forum Angst and Arson, Apparently || Closed, stalkers get a cool glass of milk ||

Started March 08, 2021 by @Cloudy_is_trying_her_best

tune

Lani wasn't having the best of days, even after her friend had surprised her with a trip to a small con she didn't even know about that was in the city. She had to rush her latest cosplay, and that meant it wasn't to her standards as it normally was. This day, she was dressed as Link from Twilight Princess, but even in the Dark Edgy Link (as she personally dubbed him loveingly), her sour mood didn't fit.
"Do you see what's wrong with this sword?" She demanded, for the third time that day, of her friend. They were dressed as a character from a certain well-known pocket monsters anime, and Lani's question brought a sigh to their lips.
"It's two and a half centimeters to short-?"
"It's two and a half centimeters too short. And do you know why?"
"Because it was a last-minute buy-"
"Yes, that's right!! I had to get a plastic sword off of A-ma-zon." Lani shuddered some, shoving the sword in its place on her back.
"And don't get me started on the belt-"
"Hey, look," her friend said, glad to find a distraction for his friend, "There are some other people cosplaying Link, why not go rant about this to them?" He pointed over to the group currently sprawled out not too far away, which peaked Lani's interest.
"Woah… now that's an epic cosplay party!!" She grabbed her friend's hand, dragging him with her.
"Hello! Is it alright if we get a few pictures with you? Your cosplays are so cool!"

(Mood, Lani)

Time, still a little dazed and trying to figure out what the hell was happening, looked up from his spot on the floor at the people that had approached them. The one dressed in an at least mostly practical outfit, especially when compared to… whatever in Din's name their friend was wearing, they had asked a question, but Time didn't understand what exactly they wanted. Picture? That… sounds at least a bit similar to pictograph, like Wild's Slate, but… 'cosplay'? "…Pardon?" he asked.

As if in response, Legend groaned and shifted, sliding completely off of what Time was still assuming was a chair. At least he's awake… Wild was still trying to wake their heavy-sleeping Skyloftian companion, with little success, from the sound of it. Not exactly surprising, given Sky's history, but still a little worrying. And Warriors was still passed out on the table, which was starting to creak at this point.

(sldknaf this thirty-year-old looking man in full-ass armor who's missing an eye just sitting on the floor with no fucking clue what's going on)

_{(I came up with an idea last night but I'm not touching it, I'd die of second-hand embarrassment just writing it–)}

"Ah, sorry," Lani said, still smiling some. "I get it if you don't want to, of course. Your outfits are just really detailed, I'm impressed, to say the least." She looked over the four, seeming to grow a bit confused at the amount of chaos she was seeing.
"Um… Do you need help? I, uh, I don't think that table's going to be able to hold your friend for much longer…" Lani had had no idea that any of them were really out, figuring it was either for a skit or just goofing around. It was just a bit early in the day to be getting frunk at a family-friendly less than 600 attendee con.

(asdfghjk but if that isn't a mood tho–)

(> I'm just imagining The Boys open up about stuff eventually and Lani's just like "holy fuck you need therapy stat" dskavkvna)
(> "Okay so I think I've figured out all the games you're from, Legend, also I've booked you a therapy appointment because goddamn dude")

(Oh my god aha, she's totally gonna. Like, damn, guys, y'all need to talk?? Like, dear Jesus-)

"Some help would definitely be appreciated," Time said, getting up slowly. He surprised himself a little by not wobbling when he did. Legend was pushing himself up off of the floor as well, grumbling about "those stupid, goddess-damned researchers and their stupid, goddess-damned machine" as he brushed himself off. Wild had, apparently, grown bored of trying to wake Sky by shaking or gently smacking him and was swiping through his Shiekah Slate, eventually withdrawing something gelatinous-looking that was evidently cold enough to cause Sky to wake up with a yelp. Warriors was starting to stir, attempting to sit up and ending up falling off of the table instead.

"Ugh, guys? Everyone alright?" the Captain asked, getting affirmative replies from the rest of the group. "What the hell happened?"

As Time walked over to help Warriors up, Legend shot Wild a look. "Gee, I don't know. Maybe the exact thing I was worried about? Do you even know where we are, Wild?" he asked. The Champion looked away.

"Legend…" Time's tone held a warning that appeared to go unheard.

"I… no, I don't. My map's working just like it was before we shifted to my time, so I'm guessing…" Wild trailed off, but the implication was there.

Legend threw his hands in the air. "Fucking wonderful. Now we not only don't know where we are, but when we are, too. Just great."

"Legend. That's quite enough, we're here now and we need to focus on figuring things out," Time scolded before looking back to the strangers. "Apologies, that was probably confusing. If you need us to explain anything, feel free to ask. Of course, if you see us as just strange and would rather pretend this encounter didn't happen, I don't think any of us would blame you." His tone was half-joking at the latter bit, but it was a genuine offer. Hylia knows he'd come across his fair share of people who viewed him as a freak after being told of–in his opinion, anyways–much less odd things.

Lani's friend had been watching, sorely confused by everything that was happening.
"I think I'll take you up on that," they said, turning to leave. Lani reached back, grabbing their collar and bringing them to a stop.
"Um… Is it alright if I ask your names?" She hadn't been very affected by what the others were saying, pre-tell, figuring they were just in character, but when the one pulled out their Shiekah Slate and pulled what Lani would swear was White Chuchu Jelly out of it to wake his friend, she had begun to get a sinking suspicion these men weren't just in costume.
"Your real ones."

(HERE WE GO)

All five of the Heroes reacted to this, casting surprised looks at one another. After getting over the initial shock, Legend crossed his arms. "Well, Old Man, you're the one who offered to explain, you can break that awkward news," he said. Time chuckled drily.

"By the way you asked that, I'd be willing to bet you already knew, but the five of us are all named Link." Time noticed the winged blue hilt peeking over their shoulder for the first time after he spoke. Perhaps that's why they knew… are they another incarnation of the Hero's Spirit as well…? "May I ask yours?"

(Lani.exe has stopped functioning)

"Uh-huh," Lani's friend said skeptically. "And I'm Ash. Now, come on, seriously, what are your names?" Lani was just… standing there, mouth open. She managed to snap out of it when her name was asked for, digging her elbow in her friend's chest.
"Don't be an ass," she hissed, looking back.
"And I'm Lani. And…" She put her hand up to her forehead, still trying to process. "You're- actually all Link..?" She looked less confused and more, ah, awestruck than anything.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lani and 'Ash'," Time said. He hadn't missed the other person's sarcasm, but mischief twinkled in his eye and he wasn't about to pass up a chance to harmlessly be a little shit. "To make things easier, we go by abbreviated versions of our Hero titles. I'm known as the Hero of Time, so I'm called Time. The one with the scarf is the Hero of Warriors, our resident pessimist in the red is the Hero of Legend, the one in blue and in dire need of a haircut is Wild, and Sky is actually known as Hylia's Chosen Hero, or a few other variants, but he felt that Sky was a bit more humble than Chosen."

Lani nodded along, still starstruck. She wouldn't have believed them if it hadn't been for the White Chuchu Jelly she'd seen. She could tell her friend wasn't as quick to believe, so they probably hadn't spotted it.
"Or, perhaps, because the game's called Skyward Sword? Look, I might not be an uber-geek about the Legend of Zelda like my friend here, but even I get that." They rolled their eyes, arms crossed. They weren't impressed.
"Drake, oh my god, would you please shut you mouth?" Lani hissed at them, elbowing them once more.

Sky's eyebrows shot up, then furrowed in confusion. "…I'm sorry, what?" he asked.

Legend, on the other hand, took a step towards Drake. "Look, bucko, if you've got a problem with–" Time stuck his arm out in front of his ticked-off companion and cut him off with a warning glare.

"I think we all have some questions for one another that we'd like answered. If I may, I'd like to start by asking where we are," Time queried.

"We're in-" Lani had started to say, but Drake cut her off.
"Seriously? Lani, how are you falling for this- these weirdos are dressed up as a bunch of different Links, and they're trying to act like they don't even know what the video games are? God, we're probably lucky they didn't call themselves Zelda!!"
"Drake! Look, I love you, you're my best friend, but would you please shut the fuck up?" Lani sighed deeply, looking back to Time.
"I'm sorry for them, they're- a bit of an ass. Right now, we're in a convention taking place in Fort Wayne, Indiana." Drake turned away, keeping an eye on Lani but doing as she asked of them and keeping quiet. They obviously didn't like what was going on.

Warriors chuckled. "I don't believe any of us know what a 'video game' is, or… well, what a good few of the words you just said mean, but I think I can understand at least a little bit of their skepticism," he said.

In the back, Wild inhaled sharply and looked down at his Slate, shoulders tense. "Definitely not my Hyrule."

"I'd venture to say no one's Hyrule," Lani offered up. "Or part of any variant thereof."
"Right, because we're on Earth, aka real life," Drake muttered under their breath. Lani rubbed the bridge of her nose, looking over.
"Drake, please," she said softly. The other only let out a sigh, not looking over.

That wasn't too terribly unreasonable–Hyrule wasn't the only kingdom or country that existed in the world, after all. "So… how would we be able to get to Hyrule, then?" Sky asked.

"Or is something else going on?" Legend added, arms crossed.

"I don't think there's a way to get to Hryule from here," Lani said. "It's, ah… it's not really connected to this place. At all. It's very complicated…"
"It's a world in a video game. As in, a story, not real, made up? No place called 'Hyrule' had never existed, and they're sure as hell aren't whatever god-forsaken creatures there are to be found in it," Drake said bluntly. "So unless you got here by magic, something that I can guarantee doesn't exist, then there's no way in hell I'm going to believe anything is going on here." Lani fell quiet, looking at her friend. She didn't say anything to refute them, though.
"How… did you manage to get here in the first place?" She said instead.

A story, Time thought. So that was why it was so difficult for Drake to believe that they truly were who they said they were, then. His remark about magic was laughable, though, and Legend snickered at it.

"It… was a teleporter incident. A couple of researchers in my time were trying to test a device they'd been working on and, well, something went really wrong," Wild said, looking at the ground. Sky patted him on the back, but his ashamed expression didn't change.

Legend sighed. "As stupid of an idea as it was, it's not your fault. The worst you thought would happen was, what, we'd end up somewhere else in your Hyrule? There was no way you could have expected this." He looked like he may have wanted to say more–possibly an apology?–but instead stopped himself.

_{(My page refreshed as I was finishing up and I want to d i e)}

Drake shot a look at Legend as the other snickered, glaring without another word.
"Mm," Lani hummed, nodding. She had a very good idea as to who Wild was referring to, and it didn't surprise her it went somewhat haywire. Though, this haywire?
"I'm to take it there was no return plan that took this into account," she continued, keeping her voice soft. She could easily see how ashamed Wild looked, and she didn't want him to feel worse. "Then we'll have to try to figure out something from here, and hope they do the same. It might be difficult, though, since we don't have the same levels of technology as you."
"Yes, because turning into a blue mist and getting whisked off to god knows where is technology," Drake muttered under his breath. "What next, fairies?"

_(Oof)

Time chose to ignore the remark about fairies for the time being and simply nodded in response to Lani's comment. "If there was a way to get here, there should be a way to get back," Warriors said, and gave Wild a nudge. "We'll figure it out."

"In the meantime," Legend said with a smirk on his lips and a glint in his eyes, "maybe we should head somewhere else? More open space, less people? I'd like to prove this asshole wrong," he said. Time narrowed his eye. He'd seen that look before, and the events that tended to follow were… chaotic, to say the least. "Oh, don't get a heart attack, Old Man, I'm not gonna pull anything on him. Wars and I haven't had a good spar in too long, and if we add a little magic in for the drama–" he did a little hand-wave–"then it'll just be that much better."

"That's right," Lani agreed. She was still, ah… a little tripped out, to see these men hear, talking, and acting less like the heroes from her games and books and more like actual people.
"Right, I'm the asshole for not falling for your little act," Drake shot back. "I've seen plenty of 'magic' in my life to know it's all bullshit. Rip each other's hearts out for all I care, you aren't convincing me." Lani rubbed her temples, sighing some.
"Well, there's an open field near where I live, we could go there if you'd like," she offered. She was more than willing to watch the two fight, especially if she got to see the magic in person. She'd seen it plenty in the games, but there was something special about not knowing how to glitch the system so much you were overpowered and a chaos god.
She might be thinking about one game in particular with that but she didn't say anything out loud, with Wild right there.

(dksnva I want to see Drake and Legend get stuck together for some reason lmao, they'd either kill each other or become best friends)

Legend shrugged. "Keep telling yourself that, I'm sure you'll change your mind soon enough."

"Um, guys?" Sky piped up, looking a little concerned. "Are you sure this is a good idea? We don't have a healer with us anymore, what if someone gets hurt?" he asked.

"We've got potions, it'll be fine," Wild assured him. "Besides, I want to see how this will go."

(Also I hope Lani has like. A van or something lmao)

(Yesssss. Drake is still Unconvinced because they're a stubborn prick that no one can tell them what to do but turns out that's something to bond over-)

"Uh-huh, sure." Drake rolled their eyes, arms still folded as they glared at Legend. Lani let out a breath, looking over at them and shaking her head.
"We might as well head out now. I doubt we'll do much to change their mind, but I'm not going to object to this." She was surprisingly hiding the intense amount of anticipation she had for this very well.
"Drake, I'll need to borrow the van-"
"Lani why the hell should I let these nutjobs into my van?"
"Because if you do I'll buy you that new dlc you've been wanting so badly?" Drake fell silent.
"You're a nasty woman you know that, right?"
"Thank you~!" Lani rolled her eyes and hugged Drake a moment, then grabbed their hand.
"Here, the exit to the con's this way."

(Oh absolutely lmao, the best kind of bonding)

The group followed Lani and Drake to this "con"'s exit, glancing around as they did so. Occasionally, someone would point to them and/or make a comment about their "awesome cosplays" again. Legend or Time would simply give a nod of acknowledgement, and Wild or Sky would wave or awkwardly say "Thank you." Warriors probably gave them the most interaction, typically a "Thanks, you too! The shoes really pull it together!" or something similar, though this drew some odd looks from certain people, usually the ones in only mildly-strange outfits.

(Idea: The fanart stall's on the way to the exit and someone sees art of himself and is like "uh excuse me wtf" it's Warriors)

(Yesssssssssssssss. Lani's just like "Okay let's move along" but there's an entire wall dedicated to LoZ and someone comes up to thank Lani for helping out with setting everything up for it)

Lani did her best to act normal, dragging the reluctant Drake behind her. She hummed some, waving to a few of her friends as they passed. She'd also glance back to make sure that their little traveling party didn't lose any members. It would have been more of a concern in a larger con, but this one was local, so there wasn't much fear in that department.
She just hoped no one was cosplaying any Legend of Zelda villains too well. She didn't know the others would react to knowing the fact there were many people who liked them.
Including Lani.
"Okay, we're almost out!" she announced with a hum, pointing to the exit.

(Then let the angst begin >:D oh god it's gonna take a lot for her to build his trust specifically dslkavn idk how much you know about Hyrule Warriors but uhh you might want to look into the game's premise bc yeah Wars is pretty traumatized specifically by stuff like this)

"Great, I think the Captain just might explode if he gets another compli…ment…" Legend's sarcastic remark trailed off, and he looked around. Time followed suit and was relieved to find him only a little ways behind the group. His relief faded a bit, however, when he noticed the horrified look on his companion's face.

"Warriors? Are you alright?" Sky asked, already heading in his direction. Time quickly followed suit with Legend hot on his heels, and a collective gasp sounded from the group when they looked into the doorway that Warriors was staring through.

They were looking at a large room, with a number of what Time assumed were booths of some kind. Various pieces of artwork and trinkets hung along them. Front and center, however, was a particularly large booth featuring a golden-yellow depiction of the Triforce and the Hylian Crest at the top, along with symbols that had been on a lot of places at the event but whose meanings were lost on Time. And the art in this booth… most of it appeared to be different depictions of the Heroes, though there were other people depicted in them as well–was that… was that his wife?!–but Time noted that there weren't many of the scarf-wearing Hero of Warriors. Having said that, the first one that he saw was… well, Time had a basic idea of the story behind that one. In the drawing, Warriors looked like he wanted nothing more than to get away from the barely-dressed woman holding him by the scarf and stroking his chin.

Time placed a gentle hand on Warriors' shoulder. "…Come on," he said.

"Lani…" Warriors' voice sounded… terrified. Concern for the other man pierced Time's heart like a spike. "What… what is this…?"

(Me, after getting back from a quick overview: Ah shit this is bad)

"Don't you know?' Drake interrupted Lani, not seeming to be affected by Warrior's voice. In reality, they just didn't realize it was real.
"That's the fan art booth for the Legend of Zelda. A bunch of people draws their favorite scenes, or characters, or scenarios. What, aren't flattered by-?!" Drake was shut up by Lani punching them in the stomach. She hissed something at them the others wouldn't be able to hear, making her way over to put herself between Warriors and the booth. She understood all too well this was not the place for him to be seeing these things, displayed with pride.
"I think we really should go…"

Warriors took a step back. "N-no, she's… if she's here, we…" He looked around frantically, as if trying to find someone–or rather, to make sure someone wasn't anywhere near him.

"Warriors." Seeing him like this, when he was normally so composed… it hurt, and caused an almost parental protectiveness to rise inside of Time. He put that thought away; it wasn't parental, it was just that he was worried about a friend. "She's not here. No one, from any of our times, is here," he tried to assure the man.