#lamp can write

[sunfloo-wers]

I don’t know if I ever said before but, chapter 4 of Petroleum Polka’s out!

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

[sunfloo-wers]

Oh yeah I forgot to post it here but Petroleum Polka has been updated! Chapter 3 has been out for about a week

https://archiveofourown.org/works/66386644/chapters/177135581

[sunfloo-wers]

fic fic fic fic fic fic fic fic fic

Petroleum Polka

summary:

Hyrule’s scratch (it wasn’t a scratch, but he couldn’t keep thinking about it. If it was just a scratch then they didn’t need to know about it. Time wasn’t keeping track of every single nick the Links got, that was just absurd, right? So it was a scratch. And he was fine.) (He was not fine.) burned and pulsed in his boot. He readjusted his legs, kicking them out from under the blankets. He winced, that hadn’t helped at all. "I do- I. I worry,” Legend said. The two sat in silence for a few minutes more, watching the rest of the chain mill about the camp. Legend pushed himself up, pulling himself away from Hyrule to look him in the eyes. He momentarily missed the physical contact, before quickly squashing that feeling. “I mean really, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Or, Hyrule has black blood. The chain doesn’t know this. This leads to some unfortunate events when Four catches him cleaning a wound in the middle of the night.

@callmerose0 we talked about black-blooded Rulie, so I thought you might want to read what I made from our ideas! (no pressure obviously :> )

[sunfloo-wers]

Brain started churning and I can’t stop it so have…

✨Reasons for a bunch of (all?) the chain to write in diaries✨ (from yours truly, a person who doesn’t write in diaries)

Chronological order, my dearly beloved:

Hyrule: I feel like Hyrule knows that this adventure will end. Knows it much more than the rest of the chain. Knows that once this adventure is over, it’s back to caves and aches (both of the body and of the monster) and having nobody in his corner besides people he barely sees in passing. He wants to make sure that when it’s all over, when he’s back securely in his era, he can look back on these good days with good people. That he can have something, anything, to keep him going that isn’t fear. Hope.

Legend: Keeps meticulous track of specifically what the people around him did. After Koholint, he wants to make sure that he has something from those he loves, even if they turn out to be fake in the end. He needs to have something of them for when they eventually leave, because they all will and they all do and if they don’t then he will. And for when that day comes, he needs something more than faint memories of red hair, a sharp grin, and a beautiful voice left of those he cares about.

Time: Time come at his habit of writing from an archival viewpoint; he’s experienced so much time fuckery, most of which from when he was a child, and what he remembers beyond the trauma probably isn’t much. Having a play by play of the events may do him good in the years to come, but can also stand as a warning to whoever comes after him.

Wind: 1) Tetra will actually kill him if he did something cool and didn’t a) invite her or b) tell her about it. 2) He wants to be able to tell his Gran about all the cool things he’s done and cool people he’s met. Makes sure he has track of it all in case he forgets something. (For an angsty bit cause I’m me and I can’t help it, Gran’s memory isn’t what it used to be and Wind wants to make sure he can tell the story perfect no matter how many times she needs him to tell it. He also wants to make sure he remembers. Just in case.)

Four: It was a habit that the colors made right after their adventure, to make sure they all knew what each other was up to if they needed to be Link or each other without someone knowing (Hyrule town was never the most fond of the colors and it was a safety net to fall back on). Four also keeps it up in case they ever are able to bring Shadow back, he can properly tell him what he’s missed.

Twilight: Midna left. Midna disappeared and never came back. It was such a hectic time in his life that he has more memories of pain and rushing and moving than of her and her smile and the laugh she made when she was mocking him or anyone else. So he makes sure that just in case he lost anyone else suddenly and without warning, he knows what they were like. Just in case.

Sky: Sky is always late. Late to save Zelda, late to wake up (late to go to sleep in any way that actually makes him less tired, in a way that swaps the exhaustion deep in his bones for anything else), late late late. One might say that it’s a waste of the time he so clearly doesn’t have enough of (because what other reason besides his own ineptness would there be for him to always be so late) writing things down. But he wants to make sure it’s there. That everything he’s done is tactile and there, for when if he fails to make it the next time. Be it for something to cling to to tell himself that he did everything he could, or something to use to berate and rip himself to shreds about how he wasn’t good enough (wasn’t fast enough), he wants it there.

Warriors: I honestly have no clue why, but I know for a fact he does it. He’s got 3 diaries, one that is pretty and pristine and perfect step-by-step recording of the journey: Which eras they went to and what they did there, which monsters they fought, strategies they used and if they worked or why they didn’t. Another is full of funny things the chain got up to, it’s a bit dirtier from the multiple times he’s gotten distracted remembering the funny quip someone made and dropped it in the mud. (That has happened a slightly embarrassing amount on times). The last and final one is not something you’d expect from the knightly man when you first look at him. It’s smudged, filled with scratched handwriting, some pages are burned slightly and have clearly been wet and died multiple times, warping the paper out of shape. It’s full of each and every worry he’s had. Every little thing someone in the chain did that set off alarm bells in his brain. Nearer to the start of their journey it was full of worries about being poisoned or stabbed in the night, but by the end it was full of worries about what the chain might do to him, and more what might happen to the chain. He only ever writes in it in the middle of the night watch, hunched over the campfire or in the dewy grass (though the water marks are mostly from tears) trying to see by moonlight. He’s either too panicked to care about what it looks like, or too tired.

Wild: After loosing so much of his memories, he wants to make sure he keeps what he does have. Also, the diaries and photos of those he cared about pre-calamity are pretty much all he has left of them. In case something like what happened to him happens again he wants to have as much as possible recorded for future use, be it for himself to remember his current day, or for someone who cares about him to have something to look back on.

:D

some of these feel mean (sky’s specifically I feel bad about but that may be because it was the last one I did)

I’m imagining that none of them know each other do it too and at some point they have a spider man meme of a “You diary too?!?!” :>

[sunfloo-wers]

OK! (This is all about fanfics) I’m an essay commenter, and I’ve seen a bunch of posts talking about sample sentences for smaller comments and what you can do to step into commenting if you’re shy or don’t know what to say, and those are great, those are wonderful, and if I could easily find them I would put a link to one or more here. But, I’ve not seen that many dissecting how to write longer comments, and I know that it would’ve been helpful for me when I was in between the “I do comment, but it’s only a sentence, I want to do more” and the “I must write every thought I had during this fic and take an hour on one comment for one chapter” (both are extremes, obviously you can do as much or as little in commenting as you want, I want to make this clear, this is not a “you need to write longer comments” this is a “this is how I personally write longer comments to be used as a resource if anyone wants it”)

@callmerose0 (you said you’d want to see this when I mentioned doing it so tag for you)

Everything is under the cut because I get rant-ey

Alrighty! Let’s go!

Beginning:

I always start with a keysmash. Every time, with little fail. (Genuinely, I know what my first ao3 comment was and it started with a keysmash, if you take anything out of this, take keysmashes) It helps me get the AAAAAAA that I feel when reading and the nerves of writing a comment out. It also shows how much I feel about the fanfic while allowing me to write in understandable language for some other parts of the comment.

Next, I give an overall thought sentence or two. It can be the first thing that comes to mind or just more screaming about how wonderful the fic is. It can be a favorite part or a little detail you love so much.

Middle part 1:

Trying to start at the beginning of the fic or chapter, I take note of an event that gave me a clear reaction. If it’s a shorter fic or chapter this may be something as small as the characters saying a goofy line or something larger with more events it could be an action or event.

Write out what event it was, and what your reaction or thoughts were. This can be done is one or multiple sentences and can look like anything from screaming for <20 words to yapping about it for 200+

Do this again and again until you run out of memorable events.

you have officially gotten through the main portion of an essay comment, congrats!

Middle part 2:

Go back and skim through the fic/chapter, making sure that nothing slipped your mind and there wasn’t anything else you wanted to talk about.

I’m not a live commenting person and prefer to describe rather than copy paste quotes, but I hear that style of commenting works for some people, try it out!

If there are other comments, read those too! Build off the other people in the community have been saying, it may spark something in you!

End:

I always end my comments with: “(sometimes blah blah blah) thank you so much for [writing and sharing, this wonderful fic, etc]! <3 <3 <3”

You can do something similar (or feel free to copy paste that, I’m not here for gatekeeping, spread the love to the wonderful authors we all adore) but I personably think a thank you is a nice thing to end on :)

General / other stuffs:

this is more idiosyncrasies that I wanted to expand on

I describe this in a very play by play way, but these middle steps can look really loose in practice and just end up with “AGGHHSIDHAKHDOSH I LOVE WHAT YOU DID WITH [insert event or character here] I FEEL SO MUCH ABOUT THEM IM SO NORMAL I PROMISE” or “[insert character] I love you but please, [insert character] please

I am a worrier, take note of this and continue. I tend to not say things like “can’t wait for another chapter!” I am not a fan of saying “can’t wait” because i think of it a little as a little impatient, and in my head I know it’s probably a me thing because I don’t see people complaining about that phrase but y’know, worrier. I tend to go with “I loved this so much, super exited to see whatever you do next!” It shows the same effect and tells the author you’ll be back if they continue the fic, but doesn’t say “can’t wait”. (I just don’t like that phrase)

Italics! I love love love italics, but ao3’s italic system isn’t the most intuitive for new readers. Here is the link to the Archive’s FAQ page about how to format HTML.

You can also theorize! Or yap about their world building if that’s more your style!

Add personal voice! I have so much more fun writing like how I talk, and if you’re having fun writing the comment, isn’t that a massive plus?

Describe what you’re doing while reading!

I can’t think of more at the moment, but may be back, hope it was at least an interesting read!

[sunfloo-wers]

mmmmm what if Hyrule bled black? Like, I’m reading chapter 27 of @callmerose0’s wonderful and awesome fic: No. 7 (psst, you should go read it if you haven’t, it makes me go crazy on a weekly basis) (their non-LU fics are also super cool, I promise this is not just an add for Rose’s work, I simply adore it) and black blood or just the color black was mentioned and because this fic makes me go straight into what if and thunkin’ mode, the brain hath decided that Hyrule needs to have black blood

It would be super coollllll~

Blood curse, plus all the black blood stuff? And if we’re playing in the blood curse area, then Hyrule is already protective about bleeding at all, so it’s unlikely that the rest of the chain would see his blood, and its black pallor by proxy, for a long while. Meaning they could have assumed he had red blood, and when they see him bleeding black they could think he’s a monster, a wizrobe or an ache or some other shape-shift-able enemy.

And what do our wonderful hero’s do to monsters, especially those they think have harmed their friends? That’s right~ they go a wee bit ham on the muder :)))))

Now, straight up murder isn’t always the funnest option (though it would be lovely to see the aftermath of that >:) ), join me in the world of almosts.

They almost kill him, not fully, not totally, but enough to leave a scar, enough to make an impact, just enough.

And Hyrule, especially in blood-curse centric areas, is quite nervous yes? More than a little secretive and flighty?

How much farther down that path do you think he would fall? If his brothers in arms were to nearly kill him for something that has been a part of him sense he first opened his eyes, if the one group of people he had just started to believe wouldn’t try to kill him, did.

His whole world is constantly baying for his blood, there is no stopping, no rest, no nothing other than a fickle hope for survival. And then there’s the chain. The chain, who have not once seemed to take a stab at him, they don’t even know about the blood curse, they have no reason to wish him harm, and they never would! or… they didn’t, they hadn’t. But he’d seen people change, what if…

[sunfloo-wers]

Puppet Link? nahh dude!

okay okay okay okay guys guys guys I have been struck with a horrifyingly delicious thought

So, eow puppet Link yes? our little guy puppet Link, cool dude, you agree? despite my use of it here, I was not aware of the use of the phrase "Puppet Link" until a few moments ago and it got me thinking (or more so got me staring at it for a while then thinking but that's besides the point): what if "Puppet Link" isn't quite the right phrase, what if this is just Link. Just Link, not puppeteer-ed or coerced or anything of the sort. Just. Link.

Now, I am very much an enjoyer of EOW Hero of Legend Link, but this doesn't have to do with that, suspension of disbelief and enjoying alternate realities with the fictional characters, okay?

And yes I know there are a lot of plot holes but give me a minute,

"But Lamp," You call over my fence, "The eyes! His eye in the first trailer were black/brown/specifically not red but now they are! that must mean magic kerfuffery! And, he was fighting Gannon there too!" Yes, I will admit that this is the main hole in my idea, but... character development? at least for the second point, they might have had a pleasant picnic (ignoring the fact that this is beast Gannon/downfall timeline Gannon and therefore can't talk), and they sorted out their differences! Now, the eyes are a bit of a problem, but I don't know dude, contacts? they got smoothies who's to say they don't have contacts and Link wanted to show off his new vibe

"Okay, say I believe you, but the Spirit of the Hero!" You say, worried for my quickly depleting sanity, "Hylia wouldn't let her hero fall to the dark side!" Now, I won't claim to know everything about Zelda lore and all that jazz, but in my mind the Spirit of the Hero isn't tied to Link. It's tied to the Triforce of Courage. I know that that is a nitpick-ey distinction to make, because the Triforce of Courage is intrinsically tied to Link, but I am making it nonetheless. Also, simply having a piece the Triforce certainly doesn't stop you from being evil. Gannon has and always has had the Triforce of Power, the Triforce is simply a piece of magical essence that plants itself on a mortal being, and has nothing to do with if they are "good" or "bad". And yes, there's the argument of the Triforce of Courage wouldn't have chosen Link if he was going to be evil, but think back to that first trailer again, what was the one thing Link did? He shot arrows at the gem holding Zelda, our unequivocal hero, shattering it, and freeing her. Thus allowing the hero of this story the chance to do said hero-ing. (I am in no way shape or form saying that Link is more heroic than Zelda in eow, or that Zelda's efforts should be diminished, just that Link did technically get the ball rolling, no more than Impa does in most of the Zelda titles). With this established we can all agree that Link did need to be there for the world to be saved, and the all knowing Dorito probably knows this, too so it makes sense in world for Link to still have the Triforce.

"BUT," I hear you say, "what about Hylia? The Golden Goddess still wouldn't let her hero fall!" And I give you Zelda, the only person(people?) in known Hylian history to have the blood of the Goddess, one of which was the Goddess reborn. Zelda, who is on the path to saving Link. Who is without a doubt more of a servant of Hylia than Link ever was. And we all know the Goddess(es) play with Hylians like pieces on a chessboard, do you really think they care about how to get from point A to point B as long as it gets done? Do you really think Hylia "Hylia loves her child soldiers" the Goddess, really cares about if her knight is bad for just a little while? If it all ends up fine in the end?

"But it's a choob/toon graphic game, it can't be that dark!" Did you really just say that? (you didn't, I did, but again, suspension of disbelief) DID YOU REALLY JUST SAY THAT! (I have actually seen this, I think it might have been a joke, but it was "bla bla Link and Zelda seeing they have detailed physical manifestations: we're not getting a happy ending this time, are we") IS LINK'S AWAKENING A JOKE TO YOU?????? that one has one of the most fucked up plots, and it's remake's graphics are very clearly a huge inspiration for EOW's.

(that is a side tangent for another day, the fact that tons of the LA sprites are used makes me so so so happy, but also so scared because that game is so emotionally hitting you with an iron mallet to the face)

I swear there was another point I wanted to dispute, but I can't think of it soooooooooo

But yeah! I love puppet Link, but we've also had so much puppet already (TP and TotK Zeldas, there might be others too), and I think it would be kinda cool if it wasn't puppet Link, and he was just straight up evil :P

You've heard of "what if the bad guys were good?" get ready for "what if the good guys were bad?", a totally never done before thing.

Anyways, yeah, having playable Zelda isn't a new thing for the Zelda franchise, but I'm pretty sure having only playable Zelda is. Like, a game specifically centered around Zelda, and nobody else. So, new things aren't entirely out of the picture.

Do I really think that this is the way the game will go? No, not really, but it was fun to think about, and I hope it gave anyone who reads through this the same amount of whimsey, thank you for coming to my ted talk. goodbye!