July catch-all

[newmemorywhodis]

WHO: Link and you!
WHERE: The diner, various locations
WHAT: Link watches a mountain, and catches up with a few people
WHEN: After Calibrations
WARNINGS: Violence for Wesker's thread


i. Food glorious food [open]

There's a few things Link does right after getting out of Calibrations. Run around in a circle bigger than the waiting room. Climb a building, and then jump off of it. Jump into the lake, just for the hell of it.

But there's two things of real note he does. The first is change from the cozy winter clothes Lark made him into the light, breezy Gerudo Outfit he arrived in. With this much warmer weather, it's a lot more suitable. But it's a much more feminine look than what Link's been wearing before now.

The second thing he does - after doing a little hunting and gathering a few ingredients - is head straight for the diner and start cooking.

He makes fish pie. Apple pie. Meat stew. Sausages and creamy mashed potatoes. Glazed meat and pepper steaks. All the meals he made in the Calibrations dreams - except this time, they're real.

He brings them out into the diner. Sets them all out on a table, for others to share if they would like. Then grabs a bit of everything for his own plate - and settles down to eat with a happy sigh.


ii. Hylian dressup simulator [closed to Lark and Zelda]

Link does, of course, like wearing his Gerudo Outfit. It's nice being pretty, nice to wear shiny things that glitter and jangle musically. It's nice, for when he feels like being a vai.

But Link doesn't always want to be a vai. And he doesn't want to wear the Gerudo Outfit all the time. So he was already planning to ask Lark to make him something else that he can wear in this kind of weather.

And then, Zelda arrived. With only one outfit, and one not suited to this heat at all. And suddenly talking to Lark wasn't just something he should get around to at some point, but something he needed to do right now.

In his usual fashion, Link does not bother to knock on Lark's door. He just arrives with Zelda in tow, opens the door, and walks right in.


iii. Gotta shield them all [closed to Ash]

With this heat, Link decides that later in the afternoon - when the sun's gone down enough to take at least a bit of an edge of the heat - is the best time to start teaching Ash to use a shield.

He brings Ash to dunes just south of Temba. There's space to move - and dunes that they can use later, for shield-surfing.

Once there, he holds out his left arm - once which has the bracer Tony made attached to it. On his back he has a second shield - one made by Dustin - but it's the bracer which Ash will be using.

"Watch," Link tells Ash, as he balls his left hand into a fist. Brings it back up against his chest, in an emphasized flick. A soft hum, and the bracer actives - creating a hard light shield, in the shape of slightly squat oval with a ridge down the centre.

This is what Link wants Ash to learn how to use.


iv. Rocks fall, everybody...does not die? [locked to Wesker]

Link had just been hanging around on the top of a building when he spot the man, just down below. The one from the Calibrations dream, right before they'd been released.

The dream had been more than enough to show Link that this man was dangerous. Not just because he'd immediately moved to kill Link in the dream. Because also because of the memories he'd seen - ones that showed that this man was a killer.

He's right below. Just next to the building Link's on. And there's a few loose pieces of stonework up here.

He grabs one. It's large - bigger than Link's own torso. But not so large that Link can't lift it up, and drop it down below.

Down where it should land right on the man's head.


v. Wildcard!

[[OOC: Choose your own adventure! Let me know if you'd like to set up anything not covered by the above. ]]

Comments

[newmemorywhodis]

Link brightens a little, clearly pleased to have his food appreciated.

"Fnk-oo," he says, the words muffled from a mouth half-full.

Being able to share his cooking with other people wasn't something he got to do that often, back in Hyrule. Usually he only got the chance on occasion, when he was staying at a stable. But here, in Temba, he gets to do this more often.

[crystalmaster]

"So where did you learn to cook like this?" Radley has to ask.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link pauses a moment to think. Although he does not pause in eating - he can do that and think at the same time. But he does consider the question.

It's not as simple to answer as you might think. Because there's what Link remembers learning about how to cook...and there's what he doesn't.

"Muscle memory?" he says, eventually. And after he swallows his current bite of food. "And guessing, mostly. Unless someone gave me a recipe."

[crystalmaster]

"Muscle memory?" Radley blinks. He's never heard of that being used to describe cooking before. "... So, basically, you're saying you don't consciously remember."

Well, it can't all be guesswork. Everything tastes too good.

[newmemorywhodis]

Links nods. Yes, that’s exactly right.

And it wasn’t guesswork now. These were all things Link had made before. But in the early days, there were definitely a few dubious dishes.

[crystalmaster]

"Huh...." For him to not remember that, what else doesn't he remember?

"It must be frustrating to have gaps in your memory like that."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link pauses. Really pauses, because he even stops trying to eat around talking to Radley. His fingers close around the form in his hand.

"...Yes," he says softly. He was used to it, really. Didn't really know what it was like to not have most of his memories missing. But that didn't mean he didn't wish he could remember more.

[crystalmaster]

Radley just nods sympathetically. He won't pry. "If you ever want to talk about it, I'm a good listener. But if you don't, that's okay too."

He tries to think of a happier subject. "You're welcome to come here any time to make delicious food like this." He smiles.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link, talk about it to someone? But...that would require talking.

With actual words.

That he would have to say.

No, Link's much better at being on the other end of these kinds of conversations. Which is why right now Radley is just getting a blank, slightly perplexed look in return.

"I cook here sometimes." Link certainly hadn't waited for permission to do so. Although he didn't exactly operate on a schedule. More just...whenever he felt like cooking. Which was not always at the same time that other people felt like eating.

[crystalmaster]

"Yeah, I know," Radley smirks. "I don't remember you coming up with most of these dishes before, though." Or any of them. "I'm sure everyone would love them."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link shrugs. "I made them sometimes."

Just not usually together, in this kind of spread. He usually didn't make this many.

(At least, not since he arrived here. Back in Hyrule he'd batch cook all sorts of things, all the time - but in Hyrule, he had his Korok enchanted pack.)

[crystalmaster]

"I'm lucky I happened to come upon them now, then," Radley says.

Part of him thinks he would definitely hire Link as a cook back home. The other part, though, wouldn't want frog potions and such being made in his kitchen, so he doesn't say that aloud.

[newmemorywhodis]

There's also the fact that, while Link is a good cook, he absolutely does not keep to any kind of schedule. He cooks when he feels like cooking. Not necessarily when you actually want to eat.

"Couldn't cook anything in Calibrations," Link says, with a little huff. So perhaps it's not really luck so much, as Link just...needing to get some long overdue cooking out of his system.

[crystalmaster]

"It sounds like it was torture in almost every way possible," Radley grimaces.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link hums in agreement. Perhaps if they'd had things to do, it wouldn't have been so bad. But it was just so...boring.

Link's not used to being cooped up in one place, unable to go anywhere.

"...You dream of people's memories," he adds. He still wasn't sure about how he felt about that part.

[crystalmaster]

"I was told people get stranded in the memories," Radley says. "It sounds horrible."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link frowns. That didn't seem quite right, at least not as he experienced it.

"Not the memories," he says. He thinks on it a little further. "Maybe the dreams?"

[crystalmaster]

"It sounds awful either way," Radley says.

[newmemorywhodis]

“Not always.”

Some dreams were nice to visit. And he met some new people.

[crystalmaster]

"Really?" Radley blinks in surprise.

[newmemorywhodis]

“I liked Gladio’s,” Link says. “He had weapons.”

Some of the things he’s learned were…sad, yes. Upsetting, because they were difficult things Gladio had to deal with. But it hadn’t been so bad, to learn about them.

[crystalmaster]

"Oh, I see," Radley says. Yeah, he could imagine Link would like that. "How did everyone else feel about the experiences?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link shrugs. He's not other people. How could he know how they felt?

[crystalmaster]

Radley thought they might have said.

"Well, I hope they found things they liked too," he says. "Most of what I've heard from some of them sounds terrible."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link hums. "...I hoped they liked dinner," he says softly.

Sure, it had been dream food. But he hoped the people who had visited his room liked it all the same.