poorlovefool | tuesday evening, final week

[Link heads into the library, posture a little nervous. This isn't on the Schedule, but he needs to try to get them over to their side peacefully, if possible.]

[... And Eric has been more or less nice to him. And he's also curious to see how the man is doing after Recalibration.]

[He steps into Eric's field of view, not wanting to startle him as he's listening to whatever song it is he's got on.]

[It's some crooner love songs like his profile talked about! ...Although, he's not really feeling em' at the moment, so he notices as soon as Link opens the door and takes his headphones off. He's a little nervous himself. After all, he came alone this time, and even if he doesn't have the slasher aura, Link's probably more dangerous than Hiyori if he wants to be. But last time didn't really go so badly, so he's hoping he can handle this by himself. He even gets up and offers a handshake in greeting.]

Oh, hey. Glad you could make it. I found some stuff that's yours, although I don't have a clue what they are.

Edited (it seemed a little rude to just sit there ) 2020-02-26 03:33 (UTC)

[He hesitates a moment, but shakes Eric's hand briefly.]

Oh... more... things?

[He's not sure how he feels about that, but first..].

... You seem to have taken Recalibration well.

...!

[He bristles a bit, not sure how he feels about that assessment, though it figures he'd think that, when Eric had been forcibly taught to smile through pain long before this level of torture had ever been inflicted on him. And also he used to work in food industry customer service, which is almost as bad!

But fine, they can talk about this. You poke at his wounds, then he'll poke at yours.]

It ... was as awful as you said it was going to be. I even remembered some of the torture I'd been repressing from the depths. That's how bad it was.

But in the end, IT's also taken some pain away from me. Pain of... eating sand. Worrying about Mira. I can see how you think it gets easier once you start to get used to it.

[but he's still here to tryna free you so it mustn't have worked that well huh.]

I-I just have to remember it isn't me. What it was like before...

[He crouches down and picks up the tablet-thing for starters.]

How about for you? What the hell is this for?

[He just... listens. Watches Eric, watches how he seems to be unsure... the corners of his mouth twitch downward, and he sits near Eric.]

IT does that. IT took away the longing for the people who had been revived. Brothers and sisters in arms... both of the women who cared about me most. IT took away the pain of being apart from them.

[He's silent for a few moments before glancing at the Slate. How to explain...]

There was an advanced race that lived a very long time ago called the Sheikah. They made great towers to survey the land, mechanical guardians to roam the land and fight against Calamity Ganon when it arose in their time, and larger Divine Beasts to be their war machines.

They disappeared. I think Cado said something about them being exiled, but wouldn't tell me more - and I know some of them swore allegiance to Calamity Ganon to it and stayed loyal up until now.

Anyway, they left behind their technology. People dug it up about a hundred years ago when Calamity Ganon was coming back. It took over a lot of the things left behind - the Guardians, the Divine Beasts... but some of the technology was hidden away, like this. It's strange... it has a map and can capture still images. But it also can let me use runes to pull magnetic things, freeze some things in time, make bombs, and make big ice pillars.

[He flips the tablet over to the screen side and presses a few things, flicking through some pictures before he finds a rather peaceful one. As long as you ignore the ominous purple 'smoke' near the castle. His gaze softens a little.]

That explains a bit about our other conversation.

[Truth be told, not missing Mira was more like the tip of the iceberg, but he's here to listen.]

That sounds really useful...

[damn, maybe he shouldn't have given something like that back. It'd suck if Link used it against them. But that look - well, it's okay.]

That's a place in your world, right? It's pretty. Especially the sunset.

[Eric starts reaching under the table as he asks]

When IS the last time you've seen the sky, Link?

[ta-dah, it's the glider]

[He nods.]

The Woodland Stables... that's actually Pico Pond I'm on the bank of.

[He startles for a moment, staring at the glider, his fingers trembling slightly as he reaches out to touch it.]

I... it was on the plane. Maybe a year ago? I don't know, I lost some time in Reprocessing.

... The ghost of the King of Hyrule gave this to me. Zelda's father... he was a jerk. Making me do all of the shrine puzzles on the Great Plateau...

[There's no real venom in his voice, though.]

Oh, puzzles suck! Why the hell would you combine that with skydiving?

[no venom here either though, he is just very enthusiastically not a fan of having to do puzzles and finding solidarity here.

He'll hand it over though.]

Oh, no, not at the same time. To get it as a reward.

[He hesitates for a moment before grabbing it and setting it next to him.]

But they taught me how to use the runes on the Sheikah Slate, so it wasn't all that bad. ... Though it did take me a few times being hit by the giant boulder to realize I could stop those, too.

Right, that makes sense. I couldn't understand it at all when I tried to read them.

[wait a minute...]

A... a giant boulder? You must be made of pretty strong stuff, Link.

[that would definitely break his bones, he's pretty sure. This is definitely a reminder of the guy's intimidation factor.]

I, um, didn't know I was giving you back a weapon... D-Do you think you could... I dunno... throw me some kind of bone since I was nice enough to return it?

[an information exchange couldn't hurt their friendship, right?? maybe he knows some kind of secret tricks for eric with all of his otherworldly abomination omniscience]

I... I'm okay. A lot stronger than I used to be...

... I don't... I don't want to use any kind of weapon on any of you.

[He shudders for a few seconds, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to fight against the tick... tick... tick...]

I... I want to go back. Find my missing memories. I want to see if Zelda is all right. I want to see if the hostages from the plane really were returned. S... someone gave me back the armor that... that Mipha made for me. And when a Zora princess makes armor like that, they're going to give it to the one they want to marry. Mipha never... got a chance to propose properly before... everything...

I want my memories back. I... I want all of them back... even if it hurts. Even if it... makes me go mostly mute again from the stress. I... I need to know my own life.

[...marriage, huh? It looks like the shoe is on the other foot now... the door to Link's heart is open while Eric's is closed. It's so bittersweet, isn't it? He can only laugh weakly at first.]

Wow, I'm jealous!

[but he'll listen to the rest, that they're still not fiances, and all of this determination... he finally understands. Eric nods with each new thing he says. Okay, more of a confused one about the part where he'll go mute, and at the final one Eric feels brave enough to put his hand on his shoulder.]

That's right. Y-You gotta be you. And whoever left that armor, and the rest of us, and me... all of us have your back, Link.

[to show his support he will even ~~pet~~ rub his shoulder in circles that are not really on beat with the ticking, even though it still resounds in Eric's head too.]

... I can't be seen being too sympathetic... IT watches closely when there are many of you, after all. And if I look like I'm breaking free I''ll be Reprocessed.

[He shudders.]

I think Hiyori might have a harder time... ah... I don't know what you can do to fight IT...

... But I will do what I can. If I can. I don't know if I can.

O-oh. [Eric glances around him, as though he'd be able to detect it if IT was watching from somewhere, but he knows he can't. Nervous for Link, he looks into his face seriously. He did say it watched more closely when there were more people around, but just in case.] Should I stop?

[the shudder makes him want to hug him instead, but you know. definitely don't want to get him reprocessed.]

W-well, you guys researched the fuck out of all of us and all the worlds involved here, right? Maybe you know something we don't that could help... I don't know...

Kyuubey told me about IT's failure. Charles knows how to defeat it, but Arthur can't talk to him again without IT butting in. Do you think there's a way we could stop that from happening at least?

Edited 2020-02-27 09:43 (UTC)

... Right, his power. I... don't know. I... I'm not the best with the mental stuff... I'm sorry I can't tell you anything useful. I'm not... that smart. I'm just a knight. Even if I'm a Champion, I'm still not... the best with complicated stuff.

[He's the muscle, basically.]

Boy, do I relate there....

[well he didn't tell him to stop so guess what. He's going in for the hug. The world is cold and confusing, but soft boys are still soft, even if Eric looks pretty damn miserable that he can't think of any really good ideas either.]

It's alright. Just keep smiling. We'll take care of it, s-somehow.

[He blinks in surprise before stiffly leaning against Eric. It's more mechanical than anything else, but he's. Trying.]

Don't you know? Smiling is prohibited by IT.

[...]

... That was a joke.

[THE COLD SHIVER THAT JUST GAVE HIM... That's the kind of line that precedes getting a surprise knife in your back mid-hug. Thank god he told him.]

O-Oh... oh, ha ha ha! Like I'd buy that when you guys had to be so happy-happy. Nice try.

Maybe I shouldn't joke like that. I made you feel bad...

No, it was funny... just unexpected...

[have some back pats there. But then he'll start to pull back in case it's awkward for the hug to last too long.]

[He's blushing very faintly.]

... Thank you again, Eric.

tuesday evening, final week

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