An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
"Nap loop!" Hyrule declares at the look Legend gives him upon finding him flopped on one of the beds in their shared room.
"I don't need a nap, I am once again refreshed and renewed by time resetting," Legend tells him flatly, "You don't need a nap."
Hyrule doesn't budge. "Rest days are an important part of not going crazy."
He gets a raised eyebrow in response. "Are you going crazy?"
"Yep!"
In occasion of my first published fanfiction, A cave like a net (and a spilled secret) reaching 1000 kudos (which, HOW is there so many of you, THANK YOU SO MUCH), I wanted to make something special for you all !
You don't know how happy I am that the milestone happened during MerMay— I, too, wanted to show off my pretty mer Legend !
To participate :
You don't have to draw this exact scene or use all elements. You have a specific scene in mind that you'd prefer to draw ? You'd rather draw Mer Legend how you envisioned him while reading ? You'd rather just draw Wild anxiously waiting for news ? You're more than welcome to !
(However I do encourage adding seashells and/or apple slices to your drawing...)
When you post your drawing, simply tag me, and if you could also use the ACLAN DTIYS tag, that'd be amazing !
I really want to thank everyone who ever left love on this fanfiction, even if it's a simple kudo, a bookmark with a silly summary or any kind of comment. I cherish every interactions I've gotten and am convinced I wouldn't have finished this story if not for the engagement. SO much love on every one of you !
I’m doing a drabble a day for @retrowrimay! Every day might be different fandoms, genres, and tones, but they will all be 100 words exactly.
Today’s drabble is a Linked Universe fic:
—
There were a lot of things that could have happened when they walked through that portal: some of them good, a lot of them bad.
What Wind was not expecting was for them to end up on his private island. Or to have to explain to the rest of the Chain that he owns his own private island.
At first, it was a nice beach-front vacation. But now…
Now Legend's jewelry is all over the table and Wild's socks are on the floor and—
They need a chore wheel, Wind thinks. And he can't believe he's the one thinking it.
Happy Mermay!! (feat. Mermaid Collector and Zora Mask having an argument over rock paper scissors while Zora armor Farmer and dragon’s scale Cloudy are being productive)
Dw the others are somewhere on the surface probably. Farmer and Cloudy are down there because having Mask and Collector team up has a 50% chance of being horrifyingly and extremely efficient and competent and a 50% chance of going absolutely nowhere.
The portals dump Legend, alone, in the middle of the Great Sea. His rescuer is not what he seems. Legend is not doing well.
Link and snippet below the cut
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Warriors fell out of a portal and landed in the water with a splash.
Weighed down by his chain mail and many layers, it took him a minute to orient himself and swim upwards. He found that he wasn’t too far away from the shore of a large island. Already, he could see a figure standing on the beach — likely one of his brothers stumbling out of their own portal.
Warriors swam closer, and, bit by bit, Time came into focus. He’d already removed his armour under the hot sun and was building a campfire with the palm trees that lined the sandy beach. He paused in his gathering of materials to wave at Warriors.
Warriors finally made it to shore, exhausted from dragging his heavy clothes. Thank goodness the army had insisted that all new recruits be taught how to swim. As soon as he could, he shucked his tunic and chain mail and left them on the beach.
“Hello, Captain. Enjoy your swim?” Time asked with a cheeky smile, arms full of dead palm leaves.
“My scarf got wet!” Warriors exclaimed, playing up how upset he was over it.
“Yes, it is tragic,” Time agreed, face falling back into carefully-constructed neutrality. His eyes laughed at Warriors. “I do believe we are in the Sailor’s world.”
Warriors considered the ocean he’d had to swim through to get here. “Probably. Is there anyone else on the island, or is it just us lucky two?”
“I’m not sure. Perhaps you could search the island while I get a signal fire started?”
“Sure.” Warriors dreaded the idea of putting his mail back on, but he didn’t mention that. Maybe just his weapons would be enough? It didn’t look like a big island. “Oh! Do you want to borrow the vet’s fire rod to start it?”
“That would be appreciated, thank you. Leave it near the fire pit?” Time gestered to the growing pile of flammable palm leaves and branches on the sand.
“Sure,” Warriors said. He went back to his dropped items and armour. He elected to forego the armour — if he really got into trouble, Time would come running — and so strapped his weapons into place on top of his undershirt.
The entire story is below the cut. It will be posted on Ao3 in the future:
Legend stepped through the doors, enjoying how the heat inside unfroze his aching fingers. He loved and hated this coffee shop in equal measure.
The man behind the counter — and there was only one, for this was a small shop — brightened as he noticed Legend. “Oh, my favourite customer! Any preferences for today?”
Legend wasn’t sure how, but he’d ended up being given something new and not on the menu every time he came. Ravio, the owner of the place, claimed it was good practice for him and helped him find new flavour combinations and things to put on the specials board. Legend claimed it was a way to charge him more for his coffee.
Unfortunately, Ravio was very good at making tasty flavour combinations that also featured enough caffeine to keep the average person awake for a week, which meant Legend kept coming back to pay the exorbitant prices.
“Last one was too sweet. Got anything less sugary this time?”
“I tried it myself, and I agree. Much too sweet. I don’t think I’ll be buying any more of that syrup.” Ravio thought for a minute. “Oh! I know just the thing! I meant to make this for you a few weeks ago and forgot.”
Legend snorted and stepped off to the side while Ravio got to work. As he waited, another customer came in and ordered one of the unholy sugary concoctions that had become popular ever since Sariabucks had opened a location nearby. Somehow, despite very clearly working on both drinks at the same time, Ravio handed the other customer their drink long before Legend’s was done.
They left, and Legend watched as Ravio continued moving about the coffee stations in a flurry.
Finally, he was handed a cup. It was significantly larger than usual.
“Are you trying to weasel more money out of me by giving me a bigger size?”
Ravio snickered. “No, no. I promise that’s not it. This is just a bit less caffeinated than your usual fare, and I wanted to make sure you’d get your fix.”
Legend squinted at him, but his pleased smile didn’t so much as flicker. “Fine. How much are you scamming me for this time?”
“Thirty rupees.”
Legend nearly choked on air. “Thirty?!”
“If it gets your approval, it’s going on the seasonal menu for fifty,” Ravio said primly.
Legend stared at him but relented. “This better be a damn good cup of coffee,” he grumbled as he pulled out his wallet. He thunked down the necessary gems and then marched for the door, overly-expensive cup of coffee in hand.
“See you tomorrow!” Ravio called as he left. “Let me know how the coffee is and if I need to change anything.”
Link ignored him in favour of weathering the blustery cold outside. He knew Ravio wouldn’t care either way. He moved to a sheltered nook in between two shops a bit down the street to try the coffee.
The first thing he noticed was that it was distinctly <i>not</i> sweet. It was rich and chocolatey and <i>good</i>, but not sweet. Then the spice hit.
It wasn’t too much, didn’t burn like spice sometimes did. It was simply warming. Against the freezing winter air, it was exactly what he needed.
Legend stared at the cup of liquid gold in his hands in awe.
---
Ravio stared down at his order form, trying to figure out what he needed. Pay had died down a bit because of the Sariabucks, and it was getting difficult to predict what people would want.
He’d get espresso, because that was a common favourite, only for the conglomerate to release a line of caffeinated non-coffee drinks. And then Ravio would have people in <i>his</i> shop asking for drinks made with volt fruit and hydromelons.
This was a <b>coffee</b> shop. He served <b>coffee</b>.
Then he hadn’t ordered more espresso, because people weren’t buying it. Two days later, a cool safflina espresso was announced, and suddenly everyone wanted espresso.
Ravio had started having to follow Sariabucks’ social medias closely in order to guess what they were releasing next. It was exhausting.
Currently, he was trying to figure out if the chain would stick with the fruity flavours they’d been pitching, or if they’d pivot with the surprise early onset of snow. If they did pivot, Ravio needed to stock up on some wintry flavours quick before the prices went up. If they didn’t, Ravio needed either to set the trend (risky) or find a new seller of blackberry syrup — his old supplier had gone out of business, and the one he’d <i>thought</i> would be his replacement ended up making theirs <i>far</i> too sweet.
As he was debating, the bell above the door rang. He sat up to greet the customer, but hands slammed on the counter before him. He jumped in his seat. He may have squeaked slightly in fear.
“Whatever that was you gave me yesterday, I need another,” his favourite customer told him in a slightly desperate voice.
Ravio stared for a moment, processing, but then he realised what had been said and bubbling glee overtook him.
“So you liked it then?”
Ravio’s favourite customer — who he’d started referring to as Mr. Hero, at least in his own mind, for the number of times his opinions on coffee had led to Ravio making more profit than he’d expected that quarter — scowled at him without heat from behind his scarf.
“It was fine-” Oh, so he’d <i><b>really</i></b> liked it. “Anyway, I just found out that I’m supposed to be outside <i>all day</i> and I need something to keep me from freezing to death out there. Actually, give me two.”
Mr. Hero waved his hands about as he talked. His face didn’t do much to reveal his emotions, but his hands… his hands bared his heart better than any face Ravio had ever seen. He’d probably have to get extra chilli powder specifically for Mr. Hero, now that he’d apparently found a favourite drink. That could be expensive.
He’d do it anyway.
Ravio didn’t say any of that, though. Instead, he asked, “Two?” with a broad, slightly teasing grin.
“Listen, it is <i>cold</i> out there. My nose nearly froze off walking here. I don’t want to be a popsicle at the end of the day.”
Mr. Hero’s hands waved around more as he complained.
“Of course, of course. I’ll get started on those right away. That’ll be one hundred rupees.”
“<b>A hundred</b>?!” Mr. Hero certainly had lungs on him. “It was thirty yesterday!”
“Yes, because you were trying an untested flavour. I did tell you it would go on the menu for fifty.”
Mr. Hero’s face fell. He looked lost. Devastated, even. “Oh,” he said blankly. His hands were still for the first time since Ravio had met him.
Ravio frowned. He’d expected a bigger reaction or something. Mr. Hero would grumble and complain, but he’d hand over the rupees all the same. He hadn’t expected him to just… stop.
Maybe Mr. Hero couldn’t afford it? It was a lot for coffee, even if one went to Sariabucks. Ravio had assumed he was making a lot, if he was able to afford coming to his shop every day, but maybe Mr. Hero was spending more than he should just to be here.
“You know what, I was mistaken. For you, it is sixty. I’ll go start making them.”
“No, wait.” Mr. Hero’s hands started moving about in a distinctly worried manner. That was almost worse than the stillness. Mr. Hero didn’t do ‘worried’. “I don’t want you to lose money on me!”
Ravio snorted dryly. “We both know I overcharge for my coffees because I can.”
“Yeah, but… but you need that money to afford the shop, and new additives every time Sariabucks announces a new drink, and the half dozen different types of milk you have to have on offer because Sariabucks does and people will demand it of you!”
Mr. Hero’s hands moved more and more as he settled into the argument, but it was painfully clear that there was still something off.
He looked dreadfully earnest, which was a new look for Ravio. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like that he was responsible for putting that look there.
“How about this: I was working on the order form for the next couple of weeks. You decide whether I should get fruit flavours or autumn/winter flavours for the next couple of weeks while I make your drinks. That alone is worth <i>at least</i> the forty rupees you’re saving.”
Mr. Hero glanced down at the clipboard as Ravio handed it to him — forced it into his hands more like. “I- Are you sure?”
Ravio nodded once, decisively. “Very.”
“Okay.” Mr. Hero studied the clipboard. One corner of his mouth curled up slightly. “‘<i>At least</i> forty’, huh? Still trying to scam me out of extra?”
Ravio put his hand to his heart dramatically. “I would <i>never</i>! I <i>can’t</i> believe you would accuse me of such a thing!”
Mr. Hero snorted. It was softer, milder, than usual, but it was a return to normalcy. It was nice.
About ten minutes later, Ravio handed Mr. Hero his two cups of chocolate coffee. In return, he was given his clipboard back. It was full of scrawled notes, things like ‘less of this now that it’s cold’ and ‘wait a couple weeks to see if it warms up before buying too much’.
Next to the cocoa powder was ‘YES’ in all caps with a smiley face, which Ravio agreed with whole-heartedly.
All-in-all, it was far more detailed than he had expected, and worth far more than the forty rupees he’d claimed. He looked up to thank Mr. Hero, only to find his favourite customer gone already.
Well, he’d just have to come up with something special to give to him tomorrow as thanks. Something with chocolate. That had been a good choice.
Wind's learning how to use his newly formed Fishtail. For my fic Deserts To The Sea
technically for the Next chapter but I thought I'd show you all Wind and Legend's Mer forms.
