[open] fear’s only a choice

[skyglider]

Who: Link [OPEN]
Which: Interactive dream (with a passive dream option)
Where: ~it was all a dream~
What: Link sure is having some feelings about home right now
Warnings: some dark themes and big freakin monsters in prompt 2


i. it seems i have lost my way

a. [The sun shines down on you, warm in a gentle sort of way, but the more you move, the more you begin to feel a prickle of sweat beginning to bead. You remember some advice, though you don’t really remember getting it. One hand at a time. Find a place for your foot, and then a place for your hand. Make sure it’s sturdy. Your pace is slow, but manageable, and you know for certain that if you fall, there’s a gentle slope waiting to catch you not far below.

You are climbing a mountain, and you are nearly at the top. Your companion is already there, though you can’t see him anymore over the last few feet of rock. You take a moment to breathe, find another handhold, and— rattle! A few rocks come loose, clattering down the slope. Suddenly, your handhold doesn’t seem nearly as secure as it did before, but just as you start to worry that the rock beneath your fingers is going to fall, a hand reaches down for you. Finally, you see your climbing companion again: Link leans over the edge, extending his hand to help you up.]

Here. I’ve got you.

[Satori Mountain is beautiful, with its pink-blossomed tree and the small pond beneath it…but not nearly as beautiful as the view when you look outward from the mountaintop. Almost all of Hyrule stretches out before the foot of the mountain: towns, stables, ruins, and in the distance, another range of mountains. It’s picturesque and peaceful, marred only by the dark swirling shape that surrounds the castle in the distance.]

b. [On Satori Mountain or in other locations around Hyrule, you might find oddities to explore and investigate. Stumps with the shape of a leaf imprinted on them, a lone rock in a suspicious place, a red pinwheel that looks notoriously out of place, or even a weird bullseye balloon hovering in the air. There seem to be no limits to the tricks of the Koroks, and Link seems particularly determined to find their hiding spots. You’re more than welcome to join him in finding these puzzles, or any others.]

c. [Later in the evening, Link can be found outside of a town, hunkering down by a fire and a cookpot. Nothing’s on the menu just yet; for now, he seems content just to sit and watch the stars begin to light up the night sky. If you approach, he first gives you a momentary analyzing look, and then offers a nod in greeting.]

Care to join me?

[The breeze begins to turn chilly for the night; might not be a bad time to sit by the fire.]

ii. i’m being shadowed by my past

[The sky is dark, a a blackness that feels oppressive and all-encompassing. Clouds slink murkily across the sky overhead and an overlarge moon begins to rise, blood-red, casting red light across the land. Those who were here for Princess Zelda’s blood moon dream may recognize the effect, but the rest of the dream is quite different.

Link stands alone on the red-tinged field of ruins in front of Hyrule Castle, watching a dark, miasmic shape circle its highest turrets.

He’s not the tallest to begin with, but this monstrous form dwarfs him even further. For a moment, he almost seems to feel that, hanging back, clutching the Master Sword as it glows an ethereal blue. He takes a few deep breaths, steadying himself. Then, he steps forward, and the standstill is broken; the creature circling Hyrule Castle lets out a terrifying, earth-shaking roar, charging downward until it looms just overhead. The effect is menacing; Calamity Ganon is large from a distance, but up close like this, it’s utterly enormous, blotting out the blood moon above. Creatures begin to appear out of the darkness in overwhelming numbers. Link backpedals by a few steps, turning and locking eyes with you, unfortunate dream-sharer. His eyes are wide; is it surprise at your presence or apprehension at the foe in front of him? It’s impossible to say.]

You’re not supposed to be here.

[Or, if you’re not in a fighting mood, this dream can also be viewed as a passive recording, ending abruptly as the monsters and Calamity Ganon begin to swarm and outnumber Link.]

Comments

i.c

[monolike]

[No matter how many times he does this, it's always a bit unnerving at first. Opening your eyes somewhere entirely new, entirely foreign, feeling the difference between the waking world (and maybe even the actual waking world) and here.

He's definitely in a dream. But again, it's not his.

The owner becomes clear as Sorey stumbles into the lit clearing, a campfire crackling beneath a suspended stone pot. Thick logs are arranged catty-corner to each other beside it, and upon one of them is seated a small figure. Link.

Sorey shifts uncomfortably as Link looks up at him. Does he know it's a dream? Does he recognize Sorey in this dream? It's a toss up whether or not he will, but regardless this feels...invasive. Like Sorey has walked into Link's home without knocking first.]

...sure, [he says quietly, and takes a seat on the other log. Maybe he can sit here quietly by the fire with Link and not pry into his thoughts or his past any more than is necessary.]

[skyglider]

[For a moment, the expression on Link's face is unreadable as he scans Sorey's features, but it's not long before recognition sparks in his eyes, and a small but perfectly friendly smile follows. It's hard to say --even for him-- whether he knows how he met Sorey, whether he knows this is a dream...but for now, he seems to be operating using standard dream logic. Nothing is too strange or too out-of-place.

He pushes a stick into the coals of the fire, adds a few small pieces of kindling to get it going again, then pauses and looks at his newfound companion.]

Everything alright?

[He's looking a little worried. Or uncertain. Or something. Link is not exactly a pro at this emotions thing.]

[monolike]

I'm okay, [Sorey replies cautiously. He takes a moment, hands pressed together between his knees, to look around. It's nice; quiet, removed, the fire neither too warm nor too small. Beyond the crackle of the flames devouring tinder, Sorey can hear the calls of nocturnal birds and beasts off in the wilderness. The stars sparkle brilliantly overhead, patterns he'd never seen and likely never will again.

He looks back to Link. The shadows from the fire make his face look older. Seventy years, Zelda had said.] I don't want to intrude on a private moment, [confesses Sorey, though he's not sure if Link will understand what he means in this moment.]

[skyglider]

[A private moment...? Link watches Sorey for a minute, searching his own memories and recollections. It seems to click all at once -- it's a dream, and it seems it's being shared. Those words make more sense, now, and Link gives him a bit of a sympathetic look, shaking his head.]

Sharing dreams...it feels strange, doesn't it?

[Awkward, too. It's not his first, though, and even if it were, this isn't exactly the worst dream that one could share. A broadcast of private thoughts, or a nightmare...that would probably be harder to deal with.]

[monolike]

[Sorey sighs in relief; okay, good. Link being aware of what's happening makes this feel a lot less creepy on Sorey's end, at least. Doesn't change that he's in Link's subconscious without his expressed invitation, but he doesn't seem angry, private a person as he may seem.]

This is only the second time I've ended up in someone else's dream. I was kind of hoping the one time was a fluke.

[Glances around at their surroundings. Though it's not his to see or remember, it is still very beautiful.] It's so quiet. Did you do this a lot? [Gestures above them.] Sleep under the stars.

[skyglider]

[The relief in Sorey's actions makes Link smile a bit. It wasn't terribly long ago when he felt the same way, maybe even thought the same thing.]

I'm afraid it's not. [A fluke, that is.] You may find it happens often.

[He wishes he could say it gets easier...but it doesn't, so he just doesn't say anything for the moment. He follows Sorey's gesture, looking up at the stars. It feels strange, a bit; the stars of Hyrule don't feel as familiar as the ones in Reverein, right now. Quietly, he nods.]

... I traveled a lot. Sometimes it was easier to sleep like this.

[monolike]

It's peaceful. [Very much so. Too quiet, personally. Sorey is used to the murmur of voices nearby, or sometimes even inside his own head, as he drifts off to sleep.] Could I ask why you were traveling so much? Are you also an explorer on top of being a knight?

[skyglider]

[Peaceful...Link can sometimes agree about that. On a night like this, with a clear sky overhead, it does indeed feel peaceful. Less so on the night of a blood moon, or perhaps after a difficult battle, when he's been left alone with his thoughts a little too long. But even at times like that...this is how he prefers it. (... Right?)

He hesitates for a moment at Sorey's question. He'd like to call himself an explorer, but it wasn't always the way he lived his life. It's not even his ultimate goal now. If you have a particular quest bound to your destiny...maybe it's not the same thing. In answer, he glances around for a moment, pointing into the distance through the trees. Hyrule Castle is visible past the edge of the ridge they're camped on, dark and swirling with something massive and ominous.]

Ultimately, to stop that. [He keeps his tone even and unaffected, perhaps intentionally.]

[monolike]

[Sorey follows the gesture to a great looming shape in the distance. It hadn't been terribly obvious at a glance, but perhaps despite (or because) of the nature of the dream, all of a sudden the moonlight grows a bit brighter and Sorey can now see a flicker of a sickening looking pinkish-red light swirling around the smoke.

What he'd first thought was some kind of great and distant mountain or volcano was actually a castle. A dark and sweeping miasma circles thickly around it, like a serpent twisted around its spires. Sorey has a limit to how far away he can sense malevolence but again, perhaps because of the dream, he can suddenly feel the thing as if he was within its domain. A seething, boiling mass of malevolence, not unlike a dragon's. Heldalf had been steeped in the poison in his own way, but it had felt different to this.]

...is that Zelda's castle? [Because Link is her knight, and she'd seemed similarly burdened by purpose with just the few words they'd exchanged before.]

[skyglider]

[That's quite a question, and Link hesitates for just a moment in answer. It is true, in the end, that the castle now belongs to Princess Zelda...even if she were not the last surviving member of the royal family, she has certainly proved her worth and commitment, remaining locked in a century-long stalemate with the creature currently swirling ominously over the castle.

After that brief moment, he nods, eyes flickering briefly to Sorey before turning back to the structure in question.]

She's kept it contained all this time...but she needs help.

[Some may call it a rescue mission. Link would think of it more as the cavalry finally arriving.]

[monolike]

[One of the tendrils of shadows thickens and almost seems to split like a mouth, a low, baying roar rumbling over the hills and through the trees to reach them. Even the sound of it feels like hatred and viciousness, a desire to break and destroy for the skae of it.

Is this what seraphim see when they looked upon the world below, before Sorey had set out? A ruined world bleeding its own pain out to contaminate everything else?]

That seems like such a tall order for just one person.

[skyglider]

[Sorey's words feel heavy on his shoulders, as if they, too, weigh upon him. He's right, of course, but with the fate of the world at stake...what could they do? It's too much. He felt it, as he's sure the others did, but no one would dare say it aloud. They all knew what would happen if they did nothing.

He searches for something to say, uncertain of what he would even want to convey. Reassurance? Confidence? It feels a little hollow. Destiny is a poor excuse, but it's the truth of why they're there. In the end, all he can do is agree, nodding softly.]

But doing nothing isn't possible.

[At least there's truth in that. Whether he or any of the Champions were chosen by destiny, or whether they fulfilled destiny by being themselves...none of them could just let things happen.]

[monolike]

You're not wrong. [Sorey draws a knee up and circles his arms around it, watching the darkness swirl as if he can keep it there as long as he keeps watching it. The logic of a child trying to trap an imagined monster in the shadows, maybe.]

...then again, every mountain looks too tall to climb from its base. I think everyone will be okay.

[skyglider]

[Link is quiet for a moment, watching Sorey watching the darkness. Thinking over those words. He wonders if this is something they share -- a sense of duty. A need to make things right.

He couldn't dare to think that Sorey may be right, but...he does, at least, hope.]

An appropriate metaphor. [He pauses a moment, unsure of what to say. Unwilling, perhaps, to speak that wish into existence, to risk it, too, becoming little more than a dream. In the end, he settles on Sorey, instead, voicing quietly:] ... Thank you.

[monolike]

[Link says so very much with so few words.

Sorey lifts his head just enough so Link will see his smile, resting his cheek on his arm instead to watch his friend instead of the malevolence. He doesn't speak for a moment, content to watch Link for a moment before closing his eyes to listen to the sounds of night in this oddly familiar, foreign place.

It's kind of like home. Sorey, on his one tiny mountaintop, for years knew nothing of pain and strife except for the far-off concept his grandfather would try to teach him. And now here he sits by a warm, inviting fire, in the presence of what feels like a kindred spirit while a phantom of the danger Link struggles with simmers in the distance.]

...do you know how to use that cooking pot? All I know is how to roast meat or smoke it for jerky.

[skyglider]

[The way Sorey carries himself in this environment, the thoughtful smile, the air of peace that seems to settle around him...Link finds himself drawn into it, for a moment. Two adventurers sharing a campfire. How many nights like this did they have --him, the Champions, and Princess Zelda-- before the Calamity? How much did any of them need to hear words similar to what Sorey just said to him? And yet, it's not regret he feels, right now, but peace. A night shared with someone who seems to understand.

He lets the silence linger, letting it be filled by the crackle of the fire.

A faint smile works its way into his expression at Sorey's question, and he nods softly.]

I'm not sure how I'd be as a teacher, but I can try...if you want.

[monolike]

When it comes to cooking I'm not much of a student, but it would be fun to try! [Moreover, it would change the subject and distract them from the manifestation of doom in the background.] I'd love to help in any way I can, at the very least.

[skyglider]

[Truly, a distraction is just what's needed, in a moment like this.]

Sure. Could you gather those mushrooms?

[He gestures at a few red-capped fungi nestled beneath several of the nearby trees, and pulls some other supplies out of his bag.]

[monolike]

[Sorey bounces up from his perch with a grin and heads over to the copse of trees to forage. He takes off his white cloak to use as a makeshift basket when there turns out to be more than he can carry in just his hands.] These are really edible? That's so weird, there's mushrooms with these patterns back home but they're crazy poisonous.

[skyglider]

[Poisonous? Link makes a bit of a face; that would be quite unfortunate, wouldn't it? After a moment, he shakes his head.]

These are common in Hyrule. I used to watch...

[There was a memory, there, for a moment: large hands cooking over an open fire, the far-off rumblings of a much younger stomach. But it's gone as quickly as it surfaces, leaving Link with a pinched, thoughtful expression for a moment. He starts again.]

I've seen people cook them before. And cooked them myself, as well.

[monolike]

[Yeah Sorey is already chewing on one of the caps. Clearly, he doesn't think Link is trying to deceive him. Even if they were poisonous and Link was mistaken, this is his dream, right? Link wouldn't wish harm on someone else like that.]

Okay, what next?