a hard day's work //open//

[Link]

The sun beat down on Ordon Ranch that day. It was decidedly toasty, but it was also harvest season, so it was necessary despite the humidity the sun brought with it to go out and gather the crops. Fortunately enough for the sole rancher in the field they had the equipment on that farm to gather those crops without spending the day sunburning their back.

That rancher was a blonde haired kid named Link.

He held the rein for the goat that was pulling the plough and guided it along through the fields. The plough upturned the vegetables in the ground, and from there they were gathered up. That was another day's work, sifting through the bucket on the plough to get the vegetables out of the dirt that was there. It was more important now to get them up and stored away in the barn where they would stay cool and moist.

Link sighed to himself and wiped the sweat from his brow with the wrappings around his wrist. He glanced back over his shoulder to see the field was mostly done, so with a tug of the rein he began to lead the beat out goat back to the barn. Once there skilled hands worked at unharnessing the animal from the plough. Link was relieved that his work was almost over for the day. He wasn't one to complain about work, but a day as hot as this always made the work take double the toll on him, and he wanted some energy left over for his lessons with Rusl.

That thought caused Link to cringe. He enjoyed the lessons, too, but always left them sore. After a day like this, Link knew he wouldn't be able to move by the time he got home, and tomorrow was going to be really bad. At least his work was fairly easy, albeit monotonous, sifting through the plough bucket for harvested vegetables. With a grunt Link lifted the harness up and gave the goat a slap on its flank, causing it to trot forward. Once it was out of the way, Link dropped the harness, caught up to the goat and began to lead it back to its pen.

[MIFF]

"Huff... huff.. huff..."

Stupid oxygen. What was so great about it that Miff needed to depend on it so much, huh? He was way better than the stupid air! And most other things too. Especially that Onox guy!

"Huff... huff..."

Yeah, that guy was so scared of Miff that he'd run away like the wind. Literally! No matter how big or tough they were they always cowered before the might of Hyrule's most powerful Mad Scrub, yes sir.

"Huff..."

Stupid jerk deserved to get taken down though. Why'd he have to get Miff lost while looking for him? The Deku was so turned around he didn't even know how he'd ended up in Ordona Province, nor was he even aware of the fact that he was there at all. It just didn't seem right for the General of Darkness, or whatever the moron called himself, to think he could get away so Miff kept looking for him. And looking. And looking.

"..."

How long had the Deku been looking anyway? How many days since Death Mountain erupted? How many nights since a jet of bright light shot out of Faron Province and then scattered into the sky across the land? Bugger if Miff knew. He was busy chasing a target. Still, when did it get so hot and dry out!?

Thump

Walking along the edge of a raised section of land a head of orange and yellow leaves stumbled, out of breath, and fell a fair drop down onto the green grass below. Said grass belonged to a certain ranch in Ordon Village. Being so small and light the angry little Scrub barely made a sound when he landed face-first and he simply remained there, barely twitching.

Onox would just need to wait a second for Miff to catch his breath. Then he'd get 'im. They'd see how great he was. All of them! Everybody!

Again, when did it get so hot and dry out!?

[Link]

Link opened the gate to the pasture and led his goat inside. There were other goats in there, too, grazing and relaxing in whatever shade they could find on that particularly warm day. Link closed the gate behind them and gave the goat he was leading a slap on the flank. The animal made a noise then trotted off to join its brethren near the water trough, where it could get a drink. The animal deserved it after the hard day's work it had done. Link was particularly envious, as the water sparkled in such a tempting way.

Before he could turn around and go get himself something to drink, he noticed something peculiar about the goats. Many were moving away from a location at the opposite end of the field. What was most strange was that it was one of the shadier locations, with the sun hidden behind a bluff. Probably just some Bulblins or a wolf scaring them off. Still, Link couldn't have that, so he took the bow off his shoulder and quickly stringed it. There was a reason he'd come to carry a bow with him even while working in the fields.

With an arrow notched he moved across the field looking for some sign of disturbance. There was a single goat left in the shade nibbling on some off-colored foliage. Upon closer examination Link realized that was foliage, but a deku. He pulled the arrow back on the bow and moved closer, shooing the goat before the deku could hurt it; or vice versa. "Hey!" Link nudged the deku with his toe and kept the bow pulled back, ready to loose the arrow even at close range.

[Fane]

Fane spent his early morning in the Village of Ordana at the local Inn, preparing to head back to Castle Town and do some investigation on the recent worldly events. Fane wasn't well known yet, but he had been there when the three bosses rose up directly before the catastrophe, and from what he had gathered so far, coincidences were seeming like a far to likely story. Especially after the power of Veran became known to him. Greer's blade was now the weapon Fane essentially carried to use, however he still relied heavily on Aarondite. Fully equipped, and checking out of the inn, he purchased a bottle of Mead and carried on his way.

Stopping by the Ordana Ranch, he planned to see if any of them planned on riding to Castle Town on business, perhaps he could rent a horse or tag a ride with them. At the least, he needed some meat for his journey. Arriving at the Ranch, he immediately spotted the young boy in green garments, with his bow drawn to a small Deku.

"Hey kid, you okay over there?"

Fane's white hair and golden earrings caught the sun in a favored glimpse, his crimson eyes sparking with a calm bloodlust. Even so, his disposition was obviously kind and helpful, despite the oversized blade over his back that sat sideways, remaining 12 feet long. At his hip was Aarondite, sheathed and amazingly smaller, and his tailbone held the holsters for each flintlock.

[MIFF]

Miff was totally fine. Really. He was going to be back up on his feet any second now. That goat nibbling on his head? It was going to die. Die as soon as Miff got back up. Which would be any second now, if you recall. Yep, any second.

"You think... you can... kick me... while I'm down?" the Mad Scrub responded to Link's general inquiry, exaggerating the Hylian's gentle nudge in his mind into a full-blown assault. "Just you wait... I'll show you..."

The Mad Scrub's breaths were laboured between each sentence fragment that escaped his spout. Still, running on pure spite for energy, Miff did in fact manage to push himself to his feet. He seemed a bit shaky but he was up. The Deku promptly turned to face the boy who had an arrow pointed at him.

"Hah, you think you can take me down with the likes of that?!" Miff mocked, his speech more coherent now that he could look someone in the eye as he degraded them. Just some backwater country farm boy in ridiculous pants as far as he was concerned. "Don't you know I'm the one who chased off the giant in Faron Woods!? You're nothing to me. Nothing!"

Miff assumed that everything he did was automatically known as legendary tales to everyone in Hyrule, you see, regardless of the fact that relatively few were probably yet aware of General Onox's rampage through Faron Province. Still, now that he was up and facing Link the Hylian would be able to see that the Mad Scrub had a rather sizable crack on the right side of its head. That certainly led credence to the idea that he had fought with something, at least.

Miff totally would have given Fane a death glare too if his head wasn't spinning so much. Definitely.

[Link]

Link looked up as he heard a voice call out. A man carrying an outrageously large sword was making his way across the field toward them. "Yeah," was Link's response to Fane's question, keeping it simple as he turned his attention to the deku on the ground, who was slowly showing signs of life. Figuring a bit more explanation might be necessary, Link offered,"He scared the goats." That was it, straight and to the point.

The bow lowered after the deku got to his feet and started ranting. Chased off the giant in Faron Woods? Link had heard some vague news of the disasters through passers-by, much like the man with the overly large sword, but he didn't know anything about a giant in Faron Woods. Clearly the scrub was mad, then. Link shrugged and drew back the arrow, sliding it into his quiver, then unstrung the bow all in a quick motion that was well-practiced. He enjoyed practicing with that bow, so he had grown quite adept in its use.

The scrub clearly wasn't a problem so Link turned his attention away from it to the man. So long as he was around the deku wouldn't cause any trouble with the goats and, to be frank, it was a deku. "That's a large sword," he commented, looking down at the twelve-foot long sword. Link had a little bit of a fascination with swords and practiced regularly with Rusl, but even the village's only warrior didn't possess a blade that large in his extensive collection.

[Fane]

Fane was momentarily interested with a spark of worry at the notion of a Giant in Faron Woods. Boy did he have a history with those...even so, he did as Link did and removed the interest quickly. A Deku such as this? He doubted power stemmed from it at all. This giant was probably a tall human who simply walked off in laughter. The white haired man did not respond to the boys first words, yet continued walking closer to them. Scaring the goats huh?

Greer's blade was of pure magic, and in all honesty, without it having chosen him and rendered its abilities to him after the Catastrophe's, he wouldn't even be able to lift the damn thing high enough to slash it. Seeing Link's fascination with it, he approached him and and nodded with a smile. "Names Fane. I got it after battling a Dark Spirit with a Zora and a Hylian Knight, and some other thing. Wanna try it? Haha."

Lifting it with pure ease from his back, he spun it slightly and held it horizontally in front of Link, with plenty of room for the boys hand to grab and try to lift.

[MIFF]

Miff spit a Deku Nut at the back of Link's head. Nobody ignored him! The odds of Link actually getting injured were awfully low though considering that the Mad Marksman could barely see straight.

After attempting to shoot the Hylian Miff turned and started to walk away as if that were the natural way to say "goodbye", moving to pass by Fane as he did so.

"Dark Spirit... hah! Bet it wasn't nearly as awesome as the giant red ghost dragon thing that disappeared before I could catch it. Had to fight the lame giant instead while he ran after some stupid buried treasure. I could beat a Dark Spirit by myself without help."

Should either of them care to notice Miff wasn't exactly walking in a straight line as he angrily muttered these things below his breath. The Deku was twisting and turning every which way and barely getting anywhere as he teetered on his small wooden feet. The little guy had a splitting headache and double vision. Not the best day for him to be picking fights, but then for someone his size that wasn't exactly a good hobby anyway. Regardless he soldiered on, intending to follow through with his second-to-last goal in standing up.

"Where'd that stupid goat get to?"

[Link]

Fane. Link made a note of the name. Considering the man carried a sword that size the farmhand thought she should've heard the name before, but then he also explained he got it fighting a dark spirit. Link had heard about some sort of incident at Lake Hylia, so this guy was one of the warriors from there. With a feat like that behind him and a sword that recognizable on his back, this guy would soon become much more known. And Link hadn't met another warrior before, either, so it was interesting to compare his posture and the way he handled himself to Rusl.

In return for his name, Link offered his own to the warrior, "I'm Link." He reached out to try the sword offered to him. It was a daunting task by the looks of it, but Fane wielded it with such grace it couldn't be that hard. Maybe magic? Except when Link picked it up he was pulled downward by the sheer weight, causing the deku nut to fly over his head as he fell. Not one to be deterred, Link planted his feet and tried to lift the blade, but he could barely move it. His grip slipped and all the strain he put into lifting the blade shot him backward a few feet.

"It's really heavy," he remarked, though that was quite apparent. He suddenly noticed the absence of their little woody friend and looked around. The deku was making his way toward the goats. Without much thought into his actions Link quickly and deftly pulled out his bow, stringed it and fired an arrow in the deku's direction. Link was an outstanding marksman and the arrow flew right where it was meant to go: into the ground in front of the deku. "Don't go that way!" He called out, pulling back another arrow. His first prerogative was keeping those goats safe. Scared goats do less work.

[Fane]

Fane lightly chuckled as the boy fell back from the weight of the sword. Grasping onto it and pulling it back (having never completely let go of it), he pulled it back and resigned it to his back. The Magic in it was apparent; no man of his stature could wield a blade like this with such ease. "That it is. It chooses its wielder, thus allowing me to use it."

As the boy whipped his head around and returned to the Deku, Fane heard the words the Deku yelled out, but he once more brushed them off. This thing was quite a pain in the ass, and Fane had a rather simple and easy idea on how to fix this situation. Following Link, he stopped beside him and stood there, staring at the Deku.

"Hehe, hey kid, check this out." He whispered over to Link in a light manner. "Great and mighty warrior of the Woods, King among the Deku! Please, if not you, then who is to save my beloved wife from Yggdrasil?!" He shouted out, a dramatic and believable look upon his face.

[MIFF]

Link's aim was certainly true. The problem with shooting in "front" of the Deku right now, though, was the fact that he couldn't decide which was was forward. The arrow landed cleanly and Miff wobbled around it in one of many twisting steps that were sending him off-course. After walking in circles a couple of times the Mad Scrub fell on his face again before struggling back up, ignoring the farm hand's threats as little more than an insect threatening a dragon.

Miff stopped and looked when Fane presented himself to the Deku in dramatic fashion, pleading for the mighty one's aid. Red eyes stared up at the man in silence for quite a while before an answer creeped out of the little one's spout.

"Save her yourself. I have a headache."

Miff proceeded to try to leave, having forgotten about the goats. He still wasn't getting very far though with his almost drunken movements. Clearly he favoured his left side, no doubt because of the visible damage to his right.

[Zafun Strider]

A man in a dull brown cloak and a leather cowboy hat stood leaning against the gate to the ranch of in Ordon. He'd contacted the owner of the ranch beforehand, though whether or not Fado had gotten the letter was not of the man's concern.

Gently, the breeze ruffled the ends of his brown cloak, revealing boots with spurs, and a pair of fitting rawhide pants, cinched to his waist with a scaled belt. A loosely laced white shirt hung half open, revealing pale blue skin. And beneath the brim of his cap, what appeared to be thick blue hair obscured his face.

The cowboy stalked forward, his discoloration becoming more evident. in the sunlight, He passed through a ray, and an iridescent sheen bounced off his scales. "I wouldn't dismiss the fiercest monster in Faron-, nay, dare I say, all the world so readily. The fact you're still alive is testament enough that he's spared you his wrath. I've seen his ferocity in action, and when he says he ran a giant away from this village, he's not lying." Zafun made a courteous bow in Miff's direction.

Zafun shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat. "But I'm just a traveling minstril, looking for a ride. The rancher here said a farmhand could set me up with a horse to try riding, decide whether I want to buy one or not. I assume that'd be you, friend." Zafun had a charming drawl in the voice, and a polite bow of the shoulders towards Link.

[Link]

It certainly was an interesting band of characters that were gathering around Link. The problem was the little congregation was in the middle of the goat field, and the animals were none too happy about all these people chatting in their home. Link watched the goats gather near their water trough and watch the group of them suspiciously. There wasn't much to be done for it now, though. Even if they moved on the goats wouldn't go near the area for a while.

He watched as the discolored cowboy came and joined them. Fiercest monster in all the world? Link really couldn't see it; he had seen scrubs before. Some of the children in the village had played with one once before, batting away the deku nuts with a stick. It wasn't until one of the swings went awry and somebody got hit by a rogue swing of a bat that the game had been canceled. And those were just children. Link couldn't see the little scrub with his headache being a fiercest monster, so he shrugged and let Fane play his games.

Especially since the zora, self-proclaimed minstrel, was talking business. Link had meant to be home by now, to have called it a day, but since he was still there he had to deal with it. "Yeah, I can help you out. Do you want a sprinter or are you riding cross-country?" he asked, once more slinging his bow over his shoulder. That bow had seen more use that day than it had in a while, and only one arrow was shot.

[Fane]

".....?"

Fane stared at the Deku with a rather humorous look upon his face which plainly read out a wtf/facepalm moment. A headache? This Deku, with all the spunk in the world, happened to actually be able to play off the defeat and taming of a giant, and then resort to one single, simply excuse as why he would not save a damsel in distress. A headache. Fane simply recovered from his dumbstruck moment with a soft laughter and a head shake; this guy was a real character.

As he started to speak more, a man in distinct clothing, appearing as a cowboy of sorts, appeared from arguably nowhere. Vouching for the Deku, it only resorted to Fane dismissing this mans credibility as well. Even if it were true, he doubted this Giant could have amassed to even the Knight that he killed, or Veran that the whole party began to fight. Then again, maybe someday he would go against this giant, and then Veran. Raising his eyes to the man's from the Deku, Fane simply shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever."

Listening to the man's continuing request to obtain a horse, he followed the two across the plains. He didn't have enough rupee's for a horse, and he didn't have an issue with walking, but it would most certainly benefit him to obtain one. As the boy asked whether it to be sprinting or cross-country, Fane picked up his pace, sprinting almost.

"Hey, lets make a deal?"

He stared at Link with bright crimson eyes, his lads of white hair catching small burst of air and whisking about. "Lets spar, and if you win, I'll pay for the horse and leave, without it. If I win, I get it for free." Fane would have to remember to be easy on the attacks, and make sure not to use lethal force.

[MIFF]

Miff heard someone talking about him as he stared at his feet and waited for the spinning in his mind to stop(It didn't). Unlike what that usually meant, however, this time what he heard didn't make Miff want to kick someone's butt in retribution. This time it made him want to kick someone's butt in affirmation! It was rare for Miff to hear someone praise his strength(besides himself, of course), so he graced the newcomer with his attention.

"Oh, it's you. The noisy one who came too late to help with the tornado jerk."

They all went on to ignore Miff after this and got into some talk about horses. Had he been of his right mind Miff would have slaughtered the lot of them by now, of course, but he was honestly a little happy to not have people talking directly to him anymore. It was easier on his headache that way.

"Yeah, you guys fight. I'll take on the winner," he mumbled, not really following the group's movements as he started walking in drunken-like patterns once again around the field.

[Zafun Strider]

"That's the one." The zora nodded back to Miff before turning his attention fully upon Link. Zafun had never ridden a horse. For most of his pilgrimage, he had walked, swam, or (the one time he came close to horses) sat in the back of a carriage. In fact, the smell of livestock was sort of hard for him to stomach; the mixture of dry and earthy scents was the exact opposite of what appealed to him. The only thing worse was stagnant, dead water.

"Cross-country, friend. All the way up to Zora's domain." Although it was no longer a mystery, the musician swished his scalp tail anyway. They headed to the barn.

Zafun had no problem walking with Link and taking up his time, but that's because Zafun was the sort of guy who could put you to work and make friends with you at the same time, a rare skill. He wanted to strike up a deal with Link, and make a reliable partner out of him at the same time. Who ever knew when they would meet up again and need to help each other? "Now, I know it's gettin' late in the day and all, but I really need to be on road by morning. Think you can handle getting me saddled up, and throwin' me through the crash course in an-"

Zafun stopped when Fane interrupted, looking from farmhand to vagabond and back again. "I think you oughta take that deal to Rancher Fado, kid. It's up to you, of course." He nodded to Link. "But I've got a lot to learn if I'm gonna walk away with one of these horses tonight. And I didn't intend to keep you past dusk, bud."

[Link]

They were on their way to the barn when a challenge was laid down. Link paused and listened as his guests went over the pros and cons of the challenge. The little scrub seemed to want to take on whoever won, which would be a sight, but Link only had to glance at that twelve-foot sword to know that this was probably some kind of mistake. Fado would definitely not approve if Link lost a horse in some foolhardy bet. Link didn't really have to consider any of this, however, as he already knew his answer.

"I don't have a sword or shield here," he said with a remorseful shrug. "Otherwise I'd take you on." That didn't stop him from looking around at the rest of the group to see if there was any weapon to be offered. Between a zora and a scrub, however, he doubted there was any sword available, and he definitely wouldn't be able to use the twelve foot sword. He'd already tried and couldn't lift it up. "All I have is my bow," he said, rolling the shoulder on which the bow was slung.

He turned back to the zora, to the business at hand. "Do you need supplies as well? We can get you a saddle and supplies for your horse, and there are a few places in the village to pick up preserves and supplies for yourself. Where are you heading from here?"

[Fane]

"Heh...Perhaps another day then."

Fane let the two wonder off in their talk of business and decided a Horse probably wasn't in his near future. If it was, fate most likely would of placed a real nice one right in front of him, and let him best the boy at swordsmanship or something. This apparently wasn't the case, so he returned his attention to the Deku. Moving over to him with a few steps, he still held a decent distance. The thing seemed like a spitfire after all.

Examining it, he couldn't help but wonder about the Cowboys intervention, his words still reminiscing in the back of Fane's head. "So, Deku. You ran off a Giant huh? Why don't you tell me about him?" Perhaps Fane wanted to go finish the job. He had only more than enough time to spare, and Owen would understand back at the Tavern, he was sure.

[MIFF]

"He was a coward!" the Deku immediately stated with venom. "So big but too scared to fight without a bunch of armour on! And he just kept running away and making tornadoes and stuff!"

Miff was clearly more agitated by the memory of Onox than he had been before when he brought it up himself. That was mostly because he was being more agitated by his injury than he had been just moments before.

"I would have caught him by now too if I hadn't... if he hadn't... y'know!" the Deku continued, mostly without knowing what he was trying to say. The Mad Scrub's eyes stayed unfocused the whole time and he wobbled from side to side, though talking to Fane did keep him rooted to the spot(No pun intended) instead of walking around in all directions as he'd been before.