#ginnefic

[ginneke]

Follow up to A Study In Patience (note: can be read as a stand-alone)

Pairing: Link/Revali

Rating: T

Summary:

It is a moonless night, and any stars overhead are hidden by the glow of festival lamps. In the glow of those lamps, Link looks less like the paragon everyone holds him up as and more like a regular person: imperfect, approachable. A person without Revali's sense of discipline could fall for that. Revali refuses to fall for that. (In which Revali deals with the misery of his first hangover… and ends up remembering rather more than he bargains for about the previous evening.)

Content note: one brief scene of vomiting.

#revalink #revalink fic #link/revali #ginnefic #to the ppl who enjoyed 'a study in patience': come get the deets of how they wound up in bed together #PS: there was definitely More Than One Bed

[bllfoxx]

Paid off my third house. • • • • • • • #tpanda #ginnefer #girlie #acnh #animalcrossingnewhorizons #nintendo #nintendoswitch #gamer #gamergirl #girlgamer https://www.instagram.com/p/CUbaNzcKgk4/?utm_medium=tumblr

#tpanda #ginnefer #girlie #acnh #animalcrossingnewhorizons #nintendo #nintendoswitch #gamer #gamergirl #girlgamer

[zalrb]

Something borrowed was absolutely ridiculous, I thought that the main girl was going to end up with john krasinski, which would have been obvious, but at least she wouldn't have stayed with the guy who cheated on his fiance. And when I read they were considering part two, I think they would have introduced the cheating storyline as well

i remember watching it like why are any of you people involved with each other, like it isn't until the 'push it' scene that you see why ginnefer goodwin and kate hudson's characters would be friends and that came SO LATE in the movie and through the whole thing i was like dude, you don't have to marry her, kate hudson's character seemed cartoonishly vapid so we could root for the cheating couple but even as someone who has trouble expressing my wants, goodwin's character had me like, are you serious, like it just all seemed needless and unnecessary to me that no one ended up looking good and not in a fun, like, succession or veep kinda way.

[not-a-princess-but-a-queen]

OUAT 4x22 and 4 x23 Thoughts

Season 4 Finale lets go!!

I’m so proud of Henry?! He was on his own for a lot of this and I felt he took a backseat most of this season so seeing him step up and do some real Heroism was great! Him potentially being the Author was interesting. He just felt more like a fleshed out character these episodes and I hope he continues to grow!

Evil Snow and Charming were interesting! You could tell that Ginnefer had fun! Lana did good as Bandit Regina too.

Rumple!! He got to be a Knight!!! And had a baby with Belle! And of course this reality needed a chipped cup! So the darkness is out of him now? I’m sure he’ll be alright, but will he age normally now? Still have magic or be completely human?

I didn’t think I would like Dark Emma at first when it look like Rumple rwould manipulate her into it but that was completely her choice and she saved Regina and everyone! It’ll be interesting to see what they do with her now!

@jackabelle73 @ladysibyl @rumplefloofywoobiestiltskin @mrs-stiltskin

#ouat #once upon a time #emma swan #rumbelle #rumplestiltskin #belle french

[ginneke]

Instincts

(aka, what can be found in the heart, or somewhere like it).

A @flashfictionfridayofficial promptfic.

--

When I first had an inkling of this idea, it was meant to be Link POV of a missing scene from the start of ch3 of Seed of Song. Then Revali stole it, and this prompt got me to finally write it.

(This becomes infinitely funnier after @avenin was doodling sleep-deprived Revali + chick earlier this evening as well. Yes we were watching the same osprey livestream what of it.)

--

The fire crackles and spits, launching red-hot embers into empty space.

Eyes closed, Revali imagines himself back at his Flight Range—comfortably alone and resting, for a little while, just like this: listening to the lapping tongues of the fire and the murmurs of a distant wind...

Imagination only serves to illuminate the utter futility of his wish to be anywhere else. This place is nothing like the Flight Range. The air is much too stuffy; the barracks' stone walls are stifling, and the space doesn't breathe as a building ought. Even the faint whisper of a breeze through the open window does little to keep the suffocating closeness at bay.

The sounds are all wrong, as well: no companionable creak of a hammock-rope overhead; no faint, distant hum of Vah Medoh turning watchful circles through the sky above him.

Instead there's a faint, incessent scratching sound. It goes on for a long, long time.

No, this place is nothing at all like his Flight Range. He is caged in, confined, and is altogether much too warm. He desperately wants to be rid of it. Revali struggles to quash his roiling distaste for being forced into such close quarters with another person. He cannot entirely succeed. It's like standing near an improperly-stored Shock Arrow, an unpleasant prickling that sparks under his skin and turns the tips of his feathers to barbs, leaving him battling the urge to get as far away as he can—

As if sensing the turn of his thoughts, the hatchling startles awake.

Revali cracks open one eye and cranes his head to study it. It doesn't look to be hungry, nor in any kind of significant distress. It roots around in blind, listless confusion, still coming to terms with the world outside its eggshell.

This fragile helpless thing wouldn't have survived a day without a fellow Rito's care. Revali reminds himself it's for the best that he's here, and that its wellbeing hasn't been left to the clumsy, haphazard efforts of a Hylian... but even for him, this is unfamiliar territory. He's largely ignorant of what its care entails. The best he can hope for is to keep the hatchling alive until it can become somebody else's problem.

A disquietening thought, and one which stirs bleak memories better left forgotten.

Revali sighs, repositions the chick so that it is better covered by his folded wing, and closes his eyes once more, chasing the illusion of rest. It remains elusive.

And that damnable scratching won't cease. It nudges at the edge of his hearing, incessant: scrape, scratch, scrape.

Under normal circumstances, the scratch of a metal nib against paper would be a sound familiar enough to be comforting. Revali reaches for the comfort of pen and ink often enough. Today, though, it only makes him long for his diary and the chance to sort through his jumbled, tumultuous thoughts.

He cracks open an eye, affixing his ire on the faint silhouette sat just in front of the hearth. "Would it be so impossible for you to cease that racket?"

The scratch of Link's pen pauses mid-motion. His curious sense of industry doesn't bear the cadence of a letter. The sounds are too elongated for script. Revali finds that disconcerting; he has no idea what Link is up to. He doesn't entirely want to know; only the thought that Link might be reporting back on the root cause of their delay gives him any reason to wonder...

Link's downcast eyes glitter lowly in the light. Revali bristles, certain that it's just a ruse.

"What, pray tell, are you looking at?"

At least Link has the decency of looking somewhat abashed—or whatever is meant to pass for embarrassment on those dull, expressionless features. He puts the pen down in an unhurried motion, blows on the paper—scattering a fine layer of dust in the process—and stoppers up his ink. Only then does he lift his head properly.

"Nothing," he insists.

Once, the sound of Link speaking would have been a novelty — something he never expected to hear. The sporadic proof that he can, and always could, is more jarring than it ought to be. Revali doesn't know what to make of this newfound willingness to...

He's torn away from that thought by the chick, which jerks awake with a high-pitched squeak of distress. The sound hooks into Revali's chest, lodging behind his heart and tugging until he forgets all else. He lowers his head to the hapless infant, trying to determine what might be wrong...

In the corner of his vision, the fire flares. Revali notices it with vague detachment. It's immaterial: the thing that matters most is the chick and whatever is causing it distress. Is it warm enough? too warm? hungry? He doesn't know, and the lack of certainty confounds and frustrates him.

"Here," Link mumbles, passing across the remains of the duck he'd caught earlier.

At that point, it becomes easy to fall back into a rhythm of trying, and trying again, to coax the chick into whatever instincts are driving it. (Revali is more than a little perturbed by the evidence of his own instincts on display.) He doesn't remember what it was like to be an infant as young as this; he has no way of recalling how she managed. If only he could ask. Revali isn't coping at all. He can't even hunt for himself; there's no way he could be the sole provider and guardian of a chick. As galling and infuriating as his presence is, it cannot be denied that Link's insistence on staying has accomplished some good...

—

Revali jolts awake into a night that's almost silent. He listens out for any disturbance. Only the low hum of the Flight Range answers. The murmur of the wind cannot drive the sense of solitude away; it can't fill the hollowed-out void in his chest.

#imprinting is a two-way street #fic: seed of song #prompt fic #FFF255 #flash fiction friday #vague inkling of a knife at the end #it leads up to revali's version of ch7 #which is the only writing going halfway smoothly at the moment #ginnefic #no alt text #sorry - tumblr wouldn't let me access the menu #i tried to add it but it kept deleting the banner instead #it's the same thing as usual: the prompt number and the week's prompt #with a vaguely allusional graphic

[ginneke]

Birds, Watching

last-second @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt.

(Did a throwaway quip from Penn about 'little bird' sources need to turn into anything? Maybe it didn't, but oh well, it has.)

—

Sparrows made for terrible sentries. They spent more time squabbling with each other than they did keeping an eye on their surroundings.

Alas, sparrows were what he had to work with, since the crows had turned traitor for nothing more than the promise of food. While they still made more than enough noise to raise an alarm, befriending the target was the last thing he'd wanted them to do. (He'd parted ways with that particular flock after winter struck particularly harshly, frozen ground driving them in search of milder climes. But he stayed. He didn't have anywhere better to go.)

He'd tried others after that, but hawks were too solitary to tolerate his presence. Herons were standoffish and, frankly, rude. Doves, on the other hand, were a lot more sweet-natured -- and helplessly naive. They made for good company if he overlooked their simple natures, but half the time, they didn't even notice the Hylian climbing the cliffside. Revali usually had to scare them off before making his own hasty retreat.

It had been years. Why was that guy still trying to come after him?

The sparrows continued to bicker. The latest pointless turf war over a prime section of shrubbery—what did it matter if someone stood on the branch you'd claimed as your own? did that really warrant several minutes of shouting about it—came to an abrupt stop. One began to pipe a danger call.

Revali came alert at once, scanning the path for whatever the birds had seen as they rose in a fidgeting cloud and scattered into the trees. A threat to sparrows wasn't necessarily a threat to himself, but... Though he scanned every shape and shifting shadow that crept in the undergrowth, there didn't look to have been anything to spark such alarm.

Perhaps he should have looked up. The Hylian crashed through the treecover on a contraption of cloth and wood. Revali scarcely had time to understand what his eyes were seeing before the collision. They went over in a tangle of limbs and feathers. He yelped and kicked and struggled, but the element of surprise gave the Hylian an undue advantage.

"Caught you."

"Get off me—"

"Come home."

This again. Revali didn't have a home. Revali didn't even have a flock. He stopped struggling, and the Hylian let him up. He retreated to the other side of the glade, letting Revali scrape together the shatters of his dignity.

"...Come home, Revali."

That snagged on something he didn't care to think about. What was there to go back to? An empty shelf of rock on the cliffside which hasn't seen an inhabitant in years. At least here he had company, even if the sparrows were vapid and annoying.

"How long are you planning to keep this up?"

"Until you're ready." 

At least he didn't say 'remember' like last time.

"And then what?" Revali was tired of this. He was tired of being hounded to remember something that would never come back.

"Home can be people, too."

Link would probably be better at keeping watch than sparrows were, he thought. That, and that alone, led him to say, "...Only if you can keep up."

The Hylian—Link—smiled lopsidedly, as if taking Revali's words to heart. How foolish of him. Revali smirked, grabbed his meagre possessions, and—

The ground shrank away beneath him, and Link shrank with it to a pinprick. Something of the sight tugged on familiarity. For the first time in years, he laughed.

If Link caught up again, then this time he would. ...If not, he could always try to find another flock.

Maybe starlings, this time.

#revali #revalink #revalink fic #ginnefic #loosely defined identity issues #stubborn boys who are NOT in love #(yet) #flash fiction friday #fff248

[ginneke]

In Pursuit of Gold

I was initially inspired to make silly Revali comments after a certain photo came across my dash this morning: a honey buzzard, with a slab of comb held in its beak and talons, flying away with its bounty while a swarm of wasps/hornets pursued.

Then @coconi dared me to take my silly thoughts and make a fic out of them.

So here you have it.

Characters: Revali, original Rito character

Rating: G

General fic / no pairings

Content note: bees.

What Revali wanted more than anything, even from a young age, was acknowledgement. But sometimes – just sometimes – he wanted other things, too.

#revali botw #revali #botw fic #genfic #oneshot in one sitting #ginnefic

[ginneke]

Worth the Wait

— a @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt - “Hour of Denial”

Characters: Kheel, Genli, Link, Amali, (background: Notts, Kotts, Cree.)

Set very vaguely after the Warbler’s Nest questline, and before Kass returns to Rito Village.

—

"This is taking forever," lamented Kheel, dropping her head on her wings and staring morosely at the stove in the centre of the communal kitchen. Her sisters had scattered back to their chores with the exception of Genli, who was fluttering at the scary-faced Hylian guy's heels while he washed up, asking question after question about the recipe he'd picked out: Wheat and butter and eggs and rich golden honey, and a strange blend of spices that even Mom hadn't recognised. It made the kitchen smell sooooo good, and waiting for it to be ready was taking so long. Surely one little sniff wouldn't be the end of the world...? 

But when she sidled closer and laid a wing on the lid covering the pot, Genli let out a shriek and rushed over to bat her away. "No!" her middle sister shouted. "You can't lift the lid while it's still cooking, you'll ruin it!"

"It's almost been an hour," Kheel pointed out, aggrieved, but she dropped the argument when Genli puffed up her chest in preparation to holler. Genli could shout loudest of anyone when she put her mind to it.

Once satisfied that Kheel had backed off, Genli returned to pestering the Hylian swordsman. Kheel stared at the pot and counted down the minutes until the lid could be taken off. 

Mom came into the kitchen just as Mr Swordsman picked up a hawthorn skewer. "Is it ready then, Link?" she asked, a smile lighting up her eyes. 

Behind her, Notts and Kotts and Cree were all jostling for a better look, none of them wanting to be left out.

Mr Swordsman gave them one of his tiny closed-mouth smiles before gesturing for them all to stay back. He lifted the lid on the pot, and a rush of steam and scent came wafting out. Kheel tried to creep closer, though Mom noticed and put out a wing to stop her. Mom's other wing was on Genli's shoulder, holding her back too.

The swordsman pricked the pot's contents with the skewer, withdrew it, and studied it closely. Then he nodded to himself and gripped the sides of the pot, using a thick, padded piece of fabric to shield his hands as he lifted it down to the reed mat that protected the floor from scorching. With its lid off, Kheel caught a glimpse of the pot's contents and the strange sweet bread-cake the swordsman had opted to make. It looked almost as good as it smelled, and it smelled like the warming scent of pine cones on a hot fire in winter, a smell so wonderful that Kheel could just sit there sniffing it for hours and be content.

Genli darted out from under Mom's wing and tugged on the swordsman's arm. "Hey, hey, we can try it now, right?"

The swordsman's eyes did that little flickering thing. Mom chuffed a laugh and came to his rescue.

"Let it cool first," she said, over Genli's sound of frustration. 

Notts and Kotts and Cree jostled forwards; they were chirping all the same questions Genli had asked earlier, so Kheel tuned them out -- until her middle sister's dismayed voice rose through the chatter: "Ehhhh? A day? We have to leave it for a day?"

The swordsman turned the sweet bread-cake onto a platter and put it up on a shelf, nodding a reply to Genli's question as he did so.

"Aww, but I was looking forward to trying it..."

He paused and glanced towards Kheel and her mom. It was really hard to tell what he was thinking, which was why Kheel used to find him kind of scary looking. Except now she was looking closer, the corner of his mouth twitched in a curious way, like he was trying to hold back a smile.

And then he picked that shiny blue thingy off his belt and tapped at its surface some, and from out of it he took a plate that was really, really similar to the one he'd just put up on the shelf...

Mom took the plate from him, which allowed Link his hands back. He spread them wide as if to say, Ta-da!

"Ah! You meanie!" Genli cried, but she was laughing too. "You already made one! Why didn't you say so?"

"Would you have enjoyed it as much if you didn't get to ask so many questions?" asked Mom, pointedly, and Genli huffed.

Between them, Mom and Link portioned up the bread-cake. It was smaller than the one he'd just made, only enough for a little piece each. Mom passed pieces of it around to Kheel and each of her sisters, who tucked in with gusto.

Kheel was slower to start, still distracted by the other bread-cake up on its shelf. Mom started asking questions about the recipe, particularly the reason why it needed to sit for longer, and Link answered her as best he could with a plate of his own balanced in one hand. Kheel didn't know what he was saying, but he and Mom were both smiling like she'd been in on the plot the whole time. 

Maybe she had been!

But even if that swordsman was a big meanie sometimes, making them think they had to wait such a long time to try it, the cake really did taste good. It was worth waiting after all.

#botw fic #flash fiction friday #fff241 #ginnefic #botw link #rito tribe #link & amali’s friendship is everything to me

[ginneke]

In the era of the first Calamity, the King of Hyrule, who feared the technology of the Sheikah Tribe, gave the order for it to be buried.

It is recorded that some Sheikah refused to give up their technology. They rebelled, where their brethren capitulated; they went to ground, and became the Yiga.

But just how accurate are those records? Victors may write history, but their stories aren’t the only ones that can be told…

It is reveal day, at long last! I can finally share the fic I wrote for the @sheikahzine, “Eyes of Hyrule”: --splinter--, a tale of the Sheikah Tribe’s schism and the birth of the Yiga.

(Also featuring a bonus chapter with 2k of meta and marginalia!)

#sheikah zine #eyes of hyrule #sheikah tribe #yiga clan #history of hyrule #the sheikah + yiga schism #zelda fanfiction #botw fanfic #gen fic #ginnefic #my writing

[ginneke]

Pairing: Link/Revali

Rating: T (mild innuendo, mild swearing.)

Status: COMPLETE

--

Link was in a romcom gone wrong.

Now Revali is trying - and failing - at the mystery genre. (Pity him.)

#revalink #revalink fic #link/revali #ginnefic #completed fic #in which culturally defined symbols are - gasp - dependent on their culture of origin #and don't map to what you might expect as an outsider #and in which talking really is the answer. eventually. #revali has never believed in shutting up #and apparently neither have i. have a 9k chapter. #ifinishedwhatistarted2023

[ginneke]

He made a promise. At the start of all this, he swore he would see the egg — and then, the chick — safely to Rito Village. Yet he is rapidly running out of time. He cannot stay much longer, no matter how he wants to. What Link wants has always been immaterial.

-

Pairing: Link / Revali

Rating: T

Chapter: 4 / ?

Words: 11904

#revalink #revalink fic #revali/link #ginnefic #botw fic #this chapter's a chonker #both in word count and in events #also: gin is still ridiculously enamoured with the baby #can it get any cuter? (answer: probably yes)

[ginneke]

@acetier's beautiful, beautiful art plucked out my heart and dashed it to pieces. So here I am, trying to return the favour. Or at least to double down on it.

Also available on Ao3. (Link in notes.)

--

Accelerando

--

Five moments in time between Link and Revali as they find common ground, despite everything.

(Slowly. Then all at once.)

--

"I gave you a clear shot -- how could you miss that?"

Link is spared the need to answer: at that moment, Revali's powers start to peter out. Hurriedly, before he loses the advantage of height, Link shoulders his bow and grabs for the paraglider instead, eyes fixed on the Silver Lynel far below. Its fierce glare is locked on him in turn. His mind races, trying to calculate when he has to surrender to gravity. Eight seconds -- five seconds. He sees it reach for its arrows.

So does Revali.

"Don't you dare," he warns, before flapping his ghostly wings once more. Gale carries him higher, higher, higher than it's ever carried him before. Five Lightning Arrows crackle through the air, but he's safely out of range.

"Don't miss this time," Revali says, sounding almost tired, and disappears.

Link draws his bow again, forgoing the bomb arrows Revali always favoured; instead, he nocks one of Robbie's Ancient Arrows.

Have to end this quickly.

His arrow strikes true, this time, and then he's left drifting in an eerie, open sky, alone.

It's six hours before the tug of Revali's power anchors in his chest again. Revali's Gale is now ready, he thinks, mimicking the cadence of the words that always accompany that sensation -- but Revali's words don't come.

--

The Koroks' puzzles range from amusing to aggravating.

On the least annoying end of the scale: chasing lights, finding acorns, following flowers (usually).

A bit more annoying, depending on circumstance: following flowers (sometimes), rock puzzles, metal blocks, clockflower rings.

Far more of a pain than they're worth: acorn balloons.

Link hates those acorn balloons with a passion. They jerk around erratically. They duck in and out of the trees so that he can't track them. They move at such random speeds. They disappear within ten seconds of him leaving the treestump pedestal that sends the signal to spawn them.

And so often, he's running low on arrows and doesn't have enough to spare on Korok games.

He's staring down yet another cluster of circling acorn balloons when a thought occurs to him: What if...

He crouches low on the pedestal. Revali, he thinks. It's not necessary to literally call for the Champions—otherwise Mipha would never reach him in time—but with Revali, in particular, it has quickly become a habit.

It takes seven seconds to reach the zenith of Revali's Gale. He's counted it before.

It would certainly take more than three seconds to pick off those balloons, for almost anyone else.

He reaches for his bow, a three-shot device of the forest's make, and feels time start to crawl: slower, slower, slower.

He nocks three arrows, catches two balloons but misses the third. Draws again, and catches his fall with the paraglider just in time; below, the final balloon bursts.

"Cheater," Revali says snidely as the column of his Gale subsides; he's gone before Link can retort.

Honestly. Just because Revali could have done it in a single shot...

--

Revali takes his front-row vantage point of Link's archery — oh, forgive him, of Link's pale imitation of aerial archery — very seriously. Link can almost see the mark of a teacher in him. He wonders what Revali would have been like as an instructor.

"Shoulders," he barks sometimes, when Link's back holds more tension than his bowstring.

"Keep your eyes dead ahead," he advises, other times, when Link is tempted to use precious seconds to scan the field for further enemies; "one thing at a time."

"Remember to aim for where your target will be, not where it is now," he warns whenever the slowing of time reaches its limits, and Link is left with seconds to spare before his strength runs out.

"Don't miss," he says, as Link prepares to take aim at the thing that struck down Urbosa—and this time his words have the sound of camaraderie, no scorn to be found in them at all.

"I know," Link replies, reaching for Revali's Great Eagle Bow. He nocks three arrows to the string and obliterates Thunderblight Ganon in a hail of explosions that would make even Revali proud.

--

"You know, I had to succeed at that trial without supernatural means at my disposal."

Link hides a grin in the fur ruff of his Snowquill: Revali's words have the ring of a familiar refrain, rendered less irritating with repetition.

"I do hope you appreciate that," Revali continues, needling. Link tries to imagine the expression he would be wearing, how he might gesture emphatically: swooping drama, theatrical in motion, every inch of his persona polished and practiced.

Every facet of doubt buffed away, hidden behind that carefully constructed confidence.

"How long did it take you?"

Revali makes a sound of affront and this reaction, this one Link can picture: his head tilting up, his feathers puffing out in displeasure.

"Four," he says shortly, and Link leans back to stare at the shape of Vah Medoh's head overhead, no longer trying to disguise his grin.

"Four hours?" he asks, keeping his tone light and just this side of innocent. "Four days?"

"Four attempts," Revali snaps, and Link should have known, really. Revali always was exactly as good as he claimed. If only he could have met Ganon's Blight when in optimal condition... Link doubts Windblight could have bested Champion Revali, if the battle hadn't been stacked in its favour.

The thought is bitter, and not something Link should dwell on. The last thing Revali would want is Link's sympathy. So he pushes it aside,

"You don't have to rub it in," says Link, but he's smiling as he says it. While Revali splutters in protest, Link smiles, and huffs out a laugh, and desperately tries not to linger on just how unfair it is that the Champions, that Revali, should have fallen when he was granted this second chance.

All he can do is make the most of it, and avenge them.

--

"Dead ahead."

Revali's voice is all around Link, carried in the column of his Gale. Link can't look at him, can't afford to take his eyes off the rampaging incarnation of Malice below, and Revali must know that.

He wouldn't speak at such a crucial moment, otherwise.

His next words come so close to Link's ear that, if Revali lived, his breath would surely be warm against the shell of it. Instead Link feels only the cold grip of Gale, the only touch Revali had ever bestowed on him.

"Don't miss," Revali tells him.

It sounds like affection.

It sounds like faith.

It sounds like goodbye.

"Got it," Link says—or tries to, but the winds snatch his voice away.

At least that means Revali probably heard him. Cold comfort. Comfort all the same.

He shoots. Dead ahead.

He doesn't miss.

#revalink #revalink fic #acetier #inspired by art #fuck it we bawl #ginnefic #champions ballad compliant

[ginneke]

POV

Prompt list here: [link] POV — something that’s already happened, retold from another character’s perspective

--

Original scene from A Seed of Song - Chapter 4 Some Revali perspective for you all. And this prompt+idea inspired me enough to make it a long one. Approx 600 words. (I might have to start a SoS ficlet collection at this rate...)

--

That thing is fast, for its size.

Of course, Revali is faster. But that doesn't count for much when his foe is of such outrageous physical proportions. Against a normal Kargarok, his speed and command of the sky would outclass even a swarm.

Against this mutant, it's all he can do to maintain enough distance to line up a shot.

Its body is well-armoured; his bomb arrows glance off, incapable of damaging the plating across its wings, its neck, its head, and Revali has enough of a job evading its attempts to knock him from the sky to seek out an alternative target.

Its feet don't look to be armoured, but he can't orchestrate enough of an opening to take advantage of that observation.

He snarls, tumbling out of range of its attempt to snatch him with those wicked talons. By the time he rights himself, buffeted off course by the turbulence from those vast wings, it is well out of easy range.

It turns a wide arc, one eye fixed on him, and prepares to make another pass.

Think — think! Revali refuses to go down against an oversized mutant. His pride won't allow it. And if its attention were to leave Revali, for whatever reason, it is bound to turn next to Li—

The chick. He swore to see it safely to Rito Village. He won't allow that promise to be broken. He cannot permit it.

Revali flips his bow from his curved talons, and in one fluid motion, he aims a trio of arrows directly into the mutated Kargarok's face.

Though the creature is frustratingly immune to the attack, it lacks the intelligence to know that. It veers off target. Revali seizes the opportunity to call up his Gale and escape to a higher altitude.

Think.

What would she have done?

Revali had only ever fought off one Kargarok swarm, when - just a few years back - a colony had attempted to establish itself on the far side of Passer Hill, only for their nests to be shattered against the rocks and the foul creatures slain or routed. But that colony had been the first sighting in almost a decade. None had ever made it so close to Lake Totori while she patrolled the southern frontier. She had made driving off the Kargaroks her life's work, keeping them from pushing north towards Rito Village; even a hatchling hadn't slowed her down.

(She never allowed them to so much as glimpse him. Chicks, and even fledglings, were easy prey to a Kargarok.)

"Stay low," she'd told him, as soon as he was old enough to understand the order, and, "Don't come out." Her words had promised safety. He'd believed them.

(He still remembers that moment, the small and bright figure hung in the sky, sunlight glinting on dark green feathers before that distant form turned to a dive, to freefall, to — )

Feint. Draw it away. That's the way to do it. That's the way she always did it. It had almost always worked.

When it tries to come for him again, Revali is resolved, ready.

He veers out of range at the last possible second, lets the turbulence buffet him. Though it goes against his instincts, though ceding the open sky is the last thing he would have chosen, Revali surrenders to the sensation of freefall.

(He won't let the same story play out again.)

The only clue that his descent is not so uncontrolled as it appears… is the bow clutched tight in the curl of his left foot.

(He'll defeat this thing.)

The creature shrieks and dives after him, and as the cliffs of Tanagar Canyon rise up to swallow them both, Revali allows himself the briefest flicker of satisfaction.

It took the bait.

It can't go after Li— the chi— them. He won't allow it.

He'll defeat this thing here and now.

(He has to.)

#an anon appears #thanks for the ask! #ginnefic #fic: a seed of song #feat: a surprise guest appearance before you really start to (not) learn about her in ch5 #revalink #(sort of? he's very much trying not to think about Link but if you've read ch4 you'll know exactly why this really is revalink) #(and thank you to the other two anons - I'll get to your requests for 'end' as soon as I have enough brainwidth to think about endings.)

[ginneke]

I wrote a piece for @bloodmoonzine! 'Tis a tale of the Zora's struggle to exist upon a hostile sea, and the lengths to which one might go to eke out their survival...

Tempted? Zine preorders are open until the 15th March.

(Story extract reproduced below, a) to enable easier reading & b) due to length in alttext:)

"If we had wings," Sona murmured, "we could cross the sea without choking. Then we could look for the others." What a foolish thought. We could not change our natures so easily. "The waters will recede soon," I told her instead. Floodwaters always did, though it wouldn't be in time to save us. "No," she replied, strangely solemn, "they won't. The goddesses said so." — I could not accept her certainty. What gods would allow us to be stranded on a hostile sea, to die by inches in the heat and sun and salt?

#blood moon rising #zine promo #zelda zines #loz zine #wind waker #wind waker fic #ginnefic

[ginneke]

Revalink Week: Bonus Day (TOTK)

Originally I wasn't going to write anything for this. I'd been doing my best to avoid spoilers and didn't want to so much as see the last trailer. (Most things I know about TOTK are against my will, lol.)

Alas, I got spoiled for one thing. So I wrote a very short fic during a 15 minute train journey 3 weeks ago and haven't touched it since.

Spoiler-tagged to help with blocklists, and in case this slips past your blocklist, full story is under the cut out of courtesy:

Characters: Link, Tulin. (Other characters mentioned, alluded to, or spoken around.)

--

“Do you think he’d be proud of me?”

“…Teba?” Link thought it rather more likely that he would be worried. 

“Nuh-uh. I know I can made Dad proud. Even if he doesn’t think I’m ready yet. But…”

…Ah.

It had been quite some time since Link let himself face the regrets of the past. They had, after all, wanted him and Zelda to look forward, to the future. 

“Nevermind,” Tulin said quickly, tilting his head in a grin. “It’s the village that matters. I want everyone to be safe and happy, so I’ve just gotta be strong enough to do that, right?”

With that, he darted ahead across the golden grasses, his swallow bow bobbing on his back.

Link watched him go. He thought of a diary he was never meant to read. Dreams that their architect only saw half-fulfilled. He’d been pleased to know his Flight Range still saw use, when Link told him. He’d been strangely quiet when Link mentioned how the Rito trained their sons to emulate him.

Tulin was the last successor of that lineage. Link had to make sure he returned safely home.

“…What do you think,” he murmured to the winds. They seemed to curl around him, the smallest whisper of a reply where once he’d felt fierce columns swirl. “I think you would’ve approved. …right?”

The winds slipped away into silence.

#revalink #revalinkweek2023 #revalink week 2023 #totk spoilers #tears of the kingdom spoilers #loz totk #loz totk spoilers #ginnefic

[ginneke]

Revalink Week Day 5: Paraglider

Pairing: Link / Revali

Characters: Link, Revali, Harth, Molli, Zelda, Other Rito Characters (Other characters mentioned)

Part of: Keepsakes

Rating: T

Content notes: Mentions of injury recovery; some internalised ableism.

Wordcount: 11,314

Summary:

As the dust settles over the Calamity’s defeat, and Hyrule starts on the slow road to recovery, a wounded warrior pieces together the lost opportunities of a century prior.

#revalink #revalink fic #revalink week 2023 #revalinkweek2023 #ginnefic #link / revali #link/revali #i wanted to revisit this series even if nobody asked for it #i hope you enjoy it anyway #keepsakes (series)