what is the autism fic about?
this is starting to feel like bullying-WHOSE FEELINGS ARE ETTING HURT???
and b*tch are you okay, is someone having a breakdown in there omg FEED ME
Ooooo you really sniped two of my most dark fics out of the three you chose 😂
I've already answered about "This is starting to feel like bullying" so I'll answer for the other two !
Let's start with the softer one :
"The Autism fic" is about... What's in the title ! lmao
It is also one of the Legend-centric one, but everyone has an important role and will get their moment to shine :)
Legend has been raised to hide and mask it, and is ""conditionned"" to think it's rude to let autistic traits show
So at first most of the Links are like "wow, what an asshole"
Time and Wars are going full parents mode, they want everyone to feel comfortable in the group, so they try to protect them from ableism... which Legend does without knowing what it is
So they don't get along well
Know they are autistic and what it means :
- Warriors (spent a lot of time researching trauma response and the way the brain worked after the war (firstly to help his friends))
- Time (learned the terms during the war)
- Four (not the exact word, but he knows about neurodivergence)
Know they are "different" :
Never really thought about it :
- Twilight (when he was a rancher it perfectly met his needs (I'm sure petting goats when you're overwhelmed is like THE remedy) and afterwards, some people were rude in castletown but he thought it was because he was a villager)
- Wind (is seen as a hyperactive and curious kid but not really more)
Wild is special because he knows, but also think it's because of the 100 years sleep thing ? And who cares, he saved the world and spend most of his time alone anyway."
I have the story planned out and a few scenes written, but it's mostly ideas and random scenes, it's far from being done (and not the wip I'm working on right now !)
Basically, in the downfall timeline people get more scared of difference and intolerant (maybe even because the fallen hero was autistic and they're like "well look how that turned out", but it's... A pretty sad idea). So Legend has been raised to hide it, and have constently been told that the way he acted (stimming, questionning social cues and stuff) was rude, unproper, and more importantly, dangerous for him.
I'll put the beginning here, because it summarize the whole thing pretty well, but I'm sorry for the length of this answer zhehhzehbhbezhez
"Apparently, the weirdness was a hero thing.
Legend was quite puzzled upon this discovery. He had thought his whole life that the weird was a 'him' thing, and a bad one. That what was natural to him was very rude and that he needed to change it.
He was used to act, smile and look in the eyes and laugh with everyone else. He was used to control, checking every few minutes if his hands were still and quiet. He was used to pretend to be like everyone else, and to be able to release those barriers when he was home, to collapse for an hour or so in his room, in the dark and under his covers.
Somehow, when he traveled during quests, he got surprised to note that he was less tired from a day of walking and exploring than from a day in town. Somehow he felt more like himself when he was alone on the road and bouncing on his feet when he saw a fun animal that he had never seen before.
Somehow, he had associated that feeling with travels.
And he was quickly understanding, as he spent time with other heroes, that he should have associated it with being alone.
He couldn't rest. Well, no, he could rest, they slept on the road and they didn't overwork themselves, but he couldn't rest like he did at home.
Because everyone would see, and it wasn't because they had some of the weird that they would accept all of his.
The first few days, he managed. He had met the heroes while in a bad mood, and didn't bother to force any smile he didn't want to. They categorized him as grumpy, and not only was that fair, "grumpy" was an incredibly easier role to act on than "agreeable".
(Probably because it was less polite, but... It was a bit late to be, and they didn't seem to mind too much.)
But after a while, it started to wear him out.
He joked less and mocked more. He was more tired and thus less considerate. He didn't manage his tone as well, nor his facial expressions.
He played with his rings a lot (which was an acceptable way to let out some steam, he had found out while observing adults in town, but only as long as it didn't become obsessive). He felt frustrating needs to just gesticulate nonsensically until his body felt less stiff, less foreign, more... Right.
He didn't feel right, was what it was.
And he resented the other heroes for not making any effort."
I want to clarify one thing : when a wip have a funny title, most of the time they are speaking to me !
"This is starting to feel like bullying" meant bullying towards Legend, that I kept writing whump about.
So the question "bitch are u okay" is directed towards ME, and the answer is no :D (at least when I started writing this)
This is legit the heaviest wip I worked on :)
To put it simply, Legend is depressed, very much so, and Dark Link feeds off the heroes' negative feelings. This doesn't mix well as you can guess !
The first part of the fic would be a descent to hell. Poor Lege is already struggling, and the more he tries to make an effort and do things, the more he feels like he messes up. So why try at all ?
I think I have written about darker themes, but the fact that this is often Legend's POV makes it kind of... Hard to read, in a way ?
I only write on this wip when I'm either in a good mood and know it won't affect me, or when I struggle and need to vent, no in-between because then it would make me feel down.
And, yeah, Legend is having a breakdown in this one. A big one 😅
But what is important to me is that the second part of the fic is about healing. It's about how having a good support system helps, how healing isn't linear but progress is always progress. It's not just a vent fic, I want Lege to get better, dammit !
The thing is, I like "healing" as a theme for my fictions, and the next long fic I plan on posting also speaks about this (with a twist). I just don't know if I should fuse those two fics (but I'll lose some of what makes them special in both cases) or if I should just assume that I'm always writing the same stories in different fonts 😆
I don't have a big snippet for this one, but just to set the tone, it starts like this :
" It's just one of those days.
Legend wakes up, barely opens his eyes, and suddenly, existing is too hard.
Getting up and eating and talking with friends sounds like torture. Having to wait for the night to be able to curl up under his covers is already an ordeal, and for Nayru's sake he's not even out of his bedroll yet. "
(I'm sorry for the length of this post oh my god now THAT is rambling)