ohmyarceus | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER TEST DRIVE MEME

[ 01 ➸ action ]

[The weather is clear with not a cloud in the sky — A perfect day for traveling. And there are a lot of people doing just that today, Pokémon trainers and regular civilians alike.

There's music playing. No, not that music. Well... Yes, that music, but it's not just the background theme. There's a cheerful woodwind voice accompanying it, though... Suddenly, it fumbles the notes, several wrong ones playing, and then it stops entirely.

It isn't hard to find the source: off to the side of this sunny road, a boy in green clothes with Pokéballs on his belt sits cross-legged in the grass. He's holding a blue potato-shaped instrument in his hands, the sunlight shining brightly on its polished surface. There's a book laying open in the grass next to him, and right now, he's leaning over and looking at it, frowning.

He notices your approach right as he's reaching for a pen that's laying on the book. He pauses, squinting and blinking against the sun as he gazes up.]

[ 02 ➸ network ➸ video ]

The songs...

[The blonde boy recording this video starts it apropos of nothing, no introduction, just a wide blue eyes set in a serious young face and two words.]

The ones the goddesses are singing.

Does anyone know their names?

[... and then he doesn't say anything else. He waits, intent, but patient.]

It's really just background music? So the songs mostly have names based on where they play. New Bark Town's music is just called New Bark Town, and so on.

[Doreen doesn't mention that they're apparently all stuck in a videogame. She's pretty sure the kid wouldn't get it, and she's not 100% sure she's figured out how to explain it in a way he'd understand.]

Edited 2018-10-12 01:12 (UTC)

[That seems to satisfy him, because he nods once. He looks down, and then the reason why becomes clear: he's picking up a book. He flips it open to a page, then turns the book so the camera gets full view of the pages.

It looks like it started out life as an empty journal for keeping track of Pokémon information, given the lines and cute pictures in the margins. But instead of its intended content, there are scribbles that look like long music staves littered with notes. Above each group of staves, there are spots for titles that are empty. He points to one.]

I didn't know what to put, [he explains matter-of-factly.]

Ah neat. Music staves! What d'ya play? Guitar? Trombone? Didgeridoo?

[Doreen kind of hoped it was a didgeridoo. If only because hearing Johto's music on didgeridoo would be an experience.]

[Link shakes his head with each question, though there's a pause and a confused furrowed eyebrow at that last one. What... is a didgeridoo?

At the end, he reaches off-screen again, then holds up a blue potato-shaped instrument up to the camera.] The ocarina.

Really? Awesome. I've never had the chance to play one, but they're pretty cool. How long have you been playing?

I'm Doreen, by the way.

For a few years. My friend taught me how to play. [He still remembers the first time she offered him her ocarina to learn on. It was after a day of Mido being in a particularly bad mood, and she told Link to meet her in the meadow. Usually, when they met there, she would be waiting for him, but she wasn't this time. Later, he found out from the other Kokiri she'd yelled at Mido.]

I'm Link. It's nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too.

It's always great when a friend teaches you something new. It means you get to know something you didn't know before, and you get to be reminded of them every time you use it afterwards.

[Link slowly and visibly wilts.] ... yeah.

[He wishes it didn't make him sad so much any more. But it's knowing that he can... never go back that does it, not the memories themselves. And... It doesn't matter if Link isn't a Kokiri. Saria will always be... his friend.

He nods slowly, and repeats,] Yeah. That way... They're always with you.

[Doreen definitely picks up on the wilting, and winces slightly.]

Aw, nuts. Sorry dude, I didn't mean to make you sad. I mean, you're right, but I know that doesn't always make you feel better.

[Losing Monkey Joe still hurt sometimes. While she knew as long as she remembered him he wasn't really gone, that didn't mean she didn't want him around and alive, instead of only having the memory of him.]

[God Hank hates this music. Forever and ever and ever this fucking music. He's gotten so the first thing he does when he comes in from being outside is turn on the television or the radio to make a wider variety of sounds, because it eats into his brain.]

[But right now he's just out training his monsters because he not only wants to make them more breedable, he wants to be up for an emergency. Not that emergencies happen here. Fucking ever. The biggest one is "oh no I don't have donuts". In the meantime, though, he still likes to be prepared and he's been taking the time to train his good dogs into elite rescuers.]

[But it means that there's Link trying to enjoy himself and he's going to hear three big Pokemon heading towards him. A lanky Lycanroc, midday form, spiny and stony, a stalking Houndoom with its wide horns, and a jolly-looking Growlithe.]

Hey! [Hank's calling to them, worried about alarming the kid they've decided to detour towards.] Stop! You're supposed to listen better than that!

[He's wearing a long overcoat and a scarf and shirt with a vest, all dull grays and browns. So the little pop of blue that is the Floette and her flower sticking out of his pocket is even more noticeable.]

[Oh! Pokémon. Followed by a man's voice, then the man himself.

Link stops reaching for his pen. He doesn't have any Pokémon out and about himself, but he doesn't seem bothered at all by the arrival of the dogs and their trainer.

He wonders if the Pokémon were attracted by the music. Out of curiousity, he lifts the ocarina back to his mouth and toots out a few notes of Saria's Song for them.]

[Tubbs jams his face against Link's fingers to try and smell the Ocarina even as its being played, and the other two hover around him staring. Hank's glad the kid isn't scared. And, honestly, the break in the background music's pretty nice.]

They're not bothering you, are they?

[Tubbs is wagging his tail, and it's unfortunate that Hunter looks more grimly serious than he actually is, staring at Link super intently.]

Sorry they interrupted. [Hank adds. Noting the book there, seems like the kid was trying to better himself and this dogswarm rolled in and mucked up everything.]

[The last couple of notes are distorted as the orange dog's nose bumps against the ocarina. The mouthpiece clicks against Link's teeth. Okay, that kind of hurt. He lowers it from his mouth.]

No, [Link answers the man with all the simple surety of a child. Then, to his apology,] It's okay.

[He holds the Ocarina of Time out for Tubbs to sniff over properly. Just as he's clearly unafraid of the dogs despite their size, he's equally undisturbed by the intense stare from the Houndoom. Link meets his gaze with a serious look of his own, but there's curiousity there, too. He wonders what the doggy is thinking.]

[It's probably just thinking of the things that it wants to play with, or toss, or enjoying the strange noise. Unfortunately it's one of those dogs with a face that looks like he's plotting world destruction.]

[He seems like a mild-mannered kid, and Hank comes over. Immediately disliking the way the background noise chooses to fill the silence that follows. Just because he's getting used to it doesn't mean its great.]

I've never seen one of those before. [Ocarina is not exactly a popular musical instrument, but he seems pretty good at using one. He asks about it as he nudges Tubbs' hot muzzle away from from Link's space. Luann lays on the grass next to him, gentle as a rock monster can be.]

[Link looks down at the ocarina, its surface now smudged with nose prints. Paying the Lycanroc no mind, he takes the time to polish it clean again on the front of his shirt before he holds it out — less for Hank to take, and more for him to be able to get a better look.]

It's an ocarina, [he explains, then demonstrates the proper way to hold it, slowly and deliberately placing his fingers in the proper positions.]

Do you have a favorite song to play?

[Hank asks, and the moment Link holds up the Ocarina, Hunter tips his head comically. A confused and grim-looking but good dog staring at the potato flute.]

[At least Tubbs isn't jamming his face into Link's anymore. The Floette, though, is still watching out of her trainer's pocket, just as keen as Hunter to hear.]

I'm Hank, by the way. That's Luann, Tubbs, and Hunter... oh, and Connie. [He introduces each by pointing.]

I'm Link.

[He stares at the ocarina, his expression contemplative, but also deeply serious. His favorite song...? All of them have so much meaning, have so much use, are so important — What ones he likes the most... isn't a thought that's crossed his mind in a long time.

... but he doesn't have to think about what the answer is.

He starts the same song up again: Saria's. Even now, a part of him still expects to hear her voice at the end of the first verse, and it makes him falter there briefly, but he'll continue the song until he's either finished it or until he's stopped.]

[He takes the pause as the usual person would; a kid who might have stumbled over a part of the song. But it is notable because the rest of it is very smoothly played. He waits until the boy's about done before he tells him-] Good job. Sounds like you've practiced a lot.

[Link strikes him as one of those kids that knows he's good at something.]

[Connie, in the meantime, burbles her own happy 'Flo'! of agreement from his pocket. So finally he takes the little fairy type out so she can see the Ocarina too. He's certainly attracted enough attention out of Hank's brood. Hunter's still doing the doggish head-tilt at him.]

She liked it, too.

Thank you. [But Link answers that solemnly, with the homesickness starting to settle in over his heart. This is a good place, like Termina, but... also like Termina, he can't hear Saria's voice here. That song always reminds him of when he would meet her in the meadow, away from the rest of the Kokiri. It was peaceful for him, to not have to worry about any of the others. But... He's never going to be able to return to those days, either, even when he returns to Hyrule.

But then Hank holds out a little flower Pokémon, and Link blinks, his mood immediately lightening. Gently, he holds the Ocarina of Time out for her.] A fairy? [he asks, not the way trainers talk about Fairy types, but with a softer kind of happiness and reverance.]

[Hank quietly realizes that it's still strange for her to float there as he pulls his hand back, letting her linger in the air with her slowly spinning flower like a Mary Poppins parasol.]

She's a Floette, a fairy type. I've had her since she was a little Flabebe.

[She chirps one of her little name noises that baffle him. There is a way that he talks about fairies that says that he reveres them. She looks at it with her big dark eyes and comically exaggerated lashes, tapping it with a small hand.]

I'm still not great at remembering which ones are fairy types. I bet you'd be better at it than me.

[The ocarina makes a soft, pure sound as Connie's little fist raps against it.

Link shakes his head at Hank's assertion.] I don't know very many Pokémon yet. She just looks like one.

[Not that Link's ever seen any fairies that look like a Floette. But fairies come in all kinds of shapes and sizes in the forest. But a little white fairy that looks after a flower? It makes sense to him, even if she doesn't glow.]

There are a lot of fairy types. I know she's only a Floette, but I think she's pretty happy to be called a fairy. Aren't you?

[She chirps her name again, pleased to be acknowledged in general (Hank swears she is a little attention hog) before he reaches in his pocket and pulls out his breeder's handbook, and from there pulls out a folded up print out that he offers to Link. Since he's just getting started, it seems important. It's a type chart, saying what's strong against what.]

[He can always print himself out another copy.]

Here, this might help you out.

[He says with all the certainty of a random villager dispensing gifts necessary for a quest.]

Edited 2018-10-13 14:56 (UTC)

[Oh. Link blinks in surprise, lowering the ocarina so he can reach to take the print out.

He looks it over first, eyes slowly scanning over the information.]

Thank you, [he says, with all the graveness of accepting an important gift. He carefully folds it back up along its creases and tucks it into his book.

... but... There's something about what Hank said that has Link's brow furrowing.] What do you mean? "Only" a Floette.

SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER TEST DRIVE MEME

link ∆ majora's mask ∆ OTA ∆ (pls forgive the dw tools in replies)

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