01-17-2018, 01:41 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-18-2018, 01:52 AM by Malon.
Edit Reason: Needed to clarify that one bit was said by Karkat.
)
Truth to be told, Malon felt like she was as much in her own world as Gamzee for a while now. While she had regained control of herself thanks to Kelly and Strazio, snippets of memories were still darting through her mind, placing themselves over her current senses. She could see deserts and oceans while knowing that they were in a forest, she could smell flowers and wasn't certain if they were here, in the physical world, or in her dreamland, she spoke languages she had never learned with people she had never met. But at least she knew now that they were memories from other people, so that was a plus.
As Strazio sat on a trunk and took a drink, she followed his example, finding a nice rock to sit on and listen to him.
"Who is this Dracula?" she asked.
"You don't know? He..." he started, then pointed out: "You should know, actually. If you have my memories in your head now."
"I prefer to learn the old-fashioned way", Malon explained while closing her water flask again and putting it away.
"Well, he's a powerful Prime who controls a large part of the Pale Moors verse. He's basically the biggest prick this side of the Underverse."
"Right... and what about Ganondorf? You don't have any idea where he might be?"
"Nope", Strazio said simply. "I could honestly not care less about the bastard.. What exactly is it that happened between you and him, though?"
"I thought you knew?" Malon asked, raising her eyebrow. "After how you told me you know about him and that he's here in the Omniverse."
"I only picked up shards of your memories so far. Mainly your hatred for the guy."
"Right, well... that can go on for a bit." She put her backpack down since it really looked like they were going to stay after all. "Could you summon us something while I tell the story?" She noticed how Gamzee and Karkat were still skipping around, but in closer vicinity to them. They wanted to listen too.
"To give a rough outline", she started, "Ganondorf was... no, is a member of the 'Gerudo' tribe, which lives in the western deserts of Hyrule, my homeland. The Gerudo is an all-female tribe with a man born only once every hundred years - that being Ganondorf in that particular case. That man becomes the leader of the tribe. I understand that Ganondorf then came to Hyrule under the guise of conducting negotiations with the King, but secretely coveted an item held by the royal family, which... uh, to put it short, would function as a key to a realm in which a legendary artefact known as Triforce is hidden." She tugged on her belt, showing Strazio the clasp on the front. "See those three triangles? That is how the people of Hyrule depict the Triforce. It's even part of our flag. The legend has it that this Triforce can grant any wish."
"Sounds like a very powerful item", Strazio remarked.
"Heyyy, but if it can... like, grant wishes, what did that motherfucker wish for?" Gamzee interferred, leaning in so much that Malon reached out before his doubled-over torso could make him fall to the ground.
"I don't know. He somehow found his way into that realm and got the Triforce, but invoked a... I guess you could call it a failsafe." She held up three fingers. "Power, Wisdom and Courage. Those are the three pieces of the Triforce, and to wield it you need to have balance in all three. Ganondorf's Power far outmatched his Wisdom and his Courage and thus he could not wield it. Instead the Triforce split into three and he only kept one - the Power."
"And the other two?" Strazio asked.
"They presumably went to two people whose Wisdom and Courage are strong. I have no idea who."
"So, if Ganondorf had the Power chunk of that Triforce, was he... what did that do for him?"
"It made him very powerful. He was able to dethrone the King, to bring all of Hyrule under his thumb and to corrupt certain areas with his evil will. The entire city around the royal castle turned into a deathzone full of zombies."
Karkat made a disgusted grimace at the mention of zombies while Strazio put down the loaves of bread he had just summoned for the four of them. Malon continued: "I got off... I'm not sure if for the better or the worse, but I wasn't killed. Ganondorf put our stable-hand in charge of my father's ranch. He in turn threatened to injure the animals if I ran away or disobeyed him so I stayed and hoped for rescue."
"And that never came", Strazio said blankly.
"Ohh! Oh, I know how this story ends!" Gamzee exclaimed. "She went and freed all the motherfuckin' animals and ran away!"
"DAMNIT GAMZ, SPOILERS!" Karkat yelled with his hands over his ears, as if that could let him unhear the troll's words.
"Well... I was going to, but that was when I was brought here", Malon pointed out. Her expression, which had shifted from serious to saddened, involuntarily brightened back up. Weird as they may be, Gamzee and Karkat were like an inexhaustible spring of cheerfulness that spreaded all around them. "I waited for almost seven years for someone to rescue me. At some point I realized that it's stupid to do that... that we all can be heroes. And that I should be that one hero that rescues me, not a... not a prince on a white horse."
"Hmmh. That's a nice way to put it", Strazio admitted. "Is that why you followed Tearen's invitation?"
"Among others. I wanted to learn what he had to share. His teachings certainly follow that philosophy. If we are 'God', if we are the universe, that means that there's nobody outside to help with our problems or fix things if we mess up either. It means that we're responsible."
Strazio put down several freshly conjured pieces of fruit that looked like grapefruit-sized blueberries and a large cheese wheel next to the bread. "Hm. It's a troublesome thought. But for now, dinner's served." As they helped each other to the food, he went on to say: "We should reach the gate tomorrow, and from there it's another day or two to Minas Tirith depending on how fast we move."
"That's weird..." remarked Malon. "I remember the gate being way closer when I came here. We should have reached it long ago."
"We're not headed through the Nexus Gate", Strazio explained, "but through the Camelot one. Going your way would be a detour."
"Hmm. I didn't know that the verses are interconnected."
"Just some to each other. We're fortunate to be in one that's linked directly to Camelot so we can skip the Nexus."
From there things moved to more idle chatter, which gradually died down as they sat around a warming campfire, then went to sleep after sorting out the order of night guarding with straws, Malon being the first. She sat into the night for a while, contemplating the night sky and watching out for predators of the animal and human kingdoms, but the night was a quiet one. And she tested out her shapeshifting. Weirdly enough, there was a form in her mind of a black crow that she could take on more easily than the others, almost thoughtlessly so. Something to do with the memories she had absorbed? No idea.
She left it at that. Her head didn't want to think anymore anyway, so she went to wake up Karkat for his turn, then crawled into her sleeping bag and let her mind wander off into the land of dreams.
As Strazio sat on a trunk and took a drink, she followed his example, finding a nice rock to sit on and listen to him.
"Who is this Dracula?" she asked.
"You don't know? He..." he started, then pointed out: "You should know, actually. If you have my memories in your head now."
"I prefer to learn the old-fashioned way", Malon explained while closing her water flask again and putting it away.
"Well, he's a powerful Prime who controls a large part of the Pale Moors verse. He's basically the biggest prick this side of the Underverse."
"Right... and what about Ganondorf? You don't have any idea where he might be?"
"Nope", Strazio said simply. "I could honestly not care less about the bastard.. What exactly is it that happened between you and him, though?"
"I thought you knew?" Malon asked, raising her eyebrow. "After how you told me you know about him and that he's here in the Omniverse."
"I only picked up shards of your memories so far. Mainly your hatred for the guy."
"Right, well... that can go on for a bit." She put her backpack down since it really looked like they were going to stay after all. "Could you summon us something while I tell the story?" She noticed how Gamzee and Karkat were still skipping around, but in closer vicinity to them. They wanted to listen too.
"To give a rough outline", she started, "Ganondorf was... no, is a member of the 'Gerudo' tribe, which lives in the western deserts of Hyrule, my homeland. The Gerudo is an all-female tribe with a man born only once every hundred years - that being Ganondorf in that particular case. That man becomes the leader of the tribe. I understand that Ganondorf then came to Hyrule under the guise of conducting negotiations with the King, but secretely coveted an item held by the royal family, which... uh, to put it short, would function as a key to a realm in which a legendary artefact known as Triforce is hidden." She tugged on her belt, showing Strazio the clasp on the front. "See those three triangles? That is how the people of Hyrule depict the Triforce. It's even part of our flag. The legend has it that this Triforce can grant any wish."
"Sounds like a very powerful item", Strazio remarked.
"Heyyy, but if it can... like, grant wishes, what did that motherfucker wish for?" Gamzee interferred, leaning in so much that Malon reached out before his doubled-over torso could make him fall to the ground.
"I don't know. He somehow found his way into that realm and got the Triforce, but invoked a... I guess you could call it a failsafe." She held up three fingers. "Power, Wisdom and Courage. Those are the three pieces of the Triforce, and to wield it you need to have balance in all three. Ganondorf's Power far outmatched his Wisdom and his Courage and thus he could not wield it. Instead the Triforce split into three and he only kept one - the Power."
"And the other two?" Strazio asked.
"They presumably went to two people whose Wisdom and Courage are strong. I have no idea who."
"So, if Ganondorf had the Power chunk of that Triforce, was he... what did that do for him?"
"It made him very powerful. He was able to dethrone the King, to bring all of Hyrule under his thumb and to corrupt certain areas with his evil will. The entire city around the royal castle turned into a deathzone full of zombies."
Karkat made a disgusted grimace at the mention of zombies while Strazio put down the loaves of bread he had just summoned for the four of them. Malon continued: "I got off... I'm not sure if for the better or the worse, but I wasn't killed. Ganondorf put our stable-hand in charge of my father's ranch. He in turn threatened to injure the animals if I ran away or disobeyed him so I stayed and hoped for rescue."
"And that never came", Strazio said blankly.
"Ohh! Oh, I know how this story ends!" Gamzee exclaimed. "She went and freed all the motherfuckin' animals and ran away!"
"DAMNIT GAMZ, SPOILERS!" Karkat yelled with his hands over his ears, as if that could let him unhear the troll's words.
"Well... I was going to, but that was when I was brought here", Malon pointed out. Her expression, which had shifted from serious to saddened, involuntarily brightened back up. Weird as they may be, Gamzee and Karkat were like an inexhaustible spring of cheerfulness that spreaded all around them. "I waited for almost seven years for someone to rescue me. At some point I realized that it's stupid to do that... that we all can be heroes. And that I should be that one hero that rescues me, not a... not a prince on a white horse."
"Hmmh. That's a nice way to put it", Strazio admitted. "Is that why you followed Tearen's invitation?"
"Among others. I wanted to learn what he had to share. His teachings certainly follow that philosophy. If we are 'God', if we are the universe, that means that there's nobody outside to help with our problems or fix things if we mess up either. It means that we're responsible."
Strazio put down several freshly conjured pieces of fruit that looked like grapefruit-sized blueberries and a large cheese wheel next to the bread. "Hm. It's a troublesome thought. But for now, dinner's served." As they helped each other to the food, he went on to say: "We should reach the gate tomorrow, and from there it's another day or two to Minas Tirith depending on how fast we move."
"That's weird..." remarked Malon. "I remember the gate being way closer when I came here. We should have reached it long ago."
"We're not headed through the Nexus Gate", Strazio explained, "but through the Camelot one. Going your way would be a detour."
"Hmm. I didn't know that the verses are interconnected."
"Just some to each other. We're fortunate to be in one that's linked directly to Camelot so we can skip the Nexus."
From there things moved to more idle chatter, which gradually died down as they sat around a warming campfire, then went to sleep after sorting out the order of night guarding with straws, Malon being the first. She sat into the night for a while, contemplating the night sky and watching out for predators of the animal and human kingdoms, but the night was a quiet one. And she tested out her shapeshifting. Weirdly enough, there was a form in her mind of a black crow that she could take on more easily than the others, almost thoughtlessly so. Something to do with the memories she had absorbed? No idea.
She left it at that. Her head didn't want to think anymore anyway, so she went to wake up Karkat for his turn, then crawled into her sleeping bag and let her mind wander off into the land of dreams.