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case-of-traxits · 7 months

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WRO Reeve + Heartbreak

One who wears the crown, bears the crown.

For @here-be-ninjas | From a discussion on this post.

So I've been sitting on this for a few days now in my drafts. I kept trying to type it up as a reply on that fic, but the fact is... I just have too many feels and it kept getting way too long and I didn't want to slam out like, three half-thought out things. So here, I've done my best to outline some things that are going on for WRO that break my heart.

I have no idea if this is what you were expecting or wanting, but this is what you're getting.

Also, please excuse the gratuitous use of gifs, but like, I'm just delighting in the fact that when I search "Reeve Tuesti" in the gifs thing, I GET SOMETHING OMG.

(That wasn't true pre-Remake really. But thankfully, people are slowly realizing he's super handsome. So it's a win for me!)

Time to put my metal on Whose blood to spill? I don't know whose side I'm on. Two armies are coming at me. Their flags and weapons look the same. One tells the truth; the other's lying. And they're both calling my name.

-- "How Villains Are Made," by Madalen Duke

Canon Explanation

So at the beginning of Final Fantasy VII, we have three massive disasters occur in Midgar, all over the course of three days: Reactor 1 is bombed, Reactor 5 is bombed, and Sector Seven is dropped. It is certainly canon that all of these events deeply affected Reeve emotionally (if you want to see a video comparing Reeve's reaction to the Plate Drop plan, you can see that here).

Now, I don't think it's fanon to extrapolate that at the end of FF7, Reeve has lost basically everything.

Canonically, he's had to deal with the following:

The loss of Reactor 1.

The loss of Reactor 5.

The dropping of Sector Seven.

Tseng is nearly killed (how close Reeve is to Tseng is up for debate).

Cait Sith the First dies (as a sub-note on this one, not only does Cait Sith die, but the very thing that he dies for, to prevent Sephiroth from getting the Black Materia? Is immediately voided because Cloud hands it over to Sephiroth).

Aerith dies (how close Reeve is to Aerith is also up for debate).

Diamond WEAPON attacks Midgar, which is, of course, full of innocent civilians.

Reeve is dragged away to be imprisoned during this attack because he refuses to go along with Scarlet and Heidegger.

At some point, Reeve is freed (although, that's not important enough apparently to get a mention in the OG) and he organizes the evacuation of Midgar, which has to be evacuated through, canonically, a single train line and a single highway that wrap around the central pillar.

He shuts down all of the reactors in Midgar. I'll have to see if I can find a canon source for when, exactly, this happens; it happens sometime between when he is freed and when Edge is started, and I think there's mention somewhere that it's before the Lifestream surge that stops Meteor. However, per On the Way to a Smile, Episode: Barret, all mako reactors across the entire world have been shut down as of "several months after [Meteorfall]."

A few days after this evacuation process is started, his mother is killed when the Lifestream surges up to stop Meteor.

If he'd had any hope whatsoever of salvaging Midgar, or returning people to the city after the Meteor crisis, that's shot down after the Lifestream surge. So now he has a city full of people who refused to leave prior to Meteorfall, another city (Kalm) full of people who did evacuate, and no power for any of them. Again, you can see On the Way to a Smile, Episode: Barret if you want a little peek as to what some of the pre-Mako tech looked like. Spoiler? It isn't pretty. I'm talking coal-powered trucks kind of not pretty. This is a world without gasoline as tech. Mako literally powers everything, and they're now rationing what was left in the reactors. With that in mind, it's really no wonder that the WRO is militaristic.

As someone who has worked at an electric company (I want to add "canonically," but I mean IRL. XD), let me tell you, people without power? They are panicky. But okay, that's not addressed canonically, so let's disregard that side note.

Instead, let's just focus on everything else.

He's lost literally everything that he has clearly dedicated himself to: Midgar, his parents, one of his robot cats, and his entire livelihood. And suddenly, he's the only one with anything even resembling the experience necessary to run the world. The last standing member of the Shinra Board, and effectively, he's taken Rufus' place as the de-facto world leader.

And all of this starts on 12/9/07 and ends "the last third" of 01/08, according to the Crisis Core Ultimania Timeline.

So... all of that. In six-ish weeks.

And this is true before we even touch on the expanded canon and my headcanons regarding Reeve Tuesti.

You reach the battle lines Racing inside your mind A question for all time, is it you? So gravity defy And storm the darkest night Is it you? Is it you who will save us?

-- "Who Will Save Us," by Tommee Profitt

Expanded Canon and Headcanon Time!

Expanded Canon: The Inspire Thing

So. Cait Sith. Beloved fuzzy son.

First, let's look at Reeve's profile from the 10th Anniversary Ultimania:

The head of the Urban Development Department. Involved in the construction of Midgar from the very beginning, he watches over the town’s development like that of a child. By utilizing his special ability, “Inspire”, he is able to cause inorganic things to emit life; his “child”, the “cat”-shaped robot, Cait Sith can be controlled from a great distance. After Meteorfall, he became the director of the World Regenesis Organization (WRO), which is devoted to the purpose of restoring life to the planet.

So this is interesting for a lot of reasons, but there's two very important things that this profile does for us:

One, it clearly states that Reeve has been "involved in the construction of Midgar from the very beginning," and he "watches over the town's development like that of a child." So... That's a great character note and a problem, but let's put a pin in that and we'll discuss the problem part of that in the next section. So the thing you need to actually note there is that Reeve loves Midgar. Like a child.

And two, it defines Reeve's surprisingly controversial "Inspire" ability. I say surprisingly because here's the general breakdown. Reeve has literally always had this ability, but people will sometimes discount it because it's not "mentioned" in any of the games. And that isn't... wrong, exactly. Reeve is never, at any point in any of the games, 'outed' as an Inspire. However, let's look at the Ultimanias over the years:

Now, I wish I had links to all of these pages for you, but the simple fact is, I don't. I could probably get links to all of them, given enough time, but I'm still rebuilding my compiled FF7 References Google Drive folder. When I get everything in there, I'll post a link.

The point I want to make with this is that it isn't something new. This is not some detail they retconned in to make things work. They've literally always implied it in game. There's a few metas floating around periodically that talk about Reeve and Cait Sith, and maybe one day I'll sit down and write up my own, but I want to be able to link to certain things like the Before Crisis scripts and such, because there's evidence in there to prove that Cait Sith is not just a 'robot'. He's a plush cat, yes. He's an animatronic, yes. But he's also an individual.

Canonically, in the original game, he feels pain when he trips and falls in the Temple of the Ancients on his way to die. He begs Cloud and AVALANCHE not to forget him, even if another Cait Sith shows up. He reminds them all that there's only one him. (And then of course, they promptly forget him. T_T)

In Before Crisis, Reeve gives the player Turk a controller to use with Cait Sith, but Cait Sith has 'thought' dialogue in the game that cannot be attributed to Reeve.

In Dirge, you see Cait Sith and Reeve together at several points, and they always move fairly in sync, but there's no indication of a controller in Reeve's hand at any point. And okay, that could be because Dirge was really bad about character models. We never did, after all, get a pregnant Lucrecia model in that game. ... Or in any other game, for that matter. But that's a different problem.

The fact is, at no point is Reeve ever shown using a controller. How he controls Cait Sith is subtle enough that he can control Cait Sith actively during a board meeting that he lets AVALANCHE listen in on during the original game. That's the board meeting where Scarlet and Heidegger propose loading up the failed rocket in Rocket Town with materia and launching it into Meteor in an attempt to stop it. And none of the other directors (or Rufus, who is canonically aware of Cait Sith and Reeve's control of him) notice. So I don't think it's actually a stretch of canon to assume that Reeve doesn't have a visible means of controlling Cait Sith.

Which means... yes. It's magic. Some kind of mental connection to Cait Sith. And let's just... digest that for a second.

Imagine a mental connection to something you love like a child.

And you send it to be crushed to death in an attempt to stop Sephiroth from obtaining a materia that he will use to destroy the world.

And immediately after you've done this, you have to get the next version of that child to the same place, to the same group of people, who have already lost the materia you entrusted them with.

(And, as an aside, you were just using this second version of that child to rescue a dying coworker that, your own personal closeness aside, your good friend is very close to. Because Before Crisis makes it very clear that Reeve and Veld are close in some fashion. It's a little ambiguous about their exact relationship, but they're close enough that Reeve risks everything to help the Turks because he's sure they're helping Veld who is on the run from Shinra at that point.)

Now, all of this to say... Why am I rambling about Reeve's Inspire ability and Cait Sith? Well...

Headcanon: The Inspire Thing

My personal headcanon is that Reeve, with long enough exposure to anything inorganic (i.e., his car or reactors) can inadvertently form a bond with it. Even grant it a sort of ... half-life. Now, admittedly, this is entirely fanon. I make no arguments that there is any sort of canonical support for the Inspire abilities working with this way.

But the fact is... it's odd, isn't it, that the reactors are under Urban Development? Why aren't they under Science?

(And yes, that is canon. It's in the original game that reactor control is under Urban Dev-- Reeve Tuesti-- not Science.)

So this is something I play with, that Reeve is some kind of brilliant engineer, constantly tweaking the reactors, adjusting them to maximize every drop of mako energy as efficiently as possible. And in my headcanon, he manages that in part by directly interfacing with the reactors.

Which uh... makes blowing them up emotionally problematic for him. How emotionally problematic? Well, @ladykf-writes wrote me some amazing ficlets that feature my headcanons about this after much rambling with her about them. So I highly recommend checking those out if you're interested in this idea.

So, basically, in addition to the list up there? You could add that my particular Reeve is also suffering from some serious emotional turmoil regarding the "deaths" of Reactors 1 and 5 as well as Cait Sith the First. Those aren't just moments of, "oh it's tragic these people died," or "oh shoot, I lost one of my robots," for him.

He literally lived through their deaths.

Now. Let's move on from my headcanons regarding this ability and let's talk about Reeve's problem.

Broken pieces of a barely breathing story Where there once was love Now there's only me and the lonely Dancing slowly in an empty room Can the lonely take the place of you? I sing myself a quiet lullaby Let you go and let the lonely in To take my heart again

-- "The Lonely," by Christina Perri. In particular with this song, the "you" that I imagine it being focused on is Midgar, not a person.

Reeve's Timeline Shenanigans

All right, back to Reeve's profile from the 10th Anniversary Ultimania:

Involved in the construction of Midgar from the very beginning, he watches over the town’s development like that of a child.

And from the Final Fantasy VII Complete Dismantled True Story (which while "official" is not necessary "canon" per the development team):

A capable engineer closely involved in the design and construction of the two-tiered city of Midgar and its eight mako reactors.

Now, unfortunately, Reeve's profile doesn't often get translated in other ultimanias-- or at least, not in places I've been able to find-- so we're kind of stuck with just these two interpretations of this side of him. Still, it's pretty clear, right? He was involved in the construction of Midgar from the beginning. Even in the Dismantled True Story version, he's closely involved in the design and construction.

It also mentions that he's 35 (like Barret) in the original game. Since the game takes place in 0007, we can say pretty confidently that he was born in '72; same year as Barret, for those who don't trust my math.

Now, let's look at Midgar's timeline, shall we?

From the 10th Anniversary Timeline:

[ μ ] – εуλ 9/23/1959 (48 years before FFVII) · Shin-Ra Works (later the Shin-Ra Company) discovers mako energy [ μ ] – εуλ 1/9/1968 · Construction begins in Nibelheim on the first in a series of power generation facilities, “mako reactors” for the purpose of extracting mako. [ μ ] – εуλ 6/24/1976 · Construction of the mako city, Midgar, begins. The Shin-Ra company relocates its headquarters to Midgar.

... Interesting. Okay. What about other timelines? Well, let's look at the Crisis Core Ultimania's Timeline:

[ μ ] – εуλ 9/23/1959 · Shin-Ra Works (later the Shin-Ra Company) discovers mako energy. [ μ ] – εуλ 6/24/1976 · Construction of the mako city, Midgar, begins. The Shin-Ra company relocates its headquarters to Midgar.

Now, this does change a bit in the Remake Ultimania's Timeline, from what I understand. They push Midgar's construction date back to 1969, per the FFVII Timeline, which for the record I like because they source all their dates wherever possible. However, I haven't really dug into the Remake stuff yet because it's my understanding that the Remake is the Compilation in a blender, so just because something is true in the Remake doesn't make it true in other aspects of canon (for example, they adjusted the ages of Rufus and the Turks, to make Rufus clearly older/same age as them, whereas he was always younger in the original canon).

Anyway, the issue with this timeline is this: Reeve's four when they start building Midgar. How involved is he in this construction project?

Now, over the years, I've seen a few interesting takes on how to handle this.

One, people just completely disregard it. Which, fair. It's an ultimania canon note, not something from in-game, but I always find it interesting when people say, disregard these dates but are happy to accept say, dates regarding the Nibelheim project as gospel from the same sources. But hey, I cherry pick canon too, so who am I to complain, right?

Two, people go with the architect of Midgar being another R. Tuesti (probably Reeve's father is the most common headcanon), and over the years, his work has been conflated with Reeve's own until people just forget that Reeve himself couldn't have been the one to do it.

Now, my personal headcanon-- which I am absolutely detailing because you asked me about why WRO Reeve breaks my heart, and I swear all of this is tied into that original question-- is that Reeve's father was the original engineer who developed the Nibelheim reactor. He was also slated to be the lead engineer on managing the complicated network of the eight (nine, technically, at least during construction, but who's counting?) reactors in Midgar. Except when Reeve was about five, he died in an accident. Probably in a reactor, let's be honest.

And when the Turks (and because it's my headcanon and I can, the Turks in question are Veld and Vincent) are sent to pick up Papa Tuesti's notes from his widow so that the other engineers can try to make sense of them, they discover that the five-year-old can decipher his father's unlabeled diagrams. So they take the boy with them to the Shinra Manor in Junon where the President pays to have him formally educated and put to work deciphering these diagrams and notes to ensure that the Midgar project goes as planned.

Of course, being brought up to be this engineer means that Reeve has access to basically the best level of education possible. So yes, he's deciphering his father's notes, but very quickly, he's improving them. And that, my friends, is why he ends up as Head of Urban Development. Because the simple fact is, he's been brought up for this, raised and trained to President Shinra's exact specifications of what he wants in a city.

Now, once again, all of that is just my personal headcanon, and I can't even cite some of my old sources because I just cannot find them anymore. So take this or leave it, it's where I sit on it.

That also means that he was brought up in the same house as (although almost certainly very separated from) Rufus. There's a ten year difference between them, of course, so it wasn't like they were close, but there's certainly room for some... understanding between them. If anyone understands how the President was (who canonically was extremely abusive towards Rufus per On the Way to a Smile: Case of Shinra).

Now, how does all of this tie into WRO Reeve breaking my heart?

Well, per my headcanon, Midgar is literally his life's work. It's his father's legacy and it is the city he has poured his entire life into, and it's gone. At the end of the original game, it's gone, and he has to look at her dead carcass on the horizon every time he is in Edge.

He was fashioned into the engineer who builds cities and lives and fantasies-- the floating city, remember?-- and he was desperately just trying to survive the President's reign of terror under the hope that Rufus would be better (I can't find a copy of the source quote in Before Crisis, but it's mentioned on his Ultimania profile). And suddenly...

It's all gone.

I am the son And the heir Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar I am the son and heir Of nothing in particular

-- "How Soon Is Now," by the Smiths, but the AG cover.

So. If you've made it through all of this, I just. I have a lot of feels about Reeve Tuesti in general, and in particular, in what state he's probably in after Meteorfall. I guess this is what happens when you've been writing him for 20-some-odd years. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The long and short of it is this: Reeve is an incredibly underrated character, and he's so often sadly overlooked by fandom, and he just... he's been through so much by the time he's head of the WRO. I can't help but think that he's got to be so worn down by it all. It's hard, saving the world, especially in a position like he's in.

He is, after all, the only man in the world who betrayed Shinra twice and lived.

But he's also the man who built the world's largest, most complicated city, and he's a man who has survived losing everything.

And what did he do the next morning?

He went to work.

You wanna take a drink of that promise land You gotta wipe the dirt off of your hands Careful son, you got dreamer's plans But it gets hard to stand Soldier keep on marchin' on Head down 'til the work is done Waiting on that morning sun Soldier keep on marchin' on

-- "Soldier," by Tommee Profitt

#Reeve Tuesti #FF7 #Final fantasy vii #I have so many feels about Reeve guys #I just #SO MANY #I hope someone enjoys this #I've been working on it for DAYS

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skyward-floored · 2 years

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So I’ve never written twilight princess zelink before, and I had an idea the other day that I really thought would fit them. So I went and wrote this, which, I don’t know if I really did them or the idea I had justice, but it was fun to write at least.

Twilight form Zelda anyone?

————————————————————

“Hey, is this the one you were looking for?”

Princess Zelda looked up from her desk at the paper Link held out towards her, and she gave him a small smile as she saw it was the correct one.

“Ah, yes that’s it. Thank you Link,” said as she took it, and he nodded back with a smile.

He was helping her unclutter her study in preparation for the upcoming harvest season, when her desk and all subsequent flat surfaces tended to get covered by numerous reports of crops and problems and countless other things. Not to mention the additional stacks of paper that kept appearing due to her upcoming wedding.

Of course, she didn’t really mind making space for those.

Link moved to a bookshelf and studied a stack of papers that had been set there at some point, his eyebrows raising as he stared at the tiny print.

“Good grief, what is all this?” he muttered, shuffling through them and thoroughly messing up the stack. “Food report, taxation census... some of this is from before I was born!”

Zelda raised an eyebrow at the papers that escaped the pile and the mess that her fiancé was inadvertently making, and she stood, walking over to him.

“Link, try not to make our job more difficult,” she chastised, leaning over and grabbing the papers he’d sent to the floor. “We’re supposed to be cleaning.”

She straightened up and stepped closer in order to set the papers back on the pile, but failed to notice another stack that had ended up on the floor, which she ended up stepping squarely upon.

Her foot slipped out from under her right as Link turned around, and she tripped right into him.

She let out a surprised noise as Link’s eyes widened, and he moved forward to try to catch her, but when she tried to catch herself her arm went out and hit his chest—

Suddenly Zelda felt dark dark magic race up her arm.

She cried out as she fell to the ground, clutching her arm to herself as the unexpected magic swept through her, clashing against her own innate light magic in a way that had her gasping in pain.

She faintly heard Link saying her name and maybe holding onto her, but a rippling agony distracted her from replying. Something foreign and wrong began twisting in her as her light magic clawed back, and her right hand burned as it wrestled with the curse ripping through her that felt so much like Ganondorf—

And then suddenly it was over and she collapsed.

Every nerve of her body hurt, and Zelda nearly passed out as pain coursed through her. She wheezed in a breath, but barely even managed that because everything felt wrong, even her mouth felt wrong when she breathed.

She tried again and managed to breath a bit easier this time, and worked on calming her racing heart while she also figured out what her current predicament was.

Something was very wrong, but that was all she knew so far.

Zelda attempted to move her arm, but it felt too light and yet too big at the same time, and when she tried her legs instead, they felt much too small, though her feet seemed especially large for some reason.

She groaned, but it came out as an odd cooing noise instead.

That snapped her out of what was left of her daze, and she opened her eyes to see her study was suddenly very large and in surprisingly intense quality, as was Link’s panicked face looking down at her. She looked at him, then down at her arm, and was only half surprised when instead of a human one, she found herself looking at a brown and white colored wing, with faint speckles of purple.

She was a bird.

“Zelda are you okay?” Link asked from above her in a frantic voice, probably not for the first time. He was cradling her in his arms, though she didn’t fit very easily so she must have been a fairly big bird. A raptor of some kind?

She hooted weakly at him, and tried to get to her feet, but her talons were unwieldy, and she wasn’t used to them at all. Combined with trying to balance with two wings instead of arms she couldn’t manage it, and chirped in annoyance.

Link gently turned her over in his hold, moving one hand to rest under her feet while the other continued to guide her upwards. She found herself automatically adjusting her claws’ grip on Link’s fortunately-gauntleted arm, and chirped again, a bit stronger now.

“I’m so sorry Zelda, I thought— I thought the shadow crystal was in my tunic, it must have slipped out— this isn’t good,” Link said, sounding distinctly panicked, “how did it— I didn’t think it could affect you, the Twilight didn’t, how did—“

Zelda watched Link clutch at his bangs, and gave his arm a small peck. He stopped talking and looked at her, and she gave him a stern look, one that told him it’s not your fault.

He took a deep breath, and ran a slow hand over her feathers.

“Okay. Okay. You’re... a bird. I turned my fiancé... into a bird. The crown princess of Hyrule is currently a bird, and it’s entirely my fault.”

He stared at her in dismay, and Zelda hooted gently, leaning forward to press her head against his and give it a gentle rub. She usually wasn’t so touchy, but speaking wasn’t exactly an option at the moment, and she could see the guilt plaguing him.

It seemed to help, and Link almost unconsciously raised a hand up and ran it gently down her head.

“How do we fix this?” he murmured in dismay, and Zelda chirped, trying to sound reassuring. She had an idea actually— once she recovered a bit further from the initial transformation, she might be able to purge the curse all by herself— but she wasn’t sure how to tell that to Link.

“The Master Sword would be our best bet, but I don’t think I can sneak you out. We’d be gone for at least a day, and it’d probably start a panic,” he murmured, and Zelda cawed and shook her head.

Link looked over at her as she carefully shifted her weight. “No? Not the Master Sword?”

She chirped again and Link frowned.

“Well then do you know a different way to fix this?” he asked hopefully, and she hooted, fanning her tail out.

Oh, that felt strange.

She wondered if she could fly.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door of her study, and Link and Zelda both froze, staring at the door, than back at each other as someone stood right outside.

“Your highness? Are you occupied?”

Zelda let out a quiet chirp at Link, and he quickly stood, making sure she was secure on her arm as he nervously walked to the door, pointedly dodging all the papers strewn about. He grabbed the handle, and Zelda slowly breathed out, attempting to appear as a normal bird.

He pulled open the door and a messenger stood there, looking only mildly surprised at seeing Link instead of the princess.

“Sir Link? I was told the princess was in her study, is she not—“ the man cut himself off, staring at the bird on Link’s arm.

He blinked, and Zelda blinked back.

“Sir..?”

“Oh, this is for, ah, a matter concerning the princess,” Link quickly assured, and Zelda ruffled her feathers a bit. “But as you can see she’s, uh... busy. At the moment.”

The messenger still looked confused, but nodded anyways, and Zelda had to stifle her amusement at Link’s technical not-lies.

“That is quite an unusual bird, I’ve never seen one like it,” the man said as he eyed Zelda’s purple and brown feathers. “Such interesting plumage.”

“She’s very special,” Link said with a twinkle in his eye. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one more beautiful.”

Zelda casually stretched out a wing and batted him on the ear.

The messenger looked at her admiringly for a few more seconds, but then his smile slipped. “It looks a bit tired sir, is it alright?”

Link looked at Zelda, and she tried to look at him reassuringly. She certainly didn’t feel quite as horrid as she had initially, though the man was right. The transformation had been exhausting, and she was certainly feeling it.

“She will be,” Link murmured, and the messenger nodded, focusing his gaze back on Link.

“That’s good. Anyways, would you make sure her highness tends to these when she returns?” he asked as he held out a large pile of official-looking documents. “I’m told they need to be dealt with before tomorrow.”

Link fumbled to take them and not unseat Zelda, and she chirped in annoyance as she had to scoot up to her fiancé’s shoulder.

“I’ll make sure she gets them,” Link assured, then began to toe the door closed. “Thanks for the... paperwork.”

The man merely gave a respectful nod, then strode back down the hall from where he’d come from. Link shut the door and dropped the papers to Zelda’s desk with a sigh of relief, and looked over at her.

“Well. Good thing he didn’t particularly mind not seeing the princess,” Link said, and she scooted back to his arm. “Now whats your idea on how to fix this?”

She let out a chirp, and paused for a moment to stretch her wings.

She felt tired, but much stronger than she had a few minutes ago, and could probably try to expel the curse right now and likely wouldn’t pass out. But she wanted to try just one thing before transforming back. Who knew if she’d get the chance again?

She chirped slyly and leapt from Link’s arm into the air, surprising him into letting out a small noise of surprise as she flapped her wings.

And Zelda flew.

Her study was fairly large, and as Zelda spread her wings and glided around the room, she felt a rush of elation go through her. The wind in her face, the air slipping past her feathers, the feel of flying that seemed familiar and almost instinctual that sent her heart soaring...

She let out a happy cry, then her body reminded her she was awfully tired.

She glided the rest of the way to a bookshelf, and Link quickly ran over to where she was perched. “For Ordona’s sake Zelda, you could’ve warned me,” he grumbled, and she let out an innocent hoot. “I get wanting to try out your wings but sheesh.”

She flapped down to his arm again, and gave him a teasing peck before looking at him intently, preparing herself to fight back against the curse.

“Are you going to try something?” Link asked, picking up on her shift in attitude from teasing to serious.

Zelda chirped, and then closed her eyes.

She reached out for her light magic, then carefully pushed it towards the dark curse that was lurking deep in her heart. The moment they touched, the curse snapped back, baring it’s metaphorical teeth as her light magic quickly lunged to fight back.

She let out a pained cry, and Link immediately pulled her closer, watching her with a deeply worried expression.

“Don’t push yourself too hard,” he said anxiously, but all she could do was let out a strained whistle as she focused intensely on forcing the curse out. It clung to her form as if it had barbs, digging into her and refusing to be expelled. She pressed her beak tightly together and beamed as much light magic as she could all in one spot at the crystal.

She distantly felt Link catch her as her grip on his arm loosened, and she pushed as hard as she could against the curse.

And then something suddenly gave.

The blazing pain from before was back, but in reverse, restoring instead of twisting, and fixing instead of cursing, and she felt herself growing in size, doubling, tripling—

And then it was over, and Zelda collapsed into Link’s waiting arms.

“Zelda! You did it!” he said in relief as he lowered them to the ground, and she couldn’t help but let out an exhausted groan before resting her head on his arm.

That had been more magic then she’d used in a long time.

Link pulled her closer, and put a gentle hand on her face. “Are you okay? How do you feel?”

“A lot like I just spent ten minutes as a bird,” she said weakly, and Link held her closer, eyes running across her form like he was checking for damage.

“I’m... alright,” she murmured, and Link huffed, sounding completely unconvinced.

“Two transformations in the space of less than an hour doesn’t usually leave anyone feeling fine, Zelda,” he said gently, and swept a hand through her hair. “You expelled a curse I needed the Master Sword to purge from me the first time all by yourself. I’d be shocked if you weren’t exhausted.”

Zelda didn’t reply, a wave of fatigue rolling over her.

Link shifted his position a little so he could better cushion her, leaning his back against Zelda’s desk and pulling her up slightly. Zelda herself let out a tired sigh, leaning against his shoulder as she tried to push away the exhaustion.

“I don’t know how you manage to use that thing all the time,” she murmured sleepily. “Doesn’t it wear you out?”

He hummed a bit and leaned his head against hers, and gently took her hand in his.

“It did at first. I passed out the first few times,” he said distantly, and idly rubbed her hand with his thumb. “I’m truly impressed you didn’t, do you need anything?” he asked in a worried voice.

“No Link, I’m fine,” she said softly, and he ran a hand through her hair.

They were quiet for a few minutes then, Link holding her and Zelda trying not to fall asleep. She had things to attend to, she really didn’t have time to take a nap, even if she felt nearly as tired as she had after the possession and subsequent fight against Ganondorf.

“You’ve got a few lighter streaks in your hair now,” Link said after a bit, breaking the silence. “It looks nice.”

Zelda sighed. “People are going to think I’m going grey.”

Link chuckled, and pressed a kiss to her neck. “It’s not that noticeable, it’ll fade. Just tell them you did something a little different with your hair.”

Zelda went to reply but yawned, unable to stop herself.

Link’s face softened. “All right, I don’t care if you say you don’t need anything, you obviously need some rest. Whatever else you had planned for today’ll just have to wait.” When Zelda opened her mouth to protest he cut her off. “And I don’t care how important it is. You can barely move, you aren’t going to be able to do a good job.”

A wave of exhaustion went through her again and Zelda sighed, giving him a small nod. Link was right. She wouldn’t be able to get anything done in this state.

“May I have the honor of escorting you to bed?” Link lightly teased. “Then I’ll see what I can do about canceling your schedule.”

Zelda huffed in amusement as she nodded again, and Link started to shift her upwards. But the moment he did, her head started to spin, and every one of her limbs screamed in protest.

“Can we... not yet,” she groaned, and he immediately stopped and sat back down. Zelda breathed out a measured breath, feeling even more worn out.

“Yeah. We can take as long as you need,” Link breathed, and Zelda relaxed into his arms, closing her eyes.

Several minutes went by with her trying to get the pounding in her head to go down, and Link simply let her rest, waiting until she was ready. It took longer than she would’ve liked, but the headache finally faded enough for her to open her eyes again, and she gathered her strength, starting to sit up.

Link helped her, guiding her upwards as her legs shook and her hand in his trembled, and he gently supported her as they made their way across the room.

They’d only reached the door and Zelda was already exhausted, and Link paused, studying her face. He shifted his grip as if asking for permission, and Zelda leaned in, wordlessly giving it as he lifted her up into her arms.

“Thank you Link,” she murmured, and he pressed a soft kiss to her cheek as he started to walk down the hallway towards her bedroom.

“No problem Zelda. I’ll take care of things,” he whispered, and she rested her head on his shoulder as she started to drift. “Don’t worry about it. You can rest.”

She felt Link kiss her hair, and then she was asleep.

#legend of zelda #twilight princess #twilight princess fanfiction #zelink #tp zelink #writing from the floor #hurt/comfort #fluff #sorta #I didn’t specify what specific type of bird Zelda was besides raptor so draw your own conclusions #tp link can call hawks with that grass you know #so I thought it’d be funny if zelda happened to be a hawk/raptor/whatever #not that he uses the grass in this fic but ANYWAYS #I hope someone enjoys this

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bluravenite · 2 years

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Starbucks Baristas HATE me, so in honor of Tobias Forge Kid temp Latte I'm going to share my order:

(it confuses baristas and almost never gets done right)

(also i didn't know i could just order it kid temp ty Tobias for making my order a bit easier)

Okay here goes:

Pick a size: (tall, grande, venti) depending on how deranged i feel.

A MACCHIATO, but without caramel— (I love caramel fraps, just not ON MY MACCHIATO)

Replace the caramel with vanilla syrup, a couple pumps is fine.

NO IT'S NOT A VANILLA LATTE, ITS MACCHIATO!!! THERE IS A DIFFERENCE!!!

Also please put ANY kind of dairy-free milk I COULDN'T CARE LESS IF IT'S ALMOND OR OAT OR SOY?? I JUST CAN'T HANDLE DAIRY PLEASE—

Hot or iced???? NOO!! PUT THE HOT ESPRESSO FIRST, THEN PLEASE PUT THE COLD MILK, DO NOT MAKE IT ICED!!!!!

Yes i will now be ordering it KID TEMP, thank you Tobias.

Lastly, that's not even how MY NAME GOES PLEASE???? I SPELLED IT OUT??

This post has no relevance but I needed to share it because EVERYTIME i get coffee i have to give a recipe to the baristas and they always look at me like I'm losing my mind.

it also probably doesn't help that I look like a satanic creature with ambiguous gender,,,

#tobias forge #rolling stone twitch #starbucks #coffee #shitghost #shitghosting #i hate everything lol #i hope someone enjoys this

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bemamar · 2 years

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Taylor Swift & RAIN ⛈️ A Love Story 🎶

rains and storms mentions through every album and song

[ listen to the playlist here ]

@taylorswift @taylornation

#taylor swift #taylorswiftedit #taylor's version #taylurking #rain #fearless #debut #1989 #reputation #lover #red #speak now #i hope someone enjoys this #took forever and a day

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w1zords · 2 years

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an over the garden wall au that didn’t make it into the last sketchpile post 🤡🫠

#critical role #perc'ahlia #(i guess)#wolfe de rolo #vaxildan de rolo #de rolo bbs #🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️#i really do just be drawing anything #i hope someone enjoys this

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dotcie · 6 months

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Writers Truth & Dare Ask Game

🎱 ⇢ post your AO3 total stats 🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 🌵 ⇢ share the link to a playlist you love 🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that? 🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis 🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help? 🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love 💌 ⇢ how many unread emails do you have right now? 🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis 🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both? 🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before 🎲 ⇢ what stops you from writing more in your free time? 🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings 🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual? 🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now 📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app? 🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character 🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project? 🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on ❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best? 🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity 🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh 🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work? 🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate 🥝 ⇢ do you lie a lot? what's the most recent lie you told? 🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately 🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing? 🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing 🐚 ⇢ do you like or dislike surprises? 🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here ☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username? 🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them 🌸 ⇢ do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them 🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it 🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

#hi hello i made an ask game for writers #hope someone out there enjoys it!!#:')#you can ask me too <3 #ask game #writers on tumblr #writers ask game #writer ask game #author ask game #fandom ask game #writing ask game #game #emoji ask #ask me anything #tumblr game

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queerdraws · 9 months

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projecting on luffy again. get bited.

#zolu #luzo #one piece #p.s. i claimed to maximum amount of straw hat badges but im only allowed to display them on my main account 😥 they are with me in spirit #p.p.s. have you ever bit a soft upper arm #i think zoros unflexed muscly upper arms would be the most stimmy thing in the world to chew on #me when i see the pumpkinhead halloween luffy world collectible figure. bite.#or some of the unreleased gear5 figures esp the world collectibles #okay maybe im on a world collectible figure kick i just think they are sooooooooooooooo!!!! (≧∇≦) ( ๑ ˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و ♡#the markup to buy them used is insane tho ;__; so i just love them from afar #honorable mention to the new 20th anniversary action pose luffy with the haki arm and the big big fighting grin #and all babygirl zoros which i what i call zoro wearing any sunglasses but mostly filmz and filmgold sunglasses zoro #and when i see any art of my boys in their cowboy fits!!!!!!!#GGAAAAAH IM SO EXCITED I bought the ao cowboy shimmer print had to get it sent to someone in the states who will then ship it to me ;__;#<3 <3 <3 soon i will hold them. need to get some sort of wall display going for them and my zolu mail #okay okay ive ranted about a million things in the tags now. hope you enjoyed the bited. byeeeee

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braisedhoney · 5 months

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fighting back? against who? they're so happy—they've been waiting for you.

you are wonderful. don't you know that?

bonus: they play sims together :)

#running out of pre-made art for the queue… ;; sorry folks. hope you enjoy this though! you voted for it o7 #utdr #wd gaster #gaster fanart #utdr fanart #deltarune fanart #deltarune #kris deltarune #utdr player #utdr soul #ney’s art #ney’s comics #if gaster was ever an enemy in the actual story i feel like it’d be like this. antagonistic but not behaving maliciously for fun #just dial up his genuine affection for the world to an extreme and make it tinged with Scientific Interest #bam. disconnected and maybe unintentional damage. baked with love from the void #… i do love a good edgy evil guy though. and the goofy takes are favorites too.#btw lowkey this is based on how much the fandom collectively (i think?) loves kris #like yes go blorbo we want to see you overcome all challenges :)#our buddy took all this trouble of taking us to build-a-vessel and someone just stomped on it when we finished :( rude

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jitterbugbear · 8 months

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Lesson no. 274859: NEVER EVER STEAL FROM A WITCH. YOU ABSOLUTE BUFFOON 💥

#animated in procreate + ae #i put many an hour into this #this is enhanced by the shitty sounds. they are on purpose. I KNOW IT SOUNDS BAD #rotating tiny stealing wizards in my mind at all times #can you tell this started as a bg study because i can #art #jitterbugbear art #artists on tumblr #animation #2d animation #digital art #procreate #wizard #fantasy art #thats it for the tags wahhooo i hope someone enjoys this im going to post the two bgs for this separately sometime soon

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koholintz · 1 year

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they’re the family ever

#someone asked me to upload this here and to *you* dear asker i say thank you #ngl i forget that tumblr exists sometimes my bad #but anyway! i hope you guys enjoy them!#puss in boots #puss in boots the last wish #puss in boots fanart #puss in boots the last wish fanart #goldilocks #goldilocks and the three bears

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dekariosclan · 4 months

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Imagine Gale as a talented and impressive young man, able to compose the Weave at will, skilled in a way that few can match, and favored by the Goddess of Magic herself. Imagine that because of these accomplishments, he’s caught the eye of a few up-and-coming magic adepts, and he falls in love with one of them—his first real love. Gale isn’t one to toss the ‘L’ word around lightly, so when he tells them he loves them, he means it; he gives himself over to them completely.

And in return, they love him for his potential. For his status. For the magic he can command. They love the wizard they see on the surface, but not the man underneath. They are attracted to his power, but not to him.

So of course the relationship fails, after the thrill of his magic wears off. But because Gale is a resilient young man and he’s caught the eye of so many, he soon falls in love with another.

And then it happens again. And again.

And each time Gale’s heart is ravaged, his ambition to become a better wizard grows, because he’s being shown time and time again that his magic ability is all that matters.

So much so that, by the time Mystra decides to elevate him from Favored to Chosen to Lover, he welcomes her with eager, desperate arms. Because if all his worth is in his magic, and that’s all he has to offer, and that’s all anyone wants from him, who better to love him than the Goddess of Magic herself?

Except…there’s a nagging voice in the back of his head that whispers she doesn’t really love him. There’s anxiety in his heart as time passes, and he reaches both the limit of what his talents can do and what Mystra will allow him to do. And most troubling of all: a growing panic that, just like his other lovers, she will soon grow tired of him and discard him if he can’t improve his magic any further.

He tries pouting, and pleading, and begging her to let him take more power, to let him be more for her, but she refuses. Smiles patronizingly. Tells him to be patient. But Gale can’t be patient when his power is tied so closely to his self-worth; he can’t be patient when doing so in the past has only ever lead to heartache.

So he does what he believes will be a Grand Romantic Gesture, one that will finally put him on equal footing with the woman he loves. Instead, it turns out to be a folly that dooms him and destroys his talents. And just as he’d always feared, Mystra tosses him aside the moment his magical gifts are gone—because what’s left of him holds no value for her.

————

Imagine Gale in his tower, alone, afraid, the ever-hungry orb in his chest, with only his tressym there to help him. No other friends to speak of. His colleagues forced to keep away for their own safety. His magical talents utterly stripped down, so that even when he does try and distract himself with illusions, he’s bitterly reminded of what he used to be capable of. Waking every morning wondering if it will be his last, ending every day full of loneliness and disappointment.

…and then he meets Tav.

At the lowest point in his life, at his most vulnerable, when he knows he’s going to be considered a burden, he meets this stranger and their group. So he does what he can to be useful—assigning himself to be camp cook, offering up his (now meager) magic skills, turning the charm up to 11—as he desperately hopes this will somehow work out. He’s pleasantly surprised when, after providing only minor details of his condition, Tav agrees to help him. He’s even more surprised when they actually follow through.

Imagine how Gale feels as Tav treats him kindly. As he grows to trust Tav, and then grows to like them. Imagine his surprise as he opens up and shows them more and more of himself, and they don’t turn him away.

But then his condition worsens. And he has to reveal everything: the foolish mistakes he’s made, and how dangerous he is as a result. He clings to Tav’s hand as he shows them his folly. He’s at their mercy now, and he knows this might be the last time he’ll ever feel the touch of another being, if they decide—and Gods, why wouldn’t they decide?—to cast him out.

…but they don’t. They don’t. Instead, they tell him to stay.

Imagine the relief Gale feels. The gratitude. And perhaps…just a hint of something more. Something that he dare not name, but that flares to life every time he thinks of how warm their hand was in his. Something that feels dangerously close to jealousy, when he’s had too much to drink and sees Tav smiling at another…

But he knows these are all foolish thoughts, because he has nothing to offer Tav. They are wonderful just as they are, but he…he is an empty shell of a man, a discarded husk of a wizard, and while they might tolerate him, he could never believe they might actually want him.

And besides, he still thinks of Mystra. He still longs for Mystra. She who cast him out, but to whom he still feels tethered. Sometimes he needs to cocoon himself in the weave, just to try and calm his fears and bring some joy back to his life, because magic is his life. And sometimes he just needs to see her face, even though that hurts as much as it heals.

One night he’s lost in thought, having conjured Mysta’s image after settling down at camp. Thinking that even if she hadn’t ‘loved’ him—certainly not in the way he’d loved her—she’d given him enough otherwise, hadn’t she? She’d amused him and been amused by him, they’d shared countless pleasures, why hadn’t he been satisfied with that?

Gale is so lost in thought he doesn’t realize Tav has come up behind him. Until they ask a question, startling him out of his trance. He’s a bit shaken, so he tries to turn the conversation from Mystra to the weave itself. And then a wonderful idea occurs to him, something that he’d been toying with already: what if they were to conjure the weave together?

He can show Tav how important magic is to him, let them experience what he does, perhaps even impress them a bit. But most importantly, share a moment with them. As friends would do…

He’s elated when Tav agrees. He leads them through the steps effortlessly, and they’re a surprisingly good student, following his instructions correctly (if a bit clumsily). He’s as excited as they are—perhaps even more so!—when they succeed in channeling the weave.

It’s such a pleasant, familiar feeling for him, like coming home to his tower in Waterdeep. Even as the weave connects him with Tav and makes them one, he’s easily able to hide his innermost thoughts, because he’s done it so many times before.

��but he’s forgotten that Tav has not.

————

Imagine Gale knowing every romantic partner he ever had only wanted him because of how he could raise their status, or how he could amuse them, or how he could command magic for them. And, each time, he was happy to oblige them, even desperate to oblige them, because if that was the price of their love, then he was sure it would be worth it.

But it still all came to nothing.

Now imagine Gale connected in an intimate way with someone he likes very, very much—while being what he considers his lowest, most worthless, and most humbled self. As far from the powerful, impressive wizard he once was as he could ever be. And suddenly a vision enters his mind from the lovely creature standing next to him. Only, to his complete and utter shock, it isn’t one where he is providing them with a service, or wowing them with his magical ability, or granting them some kind of power from one of the spells he commands.

Instead, when he sees their desire laid bare before him, it’s a vision of kissing him. Of holding his hand. The two most basic forms of affection and physical connection. The two things that he would still be able to offer them even if every last ounce of his remaining magical abilities were stripped from him. The two things he could share with them even if he was no longer Gale of Waterdeep, and just plain old Gale Dekarios instead.

Imagine the embarrassment and trepidation he feels at first, because surely he is mistaken?…and then the elation when he realizes that he is not. So much elation that his concentration is broken, the weave dissipating as he forgets about channeling it, as he forgets about Mystra. Because all that matters to him now is the image before him—the most pleasant and welcome image he’s seen in a very, very long time.

Imagine how that would feel…and how besotted, enamored and completely devoted he’d be to Tav afterwards. To know that someone finally—finally—just wants him.

Just imagine.

#Please enjoy this huge dissertation about Gale #(which was unintentional)#I originally wanted to talk briefly—BRIEFLY—about why the weave scene is so important to him #And then I….kept writing lol #Please also note that while this focuses on successfully channeling the weave I also LOVE the talk you have with him if you ‘failed’ it!#The same themes apply there because when you tell Gale you still think about being alone together he replies that he hopes to embrace you #It’s all about Gale finally finding someone who appreciates him just as he is and being able to connect with them #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #baldur's gate 3 #gale x tav #bg3

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