#herrings mailbox

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This is a friendly invitation to post absolutely anything about your modern cryptid au! It’s so cool!!!

would you like to has a drawing?

The swamp outside of town has always been a strange place. Very few people have ever lived there and the wetlands remain generally undisturbed. 

every once in awhile some new businessmen or another will pop up to try and buy the land.

Any attempts to “renovate” the area however are quickly shut down by everyone within a ten mile radius. Before the swamp itself takes the matter into its own hands.You don’t disturb the swamp or the souls that reside there. Resting or restless alike.

Most of all the swamp child. everyone has a different idea about the sightings of a young boy in the water and the yellow-green eyes that stare at you from the fog. Some swear his skin is covered in scales. Many claim it’s the vengeful spirit of a lost child.

Meanwhile Wind just grins and listens to the rumors in his hylian disguise. No one seems to notice he’s been here longer than he should be. That technically he went missing and declared dead decades ago. They all know him but at the same time they don’t. They’re still looking for him even though he never left.

That doesn’t bother him anymore. He happy to continue living in his old house by the swamp’s edge. Aryll left years ago, Tetra and a few of his old friends still live around town. Wind even made friends with an old sailor who moved to the landlocked town trying to escape sea monsters.

The irony deeply amuses him.

but it’s just him and his grandmother now living in the old rickety house. She doesn’t recognize him, like everyone else… but he seems to have been accepted as an unofficial grandchild anyways . It’s enough for Wind.

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*peeks around the corner of your inbox* Hi! I love your merfolk designs! MerMay is going much slower for me than I’d expected (I’m trying to complete a manuscript NaNoWriMo style, except that it’s May and not November), and I neeeed more fish people in my life.😁 May I humbly ask for more lore, art, or fun facts about your Merfolk AU? Whatever you’re in the mood for would be AWESOME!

:) yesssssss! I get to tap about my sharkboi!!!

first of all! Wind isn’t technically a wild mer. (Though he is currently stuck in that predicament) He was raised in the Windfish Marine Aquarium, a rescue, rehab, and release for marine animals.

he lived there at least since he was like two. It is unclear where he came from. An outside (anonymous) company paid for the aquarium to take care of Wind. Most of the people who would end up working with him didn’t know he was a mer and not just a shark until after they signed the non disclosure form. And saw him.

it was a weird day for everyone…

although Wind quickly cements himself as an absolute delight to work with. His name is actually a nickname derived from people calling him “Treasure of the Windfish aquarium” which was decided to be far too long and eventually got shortened to just “Wind”somehow.

When Wind turns twelve however there’s an accident and he ends up attacking someone. (Fully deserved btw) it’s big enough that it risks public finding out and Wind’s going to be transported somewhere else.

Unfortunately the transport ship gets wrecked and Wind is rather violently given his freedom by a force of nature. And a scientist who knew the ship was sinking and didn’t want Wind to get stuck.

So Wind has been sort of wild for a little less than two years now. He is kind of bad at it bc he was never supposed to be a release and hunting is hard. So is everything else. And Wind has no fear of people or divers.

(Of course somehow he still isn’t known to the greater world by either sheer luck or an outside influence.)

Right now Wind is doing pretty okay living in the shallows along the coast. Although there is the problem of the net he got stuck around himself… (which will be resolved. I’m working on a little comic rn)

anyways have a baby wind, fresh out of the transport truck:

He sploot. At the bottom of the tank and starring into the souls of all the vets, biologists, and anyone in between who just got their worldview shattered. Where did he come from? Found in the wild? born in Captivity? Some weird science experiment? Freaking nuclear mutant???…. Uhhh… unclear. He just showed up.

Have mercy on all the biologists who are trying to figure out how fish-mammal.(If he even is either) And how does Wind seem to be half of an already existing species of shark.

If ya’ll want to give any little doodle requests involving this lemon boi I might do those <3

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Sky Time and Four

drew some more spooky chain au.

Sky the gargoyle. He can in fact fly… somehow. Them wings should not allow flight but here we are.

he turns to a statue during the day. Likes to choose a good vantage point beforehand so he can watch over his resting brothers at the same time.

Werewolf Time! very large very fluffy. (Don’t try and pet him. He will bite) his sleep schedule is a mess.

This one’s digital, but it’s Four as a haunted doll. Or maybe possessed is a better term. He doesn’t actually walk a lot on his own and just hitched rides on everyone else’s shoulders. He just appears on somebody and the chain have stopped questioning it.

I will say I was considering a very different idea for Four earlier. If anyone’s interested I could still probably draw that design. Frankly I’m still on the fence about this one.

I wanna draw pumpkin-skeleton Wind again…

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Goddess statue command melody ? Reminder

Hylia gains 1 new headache that day.

Bonus doodles. Ignore how inconsistent my draw hylia.

The child descends. I hope you all know the meme im referencing.

Bonus bonus: baby deity form wind :) (aka minor guardian)

Goddess and the weird bird thing she found in her backyard. I’ll have you know Wind is taller than time like this.

@ourasriel

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What do you do with a shrunken Sailor?

please tell me more this sounds hilarious

I’m assuming you read the first ask I gave a snippet of? (If not it’s right here)

basically the Hc goes: Wind was a very angry small child. Like he was just mad. Idk man.

Poor grandma had to deal with a bite prone tiny guy with the rage of a thousand suns until he was like eight. (When he finally stopped biting)

of course the chain would have never guessed this. Wind’s a sunshine boy! Unfortunately this is often wrongly interpreted at immaturity and/or “innocence.” Don’t get me wrong Wind is definitely young and in many senses a kid but he isn’t immature (most of the time) and definitely not innocent.

anyways I thought the idea of the chain dealing with an actually immature Wind who acts nothing like the usual sailor would be funny.

also Tiny Wind just absolutely hates blond men. He has decided it is on sight. No one’s kneecaps are safe and the Captain’s seem particularly vulnerable.

He also tries to run away more times than any of the chain can count so they have to child leash him.

anger.

Genuine tears of joy and relief are shed when Wind goes back to normal. When the resident sailor learns what happened he is mortified. for awhile at least. It takes a little bit to laugh about it.

Also throughout this Legend is fighting for his life against the urge to punt Tiny Wind. Sure he’s surprisingly good with most kids. But baby Wind…

Captain is crying a little and trying to remind himself this is temporary (hopefully) and Wind will be back to normal at some point. (He wants Wind to not hate him anymore ;-; )

Wild might have given Tiny Wind a knife at some point. (What do you mean little children aren’t supposed to have weapons? Half of us had weapons and turned out fine!)

Several of the chain are fearing for their lives. 👍

Four is distinctly aware his hair is within grabbing range.

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Are you taking asks for the new zombie au? If so … how exactly did Wars wind up nearly dying on top of a burger joint roof and why was Wind in the area? 👀 (Very excited, I love aus where there’s tons of found family and hurt/comfort with a dash of survival)

I am indeed taking asks for my zombie au :D not sure what to call it. Do Wind and Warriors have a duo name yet? If so I’ll probably call it “(duo name)’s post apocalyptic road trip.”

okay I’ll actually answer the questions now-

as for Why Warriors was up there! Well he’d been a solo survivor for the last few weeks (not a fun time) and got chased by a hoard up there. Ran out of ammo and supplies. And since zombies have more patience than a rock they would have just stayed there until something substantial drew them away.

Warriors had gotten bored at some point (he knew he would die without intervention but refuses to join the zombie count) and started reenacting bits of plays he remembers. Because as stated above he was very bored. And didn’t think anyone was around. (Aside from the zombies who are a very poor audience btw)

Thankfully Wind Was actually in the area! He was mainly looting some strangely empty buildings. (All the zombies had congregated around Wars) but aside from that he’s been looking for his sister and Tetra+ the crew. Got separated from them about half a year earlier. (Possibly related to the reason he’s missing a foot.)

Anyways Wind sees Warriors and his dramatics on top of the building. Realizing that was in fact a living person trapped by the zombies he decided to stage a rescue with the King of Red Lions (aka “red dragon truck of doom.” Nickname given by Warriors)

said rescue involved mostly Warriors wondering if he was hallucinating the glorious abomination of engineering plowing through the hoard. He hops into the cab and then the two are off.

Duo post apocalyptic road trip begun 👍✨

Wars was rather surprised at who was driving.

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What do you do with a shrunken sailor? :) & What is a frog but an amphibious vessel of nonsense?

👀

“What do you do with a shrunken sailor?” Wind somehow manages to get de aged to about 6 years old. An unfortunate turn of events for the chain.

stemmed from my “Wind was a very very angry little child when he was younger” idea. And now the chain have to deal with the nightmare that is 6 year old Wind for a bit.

snippet:

———————————————————————

“He's so small. I wouldn't have expected his hair to be so curly. "

Twilight couldn't help but agree. 

Wind shifted, Large drowsy sea green eyes blinking up at the Rancher. Twilight let a kind smile stretch across his face as he opened his mouth to say hello. 

Instead of that happening however, a set of tiny sharp teeth clamped down on his hand. 

The de-aged 6 year old sailor was up and sprinting off within a moment. The rancher hadn't even registered the BLEEDING bite wound he'd just received. 

Maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as they thought.  ———————————————————————

"Are you sure he didn't get possessed or something? I think he wants to murder me in my sleep." Hyrule wispered to legend. 

Legend looked over at the six year old crouched by the fire. He had to agree. There was bloodlust in those eyes.  ———————————————————————

and “What is a Frog but an amphibious vessel of nonsense?” Is Frog Wing shenanigans based off the frog wind art I made awhile ago. Not a regular frog mind you. A person sized mostly human shaped frog person.

snippet:

———————————————————————

Wind had come to learn in his almost 14 years of life that there are just some things you don’t expect to happen. These things of course happen anyways, not caring what one thought was likely or possible. 

But even so. 

Turning into a frog was a bit much. Even for him. 

Well he hadn’t been turned to a full on hopping amphibian. Wind still had hair, and was MOSTLY still humanoid. Later reflection made a weird anthropomorphic half frog a more accurate description. 

The point was; Wind woke up one day to his skin bright blue, webbed weird shaped hands and feet. And most importantly the ability to serenade his still sleeping brothers with a very very loud squeaky

 “RIBBIT.”

A noise that did not seem to be appreciated. 

Six out of his fellow heroes all shot up from their bedrolls, several gripped around for the various weaponry they carried. But all of them took a few moments to notice Wind.

Who had slapped a webbed (kind of weird vaguely sticky) hand over his mouth in surprise. 

It took a few moments for them all to process even a little of what their eyes were telling them.

“Wind???” Warriors looked completely and utterly dumbfounded. 

Wind blinked. Still processing things himself. “I think I just croaked.”

“Well we heard THAT!” Legend sounded a bit frantic. “Why are you BLUE!?” 

“Do I look like I know?!” Wind exclaimed. “I just woke up like this!” Honestly he had absolutely no idea how this might have happened. 

“Well people don’t just turn blue and lose their ears for nothing.” Four pointed out. 

“What do you mean- WHERE ARE MY EARS!” Wind screeched, okay this was weirder than anticipated. 

———————————————————————

other situations I have vaguely planned out:

Wind: hey Rulie you want my sandwich? I’m not hungry. 

Hyrule: sure. *takes sandwich from Wind’s hands.*

Hyrule: ….

Hyrule: *vaguely concerned* “hey sailor why does your sandwich taste weird. And tingly?”

(Turns out Wind is poisonous) 

Wind: I’m sorryyyy T~T

Hyrule: *laying down NOT having a good time* your good 👍🥲

Time on watch and staring intently 

Twilight: Old man..?

Time *points in front of him* 

Wind: *now with reflective eyes* ⚪️_⚪️

Twilight: holy- 

(They where having a staring contest)

Innkeeper: … uh. 

(wind is half flopped over the counter and smiling.)

Innkeeper: is…

Time: his mother’s a Zora.

Innkeeper: 

Innkeeper. Okay… well you and your son have a nice day. Do you need anything specific or?

Time *suddenly regretting life choices* “…a tub would be nice.” 

The rest of the chain: *barely contained laughter*

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Wind being a boar is a funny idea. boars represent untamed nature in some cultures, which i think fits his pirate n sea aesthetic very much, and foils his “founding New Hyrule” with Tetra well. also represents spirit/courage and reckless instinct, which i think fits a teenager who wants to prove himself as an adult.

i made him an otter in my one shot tho lol

I mean if you really think about Wind’s abilities he really is a sort of force of nature. Or well commander of forces of nature. I feel like he has yet to fully realize how insane it is.

Also the irony of in this scenario Wind’s darkworld form being a Boar, which is usually Ganon’s animal. And Wind defeats Ganon, who was trying to revive a lost kingdom and rule it. Then Wind goes and eventually helps start a new kingdom he may or may not help rule. Wind’s whole existence is a somewhat unintentional “screw you” to Ganondorf. It’s almost poetic.

Wind is a determined and courageous little guy. Who will do anything to keep those he cares about safe.

I have seen otter Wind before and I do like that one quite a bit as well!