multidisciplinary: (🌻 097)
α΄’α΄‡ΚŸα΄…α΄€ ([personal profile] multidisciplinary) wrote in [community profile] songerein2024-02-19 04:50 pm
Entry tags:

seventh dream 🌻 beautiful and devastating

Who: TOTK Zelda and Alastor
Which: Closed interactive dream
Where: Zelda's dreamscape, backdated to early February, before Al's canon update
What: Zelda dreams about what Link showed her in a previous dream and tries to use her dreamotion
Warnings: Massive Tears of the Kingdom spoilers, also some themes of death, self-sacrifice, and probably a touch of suicidal ideation. (Zelda's opt-out can be found here.)



[ When Alastor enters the dreamscape, he will find himself in central Hyrule, a temperate climate of gently rolling hills, green and grassy fields, and little copses of deciduous trees dotting the landscape here and there. Hyrule is a vast kingdom and even this single region seems to stretch out endlessly towards the horizon in all directions.

And yet, the landscape is somehow dwarfed by the tremendous white and gold dragon that dives down from the sky towards Alastor. The creature looks noticeably similar to the blight-infected dragon that he fought last summer, the one that violently guarded a sleeping princess in a crystal. For a moment, it almost seems like the dragon is intentionally trying to crash into him, but it adjusts its trajectory so that it swoops over him instead. Gusting winds whip against him as the creature soars over his head and then heads back up into the sky. ]


No, not there! I called you here!

[ And there's Zelda, running through the grass in a futile attempt to catch the dragon as it flies away. Even though it's her own dream, somehow the princess can neither speed herself up nor slow the dragon down and she eventually comes to a panting halt not far from Alastor. ]

Goddess... take you... you miserable-- A-Alastor?
lonelysmiles: (Chatting)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2024-02-21 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
I have to admit that I almost passed this dreamscape by when I couldn't immediately enter it. However, perhaps you subconsciously decided to have me come here since after a moment, it let me enter.

[He gazes up at the Light Dragon.]

Quite a beautiful creature. Much prettier than its Blighted counterpart that I faced last year.
lonelysmiles: (Wistful)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2024-02-22 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, that's right. You were sleeping in that ice prison at the time. You likely never saw it.

[He looks up at the gorgeous dragon flitting through the clouds. It looks like it's having a grand time doing so.]

Back when your Hyrule became part of Reverein, I found it while looking for you. It was blue and very cold. Though at first it looked much darker and was covered in that Malice substance. It was trying to protect you, I think, but you were at risk of being crushed in its coils.

I have to admit that it was quite a fun fight.
Edited 2024-02-22 01:40 (UTC)
lonelysmiles: (What? No Deal?)

Considering we retconned that conversation where she told him she ended up in the past...

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2024-02-22 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[Alastor’s eyebrows rise with interest.]

I'm afraid you'll need to explain what you mean, my dear. Why would you transform into a dragon?

[He looks back at the dragon.]

Though you make quite a lovely dragon if I may say so.
lonelysmiles: Showtime... (Finger Snap)

It's all good! I wrote it there as a reminder to myself as well. XD

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2024-02-23 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[Alastor sees the Light Dragon responding to his compliment. Well, well, well. So the two are connected even now.]

[Was the Light Dragon the reason he'd been able to enter? That she'd realized that her Hyrulean self needed someone to talk to?]


That's really not the long of it. I fail to see why you would need to become this fine being in order to save your home, but I do understand dying to become someone else.

[If she allows him to, he'll summon an illusory version of himself when he was alive. A little over a foot shorter, darker tan skin, brown eyes, and brown hair. No claws or teeth or menace, but still the same Alastor. The face was undoubtedly his as was his smile though it somehow seemed as menacing with human teeth as it did with demonic fangs.]
Edited (Deleted the last part in case he can't do it.) 2024-02-23 21:44 (UTC)
lonelysmiles: (Arrival - Closed Eyes)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2024-02-29 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Largely because my death was an embarrassing hunting accident. I was mistaken for a deer, and the hunter who sicc'd his dogs on me had to mercy kill me after they mauled me nearly to death. We were too far away for any medical intervention that would've saved me.

I'd appreciate you not spreading that around, by the way.

[It's humiliating enough when getting startled by dogs can do something ridiculous like chase him up a tree.]

The point is that this man here is someone very different than who I am now. That isn't to say he wasn't a killer and didn't eat his victims -- he was and did -- but he wasn't the sadist I can be. A clean and efficient kill was always his style after he'd taken the time to select an appropriate target.

He was the friendly voice on the radio to so many people. A welcome if unseen guest to those from all walks of life. He was a personal companion to a few people in particular who had no knowledge of his darker activities. He wasn't regarded as a monster to be avoided at all costs, and I remember hearing my coworkers eulogize me over the radio even after I came down here. It was quite humbling to hear how high in regard they'd held me and how my unfortunate demise had affected them.

When I died and went to Hell, I initially tried to keep my activities quiet like when I was alive. No one took me seriously or even considered me a threat. If anything, they thought me utterly ridiculous. I only revealed myself when the screams in my broadcast became too loud for people to dismiss anymore, so Hell at large learned what happened to their old overlords who'd "disappeared". I went from being a ridiculous nobody to the most feared sinner in Hell literally within hours. I became Hell's boogeyman and would remain as such even despite a recent seven-year absence. I still selected my targets very carefully but wholesale slaughter wasn't off the table if everyone in attendance met my criteria. No more sneaking around and hiding. I was no longer the friendly voice on the radio.

[He looks at his living self contemplatively.]

But despite being so different, he's still me, and I'm still him. Reverein proved it beyond a reasonable doubt even before I brushed off the old format to be the friendly voice on the radio again. For starters, we both hunt the worst of the worst so that those weaker than us can sleep peacefully at night. I might be more unsettling than he was, but we enjoy others' company and other little tiny details.

He became me when he died, but I never fully stopped being him. I just express other aspects of him that he felt ashamed of or otherwise hid for various reasons. It's one reason I didn't change my name like so many others who went to Hell: We are both Alastor, just different facets of that same person.
lonelysmiles: (Content)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2024-04-24 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[Unfortunately, the context had been necessary to help get across his point. If he hadn't given it, she would've inevitably asked for it.]

[Alastor follows her gaze to the Light Dragon.]


I don't think he'd like me much largely because I've never really liked me much. However, I think he'd be pleased that I kept up our oath and didn't fall into mindless degeneracy after my predictable fall to Hell. I've always been a monster, darling, even when human. I swore I'd hunt my fellow monsters so the good people around me could live better lives without the monsters preying on their generosity and other virtues. Not every sinner in Hell is a complete monster. Some people just made a few too many awful choices but were otherwise good people.

I do think that he'd be happy with what I've done here in getting the radio started along with hunting the noctaere that stalk the outskirts of Reverein. Though mildly disappointed that there isn't a proper swamp. [He chuckles.] I do so miss the bayou.

[He nods to the Light Dragon.]

But I don't think she'll mind you as much as you seem to think. Her way of thinking might not be the same as ours. I know mine certainly shifted when I went from mortal human to practically-immortal demon.

If you ask me, I think she's the one you should be talking to.
Edited 2024-04-24 20:41 (UTC)
lonelysmiles: (Face Half In Shadow)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2024-04-24 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Just because she can't speak doesn't automatically mean she doesn't understand. You just need to find an alternate way to communicate, learn to listen with more than just your ears: body language, posture, the sounds she makes when happy or upset. It'll require time and hard work but it isn't impossible.

[He gestures to where the Light Dragon disappeared.]

And before you ask, I'm quite certain she understands what we say. After all, she is you. If anything, I imagine it's quite frustrating to want to speak but be unable to do so. Whomever she wishes to speak to, she needs them to pay very close attention in order to share a message.

[His smile remains in place but his eyes are sad.]

She's likely incredibly lonely as a result of having so much she wishes to say but no one to listen.
lonelysmiles: (Face Half In Shadow)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2024-04-27 12:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Of course you are. Honestly, I'd be concerned if you weren't. Everyone fears death on some level. I never claimed to be completely sane, but I was terrified when that hunter aimed his rifle at my head to make my end quick because despite all my beliefs in an afterlife, there's still that terror because I didn't know for certain what was coming next. Would there be an afterlife? If there was, what would it be like? What affect would my living actions have on it? If there wasn't, would I simply cease? Would everything I'd ever accomplished ultimately be for nothing?

[It'd been ninety years since he'd felt that terror, but he'd felt it again on the old Hazbin Hotel's roof when Adam's power broke through his defenses and sliced his microphone in half before a second strike nearly cleaved him in two. He'd gotten complacent in Hell and Reverein. He'd risked his existence in both places for people he'd become...accustomed to. The last time he'd used "friend", the lady in question had woken up from this shared dream. Best not to risk it here. While everything had worked out in both cases, it was his near-second death experience on the roof that made him realize how much of a bullet he'd dodged in Orkili when keeping the reactor from blowing up.]

The only people who know for certain what happens after death are those who died...and they're unable to tell the living what comes next.

[He looks up at where the Light Dragon disappeared.]

Of course you're afraid, and I won't tell you not to be. However, I will tell you that this is a situation you can't control. Learning to command her here won't matter in the end. Because eventually she's going to have to fly on her own, make decisions for situations you never even imagined. And I know that for a fact because the living me could've never fathomed the things I've come across in just ninety years after death. However, that isn't to say you won't have some influence.

She will always remember you just as I will always remember him. Even if the details fade, the names and faces blur as her own experiences fill her mind, your place in history becomes a footnote at best in your people's collective consciousness, you will always be with her in some capacity through your lingering influence affecting the choices she makes in the future.

You have every right to be terrified, but you've been given an opportunity here: You can make peace with your fate even as it scares you.
lonelysmiles: Ah memories... (So Many Orphans)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2024-06-03 01:37 pm (UTC)(link)
I can't give specific instructions but I imagine it isn't much different than those last fleeting seconds before that hunter pulled the trigger.

[He smiles gently at the Light Dragon, walking a bit away so he could stand off to one side, to keep both versions of Zelda in his peripheral vision.]

Everything dies eventually, Miss Zelda. Nobody truly lives forever. And when you're face to face with your end, it feels like standing on a cliff overlooking the water, knowing that you have no choice left but to jump. The waters are dark, and you have no idea what waits for you below the surface. It could be far shallower than you think, killing you instantly on hidden sharp rocks, or it could be far, far deeper than you ever imagined filled with strange new creatures.

But you can accept what's happening. You don't have to like it -- we spend our entire lives running from death -- but you have the choice to face it head-on. When you do, that's when you close your eyes, take a breath, hold the memories of those you care for close...and jump.

[The illusion of Alastor in his living form vanishes but, for just a moment, Alastor looks like a blend of his demonic self and his human one: His irises are still red but his sclera are white. His hair and ears have turned brown where the red used to be. Even his claws seem a bit blunter, their color gone dark rather than the vicious red tips they'd been. His clothing had changed from various forms of red to a brown coat with ribbons of white symbols flowing along it and his shirt had turned white.]

Everything dies, but it's not an ending. It's just making room for new life to thrive.
Edited 2024-06-03 13:45 (UTC)