open 🌻 a relatively more welcome return and some other nonsense

[multidisciplinary]

Who: Zelda and OPEN
Which: Open log, backdated to November 9
Where: Plaza, Lakeside, Dreamscape
What: November catch-all kind of thing. Zelda returns to Song (again) after trying to go home and do [spoiler] things, gets leafever and experiences a day in the life of a sylvari, and dreams about fashion
Warnings: Minor Tears of the Kingdom sidequest spoilers dreamscape prompt. (opt out of TOTK spoilers here.) Threads with major TOTK spoilers will be marked.



1. a not so welcome return the redux

Like most new arrivals, Zelda awakens in the Plaza. When she opens her eyes, she sees... nothing. Darkness, muted colors, like the insides of one's eyelids. Her heart skips a beat. Has she done it? Has she finally returned to Hyrule and fulfilled the plan she has so ardently strived for? Is she free from Songerein?

As if in answer, the wind picks up and gusts over Zelda. The darkness rustles loudly all around her, like dried leaves in an autumn breeze.

...

The princess sits up abruptly, shedding leaves from the pile that has formed on top of her. Wait a moment. What are all these leaves doing on the ground? It's still summertime in Hyrule. Zelda looks around, casting her gaze over the nearby Plaza, abustle with activity as dreamwalkers patronize the many shops surrounding it. This doesn't look like the town near the castle. Then that must mean...

She's back in Songerein.

Zelda slams her hands down in the leaves and screams out a curse at the top of her lungs. Back in Songerein? Already? But she only just left! Last night, she snuck out of the treehouse home she and Link share and went to the Wishing Well. She planned to use three of her baubles to go home. Link came to stop her—

Her mind stops abruptly as the memory plays in her mind—Link, stepping between Zelda and the well, kissing her...

A hot flush rises to Zelda's cheeks. She shakes her head roughly to get the image out of her mind. Stop getting distracted. Focus!

The princess roughly digs herself out of the pile of leaves (more of which have accumulated in the mere minutes she's been sitting here) and gets to her feet. Time to go to the Plaza and get some answers.


2. dryad ailment

It's been four or five days since Zelda returned to Songerein and she's been feeling... pretty terrible, actually. Somehow, waking up in a pile of leaves in the Plaza has caused the princess to fall ill. For days, she's been laid up at home or at the clinic, suffering fevers and body aches and the worst case of dry skin anyone has every experienced. Her body has become strangely plant-like, with skin like bark and hair like yellow leaves. If not for how miserably she's been feeling, Zelda would be fascinated by the changes.

But today, she inexplicably feels... fine. No, better than fine. Wonderful, actually. The moment she steps outside and the cold autumn sunlight shines on her leafy hair, Zelda feels her miserable affliction vanish. Her lethargy fades in an instant and she suddenly feels more energized than she's felt in days—no, in months. Suddenly, all of the worries Zelda normally carries around fade from her mind and all she can think about is soaking up more sunlight, drinking clear, cold water, and finding some delicious nutrients!

Zelda can be found at the lakeside all day, romping about in a state of undress unusual for the cold weather and uncharacteristic of the princess. She might be conversing animatedly with the nearby trees, wading knee-deep in the icy lake waters, or even (ugh) eating dirt. Really, you should have a taste of this dirt. The flavor is exquisite!


3. Interactive dreamscape - Hyrulean haute couture

Intentionally or unintentionally, tonight's dreamwalking has brought you to a town on the outskirts of Hyrule known as Hateno Village. Once a sleepy little village, Hateno has grown into a bustling township in the century since the Great Calamity, on account of its distance from Hyrule Castle. In the four years since they defeated Calamity Ganon (and when they aren't busy traveling the kingdom), Zelda has lived in Hateno Village with Link. Hateno is the 'home' she thinks of whenever she hears the word, so its little wonder that a homesick dream take place there.

Lately, Hateno has been buzzing with excitement, ever since haute fashion designer Cece opened her shop there and began selling her latest designs. Fashion-forward Hyruleans from all over the kingdom have flocked to Hateno to get their own Cece-brand clothes. Though Zelda may not be a fashionista, she isn't immune to the charm of Cece's unique designs.

That's how you find yourself inside Cece's shop, trying on the hottest new style—mushroom couture. Zelda, also dressed in a full mushroom outfit, stands before you, carefully scrutinizing your outfit.

"No, I think it needs the hat," she says. "The ensemble simply isn't complete without it."


4. the wildcard option

Want a different prompt? Feel free to surprise me or plot with me on plurk (knighted), discord (triforce1960) or DM.

Also, feel free to reply in brackets instead of prose if you prefer.

Comments

[multidisciplinary]

[ When Sheik goes to cover Zelda's hand with his, the princess startles at his touch, surprise splashing briefly across her face. It is rare for Sheik to instigate any kind of physical contact. Zelda still remembers their tumultuous first meeting at the masquerade ball, the wild panic in his eyes when she grabbed his hand to stop him from leaving. Since then, she has left it to Sheik to make the first move; which he has done, albeit infrequently.

So Zelda is primed to give Sheik her fullest attention when he speaks, her sharp green eyes locked on his face, even when he looks away. Though his words and his expressions are so often muted, controlled with the utmost precision, the princess can catch the slips in his mask here and there. Even the absence of expression, averted eyes, or pregnant pauses, can give her some clue to his innermost thoughts.

"You have no obligation to her besides those that you create for yourself." Zelda purses her lips (much like Sheik, although his expression remains hidden from her view). Maybe those words would carry more weight if it was the Princess of Destiny sharing them with her descendent. The burden of their shared heritage—their mirrored fates, even—would lend greater credence to those words than a man of the Sheikah tribe ever could, no matter how Zelda values his opinion. Because the princess has learned twice over now that there are some matters only a daughter of the royal family can handle. Whether Zelda of Skyloft is one of those matters, well that has yet to be seen. But if there is more between the two women than just a name, then the princess needs to find out.

Doubtless, Sheik can probably read Zelda's reaction plainly without her needing to say a word. Her face is so often an open book of her thoughts and feelings. But she doesn't want to leave it like that, because she does value his words. She does value the escape he has offered to her, the door he has left open, should she choose not to pursue a meeting with this mysterious new arrival. Even though she won't step through it, his care to offer it at all means everything. (Goddess, how is she supposed to leave people like him behind for all eternity?)

Zelda rotates her hand underneath Sheik's so that their palms can meet and curls her fingers lightly around his hand. There's barely any pressure at all, plenty of space for him to retract his hand, should he find the gesture unwanted. ]

Thank you. [ She lets those words hang in the air for a moment. ] But I think you understand why I still feel I must.

You served the royal family of your era, did you not? [ He knows the song, after all, the one he said they guard as a secret. ] Then you know that we must always perform our duty. Often, we are the only ones who can.

[ Is she even talking about Zelda of Skyloft anymore? Or will Sheik pick up on the double meaning of her words? ]

[sagesurvivor]

[Will he, whose very nature is duplicity, pick up on the double meaning of her words?

He hears them, and recalls a princess who had only just grown tall enough to comfortably see over the top of her father's desk as she spoke to him of her vision foretelling their kingdom's ruination at the hands of the man they had been entreating. A prophetess who thought that by seeing the strings of fate, she could become their master, but only to save the country she cherished so much, despite seeing little more of it than what she could view from her bedroom window. Why else would the Goddesses have blessed her so, if not to protect their creation from evil?

The results of that girl's folly rests in Zelda's hand, cradled so delicately within her fingers. A shard of the divine, splintered off from her sisters, carried into the present moment by one who threw away their name to protect it. She could take it, if she wanted to, if she knew it was there. He might even let her, if she did. There are surely worse ingots to reforge a sacred blade with.

Does Sheik pick up on the double meaning of her words? Of course he does. And that is why his expression is drawn ever tighter with each syllable that passes her lips, teeth grinding, stomach churning, his entire being a taut rope pulled to the point of fraying until—]

... that doesn't mean they are not capable of making mistakes—!

[His voice erupts out of him, raw and unbidden, the force of it pulling him up from his seat and rattling the silverware as his hand clenches firmly around hers. The fury he simply did not bother to hide before, he wears openly now, but she will find, that as their teacups settle back in their saucers, the prevailing emotion writ upon his oft inscrutable expression is grief.

The silence of the next moment is deafening, the echoes of his outburst in the quiet cafe ringing in his ears as though it's the only sound he'll hear for the rest of time. Regret, as he predicted, slips easily into the emptiness left behind, and as he falls back into his seat, Zelda will see all that emotion once again absorbed into the shadows from whence it came as he affixes the stoic mask he wears back into place. He'll release her hand, unless she stops him, to cross his arms over himself once more, though he looks more like he's trying to keep himself contained than guard against anything external for the effort.]

I... Forgive me. I've overstepped.

[He is a Sheikah, a servant. Nothing else. No one else. He must remember that.]

Your time here is yours to do with as you see fit. Duty - and destiny - will both wait regardless. That... that is all I mean to say.

[She was frustrated that her plans were foiled once again by Songerein's pull, but... she should know now that they wait for her, just as his own do for him. If he can allow himself a modicum of appreciation for the time that has been stolen for him, then, as one whose destiny he mirrors, can she not do the same?]

[multidisciplinary]

[ Although Zelda can see the anger bubbling up inside Sheik, she still isn't prepared for it when it suddenly boils over. The force of his outburst makes her flinch, jerking back and instinctively raising her arms to shield herself... only to find one hand caught in grip.

That's the position Sheik will find Zelda in when he falls quiet—her arms half-raised in reflex, her expression stricken with alarm.

In the silence that descends, both deafening and heavy at the same time, Zelda's eyes find Sheik's. And it's what she sees there, in this moment, that she will carry with her after today. It's not the sharpness of his anger, the suddenness of his outburst, or even his words themselves (though she will remember those too), but the unmistakable grief displayed plainly upon his face. Like the hollow look she saw in Link's eyes when they reunited this summer past, the sheer anguish in Sheik's expression will haunt the princess for a long time to come.

Zelda's eyes drop from Sheik's face to the table, her gaze finding her half-full teacup. When he retracts his hand, she doesn't try to stop him. She almost doesn't seem to notice at all. The palpable weight of the silence enveloping the cafe bears down on on the princess like a heavy blanket, muffling her surroundings and dulling her senses. She can hear Sheik's next words just fine, but they pass between her ears unnoticed.

His outburst is still ringing against the walls of her mind: "That doesn't mean they are not capable of making mistakes—!" He's right... isn't he? She feels certain that he must be. It is on no rare occasion that the princess has questioned kings, gods, and the cycle of fate itself, questioning them all on the wisdom of their decisions and their propensity for fallibility. Are Zelda's choices above reproach? Are they irrefutably the best she could be making?

Sheik will find his words met with silence on Zelda's end, stretching out for long minutes that probably feel much longer than they actually are. It probably seems as though she is not listening to him at all. But her pensive expression, the deep grooves in her forehead, are proof that his outburst found its mark, whether he intended it to or not.

Finally, she stirs, pushing herself to her feet and collecting the Master Sword with one hand. ] The hour is late.

[ A look outside any window will show that it's not—there are probably still a few hours left of daylight.

Zelda drags her gaze up from her teacup, its contents long cold, and forces herself to look at Sheik. Guilt and shame are plain upon her face. ]

I shall... consider your advice. [ Her word choice is careful, but honest.

She hesitates, lips twitching as though she wants to say more, but she can't find the words. The only words in her mind are his, playing over and over on repeat. ]

Until next we meet.

[ Without giving Sheik a chance to reply, Zelda nods her head in a polite goodbye and leaves the cafe. ]