Pinned
Well, say hello to Scout (they/them), a completely normal Hylian that definitely isn't part frog and definitely isn't obsessive about heroes.
Aaaaand I already don't know what else to add.
They're probably wherever Caerule (older Blue) is. It's not like he could go anywhere alone, anyways!
Uhhhh @the-evil-librarian hi I forgot to make an intro post until now so hi
*There’s humming, the song calming. A boy rounds the corner, not watching where he’s going. He has brown hair with black roots, and striking yellow is at the center of his teal eyes. His arms and legs are covered in a multitude of scars, and he has a red scarf around his neck. He doesn’t seem to notice you, enjoying his song. He seems a little sad.
[They had just started on their walk back to town. They need to buy some groceries, and it's not like they have a horse. They would usually bring Fay along with them, but now that they have Blue, Fay will guard him. Can't have him trying to escape, after all.]
[When they see you, they can't help but tilt their head a little. Most people don't traverse this path, since there's really nothing here but a get, spread apart, houses. They also don't recognize you whatsoever.]
*He pauses, looking over at you.
Oh- hey!
*He doesn’t know what to say. He gets a strange sense from you — one that is..familiar. He can’t even tell if that’s good or not.
What, uh. What’re you doing?
I'm just headin' to town to do some shoppin'.
[Hm. You're acting like they know you. Or maybe you just don't know how to talk to people. Which, they often struggle to understand. Learning how to act normal was the first thing Scout ever learned.]
Who are ya?
Cool. Can I, um. Come with you? I’m lost.
I’m Roxas!
*He clearly has no idea what he’s meant to do here, but he doesn’t like being alone. He never has.
Sure, whatever.
I'm Scout. Nice to meet ya.
[This niceties are always so boring. Unfortunately, they don't want to be known only as the "nearby freak." They have to keep things under wraps.]
Yeah! Uh. Nice to, meet you too.
*Is that what normal people say when meeting people? He thinks that’s weird.
*He walks next to Scout, brushing his hair down to its slicked, pointy style.
Stupid hair. Dumbass shit.
*He would talk about something. But he’s not sure what to talk about.
Looks fine to me. We're just headin' into town. I gotta buy some things.
[They're really not sure why you'd tag along with a random stranger just because you're lost. You really don't know what they're really like.]
Cool!
….Do you actually, Y’know, pay for it? My buddy Axel only pays for ice cream. He’s really good at, like, ‘sleight of hand’ or whatever it’s called. It’s cool, watching him do it! He’s really good at it.
*He seems to just be rambling.
Yeah, I pay. Can't risk endin' up in jail.
[That would be inconvenient. Then they wouldn't be able to take care of Blue! And that pour soul needs their help!]
Maybe one day I'll try it out, but I've got someone at home.
*He blinks.
Jail? The hell is jail?
I can try to if you want! I learned from Axel.
……Actually maybe not, don’t wanna get Sora in trouble and all… Eh, maybe if I’m sneaky enough I’ll try it. If I want anything bad enough.
Someone at home?
*He remembers that phrase. The memories aren’t the ones he made, but he is in them.
Yeah, someone at home. He's got a few problems, so really, leavin' him alone even for a few minutes has me worried.
[Can't have him attempting to escape, after all.]
And jail is where the people who get caught doin' "bad things" end up.
Oh. So, what bad things?
*He has an idea, from those memories he has. He refuses to use them — not when he’ll just get rid of them at… Some point.
Do all normal people have someone like that at home? Whaddya mean by problems?
[Well, you like to ask questions. Not that they mind, they just have to be careful. Can't let it slip that they blinded someone and kidnapped him after.]
Not everyone has someone else at home like that, but it's common. Lots of people need extra help, and normal people are willin' to lend a hand.
As an example, my friend at home is blind. He's not used to it, and needs extra help gettin' around.
[Not like they'll ever let him get used to it.]
Oh! Yeah, that’s nice of people. Nobody in the Organization would’ve ever helped someone like that…Maybe Axel would’ve, but even our friendship started just cause he was told to help me out.
Blind….That means, uh, he can’t see, right? Like ever, at all?
*He believes the answer, that’s obvious.
Yeah, he can't see a thing. Though, he can see light, I think.
[They tilt your head slightly at you. An organization, huh? Surely, yours is not the same as what they were thinking. You don't seem like a chimera. Plus, your face isn't even remotely familiar.]
An organization, eh?
Oh. Cool!
*He shrugs at the mention of the Organization.
Yeah. Organization 13, place I was essentially born and raised. …That’s weird to say. But yeah, I spent all my time there until fucking Riku helped that bitchass motherfucker put in a goddamn fake town with fake fucking memories.
*He’s getting angry.
I hate that fucker. He’s such a goddamn asshole. Then what, he wants to repent? Atone? I don’t even know what the fuck that means! He gave me fucking memories that aren’t really mine, of me having a normal fucking life, and now I can hardly tell what’s real and what’s fake! He’s a fucking asshole!
Huh. Never heard of a place like that. Well, most organizations prefer to stay underground, yeah? I'm lucky I found the one I did, after all.
My organization is less likely to give people fake memories, after all.
[They really don't understand what you're talking about. But oh well!]
What’d da mean by underground?
*He really doesn’t know anything either, does he.
Well, yours sounds much better than my shithole.
…Wasn’t all bad. Made a couple good friends! ….Even if one made me terminate her.. And I left the other behind….
Well, ya know! Away from the public eye, and all that. Underground.
Friends, eh? I don't got much of the capacity for friends anymore. Made a few goods ones in there, though.
[If they can even call anyone their friend. They lost the ability to want to stay with someone a long time ago.]
[It's been hours since Scout left. They really didn't expect the detour after their little checkup. Apparently they fell into a dream for a time. But, they're very grateful for convenient portals. Like this one! They tripped into it and was relieved to see familiar scenery.]
[You should be only a few blocks away! Unless if you left. In that case, they'll have to just track you down and teach you some sort of lesson.]
[They approach the bench very, very silently.]
[He can’t hear you, not at all. His arms are loosely crossed, and he’s tapping his foot against the ground. He looks bored, to say the least. But he’s barely moved an inch.]
[They creep up behind you before suddenly placing their hands on your shoulders with a very loud:] Hi Blue!! Did ya miss me?
[All of his thoughts grind to a halt, and off of pure instinct and habit, he snaps around to grab onto both of your wrists, stand with on foot on the bench for extra leverage, and all of the sudden you’re pulled off of your feet and thrown to the ground stomach first, one arm behind your back, and a knee grinding into your back as well. It’s a bit too quick and practiced for you to get all of it.]
[He’s breathing heavily, only realising he did all of that without sight after a few seconds when his mind clears just a little. He’s shocked at even his own actions, despite having done this maneuver too many times to count.]
[They land on the ground with a loud grunt and fall stock still.]
[They have to take a few moments to process what just happened, and to regain their breath. Well, they sure didn't expect this reaction!]
[After those couple moment, they start trying to wrench you off of them.]
Fucking- get off me!
[He’s in the perfect position to break your arm. He thinks of it for only a second before he stands and takes a single step backwards, and then he freezes in place. He’s facing down to you, though he doesn’t realise. He's still in a bit of panic, that much is obvious.]
[They get up with an exasperated sigh.]
Really, that's how ya greet me?
[They sound annoyed. And they especially sound like they're putting all the blame on you. Sure, they startled you, but you really didn't need to act that extreme! Now they're going to have a sore stomach for a while!]
don’t fucking do that, and maybe i wouldn’t.
[He crosses his arms, wincing as he does so, though it’s discreet.]
Right. Well.
[They'll have to do something about this behavior. They're so lucky they happened to pick up the perfect item on the way to meeting with Fifteen! They're curious to test it out.]
[They have no idea if anyone knows what inn they're at now. Well, they know of one in town that has some pretty good soundproofing.]
We're leavin'.
great.
[Wow. He’s so excited to be alone in a room with you again, because that turned out so well last time. He is definitely not being sarcastic with himself whatsoever.]
[…He can’t leave on his own. He doesn’t even remember where the bench is. It’s so humiliating! He’s an adult, he should be able to do this shit on his own.]
[They grab your left hand, paying no mind to any potential shows of pain. You're going to regret acting this way against them.]
[They start walking without much warning. They really want to just go without guiding you. But.... They're in a public place.]
[He realises the bandages should probably be changed. With all this pretending the cuts aren’t there, and this manhandling, he’s sure that at least something has been ripped open at one point. It’s not like he got any stitches.]
[While he’s a bit startled, he’s come to expect this from you, so he recovers quickly and starts following. Though the distant panic in the back of his mind doesn’t go unnoticed.]
[They move in a different way than how you got here. Different twists, different turns, to the point where it's hard to tell what direction you might be moving.]
[Eventually, the flat stone pavement gives way to dirt road.]
[He stumbles a little when he steps onto the dirt, not expecting it, but he regains his stability well enough.] where the fuck are you taking me….?
[They keep moving at a rather quick pace, not bothering to slow down. In fact, the further from the town they get, they move just a bit faster.]
Well, I don't quite have the money to stay in an inn forever, ya know. Ya should be grateful I was willin' to spend this much money for ya.
[Huffing, he’s forced to move just as quick as you despite the increased risk of tripping on something. Well, at least if he trips, you’ll go down with him.] well i’m not because you’re just making my life a living hell! [He doesn’t even think to ask where you might be taking him instead.]
Ya got someone to take care of ya while ya deal with havin' no vision! Really, that's no livin' hell. Be grateful.
[Their voice turns bitter as they speak. They can't believe you don't appreciate their efforts! They have to do so many things to make sure you're living and not about to suddenly die. Besides, keeping a hero under their grasp is harder than they thought it would be!
this isn’t what care looks like…
[It’s like you don’t even remember that he can’t see anything sometimes. Not warning him for stairs, moving too quickly, not warning him for— So many things! It drives him crazy! He doesn’t know what to expect moment from moment and it’s just such the littlest things too, things that he hadn’t even realised mattered until now. Knowing when to expect changes in the ground below him, for example.]
[…This isn’t care. This is— This is just trying to control him. He’s not that stupid, he can recognize this for what it is! And he can also recognize that it’s working. How the hell is he even supposed to escape it?! This really is just living hell!]
[If they heard you, they show no sign of hearing. They hum some sort of song as they walk. At some point, they take a fork down the road, specifically down a road with a lot more twigs and rocks.]
[Again, even though he notices the slight change, he can’t do anything about it and almost immediately stumbles, though is forced to keep going from the pain of you grabbing his injured hand. You can tell that he’s shaking slightly, and that the fingers that do actually work are gripped onto your hand tightly, almost to the point of pain. After all with only two working fingers on that hand, it would be just that much easier to accidentally let go.]
[They slow slightly when you trip, mainly because they're now focusing on not tripping themselves. This road has always been a bit rocky. It leads to a few houses in various directions. They can't even call their neighbors much of neighbors. Everyone is far apart out here, and they're just now realizing how much of an advantage that is now.]
[He hisses in pain when he accidentally stubs his toe on a rock. It would be wonderful if he never had to go down this road ever again. This actually sucks more than just sitting on that bench and probably being stared at all day, he can’t wait for it to just be over or lead to stone pathways or anything else!]
[They take a few turns here and there, and the pathways only get less and less defined at they go on. They never really bothered with maintaining the road that leads to their home.]
[Well, at least they're almost there.]
[This is just— This is the woods. You’ve taken him out in the middle of the woods and now you’re going to murder him. Not exactly how he thought his life would end, but whatever!]
[…]
[He yelps as his foot gets caught on a tree root, and he tumbles onto the ground. With how tight his grip on your hand was, you go down with him.]
[They follow you down with a small yelp. Clearly, they were not expecting this. They push themselves up and glare down at you.]
Really? Gonna pull me down with ya? Well, we're almost there. Get up.
maybe if you told me where anything fucking was, this wouldn’t happen, dipshit.
[He too pushes himself up, wincing slightly when there’s a small ache in his ankle. Well, at least it doesn’t feel broken or anything. It’ll probably be sore for a while though.]
[…He realises he doesn’t know where you are anymore. Just listening for your voice can’t be that reliable, right? He stays standing in place until you do something.]
[They're realizing that having control over a blind person is rather inconvenient. They have to lead you everywhere all the time. But also, it's an excuse to touch you! Once that you can't even fight.]
[...Huh. Maybe they should be grateful for your blindness. The Goddesses have gifted them with this benefit, and that shouldn't just be scowling at every slight inconvenience it may cause.]
[In the end, your blindness is how they keep you under their thumb.]
[This time, they grab at your right hand. After all, they need their own right hand to unlock the door.]
[He gives a relived sigh that he hates when he actually has a point of reference for the world around him again. Then he immediately tenses because he should not be thinking of you like that. ]
[…He’s also at the very least grateful that you grabbed his other hand. His other, completely fucked up one, really deserves a break.]
[As they continue on, their humming takes on a bit of a happier tune. They have no reason to be grumpy! In the past few days alone, they've had the chance to meet two heroes! Though... That one younger one was a bit defunct, and you're retired. But that's not a big deal! Still heroes nonetheless!]
[Their whole body hurts now, yeah. But they can teach you how to act. Really, not a huge deal.]
[WHY the FUCK is he less panicky when you’re in front of him, you’re literally a shit guide and you suck at— Everything!]
[He scowls as he steps a bit closer to you. He tells himself that it’s because you might clear out the path for him with your stupid feet. Fuck his life, it sucks.]
[After a moment, they come to slow that turns into a stop. They look ahead of them with a fond smile.]
Well, here we are: my small home. Honestly, a shame ya can't see it.
[It's a small, one story house. Only one bedroom and bath. Technically there's two other bedrooms, but those are being repurposed. One room is their hero collection, and the other is a study room..... With every book about heroes they've ever found.]
it’s crazy you think i actually give a shit.
[He scoffs, though he would very much like to get off this stupid road. Start memorizing the layout of the house so that maybe he can work on an escape plan or something.]
It's ya home now, ya know.
[As they lead you in, they make sure to turn on every light and lantern immediately. They're not about to let you get oriented with everything.]
anyplace with you in it is hardly a fuckin’ place to call home.
[He grimaces when the lights are turned on, but the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet is more than welcoming.]
[They huff unhappily at that. Well, they were hoping you'd just calm down in your own, but clearly not.]
[They pull away from you for a moment so they can close and lock the door. They're only gone for a moment before they return and get real close to your face.]
Ya know, I don't appreciate the way ya talk about me.
[He steps away from you, scowling again.] maybe don’t be such a dick and that would change! or maybe, y’know, you shouldn’t have blinded me?!
[They just step closer again and place a hand on your shoulder.]
Well, bub, I think ya need to learn some things. I'm real achy thanks to ya, and ya show me no respect, even when I am improving your life! That's the least I ask from ya for all of this.
[He grabs your wrist and throws your hand off of him.]
you’re improving nothing. you’re just making everything worse!
Nobody else would take ya in. Ya're lucky enough to have even someone like me!
[But clearly, they're not getting through to you. So, they'll just have to do things the hard way.]
[Their hand reaches I to their bag, and they barely have to search to find what they want.]
you blinded me! [He nearly screams it. He honestly didn’t know he was this angry about this, but he supposes it’s understandable.] you fucking blind me and you expect me to like you?! what kind of fucking hylia’s bitch are you?! a high one?! cause you sure damn sound like it!
...Alright. That's enough.
[Their voice is uncharacteristically cold as they step up to you. They've let you yell and scream enough.]
[In one swift movement, their hands are near your neck, and then there's something cold pressed against your neck. You can hear a click, and they reach behind you to flick something. Only then do they step away.]
wh— what the fuck— [He doesn’t have the time to prepare before it’s clasped around his neck, and he immediately takes several steps away from you to try and grab the thing off of himself.] is this a fucking collar?! what the fuck kind of shit are you into?!
[He starts trying to unclasp the back, and when he gets frustrated he just starts tugging.]
Ya know, I was tryin' to keep ya away from a world of pain earlier. Ya didn't listen, so ya get what's comin' to ya.
[They watch you struggle for a few minutes. It's cute, especially when they know that thing isn't coming off. But, the lesson learning has to start at some point.]
[They hold a remote in their hand. All it has is a button, a dial, and a switch. But... They'll watch for just a moment longer.]
what the fuck does that mean?! take this stupid thing off of me, you cocksucking assbag—
[He continues to just tug at it, trying to break it or something. Anything. When that doesn’t work, he starts pulling at it from the front instead, though he stops when he feels two prongs coming from the collar thing. Just what the hell is this?!]
Ya just have to deal with it, bub.
[They flick the dial on the remote to a 5. This should mainly just be a bit painful. And they press the button.]
[He jolts when he feels a pain, stopping to try and process what just happened. That hurt. Okay. The weed collar thing hurts. Great.]
[Wait, is this—] did you put a fucking shock collar on me?! i’m not a goddessdamned dog! stop treating me like one!
[And then he goes back to tugging. The pain is ignorable enough, and definitely not the worst he’s felt. Though he’s a bit more… Sensitive to electricity than he should be.]
Tuggin' on it isn't gonna help ya.
[They up the dial to 6, and press the button again. This time, their finger lingers on the button longer. The longer they press the button, the worse the pain gets.]
[He grunts at the pain, and now it’s starting to get bad. Especially as it’s prolonged. With a growl, his hands fly down to his sides, though with nothing removing the collar from his skin the pain is just intensified when the prongs sink into his skin a little. You can see him twitch occasionally.]
can you cut it out?! what the fuck do you want from me?!
[As you remove your hands, they wait a moment. In fact, they wait until you say something to remove their finger from the button. It's very entertaining to watch your reaction.]
First thing, tryin' to remove that collar will do nothin' but shock ya.
[His fists shake in anger, and his breathing heavy with it. What he would do to just— Yeah, maybe not. Killing people is bad, or something.]
great…
Now, bub, I need to have a look at ya wounds.
[The threatening undertones are pretty clear. Now that you have the shock collar on, they're not afraid to demand things of you.]
stop calling me that… what, you just gunna make ‘em worse?
[…He doesn’t really want to stand for whatever you’re going to do to him next. He also has no clue where anything is, so looks like his life is just going to suck forever.]
Nah, nah. I did some research. Turns out I gotta clean wounds, or else things could get bad for ya. So, let me see.
[They won't shock you over something this small. They're merciful like that.]
[He would rather things ‘get bad for him’ than live like this, but whatever. He can find a way to escape eventually. It’s not the worst thing he’s had to escape, he just… Doesn’t have all the tools he’s used to. But whatever! It’s basically just a dungeon with absolutely no lights at any time ever! He’ll be fine.]
[Instead of responding he just stands still. It’s not like he can do anything else right now.]
Are ya gonna make me reveal them myself?
[How they would love to. They'd get to feel the musculature of your arms again. The curves of your face. But they'll give you a choice. Again, they're merciful. They can show kindness when they feel like it.]
huh? oh. turn the fuckin’ lights off first, then maybe. a chair or something would be fan-fuckin’-tastic, too.
[He would much rather be doing this himself, really. But, again, whatever.]
What? Ya gotta see in order to roll up your sleeves?
[They sigh. But then they place their hands on your shoulders and push you forward, until you push up against a chair.]
There, a chair for ya.
hell no! but my entire face is kind of mangled, and the light hurts like a bitch!
[With surprisingly little complaints, he backs up until he finds himself sitting. As soon as he does, both his legs and arms are crossed.]
so i’m guessing you wanna look at that too. i would rather not suffer too much, thanks.
[He is trying very, very hard to ignore the shock collar. It’s… far too hard than he wants it to be.]
[They think about this for a moment. Well, without light, they won't be able to see what they're doing. But they can leave one light on. A dim room is better for you than a bright one.]
[And they don't want you to be constantly miserable.]
[So they wander around the room, turning off most of the lights.]
[For a second, he almost thinks to thank you. Then he remembers you’re an asshole and decides he doesn’t care. When he’s pretty sure the lights are at least mostly off, he slowly takes off his blindfold. And whatever lights you did leave on make his vision nearly white with how bright they are to him. He flinched away from it, though it doesn’t do much.]
[They see you flinch. Of course they do! They love just staring at you. And you have no idea that they're staring!]
[Well, they made the room as dim as they could while still being able to see.]
Sorry bub, but I gotta be able to see still.
[He looks over to where he thinks you are, and is met with… A blurry shape of what might be a person? He honestly can’t tell if what he’s looking at is alive or a piece of furniture. He looks away from you to stare at the darkest corner of the room, shielding his remaining eye from where the light is coming from. Well, at least he only has one eye that constantly hurts whenever he exists wrong. It would suck if the other side of his face was also in constant pain— Oh wait it is. Maybe he should find a nice ledge to jump off of sometime, it might be a fun adventure idea.]
whatever. [He doesn’t want your shallow, meaningless apologies. He takes a break from shielding his face—wincing as he does so—to roll up the sleeve covering bandages that are slightly stained with blood, some older looking and some stains newer.]
[They step up to you and, surprisingly gently, grab your wrist. They're finding themself oh so very tempted to just run their fingers across your palm. They wonder what it might feel like an-]
[Who are you to stop them?]
[Instead of unwrapping your bandages like they originally intended, they slowly drag their fingers across your palm.]
[His hands are rough, calloused from years and years of hero work and days on end in the forge. You can see a few scars scattered around his skin, small ones from burns and cuts and such. His working fingers twitch, and he scowls slightly.]
what the fuck are you doing? [He says it far too tiredly and without much bite, despite his scowling.]
[They don't respond to you, and instead enjoy the feeling of your rough hand. Your hand is so much more calloused than they can ever imagine their own hands being.]
[You're such a contrast from them, and they love it. There's so many things to learn from heroes like you, and they will learn them. Especially now that they have you.]
[Their soft fingers are the direct opposite to your rough skin.]
[He fights the urge to break your wrist. Even if he only has two working fingers, he could still do it, quite easily even. But he needs to figure out how to actually get around places on his own before he does anything drastic! It’s logical. He hates logic, and he hates Vio for insisting he have some. But whatever! He supposes logic does make sense, which is stupid. Anyway—]
seriously what the fuck are you doing. stop it, you fuckin’ weirdo…
[Theres more than just a hint of uncomfortability in his tone.]
Have you even noticed that civilian hands are soft, and unworked. Your hands show the opposite. Hard, long hours of swinging that sword of yours. You probably ran yourself ragged out there.
[It's admiring, really. And they want to see how easily they can break you apart. So far, they can tell they've been able to break you somewhat. But you're still fighting back.]
[That will change with time.]
of course i’ve noticed, i’m not that stupid! [He rolls his eye, and with the blindfold off you can tell he’s far more expressive with his face. Though he winces when he accidentally looks a bit too closely at the dim lighting, quickly averting his eyes again.] it’s normal for us to have rough everything. ‘cause we’re too busy protecting you ignorant assholes from imminent doom! you don’t even know the half of it. [And he's not willing to talk to you about it either.]
I know more about ya than most! But sure, ancient texts don't say much about ya lot. But ya can tell me about it all, I'm sure!
[Finally, they switch to finding the end of your bandage so they can begin to unravel it.]
doesn’t mean everything we did wasn’t glorified in your shitty texts…
[Well, at least you’re finally getting on with it. His thoughts travel a bit, though that just ends back at the shock collar wrapped around his neck. He then starts thinking about horrific ways to kill you.]
Well, ya never know.
[They take their time to slowly unravel the bandages covering your injury. They haven't taken a look at your eye injury yet. Instead, they'll see if this arm injury is healing well. They now know that they might have to do some cleaning, otherwise.]
[He winces as the bandages come off, but luckily they don’t stick too much. Still, pain goes all the way up his arm. It’s annoying. He sighs dramatically and thinks about glaring at you, but he doesn’t want to risk looking back at the light.]
[Again, all he can do is just let you do this. He can’t wait to find his way out of this nightmare.]
[They inspect your injuries for a moment. Oh, how they would like to run their tongue across your wound again. But, they're now aware that the healing process relies on them not doing that.]
[Dim light makes the state of your wounds hard to decipher.]
[The most you can tell is a bit of blood smudged blood in a few places, but otherwise, it mostly looks scabbed over. You can also see the outline of the carving against his skin, even though it doesn’t look all that neat with all the scabbing.]
[He continues to just stare off and think about random things, clearly not fully paying attention.]
Hm alright, I think that's a good sign.
[They're not fully sure, but they remember the wounds they've gotten, and how they scabbed over with time. Your arm is probably fine, then.]
[they pull away from your arm.]
[As soon as you pull away, he brings his arm back closer to him, in such a way that you can’t really see the injury anymore. He huffs.]
you think? great.
[If only he could properly check for himself. He knows how to take care of wounds, but… Without his sight, he might miss some sign of infection or something. Another reason to hate this situation, he guesses.]
[They don't give you much time before their hand is on your cheek, holding you still, and they start to prod at your eye.]
[They attempt to force open your eye socket so they can get a good look inside.]
[Already, this new position is uncomfortable, and he can definitely tell you’re closer than he’s comfortable with. But he bites his tongue and clenches his fists and tries to remind himself that this is necessary. Since he can’t do it himself anymore. It makes him sick.]
[Theres a large, faint scar that covers most of his face from that side. Looks like it was mostly healed from his trip to the great fairy, maybe a bit rougher in places where the infection was stronger. His eyelid was only half closed, and is pretty easy to force open. He backs away a bit as the cold air hits the inside of his eye socket.]
[They're pretty sure it's good practice to try and clean out the eye socket. They're not fully sure if that's what the book they read meant, but they don't care.]
[They leave for a moment, only returning when they have a wet cloth. They start by rabbit at the outside of your eye.]
[Once again, he backs away, startled at the sudden wetness. He scowls slightly.] warning would be nice… [But still, he lets you do as you please, if a little more tense than before.]
Hold still. I gotta clean your eye, ya know.
[They appreciate the fact that you've stopped fighting them. Especially since they're just trying to help right now. They'd appreciate if you don't even fight them, honestly.]
yeah yeah, warn me before you go poking around in my fuckin’ eye socket though, won’t’cha?
[He would probably have less startled involuntary reactions to things if he actually knew what to expect. But he guesses that’s too much to ask, isn’t it?]
[They hum in acknowledgement and continue to clean the outside of your eye with their cloth.]
Alrigh', open your eye for me. We gotta get in there, yeah?
[He sighs, but tries anyway. He finds he doesn’t really know if he can.] that’s the best you’ll get. [His eyelid is about half open still.]
[...Sure, that works for them. Their unoccupied hand moves to pull open your eyelids further. They very gently stick the wet cloth directly into your eye socket.]
[He grits his teeth through the feeling. This is weird. This is so weird. He can’t help but feel like it shouldn’t be you that’s doing this. Theres a thing in his eye socket and it’s weird. He hopes that this is easy to get used to, at least. And that with his blindfold, hopefully a better one in the future, this doesn't have to happen that often.]
[Fortunately, they're very gentle with it. It's kinda of fun! They get to explore the literal eye socket of a hero. That's not something most people could say! They don't try to force it or do anything to make the wound worse. They're actually being careful about it.]
[Though he is a bit surprised at how gentle you’re being with it, that doesn’t make him hate the feeling any less. It’s too intrusive.]
are you done yet?
[It’s starting to feel a bit… Weird. In a different, probably less good way. Not that before was good by any means, but still.]
Ya can't just rush the process, bub.
[Unfortunately, they are almost done. They really don't want to be. They want to stay here longer. Technically.... They could. But also, they don't want to make you completely miserable! That's not the goal here!]
[He scoffs, but decides to not say anything about it. Yet. He can deal with it for a little while longer, he guesses.]
[They only clean out your eye for a few more minutes before finally pulling the cloth out of your eye socket.]
There ya go! Now, that wasn't so hard. We'll have to do thing probably once a day, or somethin'. Ya don't want your eye socket to get infected!
[He flips you off. Not really for any particular reason other than he just felt like it.]
great. [He reaches for his blindfold, before remembering he… Doesn’t remember where he put it, actually. He sighs aggressively.] do you know where my fuckin’ blindfold is?
[Maybe he should ask to get new bandages for his arm, too…]
[Oh, right! They reach around you and place the blindfold on your lap.]
[As they do so, a sudden bark resounds through the entire house, and Scout seems to perk up.]
Oh, Fay! C'mere, girl!
[He’s halfway through making sure his blindfold is neatly folded and about to tie it off behind his head when he hears the bark, which nearly startles him into standing.]
you have a dog?!
[Dogs are… Fine. He hates the shedding, though! Its awful! Oh, this might be more of a nightmare than he thought.]
Sure do! Oh, if only ya could see her. She's precious.
[Right on cue, Fay, a great pyrenees, comes bounding into the room. She barks once more, as if reprimanding Scout for leaving her alone for a few days.]
I know, I know, but look! You have a new friend!
[Fay switches her attention to you and approaches curiously. Just from how close she is, you can tell she's huge.]
[OKAY he is Not scared of dogs, he’s just— A little wary of them. And their fur. Which is mostly his problem here. And—]
[He lifts his arms to find he is covered in dog fur. These clothes are not made for dog fur! He can feel it poking at him— Yup, okay, he thinks that death might actually be better than his current situation. If only he could see to find the stupid kitchen knives. But oh well! …He really does need to get better about jokes like that, but right now, he thinks it’s rather justified.]
you better fucking have a shower, i swear—
I'm not some sort of barbarian. Of course I got a shower!
[Fay has taken to inspecting you much closer. She's sniffing you and circling the chair you're on to inspect you at different angles.]
thank fuck for that, at least… [Its quite obvious the way that whenever he feels a nose against him, he immediately tries to shuffle away. He doesn't like the feeling of wet either! This life is a nightmare, and its not the first time that has been proven!]
so are you, like, planning on killing me ever? ‘cause i would appreciate it greatly.
Blue! I went through all that effort to ensure ya would belong to me. Ya think I'd throw it away just like that?
I'm not gonna kill ya, bub.
[As they say that, they lean forward and poke your nose.]
*There’s humming, the song calming. A boy rounds the corner, not watching where he’s going. He has brown hair with black roots, and striking yellow is at the center of his teal eyes. His arms and legs are covered in a multitude of scars, and he has a red scarf around his neck. He doesn’t seem to notice you, enjoying his song. He seems a little sad.
[They had just started on their walk back to town. They need to buy some groceries, and it's not like they have a horse. They would usually bring Fay along with them, but now that they have Blue, Fay will guard him. Can't have him trying to escape, after all.]
[When they see you, they can't help but tilt their head a little. Most people don't traverse this path, since there's really nothing here but a get, spread apart, houses. They also don't recognize you whatsoever.]
*He pauses, looking over at you.
Oh- hey!
*He doesn’t know what to say. He gets a strange sense from you — one that is..familiar. He can’t even tell if that’s good or not.
What, uh. What’re you doing?
I'm just headin' to town to do some shoppin'.
[Hm. You're acting like they know you. Or maybe you just don't know how to talk to people. Which, they often struggle to understand. Learning how to act normal was the first thing Scout ever learned.]
Who are ya?
Cool. Can I, um. Come with you? I’m lost.
I’m Roxas!
*He clearly has no idea what he’s meant to do here, but he doesn’t like being alone. He never has.
Sure, whatever.
I'm Scout. Nice to meet ya.
[This niceties are always so boring. Unfortunately, they don't want to be known only as the "nearby freak." They have to keep things under wraps.]
Yeah! Uh. Nice to, meet you too.
*Is that what normal people say when meeting people? He thinks that’s weird.
*He walks next to Scout, brushing his hair down to its slicked, pointy style.
Stupid hair. Dumbass shit.
*He would talk about something. But he’s not sure what to talk about.
Looks fine to me. We're just headin' into town. I gotta buy some things.
[They're really not sure why you'd tag along with a random stranger just because you're lost. You really don't know what they're really like.]
Cool!
….Do you actually, Y’know, pay for it? My buddy Axel only pays for ice cream. He’s really good at, like, ‘sleight of hand’ or whatever it’s called. It’s cool, watching him do it! He’s really good at it.
*He seems to just be rambling.
Yeah, I pay. Can't risk endin' up in jail.
[That would be inconvenient. Then they wouldn't be able to take care of Blue! And that pour soul needs their help!]
Maybe one day I'll try it out, but I've got someone at home.
*He blinks.
Jail? The hell is jail?
I can try to if you want! I learned from Axel.
……Actually maybe not, don’t wanna get Sora in trouble and all… Eh, maybe if I’m sneaky enough I’ll try it. If I want anything bad enough.
Someone at home?
*He remembers that phrase. The memories aren’t the ones he made, but he is in them.
Yeah, someone at home. He's got a few problems, so really, leavin' him alone even for a few minutes has me worried.
[Can't have him attempting to escape, after all.]
And jail is where the people who get caught doin' "bad things" end up.
Oh. So, what bad things?
*He has an idea, from those memories he has. He refuses to use them — not when he’ll just get rid of them at… Some point.
Do all normal people have someone like that at home? Whaddya mean by problems?
[Well, you like to ask questions. Not that they mind, they just have to be careful. Can't let it slip that they blinded someone and kidnapped him after.]
Not everyone has someone else at home like that, but it's common. Lots of people need extra help, and normal people are willin' to lend a hand.
As an example, my friend at home is blind. He's not used to it, and needs extra help gettin' around.
[Not like they'll ever let him get used to it.]
Oh! Yeah, that’s nice of people. Nobody in the Organization would’ve ever helped someone like that…Maybe Axel would’ve, but even our friendship started just cause he was told to help me out.
Blind….That means, uh, he can’t see, right? Like ever, at all?
*He believes the answer, that’s obvious.
Yeah, he can't see a thing. Though, he can see light, I think.
[They tilt your head slightly at you. An organization, huh? Surely, yours is not the same as what they were thinking. You don't seem like a chimera. Plus, your face isn't even remotely familiar.]
An organization, eh?
Oh. Cool!
*He shrugs at the mention of the Organization.
Yeah. Organization 13, place I was essentially born and raised. …That’s weird to say. But yeah, I spent all my time there until fucking Riku helped that bitchass motherfucker put in a goddamn fake town with fake fucking memories.
*He’s getting angry.
I hate that fucker. He’s such a goddamn asshole. Then what, he wants to repent? Atone? I don’t even know what the fuck that means! He gave me fucking memories that aren’t really mine, of me having a normal fucking life, and now I can hardly tell what’s real and what’s fake! He’s a fucking asshole!
Huh. Never heard of a place like that. Well, most organizations prefer to stay underground, yeah? I'm lucky I found the one I did, after all.
My organization is less likely to give people fake memories, after all.
[They really don't understand what you're talking about. But oh well!]
*There’s humming, the song calming. A boy rounds the corner, not watching where he’s going. He has brown hair with black roots, and striking yellow is at the center of his teal eyes. His arms and legs are covered in a multitude of scars, and he has a red scarf around his neck. He doesn’t seem to notice you, enjoying his song. He seems a little sad.
[They had just started on their walk back to town. They need to buy some groceries, and it's not like they have a horse. They would usually bring Fay along with them, but now that they have Blue, Fay will guard him. Can't have him trying to escape, after all.]
[When they see you, they can't help but tilt their head a little. Most people don't traverse this path, since there's really nothing here but a get, spread apart, houses. They also don't recognize you whatsoever.]
*He pauses, looking over at you.
Oh- hey!
*He doesn’t know what to say. He gets a strange sense from you — one that is..familiar. He can’t even tell if that’s good or not.
What, uh. What’re you doing?
I'm just headin' to town to do some shoppin'.
[Hm. You're acting like they know you. Or maybe you just don't know how to talk to people. Which, they often struggle to understand. Learning how to act normal was the first thing Scout ever learned.]
Who are ya?
Cool. Can I, um. Come with you? I’m lost.
I’m Roxas!
*He clearly has no idea what he’s meant to do here, but he doesn’t like being alone. He never has.
Sure, whatever.
I'm Scout. Nice to meet ya.
[This niceties are always so boring. Unfortunately, they don't want to be known only as the "nearby freak." They have to keep things under wraps.]
Yeah! Uh. Nice to, meet you too.
*Is that what normal people say when meeting people? He thinks that’s weird.
*He walks next to Scout, brushing his hair down to its slicked, pointy style.
Stupid hair. Dumbass shit.
*He would talk about something. But he’s not sure what to talk about.
Looks fine to me. We're just headin' into town. I gotta buy some things.
[They're really not sure why you'd tag along with a random stranger just because you're lost. You really don't know what they're really like.]
Cool!
….Do you actually, Y’know, pay for it? My buddy Axel only pays for ice cream. He’s really good at, like, ‘sleight of hand’ or whatever it’s called. It’s cool, watching him do it! He’s really good at it.
*He seems to just be rambling.
Yeah, I pay. Can't risk endin' up in jail.
[That would be inconvenient. Then they wouldn't be able to take care of Blue! And that pour soul needs their help!]
Maybe one day I'll try it out, but I've got someone at home.
*He blinks.
Jail? The hell is jail?
I can try to if you want! I learned from Axel.
……Actually maybe not, don’t wanna get Sora in trouble and all… Eh, maybe if I’m sneaky enough I’ll try it. If I want anything bad enough.
Someone at home?
*He remembers that phrase. The memories aren’t the ones he made, but he is in them.
Yeah, someone at home. He's got a few problems, so really, leavin' him alone even for a few minutes has me worried.
[Can't have him attempting to escape, after all.]
And jail is where the people who get caught doin' "bad things" end up.
Oh. So, what bad things?
*He has an idea, from those memories he has. He refuses to use them — not when he’ll just get rid of them at… Some point.
Do all normal people have someone like that at home? Whaddya mean by problems?
[Well, you like to ask questions. Not that they mind, they just have to be careful. Can't let it slip that they blinded someone and kidnapped him after.]
Not everyone has someone else at home like that, but it's common. Lots of people need extra help, and normal people are willin' to lend a hand.
As an example, my friend at home is blind. He's not used to it, and needs extra help gettin' around.
[Not like they'll ever let him get used to it.]
Oh! Yeah, that’s nice of people. Nobody in the Organization would’ve ever helped someone like that…Maybe Axel would’ve, but even our friendship started just cause he was told to help me out.
Blind….That means, uh, he can’t see, right? Like ever, at all?
*He believes the answer, that’s obvious.
Yeah, he can't see a thing. Though, he can see light, I think.
[They tilt your head slightly at you. An organization, huh? Surely, yours is not the same as what they were thinking. You don't seem like a chimera. Plus, your face isn't even remotely familiar.]
An organization, eh?
*There’s humming, the song calming. A boy rounds the corner, not watching where he’s going. He has brown hair with black roots, and striking yellow is at the center of his teal eyes. His arms and legs are covered in a multitude of scars, and he has a red scarf around his neck. He doesn’t seem to notice you, enjoying his song. He seems a little sad.
[They had just started on their walk back to town. They need to buy some groceries, and it's not like they have a horse. They would usually bring Fay along with them, but now that they have Blue, Fay will guard him. Can't have him trying to escape, after all.]
[When they see you, they can't help but tilt their head a little. Most people don't traverse this path, since there's really nothing here but a get, spread apart, houses. They also don't recognize you whatsoever.]
*He pauses, looking over at you.
Oh- hey!
*He doesn’t know what to say. He gets a strange sense from you — one that is..familiar. He can’t even tell if that’s good or not.
What, uh. What’re you doing?
I'm just headin' to town to do some shoppin'.
[Hm. You're acting like they know you. Or maybe you just don't know how to talk to people. Which, they often struggle to understand. Learning how to act normal was the first thing Scout ever learned.]
Who are ya?
Cool. Can I, um. Come with you? I’m lost.
I’m Roxas!
*He clearly has no idea what he’s meant to do here, but he doesn’t like being alone. He never has.
Sure, whatever.
I'm Scout. Nice to meet ya.
[This niceties are always so boring. Unfortunately, they don't want to be known only as the "nearby freak." They have to keep things under wraps.]
Yeah! Uh. Nice to, meet you too.
*Is that what normal people say when meeting people? He thinks that’s weird.
*He walks next to Scout, brushing his hair down to its slicked, pointy style.
Stupid hair. Dumbass shit.
*He would talk about something. But he’s not sure what to talk about.
Looks fine to me. We're just headin' into town. I gotta buy some things.
[They're really not sure why you'd tag along with a random stranger just because you're lost. You really don't know what they're really like.]
Cool!
….Do you actually, Y’know, pay for it? My buddy Axel only pays for ice cream. He’s really good at, like, ‘sleight of hand’ or whatever it’s called. It’s cool, watching him do it! He’s really good at it.
*He seems to just be rambling.
Yeah, I pay. Can't risk endin' up in jail.
[That would be inconvenient. Then they wouldn't be able to take care of Blue! And that pour soul needs their help!]
Maybe one day I'll try it out, but I've got someone at home.
*He blinks.
Jail? The hell is jail?
I can try to if you want! I learned from Axel.
……Actually maybe not, don’t wanna get Sora in trouble and all… Eh, maybe if I’m sneaky enough I’ll try it. If I want anything bad enough.
Someone at home?
*He remembers that phrase. The memories aren’t the ones he made, but he is in them.
Yeah, someone at home. He's got a few problems, so really, leavin' him alone even for a few minutes has me worried.
[Can't have him attempting to escape, after all.]
And jail is where the people who get caught doin' "bad things" end up.
Oh. So, what bad things?
*He has an idea, from those memories he has. He refuses to use them — not when he’ll just get rid of them at… Some point.
Do all normal people have someone like that at home? Whaddya mean by problems?
[Well, you like to ask questions. Not that they mind, they just have to be careful. Can't let it slip that they blinded someone and kidnapped him after.]
Not everyone has someone else at home like that, but it's common. Lots of people need extra help, and normal people are willin' to lend a hand.
As an example, my friend at home is blind. He's not used to it, and needs extra help gettin' around.
[Not like they'll ever let him get used to it.]
*There’s humming, the song calming. A boy rounds the corner, not watching where he’s going. He has brown hair with black roots, and striking yellow is at the center of his teal eyes. His arms and legs are covered in a multitude of scars, and he has a red scarf around his neck. He doesn’t seem to notice you, enjoying his song. He seems a little sad.
[They had just started on their walk back to town. They need to buy some groceries, and it's not like they have a horse. They would usually bring Fay along with them, but now that they have Blue, Fay will guard him. Can't have him trying to escape, after all.]
[When they see you, they can't help but tilt their head a little. Most people don't traverse this path, since there's really nothing here but a get, spread apart, houses. They also don't recognize you whatsoever.]
*He pauses, looking over at you.
Oh- hey!
*He doesn’t know what to say. He gets a strange sense from you — one that is..familiar. He can’t even tell if that’s good or not.
What, uh. What’re you doing?
I'm just headin' to town to do some shoppin'.
[Hm. You're acting like they know you. Or maybe you just don't know how to talk to people. Which, they often struggle to understand. Learning how to act normal was the first thing Scout ever learned.]
Who are ya?
Cool. Can I, um. Come with you? I’m lost.
I’m Roxas!
*He clearly has no idea what he’s meant to do here, but he doesn’t like being alone. He never has.
Sure, whatever.
I'm Scout. Nice to meet ya.
[This niceties are always so boring. Unfortunately, they don't want to be known only as the "nearby freak." They have to keep things under wraps.]
Yeah! Uh. Nice to, meet you too.
*Is that what normal people say when meeting people? He thinks that’s weird.
*He walks next to Scout, brushing his hair down to its slicked, pointy style.
Stupid hair. Dumbass shit.
*He would talk about something. But he’s not sure what to talk about.
Looks fine to me. We're just headin' into town. I gotta buy some things.
[They're really not sure why you'd tag along with a random stranger just because you're lost. You really don't know what they're really like.]
Cool!
….Do you actually, Y’know, pay for it? My buddy Axel only pays for ice cream. He’s really good at, like, ‘sleight of hand’ or whatever it’s called. It’s cool, watching him do it! He’s really good at it.
*He seems to just be rambling.
Yeah, I pay. Can't risk endin' up in jail.
[That would be inconvenient. Then they wouldn't be able to take care of Blue! And that pour soul needs their help!]
Maybe one day I'll try it out, but I've got someone at home.
*He blinks.
Jail? The hell is jail?
I can try to if you want! I learned from Axel.
……Actually maybe not, don’t wanna get Sora in trouble and all… Eh, maybe if I’m sneaky enough I’ll try it. If I want anything bad enough.
Someone at home?
*He remembers that phrase. The memories aren’t the ones he made, but he is in them.
Yeah, someone at home. He's got a few problems, so really, leavin' him alone even for a few minutes has me worried.
[Can't have him attempting to escape, after all.]
And jail is where the people who get caught doin' "bad things" end up.
*There’s humming, the song calming. A boy rounds the corner, not watching where he’s going. He has brown hair with black roots, and striking yellow is at the center of his teal eyes. His arms and legs are covered in a multitude of scars, and he has a red scarf around his neck. He doesn’t seem to notice you, enjoying his song. He seems a little sad.
[They had just started on their walk back to town. They need to buy some groceries, and it's not like they have a horse. They would usually bring Fay along with them, but now that they have Blue, Fay will guard him. Can't have him trying to escape, after all.]
[When they see you, they can't help but tilt their head a little. Most people don't traverse this path, since there's really nothing here but a get, spread apart, houses. They also don't recognize you whatsoever.]
*He pauses, looking over at you.
Oh- hey!
*He doesn’t know what to say. He gets a strange sense from you — one that is..familiar. He can’t even tell if that’s good or not.
What, uh. What’re you doing?
I'm just headin' to town to do some shoppin'.
[Hm. You're acting like they know you. Or maybe you just don't know how to talk to people. Which, they often struggle to understand. Learning how to act normal was the first thing Scout ever learned.]
Who are ya?
Cool. Can I, um. Come with you? I’m lost.
I’m Roxas!
*He clearly has no idea what he’s meant to do here, but he doesn’t like being alone. He never has.
Sure, whatever.
I'm Scout. Nice to meet ya.
[This niceties are always so boring. Unfortunately, they don't want to be known only as the "nearby freak." They have to keep things under wraps.]
Yeah! Uh. Nice to, meet you too.
*Is that what normal people say when meeting people? He thinks that’s weird.
*He walks next to Scout, brushing his hair down to its slicked, pointy style.
Stupid hair. Dumbass shit.
*He would talk about something. But he’s not sure what to talk about.
Looks fine to me. We're just headin' into town. I gotta buy some things.
[They're really not sure why you'd tag along with a random stranger just because you're lost. You really don't know what they're really like.]
Cool!
….Do you actually, Y’know, pay for it? My buddy Axel only pays for ice cream. He’s really good at, like, ‘sleight of hand’ or whatever it’s called. It’s cool, watching him do it! He’s really good at it.
*He seems to just be rambling.
Yeah, I pay. Can't risk endin' up in jail.
[That would be inconvenient. Then they wouldn't be able to take care of Blue! And that pour soul needs their help!]
Maybe one day I'll try it out, but I've got someone at home.
*There’s humming, the song calming. A boy rounds the corner, not watching where he’s going. He has brown hair with black roots, and striking yellow is at the center of his teal eyes. His arms and legs are covered in a multitude of scars, and he has a red scarf around his neck. He doesn’t seem to notice you, enjoying his song. He seems a little sad.
[They had just started on their walk back to town. They need to buy some groceries, and it's not like they have a horse. They would usually bring Fay along with them, but now that they have Blue, Fay will guard him. Can't have him trying to escape, after all.]
[When they see you, they can't help but tilt their head a little. Most people don't traverse this path, since there's really nothing here but a get, spread apart, houses. They also don't recognize you whatsoever.]
*He pauses, looking over at you.
Oh- hey!
*He doesn’t know what to say. He gets a strange sense from you — one that is..familiar. He can’t even tell if that’s good or not.
What, uh. What’re you doing?
I'm just headin' to town to do some shoppin'.
[Hm. You're acting like they know you. Or maybe you just don't know how to talk to people. Which, they often struggle to understand. Learning how to act normal was the first thing Scout ever learned.]
Who are ya?
Cool. Can I, um. Come with you? I’m lost.
I’m Roxas!
*He clearly has no idea what he’s meant to do here, but he doesn’t like being alone. He never has.
Sure, whatever.
I'm Scout. Nice to meet ya.
[This niceties are always so boring. Unfortunately, they don't want to be known only as the "nearby freak." They have to keep things under wraps.]
Yeah! Uh. Nice to, meet you too.
*Is that what normal people say when meeting people? He thinks that’s weird.
*He walks next to Scout, brushing his hair down to its slicked, pointy style.
Stupid hair. Dumbass shit.
*He would talk about something. But he’s not sure what to talk about.
Looks fine to me. We're just headin' into town. I gotta buy some things.
[They're really not sure why you'd tag along with a random stranger just because you're lost. You really don't know what they're really like.]
*There’s humming, the song calming. A boy rounds the corner, not watching where he’s going. He has brown hair with black roots, and striking yellow is at the center of his teal eyes. His arms and legs are covered in a multitude of scars, and he has a red scarf around his neck. He doesn’t seem to notice you, enjoying his song. He seems a little sad.
[They had just started on their walk back to town. They need to buy some groceries, and it's not like they have a horse. They would usually bring Fay along with them, but now that they have Blue, Fay will guard him. Can't have him trying to escape, after all.]
[When they see you, they can't help but tilt their head a little. Most people don't traverse this path, since there's really nothing here but a get, spread apart, houses. They also don't recognize you whatsoever.]
*He pauses, looking over at you.
Oh- hey!
*He doesn’t know what to say. He gets a strange sense from you — one that is..familiar. He can’t even tell if that’s good or not.
What, uh. What’re you doing?
I'm just headin' to town to do some shoppin'.
[Hm. You're acting like they know you. Or maybe you just don't know how to talk to people. Which, they often struggle to understand. Learning how to act normal was the first thing Scout ever learned.]
Who are ya?
Cool. Can I, um. Come with you? I’m lost.
I’m Roxas!
*He clearly has no idea what he’s meant to do here, but he doesn’t like being alone. He never has.
Sure, whatever.
I'm Scout. Nice to meet ya.
[This niceties are always so boring. Unfortunately, they don't want to be known only as the "nearby freak." They have to keep things under wraps.]
*There’s humming, the song calming. A boy rounds the corner, not watching where he’s going. He has brown hair with black roots, and striking yellow is at the center of his teal eyes. His arms and legs are covered in a multitude of scars, and he has a red scarf around his neck. He doesn’t seem to notice you, enjoying his song. He seems a little sad.
[They had just started on their walk back to town. They need to buy some groceries, and it's not like they have a horse. They would usually bring Fay along with them, but now that they have Blue, Fay will guard him. Can't have him trying to escape, after all.]
[When they see you, they can't help but tilt their head a little. Most people don't traverse this path, since there's really nothing here but a get, spread apart, houses. They also don't recognize you whatsoever.]
*He pauses, looking over at you.
Oh- hey!
*He doesn’t know what to say. He gets a strange sense from you — one that is..familiar. He can’t even tell if that’s good or not.
What, uh. What’re you doing?
I'm just headin' to town to do some shoppin'.
[Hm. You're acting like they know you. Or maybe you just don't know how to talk to people. Which, they often struggle to understand. Learning how to act normal was the first thing Scout ever learned.]
Who are ya?
*There’s humming, the song calming. A boy rounds the corner, not watching where he’s going. He has brown hair with black roots, and striking yellow is at the center of his teal eyes. His arms and legs are covered in a multitude of scars, and he has a red scarf around his neck. He doesn’t seem to notice you, enjoying his song. He seems a little sad.
[They had just started on their walk back to town. They need to buy some groceries, and it's not like they have a horse. They would usually bring Fay along with them, but now that they have Blue, Fay will guard him. Can't have him trying to escape, after all.]
[When they see you, they can't help but tilt their head a little. Most people don't traverse this path, since there's really nothing here but a get, spread apart, houses. They also don't recognize you whatsoever.]
[It's been hours since Scout left. They really didn't expect the detour after their little checkup. Apparently they fell into a dream for a time. But, they're very grateful for convenient portals. Like this one! They tripped into it and was relieved to see familiar scenery.]
[You should be only a few blocks away! Unless if you left. In that case, they'll have to just track you down and teach you some sort of lesson.]
[They approach the bench very, very silently.]
[He can’t hear you, not at all. His arms are loosely crossed, and he’s tapping his foot against the ground. He looks bored, to say the least. But he’s barely moved an inch.]
[They creep up behind you before suddenly placing their hands on your shoulders with a very loud:] Hi Blue!! Did ya miss me?
[All of his thoughts grind to a halt, and off of pure instinct and habit, he snaps around to grab onto both of your wrists, stand with on foot on the bench for extra leverage, and all of the sudden you’re pulled off of your feet and thrown to the ground stomach first, one arm behind your back, and a knee grinding into your back as well. It’s a bit too quick and practiced for you to get all of it.]
[He’s breathing heavily, only realising he did all of that without sight after a few seconds when his mind clears just a little. He’s shocked at even his own actions, despite having done this maneuver too many times to count.]
[They land on the ground with a loud grunt and fall stock still.]
[They have to take a few moments to process what just happened, and to regain their breath. Well, they sure didn't expect this reaction!]
[After those couple moment, they start trying to wrench you off of them.]
Fucking- get off me!
[He’s in the perfect position to break your arm. He thinks of it for only a second before he stands and takes a single step backwards, and then he freezes in place. He’s facing down to you, though he doesn’t realise. He's still in a bit of panic, that much is obvious.]
[They get up with an exasperated sigh.]
Really, that's how ya greet me?
[They sound annoyed. And they especially sound like they're putting all the blame on you. Sure, they startled you, but you really didn't need to act that extreme! Now they're going to have a sore stomach for a while!]
don’t fucking do that, and maybe i wouldn’t.
[He crosses his arms, wincing as he does so, though it’s discreet.]
Right. Well.
[They'll have to do something about this behavior. They're so lucky they happened to pick up the perfect item on the way to meeting with Fifteen! They're curious to test it out.]
[They have no idea if anyone knows what inn they're at now. Well, they know of one in town that has some pretty good soundproofing.]
We're leavin'.
great.
[Wow. He’s so excited to be alone in a room with you again, because that turned out so well last time. He is definitely not being sarcastic with himself whatsoever.]
[…He can’t leave on his own. He doesn’t even remember where the bench is. It’s so humiliating! He’s an adult, he should be able to do this shit on his own.]
[They grab your left hand, paying no mind to any potential shows of pain. You're going to regret acting this way against them.]
[They start walking without much warning. They really want to just go without guiding you. But.... They're in a public place.]
[He realises the bandages should probably be changed. With all this pretending the cuts aren’t there, and this manhandling, he’s sure that at least something has been ripped open at one point. It’s not like he got any stitches.]
[While he’s a bit startled, he’s come to expect this from you, so he recovers quickly and starts following. Though the distant panic in the back of his mind doesn’t go unnoticed.]
[They move in a different way than how you got here. Different twists, different turns, to the point where it's hard to tell what direction you might be moving.]
[Eventually, the flat stone pavement gives way to dirt road.]
[He stumbles a little when he steps onto the dirt, not expecting it, but he regains his stability well enough.] where the fuck are you taking me….?
[They keep moving at a rather quick pace, not bothering to slow down. In fact, the further from the town they get, they move just a bit faster.]
Well, I don't quite have the money to stay in an inn forever, ya know. Ya should be grateful I was willin' to spend this much money for ya.
[Huffing, he’s forced to move just as quick as you despite the increased risk of tripping on something. Well, at least if he trips, you’ll go down with him.] well i’m not because you’re just making my life a living hell! [He doesn’t even think to ask where you might be taking him instead.]
Ya got someone to take care of ya while ya deal with havin' no vision! Really, that's no livin' hell. Be grateful.
[Their voice turns bitter as they speak. They can't believe you don't appreciate their efforts! They have to do so many things to make sure you're living and not about to suddenly die. Besides, keeping a hero under their grasp is harder than they thought it would be!
this isn’t what care looks like…
[It’s like you don’t even remember that he can’t see anything sometimes. Not warning him for stairs, moving too quickly, not warning him for— So many things! It drives him crazy! He doesn’t know what to expect moment from moment and it’s just such the littlest things too, things that he hadn’t even realised mattered until now. Knowing when to expect changes in the ground below him, for example.]
[…This isn’t care. This is— This is just trying to control him. He’s not that stupid, he can recognize this for what it is! And he can also recognize that it’s working. How the hell is he even supposed to escape it?! This really is just living hell!]
[If they heard you, they show no sign of hearing. They hum some sort of song as they walk. At some point, they take a fork down the road, specifically down a road with a lot more twigs and rocks.]
[Again, even though he notices the slight change, he can’t do anything about it and almost immediately stumbles, though is forced to keep going from the pain of you grabbing his injured hand. You can tell that he’s shaking slightly, and that the fingers that do actually work are gripped onto your hand tightly, almost to the point of pain. After all with only two working fingers on that hand, it would be just that much easier to accidentally let go.]
[They slow slightly when you trip, mainly because they're now focusing on not tripping themselves. This road has always been a bit rocky. It leads to a few houses in various directions. They can't even call their neighbors much of neighbors. Everyone is far apart out here, and they're just now realizing how much of an advantage that is now.]
[He hisses in pain when he accidentally stubs his toe on a rock. It would be wonderful if he never had to go down this road ever again. This actually sucks more than just sitting on that bench and probably being stared at all day, he can’t wait for it to just be over or lead to stone pathways or anything else!]
[They take a few turns here and there, and the pathways only get less and less defined at they go on. They never really bothered with maintaining the road that leads to their home.]
[Well, at least they're almost there.]
[This is just— This is the woods. You’ve taken him out in the middle of the woods and now you’re going to murder him. Not exactly how he thought his life would end, but whatever!]
[…]
[He yelps as his foot gets caught on a tree root, and he tumbles onto the ground. With how tight his grip on your hand was, you go down with him.]
[They follow you down with a small yelp. Clearly, they were not expecting this. They push themselves up and glare down at you.]
Really? Gonna pull me down with ya? Well, we're almost there. Get up.
maybe if you told me where anything fucking was, this wouldn’t happen, dipshit.
[He too pushes himself up, wincing slightly when there’s a small ache in his ankle. Well, at least it doesn’t feel broken or anything. It’ll probably be sore for a while though.]
[…He realises he doesn’t know where you are anymore. Just listening for your voice can’t be that reliable, right? He stays standing in place until you do something.]
[They're realizing that having control over a blind person is rather inconvenient. They have to lead you everywhere all the time. But also, it's an excuse to touch you! Once that you can't even fight.]
[...Huh. Maybe they should be grateful for your blindness. The Goddesses have gifted them with this benefit, and that shouldn't just be scowling at every slight inconvenience it may cause.]
[In the end, your blindness is how they keep you under their thumb.]
[This time, they grab at your right hand. After all, they need their own right hand to unlock the door.]
[He gives a relived sigh that he hates when he actually has a point of reference for the world around him again. Then he immediately tenses because he should not be thinking of you like that. ]
[…He’s also at the very least grateful that you grabbed his other hand. His other, completely fucked up one, really deserves a break.]
[As they continue on, their humming takes on a bit of a happier tune. They have no reason to be grumpy! In the past few days alone, they've had the chance to meet two heroes! Though... That one younger one was a bit defunct, and you're retired. But that's not a big deal! Still heroes nonetheless!]
[Their whole body hurts now, yeah. But they can teach you how to act. Really, not a huge deal.]
[WHY the FUCK is he less panicky when you’re in front of him, you’re literally a shit guide and you suck at— Everything!]
[He scowls as he steps a bit closer to you. He tells himself that it’s because you might clear out the path for him with your stupid feet. Fuck his life, it sucks.]
[After a moment, they come to slow that turns into a stop. They look ahead of them with a fond smile.]
Well, here we are: my small home. Honestly, a shame ya can't see it.
[It's a small, one story house. Only one bedroom and bath. Technically there's two other bedrooms, but those are being repurposed. One room is their hero collection, and the other is a study room..... With every book about heroes they've ever found.]
it’s crazy you think i actually give a shit.
[He scoffs, though he would very much like to get off this stupid road. Start memorizing the layout of the house so that maybe he can work on an escape plan or something.]
It's ya home now, ya know.
[As they lead you in, they make sure to turn on every light and lantern immediately. They're not about to let you get oriented with everything.]
anyplace with you in it is hardly a fuckin’ place to call home.
[He grimaces when the lights are turned on, but the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet is more than welcoming.]
[They huff unhappily at that. Well, they were hoping you'd just calm down in your own, but clearly not.]
[They pull away from you for a moment so they can close and lock the door. They're only gone for a moment before they return and get real close to your face.]
Ya know, I don't appreciate the way ya talk about me.
[He steps away from you, scowling again.] maybe don’t be such a dick and that would change! or maybe, y’know, you shouldn’t have blinded me?!
[They just step closer again and place a hand on your shoulder.]
Well, bub, I think ya need to learn some things. I'm real achy thanks to ya, and ya show me no respect, even when I am improving your life! That's the least I ask from ya for all of this.
[He grabs your wrist and throws your hand off of him.]
you’re improving nothing. you’re just making everything worse!
Nobody else would take ya in. Ya're lucky enough to have even someone like me!
[But clearly, they're not getting through to you. So, they'll just have to do things the hard way.]
[Their hand reaches I to their bag, and they barely have to search to find what they want.]
you blinded me! [He nearly screams it. He honestly didn’t know he was this angry about this, but he supposes it’s understandable.] you fucking blind me and you expect me to like you?! what kind of fucking hylia’s bitch are you?! a high one?! cause you sure damn sound like it!
...Alright. That's enough.
[Their voice is uncharacteristically cold as they step up to you. They've let you yell and scream enough.]
[In one swift movement, their hands are near your neck, and then there's something cold pressed against your neck. You can hear a click, and they reach behind you to flick something. Only then do they step away.]
wh— what the fuck— [He doesn’t have the time to prepare before it’s clasped around his neck, and he immediately takes several steps away from you to try and grab the thing off of himself.] is this a fucking collar?! what the fuck kind of shit are you into?!
[He starts trying to unclasp the back, and when he gets frustrated he just starts tugging.]
Ya know, I was tryin' to keep ya away from a world of pain earlier. Ya didn't listen, so ya get what's comin' to ya.
[They watch you struggle for a few minutes. It's cute, especially when they know that thing isn't coming off. But, the lesson learning has to start at some point.]
[They hold a remote in their hand. All it has is a button, a dial, and a switch. But... They'll watch for just a moment longer.]
what the fuck does that mean?! take this stupid thing off of me, you cocksucking assbag—
[He continues to just tug at it, trying to break it or something. Anything. When that doesn’t work, he starts pulling at it from the front instead, though he stops when he feels two prongs coming from the collar thing. Just what the hell is this?!]
Ya just have to deal with it, bub.
[They flick the dial on the remote to a 5. This should mainly just be a bit painful. And they press the button.]
[He jolts when he feels a pain, stopping to try and process what just happened. That hurt. Okay. The weed collar thing hurts. Great.]
[Wait, is this—] did you put a fucking shock collar on me?! i’m not a goddessdamned dog! stop treating me like one!
[And then he goes back to tugging. The pain is ignorable enough, and definitely not the worst he’s felt. Though he’s a bit more… Sensitive to electricity than he should be.]
Tuggin' on it isn't gonna help ya.
[They up the dial to 6, and press the button again. This time, their finger lingers on the button longer. The longer they press the button, the worse the pain gets.]
[He grunts at the pain, and now it’s starting to get bad. Especially as it’s prolonged. With a growl, his hands fly down to his sides, though with nothing removing the collar from his skin the pain is just intensified when the prongs sink into his skin a little. You can see him twitch occasionally.]
can you cut it out?! what the fuck do you want from me?!
[As you remove your hands, they wait a moment. In fact, they wait until you say something to remove their finger from the button. It's very entertaining to watch your reaction.]
First thing, tryin' to remove that collar will do nothin' but shock ya.
[His fists shake in anger, and his breathing heavy with it. What he would do to just— Yeah, maybe not. Killing people is bad, or something.]
great…
Now, bub, I need to have a look at ya wounds.
[The threatening undertones are pretty clear. Now that you have the shock collar on, they're not afraid to demand things of you.]
stop calling me that… what, you just gunna make ‘em worse?
[…He doesn’t really want to stand for whatever you’re going to do to him next. He also has no clue where anything is, so looks like his life is just going to suck forever.]
Nah, nah. I did some research. Turns out I gotta clean wounds, or else things could get bad for ya. So, let me see.
[They won't shock you over something this small. They're merciful like that.]
[He would rather things ‘get bad for him’ than live like this, but whatever. He can find a way to escape eventually. It’s not the worst thing he’s had to escape, he just… Doesn’t have all the tools he’s used to. But whatever! It’s basically just a dungeon with absolutely no lights at any time ever! He’ll be fine.]
[Instead of responding he just stands still. It’s not like he can do anything else right now.]
Are ya gonna make me reveal them myself?
[How they would love to. They'd get to feel the musculature of your arms again. The curves of your face. But they'll give you a choice. Again, they're merciful. They can show kindness when they feel like it.]
huh? oh. turn the fuckin’ lights off first, then maybe. a chair or something would be fan-fuckin’-tastic, too.
[He would much rather be doing this himself, really. But, again, whatever.]
What? Ya gotta see in order to roll up your sleeves?
[They sigh. But then they place their hands on your shoulders and push you forward, until you push up against a chair.]
There, a chair for ya.
hell no! but my entire face is kind of mangled, and the light hurts like a bitch!
[With surprisingly little complaints, he backs up until he finds himself sitting. As soon as he does, both his legs and arms are crossed.]
so i’m guessing you wanna look at that too. i would rather not suffer too much, thanks.
[He is trying very, very hard to ignore the shock collar. It’s… far too hard than he wants it to be.]
[They think about this for a moment. Well, without light, they won't be able to see what they're doing. But they can leave one light on. A dim room is better for you than a bright one.]
[And they don't want you to be constantly miserable.]
[So they wander around the room, turning off most of the lights.]
[For a second, he almost thinks to thank you. Then he remembers you’re an asshole and decides he doesn’t care. When he’s pretty sure the lights are at least mostly off, he slowly takes off his blindfold. And whatever lights you did leave on make his vision nearly white with how bright they are to him. He flinched away from it, though it doesn’t do much.]
[They see you flinch. Of course they do! They love just staring at you. And you have no idea that they're staring!]
[Well, they made the room as dim as they could while still being able to see.]
Sorry bub, but I gotta be able to see still.
[He looks over to where he thinks you are, and is met with… A blurry shape of what might be a person? He honestly can’t tell if what he’s looking at is alive or a piece of furniture. He looks away from you to stare at the darkest corner of the room, shielding his remaining eye from where the light is coming from. Well, at least he only has one eye that constantly hurts whenever he exists wrong. It would suck if the other side of his face was also in constant pain— Oh wait it is. Maybe he should find a nice ledge to jump off of sometime, it might be a fun adventure idea.]
whatever. [He doesn’t want your shallow, meaningless apologies. He takes a break from shielding his face—wincing as he does so—to roll up the sleeve covering bandages that are slightly stained with blood, some older looking and some stains newer.]
[They step up to you and, surprisingly gently, grab your wrist. They're finding themself oh so very tempted to just run their fingers across your palm. They wonder what it might feel like an-]
[Who are you to stop them?]
[Instead of unwrapping your bandages like they originally intended, they slowly drag their fingers across your palm.]
[His hands are rough, calloused from years and years of hero work and days on end in the forge. You can see a few scars scattered around his skin, small ones from burns and cuts and such. His working fingers twitch, and he scowls slightly.]
what the fuck are you doing? [He says it far too tiredly and without much bite, despite his scowling.]
[They don't respond to you, and instead enjoy the feeling of your rough hand. Your hand is so much more calloused than they can ever imagine their own hands being.]
[You're such a contrast from them, and they love it. There's so many things to learn from heroes like you, and they will learn them. Especially now that they have you.]
[Their soft fingers are the direct opposite to your rough skin.]
[He fights the urge to break your wrist. Even if he only has two working fingers, he could still do it, quite easily even. But he needs to figure out how to actually get around places on his own before he does anything drastic! It’s logical. He hates logic, and he hates Vio for insisting he have some. But whatever! He supposes logic does make sense, which is stupid. Anyway—]
seriously what the fuck are you doing. stop it, you fuckin’ weirdo…
[Theres more than just a hint of uncomfortability in his tone.]
Have you even noticed that civilian hands are soft, and unworked. Your hands show the opposite. Hard, long hours of swinging that sword of yours. You probably ran yourself ragged out there.
[It's admiring, really. And they want to see how easily they can break you apart. So far, they can tell they've been able to break you somewhat. But you're still fighting back.]
[That will change with time.]
of course i’ve noticed, i’m not that stupid! [He rolls his eye, and with the blindfold off you can tell he’s far more expressive with his face. Though he winces when he accidentally looks a bit too closely at the dim lighting, quickly averting his eyes again.] it’s normal for us to have rough everything. ‘cause we’re too busy protecting you ignorant assholes from imminent doom! you don’t even know the half of it. [And he's not willing to talk to you about it either.]
I know more about ya than most! But sure, ancient texts don't say much about ya lot. But ya can tell me about it all, I'm sure!
[Finally, they switch to finding the end of your bandage so they can begin to unravel it.]
doesn’t mean everything we did wasn’t glorified in your shitty texts…
[Well, at least you’re finally getting on with it. His thoughts travel a bit, though that just ends back at the shock collar wrapped around his neck. He then starts thinking about horrific ways to kill you.]
Well, ya never know.
[They take their time to slowly unravel the bandages covering your injury. They haven't taken a look at your eye injury yet. Instead, they'll see if this arm injury is healing well. They now know that they might have to do some cleaning, otherwise.]
[He winces as the bandages come off, but luckily they don’t stick too much. Still, pain goes all the way up his arm. It’s annoying. He sighs dramatically and thinks about glaring at you, but he doesn’t want to risk looking back at the light.]
[Again, all he can do is just let you do this. He can’t wait to find his way out of this nightmare.]
[They inspect your injuries for a moment. Oh, how they would like to run their tongue across your wound again. But, they're now aware that the healing process relies on them not doing that.]
[Dim light makes the state of your wounds hard to decipher.]
[The most you can tell is a bit of blood smudged blood in a few places, but otherwise, it mostly looks scabbed over. You can also see the outline of the carving against his skin, even though it doesn’t look all that neat with all the scabbing.]
[He continues to just stare off and think about random things, clearly not fully paying attention.]
Hm alright, I think that's a good sign.
[They're not fully sure, but they remember the wounds they've gotten, and how they scabbed over with time. Your arm is probably fine, then.]
[they pull away from your arm.]
[As soon as you pull away, he brings his arm back closer to him, in such a way that you can’t really see the injury anymore. He huffs.]
you think? great.
[If only he could properly check for himself. He knows how to take care of wounds, but… Without his sight, he might miss some sign of infection or something. Another reason to hate this situation, he guesses.]
[They don't give you much time before their hand is on your cheek, holding you still, and they start to prod at your eye.]
[They attempt to force open your eye socket so they can get a good look inside.]
[Already, this new position is uncomfortable, and he can definitely tell you’re closer than he’s comfortable with. But he bites his tongue and clenches his fists and tries to remind himself that this is necessary. Since he can’t do it himself anymore. It makes him sick.]
[Theres a large, faint scar that covers most of his face from that side. Looks like it was mostly healed from his trip to the great fairy, maybe a bit rougher in places where the infection was stronger. His eyelid was only half closed, and is pretty easy to force open. He backs away a bit as the cold air hits the inside of his eye socket.]
[They're pretty sure it's good practice to try and clean out the eye socket. They're not fully sure if that's what the book they read meant, but they don't care.]
[They leave for a moment, only returning when they have a wet cloth. They start by rabbit at the outside of your eye.]
[Once again, he backs away, startled at the sudden wetness. He scowls slightly.] warning would be nice… [But still, he lets you do as you please, if a little more tense than before.]
Hold still. I gotta clean your eye, ya know.
[They appreciate the fact that you've stopped fighting them. Especially since they're just trying to help right now. They'd appreciate if you don't even fight them, honestly.]
yeah yeah, warn me before you go poking around in my fuckin’ eye socket though, won’t’cha?
[He would probably have less startled involuntary reactions to things if he actually knew what to expect. But he guesses that’s too much to ask, isn’t it?]
[They hum in acknowledgement and continue to clean the outside of your eye with their cloth.]
Alrigh', open your eye for me. We gotta get in there, yeah?
[He sighs, but tries anyway. He finds he doesn’t really know if he can.] that’s the best you’ll get. [His eyelid is about half open still.]
[...Sure, that works for them. Their unoccupied hand moves to pull open your eyelids further. They very gently stick the wet cloth directly into your eye socket.]
[He grits his teeth through the feeling. This is weird. This is so weird. He can’t help but feel like it shouldn’t be you that’s doing this. Theres a thing in his eye socket and it’s weird. He hopes that this is easy to get used to, at least. And that with his blindfold, hopefully a better one in the future, this doesn't have to happen that often.]
[Fortunately, they're very gentle with it. It's kinda of fun! They get to explore the literal eye socket of a hero. That's not something most people could say! They don't try to force it or do anything to make the wound worse. They're actually being careful about it.]
[Though he is a bit surprised at how gentle you’re being with it, that doesn’t make him hate the feeling any less. It’s too intrusive.]
are you done yet?
[It’s starting to feel a bit… Weird. In a different, probably less good way. Not that before was good by any means, but still.]
Ya can't just rush the process, bub.
[Unfortunately, they are almost done. They really don't want to be. They want to stay here longer. Technically.... They could. But also, they don't want to make you completely miserable! That's not the goal here!]
[He scoffs, but decides to not say anything about it. Yet. He can deal with it for a little while longer, he guesses.]
[They only clean out your eye for a few more minutes before finally pulling the cloth out of your eye socket.]
There ya go! Now, that wasn't so hard. We'll have to do thing probably once a day, or somethin'. Ya don't want your eye socket to get infected!
[He flips you off. Not really for any particular reason other than he just felt like it.]
great. [He reaches for his blindfold, before remembering he… Doesn’t remember where he put it, actually. He sighs aggressively.] do you know where my fuckin’ blindfold is?
[Maybe he should ask to get new bandages for his arm, too…]
[Oh, right! They reach around you and place the blindfold on your lap.]
[As they do so, a sudden bark resounds through the entire house, and Scout seems to perk up.]
Oh, Fay! C'mere, girl!
[He’s halfway through making sure his blindfold is neatly folded and about to tie it off behind his head when he hears the bark, which nearly startles him into standing.]
you have a dog?!
[Dogs are… Fine. He hates the shedding, though! Its awful! Oh, this might be more of a nightmare than he thought.]
Sure do! Oh, if only ya could see her. She's precious.
[Right on cue, Fay, a great pyrenees, comes bounding into the room. She barks once more, as if reprimanding Scout for leaving her alone for a few days.]
I know, I know, but look! You have a new friend!
[Fay switches her attention to you and approaches curiously. Just from how close she is, you can tell she's huge.]
[OKAY he is Not scared of dogs, he’s just— A little wary of them. And their fur. Which is mostly his problem here. And—]
[He lifts his arms to find he is covered in dog fur. These clothes are not made for dog fur! He can feel it poking at him— Yup, okay, he thinks that death might actually be better than his current situation. If only he could see to find the stupid kitchen knives. But oh well! …He really does need to get better about jokes like that, but right now, he thinks it’s rather justified.]
you better fucking have a shower, i swear—
I'm not some sort of barbarian. Of course I got a shower!
[Fay has taken to inspecting you much closer. She's sniffing you and circling the chair you're on to inspect you at different angles.]
[It's been hours since Scout left. They really didn't expect the detour after their little checkup. Apparently they fell into a dream for a time. But, they're very grateful for convenient portals. Like this one! They tripped into it and was relieved to see familiar scenery.]
[You should be only a few blocks away! Unless if you left. In that case, they'll have to just track you down and teach you some sort of lesson.]
[They approach the bench very, very silently.]
[He can’t hear you, not at all. His arms are loosely crossed, and he’s tapping his foot against the ground. He looks bored, to say the least. But he’s barely moved an inch.]
[They creep up behind you before suddenly placing their hands on your shoulders with a very loud:] Hi Blue!! Did ya miss me?
[All of his thoughts grind to a halt, and off of pure instinct and habit, he snaps around to grab onto both of your wrists, stand with on foot on the bench for extra leverage, and all of the sudden you’re pulled off of your feet and thrown to the ground stomach first, one arm behind your back, and a knee grinding into your back as well. It’s a bit too quick and practiced for you to get all of it.]
[He’s breathing heavily, only realising he did all of that without sight after a few seconds when his mind clears just a little. He’s shocked at even his own actions, despite having done this maneuver too many times to count.]
[They land on the ground with a loud grunt and fall stock still.]
[They have to take a few moments to process what just happened, and to regain their breath. Well, they sure didn't expect this reaction!]
[After those couple moment, they start trying to wrench you off of them.]
Fucking- get off me!
[He’s in the perfect position to break your arm. He thinks of it for only a second before he stands and takes a single step backwards, and then he freezes in place. He’s facing down to you, though he doesn’t realise. He's still in a bit of panic, that much is obvious.]
[They get up with an exasperated sigh.]
Really, that's how ya greet me?
[They sound annoyed. And they especially sound like they're putting all the blame on you. Sure, they startled you, but you really didn't need to act that extreme! Now they're going to have a sore stomach for a while!]
don’t fucking do that, and maybe i wouldn’t.
[He crosses his arms, wincing as he does so, though it’s discreet.]
Right. Well.
[They'll have to do something about this behavior. They're so lucky they happened to pick up the perfect item on the way to meeting with Fifteen! They're curious to test it out.]
[They have no idea if anyone knows what inn they're at now. Well, they know of one in town that has some pretty good soundproofing.]
We're leavin'.
great.
[Wow. He’s so excited to be alone in a room with you again, because that turned out so well last time. He is definitely not being sarcastic with himself whatsoever.]
[…He can’t leave on his own. He doesn’t even remember where the bench is. It’s so humiliating! He’s an adult, he should be able to do this shit on his own.]
[They grab your left hand, paying no mind to any potential shows of pain. You're going to regret acting this way against them.]
[They start walking without much warning. They really want to just go without guiding you. But.... They're in a public place.]
[He realises the bandages should probably be changed. With all this pretending the cuts aren’t there, and this manhandling, he’s sure that at least something has been ripped open at one point. It’s not like he got any stitches.]
[While he’s a bit startled, he’s come to expect this from you, so he recovers quickly and starts following. Though the distant panic in the back of his mind doesn’t go unnoticed.]
[They move in a different way than how you got here. Different twists, different turns, to the point where it's hard to tell what direction you might be moving.]
[Eventually, the flat stone pavement gives way to dirt road.]
[He stumbles a little when he steps onto the dirt, not expecting it, but he regains his stability well enough.] where the fuck are you taking me….?
[They keep moving at a rather quick pace, not bothering to slow down. In fact, the further from the town they get, they move just a bit faster.]
Well, I don't quite have the money to stay in an inn forever, ya know. Ya should be grateful I was willin' to spend this much money for ya.
[Huffing, he’s forced to move just as quick as you despite the increased risk of tripping on something. Well, at least if he trips, you’ll go down with him.] well i’m not because you’re just making my life a living hell! [He doesn’t even think to ask where you might be taking him instead.]
Ya got someone to take care of ya while ya deal with havin' no vision! Really, that's no livin' hell. Be grateful.
[Their voice turns bitter as they speak. They can't believe you don't appreciate their efforts! They have to do so many things to make sure you're living and not about to suddenly die. Besides, keeping a hero under their grasp is harder than they thought it would be!
this isn’t what care looks like…
[It’s like you don’t even remember that he can’t see anything sometimes. Not warning him for stairs, moving too quickly, not warning him for— So many things! It drives him crazy! He doesn’t know what to expect moment from moment and it’s just such the littlest things too, things that he hadn’t even realised mattered until now. Knowing when to expect changes in the ground below him, for example.]
[…This isn’t care. This is— This is just trying to control him. He’s not that stupid, he can recognize this for what it is! And he can also recognize that it’s working. How the hell is he even supposed to escape it?! This really is just living hell!]
[If they heard you, they show no sign of hearing. They hum some sort of song as they walk. At some point, they take a fork down the road, specifically down a road with a lot more twigs and rocks.]
[Again, even though he notices the slight change, he can’t do anything about it and almost immediately stumbles, though is forced to keep going from the pain of you grabbing his injured hand. You can tell that he’s shaking slightly, and that the fingers that do actually work are gripped onto your hand tightly, almost to the point of pain. After all with only two working fingers on that hand, it would be just that much easier to accidentally let go.]
[They slow slightly when you trip, mainly because they're now focusing on not tripping themselves. This road has always been a bit rocky. It leads to a few houses in various directions. They can't even call their neighbors much of neighbors. Everyone is far apart out here, and they're just now realizing how much of an advantage that is now.]
[He hisses in pain when he accidentally stubs his toe on a rock. It would be wonderful if he never had to go down this road ever again. This actually sucks more than just sitting on that bench and probably being stared at all day, he can’t wait for it to just be over or lead to stone pathways or anything else!]
[They take a few turns here and there, and the pathways only get less and less defined at they go on. They never really bothered with maintaining the road that leads to their home.]
[Well, at least they're almost there.]
[This is just— This is the woods. You’ve taken him out in the middle of the woods and now you’re going to murder him. Not exactly how he thought his life would end, but whatever!]
[…]
[He yelps as his foot gets caught on a tree root, and he tumbles onto the ground. With how tight his grip on your hand was, you go down with him.]
[They follow you down with a small yelp. Clearly, they were not expecting this. They push themselves up and glare down at you.]
Really? Gonna pull me down with ya? Well, we're almost there. Get up.
maybe if you told me where anything fucking was, this wouldn’t happen, dipshit.
[He too pushes himself up, wincing slightly when there’s a small ache in his ankle. Well, at least it doesn’t feel broken or anything. It’ll probably be sore for a while though.]
[…He realises he doesn’t know where you are anymore. Just listening for your voice can’t be that reliable, right? He stays standing in place until you do something.]
[They're realizing that having control over a blind person is rather inconvenient. They have to lead you everywhere all the time. But also, it's an excuse to touch you! Once that you can't even fight.]
[...Huh. Maybe they should be grateful for your blindness. The Goddesses have gifted them with this benefit, and that shouldn't just be scowling at every slight inconvenience it may cause.]
[In the end, your blindness is how they keep you under their thumb.]
[This time, they grab at your right hand. After all, they need their own right hand to unlock the door.]
[He gives a relived sigh that he hates when he actually has a point of reference for the world around him again. Then he immediately tenses because he should not be thinking of you like that. ]
[…He’s also at the very least grateful that you grabbed his other hand. His other, completely fucked up one, really deserves a break.]
[As they continue on, their humming takes on a bit of a happier tune. They have no reason to be grumpy! In the past few days alone, they've had the chance to meet two heroes! Though... That one younger one was a bit defunct, and you're retired. But that's not a big deal! Still heroes nonetheless!]
[Their whole body hurts now, yeah. But they can teach you how to act. Really, not a huge deal.]
[WHY the FUCK is he less panicky when you’re in front of him, you’re literally a shit guide and you suck at— Everything!]
[He scowls as he steps a bit closer to you. He tells himself that it’s because you might clear out the path for him with your stupid feet. Fuck his life, it sucks.]
[After a moment, they come to slow that turns into a stop. They look ahead of them with a fond smile.]
Well, here we are: my small home. Honestly, a shame ya can't see it.
[It's a small, one story house. Only one bedroom and bath. Technically there's two other bedrooms, but those are being repurposed. One room is their hero collection, and the other is a study room..... With every book about heroes they've ever found.]
it’s crazy you think i actually give a shit.
[He scoffs, though he would very much like to get off this stupid road. Start memorizing the layout of the house so that maybe he can work on an escape plan or something.]
It's ya home now, ya know.
[As they lead you in, they make sure to turn on every light and lantern immediately. They're not about to let you get oriented with everything.]
anyplace with you in it is hardly a fuckin’ place to call home.
[He grimaces when the lights are turned on, but the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet is more than welcoming.]
[They huff unhappily at that. Well, they were hoping you'd just calm down in your own, but clearly not.]
[They pull away from you for a moment so they can close and lock the door. They're only gone for a moment before they return and get real close to your face.]
Ya know, I don't appreciate the way ya talk about me.
[He steps away from you, scowling again.] maybe don’t be such a dick and that would change! or maybe, y’know, you shouldn’t have blinded me?!
[They just step closer again and place a hand on your shoulder.]
Well, bub, I think ya need to learn some things. I'm real achy thanks to ya, and ya show me no respect, even when I am improving your life! That's the least I ask from ya for all of this.
[He grabs your wrist and throws your hand off of him.]
you’re improving nothing. you’re just making everything worse!
Nobody else would take ya in. Ya're lucky enough to have even someone like me!
[But clearly, they're not getting through to you. So, they'll just have to do things the hard way.]
[Their hand reaches I to their bag, and they barely have to search to find what they want.]
you blinded me! [He nearly screams it. He honestly didn’t know he was this angry about this, but he supposes it’s understandable.] you fucking blind me and you expect me to like you?! what kind of fucking hylia’s bitch are you?! a high one?! cause you sure damn sound like it!
...Alright. That's enough.
[Their voice is uncharacteristically cold as they step up to you. They've let you yell and scream enough.]
[In one swift movement, their hands are near your neck, and then there's something cold pressed against your neck. You can hear a click, and they reach behind you to flick something. Only then do they step away.]
wh— what the fuck— [He doesn’t have the time to prepare before it’s clasped around his neck, and he immediately takes several steps away from you to try and grab the thing off of himself.] is this a fucking collar?! what the fuck kind of shit are you into?!
[He starts trying to unclasp the back, and when he gets frustrated he just starts tugging.]
Ya know, I was tryin' to keep ya away from a world of pain earlier. Ya didn't listen, so ya get what's comin' to ya.
[They watch you struggle for a few minutes. It's cute, especially when they know that thing isn't coming off. But, the lesson learning has to start at some point.]
[They hold a remote in their hand. All it has is a button, a dial, and a switch. But... They'll watch for just a moment longer.]
what the fuck does that mean?! take this stupid thing off of me, you cocksucking assbag—
[He continues to just tug at it, trying to break it or something. Anything. When that doesn’t work, he starts pulling at it from the front instead, though he stops when he feels two prongs coming from the collar thing. Just what the hell is this?!]
Ya just have to deal with it, bub.
[They flick the dial on the remote to a 5. This should mainly just be a bit painful. And they press the button.]
[He jolts when he feels a pain, stopping to try and process what just happened. That hurt. Okay. The weed collar thing hurts. Great.]
[Wait, is this—] did you put a fucking shock collar on me?! i’m not a goddessdamned dog! stop treating me like one!
[And then he goes back to tugging. The pain is ignorable enough, and definitely not the worst he’s felt. Though he’s a bit more… Sensitive to electricity than he should be.]
Tuggin' on it isn't gonna help ya.
[They up the dial to 6, and press the button again. This time, their finger lingers on the button longer. The longer they press the button, the worse the pain gets.]
[He grunts at the pain, and now it’s starting to get bad. Especially as it’s prolonged. With a growl, his hands fly down to his sides, though with nothing removing the collar from his skin the pain is just intensified when the prongs sink into his skin a little. You can see him twitch occasionally.]
can you cut it out?! what the fuck do you want from me?!
[As you remove your hands, they wait a moment. In fact, they wait until you say something to remove their finger from the button. It's very entertaining to watch your reaction.]
First thing, tryin' to remove that collar will do nothin' but shock ya.
[His fists shake in anger, and his breathing heavy with it. What he would do to just— Yeah, maybe not. Killing people is bad, or something.]
great…
Now, bub, I need to have a look at ya wounds.
[The threatening undertones are pretty clear. Now that you have the shock collar on, they're not afraid to demand things of you.]
stop calling me that… what, you just gunna make ‘em worse?
[…He doesn’t really want to stand for whatever you’re going to do to him next. He also has no clue where anything is, so looks like his life is just going to suck forever.]
Nah, nah. I did some research. Turns out I gotta clean wounds, or else things could get bad for ya. So, let me see.
[They won't shock you over something this small. They're merciful like that.]
[He would rather things ‘get bad for him’ than live like this, but whatever. He can find a way to escape eventually. It’s not the worst thing he’s had to escape, he just… Doesn’t have all the tools he’s used to. But whatever! It’s basically just a dungeon with absolutely no lights at any time ever! He’ll be fine.]
[Instead of responding he just stands still. It’s not like he can do anything else right now.]
Are ya gonna make me reveal them myself?
[How they would love to. They'd get to feel the musculature of your arms again. The curves of your face. But they'll give you a choice. Again, they're merciful. They can show kindness when they feel like it.]
huh? oh. turn the fuckin’ lights off first, then maybe. a chair or something would be fan-fuckin’-tastic, too.
[He would much rather be doing this himself, really. But, again, whatever.]
What? Ya gotta see in order to roll up your sleeves?
[They sigh. But then they place their hands on your shoulders and push you forward, until you push up against a chair.]
There, a chair for ya.
hell no! but my entire face is kind of mangled, and the light hurts like a bitch!
[With surprisingly little complaints, he backs up until he finds himself sitting. As soon as he does, both his legs and arms are crossed.]
so i’m guessing you wanna look at that too. i would rather not suffer too much, thanks.
[He is trying very, very hard to ignore the shock collar. It’s… far too hard than he wants it to be.]
[They think about this for a moment. Well, without light, they won't be able to see what they're doing. But they can leave one light on. A dim room is better for you than a bright one.]
[And they don't want you to be constantly miserable.]
[So they wander around the room, turning off most of the lights.]
[For a second, he almost thinks to thank you. Then he remembers you’re an asshole and decides he doesn’t care. When he’s pretty sure the lights are at least mostly off, he slowly takes off his blindfold. And whatever lights you did leave on make his vision nearly white with how bright they are to him. He flinched away from it, though it doesn’t do much.]
[They see you flinch. Of course they do! They love just staring at you. And you have no idea that they're staring!]
[Well, they made the room as dim as they could while still being able to see.]
Sorry bub, but I gotta be able to see still.
[He looks over to where he thinks you are, and is met with… A blurry shape of what might be a person? He honestly can’t tell if what he’s looking at is alive or a piece of furniture. He looks away from you to stare at the darkest corner of the room, shielding his remaining eye from where the light is coming from. Well, at least he only has one eye that constantly hurts whenever he exists wrong. It would suck if the other side of his face was also in constant pain— Oh wait it is. Maybe he should find a nice ledge to jump off of sometime, it might be a fun adventure idea.]
whatever. [He doesn’t want your shallow, meaningless apologies. He takes a break from shielding his face—wincing as he does so—to roll up the sleeve covering bandages that are slightly stained with blood, some older looking and some stains newer.]
[They step up to you and, surprisingly gently, grab your wrist. They're finding themself oh so very tempted to just run their fingers across your palm. They wonder what it might feel like an-]
[Who are you to stop them?]
[Instead of unwrapping your bandages like they originally intended, they slowly drag their fingers across your palm.]
[His hands are rough, calloused from years and years of hero work and days on end in the forge. You can see a few scars scattered around his skin, small ones from burns and cuts and such. His working fingers twitch, and he scowls slightly.]
what the fuck are you doing? [He says it far too tiredly and without much bite, despite his scowling.]
[They don't respond to you, and instead enjoy the feeling of your rough hand. Your hand is so much more calloused than they can ever imagine their own hands being.]
[You're such a contrast from them, and they love it. There's so many things to learn from heroes like you, and they will learn them. Especially now that they have you.]
[Their soft fingers are the direct opposite to your rough skin.]
[He fights the urge to break your wrist. Even if he only has two working fingers, he could still do it, quite easily even. But he needs to figure out how to actually get around places on his own before he does anything drastic! It’s logical. He hates logic, and he hates Vio for insisting he have some. But whatever! He supposes logic does make sense, which is stupid. Anyway—]
seriously what the fuck are you doing. stop it, you fuckin’ weirdo…
[Theres more than just a hint of uncomfortability in his tone.]
Have you even noticed that civilian hands are soft, and unworked. Your hands show the opposite. Hard, long hours of swinging that sword of yours. You probably ran yourself ragged out there.
[It's admiring, really. And they want to see how easily they can break you apart. So far, they can tell they've been able to break you somewhat. But you're still fighting back.]
[That will change with time.]
of course i’ve noticed, i’m not that stupid! [He rolls his eye, and with the blindfold off you can tell he’s far more expressive with his face. Though he winces when he accidentally looks a bit too closely at the dim lighting, quickly averting his eyes again.] it’s normal for us to have rough everything. ‘cause we’re too busy protecting you ignorant assholes from imminent doom! you don’t even know the half of it. [And he's not willing to talk to you about it either.]
I know more about ya than most! But sure, ancient texts don't say much about ya lot. But ya can tell me about it all, I'm sure!
[Finally, they switch to finding the end of your bandage so they can begin to unravel it.]
doesn’t mean everything we did wasn’t glorified in your shitty texts…
[Well, at least you’re finally getting on with it. His thoughts travel a bit, though that just ends back at the shock collar wrapped around his neck. He then starts thinking about horrific ways to kill you.]
Well, ya never know.
[They take their time to slowly unravel the bandages covering your injury. They haven't taken a look at your eye injury yet. Instead, they'll see if this arm injury is healing well. They now know that they might have to do some cleaning, otherwise.]
[He winces as the bandages come off, but luckily they don’t stick too much. Still, pain goes all the way up his arm. It’s annoying. He sighs dramatically and thinks about glaring at you, but he doesn’t want to risk looking back at the light.]
[Again, all he can do is just let you do this. He can’t wait to find his way out of this nightmare.]
[They inspect your injuries for a moment. Oh, how they would like to run their tongue across your wound again. But, they're now aware that the healing process relies on them not doing that.]
[Dim light makes the state of your wounds hard to decipher.]
[The most you can tell is a bit of blood smudged blood in a few places, but otherwise, it mostly looks scabbed over. You can also see the outline of the carving against his skin, even though it doesn’t look all that neat with all the scabbing.]
[He continues to just stare off and think about random things, clearly not fully paying attention.]
Hm alright, I think that's a good sign.
[They're not fully sure, but they remember the wounds they've gotten, and how they scabbed over with time. Your arm is probably fine, then.]
[they pull away from your arm.]
[As soon as you pull away, he brings his arm back closer to him, in such a way that you can’t really see the injury anymore. He huffs.]
you think? great.
[If only he could properly check for himself. He knows how to take care of wounds, but… Without his sight, he might miss some sign of infection or something. Another reason to hate this situation, he guesses.]
[They don't give you much time before their hand is on your cheek, holding you still, and they start to prod at your eye.]
[They attempt to force open your eye socket so they can get a good look inside.]
[Already, this new position is uncomfortable, and he can definitely tell you’re closer than he’s comfortable with. But he bites his tongue and clenches his fists and tries to remind himself that this is necessary. Since he can’t do it himself anymore. It makes him sick.]
[Theres a large, faint scar that covers most of his face from that side. Looks like it was mostly healed from his trip to the great fairy, maybe a bit rougher in places where the infection was stronger. His eyelid was only half closed, and is pretty easy to force open. He backs away a bit as the cold air hits the inside of his eye socket.]
[They're pretty sure it's good practice to try and clean out the eye socket. They're not fully sure if that's what the book they read meant, but they don't care.]
[They leave for a moment, only returning when they have a wet cloth. They start by rabbit at the outside of your eye.]
[Once again, he backs away, startled at the sudden wetness. He scowls slightly.] warning would be nice… [But still, he lets you do as you please, if a little more tense than before.]
Hold still. I gotta clean your eye, ya know.
[They appreciate the fact that you've stopped fighting them. Especially since they're just trying to help right now. They'd appreciate if you don't even fight them, honestly.]
yeah yeah, warn me before you go poking around in my fuckin’ eye socket though, won’t’cha?
[He would probably have less startled involuntary reactions to things if he actually knew what to expect. But he guesses that’s too much to ask, isn’t it?]
[They hum in acknowledgement and continue to clean the outside of your eye with their cloth.]
Alrigh', open your eye for me. We gotta get in there, yeah?
[He sighs, but tries anyway. He finds he doesn’t really know if he can.] that’s the best you’ll get. [His eyelid is about half open still.]
[...Sure, that works for them. Their unoccupied hand moves to pull open your eyelids further. They very gently stick the wet cloth directly into your eye socket.]
[He grits his teeth through the feeling. This is weird. This is so weird. He can’t help but feel like it shouldn’t be you that’s doing this. Theres a thing in his eye socket and it’s weird. He hopes that this is easy to get used to, at least. And that with his blindfold, hopefully a better one in the future, this doesn't have to happen that often.]
[Fortunately, they're very gentle with it. It's kinda of fun! They get to explore the literal eye socket of a hero. That's not something most people could say! They don't try to force it or do anything to make the wound worse. They're actually being careful about it.]
[Though he is a bit surprised at how gentle you’re being with it, that doesn’t make him hate the feeling any less. It’s too intrusive.]
are you done yet?
[It’s starting to feel a bit… Weird. In a different, probably less good way. Not that before was good by any means, but still.]
Ya can't just rush the process, bub.
[Unfortunately, they are almost done. They really don't want to be. They want to stay here longer. Technically.... They could. But also, they don't want to make you completely miserable! That's not the goal here!]
[He scoffs, but decides to not say anything about it. Yet. He can deal with it for a little while longer, he guesses.]
[They only clean out your eye for a few more minutes before finally pulling the cloth out of your eye socket.]
There ya go! Now, that wasn't so hard. We'll have to do thing probably once a day, or somethin'. Ya don't want your eye socket to get infected!
[He flips you off. Not really for any particular reason other than he just felt like it.]
great. [He reaches for his blindfold, before remembering he… Doesn’t remember where he put it, actually. He sighs aggressively.] do you know where my fuckin’ blindfold is?
[Maybe he should ask to get new bandages for his arm, too…]
[Oh, right! They reach around you and place the blindfold on your lap.]
[As they do so, a sudden bark resounds through the entire house, and Scout seems to perk up.]
Oh, Fay! C'mere, girl!
[He’s halfway through making sure his blindfold is neatly folded and about to tie it off behind his head when he hears the bark, which nearly startles him into standing.]
you have a dog?!
[Dogs are… Fine. He hates the shedding, though! Its awful! Oh, this might be more of a nightmare than he thought.]
Sure do! Oh, if only ya could see her. She's precious.
[Right on cue, Fay, a great pyrenees, comes bounding into the room. She barks once more, as if reprimanding Scout for leaving her alone for a few days.]
I know, I know, but look! You have a new friend!
[Fay switches her attention to you and approaches curiously. Just from how close she is, you can tell she's huge.]
[It's been hours since Scout left. They really didn't expect the detour after their little checkup. Apparently they fell into a dream for a time. But, they're very grateful for convenient portals. Like this one! They tripped into it and was relieved to see familiar scenery.]
[You should be only a few blocks away! Unless if you left. In that case, they'll have to just track you down and teach you some sort of lesson.]
[They approach the bench very, very silently.]
[He can’t hear you, not at all. His arms are loosely crossed, and he’s tapping his foot against the ground. He looks bored, to say the least. But he’s barely moved an inch.]
[They creep up behind you before suddenly placing their hands on your shoulders with a very loud:] Hi Blue!! Did ya miss me?
[All of his thoughts grind to a halt, and off of pure instinct and habit, he snaps around to grab onto both of your wrists, stand with on foot on the bench for extra leverage, and all of the sudden you’re pulled off of your feet and thrown to the ground stomach first, one arm behind your back, and a knee grinding into your back as well. It’s a bit too quick and practiced for you to get all of it.]
[He’s breathing heavily, only realising he did all of that without sight after a few seconds when his mind clears just a little. He’s shocked at even his own actions, despite having done this maneuver too many times to count.]
[They land on the ground with a loud grunt and fall stock still.]
[They have to take a few moments to process what just happened, and to regain their breath. Well, they sure didn't expect this reaction!]
[After those couple moment, they start trying to wrench you off of them.]
Fucking- get off me!
[He’s in the perfect position to break your arm. He thinks of it for only a second before he stands and takes a single step backwards, and then he freezes in place. He’s facing down to you, though he doesn’t realise. He's still in a bit of panic, that much is obvious.]
[They get up with an exasperated sigh.]
Really, that's how ya greet me?
[They sound annoyed. And they especially sound like they're putting all the blame on you. Sure, they startled you, but you really didn't need to act that extreme! Now they're going to have a sore stomach for a while!]
don’t fucking do that, and maybe i wouldn’t.
[He crosses his arms, wincing as he does so, though it’s discreet.]
Right. Well.
[They'll have to do something about this behavior. They're so lucky they happened to pick up the perfect item on the way to meeting with Fifteen! They're curious to test it out.]
[They have no idea if anyone knows what inn they're at now. Well, they know of one in town that has some pretty good soundproofing.]
We're leavin'.
great.
[Wow. He’s so excited to be alone in a room with you again, because that turned out so well last time. He is definitely not being sarcastic with himself whatsoever.]
[…He can’t leave on his own. He doesn’t even remember where the bench is. It’s so humiliating! He’s an adult, he should be able to do this shit on his own.]
[They grab your left hand, paying no mind to any potential shows of pain. You're going to regret acting this way against them.]
[They start walking without much warning. They really want to just go without guiding you. But.... They're in a public place.]
[He realises the bandages should probably be changed. With all this pretending the cuts aren’t there, and this manhandling, he’s sure that at least something has been ripped open at one point. It’s not like he got any stitches.]
[While he’s a bit startled, he’s come to expect this from you, so he recovers quickly and starts following. Though the distant panic in the back of his mind doesn’t go unnoticed.]
[They move in a different way than how you got here. Different twists, different turns, to the point where it's hard to tell what direction you might be moving.]
[Eventually, the flat stone pavement gives way to dirt road.]
[He stumbles a little when he steps onto the dirt, not expecting it, but he regains his stability well enough.] where the fuck are you taking me….?
[They keep moving at a rather quick pace, not bothering to slow down. In fact, the further from the town they get, they move just a bit faster.]
Well, I don't quite have the money to stay in an inn forever, ya know. Ya should be grateful I was willin' to spend this much money for ya.
[Huffing, he’s forced to move just as quick as you despite the increased risk of tripping on something. Well, at least if he trips, you’ll go down with him.] well i’m not because you’re just making my life a living hell! [He doesn’t even think to ask where you might be taking him instead.]
Ya got someone to take care of ya while ya deal with havin' no vision! Really, that's no livin' hell. Be grateful.
[Their voice turns bitter as they speak. They can't believe you don't appreciate their efforts! They have to do so many things to make sure you're living and not about to suddenly die. Besides, keeping a hero under their grasp is harder than they thought it would be!
this isn’t what care looks like…
[It’s like you don’t even remember that he can’t see anything sometimes. Not warning him for stairs, moving too quickly, not warning him for— So many things! It drives him crazy! He doesn’t know what to expect moment from moment and it’s just such the littlest things too, things that he hadn’t even realised mattered until now. Knowing when to expect changes in the ground below him, for example.]
[…This isn’t care. This is— This is just trying to control him. He’s not that stupid, he can recognize this for what it is! And he can also recognize that it’s working. How the hell is he even supposed to escape it?! This really is just living hell!]
[If they heard you, they show no sign of hearing. They hum some sort of song as they walk. At some point, they take a fork down the road, specifically down a road with a lot more twigs and rocks.]
[Again, even though he notices the slight change, he can’t do anything about it and almost immediately stumbles, though is forced to keep going from the pain of you grabbing his injured hand. You can tell that he’s shaking slightly, and that the fingers that do actually work are gripped onto your hand tightly, almost to the point of pain. After all with only two working fingers on that hand, it would be just that much easier to accidentally let go.]
[They slow slightly when you trip, mainly because they're now focusing on not tripping themselves. This road has always been a bit rocky. It leads to a few houses in various directions. They can't even call their neighbors much of neighbors. Everyone is far apart out here, and they're just now realizing how much of an advantage that is now.]
[He hisses in pain when he accidentally stubs his toe on a rock. It would be wonderful if he never had to go down this road ever again. This actually sucks more than just sitting on that bench and probably being stared at all day, he can’t wait for it to just be over or lead to stone pathways or anything else!]
[They take a few turns here and there, and the pathways only get less and less defined at they go on. They never really bothered with maintaining the road that leads to their home.]
[Well, at least they're almost there.]
[This is just— This is the woods. You’ve taken him out in the middle of the woods and now you’re going to murder him. Not exactly how he thought his life would end, but whatever!]
[…]
[He yelps as his foot gets caught on a tree root, and he tumbles onto the ground. With how tight his grip on your hand was, you go down with him.]
[They follow you down with a small yelp. Clearly, they were not expecting this. They push themselves up and glare down at you.]
Really? Gonna pull me down with ya? Well, we're almost there. Get up.
maybe if you told me where anything fucking was, this wouldn’t happen, dipshit.
[He too pushes himself up, wincing slightly when there’s a small ache in his ankle. Well, at least it doesn’t feel broken or anything. It’ll probably be sore for a while though.]
[…He realises he doesn’t know where you are anymore. Just listening for your voice can’t be that reliable, right? He stays standing in place until you do something.]
[They're realizing that having control over a blind person is rather inconvenient. They have to lead you everywhere all the time. But also, it's an excuse to touch you! Once that you can't even fight.]
[...Huh. Maybe they should be grateful for your blindness. The Goddesses have gifted them with this benefit, and that shouldn't just be scowling at every slight inconvenience it may cause.]
[In the end, your blindness is how they keep you under their thumb.]
[This time, they grab at your right hand. After all, they need their own right hand to unlock the door.]
[He gives a relived sigh that he hates when he actually has a point of reference for the world around him again. Then he immediately tenses because he should not be thinking of you like that. ]
[…He’s also at the very least grateful that you grabbed his other hand. His other, completely fucked up one, really deserves a break.]
[As they continue on, their humming takes on a bit of a happier tune. They have no reason to be grumpy! In the past few days alone, they've had the chance to meet two heroes! Though... That one younger one was a bit defunct, and you're retired. But that's not a big deal! Still heroes nonetheless!]
[Their whole body hurts now, yeah. But they can teach you how to act. Really, not a huge deal.]
[WHY the FUCK is he less panicky when you’re in front of him, you’re literally a shit guide and you suck at— Everything!]
[He scowls as he steps a bit closer to you. He tells himself that it’s because you might clear out the path for him with your stupid feet. Fuck his life, it sucks.]
[After a moment, they come to slow that turns into a stop. They look ahead of them with a fond smile.]
Well, here we are: my small home. Honestly, a shame ya can't see it.
[It's a small, one story house. Only one bedroom and bath. Technically there's two other bedrooms, but those are being repurposed. One room is their hero collection, and the other is a study room..... With every book about heroes they've ever found.]
it’s crazy you think i actually give a shit.
[He scoffs, though he would very much like to get off this stupid road. Start memorizing the layout of the house so that maybe he can work on an escape plan or something.]
It's ya home now, ya know.
[As they lead you in, they make sure to turn on every light and lantern immediately. They're not about to let you get oriented with everything.]
anyplace with you in it is hardly a fuckin’ place to call home.
[He grimaces when the lights are turned on, but the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet is more than welcoming.]
[They huff unhappily at that. Well, they were hoping you'd just calm down in your own, but clearly not.]
[They pull away from you for a moment so they can close and lock the door. They're only gone for a moment before they return and get real close to your face.]
Ya know, I don't appreciate the way ya talk about me.
[He steps away from you, scowling again.] maybe don’t be such a dick and that would change! or maybe, y’know, you shouldn’t have blinded me?!
[They just step closer again and place a hand on your shoulder.]
Well, bub, I think ya need to learn some things. I'm real achy thanks to ya, and ya show me no respect, even when I am improving your life! That's the least I ask from ya for all of this.
[He grabs your wrist and throws your hand off of him.]
you’re improving nothing. you’re just making everything worse!
Nobody else would take ya in. Ya're lucky enough to have even someone like me!
[But clearly, they're not getting through to you. So, they'll just have to do things the hard way.]
[Their hand reaches I to their bag, and they barely have to search to find what they want.]
you blinded me! [He nearly screams it. He honestly didn’t know he was this angry about this, but he supposes it’s understandable.] you fucking blind me and you expect me to like you?! what kind of fucking hylia’s bitch are you?! a high one?! cause you sure damn sound like it!
...Alright. That's enough.
[Their voice is uncharacteristically cold as they step up to you. They've let you yell and scream enough.]
[In one swift movement, their hands are near your neck, and then there's something cold pressed against your neck. You can hear a click, and they reach behind you to flick something. Only then do they step away.]
wh— what the fuck— [He doesn’t have the time to prepare before it’s clasped around his neck, and he immediately takes several steps away from you to try and grab the thing off of himself.] is this a fucking collar?! what the fuck kind of shit are you into?!
[He starts trying to unclasp the back, and when he gets frustrated he just starts tugging.]
Ya know, I was tryin' to keep ya away from a world of pain earlier. Ya didn't listen, so ya get what's comin' to ya.
[They watch you struggle for a few minutes. It's cute, especially when they know that thing isn't coming off. But, the lesson learning has to start at some point.]
[They hold a remote in their hand. All it has is a button, a dial, and a switch. But... They'll watch for just a moment longer.]
what the fuck does that mean?! take this stupid thing off of me, you cocksucking assbag—
[He continues to just tug at it, trying to break it or something. Anything. When that doesn’t work, he starts pulling at it from the front instead, though he stops when he feels two prongs coming from the collar thing. Just what the hell is this?!]
Ya just have to deal with it, bub.
[They flick the dial on the remote to a 5. This should mainly just be a bit painful. And they press the button.]
[He jolts when he feels a pain, stopping to try and process what just happened. That hurt. Okay. The weed collar thing hurts. Great.]
[Wait, is this—] did you put a fucking shock collar on me?! i’m not a goddessdamned dog! stop treating me like one!
[And then he goes back to tugging. The pain is ignorable enough, and definitely not the worst he’s felt. Though he’s a bit more… Sensitive to electricity than he should be.]
Tuggin' on it isn't gonna help ya.
[They up the dial to 6, and press the button again. This time, their finger lingers on the button longer. The longer they press the button, the worse the pain gets.]
[He grunts at the pain, and now it’s starting to get bad. Especially as it’s prolonged. With a growl, his hands fly down to his sides, though with nothing removing the collar from his skin the pain is just intensified when the prongs sink into his skin a little. You can see him twitch occasionally.]
can you cut it out?! what the fuck do you want from me?!
[As you remove your hands, they wait a moment. In fact, they wait until you say something to remove their finger from the button. It's very entertaining to watch your reaction.]
First thing, tryin' to remove that collar will do nothin' but shock ya.
[His fists shake in anger, and his breathing heavy with it. What he would do to just— Yeah, maybe not. Killing people is bad, or something.]
great…
Now, bub, I need to have a look at ya wounds.
[The threatening undertones are pretty clear. Now that you have the shock collar on, they're not afraid to demand things of you.]
stop calling me that… what, you just gunna make ‘em worse?
[…He doesn’t really want to stand for whatever you’re going to do to him next. He also has no clue where anything is, so looks like his life is just going to suck forever.]
Nah, nah. I did some research. Turns out I gotta clean wounds, or else things could get bad for ya. So, let me see.
[They won't shock you over something this small. They're merciful like that.]
[He would rather things ‘get bad for him’ than live like this, but whatever. He can find a way to escape eventually. It’s not the worst thing he’s had to escape, he just… Doesn’t have all the tools he’s used to. But whatever! It’s basically just a dungeon with absolutely no lights at any time ever! He’ll be fine.]
[Instead of responding he just stands still. It’s not like he can do anything else right now.]
Are ya gonna make me reveal them myself?
[How they would love to. They'd get to feel the musculature of your arms again. The curves of your face. But they'll give you a choice. Again, they're merciful. They can show kindness when they feel like it.]
huh? oh. turn the fuckin’ lights off first, then maybe. a chair or something would be fan-fuckin’-tastic, too.
[He would much rather be doing this himself, really. But, again, whatever.]
What? Ya gotta see in order to roll up your sleeves?
[They sigh. But then they place their hands on your shoulders and push you forward, until you push up against a chair.]
There, a chair for ya.
hell no! but my entire face is kind of mangled, and the light hurts like a bitch!
[With surprisingly little complaints, he backs up until he finds himself sitting. As soon as he does, both his legs and arms are crossed.]
so i’m guessing you wanna look at that too. i would rather not suffer too much, thanks.
[He is trying very, very hard to ignore the shock collar. It’s… far too hard than he wants it to be.]
[They think about this for a moment. Well, without light, they won't be able to see what they're doing. But they can leave one light on. A dim room is better for you than a bright one.]
[And they don't want you to be constantly miserable.]
[So they wander around the room, turning off most of the lights.]
[For a second, he almost thinks to thank you. Then he remembers you’re an asshole and decides he doesn’t care. When he’s pretty sure the lights are at least mostly off, he slowly takes off his blindfold. And whatever lights you did leave on make his vision nearly white with how bright they are to him. He flinched away from it, though it doesn’t do much.]
[They see you flinch. Of course they do! They love just staring at you. And you have no idea that they're staring!]
[Well, they made the room as dim as they could while still being able to see.]
Sorry bub, but I gotta be able to see still.
[He looks over to where he thinks you are, and is met with… A blurry shape of what might be a person? He honestly can’t tell if what he’s looking at is alive or a piece of furniture. He looks away from you to stare at the darkest corner of the room, shielding his remaining eye from where the light is coming from. Well, at least he only has one eye that constantly hurts whenever he exists wrong. It would suck if the other side of his face was also in constant pain— Oh wait it is. Maybe he should find a nice ledge to jump off of sometime, it might be a fun adventure idea.]
whatever. [He doesn’t want your shallow, meaningless apologies. He takes a break from shielding his face—wincing as he does so—to roll up the sleeve covering bandages that are slightly stained with blood, some older looking and some stains newer.]
[They step up to you and, surprisingly gently, grab your wrist. They're finding themself oh so very tempted to just run their fingers across your palm. They wonder what it might feel like an-]
[Who are you to stop them?]
[Instead of unwrapping your bandages like they originally intended, they slowly drag their fingers across your palm.]
[His hands are rough, calloused from years and years of hero work and days on end in the forge. You can see a few scars scattered around his skin, small ones from burns and cuts and such. His working fingers twitch, and he scowls slightly.]
what the fuck are you doing? [He says it far too tiredly and without much bite, despite his scowling.]
[They don't respond to you, and instead enjoy the feeling of your rough hand. Your hand is so much more calloused than they can ever imagine their own hands being.]
[You're such a contrast from them, and they love it. There's so many things to learn from heroes like you, and they will learn them. Especially now that they have you.]
[Their soft fingers are the direct opposite to your rough skin.]
[He fights the urge to break your wrist. Even if he only has two working fingers, he could still do it, quite easily even. But he needs to figure out how to actually get around places on his own before he does anything drastic! It’s logical. He hates logic, and he hates Vio for insisting he have some. But whatever! He supposes logic does make sense, which is stupid. Anyway—]
seriously what the fuck are you doing. stop it, you fuckin’ weirdo…
[Theres more than just a hint of uncomfortability in his tone.]
Have you even noticed that civilian hands are soft, and unworked. Your hands show the opposite. Hard, long hours of swinging that sword of yours. You probably ran yourself ragged out there.
[It's admiring, really. And they want to see how easily they can break you apart. So far, they can tell they've been able to break you somewhat. But you're still fighting back.]
[That will change with time.]
of course i’ve noticed, i’m not that stupid! [He rolls his eye, and with the blindfold off you can tell he’s far more expressive with his face. Though he winces when he accidentally looks a bit too closely at the dim lighting, quickly averting his eyes again.] it’s normal for us to have rough everything. ‘cause we’re too busy protecting you ignorant assholes from imminent doom! you don’t even know the half of it. [And he's not willing to talk to you about it either.]
I know more about ya than most! But sure, ancient texts don't say much about ya lot. But ya can tell me about it all, I'm sure!
[Finally, they switch to finding the end of your bandage so they can begin to unravel it.]
doesn’t mean everything we did wasn’t glorified in your shitty texts…
[Well, at least you’re finally getting on with it. His thoughts travel a bit, though that just ends back at the shock collar wrapped around his neck. He then starts thinking about horrific ways to kill you.]
Well, ya never know.
[They take their time to slowly unravel the bandages covering your injury. They haven't taken a look at your eye injury yet. Instead, they'll see if this arm injury is healing well. They now know that they might have to do some cleaning, otherwise.]
[He winces as the bandages come off, but luckily they don’t stick too much. Still, pain goes all the way up his arm. It’s annoying. He sighs dramatically and thinks about glaring at you, but he doesn’t want to risk looking back at the light.]
[Again, all he can do is just let you do this. He can’t wait to find his way out of this nightmare.]
[They inspect your injuries for a moment. Oh, how they would like to run their tongue across your wound again. But, they're now aware that the healing process relies on them not doing that.]
[Dim light makes the state of your wounds hard to decipher.]
[The most you can tell is a bit of blood smudged blood in a few places, but otherwise, it mostly looks scabbed over. You can also see the outline of the carving against his skin, even though it doesn’t look all that neat with all the scabbing.]
[He continues to just stare off and think about random things, clearly not fully paying attention.]
Hm alright, I think that's a good sign.
[They're not fully sure, but they remember the wounds they've gotten, and how they scabbed over with time. Your arm is probably fine, then.]
[they pull away from your arm.]
[As soon as you pull away, he brings his arm back closer to him, in such a way that you can’t really see the injury anymore. He huffs.]
you think? great.
[If only he could properly check for himself. He knows how to take care of wounds, but… Without his sight, he might miss some sign of infection or something. Another reason to hate this situation, he guesses.]
[They don't give you much time before their hand is on your cheek, holding you still, and they start to prod at your eye.]
[They attempt to force open your eye socket so they can get a good look inside.]
[Already, this new position is uncomfortable, and he can definitely tell you’re closer than he’s comfortable with. But he bites his tongue and clenches his fists and tries to remind himself that this is necessary. Since he can’t do it himself anymore. It makes him sick.]
[Theres a large, faint scar that covers most of his face from that side. Looks like it was mostly healed from his trip to the great fairy, maybe a bit rougher in places where the infection was stronger. His eyelid was only half closed, and is pretty easy to force open. He backs away a bit as the cold air hits the inside of his eye socket.]
[They're pretty sure it's good practice to try and clean out the eye socket. They're not fully sure if that's what the book they read meant, but they don't care.]
[They leave for a moment, only returning when they have a wet cloth. They start by rabbit at the outside of your eye.]
[Once again, he backs away, startled at the sudden wetness. He scowls slightly.] warning would be nice… [But still, he lets you do as you please, if a little more tense than before.]
Hold still. I gotta clean your eye, ya know.
[They appreciate the fact that you've stopped fighting them. Especially since they're just trying to help right now. They'd appreciate if you don't even fight them, honestly.]
yeah yeah, warn me before you go poking around in my fuckin’ eye socket though, won’t’cha?
[He would probably have less startled involuntary reactions to things if he actually knew what to expect. But he guesses that’s too much to ask, isn’t it?]
[They hum in acknowledgement and continue to clean the outside of your eye with their cloth.]
Alrigh', open your eye for me. We gotta get in there, yeah?
[He sighs, but tries anyway. He finds he doesn’t really know if he can.] that’s the best you’ll get. [His eyelid is about half open still.]
[...Sure, that works for them. Their unoccupied hand moves to pull open your eyelids further. They very gently stick the wet cloth directly into your eye socket.]
[He grits his teeth through the feeling. This is weird. This is so weird. He can’t help but feel like it shouldn’t be you that’s doing this. Theres a thing in his eye socket and it’s weird. He hopes that this is easy to get used to, at least. And that with his blindfold, hopefully a better one in the future, this doesn't have to happen that often.]
[Fortunately, they're very gentle with it. It's kinda of fun! They get to explore the literal eye socket of a hero. That's not something most people could say! They don't try to force it or do anything to make the wound worse. They're actually being careful about it.]
[Though he is a bit surprised at how gentle you’re being with it, that doesn’t make him hate the feeling any less. It’s too intrusive.]
are you done yet?
[It’s starting to feel a bit… Weird. In a different, probably less good way. Not that before was good by any means, but still.]
Ya can't just rush the process, bub.
[Unfortunately, they are almost done. They really don't want to be. They want to stay here longer. Technically.... They could. But also, they don't want to make you completely miserable! That's not the goal here!]
[He scoffs, but decides to not say anything about it. Yet. He can deal with it for a little while longer, he guesses.]
[They only clean out your eye for a few more minutes before finally pulling the cloth out of your eye socket.]
There ya go! Now, that wasn't so hard. We'll have to do thing probably once a day, or somethin'. Ya don't want your eye socket to get infected!
[He flips you off. Not really for any particular reason other than he just felt like it.]
great. [He reaches for his blindfold, before remembering he… Doesn’t remember where he put it, actually. He sighs aggressively.] do you know where my fuckin’ blindfold is?
[Maybe he should ask to get new bandages for his arm, too…]
[Oh, right! They reach around you and place the blindfold on your lap.]
[As they do so, a sudden bark resounds through the entire house, and Scout seems to perk up.]
Oh, Fay! C'mere, girl!
[It's been hours since Scout left. They really didn't expect the detour after their little checkup. Apparently they fell into a dream for a time. But, they're very grateful for convenient portals. Like this one! They tripped into it and was relieved to see familiar scenery.]
[You should be only a few blocks away! Unless if you left. In that case, they'll have to just track you down and teach you some sort of lesson.]
[They approach the bench very, very silently.]
[He can’t hear you, not at all. His arms are loosely crossed, and he’s tapping his foot against the ground. He looks bored, to say the least. But he’s barely moved an inch.]
[They creep up behind you before suddenly placing their hands on your shoulders with a very loud:] Hi Blue!! Did ya miss me?
[All of his thoughts grind to a halt, and off of pure instinct and habit, he snaps around to grab onto both of your wrists, stand with on foot on the bench for extra leverage, and all of the sudden you’re pulled off of your feet and thrown to the ground stomach first, one arm behind your back, and a knee grinding into your back as well. It’s a bit too quick and practiced for you to get all of it.]
[He’s breathing heavily, only realising he did all of that without sight after a few seconds when his mind clears just a little. He’s shocked at even his own actions, despite having done this maneuver too many times to count.]
[They land on the ground with a loud grunt and fall stock still.]
[They have to take a few moments to process what just happened, and to regain their breath. Well, they sure didn't expect this reaction!]
[After those couple moment, they start trying to wrench you off of them.]
Fucking- get off me!
[He’s in the perfect position to break your arm. He thinks of it for only a second before he stands and takes a single step backwards, and then he freezes in place. He’s facing down to you, though he doesn’t realise. He's still in a bit of panic, that much is obvious.]
[They get up with an exasperated sigh.]
Really, that's how ya greet me?
[They sound annoyed. And they especially sound like they're putting all the blame on you. Sure, they startled you, but you really didn't need to act that extreme! Now they're going to have a sore stomach for a while!]
don’t fucking do that, and maybe i wouldn’t.
[He crosses his arms, wincing as he does so, though it’s discreet.]
Right. Well.
[They'll have to do something about this behavior. They're so lucky they happened to pick up the perfect item on the way to meeting with Fifteen! They're curious to test it out.]
[They have no idea if anyone knows what inn they're at now. Well, they know of one in town that has some pretty good soundproofing.]
We're leavin'.
great.
[Wow. He’s so excited to be alone in a room with you again, because that turned out so well last time. He is definitely not being sarcastic with himself whatsoever.]
[…He can’t leave on his own. He doesn’t even remember where the bench is. It’s so humiliating! He’s an adult, he should be able to do this shit on his own.]
[They grab your left hand, paying no mind to any potential shows of pain. You're going to regret acting this way against them.]
[They start walking without much warning. They really want to just go without guiding you. But.... They're in a public place.]
[He realises the bandages should probably be changed. With all this pretending the cuts aren’t there, and this manhandling, he’s sure that at least something has been ripped open at one point. It’s not like he got any stitches.]
[While he’s a bit startled, he’s come to expect this from you, so he recovers quickly and starts following. Though the distant panic in the back of his mind doesn’t go unnoticed.]
[They move in a different way than how you got here. Different twists, different turns, to the point where it's hard to tell what direction you might be moving.]
[Eventually, the flat stone pavement gives way to dirt road.]
[He stumbles a little when he steps onto the dirt, not expecting it, but he regains his stability well enough.] where the fuck are you taking me….?
[They keep moving at a rather quick pace, not bothering to slow down. In fact, the further from the town they get, they move just a bit faster.]
Well, I don't quite have the money to stay in an inn forever, ya know. Ya should be grateful I was willin' to spend this much money for ya.
[Huffing, he’s forced to move just as quick as you despite the increased risk of tripping on something. Well, at least if he trips, you’ll go down with him.] well i’m not because you’re just making my life a living hell! [He doesn’t even think to ask where you might be taking him instead.]
Ya got someone to take care of ya while ya deal with havin' no vision! Really, that's no livin' hell. Be grateful.
[Their voice turns bitter as they speak. They can't believe you don't appreciate their efforts! They have to do so many things to make sure you're living and not about to suddenly die. Besides, keeping a hero under their grasp is harder than they thought it would be!
this isn’t what care looks like…
[It’s like you don’t even remember that he can’t see anything sometimes. Not warning him for stairs, moving too quickly, not warning him for— So many things! It drives him crazy! He doesn’t know what to expect moment from moment and it’s just such the littlest things too, things that he hadn’t even realised mattered until now. Knowing when to expect changes in the ground below him, for example.]
[…This isn’t care. This is— This is just trying to control him. He’s not that stupid, he can recognize this for what it is! And he can also recognize that it’s working. How the hell is he even supposed to escape it?! This really is just living hell!]
[If they heard you, they show no sign of hearing. They hum some sort of song as they walk. At some point, they take a fork down the road, specifically down a road with a lot more twigs and rocks.]
[Again, even though he notices the slight change, he can’t do anything about it and almost immediately stumbles, though is forced to keep going from the pain of you grabbing his injured hand. You can tell that he’s shaking slightly, and that the fingers that do actually work are gripped onto your hand tightly, almost to the point of pain. After all with only two working fingers on that hand, it would be just that much easier to accidentally let go.]
[They slow slightly when you trip, mainly because they're now focusing on not tripping themselves. This road has always been a bit rocky. It leads to a few houses in various directions. They can't even call their neighbors much of neighbors. Everyone is far apart out here, and they're just now realizing how much of an advantage that is now.]
[He hisses in pain when he accidentally stubs his toe on a rock. It would be wonderful if he never had to go down this road ever again. This actually sucks more than just sitting on that bench and probably being stared at all day, he can’t wait for it to just be over or lead to stone pathways or anything else!]
[They take a few turns here and there, and the pathways only get less and less defined at they go on. They never really bothered with maintaining the road that leads to their home.]
[Well, at least they're almost there.]
[This is just— This is the woods. You’ve taken him out in the middle of the woods and now you’re going to murder him. Not exactly how he thought his life would end, but whatever!]
[…]
[He yelps as his foot gets caught on a tree root, and he tumbles onto the ground. With how tight his grip on your hand was, you go down with him.]
[They follow you down with a small yelp. Clearly, they were not expecting this. They push themselves up and glare down at you.]
Really? Gonna pull me down with ya? Well, we're almost there. Get up.
maybe if you told me where anything fucking was, this wouldn’t happen, dipshit.
[He too pushes himself up, wincing slightly when there’s a small ache in his ankle. Well, at least it doesn’t feel broken or anything. It’ll probably be sore for a while though.]
[…He realises he doesn’t know where you are anymore. Just listening for your voice can’t be that reliable, right? He stays standing in place until you do something.]
[They're realizing that having control over a blind person is rather inconvenient. They have to lead you everywhere all the time. But also, it's an excuse to touch you! Once that you can't even fight.]
[...Huh. Maybe they should be grateful for your blindness. The Goddesses have gifted them with this benefit, and that shouldn't just be scowling at every slight inconvenience it may cause.]
[In the end, your blindness is how they keep you under their thumb.]
[This time, they grab at your right hand. After all, they need their own right hand to unlock the door.]
[He gives a relived sigh that he hates when he actually has a point of reference for the world around him again. Then he immediately tenses because he should not be thinking of you like that. ]
[…He’s also at the very least grateful that you grabbed his other hand. His other, completely fucked up one, really deserves a break.]
[As they continue on, their humming takes on a bit of a happier tune. They have no reason to be grumpy! In the past few days alone, they've had the chance to meet two heroes! Though... That one younger one was a bit defunct, and you're retired. But that's not a big deal! Still heroes nonetheless!]
[Their whole body hurts now, yeah. But they can teach you how to act. Really, not a huge deal.]
[WHY the FUCK is he less panicky when you’re in front of him, you’re literally a shit guide and you suck at— Everything!]
[He scowls as he steps a bit closer to you. He tells himself that it’s because you might clear out the path for him with your stupid feet. Fuck his life, it sucks.]
[After a moment, they come to slow that turns into a stop. They look ahead of them with a fond smile.]
Well, here we are: my small home. Honestly, a shame ya can't see it.
[It's a small, one story house. Only one bedroom and bath. Technically there's two other bedrooms, but those are being repurposed. One room is their hero collection, and the other is a study room..... With every book about heroes they've ever found.]
it’s crazy you think i actually give a shit.
[He scoffs, though he would very much like to get off this stupid road. Start memorizing the layout of the house so that maybe he can work on an escape plan or something.]
It's ya home now, ya know.
[As they lead you in, they make sure to turn on every light and lantern immediately. They're not about to let you get oriented with everything.]
anyplace with you in it is hardly a fuckin’ place to call home.
[He grimaces when the lights are turned on, but the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet is more than welcoming.]
[They huff unhappily at that. Well, they were hoping you'd just calm down in your own, but clearly not.]
[They pull away from you for a moment so they can close and lock the door. They're only gone for a moment before they return and get real close to your face.]
Ya know, I don't appreciate the way ya talk about me.
[He steps away from you, scowling again.] maybe don’t be such a dick and that would change! or maybe, y’know, you shouldn’t have blinded me?!
[They just step closer again and place a hand on your shoulder.]
Well, bub, I think ya need to learn some things. I'm real achy thanks to ya, and ya show me no respect, even when I am improving your life! That's the least I ask from ya for all of this.
[He grabs your wrist and throws your hand off of him.]
you’re improving nothing. you’re just making everything worse!
Nobody else would take ya in. Ya're lucky enough to have even someone like me!
[But clearly, they're not getting through to you. So, they'll just have to do things the hard way.]
[Their hand reaches I to their bag, and they barely have to search to find what they want.]
you blinded me! [He nearly screams it. He honestly didn’t know he was this angry about this, but he supposes it’s understandable.] you fucking blind me and you expect me to like you?! what kind of fucking hylia’s bitch are you?! a high one?! cause you sure damn sound like it!
...Alright. That's enough.
[Their voice is uncharacteristically cold as they step up to you. They've let you yell and scream enough.]
[In one swift movement, their hands are near your neck, and then there's something cold pressed against your neck. You can hear a click, and they reach behind you to flick something. Only then do they step away.]
wh— what the fuck— [He doesn’t have the time to prepare before it’s clasped around his neck, and he immediately takes several steps away from you to try and grab the thing off of himself.] is this a fucking collar?! what the fuck kind of shit are you into?!
[He starts trying to unclasp the back, and when he gets frustrated he just starts tugging.]
Ya know, I was tryin' to keep ya away from a world of pain earlier. Ya didn't listen, so ya get what's comin' to ya.
[They watch you struggle for a few minutes. It's cute, especially when they know that thing isn't coming off. But, the lesson learning has to start at some point.]
[They hold a remote in their hand. All it has is a button, a dial, and a switch. But... They'll watch for just a moment longer.]
what the fuck does that mean?! take this stupid thing off of me, you cocksucking assbag—
[He continues to just tug at it, trying to break it or something. Anything. When that doesn’t work, he starts pulling at it from the front instead, though he stops when he feels two prongs coming from the collar thing. Just what the hell is this?!]
Ya just have to deal with it, bub.
[They flick the dial on the remote to a 5. This should mainly just be a bit painful. And they press the button.]
[He jolts when he feels a pain, stopping to try and process what just happened. That hurt. Okay. The weed collar thing hurts. Great.]
[Wait, is this—] did you put a fucking shock collar on me?! i’m not a goddessdamned dog! stop treating me like one!
[And then he goes back to tugging. The pain is ignorable enough, and definitely not the worst he’s felt. Though he’s a bit more… Sensitive to electricity than he should be.]
Tuggin' on it isn't gonna help ya.
[They up the dial to 6, and press the button again. This time, their finger lingers on the button longer. The longer they press the button, the worse the pain gets.]
[He grunts at the pain, and now it’s starting to get bad. Especially as it’s prolonged. With a growl, his hands fly down to his sides, though with nothing removing the collar from his skin the pain is just intensified when the prongs sink into his skin a little. You can see him twitch occasionally.]
can you cut it out?! what the fuck do you want from me?!
[As you remove your hands, they wait a moment. In fact, they wait until you say something to remove their finger from the button. It's very entertaining to watch your reaction.]
First thing, tryin' to remove that collar will do nothin' but shock ya.
[His fists shake in anger, and his breathing heavy with it. What he would do to just— Yeah, maybe not. Killing people is bad, or something.]
great…
Now, bub, I need to have a look at ya wounds.
[The threatening undertones are pretty clear. Now that you have the shock collar on, they're not afraid to demand things of you.]
stop calling me that… what, you just gunna make ‘em worse?
[…He doesn’t really want to stand for whatever you’re going to do to him next. He also has no clue where anything is, so looks like his life is just going to suck forever.]
Nah, nah. I did some research. Turns out I gotta clean wounds, or else things could get bad for ya. So, let me see.
[They won't shock you over something this small. They're merciful like that.]
[He would rather things ‘get bad for him’ than live like this, but whatever. He can find a way to escape eventually. It’s not the worst thing he’s had to escape, he just… Doesn’t have all the tools he’s used to. But whatever! It’s basically just a dungeon with absolutely no lights at any time ever! He’ll be fine.]
[Instead of responding he just stands still. It’s not like he can do anything else right now.]
Are ya gonna make me reveal them myself?
[How they would love to. They'd get to feel the musculature of your arms again. The curves of your face. But they'll give you a choice. Again, they're merciful. They can show kindness when they feel like it.]
huh? oh. turn the fuckin’ lights off first, then maybe. a chair or something would be fan-fuckin’-tastic, too.
[He would much rather be doing this himself, really. But, again, whatever.]
What? Ya gotta see in order to roll up your sleeves?
[They sigh. But then they place their hands on your shoulders and push you forward, until you push up against a chair.]
There, a chair for ya.
hell no! but my entire face is kind of mangled, and the light hurts like a bitch!
[With surprisingly little complaints, he backs up until he finds himself sitting. As soon as he does, both his legs and arms are crossed.]
so i’m guessing you wanna look at that too. i would rather not suffer too much, thanks.
[He is trying very, very hard to ignore the shock collar. It’s… far too hard than he wants it to be.]
[They think about this for a moment. Well, without light, they won't be able to see what they're doing. But they can leave one light on. A dim room is better for you than a bright one.]
[And they don't want you to be constantly miserable.]
[So they wander around the room, turning off most of the lights.]
[For a second, he almost thinks to thank you. Then he remembers you’re an asshole and decides he doesn’t care. When he’s pretty sure the lights are at least mostly off, he slowly takes off his blindfold. And whatever lights you did leave on make his vision nearly white with how bright they are to him. He flinched away from it, though it doesn’t do much.]
[They see you flinch. Of course they do! They love just staring at you. And you have no idea that they're staring!]
[Well, they made the room as dim as they could while still being able to see.]
Sorry bub, but I gotta be able to see still.
[He looks over to where he thinks you are, and is met with… A blurry shape of what might be a person? He honestly can’t tell if what he’s looking at is alive or a piece of furniture. He looks away from you to stare at the darkest corner of the room, shielding his remaining eye from where the light is coming from. Well, at least he only has one eye that constantly hurts whenever he exists wrong. It would suck if the other side of his face was also in constant pain— Oh wait it is. Maybe he should find a nice ledge to jump off of sometime, it might be a fun adventure idea.]
whatever. [He doesn’t want your shallow, meaningless apologies. He takes a break from shielding his face—wincing as he does so—to roll up the sleeve covering bandages that are slightly stained with blood, some older looking and some stains newer.]
[They step up to you and, surprisingly gently, grab your wrist. They're finding themself oh so very tempted to just run their fingers across your palm. They wonder what it might feel like an-]
[Who are you to stop them?]
[Instead of unwrapping your bandages like they originally intended, they slowly drag their fingers across your palm.]
[His hands are rough, calloused from years and years of hero work and days on end in the forge. You can see a few scars scattered around his skin, small ones from burns and cuts and such. His working fingers twitch, and he scowls slightly.]
what the fuck are you doing? [He says it far too tiredly and without much bite, despite his scowling.]
[They don't respond to you, and instead enjoy the feeling of your rough hand. Your hand is so much more calloused than they can ever imagine their own hands being.]
[You're such a contrast from them, and they love it. There's so many things to learn from heroes like you, and they will learn them. Especially now that they have you.]
[Their soft fingers are the direct opposite to your rough skin.]
[He fights the urge to break your wrist. Even if he only has two working fingers, he could still do it, quite easily even. But he needs to figure out how to actually get around places on his own before he does anything drastic! It’s logical. He hates logic, and he hates Vio for insisting he have some. But whatever! He supposes logic does make sense, which is stupid. Anyway—]
seriously what the fuck are you doing. stop it, you fuckin’ weirdo…
[Theres more than just a hint of uncomfortability in his tone.]
Have you even noticed that civilian hands are soft, and unworked. Your hands show the opposite. Hard, long hours of swinging that sword of yours. You probably ran yourself ragged out there.
[It's admiring, really. And they want to see how easily they can break you apart. So far, they can tell they've been able to break you somewhat. But you're still fighting back.]
[That will change with time.]
of course i’ve noticed, i’m not that stupid! [He rolls his eye, and with the blindfold off you can tell he’s far more expressive with his face. Though he winces when he accidentally looks a bit too closely at the dim lighting, quickly averting his eyes again.] it’s normal for us to have rough everything. ‘cause we’re too busy protecting you ignorant assholes from imminent doom! you don’t even know the half of it. [And he's not willing to talk to you about it either.]
I know more about ya than most! But sure, ancient texts don't say much about ya lot. But ya can tell me about it all, I'm sure!
[Finally, they switch to finding the end of your bandage so they can begin to unravel it.]
doesn’t mean everything we did wasn’t glorified in your shitty texts…
[Well, at least you’re finally getting on with it. His thoughts travel a bit, though that just ends back at the shock collar wrapped around his neck. He then starts thinking about horrific ways to kill you.]
Well, ya never know.
[They take their time to slowly unravel the bandages covering your injury. They haven't taken a look at your eye injury yet. Instead, they'll see if this arm injury is healing well. They now know that they might have to do some cleaning, otherwise.]
[He winces as the bandages come off, but luckily they don’t stick too much. Still, pain goes all the way up his arm. It’s annoying. He sighs dramatically and thinks about glaring at you, but he doesn’t want to risk looking back at the light.]
[Again, all he can do is just let you do this. He can’t wait to find his way out of this nightmare.]
[They inspect your injuries for a moment. Oh, how they would like to run their tongue across your wound again. But, they're now aware that the healing process relies on them not doing that.]
[Dim light makes the state of your wounds hard to decipher.]
[The most you can tell is a bit of blood smudged blood in a few places, but otherwise, it mostly looks scabbed over. You can also see the outline of the carving against his skin, even though it doesn’t look all that neat with all the scabbing.]
[He continues to just stare off and think about random things, clearly not fully paying attention.]
Hm alright, I think that's a good sign.
[They're not fully sure, but they remember the wounds they've gotten, and how they scabbed over with time. Your arm is probably fine, then.]
[they pull away from your arm.]
[As soon as you pull away, he brings his arm back closer to him, in such a way that you can’t really see the injury anymore. He huffs.]
you think? great.
[If only he could properly check for himself. He knows how to take care of wounds, but… Without his sight, he might miss some sign of infection or something. Another reason to hate this situation, he guesses.]
[They don't give you much time before their hand is on your cheek, holding you still, and they start to prod at your eye.]
[They attempt to force open your eye socket so they can get a good look inside.]
[Already, this new position is uncomfortable, and he can definitely tell you’re closer than he’s comfortable with. But he bites his tongue and clenches his fists and tries to remind himself that this is necessary. Since he can’t do it himself anymore. It makes him sick.]
[Theres a large, faint scar that covers most of his face from that side. Looks like it was mostly healed from his trip to the great fairy, maybe a bit rougher in places where the infection was stronger. His eyelid was only half closed, and is pretty easy to force open. He backs away a bit as the cold air hits the inside of his eye socket.]
[They're pretty sure it's good practice to try and clean out the eye socket. They're not fully sure if that's what the book they read meant, but they don't care.]
[They leave for a moment, only returning when they have a wet cloth. They start by rabbit at the outside of your eye.]
[Once again, he backs away, startled at the sudden wetness. He scowls slightly.] warning would be nice… [But still, he lets you do as you please, if a little more tense than before.]
Hold still. I gotta clean your eye, ya know.
[They appreciate the fact that you've stopped fighting them. Especially since they're just trying to help right now. They'd appreciate if you don't even fight them, honestly.]
yeah yeah, warn me before you go poking around in my fuckin’ eye socket though, won’t’cha?
[He would probably have less startled involuntary reactions to things if he actually knew what to expect. But he guesses that’s too much to ask, isn’t it?]
[They hum in acknowledgement and continue to clean the outside of your eye with their cloth.]
Alrigh', open your eye for me. We gotta get in there, yeah?
[He sighs, but tries anyway. He finds he doesn’t really know if he can.] that’s the best you’ll get. [His eyelid is about half open still.]
[...Sure, that works for them. Their unoccupied hand moves to pull open your eyelids further. They very gently stick the wet cloth directly into your eye socket.]
[He grits his teeth through the feeling. This is weird. This is so weird. He can’t help but feel like it shouldn’t be you that’s doing this. Theres a thing in his eye socket and it’s weird. He hopes that this is easy to get used to, at least. And that with his blindfold, hopefully a better one in the future, this doesn't have to happen that often.]
[Fortunately, they're very gentle with it. It's kinda of fun! They get to explore the literal eye socket of a hero. That's not something most people could say! They don't try to force it or do anything to make the wound worse. They're actually being careful about it.]
[Though he is a bit surprised at how gentle you’re being with it, that doesn’t make him hate the feeling any less. It’s too intrusive.]
are you done yet?
[It’s starting to feel a bit… Weird. In a different, probably less good way. Not that before was good by any means, but still.]
Ya can't just rush the process, bub.
[Unfortunately, they are almost done. They really don't want to be. They want to stay here longer. Technically.... They could. But also, they don't want to make you completely miserable! That's not the goal here!]
[He scoffs, but decides to not say anything about it. Yet. He can deal with it for a little while longer, he guesses.]
[They only clean out your eye for a few more minutes before finally pulling the cloth out of your eye socket.]
There ya go! Now, that wasn't so hard. We'll have to do thing probably once a day, or somethin'. Ya don't want your eye socket to get infected!
[It's been hours since Scout left. They really didn't expect the detour after their little checkup. Apparently they fell into a dream for a time. But, they're very grateful for convenient portals. Like this one! They tripped into it and was relieved to see familiar scenery.]
[You should be only a few blocks away! Unless if you left. In that case, they'll have to just track you down and teach you some sort of lesson.]
[They approach the bench very, very silently.]
[He can’t hear you, not at all. His arms are loosely crossed, and he’s tapping his foot against the ground. He looks bored, to say the least. But he’s barely moved an inch.]
[They creep up behind you before suddenly placing their hands on your shoulders with a very loud:] Hi Blue!! Did ya miss me?
[All of his thoughts grind to a halt, and off of pure instinct and habit, he snaps around to grab onto both of your wrists, stand with on foot on the bench for extra leverage, and all of the sudden you’re pulled off of your feet and thrown to the ground stomach first, one arm behind your back, and a knee grinding into your back as well. It’s a bit too quick and practiced for you to get all of it.]
[He’s breathing heavily, only realising he did all of that without sight after a few seconds when his mind clears just a little. He’s shocked at even his own actions, despite having done this maneuver too many times to count.]
[They land on the ground with a loud grunt and fall stock still.]
[They have to take a few moments to process what just happened, and to regain their breath. Well, they sure didn't expect this reaction!]
[After those couple moment, they start trying to wrench you off of them.]
Fucking- get off me!
[He’s in the perfect position to break your arm. He thinks of it for only a second before he stands and takes a single step backwards, and then he freezes in place. He’s facing down to you, though he doesn’t realise. He's still in a bit of panic, that much is obvious.]
[They get up with an exasperated sigh.]
Really, that's how ya greet me?
[They sound annoyed. And they especially sound like they're putting all the blame on you. Sure, they startled you, but you really didn't need to act that extreme! Now they're going to have a sore stomach for a while!]
don’t fucking do that, and maybe i wouldn’t.
[He crosses his arms, wincing as he does so, though it’s discreet.]
Right. Well.
[They'll have to do something about this behavior. They're so lucky they happened to pick up the perfect item on the way to meeting with Fifteen! They're curious to test it out.]
[They have no idea if anyone knows what inn they're at now. Well, they know of one in town that has some pretty good soundproofing.]
We're leavin'.
great.
[Wow. He’s so excited to be alone in a room with you again, because that turned out so well last time. He is definitely not being sarcastic with himself whatsoever.]
[…He can’t leave on his own. He doesn’t even remember where the bench is. It’s so humiliating! He’s an adult, he should be able to do this shit on his own.]
[They grab your left hand, paying no mind to any potential shows of pain. You're going to regret acting this way against them.]
[They start walking without much warning. They really want to just go without guiding you. But.... They're in a public place.]
[He realises the bandages should probably be changed. With all this pretending the cuts aren’t there, and this manhandling, he’s sure that at least something has been ripped open at one point. It’s not like he got any stitches.]
[While he’s a bit startled, he’s come to expect this from you, so he recovers quickly and starts following. Though the distant panic in the back of his mind doesn’t go unnoticed.]
[They move in a different way than how you got here. Different twists, different turns, to the point where it's hard to tell what direction you might be moving.]
[Eventually, the flat stone pavement gives way to dirt road.]
[He stumbles a little when he steps onto the dirt, not expecting it, but he regains his stability well enough.] where the fuck are you taking me….?
[They keep moving at a rather quick pace, not bothering to slow down. In fact, the further from the town they get, they move just a bit faster.]
Well, I don't quite have the money to stay in an inn forever, ya know. Ya should be grateful I was willin' to spend this much money for ya.
[Huffing, he’s forced to move just as quick as you despite the increased risk of tripping on something. Well, at least if he trips, you’ll go down with him.] well i’m not because you’re just making my life a living hell! [He doesn’t even think to ask where you might be taking him instead.]
Ya got someone to take care of ya while ya deal with havin' no vision! Really, that's no livin' hell. Be grateful.
[Their voice turns bitter as they speak. They can't believe you don't appreciate their efforts! They have to do so many things to make sure you're living and not about to suddenly die. Besides, keeping a hero under their grasp is harder than they thought it would be!
this isn’t what care looks like…
[It’s like you don’t even remember that he can’t see anything sometimes. Not warning him for stairs, moving too quickly, not warning him for— So many things! It drives him crazy! He doesn’t know what to expect moment from moment and it’s just such the littlest things too, things that he hadn’t even realised mattered until now. Knowing when to expect changes in the ground below him, for example.]
[…This isn’t care. This is— This is just trying to control him. He’s not that stupid, he can recognize this for what it is! And he can also recognize that it’s working. How the hell is he even supposed to escape it?! This really is just living hell!]
[If they heard you, they show no sign of hearing. They hum some sort of song as they walk. At some point, they take a fork down the road, specifically down a road with a lot more twigs and rocks.]
[Again, even though he notices the slight change, he can’t do anything about it and almost immediately stumbles, though is forced to keep going from the pain of you grabbing his injured hand. You can tell that he’s shaking slightly, and that the fingers that do actually work are gripped onto your hand tightly, almost to the point of pain. After all with only two working fingers on that hand, it would be just that much easier to accidentally let go.]
[They slow slightly when you trip, mainly because they're now focusing on not tripping themselves. This road has always been a bit rocky. It leads to a few houses in various directions. They can't even call their neighbors much of neighbors. Everyone is far apart out here, and they're just now realizing how much of an advantage that is now.]
[He hisses in pain when he accidentally stubs his toe on a rock. It would be wonderful if he never had to go down this road ever again. This actually sucks more than just sitting on that bench and probably being stared at all day, he can’t wait for it to just be over or lead to stone pathways or anything else!]
[They take a few turns here and there, and the pathways only get less and less defined at they go on. They never really bothered with maintaining the road that leads to their home.]
[Well, at least they're almost there.]
[This is just— This is the woods. You’ve taken him out in the middle of the woods and now you’re going to murder him. Not exactly how he thought his life would end, but whatever!]
[…]
[He yelps as his foot gets caught on a tree root, and he tumbles onto the ground. With how tight his grip on your hand was, you go down with him.]
[They follow you down with a small yelp. Clearly, they were not expecting this. They push themselves up and glare down at you.]
Really? Gonna pull me down with ya? Well, we're almost there. Get up.
maybe if you told me where anything fucking was, this wouldn’t happen, dipshit.
[He too pushes himself up, wincing slightly when there’s a small ache in his ankle. Well, at least it doesn’t feel broken or anything. It’ll probably be sore for a while though.]
[…He realises he doesn’t know where you are anymore. Just listening for your voice can’t be that reliable, right? He stays standing in place until you do something.]
[They're realizing that having control over a blind person is rather inconvenient. They have to lead you everywhere all the time. But also, it's an excuse to touch you! Once that you can't even fight.]
[...Huh. Maybe they should be grateful for your blindness. The Goddesses have gifted them with this benefit, and that shouldn't just be scowling at every slight inconvenience it may cause.]
[In the end, your blindness is how they keep you under their thumb.]
[This time, they grab at your right hand. After all, they need their own right hand to unlock the door.]
[He gives a relived sigh that he hates when he actually has a point of reference for the world around him again. Then he immediately tenses because he should not be thinking of you like that. ]
[…He’s also at the very least grateful that you grabbed his other hand. His other, completely fucked up one, really deserves a break.]
[As they continue on, their humming takes on a bit of a happier tune. They have no reason to be grumpy! In the past few days alone, they've had the chance to meet two heroes! Though... That one younger one was a bit defunct, and you're retired. But that's not a big deal! Still heroes nonetheless!]
[Their whole body hurts now, yeah. But they can teach you how to act. Really, not a huge deal.]
[WHY the FUCK is he less panicky when you’re in front of him, you’re literally a shit guide and you suck at— Everything!]
[He scowls as he steps a bit closer to you. He tells himself that it’s because you might clear out the path for him with your stupid feet. Fuck his life, it sucks.]
[After a moment, they come to slow that turns into a stop. They look ahead of them with a fond smile.]
Well, here we are: my small home. Honestly, a shame ya can't see it.
[It's a small, one story house. Only one bedroom and bath. Technically there's two other bedrooms, but those are being repurposed. One room is their hero collection, and the other is a study room..... With every book about heroes they've ever found.]
it’s crazy you think i actually give a shit.
[He scoffs, though he would very much like to get off this stupid road. Start memorizing the layout of the house so that maybe he can work on an escape plan or something.]
It's ya home now, ya know.
[As they lead you in, they make sure to turn on every light and lantern immediately. They're not about to let you get oriented with everything.]
anyplace with you in it is hardly a fuckin’ place to call home.
[He grimaces when the lights are turned on, but the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet is more than welcoming.]
[They huff unhappily at that. Well, they were hoping you'd just calm down in your own, but clearly not.]
[They pull away from you for a moment so they can close and lock the door. They're only gone for a moment before they return and get real close to your face.]
Ya know, I don't appreciate the way ya talk about me.
[He steps away from you, scowling again.] maybe don’t be such a dick and that would change! or maybe, y’know, you shouldn’t have blinded me?!
[They just step closer again and place a hand on your shoulder.]
Well, bub, I think ya need to learn some things. I'm real achy thanks to ya, and ya show me no respect, even when I am improving your life! That's the least I ask from ya for all of this.
[He grabs your wrist and throws your hand off of him.]
you’re improving nothing. you’re just making everything worse!
Nobody else would take ya in. Ya're lucky enough to have even someone like me!
[But clearly, they're not getting through to you. So, they'll just have to do things the hard way.]
[Their hand reaches I to their bag, and they barely have to search to find what they want.]
you blinded me! [He nearly screams it. He honestly didn’t know he was this angry about this, but he supposes it’s understandable.] you fucking blind me and you expect me to like you?! what kind of fucking hylia’s bitch are you?! a high one?! cause you sure damn sound like it!
...Alright. That's enough.
[Their voice is uncharacteristically cold as they step up to you. They've let you yell and scream enough.]
[In one swift movement, their hands are near your neck, and then there's something cold pressed against your neck. You can hear a click, and they reach behind you to flick something. Only then do they step away.]
wh— what the fuck— [He doesn’t have the time to prepare before it’s clasped around his neck, and he immediately takes several steps away from you to try and grab the thing off of himself.] is this a fucking collar?! what the fuck kind of shit are you into?!
[He starts trying to unclasp the back, and when he gets frustrated he just starts tugging.]
Ya know, I was tryin' to keep ya away from a world of pain earlier. Ya didn't listen, so ya get what's comin' to ya.
[They watch you struggle for a few minutes. It's cute, especially when they know that thing isn't coming off. But, the lesson learning has to start at some point.]
[They hold a remote in their hand. All it has is a button, a dial, and a switch. But... They'll watch for just a moment longer.]
what the fuck does that mean?! take this stupid thing off of me, you cocksucking assbag—
[He continues to just tug at it, trying to break it or something. Anything. When that doesn’t work, he starts pulling at it from the front instead, though he stops when he feels two prongs coming from the collar thing. Just what the hell is this?!]
Ya just have to deal with it, bub.
[They flick the dial on the remote to a 5. This should mainly just be a bit painful. And they press the button.]
[He jolts when he feels a pain, stopping to try and process what just happened. That hurt. Okay. The weed collar thing hurts. Great.]
[Wait, is this—] did you put a fucking shock collar on me?! i’m not a goddessdamned dog! stop treating me like one!
[And then he goes back to tugging. The pain is ignorable enough, and definitely not the worst he’s felt. Though he’s a bit more… Sensitive to electricity than he should be.]
Tuggin' on it isn't gonna help ya.
[They up the dial to 6, and press the button again. This time, their finger lingers on the button longer. The longer they press the button, the worse the pain gets.]
[He grunts at the pain, and now it’s starting to get bad. Especially as it’s prolonged. With a growl, his hands fly down to his sides, though with nothing removing the collar from his skin the pain is just intensified when the prongs sink into his skin a little. You can see him twitch occasionally.]
can you cut it out?! what the fuck do you want from me?!
[As you remove your hands, they wait a moment. In fact, they wait until you say something to remove their finger from the button. It's very entertaining to watch your reaction.]
First thing, tryin' to remove that collar will do nothin' but shock ya.
[His fists shake in anger, and his breathing heavy with it. What he would do to just— Yeah, maybe not. Killing people is bad, or something.]
great…
Now, bub, I need to have a look at ya wounds.
[The threatening undertones are pretty clear. Now that you have the shock collar on, they're not afraid to demand things of you.]
stop calling me that… what, you just gunna make ‘em worse?
[…He doesn’t really want to stand for whatever you’re going to do to him next. He also has no clue where anything is, so looks like his life is just going to suck forever.]
Nah, nah. I did some research. Turns out I gotta clean wounds, or else things could get bad for ya. So, let me see.
[They won't shock you over something this small. They're merciful like that.]
[He would rather things ‘get bad for him’ than live like this, but whatever. He can find a way to escape eventually. It’s not the worst thing he’s had to escape, he just… Doesn’t have all the tools he’s used to. But whatever! It’s basically just a dungeon with absolutely no lights at any time ever! He’ll be fine.]
[Instead of responding he just stands still. It’s not like he can do anything else right now.]
Are ya gonna make me reveal them myself?
[How they would love to. They'd get to feel the musculature of your arms again. The curves of your face. But they'll give you a choice. Again, they're merciful. They can show kindness when they feel like it.]
huh? oh. turn the fuckin’ lights off first, then maybe. a chair or something would be fan-fuckin’-tastic, too.
[He would much rather be doing this himself, really. But, again, whatever.]
What? Ya gotta see in order to roll up your sleeves?
[They sigh. But then they place their hands on your shoulders and push you forward, until you push up against a chair.]
There, a chair for ya.
hell no! but my entire face is kind of mangled, and the light hurts like a bitch!
[With surprisingly little complaints, he backs up until he finds himself sitting. As soon as he does, both his legs and arms are crossed.]
so i’m guessing you wanna look at that too. i would rather not suffer too much, thanks.
[He is trying very, very hard to ignore the shock collar. It’s… far too hard than he wants it to be.]
[They think about this for a moment. Well, without light, they won't be able to see what they're doing. But they can leave one light on. A dim room is better for you than a bright one.]
[And they don't want you to be constantly miserable.]
[So they wander around the room, turning off most of the lights.]
[For a second, he almost thinks to thank you. Then he remembers you’re an asshole and decides he doesn’t care. When he’s pretty sure the lights are at least mostly off, he slowly takes off his blindfold. And whatever lights you did leave on make his vision nearly white with how bright they are to him. He flinched away from it, though it doesn’t do much.]
[They see you flinch. Of course they do! They love just staring at you. And you have no idea that they're staring!]
[Well, they made the room as dim as they could while still being able to see.]
Sorry bub, but I gotta be able to see still.
[He looks over to where he thinks you are, and is met with… A blurry shape of what might be a person? He honestly can’t tell if what he’s looking at is alive or a piece of furniture. He looks away from you to stare at the darkest corner of the room, shielding his remaining eye from where the light is coming from. Well, at least he only has one eye that constantly hurts whenever he exists wrong. It would suck if the other side of his face was also in constant pain— Oh wait it is. Maybe he should find a nice ledge to jump off of sometime, it might be a fun adventure idea.]
whatever. [He doesn’t want your shallow, meaningless apologies. He takes a break from shielding his face—wincing as he does so—to roll up the sleeve covering bandages that are slightly stained with blood, some older looking and some stains newer.]
[They step up to you and, surprisingly gently, grab your wrist. They're finding themself oh so very tempted to just run their fingers across your palm. They wonder what it might feel like an-]
[Who are you to stop them?]
[Instead of unwrapping your bandages like they originally intended, they slowly drag their fingers across your palm.]
[His hands are rough, calloused from years and years of hero work and days on end in the forge. You can see a few scars scattered around his skin, small ones from burns and cuts and such. His working fingers twitch, and he scowls slightly.]
what the fuck are you doing? [He says it far too tiredly and without much bite, despite his scowling.]
[They don't respond to you, and instead enjoy the feeling of your rough hand. Your hand is so much more calloused than they can ever imagine their own hands being.]
[You're such a contrast from them, and they love it. There's so many things to learn from heroes like you, and they will learn them. Especially now that they have you.]
[Their soft fingers are the direct opposite to your rough skin.]
[He fights the urge to break your wrist. Even if he only has two working fingers, he could still do it, quite easily even. But he needs to figure out how to actually get around places on his own before he does anything drastic! It’s logical. He hates logic, and he hates Vio for insisting he have some. But whatever! He supposes logic does make sense, which is stupid. Anyway—]
seriously what the fuck are you doing. stop it, you fuckin’ weirdo…
[Theres more than just a hint of uncomfortability in his tone.]
Have you even noticed that civilian hands are soft, and unworked. Your hands show the opposite. Hard, long hours of swinging that sword of yours. You probably ran yourself ragged out there.
[It's admiring, really. And they want to see how easily they can break you apart. So far, they can tell they've been able to break you somewhat. But you're still fighting back.]
[That will change with time.]
of course i’ve noticed, i’m not that stupid! [He rolls his eye, and with the blindfold off you can tell he’s far more expressive with his face. Though he winces when he accidentally looks a bit too closely at the dim lighting, quickly averting his eyes again.] it’s normal for us to have rough everything. ‘cause we’re too busy protecting you ignorant assholes from imminent doom! you don’t even know the half of it. [And he's not willing to talk to you about it either.]
I know more about ya than most! But sure, ancient texts don't say much about ya lot. But ya can tell me about it all, I'm sure!
[Finally, they switch to finding the end of your bandage so they can begin to unravel it.]
doesn’t mean everything we did wasn’t glorified in your shitty texts…
[Well, at least you’re finally getting on with it. His thoughts travel a bit, though that just ends back at the shock collar wrapped around his neck. He then starts thinking about horrific ways to kill you.]
Well, ya never know.
[They take their time to slowly unravel the bandages covering your injury. They haven't taken a look at your eye injury yet. Instead, they'll see if this arm injury is healing well. They now know that they might have to do some cleaning, otherwise.]
[He winces as the bandages come off, but luckily they don’t stick too much. Still, pain goes all the way up his arm. It’s annoying. He sighs dramatically and thinks about glaring at you, but he doesn’t want to risk looking back at the light.]
[Again, all he can do is just let you do this. He can’t wait to find his way out of this nightmare.]
[They inspect your injuries for a moment. Oh, how they would like to run their tongue across your wound again. But, they're now aware that the healing process relies on them not doing that.]
[Dim light makes the state of your wounds hard to decipher.]
[The most you can tell is a bit of blood smudged blood in a few places, but otherwise, it mostly looks scabbed over. You can also see the outline of the carving against his skin, even though it doesn’t look all that neat with all the scabbing.]
[He continues to just stare off and think about random things, clearly not fully paying attention.]
Hm alright, I think that's a good sign.
[They're not fully sure, but they remember the wounds they've gotten, and how they scabbed over with time. Your arm is probably fine, then.]
[they pull away from your arm.]
[As soon as you pull away, he brings his arm back closer to him, in such a way that you can’t really see the injury anymore. He huffs.]
you think? great.
[If only he could properly check for himself. He knows how to take care of wounds, but… Without his sight, he might miss some sign of infection or something. Another reason to hate this situation, he guesses.]
[They don't give you much time before their hand is on your cheek, holding you still, and they start to prod at your eye.]
[They attempt to force open your eye socket so they can get a good look inside.]
[Already, this new position is uncomfortable, and he can definitely tell you’re closer than he’s comfortable with. But he bites his tongue and clenches his fists and tries to remind himself that this is necessary. Since he can’t do it himself anymore. It makes him sick.]
[Theres a large, faint scar that covers most of his face from that side. Looks like it was mostly healed from his trip to the great fairy, maybe a bit rougher in places where the infection was stronger. His eyelid was only half closed, and is pretty easy to force open. He backs away a bit as the cold air hits the inside of his eye socket.]
[They're pretty sure it's good practice to try and clean out the eye socket. They're not fully sure if that's what the book they read meant, but they don't care.]
[They leave for a moment, only returning when they have a wet cloth. They start by rabbit at the outside of your eye.]
[Once again, he backs away, startled at the sudden wetness. He scowls slightly.] warning would be nice… [But still, he lets you do as you please, if a little more tense than before.]
Hold still. I gotta clean your eye, ya know.
[They appreciate the fact that you've stopped fighting them. Especially since they're just trying to help right now. They'd appreciate if you don't even fight them, honestly.]
yeah yeah, warn me before you go poking around in my fuckin’ eye socket though, won’t’cha?
[He would probably have less startled involuntary reactions to things if he actually knew what to expect. But he guesses that’s too much to ask, isn’t it?]
[They hum in acknowledgement and continue to clean the outside of your eye with their cloth.]
Alrigh', open your eye for me. We gotta get in there, yeah?
[He sighs, but tries anyway. He finds he doesn’t really know if he can.] that’s the best you’ll get. [His eyelid is about half open still.]
[...Sure, that works for them. Their unoccupied hand moves to pull open your eyelids further. They very gently stick the wet cloth directly into your eye socket.]
[He grits his teeth through the feeling. This is weird. This is so weird. He can’t help but feel like it shouldn’t be you that’s doing this. Theres a thing in his eye socket and it’s weird. He hopes that this is easy to get used to, at least. And that with his blindfold, hopefully a better one in the future, this doesn't have to happen that often.]
[Fortunately, they're very gentle with it. It's kinda of fun! They get to explore the literal eye socket of a hero. That's not something most people could say! They don't try to force it or do anything to make the wound worse. They're actually being careful about it.]
[Though he is a bit surprised at how gentle you’re being with it, that doesn’t make him hate the feeling any less. It’s too intrusive.]
are you done yet?
[It’s starting to feel a bit… Weird. In a different, probably less good way. Not that before was good by any means, but still.]
Ya can't just rush the process, bub.
[Unfortunately, they are almost done. They really don't want to be. They want to stay here longer. Technically.... They could. But also, they don't want to make you completely miserable! That's not the goal here!]
