Have you posted Grounded on AO3 or is it only on tumblr?
Just Tumblr for now; I do have an AO3 but life has been stressful lately and I don't wish to juggle posting fics in two places right at this time 😅 One day I will put them on my AO3 but today is not that day >-< You can find all my fics in my Fanfic Masterpost for now! Thanks!
You always reblog such amazing art. How do you find so many good art??
short answer: check the tags.
longer answer:
check the tags.
you can follow a lot of amazing creators, but it’s easy to miss posts if you aren’t online at the right time. i don’t even follow a lot of zelda blogs; this is a sideblog and my dash is like 90% stuffed animals. instead i trawl the #legend of zelda tag or #loz, and filter by latest (not top)
scrunging in the tags is not for the faint of heart; you’re going to see a lot of barely related content and things you aren’t into, since it’s not exactly curated. if you end up checking the tags regularly, blocking and blacklisting will be your greatest ally. i block every repost and AI account i see, so it’s easier not to accidentally reblog stolen/uncredited art.
despite the downsides. and there are many. it’s a great way to discover new accounts and artists, or catch anything that might have been missed. you just have to put on your hazmat suit before going in.
i also recommend @larrytheflute9 and @klscriver, both post and reblog beautiful zelda works from across all entries in the series; as well as @loztotkfanart
Ooh how about “Was too hard on them” with Warriors?
The "them" Warriors is being too hard on is, in fact, Warriors himself. This man needs therapy
This prompt fill turned out to be pretty light on the whump. I was going to add a part about Warriors having a leg injury on top of being exhausted, but I decided to go easy on him lol
~~~
Warriors had been homesick lately.
When Zelda had called him to her private study and asked him to investigate the strange portals popping up around Hyrule, he’d agreed without hesitation. At the time, he had feared lingering magic from Cia had infected the land and was drawing more monsters from across time and space to this era.
He hadn’t expected the portals to have a different, much darker master. He hadn't expected a portal to drag him in with no warning and snap shut behind him with no chance of return. He hadn't expected to be gone for months with no way to contact his family or the Queen.
He hadn’t known it then, but when he'd been spat out of the portal and into a goat pen with a certain rancher leaning over him, it had been the start of a months-long quest. A months-long quest without a glimpse of his home, his friends, his family.
Goddess, what he wouldn’t give for a hug from his father or an affectionate hair ruffle from his sister. (Not that he would ever, ever voice that thought aloud, but... still.)
Now that he thought about it, they all probably thought he was dead. He wondered if they’d held a funeral for him, or if they were still holding out hope that he was alive somewhere.
Probably not.
It had been months since he last saw them. Almost half a year.
He had to admit, he’d been hoping for a break lately. A break that took them to his era, preferably. At this point, the group of heroes had visited everyone’s home era except for his. He was getting sick of entering a new portal and getting his hopes up, only to not recognize the new area the group was dumped in.
Warriors was sure he'd been able to disguise just how tired he'd been lately. Some of the other heroes were catching on, but he thought he was hiding his near-permanent exhaustion pretty well.
All he needed was some time to relax. Truly relax.
He wanted good food without having to worry about where to forage or hunt that day. He wanted to sleep without having to set up a watch schedule or pay for rooms in an inn. He wanted to take a bath, for Hylia’s sake, and not have to do it in a freezing cold river.
Of course, the burden of leadership did not only fall to Warriors. For once, he wasn’t the one giving the orders. That was mostly Time’s responsibility. But Warriors was more than used to commanding his men, and he did his best to make sure Time didn’t push himself too far.
But being dumped into an active war zone was not what Warriors had meant when he’d prayed for the next portal to bring him to his era.
They were technically in his Hyrule, yes, but not somewhere he’d ever been before, and definitely not anywhere he could relax.
The latest portal had dumped them in front of an old fortress that was located on the far outskirts of Hyrule. The fortress had been abandoned long before Warriors had been born and it had stayed that way, even throughout the war. It was too far away from Castle Town for either side of the war to see much of an advantage in occupying it. There’d been no need for him to ever go there before.
But now, it appeared that a small contingency of monsters had taken up residency in the fort. The citizens from a nearby village had sent an entreaty to the Queen for intervention, and Zelda had obliged, sending a troop to clear it out.
Warriors had quickly been recognized by the soldiers guarding the front gate, and the heroes were led inside with general excitement from the soldiers.
Apparently, he hadn’t been officially declared dead yet, but the general consensus in the army was that he’d been killed in action. These soldiers seemed pleased that it wasn’t true. They especially seemed pleased that he showed up with reinforcements.
The villagers had evidently underestimated the number of monsters in the fort- a small army was probably the best description- and Zelda hadn’t sent enough soldiers for them to easily be able to take the fort.
These weren't the soldiers that Warriors had led during the war, but he knew the captain that led them and knew her to be a loyal soldier to Hyrule. He had no worries that the soldiers under her command would turn traitor, so that was one less thing for him to worry about.
But there was still too much to worry about for him to relax.
~~~
Warriors sighed, staring at the map in front of him. It was a carefully hand-drawn rendition of the fortress. Someone had taken great care to map out all the rooms, marking all the rooms being used as bases and outposts.
The open-air courtyard at the front of the fortress was currently being used as the base for the allied forces of Hyrule. Thankfully, it was summer, and the weather was clear. There was no need to set up tents. Each entrance was carefully guarded at all times. Bedrolls for all the soldiers lined the walls. One corner was partitioned off and set up with cots, being converted into a small med bay. The heroes had commandeered another corner to set up their own bedrolls. In the third corner stood the makeshift command center, which consisted solely of a table, chairs, and the map Warriors was pouring over.
The courtyard was as safe as anywhere in the fortress possibly could be, but Warriors had instructed the other heroes to continue setting up a watch every night. That had silently sent the intended message: they weren’t safe here.
Warriors doubted that the monsters would launch a full frontal attack on the allied base, and even if they did, they would have plenty of forewarning. But carelessness killed. The other heroes could deal with continuing to lose a little bit of sleep.
Warriors turned his attention back to the map in front of him. Unsurprisingly, it hadn’t changed since he took his eyes off it. He sighed, leaning heavily on the table.
The Hyrulian forces currently only occupied the allied base and two of the surrounding outposts. They simply didn’t have the manpower to spread themselves out any further.
They only had two options. Either send a messenger to Zelda asking for reinforcements and hunker down until they arrive, or try to take the whole fortress in one big push.
The messenger had already been sent. With them, they carried both a request for backup and hastily penned letters from Warriors for both his family and the Queen. But those letters would take a week to reach Castle Town even with the messenger running on little sleep and pushing their horse as hard as they dared. It would take another week and a half for reinforcements to arrive.
Warriors and the other heroes couldn't afford to wait for two and a half weeks. They were on their own mission. Then there was the fact that the soldiers hadn’t brought enough food for a siege. They wouldn’t be able to get enough food from the small village nearby. Warriors also doubted the monsters would just wait around for the reinforcements to arrive.
That really left them with no choice. They would have to fight without backup. Warriors had hoped it wouldn’t come to that. It was bad enough that the other heroes had to endure being in an active warzone. Leading them into battle in this way was something Warriors had never wished for.
But it seemed inevitable now.
All of this required a lot of planning and strategizing. It had only been a day and a half since they arrived, but Warriors hadn’t slept since.
“Warriors.” The voice from behind him made him startle. He knew before turning around it was one of the other heroes. Everyone else here would have called him Captain Link.
He turned around in his chair to find Time standing behind him, and frowning at him. He must really be tired if he hadn’t even heard the armor-clad hero approach. Warriors stared back unflinchingly, even as he internally quelled under the pressure of Time’s disappointed glare.
“Don’t you think you could use some sleep?” It was phrased like a question, but Time’s voice was firm.
Warriors groaned. “Time, I'm very busy right now-”
Time cut him off, not taking any excuses. “Even the other captain is resting. It's thirteen minutes to midnight. Go to bed.” Warriors blinked and finally registered how dark it was. The only thing lighting up the map was the flickering candles set on the table, and the one Time held in his hands.
Warriors rubbed the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. He had been feeling a bit light-headed, and he probably could really use a nap. He wouldn't be of any use in a fight if he was exhausted.
That, and he doubted that Time would give up until he got his way and Warriors slept.
“A quick nap,” He agreed.
His body must have also agreed. When Warriors stood, perhaps a bit too quickly, he could feel his blood drain into his legs that had fallen asleep after sitting for hours.
For a split second, he teetered unsteadily on his feet, fighting to stay upright and not collapse., He swayed, his head pounding as he reached out blindly for something to steady him. That split second was all Time needed to place a guiding hand on his back. The old man’s stern face had melted away, replaced with a worried one.
“I’m fine.” Warriors protested the unspoken concern, righting himself with the help of Time’s hand.
“Of course you are.” Time agreed, starting to steer Warriors towards the corner where the heroes had set up camp, but somehow it didn’t feel like Warriors had won that argument.
He couldn’t say he was complaining though, as Time guided him to one of the two empty bedrolls in the heroes’ camp.
It didn‘t escape his notice that Time had laid him down right next to Sky, who was a notorious cuddler and even more notoriously hard to wake up. Warriors doubted he’d be allowed to get up anytime soon. As Warriors drifted off to sleep, he couldn't say he minded.
~~~
Warrior: I am normal and functioning 👍
Time: Nice to meet you, “Normal and Functioning.” Have you met my other son, “Sleepy And Prone to Cudlding?”
'Avatar AU' is a collection of tiny snippets, set in an au where element bending exists and the heroes can bend all four elements, instead of the usual one. (So essentially they're the Avatar.) But pretty much everything remains the same.
The fic is mainly centered around the relationships each hero has with the different elements. (Wild, for example, finds it incredibly difficult to earthbend because he's not a very grounded person.)
Also, thank you!! It's probably going to be a while until the next chapter is published because I've got two other fics I want to finish before I work more on Shifting Hues, but it is coming eventually
