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stxrvel · 1 year

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and still (3.5)

series summary: you woke up from a long coma with no memory of a part of your life only to be told by your teammates that you're married to the man you hated seven years ago. even though that seemed to be the only problem, as time goes on you're realizing there's a lot more history and mystery behind the accident that left you in medical care for months. blackouts, more memory loss, mistrust and a strange man who seems to be connected to everything. every day it gets harder to trust anyone around you, but you won't stop until you can finally uncover the truth behind the accident.

chapter summary: the team has a curious discussion.

pairing: bucky barnes f!reader (the don't appear here)

words: less than 1k

warnings: none

note: i picture this like an interlude haha, it's like less than 800 words! really short. i thought i might give you an advance of what's really happening bc??? if you find out quickly what's happening don't tell me, let me live in a bubble where i'm perfect at hiding stuff 😭😭😭. just kidding haha, anyway, hope you all like this mini part! you can know some things about the team coming from this conversation... apart from the elephant in the room, of course. enjoy! 💜

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“There's no one else here but us.”

“We should be more careful, just the same.”

“Everyone wants to tell him, what's the point of being more careful at this point?”

Everyone looked away from the door to stare at Tony Stark's contracted face. The room at that moment seemed too small for what they intended to hide within those four walls.

“We can't make the decision to do this if you don't agree.”

Tony raised his head to look across the room at Steve. His ingrown eyebrows reflected the contradiction he must be carrying inside. The mechanic sighed, the feeling of defeat coursing through his entire body like the current of a river. He felt the same way he had felt the first time they had all had that conversation, when they made a decision that no one agreed with and the sighs of loss lingered for months as if they were in permanent mourning; when they had to refuse to help and still expected someone to help them at some point.

“Tony,” Stephen Strange's voice boomed in the silence, his dark eyes fixed on the man he was addressing. “You're right about one thing, we shouldn't have hidden that from the beginning…”

“But we couldn't break the promise we made,” Natasha interjected, her figure in the middle of the room.

“… However,” Stephen continued, “we can't afford to keep hiding it. It's too dangerous.”

Tony ran his hands over his face, his mood souring much more if possible. Stephen was right, he knew it, everyone knew it, but he couldn't convince his head to understand no matter how much he tried. All his instincts were screaming against that idea, even though it was the right thing to do, even though it was what they had to have done from the beginning.

“If we want to help her, we have to,” Steve added.

Clint was sitting next to him on the table. He had barely uttered a word since he arrived less than ten minutes ago. When he had entered the room, it was so full of shouting and opinions being thrown left and right that he decided to sit in the corner and turn down the volume on the device in his ear. A subdued silence with static reigned in his auditory field, he could still hear the voices of others if he concentrated on what they were saying. But the subject was causing him so much discouragement that he wasn't sure he wanted to understand what they were saying.

And still, from their faces he could understand everything. They were all agreeing to proceed, except Tony. The look of hopelessness he wore and the lack-luster eyes showed his reluctance to accede to the group's requests. Clint wasn't going to say it… but he felt similarly.

“She matters to you, doesn't she?” Stephen turned again to Tony, who with a wary look nodded. “Then you have to know that saying this is the only option we have to find out what's going on.”

Natasha knew Tony was going to give in, the guilt that gnawed at him wasn't going to let him put a life at risk. And still, she understood his dilemma. She had it herself every day she woke up and looked in the mirror, every time she brought up the subject with someone, every time she had to keep her thoughts to herself because it was too dangerous to say it out there out loud. Being on guard and having to be on her toes every moment was wearing her out, and only to find out that it had been in vain in the end. They hadn't won, even if the mission reports said otherwise.

“We're not getting out of this alive,” Tony finally let out.

It was true. They all knew it. Figuratively, it was what they'd all expected. They had been trying to handle it for so long that they were already a ticking time bomb. And still, they always allowed themselves to hope, because there was no way things could get any worse.

“We have to look for the right time,” the mechanic sighed.

Even though they should take that as a victory, every person in the room shuddered. It seemed that a frost had taken over the room and none were prepared for the cold it brought with it. They should feel glad that Tony had agreed to what they intended to do… and still, the feeling of hopelessness and defeat remained in the room, tied to their bones, carved into their minds.

👀

Taglist: @cjand10 @yallgotkik @ruffdog921 @coracal @its-just-kayy @pono-pura-vida @vampiresarezombies @kaz11283

#bucky barnes x reader #bucky fanfic #bucky barnes angst #bucky fic #bucky x you #bucky barnes #james bucky barnes #avengers #bucky fluff #marvel #calmly remember #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky x reader #bucky x y/n #winter soldier

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bahbahhh · 7 months

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currents

the true story of mipha's grace.

NPC POV | Miphlink and Zelink | multichapter | rated T

also on Ao3

As promised in celebration of 500 followers on tumblr: A thematic successor to desire path and thank you for listening in which we are getting zelink from a NPC POV as well as a metaphor through nature. I wanted to give Mipha some love because I often seen (and have done this myself) her placed in a negative or shallow light with respect to Link and Zelda's relationship in botw. I also believe deeply you can love someone completely and not be meant for each other and that is okay. Follows Mipha's diary entries/Champions' Ballad. Suggested listening: What Was I Made For - Billie Eilish thank you to @zeldaelmo for beta reading this <3 you are tremendous!! And a shout out to @mistresslrigtar who took a little sneak peek for me (:

Chapter 1

notes: mipha's diary entries 1-3

They say the Divine Beasts are meant to resemble ancient creatures native to their region of origin. Mipha knows rivers flow all over and the sea is vast, but she’s never seen anything like Vah Ruta. She stands in the company of her father, King Dorephan, and others in various positions of leadership among the Zora in the belly of the ancient machine. They gather in shallow water that surrounds the main terminal, which has remained dormant since the excavation from the lake depths, having a preliminary discussion about pilot nominations. Allegedly, the Princess of Hyrule has been quietly making rounds across the realm, asking for “Champions” to operate the Divine Beast in the prophesied battle against the Calamity. Zora’s Domain is to be her last stop.

“This is the mighty weapon of the Zora?” Trello, captain of the Zora Knights, asks flatly.

“Capable of drowning legions of enemies and freezing the water in the air into boulders of ice it can hurl like a trident, or so the Sheikah researchers say,” Seggin replies.

“It doesn’t resemble any fish I’ve seen. Jiahto, were you able to locate anything in the texts?” Muzu asks.

“We once had a hunting group bring back fish with a nose like a sword from the Faron Sea, but this machine’s nose is flexible. There were seals, albeit mammals not fish, that once lined the Akkala island cliffs. Like those found in the Gerudo desert, these had similar tusks and were round in shape, but they balanced on flippers and lacked the ears and proboscis,” the Zora researcher says. “That is what this type of nose is called. Commonly referred to as a trunk.” Jiahto is Mipha’s least favorite member of the newly appointed Royal Council. “Undignified, if you ask me.”

“I think it’s cute.” Mipha says, gazing up at the carving of the Sheikah eye in the stonework.

“Cute?” Jiahto balks and then continues,“I heard the Goron’s Divine Beast is shaped like a fire lizard and the Rito’s an eagle. This familiarity will give them an advantage in their mastery, for sure. Our pilot needs to be wise enough to understand the ways of this mysterious creature.”

“I believe it is called an elephant.” Mipha lifts up her finger.

“How do you know that?” Jiahto’s fin’s fold tight against his scales. Imagine that, someone with knowledge he doesn’t yet possess!

“I asked the Sheikah.” Mipha shrugs.

“It is cute,” her father agrees. He flashes a big black eye down at her and she smiles. Jiahto is also his least favorite member of the Council.

Muzu speaks up,“Just because it is unfamiliar, doesn’t not mean it is impractical. I’m sure our fins and gills are very curious to Hylians, too. And yet, look who they call upon when there is trouble in the waters?”

“And they will call upon us again. Very soon.” Her father looks over his shoulder through the openings in Vah Ruta’s walls. “According to the Sheikah, the Divine Beasts require someone worthy enough to control them. So while we might make our selection, I believe the Divine Beast will make the final determination.”

They begin to discuss among themselves. Jiahto favors a wise choice, and offers himself. Trello, a strong choice, and recommends one of his knights. Seggin, seconds it should be a knight, but recommends a different Zora. Muzu wonders if they should conduct trials for nominees to prove their worth. Dento, another Council member and a blacksmith, seems content to listen and occasionally grunts disapprovingly to stir up more debate.

Her father has drifted away from them quietly, a feat seemingly impossible for someone so large and yet, he goes unnoticed toward the terminal, with his eyes still fixed on the Domain. Mipha moves to join him.

“I fear the arrival of the Princess will bring tremendous danger to our home,” he says quietly.

Mipha sets her hand on his arm. It pains her to see him worried, but this is not a wound she can heal. It is the price of Kingship. “Father, if the prophecy of Calamity Ganon’s return is really coming true, could she also be seen as a symbol of hope? That she brings not danger, but a solution?”

Her father finally pulls his gaze away from the Domain and smiles at her. “You have grown into a wise Zora, my daughter. Seggin also tells me you are quite ferocious with that Lightscale trident. You will be a powerful, sensible, and beloved leader for our people one day.”

Mipha squeezes her father’s arm, pride swirling in her chest, and steps back toward the terminal. There is a sudden shutter through the Divine Beast, a song of churning gears echoing through the chambers. The terminal blinks to life, a cool, inviting blue spreading across the intricate carvings. Mipha feels the machine’s eye on her somehow, like the spotlight of the moon, and it is the most seen she has ever felt in her entire life. It doesn’t feel like a choice, like favor. It feels like destiny. All at once, the secrets of Vah Ruta wash over her. She knows how to raise the trunk to bring the rain, how to blast beams of ice from the tusks, how to aim a mighty beam of burning light straight across Hyrule. If she were to lift her feet now, she is sure Vah Ruta would walk with her. All of this becomes her, like it’s been there all along, in a single pulse of blue light into the next.

“Me?” Mipha whispers, bringing her hand up to trace the silver across her chest.

“Absolutely not!” Muzu lunges forward and pulls Mipha back by the shoulders. Seggin is there too, with his weapon brandished, like the terminal might sprout hands and attempt to grab her. Dento and Trello jump in front of her, making a shield with the bodies. Even Jiahto is there, so agitated by the terminal's sudden glow, that his normally blue scales look purple.

“But-” Mipha starts, trying to find the words to describe to them what just happened, but Seggin cuts her off.

“It will pick someone else,” he commands loudly toward the terminal, his voice echoing off the walls.

“You are meant to be a healer!” says Dento.

“A leader!” says Trello.

“But maybe I can-” Mipha tries to pull her arms free from Muzu’s hold, but his hands are ironclad against her scales. Her father stands before her horrified, the spines of his fins flared, eyes wide on the terminal. She can see a strange conflict ripple across his face. He says something in old Zora, so low and guttural that she feels it vibrate the metal beneath her feet. She doesn’t know what he says and the terminal doesn’t answer. It just glows. She hears Muzu gasp.

Her father waves his hand and the council starts to corral her back away toward the exit.

“Father, please, I can help if you just–”

“Danger is coming to Zora’s Domain. We need you here, Mipha. Your duty is with your people,” her father says. “It will pick someone else.”

Behind him, the terminal blinks once and then dims.

…

“But aren’t all Zora strong swimmers?”

Mipha looks down at her younger brother, his eyes crinkled up at her with an eagerness she finds most delightful, and takes a deep breath to prepare herself for the lengthy, repetitive explanation it often demands. Only eight springs have passed since he hatched, and although he is strong, he is still too young to join his peers in the Dive. Mipha offered to advise him individually in effort to evade more interrogations from the Council about what occurred on Vah Ruta the day prior and now finds herself standing on the banks of Ruto Lake just after dawn, teaching him the ways of the water which are best learnt after at least noon.

But Sidon is excited and thankfully no longer crying, and very ready, so here they are.

“Yes. But being a strong swimmer does not guarantee safety. Water is indefinitely wild. Misleading. Dangerous when it wants to be. To be a Zora is to know all the secret languages of water.”

Sidon sticks out his chin. His tailfin, which hangs the length of him off the back of his head and folds on the ground behind his feet, sags with disappointment. “O-kay.”

Mipha pats his shoulder gently. She isn’t so far removed from her own Dive and those innocent years prior not to remember how he is feeling. The agony of waiting. The constant yearning to be bigger without comprehending what you are asking for. What you are wishing away. “You are a strong swimmer. And you will be a smart one, too. The very smartest once you know how to identify the different currents: undertows, rip currents, riptides–”

“There are different currents?” Sidon interrupts.

Mipha shakes her head. “Yes. Depending on what kind of water you are in – a river, a lake, a bay – what time of day, the status of the tide.”

“But does it really matter if you are a strong enough swimmer?” Sidon tilts his head so dramatically that the black feather on his headpiece nearly touches the ground.

“See these tiny waves here?” She points down to her feet as a small rush of clear water washes over her toes. Her fins flex against the chill. “No matter how big or how small, the water pushed by a wave needs a way of traveling back out to the larger body of water. In this case, the lake. A rip current isn’t part of the waves lifespan like an undertow is–”

“Wait, they aren’t the same thing?” Sidon gasps.

“A rip current doesn’t pull you under, it will pull you out. A rip current is created when the water a wave pushes up onto shore finds a fast opening back out. Usually a beak in the sandbar floor. This creates a narrow path of very strong water and will pull even the strongest of swimmers away from the shore. It is especially dangerous near open water like the sea, but they can occur in any body of water with breaking waves. If you are Zora, you know how to spot and beat the rip current.”

“Beat the rip current?” Sidon makes a fist and pumps it excitedly. “How do I do that?”

“In time, in time.” Mipha wipes the sleep from her eyes and suppresses a yawn. “First you need to learn to spot it.”

“So what’s an undertow, then?”

“Think about when we’ve been bodysurfing in Necluda. That feeling when the wave sort of pulls you right up under the crest of it? Right before you catch and can ride it all the way up onto the beach? An undertow is the pull of a wave right before it crashes down.”

Sidon fans his arms out like he’s flying or floating. “It’s so fun!”

Mipha sets her hands on his and eases them back down to his sides. “Yes, surfing is. It is important to know how you are having that fun, though. And what to do if the waves and that undertow grow too strong.”

Sidon nods and sets his brows low. He does this when he’s ‘thinking extra hard’. It always makes Mipha smile.

“What about a riptide?”

For some reason, Mipha’s eyes turn upward. The moon is pale against the bright morning sky, on its way down to the horizon where it will sleep and rise again with dusk. Her eyes land on the southern wall of the reservoir where just beyond, Vah Ruta stands dormant in the center of the lake. “A riptide, well, a riptide is similar to a rip current because they can pull you out from the shore, but a riptide is much stronger and fixed.” Mipha glances up. “Riptides are connected to the tide. To the moon. Whereas rip currents are created, can pop up and disappear...riptides just are.”

“Like the ten-year storm?” Sidon asks.

Mipha smiles. “Just like that.”

…

Like clockwork– like it’s written in the very stars that shine over Zora’s Domain itself, dating back to time immemorial even to the mighty Zora, the Lanayru Region has been plagued by torrential rainfall in the wet season once every ten years.

It’s funny, to say there is anything other than a wet season for a province completely surrounded by and defined by water, but everything from the flora to the fauna know this rhythm and pay due respect. For despite its necessity to every living thing in all of Hyrule, an overabundance of water will mercilessly and swiftly drown anything that underestimates it. Even the Zora.

Thankfully, flooding hasn’t been a problem for the Zora since long before Mipha’s great-grandfather’s grandfather was even born. The reservoir, marking the ancient intersection of Zora architecture and Hylian engineering, contains the most destructive torrents when the heavy rains come. The waters around the Domain still swell though, and the gentle river named for Mipha’s people whips like a powerful tailfin across Hyrule. It replenishes every shallow stream, every thirsty lake and pond and marsh along the way, even reinforcing the protective gully around Hyrule Castle itself with enough water to sustain life for the next decade.

Muzu says the Zora River is the vein that connects Hyrule’s heart and brain. He’s never clarified which is which, so Mipha likes to imagine her people are the heart of Hyrule.

That means that when waves that started around her feet finally crash against the stone walls that cradle Hyrule Castle, Link hears the echoes from inside the knight's quarters there, and it sounds just like her heart beating.

The distant struggle of her people during these storms is memorialized by the stone monuments that surround her home. It is the duty of a Zora King to recast the tablets during their reign, adding new wisdom in reflection and relevant current events to the chronicle. The monuments of the past kings are transferred to the waters under the Domain and set into the crystal pillars with luminous stone. Muzu says this is why the Zora live longer than any people in Hyrule. Not only do they record events, but they learn from the past, bear witness to how it is retold, and use that wisdom to literally reinforce the framework of dominium they call home.

The significance of the Dive ceremony is twofold. The first involves a collective review of the old monuments under Zora’s Domain. Every Zora swims as deep as they can – no one has ever claimed to find the bottom. A millennium or so ago, it is said Zora from the Lanayru Sea, the same group her father’s family came from, traveled to the Domain and a Zora almost as massive as her father now, with teeth like a saw blade, dove into the darkness, not emerging again for over ninety minutes, and still could not find the bottom.

Secondly, it is a significant milestone for the youngest Zora who dive from the East Reservoir Lake into the waters surrounding the Domain to formally join the community. Only after the fall, when they’ve chosen the water and not the sky, are they said to be blessed with the long life of the Hyrule Zora.

Mipha remembers fondly when she completed the Dive. A Zora isn’t eligible to make the Dive until their fins are fully matured. She’s given up trying to understand how Hylians age. Something about candles and sugar bread makes them taller and stronger. For the Zora, it takes wet seasons, sometimes five, sometimes fifteen. The ten-year storm always comes when it's meant to. Clockwork, stars and all that.

But what else felt written in the stars that day, along with the rain that fell from the sky in sheets (she’d overheard Seggin say it was pissing rain that storm in particular), was it was also the day she met Link. The Zora aren’t secretive when it comes to their traditions. Their history is literally written in stone for any traveler to study. The terrain surrounding the Domain just creates a natural barrier, like the volcanic mountain that surrounds the rock-people’s city to the north or the miles of shadeless desert around the Gerudo to the south. Most travelers prefer easier paths.

Nevertheless, Mipha’s father’s father began sending out official invitations to witness the Dive to each region leader every ten years. For a long time, no one came. The journey for the Gerudo is long and dangerous especially when you account for the fact the request requires them to travel in weather they are unaccustomed to. The weather also keeps the Rito away and the Sheikah prefer to remain hidden despite rumors the Hylian King took a Sheikah advisor shortly after the royal Princess was born. The Goron are happy to stay on their mountain, but always send their signature “rock roast” with well-wishes for strength. The Hylians in the outskirts of the Central Hyrule, those that cling to the warm waters in Faron or line the cliffs facing the Necluda sea with giant windmills rarely stray from the main roads that all lead to Hyrule center, especially with the recent rumors of the monster populations increasing.

So it came as a bit of a surprise when a modest-sized group of them from Akkala, albeit the majority soldiers from the citadel there, appeared on the Great Zora Bridge, soaking wet and eager for shelter and good company. Their newly appointed captain, a fisherman turned soldier, had intercepted the invitation on route to the newly founded Ancient Technology Laboratory and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share his admiration for the Zora with his regiment. He claimed to have interacted with many during his years at sea and credited one group in particular with saving his life when his ship capsized during a storm.

Mipha’s father was ecstatic to share her Dive with the Hylians. He expanded the feast, opened the dry guest chambers, and personally escorted the Hylians up the mountainside, stopping to read each stone monument to them and answer any curious questions. From what Mipha recalls, there weren't many, but she was also distracted by the captain’s profoundly energetic four-year-old son. She didn’t even know his name, a detail somehow lost amongst the bustle of adults enjoying deep conversation and the constant pattering of rain. She resorted to calling him ‘little boy!’ and was so busy keeping him from slipping off the cliffs or irritating a hidden, otherwise non-hostile octorock, that she almost forgot what they were climbing for until they were at the top and her people were waiting.

As she looked over the edge of the reservoir and gazed upon the dark and distant waters below, she was overcome with the feeling this was more than just a flying leap. She knew what to expect – the sensation of her stomach floating in her belly, her eyes becoming so wind-whipped that she teared up, the rush of cool air across her fins when she finally hit the water, but for Mipha, daughter of the King Zora, the late Queen’s living shadow, with fins fitted for nobility and braced for elegance, the ceremonial Dive was more than formally joining her community. It was the abandonment of her juvenility. A mysterious transformation that never made much sense to her, as if by some ancient magic sparked by the speed of her fall and the embrace of her Domain, she would emerge from the waters and be suddenly mature. Responsible. Boring.

“Little girl?”

Mipha turned and spotted the Hylian boy, blond hair slick against his pale skin, his eyes so prominent on his face that she was able to see they shined bluer than the sapphires on her newly placed silver gorget.

“I’m not a little girl,” Mipha corrected him. “If you were paying attention instead of trying pester that poor octorock, you would have heard completing this Dive means I’m an adult.”

The Hylian scrunched up his face and moved his hands in front of him intentionally.

Mipha frowned. He sighed and cleared his throat a few times, as if suddenly unable to find his voice in his throat.

“Oh, do you speak with your hands?” Mipha asked.

The boy shook his head eagerly.

“And sometimes you speak out loud?”

The boy gestured in a way that implied that was correct.

Mipha softened a little. “I'm afraid I don’t know too much, I only just started my study on foreign languages as a part of my training, but…” She signed the letter slowly and spoke. “M-I-P-H-A.”

The boy’s face lit up. He looked up at her with those sapphire eyes, big and round and filled with wonder, like she had used magic to heal a hidden wound. “L-I-N-K.”

“Link?”

“Yes.” He found his voice and laughed.

“Right, well, it’s nice to meet you, Link.” She felt her cheeks fill with warmth and was thankful for the camouflage of her crimson scales. “So no more of this little girl or little boy business!”

He tilted his head curiously.

“You really weren’t paying attention were you. The Dive, becoming an adult, all of that?”

Link shook head disbelievingly and lifted his eyebrows.

“I will be,” Mipha insisted with her hands on her hips.

He waved his hands about himself flippantly, implying ‘me too, eventually’.

“You are still very much a kid, I am afraid to say.” Mipha said.

Link suddenly took a step closer and used his hand to measure their heights. She was a good half a foot taller than him at least. He peered past her over the edge of the cliffs and then back at the adults–Hylian and Zora alike, lost in their chatter.

“Will you still look like a kid? When it’s done?” He asked.

Although magic was known by the Zora, the manipulation of water by some, healing art by others, there was no natural sorcery that could age the body rapidly. Everyone she’d ever seen complete the Dive looked the same after. “Yes, I think so.”

“So what changes?”

Mipha thought for a moment, wringing her hands together, not wanting to speak out loud her fears of maturity and duty. “I suppose nothing.”

“Okay, so you’ll come play with me some more when you are finished? Please?”

His father came then and fetched him back to observe. And her father was there with Muzu and Seggin and the other Elders, giving a speech about tradition and honor and ceremony. He spoke at length about his daughter, a Princess, and his hope for her path, the promise of her stature, but when Mipha leapt forward off the side of the cliff, all she could think about racing Link around the home sculpture, skipping rocks across the Bank of Wishes, and learning as much as she could about Hylian sign language.

And when she finally emerged from the waters, that’s exactly what she did.

…

“But which one is the most dangerous, sister?” Sidon tugs at her pectoral fin, pulling Mipha from her thoughts.

“I’m sorry,” Mipha says, shaking her head. “I was adrift in thought. What now?”

“A riptide, a rip current, or an undertow. Which is most dangerous?”

“If you can’t recognize when you’ve been caught in one, they are all, my dear Sidon,” Mipha says, her eyes drifting back toward the reservoir. Years have passed since that day. And while the friendship that grew from their first meeting allowed Mipha to hold onto her adolescence a little longer, she and Link had indeed grown up. Seven of his Hylian years were spent primarily in her Domain, and during them, they both grew taller, his voice (when he used it) became deeper, and their days filled with less play and more training for war. The Calamity prophecy came from the west followed shortly by a call to arms from the Hylian King. Link was a tremendous swordsman, so it came as no surprise when his father was summoned from Akkala to the castle, Link left as well.

They wrote letters for many years. Mostly, Link lamented about the poor quality of food, longing for slices of raw salmon and blue crab legs and dried seaweed with salt. He mentioned there was talk about making him a soldier and then sometime later, rumors he was being considered for the Royal Guard after he returned from the hostile Great Hyrule Forest unscathed and wielding a sword with a blade like moonlight. But he also reminisced about their time together freely, how she taught him how to swim and he taught her how to parry and the time he tried to jump off the reservoir and broke both his legs. Mipha had fetched him from the water, healed him, and refused to speak to him for a week.

He also said even though it is not permitted, if they make him a Royal Guard, he’ll still wear her earrings. She never found out how that fared. He hasn’t returned her letters in a year.

“Mipha?” Sidon slips his little hand into hers.

“Sorry, sorry, what was the question again?” Mipha shakes her head. The silver charms that adore her fins jingle like bells.

“Someone’s coming,” he says.

“What?” Mipha looks over her shoulder. Above them, halfway across Luto's Crossing, is a lone horseman decorated with the colors of the Hylian Royal Family. And although she hasn't seen him in five years, she knows she could recognize his silhouette even if it had been a hundred. For a moment, she forgets about what happened inside Divine Beast Ruta. She forgets about the Council and duty and destiny.

She cups her mouth with her trembling hands and shouts: “Link!”

The horseman stops. His face finds the sunlight. His jawline is sharper and his skin is tan, but his eyes still shine like sapphires. He lifts his hand up above his head and signs her name.

Mipha takes off running.

#bahbahhhwrites #bahbahhhart #botw #loz #breath of the wild #legend of zelda #the legend of zelda #loz botw #botw fanfiction #loz fanfiction #mipha #link #zelda #miphlink #zelink #tloz #bahbahhh500 #follower milestone

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demoderby2099 · 8 months

Text

ᴋɪɴɢ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏɴꜱᴛᴇʀꜱ

Godzilla||Titanus: Gojira

ᴅᴇꜱᴄᴇɴᴅᴀɴᴛ ᴏꜰ ɢᴏᴊɪʀᴀ

Ruby||Titanus: Rubius Cthulhu

This AU was inspired by @rubydoowhereru RGTK of Monsterverse Ruby Gillman. So, I decided to practise my writing with RGTK that will feature some conruby, Meraken, and just a few short stories.

I wrote a one-shot on how Ruby would appear in Godzilla 2014, which I sent to Rubydoo in the form of an ask.

Now, here's an interesting idea: "What if Ruby met Gojira instead of Grandmamah?"

_________________________________________

Ruby should have listened to her Uncle's warning about the peculiar electric blue water current that he advised her to avoid during their journey to visit her grandmother. She had mistakenly assumed that it would propel her to her destination much faster, but that assumption proved false.

Now, Ruby found herself immersed in a pitch black void, barely able to make out the moonlight.

She felt as if she had entered the twilight zone.

Scanning her surroundings, she spotted an ancient temple in ruins. A few skeletal remains of monstrous creatures with sharp dorsal plates caught her attention.

Believing that this must be where her grandmother resided, Ruby swam towards the temple's entrance. Along the way, she caught glimpses of peculiar marine iguana-like sea monsters, standing around 6'5ft, with two large and pointed dorsal plates. Nervously, she waved at them, and in response, some of the creatures emitted a bright flash from their dorsal plates, as if greeting her.

Following a bright orange light, Ruby found herself inside a vast chamber filled with waterfalls and small pools of lava. A grand staircase led up to a large platform, but whatever lay on top remained hidden from view. The only visible aspect was the presence of jagged, sharp dorsal plates, reminiscent of trees or some other unknown entity.

Curiosity piqued, Ruby cautiously emerged from the water and ascended the staircase to gain a better perspective on the mysterious sight before her. However, to her confusion, she discovered that the platform was empty - nothing stood atop it.

"I knew that pulse belonged to you," a gruff voice declared, startling Ruby. She turned around, only to gasp in shock at the immense size of the person who had spoken.

His face possessed a square shape, while his neck appeared broad with gills adorning its sides. His eyes emitted a faint yellow glow, and his mouth housed a staggering total of 60 teeth, though they were not perfectly aligned. Separate nostrils adorned opposite sides of his snout.

His head and neck inclined slightly forward, and in proportion to his body, the head seemed relatively smaller. The creature bore dorsal fins that resembled the shape of maple leaves, albeit straighter and significantly sharper.

White-clawed fingers embellished his slim, muscular arms, while his feet resembled those of an elephant or sauropod, boasting larger curved claws with noticeable space between each toe. His crocodile-like skin was rough and tinged with a shade of blackish color. Although his body shared a slender resemblance to Ruby's giant Kraken frame, he appeared more robust, suggesting a build suitable for both speed and combat. His tail, resembling a baryonx's tail but with a tampered rounded tip.

Oh and cute little pointed ears!

Ruby instinctively raises her hands in fear as the imposing gaze of the larger monster meets her. However, to her surprise, he lets out a chuckle. "You look just like Agatha! Only purple instead of pink," the monster exclaims. Confused, Ruby gazes at him, prompting him to realize his nonsense and attempt to clarify.

Raising a closed, clawed hand and coughing into it, he introduces himself with a broad, toothy smile. "I am Gojira! King of Monsters, Warlord of Balance, Lord of the Sea, and so on! And, of course, you can call me your GRANDPOPPY!" As these words escape his lips, Ruby's eyes widen as everything clicks into place.

Instead of meeting her grandmother, she has encountered her grandfather.

#ruby gillman teenage kraken #ruby gillman #teenage kraken #Godzilla #Monsterverse #crossover #king of the monsters #Monsterverse au #Monsterverse!Ruby Gillman #Grandpa lizard and his cephalopod granddaughter #RGTK au #Ruby Gillman au #Kaiju's #Godzilla au

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ask-the-becile-boys · 7 months

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Story. Guess Who

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[ID: 7 digitally sketched panels in greyscale.]

[Panel 1: In the still dark dawn outside of Becile Manor, Locksmith and Agent Ester walk away from the car they left The Jack in. Both of their eyes are glowing, and Agest Ester is talking into a walkie-talkie. She says, "Operative, you are clear to enter the premises." Someone on the other end responds, "Finally."]

[Panel 2: Another car, parked and empty, in the foreground. Behind it, a Becile Industries van has its back open and several large, bipedal robots with single eyes, digitigrade legs, and fins on their heads like elephant ears are getting out. The most visible one is wearing a large backpack. On the ground there are several of the previously seen eye drones skittering along the ground, carrying rectangular packages on their tops. The mystery speak says, "Looks like your drones and RO-bots are deploying themselves."]

[Panel 3: A walking boot. The mystery speaker asks, "Stairs to the workshop are in the right-hand wing, right?" Locksmith responds over the walkie-talkie, "Correct." The mystery speaker says, "Good. This won't take long."]

[Panel 4: The boots descending a staircase into the Becile Manor basement. From below come lyrics from Creedance Clearwater Revival's 'Bad Moon Rising:' "♪ Hope you got your things together ♪, ♪ Hope you are quite prepared to die ♪"]

[Panel 5: A hand wearing a fingerless glove pushes open the door to the workshop where The Skull is laid out and Riker is working. Riker has his back turned to the viewer and is looking at soe blueprints. An old radio on the bench near him continues to play the song, "♪ Looks like we're in for nasty weather ♪, ♪ One eye is taken for an eye ♪"]

[Panel 6: Riker in profile, smoking a cigarette and oblivious to the pair of hands reaching for him from behind. The song continues, "♪ Well, don't go around tonight ♪, ♪ Well, it's bound to take your life ♪"]

[Panel 7: Jaime Huron covers Riker's eyes with his hands, leaning forward toward his ear and saying, "Guess who." The cigarette falls from Riker's mouth, and the song finishes, "♪ There's a bad moon on the rise." End ID]

#steam powered giraffe #fanbots #becile bots #locksmith becile #agent ester #blog art #story update #guess who #riker szarka #jaime huron

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euphorial-docx · 1 year

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a breakdown of opev reg’s style evolution because i felt like talking about it :)

PART 1: OGNI PARTE E VIVA🍊

in opev, regulus didn’t truly develop a sense of style yet. he was still trying to figure himself out, and figure out a way to express that in ways he was comfortable.

regulus mostly dressed for comfort in opev.

in the warm seasons, he’d wear a lot of loose button ups and t-shirts, shorts or swim trunks. he most of the time wore a pair of converse, and sometimes sunglasses. in the colder seasons, he wore standard cold weather things like sweaters, jeans, gloves, hats, etc etc. he also rewears outfits often.

there were times where he would show some of his personality in his outfits. the things he truly did style were: his hair, his jewelry (namely the star of david necklace), and the occasional band t-shirt. his clothes usually are cool tones, such as blues and cool greens, as well as neutrals like white and black. outside of those things, he dressed pretty generically.

i feel his style reflects the music he listened to at the time. opev regulus was on the new wave train from the start, being a fan of the talking heads and joy division early in their careers. while joy divison was dark in tone, talking heads was relatively upbeat and a more familiar band to regulus as they’d been around longer than joy division.

my inspirations for his outfits was, very unsurprisingly, elio from call me by your name. although i did stray away from the polo shirts, because i didn’t think opev regulus would really wear those. i wanted to keep a sense of put togetherness despite his lack of personal style by having him wear loose button ups a lot and take care of his hair.

there is only one instance in opev where regulus has a chance to dress up a little bit, and that’s when he and james go to an art gallery. regulus wears a button up shirt, jeans, and a jean jacket.

good elio references i looked at a lot for opev:

PART 2: TEMPS SANS FIN🌃

i know we haven’t dived too much into the sequel yet, but oh boy do i have plans for his fashion there.

between opev and tsf, regulus has developed a true sense of self and a sense of fashion of his own. part of that was from his experiences in university, where he dated a musician named chiara who got him more into the new wave/goth music scene. another part was simply him getting older and living independently.

in the 70s regulus dressed for necessity and with a vague new wave influence, and in the 80s he expanded on that a bit.

i’d describe his 80s style as predominately new wave with a bit of goth and new romantics thrown in there.

he has kept with his loose button ups, but has traded his converse for boots and began to experiment a little more with accessories. necklaces, rings, and yes even earrings and nail polish have made their way into his outfits. he’s also began to use makeup, albeit just a little, when it comes to his eyes, reminiscent of the goth and new romantics influences he’s gathered.

his hair has changed over the years, and he’s started doing a variation of the wavy pompadour/elephant trunk hairstyle popular among the new wave scene as well as more mainstream scenes. i imagine the hairstyle to be a bit like duckie’s from pretty in pink, but mostly like elio’s hair in the epilogue of cmbyn.

as i said for part 1, music greatly inspires opev regulus’s style. in the 80s, his edge of goth and new romantics comes from the music he started listening to. he leaned more into goth in the 80s with his love for bands such as the cure (at least early the cure), depeche mode, bauhaus, echo & the bunnymen, and the smiths— he also kept up his love for joy division, while his passion for talking heads faded a bit as they wandered more into pop territory.

inspirations i have for regulus include: john taylor, steve jansen, a little bit of john koviak and robert smith, but heavy with the john taylor

photo inspo (most of which are john taylor. i’m sorry. his outfits are just almost exactly what i picture reg wearing in the 80s.)

#i hope there aren’t spelling mistakes here bc i won’t fix them #fic: ogni parte è viva (every part is alive)#fic: temps sans fin (time without end)

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biomecharnotaurus · 9 months

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YOU! DINOSAUR FUN FACTS OR FACTS ABOUT YOUR DRAGON-SONA!!! NOW!!! (so so lighthearted but please please feel free to write as much as you like, your mind is so so swag)

AAAH THANK YOU I'LL GO WITH BOTH >:) ❤️❤️

Random dinosaur facts:

Stan the T.Rex is the most brutally injured male tyrannosaurus specimen we currently have public access to. His neck was broken off by another t. rex, so was part of his jaw and skull, but all of these injuries healed back at the point of him reaching adulthood. We even found a tooth that pierced through his brain still inside of his skull and he very likely had to live through all of his life in pain (the bones didn't heal exactly right). He is the confirmation that these animals were stupidly strong and resilient.

There is a probability that the spinosaurus is a chimera of different species of theropod we just mixed together, because its current anatomy doesn't make much sense. Its legs are too short for its weight, it's built like it should swim but its hydrodynamics are awful (its finned tail didn't have muscles and bones made to swim like in the case of the tails of modern crocodilians) and we are still not sure what was the purpose of its sail. Also, the specimen we currently have was literally bombed during WWII 👍🏻

Ceratopsidae dinosaurs (the family of triceratops) didn't have cheeks. And they had actual reptile-like "paws" with fingers, not elephant meat-mittens. Also, most of them were murderous tanks

Non-avian theropods had lips that covered all of their teeth when closed, kinda like monitor lizards.

Cyrav facts:

He has both mammal and reptile traits. He has dog-like ears, lion-like teeth, theropod legs, scales, feathers and osteoderms. Warm blooded.

He is technically a very stylized eastern dragon with some western dragon traits.

He has a swordfish nose-horn and he uses it pretty much the same way.

He has a scorpion-like tip of the tail.

Color choices and multiple eyes are a reference to ophanims/thrones.

He technically should have antlers to resemble the Tree of Life.

He can "summon" bird-like wings like some eastern dragons.

He also has cat-like whiskers, other than the catfish-like ones.

#Cyrav #dinosaur #ask #I still need to update your tag don't mind me BUT THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE ASK ❤️❤️

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birbs-in-space · 1 year

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woo I've got 3 of 4 crochet projects done! I'm taking a quick break before i return to the final one, but here's what I've been working on for the past month!

brief explanation: a friend of mine talked me into putting together some crochet stuff for the fiber arts part of my local fair! all submissions are due may 26th (including photography and art, which I'm going to figure out after I'm done with my crochet work) so I've been scrambling ever since finishing up with my dcrb stuff

the first of the projects is an elephant themed handbag. it's technically a bit of a collab with a friend of mine who came up with the initial idea and is going to be dealing with the interfacing and the lining, so I'm going to have to sort out how to represent that in the submission but

here's what it will look like, minus the ears, tail, and feet. i photographed it before sending it off to her! i also made a trial bag ahead of time

i also made this to trial run my design ideas. it's got some major flaws though i do actually like the head shape more lol even though I spent a LOT of time trying to make the final one work properly.

project 2 is these parols! if you're unfamiliar, an actual parole is a star-shaped paper lantern made in the philippines as a christmas decoration. now i can't make paper lanterns but i can make these, which i did, based off of a design i worked out last Christmas to make some as a gift for my mom. most of these were made using lily sugar and cream yarn which was a Huge Mistake lol.

project 3, which i actually finished a while ago before finishing up the parols are these...things. it's a bit tricky to explain but basically i made these both for fun and as an experiment to test out the capabilities and limitations of chatgpt. if you're somewhat familiar with me, you'll know I'm a programmer by career. which means i have to keep abreast of technological developments NOT because i need them for my job, but because i WILL get pestered by other people who think i know the answer (a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy, that). plus, machine learning is a bit fun cause it's a) it's fun to see it flop and flail around cause it doesn't actually know shit and b) it's a fascinating reflection of the world we've created and the failures and limitations of the structures we create to define and control it.

which is to say that i asked it for various patterns with varying levels of specificity and oversight and crocheted what it gave me with varying levels of "forgiveness" (damn thing doesn't even tell me where to sew or attach things most of the time). IF my submission is accepted, I'm hoping they'll let me submit some explanations to go with lol. and also after finishing the last pattern, which i generated maybe 2 weeks ago, I've finished off the project in solidarity with WGA and the newly unionized "AI" content moderators.

(the most powerful tool i think i have personally is my ability to explain why chatgpt and it's siblings are so limited in their ability and why people ought to be careful implementing them in any meaningful way)

so now that I've adequately proved that i am not a tech bro, actually. observe: my children

the absolutely comical moray eel

i requested a separate jaw piece and that it be long and thin. it gave me this in the silliest way possible.

yes the fins are all wrong and the body is weirdly twisted. i don't know why it gave me a trapezoidal panel. it didn't even tell me to make a tube out of it or how but idk what else i couldve possibly done. anyway, i love him

next, a small collection of flowers.

one looks like a sunny side up egg but pink. chat gpt claimed the one on the left was specifically supposed to be a rose, which is genuinely funny. it's a flower doily, at best, and not even a good one at that.

poppy, orange

im actually quite impressed by these, especially the poppy petals and the leaf of the orange (though the orange is rather flat... i squished it in a bit for the sake of the picture. also check out that stem. wild.)

mystery patterns 1 and 2

these were supposed to resemble actual things, when i was done with them. they do not.

my beloved pill quail

the pattern actually had the dots misaligned because it miscounted the number of stitches in the round, making the instructions mathematically impossible. for the sake of not accidentally creating a physical impossibility and plunging the world into a spontaneously generated black hole, i decided to fix it instead. though that didn't stop my poor quail from literally being capsule shaped, having coffin shaped wings, and the largest quail beak ever. i actually was very specific about this pattern and had to ask it for modifications and answer regenerations a lot (if you do this, you'll find that the average crochet pattern it makes is JUST outside the bounds of it's character limit), so the fact it turned out so funny looking will never not be hilarious to me

mushrooms

for the first, it actually just gave me a panel for the stem, but not cylindrifying it made no sense. for the second it literally just gave me two balls but the nature of crochet balls is you can kinda squish them into shapes.

the "flower basket"

i asked it for an idea to put into the fair, it gave me the flower basket—a small, deflated ball. 10/10. the biggest failure, which is why I love it so

the water lily

it did not adequately tell me how to put the petals onto the circular back panel (which it called the flower). I'd say what i did is probably what it was going for, but it's literally incapable of going for anything. that's not how text predictive models work. and fun fact! no water lily patterns on the internet look like this

self-representation

if chatgpt looked like a little crochet guy, it would look like this, according to it. (once you get past it insisting that if has no visible/physical form) apologies for the very mediocre glasses—i did not get into this hobby to embroider. i am very specifically not good at that. also it's feet were literally too big to have it NOT be sitting. and i did ask for the size safety eyes i should use, which is why they're so small lmfao

and finally:

Ert the hedgehog. it told me i COULD add spikes by using a crochet hook to add yarn at the top of its head. it did not tell me how. so i did that...for at LEAST as much time as it took to make the rest of it. Ert is my newest scapegoat whenever i have a problem. also i forgot to style his spikes for this photo lmaoo

bonus:

#new post #crochetposting #i think i shall put any crochet related projects in that tag now #ok I'm gonna zone out for a bit and then get back to project 4 #i was at work nearly 12 hours yesterday so I'd like a bit of a break lol

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