(no subject)

[sky_child]

When Link came downstairs this morning he decided, on a whim, to test the door.

A few minutes and one trip upstairs later, he's dashing out the door in his regular clothes, sword and shield in hand (hoping that he hasn't used the blade so much that it's noticeably dull).

Several hours after that, out by the lake, a large red bird swoops down from the sky and lands. There was a human--or elf, in some people's eyes--riding on its back. The human-elf-person hops off, giving the bird's beak a few friendly strokes before jogging to the bar. He returns with lunch, both for himself and the bird.

You can catch the human-elf-person-kid (who can be called Link if you retain the default naming settings, but who has also been called anything from "you dick" to "Precious*") sitting by his bird, enjoying lunch, or leaning against the bird's side, taking a nap.

* The narration staunchly denies having ever named this character "Precious".

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Buh.

The what. With the. What.

... Ellen's not really used to seeing people voluntarily fly. (Neither is her dog, who is following her, or her robot, which is some distance behind her because it's slow, but neither of them actually care.)

[sky_child]

The bird sees them first, and lets out a soft cry to get Link's attention. He also moves his wings just a little bit. He's known Link since he was very young. He knows Link needs an extra...push to get him to pay attention to things.

Link looks up in response, cheeks full of food. It's one of those small furry things! A dog, he thinks they're called? He swallows down the food and rises to his feet.

--and stares at the robot.

What was this about a dog again?

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Eventually, Dogmeat slinks forward to sniff at the bird. It's not his fault if the two-legs are being weird.

Ellen clears her throat and says, "Um... hi there?"

Yeah. Real articulate.

[sky_child]

"Hi."

This conversation is proving to be a masterpiece in articulation already.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

".... interesting bird," Ellen finally says. "I didn't- I didn't think they got that big."

[sky_child]

"I guess they don't down here," he says, giving his bird an affectionate pat. The bird meanwhile is looking at the dog with curiosity, letting out a soft squawk here and there.

"It's normal for us, though. In Skyloft."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Dogmeat would be licking a human and trying to get them to give him food. Birds are another story. He's not used to things with feathers and doesn't really know how to react.

"Oh- is that- that's your world? Skyloft, I mean?"

[sky_child]

Does it help that the bird also has a great deal of fur (being the red portions of his body)?

He nods. "Well, it's more like an island...or a series of islands. We don't really have a name for our world like other people do."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods. "It sounds pretty," she offers. "The name, I mean. And the place too, I guess. you don't see a lot of islands when you live somewhere that doesn't have much water, other than the river."

And it's kind of a pathetic river anyway.

[sky_child]

"Oh, we have water! It's a lake, and there's a waterfall, but you don't want to swim too close to the edge because the current's strong and you could fall."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I've seen waterfalls in books," Ellen says with a shiver. "Can't say I've ever seen one in real life, though."

[sky_child]

"They're nice... Where are you from?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"A place called the Capital Wasteland," Ellen says. "It's mostly desert. I grew up underground, and only got out onto the surface when I was nineteen. Haven't really traveled very far, except for that one trip to Pittsburgh."

[a1enzo]

"Whoa."

[sky_child]

Once again it's the trusty Crimson Loftwing that sees Enzo first. However, given that Link is asleep, he must work a bit harder to catch Link's attention.

So he starts flapping the wing that Link is curled under.

"Gyaah--"

He rolls out from underneath the attacking wing and...looks up to see Enzo!

"--h-hi..."

[a1enzo]

"Hey. That is a big bird."

[sky_child]

"Nggh--yeah," he says, pushing himself to his feet. He runs a hand through his hair, shaking out the red fur and white feathers that had nestled within.

He has a lot of hair.

[a1enzo]

That is a problem with stranded hair. Enzo sometimes gets stuff stuck between his locks, but User hair is made entirely of between.

"Is it friendly? To people besides you, I mean."

It's an important distinction. Enzo's dog, for instance, divides the world into 'packmates', 'children', and 'die, scum'.

[sky_child]

"Yeah!"

Just like that, the bird looks over to Enzo. Link moves back far enough to place a hand on the top of the bird's head, stroking it gently. "This is Enzo. He's one of the people I met here in the bar."

[a1enzo]

"Hi." Cautiously, Enzo extends his hand palm-up. It's a polite gesture with animals, although in Enzo's case that's all it is, since he has no smell perceptible to organics.

[sky_child]

The bird seems to be assessing Enzo in...whatever way that birds can assess.

He must've deemed Enzo an OK guy, because he's leaning his head towards Enzo's extended hand.

[a1enzo]

Oh, good. Enzo pronates the hand. Scritches!

[sky_child]

Yes. Yes good.

The bird lets out a soft call. It sounds, for lack of a better word, like a screech, but a friendly one at that.

[a1enzo]

Awwww. Happy giant bird.

"What's its name?"

[sky_child]

"We don't really name our birds... We don't have to, really. Everyone in Skyloft is matched with a bird when they're young, so, we always know which one is ours."