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Entry tags:
Returns and Exchanges
Fandom: Zelda: ALBW
Characters: Ravio, Link
Word count: ~650
Warnings: Language. Angst. You know, my usual approach to the rabbit guy.
Notes: When am I gonna stop writing Ravio angst? Maybe when this stops being such a fun, charming, and generally well-designed game, huh? Maybe then. (...I'm about to 100% complete Hero Mode, so I guess I need to add a new self-imposed challenge my next go-round.)
Okay, Ravio. Last chance.
He rocked uneasily on his heels. Link would be back soon with fat stacks of cash and buy up all the rest of the merch, and then he’d never see the guy again. He’d explained this to Sheerow. “We’re about to outlive our usefulness. Once our business with Mr. Hero is done… I mean, nobody comes to see me on purpose.”
Everything he had to say, he had to say now. Really shouldn’ta left it this late. Really shouldn’ta wimped out last time. Or the last five times. But then, there was a reason some people were heroes and he wasn’t.
He was still at a loss as to the proper angle of attack. Maybe get right to the point, apologize for keeping secrets and take the rabbit ears off. That’d give him some credibility, right? Unless it did the opposite. Unless it made him look extra shady. He was from Lorule. His “minimum reasonable precautions” would look, under the brighter sun of Hyrule, like unreasoning paranoia. People here were brave and cheerful and didn’t know about the ways that constant dread could twist you up inside, and -
- no, that was making excuses. Of course no one here would understand, and why should they? This wasn’t a cultural thing. This was a people-in-general thing. Even by Lorule standards he’d been just… kinda… not good. You couldn’t expect sympathy for that. “Oh, sure, I’ve put you in harm’s way and kept important information from you, but I promise there’s a good reason! It’s because I’m personally mediocre!” Yeah, that’d sell.
Maybe he should just start apologizing right out of the gate. I’m sorry, I fucked up, I know you would’ve done better in my place but I’m not you, I’m not anyone, feel free to hate me for the rest of your life, only please don’t hurt her. Please just let us and our world die with dignity, I know I don’t deserve it, but she was so good, once, and she tried so hard. She was like you. Please, save your princess, but let mine go.
Nah, that was way too heavy. As if he hadn’t laid enough on the kid already. How about… how about…
But then the door opened and he was there, and Ravio’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. He remembered the first time he’d seen Link - first time he’d seen him awake, anyway, after hauling him back to the house - and he’d thought, Oh. So that’s what it’d look like if whoever made me had done it right. He got used to it, afterward, except in odd moments when the strangeness would strike him all over again. Like now. Like right now, when this was his last chance.
“I’m getting close,” Link said, and Ravio almost blurted out “close to killing my liege lady,” and then wished he had, because then at least the truth would be out there and he’d have something to work with, instead of standing here paralyzed wondering how did you even begin? He felt sick. He sold the guy a hammer. A hammer, for Din’s sake! And he heard himself going through the usual rigmarole as if at a great distance, “you buy it, done deal, no returns or exchanges,” and something about the phrase struck him so oddly that he just -
Stopped -
And for a second they looked at each other. Him and the hero. It felt, for a second, like something important was about to happen. Link was waiting politely, attentively, to find out what it was.
Ravio said, “You know, you’re…”
Dead air.
“You’ve been…”
His hands were sweating. Link raised his eyebrows, looking expectant.
“A great customer.”
And Link left. Done deal. Ravio, no longer trusting his legs, sank very slowly to the floor. And laughed, because, well, you kinda had to. “Anyone surprised at this turn of events?” he asked. “I’m not surprised. You surprised?” Sheerow was not. Nobody should be.
Characters: Ravio, Link
Word count: ~650
Warnings: Language. Angst. You know, my usual approach to the rabbit guy.
Notes: When am I gonna stop writing Ravio angst? Maybe when this stops being such a fun, charming, and generally well-designed game, huh? Maybe then. (...I'm about to 100% complete Hero Mode, so I guess I need to add a new self-imposed challenge my next go-round.)
Okay, Ravio. Last chance.
He rocked uneasily on his heels. Link would be back soon with fat stacks of cash and buy up all the rest of the merch, and then he’d never see the guy again. He’d explained this to Sheerow. “We’re about to outlive our usefulness. Once our business with Mr. Hero is done… I mean, nobody comes to see me on purpose.”
Everything he had to say, he had to say now. Really shouldn’ta left it this late. Really shouldn’ta wimped out last time. Or the last five times. But then, there was a reason some people were heroes and he wasn’t.
He was still at a loss as to the proper angle of attack. Maybe get right to the point, apologize for keeping secrets and take the rabbit ears off. That’d give him some credibility, right? Unless it did the opposite. Unless it made him look extra shady. He was from Lorule. His “minimum reasonable precautions” would look, under the brighter sun of Hyrule, like unreasoning paranoia. People here were brave and cheerful and didn’t know about the ways that constant dread could twist you up inside, and -
- no, that was making excuses. Of course no one here would understand, and why should they? This wasn’t a cultural thing. This was a people-in-general thing. Even by Lorule standards he’d been just… kinda… not good. You couldn’t expect sympathy for that. “Oh, sure, I’ve put you in harm’s way and kept important information from you, but I promise there’s a good reason! It’s because I’m personally mediocre!” Yeah, that’d sell.
Maybe he should just start apologizing right out of the gate. I’m sorry, I fucked up, I know you would’ve done better in my place but I’m not you, I’m not anyone, feel free to hate me for the rest of your life, only please don’t hurt her. Please just let us and our world die with dignity, I know I don’t deserve it, but she was so good, once, and she tried so hard. She was like you. Please, save your princess, but let mine go.
Nah, that was way too heavy. As if he hadn’t laid enough on the kid already. How about… how about…
But then the door opened and he was there, and Ravio’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. He remembered the first time he’d seen Link - first time he’d seen him awake, anyway, after hauling him back to the house - and he’d thought, Oh. So that’s what it’d look like if whoever made me had done it right. He got used to it, afterward, except in odd moments when the strangeness would strike him all over again. Like now. Like right now, when this was his last chance.
“I’m getting close,” Link said, and Ravio almost blurted out “close to killing my liege lady,” and then wished he had, because then at least the truth would be out there and he’d have something to work with, instead of standing here paralyzed wondering how did you even begin? He felt sick. He sold the guy a hammer. A hammer, for Din’s sake! And he heard himself going through the usual rigmarole as if at a great distance, “you buy it, done deal, no returns or exchanges,” and something about the phrase struck him so oddly that he just -
Stopped -
And for a second they looked at each other. Him and the hero. It felt, for a second, like something important was about to happen. Link was waiting politely, attentively, to find out what it was.
Ravio said, “You know, you’re…”
Dead air.
“You’ve been…”
His hands were sweating. Link raised his eyebrows, looking expectant.
“A great customer.”
And Link left. Done deal. Ravio, no longer trusting his legs, sank very slowly to the floor. And laughed, because, well, you kinda had to. “Anyone surprised at this turn of events?” he asked. “I’m not surprised. You surprised?” Sheerow was not. Nobody should be.