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A LEGEND OF ZELDA ROLEPLAY
Welcome to ZRP! We are an non-canon RP site with an original tale taking place within the
lore of the Zelda Franchise. While the events of this site are entirely non-canon, we take advantage of the canons of other
games to explain its story fully. As such, we are located within the CANON TIMELINE. Do you like what you see? If so, feel free
to register and join our story! If you have any questions, you can join our discord, located in our important links!
11/12/21 GUESS WHO'S BACK! Thats right, and we are cooking up a good ol reset for everyone. Please be patient as things will be a little empty as we archive. Pop into discord if you have questions.
Ariadne waited until the man was clean out of sight before quickly bundling the various tools she had used during the procedure together and dropping it all into a small bag that would take them -hopefully- to be sanitised. It wasn’t something she meant to harp on or stress over, but she was getting mighty concerned at the lack of some of the more hygiene-oriented practices she’d grown accustomed to. After that, she grabbed a stoppered glass of whiskey meant to help patients dull pain for some less-than-comfy procedures and poured some on her hands before rubbing them together for two minutes, then rinsing them with water from her personal canteen and drying them on a towel.
She was about to stand up and move on to the next patient when she heard Miss Farrah’s voice from behind and quickly stood up outta habit. It was odd, having finished medical training and suddenly feeling like she was a first-year again, but the habits of responding quickly and with respect to those above you seemed to come back easy.
Turning, Ariadne nodded graciously. “Yeah, fortunately it was a mighty simple case, Miss Farrah, thank you kindly. I, um, oh! I hope you didn’t need to check over my work or anythin’, if you did I took notes on his condition and the procedure I followed.”
Ariadne worked up a sweat for damn near an hour of hard work before she was satisfied with the results. Setting aside the various cutting and scraping and lancing tools that very much required sanitising, she sat back in front of him and gave him a serious look. “Awright now, it feel better?”
The man nodded. His face was tinted with red and he was sweating even more than he had been before; on top of the oppressive heat of the desert day, the process of removing what affected him and cleaning the foot beneath was not a particularly pleasant one. Still, after a wash it would smell better for the first time in probably months.
“Good, that’s good! Now, what we wanna do goin’ forward is make sure this don’t come back, right?”
He nodded again.
She gave him a big smile. “That’s good. Okay, so what I’m gonna give ya is this bundle of yarrow. Now mayhaps you’ve seen plenny of this growin around dependin on where yer from, but when it’s prepared in a specific way, it helps the wounds heal without scars, and is an anti-inflammatory-”
“Annie flamatry.”
“An-ti, in-flam-ma-tor-y,” she replied. “What that means is, well, basically it keeps the area from swelling or gettin too red goin forward. Also, it’ll keep it from gettin infected for a bit. Now you don’t wanna eat it or nothin. I’m gonna give you written instructions on howda make an infusion, so you can scrub yer foot with it twice a day until what you have runs out. Any question so far?”
He shook his head. Now, most people might take that at face value, but Ariadne had been in the game a mite too long for that. He had no idea what she was talking about, and it suddenly struck her that he plain might not be able to read. It hadn’t occurred to her since she’d arrived, what with Termina having such a high literacy rate, that it might not be reflected here perfectly. But the rules were as they were, and she had to trust in the patient to be honest until it was outright bad.
If they’d been in Termina, she would have had a regimen of supplements for him to take over the next few weeks, but she hadn’t been fortunate enough to find those here just yet. So roots and herbs would have to work for the time being. She wrote out two sheets, one of which explained the ratio of hot water to yarrow and how long to scrub with it, as well as everything else she told him. The second was a more detailed note to a potential future physician that might look him over. As she handed it to him, she said “Now this second sheet is in case it flares back up. Sometimes the first treatment doesn’t work, and it’s somethin that recurs in the environment or in somethin yer eatin, but that’s not on you. If that happens, take this to your next doctor. It’ll tell ‘em exactly what we did today and what I gave ya, so they can try somethin else. Any questions? Now’s yer last chance.”
He looked at the two pieces of paper, back to her, then to his foot, and shook his head. “Alright,” she said, “you’re free to go. It was a pleasure,”
She had made some sort of mistake, that much was clear from the moment the words left her mouth. She hadn’t been entirely serious about it, but apparently what had been working in the city weren’t quite as effective among her own people. Well, that was fine and all, but she strongly hoped that it didn’t fully ruin things. At least she got a name out of her though; it briefly felt kind of like she hadn’t said it, but maybe that was a tone thing. Even though Farrah gave her no room to speak and began walking away, Ariadne got a little, “Mighty fine meetin’ you, Miss Farrah,” in, and felt proud of herself.
They wandered directly through the hospital, Farrah pointing out this and that, and Ariadne nodding quietly from a short distance behind. She had come to understand that people didn’t take her seriously here yet, given that she was still new, but she was excited nonetheless to impress them.
It was more than a little fascinating that this place was in some ways so similar to what she had been using in Termina, but in other ways so primitive. Some of the tools were practically barbaric, while she merely waited to be told what term to use for things with which she was familiar. When they finally arrived in the clinic space, Ariadne was more than a little surprised. Maybe she’d just been doing her residency at a fancy city hospital, but she was going to have a hard time just talking with her patients about their problems when they didn’t have privacy. Maybe that was a reason why they weren’t as advanced here, because people didn’t tell them honest how they were feeling due to being embarrassed. Or… maybe they were honest here regardless because it was the Gerudo and from what she remembered there was no shame among sisters.
Was she still considered a sister? How strange a thought.
“Happily, Miss Farrah. Enjoy your nap.”
She approached the first patient and sat down across from him. He was a Hylian, probably in his mid-40s and slightly overweight, but nothing that would worry her about his health. His dark hair wrapped around the back and sides of his head, encircling a bare patch of solidly burnt skin atop and along his bare shoulders. Thick, curly hair covered his chest and shoulders, and he wore a full, albeit well-maintained, beard around his sweaty features. “Good afternoon t’ya,” she said, “My name’s Ariadne, and I’ll be your physician today. What seems to be the problem?”
“My foot,” he replied, lifting his leg and resting it atop the bed. Sure enough, a putrid odour emanated from the limb, which was not for her to describe to any readers. “I want it fixed.”
She took a breath, held it for a second, and released it. “Lemme take a look at that for ya, sir. We’ll get you fixed right up.” Today was going to be a long day.
If she hadn’t already decided the desert was very much not for her, Ariadne could see herself settling here. It felt so familiar, and it was nice seeing more of her sisters than just her interested in healing. This was a sort of odd paradise, at least for her as a doctor. Probably not for the patients.
It was also excessively charming when a strikingly beautiful Gerudo approached her in traditional- but very pink- dress. Ariadne smiled unassumingly as she introduced herself, then quickly held up her hands at the introduction of awkwardness. “Oh no, you got the right of it.”
When she saw the curious lookover regarding her clothing, Ariadne couldn’t help but blush slightly. Oh, right. Despite all their differences in culture, there was still a preference for a very particular type of dress, and straying outside of that was considered strange. What had the story she came up with been?
“Oh, this? Uh, ha, wouldn’t you believe it, I was raised by wild lemurs. In the forest and this is all the spare clothes we had. What might your name’a been, by the way? I’m afraid nobody actually told me.”
It had been a long road, getting to this point. When she had first arrived in this strange new land, Ariadne had come bearing not only luggage from her previous life, but also its baggage. In her land, the Gerudo were antagonistic and hostile, and the reputation they built landed firmly upon her back. She had never overcome the inherent distrust of her peers, never stopped seeing that light of fear in the back of their glances at her.
But it was different in Hyrule. Nobody had faced her with fear in their eyes, at least as far as she could tell. They had been kind and accepting of her and, since she hadn’t made too much mention of where she’d come from after that first meeting, nobody had looked at her too awful strange. In fact, they’d even started accepting her story that she had been trained by strange woods-witches in their ways, and giving her local tips.
After the experience of the last… however long it had been, Ariadne felt it was finally time to look into this world’s version of her people. Though they were not the same- living in deserts was a far sight separated from being pirates on the sea- she could see a lot of similarities. How queer it was, entering a Gerudo camp and not knowing any of the women there, knowing that there was a whole world ‘a difference in a place when all the faces were so similar.
She was wearing her normal clothing for warm-weather operations: a loose-fitting green tunic over brown leggings, a tight belt holding it all together. Off the belt hung a pouch of some of her more… urgent herbs and unguents, but she had been told most everything else would be supplied on site, and that she was to meet with a doctor more experienced with this facility who would show her around and make sure she was settled in to begin work. Upon entering, she looked around, only then realising that she appeared entirely lost and didn’t have a description of this other healer.
Hi Ben! Welcome to our community ^-^ sorry nobody has responded to this just yet, we're active but most of our out-of-character discussion goes into our discord server these days. If you want to join us there, here's the link.
Also how are you, are you handling these strange times well?
Though she had been hopeful of it, Ariadne was relieved to find Sappho a pleasant travelling companion. Even if her stories could fall a bit into the macabre -Ari was a fan of happy stories herself- it was nice to have something to listen to as they hiked out of the forest. If nothing else, Sappho was certainly adding to the aesthetic experience of being in some creepy old forest after sunset.
While she was regaled with a tragic tale of child death and bitter tears, Ariadne grew conscious of an approaching… something, first as the hairs on her arms stood up and then as the footsteps echoed. But as suddenly as they had approached, all of the foreign sounds were gone; the witch had guided her successfully to the edge of the forest. Once the last notes of Sappho’s speech settled into the unsettling quiet of a post-dusk world, Ariadne turned back to her. It was much easier to see now; she hadn’t actually realised the lack of easy moonlight in the forest until they’d left it.
“Termina is… well, frankly I’m surprised you ain’t heard of it, to be honest.” The doctor adjusted her bag once more and used the opportunity to rotate her left shoulder; it was beginning to get a bit sore from the strain. She looked out across the empty plain, glowing in the soft white light of the moon. “The biggest city is called Clock Town. It circles around, as you mighta guessed, a big clock. Uh, every year there’s a festival celebrating the season of harmony beginning, basically an alignment of the sun and moon. Lotsa musicians, artists, dancers all over. They come in from the outer-lying provinces, Snowhead, Ikana, the Southern Swamp, and Great Bay.
“Snowhead is where the Gorons live, they’re, uh, big rock people. Friendly as can be, but very tall. You got them here? Anyway, Snowhead is a mountain and incredibly cold. Like freeze you to the bones if you’re not careful cold. Ikana used to be a big kingdom, but it’s filled with spooky skeletons and ghost people now. Some people still live there, but it’s not somethin’ widely, um, recommended. The swamp is full of Deku Scrubs, cute lil’ plant people who can bounce on the water and have a dashing princess. It’s a nice place, kinda similar to this forest but with a lot more water and heat. Great Bay’s where I’m originally from, it’s a rocky series of cliffs that centre around a long beach. At the north end of the beach is the Gerudo encampment. They- um… we, I guess- they aren’t the best. In the south are the Zora, who- oh, they’re quite pretty- they’re sea-faring types, but like under the water. Anyway, they have a beautiful city o’ shells and the like.”
She blinked for a moment, as if slightly confused, then shook her head and shrugged. “It didn’t ever strike me until now, actually, but everyone’s all spread out real even-like. Even Clock Town is spread into districts- not equally sized, but kinda mirroring the rest of Termina I guess- and is still mostly Terminian, with only a couple people from outside the city interminglin’. Huh.
“Do you have anything particular you’re wantin to know? I know as much as anyone knows about a place they spent their whole life, but it’s hard to just come out with it, y’know? You clearly know about magic here, I know a little bit about healing magic, but mostly I do it the old-fashioned way, with needles and herbs and potions and the like. Each settlement kinda has its own government, but it’s, uh, they’re mostly insular, kinda community-organised, sorta, um… like usually a system with an informal leader. I think we -Clock Town, I mean to say- might have the strictest leadership, but even then that’s just a mayor and some soldiers.”
For all her social awkwardness and general anxieties, one of Ariadne’s biggest strengths was picking up on how others were feeling. And while she couldn’t see -consciously, at least- any change in Sappho, she felt something change, almost like a cold finger running down her spine. As she listened to the self-titled witch think aloud, her suspicions were proven correct.
The central point, as far as she could gather, was that she had stumbled into an awkward moment where something she had assumed something was common knowledge, wasn’t. And despite knowing little about the woman with whom she was speaking, some things were easily inferred from her demeanour. Sappho was clearly intelligent, working through information and collating what she received audibly with what she could perceive visually to produce a larger picture. If someone educated was unaware of Termina, then the lay person could be assumed to be equally ignorant.
Ariadne was relieved to find herself able to work her way through these situations. Taking a breath and giving herself a moment had done wonders for her composure, and she was becoming less anxious as the twilight transitioned to night. There was a chill to the air now, and she wasn’t dressed for cold. Seeing an opportunity for a change in scenery, she smiled and adjusted the large pack on her back. “Usually people buy me a drink before they ask me to divulge all my secrets. I’d be happy to tell you all you need to know, perhaps while we travel toward somewhere warm? I surely wouldn’t complain for food.”
As both her back and attention had been turned away when Sappho had originally conjured her small array of furniture, this was Ariadne’s first experience of her summoning abilities, and the delight was clear in her eyes. During her residency in Clock Town, the Gerudo had been part of a small group of like-minded, would-be healers learning from the same older masters. While a few of them had been more magically inclined than she, their interests and specialisations had never been that of creating or summoning objects, merely doctoring. Since magic had never come easily to her, or perhaps in spite of that fact, she was fascinated by it. While most of her class barely touched on magical theory, merely the specific spells and weaves required to heal, she had gone beyond that and spent much of her time in the personal library of one of her teachers, reading up on the mechanics and theory behind spellcraft.
Sappho’s introduction was certainly something. She was laid-back and composed, so sure of her own delicate grace. She reminded Ariadne of some of the more wealthy types in Clock Town, those who lived on the upper end of the East Side, near the government section. They had never liked her, save those who were introduced to her through the programme. She suddenly became self-conscious; would this be another high-class type who saw her as nothing more than a coastal pirate, pretending to be civilised until the moment she could steal a purse or watch? Was that even a stereotype here? Were there other Gerudo here or did she come across as just a red-headed Hylian of questionable (though, judging by this conversation, not altogether that questionable) gender?
She did her best to keep the anxiety from her voice. “I’m happy to meet you, Sappho. You seem perfectly welcoming, so I see no reason to run away -I actually met a witch once, when I studied out in the swamp! But yes, you’re right, I’m from elsewhere. I don’t actually know if- it’s hard to explain but- hm.” The back of her neck was hot from shame; she had always had a problem with stumbling over three different thoughts when she got anxious. She forced herself to take a deep breath, then let it out again. “I’m from Termina. I was told I could come to a new world and start over, but I might never be able to go back, and already this seems nicer than where I came from.”
Ariadne might as well have died and entered paradise, with so many plants and bugs she had never seen, smelt, nor heard before. It was all so overwhelming to her senses that she had become entirely oblivious to anything outside of that, even the approach of another person in the middle of a forest. In fact, it wasn’t until she was in the process of tucking a small flower into her belt pouch that the words began to cut through to her consciousness.
-your heart begins to bleed, you're dead and dead and dead indeed. My girl, take care in unknown lands - it’s hard to skirt from evil hands.’
The Gerudo rocked back on the heels of her boots, attempting to figure out what had spoken to her and from where, before scanning the area around her and settling on the girl seated just across the clearing. Ariadne was immediately taken aback; in the presence of such a stark beauty she found her heart skipped a beat… maybe more than one. She looked around for anyone else before taking a few steps forward. “Hello,” she began, proud of herself for nailing the introduction. “I’m Ariadne. I hadn’t noticed any… evil hands so far, but uh, I suppose these lands are pretty unknown to me.”
She felt her cheeks begin to flush, and decided maybe it would be best to stop talking before she got to the "embarrassed ranting" portion of how she inevitably talked. “Am I that obvious?”
Ariadne had been holding her breath. In retrospect, it was a silly decision; if she had honestly believed that this was a world so dangerous or alien that the air itself would conspire to end her life upon arrival, she obviously wouldn’t have sought the trip out. But it was still a scary thing, to leave behind everything you’d ever known or been comfortable with, all of the people and the places and the animals you’d been attached to, and knowing that there was a very good chance you’d never see them again. She’d stepped away from those memories by choice, and had needed a little extra courage in the moment, and so as she’d passed from the world she’d always known and into this strange new one, Ariadne had been holding her breath.
Of course, now that she was here, she was in quite a predicament. Not only had she held her breath while passing through, but she’d also closed her eyes, and now she was too afraid to open them. After all, what if it was poisonous after all? That’d be just swell, coming all this way just to asphyxiate immediately. Or what if she’d arrived in the middle of a pack of wolves? Or a person’s home? What if, after all the shame through which she had already put them, the ancestors were looking down on Ariadne now, and she was in someone’s occupied privy? Were that true, she hoped the air truly were poisoned, so she could expediently flee her final and crowning failure. The quickly-spiralling thoughts caused her heart to beat faster and louder in her chest, almost loud enough to drown out the chirrup of nearby… crickets? And… was that a cicada somewhere behind her?
Ariadne had seen plenty of bugs when she was in Termina, particularly during her time in the Southern Swamp, taking notes on and gathering local plants. She’d found them to be quite interesting, and usually not scary, just occasionally hostile if they were specifically wasps and she was specifically trying not to anger them. There was a slight chill to the air, more of a twilight’s breath than a winter’s bite. Okay, so things weren’t as bad as she had feared! The Gerudo slowly released her breath- a relief, as she couldn’t hold it long under ideal circumstances- and inhaled. The air was fresh. Quite fresh, in fact! It smelled like nature, the kind found in small groves of trees surrounding Clock Town, or the park in the northern section of the city, a park where she’d spent hours reading and studying. There were elements of rich earth mixed with old leaves, a combination she found immediately relaxing, almost refreshing in a way. As she exhaled one more time, the Gerudo opened her eyes, finding herself in the middle of a dense forest - in the twilight hour, no less.
The sight was breath-taking; the trees of the Southern Swamp were thin and usually stumpy, while these were thicker than she could wrap her arms around and taller than she could have ever imagined trees being. Instead of canals and soggy peat, a fine layer of moss covered the ground all around her, interspersed occasionally with dark green ferns. Tiny green lights pulsed around everything she could see, peacefully floating along to the insect orchestra. She was overtaken with awe; if this was what she had been missing in Termina, she was more than happy to explore! She opened up an empty pouch at her belt and began picking the various plants. As often happened when she was by herself, Ariadne began to talk to the samples she was gathering, becoming entirely unaware of the world outside of her immediate interests. ”My word, you’re pretty. Heart-shaped leaves, about… foooooour? centimetres each? I’m sorry for snipping you away like this, my love, but my sketchbook is too deep to get out of this bag before nightfall. I hope you understand.”
From a young age, Ariadne was clearly not meant to be among the Gerudo Pirates of Great Bay. She was born to them, raised by them, and treated no differently from any of her sisters, but she never felt at home with them. She broke down in tears the first, second, and third times they tried to get her to strike another during training. She cried for hours after seeing her mother kill a Zora who had gotten too close to the fortress. The Gerudo decided to put her under the tutelage of an older Gerudo named Sanare who was the camp healer. Sanare had studied in Clock Town in her youth and was a skilled doctor, though her hands had started getting shakier and she needed an apprentice. She cultivated Ariadne’s empathetic nature and used her natural pacifism to fuel a love of healing. And, when Ariadne was a teenager, she got her clearance to train in Clock Town. [break][break]
When she arrived in Clock Town, Ariadne was sixteen and had never lived on her own. She had been given a pouch of rupees by Sanare (who explicitly refused to tell her where they came from) and a letter explaining her situation. She was able to secure training in Clock Town, as well as rent a small room in the Stock Pot Inn. During her training, she learned classical medicine, the basic anatomy of every sentient race in Termina, and the absolute basics of healing magic. She wasn’t a natural when it came to magic, but she was determined and driven to succeed. After years of studying, she was finally able to produce basic healing weaves, mending a small cut by draining the life force of six blades of grass. Her copy of “Field Guide to Medicine: A Compendium of Known Afflictions and Wounds” was thoroughly marked and tagged by the time she was twenty, with her own scribbles and observations in the margins.
[break][break]
During her stay in Clock Town, Ariadne began experimenting with clothing. She had only ever known the Gerudo style of dress, but was fascinated by the idea of expressing herself through a different style. First, she toyed with a more androgynous style of dress; she would wear tunics and loose trousers, and cut her hair to a more manageable shoulder length. Eventually that grew dull, and she took it a step further. She cut her hair even shorter, to a messy, boyish style and began wearing clothing more classically worn by men. She still identified as a woman, but found that she felt more at home in loose tunics with brown vests tucked into brown, fitted trousers, which in turn were fitted into black leather boots that reached to her mid-calf. She enjoyed the mobility (Terminian women in their dresses would have such trouble keeping up!), but also the slight confusion it produced in the people around her. And it felt right, which was the most important part.
[break][break]
As she neared her twenty-first birthday, Ariadne received a letter from Sanare in the post informing her of a new Pirate Queen and that she would be expected back permanently within the next few months. A sudden feeling of dread took hold of Ariadne; she remembered the deaths and dismemberments she had seen among the Gerudo before finally finding herself among her peers in Clock Town. She knew that, even as a doctor, she would be faced with pressure to be less merciful toward prisoners and to be hard on her patients. She didn’t have the heart for it. Looking into ways to disappear, she stumbled upon information about a portal far away, to a place she might never be able to return from. Packing up her dearest belongings (her books, tools, clothes, and a few pictographs she’d taken with the friends she’d made), she took the plunge, prepared to face whatever may come on the other side.
SPELL OR ITEM NAME:[break] Light I - Healing. By listening to the magical energy of the land around her, Ariadne can weave threads of life magic from the air and hook them to the metaphysical makeup of a being of her choice, gradually healing wounds of which she is aware. As a novice, she isn’t capable of healing more than one person at a time, though she can focus on healing one person while stabilising two other people. By utilising pre-existing life essence, Ariadne will either slowly drain surrounding plant matter of life or, in times of crisis, use her own physical health as a vessel.
This ability requires intense focus and time depending on the severity of the wound and can exhaust her easily; if a companion is only lightly wounded, she might forego magical healing in lieu of more traditional methods. [break][break]
RACIAL ABILITY: + Super Strength: Because they are tall warrior women, they are very strong and able to fight back at equal or stronger strength of warrior men. [break][break] + Heat Resistance: The Gerudo live in the desert, and have thrived in it for centuries. Because of this, they are able to withstand the scorching heat of the sun - this does not, however, give them resistance to fire. [break][break]
OTHER: She wears a medium-sized bag on her back full of medical equipment. Needles, thread, various medical tools, ligatures, tourniquets, unctures, pre-made poultices for blood loss, inflammation, and infections, and vials of anaesthetics (opium, hemlock, mandrake root) and anti-septic materials (alcohol) can be found inside. She also carries a field guide to common afflictions and wounds and how to treat them, earmarked and tagged all over with her own little notes and observations. It sits in the centre of her bag wrapped in several dozen meters of gauze. [break][break] A small pouch at her belt is full of various herbs meant to slow bleeding and dull pain (the latter mostly by chewing). They’re stored separately from the main bag due to extreme odour.