Rhoam's Gift

Continuation of Friday, May 10, 2019 (including raw note editings from April 5, 2023 through April 10, 2023 that I really hope sound consistent because I left it alone for too long)

Rhoam’s Gift

I leapt off the Observation Room’s balcony, due south for Castle Town.

It was night.

The Malcontent Piano was different at night. Only fitful, having nightmares.

Back in the town I was showing David the terrifying trick to Stasising sleepy Guardians and making them fall into oblivion.... when there was a Blood Moon.

The unholy smoke was so unwelcome as it began to drip up from the ground. In a place like this.... I was on the fountain in the ruined central square when midnight struck.

“Not like this,” I imitated Dean’s voice.

When the warning vision faded and I came back, one newly revitalized Guardian targeted me. I killed it before warping to the Plateau Tower.

I went to the Temple of Time to pray, but received no answers about shrines.

I climbed up into the Temple’s high chamber, but King Rhoam wasn’t there.

So I went to Rhoam’s old house. There was.... a chest.

I blinked, and opened it.

A Warm Doublet?

I.... I have his Warm Doublet now.

I looked at the Old Man’s Diary on the table:

Link...

Oh.

Bit by bit, you may come to realize who

I am. I am sorry for not revealing my

true identity to you sooner.

Have I.... seen this before?

The truth is, after you awoke from your

long Slumber of Restoration, I did not

know how to tell you all there was to say.

Read more:

Perhaps deceiving you was not the right

thing to do. Still...you must admit I put

on a great performance!

Heh, you sure did. Had me fooled, that’s for sure.

But all joking aside...what I ask of you

is of the utmost importance, dear hero.

I implore you, with all my heart...

defeat Calamity Ganon and save

my precious daughter, Zelda.

I understand this is no simple task I am

asking of you, but I know beyond a

shadow of a doubt that you can do it.

I.... have faith in myself too, it’s just....

I do not doubt it for a moment. I see

courage in your eyes, just as I did

100 years ago. I believe in you, Link.

....Thank you, King Rhoam.

Read more:

Ah, yes, one more thing. I have left the

warm doublet here as a gift of sorts.

I’m sure it will be useful on your journey.

Heh, wish I’d known to come back here, back then.

You can also weather the cold with

cooking alone, but I caution against it.

There is no time for recklessness.

Good idea.

We are all counting on you.

....

That was all there was.

....

I could sleep in his little hut if I wanted to.

Hm but I did need more arrows.... I got down to nine for the first time in a long time.

....

I’m just gonna go plunder every town I know for arrows.

I hit Kakariko and cleaned it out.

But at Hateno.... I actually decided to make another stop first.

My closet was in a precarious situation.

I had two Warm Doublets.

And that terrible Sort button loomed threatening to wreak irreparable havoc on all my perfect messy piles.... I didn’t want to lose track....

So.... I decided to go to the Dye Shop, so I could differentiate Rhoam’s gift from the other Warm Doublet.

....

Good gravy. I have never logged about Hateno Village’s Dye Shop.

Well, Hateno did leave me with such a sour and sullen flavor when I first rode in. All these people.... So contented. So convenient. So wrapped up in their yarnball world of happy colors when there were terrors hunting the unwary on the road, just outside the gate.

Hunting me.

Hunting anyone I cared about.

Didn’t they know there wasn’t a thing I didn’t cherish?

Maybe that’s why it was such a pain.

I followed the thoroughfare until I came to the paint-splotched building with the big open wall like a garage. I had passed it many times but never gone further than chatting with the proprietor.

Ah, Zunari, from Wind Waker. That’s who he looked like. I remembered.

No, wait—researching—Doc Bandam, excuse me. That’s who he looked like. The Chu Jelly Shop owner.

But this man’s name was Sayge.

Hah, a colorful name.

“You can’t miss him,” his clappercalling wife had always told me when I passed. And she was right. Just a little way into the building and—the color, the face, the forehead, bare knees, that garish lava-pink combover—had he dyed it himself?

He wore a leather apron over what appeared to be his bare chest, and hanging in its row of loops was an assortment of vials filled with different colored liquids. Splashes and stains of different hues smattered his attire and the workshop at large.

I’d never given this place a try. The taste of the town was just too sour in my mouth when I’d first rode in, on that rainy day so long ago. The unfeeling, heedless color of the place.

Though.... perhaps I oughtn’t to have expected the world to turn for any misery I suffered.

I wanted the man’s service now. I wanted Rhoam’s Warm Doublet to stay its original friendly green. But the one I purchased.... Well, I went to see what Sayge could do for me.

“Hue do you do?” he started off.

Oh boy.

Well at least he loved his work.

It seemed clothing could be dyed for 20 rupees a pop, but it also required me to bring some ingredients of my own.

Well, my pockets were certainly full enough; I didn’t anticipate running tight just there.

Sayge also told me it was the tradition in Hateno to dye a person’s entire outfit, from head to toe, all at once.

Oh gosh, then these splatters on the wall—I wondered. Was he going to blast me with some kind of pressure hose?

He had me stand in a large empty quarter of the room at any rate, and—oh, but the menus were generous in letting me see what different colors would look like. And there were quite a few of them to choose from, too!

The menus also allowed me to get into my inventory to change or rearrange my outfit if I wanted—because it seemed when I previewed a color, the projected outcome of the dye-job was reflected across every item I were wearing.

They really would spray everything at once.

So, I stripped off my pants and whatever was on my head until I stood there in the single, thick winter doublet and nothing else.... except for those first sleek blue undershorts I’d had from the Shrine of Resurrection.

It looked.... kind of ridiculous.

I tried to imagine my Hylian Trousers or the Snowquill Trousers still on me, as I cycled through the different colors for the Winter Doublet.... Some colors looked better than others. Why does navy seem to be so universally appealing? But grey looked nice, too. But.... mmmm.... cold....

I took the Warm Doublet I purchased, and chose.... white.

Oh, but Sayge still needed ingredients from me.

And again the menus offered me all kinds of free-reign; I could even still cancel back out if I wanted—

It’s just that the service seemed so scarily final. I mean, yes, this was just one spare Warm Doublet, but some of my clothes I had worked incredibly hard for!

Who could ever do this to his clothing?

Hhhhh—I flicked through my items. Everything I could use for white dye stood out strong; the rest was greyed out.

Flick, flick, flick.... I scrolled through the pages. Lynel horns? As dye!?

The nerve to even suggest it! Those were hard-won!

I guess they were certainly white enough, though.

How interesting.... the entire spread of everything that Link could carry in his inventory.... That the whole of it should be further engineered to provide a balanced rainbow of hues. Apples for red, rushrooms for purple....

Amazing.

I needed to provide five ingredients, and my store of White Chuchu Jelly was ample enough for that. I loaded up my arms with the stuff, and Sayge took my money. No turning back now.

This was it.

My first time dying something.

“All right then,” said Sayge, “hold on to your britches!”

Uh?

I’m standing there.... holding the Chuchu Jellies.... the camera looming in like a cat out for mischief, while the Piano wound up like a ticking bomb, and then....

The floor fell out from under me! And with a gasp and a start, Link fell into a big VAT below and poof!—

....

I stepped out from the glittering cloud as it dissipated, and looked down at myself.

My clothes were magically dyed.

....

Never done that before.

That was....

Well....

....

Never done that before. XD Heh, delightful.

Sayge complimented my outfit, and then I learned—he could change back any dyed item to its original color if I wanted? For 20 more rupees....

HOOOOO what sighs of relief were mine!

Then, I could try things out with no worries of losing any original coloration forever.... albeit a bit expensively....

Well that was good to know!

Wish he’d let on about that a little sooner....

Ah, delightful and lulzy.... But now.... really I needed to stay focused....

Back to arrow-shopping.

....

....

.......

. . . . . . .

Dang this game preying on my girly need to try on clothes.

NOT RIGHT NOW I need arrows.

LINK IS A MAN AND HE NEEDS HIS ARROWS.

FOR KILLING THINGS.

....

Went to Goron City, but no arrows there. Just some Sugar Cane and Goron Spice.

Went to Gerudo Town; always a good supply. I also stopped at that jewelry shop and got the Opal Earrings and the Amber Earrings. Just because.

Just because of all the outfittery on my brain? I wonder....

Went to Outskirt Stable and found Botrick nearby; bought all his arrows....

When did I start running out of juice?

I warped to the Sho Dantu Shrine and made for the head of Satan Canyon, and the Yiga Hideout. But in going through it I only found that it was eerily empty. What was I looking for?

Could I even tell anymore?

The place was creepy, and so I decided instead to go scope out some cliffside scaffolds on the north side of the Gerudo Highlands, which I didn’t think I had explored before.

But I didn’t find much. Just some ‘Blins to kill, and wolves like gangbusters.

....

I’m going back to the Old Man’s Hut.

I made the old Warm Doublet, the one I had just dyed white, Link’s new pajamas. Those and his Snowquill Trousers. I took everything else off.

8:45 pm.

Slept until the morning.

Good night.