Fandom: Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time
Pairing: Impa x Nabooru
Themeset: Beta.
Rating: PG-13 at the most.
Warning[s]: Subtext for two females? Groping, drinking. Slight spoilers for identity of sages/end of the game, if you don’t know already.
Notes: These two are my “I ship it so hard but I seem to be the only one” pairing. There’s nothing really explicit or blatant between them in here, sadly. Set in the sacred realm, post-game. Will be reposted on ff.net at my account there.
01. Walking: Every morning, Impa went walking out into the nothingness and all Nabooru could do was stand back and watch.
02. Waltz: They’re the only non-musical sages, so Nabooru was surprised that Impa knew how to waltz; when she asked, the Sheikah just muttered something about royal protocol and insistent princesses.
03. Wishes: There were no stars here they were, so they had to do their wishing in silence.
04. Wonder: Nabooru never forgot the look in Impa’s face the first time they found the chamber for the Shadow Sage, or the way she breathed the goddess Din’s name under her breath.
05. Worry: Outwardly, Impa’s expression never changed as Nabooru threw herself again at the Iron knuckle; inwardly, she was telling herself she wasn’t worried and it would be ridiculous to think the spirit sage couldn’t hold her own against one.
06. Whimsy: When her thoughts strayed towards comparing Nabooru to the goddess Din, Impa would be disgusted with herself for wasting her time with such a ridiculously useless notion.
07. Wasteland: Sometimes they’d talk about the lands they had left behind; Saria describing the life of the forest, Darunia recalling the rocks found in Dodongo’s cavern, Ruto missing swimming in the river of her people, and Nabooru boasting of the desert - only Impa would be silent, having lost the land of her people and given away their town.
08. Whiskey and rum: No one was quite sure where Nabooru had gotten the alcohol from, but after talking her into warping away the horde of leevers that she summoned, Impa had been assigned to be her handler for future times.
09. War: Impa had seen far too many wars and lost so much more than any of them combined; thinking of this always made her feel far older than Nabooru.
10. Weddings: All seven sages had been called back for Zelda and Link’s wedding; escaping from the pomp and circumstance by hiding in the gardens, Nabooru found Impa was surprisingly companionable after a bottle of that champagne stuff.
11. Birthday: Sure, throwing a party of an anti-social person was a thankless job, but Nabooru figured it was worth it to see Impa wearing that cardboard cone hat.
12. Blessing: On a trip back to Hyrule, Nabooru almost killed herself laughing when a young couple from Kakariko asked for Impa’s blessing, but abruptly stopped when they turned her way (missing the smirk it earned her from the Sheikah).
13. Bias: She was naturally inclined to hate Gerudos, but Impa was willing to make an exception for Nabooru.
14. Burning: Okay, so maybe calling her a party pooper after she made Saria put out the bonfire they’d started wasn’t the smartest, but Nabooru still maintained the marshmallow-to-the-hair was uncalled for.
15. Breathing: Her chest was heaving as Nabooru breathed heavily, while Impa stood still, seemingly frozen as the silence stretched out between them.
16. Breaking: Nabooru always said Impa followed the rules too much; Impa never told her that she broke the one she swore she never would.
17. Belief: Impa told the best stories to Saria whenever the Kokiri asked about the Sheikah’s beliefs, and Nabooru would never admit to listening to any of them.
18. Balloon: Watching Impa wake up to a balloon Bubble floating in her face made it worth every rupee it cost.
19. Balcony: She still thought that Impa throwing a pot at her for standing that a balcony going “Romio, Romio, wherefore art thou Romio?” was needlessly violent and completely underserved.
20. Bane: No matter how many times Impa said Nabooru was the bane of her existence, Nabooru knew better than to believe her.
21. Quiet: It soon came to be that times where their realm fell silent made Impa nervous, as it meant that Nabooru was up to something.
22. Quirk: Of all the habits and mannerisms in the world, Nabooru never expected for Impa to whistle.
23. Question: Asking the Sheikah questions almost always inevitably lead to pain and/or violence, but that never deterred the Gerudo.
24. Quarrel: Regardless of what the other sages said, neither Impa nor Nabooru were willing to concede that maybe, just maybe, the other one was right.
25. Quitting: When Nabooru yelled that she didn’t want to be a sage anymore, Impa flatly told her she didn’t have a choice in the matter.
26. Jump: If she ran out of things to do, Nabooru would spend hours trying to startle Impa; when she came up behind her and grabbed her breasts, the shadow sage almost hit the ceiling.
27. Jester: Even more amazing than Saria talking Nabooru into wearing the costume was how long she wore it for afterward.
28. Jousting: When you were trapped outside of time for eternity, watching two of your fellow sages bicker was a glorious way to pass the decades.
29. Jewel: It took ages to persuade Nabooru that somehow, a giant gem in the middle of Impa’s forehead would just not work.
30. Just: “Look, just trust me, alright?” Nabooru would say before dragging Impa off and she did, every time.
31. Smirk: Getting Impa to smirk was an accomplishment; it was far better than her usual stoic expression.
32. Sorrow: Impa carried her sorrow well, so much that only after Saria pointed it out did Nabooru notice.
33. Stupidity: Just because Impa told her that blindly throwing herself into a pack of Wolfos was just stupid didn’t mean Nabooru wasn’t going to do it again.
34. Serenade: “If you want to waste your time singing outside my window, feel free - though I’m wonder if Saria knows you’re ‘borrowing’ her ocarina.” Impa informed Nabooru, resting her elbow in the balcony’s stone railing.
35. Sarcasm: She used sarcasm so often, Nabooru would have a devil of a time figuring out when Impa was being genuine (but the Gerudo immensely enjoyed the testing process).
36. Sorid: “For the last time, I don’t want to hear about what you did to the hero of time.”
37. Soliloquy: Leaning in the doorway, Impa watched as Nabooru rambled incessantly to herself, unaware of her audience, who was smiling despite herself.
38. Sojourn: Of course Rauru hadn’t told her the stay at the temple would be permanent after acting as a sage, and only Impa was able to stop her from teaching the old man a lesson.
39. Share: The Sheikah was so closed off at first - it took forever before she would begin to confide in the other sages, least of all Nabooru.
40. Solitary: Impa knew something was wrong when she no longer minded Nabooru invading her alone time.
41. Nowhere: In the middle of nowhere, in between space and time, there was very little to focus on but one another.
42. Neutral: The Sheikah had to deserve some points for keeping her face blank, even as Nabooru, clothes in some previous room, sagged against her and slurred that she always thought Impa was really great, did she know that?
43. Nuance: “Her jaw isn’t clenched - she can’t be that angry.” Nabooru insisted to Saria, her partner in crime.
44. Near: At first she didn’t notice, but somehow, the days seemed shorter when Nabooru was at her side.
45. Natural: Telling Impa to act more natural was probably the worst advice Nabooru ever spouted off - there was a constantly rigidity about the woman that never seemed to go away.
46. Horizon: Nabooru hated admitting that she missed seeing the desert horizon from her room back home - especially when Impa just arched an eyebrow in response.
47. Valiant: Neither of them came from races that could be considered heroic, and yet they helped save the world - it was an endless source of ironic amusement when they looked back at what lead them there.
48. Virtuous: Morality was a very difficult concept to maintain when Nabooru purred in her ear to live a little.
49. Victory: Any small progress made with Impa, Saria told her, was better than nothing - but Nabooru still considered pinning her to the ground to be a grand accomplishment.
50. Defeat: Of course Impa paid her back in turn a week or so later, before she stood, brushed herself off and sauntered away, leaving Nabooru sore and very alone (it only took her five minutes and then she began to plan a counterattack).