[Open] New Tick event log

[newmemorywhodis]

WHO: Link and you!
WHERE: The Glitter Food, Noth, the Agrii ship
WHAT: Link returns, zoops through the floor, gets some gifts, and runs around as a kid
WHEN: Just before and during the New Tick event
WARNINGS: None so far


i. A quiet return

For a few days - ever since his desperate post on the Network, looking for Zelda - Link was nowhere to be seen. He was simply gone.

It won't be until they're on the Glitter Food that people might even realise that Link is back at all. But he is, and there's been a few changes. He's noticeably older now, having gone from his late teens to somewhere in his early to mid twenties (give or take a hundred years).

And then there's the arm.

With the warm winter clothes everyone is wearing, only the hand is visible. But the skin on his right hand is now midnight black, with long claw-like fingernails. Strange copper-coloured bars wrap around it in intricate patterns, while on his fingers are thick jade rings adored with mysterious symbols.

As they make their journey, it's not hard to run into this older Link as he wonders around the ship, quietly looking at everything. Like he hasn't seen it for a while, and is reminding himself what it looks like.


ii. Lullaby for Zelda

Usually, the one barging into other people's homes unannounced is Link. But this time, it's a four armed pink and purple robot, somehow carrying a gift that is as big as Link into his cabin.

Link's not used to be the one barged in on. It's a bit of a strange experience.

He's even more surprised to open the gift, and find a Goddess Statue. Just like the ones back in Hyrule. And in her hands, another small gift. But this time, it's something he doesn't recognise - a small instrument. And yet, it's...familiar. He knows this.

Fragments of memories flicker through his mind. In the years since he was last year, his memory isn't as blank as it once was. An ocarina. His ocarina, from when he was a child. That's what this is.

Holding it carefully, he goes outside the cabin. Sits down on the open threshold. And begins to play a song, one that reminds him of Zelda.


iii. Eating mysterious foods never ends in tears...right? [closed to Keith]

It takes very little time for Link to eat the gelt.

There's sweets, in his cabin. Of course he's going to eat them! And not just some of them, but all of them. So now Link's made another drastic change...if one in the other direction.

So now there's a small, blonde, pointy-earned child instead of a young man with a strange arm. But he doesn't know where he is. This isn't his house. This isn't his town. There's strange looking creatures outside, which normally Link would be oh so curious about, but...where's his family? Where's his Mama, and his Papa, and his baby sister?

He'd wondered, trying to find them. But the longer he looks, the more he realises that they're not here. And as Link realises that he's lost, and alone, the only thing left to do is start to cry.


iv. Tears over, time for exploring

Once Link knew that this was just a temporary thing - just a short magical trip, after which he'd soon be back again - his mood had quickly improved. Because now he wasn't lost, he was on an adventure! He's in this amazing weird place, and Link's going to run all over and explore all of it.

Young Link takes the Sword that was in his Cabin with him. He doesn't know why it was there, but he feels weirdly compelled to take it with him even though it's bigger than he is. Like it wants him to carry it. But even with the Sword, he still manages to clamber into some strange places - up in trees, on top of buildings. Apparently, Link's tendency to climb everything started early.

He also spends a lot - emphasis on a lot of time at the pseudo-gingerbread cafeteria. He's goes at the food-laden tables like a Labrador, and seems utterly unphased by the fact that everything tastes like peanut butter.

Finally, he can also often by found by the Temba Fountain Tree, playing the ocarina once more - although this time, it's with a rather jauntier tune.


iv. The best way to explore is through the floor

Link, thankfully, does not remain a child forever. And when he's back to normal, he finds his way onto the Agrii ship, dutifully holding out his communicator to have a map added.

When it comes to exploring, however, Link is rather less dutiful. If he comes across a locked door - or even if he decides he just can't be bothered getting to somewhere interesting the long way - he decides to take a shortcut or two. Namely, by...phasing through the floor?

Who needs stairs, when you can just Ascend through the ceiling?

And surely the Agrii won't mind, if he manages to accidentally pop into any of their private residences. So when he wriggles through the floor, and hops up right next to an unsuspecting Agrii or fellow He Row, Link just waves his odd right arm, and says, "Hi."


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 shrugs.

"It's just what the song is called," he says. "I don't know who Saria is."

[ziedrich_bearer]

"She must have been important," Gladio says, "if she got a song named after her. Or maybe she made the song?"

Either way, that made her important.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link thinks about this a moment. And then, his eyes go wide, as he has an idea.

"Maybe," he whispers - quietly, conspiratorially - "She was a Princess!"

[ziedrich_bearer]

Oh, yeah, that sounds accurate.

"Yeah, there were Lucian kings and queens that made pretty music. That makes sense."

[newmemorywhodis]

"I don't know Lucy kings and queens," Link says, before prattling on with bubbly enthusiasm. "But Hyrule has a Princess! She's not called Saria, though. She's Princess Zelda. I saw her at a parade once!"

[ziedrich_bearer]

Oh, that's pretty cool. Gladio nods along with it.

"I'm going to be the person bodyguard of the Lucian Prince when he's old enough to need more than his dad's guards. My family's been protecting them for as long as there has been a throne."

Generations upon generations.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link's eyes go wide.

"Wow!" he whispers, with quiet amazement. "My papa's a knight, but he doesn't protect the princess..."

[ziedrich_bearer]

Ah, that makes sense. Gladio nods along at Link's comments. That makes sense. Most people don't personally protect the royal.

"I'm sure she'd be really safe if he did."

[newmemorywhodis]

“She would!” Link says, enthused and all to happy to claim that is father is The Best. “But papa protects important people too. Like the Ambassador to the Zora!”

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Ambassadors are really important," Gladio nods. "That's a really serious job. You wanna do that someday?"

[newmemorywhodis]

“I’m gonna be A knight!” Link says, immediately and with great enthusiasm.

[ziedrich_bearer]

"I believe you. Remember to work hard. Never skip your work out days," he says with a grin. "I've been training since I was seven."

[newmemorywhodis]

At this statement, however, Link looks…unimpressed.

“That’s old,” he says. Link has been much younger than that when he started training.

[ziedrich_bearer]

Wow, Gladio looks half offended.

"It's not old! Other kids aren't allowed to start until they're eleven. Because starting early can be bad for developing bodies, especially if someone changes their mind later."

But an Amicitia doesn't change their mind.

[newmemorywhodis]

"Eleven's ancient!" Or at least, it was in the eyes of a seven year old. "And it's not bad...is it?"

He's started off full of stubborn insistence. But it's suddenly shifted into something far more uncertain. Link had been training since he was younger than seven. Far, far younger. But...his father wouldn't have taught him if that was bad.

Would he?

[ziedrich_bearer]

"It's like being a ballerina. Like, if you start really early then it really changes your body. And you're not good at normal stuff. So only kids that are REALLY sure about it are allowed to start early."

Gladio had wanted to start earlier, but there were so many people telling him no. It had been annoying.

"For people whose families always do this, it's easier to justify I guess."

[newmemorywhodis]

“What’s a ballerina?” Turns out they didn’t have that kind of dance in Hyrule. Or if they did, young Link had never seen it.

But then he pauses. Looks down at his own body, holding out his arms to inspect them. Was his body really so different, because he’s been training to be a knight since he was so little?

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Uh..."

HOw do you even describe ballet? Geez, Gladio didn't know.

"They dance on their toes with really serious balance and their arms and legs stuck out. Positions that look impossible otherwise."

[newmemorywhodis]

Dancing on their toes?

Immediately, Link stands on his toes. But in the way that a normal, average person would - not a ballerina.

He also sticks his arms out, and asks; "Like this?"

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Nope," Gladio says. "Like, really on their toes. It's called point or something. They have special shoes for it and everything."

But it's cute that the guy is trying.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link falls back on his heels again, and looks down at his shoes. So special shoes were involved? But Link couldn't really picture them, so he was a bit at a loss as to what this 'ballet' could be like.

"...I don't know it," he says.

[ziedrich_bearer]

"Yeah, that's okay. Different places have different traditions. Do you know break dancing?"

Because that's a whole other style that's pretty great too.

[newmemorywhodis]

"You get to break things?!" Link says, eyes widening in keen excitement. That sounds like the kind of dancing Link would like!

So no, he does not know break dancing.

[ziedrich_bearer]

Of course Gladio laughs at the misunderstanding. Clearly Link doesn't know it then.

"No, it's not like that at all. I don't know why it's called that, but it's really free form."

[newmemorywhodis]

"...Oh," Link says, deflating.

Evidently, dancing that did not involve breaking things was far less exciting and interesting.