riverviewlogs | [open] february catch all

Entry tags:

[open] february catch all

who: Zelda and you
what: catch all + TDM prompt
when: late January through all of February
where: various places
warnings: none

a. gramarye magic research

[A job. Zelda's never truly had one before, not in this capacity. She was born into the role of princess and had done her duty all her life, but it wasn't a profession she chose. She counts herself fortunate that the Field Researcher job she was offered rang true to the passions in her heart. If she had been anyone else, free to choose what she did in life... it might easily have been something like this.

So she was excited to get started at Gramarye, and be shown to her office. It was then that she realised this office used to belong to someone else. And she discovered quickly that they had left behind filing. A lot of filing. She's not averse to reading and sorting paperwork, but it's been so haphazardly stacked around the place that she has to start from scratch.

Much of her first few days is spent organising, as a result. She pulls folders out of cabinets, skims through the records, and loads up boxes with items that don't belong in here. It's common enough to find her marching out into the corridors with another box in her arms, heading for the archives while muttering under her breath about the mess.]

It really should have been moved months ago... did they never do any filing at all?

b. shopping

[Sturdy as her travel clothes are, Zelda needs more than one outfit. She sets out into the shopping districts in the evenings, armed with her pay and a determination to get at least a week's worth of clothing. She wends her way in and out of stores, picking through the wares and seeking out something practical.

Easier said than done. More than once she finds herself standing in the aisles with a printed blouse or a pair of jeans in her hands with a feeling of abject confusion. She turns to whoever is closest with a question.]

Excuse me, but... do you know if these pockets are meant to open?

c. library

[Reading through the guides at work isn't enough for Zelda. On the weekends she heads to the public library, notebook in hand and eager in spirit. It's a comfort to be among the stacks of books, all neatly ordered and waiting to be read. The library doesn't look much like the one in Hyrule Castle, but it reminds her of that cherished place all the same, just from its purpose.

She flits around the library in the afternoons, picking books off the shelves and reading at one of the desks by the windows. She also badgers the librarian for information - a lot. Someone save the poor woman from these endless questions.]

d. wildcard

[If you have another place you'd like to find Zelda, hit me up at

dudemeister or on PM! She's a busy bee and would check out everything.]

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[Zelda blinks with surprise as the jeans are whisked out of her hands. They aren't meant to open?]

But then - why go to the trouble of sewing a pocket in if they don't work?

[She doesn't see what the point could possibly be. It just seems... frustrating. Though it's clear Katsura also finds it equally annoying, given his reply. Tilting her head a bit at his comment about the bag, she doesn't find it quite as strange as the jeans themselves. Bags were useful when travelling, after all. She even has a pouch on her belt for such purposes.

She furrows her brow at the stitching around the back pockets when he holds them back out, as though this might pierce their mystery. When she sees what he means, her eyes widen with surprise.]

How absurd. Making something and then rendering it unworkable like this... I don't see why anyone should bother.

Not even the store attendants seem to know. It's ridiculous, right?

[ He offers the jeans back to Zelda. She can buy them if she wants, but he certainly isn't going to spend money on pants with fake pockets. Also, this pair probably won't fit. ]

But it seems like most stores here do the same thing. They make clothes less practical to make them more 'fashionable', instead of just keeping the fashionable clothes and practical clothes separate.

[ Katsura is used to there being a pretty clear line between 'clothes you wear to look nice' and 'clothes you wear for daily life'. For the line between the two to get so blurry is pretty odd to him. ]

[Taking the jeans in hand, she feels even less certain about them than before. It's not as though the pants she already owns have pockets... but they don't have foolish ornamental ones either.]

I wouldn't have thought pants like this would be considered fashionable to begin with. They look more like practical clothing to me. It's why I was looking at them.

[She's already found dresses that are suitable for more formal occasions. This, she had hoped, would be better for her actual work. Zelda purses her lips then puts the jeans back on the table.]

Though a bag would also be useful. Just not as a substitute for a pocket.

You should be careful of bags you find in stores like this, too.

[ So long as they're on the subject, he may as well give her a similar warning. ]

Plenty of them are made of poor materials, or only hold a few objects or once, and some of them look like they're water proof or made of leather but actually aren't. You're better off storing things in your sleeves than using some of them.

[ This world's fashion is dumb. Everything is so deceptive. And to illustrate his last point he lifts a hand and sways his kimono sleeve back and forth. Indeed, the bottom-most potion of his sleeve swings with a sort of heaviness that implies there's something more than fabric in there.

[She takes that all in, with an ever-deepening furrow between her brows.]

I see... they're all made for appearances, then, rather than actual use.

[The kind of things she would have seen among the noble women of the court. But those were so obviously separate from utility gear that it's still baffling to consider others might want to pretend at function like this.]

Is it just this store, or would there be places that sell items meant for stronger use?

[ Katsura nods, maybe a little more enthusiastically than possible. It's so dumb, he's glad Zelda understands.

He's also glad Zelda is asking a question he can help her with. He nods, turning to point back towards the shop entrance. ]

There are stores for camping and sporting on this same street. The supplies they sell there are more durable. Some of them even look aesthetically pleasing at the same time.

[ Making the whole fake pockets thing even dumber than before. ]

[She perks up at that, to hear there's a better store with more suitable items for sale. Camping is familiar to her as well.]

I hadn't thought of that. I'm used to camping, so hopefully the items in there are closer to what I'm used to.

[Offering a hand to Katsura, she smiles again, glad to be back on track.]

My name is Zelda.

[ Ahh, it's good to be helpful. Katsura smiles as well, reaching out to take Zelda's hand and give it a shake. ]

Katsura. It's good to meet you.

[ And since this store is clearly a waste of time, Katsura withdraws his hand and gestures to the street again. ]

I haven't been here long, but I at least know where the other stores are. I can show you, if you like.

Oh, if you could, I'd appreciate it. I find the layout here quite distracting at times.

[Which is the point, of course. Drawing people in with shiny racks of wares and sale signs. She's not used to such gaudy tactics.]

[ Fortunately, Katsura isn't aware that store use that particular tactic to get people browsing longer, either, so Zelda is spared another indignant rant. For now, at least.

But that's lucky in more way than one, too. It means they can have an actual conversation as they walk. ]

If the fashion here is strange to you then you must be another outsider, right? What sort of world are you from?

[She follows along after him, nodding her head.]

I am, yes. My world is known as Hyrule. The technology there isn't so advanced as here, and everything is much more spread out. We don't have any cities of this size at all.

[Maybe they will again, someday, now that the Calamity is past. But that will take time.]

Are you an outsider yourself?

[ Huh. That sounds like it could be said of almost anywhere - he's certainly run into more people that find this place unusual than not.

As for himself, he nods. ]

I am. I come from a place called Edo. The way you describe Hyrule sounds like what Edo was like when I was child. [ There's a brief pause before he adds, blandly ] But then aliens invaded. Cities and technology advanced rapidly after that.

Aliens...?

[She's not overly familiar with the term, but she can figure it out through context.]

I'm sorry to hear about the invasion. Our world had advanced technology long ago, but it's been thousands of years since anyone has known how to make it.

[ Katsura nods. ]

Aliens. Creatures that came from another world to seize control of ours. We call them Amanto.

[ No big deal, right? Katsura certainly seems more interested in Zelda's world than his own. Especially the mention of lost technology. ]

Something cataclysmic must have happened for that technology to be lost.

[ Sounds like something out of a video game. ]

And they are still in charge?

[It doesn't sound like an agreeable situation to her. But Katsura himself seems unperturbed by it all.]

It's possible, yes. There have been a few events like that in the past. Some of the technology remains, and we managed to get it operational again.

[ If she's around him enough, Zelda might figure out that Katsura seems incredibly chilled out about most things. As it is, his expression changes when she asks if the Amanto are still in charge, sliding into a frown, but even then it's mild enough to look more thoughtful than anything. ]

They are - but not for much longer.

[ And in that, at least, he sounds confident. Then he moves on. ]

It could still function after thousands of years...?

[ That's... fascinating, actually. ]

[How curious. At least it seems that something might be done about it soon.]

Will there be some kind of uprising...? After years spent like that, I wouldn't be surprised.

[Zelda nods energetically, always keen to talk about her area of interest.]

They do, it's quite remarkable. We haven't been able to work out what the power sources are made of even though we pulled some of the pieces apart. But to still be working after thousands of years, it must be incredibly resilient. I'm hoping that I can find out more about it here, since there is a lot of information about technology that I wouldn't be able to get at home.

[ Zelda gets a nod in response to her question about the uprising, but this time Katsura doesn't elaborate. Those are details for another time, maybe.

Instead he seems focused on what she explains about her world. Knowing about weird ancient technology from a place he's never going to visit doesn't do him an abundance of good, but learning about Zelda's talents does. ]

So you're a researcher yourself, then? I've heard the resources here are extraordinary, even given the circumstances.

Yes, I suppose you could say that. [She wouldn't define herself that way at home, if only because 'princess' must come first. But here, she doesn't mind.] And they are. Even just the library has a huge range of material on technology and engineering that I've never seen before. It's quite different from trying to work it all out yourself.

[ Truthfully, even hearing that she's more of a princess than a researcher wouldn't be that unusual to Katsura. He knows some strange people. ]

I'll be sure to seek you out if I have any questions, then.

[ He sounds like he means it, too. Before eh can comment on it further, though, he lifts a hand to point at a particular store that has a variety of camping gear on display in the front window. ]

Here we are.

Oh - of course, I'd be happy to help. If I can.

[She isn't quite ready to claim superior knowledge on anything in the Quarantine. Far from it. But she's sincere in wanting to help if Katsura was to ask. Zelda turns to look where he's pointing, eyes widening a bit at the sight of the camping store.]

That does look more like what I'm used to. At the least it doesn't look so flimsy.

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