hero of men: look at that devil creature
cori: it is literally playing with skid
hero: devil creature
vio: you said the same about shadow
hero: and i was right!
vio: not really???
red: pspsps cent! pspsps come here
hero: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING
red: showing you its not a devil creature.
cori: look see he is standing there very patiently and politely
hero: KICK IT
vio: are you fucking kidding me
hero: KICK IT BEYOND THE HORIZON
light, the original host of the body: hey buddy :)
the others: arguing the in the background
light: (to cent) you want head scritches?
hero: DO NOT PUT OUR HANDS ON THAT CORRUPT BEING
vio: PET THE CAT
light: *peaceful cent head scritches*
literally every other person in the body: *earshattering debate*
[developer's note: man i love collaboration]
[i have since gotten over these worries and have decided to make it everyone's problem.]
[yeah this was a while ago when we got Frog Update. following this was an old version of how chain 2 met the main chain, which will be included under the cut at the end.]
it would also be fun to have the reveal happen as a result of rhythm sort of. snapping.
hylia, he knows stopping the shadows is important and protecting people from the monsters they bring is part of the job
and he knows damn well that he's not the only one missing home and the people there
but part of him feels like his situation is worse than some of the others.
he's not the only one separated from someone he loves, but he'd bet a hundred rupees he's the only one who might lose his chance at still having that love afterwards
at least in the eyes of the law and their peers
because as much as he cares for reti, he cannot continue the royal bloodline. sheila will always be the one the zora will think of standing by reti's side.
even if he proves how much he cares and the people know the hylian is more than just a personal guard, that's all he may ever be in title. unable to show the full extent of his feelings in public, because it would be scandalous to be flirting with the king due to already having a queen and because of a disparity in rank.
the longer he's away from home, the less time he has to prove himself to the zora people, and more importantly to the current zora king.
and part of rhythm is terrified of it.
even in sheila were to accept him as well, without the approval of the king, he would still be nothing more than a personal guard trying to court the throne.
a personal guard that went back on his vow to protect the royal family of hyrule to serve the sea.
a personal guard functionally unable to leave or find love because of the prince's gift, always able to be dragged back into the depths.
he hates the thought.
out of context developmental things for this nonsense, pt. 16
[cw below the cut: canon-typical violence. wild meets chain 2 after they teleport to him during Sunset pt. 10. this is no longer exactly how things happen I think, I'm still sort of working it out...]
one of the sudden arrivals runs off after the horse, three are panicking, one's in a hood and not saying much, and--
oh. oh no. someone's bleeding. apparently they don't have any healing. one of the newcomers looks like a monster, though.
wild doesn't have a sword at the moment but he does have a stick. the moment he tries to strike, the injured one blocks the way.
it's hard to tell how much is blood.
"if you wanna hurt them..." the guy says, through pained breaths, barely supported by a spear. "you'll have to get through me."
it's at this point the injured guy collapses. more panic. the horse and the one who went after it come back and something bolts from the bag into the forest.
the one in the hood perks up but says nothing. then their head whips around and he sees red in their eyes.
"oh no" is all the stranger says. "the others are here."
the one who ran after the horse looks more annoyed. "please tell me you're joking."
"who are the others?" wild finally says something to them. "and who're you all, for that matter, and how did you teleport on top of me?"
"the others are shadows and we're heroes and we teleported with this!" one of the other creatures - a skull kid, if he remembers right - holds out a lute. "we were in a fight and one of them got a strong hit on link and--"
wild is already not having a great day and this really isn't helping, but he's not about to let someone down again. "we're not far to a town. there's people who can help there."
"really?"
he nods, not telling them he doesn't know for sure if they can help. if it's another case like twilight's... wild brushes off the thought and picks up this other link as best he can. "where're the shadows?"
the hooded one points towards where wild left the rest of his brothers.
they split off when they reach town. wild, other link, blue-hair, the fairy who was not a healer, and the small plant head into town, leaving red-hair, green-hair, hood, and the skull kid take the horse to meet up with wild's brothers and help deal with "the others".
the town group runs into the smith - his nickname of "four" makes a lot more sense now - who doesn't comment on the injured hylian or the broken sword wild tossed down before he ran off. no, his(their?) eyes are trained on hood, who isn't on the horse despite additional space. green hair looks back at the town group before snapping the reigns and they bolt off.
hood vanishes into the horse's shadow and four's eyes go wide. wider than wild felt his own going at seeing the same thing.
"are you sure there's space for him here?" blue hair asks, pulling wild's attention.
"positive," four murmurs, eyes fixed on the rapidly-disappearing horse.
"mhm."
"they why're we just standing around here?" the fairy gripes. "the sooner link gets help, the better."
the horse vanishes over the horizon and four finally gives the group full attention. "link?"
"that's his name, yes." the plant answers.
four's shoulders rise a little, but whatever he was going to say is dispelled with a twitch of the head. "are you... familiar with the shadow?"
"he's our friend," blue-hair says. "if it wasn't for him warning us, link would be dead right now."
the words sting in wild's ears.
"link isn't going to die."
four's words are as much reassurance for the strangers as they are for wild. even if he knows four is just as scared if the red one was anything to go by.
wild isn't going to let anyone die this time. not twilight, not any of his brothers, not this stranger.
