Ruby, Sapphire, Alex, and Iolite were having an alright day so far. It was barely midday and they had already managed to finish a sword and a number of more mundane objects to sell at the market at the end of the week. Ruby had even completed a fairly complicated special-ordered necklace for one of the local nobles to give to her wife for her birthday. All in all a good day.
But all that work getting done did mean that they had been in the house, working around the forges for several hours straight. So it was probably past time for them to take a break and go outside for a little while. Sapphire would certainly appreciate moving away from the heat for a bit as well.
Gathering up their swords, they touched them together, forming into Link once more before heading out.
It was annoying sometimes, always merging before going out, or only going out one at a time, but they weren’t really comfortable being honest about who they were with any of the locals of this era. Outside of Zelda, of course. The princess of this time had done more for them than they could properly express and they trusted her nearly as much as they had Dot. She took after her who-knows-how-many-greats grandmother, that was for sure.
But as for the rest of the townfolk? Well. Link interacted with them when they needed to, but they were well aware of how the locals thought of them. And honestly had no desire to try and fix the impression that they had made. If people wanted to judge them for how they had acted when they were freshly re-merged and in a new era far from home. Well. That was on them. Link had no time for people like that. They would deal with them in business matters, but nothing else.
Which, unfortunately, meant they keeping up the charade of being one person. Oh well. It wasn’t like they minded being merged. Not really. It was nice, in a way, sharing a body with each other. Ruby often compared it to a nice hug, or cuddle pile. And the others couldn’t really disagree. So there wasn’t any real harm done. They just had to be careful not to talk to each other out loud while in town.
But that wasn’t a problem out here in the forest. Out here they could just be themselves. And if that meant talking to ‘themself’ out loud then that was fine. There was no one around to see.
Or. At least there usually wasn’t. But the two voices they could hear coming from not far away put paid to the idea that they were alone today. Unfamiliar voices at that.
A small frown worked its way onto their face as they adjusted their path to start in the direction of the people talking. There were two voices. No. Three. And all of them were unfamiliar. Link’s curiosity meant there was no way they weren’t going to investigate these voices, but their caution meant they made their way towards the sounds with quiet steps.
Following the voices led Link to where a small clearing broke up the thick array of trees and brush that made up this particular area of the forest. Link was fairly familiar with this area, so it was child’s play to make their way to a thicker part of the underbrush and peer out at the three people standing in the clearing.
/They look like a set of steps,/ Sapphire’s dry humor cut through their thoughts before any of them could do more than start to take in the people in front of them.
/Sapphire!/ Ruby’s tone was clearly trying to be scolding, but the amusement he was feeling made it hard to take it seriously.
/What?/ Sapphire drawled, amused. /I’m right and you know it./ And, to be fair, she really was. There was a fairly distinct height difference between the three figures.
The shortest stood facing away from them and was maybe a foot taller than Link did, so fairly average in height. And they had long, curly, blond hair with what looked like a pink tint to it. Their tunic was a bright red with a green undershirt and their hat was purple with a blue edge. Needless to say Link approved of their color scheme. Even if the blue was far too light a shade. Though Link could do without the multiple gold adornments they were wearing. From wrist bracers to shoulder pauldrons this person was clearly not ashamed of their wealth. Strangely enough, they didn’t appear to be wearing any pants, despite the fact their tunic only went down to just above their knees.
The next tallest, standing over a foot taller than the first, had short, messy, brown hair and bright blue eyes. Unlike the other two, this person was wearing something that was far more obviously built for protection. Grey leather crossed most of their chest and covered their wrists. All of which sat on top of a blue-green tunic and grey long-sleeve undershirt. Unlike the first person, this one was, in fact, wearing pants. And they matched the shade of the tunic exactly. The whole thing seemed very put together, like it was a set. Well. Almost the whole thing. The only thing that stood out as different was a well-worn red, cloth belt that was wrapped around their waists, under their belts.
The other main thing of note about the second individual were the dark markings they could see lining their face. They were unusual, to say the least. They were too straight and distinct to be scars, but they didn’t look like tattoos either. How odd.
The final figure was another good half a foot or so taller than the second, leaving them towering over the first. Their clothes were of a far different style than the other two, made up entirely of a light and loose-fitting jacket and pair of pants. Both of the articles of clothing were black with intricate designs embroidered on them. Flowers mostly, but Link was fairly sure they caught sight of the symbol of Din on the jacket too. The clothes weren’t anything like Link had ever seen Hyrulians wear before. And if you paired that with the bright red hair and golden eyes that this figure was sporting. Well. There was really only one conclusion.
/She’s Gerudo,/ Iolite noted with interest. /I’m surprised one of the desert people is this far from the desert./
/How do you know they’re a she?/ Ruby asked curiously.
/According to the books I found Gerudo only have one male born every hundred years,/ Iolite explained. /And we’ve already met the male from this century./ Link frowned, mind drifting momentarily to Ganondorf before they mentally shook the thought away
/So most likely she, then,/ Alex acknowledged as they watched the three figures talk.
All three people were clearly armed, with two of them wearing a shield and a sword and the Gerudo woman having what looked like a spear strapped to her back along with her shield. They all held themselves like fighters too, for all they didn’t appear to be currently gearing up to fight. These weren’t people Link wanted to tangle with if they didn’t have—wait.
Source/Game(s): Minish Cap, Four Swords, and Four Swords Adventures/Four Swords Manga
Sexuality: Aromantic and Asexual
Favorite Color(s): Geode’s favorite color is a purple so dark that it looks black unless light hits it. It’s a painful color, but also a warm one. A fond one. Just like the idiot brother of theirs that it reminds them of. Plus they have a fondness for their respective colors; blue, green, red, and violet.
Disliked Color(s): There’s not any one color that Geode doesn’t like. The closest is probably blood red, but they can’t entirely dislike it because it’s too close to Ruby’s color.
Skills: When combined, Geode is a well-balanced fighter. They can shift between long-distance and up-close combat easily. They're also a really good smith, making anything from jewelry to armor to household items to weaponry. When separate things are a bit more specialized.
Sapphire is their best up close and personal fighter. She gets in and hits and she hits hard. And she's pretty good at taking hits too. Sapphire, like her siblings, has some elemental magic, but she has the smallest amount of magic out of the four of them. So she tends to avoid using her ice or water magic during combat unless it would really help. When it comes to smithing Sapphire is best at making armor. She knows how to shape armor to fit the wearer well. And her work stands up to hard hits.
In combat, Ruby is typically their mage. He has the second-highest amount of magic out of the four of them and has mastered using his fire magic in combat. He can use his magic without their fire rod, but the rod does help lessen how much magic he uses up when drawing on his fire, so he likes to use it when he can. Ruby has also mastered using his fire magic for other, out-of-combat things. One of his favorite things to do is to raise his body temperature slightly and invite his siblings to come and share the warmth. They've also discovered that this particular ability also has the added benefit of helping ward off the effects of dark magic. When it comes to smithing Ruby is best at making accessories, like jewelry. He loves making little, intricate pieces as well as more simplistic ones. Ruby has a couple of scars, but they aren't really prominent.
Alexandrite is their archer and has worked out how to use his wind magic to speed up his arrows, or even redirect their path. Because of this, Alex tends to be the farthest back from the immediate fight and between him and Ruby they do their best to keep a close eye on the fight as a whole, helping direct their siblings if needed. As a smith, Alex is best at making and fixing weapons. He's also decent at leatherwork. Somehow, Green has gotten away without any scars so far.
Iolite has the most magic out of the four of them, but fae rarely uses it in combat since faer magic isn't the best suited for fighting when you have allies nearby. Instead, fae is their striker, darting in and out of close combat and making quick, precise strikes. Outside of combat though, Iolite is their mage. Fae has taken plenty of time studying all sorts of magic and can access magic outside of faer elemental magic. Unfortunately, this does include magic that faer siblings wished fae wouldn't mess with. When it comes to smithing, Iolite is the best at making the more mundane household items. Fae rarely adds much flourish, but the items last through daily wear and tear.
Outfit/Design Notes: Geode's outfit took a good deal of time for them to settle on. In the end, they decided not to really include any of 'their' colors in it. Instead, they settled on a nice, warm, neutral grey tunic and brown pants. Their hair is a combination of the four of them, slowly changing as their four parts have. It currently sits a little below their shoulders in length with two braids in the front. Their hair curls a good deal (between 3A and 3B) and with that length, it can sometimes get in the way, so they often pull it back in some manner as well. Their eyes are constantly changing, swirling around in some combination of blue, red, green, and violet. Typically whoever is in more control at that moment is featured more prominently in their eyes. The belt they wear is one they made to help represent their little family. In the center, there is a black stone shaped like a moon, representing their lost sibling, Shadow. The other 4 stones are shaped to represent the elemental stones they used to help create the Four Sword. Water and Earth sit on one side and Fire and Wind sit on the other. When they need to use a shield it is always the mirror shield, since it was the one their original Zelda once gave them.
When they split they have different tastes in clothes, but a couple things remain the same, or at least similar. Their hair remains curly and black, their skin tone remains the same, and they have a similar belt. For each of them, though, the center stone is their elemental stone, and the stone for Shadow is somewhere else on the belt (typically next to Earth). They also all tend to stick to clothes of, or close to, 'their' color. Their eyes also match 'their' color.
Sapphire typically enjoys wearing dresses when she can, but when on the road she'll swap out her nicer clothes for a tunic and pants. Her favorite tunic has black edging. Her hair goes down to her shoulder blades and is kept neat in tight braids and sometimes pulled back out of the way. Sapphire tends to get hot easily, so she typically wears short sleeves, or even no sleeves at all. Sapphire has a number of scars scattered across her body from various fights, but most of them are on her torso.
Ruby tends to prefer wearing a shirt and pants with black boots. his hair goes down to his mid-back and is typically pulled back in a low ponytail to keep it out of his way (and helping show off his earrings of the day). Ruby also tends to get cold easily, so he is often wearing his long, red coat to help with that. When fighting he tends to be the one to carry the Mirror Sheild.
Alexandrite typically prefers to wear a long-sleeved shirt and black or grey pants. He also tends to have archery gloves and bracers on. His hair is the shortest out of all of them, barely brushing his ears. Since his method of fighting involves him needing to get farther away, and oftentimes up high, Alex commonly has one of their rocs capes, allowing him to get to difficult areas more easily.
Iolite usually wears a tunic with black pants, boots, and fingerless gloves. When loose, faer hair goes down to the base of faer neck, but it's most commonly kept up in a tight bun. Iolite's tendency to dart in and out of close combat means that fae often wears one of their rocs capes as well, giving faer a bit more speed. Iolite has a number of small scars, mostly on faer arms and sides, from some of their magic work.
Other: Back when they were first finishing their second adventure Geode tried to put the Four Sword back into the pedestal, expecting to go back to being one person, but instead they ended up sealed with the sword for hundreds, if not thousands, of years (they're not sure how much time passed actually. Records are too hard to figure out). They were woken back up when a princess from after Twilight's time woke them when looking for help. Split once more, they set about saving Hyrule for a third time while also adjusting to this new time as best as they could.
At the end of this adventure, they refused to risk trying to put the sword back again, but they did figure out how to merge back into one body. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you were to ask them now) they remained four separate people even while sharing one body. It was a complete mess, but over time they figured it out. Then they set about figuring out how they could fit in this new time. Thankfully, the Zelda of this time was more than happy to help however she could. Currently, only Zelda knows that they aren't just one person.
They used to go by their colors, but after figuring out her gender Sapphire decided that the name 'Blue' didn't suit her and wanted to change it. The others were very supportive and, after a bit of discussion, decided to change theirs as well. Partly because they had originally settled on using colors for names back when they thought they'd go back to being one person, and partly because (as Ruby insisted) they should have names that went with each other.
