Quest 07 (Open + Closed)

[newmemorywhodis]

i. Making new, wolfy friends [Open]
In the wild areas near Elysium, Link’s been exploring. It’s a common activity for him. There’s mushrooms and flowers to pick, game to hunt, monsters to fight…

…Then one day, while he’s up in a tree collecting some bird’s eggs, he spots a wolf. A big wolf. A really, really big wolf. It’s as big as a horse.

And once he makes that mental connection, Link immediately thinks, I could ride that.

Which naturally means Link now has to find out if he can. He pulls out a Sneaky Elixir, and swiftly swallows it - demeaning the sounds of his movements. Silently uses his paraglider to move from tree to tree, getting closer. And then carefully drops down behind the massive, monstrous wolf.

He crouches down. Creeps forward. Slowly, slowly. Until he’s right behind the beast, so close he could reach out and touch its fur.

And then he leaps up onto its back, and grabs on.

The wolf yelps and snarls - but Link’s got a good position, and he doesn’t let it twist back and bite him. He just directs the beast to run, and keeps a good hold.

What do you know, he can ride it!


ii. A retrieval of memories [locked to Shu]
Shu had spoken to the Admiral. They’d tracked down the Imperial Commander who’d been given Link’s Purah Pad.

And then they’d sneaked onto the Commander’s warship and completely trashed his quarters.

Well, Link had trashed his quarters. Shu was a bit too dignified for such wanton destruction, but Link wasn’t. And he didn’t regret it either, since in the process, he’d found the Pad!

Now, their getaway was nearly complete. Here in a small alleyway in Elysium, they were far from the scene of the crime. The Crimson Portal wasn’t far off.

But Link had to pause. He hadn’t had a chance yet, but - he had to see. Were all of his pictures still on the Purah Pad? Were they safe?

He pulls out the Pad, and turns it on. And turns to the photo gallery.


iii. Link has a slide show and he’s gonna make you watch it [semi-closed]
Later, Link thinks of all the new people he’d met. People who’d helped him grow plants from home, or who’d shown interest in things from his home. Shu wasn't the only one who he knew would like to see his pictures.

Before, he hadn't had any way of sharing these images of his home. But…now he could.

So Link tracks those people down. Says, “Hi,” when he finds them. And then shoves the Purah Pad - with a picture from Hyrule that would interest them on the screen - right in their face.

[[ooc: this prompt is for Nephenee, Ilphyll, Donnie, Maomao and Atom - but could be open to others if there's a reason for Link to decide to share]]


iv. Wildcard!
[[if you'd like something not on her, contact me!]]

Comments

[purplexing]

Yeah, that sounds like a more Link-appropriate reason. Donnie can't help it; he laughs.

[upupatomway]

"Oh, hi Mr. Link!" Atom greets him when he sees him approach. He blinks in surprise when the device is held up without warning, but his eyes quickly focus on the screen.

"What is this? It doesn't look like any of the ethernet devices I've seen." He asks as he takes in the photo that doesn't look much like their typical surroundings either.

[newmemorywhodis]

Kanna may not have packed for an extended trip...but Link has. In fact, Link is packed for an extended trip all of the time.

He shows absolutely no concern at the possibility of being stuck out here for an extended period of time. In fact, there's almost a positively cheery air to him.

And right, they are still wet and cold - so he pulls out two Spicy Pepper Steaks. He holds one out to Kanna. If she takes it, she'll find that it is somehow still piping hot, like it's just been cooked. Furthermore, eating it will make her feel warm even in the cold weather.

[newmemorywhodis]

As usual, Link's not the most expressive of people. Even as Donnie laughs, his face doesn't change that much.

But there is the hint of a quirk of his lips.

"It is useful," he admits. "But...mostly it's pretty. And calm."

[newmemorywhodis]

"Purah Pad," Link says promptly. But then he shakes the device slightly, as if to say: Look!

And there on the screen is indeed something that Link wants Atom to look at. Link himself is in the foreground, standing on a rock in the middle of a desert.

Before him is an absolutely colossal beast. One that somehow looks to be swimming through the sands.

[upupatomway]

Link standing in a sandy desert. What is that? Atom squints at the photo, having never seen anything like the beast before. He almost thinks it's a strange looking rock formation because it's clearly so large, but it's clearly something with a mouth.

"Is this a picture of that sand beast you told me about?" he asks, surprised not only by the appearance of the creature but the fact Link now had a photo on hand. "Amazing! What a great thing to recover!"

[purplexing]

It's a good laugh, even if it is a bit at Link's expense, but it feels good. He's needed it. Donnie wipes an imaginary tear from his eye as he glances back at the pad.

"Well, no reason why it can't be both a nice place to visit and a useful place to find resources," he says. He thinks if ever there was a chance, that would be somewhere he'd like to see in person.

"Thanks for sharing these with me."

[bearsperminute]

"Okay that's just impressive. A good bit of magic, there." And it's not like Kanna will say no to a steak, though she does take the time to carefully eat it instead of pull it off the plate and wolf it down.

Her clothes hiss like they're getting steam-pressed, and in a way, they kind of are!

[newmemorywhodis]

Link nods. "Molduga," he says. He taps at the screen a few more times - moving through what is clearly an entire gallery of images - before revealing one of another creature that swims in the sand.

This time, Link also appears to be pulled along behind it from a rope tied to his waist.

"Sand seal," he adds.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link hums softly. You're welcome, Donnie.

[[ooc: shall we wrap up here?]]

[newmemorywhodis]

Link nods. Yes, it was a good bit of magic. Korok-enchantments certainly were useful.

But with some nice warm food helping them both feel better, it was time to get to the good bit: exploring. And Link's first point of call is to start running down the shoreline on the lake, picking up anything and everything he can find.

An odd yellow flower? He'll grab that! A tiny black and red frog? He'll grab that too! And look...some shiny pebbles in the water! They're pretty, so he has to pick up those too, of course.

All of these things disappear into the same pack from which the pepper steak came from.

[bearsperminute]

The red-black frog in particular gets a bit of a shocked expression from her. That-- that's poisonous almost certainly!? Don't touch it!?

As for her, she's feeling the wind, taking in the sights, and being careful to look behind them so she knows the landmarks as they proceed.

... but once that's handled, she ends up fascinated by everything Link's doing. The confidence is something to behold.

She listens to the world around her-- for signs of wildlife, for traces of Ether, for...

For a surprising amount of peace, given. This might be the best of Elysium, really.

[newmemorywhodis]

Too late, Link's already grabbed the possibly poisonous frog, and is already making plans to see if he can make it into an elixir later.

And for a little while, that's how they spend their time - Link foraging and collecting everything of interest, Kanna taking in the sights and watching him. But eventually Link's grabbed everything he wants, and he starts looking towards the tops of those mountains.

They'd have a great vantage point up there, he's sure.

Only, he's with Kanna, isn't he? And he doesn't know if she's keen to hike up a mountain. So he sidles his way over to her.

"...You climb?" he asks, jerking his head towards the nearest mountain.

[bearsperminute]

"I can climb," she says with a nod, and tests the bare rock with one hand. Yeah. Yeah, this'll do fine. "Let's go for it."

Kanna, here, is literally in her element. It's not just that her grip strength, balance, and leg strength are top notch; it's that the rocks around them respond, just a little, to everything she does.

Despite this she'll wait up for Link if she has to, though at this point, she doubts he'll lag behind-- or at all.

[spacetogrow]

"Thank you!" Ilphyl said. "Did you spend much time in the desert when you were back where you're from?"

[upupatomway]

"It's like you're water boarding but on sand!" Atom laughs, delighted by the concept. "Er- not that the seals that live in the ocean where I'm from do that regularly for people. Just more proof you have a special bond with animals, Mr. Link!"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link is, of course, good at climbing. Very good at climbing. He's practically climbed every inch of Hyrule, twice.

So as he scampers up the side of the mountain, he's surprised to find that Kanna can in fact keep up. Maybe even climbs faster than him, sometimes. It's a pleasant surprise; it means Link doesn't need to wait for her, or help her get over some of the tricky bits. He can just climb, and trust that she'll keep pace.

It means they make it up to the top of the mountain in a good time. And then, stretched before them, is what Link wanted to come up here for - the view.

Stretched before them is the very forest they were exploring. Off in the distance, the winking lights of the city of Elysium. And carving a path through the landscape is the very river that brought him here - as it feeds into the little pond at the base of a waterfall.

Maybe the wolves are still there, waiting.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link hums a vague, discordant note. He might be able to claim a special relationship with horses, but he can't claim the same for Sand Seals.

"The Gerudo figured out Sand Seal surfing." Link only picked it up from them.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link nods, before tapping at the Pad to bring up another section entirely. Now, rather than a gallery of images or the Compendium, it shows a map of a world Ilphyl will have never seen before.

The map is detailed with topography markings, roads, place names written in an unfamiliar language, and a great many small glowing blue icons. Link points towards the lower left corner, where a wide flat space looks to be bounded by mountains. A place with only one lonely road in or out.

"Gerudo Desert," he says.

[spacetogrow]

"You really have been a lot of places. I wonder if the people here could let you track things you see here, so you could show people when you go home."

[upupatomway]

"Still, it's impressive seals would obey you and go in the direction you want. Where I'm from, seals are wild. A few are trained by humans, but they're not anywhere near truly domesticated." He ought to ask since he's on the subject, "I don't suppose the Gerudo you mentioned have domesticated them the way dogs or horses are?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link pauses.

Huh. Could his Purah Pad be modified to do something like that?

"...Don't know," he admits. He might know how to use the Pad, but he didn't really know how it worked.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link thinks about it. He didn't really know what the Gerudo did in the past to figure out Sand Seal surfing. Riju wouldn't probably know, but she wasn't here for Link to ask.

"Maybe like horses?" He suggests. From Link's perspective, they were the most similar.

[spacetogrow]

"I guess you could ask the people in the Vault. If you wanted."

[bearsperminute]

Someone who could keep pace with her was similarly rare, and while she was tempted to talk it up...

There was just something about watching the view, wasn't there? Something solid about the mountain underneath her, something grand about the sky and the island around them.

She hums for the awe of it, this small continent, surging with life despite its fall.

She wanted to see it all. To survive in a place like this for days on end, just to see what subsistence here was really like.

But more than that... "Kinda makes you wanna protect it, huh?"