dilemma \\ angelo

[Jamie]

The Eldin Province of Hyrule was hot. It was hot, and made Jamie's clothes sticky and uncomfortable. She was currently wandering through the large cliffs that were on the way out from Kakariko. Just yesterday, she was in the Lanayru portion of Hyrule Field, but upon learning that Hyrule field stretched all the way to Eldin... well, jeez! She just had to check this part of it out! She had stayed in Castle Town for so long, it was time to get out and about. This way, it'd be harder for someone from her tribe to find her...

Once Jamie was out in the open field, the air suddenly became cooler. She could feel a breeze! The wolf lifted her arms and let the breeze flutter through the long fabrics. It tickled her arms and made her drop them back down at her sides. This was a lovely field, so far! She walked past the dirt and gravel, until she hit soft grass. This enthralled the easily-pleased Minish! How Jamie loved to roll in soft grass, and what a perfect opportunity to do so. She let herself fall down on a slight incline of a hill. "I'm so glad I made it out here!" Beneath her clothes, her tail wagged.

Jamie had only been laying down for a few minutes before she felt the earth begin to rumble. Immediately upon feeling it, she sat up with her ears straight up in the air. Her senses did not kick into overdrive, so it couldn't have been an earthquake... could it? Jamie was disappointed that the relaxation had been ruined, but she made herself pop up onto her feet. She wobbled a little, but was able to glance around. What she saw made her gasp.

It was not an earthquake at all! What those meanies in Kakariko had failed to tell her was that the Eldin portion of Hyrule Field had huge beast-like boars, and atop their backs, little goblin things that were shooting flaming arrows at her! One landed right next to her foot. "Aaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiyeeeeeeeee!" The woman squawked and immediately took off running in a random direction. In her frenzy, she did not really pay attention to where she was going. All she had her mind on was escaping those big beasties!

As she ran, her voice echoed through the air. "Heeeelp meeeeeee! Oh please, oh please, someone help meeee!"

[Angelo Delacroix]

The man walked along the edge of Hyrule Field, his canine companion wandering alongside him, sniffing around as the pair searched. They had been roaming aimlessly for days, something that could be a profession in a grand land like Hyrule. The thought had entertained him at one point, wondering if he could get paid to travel. Ah, if only such a job existed, or if it did, if it would make itself known.

He considered being a mailman once, but having met one of the postal workers, it quickly got erased from his options. The insane schedule, the constant hurrying, dear god it was a nightmare wearing that red hat. How is coworker, and that was the most mysterious thing, coWORKER, did all of Hyrule every single day flawlessly, it was…He wasn’t Human, Hylian, nothing in this world. Surely he must have been a demon!

Sadly, Angelo wasn’t entirely sure of himself that he was kidding.

Looking down at the wolf was it suddenly plopped down on the ground, Delacroix leaned down and ruffled his fur, causing Kelyn to look up at him bored. Delacroix knew the look well, as the beast wasn’t nearly as easily entertained as the man. It had been a while since they had done anything he liked to do, and Angelo knew they would need to head back to the more wild parts of the world.

Suddenly the wolf cocked his head, glancing away from the human. It paused a moment, then quickly got to its feet growling for naught but a moment before taking off. Wondering what was up but having no time to think on it, Angelo took off after him, running as quickly as he could to keep up.

Within moments of running, he felt the ground rumble and saw forms in the distance. Snarling, the wolf quickly gave in to full speed and outran the boy, at least until he donned his mask and caught up..

In the midst of the darkly colored beasts running towards them, he saw a small figure in white leading the pack, though his enhanced hearing quickly saw that it, or rather she, wasn’t so much leading, as trying to get the hell out of the way.

Sprinting to her and jumping into the air, he landed behind her as his wolf went around her, the human roaring and beast howling at the tops of their lungs.

Masters atop of them or not, base instinct is rather hard to control as suddenly every boar and creature halted, some too fast for their own good and ended up tripping, the monsters skidding along the dirt in their surprise frenzy, some even tossing off their riders.

A sharp whistle pierced the air as Angelo signaled his beast, who tackled an archer about to draw his bow.

Leaving his capable companion to deal with stopping the creatures, he turned to the distressed damsel and ran up to her, taking her hand and leading her towards a hole in the ground.

”Not the best way out, but a grotto is too small for these guys to get into. Hop in, would you kindly? I promise you‘ll be okay, these things are a bit magical in their own right, you won‘t land hard.” Stated the warrior, looking at her from behind his mask.

[Jamie]

Okay. That's it. I'm going to die a horrible death and I'll never see my family again. Mommy, daddy, I'm so sorry!

Jamie really, truly believed that those foul beasts were going to get to her. Just imagine the surprise on her face when she felt a hand grab her own hand. There was no possible way she could be more shocked than she already was, so her already terrified and wide eyes glanced around as she turned her shoulders to look behind her. Her running had to come to a skidding halt so she would not fall as the other held onto her. Crimson eyes blinked and welled with tears of joy. Today was not going to be her last day. She just knew it.

To her, this man that had stopped her was her savior. She also noticed he had a wolf with him, a wolf who was also helping out her situation. Before the man left her there, she placed her free hand on top of his, and squeezed his hand around both of her palms. "Oh thank you, thank you!" Her ink-dipped tail waggled happily as she plopped herself down into the hole.

Only her ears and a bit of her eyes popped out of the hole. She wanted to watch what was about to happen... and make sure nothing bad happened to this kind man. At least she believed he was kind... kind enough to save a stranger in need! Jamie readied her delicious and nutritious cherry cakes, just in case!

[Angelo Delacroix]

A soft smile crossed Angelo’s lips as the girl thanked him, then hopped into the grotto. A bit early for thanks, but it was nice to hear.

Turning around back towards the group, he drew both his swords and threw them at high speed, causing them to impale the ground before a couple of the beasts, then, with a snap of his fingers, the weapons disappeared in a flash and emerged in his hands. Kelyn backed up from the group and howled again before snarling, fangs bared for all to see.

With a mixture of primal fear and cowardice, the beasts and their riders turned tail and fled.

Whistling to his canine, Delacroix sheathed his weapons and petted the wolf as it came up, then turned around to the hole to see the young girl’s head slightly poking out. Definitely a first in his book.

”Are you okay?” Asked the young man as he knelt down onto his knee, holding out his hand for her to take so he could pull her out.

[Jamie]

Jamie's eyes grew wide, wider, and were nearly at their widest as she watched this courageous man defeat those baddums! His wolf was a wonder to watch, as well. Jamie had to shake herself back into reality when she heard his voice speaking to her. Blinking, she also noticed the beasts were gone. A sigh of relief shook past her lips. She'd be able to live another day!

Quite happily, Jamie grasped his hand. "Oh, yes, thanks to you I am perfectly fine! How can I ever repay you?" It would just feel wrong to not do something nice for him! An idea hit her, and without a second thought or word, her hand lifted to her robe. For a moment, it surely did look like she was going to take it off, to push it from her shoulders. But that's not what happened! Jamie would never have that thought in her mind, anyway! She's a pure soul~ What she actually did was reach into her dress to pull out a cute little white cloth that was tied at the top. For a moment, she knelt down on her knees and placed the parcel on the ground. She then proceeded to untie the knot, though it took longer than it should have. That knot was tight! Once the fabric flapped open and fell to the ground, three round pastries were sitting atop the cloth. With tender and gentle fingers, Jamie lifted one of them up, took a light sniff of the cherry cake, and reached her hands out to him. The little ball of dough fit perfectly in both palms of her hands. Her fingers were cupped around the little pastry, but they unfolded when she offered it to Angelo. "For you! It's my special cherry cake! My mother taught me how to bake them, and infuse them with special healing herbs! Please, please eat!"

For a moment her eyes closed to smile gently at the man. "Oh, right!" Though her goofy little smile was interrupted by the thought of his wolf. "You can have one as well, mister wolf! What is your name?" It was now that Jamie's childish and naive ways began to show... if they hadn't shown already. Normal children were probably taught not to pet random stranger's pets. Anybody with some common sense would know that, right? Some animals were just unfriendly! But Jamie had not a thought in her mind that this beast would snap at her, even though it was a very likely possibility. He was one of her own, she was a wolf just like him. One of her hands reached out to pat him, though she had no idea that he could very well bite her.

[Angelo Delacroix]

The young man didn’t have even a moment to let her know that no thanks was necessary before she dropped to her knees, getting something out of her clothes. He watched as she placed a small cloth on the ground and unveiled it to show three small treats. With her request for him to try one, the man got curious. It didn’t look like any kind of cake he had had before.

Noticing his wolf glancing at him as he was offered one too, the man shrugged. With nothing else to go off of, the canine looked back to the girl and carefully snatched one of the two deserts left in the cloth without affecting the second one, his jaws mincing away at it as he closed his eyes at her touch. It wasn’t often that many people were willing to give the wolf such affection, he surely wasn’t about to turn her down.

Angelo sat down next to the wolf, across from the girl, and bowed slightly to her. ”Thank you, you didn’t have to.”

Reaching forward, he took the treat from her hand gently. He felt a bit nervous about taking that one, but he didn’t want her to feel brushed off, and he was certain his wolf was smart enough to not slobber over the untouched one…

”His name is Kelyn, named for my Father’s brother.” He informed her, watching her curiously. Not many people were so friendly towards his pet, even those who Kelyn alone had saved. Noticing her ears, he smiled slightly. A Minish, that would explain a bit~ ”I’m Angelo, may I have your name?”

Looking at the treat now within his hand, he was about to bite into it when he suddenly remembered his mask. Grinning slightly at his own absentmindedness, the man pulled his mask off and set it beside him, running his free hand over his face and through his hair to enjoy the sudden “freedom” from it. Turning his eyes back to his treat, he bit into it and blinked as the sweet flavor hit him. It felt chewy, spongy in a way.

”Mmm, good~ Interesting texture, I like it. Do you enjoy baking?’ Asked Delacroix, chewing another bite.

[Jamie]

Jamie felt the excitement bubble up in her when she saw that both the man and the wolf had taken her treats. "Oh, but I did have to! How else could I repay you for helping me?" With her hands free now, she pressed her palms against the ground to give her enough leverage to wiggle her legs out from underneath her. She then tucked them neatly to her sides, careful not to let her dress part and show anything she would be embarrassed to show!

The lone cake just looked so lonely, so she picked it up and took a large bite. The fact that the wolf could have accidentally touched it didn't bother her in the least. He was one of her own! Sorta. Jamie's tail wagged happily as she chewed and listened to the man talk. She finally parted from her little cherry cake with a small gasp, as if she had not been able to breathe with her face pushed into the treat. When her face lifted, she had a large smile on her face, as well as some remnants of the cherry filling on her cheek. "It is very nice to meet you Angelo, Kelyn! I'm Jamie!" Once her brief introduction was over, she went back to scarfing down her little treat. She could be such a piggy sometimes!

Once it was pretty much inhaled, Jamie licked her fingertips and palms to scrape off any extra sugary goodness. She saw Angelo was still eating his, and he seemed to enjoy it! Not only did it seem like he did, but he actually told her he liked it! Jamie's tail went crazy with the wiggling. "I do enjoy baking! But the only thing I know how to bake are these things. Ehehe..." Jamie rubbed the back of her head in a nervous fashion. She wished her mother had taught her some other recipes... It would have been quite fun to have other goodies to share with this kind man.

[Angelo Delacroix]

”Well, we don’t need repaying. Helping people shouldn’t require a reward~” Said Angelo, almost matter-of-factly, blinking slightly at the girl’s insistence.

Taking another bite of the cake, he watched with a smile as the girl downed it easily twice as fast as he did. Admittedly he was hungry, but man~ It was definitely very entertaining to watch, he almost wasn’t sure if his wolf had actually finished first.

”A pleasure to meet you too Jamie~” Replied the boy, still smiling at the girl as she talked with bits of her own treat covering her mouth.

Finishing his own soon after, he placed his hand on Kelyn’s back, ruffling his fur slightly before simply petting him. Turning his eyes back to the girl, he watched her, his eyes actually looking at her for the first time and noticing the details, or rather, the ears and tail. He wondered what type of Minish she was, but another thought intruded as he heard her speak up

”Oh? Well, if you enjoy it so much, you could go to Castle Town? They have places that can teach you how to cook different things.” Informed Angelo, pointing in the direction of the city.

[Jamie]

All Jamie could really do was watch Angelo finish his treat... She was actually sort of staring. Her lips were curled into a cat-like smile, which is odd considering she is a wolf. It was just a mischievous sort of smile, with no actual intentions of being mischievous. When he spoke up, her ears perked and she sat up straight, showing he had her full attention.

"Ohh... So they could teach me how to bake cakes and breads? And cookies? And pies?'" Jame licked her lips. Just the mention of those delectable sweets made her mouth water. It was then that she realized it had been a while since she had actually eaten anything, other than her little cake. Jamie pressed a hand to her stomach and sighed as she realized why, exactly, she hasn't had food in a while.

"I'm sure... that would cost rupees though... I have no rupees! Uwaahh..." Defeated, her ears wilted as she sighed deeply. Such is the life of a runaway vagabond.