Mission: Building the Future in Pagoda

[lucetimods]

Who: Anyone who volunteered
What: A very special mission that will fill you with a youthly sense of purpose. Or something.
When: July 20th - July 24th
Where: The enclosure of Pagoda
Summary: Mission detailed here. There are survivors to help and buildings to repair, and plenty more to keep the volunteers on their toes.
Rating: PG-13 for reasons

Direct further questions here!

Comments

[sosayi]

[She relaxes a little, nodding. So it was right to make that call. Okay.]

Then we shall part ways here. I will pick you up outside of the medic area and we will find a place suitable for our own purposes.

[She's gonna show him these books if it kills her. They're interesting, and no one seems to want to talk about them.]

[feistytrader]

...Alright. Be careful. [And with that, he's going to finish taking this weird purple goat girl to the medics- ultimately she checks out okay, but fatigued. Good. That means he did an okay job.

Time to find Hilda.]

[sosayi]

[Hilda is waiting just where she said she would be, carrying rations, and she's openly tired until she spots him. Then she straightens her back and nods.]

Was she alright, then?

[feistytrader]

[Silver would have loved to look openly exhausted on his way over- it's much better than the alert and somewhat nervous expression on his face as he approaches Hilda.

But she's asking him a question. He can't look like some nervous Pokémon going to the Pokémon Center for the first time. He tries to straighten out his expression and nods immediately.]

She'll be fine after some rest. [Despite that, he can't shake the nervousness completely and fidgets a little as he speaks.]

[sosayi]

[That's good. The girl's health, not Silver's apparently anxiety. Had something happened on the way over? Or was it from the medical area itself?

... Is it her place to even ask? Yes, it must be. They're friends of a sort.]

As happy as I am to hear that, I must ask: Are you feeling well? You seem rather anxious.

[feistytrader]

[...It's that noticeable, huh?]

Doctors make me nervous.

[sosayi]

I see. In Lorule, we have practitioners of potion making which act as our medicine. The potions themselves work much like Nala's magic and can be created using monster parts - which we obviously lack here, or I would offer to try my hand at making them myself.

[Because they're cool. And useful. You need an Empty Bottle though.]

In other words, I believe I can understand your feelings. I do not like it when people touch me, which is why I have aimed to take care of myself.

[With learning first aid and Nala's magic.]

[feistytrader]

...We still have doctors. We have nurses that take care of sick or injured Pokémon, too.

[He's just. Uh. Never been to one.

Anyway.]

You don't like it when anyone touches you?

[sosayi]

[Oh... That's cool. Being a nurse for a Pokémon sounds nice...]

That is correct. Especially if I happen to become injured somehow. I would rather take care of it myself, not because I do not wish to bother others, but because I am used to a level of distance between myself as a princess and them.

... However, if I can tolerate it if needed for social graces and the like, if I initiate it, or if the person in question is someone I trust. Is that unusual?

[feistytrader]

I'm pretty sure that's normal, but I'm not the best person to ask.

[The last parts, anyway. She has a level of distance from others because she's a Princess... Has she never had someone drag her around or pull her into a hug before?

Probably not.]

[sosayi]

[Certainly not. Her advisor was never a touchy sort, and the one friend she had was respectful to a painful amount.

And he abandoned her but you know. Details. Have your rations.]

Why not? You seem more adapted than I to this sort of world, though that may simply be due to how long you have been here in particular.

[That's right, Hilda considers "I run from my everything" Silver more adapted. It's true though.]

[feistytrader]

...I grew up on the streets. A lot of the "normal" I know comes from the people I've met here.

[...Speaking of being a street rat, these rations look delicious. Thanks, Hilda-]

[sosayi]

In other words you are as clueless as I, though in a far different fashion.

[Though she seems sad about that. So Silver had the same sort of past that many of her own people did... She kind of wants to take care of him...]

I am sorry to hear that you lived in such a manner. As I have stated, many of my people lived the same way, and were cast as hopeless thieves in due time. [Not even her guards wanted to deal with it.] However, despite that, you are a good person.

[feistytrader]

...I'm pretty sure I'm still a hopeless thief.

[sosayi]

Certainly not. You do not resemble my people in a way other than your upbringing.

[feistytrader]

What do you mean? [What are they like?]

[sosayi]

[... This is all her fault. And it's clear in her tone she has a lot of guilt over her people.]

They have given up on being anything other than what they are. My land has been cursed for a long while, and I am ashamed to say that no matter what I have done in order to improve their lives they have always returned to one filled with crime and a fear of the monsters who have more or less taken over the town. The royal guards whom have long sworn to protect have fallen into disarray as well.

[feistytrader]

What kind of monsters? [Hilda can be creepy and strange sometimes, but she's nothing if not full of hope and determination. Have her people really given up hope?]

[sosayi]

To be truthful, I am not sure how to explain them in a way which does not demean their frightfulness. They are beings which have fierce faces, and are able to wield any sort of weapon they pick up. They are aggressive and ruthless, honorable only to each other, and are impermeable to most attacks. They are found in every corner of my pitiable land...

... Though it would not be wrong to say that the people have become monsters as well. Without a thought to anyone but themselves, they, under a skeletal leader, have made the town to the east their home and do nothing to help each other.

[feistytrader]

[A skeletal leader. Like a real skeleton?

Well, that's not the craziest thing he's heard of...]

You can't do some cool magic thing to stop them? [...Hilda does have magic, right? She has a cool staff and everything, and that's what they did during that one experiment- beat up monsters.

Maybe she needs a tank.]

[sosayi]

And cause more distrust to arise from the public? Certainly, I could, but the consequences of it are more weighty than I would think worth it. They are rather content in their stasis of being as much as it pains me.

[And there's people after her head back home, but she won't mention that.]

1/2

[feistytrader]

If someone fought back against those monsters, wouldn't it give them hope?

[Something to look forward to. Something to fight for. Even if not everyone would change, maybe someone...]

[feistytrader]

[...But he stops himself and shakes his head.]

Sorry. I'm getting too deep into what ifs. [And Hilda knows her own situation deeply and intimately. What does he know?]

[sosayi]

[She shakes her head - it's fine. It's alright. He's pretty much right after all.]

That is what I intended for Hyrule's Hero to do, as an outsider who needs to vanquish the evils of my land in order to progress in his quest and find courage in his heart. From where I left, he had succeeded in such a feat. I do hope my people feel somewhat less obligated to follow under fear - though if they have not, then I fear there is more at work and that the darkness in Lorule is worse than I first surveyed.