#just remembered i beat all the shrines in breath of the wild and then never fought ganon

[maryellencarter]

have started a new playthrough of breath of the wild with the intention of practicing the combat techniques, which i am quite bad at. (look, shield surfing and flurry rushes both require using three of the control inputs at once, i know i have ten fingers but i was never very good at playing chords on the piano either)

i don't know how far i'll get on any of these goals, but i'm also sort of vaguely considering:

* 100% run? have never finished one. there's at least one korok (near the akkala tech lab, uphill boulder golf with a lynel in the middle of the course) that i'm genuinely just not sure i can complete. i want to do this part glitchless if at all, so no seed duping allowed.

* clear all enemies no blood moon run? this is technically possible, although the timing to get the blood moon shrine to spawn without actually respawning enemies is quite tricky. there's a save-reload exploit that lets you delay the blood moon for a full cycle at a time, which would be pretty necessary for some of the night quests to be completable. my main interest in trying this is to force me to actually fight more enemies (and therefore get better at the combat) rather than rely totally on sneaking around and avoiding them. also to make weapons rarer and therefore more valuable/exciting to find, because in a normal playthrough i usually get overloaded on high tier weapons pretty quickly, especially once i get woodland tower with the respawning royal claymore. it's not actually possible to completely clear the map, because there will always be random spawns, like nighttime stalkoblins, or yiga after you defeat master kohga, but i feel like it'd be pretty entertaining to just be waltzing around past enemy camps you cleared and having them continue to have been cleared.

* all chests run? this would not be a true 100% objective because i have no interest at all in the glitching required to get "impossible" chests. perhaps "poke my nose into every nook and cranny" run would be more accurate -- there are so many tiny hidden things in BotW that even people who've spent thousands of hours in the game have never seen. this kind of goes hand in hand with the no blood moon run, because i'll definitely run out of hero's path time long before i finish any such playthrough, so the main way to tell if i've already been somewhere (other than my own memory, which *is* pretty good for BotW locations because the geology is so realistic it feels like an actual landscape and sticks in my memory the same way) will be if i already killed off the enemies there.

* no guides run. at least until like 99% completion or so. i've been playing pokemon violet with a collectibles map constantly open, which is about the only way i can enjoy that game because the geology/geography is just impossible for me, and i have played BotW the same way on other saves, but... hyrule feels, idk, homey enough? it already lives in my bones enough that i can, and want to, run around it like a real place and get to know every corner. like i did with my childhood hometown, and have not had the spoons to do irl since. i'll definitely make a great deal of use of the sheikah sensor (i've done all shrines before -- on the switch lite, which is a *trip* for motion controls shrines) and any other detection things like the korok mask, any ingame method i'm granted to find the collectibles.

* no amiibo run? this is more practicality because i left my botw amiibos at leia's. but also they always feel a little game-breaky, not even so much with the exclusive drops as just with the extra resources you get early -- i don't even remember most of the places you can find safflina in the game, just because i always get so much from zelda amiibos if i'm scanning them daily, for instance.

i'm playing on my switch lite again because the regular size switch really kills my hands in handheld mode. my beat-the-game save is also on the switch lite and i didn't want to overwrite it so i made a secondary profile. so far i have done the magnesis shrine (failed deeply at using the metal boxes in the shrine to bop the guardian on the head, which will kill it if you do it right but you have to either use motion controls to fling it down or get the guardian to stand under the box while you drop it from a great height) and almost shot king rhoam for a squirrel because he was wandering around in the forest (as the old hermit, of course) and i didn't know he could spawn there if you dick around long enough before completing the plateau. so i'm already discovering things! ^_^

(the main issue with attempting a no blood moon run is that i am absent minded and usually fail to notice it's a blood moon night until it drops the cutscene on me. that will probably be the major obstacle there. i don't expect to run completely out of weapons -- at minimum i can always get more yiga gear, champion gear, and once i have the master sword it recharges. i've never attempted trial of the sword, idk if i will? certainly not until i'm much more confident with my combat techniques)

one of my favorite things about playing video games is that there's always an intended way for you to solve whatever puzzle is presented to you. in games where the intended way is the only possible way, i get pretty frustrated, because i do not have the 30+ years of gaming history knowledge that most games assume -- i got my first controller in 2021 (for PC, so as to decide if i even wanted to get my first console, the switch, which i also did in 2021). but botw is so committed to the open-world creativity thing that there are usually a bunch of different ways to solve the puzzles -- for instance, there are many "stand on this switch and the door opens, now find something to put on the switch and hold it down so you can go through the door" puzzles, and there's always something provided like a barrel or a chest to put on the switch, but on many of them you can also use the stasis rune or 1-3 campfires (which are weirdly heavy) to hold the switch down. so it feels... idk how to articulate this... when i know i *can* just use stasis or a campfire, it's more fun and less frustrating to try to figure out what the game devs were thinking, what the intended method is and especially how they signposted it. (i have watched so many botw streams just trying to get a feel for how the devs handle signposting, because i don't have much of that assumed gaming background -- mainly mass effect trilogy, which handled signposting and loot placement extremely differently in each game -- and i'm not naturally very observant. leia says i'm high INT/low WIS, and that definitely applies to my irl perception score too :P another reason to try for an all chests type of run. getting in the habit of Perceiving things more)

(mass effect 1 is why i even bought botw though. i absolutely love the open world aspects of dicking around on the uncharted planets, except when i trip over thresher maws, so i was like "people are calling this the best open world game ever? i will Investigate" and they were correct)

(also i am very impressed that moldugas are not thresher maws. so damn many things copy dune and have their desert sand burrowing giant enemy be sandworms, complete with the blue tongues, which i always think of as thresher maws because i encountered those way before dune. moldugas are completely unlike thresher maws except for the burrowing and popping up at you. i genuinely can't figure out if there's any rl critter they're supposed to resemble, but by god they're not fucking sandworms)

#jt plays botw

[zeldaelmo]

WIP Wednesday

I'm still chipping away at the fic I'm writing for zelink week's prompt 'yearning'. It's going slow so it might be the only one I have for zelink week, but that's okay. I can't write a novella-length story every year.

"It's lonely at the top" (spoilers for TotK tears quest, Master Sword, and Hateno, but not for the ending)

Now, there's no one left to figure it out but him. Zelda has poured all her wisdom in that now millenia-old, irreversible decision to give him what he needs to fight the Demon King. They are dragged in a war that isn’t theirs but can’t be won without them. The Sheikah, sworn protector of the royal family — even Impa with all her knowledge and experience — are at a loss. The other races deal with their own problems, a warm word here and there is all they have to give. Warm words aren’t going to stop the Demon King. 

He's wasting time; the tingling, taunting Master Sword just in front of him is a cruel reminder of that. He isn’t strong enough to pull it. The damage the Demon King did to the vessel that is his body is too big. He should beat the shrines Zelda has prepared for him, always hoping, never knowing he would be able to do them. There’s so much to learn on this quest, so many crazy things he’s able to do with the foreign hand on his body, and he needs to conquer all of them to even have a chance at beating the Demon King. 

It’s just… He lets go of the strands which feel wrong in his palms anyway and sighs. It's just… He isn’t used to being so lonely anymore. Sure, he has done all of this before; the shrines, the solitude in the wild, the patching himself up at a campfire with a cloth between his teeth and a needle threading through his marred skin. But it’s been years and now he remembers. Back then she was a sweet voice in his head and only towards the end he realized that the stakes weren't only high for Hyrule but for him, too. Now it's different. He knows Zelda likes her crepes with extra honey in the mornings and that the quiet hours between evening and midnight are her favorites to study in her secret room in the well. He knows how warm she is in his arms on the rare occasions they have time for an afternoon nap. He knows the gasp she breathes into the night when he’s pulling her closer and makes her feel alive.

Sometimes he wishes he wouldn't. 

#zelink #zeldaelmo writes #legend of zelda #Totk #totk spoilers #It's lonely at the top #wip wednesday

[waywardsalt]

my grievances with botw

Breath of the Wild is... undeniably a fantastic game, but it is very genuinely not the kind of game I like, and since I started playing it I’ve been enjoying it less and less so... I have a pair of problems with it that I’d figure I’d go into, as well as some stuff that, while weak in botw, were executed better in past loz games.

(small shoutout to @zeldanamikaze for encouraging this and having some points that i agree with and had some examples that i hadn’t thought about much initially)

Again, Breath of the Wild is an objectively impressive game, and I’m not trying to sit here and convince you that it’s a bad game. I’m just trying to point out things that detracted from my enjoyment of it, especially compared to my enjoyment of other Zelda games.

Before I get into the big stuff, I’ll just shoot off some quick little things that I think could’ve been improved:

- The dungeons generally felt like glorified shrines, and while they had cool mechanics and ways to access them, they were short and more or less pretty simple and all have similar visual and musical identities.

- Side quests and their rewards didn’t feel worth doing half of the time. I barely remember any notable ones off the top of my head and the longer ones just gave mostly generic rewards, which I suppose makes sense considering the limited amount of truly unique items in botw.

- Seeing the same enemies over and over again made the combat feel more like a chore than something to really engage with, not to mention that there is hardly any difficulty scaling beyond just making the enemies more durable.

- The story is fine, but in my experience, even seeing people go into more detail about the meanings of events, I never really cared for the events or the characters presented, since you don’t actually have to directly interact with any of that to play the game. Hell, you don’t even need to interact with the story at all to beat it, so the focus certainly doesn’t feel like it’s on the story.

- It would be a lie to call the soundtrack bad, but it’s sparse usage makes it hard to truly appreciate and the fact that most of it is meant to be more atmospheric generally makes them a bit less interesting to listen to on their own, though I will admit there are some fantastic tracks in botw, usually being some of the boss themes.

- While the Sheikah slate runes are cool, they feel very bland after a while, especially compared to the varied items seen in previous games. They’re good tools for an open world, but not much fun otherwise (the bombs were good though, since they had a variety of uses).

And that’s the quick stuff- again, mostly courtesy of @zeldanamikaze, since these are the examples I’ve seen her mention.

I have two big points that kind of encapsulate why I dislike this game and still adore the older games, that being: the minigames and the items and their relationships to dungeons.

Breath of the Wild is a very different game than what came past it, and I am very aware that it is a vast departure from those other games for a reason. However, this leads me to view it not only simply as a game not up my alley, but also as kind of inferior in some aspect to those previous Zelda games. Breath of the World is first and foremost an open world game, seemingly putting a focus on gameplay enjoyment above all else (not to imply that the ‘else’ is bad because of this, but I do think that the ‘else’ suffers in comparison to other Zelda titles.)

It may also be worth mentioning that the other Zelda games I have played is the following: LoZ NES, Link’s Awakening (Original and Remake), Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Phantom Hourlgass, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, and Triforce Heroes. I have also played both hyrule warriors games as well as loz 2, wind waker, and minish cap, none of the latter 3 i have finished or currently have access to.

1: The Minigames

Minigames are common in Zelda games, so of course botw has a few scattered around it’s world. Botw’s minigames are very different than the minigames seen in past Zelda games, mostly due in part to the limited array of items and unique gameplay gimmicks available in botw. Botw’s minigames usually focus on different forms of archery, gliding, or rune usage: all things integral to normal gameplay. At best you get rupees or cosmetic items from most minigames.

Botw’s minigames are just slightly altered situations of normal gameplay. The bowling is just using stasis except this time the game has a special little arena for it. Pretty much all of the archery games are either just counting how many deer you can kill or if you can just hit some targets on horseback. There’s one race I can think of and one gliding activity I can think of.

This makes sense, considering that there are a handful of other non-minigame activities to engage in, but these minigames feel... hollow. None of the minigames feature gameplay exclusive to those minigames or feature gameplay only used in certain parts of the game. They all make use of readily available mechanics in botw, so they’re like tests of skill- but otherwise not really any worth giving a second-thought unless you want to see how good of a glider or archer you are or grab some extra rupees.

But they aren’t very... worth it or generally fun within the context of botw. It’s just another way to do something that is available to you pretty much all game. They don’t feel unique, they just feel like a task.

Previous Zelda games (obviously) have archery minigames and allow you to use archery when you get the bow and from that point onward. And yet the archery minigames are made unique from the rest of the archery in the game; ocarina of time’s archery minigame is simply just shooting at targets, but the possible rewards and the simple fact that not often are you going to be continuously shooting arrows at enemies make it a bit of a novel experience within oot. The minigames in past zelda games take advantage of the items and area-specific mechanics: they usually include item-exclusive mechanics like bombchu games, or take advantage of more specific mechanics, like the minecarts in skyward sword, the masks in majora’s mask, or being able to control gongoron in phantom hourglass.

They also gave genuine rewards- empty bottles, quest items, ship parts, new masks, heart containers or pieces, kinds of stuff that are hard to get and very valuable. They’re worth doing for reasons outside of just a little activity. The minigames in other Zelda games do really enhance the experience by taking advantage of situational mechanics or giving a unique usage for some items.

You can probably get every item in botw without playing all of the minigames. They have little actual purpose. But in other zelda games, they have a purpose in the greater game and provide novel experiences within the game.

2: Items and their relationships with the dungeons

Obviously, compared to past games, botw’s ‘dungeons’ kind of sucked. They’re fine in a vacuum, with interesting gimmicks and the like, but they’re really little more than glorified shrines with four different-but-similar bosses at the end.

In my opinion, one of reasons why the divine beasts just... fell flat compared to other zelda dungeons is the lack of unique items in general. The runes in botw are cool and useful but you get them at the start of the game and never get anything new. You are give every tool you need to beat all of the dungeons the moment you finish the tutorial.

Older zelda games’ dungeons being tied to their respective items is a big part- to me- of what makes those dungeons so good.

Obviously, the theming, musical themes, and larger layouts and more varied puzzles make them objectively better experiences, but the way they interact with item acquisition makes the whole thing even better. 

Even in a link between worlds, where you can get every item whenever you want from Ravio, each dungeon is still tied to one of those items, and one of those items is needed to successfully complete that dungeon.

The dungeons in past Zelda games are practically complex tutorials on how you can use your new items. They are where those items shine and they are designed so that those items are used to their fullest potential within. And then you must then use that item to defeat that dungeon’s boss, and you usually have no chance of beating that boss if you don’t make use of the dungeon’s associated item. It’s like a final test for the item, seeing if you know how it works enough to complete the dungeon and use it against a boss’s weaknesses.

The most recent example, and probably one of the best, is needing to use the whip to tear off koloktos’ arms in the ancient cistern, but the classic scenario of the bombs for king dodongo works well enough, and the bosses of majora’s mask requiring you to understand how the transformation masks work. There are definitely some bosses that require no use of dungeon items (moldorm in the tower of hera, either ghirahim fights), but the item’s usage is still showcased prominently in their dungeons.

Outside of the dungeons, too, the progressive acquisition of items makes more areas and secrets available to you, giving a much more palpable sense of progression through those games’ worlds.

In botw, you get every tool the moment you are released into the rest of hyrule, so while figuring out what to do with those tools can be fun, the sense of progression is dampened by having every item from the start and nothing you gain beyond that being needed for anything aside from a nice little ability to make things easier.

I’m not really too sure exactly why I never found botw fun the way everyone else does, but I think lackluster minigames and the general lack of items that aid a sense of progression are parts of it.

#loz #legend of zelda #botw #salty talks #i feel like im swinging at a hornets nest by suggesting that this game isn't perfect #cuz everywhere you look this game is praised incessantly while its like. i think its fine at best tbh #because it's really not to my tastes #i highly prefer the experience that the other loz games provide and botw dropped off for me while i still enjoy those games #like. open world games arent really my thing and a game packed to the gills with just as much shit as possible is a major turn off for me #this was going to have three points but playing totk exhausted me mentally and i dont really care any more. i dont find these games fun #the tutorial islands felt tedious after a bit and like. idk. good game but i have yet to find myself actually having fun with it #it kinda feels like its fun in concept but the fact that it doesnt necessarily feel got to play to me and progress is slow and based on #like. slow exploration? its fine but its not something i actually enjoy. its not teh difficulty bc i like elden ring and hades n stuff #like. i have more fun with ph than totk. idk. playing totk was like. entertaining? but it kinda ust felt hollow to me #granted i just like. unlocked the first tower and did some shrines but like. idk. good game. i don't think i actually like it too much #i really think these two points kind of maybe explain why these games just fail to click with me #things in older zelda games have specific purposes and can be more situational than pretty much anything in botw/totk so far #it feels. better. to find an item that fits a specific purpose in older loz games. they're more gimmicky. #i feel that open world games (similar to botw/totk) are dragged down by the sheer freedom they allow to me at least #there's too much to do and you're allowed to do whatever so it all feels kind of. standard theres not much purpose to it #the tedium of botw/totk is much more grating than the tedium i experience in skyward sword's lanayru desert #because you HAVE to go through and figure out lanayru desert to continue the story get new items find new dungeons #botw/totk you kinda just get some items and maybe a lackluster quest or some fucking environment thing #long post #idk. im not too far into totk while writing this but rn in a weird way it and botw feel empty to me in a way i cant express #i enjoyed botw at first but after beating it and all it just felt kinda boring and unsatisfying to replay

[christophoronomicon]

So, about Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom…

So, well, I still can't play Tears of the Kingdom (can't believe Nintendo wouldn't allow such a big fan as I am to play the game early! 😏), so I have no choice but to vent my thoughts here.

Once again, no spoilers (except light spoilers for Breath of the Wild), I've managed to avoid all leaks so all thoughts and opinions here are based on officially released materials and stuff based on those. So, let's start after the break.

As you may remember, yesterday I was talking not so much about what Nintendo had revealed about TotK in the last few weeks, but about what was still absent from those reveals, and how things being conspicuously absent could point towards important story beats.

But I left one important thing out, probably the most conspicuous absence in the all game: where is all the ancient Sheikah tech?! I mean, the trailers and promotional materials have shown some Sheikah tech, like the new Switch-like Sheikah slate, a platform with mechanical tentacles resembling Guardian legs, and some kind of high-speed elevator in the latest trailer. But Sheikah tech is conspicuously absent from the overworld.

When Breath of the Wild ended, Hyrule was still full of broken and deactivated Guardians, Sheikah towers, shrines, not to mention the Divine Beasts (including Link's own Master Cycle if you count the DLC contents). But in all the trailers for TotK, all that is completely gone. So what happened?

Of course, it could be that they were all destroyed during the Upheaval, but that seems unlikely to have left no trace of Sheikah tech on the surface, especially for things as large as the towers and Divine Beasts.

Another possibility is that the Sheikah basically dismantled everything for parts. Purah and especially Robbie seemed to need a lot of stuff for their research, and they may have used the new found peace to expand on their work in earnest. But while I can definitely see the Sheikah dismantling all the Guardians for parts (and the other races helping to get rid of those horrors forever), I have difficulties imagining them doing the same to all the Sheikah towers (no matter how useful those terminals are). And the new towers of TotK (seemingly called Skyview towers) don't solve that conundrum, as they are not all placed where the old Sheikah towers stood, implying they are not just the Sheikah towers packed up in wood and cloth.

I have even more difficulty believing they'd go as far as dismantling the Divine Beasts, they're far too useful to protect Hyrule. Unless it was to ensure they'd never fall into the wrong hands again... But still, that's a bit far-fetched.

As for the Shrines, I don't believe for one moment that Hyrule would have the resources to dismantle those. And what about the pillars surrounding Hyrule Castle? I just remembered that they were gone too. Did they just go underground again?

This said, if you've completed all the main story quests in BotW, you're rewarded at the end with an additional cut-scene where Zelda says that they are going tothe Zora Kingdom, to, among other things, investigate why Divine Beast Vah Rutah has stopped working. Maybe that's the stinger for the sequel, and the first step towards whatever is going to happen that leads to TotK. Maybe Vah Rutah isn't the only Divine Beast which is going to stop working. Maybe, with no Malice nor Champions to keep them going, the Divine Beasts are all going to shut down one by one for ever. In that case, I could imagine them being dismantled to try and reverse engineer them.

Still, there clearly isn't a big time skip between BotW and TotK (5 years at most I would expect, given how much Riju has grown and the fact that Zelda and Link look pretty much identical as in BotW), so I can't imagine there being enough time to fully dismantle all the ancient Sheikah tech present on the surface at the end of BotW. So its absence in the TotK trailers is all the more intriguing.

I don't really have a theory here, just questions, as all theories I have are too full of holes and unknowns to be worth going through.

Personally, I'm very curious to see how much ancient Sheikah tech we are going to see in the new game, especially now that it seems Zonai tech is going to take centre-stage. Are they going to be able to interact somehow? Are the Divine Beasts completely gone? Do the new Skyview towers contain any special tech or are they just constructions of wood and cloth? What do you all think?

#zelda #legend of zelda #tears of the kingdom #loz #loz totk #totk #breath of the wild #loz botw #botw #totk countdown #own thoughts

[shadow-and-purgatory]

Wrong Shade Ch. 5

Read it here on AO3!

Read parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 on Tumblr!

wordcount: 2612

--------

Warriors was right; of course he was. Sky wants to kick himself as he storms to the little shrine by the stream. 

He had been unfair to Legend. He’s aware of that. The Veteran hasn’t given up. Not really. Not fully. Not any more than any of them. They’re all handling this differently. But really, Sky is just so… fed up with the way that he seems to have already decided that finding Twilight is a lost cause. 

Sky cups some water in his hands and splashes it on his face.

In the time since Twilight went missing, every member of the Chain has taken on a lot. Late  nights. Early mornings. Desperate prayers, whispered when they thought no one was around, to goddesses that most of the others had lost faith in a long time ago. 

They’ve all been working hard. But right from the start, Warriors had taken the lion’s share. 

Among seven other voices, Warriors had been a pillar of sensibility and reason. 

Sky remembers it, clear as day.

They all stared at the wooden shield, abandoned on the forest floor. Sky wasn’t saying anything. Nobody was saying anything. The mud in the area was torn up and scuffed. Nobody was saying anything yet, but the black and reddish brown stains painted a pretty clear picture of what happened. Nobody wanted to say anything.

It wasn’t unusual for Twilight to disappear suddenly. Sometimes he’d be gone for hours, other times a day or two. One time, he was even gone for almost a whole week. 

But he always reappeared, equally suddenly, waving off their questions with vague explanations. 

But for all their pushing and prodding, they knew it was fine. Every member of the Chain had their quirks, and Time had never seemed worried about this one in particular, so they just shrugged it off. 

This was… not that. 

They’d been fighting Dark Link and a gaggle of his infected black blooded monsters. And against the monsters, they’d been doing well. They all knew what to do, and although it was time consuming to defeat stronger monsters, the Chain was steadily felling them. 

Warriors and Four had been fighting Dark Link. It wasn’t a fair fight, with the Shadow constantly vanishing just before they could hit him, and changing his shape to look like other members of the Chain. 

Then Twilight and Sky had finished off the group of moblins they’d been dealing with, and went to join Warriors and Four. All it took was one slash from the Master Sword, and Dark took one last deft swipe at the Captain before fleeing. 

Twilight broke away from Sky and started to run after him. “Pup, wait!” Time had shouted, cursing under his breath when he didn’t listen. “Wild, you stay here.”

“But–”

“Twilight can handle himself. He’ll find his way back to us, but we need your skills here.”

Wild hadn’t responded, but Sky hadn’t missed the way that the cook threw himself into the fight even harder, until every monster lay dead. Time had insisted that they wait where they were for Twilight. 

So they’d waited. 

And waited. 

And waited. 

Antiseptic was passed around, wounds were cleaned and wrapped, and still they waited. Still, Twilight did not return. By the time the sun was starting to set, the tension in the group had been thick enough to cut with a knife. Sky was about ready to go looking for Twilight right then and there, Time’s instructions be damned. 

Legend stood up, beating Sky to the punch. “It’s been too long. Twilight should be back by now. I don’t care what any of you have to say, I’m going looking for him.” He’d glared at the group, practically daring them to try and stop him, before turning on his heel.

“Hang on, I’m going with you. Something about this feels bad to me.” Sky had gotten to his feet, grabbed Fi, and joined the Veteran. Legend flashed him a small, appreciative look. 

“I’m coming too,” Hyrule said. “I can’t just sit here. Besides, it’s dangerous to go alone, even when you’re both heroes.”

After that, the others had quickly joined. They’d been silent as they followed the path of broken branches and footprints in the muck. Sky held the sword in front of him, only half-hoping to feel a tug from the blade that would tell him he was getting closer. There was none, predictably.

Wild wasn’t quite as good at tracking as the Rancher, or Fi, but he was no slouch either. He had just pushed through some bushes, when he stopped cold.

“What is it?” Sky had asked, pushing forwards alongside Legend. 

And that was when they’d found the shield, the Ordon shield, abandoned among the muddy signs of a fight. There was blood. There was… a lot of blood. 

And no sign of Twilight.

Nobody wanted to say anything. Particularly not the thing that they were all thinking. Nobody wanted to be the one to speak it into reality.

Then Wind let out a single stifled, hiccupy cry, and as Four grabbed the younger boy’s hand, the spell was broken, along with the silence.

Sky heard someone retching. Time, maybe? Hyrule? Yes, Hyrule. It was irrelevant. There was a bitter taste in the back of his throat, and he felt rather sick himself. He tried to keep his breathing under control, remembering the techniques that his instructors at the Knight Academy had taught him for conserving breath while riding his Loftwing. Slow, deep breathing. 

Nearly everyone was talking, all at once, caught up in a flurry of panic.

Time had been at the rear of the group, and since he’d come through the bushes, he had been totally still, fixed in place. Sky shakily made his way to where their usually unflappable leader stood. The ground felt as though it might give out under him. Time did not react. After only a moment of thought, Sky untied the sailcloth and draped it over Time’s shoulders. He jolted a little.

Wild stumbled forward, towards the shield. “We have to–” He gulped a little bit, clearly struggling for breath. He looked around, as though maybe Twilight was only hiding nearby, before he fell to his knees and took the shield. “We have to find him. He’s– he’s in danger, we have to find him. We– he’s–” 

“He’s dead.” Legend’s voice was flat and empty. He stood rooted to the same spot as he’d been in when Sky walked away, looking hard at the ground.

Sky’s blood froze. Beside him, Time stiffened. Hyrule pressed a hand to his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut. Wild let out a small close-mouthed scream from where he was kneeling. “...Don’t say that,” he whispered. 

“He’s dead, Wild,” Legend repeated, just as hollow as before. 

“Stop it, Vet.” Time’s voice was unsteady but firm. 

“He isn’t,” Hyrule mumbled, not sounding very sure.

“Come on. Think about it. If the Rancher were still alive, he would’ve come back by now.”

Sky glared at  Legend. “Twilight… disappears sometimes.”

Legend laughed, or maybe it was a sob. “Not like this though! Not after he takes off after Dark Link, not when he knows we’re all bound to be worried sick.”

“He wouldn’t have left his shield here either,” Wind said softly. “So– so then he really is–” The sailor’s ears and nose were reddening as he pulled at his bangs in distress. A few strands of blond hair came away in his hands. If he’d been there, Twilight would have told him that that was a bad habit, and gotten him to stop. As it was, Four just sort of half swept the sailor’s bangs behind his ears. 

Wild looked at the shield. “No, no, he’s not dead, he can’t be dead,” he said.

Warriors walked over to the champion, laying a hand on his shoulder. He looked at Legend. “Cut it out, Legend. Twilight’s not dead.”

Legend looked up. His face was blotchy and he looked empty and almost angry. “Really? You too?” The Veteran sounded almost betrayed. “I mean, I’m not surprised by the others, but you too, Captain?” He took a few steps closer, tears starting to roll down his cheeks. “You should– you should understand that sometimes people die, and wanting won’t fucking bring them back! They’re letting their feelings cloud the facts, but I thought you would know better! You’re supposed to be one of the rational ones, be rational!” 

Warriors stared, stunned for a moment before speaking. “He’s not dead, Legend, and we’d know if he was.”

Legend’s face went nearly as pink as his hair, and his mouth flapped open and shut. He took a deep breath, composing himself slightly. When he spoke again, his voice was more even, though it had a hard, incredulous edge to it. “We’d ‘know?’ We’d know? I’ll tell you what we know. Twilight ran off after Dark Link, who is dangerous, sadistic, and evil. He never came back. All that’s left of him is a bloodstain, and his shield, which was made by his family. Come on. You fought in a war. When someone you care about dies, there’s no feeling you get the moment their heart stops. Think about this logically.”

“I’m not being blindly optimistic, I’m thinking logically, Vet.” Warriors’ voice rose, and Sky had a feeling they were all listening. “If Twilight were dead, we would know, because Dark Link would have told us. Think about our enemy. Dark is sadistic. If he killed the Rancher, he wouldn’t have passed up on an opportunity to leverage his death to hurt our group’s morale. He would have taunted us as soon as Twilight was dead. It wouldn’t make sense to kill him, and then not tell us.”

“But his shield–”

“Is a bad sign, yes,” Warriors interrupted. He sighed. “We still don’t fully know what Dark wants. Dark is smart, and if he wants something from us, the life of one of our own would make a good bargaining chip. To do that, though, he needs Twilight alive. He’s probably holding him captive.” 

There was a moment of silence as the Captain’s words sunk in.

Time spoke up. “The Captain makes a good point. There’s no reason to assume that the Rancher is dead. At least, not before we see a body.” The thought seemed to pain him, but he had a determination in his eye.

Legend’s eyes widened, as some spark of hope came back to them. “And you believe that?” he asked. “Really?” He sounded uncertain, like he didn’t want to hope. 

Warriors had nodded as he went around to reassure each of them in turn. Sky had seen the shadow of doubt in his smile, but regardless, the Captain had continued to take on more and more responsibility. 

He’d been the one to suggest they find a base of operations. He’d suggested they ask for help beyond their little group, and when Wild informed Flora of the situation and she came to Kakariko to offer aid, he had been the one to tell her that they needed copies of reports and patrol logs from all over Hyrule. He showed them all how to read the reports. 

When Time left the village in the middle of the night to go looking for Twilight without a word to anybody, while the rest of them had been panicking, Warriors had gone out, found him at the bottom of a ravine with a sprained ankle, and brought him back.

Sky splashes some more water on his face. The Veteran has only gotten more sullen and snarky, taking cheap shots at everyone for no reason. It’s grating.

The Chosen Hero sighs, and looks at the small stone statue of Hylia. He touches two fingers to both of his shoulder blades one after the other, and bows his head. “O Goddess, guide and guardian, these words are for you. Let this prayer reach you swifter than any wings you have yet given to mortals. From your seat at the edge of time, I humbly ask for your guidance. O Goddess Hylia–” Sky’s voice breaks on the familiar words of the prayer. “–I beseech you, hear me,” he finishes, rushing through the last part a bit. “Hylia, I–” he falters before trying again. “Zelda. Please. I still don’t know what to do. Twilight is still gone. We’re not any closer to finding him. We’re running out of ideas, we can all feel it. So please. Please, just guide me in some way. I’ve done so much for you, and I would do it again. I’m not asking for much, just… send me a sign. Say something. Anything.” He feels the tears running down his face, and he looks back up at the stone figure of the Goddess. 

The statue does not respond.

Sky drops his head into his hands, sighing.

“...has she ever actually answered you, when you’ve done that?” Sky jumps, whirling around at the sound of Legend’s voice. The other hero stands at the foot of the small wooden dock, shifting back and forth on his feet. His tone is soft, with little vitriol in it.

Sky wipes his eyes. “I didn’t know you were listening,” he says in what he hopes is a neutral tone. He lets his feet dangle in the pond.

Legend sits next to him, an expression of caution on his face. “Yeah, I uh– I finished that lap the Captain had me do,” he says awkwardly. He looks so much smaller than normal. They sit in tense, awkward silence for a long while. 

Sky should apologize. He really should. What he’d said had been rude, and uncalled for, an overreaction.

“What was that bit at the beginning?” Legend asks suddenly.

“What?”

“That bit at the beginning of your prayer. It sounded like you were reciting.”

“Oh, yeah. That.” Sky’s face flushes a bit. He knows Legend doesn’t care for the Goddesses, Hylia in particular. He’ll probably just make some snarky joke about it. “I was reciting it, yeah. It’s… it’s a prayer you use when you want to talk to Hylia.” He looks away.

“Oh. I’ve never heard that one before,” is all Legend says.

Sky blinks in surprise. He’d been bracing for a quip, but not that. “Oh. Huh. Well, it is a prayer from Skyloft, so maybe it doesn’t get used anymore.”

“Mm. Maybe.”

They’re both walking on eggshells still. After a moment of silence, Sky takes a deep breath. “Look, about what I said before–”

“Does she ever answer?” Legend interrupts. 

“I– does she– what?” Sky splutters. He’s just trying to apologize.

“You said that prayer of yours is for talking to Hylia. Has she ever answered you?” The other hero stares intently at one of the torches.

Sky studies him. The way his lip trembles. The way the skin around his eyes is red. The way he’s clearly been crying. He sighs, and looks back at the statue. “I can’t say for sure,” he answers honestly.

“Hmph.” There’s no triumph in his harrumph. Mostly just disappointment.

“I like to think so.” 

“Wouldn’t that be nice.” Legend kicks his feet, the toes of his boots making ripples on the surface of the water. 

Sky stands, looking down at Legend. “Look, I’m s-” Legend raises an eyebrow, and Sky sighs. “I think I’m calm. I’m going to head back now.” It’s a clear unspoken invitation.

“Okay,” Legend says. “If he asks, you can tell the Captain I’ll be back soon. I still have some thinking I want to do.”

After a moment, Sky nods, and starts walking back to the house. He has reports to annotate. 

#very pleased w this chapter #love writing sky I dont do it enough #ramblimgs #lu #linked universe #fic ramblimgs #wrong shade #florianfics #lu fic

[souper-salad]

uh oh oops i forgot i had sent those asks to you, the anime and zelda one!

oh my god yes!! i loved those too! the humour in saiki is priceless. i do gotta say, with haikyuu now nearing the end, im kind of sad we're not getting a full season of it instead of, what was it again, like 2 films?

thats cool!! have you ever played any other zelda game?

you are very welcome and thank you for answering. i hope you had a good weekend!

saiki k is the best, it made me laugh so hard when i first watched it

ah yeah, the end of haikyuu. makes me wanna cry. i don't want it to end, but i'm also glad theyre finishing the show!! though not sure how to feel about the 2 movies thing they're doing

the manga is super good, so at least if they manage to fuck up the last of the story we still have the manga to fall on

ah zelda games! when i was six i started playing twilight princess (never finished it, i mean i was only six and twilight princess is a challenging game!) and i would play up to the part where you become a wolf and raid the village, and then i would get bored and start the game over again. i liked playing as a "big puppy" and being a farmer. but i didn't really progress until i was a lot older

when i was 10 i tried out breath of the wild (my brother got it for chirstmas and i thought it looked fun) and i left the shrine of resurrection and went down the hill. i talked to the old man, and after that the voice told me to activate the tower. i started down the hill again and ran into a bokoblin. i got scared and turned off the wii u (yes the wii u, shut up) and didnt touch breath of the wild for a year.

eventually when i was eleven, my little sister (who was 7) was like "i wanna play breath of the wild" and she finished the great plateau after a few days. i realized i couldn't let my younger sister best me, so i took it up again and got over my fears of bokoblins. me and my younger sister took turns on the wii u and progressed through the game at around the same pace and helped each other through it. we finally beat it when i was twelve and she was eight.

i really enjoyed breath of the wild and started it all over again (because it had taken me so long to be it) and i enjoyed it like it was the first time again, due to my general forgetfulness.

a little over three years ago i picked up twilight princess again. (i had recently read the manga that was out and thought it looked fun) i beat breath of the wild, this one is probably easy i remembered thinking. it was not. i ate my words. this game took me something like 80 hours one way through. and i had to look up tutorials. it was really fun and had a lot of story and i really enjoyed it, but it was kinda a big switch from breath of the wild. a lot of dungeons and the fact that it was really linear kinda messed with me at first.

two birthdays ago i got skyward sword, and with both an open world and linear zelda game under my belt i felt pretty good, and i beat it in 40 hours or so. i really enjoyed that one and boy the story was just so,,,, hhhhhh i loved it

honestly i think its my favorite zelda game. and fyi, i played it on the wii with the wii remote motion controls. it was hard to get the hang of but i eventually got it. the story is very well done and zelda and link's dynamic is 1000000000/10 i love it

last year i played age of calamity and while it was really good, i didn't like what they did with it. overall meh for what i wanted but a good game for what it is. i main as link because that's how every other zelda game goes and i like it that way.

ive started wind waker, link's awakening and a link to the past, but have yet to finish any of them. i think i'll be starting wind waker over again because it's been a bit!!

i want more games under my belt, but right now i'm replaying skyward sword because like i said it's my favorite zelda game.

sorry this was so long but i had a lot to say!!

thanks for the ask and i hope your weekend was amazing!!

#also anon it think you might need a nickname!! #since youre holding a convo with me #gotta keep them anon's straight #i really enjoy talking to people btw so #send an ask!! #soup spills #ask the salad

[zachsgamejournal]

COMPLETED: The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild

I did it. I finally beat this game. Literally bought it on day one. While I'm proud of the feat...the ending was...underwhelming.

What I loved about Ocarina of Time is how it A.) Felt like an open world B.) Felt like you do things out of order, like you were "discovering" the world. Neither were true, but they are true for Breath of the Wild. So in that sense, this game is a fulfillment of OoT's promise.

So--we last we left off we were climbing a volcano to take on the iguana divine beast. And it was a bit of a disappointment. Far simpler than the camal or elephant. I'm not sure I was upset, just unexcited. It's the third dungeon with the same aesthetic and puzzles, so starting to feel tedious. And the boss--a complete joke. While I struggled a lot with the first boss and a little with second, this was a 1-and-done deal. And basically my whole strategy was run up to it and hit it till if died. No crazy patterns or anything. Extremely underwhelming.

Roughly around this point we had enough hearts to go for the master sword. But that means navigating the lost forest. I remember the first time playing this I got really confused. When I discovered I needed to follow the wind by holding a torch and seeing which way the sparks flew, I applauded genius design. Now that I knew what to do...it was less exciting. The trees were cleverly creepy though.

It was fun to see the Deku tree again, but we didn't talk much. Hi Link, I've been waiting for you. Here's your sword.

Master Sword in hand we set off to take on the Bird Divine beast. I was really excited for my wife to see the bird folk, but she was watching ER in the other room. Ah well. I was excited to see the birds except they're all really arrogant for some reason. Didn't enjoy that.

I enjoy the mini-game getting on the beast. It was fun shooting the shield generators with explosive arrows, but also really easy. Similar to the lizard beast, the dungeon was really simple, no real surprises. The boss was slightly harder, but now I've got so many skills, weapons, and bad-ass meals that I don't have to be half-as-skilled as when I started.

So with all the Divine beast enrolled in our cause, we grabbed a few towers and shrines, focusing more on stamina. I also started tracking down the memory quest. I knew there was going to be more "story" here, as the game is not very heavy on plot compared to other Zeldas. While it did provide a little more character development for Zelda herself, but it did add much to the plot. I think the real depth of the game's story is in the side quest of its characters. I had hoped to do more there, but I felt we needed to move onto a game the whole family could enjoy.

So when it was time to take on the castle I was sure there were going to be guardians. So I knew I needed to learn to counter lasers, which I never learned before. It took some practice and frustration, but I actually got pretty good. And a defeated guardian drops tons of parts! I got excited and killed a few just for fun.

Afterward, I visited a fairy for some equipment upgrades and stopped by Impa's. She gave me the iconic blue tunic that's in all the flashbacks. It shows enemy HP. I'm not sure what the point of that is besides seeing when an enemy is way out of your league??

Anyway, we snuck our way into the castle grounds Solid Snake style. The castle is huge. You can't fully explore it, but it's still imposing. I'm impressed they still let you climb everything. Makes what could have been very linear feel open and exciting. While exploring, I dropped into this room--somewhat accidentally. Then the doors shut and then Lionel shows up. Damn it! I've specifically avoided these guys! Somehow, though, I was able to defeat but I lost a lot powerups and food. I wasn't sure how check points worked in the castle, so I was worried about how much I'd have to repeat if I died.

I make it inside.

Calamity Ganon drops down, though he looks like a spider-Ganon. I'm feeling anxious given the supplies and skills I've lost on the way here. But thankfully the Divine Beast Champions send in their attack and knock down 50% of his health. That's good, because he hits pretty hard in the fight. I don't quite figure out the best strategy, but I have enough supplies to survive the fight and work in some good hits.

After he's defeated, we end up outside where Ganon takes on his true form...I guess. I gian bull! This is much easier, as I just ride my horse around and shoot at weakpoints Zelda reveals. Once he's down, i guess he's banished to the space between dimensions with phantom ganon and that's it.

There's no real story after that. Sadly, but not unexpectedly, you don't get to keep playing. That's an unfortunate thing about Zelda games, they always end at the end. Normally that's reasonable, but every Zelda game is about restoring a turbulent world to peace and happiness, while giving you good world building. But you never get to enjoy this world you build. Just a couple of cenimatics showing the NPCs having fun.

Lame.

So the game is done. I think this is my 2nd favorite Zelda with Ocarina being my favorite. I enjoy the world they've built here, but I think it being a post apocalyptic world where everything of significance happened in the past is a weak choice. Looking at two great games, Dragon Quest 11 and Ocarina of Time, those games did a great job having a mostly functional world that then "ends" and shows all the changes and consequences of that. But then you have the chance to save it. Not saying this needed to take that route, but the world and characters made that great--not the lonely apocalyptic world this is.

#Zach's Game Journal #COMPLETED #The Legend of Zelda #Breath of the Wild #Nintendo #Switch #Video Games #Gaming

[burnedbyshoto]

seven

Rich and powerful men can marry seven different women in a wild attempt to produce the perfect heir. Todoroki Enji is one of these powerful men, and you’re his seventh bride.

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pairing: todoroki enji (endeavor) x fem!reader

warnings: edo period!endeavor (king henry viii inspo), forced marriage, alcohol consumption, 18+, smut, non-con, dub-con, size difference, breeding kink, rough-sex, pain, degradation, & mind break

word count: 5,750

a/n: fuck that family who started the fire in socal. my campus is literally raining ashes up in oregon. im so tired. two exams monday. im going to be going on meds for anxiety and adhd soon, so thats new. uh,,, this is like LOL its a bit bad,,, but I really, really lust over asshole enji who only wants to breed bitches and thats it. this is for the bnharem fantasy au collab, i wan’t that creative sorry see ya later skaters.

PLEASE CAREFULLY READ THE WARNINGS. PLEASE CAREFULLY READ THE WARNINGS. PLEASE CAREFULLY READ THE WARNINGS.

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One.

Fate: Spared.

Two.

Fate: Executed.

Three.

Fate: Died during childbirth.

Four.

Fate: Spared.

Five.

Fate: Executed.

Six.

Fate: Executed.

Seven.

Fate: Unknown.

Silks and expensive cloth held a scent that was irreplicable.

The smooth smell of the layers upon layers of fabric wrapped around your body did nothing to quench the building layer of ice in your stomach.

You were scared.

Rightfully so.

Six women came before you, and if you wanted to live, you would have to do better than them.

Marrying the Todoroki Clan head was something that most women could only dream of accomplishing in this day and age. The Todoroki’s, after all, are strong, rich, powerful, undefeated. They held the real power in this age, more influential and notable than the emperor that repeatedly begged the family for support, be it in power, strength, or money.

But, it was also known knowledge that the man who sat at the head of the clan, who held the power of the Todoroki name and future, was a man not to be trifled with.

Todoroki Enji was an endeavor of a man.

There had always been whispers about the head of the family, how he stood eight feet tall, and how his body was not lean like most warriors, but thick and savagely sturdy. His hair was red, blessed by the sun some claimed, or cursed by the devil others alleged. His temper and barbaric nature on the battlefield were, of course, rumored by the people on your lands, who had been indebted by the Todoroki Clan because of their protection and profits. 

Todoroki Enji was not a man to be trifled with.

Especially not if the rumors were true.

He was painted as a demon by everyone. Still, Enji was no demon, he was human, and if he was to allow the Todoroki Clan's legacy to continue, he needed an heir… but since he was human, he was aging.

Six women.

You knew that it was six women because you had been alive to experience five of them.

You remember the newly married couple being paraded through the streets.

Todoroki Enji remained hidden within his vehicle's confines while his new wife, doe-eyed, smiling, effervescent, would greet the gathered crowds. You often wondered what they thought when you would conjure in respect for the man who ensured your childhood and adolescence were not corrupted by thieves and horror.

You wondered what she thought when promising the village elders that she would produce a strong, male heir. You raised an eyebrow at the thought that maybe, just maybe they believed that they would be different -- be able to birth a strong, capable male heir.

Six wives.

Twenty children.

Two weak, sickly boys.

A whole clan of girls.

Were they idiotic, blind, or batshit insane to ever believe that they would be different?

You undoubtedly didn’t know.

Three of the six had been executed.

Three of six had been proud to state they would produce a strong male Todoroki heir, noting that his two sons -- Touya and Natsuo -- would be removed from the family as soon as their strong son was born. 

One of those three birthed a weak, sickly baby boy. She passed in childbirth and took him with her one day after.

Another of those three birthed four girls, two sets of twins because, of course, they were given two chances. She was executed on treason.

The final of those three had simply pissed him off; rumor had it. Her pussy was too tight, unwilling to sheath the thick massive cock that belonged to him… no point in breaking something that wouldn’t bend when there was more pussy out there (you remember she had been ugly too).

But what you didn’t expect was for his clan members to come through your village's streets with an announcement in hand.

Of the six women before you, three had held significant political power -- the three that survived.

Of the remaining three, there was a poet, the other a woman soldier of his, and the last being a clan member.

You had never known what the decision process was, not even a little bit, so when men dressed in dark robes with the Todoroki sigil and katana’s strapped to their sides infiltrated your village, you were on edge.

“All women who are fertile and beautiful, line up, and no, we don’t care if you’re married,” was the short, almost taunting order, and you had never felt sicker.

You were among the seventy females in your village that matched the requirement they demanded. 

Your sight was almost glued to the floor as they walked through you all, your fists grabbing your light blue kimono as the men groped the women in line, teasing the breasts of the pregnant women, rutting their poorly concealed cocks through the valley of asses, shoving between some girls thighs with loopy, proud smiles on their faces, beating any man who attempted to protect any one of their honors. 

But you were towards the end of the line, standing where they decided to save for last, and you were helpless to it all. You watched knowing that of the sixty-something women ahead of you, none of them remained. 

The whimpers, cries, and whines grew louder by your ear, your spine rigid and sore with its tightness as the girl beside you dropped to the floor in her fear. You couldn’t bother looking at her as the parting of their robes seemed to be akin to gunpowder going off in your ears. The horrified squeal on her tongue being silenced when a cock slammed through her lips, the tears pouring down her face useless, if anything, only encouraging their roughhousing. 

Your lip curled at the sound of her pathetic whining, the incessant need of her to tell them that she was not okay with this was nails on an iron plate. It annoyed you, it pissed you off.

“Look at this one,” the snickering laughter of a man breathed by your ear, instantly stilling and freezing the anger that was once radiating like fire from your chest. “She doesn’t look ashamed… she looks like she’s jealous. Maybe these common bitches do have someone good enough for Boss.”

Spluttering gasps and hiccuping cries came from the ground, and you couldn’t even bother glancing at the woman you had known all your life laying on the floor, kimono ripped open, and white, sticky cum dripping from her mouth.

“Well, there’s nothing like taking her out for a test run,” came a sleazy smile, and when two hands gripped at your clothed breasts, you didn’t so much as raise a brow at their perverted actions.

You had won in the end against them. Each perverted, twisted intention they placed against you, dirt crusted fingernails digging into your arms, purpling, throbbing cocks pressed into your backside… it hadn’t mattered.

You didn’t budge.

You didn’t cry.

You didn’t make a noise.

A simple smirk remaining on their faces at your inevitable victory against the other women in your village -- against the crying, cum stuffed women who stared at your victorious and stubborn form without a clue on how you managed.

And where did that land you?

In a room with only one window too high up for an average person to reach, white silks and fabrics adorning your body, and ceremonial ornaments in your hair.

Six women came before you, but today, you would become the seventh.

With you, there would be seven women to have wed Todoroki Enji, but you weren’t scared because you feared the fate of the six before you. No, you were much better than them; you already knew that for a fact.

The anxiety that coursed through your veins created that ice pit in your stomach came from one place and one place only.

Your cunt already sobbed at the thought of even attempting at taking his thick, veiny cock you knew was the size of your thigh later tonight.

A virgin like you had no chance of survival.

The doors to your room soon slammed open, and your back stiffened at the sight of a familiar face of an escort you had. His eyes didn’t meet yours; they were focused at the wall, his face tense and tight.

“It’s best we leave now, y/l/n, Todoroki-sama doesn’t like waiting.”

The weight of the white silk on your body felt like a brick when you stood up from your position, and you wondered if the sweat from your pits and palms would damage the kimono -- if it was noticeable. But you had a duty, and as number seven, you had no motive to be executed before even getting the chance to prove yourself.

You knew how wishes worked; the secret was in being silent about your desire… never reveal what your wish was, or the world wouldn’t grant it.

Or at least, that’s what you told yourself every time you heard the all too familiar words of: “I’ll produce a fine Todoroki heir,” through the lips of the dead and the divorced. They had spoken it to the universe, acknowledged what they needed, and the cruel world failed them each and every time.

You were so wrapped up in your thoughts, so consumed by the idea of what would happen tonight, you hardly realized that with the heaving puffing breathes you took to keep up with the man’s ridiculous strides, that you had made it to the shrine that you had been brought to wed.

But you couldn’t even take in the beauty of the shrine to your left because you were more interested in who was standing in the pathway towards the shrine.

Todoroki Enji.

He stood on the stone-paved path, his bulky, beefy arms folded across his chest, the fabric of his kimono taut and tight against his flexed muscle, and a sour frown on his face. It was as the rumors had spoken, you realized when you stopped mere strides away from your future husband, he was a man that looked both godly and cursed.

Bright red hair glistened like copper pans under the sunlight, waving and flickering like a raging fire with every small burst of wind. He stood at almost eight feet high, maybe eight feet, you had no idea. All you knew is that as your feet stumbled when getting near to this man, you were dwarfed, feeling like a child next to their father as you gazed up at his unmoving, scarred face. His eyes didn’t look down at you, but even you could see the clear, sharp blue in them, and for the first time, you questioned reality.

Was this man truly human? Was he genuinely Japanese?

Seeing him before you made your knees buckle in fear, arousal, and anticipation.

You wanted to see what had made the sixth scream to stop.

You wanted to see just what he was hiding behind the ridiculously tight fitted kimono, but your thoughts were yanked away when his hand -- no doubt bigger than your head -- pressed to space between your shoulder blades and pushed you.

“We’re on a tight schedule,” he merely growled, his eyes burning at something a million miles away, and with a small, pitiful whimper, you allowed him to lead the way.

The wedding ceremony was… odd, to say the least.

While you had never been married, you had attended a few weddings within your lifetime already, and never once had it felt so disturbing dead and raw as it had today. This Shinto ceremony, typically doused with symbolism and motifs for the greatest possible outcome for the union between you and Todoroki Enji, was stripped from the shrine walls, leaving the walls barren and cold as both he and the priest proceeded through the ceremony at breakneck speed.

It wasn’t something Enji wanted; you realized that clearly the moment he refused to meet your gaze; his blue eyes remaining on the priest.

Everything the both of you performed together was done haphazardly, the lack of symbols you had always wished to see in your wedding ceremony forgotten, undoubtedly seen as a farce by a man like Todoroki Enji, but still, your heart ached.

You hadn’t noticed when the ceremony had ended; Enji never once allowing you to move, or do anything for that matter, by yourself. There was no use in fighting against a man who’s entire hand fit around your forearm, his thumb even resting against his fingernail -- oh yes, this man was huge.

There was no telling when he paraded you through the streets of his territory, allowing you to numbly speak to the village elders, to allow your parents to press their sweaty palms to your cheeks because god, please, please survive this, their touch practically sobbed. You smiled at them, eyes numb with the reality of what this was going to be for you, but the cheerful tone on your tongue remained optimistic and bright with every passing word. 

The scornful thoughts of the sixth woman being too weak to handle Enji had dissipated, and you wondered just what the other five did to survive what you knew was a massive fucking cock hidden beneath the shrowds of his black kimono.

You would survive, you would survive, you would survive.

But far before you were ready to, you arrived back at the Todoroki front, the wooden estate standing sturdy and strong, the air of power and aura almost tangible. The samurai and clansmen who had undoubtedly awaited for you and your now-husband (that was still odd to think about) to return. Pairs of warm, weathered hands helped you from the carriage, and without so much of a whisper of thanks, they escorted you away, heads bowed at the mercy of their leader.

Once more, you were abandoned in your room.

The window no longer allowed the streaming setting sunlight in, your room was in the eastern part of the estate, and with the nighttime coming, the setting sun was merely a memory to you.

And in that room, the tiny, unspacious room that seemed much more for a prisoner than the seventh wife of Todoroki Enji, you tried not to cry.

The door slamming open hours after you had fallen asleep had taken you by surprise.

Enji had left you to your own entertainment, and long after you were served dinner, and informed that no, Todoroki-sama would not be visiting you right now because he was busy, you had sat on the bed in your silks and robes, numbly looking at the star-filled sky. Sleep was the only thing you could do, and with the last servant visit being past midnight, you took to sleep.

Except that you forgot a sparing, important detail.

This was Todoroki Enji’s world, and you were merely his legal fuckhole.

The heavy footsteps of Enji entering the room echoed in your ear, and the door closed behind him, solidifying the end of the beginning of what you once knew. 

“Seven,” he growled into the night, and your spine snapped straight.

He loomed above you, the tatami mat suddenly feeling like a brick wall against your side, and you swallowed pathetically at the way his deep, raspy voice sent shivers down your spine.

This had been the first time you had heard him speak, all other forms of communication between him and the priest and he and his clan members had been nonverbal, solely told through those piercing blue eyes that only let you dream of what he sounded like -- of what he was demanding. But you lay confused, your eyebrows scrunched at just why he had called out the number seven?

Seven what?

You twisted where you lay, your eyes meeting his own, and despite the lack of light in the room, you could see the cold, distant glint in his eyes.

“Oh good,” he mocked, his voice low and dangerous, eyes squinted in his apparent lack of approval. “You can hear.”

“S-Seven what?” you stammer, your elbow pressing into the mat, pushing you up so that you could look at your husband, uncertainty and discomfort scorching every nerve in your body. 

You didn’t know what to do.

Then, it hit you. The bitter, numbing smell of alcohol coated in a fine layer around his skin, the small puffs of angry air from his mouth letting you know that your husband was inebriated, and your throat clenched when he began to dismantle his kimono.

“T-This isn’t a good idea!” you stammer, the white silk robes you were still dressed in because they refused to allow you a set of sleeping clothes because the marriage needed to be consummated, felt stiff and not protective enough. “You won’t produce a proper heir if you’re intoxicated.”

Enji raised an eyebrow at you, and your thudding heart failed to cease as his robes hit the floor with an unceremonious thud. 

Whiskey dick wasn’t something foreign to you; the countless men you had sucked off in your time, the numerous sex stories you had been shared with always had some instance of a man getting drunk and being able to get their cock hard, but this…?

If this was Enji’s whiskey dick, you weren’t sure what to expect of his sober cock.

His cock was already hard, the veins in his cock large, plentiful, and bulging in many areas. It was thick, without a doubt thick enough where it would take both your hands to circle around his cock, and it was long, the swollen weeping tip leaking against his abdomen. His cock was magnificent yet deadly, and your pussy spasmed in fear of having that monster all twelve plus inches shoved into your virgin cunt.

“The fuck are you doing, seven?” Enji snarled, his powerful naked legs moving toward you, his feet pressing into the mat, and his hand reaching out to you. “I didn’t marry you for you to just stare at my fucking cock like some piss-shit baby.”

There was no time to panic, protest, or even prepare yourself for the sudden sharp, dull ache in your jaw when he pressed his monster cock past your chapped, chewed lips. 

Immediately, it was overwhelming.

The engorging cock had barely passed your lips, but you were already gagging against the unwelcomed size, the horrid ache sending spilling tears down your cheeks, doing nothing but annoying the man before you. His hands gripped your hair, his eyes not even bothering to look at you as he fucked your mouth.

“Stop fucking resisting,” Enji snarled, his hips coming to meet your mouth in a vicious, unpleasant snap, the head of his cock pressing down your clenched throat, and so much of his cock still remaining far from your mouth. “Take my cock like the fucking whore I know you are, seven.”

You gasp for air, but with his cock ramming further and further down your throat, the scalding heat emitting from his skin burning your throat, making you gag and choke around him in your fear. You couldn’t breathe, you realized in a panic, and your eyes widened in fear, drool and spit spilling down your chin pathetically as Enji hums contently.

“Don’t feel so scared, seven,” Enji cruelly smirked up at the ceiling, his hips lazily, sloppily, yet powerfully delivering his cock into your bulging throat. “I heard what you did to my men, how you let them fuck you however they saw fit, how you scoffed and scowled at the other pathetic weak bitches who couldn’t handle a little groping… I thought you would like this? What is it? Never had a real fucking cock before? A little whore like yourself only gotten shitty little cocks?”

Wordlessly, you begged to be shown mercy, your vision blackening as he choked out all forms of oxygen, his war weathered body unbothered by your clawing fingers on his thighs. No, you were too weak for it to hurt him.

His hands left your hair, and you collapsed back onto the bed, gasping for air, choking, and coughing for oxygen that only burned all through your system, sitting unpleasantly in your lungs while tears and saliva mixed on your throat.

“Where the fuck are do you think you’re going, seven?” Enji barked, his body suddenly looming over yours, and you felt trapped, unable to move as the mountain of a man trapped you between his sturdy arms and legs. His cock, warm and sticky with your spit and his precum, sat heavily on your stomach, the size difference between the two of you even more pronounced when the tip of his cock rested at the bottom of your ribcage. “All you did was lube up my cock for your stupid, tight pussy. Don’t think I was satisfied with that childish blowjob -- next time, if you want to cry, make sure it’s loud enough that I feel it against my cock.”

You pathetically moan at his words, the tears still falling from your eyes because your throat and jaw hurt. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt.

“Please,” you gasped as his cinder hot hands pressed to your breasts against your kimono, he quickly enveloped your tender flesh in his hands despite the fabric. “Please, no more.”

“I don’t remember this marriage being about you,” he mocked, and with no more of a glinting snarl of his mouth, he tore the kimono straight off your body. The horrified scream that left your lips was silenced by the echoing slap across your face.

Pain blistered at the side of your face, and the resulting tears couldn’t be felt against your numbed skin as Enji continued his conquest, his fingers pulling and ripping any and all fabric pressed against your body.

“Get away!” you weakly whimpered, body trembling and twisting as you attempted to escape the man looming above you, finally ridding you of all dresses, hands pressing to the back of your thighs to push you into a position that he liked. “Leave me alone, leave me alone…”

There was no fire in your words, nothing but the aching fear and undeniable terror.

But the words did nothing to Enji, who continued to move you so that your tight, virgin cunt lined up with his throbbing, red cockhead. Even like this, your face was pressed into his chest. His body unworldly larger than yours, incredibly goliath compared to you.

“You know, seven, if you keep trying to escape me and you keep trying to save yourself, then why are you so fucking wet with everything I’ve done?” he growls down at you, his piercing blue eyes staring straight through you, the tears falling down your face doing nothing but encouraging him because he was right… your cunt, just like his cock, was wet, dripping with the undeniable pleasure of this all. There was a fire, a shameful fire, in your pussy, throbbing in time with the stinging pulse in your face that begged for Enji’s cock despite it all. “You fucking tiny little slut… I can feel just how my actions -- how my words -- affect you, getting you off like a bitch in heat! Your efforts to hide it are pathetic, fucking useless.”

Pain.

If you thought you knew what pain was before right now, you had to be wrong. 

Enji’s girth was overwhelming, nearly splitting your shuddering tight walls while he buried his cock entirely within you. Nausea builds in the back of your throat, a soundless shriek breaking past your bleeding lips, your hips bucking in their relentless attempt to adjust to the way that he was splitting your walls in two, and your face flushed in pain and lust press into his chest, the only part of him you could touch. 

Fuck, fuck, “fuck!” you cried, fat and painful tears pushing past your eyes, dripping down the apples of your cheeks while Enji sighed at the feeling of your hot cunt against his cock, blood seeping out of your pussy in such a pretty way he couldn’t help but smile.

“You’ve got a really tight cunt,” he observes, his hips slamming against you without warning, his mind only caring about him, setting off another round of painful screams while he situates within you. “Mhm, this is nice. A tight, young pussy always means a good womb, you’ll give me the heir I need… I’ll make sure to fuck you full of my cum.”

His hips then begin to thrust upward into you, the tip of his cock unable to reach the beginnings of your walls that he seemed to attempt to get to with each powerful blow. But it was his girth that had your body tensed, back arched in pain, eyes clenched in nothing but pain.

Pain.

Pain.

Pain.

“Hey.” SLAP. Your head snapped to the side, a burning, stinging pain on your cheek, alerting you that your eyes were closed. Your piqued breathing spluttered and so spaced between it was as if you were having some sort of asthma attack. Enji looked down at you, blue eyes burning demonly down at you (you wondered if this was the same look those who survived to see him on the battlefield claimed he had), his lips curled into an unapproving snarl while his hands pushed at the bottom of your knees. You pressed further into the tatami, the angle of penetration only furthering with your desperate screams to be gentler. “Shut the hell up, you’re annoying me with all this fucking screaming. Don’t waste my time.”

You whimper loudly, the feeling of his forcibly moving hips not becoming any easier on you, no longer a wave of intensive horrifying pain, but still a throbbing pain than had your fingernails cutting into his skin. “You have to be gentler! Be gentler, please be gentler! You’re so much bigger than me!!! My pussy can’t… my pussy can’t handle this!”

The fabric of the kimono under your body seared with heat when Enji shoved you further onto the mat, your legs twitching almost pathetically around his waist while your sight nearly blackened with his next action. He slammed your knees into the mat, increasing the angle of his penetration by a tenfold, sending you into another round of howling pain and pleasure as his cock slammed into your cervix -- bruising and scalding your puffy, sensitive walls with every powerful thrust. With his drilling hips and snarling speed, your screams and shouts of pain and pleasure and fear were cut off by an enormous fist around your neck, and his voice echoed from above you.

“Didn’t your dad teach you fucking whore to be quiet, seven?” Enji hisses, his thick hand clenching around your neck. Oxygen refused to flow to your lung, you went light-headed and limp, choking noises emitting from you while he continued to slam his cock in you, your clenching and splitting walls unable to keep up with the speed of the esteemed nobleman of Japan. “You’re my breeding whore, do you understand? You have no value to me except to be breed, to be full of my cum, to carry my child. You are nothing more than an object. Do. You. understand?”

Your head throbbed, the blood forcibly kept in your head, and the lack of oxygen made your world spin. 

“Y-Yes!” you choke on your tongue.

“Repeat it!”

“I’m your breeding whore! Fill me with your cum, I wanna… fuck, I w-wanna carry your children! I’m your object, I’m yours, I’m yours, I’m yours!”

“There we go,” Enji sighs contently, his broad chest pressing your thighs further into the bed, cutting off what limited oxygen you had left, and increasing the jabbing pleasure within you by a tenfold.

“Shit, such a filthy fucking cunt you have,” he groans, your walls spasming against him with his wild, obscene thrusts. He moves his hands further up your legs so that they press against your knees, your legs then wrap around his body, shaking as he makes no effort to slow in his advances, your finger drawing blood from where they raked down his back because he was burning an outline of your body into the mat. Your strangled scream goes unnoticed by Enji, a desperate plea for him to be softer.

But he wasn’t someone who cared.

You were only here to be bred, to give him a son, the strongest son the entire country of Japan -- nay, the world -- has ever seen.

Pathetically, your hips attempt to rise up to meet him, a prayer that it would ease this brutal force he was using. It was too much -- his cock easily overpowering your throbbing cunt.

The sounds of his cock slamming into your sopping pussy created loud wet noises that made you cry in embarrassment. Your face felt like it was seconds from popping out, Enji’s weight crushing you on top of the abhorrent position he was fucking you in, but he found it as an excuse to speed up. His rugged grunts are warnings in your ears as his cock finally hits your cervix with consistency that makes you wail. The stretch he gave you was boggling, and you were progressively less cognitive aware as he drilled in harder. His slams were so hard that the sound of his thighs hitting your ass let out a continuous and loud slap.

His fingers gouge into your skin, and you cry his name like a hopeful prayer as he is fueled by your appraisal, your breath hot and sticky between the valley of his chest. Your tongue pressing against his skin akin to some infant looking to suck their mothers tit.

The force in which Enji slammed his hips to meet yours. Above your ear, the growling pants that mocked you for enjoying this demeaned you for thinking you were anything more than his breeding whore sent a liquid fire that could never match the heat of a conflagration to your core. When your head smashed against the mat because you could no longer keep your head up. 

“That’s fucking right,” he laughs, drool pouring past your lips with your mindless babble, your eyes fluttering closed. Pleasure drowned in pain sobs expelled from your lips, invigorating something powerful within the entire family who watches on with impatient stares at the sight of your squeezing cunt around Eniji’s cock. “Take my fucking cock, bitch, don’t fucking pass out yet, we’re far from over.”

Enji was raw power, destruction, and strength. He pistoled into your sobbing core with the intent of getting his sperm into your cunt, to get his sperm that would get him a son into you, other than that, he was uncaring, unmotivated by your pathetic whining and crying. Your thrashing and wailing do not stop Enji, nor do they lessen the pace and the force he’s settled in as the floor begins to creak with every powerful thrust.

“I needa — holy shit, r-right there! M-More, more, more, more--”

“What? Do you need to come already, seven?” Enji mocks you pushing up off you so his back is curved, and your body so small underneath him. “Do you really think I’ll let you cum before me?”

Your eyes can no longer stay open as the only noises leaving your mouth are whines and begs for more. You forcibly clench around him to stir a reaction from him, but all he does is snarl quietly as he continues his rutting force. The pounding is rhythmic. His balls bruising your ass where he hits you. The feeling of Enji’s cock entering and leaving you draws your eyes to the back of your head as you pathetically whimper his name, his thighs hitting your ass at bruising force, only adding to your pleasure. 

Each powerful snap of his hips sending your back arching to the heavens, the balls of your feet digging bruisingly into his back. In and out he goes, your cunt nothing more than a cocksleeve for him, and your wanton screams and mewls taking him further and further.

Enji all but laughs into your ear, his hand moving from pressing onto the tatami mat and pushing into your opened mouth, pressing onto your tongue. “Suck my fingers like a good whore, show me that you’re not gonna disappoint me. Suck my fingers.” you sob in the thought, not because you’re fearful of disappointing the man, but because the feeling of his fingers in your mouth makes your cunt throb ludicrously, your tongue desperately wrapping around the appendages, pushing through the space of his fingers. “I’m going to fill you up so good, breeding whore. You’ll be leaking my cum for days. I’m going to make sure you carry the Todoroki gene, and I hope that it’s my son you carry.”

The words incite clenching heat in your core, your lips unable to form anything but a weak, pitiful moan because the thought of being filled to the max with Todoroki cum makes your mind spin. More, you want to milk them all dry. You want nothing more than that. With a ragged breath, a consecutive full thrust that sends his cock slamming against your cervix, Enji cums fully within you. His load is long and heavy, your belly feeling like it’s bulging when he finally emerges from your cunt. His once hard cock limping in his hands while you lay there defeated, his and your intermixed cum spilling from your pulsing cunt. 

Your mouth opened, sobbing at his absence, a need for him to return despite your core's undeniable tremor and ache. He’s off your body as well, and oxygen floods your lungs in dizzying and shallow pants, your vision fuzzies out, and you stare almost brokenly at the window painted with the rising morning sun.

Your room was in the east wing, after all.

You didn’t even protest when he pressed a smooth wooden plug into your cunt to “ensure you were bred to succession.”

He would soon leave your room, stumbling out with a drunken hiccup, leaving you to lay on a once white kimono… a once white kimono drenched in cum, blood, sweat, and tears.

You wouldn’t know until two weeks later, but Todoroki Enji had succeeded in breeding you, and you would eventually lay in a birthing room with blood and sweat and tears soaking your skin as a silent baby boy was placed in your arms.

“And what will his name be?” the midwife asked, her eyes wide with joy for you and Enji.

“...Shouto.”

#endeavor x reader #todoroki enji x reader #endeavor smut #bnha #bnha x reader #mha

[ikeromantic]

Middle Ground

A Mitsuhide Akechi fanfic - approx. 2200 words. This scene occurs well after the events of the romantic epilogue. Fluff.

First: Mitsuhide and the Maiden

Previous: Bonding

“So . . . separate beds?” Mitsuhide’s wry smile was only a little bitter.

“Yes. I know it’s silly. I’d . . . I’d rather be in there with you.” The chatelaine, soon to be Lady Akechi, looked down, her expression a mixture of shame and defiance.

“It’s fine. I will have you all to myself soon enough. What is a night or two apart?”

She looked up without raising her head, trying to gauge his emotions.

Mitsuhide wasn’t having any of that. He took her chin between his finger and thumb and gently lifted until her gaze met his. “It is fine.” Then he leaned forward to brush a kiss across her cheek. With his lips almost close enough to touch her skin, he added. “Are you so eager to be in my arms again? Do you want to . . . test out the guest room? Or your childhood bed?”

He had the intended effect. She shivered and licked her lips. “You are so bad!”

“You are the one protesting our brief separation.” Mitsuhide pressed another kiss to her cheek and leaned back.

She crossed her arms. “You’re right. It’s just a few nights. But when we get back to the city -” a wicked smile turned her lips up at the corners, promising all sorts of fun.

“So forward, my little mouse. So eager. You make me wish we were home already.”

“That’s the idea.” She turned and threw him a saucy look. “Something to dream about.”

Mitsuhide chuckled. “Good night, little one.” Something to dream about indeed. He watched her hips as she walked down the hall, until she turned into her room and shut the door. She really had no idea what impact she had on him. He wondered if it was his practiced art of hiding his true emotion, or simply that she couldn’t see how beautiful she was. How desirable.

He went into the room and shut the door. It was so strange. The electronic hum of household devices. The cold fluorescent light from the street lamps in his window. Distant traffic sounds blending with barking dogs and strains of music. Mitsuhide felt suddenly very alone and very out of place.

Despite his refusal, the thought of spending one night, much less three, without his little one, felt impossible. A burden too heavy for him to bear. He needed to feel her in his arms, to fall asleep to the sound of her breathing, the beat of her heart. Her warmth grounded him in this strange place.

Mitsuhide gave a dry, soundless laugh. Who was the little mouse now?

Slowly, meditatively, he dressed for bed and lay down. He would embrace this world, different as it was from his own. He had to, because it was the one that gave birth to his beloved. And so, listening to the heartbeat of this small town, the viscous thrum of modern life, he drifted into an uneasy sleep.

Miyake and Sasuke arrived the following day at lunch. They met up at a local restaurant. Youko was friends with the owner and able to borrow a few tables in the back for privacy.

Minoru, the chatelaine’s often grumpy father, seemed to be on his best behavior. Not smiling, but distantly polite to the two newcomers. He thawed a little when his daughter threw her arms around each of the men in greeting.

No one said much as they ate. Youko and Minoru sat beside their daughter on one side of the table, glancing up at her strange friends. Sasuke, Mitsuhide and Miyake sat across from them, looking nervous.

It was Sasuke who finally broke the silence. He cleared his throat. “I understand your daughter told you about our time in the Sengoku. Understandably, you want proof. You have questions. We are here to give you what evidence we can.”

Minoru snorted. “What do you get out of this charade?” He gestured to Mitsuhide. “Is he paying you?”

Miyake looked as if he wanted to speak up, but Sasuke beat him to it. “No. I am here because your daughter is my friend.” He reached into his bag. “I know it isn’t much, but I brought my ninja kit as proof. These - these are smoke pellets. And that is a kunai. This is a sleeping poison, and this -” he went through the items, explaining what they were and how he made them. Detailed descriptions of the tools and materials he had available.

When Sasuke finished, Minoru looked thoughtful.

Youko smiled across as Sasuke. “You seem a very resourceful young man. And you are also the one that discovered these wormholes?”

“Yes ma’am.” Sasuke dipped his head, embarrassed by the compliment.

“It could just be you have a - a fascination with this stuff. Read a lot. Saw some movies,” Minoru said. His gruff voice held more than a hint of doubt. Even he didn’t buy his own explanation.

Sasuke nodded. “I could have. But even that would not yield the encyclopedic knowledge I’ve developed. I would go into greater detail, but I imagine you don’t have the underlying historical education to make use of most of the information I could provide. Unless . . . Are you a history buff?” His voice sounded different at the end, as if this question was important. Light glinted off his glasses, hiding his eyes. The air around him was charged, almost crackling with a sudden and unexpected energy.

“No. I can’t say I am,” Minoru replied.

“Hm, too bad.” The strange tension in the ninja disappeared as suddenly as it came.

Mitsuhide nudged Miyake. The warrior muttered something under his breath and then rolled his shoulders. “Alright, old man. I don’t blame you for doubting us. I’d think I was crazy too, or lying. But what Lady Akechi told you is true. She’s been living with my lord for the last few months. And it’s a good thing too. He smiles a lot more now. Eats too, and sleeps almost like a human.”

“Miyake,” Mitsuhide growled. “That’s not the kind of evidence they need to hear.”

“Sorry, but it’s the truth. And if you don’t mind me saying, well, even if you do, your daughter makes for one hell of a princess. She makes the servants happy to do a good job because she notices the little things. And the guards . . . they’d all die for her, and not just because Lord Akechi demands it. She’s kind and good to all of us. I don’t get to spend time at the castle, but I hear how she remembers birthdays and congratulates newlyweds and -”

Youko laughed, a sound Mitsuhide recognized. Much like his own little one, but matured. More elegance with just the same amount of joy. “It sounds like you have a following,” she smiled at her daughter.

The chatelaine blushed. “I really don’t. He’s exaggerating, mom. Really.”

“He is not,” Mitsuhide chided. “Though I don’t think that’s the kind of proof her father -”

Minoru interrupted, his gruff voice quieting the table. “It’s clear you’ve gotten to know her. My little girl.” He gave her a brief smile. “I am still . . . it’s a lot to take in. This wild story. But she stands by it and there is clearly - something true in it.”

His daughter hugged him. “I knew you’d come around, papa.”

He dislodged himself from her unexpected embrace. “I didn’t say I’m buying the whole story. Just,” he waved his hand, “some of it rings true.”

The tension at their table eased, and conversation began to flow more naturally. Youko and Minoru had a lot of questions, and were finally ready to hear the answers.

***

Kyubei followed Ranmaru through the thick forest undergrowth, barely able to make out the dirt path he led them down. This was supposed to lead to a safe house, one that Kennyo agreed to meet him in. He wished the demon-abbot had a taste for teahouses instead of abandoned forest shacks, but it could be worse.

He could be with Hideyoshi, hunting Motonari across the ports. Kyubei wasn’t afraid of pirates, but being on a boat . . . the constant roll of the ocean waves made him sick as a dog. No matter how many trips he made, he never gained any kind of tolerance for the motion. So this, the dirt and the bugs and the thick air under the trees, was a better deal all around.

“This is it.” Ranmaru stopped just before the path opened on a small clearing. There was a half-rotted shack ahead, once a shrine to some local deity, now fallen into disrepair.

Kyubei was surprised to see he wasn't’ the only one here to speak to the monk. Another familiar figure sat on the wooden steps outside the shrine. “Shingen?”

Takeda grinned up at him, pushing a lock of sweaty hair out of his face. “If it isn’t Mitsuhide’s maid!” He laughed. “Kidding, kidding! I just expected to see the kitsune out here himself.”

“He is otherwise engaged.”

“Is he?” Shingen’s smile was dangerous now. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with our missing ninja, would it?”

“If it does, I’ll send him your head,” Yukimura spoke up from somewhere to Kyubei’s left.

Ranmaru put his hands up, laughing as if this were all so silly. “It’s too early for threats. Come on! Let’s make some tea and relax. The abbot will be here shortly.”

Kyubei turned his head a fraction, just enough to see Yukimura lower his spear. “Tea would be good.” He ignored the younger warrior’s scowl as he followed Ranmaru to the shrine.

He didn’t sit, but stood near Takeda, resting his back against a tree.

Shingen, for his part, pretended to be fully relaxed. It wasn’t quite effective though. His brow held a waxy sheen, his eyes looked sunken and fevered. Worse, his breathing was labored. A rasp, harsh as a winter cough.

Kyubei watched him carefully. This was a bad situation. A dying man had fewer qualms than one that had to live with his decisions. He hadn’t realized Takeda was so bad off though, despite the reports he’d received. The Tiger of the Kai was legend. Not a man to be taken down by sickness. And yet.

“Don’t get any ideas,” Yukimura snapped, coming to stand beside his lord.

Shingen chuckled. “So protective, Yuki.” His laugh turned into a thick, unproductive cough. When he finally got control of himself, he directed his attention to Kyubei. “So. Where did your lord and my ninja go off to? And don’t tell me you don’t know. There’s too much tying their disappearance together. I’d rather not have to kill you today for lying to me.”

Another situation he wished he had his lord’s guidance. What information was safe to pass along, and what plans would the ripples of this conversation affect? Kyubei swallowed. “I suspect they have gone to visit the chatelaine’s home. 500 years in the future.”

Shingen nodded as if this was the answer he expected. “Sasuke asked me if I’d like to visit his hometown. He said - he said they could cure me.”

“And then he left without you.” Yukimura punched the shrine wall, causing the whole building to tremble.

Ranmaru poked his head out. “Hey! Careful or you’ll bring the whole thing down on my head!”

“Sorry,” Yukimura growled.

“If it is any consolation, I don’t believe Lord Akechi or Sarutobi left when they did intentionally. The information my lord left indicates the trip was meant to take place later. He was still . . . putting things in place for his extended absence.”

“That’s bull,” Yukimura grumbled, but he relaxed his grip on the spear.

They had no more time to talk it over as Kennyo’s shadow fell across the clearing. He came out of the trees like a spirit, the rings on his staff clinking. “It appears you found me. Again.”

Shingen grinned. “Well, old friend, I did have to hunt through every abandoned shrine in the province to get to this one.”

Kennyo snorted in disbelief.

“Ranmaru brought me,” Kyubei bowed. “It is a pleasure to see you again.”

“I have little time or patience for guests. Tell me what you want.” Kennyo crossed his arms.

“Your help with the false emperor.” Kyubei didn’t look up from his bow. “We both know Ashikaga is dead. The scribe we set up in his place, or the men around him, have gone astray.”

“I could care less. Let the exiled shogun harass the devil-king. Nobunaga and his pawns can go to hell.” Kennyo’s eyes were dark and full of anger. It radiated from him like heat from a fire.

Shingen shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I hate him too. But it’s not just him getting hit. These idiot daimyos in his retinue are conscripting farmers. Villagers. Innocent folk that should be left out of a power grab.”

The demon abbot’s eyes fell on his old friend. “And you believe this is a worse fate than what the Oda have in store for them?”

“I do.” Shingen’s gaze didn’t waver.

Kennyo’s shoulders shook and it took Kyubei a moment to realize the abbot was laughing. He shook his head. “You always were a fool, Shingen. But fine. I will tell you what I know. I don’t think you can stop what has been set in motion.”

Next: Double Dating

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen mitsuhide #mitsuhide akechi #ikesen kyubei #otome guys #otome #fanfic #fanfiction #fluff #hc

[kunimikat]

Angst/Fluff

Keiji Akaashi x Reader

(Sorry if there’s any spelling mistakes EVEN THOUGH I CHECKED LIKE 10 TIMES DHJDKDJD)

January 5th, 20xx

“Hey! Let’s work together!”

Akashi blinked owlishly as you suddenly talked to him. He’s never even talked to you before yet you’re talking like you’ve known him for years. At a loss for words he just nods his head. Though he kind of regretted it when all you did was talk instead of work.

“You know, you’d probably have an A in English(Japanese?) with how much you talk.” It was your turn to blink in surprise, before you slap his shoulder playfully. “Well you have an A in....Math because you’re smart!” Akaashi dead panned before laughing, realizing you didn’t get the small jab he said. “Well how about we both get an A on this assignment? Start working!” Akaashi poked you in the chest with the back of his pencil. You mumbled but before you both knew it, you were finished with the small project, and enjoyed each other’s company while doing so. The bell rang and as you were leaving you yell, “Cya tomorrow Kaashi!”

Akanashi looked up from packing his bag, “Bye Y/N- wait Kaashi?” But he couldn’t ask since you were already down the hallway. He sighed, having a dopey smile on his face, even when his friends teased him about it.

“Yo! Kaashi! Check it out!”

Akashi glanced back, not expecting to see the weird kid he met last week to be riding a skateboard. But he did expect the face plant as you crashed to the ground, side stepping before you crashed into him.

“Uughh...I almost had it down too.”

Akaashi rolled his eyes but helped you up in the process. “Yeah sure, you eating shit on the sidewalk is almost getting it down” And just like that you both spent your way to school bickering, Akaashi having a warm feeling in his chest. He checked his phone “January 7th, 7:06am” he felt a thump on his chest, looking up he saw you smiling.

“C’mon Kaashi! There’s this new drink at the vending machine I wanna try, all the thirsty ass kids are gonna drink them before we get there, let’s go!” You grabbed his hand and exitedly started running toward the nearest one. Akaashi heart was beating fast, and not from running.

January 15th 20XX

“Uughhhh, this project is stupid, can we just copy off the internet.”

You finished with an exaggerated pout. Akaashi tried not to laughing at the face you were making, instead he slightly nudged in your side cause you to flinch and look up at him. “What?” It caught him off guard, the look you now had a neutral look on your face, your skin was shining in the sunset glow, sprawled out on his bed, almost as if it was your own. Akaashi flushed as he felt butterflies in his stomach. He turned around so you couldn’t see his face. “It’s due on the 20th we have 5 days to finish stop whining.” For the second time today you caught him off guard once you put both arms around his waist, snuggling onto his shoulder. He stood frozen, his heart beat fast, though he tried to control his breath, you take it away once you say like is nothing,

“Well as long as I get time with you Kaashi, I don’t care”

January 27th 20XX

The forest was dense, a game of hide and seek was about to be a missing persons report. Akaashi couldn’t find you and should’ve listened to his gut feeling of ‘this is a stupid idea.’ But of course you always persuaded him into your stupid ideas, and here he was. Looking for you for over an hour. “Y/N! Come Out! C’mon this is childish anyway, let’s just stop!”

He hears a small “hmpf, it’s not childish, I’m just good at this.” Akaashi smiled in relief and your stupidity, as he peers from the opposite side of the tree you were hiding behind. “Found you!” He almost laughed at your expression but decided to lecture you on how stupid this whole thing was, (sliding in a few times he was worried), but ending it with a bop on your head. “You talk like my mom Kaashi, let up, I still have to hear your Highschool lectures too.” Akaashi’s smile faded quickly the sour look on his face was hidden with a deal pan look and another bop on your head. “Yeah, yeah, let’s go”

You started babbling about whatever came to mind, a smile on your face as you walked through the dense forest. Not a care on your face, like this would last forever. Akashi didn’t want to show the look on his face as you walked in front of him.

“Sorry....Y/N.”

January 30, 20XX

Akaashi laid on his back, looking at his ceiling, then to the boxes packed with memories. A small smirk on his face after feeling the adrenaline from bringing all his boxes into his room fade. Akaashi’s notifications went off, but he couldn’t look at them, knowing who it is. He turned them silent as guilt ate him from the inside out. He went from a smirk to an empty look as he looked at the pictures on his drawer. It was you and him. It’s when you and him went to the shrine, wishing for a good future in high school together. You had an arm slinged around his shoulder, making a funny face, while Akaashi looked at you, a confused look on his face.He laughed at the memory, laughing until streams of tears came down his face. Remembering what you said before the photo started,

“You know Kaashi January reminds me of you. Cold but it gives you a warm feeling that a new year started y’know? Something fun always happens when I’m with you.....eh don’t mind me I’m just being cheesy, SAY CHEESE!”

Akaashi couldn’t help but laugh through his tears, his emotions running wild as he remembered everything you did together, then how suddenly he left you. Not saying a word. It would be too painful for him, hell he’d probably would have stayed if he did see you off.

He knows. He knows it selfish but he already couldn’t handle seeing you standing there as the car drove further and further away from you the last time you we’re together. He wipes his tears away as he heard a call for him to come downstairs.

“January...it’s my favorite month too.”

Looking at the picture one last time, he sat it down flat on the drawer and closed the door behind him.

Heyyy, I know the dates don’t make any sense but it kind of happened over years if that makes sense, that’s why it’s so quick. Also this is my first fanfic on here so sorry if it’s basic/boring . It‘s based on how I met a friend in middle school and it passed so fast, by the time I wanted to ask them out but I had to move, I actually did tell them I was leaving(without confessing) and all I can tell you is that I wish I did what Akashi did and just left lol. But hope you enjoyed. ❤️❤️

#haikyuu x male reader #haikyuu x gender neutral reader #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu!! #akaashi keji x reader #akaashi x reader #angst #fluff #akaashi fanfiction #akaashi angst #haikyu x reader #haikyuu x female reader #akaashi oneshot

[fukurodaze]

that one night in march (we went skinny dipping)

pairing: third year! yamaguchi tadashi x gn! reader genre: angst warnings: mentions of nsfw things synopsis: “oh, how tadashi wishes he can freeze time. the closest he can get to that is squeezing your hand.”

special thanks to xin @sugacookiies​ for beta reading <3

was supposed to be a cute lil drabble but its literally 1k bc im losing my mind :) also i love yams!

“i didn’t know you would be into this, tadashi.”

“same goes to you.” yamaguchi tadashi stays still against the pool edge, head leaning on his forearms as he stands in the deep end. hues of blue from ceramic reflect themselves onto the white walls, the little waves of chlorine-infused pool water showing on the translucent dome ceiling.

you’re surprised he’s so nonchalant about it - being the (now former) captain of a powerhouse team in miyagi and all - seeming more than eager to jump into a pool at some ungodly hour on a chilly spring night. 

it also doesn’t help that he’s naked. you are too. it’s probably not the cleanest nor safest thing to do, but you don’t care. tonight is a special night (you insist it to be) and the universe agrees; the weather is so clear, but only tonight. you like to think that the clear sky has made its way for him tonight, and only tonight.

only tonight, only for tadashi. 

“what are you thinking about?” you make your way to him, legs floating off of the floor of the pool. from afar, there’s a ghost of a smile on his face, yet his eyes make for whirlpools of worry.

“you.”

“don’t say that-” he catches you in a kiss, identical to all the other kisses he’s planted on your lips tonight. they’re trembling and fleeting, but his arms hold you tight anyway, their strength enough to carry you out of the pool. he sets you down on a bench.

you love kissing tadashi. you really do. but you know this isn’t the case.

“do you want to talk about it?” your arms reach for a towel to wrap around yourself, and tadashi slips on his boxers. he sits next to you, slouching back, skin still dripping wet. his head comes to lean on your shoulder.

there is silence, and you finally get it. he nestles his head even deeper in the crook of your neck, his breathing the only thing you can feel, hear, and think about. your mind goes back to the dome ceiling, the blue transparency of it all making you feel aquatic, as if holding a pressure that stuffs everything inside a safety bubble to keep. you want to stay here forever. but you can’t.

tadashi knows that, too. his heart still beats a mile a minute every time he’s even in a three meter radius of you, hands still used to the habit of shaking when they hold yours. he’s gotten better, though, and he likes to prove he’s better than who he was just a year or two ago (his favourite method is carrying you). but he also yearns for more days in which you would let him rest in your arms, your space effortlessly full of comfort and calm. 

now you wonder, to the stars and the blue ceramic and to the shrines in all of miyagi if everything’s going to stay this way. this moment is surreal; your senses are amplified, your chest opens up and a gust of wind rushes in. the clock tells you it’s almost sunrise, but you feel like not a minute has passed since you first arrived. you can’t stop thinking about him. you plant a kiss to the top of tadashi’s head, and he places an arm on your knee to steady himself, feeling your bare thighs slightly trembling from the cold. but it’s not very cold - you’re just trembling.

maybe you two will be graduating next week. maybe you will be moving to the other side of the country. maybe you’ll have to split up with him. maybe. just maybe. 

you want to keep it at maybe.

tadashi’s not one to stay quiet about his feelings, often opting to let it all out and loosen up. but tonight, something tells him that it’s a matter that’s better left unspoken, the elephant in every room becoming more of an acquaintance than a nuisance. there is a fear, in your, in tadashi’s, in many third years’ hearts, and that is what it is. a stomach churning, heart-breaking, ego burning fear that haunts the months of november leading up to march. 

you will be heartbroken. 

you two knew this well enough to run excitedly and sneak into a public pool, trespassing sprinkled with kisses on the neck, nerves so wild that they decide to get rid of all your clothes before jumping in. 

there is a reckless intimacy in your and his acts, fingertips tangled in each other’s hair. the pool water is still and mild, and when tadashi had touched you in places you had never been touched before, you felt like you were floating. you found that it was similar to the floating you first learned as a child, before you could even swim - except you were pleasured, and, my god, was it good.

but adrenaline dies down nonetheless, electricity burning into a black out. and now as you sit here, tadashi in your arms, scent of chlorine surrounding both you and him, you take a deep breath.

“i’m scared, too.” 

the words come out of your mouth like a joke, a light laugh attempting to cover up uncertainty. tadashi only hums, sits up, and intertwines his right hand in your left, the act an attempt to stop his shy quivering. he tries to sit tall, thanking you and the universe for clear weather and kisses despite how it plans to rip you away from him in mere weeks. 

it is what it is. 

you’ll remember this, tadashi thinks, as if holding your hand meant holding onto the slim chance of you staying. oh, how tadashi wishes he can freeze time. the closest he can get to that is squeezing your hand. 

with a grimace, the realisation lets itself loose into the atmosphere. some things are just not meant to be; tadashi has always understood that. he does not look at you, and you do not look at him. 

in spite of it all, you two look forward.

#haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #yamaguchi x reader #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu!! x reader #haikyuu angst #haikyuu #haikyuu scenarios #haikyuu!! #hq fluff #hq angst #yamaguchi tadashi #tadashi x reader #yamaguchi fluff #yamaguchi smut #yamaguchi angst #tadashi yamaguchi #haikyuu yamaguchi #karasuno x reader #yamaguchi imagines #yamaguchi fic #haikyuu imagines

[sissytobitch10seconds]

Little Chief

Fandom: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Ship: Link & Urbosa, Link & Riju

Summary:  "So, how do I look?" "You look just like Urbosa."

Link on Archive

The hot desert sun beat down on him as he walked away from the protective cool of the shade. The cool, silky material of his disguise clung to his pale skin as a near immediate shine of sweat popped up over his skin. He longed to be back in the comforting armor, but he had a job to do and understood that the young girl in front of him couldn’t repeal a tradition and law just for someone like him. The lighter material, even if it wasn’t enchanted like the things that he had bought from the Gerudo Secret Club, was probably better for him  in this climate anyway.

Riju spoke to him a little bit before he handed over the Thunderhelm. She struggled to get her ornate hair style inside of the helmet, but managed it pretty quickly. 

Link’s eyes had strayed away from her for a moment, looking further out into the desert while she worked. He could see the dust storm being brought about by the Ganon-occupied divine beast. The familiar feeling of guilt boiled in his stomach. He should have been there for them, he should have helped them. He had been so occupied with saving Zelda, with helping her get to the castle or unlock her power, that he hadn’t even thought about whether or not his friends and teachers had been struggling. He was selfish, and he wasn’t nearly strong enough to protect them like he should have been able to. He needed to be stronger, he had to be. He couldn’t fuck this up a second time. He’d free Urbosa, just like he had with the others. 

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the descendant of the woman he had just been thinking about. He looked back to her as she asked, “Um. How do I look?”

Link blinked a few times. He opened his mouth to say something and then shut it again. It was happening again, he could tell that it was. It was like an itch in the back of his mind as he saw flashes and feelings of things that had happened in the past. There was always one key element that triggered this, and he would remember almost everything about a certain person. There were always missing pieces, and he was told that after everything he had been through there always would be.

He hadn’t yet remembered Urbosa. He knew her name, and vaguely what she looked like. He had some idea of who she was, what she stood for, and what she had been to him. But it was like everything was clouded in darkness. It was hazy and unclear, much like the desert had been when he had been trying to reach the Shrines scattered around the sands days earlier.

A searing pain in the back of his mind sprang to life, and he had to raise his hand up to block it out. He blinked a few times, pressing the palm heel of his hands to his forehead as he took a step back. Something was changing inside of him, and he had felt it before. He let it happen as soon as he pieced together that this was a memory trying to break through.

It all came rushing back to him at once. 

The smell of ozone with hydromelon and voltfruit pie. 

The feeling of worn, large hands correcting his stance as he gripped a heavy spear in his calloused hands.

The memory of someone, warm and motherly, reprimanding him for pushing himself too far as they wrapped gauze around the busted blisters. 

The memory of that same someone encouraging him to get up, and try again.

The memory of sleeping next to the warm body of his princess while someone sung in a language he barely recognized, rain pouring down while lightning and thunder crackled across the sky.

They were constant, calm, caring, and maternal. 

It’s Urbosa.

He’s remembering Urbosa.

Link’s remembering all the times that she helped train him. 

The way that she tried spear after spear to help him learn the Gerudo way of fighting (Mipha fights with a spear too, but she got to teach Link and Zelda about healing, Urbosa decided that this was her chance to give them something).

He remembers the way that she took care of him in the way that no one else did. 

She always tried to check with him at the end of the day and make sure that he was okay. 

She tended to the smaller wounds he couldn’t fix himself and didn’t want to bother anyone else with.

She could always draw small words from him, even if it was just small pleasantries.

He remembers words in a foreign tongue, always so calming and fixating.

He remembers sleeping out on the deck of the Divine Beast Vah Naboris, under the stars and out in the cold desert air.

He’s remembering so many things, like the first time that she fed him a spicy pepper when they were trekking around the Gerudo Highlands.

Like when she dared him to try and fit an entire slice of hydromelon in his mouth, and then proceeded to tease him about it without hurting his feelings like the men in his Royal Guard division did. 

Like when she found out about his feelings for his Princess, and taught him how to be more polite and expressive to her without coming off as brash or crass.

His favorite memory comes last.

They’re out in the desert, just outside of Gerudo Town. There’s a little patch of packed down sand where she always brings him when she wants to teach him and doesn’t need the rest of the guard peering over her shoulder. She also knows that Link feels a bit insecure about not getting this style of fighting like he gets the others, so she leads him away from the others so that he can learn properly without feeling embarrassed or ashamed.

Rivak, her five-year-old daughter, is sitting in the shade, poking at a lizard on the wall who’s too terrified at the sudden appearance of people to move or run away. 

The sun of the desert beats down on them, and Link is sweating despite the cool hydromelon that they had at lunch. The magical effects of the fruit were starting to wear off, but he was going to finish this training even if he had to do it in the sweltering heat.

Urbosa’s standing with her favorite spear clenched in both hands. One foot slightly back so that her heel is elevated off of the ground and she’s on her toes which will allow her to move a bit faster. She has a determined yet inviting look on her face, daring him to charge her while encouraging him to do just that.

The spear in his hands is the same as her’s, though his is a little bit lighter and smaller due to the size difference between the two. He stays there for a moment, shifting his weight back and forth to test out the stance he had taken up when they began. Once he determined that it was satisfactory, he launched forward. “Huh!” Link was barely able to bit back the noise of exertion as the spear is blocked by her own for a moment.

He moved it back as he sprung back to where he was, his blue eyes following her every movement. When she launches forward, he removes one of his hands from the spear and uses the bit of armor that he wore on his arm to deflect the dull blade. It sent the entire spear upward, and he used the other hand to jab forward and knock Urbosa back before she had a chance to react to the other action. He moved back immediately afterward, holding the spear with both hands again. He was still in fighting mode, so it took him  a moment to realize that the force and precision of the hit had actually knocked the Chief back.

Ubrosa was just sitting there, her eyes wide with surprise and shock. She had dropped her spear and it was now sitting next to her as her hands were buried in the sand. Link opened his mouth to apologize, panic filling him as he thought that he had done something wrong.

The air he was going to use to speak was promptly squeezed from his lungs as a pair of strong arms wrapped around him. He was lifted off of his feet a few inches as Urbosa hugged him. “I’m so proud of you, Link.”

Link’s suddenly tugged back to the present. His head feels almost like it’s going to explode. There was so much that he had forgotten, and he was overwhelmed with emotion. His own mother had been a little distant, and had basically cut all ties with him when he had chosen to join the Royal Guard. She had stepped into the role and been everything that he had ever asked for. She was patient, caring, calm, and always there when you needed her. Now she was gone, and it was Link’s fault.

Riju seems to have been getting a little impatient. Link knows that to outsiders, it just looks like he’s staring into nothing despite everything going on in his mind. “What’s wrong? You’re just staring…”

He can’t tell her, but she doesn’t wait for an answer to that question.

“Anyway, what matters now is… how… how is it? How do I look?” she asked, her voice nervous for his answer.

He can’t stop the words that bubble up in his chest. He never got proper time to mourn for his friends, for the only mother figure he had ever known. “You look just like Urbosa.”

#legend of zelda #breath of the wild #fanfiction #link #urbosa #platonic love #maternal love #friendship #relationships #platonic relationships #flashbacks #amnesia #zelda #link and urbosa #link and riju #oneshot #archive of our own #ao3

[so-i-dont-forget-again]

So I Don’t Forget Again: A Breath of The Wild fanfiction

*My friend, much has happened. The doctors are keeping you on the sleep medicine to see if you can heal without eating, being able to heal slowly would be so helpful for you, they worry about you healing and trapping stones in yourself again, it shouldn’t happen because they are caring for you, but… It would be great to know should you retain injuries like this again. They say the medicine may make your memory fuzzy and I realized you were rushed off to get healed, you never got a chance to write, so I’ll do my best for you! I’ll wright down as much as I can so I don’t miss a single thing. I may not be able to capture your thoughts, but I can recall the moments we shared.

*It was a pleasant surprise to see Kass had come to visit the Domain once more. He spoke of his misadventures with you and Bossa Nova. I always love hearing these tales from him, they show just how much you do, how you’re always fighting on, seemingly without rest, it makes me feel you are nearby. Yet, his last tale, he spoke of how pale you were, how you were so distant, constantly getting lost in thought and how Bossa Nova kept bucking you to get your attention back. You just couldn’t concentrate long on the task he said. He also noted how you held your side stiffly. You’re footing was unsteady, you constantly swaying even when standing. He also told me how you slept for two weeks straight in the shrine. He knew he could not do much except try to find you help, so he came to me. He told me of your plan to come to Lanaru Tower and how you were to pass through Rutala River.

*I left with some fishermen who were going to do their work by Rutala River so I could go search for you.

*I’m so glad I did.

*I found you and Bossa Nova in a fight with some Yiga Clan members. Even with but a fishing spear and not a proper weapon, I believe I was of help, and we were able to drive them off. I was so relieved to see you both, I hugged you close, just so glad you were safe. I was not surprised to see that attack though, the Yiga had been camping by the waters, attacking any zora they see, I can only guess they wish for revenge against me for having a hand in their leader’s demise. Your expression, that horror, it’s etched into my mind and will not go. I assured you that we are all well, and simply sending a guard or two with any party fishing outside of the Domain is enough to protect them. We are all safe.

*I asked you to come sit by the shore with me to just talk for a while. I asked you if you were feeling well. You only said you were feeling very tired. I simply could not believe exhaustion was the only thing plaguing you, it had to be a sign of something bigger, you looked so sick. I realize zoras can withstand the cold better than Hylians, but surely it was not cold enough for you to shiver so violently, right?

*I’d never wish to push you into speaking, but I had to ask if that was all.

*You told me you were scared of yourself. You wondered if you were a monster like a Hinox or Lynel. If you were killed, if you’d turn to purple smoke. I answered sincerely, I don’t believe you’d turn to smoke. You asked me what I thought of them, if they were intelligent creatures like you and I. I think so, I know they can make buildings like us, they can fight like us, they seem to communicate in their own languages, I’ve even seen them horse around with one another before or playing a simple game of kick ball.

*You told me you think you’re a monster.

*You spoke of how the monsters relentlessly chase you, they never stop hunting you, they may be easy to beat, but they never give up, they fight to the death unlike the Yiga who on rarer occasion run. You told me you have that same drive as them, and that you’re weak like them, and you feared it so much. My heart broke hearing how your voice quiver and quaked, so quiet, so tired. You told me how you have this overwhelming need to keep going on this journey. This relentless pursuit you can’t let go of. Even when you feel awful, your thoughts go dark, you just keep going, no matter what. I know it’s not a mindless pursuit, it’s your courage. You keep going even when you're scared, you are so strong to make that choice every waking moment, so many in your place would have collapsed under the pressure of all this, of the Divine Beasts and the Calamity, so many would have been too scared to even consider facing all that you have, they would have run, but you keep choosing to do this no matter how hurt you are. That is your courage, choosing to do that even when you are scared. It’s like being a good person. Even a good person could think about not helping that stranger in need or to do bad things, but they still have the strength to choose to do so, and that’s what makes them good. You by far are the most courageous individual I have ever known… And that means something, to me at least, I knew my sister, Mipha, someone who’d race onto the battlefield to heal all who were injured no matter how dangerous, I believe you are even stronger than her, the strongest person I knew till you came into my life once more.

*You spoke of how weak you were, how you are unsure you’re strong enough to save us all. You told me that you don’t know what’s going to be different this time that will allow you to win your battle against the Calamity. You told me of how you feared that it’d simply take control over the Divine Beasts once more once you approach it. But things are different this time Link, the Princess is in the castle, even right now, holding back the Calamity so it shouldn’t do that, if it could, it likely would have done so by now. I told you if you weren’t strong enough to face the beast, you would not have been placed in the healing chamber that kept you asleep for a hundred years. If you weren’t strong enough, you would not have been placed there in order to beat it now. You asked why you fell in the first place. You said it was surely because you tried to fight it, and you failed, you couldn’t think of any other reason why you’d get so injured. You couldn’t remember why, but you couldn’t think of any other reason. I can think of one, and so I told it to you. You must have fallen when protecting someone, in your memories the princess was struggling with unlocking her power, I bet she only unlocked that power because of you. She must have seen how hard you were working to protect everyone, and when you fell, it ignited something within her allowing her to reach her power. I bet you inspired her; I at least know for certain you inspire me. She must be holding back the Calamity specifically for you, and she only can because of you. You are strong, but even the strongest person can’t handle the fate of the world on their own, no one can, and for a moment a hundred years ago, you did, but even as strong as you are, even you couldn’t handle it. But you are not on your own this time, so this time you can do it. This will work. I know this will work. I realize this may feel like I’m placing pressure on you and I apologize if I am, but I can not think of any other way to describe this.

*Link, you are a hero, a hero working with other heroes, and you all will succeed. You are not alone in this fight, even if you are from time to time in this journey. You are amazing, I know you are strong enough in so many ways to be able to do this.

*You told me you already failed in all those regards. Each and every last one, you had failed.

*You told me you killed Friend, and that you were just going to do so with everyone else. You told me you almost got Bossa Nova killed almost starving him, and asked what was going to stop you from killing everyone else, saying that if it indeed was courage and strength and not maddening pursuit and weakness none of that would matter if you got everyone killed before facing the Calamity. You told me that everyone in Hateno must be dead because of how the Yiga are pursuing my people to get revenge on me and how the villagers in Hateno have no one but you to protect them, but the Yiga are chasing you, so you’d only bring more danger if you left to check on them. You told me that if you went to Rito Village to save their Divine Beast, the Yiga would follow you and kill them all so there was no point in going, but you still find you need to go, that is the pursuit you fear, going anyway, despite knowing the danger you would be bringing. You were just going to get everyone killed, no matter where you went.

*It was like when you spoke of my sister. Your next words were just like that moment. Something within you just caved in and broke. You cried, begging me to not die, to not leave you. You told me you couldn’t take losing anyone else. I honestly did not know what I could do for you, other than hold you tightly and securely. I told you that no matter where I am my thoughts are always with you. Even if not physically, I am with you. I will never leave you.

*You fell asleep in my arms, so Bossa Nova and I took you to the Domain for a proper rest.

*You wouldn’t wake up. For so long. When you finally did, it seemed you had to fight yourself to do so. You needed to see a doctor, even though you can instantly heal by eating, clearly something was wrong.

*You have so many infections eating away at you, it likely spread from your arm to your shoulder, then your side. You told me you were going to be more careful with your arm, you said you’d take better care of yourself, yet this happened. It seems as though this was a long time coming, even before you gave your word, I believe it started back when you were chased by those guardians and your arm was crushed under ruble, that was when it started healing slower and always hurting, right? I would look, but it feels wrong to do so with you asleep, that’s even why I’m writing all this on separate pages. Your journal is your memory, I dare not tamper with it without your explicit permission. The doctors had found your flesh had grown around pebbles that were inside you, even getting attached to them with some connective tissue. When you first came here and were taken to the doctors, it seems your healing capability had already covered this up, so they didn’t find it last time. You also have so many infections they had a difficult time discerning one from another, there was even one they didn’t recognize, thankfully one of the Gerudo woman I had traveled with is a doctor and she decided to stay here a while and recognized what you had gotten, it was an infection she had seen many warriors get from battling with the Yiga, but your case was by far the worst she had ever seen, it must have been when that scythe was stabbed through you, keeping you pinned to the ground. It seems your healing ability more so quickly regenerates your flesh, trapping anything caught within its way, it’s likely how your infection was able to be within you without showing signs. With every battle you got hurt and ate, you healed some of the damage the infection had done, but you could not get rid of it, so it been able to so slowly build up. It was so slow you didn’t even notice how far the pain had spread; you body must have gotten so exhausted trying to fight it off constantly.

*And now here I am, sitting by your bedside, rattling my brain, playing these events over and over searching for even the smallest of details to add.

*The doctors fear missing a part of any of the infections should you heal quickly, they want to keep an eye on you to make sure they got everything. They also said your judgement on pain must be unreliable now, the only way you could have survived without getting help or any anesthetic sooner was for your tolerance for pain to increase, they explained it like going nose blind, smelling something so often you eventually don’t notice it getting so used to it, so feeling the same amount of pain in one place for so long, you likely wouldn’t notice if there was any new pain there so they have to keep an eye on you instead of you telling them what you feel.

*Bossa Nova has refused to get off the extra space of the bed.  On occasion he’ll lick your hand or use your legs as a pillow.

*Link, my dear friend, you are amazing to have gotten this far. I just hope you know that. You are extraordinary, the light of my life.

*I plea with any and all gods that you now finally have a restful sleep. You so deserve it and so much more.

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#loz #botw #loz botw #legend of zelda #breath of the wild #legend of zelda breath of the wild #link #wild link #botw link #breath of the wild link #sidon #botw sidon #breath of the wild sidon #prince sidon #botw prince sidon #breath of the wild prince sidon #fanfic #fanfiction #botw fanfic #botw fanfiction #loz botw fanfiction #loz botw fanfic #so i don't forget again #soidon'tforgetagain #sidfa #sidon x link #link x sidon #prince sidon x link #link x prince sidon #sidlink

[raisingsupergirl]

I'm Back! Returning to the "Real World" After Six Weeks Unplugged and Undrugged

If I'm being honest, I don't really want to write this post. I don't want to go back to the way things were. It feels like returning from vacation on a Sunday evening and setting my work alarm for Monday morning. I know my next vacation won't come for a while. I know I'm "back in it" now. And the sensation is completely opposite of what I'd expected from all of the "restrictions" I put on myself six weeks ago. But I'm sure you're just dying to know how I did, so here goes.

I failed. A lot. Just like I said I would. And the number one thing I failed at was reading to my kids. I tried it. Once. I started Harry Potter, but it felt like pulling teeth. I didn't enjoy it. The kids didn't enjoy it (even though I poured all of my energy into the BEST character voices). But even if I didn't read to my children, at least I didn't fail completely at reading. In fact, I stayed pretty true to my goal of replacing my weeknight TV with reading (with a subtle exception… but I'll get to that later), and it was honestly one of the biggest successes of all. Just an hour or two of quiet entertainment and contemplation in the evenings (whether with a Bible devotional or a bloody space adventure) did wonders for my mood and sleep habits. And speaking of sleep habits…

I failed at that, too. Again, not completely, but I definitely didn't live up to the whole bargain. I don't care how comfortable I got with going to bed at 9:45 pm and waking up at 5:45 am, when I would get home from work at 9:15 at night, there was no way I was going to have time to eat, shower, and wind down enough to be asleep within thirty minutes. And so, I bent the rules a little. But never more than an hour. And that's where I found my rhythm. I would never go to bed or wake up more than an hour different than I did the day before. That compromise allowed me to adjust slowly to different schedules without suffering too much.

Interestingly enough, the things I succeeded at completely are the things that sound like the biggest commitments. I worked out every day without fail, I didn't get on social media or YouTube, and I cut out all drugs (aka alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, night time snacking, and weekday fast food) cold turkey, right down to my morning pre-workout drink, which has a little caffeine in it. I'm not sure exactly why these things were easier to stick to. I'm sure a part of it has to do with my particular personality, but I suspect the bigger part is the nature of these things. They're easier to define. Easier to grasp and control. So what's the big deal about sleeping in a few extra minutes on the weekends (half-asleep rationale is always a little bit skewed…)? Why should I fight to read to my kids if they don't even enjoy it? But exercise and diet are very external. They're obvious to myself and to others when I screw them up. There's more accountability, so they're not as easy to make excuses for. The hardest promises to keep are the ones nobody knows about.

And… there's a third factor, and I hinted at it earlier. Remember when I said I didn't TECHINCALLY stick to the "no TV during the week" goal? Well, I didn't "watch" TV during the week, per se. But that's because I was playing a video game. A video game called "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild." And, well, I was completely unprepared for it. First, Zelda is my jam. Always has been since I was a wee lad. Like most functioning adults, I fell away from video games after high school because I was trying to make all the monies and didn't have time to spend six hours at a time in front of a screen. But when Santa brought us a Nintendo Switch for Christmas, I knew there was a game I "had" to try. And, well, BotW didn't disappoint. Those who have played Skyrim or other open-world games would have known what they were in for, but I didn't. 

The moment I popped open that glider and drifted off of the Great Plateau, the real world faded away. This game had no limits. No boundaries. It's impossible to describe my awe at that slow and continuing realization as I delved into underground temples, climbed distant peaks, and trudged through vast deserts, so I won't try. Those who think video games are "a waste of time" will never get it, and those who embrace the value of story telling already know what I'm talking about. Suffice it to say that I "did the Zelda things." Not all the things, mind you. I didn't find all the koroks, beat all the shrines, or kill all the lynels, but I DID awaken the Divine Beasts, sneak into the castle dungeon to claim the Hylian shield, tame the royal mare, ride all the animals, build Tarry Town from the ground up, and head butt a guardian to death with the Lord of the Mountain. I trudged through every region and stared out at the realm from the highest spire of Hyrule castle. In the end, I defeated Calamity Ganon and brought peace to the land. And in that triumphant moment, I finally realized the truth about the game…

It was just another drug. You see, I never did have a real urge to sit down to a whiskey and a pile of snacks on a Saturday night, even though that had become an engrained habit over the past year. Why? Because I had an entire world to explore and save! And I needed to stay hydrated and healthy to beat the biggest baddies in Hyrule. The game completely overshadowed other primal urges. Any time I was feeling lazy or weak—times when I would look for a quick, mindless reward—I would pick up the Switch controller. And sometimes, that would be during the week. In fact, all told, I played 110 hours over six weeks. That's around two-and-a-half hours a day, EVERY day! So the amount of time I would have generally wasted with social media, TV, or "drugs," I instead committed to Zelda.

In the end, I'm not sure what to think about the whole six-week experience. I do know that I grew closer to God. My thoughts cleared significantly. I experienced deeper and wider peace, seeing previously scary and stressful situations with new clarity and confidence. I loved my family more completely, and I committed harder to my duties (work, family, etc). But I had low moments, too. Not enough to hit rock bottom or consider giving up, but because I knew what it felt like to ride that "high" with my savior and creator, to be present in the moment with a sense of purpose and appreciation, every moment of minor disconnection or apathy hit me harder than it normally would have. So I guess everything is relative. Once we know just how good we can feel, our expectations rise. On the other hand, my perspective has changed regarding rewards and fulfillment. A moment of earned relaxation or celebration doesn't need to include a glass of wine. I don't "need" to stay up late and sleep in on the weekends. And most importantly, my joy comes from God, not from the things I do, but there ARE some things that keep me away from God's joy. Mostly things that become habit—things I fall back on when I want to "check out."

And I guess that's the whole point. When we're present and intentional, life's good. We're happy with our choices and usually with the results. But when we're exhausted, when we've given all we can and think we've earned some reward (or at least a break)… well, that's when we make mistakes. And that's when we should just go to bed. Sure, maybe a little reading to calm us down and get our minds right first, but we're never at our worst than when we're mentally tapped out. And so, I plan to be more aware of this fact through the rest of the year. I'm going to continue to cut out electronics during the week. I'm going to avoid the Facebook scroll (which doesn't appeal to me even a little bit anymore). I'm going to enjoy sunrises and cuddles. And, most importantly, I'm going to create the time and space for quiet thought and divine whispers.

That's my secret to happiness. Do less (especially less "check out" activities like Twitter and television) and think more. Talk less and listen more. Let your "yes" be "yes" and your "no" be "no." In other words, live a life that speaks for itself and don't feel the need to justify your thoughts and actions to everyone. Live lightly, love deeply, and let the rest wash away with the tide. That's all I've got, friends. And you know what? This post was actually a joy to write. I'm excited to be back, to see my friends again, to share what I've learned with you, and to learn FROM you. And most importantly, I’m excited to enjoy all the beauty that the real world has to offer...

#lent 2021 #lent #social media fast #unplugged #take time to unplug #soberissexy #religion #christianity #minimalism #mindfulness #zelda #botw screenshots #botw #momblr #mumblr #dadblr

[the-delta-42]

Things I want to see in Breath of the Wild 2

Things I want to see in Breath of the Wild 2

1. Weapon to return to the B button

I never really liked how the weapon went from the B button to the Y button. The weapon button being on B in almost all of the Zelda games gave a sense of consistency and stood out against the other open world games that have the weapon set to the Y button. Personally, my favourite controls are the ones used for Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD. The Stamina button could be placed on one of the shoulder buttons, allowing certain items (such as Iron Boots) to be equipped to the Y button.

2. Return of Heart Pieces

I always loved the side quests that gave Pieces of Heart as the reward, it made the game world have purpose of be explored, the chance of finding a Heart Piece made the players want to explore and find those precious items that will make them stronger. They could introduce an equivalent item for the Stamina Wheel.

3. The different weapons to have a maximum of one indestructible item each

Something I came to dislike was the Master Sword and the Hylian Shield breaking, when in the previous Zelda Game, Skyward Sword, the Shields had a durability system, but the Hylian shield was indestructible. The thought of having one weapon that doesn’t break would allow there to be a sense of permanence to them. To keep players from sticking to that weapon, they could have other weapons of the type have perks that the indestructible weapon does not, like firing more arrows at once.

4. Making the Dungeons mandatory to reach the final boss

One of my favourite games is A Link Between Worlds, since you can do the dungeons in any order, but you need to beat them to reach the final boss, it’s the same with the Original Legend of Zelda. I didn’t like how, in Breath of the Wild, players could go face Ganon right after beating the tutorial.

5. The ability to repair damaged weapons

You ever had a real nice sword, could do 100 damage with a single hit? Then it broke. When fighting a Lynel. And you died. The durability system needs to be rehashed because that scenario that I just gave? It happened to me. Really. Fighting a Silver Lynel and only needed to hit it a couple more time and then the sword broke.

6. Be able to dive under water

The only other time Link couldn’t dive underwater was in Wind Waker. The over world was beautiful, but I love swimming under water in Zelda games (a far cry from real life), but without the ability to swim underwater parts of the over world couldn’t be seen. Having the ability to dive would open up the over world and allow for the sequel to explore the same world, but new parts of it.

7. Return of traditional Dungeons

The Shrines were alright, the Divine Beasts left a lot to be desired, but the Final Trial was perfect, I’d like to see more dungeons that are like the Final Trial, but given an elemental twist to them, such as fire, ice, water, wind, desert, etc.

8. Having Zelda travel with Link

Breath of the wild was lonely without some form of companion, and no Horses and Wolf Link do not count because they can’t go in certain areas. Having Zelda travel with Link would make the most sense narratively, since they were together at the end of Breath of the Wild.

9. Reintroducing the Hidden Skills/Sword Techniques

The combat is terrible. There, I said it. Compared to past games, Breath of the Wild has little options for combat, especially when it’s compared to Wind Waker, Minish Cap, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword, it would also allow for Link to grow in the game as he masters each sword technique to help him and Zelda further along their journey.

10. Giving Link a cookbook

What is the point of having the recovery system use food with different recipes that do different things, if you can’t have some way of remembering the recipes? If Link had a cookbook, the player would be able to remember if Hearty soup had radishes or truffles.

11. Allowing Link to roll while running

The stamina bar introduced a good idea, it opened a door for the Pegasus Boots to enter the 3D Zelda games, however, something that I found useful in past Zelda games was rolling, because it allowed Link to dodge anything that took a swipe at him at short notice. Rolling could be re-introduced when Link is targeting something but doesn’t have his sword out.

12. The Stables to become villages

The stables are basically already small villages, so they could expand around it and make some more areas around the stable as living accommodation for some of the other NPCs. Personally, I love the idea of stables becoming a community in their own right, with someone in charge of the area.

13. For some (or most) of the ruins of towns to be restored and inhabited by Hylians, etc.

If the village ruins are still in ruins in the sequel, then I will be upset. They could have Bolson and Company rebuilding the towns and villages one by one, so you beat on dungeon, a village is restored, and they move onto the next one. They could also be side quests, much like From the Ground Up side quest in the first game.

14. The ability to play an instrument

I enjoy playing instruments in Zelda games, namely because my first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, the instrument itself gave a sense of wonder to the game, especially when they didn’t explain the origins of the instrument.

15. The Hookshot/Clawshot/Gripshot to return

Playing Wind Waker and Twilight Princess made me remember one thing; I LOVE the hookshot. I was a bit miffed when they didn’t include it in Breath of the Wild, but that was because of the climbing mechanic. They could re-introduce the Hookshot my having areas that you can’t climb to normally because the surface is too smooth, the surface isn’t there or because Revali’s gale would launch you up too high. I really want to see the Hookshot again.

#legend of zelda #legend of zelda breath of the wild #breath of the wild 2 #breath of the wild sequel #link #zelda #probably going to be ignored #but what i hope to see in the sequel

[spoadicdeviance]

"Skyward Sword holds your hand too much! I mean it explains everything to you. Fi can‘t ever shut up.”

Fi actually only “overexplains” before the first dungeon. After that, any advice she has is given to the player only if said player manually summons Fi for advice.

“Well, there’s still the fact that you have to spend so long in that tutorial filled prologue before the first dungeon.”

You mean the prologue where you can skip almost half of the tutorial segments, including the rescue of a remlit from a rooftop, and the sword combat tutorial? 

Also the time it takes for a player to get to the first time is, on average, about 50 minutes. I kind of remember other Zelda games like Twilight Princess taking much longer to get to its first dungeon.

“Well the fact it gives you any tutorial prompts without asking the player is a serious offense.”

What about Breath of the Wild? That games gives you a tutorial prompt for almost every action you do, even if it’s done after the your time in the Great Plateau. This also includes loading screens.

In fact wont most players spend around the exact same time (if not more)  doing Breath of the Wild’s Great Plateau as they did playing Skyward Sword’s pre-Skyview Temple sequence? Doing those mandatory tutorial shrines for the each of the runes and having the game teach you each of the game’s mechanics via textboxes, preventing the player from experiencing the real game until they complete all those shrines.

Also there’s the shrine at Kakariko Village that teaches you about combat regardless if you already learned it on your own.

“Aren‘t you going overboard with these examples?”

Don‘t you mean isn‘t Breath of the Wild going overboard with it’s tutorial prompts?

“Well Skyward Sword sometimes mark important locations in the overworld, preventing the player from exploring the land for himself/herself.”

Yeah, it’s not like other Zelda games (or any other game) marked important overworld locations on the map for the player.

And it’s not like the first game came with a map detailing important early game locations like the placing of the first four dungeons.

Knowing where to go does not ruin the fun of actually getting there. 

“But Skyward Sword has those beacons.”

Breath of the Wild had that as well. And just like the beacons in Skyward Sword, they are optional.

“But dowsing! Surely you think Nintendo went overboard with a mechanic that tells you where to go, right?”

I would, if it was forced on the player. Once you get a new dowsing target just hold the c button to go to the dowsing menu and highlight the eye symbol in order to turn off dowsing. Trust me, you can beat the game without dowsing. It’s not forced on you. It’s there for inexperienced/very young players.

By the way, why aren‘t you calling out Breath of the Wild for using the Sheikah Sensor? A feature that works the exact same way a dowsing does in Skyward Sword.

You can also upgrade it to allow the Sensor to search for almost any object in the game.

Considering that Breath of the Wild is an open world sandbox game, and focused on exploration, wouldn‘t the inclusion of such a feature be a more egregious offense compared to dowsing in Skyward Sword?

“Well Skyward Sword has other things that prevent players from figuring stuff out on their own. Like those markers over the heads of NPCs that give out quest related information.”

The quest markers in Breath of the Wild are placed directly on the NPCs that either give you quests or are needed to talk to in order to continue/complete the quest. It didn‘t take away anything in either game.

“Skyward Sword has NPCs that give away hints to puzzles without the player asking for it.”

Hints and solutions are two different things. Getting hints from NPCs is a standard of adventure games. Other Zelda games do that too. 

“Skyward Sword has that potion that can make you invincible.”

That’s only available at the tail end of the game. Plus you have to upgrade it with multiple rare insects and find the Potion Medal before you can get its full effect. A Link Between Worlds has a similar potion you can get before the halfway point and all you need are 10, easy to find, monster horns.

Also, Breath of the Wild has those recipes that fully restore Link’s health, with additional yellow hearts.

In fact, there is a spot in Breath of the Wild, right next to a fast travel spawn point, where you can farm for Hearty Durians which can be used to make the Hearty Simmered Fruit dish seen above.

There’s also the fact that in Breath of the Wild, you can pause the game and heal yourself as much as you want, even if you are about to be hit with a killing blow. Other Zelda games don‘t allow that. 

Give Skyward Sword some credit, you can‘t pause whenever you select an item, including potions. The game still plays and enemies will still attack you. Only now, while you select a potion, Link cannot attack, use his shield, or dodge. He can only walk around slowly as you search your inventory.

“Well the YouTube channel, Boss Keys, showed that some of Skyward Sword’s dungeons has those stones that explained too much.”

First of all, the stones never give anything away they just state what the challenge is, not how to solve it.

Also Boss Keys completely ignored the fact that other Zelda games used similar stones as well.

By the way, if you want to mention “giving to much information away” in dungeons, how about in Breath of the Wild, when you are in each of the Divine Beasts, you are directed to the guidance stone for the map, given the location of each terminal, and told how to navigate and control the Beast. Complete with the spirits of the original pilots of their respective Beast acting as a glorified tour guide. Where was everyone’s righteous fury then?

“Why are you so focused on calling out Breath of the Wild?”

Because everyone praises Breath of the Wild as “the savior of the Zelda franchise”. Claiming the game fixes the “issues” with Skyward Sword, despite the fact that those same “issues” are found in Breath of the Wild, as well as other Zelda games, including the NES titles.

It’s kind of weird that everyone who calls out Skyward Sword for “holding your hand” are mysteriously silent whenever similar moments/features are found in other Zelda games like A Link to the Past or Breath of the Wild. 

It’s almost like these so called “hand holding” features in Skyward Sword, as well as the other Zelda games, aren’t  as much as an offense (or as hand holding) as the game’s critics would have you believe and it’s like these critics are just fishing for excuses to justify their irrational disdain for a game that made them use motion controls.

But that can‘t be the case. I mean those critics wouldn’t have such blatant double standards when it comes to games they review, right? RIGHT?

#the legend of zelda #skyward sword #breath of the wild #ocarina of time #majora's mask #wind waker #twilight princess #a link to the past #a link between worlds #nintendo switch #nintendo #Nintendo wii