"You've been looking for this man for a long time... What makes you so certain he is still alive?"

"My apologies. You seemed a bit down."

"Ganondorf seems impressive until you've seen him throw a tantrum because he wanted chilled dragonfruit for dessert instead of papaya."

"Well, if you want my thoughts, you should go. Perhaps you should even leave Hyrule entirely and never come back... You're never going to be viewed as worthy, you know." Would the timeline shift? Would it just be some other poor soul perishing in Revali's place? Octavo wondered. He wanted to know.

"Why not? You ought to see what lies across the sea. I've never managed to get that far, although I've tried..."

"If I may be honest, it doesn't sound like you can help me at all," Octavo says. "You solved the issue in your time, but in mine, Demise does not manifest as a body that can be killed in a meaningful way..."

(( scenarios that would be fun for me: having someone flirt with octavo only for him to completely flip out on them

(( disappointed AoI didn't show us Rauru and Sonia's kid(s). because like. logically they MUST have had at least one if Zelda is part of their bloodline. so what gives.

Octavo is skulking around the castle in his nightgown like a wraith.

"I am not human," Octavo is quick to correct. "He is, though his 'spirit' reincarnates, inhabiting new vessels every time it is needed. I always felt it was a tragic thing, only ever born when crisis looms on the horizon... Never knowing a life of peace."

Octavo nibbles listlessly at the bread. "It means it cannot be stopped, it's inevitable, that sort of thing." Cold bread, dried meat and nuts. Not much of a meal. "Thank you," he murmurs, accepting some of the jerky. "I lived in the castle a short time, you know. I miss the hot meals they served."

A better world was possible. By the luck of the draw, they just didn't get it. Octavo sighs, looking away a moment before he answers. "The gods chose a hero, granted him a holy weapon only he could wield. It's always him." He pauses. "...almost, always. It does not seem to matter if someone else

"How? Who defeated him?" Octavo asks, knuckles white as he folds his hands tighter. "The curse is such that his incarnation rises again every century or so, wreaks havoc on the land and is then defeated, put to sleep only to reemerge later. I wish to stop him from ever rising again."

"I've been cleft in twain. Can't recommend it."

Octavo takes a seat, crossing one leg over the other with his hands clasped in his lap. "I heard his name from one of the old gods of Hyrule, that he is the cause of this curse that's trapped the land in this cycle of destruction. I wish to know how to break that curse."

"Just because my music occasionally raises the dead does NOT make me a necromancer!"

"...alright." Octavo supposes he's probably not going to be in more danger than he already is, going to a second location. He gestures to Ghirahim. "Lead the way, your majesty."

Octavo watches them go, his ears laying back as he frowns. If only he didn't have to turn to such brutes for help. "I'm looking for information on the entity Demise. Have you heard this name?"

"It's Octavo. Not Octavio. Common mistake." Octavo folds his hands behind his back, peering up at the man seated on the throne. "And I am not of Hyrule. I just happen to be born there. I am a wanderer with no true home."

Maybe we should think about killing Ganon.

Octavo takes the flower with a puzzled frown, sniffing it as his head is patted. He's not a dog, but he'll refrain from swatting since the stranger is clearly trying to be friendly. "Nature is kind? Tell that to the wolves who keep trying to eat me."

Octavo sighs softly, finding a dry spot to sit back by the fire. "Of course you did everything you could. It was always going to be that way. The wheel of the cycle inexorably turns." He sets his Lute case in his lap and rifles through it, pulling out a jar of honeycomb. "I don't have very much

"It's... Fine. Don't trouble yourself. I'll figure it out on my own, eventually. I've got nothing but time and I don't need to involve more gods or their chosen than I already have." There's little conviction in his voice, his ears drooping. "You've got an awfully loose definition of friendship."

"...are you upset?" Octavo frowns at him, noting the dampness of Link's eyes despite his smile. "Is something wrong? Don't tell me you're losing faith now." Maybe it was something the tree had said. Octavo tosses it a wary look before turning back. "I can take on the form of a zora, just like you.

"Nothing's never given for free," he muses. "And now you've been roped into service for them. I assume if you refuse, it will be revoked? Who decides when the world is balanced?"

"What they made you? Who is they?" Octavo asks. "Personally, I made myself. I didn't craft my body, but I am what I am only because I willed it."

"Are you a god?" Octavo asks without turning around, though he does swivel one ear.

"...it's a bit personal. All you need to know is that I have no desire to become friendly with anybody's gods." He turns his back again, leaning on his elbows against the balcony railing.

"Grease...?" Octavo echoes, frowning. "Perhaps you misheard me, sir. Gods are plenty good to you as long as you fall in line. There are some 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 even they won't forgive, and unfortunately, my birth was one of them."

One little known fact about Ocarina of Time is that I am not in it, which is fucked up if you think about it

I’m like the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio but I WANT Link to fail

"Kind gods." Octavo scoffs. "I've never met a god with an ounce of sympathy for any mortal in my life. I'd sooner trust a wolf not to eat me than I'd trust any god to understand a mortal's pain."

🎃

"...myself." Octavo doesn't press. Perhaps it's not his business. "I am not allowed the release of death. I won't be, not until I give up on the only thing I am living for. It's quite the riddle."

"Against whose rules?" He pauses, ears flicking back as he thinks to himself for a moment. "...I may know someone in need of such relief."

"I do." He looks pensive at Safira's words, turning and leaning on the balcony to peer out at the sleeping town. "What about those for whom death won't come? Who've been denied that relief? Can you help them?"

"Oh!" Octavo's eyes light up at that. "You've got priests after you too? I can't stand them, calling me a demon. I just look like this!" He slaps both hands against his chest, giving a soft, theatrical sigh. "Anyway. My name is Octavo. I'm a wandering musician. Good to met you, Safira."

"Fast is good, but I'm a bit worried about having to sleep on it..." Octavo sighs through his teeth. "It's fine. We're not about to complain about a free boat. We should rest here a little while so I can perform the transformation spell on myself."

"The spirits around here... I'm not so sure about, but you seem like the expert here." He sniffs the air again. "Are you some sort of priest? Did the owner call you in to cleanse the place?"

"I'm afraid if you're trying to drive away spirits, you'll need something more powerful than that." Octavo peers up at the stranger from the balcony below, leaning back on the railing. "Didn't think I'd have company tonight."

Octavo purses his lips at the sight of the boat. It's awfully small for two people, even if they were going to be spending a lot of time in the water or on the islands. Then again, they were being given it for free. No need to steal one and risk retribution from the locals. That was still an

Octavo plays an eerie little tune, causing all the pumpkins in a nearby patch to grow legs and begin scuttling around.

"Is he still alive down there...?" Octavo tosses Link an uncertain glance. "Either way, what a horrifying fate. Whatever we find down there, I doubt it will be pleasant. We ought to be prepared for anything."

"I can't stand the change of seasons. It's gotten so cold, and my good cloak was torn apart by wolves. I also happened to be wearing it at the time..."

"It's fine I'm alright." Octavo shrugs. He wouldn't say he was stuck, so much as he kept willingly returning to the trap. "I knew it wasn't going to be as easy as just swimming down there and grabbing the thing," he sighs. "We won't need to worry about Ganondorf. I have the Triforce of Power

Octavo's heart sinks just a little when he sees it's not the same tree. Did they inherit memories, he wonders. He doesn't notice at first that Link isn't with him. "We've come to find the Triforce," he says. "To hopefully set things right for this cursed land."

"I'll be damned." Would it be the same tree that he'd met when he'd first awoken? Octavo wades barefoot through the stream, around to the front of the huge trunk. Seeing the Great Deku tree always made him feel tiny, insignificant compared to the great bulwark of history. Something that had stood

"Something large," Octavo murmurs. A mere squirrel or korok couldn't have caused that much motion. The whole canopy is swaying. To his surprise, a voice calls out, deep and raspy. Octavo doesn't understand the words at first, the language nearly forgotten for how long it'd been since he'd heard

"And who blessed you with that ability?" Octavo undoes the buttons on his shirt, peeling it from his body and hanging it beside his jacket. His gray skin is etched and pockmarked with small scars, especially around his shoulders and back. Damned monsters loved shooting him with arrows while he was

"This place feels... familiar," Octavo says. A light rain makes it through the opening up top, but they're shielded from the worst of the storm by the canopy. He peels his wet coat off, wringing it out and hanging it over a branch. Gods, he's soaked to the bone, he's going to have to change if he