vivala | Quest 07 (Open + Closed)

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Quest 07 (Open + Closed)

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!]]

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"... I suppose it's not quite big enough for a sail, huh...?" For some reason she feels like that should work. "But if it comes to it, I've been pretty good at long distance swimming, myself..."

"You want to...push?"

Somehow, that's not something Link's ever considered as an option before. That he could just get out and move a raft himself while swimming. But then, he's always been exploring on his own. With Kanna here, they could switch off...

"Yeah, should be all right, long as it can float our weight... Though coming back might be a bit of a challenge if the current's swift." She keeps a firm hold of it, feeling the river's drag, and hums thoughtfully.

"Rivers go somewhere." Which meant there's be an end to this one too, wherever that was.

So while Kanna gets ready to push, Link hops on the log and gets ready to go. Onward!

Kanna nods, and once Link has mostly secured himself, shoves off and catches up to the log, taking up a place that hopefully won't lever Link upwards... And then shoves off the floor of the river, catching her shoes amidst the rocks below. Soon enough they're on their way, though the current seems to be...

Pushing them towards a downward sloping wall.

Time to take a deep breath.

Link's eyes are wide as he sits on the log. But they go wider when the wall appears.

At that point, Link crouches down on the log, wrapping his arms around it tightly so he won't get separated.

And then takes a deep breath, right before the current pulls them all under the rock.

Holding her breath and keeping her head from slamming into the ceiling occupies enough of Kanna's attention that she barely manages to hold on to the log as it tumbles awkwardly in the narrow tunnel.

There's a small touch of air trapped by the water, and it's foul and fixed, but it's breathable enough for the split second the log rises to the surface before the two of them are dumped back into the water, until, at last, fresh air and a small ride to a much more placid pool.

Kanna's soaked, her gi is slightly torn, and she lays back on the stony shore gasping for air--

-- And then, she starts laughing. "Well. Guess we found something, yeah?"

Link is, similarly, also utterly drenched. But he's full of adrenaline and doesn't care, because that was great.

More than that, they have found something. Because while it's almost completely dark in this new, calmer space, it's not completely dark. Because there, off in the distance - there's sunlight coming in from somewhere.

And if sunlight can get in, there must be somewhere for them to go out to.

"Over there," he whispers to Kanna, giving her a chance to see the sunlight before tossing out another Brightbloom to give some visibility to their immediate surroundings. They're on the bank of the underground river in a small cavern just to the side. The river continues on - heading towards that hint of sunlight.

She turns her head to see it, and sits up. The adrenaline jangles her nerves and tingles her teeth and she loves it, laughing again.

"Well, dang, so we did. Wonder how far we've gone?" Can't have been too long underwater, but that current was swift.

She looks around and rescues the log from where it threatened to drift out of reach.

Link shrugs; he didn't have a clue how far they'd gone.

As Kanna grabs the log, Link wades into the water behind it; looking at her and cocking his head to one side in an unspoken question. Would she like him to push this time?

"... Normally I'd let the adrenaline pass, but you're right, probably a bad idea given we're wet in January." So, having caught her breath, she hangs on to the log and then gives the thumbs up.

Eh, the water's not icy cold. So it's not great, sure, but it could be worse. When they get out though, Link might grab some Spicy Elixirs to help warm them up.

Right now though, he pushes on the log. The water carries them along, as the light becomes brighter, and brighter.

Until finally, the cavernous space opens up to the sky - and before them is a massive lake, filling in the valley where three mountains converge.

As Kanna looks around, emerging from the cave, she knows only one thing for sure: "... Iiiii have no idea where we are."

Still, as she orients herself, briefly, to the sun, she muses to herself that this is a pretty similar situation to when her dad would take her out on survival training. "Well. it's not like we're in a super amount of trouble-- we're both experienced in this sort of thing."

She hadn't packed for an extended trip like this, but then, neither had Dad, and she tests a few of the reeds by the water. ... good for a makeshift shelter, if it came to it, but she'd prefer other methods if she had them.

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.

Edited 2025-01-31 10:41 (UTC)

"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!

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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?"

Link hums softly in agreement. This world isn't his home. It's not Hyrule. He doesn't have quite the same attachment to it.

But it's still beautiful. And still worthy of protection. So even if it's not Link's home, he'll fight for it anyway. As long as he's here.

And he's explore it too, of course.

[[ooc: shall we wrap up here? This feels like a good end point]]

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Quest 07 (Open + Closed)

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