with knowledge comes great responsibility

[anythingforyou]

[What an absolute ordeal all of that was.

Today was certainly one hell of a day, that's for sure; they've managed to take care of another Guardian and gain it's trust (or at the very least, something resembling it), they managed to find Candice and manage to...well, maybe not get her back in a state that's altogether wanted, but ensure they managed to get her at least into a place where she could possibly regain herself. It will likely be a process, as such things are, but they've done their best, and they should have no regrets.

The center is definitely going to be a welcome reprieve for all of their suffering, at the very least. The Kompot is certainly more than enough to likely get everyone warmed back up and in a stable condition, along with the copious amount of blankets the locals have provided. They've got the time to rest and get ready for their next adventure.

Rest well, ye merry band of travelers. You've earned it.]

Comments

[semistableman]

[The average person might not put it together so easily, but Bucky....]

I found myself seventy years in the future, after breaking free from my captors.

Nothing's the same anymore, and everyone I ever knew has long since passed away. I don't think most people can even conceptualize how lonely that is.

[hyruglyphics]

[ Seventy years. ... ]

... It was a hundred for me, though I did have some awareness in the intervening time.

[semistableman]

Same here. I would wake up every once in a while and things would look.... different.

The last year I clearly remember is 1944, and once I was free it was 2014. I saw things here and there, but circumstances meant I couldn't ever take it in.

If it weren't for Steve, I wouldn't have anyone at all.

[hyruglyphics]

[ Zelda bites her lip, wondering how much more she should confess. Still, for him to have experienced that- ... Was he... Had he been possessed and controlled that whole time, from how he had implied before now? She... ]

Link is there with me. [ . . . ] After - ... After the kingdom was lost, and the Champions and the Castle were destroyed, Link and I fled. He was gravely injured protecting me, but he was still alive. I asked Robbie and Purah to take him to the Shine of Resurrection to recover. Until he could, we could not allow the Calamity to run rampant... and so it came to me to hold it at bay.

[semistableman]

That's... a lot to be on one person's shoulders. It's commendable that you've been able to hold it together as well as you have.

[He smiles. No judgement on absolutely losing her shit here, not when he'd done it himself not too long ago.]

It seems like it's one or two people trying to defend the world pretty often. More 'n you'd thing.

[hyruglyphics]

I would not belittle the other people of Hyrule. I merely did what I could, after our initial plan was lost.

[ it's said with a slight... hmmm. She's not even sure what the emotion is. Still, commendable is- ... it's nice to hear. ]

[semistableman]

People are people; some of 'em won't want to help. Some of 'em will.

But there are still people they depend on. I don't blame them for it.

[hyruglyphics]

Nor should you... I am - glad that the people were able to hold so much together for the hundred years Link rested.

[ She could hold Ganon itself at bay, but there were still guardians and monsters. ]

[semistableman]

That's a very long time.

It sounds like your countrymen are a determined bunch.

[hyruglyphics]

They are. The people of Hyrule are a truly wonderful people.

[ I mean, she does feel a disconnect from them on like three levels now, but. ]

[semistableman]

[He understands entirely.]

....It's hard, suddenly realizing you can't relate to people you used to understand entirely. The city I grew up in is unrecognizable. The culture's different, too. Some of it's for the best, but that doesn't make it any easier to wrap my head around.

[hyruglyphics]

[ Mmm... ]

... Hyrule was in ruins for that century. The Castle and City town were destroyed, so people left to the far reaches. The Gorons, Zora, and the others managed to remain mostly unchanged location wise, but even they suffered. The people who grew up in that time shall have a stark adjustment as we rebuild, I worry.

[semistableman]

...You know.

I grew up in the shadow of a war. Back when I was a kid, they called it the Great War. The country I lived in, it was an ocean away from where the main conflict happened, but you'd learn about what happened to the countries there. By the time I'd grown up, war had broken out again-- it was bad. At the time, it honestly didn't look good. But after it ended, people still rebuilt.

I might not have been awake for it, exactly, so I missed out on a lot of the steps, but Europe did rebuild. It won't be easy for the people who grew up in the shadow of things, but they'll persevere.

Heck, you'd be surprised at the heroes school kids have. There wasn't a kid in Brooklyn who didn't grow up admiring Cher Ami, and she was a messenger bird.

[hyruglyphics]

[ Honestly, in the midst of her own depression for the night, this is... it's strangely nice to hear. She puts her hands in front of her chest in the familiar pious pose as she nods lightly, showing she both heard and understood Bucky. It's pleasant to imagine Hyrule - no, she knows Hyrule will rise again. It always had.

But...

Still, she gratefully agrees with his assessment. A messenger bird, huh? ]