A Marching Chain

A blog for sharing WIPs, concept sketches, teasers, and asks about AMC (a Links Meet AU)

[myownchain]

Intro Post

Hello! This is @myownmeadow speaking, and this is my side blog for my Links Meet AU, known as A Marching Chain.

This blog is for asks relating to my AU, Concept sketches, bonus lore ideas, and random doodles. :)

(I do frequently forget to switch back to my main blog after posting something though, so sometimes random stuff will be posted here by accident lol)

I’ll continue to post chapter updates on my main blog as well as full artworks (if I ever manage to finish one lol), but I wanted a place to post smaller things and have a dedicated spot for the AU for ease of viewing.

I just wanted to say I’ve only recently gotten back into sketching and drawing and stuff, so I’m still figuring out how to draw the things I want to draw. This blog will contain funny attempts and the like, alongside any pieces that I might end up being proud of.

Additionally, this is my very first fanfic, and by far the longest thing I’ve ever written in my entire life. I am not a writer, but I am determined to try this anyway, because I really want to see this vision I have come to fruition.

Besides, the only way to really get good at something is through practice. :)

(more details about the AU under the cut)

I’ve made a few introduction posts to the AU before, and I’ll tag them as such here. (remind me to come back to this to actually link it, but in the meantime, the tag is #intro post.

Additionally, I have a working Intro Fic of sorts for the series which can be found here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62155171

Currently, only 3 of the 10(ish) Links have been introduced: Lolf (Wolf Link), Wild (post-TotK), and Wind. If you want to learn more about them, what headcanons I’ve chosen, and what additional backstories I’ve thought of, feel free to ask!

I’ll also answer some writing prompts and the like, and you can address something to a Link directly if you’d like, and I’ll write that Link responding.

Character Introductions

The Chain:

Wild - BotW & TotK

Lolf - TP

Wind - WW & PH

[myownmeadow]

My sister and I were talking about different naming conventions for the characters in people's Links meets, and I told her about how you just straight up aren't coming up with nicknames; you're letting the characters name each other organically within the story.

"But how does she refer to them?" she asked.

"By their games, I guess," I said.

"No, within the story," she clarified.

And I didn't even know how to answer her because I can't figure out how you keep the characters straight without it being confusing. You do such a masterful job of it. All I could do was flip through a few chapters and give examples of how you use context clues.

"So they have to trust the reader has media literacy?" she said.

And I didn't have much to say to that, because people can be pretty dumb these days, except, "Somehow, Meadow does such a good job that you don't need much of that."

So kudos to you and your writing talent! Neither of us can understand how you pull it off. 😆 💖

Oh my gosh this is the highest honor of praise for my writing I have ever received. I am glowing. I’m wearing this badge with pride for the rest of my life. Thank you. o7

To potentially answer the how behind the scenes:

I actually have a section of notes dedicated to how each character’s version of narration works so I don’t forget any decision I made regarding how to write their perspective.

This includes things like how they refer to themselves and others (very important because I am writing in 3rd person), as well as how I handle their internal thoughts and what diction I should use (this last one is mostly something I try to lean towards but don’t strictly follow).

It also helps when your characters can be differentiated with one word— there’s the wolf, the man, and the teen. I did add another teen now (Kye) that I had to call boy despite being older than the other teen (Wind), but that was only in the perspective of the teen (Wind), and next time I get to Wild’s perspective, well, he’s already calling Wind kid and boy, so he’ll definitely call Kye, who’s clearly older, teen.

Honestly, the language barrier makes it easier in a weird way, because the lack of dialogue means that all communication is done outside of “” and through body language, which means I don’t have to struggle to indicate who’s speaking.

That, and they don’t actually know that they have the same name yet, so it’s a lot more like writing three nameless characters and one named one (or two if it’s specifically Wild’s POV, or none in Wind’s).

I also tend to air on the side of describing every little action, which makes it clear who is where most of the time.

I hope this can answer your question!

[interlink-au]

(In reference to your tags) I'd love to see snippets about how your characters have changed at some point. That would be really cool to see.

I wonder how our notes compare. Mine lags sooo much if I open all the drop-downs, even though I've already split it into multiple documents. It was crashing before I did that. 😅 I have a feeling you're in a similar situation. Notes are sooo important.

Thanks for the insight!

I'm excited to see what goes down when the communication issue gets solved. I bet some of them will already have ways of referring to each other in their heads, and some of those options might be incompatible with other options. Then again, the current situation goes mostly by age or what they're wearing, so maybe not.

[myownchain]

Yours are crashing? Ok, I think you have me beat there LOL. To be fair, all my character notes and my story plans and worldbuilding (so basically like 95% of my notes) are in the notes app on my phone and are all separated into their own note entries in one folder, and the document that I use for keeping track of things while writing only has notes on the Links that have actually showed up.

I feel like this is the difference between having 4 characters currently introduced and having 23 (if I remember correctly).

Props to you for keeping track of that many little guys, and making it pretty easy to follow along in your fics too!

[myownmeadow]

My sister and I were talking about different naming conventions for the characters in people's Links meets, and I told her about how you just straight up aren't coming up with nicknames; you're letting the characters name each other organically within the story.

"But how does she refer to them?" she asked.

"By their games, I guess," I said.

"No, within the story," she clarified.

And I didn't even know how to answer her because I can't figure out how you keep the characters straight without it being confusing. You do such a masterful job of it. All I could do was flip through a few chapters and give examples of how you use context clues.

"So they have to trust the reader has media literacy?" she said.

And I didn't have much to say to that, because people can be pretty dumb these days, except, "Somehow, Meadow does such a good job that you don't need much of that."

So kudos to you and your writing talent! Neither of us can understand how you pull it off. 😆 💖

Oh my gosh this is the highest honor of praise for my writing I have ever received. I am glowing. I’m wearing this badge with pride for the rest of my life. Thank you. o7

To potentially answer the how behind the scenes:

I actually have a section of notes dedicated to how each character’s version of narration works so I don’t forget any decision I made regarding how to write their perspective.

This includes things like how they refer to themselves and others (very important because I am writing in 3rd person), as well as how I handle their internal thoughts and what diction I should use (this last one is mostly something I try to lean towards but don’t strictly follow).

It also helps when your characters can be differentiated with one word— there’s the wolf, the man, and the teen. I did add another teen now (Kye) that I had to call boy despite being older than the other teen (Wind), but that was only in the perspective of the teen (Wind), and next time I get to Wild’s perspective, well, he’s already calling Wind kid and boy, so he’ll definitely call Kye, who’s clearly older, teen.

Honestly, the language barrier makes it easier in a weird way, because the lack of dialogue means that all communication is done outside of “” and through body language, which means I don’t have to struggle to indicate who’s speaking.

That, and they don’t actually know that they have the same name yet, so it’s a lot more like writing three nameless characters and one named one (or two if it’s specifically Wild’s POV, or none in Wind’s).

I also tend to air on the side of describing every little action, which makes it clear who is where most of the time.

I hope this can answer your question!

[myownchain]

I think I found Lolf's exact opposite

Dislikes cats 😔

OH MY GODDESSES YOU’RE RIGHT.

It’s Lolf’s mortal enemy! Rolf!

This gives me ideas… >:)

[myownchain]

This is not meant to be pressure at all, but your story has officially reached "I wish I was reading that right now" status. I was mindlessly fixing broken hyperlinks while listening to music, and I suddenly really wished I was reading a new update of your story specifically. Congrats! :)

This is the best compliment I have ever received for my story, thank you so much! 🥹

I’m proud that I managed to write something that other people are that excited about. :)

[myownchain]

Ok, I’m not planning to have any 4th wall breaking jokes in my story, but, if I were to add one in the end notes of a chapter as a bonus bit, I’d only trust Red from FSM to do it.

With every other Link, it just doesn’t seem in character for them at all. But Red? He breaks the 4th wall like it’s made of tin foil at least twice in that manga, it actually feels natural for him.

[interlink-au]

Who is Chekov? I know there are a lot of guns around here, but they're not loaded and we don't have any bullets.

[myownchain]

That's strange, all I seem to have are bullets, with no gun in sight!

Though, we do have swords...

[scuttleton]

I know a Chekov. I'll ask him how to load a gun. Surely this will lead to nothing but good things for all of us.

[myownchain]

Surely… we’ll have all the pieces then! A gun, bullets, and someone who’d know how to load it!

I guess we’ll just hang the guns on the walls afterwards, we don’t have anything to shoot yet, do we?

[interlink-au]

Who is Chekov? I know there are a lot of guns around here, but they're not loaded and we don't have any bullets.

[myownchain]

That's strange, all I seem to have are bullets, with no gun in sight!

Though, we do have swords...

[myownchain]

The next chapter is on its way! It gave me a bit of trouble to get started, but now I'm on a roll. Will still take a bit to finish, so here's some fun world building bits that I've made note of:

In games where you have to collect bottles, glass is a very valuable resource and not many places make it. However, in games where bottles are complementary (BotW/TotK, ST, AoL, somewhat EoW, and others that I'm probably forgetting about), glass bottles are being mass-produced, and are therefore plentiful (but not very durable). In the case of EoW however, the fairy bottles are specially enchanted for comfort, hence why the fairies fly right on in! And EoW Zelda just has a way with fairies. :)

You'll see it soon, but Kye's and Wild's eras are similar in some ways, but vastly different in others. Kye's era may not be a wasteland, but that doesn't mean there isn't something off....

There may or may not be multiple Master Swords...

Wind's ocean does not have any normal fish living within. The reason for this is two-fold: one, something's off with the water compared to a normal ocean, and two: there's practically no seafloor, so very little nutrients that can get swept up with ocean currents. The ocean is home to only the fishmen, monsters, and crabs, the last of which more so live on the shores than the ocean. There's also some shrimp, but that's about it. This is slowly changing however, as now that the old Hyrule is flooded, there is now a sea floor. The ocean will eventually become full of life like any normal one, but that will take time.

Tomatoes were first cultivated in Hyrule around MC's era. I'm still debating as to which eras should have them, but the entirety of the Adult Timeline definitely lacks them.

On a more characterization note, Wild absolutely considers tomatoes fruit. This is partially because of Zelda, but also just because his era uses them as fruit as their breed of tomatoes are sweeter than most. The same cannot be said of pumpkins, however. Captain Link also considers them to be fruit, but it's less "that is the scientific definition" and more "look at them, those look like fruits, what are you guys on about?" Mask considers them to be fruit because he eats tomatoes like apples. Lolf is in the minority as he considers them to be vegetables.

[myownchain]

Character Introduction #3:

Wind*

[No image yet]

The Waker of Winds

From: Wind Waker & Phantom Hourglass

Description:

Tan skin, amber eyes, and beach-blond hair

Side-sweep bangs (as in what’s shown in-game, but covers a bit more of his forehead)

Wears a blue lobster shirt and orange pants, and has his gossip stone around his neck

Can’t decide how tall he should be— somewhere between 5’ 4” and 5’ 10”

Scars: A large, jagged gash wound on his stomach from a darknut; A cleaner slice on his calf; Some horizontal lines under small bangs on his forehead—I’ll leave it to you to figure out where he got those

Basic Information:

The youngest member of the chain so far; a teenager

Has all of his equipment from PH

Joined the chain when he fell through a portal from the War of Eras

Favored by the gods of wind and a bunch of other minor deities

I’m following a few different theories and headcanons regarding WW, so expect some retcons to be revealed at some point

Personality Overview:

Usually energetic, but often subdued; has peaks but crashes hard

Can be extremely patient

Has very exaggerated expressions and is generally a bit dramatic

A ball of sunshine, as described by Tetra

An adrenaline junkie, and craves adventure and new things

Very stubborn and sees things through

Cares a lot for his family and the people of his ocean

Likes finding new ways to do things to solve problems

Fighting Style:

Extremely good sword fighter - learns a lot of techniques and is extremely fast and nimble

Hurricane spin and the roll around thing help him a lot

A lot of moving around and dodging

Often utilizes stabs and short slashes to hit weak points, and can swing a sword incredibly fast

The spear dude on Outset taught him the importance of his shield - didn’t really use it much, especially after getting the master sword, and got a nasty wound as a result

Utilizes it strategically now, and still doesn’t often hold it out if he can just dodge

Jump slash into quick spin does more damage in WW HD—utilizes this move often (also it looks cool)

One of the better archers - he’s great at mid battle bow use, and he often uses magic arrows against the tougher opponents

Magic:

Mastery over the wind, which he controls with his magic baton

Can create fire, ice, and maybe light arrows; haven’t fully fleshed this out yet, but basically the power to create fire and ice arrows was given to him, and isn’t just an upgrade to his bow

Has the ability to see dead spirits, as well as faintly see the spirit of living things as well, albeit not nearly as well as the dead

Decent at sensing magic, and has pretty large mana reserves

Other Skills:

Expert sailor and ocean navigator; can use the stars to tell where he is

Will likely be the one to reinvent written music; he’s a conductor after all, has an amazing ear for music

Really good internal clock; comes from his time(s) in the Temple of the Ocean King

*As I said with Wild, Wind’s current name is just a placeholder until the chain can get around to establishing nicknames, and as such will almost certainly change, at least in Wind’s case.

[myownchain]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

New chapter is out!

Chapter 13: Suspicion

…And a test of blood.

The teen meets a new stranger, this one a lot less friendly.

Fic Summary:

Ten (or is it twelve?) Links, one by one, join up to fight against a mysterious evil wreaking havoc on the timeline. Not even Hylia herself knows what’s truly going on.

Clues will be sprinkled around about the various new (or are they old?) threats to Hyrule and the world as a whole. Join our chain as they forge an unbreakable bond and start to piece together the truth about Hyrule's past, future fate, and present happenings.

——— Your classic Links meet AU, including reunions, battles, time traveling shenanigans, a language barrier, and more!

Be prepared for a mystery that will slowly unravel itself as the chain marches on...

[interlink-au]

@myownmeadow Here they are! (Ask)

Lolf first because I didn't have a base to work off of, so I'm especially proud of how he turned out.

The side-view version of Lolf is the first version I did. He's huge. He's way too big next to the other sprites. It's actually hilarious. He's like a horse. So I drew the top-down one (which I was already planning on doing), and he's now a normal-ish size. And then I animated it because I wanted to. And then I realized I forgot the cuff on all of them. (I still forgot the earrings.) I didn't make him transparent because I was worried about his grey hair against different backgrounds, like dark-mode. Let me know if you want a transparent version for shenaniganry. >:)

And here is MC/FS:

It was neat editing Link traits over the Minish sprite.

I'm not confident I got everything quite like you wanted it with the colors and items (and I wasn't sure about hair? But his hat kind of covers everything anyway?). Let me know, and I can make some fixes. It's no problem.

And let me know if you want the full-sized (read: teeny tiny pixel-sized) versions!

[interlink-au]

Changed the hat and purple gauntlets 👍

[myownchain]

Sprites for Lolf and the yet-to-be-seen MC+FS Link!

Thank you so much Gigi for making these! They’re awesome. :D

[interlink-au]

@myownmeadow Here they are! (Ask)

Lolf first because I didn't have a base to work off of, so I'm especially proud of how he turned out.

The side-view version of Lolf is the first version I did. He's huge. He's way too big next to the other sprites. It's actually hilarious. He's like a horse. So I drew the top-down one (which I was already planning on doing), and he's now a normal-ish size. And then I animated it because I wanted to. And then I realized I forgot the cuff on all of them. (I still forgot the earrings.) I didn't make him transparent because I was worried about his grey hair against different backgrounds, like dark-mode. Let me know if you want a transparent version for shenaniganry. >:)

And here is MC/FS:

It was neat editing Link traits over the Minish sprite.

I'm not confident I got everything quite like you wanted it with the colors and items (and I wasn't sure about hair? But his hat kind of covers everything anyway?). Let me know, and I can make some fixes. It's no problem.

And let me know if you want the full-sized (read: teeny tiny pixel-sized) versions!

[interlink-au]

Oh, yeah, I was going to include the funny size comparison:

[myownmeadow]

PFFT— he really is a horse!

That’s really funny considering that MC Link actually sometimes rides him like one. XD

He’s a big boi. :)

[myownchain]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

New chapter of The Forging of a Chain is out!

Fic Summary:

Ten (or is it twelve?) Links, one by one, join up to fight against a mysterious evil wreaking havoc on the timeline. Not even Hylia herself knows what’s truly going on.

Join our chain as they forge an unbreakable bond and start to piece together the truth about Hyrule's past.

——— Your classic Links meet AU, including reunions, battles, time traveling shenanigans, a language barrier, and more!

Be prepared for a mystery that will slowly unravel itself as the chain marches on...

The Guardian(s) of the Kingdom

…and the urge to run.

----------------- The chain deal with the fallout of their(?) actions in castle town. They get locked in a room with no exit bar the door keeping them trapped...

Notes:

This and the next chapter used to be one large one, but I split it up for suspense. >:)

Also the title and summary has a double meaning. ;)

Trigger Warnings:

Body dysphoria (not gender related)

Running from law enforcement (not nearly as major as the previous and isn’t that serious)

[myownchain]

A peak at a future chapter title that will most likely be used in the final part of A Marching Chain (unless I somehow come up with a better one):

A Bleeding Heart

…an emptying soul.

…

Don’t worry, the soul isn’t referring to— actually that might make someone more concerned…

[myownmeadow]

THIS, my friends, is how you keyboard spam when you're not sure how to start a paragraph:

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[myownchain]

Sometimes ya just need a placeholder, y'know?

[myownchain]

Boy, do I love foreshadowing. It’s like an inside joke that will come back to haunt readers later! :)