they are really bothering me with their use of tense; it’s not wrong but it’s not easy to read
« Since breakfast, Zelda and Link had been riding through the mountains with only a short stop for lunch. Now, the afternoon sun beats down as they travel across the exposed cliffside, pricking their skin and sneaking through the protective barrier of Zelda’s sunglasses into her eyes. »
you need a better transition from past to present than that, here in the beginning of the fic, when your voice is not yet established. like at least start a new paragraph please
« As usual, he doesn’t talk to her unless it’s absolutely necessary and shows as much emotion as the rocky face of the mountain does. » it’s this mountain https://youtu.be/Ku2s8HcAluk
« *He* doesn’t have to struggle for years to unlock his goddess-given gifts, *he* doesn’t have to bear the shame and anxiety of the entire kingdom, and he doesn’t even have to attend graduate school like she does. Worst of all, unlike Zelda, he doesn’t have to write a damn dissertation! Or, in her case, two: a real dissertation about the quantum mechanics of ancient Sheikah technology and a fake theology dissertation to appease her father. » i liked her better three paragraphs ago when she just thought Link was boring
in case you were wondering, here is what Link sounds like in canon https://youtu.be/N5tDiqRaYqU
« Rather than Link impaling a variety of monsters with his silly purple sword, he instead has a very different sword in hand and is certainly not slaying anything with it.
_That sword is a penis_ Zelda realizes in horror. _That’s Link’s penis._ » i love authors who come up with a metaphor which they really think is clever, but then worry that the audience won’t get it, so they immediately explain the metaphor in the next paragraph
« Once, Zelda mentioned off-hand that she liked a type of granola bars that had been discontinued and Link went and baked them himself, packing enough of the bars for their next trip to feed an army. They’d even tasted better than the original. » is this a personal anecdote
tell me more about your favourite brand of granola bar, OP; i’m sorry they stopped making them
@Lady Oof yeah that's
That's not BAD but it does stumble a bit, like I kinda felt my brain trip
first they say “the middle of bumfuck nowhere” but later in the same paragraph they say “the center of bumfuck nowhere”; pick one