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randomwriteronline · 3 years

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We are stopping in a town. It's a small place and there are things that everybody needs to get (except Sea, because he doesn't need to get anything) and it will be a quick thing.

You don't want to be there.

Technically it's not bad. Because you can't see the adults.

You can smell them and hear them and feel them and you don't want to be anywhere near them at any time.

You told them all you can stay with Epona outside, if she doesn't mind.

(You are always a bit afraid that she will be mad of what you did... Then. Even though Goats says that this is not the same horse. You are not sure, because she smells the same - Moss says all horses smell the same, which is not fully true, because they can smell very different: and Epona smells just like the horse from... Then. And you know it.)

Bell said immediately that he doesn't trust a blind baby alone with a horse.

You told him you're not a baby.

Gold said that still, you're blind, and he too would not trust you alone with a horse.

You didn't want to come anyways.

Your friend told you it would have been better if you came along, just in case. He's scared that if somebody sees you alone they might hurt you.

He knows you can defend yourself but also he doesn't want people to hurt you in general, because he loves you.

You still didn't want to come.

Mouse said you could stay with him if it made you feel safer, and it would have!

But he needed to go to the blacksmiths to do things like make swords (probably), and it's a nasty place, the one of blacksmiths, because it smells bad and it has loud noises and people and it's too hot, and so you said no thank you.

Honestly they all needed to get things in places full of smells and noises and people, so really you were all back to the beginning.

Though Sea didn't need anything. He just wanted to see the armors and that's it.

So he said you could have gone with him!

Gold said that wasn't much different from the situation of the horse and the blind child (that's you).

Sea told him to shut the fuck up because he can protect you damn well on his own (he said those like that, fuck and damn, and it makes you laugh because he says them really hard) because he's big enough, and when he said that he held your hand.

He has a very strange hand, like it's been worked on with ropes, and it feels funny and nice to the touch. You held it back. It's nice.

There was some silence.

You imagine they looked at each other, because that's what that silence sounds like.

Then your friend told you in Terminian to eat their fingers if they act weird, and then told Sea it was fine and you could go together.

You still don't like the place.

It smells everywhere like adults and it's full of noises.

The Woods are noisy too, but in a different way. It doesn't scare you all around - not if you're a Skull Kid ar least. It's noisy in a comforting way, like the murmur of a lullaby.

The smells are too much.

You hide your nose in Sea's hair.

Sea is the right height. He is the right height because when you hug him your arms rest on his shoulders, instead of wrapping around his legs, and your face falls right in his coarse hair, where the smell of the sea is the strongest.

You have weird thoughts on the sea: it reminds you of the Giants, of when you played together, mostly. Sometimes it reminds you of eggs and pirates and it scares you, and you don't like it anymore. But Sea told you more about the sea, and so you think of that: he told you about the boat that talked with a lion head and of his friend Tetra who could beat you in a fight (and you don't know many girls but Tatl was very tough and rough and nice, so it's not hard to believe him), and he told you of treasures and the winds on his face, and of his friends who are also pirates but don't steal eggs, and of the Ocean King and of Linebeck - you don't like him because he's an adult, but you want to meet him anyways because he sounds like the perfect person to pull a prank on.

You think of all that and it's good.

"Are you alright?" Sea asks you.

You nod and hum. You're not very alright, actually, but he helps.

The mask also helps. The Skull Mask, the one your friend gave you. When you put it on it makes you feel safe. Your friend made a very sweet sound when you took it out of your hat to put it on.

You still have that old thing, he said it like that, very nice and sweet and surprised. And you kept it so well too, he told you also.

Of course, you said. It's your gift and I like it very much.

You like to think that your friend smiled.

Sea squeezes your hand. It feels nice.

Somebody yells something your way and you don't really hear the words because it sounds like an adult, and it scares you and you freeze a little.

Sea says fuck off! (very loud, because you fell back a little, in the dark dark inside of your head, and you hear him clearly despite the softening of all senses around you as the other who cannot speak moves to be behind your face), and the somebody laughs with their adult voice.

You don't like that. You don't like that. You don't like that.

(You fall back fully. The back of the dark dark inside of your head feels real. The other stiffens, nails ready.)

Somebody else also talks and Sea yells back at them again.

(The other who also cannot speak moves a little further, just in case thorns and vines might be needed.)

You don't like that. You don't like that. You don't like that.

The adult voices come closer and Sea starts walking faster. You concentrate on the scent of the sea on his shoulder. The adult voices are too loud and you can't smell.

The adult voices keep coming closer and closer and Sea yells worse and worse things at them and they keep laughing and they're loud and a hand grabs your shoulder.

You hiss.

You hiss like a beast.

You hiss like a beast gurgling blood.

One of the adult voices yells Great Din! horrified and lets go of your shoulder, and you hear faintly the adult footsteps falling back while trying to run away.

You hiss more and show your teeth (you hope that you're showing them and that they can see them because they're sharp and they should know you could eat their fingers if you wanted) and shiver so that your body rattles really loud and scary like bones that are breaking.

Sea yells something terrible at them as the adult voices run away and shout and spit something like insults right back at him, but you can't hear anything over your rattles.

Then Sea holds your arm gently, to calm you and make you stop shivering, and he says really soft in your ear: "What was that?"

There is a thing, when you're scared.

Because you fall so back, it's hard to speak.

And the other cannot speak.

The other also cannot speak.

You don't really know why that is.

The words don't work.

They just can't come out.

You move your head up and down like if you were trying to swallow something.

You strain to get to your face and mouth.

"Scared."

That's all that comes out. Your voice rasps against your throat as if you had not drank for a long time.

You fall back to the dark dark inside of your head. The other - not that one, the other - is there now. No use in nails and sharp teeth now. Now there are thorns if needed.

Sea wraps your shoulders in half a hug.

You're gripping his arm really hard - it probably hurts him. You swallow and loosen your hands around him.

"Do you want to eat something?" Sea asks you. He has a very sweet voice. He sounds like he knows how to handle this.

You nod.

Food would be nice.

You hold him tight as he drags you to places. There are smells of adults all around, but soon there's foods too, fruits and vegetables and meats and other things.

This is good.

This makes you go up a little.

"Is fruit ok?" Sea asks you softly.

You nod.

There's many. Many many many. They smell sweet, sweet, sweet, and you don't know which to choose. Sea waits. Maybe he's looking too.

You move a bit to reach your mouth.

" 'icots," you murmur.

"What?"

" 'pricots."

Sea puts one apricot in your hand.

"Take bites," he tells you, "Don't eat it whole."

The juice of the apricot falls down your chin, and you smell it spilling from Sea's teeth too. They are very good apricots. Sea gets prunes, too, and they're very sweet. They're very sweet, and they help you feel better.

(The other who cannot speak and the other who cannot speak fall back in the dark dark inside of your head. You are safe.)

"Are you feeling better?" Sea asks.

You lick the juice off your mouth and nod.

You are safe.

"I wanted to see some armor." Sea tells you, very nicely. "I saw a shop with some outside - could you manage to go?"

There will be adults, that's sure. But Sea was very nice, and calmed you down with fruit (you hear the sound of rupies on wood and feel Sea straining forward a little - he's paying for the apricots and plums), and if he finds the armor maybe you can get it for him, like a gift! Like a thank you gift.

You nod.

"We go," you murmur.

Sea holds your hand and pulls you along, through the smells and noises, and you sink your face in his shoulder and the sea rises to wrap around you like a blanket.

He is so so soft.

The shop smells like things left to soak and dry out in the sun, fabric and some metal.

Somebody, an adult moves closer to you on the wooden floor - you hear the clacking of shoes - and you hide a little more behind Sea's good smelling shoulder.

"Do you need help?" it sounds like it's a lady who speaks.

"Are we allowed to touch or should we...?" Sea begins. The hand you hold squeezes back at you.

"Of course," the lady says.

Sea says thank you, and another thing, and the shoes go away on the wooden floor. He puts your hand on a metal thing: "Look at that!" he whispers, excited.

You spread your palm on it. It's cold, and it sinks deep in the metal in certain places, like it's covered in weird carvings. They make very good drawings: it's like a long snake, or a flower, or a weird kind of spiral full of angles all over. It's kind of big.

"It's so neat, isn't it?" Sea says.

You find it just nice. You don't like it much, armors and metal. But the drawings are nice.

"It's neat," you reply.

You like to think Sea is grinning.

"I'm gonna try this on," he says, and walks a little to the side.

You follow him.

He gently pries his arm free from your fingers: "Look if there's something you like," he tells you.

You grab his arm again.

"I'll be right here," Sea assures you. "You can smell me, right? I'll be right here."

"Hm." you think. "I'll look for armor."

"You want some too?"

"No, for you."

And off you go.

You sniff out all the big pieces of metal in the area and check all of them while avoiding the lady at all costs. Most of these are really boring and plain, though - not even a drawing or carving on them! Maybe you could make some. But you're not really sure how carving metal works. Maybe you could ask Mouse. He makes swords mostly, but maybe he can do carvings and drawings on armor. You should ask him before getting it.

Wait! This one... It's made of small pieces of metal, not big plates. They feel fun under your fingers and they're shaped like drops, or scales. More like scales. If you shake it it makes a fun sound.

This one is nice.

You follow the smell of the sea back to Sea, with the metal clinking in your arms: "Sea," you call once you're close enough.

A lot of metal falls.

The noise makes you cringe.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Sea yells quietly.

You ignore his words and raise the clinking scales: "For you."

You wait until you feel the weight of the scale-armor being lifted from your palms even just a little and let go of it completely: it falls on itself and on Sea’s arms with a tinkering sound. Before he can stop you or tell you anything you're gone already, off to find more nice metal if there's any.

Your hand runs across fabrics to find harsher materials among the flow of cloth. They all feel smooth and rough, mostly, and not much more, and when you test your own shirt in your palm it feels not much different.

The armors are the same boring ones you already found. Are there no others?

You whine.

(Very softly - so the lady can't hear you.)

Maybe there's nice fabrics.

You can't see what colors they are, but Moss can always dye them if Sea doesn't like how they look, so maybe if the cloth feels good you can get that for Sea instead of armor.

Would Sea like smoother or rougher cloth?

Smoother is nicer.

It feels nicer on the body.

You will look for the smoother fabrics and if they are good you will take them to him.

That sounds nice.

You sort through the rougher pieces to get to the ones that begin to slide off of your touch so smooth that you can almost see the light dancing on their folds. There's shirts and pants and tunics and capes, and sometimes belts. Maybe some have drawings... It would be nice to know that. You'll ask Sea.

Oh! This one has beads. Pretty.

And this?

This...

This feels good. This feels so good. It's like... It's like really short fur, on one side, and something soft and nice on the other - it feels good! If you run your hand up it scratches a little and feels weird and if you run it down it feels soft and nice and so so so so so so good and what is this? It feels good! So good! You like it so much. So much. It's so good. What is it? It's so good. It feels great.

"Sea," you call as you keep holding and releasing the fabric - it's so good, it feels so good, so good! - "Sea! Sea!"

"Can I help you?"

You slam back into the dark dark inside of your head.

The other who cannot speak (not the other with hands like claws, the other with thorns) is up behind the face and the mask.

Your shoulders stiffen, your legs stiffen, holding tight the fabric you take a few steps back. Scent. The ocean sways up to your nose faintly, traces a path in the space: you turn and go, go, go, as fast as you can.

The saltwater meets you halfway. You nearly slam right into it.

Your hands hold onto him, his body is turned to shield you. The scent is strong enough to drown out the approaching footsteps.

"I'm sorry," the lady speaks softly - she didn't expect it maybe. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I was... I thought your sister might have needed..."

Sea doesn't answer immediately. His head turns a little (his hair brushes the mask).

"Ah - I'm sorry, 's shy," he finally says. His hand wraps around yours protectively, and his voice is kind of sheepish: "Yes, 's just really shy with strangers is all."

The lady might be smiling a little. Her sigh seems relieved.

"We've got this, thank you," Sea says nicely.

The lady walks away saying that if you need help you can call her. You won't. But thanks.

The sea calms you.

You're safe.

"What's wrong?" Sea asks you.

The fabric - in your hand. You reemerge from the dark dark inside of your head and shove the good cloth against him, grinning: "This."

He grabs it. His grip feels confused.

"It feels weird? Bad?"

"No! No no, touch it - it's good, right? It's so good - touch it, touch it! It's so good, right?"

"It's... I guess it's nice, yes."

"You like it?"

Sea waits a moment.

"You like it?"

"Yes, it's nice to the touch."

"You want it?"

Another moment.

"You want it?"

"It's a skirt."

So? "You want it?"

"Skull Kid, it's a skirt."

"Ok, but you want it?"

"I - no, Skull Kid, it's a skirt, it's a girl thing. Girls wear them."

Hm.

"Ok. But do you want it or not."

"I said no!"

"But it's so nice."

"I- it's - do you want it?"

"I asked you."

"I know, I said no. Now, do you want it?"

Do you?

"I wanted to get things for you," you murmur sheepishly. Your hands play with the fabric. "To thank you. For the fruit and before."

Sea makes a sound. You're not sure what it sounds like.

"If you want it you should get it." Sea tells you, and he sounds kind of like a brother, only a little bit.

"And for you?"

"I haven't found anything," Sea huffs, "It's all the wrong size and it stiffens me too much."

"Even the scales?"

"They're just really heavy,” Sea tells you. He sounds sheepish, and it makes you feel really bad, because you brought the scales to him thinking they’d be good, but you were wrong.

Do you look sorry? You probably look sorry. Sea puts his hand on you and it’s saltwater crawling up your cheek: “It’s fine, I never find any that I like! It’s not like they’re that good anyways - they takes away all the slinkyness, you know?”

“The sneaky?” you murmur.

“Yeah!” Sea’s voice gets a little lower and his hair brushes on your head, and you remember he said it’s yellow, yellow, yellow. “Can you imagine your friend crawling in tunnels and through bushes?”

You snicker. He’d make a mess! He’d get stuck down like a turtle on its back.

Sea snickers with you (you imagine he’s grinning); he pushes the nice feeling cloth in your hands and shoves you a little into curtains that smell like dust and old air. Does he want you to try it on? You search a little with your hands for an opening and pull it over your hat until it sits on your shoulders. You wave your arms: it feels nice, the flapping, and it dances around his neck, and the fabric under the fuzz is smooth and so so so nice.

“That’s not how you wear a skirt!” Sea laughs.

“It’s nice though!” you argue.

Sea pulls it back up a bit to make your arms slide out of it - you’re so thin, they slip right through. Your shirt poofs up when the fabric falls down, down, down to the floor. Maybe you’re too thin. Sea fastens it around you with his belt.

You hands clasp around it. It’s soft and fuzzy and smooth and good, so good, so nice, and then you wave it up for a second and oh sacred Grove. You wave it up and down more. Oh sacred Grove sweet secrets of the Lost Woods oh Giants this is amazing. You flap your arms and then you flap them stronger and laugh because it feels so! So!! So!!

Sea says something and his hands weigh on the folds to stop them but you can’t hear him over the flapping and the feeling the flapping gives you because it’s so so good and you want to feel it forever.

Or at least until your arms are tired.

Ok, now your arms are tired.

You still giggle.

“You like it?” Sea asks. You know he knows you do, but still, you nod a lot.

He holds your hand and drags you nicely to the lady’s counter.

Wait. Does he want to pay for it?

Before the lady can say anything or Sea can move you lift your hat and shake it on the table. You shake it for a while, trying to think how much tinkering you should hear before you stop: how much is a skirt worth? ... Hm, this much. Like this should be enough. The lady doesn’t say anything so it’s probably the right much. Ok you can go bye see you never! Sea pulls you a little more to keep you there and tries to say something, but you’re very tired now, so your hand pops off and you go out of the door (the skirt makes a good feeling when walking).

There’s some words and tinkering, and then sea water smell rushes up to you.

“What was that?” Sea asks you, and he almost shouts.

“Paid for it.” you say simply.

“With all these?!” the clinging noise makes you think he has his arms full of rupies and he’s showing them to you.

“Were they enough?”

“They are way too many!”

“But they were enough.”

“That’s not - how did you eve have these?”

You shrug. “I find them,” you say: “I used to look for the prettier ones. The red and the orange ones I like the most, and the purple ones. But they’re all nice.”

Sea inhales like he’s about to say something, then stops.

“How do they fit in your hat?” he asks you.

“It’s a very good hat.” you answer.

Sea says nothing.

“You can keep them if you want,” you say. It’s good enough, right?

Because Sea didn’t find anything. But if he needs anything, it’s like you pay for it. So he doesn’t have to worry. It’s good enough, right?

“Really?” Sea asks.

You nod.

“You’re all weird,” Sea says, like he can’t believe it, but not in a nasty way.

“And you’re silly.” you grin.

“Am not!”

“Yes you are, yes you are!”

He shoves you a little with his shoulder - he clings and tinkers, so he’s putting the rupies away.

“What color is it?” you ask suddenly.

“Uh?” he fumbles a bit with something. “The skirt -? It’s, uh, it’s very dark green, but sometimes not.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you move it the fuzz shifts and makes these very bright splashes of light.”

“Oh!”

That must look beautiful.

“Once we’re with the others, you give me my belt back.”

“You want another one?”

“No, don’t worry. We’ll ask L- Gold, to make the waist a little smaller.”

“I wanna wear it on my shoulders too, though.”

“I don’t think you will be able to do that - you’ve got a big head.”

“I’ll pop it off then.”

“Ha! Oh, wait, about that...”

Sea puts your hand back on your wrist.

“Oh! Thank you,” you say, and you bump your face on his cheek, “I forgot it.”

Sea makes a laugh like a bird with a sore throat: “How can you forget that kind of thing?!”

You shrug, and blow a raspberry on his neck for fun. Sea hits his head on the horns of the Skull Mask, not enough to get hurt for real, and shoves his palm in your face as you both snicker; his body is soft and salty and it smells so very much like that ocean so wide and blue and beautiful that he lives in.

#Skull kid #skullkid #linked universe #wind lu #time lu #warriors lu #four lu #legend lu #random writing #second person narration #wow this took. so long #wind as a slew of silver/purple/orange/yellow rupies fall from skull kid's hat: wHAT the fUCK #skull kid is supposed to have dissociative identity disorder #all fronts are called skull kid as well #if i wrote it wrong PLEASE tell me and ill do my best to change it

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