#forging a chain

[rlinwriteslu]

Man this writing shit is easy

also BMM Ch16 is now finished if you care

[rlinwriteslu]

“How are we going to get in there?” Hyrule pulled out a candle on a holder and grinned. “How do you think?” He walked over to the remnants of the encampment and held the wick to a glowing coal. It burst alight in a few seconds. “I probably should have seen that coming.” Hyrule walked back to the tree. “Trees like these that cover something tend to burn readily for some reason. So this trick only really works if there really is something underneath. In case you were worried that we’re about to start a forest fire.” He held the flame to the tree, and it readily started to burn. Mask instinctively stepped back from the heat of the fire. “How dry is that tree?” Hyrule shrugged. “I think there’s some sort of oil in the bark that’s really flammable.” Mask stepped back a little more as he watched the fire rapidly grow to engulf the entire tree. “You know, for someone who really likes finding things in the outdoors, you seem really willing to burn a lot of things you come across.” “Can’t make an omelet without cracking a few eggs.” “I think you can’t make an omelet regardless of what you do.” Maybe Mask was channeling Legend a little too much there with that barb.

After nearly 10 months, Chapter 14 of The Boy with Many Masks is finally complete! It'll probably be another couple of weeks after that to get some revisions done, but it'll finally be out in a relatively reasonable timeframe.

[rlinwriteslu]

a comedy in two acts

[rlinwriteslu]

“You know, Veteran, I used to not know what the sky really looked like. I only found out maybe like a year ago.” “Really?” That was not something Legend would have expected from him. Mask seemed largely cut from the same cloth Legend was, in that they both seemed to like to soak in information around them like a sponge. So to hear that the boy hadn’t known about something as basic as the sky until that recently was very unusual, to say the least. “Yeah.” There was silence for a while, before Mask spoke again. “Where I grew up, there was this fog that would always cover the sky. It wasn’t until I left and started seeing the rest of Hyrule that I got to see the sun and moon and stars for the first time.” He paused again for a long while. “It’s so strange. The fact of their existence seems so obvious. With how much of the moon alone I’ve seen…” He trailed off. “It’s just… Can you imagine describing what a clear sky looks like to someone who has never seen one? If I were told that it was so blue just a little more than a year ago, I would have thought I was being messed with.” “There’s always a first time for everything,” Legend said. “Even something as simple as seeing a blue sky.”

So fun fact, the sun cannot be seen in Kokiri Forest at any time of day. This inspired a snippet I wrote and posted into the LU Discord a few months ago, and this is part of the more final version that has made its way to my current draft of the next Boy with Many Masks chapter.

[rlinwriteslu]

Chapter 16 of The Boy with Many Masks is out!

While Mask perused the shelves, Legend turned to Hyrule. “Are you going to call staying here again nostalgic as well?” Hyrule smiled slightly. “Shut up.” “Oh, look at me, I’m the Traveler, I’ve just popped out of my era and into the Veteran’s era, this takes me back to when I popped out of my era into the veteran’s era and started this whole quest.” Legend’s impression of Hyrule was admittedly not good. “You have to admit that there’s parallels.” “Since when were you so sentimental?” Hyrule shrugged. “Eh. Maybe you and Mask are rubbing off on me.” “I’m the sentimental one?” “Have you heard yourself talk sometimes?” “And Mask?” Legend turned towards Mask, who was staring at something at the wall. “Hey, Mask, would you say you’re a sentimental person?” Mask did not respond. He seemed to be fixated on whatever he was looking at. “Mask?”

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

[rlinwriteslu]

Mask was sitting at the foot of North Castle overlooking the great lake that surrounded it. The setting sun on the horizon cast up a burning golden light into the sky. Even the clouds were lit with a warm orange from sunlight that illuminated them from below. The lake itself was remarkably clear, and Mask could see his own reflection as he looked in it as if it were a great rippling, shimmering mirror. It was a good view. Mask had complicated feelings about sunsets. To most people, they were an ordinary fact of life, marking the transition between day and night, between work and rest, between bright skies and shimmering stars. Mask was not like most people. He had seen his first sunset after he had left Kokiri Forest for the first time and was headed to Castle Town. He had been awestruck by the sight as he got closer and closer to the city gate. And then the drawbridge went up, shutting him out for the night and leaving him to contend with the Stalchildren. Such a moment of wonder only to so abruptly turn into fear and uncertainty.

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

[rlinwriteslu]

Mask held out the mask for the traveler to see. “This is the Keaton Mask. It’s of a character that’s been quite popular as of late in my era, at least among children.” He paused. “Though I do suppose the mask shop can’t run with its salesman out travelling.” He stood up and put on the mask. “Keaton’s pretty cute, don’t you think?” His posture shifted slightly as he put it on, and so did the tone of his voice. If Hyrule didn’t know better, in that moment, Mask could just have been like any other child his age. The Keaton Mask by itself was pretty cute, though, so Hyrule nodded. Mask took it off and shifted back to his normal demeanor, with that sort of relaxed confidence that he and Legend seemed to have. He sat down. “It’s a fun, childish thing for most, I suppose, but what’s just another silly thing now could be a treasured memory in a few years. For one person I met, it was a token of a long-held friendship. It’s interesting how these things turn out.” He paused. “I will say, there are legends of intelligent three-tailed foxes that bear a resemblance to this mask. Do you think that maybe Keaton may not be such a fictional character after all?” He gave Hyrule a knowing smile at that last part.

Another snippet from the upcoming Boy with Many Masks chapter, now for once featuring one of the masks in question. This is the more final version of a snippet I posted in the Discord a couple months ago.

[rlinwriteslu]

Four's a Crowd was written with sweat, blood, and tears.

Sweat of the writer, blood of the characters, and tears of the reader.