#lutober2024

[notmye]

Lutober Day 16: Weapon

Lutober day 17: Hearts (Testing out my new markers)

[sunfloweraro]

LUtober day 6: Family

“My family? Hyrule asked, lips thinning as discomfort rolled across him. “I… I don’t think I’ve ever had one before.”

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“I suppose I have Fable,” Legend said with a shrug. “And… Ravio might as well be family—shut up, Captain!” Legend, always quick to divert unwanted attention, threw the buck to Hyrule. “What about you, Traveller? Who have you got waiting for you back home?”

“My family?” Hyrule asked, lips thinning as discomfort rolled across his shoulders. “I… I don’t think I’ve ever had one before.”

Silence crashed into the clearing. Hyrule shifted uncomfortably beneath it, lowered his gaze when the group’s wide eyes became too much.

“You’ve no family back home?” Legend asked. When Hyrule shook his head, Legend cursed. “Shit, I’m sorry, Roo, I shouldn’t have—”

“Well,” Hyrule said, as a thought occurred to him. He wasn’t entirely alone in his cave. “Sometimes a stray cat visits me and stays the night. I hope she’s doing well…” The thing was nearly half his size and loved when he stroked her back, her purrs filling up the silence of his makeshift home.

“That counts!” Wind offered, his smile so bright and true, Hyrule knew he wasn’t lying to make him feel better. “We’ve a seagull that loves to visit all the time. It may as well be part of the family by now.”

“Yeah,” Hyrule said, a soft smile lifting his lips.

Later, as he was spreading out his bedroll, Legend joined him, murmuring quietly: “I’m sorry. About earlier, I mean. I didn’t realise…”

“It’s fine,” Hyrule assured him. “It’s been this way my whole life.”

His words, meant to comfort, only served to make Legend look sick. “You know you have us now, right? You’re not alone any more.”

Hyrule… hadn’t even considered that. Hadn’t considered they might feel that way about him. “Really?”

Legend’s smile was soft as he nudged Hyrule in the side, then curled an arm around his shoulders, drawing him in close. “‘Course, Roo. You’re family now. You’re stuck with us.”

Hyrule grinned, an unfamiliar warmth breathing to life in his chest. “Thanks, Lee.”

[notmye]

Lutober day 3: Home

[notmye]

I spent so many hours trying to get 100 on that mini game in albw that I think i cried when I actually got it

[sunfloweraro]

LUtober day 22: Echoes

Wind has some questions about Four’s shadow. Four takes great joy in messing with him.

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“Hey, um… Four?”

“Good evening, Wind.”

“Yeah…” Wind said, uncertain. Hesitant. “Can I ask you something?”

“If you’d like,” Four said, his attention on warming his hands over the fire. Wind wasn’t watching Four; he was watching his shadow. The thing seemed to have a mind of its own, swaying this way and that. As if sensing his eyes on it, Four’s shadow waved at him.

“Four…” Wind readied his sword. Once Four knew what lay behind him, they would only have a second to act. “Your shadow is moving by itself.”

Except Four only hummed, disinterested. He made no move to grab his sword. “Shadows are interesting,” he said. “They’re like an echo of us, aren’t they?” Four examined his hand, as if considering something only he understood.

“What?” Wind asked, gobsmacked. “No, Four—your shadow is literally moving by itself. It waved at me!”

“Echoes sure are interesting, aren’t they?” Four asked, in that painfully irritating way of his that told Wind he full-well knew why his shadow wasn’t behaving as it should, and that Four wouldn’t be sharing no matter how hard Wind pushed.

Wind threw his hands up, tossing his sword to the side for the night and making a beeline for his bedroll. “You know what, I’m too tired for this. Goodnight.” And he collapsed into his cosy blankets, discarding any and all thoughts of Four’s odd shadow.

Behind him, Four smirked, reaching out to place a hand over his shadow’s, eyes alight with mirth.

[notmye]

Lutober day 26: ruins

[sunfloweraro]

LUtober day 18: Potions

Wild mistakenly gives Time and Sky the wrong potion. Twilight and Warriors wake up and have to deal with the consequences.

Or, Time and Sky drink a de-aging potion. Chaos ensues.

Follow-up.

Part 3

Final

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“Here,” Wild said, digging through their bag, hauling out the first potion their hands met. “This’ll fix you right up, Old Man.”

Rolling his eyes at the nickname, Time took the proffered glass bottle, unable to make out its swirling contents in the dim lighting of the dungeon. With the nasty gash up his arm burning something fierce, he didn’t care to look closer, trusted Wild wouldn’t lead him astray; he uncorked the bottle and took a deep swig, sighing in relief as the pain ebbed, his wound sealing up swiftly.

With half the potion left over, Time wordlessly passed it down the line, along to Sky, who sat with his leg stretched out, ankle swollen to thrice its normal size. Sky murmured his thanks, and it wasn’t long before his ankle was back to normal, bar a ring of purple bruising. Not perfect, but better.

Warriors handed out potions to the others from his own supply, and it wasn’t long before the group settled down and made up camp. Soon after, Time’s stomach began to twist, nausea curdling his insides. Sky took on a pale sheen too, and they shared a look. Just what did Wild’s healing potion contain?

“Are you guys okay?” Wild asked. “You both look queasy.”

“I don’t think your potion agreed with us,” Time admitted, swallowing back the bile threatening to rise up his throat. “I think I need to lie down.” And his legs promptly gave out. Wild rushed to catch him, Twilight catching Sky. Wild shared a panicked look with Twilight, a silent conversation passing between them.

“Okay. Why don’t you two rest for tonight? See how you feel come mornin’.” Twilight’s words weren’t a suggestion, and he and Wild were laying the two of them in their bedrolls swiftly. Time was much too nauseous to argue—and then cold. Shivers wracked his frame, and he pulled his blankets up to his neck.

“Alright?” Twilight asked, crouching by him.

“Awfully cold all of a sudden,” Sky said next to him, and Time was grateful he wasn’t the only one in this.

“Hold on. I’ll shift, and you two can lie against me. Hopefully whatever this is ain’t contagious.” Regardless of his words, Twilight shifted quickly, laying between them and allowing them to press themselves into his side, seeking out the warmth his fur offered.

As the chills settled down to something bearable and the nausea calmed, Time drifted off, praying this would pass soon.

***

Twilight awoke to an overwhelming sense of wrongness, so profound, yet he was unable to place why he felt that way. It wasn’t that he was in his wolf form—he had slept in this form dozens of times before, honestly preferred it to sleeping as a Hylian, when he could curl up in ways his original body couldn’t hope to, especially as he grew older.

Two points of warmth pressed against him: Time and Sky. Except, they felt off, different than they had last night, when both had pressed against him, burying themselves into his fur to keep warm; they felt small. Or maybe, Twilight had yet to fully awaken, and his tired brain wasn’t processing things correctly.

Shaking his head, a long, drawn-out yawn escaping him, so much better in this form when his jaw stretched wider and he could gnash his fangs, Twilight pushed himself up. He shook himself, freeing himself from the clinging threads of sleep, and shifted back to his Hylian form to investigate and prove his tired morning-brain wrong.

And behind him, someone burst into tears.

“Wha—” Twilight whipped around, eyes wide with panic. He had yet to see any of his new companions break down like this; many of them had shed tears when he had pulled through that terrible injury from the Dark, and Wild had come to him later, curling around his wolf form and crying silently into him, but this was raw, unfiltered, like a child’s wailing—

Lo and behold, two children sat behind him. One couldn’t be older than five, and watched him with big, wet eyes; the other appeared to be three, and was in the middle of bawling his eyes out, choked sobs escaping him and tearing at Twilight’s heartstrings.

“What is going on over there?” Warriors spoke up, peering across the fire, only for his eyes to go wide when he saw the two children.

The first child—the older one—turned to his younger friend, trying to console him. “It’s okay!” he cried, though he appeared close to bursting into tears, too. “It just had to… um… it’ll be back soon!”

“’s gone!” the other child babbled. “I wan’ it back!”

“It’ll be back soon! Right, Mister?” the older child turned to him again, and Twilight realised he recognised those blue eyes. His stomach dropped, and his eyes darted over to the other child, with dark-blond hair. It couldn’t be…

“Link?” he asked tentatively, and both kids looked at him.

“You’ve got to be joking,” Warriors said, picking his way over the sleeping forms of their companions—how they stayed asleep in all this, Twilight hadn’t a clue. Potion-induced fatigue really did wonders for their sleep. “Is that Sky? And our Old Man?”

Twilight pinched the bridge of his nose, eye twitching when little Sky continued to wail, little Time’s attempts at comfort futile. “Somehow, yes. I believe this is them.”

“It’s too early for this,” Warriors grumbled. “Hey, what’s wrong, little guy?” he asked, voice lighter, pleasant where he clearly felt nothing of the sort.

“It—it’s gone,” little Sky repeated, making grabby hands at Warriors. Warriors understood his request instantly, and crouched down to sweep little Sky up into his arms, resting him on his hip in a way that made Twilight wonder if Warriors often worked with children. The action brought bubbly laughter to Sky’s lips, and Twilight and Warriors shared a relieved smile.

“What’s gone?” Warriors asked.

“We’ll help you find it,” Twilight added.

“My friend, it was just here.”

Warriors turned to Twilight, eyes alight with understanding. “He wants Wolfie back.”

“That’s what all this fuss is for?”

Little Sky sniffled, grabbed at the fabric of Warriors’ scarf and clutched it tightly in his tiny fist. “Friend…”

“Okay, okay.” Twilight stepped back, taking hold of his twili-crystal and shifting back into his wolf form, wincing at the age-old pain he had long-since become used to. It had gotten easier over the years, but it would never be pleasant to have his bones break themselves down and realign into something different, even if the pain faded quickly.

“Friend!” little Sky shouted.

Little Time cheered, and Twilight jumped, having almost forgotten he was there, with how quiet he had become. “Yay!”

“Do you want to go down?” Warriors asked, already crouching to set little Sky on the ground.

Little Sky clung to him tighter, pressed his face into Warriors’ shoulder. “No!”

Warriors blinked, then laughed, deep and genuine. “Okay, okay. You can stay with me.” He stood back up, adjusting his hold on little Sky for the long run.

“Yay!”

“I want to go up too!” little Time demanded, only he pointed at Twilight, rather than Warriors.

“On Wolfie’s back?” Little Time nodded, eyes alight with excitement. “Is that okay, Mr. Wolfie?”

Twilight huffed, but dipped his head. He struggled with refusing Time when he was his normal self; how could he possibly hope to refuse him as an adorable child? With his smile a little too smug, Warriors grabbed little Time around the waist, effortlessly lifting him with one arm. Both children squealed with delight as they were swung up into the air, and them little Time was set on Twilight’s back, a comforting weight.

“My friend,” little Time murmured, leaning over Twilight’s back and burying his face in his fur. Twilight knew then that the child wouldn’t be leaving him at all today. A part of him relished in that fact, preened at the thought of keeping his ancestor safe.

“Hey, Twi?” Twilight lifted his head, peering at Warriors curiously. “How do you think this happened? Why only the two of them?”

Twilight pondered, thinking back to the previous night. They had both been feeling off, had been nauseous and feverish—but why? His eyes widened, and he trotted over to the pile of discarded glass bottles, nudging the one with a strange yellow liquid still resting within it, a mere few drops when it had been full yesterday, passed to Time by—

“Yucky,” little Sky mumbled, glaring at the potion. Little Time’s fists clutched Twilight’s fur, as if angry, or frightened.

“For the love of—” Warriors groaned. “Why did they even have that potion?”

At this point, Twilight didn’t care. Why they had it didn’t matter; why they had given it to their fellow companions in an act of carelessness, he wanted to know. He growled at the potion, and turned to Warriors, then Wild’s sleeping form, and back to Warriors.

Warriors understood his meaning. “Wild!” he shouted, waking the rest of the group up—finally. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

[notmye]

Lutober day 6: Family

woops missed day 5