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sysig · 6 months

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Requestober 2023 Sketches

The playlist has returned for this year! There will be a few in between, but it should be updating at least once a week on either Wednesday or Friday or both - keep an eye out for your req(s)!

Day 4 got some subtle Black Eye, they are a great pair ♪ You can see I couldn’t fully decide on posing - this will be a theme lol - maybe Sylvia loafing and poking her nose up at Peepers? Or just man-handling him into a snuggle lol, I almost went with that one! But I still ended up going with the first sketch after all, his half-squinted eye was too cute to pass up!

Day 6′s first sketch was also a first-try-correct but lemme try something else lol, I’m glad I went with this one though! Friend looks very fluffy, as does Ghostbur <3 Thank goodness for digital cleaning, Phil’s arm completely confounded me traditionally lol, same with the wings actually

The alt is still cute tho, and sad :’) Ghostbur would still consider Phil his dad! And yes he’s not exactly Will, Phil’s kid ahh </3 And yet he still gets to hug him!! The piece of him that remembers him! It hurts ♥

Day 10 was a great excuse to draw blood lol, I can’t not ♪ I ran out of room since this was the last sketch of the page so while I fully intended for the bloody knife to be continuous with the rest of him, I had to puzzle-piece it all together haha ♫ He’s so scribbly lol

Day 15 was so fun!! Ahhh!! As I mentioned in the tags, I got the notification for this one while I was offline and dozing but even in that state of mind, this was the image that immediately bloomed in my head! I am so pleased I got to make it exactly as intended haha ♪ They’re so cute <3 And it’s always fun to draw Mitsu reacting like “O//o//O” even just in emoji form lol

Day 16′s was fun and silly - I only ended up with the one sketch, it’s been too long since I’ve drawn a Core! It hasn’t been all that long since I’ve watched a Meet the Cores but it has been long while since I’ve picked up Portal 2 or Mel, it’s too bad ‘cause they’re both so cute haha. But I mean, all this Portal stuff has inspired me to get back to playing so hmmm :3c

Day 17 had those two options but for me it wasn’t even a question lol - I do of course love RGB but I’ve made a habit of drawing him! And I did get to draw him later as well, so I got all the character diversity I could ask for haha. I’m so sad that I missed out on the “tk” SFX in the final version, I made it and then just forgot to turn the layer back on before exporting lol, just hear it in your head if you would ♪

Day 18, more blood! Moreeee! Thank you for all the Yanderapy attention this year ahhh, it’s so gratifying to know these boys are being enjoyed ♥ I love them too! And it was doubly fun to imagine them playing into their baser urges, yandere-wise haha ♪ What’s the fun of a yandere if they can’t have a little blood, as a treat? Hehe ♫ Mitsuru’s swirly eyes are one of my favourite yandere features of his, drawing it in full swing was really fun :D

Day 19, a bit of Ranboo ♥ It’s been long enough that I’d forgotten how much I enjoy Ranboo! c!Ranboo as well as The Guy haha, they’ve gotten more chaotic lately it seems, good for them. He’s also still quite fun to draw, that’s just good character design for you ♪ A cute little squished face, wanting to go out and play. You can kinda tell from the flower boxes that even traditionally I wasn’t all that detail-oriented for this one lol

Day 20 got a lot of concept art! Making new outfits will do that lol, started with just deciding what their sweets theme would be - Mitsuru was so obviously ube and buttercream that it hurts lol, and you can see there was a bit more deliberation with Ishida. Salted lemon, and he was supposed to keep the lattice motif - we’ll get there :P

Outfit designing! Ishida’s was a OHKO - you can’t see it in the final version since he’s angled away but his buttons are salt stones! And he’s also got asymmetrical salt “freckles” around his left eye :) Mitsu’s was a little over-complicated so he needed a second pass

But only a second pass! A chunky sweater with the swirls was absolutely the correct choice, and then since zippers don’t exist in the JD universe (lol) he gets buttons!

Finally they got their final version! You can see from the sliced version that originally they were meant to have three sections apiece for both limbs, buuut that ended up being overly visually busy, so I gave them two for their arms and three for their legs :) All the other posing and everything was pretty much perfect though! :D

This is the most correct version of their clothes for their cut-up frame; I was in a bit of a rush for the gif version so a few elements are missing, like Ishida’s aforementioned lattice design element :’D Just try to not look too hard at the final version for these details specifically lol ♪ Oh the foibles of trying to be speedy!

Technically not Requestober but I was inspired by my own idea of them switch-stitching their limbs back together lol - lemon ube?? I guess that might work...

Day 21 got a concept sketch before starting - Luci’s glares are very cute hehe ♪ I was sure I could push it cuter tho >:3c

And I was right! I called this an alt but honestly this was the correct choice from the beginning lol ♪ Long ears are so fun to pose, extra expressions! I had a bit of trouble with his arms, but I think that’s just a me-not-knowing-how-to-draw-arms-lately thing lol

Day 22 was also very close to the end of the page so I was a bit cramped! Their faces are definitely the most important element - especially considering RGeeBs has one here! - so I wanted to give them a bit of extra attention. I really like his sharp nose hehe ♪ And Hero’s hand doing the classic cartoony pinky-up with her white gloves ugh it’s so cute <3

They did get a very tiny fullbody sketch tho haha ♪ For how it turned out here, I’m doubly happy with RGB’s pose in the final! Especially his legs :D

Speaking of tiny, day 24 was super tiny!! I always draw the stick figures tiny tho haha, they’re such cute little pops of colour on my page :) I’m glad as well that I could make all the colours clean digitally - the colours got a bit mixed traditionally lol

Fun fact: Day 25 didn’t get a traditional sketch! It’d been too long since I’d drawn GLaDOS so I felt a little better to just have the references right there in the same canvas lol. My initial digital sketches are always a bit chaotic, lots of very energetic lines! It does make me all the more determined to make her design readable in my style >:3c

I started forgetting to label what day they were around day 26 haha, but I started with them side-by-side - I wanted them to show off their outfits a bit more but it felt a little stiff :P Obviously Sinister would be uncomfortable in heavier clothes tho, so I went with that thought ♪ Poor Stanley haha

The alt ended up taking it since interacting is way more fun than not! I haven’t drawn Stanley using sign language in a hot minute which is too bad! It’s very fun to do! He’s not going to listen to you Stanley, no matter what you do

Day 28 gave me a bunch of thoughts but since it was fairly open-ended, I wasn’t sure where to take it at first! Angst just has so many possible roads! Initially, featured here, I considered them getting caught - them in a police light was a very cool concept for my lighting-focused brain this season haha - but it still wasn’t quite right. Maybe because Ishida actually looks stressed, noo D:

The plot just kinda picked up from there, the idea of Ishida killing Mitsuru since they were caught, and then what I eventually ended up with - all while trying to fight against limited space and a not-the-best art day, just gotta keep powering through despite the obstacles!

But I did finally land on the idea I wanted the most :) Originally this one was going to have two panels but I couldn’t make it look right, switching back and forth between them :P I’m glad I finally got to it in the end! It was a struggle haha

Day 29 got Fellplates!Gaster! Heck yeah! :D It’s been a while since I’ve drawn him so I had to get back into the swing of it lol - I actually booted him on “April 1st” by changing my clock and then my internet refused to connect to certain sites?? What the heck is that about. Well either way, I got him! He is cute haha

I really was tempted to give him something to do with other Fellplates members, but the lack of references confounded me! Ah! You can probably tell which one was meant to be Alphys huh lol ♪ Him and his sense of loyalty ah 💔 Well, self-destruction is a common ley line for him huh haha

And then what I finally ended up with ♪ He has a slightly more open expression here, but I do like the somewhat sinister edge the final version ended up with :3c The backlighting begged for it!! And everyone needs cool backlighting haha

Day 30′s TSP/Portal crossover!! It’s such a classic idea, I am actually honestly surprised that this is my first foray into it - I’ve thought about it forever! I’ve drawn them adjacently! But this is my first time actually drawing them interacting?? How?? Well I’m glad I have now haha, they’re so- they’re just so them, y’know? Lol

Y’get a bonus because the idea of Stanley and Chell just kinda vibing in a test chamber and Stanley reacting - which you can see the barest of unfinished sketch there on the right lol - to having his Bucket taken from him, it was too good not to haha. Chell is indifferent lol

Day 31, last day! I actually drew this the night beforehand, very quickly thus the scribbliness haha. Sometimes that’s all you need, just to get the image out! You can see with the SFX, despite being noiseless in the final version, I was thinking of the static right away :) I’m quite happy with how it all turned out hehe <3

That’s all the general sketches from this year! A good solid mix of things! Very fun :D

#Doodles #Requestober #Blood #The usual tag roundup except it's all in one tag lol - Wander Over Yonder - DSMP - lots of Yanderapy thank you <3 - several of Portal -#A few TPoH - technically some Just Desserts - Animation vs. - The Stanley Parable - and Undertale! Specifically Fellplates haha #A very fun lineup! A well-mixed bag of enjoy :D #There's also a couple digital additions here hehe ♪ It's unusual but needed this year!#I'm not usually one to go back in and edit something after the fact (noticeably - I did actually do that at least once last year lol)#But with this one ahh I was silly on colouring :P I was too hasty!#That said I do still - for the most part - believe in setting down and doing better next time haha ♪#This is more for my own sake in the future in case I come back and look at it and be like ''Ah this version is correct'' but it's not! Haha #As for the rest it's all the usual :D #I have to say thank you again because that's how big I feel it haha - thank you for all the love towards my Yanderapy boys!!#It makes me very happy to see them being enjoyed :D I love them so I'm happy happy that they're getting love from others too! <3 #I got to draw a lot of favourites this year :) I always love when that happens!#And y'all inspired me to get back into Portal hehe ♪ Thank you! It's been fun replaying it so far :D #In fact I think I'm gonna go try and beat it today hehe ♫ I think I've earned it haha

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skyloftian-nutcase · 1 year

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Secrets of the Shadows Pt 4 (Wolf Link Reveal story)

(@ludoluck @keestones @artisticgamer) (and re-tagging folks who wanted to be notified for this story originally since this is the final chapter sorry to bother you guys >_< @wolfwarden @indigoartistqueen @yogurtbear242 @telemna-hyelle @a-little-bit-of-ravioli @skyward-floored)

Summary: When Link goes missing shortly after his adventure, Rusl is worried. Preparing to leave and search for him, he stumbles onto a wolf. This has to be a sign of trouble, right? Rusl thinks it is, and the swordsman attempts to eliminate the threat... and then realizes that there is far, far more to this beast than he thought possible.

(Click here to read on AO3)

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4

The morning air was crisp as Rusl loaded up the wagon. He hadn’t really unpacked much, but Renado had given him some potions and herbs for Link to take back to Ordon Village. Rusl had thanked him over and over, unsure how else to repay the man for everything he had done for Rusl and his children.

Stretching, Rusl glanced towards the inn. He and Link had spent yesterday sharing stories of their adventures. Rusl had been hesitant to ask Link to talk about his journey, trying to give him time, but after the incident he’d pushed that consideration aside. He’d wanted to know what had happened, he’d wanted to avoid any other disasters, and he compensated by telling Link a little about his own journeys. The pair had talked over dinner before going to the hot springs for a refreshing wash and relaxation. Link had gotten a little too relaxed and Rusl had to carry the boy back to the inn, much to his amusement.

This morning Link seemed stronger, though Rusl imagined his stamina was still lacking. At least the rest, potions, food, and hot spring had seemed to finally eliminate any sign of the injury itself.

Which meant Rusl’s worries shifted from Link’s injury to other matters. Matters like rebuilding trust between them, helping Link through not only this mess but his entire journey as well.

Like that friend of his.

Link had been vague on the details, stating he had met a Twili and they had journeyed together. That they’d become very good friends. It was obvious even if he hadn’t specified, as his voice quivered whenever he spoke of her and didn’t dare say what had happened at their travel’s end. Having lost friends on journeys in the past, Rusl could relate, and he tried to offer support as much as possible.

The other matter that rattled Rusl was that of the Hero of the past. But Rusl had little time to ponder it, because the door to the inn opened and Link walked into the morning light, glancing around the village.

Smiling warmly, Rusl approached him with Epona. At the sight of the pair, Link’s face lit up and he immediately ran to his horse. Rusl held back the sigh and words don’t run, and instead, he just watched Link greet his steed with a cheerfully whispered, “Good morning, girl.”

“There’s breakfast for you in the wagon,” Rusl said. “We should be home by lunchtime.”

Although it was clear Link wanted to ride Epona, they both knew that wasn’t feasible since she would be pulling the wagon. Instead, Link nodded, walked to Renado and thanked him again, said goodbye to Luda, and climbed to the front of the wagon, awaiting Rusl. The swordsman chuckled at the sight and at the boy’s stubbornness and knew better than to comment on it. Instead, he climbed to the front of the wagon as well, taking the reigns and handing Link his breakfast, and the pair waved their goodbyes to the villagers as they left Kakariko.

Link ate heartily, and the trip was amicably quiet. An hour or so after finishing breakfast, the boy’s eyes started to droop and he nearly fell face forward before Rusl wrapped an arm around him, startling him awake.

“Go lie down in the back, Link,” he ordered gently. Link was a stubborn boy, but also too polite to put up a fight over something like this, and as expected, the boy climbed into the back (though he pouted about it a little, garnering a chuckle out of the swordsman).

Hyrule field was bright and cheery, with a piercing autumn blue sky glowing above them. As before, Rusl picked off the occasional bokoblin or the one bulbin archer he saw in the far distance. It was a fairly uneventful trip, so uneventful that none of the brief skirmishes woke Link.

Until they had almost reached Faron Woods.

They crested a small hill, and Epona neighed loudly, pushing back against the wagon. Rusl leapt to his feet, bow and arrows at the ready, and immediately saw three bulbin archers and two bokoblins lingering together. Not ideal, but not the worst thing to happen. He just wished he wasn’t so exposed—

A screeching sound from above caught his attention and he saw several guay flying in circles overhead. Those creatures were usually harmless unless they got too close, so he prioritized the ground forces first.

Rusl took down the bulbin archers, yelling and ducking when one of them managed to loose an arrow in his direction. The three fell nonetheless, and Rusl had to direct his attention upward when a guay got too close.

And that’s when one of the bokoblins decided to grow bold and leap onto the wagon. Its blade was a breath away from Rusl’s throat, the swordsman unable to compensate in time, and—

A snarl roared by Rusl, forcibly shoving the bokoblin off him and nearly knocking himself off the wagon entirely. He heard squealing and growling, and he quickly rightened himself, nocking an arrow in preparation to fight when the sight before him made his blood freeze.

A massive, oh so familiar wolf had pinned the bokoblin to the ground, its maw clamped on the beast’s shoulder. Another bokoblin came up behind the wolf, who sensed its approach and whirled around in time to pounce on it. The wolf’s claws tore into the bokoblin’s chest, leaving deep gorges of red rivers. The monster grew motionless, and the wolf spared no time in crushing the first bokoblin’s throat between its teeth.

The wolf. Link.

Rusl stared, terror and horror and so many emotions slamming into him all at once. He knew logically this was his boy, he knew that, but seeing how he fought, seeing the wolf again after what had happened two nights ago…

The wolf—Link—huffed and looked up at Rusl, and his ears immediately peeled back, body cowering subtly in fear and submission. The sight reminded Rusl so strikingly of two nights ago that he almost got ill.

Dropping his bow and arrow immediately, Rusl stumbled off the wagon, landing hard on the ground. His knees protested, but his mind was too numb to register it. He held out an appeasing hand. “Link… Link it’s… are you okay?”

It was the first coherent sentence he could string together given the circumstances, and his worry over Link’s recovering body and general well-being won out over the absolute whirlwind of feelings he couldn’t even put words to.

Shadows encased the wolf just like back at the spring, and Rusl flinched a little. Then they coalesced into the figure he knew so well, and Link was crouching on the ground, blood staining his chin, neck, fingers, and chest. Rusl’s heart skipped a beat and he lurched forward before freezing when he realized none of it was Link’s.

“Spirits,” he muttered. “You… certainly do make a mess in that form.”

Link swallowed, eyes wide, body tense like an animal being cornered.

Rusl took a step back towards the wagon, turning away briefly to grab a cloth. It gave himself a moment to breathe as well. Despite everything that had happened, despite knowing Link could turn into a wolf, having witnessed it and been told about it last night, it was still…

It was still unsettling. Just another reason Link wouldn’t have told anyone about it.

Goddesses, get yourself together! He berated himself. He’s terrified!

After squeezing the cloth a moment, Rusl steadied himself and turned back towards Link, walking to the teenager. Link was still crouched by the bokoblins. Their bodies were dissipating into the malicious ashy smoke that always disintegrated the beasts, but not fast enough that Rusl didn’t catch sight of the grisly wounds Link had inflicted on them.

Rusl tried to ignore the fact that his stomach was in knots. He was no stranger to battle, no stranger to horrific injuries and desperate, nearly barbaric fighting tactics. It wasn’t like Link had many options in that form outside of being downright brutal. But Link was such a gentle soul…

Rusl brushed it aside. Gentle as his boy was, Rusl had trained him and saw how capable he was of being a very aggressive fighter.

By the time the swordsman reached Link, his boy had started to regulate his own breathing and look a little less nervous. Still, he shifted a hair’s breadth away from Rusl when the elder crouched in front of him.

Reaching forward slowly, Rusl started to wipe the blood off his face and neck. “Thank you for saving me.”

Tears quickly formed in Link’s eyes, but the teenager cleared his throat and rapidly blinked them away. He nodded in acknowledgement. The pair was silent as Rusl continued to clean him up, but after a while the swordsman had to ask, “Does… does it hurt?”

Link shook his head immediately. “Not like it used to. I’m okay, Pa.”

Not like it used to. Goddesses. It broke Rusl’s heart that Link had to endure all of this alone on his quest.

Well. Not quite alone. It was no wonder the loss of that friend of his had torn him up so much. Rusl wished he’d known, wished he could have better supported him during his journey, but there was no point in crying over spilled milk. He had to focus on what was happening now.

Looking at Link’s arms, Rusl wet the rag with some water out of his flask and continued cleaning him up. Link didn’t flinch away, instead watching him work with mild apprehension. The movements became more fluid, gentler, and massaging, and Link finally started to relax. As Rusl cleaned, he saw a mark that he had noticed earlier in the last few days but had been too preoccupied to question. It was a reddish scar on his left wrist, large and thick in size, wrapping around the circumference of his arm. It had been a low priority earlier, but now looking at it, Rusl started putting the pieces together.

The wolf had a chain on its front left leg. Link had said he was captured when he had first turned into a wolf.

Rusl traced the mark with his thumb. “When we get back, we’ll get that chain off you.”

Link looked at him, horrified. “We—you—you want me to turn into a wolf in the village?! No, no—”

“Link, Link, relax,” Rusl said hastily, grabbing the teenager by his shoulders as the bloodied rag fell to the ground forgotten. “I meant at home, not outside.”

“B-but—Colin and Ma—”

“Uli already knows,” Rusl assured him, though the words had the opposite effect.

Link paled, and the tears returned. “She—she—”

Rusl remembered her screams of terror that first night when the children had gone missing. He imagined Link remembered it too.

“Link,” he said firmly, interrupting the boy’s stammering. “It’s okay. She was worried about you. She doesn’t think you’re a monster any more than I do, I promise you. It’s going to be okay.”

Link hiccupped, looking down and letting his hair cover his eyes as he tried to get a hold of himself. Slowly, Rusl’s hands slid under Link’s elbows to push him upwards into a standing position, and the pair quietly walked back to the wagon as Epona nickered impatiently, nibbling at Link’s hair as he passed. The motion distracted him, and he gave a quick little smile to his horse before climbing back onto the wagon.

As they traveled farther into Faron Woods, Link grew steadily more tense. Rusl wrapped an arm around him, pulling him to his side. By the time they’d reached Ordon Village, Link had almost dozed off once more. Rusl stopped the wagon by Link’s house, not wanting to attract too much attention in the village. Instead, they would leave the wagon here and unload it in the evening.

The change in momentum jostled Link, who raised his head from Rusl’s shoulder. He looked around at the familiar surroundings, blinking blearily, and then stiffened, waking fully. He looked uncertainly at Rusl, eyes alert and anxious.

Rusl gave him the most reassuring smile he could. “It’s going to be okay, Link. Help me grab some things and we’ll head to the house.”

The words help me were enough of a trigger to motivate Link into motion, and he was already carrying the majority of their items before Rusl had gotten Epona disconnected from the wagon. He didn’t bother arguing the point with the teenager, though he did relieve him of some of the belongings so Link could at least see where he was going.

Link bade Epona goodbye and the pair walked into the village. Rusl noticed the occasional odd stare, but no one stopped them. The mayor in particular paused in the middle of his conversation with Ilia, but he pulled her back to their talk before she could approach them. Rusl supposed it was a bit of an unusual sight seeing Link dressed in his guardian’s clothing and hauling supplies from a trip, but not odd enough to cause a stir.

Rusl opened the door to his house slowly and looked around for Uli, finding her and Colin and Hana all settled on the couch. Uli, who had been knitting while Colin doted over Hana in her little cradle, dropped what she was doing and shot to her feet.

“Link!” she gasped in relief, rushing over to him and pulling him into a hug. “Oh, honey, I’m so glad you’re okay!”

Colin immediately looked worried. “Mama, why wouldn’t he be okay? You said he and Pa went on a trip, why wouldn’t he be okay?”

Link sank into Uli’s embrace, clinging to her for dear life, temporarily unaware of Colin’s concerns, and so Rusl ruffled the young boy’s hair in reassurance. “It’s okay, Colin.”

Spirits it was good to have the entire family together again in one piece. It felt like it had been a lifetime since they'd last been like this. The last two days felt long enough to last a lifetime.

Giving Link the space he needed, Rusl distracted Colin some more. “How’s Hana?”

As his son pulled him to the cradle to look at his beautiful little daughter, he heard Uli and Link both sniffle and whisper softly to each other. He glanced sideways to catch his wife kissing Link’s cheeks and wiping his tears away. Link trembled, visibly shocked and so, so relieved, his lips wobbling as he tried to get a hold of himself. Rusl smiled and felt his own throat tighten, and so he returned his attention to Hana and Colin.

The distraction could only work for so long, though, as Colin was no fool and fairly observant. The child wandered back towards his mother and brother. “Link? Are you okay? Why are you crying?”

Link sniffled, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand. Uli scoffed affectionately at him for it and went to grab a handkerchief. “I just missed Ma is all. And you too.”

Link yanked Colin over playfully, giving him a tight hug as Colin giggled at the affection. Rusl picked Hana up from her cradle and rocked her as she grew fussy over all the noise. Uli returned with a handkerchief and cleaned Link’s face before kissing him on the nose.

Walking towards the group, Rusl said, “Now, it’s time we take care of that issue with your wrist, Link.”

Link’s cheer immediately vanished as his smile fell. He looked down at Colin and then Uli, and then back to Rusl, eyes pleading. “Pa, I—it’s okay, really it is.”

“What’s wrong with Link’s wrist?” Colin asked. Uli reached out and took Link’s hands, examining his wrists as their middle child spoke. Colin peered up at the sight and pointed to the reddened skin. “Link, you’re hurt!”

Turning on his heels, Colin rushed to the cabinet where their first aid supplies were and pulled it out before grumbling, “All the bandages are gone!”

Uli and Rusl exchanged a look.

Link shook his head. “Please, please it’s okay, I promise it’s okay.”

“Honey, what is it?” Uli asked softly.

“It’s his wolf form,” Rusl explained as Colin started to tear the house apart in an attempt to find more medical supplies. “There’s a chain on his arm—his leg—his—”

Rusl paused, biting the inside of his cheek. Link’s fear was temporarily replaced with amusement at his guardian’s blundering attempts to describe wolf anatomy in the context of a Hylian. Rusl sighed and grabbed Link’s hand and held it up so the mark was visible. “Here.”

“But only when he’s a… a wolf?” Uli asked, bemused.

“But it’s okay, I promise,” Link interrupted.

“Link, it’s scarring you.”

“Pa, I—”

“Sweetie, we don’t want you to get hurt every time you go into that form. Do you transform a lot? That mark looks like it hurts.”

“Ma—”

“Son, don’t argue. We’re getting rid of it.”

Colin burst back into the room. “I found some more supplies! Don’t worry, Link, I’ll fix you up. Luda and Renado taught me some things in Kakariko.”

Before Link could protest any farther, Rusl said, “Colin, you can look over his wrist once we get the band off that’s causing the problem. Best have those supplies ready, then. In the meantime, go grab my blacksmith tools, will you? They’re in the bedroom, I have them all in the box – remember where it is?”

Colin scrunched his nose in confusion, but he still nodded. He hastened into the hallway once again, and Link looked at his guardian pleadingly.

Rusl stopped any argument before it could start. “We’re a family, Link. He should know as well. The rest of the village doesn’t have to, but Colin should. He’s good at keeping secrets, you know that.”

Uli gently brushed Link’s hair out of his face with her fingers before she played with the tip of his ear. “It’ll be okay, sweetheart. We're all here to help and support each other. You're going to be okay.”

Colin returned just as Link sighed heavily and looked down at the floor. He examined his older brother’s body language and looked worriedly at Rusl, who smiled reassuringly. Rusl held out this hands and Colin gave him the box, and then Uli kissed Link again and whispered something to him. Sighing heavily, Link took a step away, eyes darting between the three, but especially lingering on Colin.

Link opened his mouth once, closed it, and tried again to speak, but no words came out. He stood there spiraling for a moment longer before Rusl saved him. “Colin, there’s something we need to tell you. During Link’s journey, he was given a gift from the goddesses.”

“A gift?” Colin repeated, intrigued and entranced at the thought. Link also watched Rusl keenly, his fear morphing into something more akin to surprise. Rusl himself wondered if Link viewed it more as a curse than a gift, but the way the teenager had been discussing it with him last night, he at least found it a useful ability to have.

Uli pulled Link into a hug, smiling at him. “Yes, a gift.”

“He’s going to show you now because he has something we need to fix,” Rusl explained.

Link blew out a measured breath, stepping away from Uli. Closing his eyes, he started to crouch down and reached for something in his tunic as darkness spread out from a point at his chest, slowly encircling him and obscuring him from view. A soft hiss emitted from around him, and then the shadows shriveled into the form of a wolf. Colin gasped, frozen in place, but Rusl took the lead and approached the wolf, who had immediately let out a small whine. It seemed Link couldn’t hide his emotions at all in this form, and it made Rusl’s heart hurt at the sight and sound.

Uli beat him to it, however, immediately kneeling beside Link and hugging him, encircling her arms around his neck and tucking her cheek against the top of his head.

The motion unlocked Colin, and the boy scurried forward to face the wolf. “Wow! You—can you still understand me? Do you talk too? Is…”

Colin reached forward hesitantly and rubbed his hand against Link’s head. “You’re so fuzzy!!”

Rusl burst out laughing.

As Colin and Uli fussed over Link, Rusl glossed through his tools and reached forward, shifting between his wife and boys to kneel directly in front of Link. He held out a hand invitingly, waiting for Link to respond. Slowly, his eldest raised a paw, the chain attached to the shackle clinking at the movement. Uli and Colin watched in silence as Rusl gently worked with the shackle, first fiddling with the lock before slowly breaking through the metal.

The shackle and chain fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Massaging Link’s paw and leg, Rusl put the tool down and smiled. “There. See now, Link? You’re free.”

Link immediately let out a small whine, ears pinned to his head, and the entire family engulfed him in a hug. Rusl held his boy so tightly, nose tickled in the fur, until the wolf under him moved and slowly reshaped back into the familiar teenager he knew. Uli and Colin hugged him more tightly, and Link buried his face in the crook of Rusl’s neck.

Rusl gave the boy a kiss on the head, and peace filled the home. “You’re free.”

#the end!! :D #I'm pretty satisfied with this chapter for the most part #I finally got that dang chain off the poor kid #can't imagine it's comfortable #anyway #hope everybody enjoyed the story :)#whumptober #wolf link reveal fic #secrets of the shadows #I hope Colin's characterization was ok I admittedly didn't give him a very big role in this #but clearly he's still important #twilight princess #twilight princess link #tp link #rusl #uli #colin #writing

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theheadlessgroom · 16 days

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@beatingheart-bride

"I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable asking, Emily," June said gently, as she pushed her dinner around her plate (a part of her could hear her father admonishing her for it, but truthfully, she was much too nervous to think about eating), adding, "I just...well, it's like you said, you don't feel like you're over a hundred years old and, well...you certainly don't come across that way."

That night that she and Wilhelm kicked Emily out of the house (a night she continued to regret), her perception of the young woman had changed, going from a sweet, soft-spoken young lady her son was smitten with, to a manipulative monster looking to sink her teeth into Randall's soft flesh, and that image stayed with her long after that night...

...but now, in the gentle light of the kitchen, looking at her now, that familiar visage of a good-natured, gentle-hearted woman returned, though more tinged with melancholy, for reasons June now understood, and was sympathetic towards. She saw not a monster, but a very lonely soul, in need of love.

"Well, uh," Wilhelm commented, similarly eating little (despite his usually strong appetite, it was, like his wife's, waning this evening) as he took a stab at humor, joking lightly, "You look pretty good for a centenarian, lass!"

#((oh absolutely! i like his style; i like that he's a horror fan; enough to name his band 'white zombie'))#((after the bela lugosi movie of the same name; and i enjoy some of his music))#((like 'living dead girl' which was on the 'bride of chucky' soundtrack as part of tiffany's introduction))#((but...his movies are oftentimes just too nihilistic and mean-spirited for their own good!))#((and you're right; baby and otis are some of the most reprehensible and irredeemable out of the fireflies))#((and so it makes it really hard to root for them-honestly 'the devil's rejects' was a pretty damn good ending))#((to the firefly family; going out in a hail of bullets; and had it just been left as a duology with 'house of 1000 corpses'))#((i probably would've been fine with that; but still; rob zombie's movies are just a little too bleak for me!))#((i think in terms of the firefly trilogy; he took a lot of cues from 'texas chainsaw massacre'))#((and the sawyer clan; but like you said; the firefly family and their brutality puts ol' bubba and co. to shame!))#((i'm sure that's why he cast bill moseley; who was chop top in 'tcm 2' as otis))#((but while chop top was kinda funny in a very deranged way; otis doesn't have any of that))#((and i think rob could learn to include a little more levity into his films; to at least take the edge off a little!))#outofhatboxes #beatingheart-bride #V:Dark Shadows

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buckttommy · 1 year

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Going to preface this by saying that this post actually is not meant to be mean or slanderous toward Kristen so if that's your beat, go find someone else to share it with. But here's the thing: it is very clear to me that Kristen has profound respect for Buck and Eddie's dynamic. As friends. Multiple times, she's made it very clear that she views their relationship through a strictly platonic lens. She's even said, paraphrasing, that the will scene (for example) was drawn from her life since her mom (I think?) made her best friend her legal guardian at one point. Kristen very clearly respects who/what Buck and Eddie are to each other, and she treats the intimacy of their dynamic with the gravitas it deserves, but she seems very invested in keeping them platonic, so I don't really trust her to give us canon!buddie. Honestly, with the way she feels about Buddie as romantic partners, I'm not even sure I'd want her to give us canon!buddie.

Now, I know there's the added layer of misdirection; she's never going to come out-right and say Buck and Eddie are soulmates on a crash course to each other, and I get that. I wasn't born yesterday, I know how PR works. But I think it's also fair to reserve a hefty dose of doubt considering nothing in her speech has given any indication that she even likes the idea of Buck and Eddie together as romantic partners.

I'm happy to be wrong. Honestly, despite all appearances, I'm not even really saying I don't believe Buddie is going canon because, to me, that still seems like the logical conclusion to both of their stories. But with Kristen at the helm, if at one point I was 99.9% sure of canon!buddie, I now sit at a solid 50% sure. I'd love to see it, I still want to see it, and we still might see it... but I'm going to keep a big dose of doubt kept in my pocket just in case.

#jack.txt #An anon asked me a couple months ago what I thought the differences between Tim/KR's styles were and it's taken me all this time to piece #my thoughts together. In all honesty I still don't know if I can fully articulate my thoughts because they exist more as ideas than they do #as fully flushed out concepts but one thing I can say concretely is that - regardless of what other problems Tim might have - he knows how #to weave a story together expertly. When Tim tells a story - even if the narrative is fractured initially - he always manages to piece it #back together in a very cohesive way.#I don't see that same attention to detail in Kristen's writing. Which isn't even to say that her stories are bad! She *does* manage to #weave overarching plot points and details together but not with the same meticulous attention. I think that's the thing I miss most about #Tim's imprint on 9-1-1. He's so detail-oriented from the largest details to the smallest and it shows with how smoothly the story flows.#Another difference between Tim and Kristen's styles is that - because of Tim's attention to detail - he is able to weave seamlessly between #both lighthearted and heavy storylines. My guess is because - to him - both the light and the dark exist as part of the same story #(which - to be clear - it IS all part of the same story).#With Kristen there's an almost visible and palpable distinction between 'this is heavy' and 'this is light' with no unifying cohesion to #unite the two as being apart of the same story.#I know this must sound like I hate 6A; I don't. I really really don't. Every week with my weewoos and my firefam is a good week for me #and the criticisms I have this season do not even come close to outweighing the things I've enjoyed.#But as I sit here and reflect on Kristen and Tim as well as the direction of the show #(all of this before 6B airs of course)#this is where I am so far.#I love 9-1-1. I miss my blorbos. I'm ready for them to come back lol

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joyfulsoda · 1 year

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Interview With Geoff Packard

Hi! It’s been about a week or so since I’ve posted about the fact that I had an interview I had with Mr. Packard, and I figured I would write up a transcript of the whole thing just because! I would post the audio, but the quality is not the best and also I do not like the sound of my voice on recordings. The entire interview was about 16 minutes long and both he and I speak pretty fast (there are a lot of words), so there will be a td;lr at the bottom.

For context, this interview was for a music class I’m currently in, where we had to present on a song that we like - specifically on how the music was written to make us feel, and how it actually made us feel. We could only play two minutes’ worth of whatever piece we chose, so I chose Proud Riff because it’s under two minutes and I figured I could put the clip from the show into my presentation. The idea to ask about an interview came later!

Before I begin, he was an incredibly nice man to talk to and I was super, super nervous but that went away a few minutes in! He asked if I planned on recording it and that he would be okay with it, I said I was, and then we got right into it!

-------------

Me: “So, to begin, obviously because you portrayed Wayne on Broadway, I thought it would be interesting to ask how the music influenced your performance. So, as an actor, how did the music of Proud Riff make you feel?

Him: “How did it make me feel..? Um, well, I think the music is sort of optimistic, I feel like it sort of bops and it’s sort of a swing tune and it’s sort of lighter than what is going on in Wayne Wright’s world. Although, the sort of genesis of that song was a conversation Andy Blankenbuehler and I had - Andy Blankenbuehler, the director, choreographer- (laughs) Tony Award-winning choreographer... We had a conversation about what their day-to-day lives may have looked like, and how we don’t really represent a lot of that for the rest of the guys, we see sort of what Donny goes through, but the rest of the guys that came back from the war, we didn’t get to see what their day-to-day was.

“And so, there was a couple iterations of what that Proud Riff would be, and we decided it was how Wayne would be spending his time at home, getting his kids ready for pre-school or school or something, and how he... sort of locks into a habit, or locked into a habit, y’know, he was obsessive-compulsive and he... really used his habits to sort of survive during war time. And we talked about how he probably gained that sort of germaphobia that he has in the play in his trench warfare, because of the necessity to keep everything clean and to have a clean, firing weapon, and all that stuff. So... We talked about that. On an otherwise normal, sunny day, what he might be doing during the day, and that’s where that came from. And so I think the music is sort of sunny, cheerful, and he’s... slowly, y’know, through the habit of cleaning his gun, is trying to stay sunny, and just simply can’t. And I think that’s where the minor changes come towards the end of the song, if I remember correctly. And all the rhythmic hits at the end that are physicalized through tap, and the sort of twitches that Wayne would have- that’s sort of a manifestation of his memory coming back, or him not being able to control those memories.”

Me: “That, actually, was really insightful. And y’know, like... you can kind of see that on stage, but to hear that directly coming from you, it’s like “oh, so that wasn’t just up to interpretation, that was actually what was happening.”

Him: “Yeah! You know, I think- so, for anybody that might be listening to this, I teach at the University of Michigan now, and so, the next generation of theater artists are what I care deeply about, and certainly when I was training, or when I was a young person sort of experiencing shows or reading a play for the first time, I often thought: “Wow! How do they come up with this? This is, y’know, Arthur Miller just writes a play and just, hands it in, and this is the thing?” And what I’ve learned over time is that it’s much more of a collaboration from all parties involved, so, it’s not that Richard Oberacker and Rob Taylor wrote everything you saw on stage in one sitting and then shared it with us- they wrote a lot of it and had a first draft, then we all collaborated and had different ideas that helped them have other ideas. It did not occur until previews, I think, of the Broadway production. We had done a production at the Paper Mill Playhouse that did not have that piece in the show at all, but through conversation and through an idea of how to give a little more insight in their lives, they created that.

“And I should mention, a large part of that creation came from Greg Anthony Rassen and Bill Elliott, who were the orchestrators of the piece. They wrote all the dance pieces and orchestrations, too, so they were very involved in that sort of collaborative process, and y’know, that’s what you got to see on stage.”

Me: “That’s really cool! Well, um... With that last question, you kind of answered the other questions I was going to ask, um...”

Him: “Sorry.” (imagine someone saying sorry in all lowercase).

Me: “No, no, that’s totally fine! I was just going to ask like, how the music influenced what Wayne was doing on the stage, and you answered that with him twitching and, y’know, him having his physical manifestations of trying to stay sunny, and how some of the stuff he did towards the end of the piece coincides with the minor tones and all the hits and stuff, so thank you so much for that.”

Him: “Mhm.”

Me: “So, because I wanted to keep this short, I didn’t have many questions to ask you- relating to Proud Riff; can I ask just, like, one personal question that doesn’t relate to it at all?”

Him: “Sure!”

Me: “Just because I was curious, uh, because Wayne is a Lieutenant in the show, I was doing some research and I found out that most Officers have college degrees, and I just wanted to ask what you think he might’ve gotten his degree in, because- well, I don’t know, it was just something I kind of wanted to know.”

Him: “Yeah! Oh my god, I’d have to go back to my original, sort of, research journal... Um... For that. I feel like at one point in time, I knew where he went to college, and I knew what he studied, but I don’t- I mean, y’know, in my mind what he studied, and it’s not in the script, and I don’t remember really talking about that- I know we talked about him being a Lieutenant a lot, and how that would have led to him being a leader, and not being very content under Donny as the leader of the band (laughs). But what would he study..? The thing that comes to my mind is something mathematical, so I wanna say an engineer of some kind.”

Me: “Oh, that’s interesting!”

Him: “Well, I feel like he, of all of the musicians in the band, he was obviously the most strict and maybe square of everybody? Y’know, I wouldn’t call him an improvisor, y’know, he has that famous line “If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage.”

Me: “I was actually gonna mention that when you said what you did about him and Donny not gelling well at first.”

Him: “Yeah! Well, you know, he is the only officer in the group, and what that would mean for these gentlemen, y’know, they know that more than- oh, what would they be called, I wanna say muggles and it’s not- civilians! They would know that more than civilians, so we talked about the relationships in that way, but yeah, I think he would be- I forget what it was, but I think it’s sort of engineering, or something that involves something that can be accomplished through math, and that has a specific answer and an end to it.”

Me: “That makes a lot of sense for him. Well, that all I really wanted to ask.”

Him: “Do you still have some time? Do you have any more questions? I mean, we’ve got three more minutes.”

Me: “Well, let me see if I can think of something, uhhhhh..!”

Him: “Oh, remind me, did you see the show- did you see it live, or did you see the Fathom Events recording?”

Me: “I really wish I could have seen it live; however, in 2017 I was only 14, and going from [REDACTED LOCATION] to New York was... Well, that wouldn’t have been possible, unfortunately, so I’ve only been able to see the professional recording, and- and I love it, I need to rewatch it again. But yeah, y’know, I do really love the show, I like going back and looking at all the little details that happen, like not necessarily what the focus is on the stage, but also looking at all the side interactions- like, there was one time I went back and watched, and I noticed that in Breathe, right after Davy makes his comment about Nick, the “choreography” bit, you walked over to Mr. Ellis, and y’know, Davy just gave Wayne a salute, and it was the funniest thing to me for forever. And these aren’t things that you notice on the first watch-through, but going back and looking at all of it is just- it’s just fun.”

Him: “And the interesting thing about the filmed version of it is that, since film and TV is such a visual medium, the editors, which I think Andy (Blankenbuehler) was a part of, they sort of tell you where to look. If you think about all the things that you’re like “Oh, I missed this from the filmed version,” there’s infinitely more moments like that when you have a whole stage that you can look at. So unless it was in a wide shot on the Fathom Events version of it, you only got to see what the editor wanted you to see in those moments, so... Y’know, that’s why I was asking you if you saw the live version. I really loved the Fathom version, and I’m so grateful that it exists; there’s really no substitute for being in the room. Although you can’t, y’know, you can’t rewind, it, so... (laughs) You just get what you get, you know?”

(After this point, we have a short conversation about me! There are a few identifying details in this section that I don’t feel comfortable sharing, though, so I would rather not type them out.)

Ta-da!

Td;lr:

Proud Riff was meant to give an insight into Wayne’s everyday life.

It shows how on an average day, the sun might be shining, but Wayne is still struggling.

Wayne most likely developed his germaphobia due to being involved in trench warfare, out of the necessity to keep everything clean and working.

(Including this just because some people might not have seen interviews where it is confirmed) Wayne has OCD, cleaning his gun is a ritual.

The taps are meant to be a physical manifestation of the memories that haunt Wayne- the ones he cannot control.

Proud Riff was not in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of the show.

Wayne obtained a degree in engineering or something relating to math. He likes how they have specific answers and ends.

Wayne is the only Officer in the Donny Nova Band. He usually takes on leadership positions and does not enjoy Donny being the band leader at first.

Wayne is, in Geoff Packard’s mind, the most strict and square out of everyone in the band.

Wayne is not an improvisor.

There were a lot of side interactions onstage that we did not get to see in the Fathom Events recording. Sad day. :(

#bandstand #bandstand musical #broadway #broadway musicals #musical #wayne wright #mr packard is the sweetest man ever i still need to send him a follow up thanking him for his time #it was neat going back and looking at some of the things he said and comparing it to some of the fanfiction i've read #bandstand fandom stays accurate to the characters ig #we are just that cool #for the most part #especially the one fic where nick and wayne are childhood friends and wayne cannot improv #those twelve whole notes hold more character accuracy in a fanfic than anything else i've ever read #(i'm kidding obviously but like holy shit whoever wrote that was in wayne's brain i stg)#anyways this took me two hours to type #i have a music theory test in the morning #goodnight and enjoy

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