Avatar of Riolux
  • Last Seen: 6 yrs ago
  • Joined: 8 yrs ago
  • Posts: 5 (0.00 / day)
  • VMs: 0
  • Username history
    1. Riolux 8 yrs ago

Status

User has no status, yet

Bio

User has no bio, yet

Most Recent Posts

Recco kneeled there for awhile before suddenly standing, turning to walk towards the door, though he let the guard's hand slide off instead of shrugging it off, still viewing the man as a friend as moved to exit.

"H-hey, kid! Wait!" the guard called after, concern washing over his previously sarcastic demeanor. He hoistered his halberd and followed after, calling after him. "Kid, wait!"

Recco looked over his shoulder at the guard and seemed to pause for a second, seriously considering waiting, before shaking his head and breaking into a run, leaving that room and heading for the exit, maneuvering past anyone who may have been between him and the door, weaving and sliding past them.

The guard called out after and took off in pursuit. To no avail, though; armor and lines of people make for slow moving for large, metal-clad grown men. Soon the sound of the genuine worry in his voice was lost as Recco put too much distance between them, his voice lost in the din of the city.

Recco quickly looked around for something to climb, hoping to set himself away from the general public, his mind completely focused on just getting away from it all the best he could.

~~~

Peering around the edge of the crate behind which she and Yulia were hidden, Soli vainly attempted to slow down her beating heart, sure that the merchant standing not twenty feet away would surely hear it and call for the city guard to come arrest them.

"Do you remember the plan?" Yulia whispered suddenly, rolling her eyes when Soli flinched. The smaller girl nodded twice in response. In all honesty, it was a rather simple plan that had a low chance of failure if Soli could maintain her invisibility spell. It was just that Soli hadn't really expected to have to steal her food, or anything else for that mater, if she wanted to eat.

"Good. Go ahead and... do whatever it is you do to disappear so that we can get this over with," Yulia continued, her blue eyes scanning the crowd so that she could confirm that Jair and the other boy, whom Soli had learned was named Perrin, were in position.

In the meantime, Soli focused and attempted to draw on the power that surrounded her. Unfortunately, the threads of energy were proving more difficult to manage than they had been earlier, and it took her more than a few minutes to grab hold of enough threads to turn her invisible. Wiping the sweat from her brow, Soli stood and tapped Yulia on the shoulder to let her know that she was ready to go.

As soon as she felt the pressure of the unseen hand on her shoulder, Yulia let out a shrill whistle that was remarkably similar to the cry of a bird common in the area. Upon hearing the signal, Jair and Perrin started slinking towards the merchant's stall as if attempting to approach unseen. As they did so, Soli stepped out from her hiding spot and made her way behind the stall where the merchant was standing, his attention directed at the two boys as they approached.

Yulia had explained on the way to the marketplace that what Jair and Perrin were doing now was a fairly common tactic among street urchins. Essentially, one of the pair would approach in a fairly obvious manner while the other approached more subtly. If all went according to plan, the merchant would be distracted by the obvious approach and fail to notice when the subtle urchin swiped some of his wares from the stall.

This merchant, however, seemed to have been burned a few too many times in the past, as he kept his eye on both of the boys while trying to appear as though he was oblivious to their approach. When Perrin was a few feet away from the stall, he made as if to grab something from behind another person. At the same time, the merchant sprang into action, pulling a long whip from his belt and making as if to chase Perrin. Once Perrin began running away, he stopped and turned towards Jair, the whip lashing through the air. Having seen merchant turn, Jair jumped back out of the whip's reach, but didn't make as if he was going to run away, which forced the merchant to step further away from the stall if he wanted to scare Jair off.

While Jair was leading the merchant on, helped out by Perrin occasionally approaching again, Soli began grabbing whatever she could from back edge of the merchant's stall. Once she had a decent amount of food bundled in her arms, mostly bread, cheese, and fruit, she began running back towards the crates where Yulia was still hiding. Upon reaching her destination and slipping into cover, she kicked Yulia lightly to let her know that she was there. After mumbling a bit about being kicked, Yulia whistled again and stood, slipping back towards the edge of the marketplace and motioning for Soli to follow.

A few moments later, the two girls arrived at the rendevous point, a tiny alleyway sat a little ways away from the marketplace. With a breath of relief, Soli dropped her invisibility spell as Yulia grabbed a few sacks that they would use to carry the food back to the "house" without drawing too much attention to themselves.

"I gotta say kid, you did a pretty good job out there," Yulia said as she finished dividing their haul up among the bags. Soli beamed a little at the compliment, still breathing a little heavily from the strain of maintaining the spell for the third time that day in addition to carrying a fair amount of food. Around ten or so minutes later, Jair and Perrin showed up, the former holding his arm and wincing every so often. After another round of congratulations on a job well done, they divied up the sacks, leaving the lightest for Soli, and began making their way home.

"Yeah, the old man got me towards the end there," Jair explained sheepishly when Yulia asked why he had been holding his arm, interrupting his boasting regarding his part in the plan. Seeing Yulia's smirk, he continued hurriedly. "It didn't really count though. I was distracted because I thought I saw Soli walking towards where you were hiding."

"S-sorry," Soli mumbled as Jair finished speaking, a faint quiver in her voice. Shifting her bag, she rubbed at her eyes vigorously in order to keep the tears she felt building up from falling. Consciously, she knew that it wasn't really that big of a deal, and that Jair's injury was probably little more than a scratch. But, that didn't make it any easier to control the surge of guilt she felt at being responsible for his injury.

"Hey, it's alright," Jair said with a smile. [color=lightsalmon][b]"You warned us that you couldn't promise your trick would work. 'Sides, I should have been paying more attention to the angry fat guy that was attacking me with a whip."{/b][/color] Despite herself, Soli couldn't help but giggle a bit at the mental image Jair's words conjured up, the guilt that had weighed so heavily on her just a moment ago gone as if it had never been.

"But let me tell you about what this lug did. It was the most impressive thing I think I've ever seen! He..." Jair continued as they entered the district to which their home belonged.

Unbeknownst to them, Recco observed the group from behind a stack of musty old crates, taking care not to be seen while taking note of the sacks they were carrying, a mischievous grin slowly appearing on his face as he noted that Soli's might be the lightest one. With practiced ease, he scaled the stack of crates until he reached the top before looking back down at the group, reaching out his hands and muttering a quick incantation, attempting to take Soli's sack with a spell.

Jair was finishing up his story concerning Perrin's amazing feats back in the marketplace, when the sack in Soli's arms began leaning to the side and behind her, almost as if something was pulling on it. "G-guys!" Soli stammered as she tightened her grip in an attempt to keep a hold of the sack.

As the others turned to inquire as to what was the matter, the force on the bag intensified, spinning Soli around where she stood so that she was more or less facing the direction from which they had come. Unfortunately, Soli was rather lacking the strength department, even for a Kokiri, and a moment later the sack slipped from her grasp, causing her to fall forward as it did so.

Immediately, the group sprang into action, somehow deciding without words that Perrin would stay behind to guard the remaining sacks as Yulia and Jair chased down the sack that was currently zipping through the air towards a stack of crates, unaware of the strange childlike silhouette standing on top of them.

Recco grinned at his success, but that grin quickly faded when he realized just how fast the sack was being pulled to him and barely was able to brace himself in time as it slammed into his chest, Recco barely able to steady himself as he nearly toppled off the crates.

"Ow...for Din's sake I should have saw that coming..." he groaned to himself, but his smile quickly returned when he looked at his prize. It quickly turned into one of mischief as he saw the two kids running up to the crates and hefted it over his shoulder, leaving one hand free as he waved with a high pitched giggle.

As the bag zipped through the air ahead of them, it gradually gained altitude and naturally drew Yulia and Jair's attention to the silhouette standing on top of the crates ahead. Once the figure had a hold of the sack, it waved mockingly, giggling as it did so. Yulia, a bit more cautious than Jair, started to slow down when she realized that something wasn't quite right with the figure.

"Jair, wait a mi-" she started, cutting herself short as Jair threw himself into the stack of crates, coming out the other side and rolling to his feet before jogging back towards the carnage to look for the perpetrator. Yulia sighed but jogged to join him anyway, feeling fairly certain that the stranger would be dazed from the fall.

Recco, seeing the boy charge the crates, quickly leaped off the stack, though as he landed, he stumbled back on his rear thanks to not taking in the bag's weight. Noticing the boy walk up to the crates, he quickly dusted himself off and rubbed his head a bit before letting out a shrill whistle, more glad they hadn't seen him fall than anything else, but not through with his game.

"Hey genius!" he called mockingly, a wide smirk on his face as he tried to get their attention again.

Hearing the mocking call, Jair and Yulia looked over to to see the figure standing off to the side as though nothing had happened, indicating that Jair's plan had clearly failed. "Ugh! Where'd this kid even come from anyway?" Jair said, clearly frustrated with the series of events that were transpiring.

"I don't know, but maybe we could be a bit smarter about this?" Yulia responded coolly, stepping over the ruined remains of a crate to stand next to him. Jair sighed, but nodded. Clearly, the figure was more agile than he was, which would make brute force rather ineffective. "Good then. Follow my lead; I think I have a plan," Yulia continued, motioning with a tilt of her head for Jair to circle left as she started to circle right.

Meanwhile, Soli had pushed herself into a sitting position, albeit with a little help from Perrin. Almost as soon as she recovered from the daze that usually accompanied a collision with the cobbled stone that made up the majority of the walkway, she lashed out, grabbed a hold of several threads, and began weaving them, too angry to give what she was doing much conscious thought beyond getting the stolen bag back.

Once she was finished, she sent the woven threads into the earth, the energy directed at the plants that managed to somehow survive along the cracks of the cobblestone roadway under the stranger, feeding them and causing them to grow rather rapidly. While she fed them the energy, she reached out with her mind and ordered them to rise to the surface and ensnare the figure. Shortly, the cobblestone began to crack a little as the plants forced their way to the surface and began lashing at the individual holding the sack and restrain him.

Recco stood ready and moved to leap before falling over, seeing plants had wrapped around his feet out of nowhere and, for a moment, looked fairly awestruck by the trick before looking back to the two older kids, grasping just how much trouble he was in. "That's, uh...a pretty clever trick you guys have. But a step closer and you'll regret it." he said, hoping that alone might make them back down as he tried to think of a way to free himself, his mind wandering once again to wonder how they did that before he shook his head again, focusing solely on the group as he tugged his feet against the plants.

Yulia and Jair had both jumped backwards as the plants burst through the road way, jaws gaping as they tried to figure out was was happening. A quick glance over at Soli revealed that she was probably responsible, her tiny form slumping against Perrin in apparent exhaustion. Scoffing at the stranger's bluff, and satisfied that the plants were pretty harmless, Jair stepped forward, pausing as the plants shifted out of his way. "C'mon, kid," Jair said, holding out his hand expectantly. "Give it up. We caught you fair and sq-... well, we caught you anyway."

Recco seemed to be considering something and, in truth, he was half tempted to leave a burn mark on this boy's foot before conceding defeat, but decided against it, tossing him the sack. "That was fun while it lasted! But is the magic girl okay?" he asked, looking past him as he tossed the sack, tugging at the plants again to try and dislodge his feet.

Jair looked at the boy in bewilderment as he caught the sack before eventually just shaking his head and passing it off to Yulia, who was already heading back to the others, clearly convinced that Jair could handle things on his own. "I think so. ," he responded, looking over at Soli and Perrin as the latter picked up the small girl and slung her over his shoulder. "She just seems tired, which I guess makes sense seeing as how she summoned a bunch of plants to catch you. "

Seeing the boy struggling with the plants that still ensnared his feet and realizing that Soli wasn't going to be able to make them let go in her condition (i.e. sleeping), Jair knelt down, pulled out a small knife, and began to help. "What's your name anyway?" Jair asked to break the silence, the sheer number of leafy tendrils that coiled around the boy's legs rendering the task of freeing him slow going, even with the knife. "And how did you manage to steal the sack in the first place?"

"Let me answer that question with another one. Need a hand?" he asked before muttering an incantation, a small purplish black bolt firing from his hand, searing away the one opposite of the one the boy was cutting, not wanting to hurt him in the process, though he had to hide a cringe as he'd knicked himself in the process, not exactly being in the best position to aim nor being renowned for his accuracy for such a small, close target, but moved his leg, pretending to just show he was free, but in reality, trying to shake off the pain.

Seeing the sudden purple bolt shoot out of the boy's hand, Jair jumped back, holding the knife at the ready before he realized that the boy was just freeing himself. With a sigh, he slipped the knife back into its sheath. Clearly, the boy could free himself, and it'd probably be faster to boot. "So, you've got magic like Soli then?" Jair asked, apparently thinking about something. "Y'know, now that I think about it, what's a Skull Kid like you doin' in Castle City anyway? Can't say that I've seen too many of you're kind around here."

"Soli...is that the magic girl?" he asked before shaking his head and focusing on the second question. "Would you rather live in an almost neverending forest where your friends tell you that you can't leave or you die and there's monsters that want to kill you...or here?" he asked in return, thinking the answer was pretty obvious when the two places were compared. "I mean I don't want to sound rude, but this place is a heck of a lot nicer. In Lost Woods, we couldn't even play with the other kind of forest kids. I...forget what they called them? Whatever, anyways, the point is that my old home was not as nice as here." he said, getting over his rambling.

"Yeah, Soli's the 'magic girl,' I guess," Jair said with a nod, putting his hands up defensively when the boy began to get a little heated in his explanation as to what he was doing in the city. "Hey now, I didn't mean anything. I was just curious. I've never really been outside of the city myself, so I wouldn't really know. But yeah, it does sound a lot nicer here given that description," he responded, opting to ignore the boy's mentioning of the Kokiri so that he wouldn't have to explain that they were reportedly wiped out by the army.

"I suppose Yulia's going to kill me for this," Jair mumbled to himself before clearing his throat and speaking to the boy again. "If you're looking for a home, I guess you could come stay with us. Yulia might take some convincing, but I'm sure Perrin wouldn't mind. After all, it'd be better than you living on the street and getting sucked into one of the gangs or something."

"I definitely could use a place to stay! I'm liking my decision not to blast you in the foot more and more! You guys are actually kind of cool!" he said in a cheerful tone. "What's in the sack anyways? It wasn't exactly that heavy? And it was kind of soft." he asked quizzically, though gesturing as if they should walk and talk and head back to Jair's friends before casusally placing his hands behind his head, a childish grin plastered on his face.

"Great! And thanks, I guess. I'm Jair by the way." Jair replied, smiling as they started walking towards the others. Now to just convince Yulia that it was okay for the boy to tag along. "It's food. Soli's bag mostly just held some loaves of bread."

As they neared the others, Yulia began shaking her head. "Why do you keep inviting people to live with us?" she said once they were within a reasonable range.

"C'mon, Yulia," Jair replied, shrugging. "You know the gangs won't care if it looks like we're 'recruiting' with their stupid war going on. They'll be way too busy fighting each other. And besides, it wouldn't really be good for anyone if the gangs got a hold of him. He can use magic like Soli."

Yulia started to shake her head again and opened her mouth to speak, but Jair stepped closer and continued in a whisper before she could. "Besides, you know that we wouldn't be living there if it wasn't for Zur inviting us when we were living out on our own." Yulia seemed to consider that for a few moments before finally nodding, displaying more exasperation than she really felt.

"He can carry Soli's bag then," Yulia said as she shouldered her bag and began walking the rest of the way to the house, Perrin following fairly closely with a sleeping Soli slung over his shoulder and his bag hanging from his other hand at his side. "And no funny business!" With a reassuring smile directed at the boy, Jair slung his own bag over his shoulder and made to follow, though he made sure to wait for the boy to catch up.

Recco grinned, shouldering Soli's bag and quickly running to catch up, more than happy to have made more friends such as these four and, while he wasn't quite sure what they meant by the gangs and their war, he just took it in stride, forseeing a lot of adventures in the future.

Satisfied, the faint hints of a smile spread the edges of the young man's lips. With an exhale, he stood, rolling his joints softly to liven them again after the sitting-then stepped down, the tips of his boots making a soft tap as he landed on the ground just three paces ahead of Yulia. With the soft, warm smile and twinkling eyes of a wizened old man, the white and black-clad young man raised an open hand to signal for them to stop. "A moment, if it please you, children." While, by his tone and demeanor, it was wholly a request, a strange compulsion settled into the children, an urge to acquiesce.

The young man-in his early to mid-twenties by the look of him-slowly moved his gaze over each of them. It was... strange, as though he was looking past them-or moreso into them, his silvery eyes looking upon them as though intimately familiar and seeing them, their very souls naked and bare. It was unnerving, or at least unsettling, though offset for the sheer lack of any malice in his expression, any contempt-just acknowledgement. Slowly, his gaze drifted back to Soli, face partly obscured under long bangs for a man-pure white and feather, parted at the center in a shape and demeanor reminiscent of swan wings.

"I have business with your sleeping friend," he said, voice simple. "And you, child of the Lost," he said, upturning his hand in gesture to Recco. "Just a words and a proposition... and a gift for what is to come." By appearances, the man looked harmless-even angelic, almost, with that white hair, eyes, plain white tunic and black pants. Simple, yet... the vague sense of something... else in those eyes, in how he carried himself, belied... what, exactly?

((A collaboration between me, TaliPaendrag, and Nevis. I think it went pretty well, honestly!)
Recco groaned at the man's comment. He'd managed to scrape up a few Rupees from the abandoned houses, which he assumed were accidentally left behind, but it hadn't been that much and he didn't know how much he'd have left if he ate now. After a bit of consideration, he just shrugged, knowing his parents wouldn't let him starve or anything. "Alrighty just wait up! I don't want to get trampled before we reach the senseless!" he shouted, following behind.

"Census," he called back. "And you're not going to be trampled. There are rules about using the roads."

"Is there anything you guys aren't uptight about?" he asks, wondering exactly where they were going. "And will it take long to find my parents if they are in the city?"

"Can't really say. And being serious is generally part of the job, kid. Anyways, is there something in particular you want to eat, or just anything?"

"I'll eat anything! Well...almost anything..." he said, looking around for anything that might catch his eyes.

"Almost?"

"Yeah almost. Everyone has a food they don't like. I for one don't really like carrots all that much. Don't tell me I'm not allowed to dislike certain foods too." he says, though is mostly joking.

"Telling you what to eat is not my job," he shrugged. "Alright. Let's get something here, then," the man said while stepping up to a lively kitchen street vendor with several colorful dishes of cooked vegetables and meat pies on display beneath the bright ribbons and banners dangling from the fabric roof. He stopped at the edge of the stall, several small gems chinking as he set and slid them across the stall table."One of your herb-pork pies, please."

"Uh I'll take one too! How much is it?" he asked, seeing as he didn't know what else was for sale. Not to mention that the pork pie sounded absolutely delicious after Din knows how long he spent in the Lost Woods.

The black haired, mustachiod man quicked his head to the side at Recco, his heavy brows lifting in surprise. "A Skull Child? Not too many of you 'round here," he chuckled with an accent much thicker than his thin, pale frame would seem to indicate. "Ten rupees for a small, fifteen for a large. A small is likely a full meal for someone your size."

"Got change for a Red Rupee?" he asked, pulling out a red gem from the dusty ragged bag, though as he held it up a pensive look appeared on his face, his head tilting his head as if thinking hard about something.

"That I do~" the man said with a wide, smile, eyes hidden in among the crinkles in his face. A moment later, a yellow gem an inch long lay on the table before him-next to a steaming pie wafting with the scent of soft, cooked pulled pig meat with undertones of sage and rosemary. "There you go, child."

Recco gratefully takes the Yellow Rupee and pie. "Uh thanks...hey can I ask you two something?" he says, looking up a them with a questioning expression.

"Go ahead~" the merchant coos, propping his chin upon his arm, elbow to the table while the guard glanced at him in wait, silent besides the sounds of his mouth rolling side to side as he chewed.

"Well...all my life I was told that if you went into the Lost Woods and you were a kid, you became a Skull Kid. And when I...became one, I was told that if I left, I'd die. How is it that I'm the not first Skull Kid to escape?" he asks, simply not getting it at all.

"Well, the fairies and Great Deku Tree apparently used to tell the Kokiri Children the same thing," the merchant said with a long stroke of his curled facial hair. "Gave 'em the impression it was a curse and that they'd die as soon as they took a step out. 'pparently, it was actually just that monsters in the plains tended to gobble 'em up-or they'd starve in town wi'out the forest supporting 'em. After the Hero of Time left the forest and some of the Kokiri did during the celebration upon his defeat of the Evil King... well, some found out otherwise. And not too many Skull Kids do leave. It's bound to happen every once in a while, though, what with how rebellious 'ou lot tend to be."

"Yeah well...I bet none of them are as tough as me! I killed a ghost thingy that tried to stop me!" he said, puffing his scrawny chest out, filled with childish pride at the act and, to be fair, it was sort of a personal accomplishment considering how young he thought he was and acted and how terrified of the thing he'd been.

"A... poe? Ooh, that may not be too much in your favor... those things can hold nasty grudges. Not that the usual ones are very strong-as monsters go, at least. Still," the merchant chuckled as he stood back up and raises his arms, stretching out his back and shoulders. "I suppose it is a feat for a child."

"Enough of one," the guard agreed as he finished his pie with a lick of his fingers. "Alright, kid. Ready to go?"

Recco would be finishing off his own pie as the guard did. "Uh huh. Off to the senseless?" he asked, this time in a teasing tone, knowing full well how to pronounce it at this point.

The man merely sighed and started the walk back towards the main road.

Recco excitedly followed behind, wanting to get there as soon as possible so he could go home and get on with his life.

With a wave from the merchant, the two continued on through the last few blocks to the central plaza of the town-and with every building, the vibrancy of the atmosphere grew. Large stone pillars decorated the edges of walkways and buildings that towered enormously high while carriages and people walked at their heels, so small against the decorated backdrop. The road opened up to an even more massive clear circle, the floor a mosiac of colored tiles in an intricate pattern some several hundred feet wide. In the center lay an intricately carved and detailed fountain with a short wall surrounding it, clear water rippling gently through it as it burbled forth from the fountain rising up from the center. A great bird with upturned wings, holding up and receiving the Triforce, the greatest gift of the three Golden Goddesses, the crest of the Royal Family and symbol of Hyrule's divine destiny and all their blessings.

Hundreds of people and vehicles thronged about the place, moving from one place to the next. Children splashed and played at the fountain's edge while pilgrim's stood in quiet reverence as they offered prayers while the royal castle watched from the north, the one direction clear of the networked buildings that pierced they sky. The entire scene was as richly decorated as the world's greatest empire might be imagined to be, with different sections of the city visible along the major roads that all coallesced here; the common residential districts to the south, moving into the merchant district north of it and the arts to the east and west; the guards and guilds to the northwest, and then the nobles' estates to either side of the royal castle halfway across the city due north, balanced aesthetically by the city's lone, tall and narrow clocktower due south that cut the south, southeast and southwest roads in three with its six-legged base and second only to the royal palace in height in the whole of the city, right at the edge of the circle. It was, true to its reputation, undisputedly the center of the world.

The guard sighed with a look upwards and around, then back down to Recco, this time obviously expecting a reaction, even with nary a hint of judgement for this time. "Welcome to the capital of the world, kid."

Recco would not be behind the guard, instead running straight towards the fountain, the only thoughts going through his head being, "I'm gonna explore every single inch of this city! I mean I heard this place was big, but this is freaking ridiculous! I bet if I climbed that clock tower I could see for MILES!,"

He made his way quickly past the people, wanting to see, well, everything, and forgetting about his guard escort in his excitement.

"Well-hey! Wait, get back here!" he exclaimed, hefting his polearm over his shoulder and taking off in a dash after Recco. "Kid! You can explore after I get you to the records hall! This is on my time right now!"

Recco seemed to pay him no mind and kept going, leaping onto the fountain edge as soon as he reached it and, with learned and somewhat supernatural agility, he leaped and jumped around the fountain, unable to contain his energy and seeming to zone out everything else, even reaching into his bag and pulling out his flute.

A minute later, the guard stumbled up, panting heavily before near collapsing onto the fountainside, hands at the edge as he gasped for breath. "Kid," he wheezed, "I'm in armor. I can't... run like that. And I still have... a job to do." He exhaled and turned around, sitting down on the pure white marble of the fountain.

Recco looked to his armored friend with a mischievous laugh. "Alright, alright! Just relax for a sec and catch your breath. I promise I won't run off again, deal?" he ask before testing a couple of notes on his flute.

"Deal..." he said with another great exhale, closing his eyes for a moment to catch himself.

Recco would let out an affirmative nod before taking a seat a few feet away and playing a simple song he taught himself in the Lost Woods, the notes being energetic and upbeat with a frantic tune of sorts, kicking his feet playfully as he does so with a happy expression, rocking back and forth sideways.

The guard chuckled. "You're pretty good with that."

Recco turns, pausing his little impromptu performance. "I had a ton of practice time in the woods. I made up a few songs myself too and my friends taught me even more! I could play all day and never get bored!" he says and proceeds to resume where he left off, continuing to play energetically, putting his heart into it.

"Right. Except I have other work to do and I've caught my breath now. Come on, we're almost there; the census is kept in the tax center at the northwestern edge of the plaza." The guard stood, took a deep breath, and exhaled loudly. "Ready?"

Recco would give him a nod, though continues to play his flute, utterly enjoying this little adventure as he leaps to his feet, not pausing his song at all, being used to being mobile while performing.

The guard released a sighing chuckle, although made no comment as he headed off to the northwest, towards the tall, blockish building at the edge. The two weaved through the passing and intersecting throngs of people, large sections of clear space between one, two or twenty people at a time where the highest of nobles and common citizens of the city passed each other by towards the stone-railed, more reserved entrance-aside from the owl statues to either side of the large entryway.

After several minutes, they reached the entrance, the guards nodding to the two while Recco's escort returned it. Upon stepping inside was wide room with multiple desks minded by well-dressed clerks, shuffling papers and records and conversing with others walking about the room amid a sea of spectacles, desks, books and scrolls. After a moment glancing about, Recco's escort takes a right to a desk towards the back.

Recco would look around, but finds the sight of it all to be overall boring compared the huge city. "Are you sure it's not called a senseless? As in senselessly boring?" he asked.

The guard sighed as he stopped in front of the clerk's desk. "Excuse me. This child here is looking for his parents-back from when he was human, at least. We are wondering if you might have tax records of them?"

The slightly young, nearing on middle-aged man with short-cropped hair glanced back from his searching through the shelves of books behind him. "If they payed their legal dues, then likely. What are their names and where are they from?"

"Oh that's easy their names are Reeve and Alote and we're from Padstow." he answered confidently.

"Padstow... what province is that in?"

"A provi-what? Can you say that in Hyrulean maybe?" he asked, scratching the back of his head in confusion.

The man smiled lightly down to Recco, nodding. "Which section of the country are they from? Ordonia, Kakaria, Eldin?"

"Ordonia. It was really close to Lost Woods! Obviously..." he says, seeming a bit embarassed, the fact that he was a Skull Kid kind of painted him as an idiot in his own mind.

"Alright. Now let me look through these records..." the man said as he pulled out a large, leather-bound tome and set it down on the desk. He scanned slowly over the table of contents, tracing his finger underneath lines of text. "Padstow..." he mumbled. "... hm. It's not in here. Are you certain that that was the name of it? Or that there might be some other name it is known by?"

"I am absolutely positive! It was only known as Padstow or home by the people who lived there. I mean, I know I was gone a few months, but I'm not that forgetful," he said, seeming a tad bit offended by the suggestion that he'd forget, but biting back his anger, knowing the man was trying to help him. Didn't make him any less mad, but he didn't have to show it. Yet...

"That is not what I was implying," he responded with a good-natured chuckle. "Well, there's no record of anywhere named Padstow in here. Here, let me check this book," he said before turning to retreive another text from one of the shelves leading into a hallway behind him. "... hm..."

A moment later, he set the text down; Towns and Villages of Hyrulia Proper. "This contains a list of virtually every known settlement in Hyrule's history since we began documenting such things-and all of those we could track and record from before then as well. Now let me check the contents..." the man licked his fingertip, then took to leafing through the beginning pages, muttering names as he counted his way through the alphebetized categories until he game to the proper section of the Ordon Province. "Padstow..." he muttered as he placed a finger to the page number, then began to leaf through the book to its section.

After several moments, the man's smile faltered-then took on a twinge of... pity. With a slight, sad smile, he looked to Recco. "Child... what year is it? What year were you born in?"

"That's another easy question. It's 5797. I was born 5785. Why...?" he asked, a look of confusion on his face. "I mean you're supposed to keep track of all this stuff right? Why're you asking me what year it is?"

The man sighed softly and slowly, a look of piteous compassion in his face. "Child... it is 5999. Padstow collapsed and has been uinhabited for over a hundred years. If your parents were Hyrulian, well... we don't live that long."

The Skull Kid seemed to wait for the man to say more before casually placing his hands behind his head, an annoyed look on his face. "That's not how you tell a joke, mister. They're supposed to be funny. Your's just sounds crazy." he said, tapping his foot. "Now seriously I don't have anything against you, but I'd like the real answer now."

The man's face remained unchanged. "It's not a joke, child. Today is in the spring of 5999, HDS." The man lifted the book aloft, holding his finger underneath a line.

Padstow was finally abandoned in 5834 after a bad run of monster raids and harsh weather damaged the crops and left most of the village dead. Most of the residents turned into refugees, fleeing to the village of Ordon or Hyrule Castle City.

Instead of reading, Recco slams a fist on the desk angrily, a visible dark wisp coming off his hand as he does so. "Listen it's not funny anymore. It can't be 5999 cause I'd be dead if it was! So tell me the truth right now before you really tick me off..." he says, a scowl on his face.

The man sighed and set down the volume, closing it. "Child... Skull Children no longer suffer the years. They do not age nor die from the passing of ages. Skull Children have been known to live for centuries on end. I'm sorry, but... this is simply the truth. You've been in the forest far longer than you realized."

"No...that's not true! I-I would've known if it was that long! How do you explain that, huh!? Something would have happened in the forest! I mean I could understand losing a few months, but centuries!? C'mon who do you think you're fooling here?!" he asked, though he seemed more in denial than anything else, not wanting to believe that he'd let centuries slip by him. He felt completely unchanged from when he first became a Skull Kid. He should've felt something...right?

The man sighed and closed his eyes; even the guard, now, bit his lower lip with a furrowed brow and worry in his eyes. "Those are questions I cannot answer. We know precious little of the ways and nature of the Lost Woods and their denizens. All I can tell you is that your family has long since been laid to rest."

"No...that's...no..." was all Recco could muster from himself, the mere thought of it all causing him to sway from all the emotions and thought swirling in his head. He managed a staggered step backwards before falling to his knees and holding his head.

The clerk sighed-yet it was the guard who stepped forward, knelt and put a reassuing hand to Recco's shoulder. No words passed from him-just empathic eyes and a grim line from his lips, the face of one familiar with the harsh, unyielding painful reality of loss.

((Once again a collaboration from Nevis. This one was a HECK of a lot longer though it seems. Thanks for the help, Nev!))
A figure in ragged straw clothing looked down at a dusty old map, which looked old and worn from age, then back to the gate he was crossing with a look of confusion. He didn't see any real resemblance to the Castle Town indicated on the map. With a shrug, he just strode over the drawbridge, figuring the location fit and that they just...renovated it a bit...a lot. As he crossed, he moved to walk past the guards that were stationed there.

One of the guards to the side-a middle-aged man, stubble lightly dusting his face, squinted and studied the diminuative figure crossing the massive entryway into the city. "You... you're a Skull Kid?" he called over with the mildly stern frown of a disaproving father. "What're you doing here, travelling alone?"

The Skull Kid would pause as the guard spoke to him, his mind working to think up a decent lie, though he had to admit that, considering how infamous the legend of Skull Kids being little demonic imps was back home, he was surprised he wasn't being arrested on the spot. "I-I'm not a Skull Kid. Skull Kids can't leave Lost Woods, silly. I'm...uh...a Deku Scrub obviously." he says, trying to play that off as the truth.

The guard was unamused. "Kid, we get enough of your kind through here to know a Skull Kid when I see one. Not many, but enough. And it's a crime to lie to a guard," he retorted. "Now what business do you have in the city?"

Recco's first reaction probably should've been to ask how the heck he wasn't the first Skull Kid the guard had ever seen, but he was too scared of the guard in general. "Geez I don't remember guards being so scary..." he muttered to himself before looking up and swallowing his fear. "I'm looking for my family from before I ended up like...this." he replied, gesturing to his current appearance. "Our town used to be near the forest, but I didn't find them there..."

"Uh-uh," the guard said, metal chinking as the maille hauberk under his blue tabard shifted as he crossed his arms. "Well, there's no guarantee that you'll find them here. Still, it's cause enough. Come over here and let me check you for anything contraband and then I'll fetch another guard to bring you to the census to see if they can help you find them. Alright?" the man sighed.

"Uh sure. No problem! Thanks!" he replied, smiling hopefully. "And I thought I'd have to walk in and find them myself. You guys really improved the place quickly..." he finished.

"Define 'quickly'," he muttered as he set his spear against the wall and stepped over, kneeling down to frisk the forest child, searching through his filthy and ragged garments for weapons and other contraband. He scowled over the slingshot, although, upon standing, left it for him to recover, apparently deeming it as little more than a child's toy. "When were you last here?"

"Never in my life! It's a lot bigger than my father told me it was!" he answered gleefully, secretly glad that the man didn't know the flute doubled as a blowgun and that the books weren't normal books. "When did you guys add the giant walls and bridges?"

"... several hundred years ago, kid."

"Oh...geez this map must be older than I thought! My parents must've took really good care of it before leaving," he said, thinking that the most reasonable possibility out of any of them. "Well is there anything else, mister?"

"Not right now, no," he said while looking inward toward the city. He waved overhead as another guard approached.

"Kid's looking for his family from before he turned into a Skull Kid. Bring him to the tax collector to look into the records, see if you can find him. Make sure he doesn't cause any trouble before you turn him loose."

"Right..." the younger, clean-shaven man sighed before looking to Recco. "Come on, then," he called as he turned on his heel, heading over the second bridge towards the inner gate.

"Are we going to go to the senseless the other guard mentioned?" he asked, following close behind as the crossed the drawbridge, his hands casually behind his head, he himself seeming in no big hurry.

A groan came back in response. "Census," he corrected. "It's a record of people living within the country. Unless your parents were hiding fugitives, there should be tax records showing where they went. And yes," the tall young man muttered as they neared the ornate inner gate, its ornate trims, colorful banners hanging from the walls and complex carved stone walls hinting at the splendor of the city within. Even now, the loud bustle of the city could be heard, the occasional wafts of foods, spice and the dust of cramped living wafting in the air. It was a lively day, it seemed.

Recco couldn't help but appreciate the smell of food, having eaten nothing, but whatever he could forage and steal in the Lost Woods, but the door's intricacy was lost on him. "Why'd they bother making the front door so pretty looking. Seems like real good way to dump Rupees if ya ask me..." he said, not grasping the concept of making stone look nice.

"A long list of reasons that you likely won't understand. It's a statement-and it's not like they spent it all on just that," he said as he gestured around them with a broad wave of his free arm. And indeed, the buildings to the sides of the massive cobbled road where exact, colored and complementary to each other. Many along the edge were made of stone, at least for the first level; others wood and colored plaster, with crossed supports and many with a larger second story and even third story than base and topped by steep roofs made of tiles the deep blue of a stark, azure sky. Most had at least one chimney, wafts of smoke rising high into the air streets and alleys crossed between them below, branches from the tree of the main road interlacing the city like a complex web of roots. Small gardens accompanied a house here and there, fenced with thin and ornate metal grates or walled off with high cobbled walls dashed with vines. Intermittently, a park could be seen between the buildings, or a small square with wooden stalls, wells and ponds as people moved about, talking, arguing, children playing and many attentive to odd machinations, many exhibiting a glow and sounds indicative of magic. And in the distance, near a large plaza, the buildings grew to immense proportions, some of them towers of width and height that they looked preposterously impossible, the people at their bases nearly invisible next to them.

Recco could hardly take it all in, glued to the spot at the sight of it, the sprawling city so very different from the forest he'd spent years in or his hometown before that. He suddenly failed to remember the guard was taking him somewhere, his brain trying to register it all.

They continued onward towards the central plaza, more people passing them by now-along with horse, mule, donkey and ox-driven carts of varying size and purpose. Some were simple wooden wagons loaded with a farmer's goods; others were large caravans with soldiers in toe, filled with supplies. Rarely, a noble's carriage drove in and out, dark and richly colored with wheels ornate even to the spokes and tiny glass windows as men and women dressed in fine livery glanced out, largely hidden from the public view. Shouts, meanwhile, occasionally called out from the higher levels of the city where bridges, stairways and stairwells became corridors between buildings and large structures with decorated shop signs were held alot entire stories above the ground by narrow supports and atop other buildings in increasing size, scale and complexity the deeper into the heart they delved, save for the fifty-foot wide road.

"Almost there, kid," the man said nonchallantly with the voice and gaze of one maddened with dull boredom. "It's just a block from the other side of the central plaza."

"Gee you sound thrilled to be doing this. What's the matter? Nothing to do?" Recco asked with a eye roll, finding this guard to be a total buzzkill in comparison to the last one. At least the last one was scary. This one was just dull.

"I am doing something. Escorting a child," he replied "Which is not my idea of fun."

"Well sorry to burst your bubble. It's not like it'll take long and you apparently didn't have anything better to do." he said with a bit of snark. "Geez I'm hungry. Is there anywhere to eat before we get there? Cause this walk is taking forever."

The man loosed another groaning sigh with an upward look, then glanced around. "Yeah, sure..." he muttered as he glanced down a wide alley lined with street vendors doing business, a long, narrow bazaar between the buildings. "This way-but you're paying for your own!" he called back sharply, albeit with a hint more lively tone to his voice as he waved overhead for him to follow.

((Nevis collaborated with me on this post in TitanPad. He directly typed up location description and the guard's dialogue just so that you're all aware.))


Welp this is finally done. Here's my Skull Kid.



Mine's finally done! Sorry for the wait, Nevis! And hi people I don't know!
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet