory is probably deeply rooted with that pain still.

So why, why, WHY would Sonia, Rauru, and Link- arguably the three people who love Zelda more closely and personally than anyone else across time and space, in this canon -leave her with dragon traits, if they have the power not to? Why would they make her remember millennia of pain every time she looks at her hands, or looks in the mirror? Are the marks on her soul not enough? Must she live in a body that would mar her happy ending and remind her of her eternal suffering for the rest of her life- for all of time? Would she have even remained mortal if some of the dragon had been left in her? Could she have had the life among her loved ones, the life helping Hyrule alongside Link, that she wanted?

And besides, if we (and by we I mean my undiagnosed-but-autistic-trait-littered brain) look at the game mechanic that turned her into a dragon- secret stone inside body = dragon. Secret stone not inside body = no dragon. If the recall rune removed the secret stone from inside her (she has it back at the end of the game and we ALL know Link took that thing up to the highest Sky Island he could reach so no mortal is ever freaking getting to it), there shouldn't be any dragon left. It wouldn't make sense to put Zelda through a bittersweet or half-victory in the end. It wouldn't have felt as clean and joyful, and wouldn't have been the payoff Link and Zelda have earned after all their work and fighting and sacrifice. Zelda has been given another chance to be what she always wanted to be: free.

I don't see a reason to pour more trauma on these kids- the ending wraps up the story very solidly as it stands, and so I don't personally subscribe to the "zelda should have had dragon traits" concept.

It does look cool tho.

[cyanidas]

⚠️SHSL Detective ! Kazuichi Souda 🕵️‍♂️

I'm hoping to make a small series of fun lil sprite edits with my talentswap AU that scrambles the talents of Class 77 and Class 78, and has its own weird lil story to go with it

(someday I'll think of a cool shorthand title. maybe. perhaps. as a treat. i would also like to write this story someday... we will see, since evidently im allergic to projects)

Headcanons? Headcanons for Detective Souda?

(also a lil comparison between this one and normal Kazu, and some AU info)

For this AU, characters' original body types, general interests/inclinations, and much of their personality is intact - the only parts of their personality that change are things influenced by their line of work alone. A lot of who we are and who we become tends to be influenced by our interests, which in turn is influenced by our upbringing, which also influences who we are... but I intend to keep the characters as close to how they are outside of their original talents as possible.

This AU also swaps the end twists between the 1st and 2nd games, and in some way keeps original relationships (like Makoto and Kyoko's partnership, and Souda's inclination towards Sonia). Some personality aspects are allowed to bloom or forced into hiding, depending on the upbringing I imagine would have been needed to allow these talents to shine within them and rise to Ultimate status.

ok Souda Headcanon Time:

The teeth are actually natural - he has a disorder which effects a number of things but especially effects his teeth, which are sharp as a result (something that evidently exists?? tho i forget the name, and it's not as perfect as drawn here ofc but.)

I think og-Souda would have a great skincare routine, one that Detective Souda lacks, since he never gained the motivation nor inspiration to care more about his appearance in front of others. So, he has some zits.

When he was very young, he was living with his father in their bike shop, but his dad went too far one night. A worried neighbor called authorities on them after witnessing his dad's aggression. At some point, the situation tips over, and Kazu's removed from his father's custody.

The detective investigating his father's abuse took care of him, and eventually adopted him after his dad was incarcerated. New Dad was not physically abusive, and genuinely cared for his new son, but due to his line of work he wound up kind of a sad sack of a person, so he's still a pretty cringefail/wetkitten father figure.

Kazuichi would accidentally stumble across his files around the house, and witnessed far more corpses than he likely should have as a child. Terrified at first, he eventually suppressed his fears in favor of trying to become a stronger person, and insisted on applying himself to learn his caretaker's line of work... inadvertently witnessing even more death and dying than he should have, from a young age.

As a young teen, he took interest in therapy and self care, and came to realize his trauma regarding his father and his guardian / upbringing. New Dad has his full love and respect and he tries to change for his son. This kind of expands Kazu's self-respect a little, while adding new depths to his hatred/fear of violence and conflict.

Due to his new caretaker, he never went to the same schools, and lost his original friends as a result - so he doesn't suffer from the same trust issues as OG-Souda, and as a result, easily clings to the people around him and allows himself to get lost in his head a tad more often than OG.

He specializes in forensic investigative work, because his brain is still wired better for calculations, spatial reasoning, and mathematical speculation.

He also still loves learning about how things work, and now, he's especially interested in how things have happened / come to be - finding satisfaction in analyzing evidence, instead of reverse-engineering parts/machines.

He even still has a mild interest in mechanics! But he is firmly convinced that being handy and technical is nothing to boast about.

He is also now convinced that he wouldn't make a good repairman/mechanic/engineer, anything of the sort. Part of this apprehension is due to his hatred of his father.

He is still pretty timid, and jumps easily at any sudden or loud noise, is afraid of the paranormal, gets upset easily when socializing, and feels terrified when there is any perceived threat.

However, death and dead bodies are some of the things that no longer frighten him. Upset, sure, but nothing like OG-Souda. He sees dead bodies as objects to investigate and solve, as opposed to feeling the horror of seeing a deceased fellow human, or feeling too overwhelmed if it's someone he knew. Because of this, it's easy for him to get lost in his work and feel totally disconnected while investigating.

[drawnfamiliarfaces]

Not a question tho... I just want to say that I REALLY love your art style for Hero:108! It's just so precious to see it on my tl again... I love them! Especially Lin Chung and Mystique Sonia! (You made me into LinSonia again 🥹)They are my fave! Again...Thanks for drawing them with your awesome art style!!! Have a nice day! 🥰

Oh oh boy QAQ!!<3<3<3<3 Thank you sm for your kind words!!!

People keep saying nice things to me and I appreciate it so freaking much, but this one kinda gripped by the throat because I was in H:108 mood lately lol and H:108 has such a tiny fandom presence, well anywhere tbh since its such a silly cartoon, and its just very nice to know that there are some people out there who enjoyed silly stuff I drew. QwQ <3

And its really flattering that it reignated your love for LinSonia! They are kinda my fav characters too and I actually accidently started to enjoy that ship too. ;3