This Mask is My Crown [o]

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Lately, Happy had been consumed with a longing. Passion accosted him and robbed his rest. Visions of grandeur made his mind a haunt. Such bizarre emotions had led the entity to the humble dwellings of Kakariko Village. Visits from Happy were not a unique occurrence by any means; often, the smiling visage could be spotted, handing out masks for the local children to make fun with. Truly he was the Fool who would be King and sit atop the World. 

The skies darkened soon after he arrived, as if nature itself denied Happy's heirship. It was early in the journey, indeed, to wear his royal raiment as his default attire. His cape stayed defiantly still against the zooming winds, his nature defying the Allmother's. He and the Universe were involved in a war of ideals. 

Happy took shelter in the town's library, which was desolate of both people and literature. Still, the meager collection would satisfy him in the hours of the oncoming storm. He had a certain disliking for gloomy weather - it prevented people from enjoying the infinite, open sky. The weather raging forces others to imprison themselves in small boxes, Happy thought. What terrible, inconsiderate force would entrap others?

He dived into a bold rendition of Jack the Giant Slayer, trying to ignore the challenge of thunder outside.

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Happy was not the only visitor to the library. Out of an odd idea of "comfort" Andrea was sitting in the rafters above him looking down a curious eyebrow quirked. Indeed she found it both curious, and a little bit annoying but that's a separate story, that Happy was wearing a mask. In her experience with masks, however limited it was, Andrea felt they were only worn by those who had to hide their faces which in turn begged the question of "why did they feel the need to hide their face?" More often than not the answer to that was they had done something in the past or knew certain information that meant their face was a liability. Or it could just be that Happy was merely an odd ball who hid their face.

Whatever Happy's reasons for being here Andrea wasn't too interested but as to her own reasons? Waiting out the storm mainly. Sure she had travelled, and even fought, in weather just as bad or even worse than this before but let's just say the ageing Huntress didn't fancy getting a cold especially as she had been called to escort some merchants through Death Mountain. That was another reason why she was here in fact. She was waiting for the traders from Holodrum to arrive but perhaps the foul weather had delayed them? If you're wondering why Andrea was here and not with the traders that was because she was A.Hired to scout ahead and B.Was not the only bodyguard hired. She was there simply to handle Death Mountain.

"Hey you! Guy in the mask. What book are you reading?" Andrea climbed down from the rafters and landed gracefully before Happy her dirt brown cloak billowing behind her before settling. If one looked past her coat they'd see a thick jacket made from cow hide worn over an equally thick shirt accompanied by, you guessed it, cow hide trousers all of which were in a plain brown colour devoid of any fanciful adornments except for necessary buttons. Clearly Andrea was not a woman that cared much for being fashionable. "Jack the Giant Slayer?...Sounds boring!" Having bent forward to spy a look at the title of Happy's book it was easy for one to look over her shoulders at the sword and shield resting upon her back. Clearly Andrea was here to do business. 

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Happy's imagination teleported him to the skybound hovel of the golden goose and its giant shepherd. He played out the scene, taking tentative but increasingly bold steps towards the treasure trove. Joy bubbled from Happy/Jack, producing condensation from an anxious energy - his blunder had been transmogrified into fortune! He arrived in a room of gold and spoils, the trophy room of a veteran giant. The peasant scanned the room for the spoils of Man - humans had been prey to the giants for centuries. The body of a particularly noble knight was ran through by his own sword, suspended by magic to act in a similar fashion to a stuffed animal. Happy/Jack knew of this knight, however, but only because of the distinguishing sword that ran him through - a blade somehow successfully worked with giant's bane, an infinitely rare artifact that was lost long ago. It was created by a court mage with a process lost after the kingdom fell, but seeing Gwain fallen in spite of it's awesome abilities left Happy/Jack feeling cold. It was like a small torch of hope had been squelched inside. Nevertheless, he carried on.

Andrea's words were met with the patient turning of pages as Happy continued to wonder. 

Sword in hand, the weight of treasure and glory weighed on him. All that stood in his way was their rightful owner, the Giant. 

He closed the book. The weights of family, the ties of treasure, and the burden of a hero faded away as his reality was re-assumed. '...sounds boring!

"It's about someone who takes their fate and smashes it up!" 

His voice rose in pitch, fever, and volume as he leapt to his feet, gabby from glee.

"A peasant who defeats the giants and becomes King! It's so wonderful."

A sigh of relief signaled reprieve to Happy's nerves, and he slouched on nearby shelf. He pointed to his head matter-of-factly.

"This isn't a mask, by the way. It's my face."

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Andrea blinked and stood up straight her arms folded right eyebrow quirked upwards. Was this masked guy ignoring her? Huff..guess he was really absorbed in whatever book induced fantasy he was experiencing. That was one other thing Andrea never got about books. Why imagine an epic fantasy adventure when you can live it? In a world with magic and other fantastical beasts the humdrum of day to day life only existed if you refused to break the mould a lesson Andrea learnt the hard way. Feeling a little bit irritated at being ignored Andrea was about to give up waiting for this masked book worm to respond but then he spoke up much to Andrea's surprise. She thought he was downright ignoring her after all hence the surprise.

"Hah you can talk eh? Good was worried a Melynx had your tongue!" Oddly enough the mouth of Happy's assumed mask moved in accordance with his voice. On the subject of which Happy's vocal tongue was weirdly...energised? Charged with energy as it rose in volume and pitch. Man all that over a book? The Huntress did not understand the masked man's apparent adoration of a bundle of paper. Although despite the very notion of pretending to live a fantasy life instead of actually living one did not appeal to Andrea in the slightest...she did happen to like the whole "breaking apart his fate" aspect. That was something the Huntress could get behind especially given how she had essentially changed the fate of her village. 

"Smashing apart fate eh? Bahahaha I like the idea of that...shame it's not real." If that wasn't bad enough the idea of becoming a king irked Andrea drawing out a momentary irritated twitch; she detested the notion of a monarchy... That was when the frankly odd news of Happy's mask actually being his face was revealed. "Well...your face is a mask. Alright I've seen weirder." When you'd spent years fighting giant monsters that could do things like summon storms, eat gunpowder and conjure up storms a man with a mask for a face was not that difficult to comprehend."Hey do you feel this?" Andrea poked Happy's nose wondering if he'd react.

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A small, hollow thud! poured out as Andrea's finger collided with the Happy Mask. Honestly, Happy wasn't sure what to expect - his sentience was relatively new, and he did not understand all of the mask's nuances and capability. He was relieved when nothing diabolical occurred, though it was possibly incipient. Happy responded, a bit offput by the contact but not enough to mention it.

"Duh. Can you not feel your face?"

Happy moved to poke Andrea's nose, miming the gesture. Naively, Od wondered if it was some sort of special greeting. 

He continued to wonder - who was this Andrea? Toting armaments of war so openly; Must be a fearsome battler. Happy wasn't much of a fighter himself, so they always brought him a bit of extra amusement. 

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Oh this was amusing. A man with a mask for a face? Who could feel what the mask felt as if it was his own skin? Boy that raised sooooooooooo many questions. Such as did he sweat? Did he have a sense of smell? How did things like the common cold affect him? Odd questions indeed but Andrea's nigh endless curiosity would allow such things to go understand! "Well...fair enough but doesn't that mean your mask has, ya know, nerves? I'd ask if it felt weird knowing that...but then again it'd be normal for you eh?" That was when a distinct indicator of concern manifest in Andrea's voice only temporarily of course but still her tone wavered for a few moments as it trailed off. "Well....I feel you deserve honesty. I mean you told me about your abnormality." Andrea reached up towards the eye patch she wore over her right eye. 

Well controlled movements of her fingers untied Andrea's eye patch and the huntress removed it letting it rest in her hand. The draconian eye that was revealed burned with a baleful glow as the air started to feel slightly off as if static thrummed through the area. "[]color=red]Well this is abnormality. Had it for hmm..almost half a year it's damn weird. I remember just passing out after killing a big beastie and waking up with it; how I'm able to see and move it is beyond me though!" That momentary wavering of Andrea's voice from before seemed to be gone forcibly replaced with a more relaxed tone. Clearly she was not too bothered about her eye; sure it had been a point of worry when she first got it but that was then and it had become the new normal for her. The relativity of normality could often be a....confusing subject. 

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After almost three weeks of silence, Happy responded to the mystifying tale that Andrea recited.

"That sounds really complicated."

Whilst he didn't necessarily disbelieve Andrea, the story seemed to have no logical connection, and it confused Happy. And he had zero clue as to what a 'nerve' was. In this vacuum of thought, his mind began to grow curious about the book he had stopped reading. Would it be rude to read while they talked?

And in the next moment, a duplicate of Od(*1) was next to him. The Original sat down and read, as the duplicate casually awaited a response from Andrea. Happy hoped that this compromise would save his social graces.

The adventure continued.

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(Stats invested in clone *1: none)