01 - a retired lord commander walks into a bar

[thunderwarden]

01 the market stalls

Freedom tasted sweet, and since the moment he was brought to Flotsam, he got the impression he was going to like it here. Striding through one passage or another, listening to the erratic but somehow melodious sounds of Flotsam, he knew he could find a place here. It was busy, there were parts of it that smelled, but it was free, and it was populated by an eclectic bunch of renegades that reminded him so much of his own it made him homesick.

Which meant ploughing on until he secured his own space to brood in and hopefully acclimate to this place. After months slaving under Imperial lashes working on their machines, being here seemed like something of a miracle, and while he was bone tired, soul tired even, he couldn't very well leave the lot of them to their own devices. That meant he needed to be prepared, he needed to figure out what his role would be in this place, and he needed to meet the locals. So, top of the list? Preparation. The Empire had stripped him of all he'd had on him at the time, and that included his swords. They'd need to be replaced, which meant a trip to the market stalls for gear and armor if he was going to be of any use to these people who'd given him a chance at freedom.

He started at a weapons stall, testing the weight of swords with the skill of a man who'd done so all his life, sighting down the blades, one after another, feeling their weight in his hand. "Fine craftsmanship, mate." He smirked at the vendor, "less, of course, you don't make 'em here, then good eye, I guess. Either way, I'll take it."

He spends a bit more time browsing wares, getting a feel for the place, the sorts of goods that cross the decks of a floating city and the sorts of conversations that are had among the market stalls, finding a blessing by the end of it: a satchel of tobacco and rolling papers. Maybe fate's smiling on him after all.

02 waterlogged row

Taverns the world over, and those from another world he used to call home, shared common threads: people unwound there, they drank some kind of swill, and they talked. Where normally Cid would be taking this as an opportunity to learn ought that was going on around the realm, his knowledge of this world he'd found himself in was still limited to the point that he was just absorbing pieces: geography, politics beyond what little he'd been able to glean from overheard conversations from his captors, and anything else that might be useful.

Or rumors of where he could be useful. By the way he strode into the tavern in question, he knew how to use the swords at his hip, but he wasn't walking in threatening people with them, either. Instead, he makes to prop up the bar, so to speak, lighting a freshly rolled cigarette and ordering whatever's on tap while he keeps an eye out for any interesting individuals who might stride in.

03 wildcard

( ooc: Cid can be found in various places around Flotsam, as he's getting acclimated. I'd be totally down you you setting your own scene, or if you'd me to write a prompt, drop me a line! )

Comments

[newmemorywhodis]

Link shakes his head. No, it's most definitely not from around here.

"My Sword," he says. "From home."

Which Link certainly wouldn't have had when he joined the Corsairs - like all other Outlanders, the Empire would have taken it from him. At some point, Link must have found a way to retrieve it.

[thunderwarden]

"From home, is it?" Now there's a thing. There's no weapon from home he's particularly attached to, not that isn't serviceable here that he's seen, but there is a wine goblet he wouldn't mind having back, just for sentimentality's sake. "And how'd you manage that? Corsairs got one of those fancy portals tucked under a rug somewhere?"

[newmemorywhodis]

"It was with me," Link says softly. "They took my things." Everything that had been on him at the time, the Empire had taken. Which, thanks to his korok-enchanted pack, had turned out to be a lot of things.

But clearly he'd managed to get it back at some point. The Empire didn't have the Sword anymore.

[thunderwarden]

Cid gave the sword another look over. At least from what he could see of it, it was a fine weapon. He couldn't imagine something like that collecting dust in an Imperial storeroom.

"Took it back from an enemy, did you? Good on you, lad. Hope they paid for it." And everything else they'd done to him.

[newmemorywhodis]

"Yes."

Yes, he took it back. Yes, they'd paid for it. And yet until the Empire was defeated...it wouldn't be enough.

It's at this point though, that Link's attention shifts slightly. He makes an inarticulate vocalisation - almost like a soft Ah! - before stepping over to reach towards something just behind Cid.

A shield! One that looks pretty sturdy too, even. Maybe it'll last Link longer than a few weeks!

[thunderwarden]

"Good for you, lad. They've taken enough." There was a hard edge to his voice that wasn't there before but it's gone after the initial comment. Instead, he follows Link's motion, raising an eyebrow at what caught the lad's eye.

"Shield, eh? Like to be the lad who goes in swingin' first, then?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link grasps the shield in his fingers - and then pauses, giving Cid a faintly puzzled look.

Go in swinging first...with a shield?

Sure, you could. And Link had done so a number of times, even. But it wasn't exactly something Link thought as for 'swinging first'. Maybe a spear. Perhaps a bow. Or best of all, bombs. Bombs were great for swinging first.

Rather than say anything though, Link deftly flips the shield around. Holds with his left arm, up high and towards Cid. It's a solid defense - anyone trying to strike at Link would have a hard time doing so without putting themselves at risk of counter-attack.

And then Link...waits.

See? Not for swinging first.

[thunderwarden]

He chuckles. "Aye, a right good defender, you are." He gestures to the sword on Link's back, though.

"What I mean to say is, you're familiar with infantry, first line. The Vanguard."

[newmemorywhodis]

Ah. That makes a bit more sense.

He thinks about it a moment. It's been a while since he was really part of a unit. These days, Link's usually charging in on his own and working pretty independently. But he is usually first, so, that counts.

He makes an affirmative noise.

"...Knight," he says.

[thunderwarden]

"You're a knight, eh?" He had been too, once, before he became disillusioned to his liege lord's goals, privy to his madness. Did that make him a traitor, walking away? Maybe, but he'd made peace with it. Better to live a traitor and an outlaw with a clear conscience than to life a free man of privilege with blood on his hands.

"Here or back home?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link gives Cid a flat, unimpressed look. Did he really think Link would have been a knight of the Empire?

He would never.

Not that they'd have given him the opportunity. With Link's skillset, putting him to work as a guard or low-ranking soldier somewhere would have made the most sense. Except for the fact that - as they'd learned quickly - letting Link anywhere near a weapon of any kind was never going to go well for his captors.

"Hyrule," he says flatly, in the end.

[thunderwarden]

Alright, Cid's playing dumb was starting to get him somewhere. Admittedly, it's a little underhanded, but he was trying to get a few more words out of the lad.

He crosses his arms, nodding. "Hyrule, eh? What's it like there?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Unfortunately for Cid, Link of all people is always hard to get words out of. It's not because he's hiding anything, or avoids answers. He just...doesn't like to talk much.

Something proven right now, when he falls in a contemplative silence in response to Cid's question.

What was Hyrule like? How could he possible describe his whole world? His home?

"Beautiful," he says softly. "Rebuilding. It's...home."

He misses it.

He misses it so much.

[thunderwarden]

"Rebuilding?" See, you don't have to use a lot of words, Link. Just the right ones. "Rebuilding from what?" Now if he could just get him to use complete sentences.

[newmemorywhodis]

"The Calamity."

See, that was a complete sentence! Just a very short one. With only two words.

[thunderwarden]

"Ominous, vague, and still doesn't really answer anything." Well, except that his world was most likely in ruin.

"What was the Calamity?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link falls silent, for a moment. How to explain the Calamity?

The only person in Hyrule that had needed it to be explained to them had been him.

"A primal evil. A corruptive force,” he says. He then pauses, thinking some more. "And a gigantic boar monster?”

[thunderwarden]

He frowned, crossing his arms. "All three at once, or are those three different entities?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link nods his head rapidly. "At once."

That's what made the Calamity so tricky to describe; it wasn't just one thing. It was like a cyclone; there were the winds, but there were also the rains and the floods that came with it.

"The Calamity brings the monsters," he adds.

[thunderwarden]

"At once, you say." Okay, that sounds a bit more like a Calamity.

And not too much like what his world was facing: The Blight, the Akashic, endless war, famine, injustice, all because of Crystals people believed made their lives easier.

"Sorry, lad, sorry you're here instead of there, helping set things to rights. 'Course, this place could use a hand in the same, eh?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link nods. Yes, at once.

The name was most certainly deserved. But Cid is somewhat mistaken on one fact; it's not something that currently threatens his world.

"Calamity's gone now," he says. So really, there wasn't anything pressing back home. Except, of course, for Zelda. Which was really the most important thing of all.

[thunderwarden]

"Gone, is it? That must have been quite the fight." He smirks, though. "Don't reckon you're up for telling the story."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link nods. Yes, it was quite the fight. But as for telling the story, he actually pauses, and considers it.

"The Divine Beasts fired," he says. "Fought Spider-Beast Ganon. Then Dark Beast Ganon. Then Zelda sealed it with Goddess power."

It seems that this is what counts as 'story-telling' when it comes from Link.

[thunderwarden]

"Lad," He reaches out to clap Link on the shoulder. "That wasn't even a report. What were the Divine Beasts? Who's the Ganon and how did he have so many forms? What about Zelda? She a looker at least? Or he? I'm not judging, mate."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link does not say anything in response to this barrage of questions. Instead he just turns to look at Cid with a flat stare.

Apparently, Link did not appreciate that 'was Zelda a looker' comment.