IC || THIRD CASE || VIDEO || ACTION NOW CLOSED

[incriminating]

Alright, folks. I've got a riddle for you!

[Here he laughs, but it comes out as a nervous titter. Clearing his throat, he continues.]

What's green and white with "z"s all over?

[An awkwardly prolonged pause and then the camera is redirected away from Adachi's face to an unnerving scene. Lain out on a stone slab with ceremonial care is Link, his

Comments

[audio]

[theeyeoftruth]

[Usually, where Adachi is concerned, there'd be trolling a light smile in Sheik's voice, something enigmatic. Instead, that's been dropped - his tone is flat and urgent.]

...Where are you?

[video]

[incriminating]

That's a good question. Uh, I was honestly just wandering around - [vainly hoping to find the Fae queen, after his little chat with the "Love Doctor"] - so I wasn't pay a whole lot of attention. Here.

[The communicator is picked up and slowly turned in a circle so Sheik can view the immediate area.]

I came from this direction.

[The camera stops on a certain point.]

It's probably about a, uh...fifteen to twenty minute walk from the village?

[audio/action]

[theeyeoftruth]

[In the background there are sounds of movement; the rush of the air, the rustling of leaves. Then, the feed is cut.

Fifteen to twenty minute walk. Sheik arrives in well under ten, vaulting down from the branches to land a few feet away. He doesn't look at Adachi, doesn't even acknowledge his presence - his attention is fixed on Link.

And it grates on him - no, it doesn't just grate on him, he's really quite furious with himself because the failure smacks him with the power of a fist and it's so terribly nostalgic he bites and swallows down a laugh as he crosses to the stone Link lies upon.

His eyes flick over the plague, fingers tracing the shape of the crown.]

...Would they really make it so simple? I wonder... [And he walks around it, eyes searching for any other little nuances.]

[action]

[incriminating]

[Okay so, Adachi might have shrieked a little when Sheik ninja'd into the clearing. I mean, who wouldn't. Grabbing up his own communicator from the altar, he backs away and laughs anxiously.]

Well...where I come from, fairy tales like this are pretty common...

[Well, except they usually involve a PRINCE, but that couldn't possibly be relevant to this situation at all, nuh uh, no sir :))]

...are you gonna do it? [To clarify:] With him? [Wait no:] Whoa! Uh, I mean...for him? Are you gonna do it for h - I...I'm just gonna stop talking.

[action]

[theeyeoftruth]

[He spares him a brief and utterly tile-flat glance, before his eyes drop to Link's sleeping face again. Coming full circle, he scans the poem once more, twice, and every time his attention is drawn to that crown. It's significant - and it's likely that the rhyme applies to someone specific, but --

Sheik can't just leave him like this, can't just do nothing. Because he has a duty to uphold, because Link - no matter what has happened in the past, Link is... important to him.]

I am going to do... what needs to be done.

If it doesn't work, and something should happen to me - you'll need to pass word on, if nothing more.

[Because he knows that the crown means something. But acting now - well, maybe he just wants to spare himself feeling like a failure.]

[action] 1/2

[incriminating]

[Behind Sheik's back, Adachi's expression melts into a wide, dark smirk.]

[action]

[incriminating]

[And then it's gone.]

Wait, h-hold on! If you think something's gonna happen, why not just wait? Maybe there's someone who knows more about this!

[Adachi sure as hell hopes not.]

[action] 1/2

[theeyeoftruth]

What does it matter? [A little frustration bleeds into his voice, and it's one of those rare occasions where his tension is clear.] If there's an adverse affect, I'd rather not see it claim another! If it works, we've lost nothing.

[Unceremoniously, he yanks down the cowl, and turns back to the plaque long enough to read one last time, to eye that little crown.

Heedless of it, he leans down over the sleeping Hylian, and suddenly -

[action]

[theeyeoftruth]

-awareness, consciousness is rushing away from him and he feels like he's been hit on the head. Stumbling, he turns to look at Adachi, and manages one word -]

Royalty!

[ - before he falls, his legs giving out beneath him as a tree is cut down above the root. He tumbles to the soft grass gracelessly and lies there at the foot of the stone slab, caught in a sleep just as dead as Link's.]

[action] 1/???

[incriminating]

[action]

[incriminating]

[welp]

[action]

[incriminating]

[I warned you]

[action]

[incriminating]

[I told you dog]

[action]

[incriminating]

[I told you man]

[action]

[incriminating]

[I TOLD you about gay kissing.]