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azuresage · 1 month

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It gets talked about a lot but I still can't stop nerding out about Link's characterization in TotK. It's done through his many creative dialogue choices and his expressions of course, but it's also done so subtly through what he *doesn't* say. Notably, he doesn't talk about himself. And this is why nobody recognizes him unless they've already met him. Because he doesn't tell them when they've got the wrong impression of him.

The meme about Link having Tony Hawk syndrome is so real. People will look at him and straight up say, "Wow, you look exactly like Link!" without a hint of irony. Lookout Landing has a detailed picture of his face in their watchtower and the search party still doesn't recognize him. Penn works with Link for a long time and thinks he's unlucky that the Yiga keep "mistaking" him for the Hero (granted, Traysi asked him to deliberately keep quiet, but Penn still didn't put two and two together himself). I think the reason for this, aside from it being really, really funny, is that Link just doesn't talk about himself. He doesn't feel the need to.

Characterization isn't just about what we see a character doing, it's also about how other characters respond to them. Link is so unassuming and humble that he doesn't match people's expectations of what "Link" should be like. The three Gerudo ladies hanging out around Outskirt Stable are one of many perfect examples. Link stands in front of them carrying the Master Sword, but they expect the Hero to be taller than they are, with a giant glowing sword, so they don’t believe it's him. Obviously that's not the reality, but they don't know that. Link doesn't correct them, either. Again, he doesn't feel the need to.

This is also why many NPCs from BotW don't recognize or remember Link. To them, he was just a passerby that did them a good turn once 6+ years ago. Nobody's going to remember a person like that for so long after. They had no way of knowing he was the Hero, unless it came up for story quest reasons. When they hear stories about the Princess's Appointed Knight who woke up from his 100 year nap, defeated the Calamity, and rescued Zelda, they imagine someone larger than life. Then when they see what Link actually is like, they can't put two and two together.

This is true even during the Hyrule Restoration efforts. Link always follows behind Zelda as her shadow, which she notes in her diary, but the people in the stable investigation quests and in Hateno don't recognize him either, even though he went everywhere she did. Link is just that unassuming. He resigns himself to being a shadow, allowing Zelda to take the lead and do as she pleases but always staying nearby to support and protect her. He doesn't need to be recognizable to do his job. And we know from both BotW and now TotK that he's wholly devoted to her. He's content with this. Many people more eloquent than I have spent many paragraphs elaborating on this. I just wanted to focus on what it says about his character.

Link is humble and unassuming, so much so that nobody believes that he's the Hero unless they already know him. He's devoted to Zelda, so much so that he's willing to do anything to chase even a glimpse of her. He doesn't talk about himself or correct people who have the wrong impression of him. He doesn't need to do that to chase his Zelda. He is a person of great humility in spite of his station. I think that's so interesting and neat how the comedy of him being unrecognizable also tells us all this about him. It's also cool how this is only one aspect of him; all the dialogue choices and expressions he makes during cutscenes and actions out in the world show a whole other, lighter side to him that meshes with this. It's all so good. I am in love with it. It always kills me inside when people dismiss his characterization as being nonexistant or flat just because it's not spoonfed to them or when they say Link being unrecognizable is lazy writing instead of a deliberate choice. I am biting and gnawing and gnashing over him and his relationship to Zelda. I love them so much.

#legend of zelda #tears of the kingdom #zelda theory #link #this was swirling in my brain cuz i just started replaying totk i had to jot it down #this game is peak fiction. my favorite of all time.

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toast-tales · 1 month

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Cursed Cravings, Chapter 8: Judging by the Cover

In which Danny gets a look at Christopher's library. Contains: 1.6k words | Chapter 1 | Read this story on A03!

“I’ve saved the best for last.”

After almost an entire day of being dragged around the mansion, with a merciful break to eat another well-prepared meal from Sam, the cart rolled to a stop in front of a set of grand double doors.

Danny gave the doors a skeptical raise of her eyebrow. They were big, sure, but they didn’t look much different than the rest of the mansion, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could stand to listen to stories about how these rich people had gotten their fancy things from other rich people in what seemed to be a never-ending cycle of showing off to each other about it, even if Sam had made some of the stories a little more entertaining.

“This is the library. It’s HUGE, and I don’t just mean that because all the books are twice your size. There’s hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. Penn family, big book people.”

Danny’s eyes widened. Books? Those were something of a rarity to her—she was certain there was someone who sold books in town, but she had always been too busy working with the animals, or in the garden, or in the kitchen to bother with a hobby like that.

“Uh…yeah, I haven’t exactly…gotten the chance to, uh, read a lot of books.”

She could almost feel the cart vibrate with excitement. “Then you are gonna get the socks knocked off of you when you see this. Anything you wanna read about, I guarantee he’s got it.”

“Sam, wait-”

Danny’s protests were cut short as the doors to the library opened and the cart zipped inside.

It was just as Sam had said—the place was enormous, with rows and rows of books as tall as trees lined up from the floor to the ceiling. Her head craned backwards as she followed the sight up and up, any remark she’d previously had ready long since swallowed by her amazement. “W…woah. Where the hell do you even start?”

The cart eagerly rolled on forward. “Well, you could certainly start with the factual stuff, y’know, history, encyclopedias, stuff like that. That’s all this section here,” they said, not bothering to slow down as they passed the section in question. “But that’s boring. My favorite’s over here.”

They whizzed past a few more rows of books, and then Sam rolled to a stop, proudly gesturing towards the shelf they stopped in front of with a dainty flourish of the cart’s metal handle. “See? Fiction!”

Danny laughed. “...fiction?”

“Yeah, like…made-up stories. It’s got everything. Here.” A sturdy book was plucked off the shelf and floated through the air next to the cart, motioning for Danny to step onto it. Not looking at the ground below it, she cautiously stepped over the edge of the cart and placed her weight on the book’s cover, which had an elaborate, gilded design adorning it. It slowly lowered itself to the ground with Danny on it, allowing her to step off and onto the tile floor.

Another book flew off the shelf and landed next to her—the pages flipped quickly before landing on one of the inside illustrations, which seemed to depict some sort of wooden puppet at sea, sailing away from an enormous, monstrous whale. She barely had time to process it before another book set itself down on her other side, this one bearing a cover of a handsome knight fighting a fire-breathing dragon. More and more books began to pile up in rapid succession, until Danny had become trapped within an ever-increasing mountain of literature.

“Hey! Sam! Slow down, wait.” She took a deep breath, and then muttered, quietly, “listen, I…I can’t read.”

The erratic book-flinging halted to a stop, one book in midair sheepishly putting itself back into place on the shelf. “Oh.”

“Did you just say you can’t read?”

The giant footsteps had escaped her notice until they were too close to evade. She scowled. “Sam!” she whispered harshly, suddenly getting the feeling that the spirit had abandoned her. That little punk. Did they do this on purpose?

She glared upwards and saw Christopher looking down at her from over the stack of books that surrounded her. “None of your fucking business, bastard. For the record, I’ve had to work twice as hard as you’ll ever work just to keep me and Nathan fed. Reading wasn’t exactly high on the priority list.”

Christopher tilted his head, regarding her with what appeared to be a genuinely curious expression. “I’ve never met someone who didn’t know how to read before.”

A book smacked him in the back of the head.

“Ow!” He rubbed his head and looked around futilely for Sam, before sighing with a single, drawn-out breath. He glanced down toward the books near Danny again and picked one off the top of the pile, turning it back and forth as he considered the cover.

From what little she could see, it appeared to be quite pretty, with delicate gold details on the front and a tower of some kind, with the illustration of a long braid of golden hair running along its spine.

“This is a good one,” Christopher mused. “I could…”

He looked away for a moment, tossing something in his head with a conflicted expression before he looked back to Danny. “...read it to you, if you’d like?”

Danny raised a single eyebrow. She had a snarky retort all lined up, but she found herself pausing as she looked at the book in the giant’s hands. She’d never had the opportunity to read before, but she did like stories. Nathan used to tell her some that he’d heard from his family. Her heart ached at the memory, and she took a deep breath of her own as she crossed her arms. “What’s it about,” she mumbled, refusing to look at Christopher.

“It’s called Rapunzel.” He idly flipped through the pages. “It’s about a princess with long, golden hair trapped in a tower by a witch, and rescued by her true love. It’s a classic.”

“Sounds boring,” she grumbled.

“There’s some rather graphic violence too, if that makes it more intriguing for you.”

She rolled her eyes, trying to look away from the giant and failing as she looked back toward the book.

Christopher bent down, rolling his eyes back at her as he extended a hand towards her, like he expected her to climb onto it. “You ought to give it a chance. Come on, I’ll just read the first chapter and you can see if you’re interested after that.”

Danny glared at him. Glared at his hand. And then glared at him again. She was more interested in hearing the story than she was letting on, but to have it be read to her by him?

She felt a slight chill as a tiny breeze ruffled her clothes. It felt like Sam was trying to coax her into this too. I feel like I’m being played somehow.

She took a bold, paradoxically defiant step onto Christopher’s palm. “Fine. ONE chapter. And then you have to leave me alone for the rest of the day.”

The giant laughed softly as he carried her to a nearby table. “Whatever you’d like, Danny.”

* * * * * * * * * *

A Little More Than One Chapter Later

Once Christopher reached the end of the story, he realized that Danny, who had taken a seat on the table between him and the book, had begun to make soft snoring noises as her head bent slightly forward.

And she was the one who insisted we keep going. She didn’t even hear how it ended. He chuckled, poking her lightly in the side. “Hey. Doll. You’re drooling on the pages.”

“Hwah-huh…?” She made a tired noise as she stirred awake, blinking a few times as she looked slowly between the book and him. Her eyes suddenly widened as she startled herself awake, a look between embarrassment and indignation clear across her face. “I WAS NOT. I’m awake!”

“Oh? So you heard what happened to the blind prince?”

Her face went blank. “...since when was he blind?”

“You were asleep for longer than I thought, doll.” He grinned. He could see past her prideful posturing to know that she had enjoyed the story, even if she hadn’t been able to remain conscious for the whole thing. It is a little late.

She huffed. “Well, maybe you could reread some of the end, so I can…” she yawned, “figure out how it ended—”

“Oh, no.” He closed the book shut and picked her up, placing her on his palm—she only feebly swiped at him in protest this time. “I think that’s enough for tonight. It’s almost midnight.”

“It’s almost WHAT?!” Danny looked to the windows, which showed that the outside world had long since succumbed to the pitch black of night. “Jesus Christ,” she mumbled under her breath.

“Come on, I’ll take you back to your room.”

He’d already made it down the hall, walking as slowly and carefully as he could while he cradled Danny in his palms, trying not to jostle her. To his surprise, about halfway there she began to curl up and close her eyes, giving up entirely on sending any sort of malevolence his way, at least for now.

…what?

No one had ever been comfortable enough to sleep in his hands like this before, not even the ones who thought they could trust him. Seeing her like this, at ease and relaxed, was such a strange contrast from how she normally acted around him, with her guard up and a steely look of irritation in her eyes.

His heart fluttered a little as he observed her, but he swallowed down the feeling of hope that surged in his chest. As lovely and enticing as the feeling was, he knew it was a rose with thorns beneath it. He knew what happened when he got too attached to the humans he was supposed to eat.

They all screamed, in the end.

* * * * * * * * * * Next chapter ->

Is it time for more Danny and Christopher bonding? I think it's time for more Danny and Christopher bonding. Or, well, whatever you want to call it. Either way, tune in next week for chapter 9: A Taste So Bittersweet!

Thank you for reading! We're getting really close to one of my favorite chapters so far. Things are going to start picking up soon! I promise!

#cursed cravings #itwom #itwom au #beauty and the beast au #vore writing #vore stories #gt stories #nonsexual vore #sfw vore #gt vore

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lucky-clover-gazette · 3 months

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Mask Off 🍌

Traysi, head editor of the Lucky Clover Gazette, has been kidnapped by the Yiga Clan! Will Link be able to save his friend before she falls victim to his not-greatest-but-still-somewhat-frustrating enemies?

Chapter 1/? (2096 words)

“It’s those guys,” Penn mutters, more to himself than anyone else. He motions to his own face. “You know, the ones with the…” “Noses?” asks the stablehand. “No, the masks! They all wear masks!” Link’s blood goes cold. The Yiga Clan has kidnapped Traysi. What in Hyrule did she write?

Read the rest on ao3 or under the cut:

Rumor Mill: Volume 2

Greetings from Traysi—your source for the best gossip and news!

Have you been hearing any good stories on your travels? I've got a great one for you today!

The Sword that Seals the Darkness

The only one who can wield this sword carries the blood of the hero in their veins.

That's what they say about this special blade! Rumor has it the blade has been hidden away in a forest somewhere...

I have to admit that this rumor really has me interested, but sometimes you have to face reality.

My reality is... There isn't any hero in my bloodline, so this sword would just be a big paperweight to me...

Traysi's Recommendation: ★☆☆☆☆

- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

─────────────────

“HEEEEEEEYYYYY!”

Link pockets a brightbloom seed and sighs. That voice is unmistakable—there must be trouble up above. His journalistic partner Penn has a knack for placing himself in newsworthy situations.

He raises his hand towards the ceiling and ascends to the surface, right beside the cooking pot and a light brown Hylian Retriever. Penn, an unusual-looking Rito, speaks frantically to the stable attendant Kenyo.

“She’s gone!” Penn exclaims, waving his wings in the air. “The boss, she’s been kidnapped!”

Link’s frown deepens. Penn’s boss is also technically his boss, and she’s not the kind of boss that leaves a heart container when she’s killed. If Traysi, lead editor of the Lucky Clover Gazette, is really in danger… well, she isn’t exactly a castle knight. He’s not even sure she knows how to use a sword.

Wait. Kidnapped?

“I’m sorry, sir,” says Kenyo, “but I’m not sure how I can help.”

Penn groans. “Where’s a hero when you need one?”

Link isn’t surprised by Penn’s obliviousness. He tends to go relatively unnoticed while traveling, due to his small stature and typically casual dress. Sure, some people recognize the sword on his back and his magical arm, but they’re few and far between. And in Penn’s case, their boss has intentionally kept him in the dark about Link—for ‘journalistic objectivity,’ she’d once privately explained.

“It’s those guys,” Penn mutters, more to himself than anyone else. He motions to his own face. “You know, the ones with the…”

“Noses?”

“No, the masks! They all wear masks!”

Link’s blood goes cold. The Yiga Clan has kidnapped Traysi.

What in Hyrule did she write?

He clears his throat, but Penn remains fixed on Kenyo. Link sighs, grabs a nearby wooden spoon, and hits it against the side of the cooking pot.

“Link!” Penn exclaims, darting over to the familiar face. “My faithful reporting assistant! Something absolutely terrible has happened to our esteemed editor.”

Link nods. Penn glances behind his back, suddenly suspicious. “Do you know a place we can talk… privately? They could be anywhere. I trust you with the details, but everyone else…”

Penn eyes the Hylian Retriever suspiciously. Link would find his wariness rather silly, if not for the fact that the Yiga Clans regularly disguise themselves as random Hylians, cuccos, and even trees just to ruin his day.

He leads Penn to the well and climbs over the edge.

“Wait!” Penn whisper-yells. “You expect me to go down there?!”

Link meets his eyes, willing him to understand. Our friend is in danger. We don’t have time to waste.

Before the Calamity, Link had restrained himself from speaking out of duty. He’d been a rather gregarious child, but took a voluntary vow of silence just before his assignment as Princess Zelda’s knight. Over time, he’d grown comfortable enough in her presence, and her presence alone, to occasionally speak. But it usually felt like a favor to her, more than anything else. As a very vocal person herself, it made sense that she’d see his speech as a sign of growth.

After his century of restoration, Link had traveled the world for nearly a year. Not with his father, not with the knights or Champions, not even with Zelda herself—just him, alone. And he didn’t really have a reason to speak. Most things were on a strictly need-to-know basis, and he’d ultimately freed the Divine Beasts alone. He’d found other ways to communicate with his newfound allies, people from a time that wasn’t even his. He was a visitor in their world, send from the past to save them all.

So he did save them all, and Princess Zelda too. But then time... just kept passing. And they all just kept living. Distant allies became close and treasured friends, and all the places he used to just visit became his home.

These days, Link occasionally does talk, mostly to keep other people safe and informed. The fact that he can do this without issue is a great improvement to the way he’d silenced himself before the Calamity. Especially after the Upheaval, his voice has served him well.

But mostly, when he is given the choice, Link still prefers to remain silent. He often finds that words only complicate the world’s simple truths anyway. His friends do their best to respect his unique communicative habits, although it occasionally causes some frustration. Eventually, even Zelda came to understand that his silence is a choice, rather than a limitation. Link has always admired that quality of hers—the willingness to change.

He pictures the Light Dragon soaring through Hyrule’s skies and winces at his own poor choice of words. Yet another reason he prefers silence.

“Fine,” Penn groans, glaring distastefully down the well. “But only because the boss is in trouble.”

Link gives him a thumbs-up and slides himself inside. The fall is brief and broken by a small pool of water. Several hot-footed frogs scatter as he wades over to dry land.

Penn drifts downward into the small cave, skipping the water entirely. He regards the moss and lichen with mild disgust. “Do you spend a lot of your time in these kinds of places, partner?”

Link shrugs. He rather enjoys the sound of rushing water, and the quiet stable music from above. A sticky lizard falls onto him from the ceiling and he doesn’t even flinch.

“What was that?!” Penn exclaims, as the yellow creature skitters away. “Oh, forget it.”

Link gestures to an imaginary mask on his face. Mimicry, he’s found, can be an incredibly effective method of communication.

“Right,” says Penn, nodding his determination. “Okay, I’ll give you the scoop.”

Link plucks a nearby brightcap and bites into it like an apple.

“Ever since the Princess Zelda case went cold,” Penn tells him, “the boss has been searching for new leads to follow. First it was the disappearance of the Guardians and Sheikah technology, but when we sent investigators to Kakariko Village they were all turned away. But we both know that Traysi never gives up, so she kept digging on her own.”

Link raises an eyebrow and points to himself. Why didn’t she ask me?

Penn bursts out laughing. “Sorry, pal, but I think all that Sheikah stuff might be a little above your pay grade.”

Penn may be oblivious to Link’s true identity, but Traysi isn’t. She knows exactly who he is, although he supposes he’s not exactly the easiest person to track down. He should visit the Gazette more often, to give her the opportunity to check in. He still enjoys her company, even though he’s already earned the Froggy Armor and learned Zelda’s fate.

Which… maybe that’s why Traysi hasn’t asked him for help. When she’d asked what happened to Zelda, Link just teleported himself away, hoping that she’d run with the Demon King story instead.

“And there’s always the Demon King,” Penn continues, “but all we have on him is history. Traysi says people don’t care about history, they want current events. And we can only run the headline ’Demonic Demagogue Does Dastardly Deeds in Desolate Depths’ so many times before people start to complain. Although maybe it’s the alliteration, not the repetition, that really gets under their skin…”

Link takes another loud bite out of the raw mushroom.

“Anyway,” Penn continues, “the Guardian stuff was a no-go. But she found something else while looking into the Sheikah, a story she seemed even more excited to chase: the Yiga Clan.”

That surprises Link. He had no idea that the Yiga were connected to the Sheikah—although in retrospect, their symbol literally being the upside-down Sheikah symbol isn’t exactly subtle.

“We’ve mentioned them before in the Gazette,” Penn explains, “but only while debunking rumors about the Princess. They do like to disguise themselves as Zelda, huh?”

That, they do. The worst time was on the Great Plateau, where a not-Zelda had been waiting for Link at a fire near the Cave of Resurrection. For just a second, he’d let his guard down and hoped it was her. But then he looked up at the sky and saw the Light Dragon overhead.

Like all Yiga footsoldiers, not-Zelda had managed to teleport away before Link could land a final blow. Normally Link is fine with that—he’s not exactly eager to take Hylian lives—but in that specific instance he would have been very tempted to make an exception.

“I’m sure it drives her swordsman crazy,” says Penn. “Poor guy.”

Link nods sympathetically. Penn proceeds.

“After learning about the Yiga Clan’s history, Traysi started digging into their present operations. She sent a few brave reporters to the Great Plateau, but they all returned empty-handed. All they found were some perfectly nice travelers and researchers and a few weird frog statues.”

Link points to Penn. Why didn’t you go?

Penn shake his head. “Way too dangerous, partner. We’re writers, not fighters. I have no idea how you managed to survive so many scuffles while we were in the field. And Traysi… she’s mentioned looking after herself during the Rumor Mill days, but it’s been years since she’s been on the beat.”

Link remembers meeting Traysi during his post-Calamity adventures, when she’d been kept out of Gerudo town despite her gender very much being female. From the conversations he overheard between Traysi and the guard, it seemed that they’d simply found her annoying.

“I came into work today and she was gone,” Penn recalls. “I searched the entire stabl—uh, base of operations—but the only thing I found was…”

He pulls a familiar red talisman out of his messenger bag. Link is all-too-familiar with the Yiga Clan’s literal calling card.

He points to his own eyes. Did anyone else see anything?

“Juannelle spent the night in Rito Village and Douma is chasing down a lead in Goron City,” Penn reports. “Really, what’s the point of running a newspaper with your sisters if they can’t even save you from kidnapping?”

Link wonders if anyone in the history of Hyrule has ever said those words in that order before.

“Oh, and Galli’s on paid leave because he threw out his back chopping wood.”

Link finishes his mushroom and takes the Yiga talisman from Penn.

“Good idea,” says Penn. “Find a hero and pass that on to them. It might be a hard ask, though—it seems like most people are completely unaware of the Yiga Clan.”

Penn might be surprised that most Hylians haven’t noticed the Yiga Clan, but after eight years in this post-Calamity world Link has accepted that most people experience life in a very different way from himself. They have no reason to pay attention to mysterious assassins or giant bleeding chasms, because those things aren’t their duty to confront. Most normal Hylians spend their time thinking about what to make for breakfast, or admiring the sunset over the sea.

Link often reminds himself that he, too, deserves to indulge in life’s simplicities. It’s why he took the job at the Lucky Clover Gazette, instead of simply investigating Princess Zelda’s disappearance on his own. It’s why he spends hours a week transporting koroks to their friends, even though Hestu has already fully upgraded his weapons capacity. And it’s why even now, long after he solved the mystery of Zelda’s fate, he still occasionally stops by the Gazette’s headquarters in the old Rito stable. Because Penn and Traysi are his friends, and he likes to make sure they’re okay.

It’s nice to remind himself that most of his friends are okay.

“I’ll hold down the fort while you search,” Penn tells Link. He seems quite relieved to have someone else on this specific case. “SOAR LOOOOOONG!”

Penn salutes, as he always does, and then he flies directly into the ceiling. Link offers him a mushroom to offset the damage.

#my writing #loz #legend of zelda #tears of the kingdom #totk #traysi totk #traysi botw #totk link #totk penn #yiga clan #yiga clan oc #mask off

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fioreofthemarch · 9 months

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Finding Her - Chapter 17

Link makes notes, takes photos and keeps time on his quest across Hyrule, in the hopes of finding Zelda and staying sane until he does. [ Previous | Next | First | AO3 ]

Log date: 06:35. 8th month, 29th day 104AC Location: Tuft Mountain, Faron Weather: Rain

Link, Zelda’s Chosen Protector. You do not wish to talk to me. I understand, however we must talk.

I know the Purah Pad is precious to you. I have watched you document your travels and your thoughts. Please forgive me for taking it while you sleep in order to write you this note.

It is imperative that we retrieve the Master Sword and return to Lookout Landing to meet with Lady Purah. The Demon King’s power grows by the day. Even in my construct body I can sense it. The air is ever hazy and the blood moons are more frequent. Soon will be the hour of his ascension and, if we do not act, his victory.

Link, Zelda’s Chosen Protector. She called you that herself. She told me that after the Great Calamity, your obligations towards each other ceased. Hyrule did not need a Princess nor did its Princess need a Knight. Despite this, Zelda recounted, she chose to stay, and so did you.

I know it is difficult to believe, but in my time, Zelda made another choice. One that gave Hyrule its last, best hope. Do not let it be in vain.

A photograph of Tuft Mountain lake, which is shaped like a love heart. There are lily pads in the water and blue nightshades glowing softly on the banks.

Caption: I sense something bittersweet about this place.

---

Incoming transmission… [LINK (Purah Pad)]

Answer transmission? ...

Answer — Connection established.

PRH | 23:33 Link? Why are you still awake?

LNK | 23:33 Couldn’t sleep.

PRH | 23:33 Okay.

LNK | 23:33 I found the fifth Sage.

PRH | 23:33 Oh! Great, great news. (yawning) Sorry. How is she? I mean, they. How are they?

LNK | 23:33 You knew about her, didn't you?

PRH | 23:33 In my defence, she contacted me first. Is she still in the Purah Pad?

LNK | 23:34 We made her a construct body.

PRH | 23:34 Wonderful, I’ll inform the others. Head back to Lookout Landing and we can discuss next steps—

LNK | 23:34 Purah.

PRH | 23:34 What?

LNK | 23:34 During the Calamity. Did you have a backup plan?

PRH | 23:34 Linky, I had several. You’ll have to be more specific.

LNK | 23:34 I mean for if I failed, a second time.

PRH | 23:35 Of course I did. You were our best hope, but we would have freed our Princess no matter what.

LNK | 23:35 What if– I mean, what would–

PRH | 23:35 What is it?

LNK | 23:35 What would happen to Hyrule, if she wasn’t coming back?

PRH | 23:35 I… I don’t know. We never planned for that. Maybe ask Impa, okay?

LNK | 23:35 She doesn’t have a medallion, you do. Just answer me.

PRH | 23:35 Answer what, exactly? Why are you even… Wait. What else have you found?

LNK | 23:35 Nothing.

PRH | 23:36 Link, if it’s about Zelda we need you to tell us—

LNK | 23:36 I can’t! Not yet! (a pause) I can’t do it.

PRH | 23:36 Do what?

LNK | 23:36 Find her. I can’t… make myself. I can’t.

PRH | 23:36 Look, you’re starting to freak me out a bit. Maybe you should come back to Lookout Landing. You shouldn’t be alone right now.

LNK | 23:37 I’m not alone. Mineru is here.

PRH | 23:37 Okay, Good. Say hi to her for me. Listen, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m sure you’ll get through… whatever it is. And then please, come back.

LNK | 23:37 Okay. I’ll try.

Connection terminated.

---

Log date: 10:00. 8th month, 31st day 104AC Location: Flux Construct Island, Faron Sky Archpelago Weather: Cloudy

Two days in Faron with Mineru. Saw Penn at Lakeside Stables. Had lunch, he cooked. Can't remember what he made.

Then north-west. Travellers on the road wary of Mineru. Detoured via Faron Grasslands. Watched Mineru build a balloon-ship. Zonai parts for propulsion and salvaged wood for the fuselage. Fuselage. Where did I learn that word?

Flew the balloon-ship here -- quicker than walking, fewer staring travellers. Dealt with the Flux Construct on the island, tough fight but got it done. That was yesterday I think.

Another geoglyph by Lake Hylia. Glided down to it this morning -- a vision about Rauru, and the Imprisoning War. She tried to warn him, but, what did it matter in the end?

A photograph of Mineru, in her Zonai Construct form, examining the wreckage of the Flux Construct. In the background is the balloon ship. With a wooden hull, three Zonai balloons for buoyancy and a fan for propulsion, it is a well-engineered vessel.

Caption: Checking the ship for damage and then moving on.

---

Log date: 17:50. 9th month, 1st day 104AC Location: Thyphlo Ruins, North Hyrule Weather: Partly cloudy.

Touched down this morning. Gave the Zonai researcher here a bit of a scare. Kazul – he was trying to solve the riddles in the ruins. Asked Mineru for help but she refused. ‘Didn’t your people build this place?’ She refused again, her voice in my head: You are wasting time.

Does she think I don’t know that? I know there’s a geoglyph nearby, it’s why we came here. But every time I try to go find it… It’s like I can’t breathe. There’s this claw in my chest, its nails digging in. And then I start shaking. I shake and I cry and I… I can’t do it. Physically, I can’t move.

There’s smoke rising from the middle of the ruins. Someone’s made a fire. I came to the waterside to be alone, but now, I’m hungry. Maybe I could cook Kazul some stew, to celebrate the great research paper he’s going to write about this place. And then we have to move on.

Mineru’s construct… It was built to carry a pilot. Maybe if I can’t walk, she can carry me. Better apologise first, for tarrying.

A photograph of the Thyphlo Ruins, the Sheikah SkyView Tower at the centre and the rocky red cliffs of Eldin in the background to the east. The geoglyph painted there is distorted, but looms high on the horizon.

Caption: One more. Just one more.

---

Incoming transmission… [Robbie (Message Medallion)]

Answer transmission? …

*beep* Begin recorded voice message:

[ Link, it’s Robbie. Impa is here. I was visiting Kakariko on my way back to Hateno, and saw that she’s also in town for a few days before returning to the Forgotten Temple. Something about needing a book from her library of ancient texts. Anyway I thought you might want to talk to her, update her on your progress. Call us back in the next day or so if you can ]

LNK | 09:10 (click) I’m here, I’m here.

RBB | 09:10 Well, well, he finally picks up. Purah Pad still working?

LNK | 09:10 Yes?

RBB | 09:10 Excellent. Let us know if you need it serviced. I’ll pass you on to Impa. (shuffling noises)

IMP | 09:11 Hello, Master Link.

LNK | 09:11 Lady Impa. You wanted to speak to me?

IMP | 09:11 Purah told me what happened at Hyrule Castle and about the fifth Sage.

LNK | 09:11 Mineru is her name. She’s a Zonai.

IMP | 09:11 Wonderful. And you continue the search for the geoglyphs?

LNK | 09:11 I have.

IMP | 09:11 Do you wish to talk about it?

LNK | 09:11 Not really. Not yet.Is that okay?

IMP | 09:11 It is. I am certain Zelda can manage a few more days. Sometimes we must answer when destiny calls. Other times, it is okay to wait until we are ready.

LNK | 09:12 How do you know–

IMP | 09:12 I am Sheikah. It is my duty to seek truth, and sense it in others.

LNK | 09:12 Right. (a weak laugh) Of course. Lady Impa… during the Calamity, when Zelda and I were gone.

IMP | 09:13 Yes, child?

LNK | 09:13 Did you ever give up hope?

IMP | 09:13 Of course I did. I grieved for you both for many years.

LNK | 09:13 How did you survive it?

IMP | 09:13 For starters I grew very old, which has a handy way of making the years feel short. All I could do until then was continue waking up each morning, in spite of it all. But all the wisdom in the world did not make it any easier.

LNK | 09:13 Right now, it feels impossible.

IMP | 09:13 Yes, but you will keep waking up. You have it in you to survive this, Master Link. For her sake, I believe you can.

LNK | 09:14 (a pause) She has the Master Sword. It travelled through time to find her, she said.

IMP | 09:14 I see. Her divine powers could restore it, of course. But how to return it to you?

LNK | 09:14 Well…there’s one more dragon tear in Akkala. There’s no geoglyph but I know it’s there.

IMP | 09:14 Ah, the final clue. Are you ready, then?

LNK | 09:14 No. But I’m going anyway.

IMP | 09:15 As it must be. Walk with the Goddess’ grace, Master Link. We will be at your side, no matter what happens.

Connection terminated.

---

Log date: 12:00. 9th month, 3rd day 104AC Location: Rist Peninsula, Akkala Weather: Clear.

Let me paint you a picture. You are you, the Hero of Hyrule, or so they call you. You descend into the depths below Hyrule Castle and find something that did not want to be found, and then–

You wake up, in a quiet room in the sky. You know something’s missing, and it’s not just your arm.

You return to your friends on the surface and promise to help them. But something’s still missing. Everyone promises to look, and they look everywhere, but find nothing.

You search, and search, and search, all the while you know what you’re looking for isn’t there. It’s gone, it always was. You know this, deep down in your soul, but you ignore it. You will realise that you knew when you first saw that dragon above you. You know her so well that even completely changed, she is so familiar.

But you ignore it, because… because…

You never meant to love her this much. She was just an assignment, back in the day. Some sheltered girl to keep safe from herself. She rejected you, challenged you, frustrated you, but… you shared something. She was so alone, just like you were. You developed an understanding, then a friendship, then something more. You laid down your life for her, and she did the same for you.

Then you saved her, or maybe you saved each other, and afterwards never spent more than a day apart. And Goddess, she was so beautiful, so brilliant, so vibrant. You could listen to her talk for hours. Often you did, and you never grew tired of it. You admit now that you fell, hard, and you wanted not just her but a whole life with her. You wanted to marry her. You wanted children. You didn’t know it until this damned moment but you wanted it more than anything in the world.

Now you’re here, in Akkala of all places, making your way towards a sandbank to which she has led you. You know the worst is yet to come, but that you owe it to her to continue. You know every step is taking you closer to the last thing you want to see, but you cannot help it. You have no choice – you will seek the final tear, and you will watch in helpless terror as the one person you wanted to find is lost to you forever.

A photograph of the spiralling Rist Peninsula, the waters ruffled by the wind and sparkling in the sun. The peninsula is coiled around a silver pillar of light, bright enough to be seen even in the middle of the day.

A photograph of a ring of Silent Princesses. They grow tall, strong and radiant, and are clustered around a small shallow in the ground. At the centre, a dragon tear awaits.

A photograph of the Light Dragon, flying low over the sea. From her head streams a blue and golden light like the tail of a comet. Barely visible at the source of the stream is a noble and familiar blade, with its legendary purple hilt and winged cross guard. In the Light Dragon’s open eye, fine droplets can be seen – the remnants of a fallen tear.

Caption: Okay. I’m ready.

---

Log date: 16:30. 9th month, 3rd day 104AC Location: [Unable to determine location when Purah Pad is in motion. Please come to a full stop before using the map function.] Weather: Clear

Zelda… my brave, brave... How can I ever claim to be the courageous one now? I couldn’t have done what you did. It looked... so terrifying. To transform like that. And painful too. Goddess, I hope it didn’t hurt.

I don’t deserve you, Zelda, I don’t deserve this. The Master Sword has been fully repaired, but it’s stronger. I can feel her power mixed in with yours and made more formidable than ever. The Demon King won’t know what hit him.

I’m going to kill him, Zelda. I’m going to tear him into a thousand pieces. When I am done there will be nothing left. This isn’t reckless rage like before. This is divine vengeance. And I will have it.

I guess you’re all out of tears now. I feel the same way. Reading back through the logs you wouldn’t know it. No one puts in their diary that they spent the whole day crying in a cave! But I did. And now it feels like I have no grief left. Only a dull thud on my chest. Thud, thud, thud.

I wish we could talk. I have so much to tell you. How can I live the rest of my life knowing— No. I don’t want to think about it. I just want to be near you, to sit in your soft hair and float through the sky. If I had my way, I would never leave.

A photograph of the Light Dragon Zelda’s face, taken from what is most likely one of her slender blue horns. There is a small bald patch on her forehead where the Master Sword used to be. Her expression, though mostly blank, seems content.

Capt~~~[ Warning ] Log save interrupted. Error code: 11-78 Overspeed *Recovering…Partial text recovery and de-encryption complete:

Caption: How’s the weather up here? %%%50 6C 65 61 73 65 20 73 61 79 20 73 6F 6D 65 74 68 69 6E 67 2C 20 5A 65 6C 64 61 2E 20 53 6F 6D 65 74 68 69 6E 67 20 61 6E 79 74 68 69 6E 67 20 74 6F 20 73 68 6F 77 20 6D 65 20 79 6F 75 20 61 72 65 20 73 74 69 6C 6C 20 69 6E 20 74 68 65 72 65 2E 20 50 6C 65 61 73 65 2C 20 5A 65 6C 64 61 2E 20 49 20 6D 69 73 73 20 79 6F 75 20 73 6F 20 6D 75 63 68 2E 20 41 6E 79 74 68 69 6E 67 2C 20 70 6C 65 61 73 65 2E 20 41 6E 79 74 68 69 6E 67 20 61 74 20 61 6C 6C 2E

#totk #tears of the kingdom #tloz #zelink #tloz fanfic #link #zelda #dragon tears #indulge me I just noticed something:#he spends the a whole story writing about how he loves her voice and then even though shes okay he will never hear it again #AUUGHGHGHGHGHG AUGHGHGHGHGHG #thanks for reading love yall

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xxk82020xx · 1 year

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Honestly, it’s kinda sad that Link has to have the Master Sword for people to know it’s him. Penn and so many of the other townspeople clearly acknowledge he’s far more skilled than any other soldier/traveler they’ve encountered but refuse to accept the idea it really is him. Literally so upsetting to see people say he fights just like the princesses knight but it can’t possibly be him. I’m glad there’s a decent amount of people who DO know him though like our silly traveling buckethead soldiers

Definitely one of the saddest parts of BOTW was having an entire kingdom (besides our beloved Zora) have no idea who he was or even have an idea of who he might be. I think it was the Rito chief who suggested he was a descendant of pre-calamity Link but literally everyone else was just like “oh damn you fight well. Cool bro.” Which obviously is understandable because it’s been 100 years but still. Wandering a familiar yet so different world completely, utterly alone is so upsetting :/

#totk #botw link #botw totk

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the-zapped-part-timer · 1 year

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#PZPTH #Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero #Penn Zero #Poll #North Pole Down #Zap One #A Tale Of Two Wizards #Santa Penn #Knight Penn

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flaremberts · 2 years

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Move over, time for some real football...

As you may remember last week, the college football season kicked off in our home when Charlotte and FAU played. Now it's time for the real fan base to show their colors as UCF (Jo's school) and Penn State (Dan's alma mater) take the respective fields this evening.

Are you ready for some (real) football!?!?

Oh, and Pitt and WVU play tonight in "the backyard brawl" too for all our friends and family in that area...don't say we've never done nothing for you.

(Made with InstaDan)

(and InstaJordan)

#florida life #instadan #university of central florida #penn state university #ucf knights #penn state football

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aegon-targaryen · 11 months

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Zelink Week Day 2 - Forbidden

read on AO3 | read on FF.net | @zelinkcommunity

Major TOTK spoilers below!

Link flexed the fingers of his Zonai hand and tried to remember the last time he’d obtained a Light of Blessing. If he didn’t need the powers that came with it, he would take the whole limb off just to make it stop hurting. Would he still be her knight, then? He had the vague sense that someone had trained him to fight lefthanded before the Calamity, but as usual, he couldn’t recall who.

It didn’t matter. He could still close his fingers around his broadsword and draw it forth, stepping out into the hollow heart of the Dueling Peaks.

Ganondorf’s imposters had all been empty and cold-eyed and alien. The woman waiting inside the metal cage was different. She wasn’t trussed up in that white Zonai dress Link knew she would hate. Instead she wore her beloved Champion’s colors and dove-grey cloak, her hair clipped back from her face and shining like a golden halo in the morning sun, looking just like the day he’d lost her.

And she was smiling at him. It was the wrong smile, girlish and carefree, not the marvel Link had kept tucked into his heart as far back as he could remember. Of course the enemy could never understand what it meant to survive what she’d survived and emerge glowing on the other side.

“Oh, Link!” she trilled. “You came to save me!”

The voice was wrong too. So was her unguarded posture. Even if Link had never found that pool of tears on the Akkala shoreline—the last gift she left him as she ascended, screaming, to the sky—he would have seen straight through this façade. Yet he found himself rooted to the spot even so.

“Well, aren’t you going to get me out of this cage?” the imposter wondered.

Link did not move.

“You’re him, all right. Blond and dumb as rocks!” She twirled away in a sunburst of crimson magic and reappeared at his side, still grinning, the choppy golden hair he’d cut himself brushing the hood of her cloak. “Don’t you have anything to say, Link?”

Her fingers slid around his Zonai wrist, burning everywhere they touched.

Whatever her intention, she went flying before she could execute it, slamming into the bars of the cage and sliding to the ground in red Yiga leathers. Her two companions burst out of hiding and charged.

Instead of retreating like they wanted, Link barreled forward recklessly, sliding right past one Yiga’s guard and falling upon the other. His sword flashed up—hooking through the center of the Demon Carver—then down, raking across the man’s arm and wrenching the weapon from his grasp in one movement. Kicking his legs out from under him for good measure, Link whirled to ram through the last Yiga’s attack with his shield, sending them both tumbling to the stone, his fist connecting with that masked face again and again.

Only Penn’s arrival brought him back to his senses. Link lurched away and let the Yiga scurry off, clutching at his shaking, gloom-cursed hand. That’s not me, he thought in horror. I’m not cruel. Zelda, I don’t know who I’m becoming without you.

“You all right, partner?” Penn asked, looking Link up and down as he handed over a pouch of Rupees.

Link nodded blankly, but he sat there a long time after the Rito left, wind threading its cold fingers through his loose hair. He thought of a warm bed, a slow morning, a body that didn’t hurt all the time, and Zelda sleeping safe and sound beside him.

Finally, he gathered the courage to touch the ring on his second finger.

Mineru appeared in a shower of blue-green light, the limbs of her construct clinking as she faced him. “Yes, Link?”

“Dr—draconification,” he said, stumbling over the big word in his small voice. “You called it forbidden. That means…she wasn’t the first.”

“Or so the stories would imply,” Mineru agreed. “The details have been lost to time.”

Link had always suspected the dragons were far from mindless beasts—Naydra had even lingered at the Spring of Wisdom as if to thank him for freeing her from Malice. Yet she, Dinraal, and Farosh circled Hyrule endlessly and pointlessly, never resting, never going anywhere. Had they been people once, too? Had they made the same sacrifice as Zelda?

Clutching his legs to his chest, he looked up at Mineru and voiced the question he’d been avoiding for weeks: “Can it be reversed?”

“Oh,” she sighed, her metal face emotionless, her voice full of grief. “I’m sorry, Link, but…not to my knowledge.”

He hid his face in his knees.

“She was certain of her choice,” Mineru told him gently. “She told me that she had more faith in you than in anything else.”

A river of agony flowed from Link’s right shoulder to the tips of his fingers. He made a sound at the back of his throat, choking on the brutal reminder of those final, gasping moments beneath the castle, when he’d let Zelda fall into a place of no return.

He hadn’t even gone to see her, except as an insect on the earth while she soared far above his head. Link had faced his own death; he’d faced the Calamity that caused it; he’d faced the shattered remains of Hyrule and found his place in it, even after losing so much else. But he truly and fundamentally did not think he could face this.

Nonetheless, he would have to. Over a century ago, Zelda had collapsed in the ashes of their burning kingdom and told him she’d sacrificed her childhood for nothing. He could not let the same be true of her humanity.

The Light Dragon screamed, twisting violently enough to throw him off his feet. Link clung to the sword he’d been born to wield and smothered the echoing protests of his own heart.

“It’s me!” he cried out, the deafening wind swallowing his weak voice. “It’s me, Zelda, you can let go—”

She silenced him with another roar. By some desperate miracle his boots met the soft earth of her golden mane. Even the perfect shape of the Master Sword’s hilt felt like nothing under his nerveless Zonai fingers, but there was another sensation: that of the sword reaching for the lost phantom of his real hand, reaching for the center of him.

And Link was ready. He was still ready, no matter how much it hurt.

Despite his terrible strength, he tried to be gentle—yet still Zelda screamed and writhed, and her pain drove the voice from him. Link poured everything into the blade instead: his apologies, his precious memories, all his broken-hearted love.

She yielded, relinquishing her hold, and it was over. Link raised the Master Sword towards the boundless sky, tears sliding down his face as it passed on Zelda’s final message.

By the time he opened his eyes, he wanted to burn the world down. He wanted to take her place. He wanted to tear apart everything that had ever hurt her: with this sword or any other, with his own teeth and nails if necessary. Better yet, he wanted to be back in their bed the morning before it had all gone wrong, when he still had a chance to keep her safe.

But some failures could never be undone. Link had learned that while kneeling in the sunlit waters of the Ash Swamp, remembering his own death.

He balanced between Zelda’s glowing horns, sheathing the sword so he could smooth down the moon-white fur that had been parted by its blade for so long. “Thank you,” he whispered shakily. “I—it’s going to be okay. I promise.”

She had fallen quiet, turning in a wide arc towards the Temple of Time. Link watched the green fields roll by beneath them, the tiny shapes of his brave friends at Lookout Landing, the flock of geese flying in perfect formation across the shimmering wetlands.

He loved Hyrule, he really did; for a long time, he’d considered the whole wild expanse of it his home. But that was before he’d entwined his life with Zelda’s. Now home was her face lighting up as she made a discovery, her hand cradling his scarred jaw when they kissed, the certainty that he could tell her anything and she would never turn away.

Link wouldn’t turn away either. Zelda was still there inside the Light Dragon’s wide, frightened eyes. He knew it because he felt safe and stable and calm, everything he hadn’t felt in the presence of the enemy’s imposters. He sensed her the same way he sensed his phantom arm—too much a part of him to ever be truly lost.

“We’re going to be okay,” he insisted, wishing the words didn’t feel so empty.

After that, Link went to see her as often as he could. He cleaned her back of loose scales, shot the Aerocudas who tried to approach, and spent hours curled up in her mane, talking to her when he could manage to find words.

The best he could say was that she was aware of his presence. Sometimes her eyes shifted towards him, and sometimes his desperation sought recognition there, but the brutal truth was that Zelda had lost herself. So the sky and the silence were all they had—all they would ever have, until the end of Link’s short mortal life left her alone again.

He held that thought at the forefront of his mind as he stood before the Demon King with the Master Sword in hand, amplified by its union with a piece of the Light Dragon’s horn.

The enemy had knocked the Sages out like an afterthought, and his strength kept growing, even as Link’s waned. Everything hurt, and his legs trembled with exhaustion, and there was nothing left for him at the end of this. Lose hope, lose the fight, someone had told him once, but he had forbidden himself hope that day in the empty place between the Dueling Peaks.

Anger, though—Link had plenty of that.

He had never been so fast or so savage. The Master Sword was afire in his hand, blazing with Zelda’s sacred light. The Demon King billowed at the peak of his crimson power, but every one of his counterattacks seemed pitiful, so pitiful that Link saw fear in his enemy’s eyes as he swallowed the secret stone.

Link hadn’t wanted to die, the first time around. He had clung to the Master Sword, to each breath, to the sight of Zelda’s wildflower-green eyes, and he’d fought so hard that he woke up a century later to find her again.

Now—trapped in the Demon Dragon’s maw, bleeding along the razor’s edge of its fangs—he was still fighting, because he could hear her call, and he could feel her piercing through the corrupted sky. When Link let himself plummet into the golden clouds, she caught him, like he’d failed to do all those months ago.

He pressed his face into her mane as she shot upwards. His sides were wet; his head spun; he tasted gloom with every breath he took. The enemy stormed after them, an undulating nightmare of mindless rage. He was always so big, and they were always so small.

But Zelda had come for Link.

And as he rose to his feet, drawing the sword she’d forged for him, he realized he had been hoping all this time. He would go to his grave hoping, no matter how much it hurt, because he loved her too much to stop.

She caught him again and again, until their nemesis roared in final agony, until his ruination faded into the beautiful dawn, until Link—trailing Rauru and Sonia’s blessing like a falling star—finally returned the favor.

At the water’s edge, Zelda opened her eyes and found him. Clutching at the miracle of his flesh-and-blood right hand, Link’s breath caught around a sudden terror that this was a dream, or another lie, one he didn’t think he would survive.

Looking just as confused, Zelda climbed shakily to her feet, making sense of the birdsong and the clear blue sky and the shapes of the Hyrule she knew. And then she tipped her face up to the sun, letting it shine upon the smile that had saved Link from his silence, conquered the Calamity, and carved her path home to him through the millennia.

Only when they were tumbling to the grass in each other’s arms, laughing and crying, did he let himself think: It wasn’t for nothing.

It never had been.

#zelink week 2023 #loz #totk #totk spoilers #totk zelink #botw zelink #zelink fanfiction #my writing #loz fanfiction #zelink #zelink community #zelinkcommunity

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