Alcohol, an irresponsible situation, and a backseat of a vehicle all optional. Teenage angst and hormones not optional. All teenage characters from any time, setting, or canon welcome, as are adult characters aged down.
Just Feeling It Out: Maybe you'll finally get to touch a boob!
Accidental Boner: Oh. Hi there, downstairs.
Deep Kissing: Heavy tongue action.
Flawless Approach: WILL YOU PLEASE HAVE THE SEX WITH ME? always works.
Party: A crazy atmosphere can lead to crazy decisions.
Goofballs: Both of you kind of suck at this, but at least you're cute.
Experience Difference: It doesn't count if it's not with you. That's what you tell yourself, anyway.
Boyfrands/Girlfrands: Finally rounding those bases with your honey.
No Play: They've told you no touching them below the belt. Oops!
Fumble: You touched the wrong place or said the wrong thing. Is this the end of your adventure.
Desperate: Please, please, please, let me stick it in.
Oral: Sometimes, you just want to kiss someone there.
Feels So Good: Let's hope you can last.
Love Confession: Now is a good a time as ever to tell them how you feel
Success: Awww yeah, break out the cigarette.
Failure: Hopefully they'll forgive you for staining their clothes.
[Would you be down for something like a social link rank 9 scenario? Perhaps having just confessed, or writing that out, and going with their hormones from there? Any location would be fine by me if you have a preference.]
[Want another betrothed setup thing set farther along when she's (openly or tsunderely) warmed up to him? I'm always up for backtagging also if you want to do some thread necromancy!]
[sure! yeah, we can do some handwaving assumed cr on that other thread. where at this point she is reluctantly accepting their betrothal instead of straight-up not having a good time. they're starting to become friends etc etc as they spend more time together. she is more curious about the physical part of relationships than anything so do with that what you will lol
goofballs prompt piques me the most in this case but i'm fine with coming up with a byo setting, too!]
(Sorry for the delay, I've been indecisive about a good starter, but hopefully this works! I'll leave it ambiguous of course whether the motivation is genuine academic interest, or pique, or testing Alric's response, or trying to get him alone, or some combination... mainly I'm just assuming she's been too wary and tsundere to just saying what's on her mind, at least up to this point. XD)
In the days since Alric's arrival in Hyrule, as lead diplomat on his father's behalf, his encounters with the princess had been... mixed. She could be as querulous and contrary in one situation as she was charming and courteous in another. In theory, he could have simply not dealt with her. The betrothal, after all, is an affair of state before anything else, and to more than a few courtiers, that would have been the most proper course. Not least of all to avoid a conflict of interest, since he's charged with negotiating the very treaty specifying the (technically provisional until the treaty's completion and adoption) betrothal.
And yet, it simply hadn't sat well with Alric to handle the matter so coldly. Although he would have explained his practical reasoning to any courtier interrogating his behavior. Quite separately, it's also clear that she (very much understandably) finds it profoundly galling to have such matters decided for her by her father; it's perhaps a small thing, but he can't help feeling she deserves at the very least to feel some degree of agency, to be in some manner courted.
Even if she doesn't always make it very easy.
That leaves Alric somewhat uncertain how to feel or what to expect on this outing. She had insisted to him that it was a field research trip of importance, but one which her father had resisted permitting--that is, until Alric had diplomatically urged him to reconsider. It had been her addition to suggest that he could escort her; he'd had no objection, although he can't help wondering now exactly what she had in mind. Had she been seizing pragmatically on an opportunity? Using his support to push back against her father? Something else?
Even by afternoon, she hasn't felt the need to explain herself; nor has he pressed her about it. After all, even if she's been occasionally difficult, he does trust her motives, and a show of that trust is the least he can do for her. Besides, however irksome the uncertainty, he has to admit (to himself, at any rate) that her academic enthusiasm is rather charming.
"Lady Zelda--if I may?"
It's said in his usual courteous tone--not so formal as "Your Highness" and so on, nor excessively familiar--said with an offer to help her over some of the tough terrain of the location to which she'd directed them. He could just as well carry her, if she wished, but he knows by now how tenaciously she clings to every bit of agency she can.
"I hope you've been finding what you were looking for..?"
The courteous, if it can be called casual, tone does not put her on edge like using any lofty designation would. She glances up from watching where her feet are going, her attention now split between avoiding clumsy mishaps and whatever Alric had to ask her. He is so very... mindful of her and unfortunately, it grates her nerves. Zelda knows she hasn't had the best attitude when it comes to their betrothal. At times, she was downright cold toward him in the beginning but he has since proven--
Tolerable, shall we say. As if marriage to him wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to her like she originally thought. Not the greatest, not the worst. Bearable enough to invite him on her excursions even if it meant using him to convince her father to let her do anything out of the ordinary.
That had not put her in the best mood, either.
It had not kept Zelda from filling the air with her usual chatter. Making note of a mushroom they had passed. A lizard scampered by once they got too close. She had tried to catch it for a while, distracted from her task because she was positive it was of a variety that could help combat the blistering temperatures in the more arid and dangerous regions of her kingdom. She had not caught said lizard and told herself to try a different approach if they happened upon another.
They did not.
The population of bugs increased, however. Buzzing around their heads while climbing over piles of rocks, Zelda waves a dragonfly away as she listens. His patience does have its limits, then. She was wondering when he would ask or if he would at all since he seemed fine to let her do as she pleased as he trailed along.
Once clear of the rougher terrain she takes her hand back and continues with golden hair bouncing along to her steps. "I didn't tell you the reason why I wanted to come out this way, did I? You must have made your guesses by now. What are they?"
She certainly is a bit of a strange bird, so to speak, in some ways scarcely like a princess at all, and in others an exemplar. Just as her enigmatic, closely guarded thoughts can be variably intriguing and aggravating, her boundless enthusiasm when her interest is captured has lost none of its charm. He has to admit that he knows only a little about the flora and fauna of Hyrule, but he can at least follow her observations and offer the occasional comment, salient question, or comparison to something comparable in Kaitheny. However, he does his best not to distract her from her mission (whatever in the world it is) and bury the impulse to help without her request, knowing how galling she'd likely find it.
Although he does nothing to resist her withdrawing her hand, every touch one of careful delicacy, he doesn't pull his own away until her fingers slip free of his. He casts a quizzical look after her as she continues on ahead, silently scolding himself for admiring the jaunty bounce of her hair, the energy in her every step.
The way she responds, he can't help but suspect her lack of explanation has some kind of ulterior motive brings her research. He pauses a moment, weighing his words before answering.
"...I hesitate to assume too much, knowing my familiarity with your topics of interest is... limited. I know environmental conservation and Sheikah relics are subjects of special importance to you, so I would assume one or both."
Another brief, rhetorical pause before he continues with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Although... if you would forgive my saying so, I have wondered if you might have wished only for a day's freedom from oversight. I can't in good faith offer solitude, but you do at least have an escort who's not in your father's service."
Limited. Zelda resists the urge to scoff and put proof to her strangeness. The truth is that her interest is limitless. It is as endless as the stretch of the world beneath their feet. Or the expanse of the stars at night and the far reaches of that darkness to light up those impossibly far away spaces. Her interest is like that.
But, yes. Environmental conservation and Sheikah relics to name a couple. They sit closer to the heart and the more immediate matters that trouble her. They are the more easy to reach like the pebbles she can fit in the palm of her hand and put under a telescope since stardust can't be plucked beneath her feet.
Not without chasing comets, anyway. And her father has done his very best to keep Zelda's feet on the ground in the castle.
Zelda's pace increases and she consciously makes her footsteps light instead of stomping like she wants to. Not in her father's service, he says. Why is it that she's the only one with a mind of her own, anyway? Why can't she be given solitude in good faith unless she has locked herself away in her chambers or her study? She feels the shackles of her titles most keenly when someone is doggedly on her heels. It only makes her want to run faster, run farther.
Duty to her kingdom keeps her coming back to the castle. Keeps her heels firmly in place like her father wants.
"I regret to inform you that even if you may not think you're in my father's service, you most certainly are. Why else do you think he allowed this? After all, has he not chosen you as my husband-to-be? To eventually take the throne?" Believing otherwise is foolhardy.
She takes a deep, bracing breath and slows once more. He's noticed her interests. Who hasn't? They are no secret what with how Zelda buries herself in ancient texts and looks for any excuse to travel away from the castle by her father's leave.
"... Have you any interest in the ecology of Hyrule and the relics of my kingdom's past or have you only been listening to my prattling out of obligation? What interests you? If not that."
Alric raises an eyebrow at her quickening strides, but doesn't immediately attempt to match her pace, allowing her that much freedom. He is there to protect her, after all--officially, at least--not to oppress her, even if she seems to scarcely differentiate the two. She might have spotted something that caught her interest, but the timing leads him to suspect it's another fit of pique. All the more reason to let her exercise at least partial freedom, if her behavior's meant to express her frustration.
That suspicion is strongly supported by her reply, and the accusation of being in her father's service earns a hushed, frustrated sigh and a weary grimace. Must she always be so contrary? There are times he half expects she'd argue the point if he said the sky were blue. Remaining behind her, though, he quickly composes himself and shakes his head with a wry smile.
"...Lady Zelda."
He allows just a hint of exasperation into his voice, but trails off as she resumes her earlier pace and listens attentively to her, hoping she might yet offer at least a hint of what she has on her mind that inspired her to bring him on such an excursion. As she speaks, he picks up his own pace slightly in order to catch up to her, if only to make conversation a little less awkward, and chuckles under his breath at the unexpected inquiry into his interests.
"...I'm not sure whether it will be any comfort to you, but I believe--or, it sounds as though--you may be overestimating the extent of my obligations in this matter."
His tone is faintly amused, although he's careful not to let too much of that come out. Few are the nobility tolerant of even the vaguest suggestion of being laughed at, and Zelda doesn't seem inclined to defy that pattern.
"First, to be quite clear, while I may cooperate with him as duty requires and I see fit, I must say I am emphatically not in service to your father, but rather, to mine. In other circumstances, to suggest otherwise might connote an accusation of dereliction at which I would have no choice but to take offense. I am an ally to your father, as I am to your kingdom, but I am not beholden to him beyond the respect due a monarch. He allowed this excursion because I urged him to permit it; that I accompany you and ensure your safety was the price of his acquiescence. ...and, I might add, a price not demanded by His Majesty, but accepted at your recommendation."
He pauses a moment rhetorically to let that point settle before he continues on the other track she'd raised.
"...as to my interests... well. Grandfather always insisted on the importance of a broad education for anyone of high station, and that there's something of value to be learned from all subjects and all people. To that end, I endeavor to cultivate a wide range of interests, although some are certainly nearer to my heart than others... music and fencing were two of my favorite pursuits since I was a child, but I've since acquired a fondness for political philosophy, as well, among other subjects."
He glances aside at her, smiling wryly.
"I assure you, Lady Zelda, I listen to you because you have remarkable insights into many topics of study. If I am indeed to take on the responsibility of succeeding your father one day, all matters concerning Hyrule must be of interest."
There's another brief pause and his attention turns ahead of them again, his expression pensive.
"...and... perhaps even more importantly, an appreciation and understanding for that which concerns its princess, as well. If necessary, I could rely on a trusted advisor for questions of ecology, but there is only one truly expert advisor to whom I can turn in order to better understand Princess Zelda."
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bakerstreet2023-06-04 11:31 am
Bandou Saburouta | K | m/f for this one
Helga Pataki | Hey Arnold / The Patakis | OTA
miles morales | marvel | m/f
Yuri Plisetsky | Yuri!!! On ICE | m/m
langa hasegawa / sk8 / m/m
ren amamiya | persona 5 | ota
no subject
zelda | loz breath of the wild | ota
no subject
no subject
goofballs prompt piques me the most in this case but i'm fine with coming up with a byo setting, too!]
also sorry it's kind of a novel... orz
In the days since Alric's arrival in Hyrule, as lead diplomat on his father's behalf, his encounters with the princess had been... mixed. She could be as querulous and contrary in one situation as she was charming and courteous in another. In theory, he could have simply not dealt with her. The betrothal, after all, is an affair of state before anything else, and to more than a few courtiers, that would have been the most proper course. Not least of all to avoid a conflict of interest, since he's charged with negotiating the very treaty specifying the (technically provisional until the treaty's completion and adoption) betrothal.
And yet, it simply hadn't sat well with Alric to handle the matter so coldly. Although he would have explained his practical reasoning to any courtier interrogating his behavior. Quite separately, it's also clear that she (very much understandably) finds it profoundly galling to have such matters decided for her by her father; it's perhaps a small thing, but he can't help feeling she deserves at the very least to feel some degree of agency, to be in some manner courted.
Even if she doesn't always make it very easy.
That leaves Alric somewhat uncertain how to feel or what to expect on this outing. She had insisted to him that it was a field research trip of importance, but one which her father had resisted permitting--that is, until Alric had diplomatically urged him to reconsider. It had been her addition to suggest that he could escort her; he'd had no objection, although he can't help wondering now exactly what she had in mind. Had she been seizing pragmatically on an opportunity? Using his support to push back against her father? Something else?
Even by afternoon, she hasn't felt the need to explain herself; nor has he pressed her about it. After all, even if she's been occasionally difficult, he does trust her motives, and a show of that trust is the least he can do for her. Besides, however irksome the uncertainty, he has to admit (to himself, at any rate) that her academic enthusiasm is rather charming.
"Lady Zelda--if I may?"
It's said in his usual courteous tone--not so formal as "Your Highness" and so on, nor excessively familiar--said with an offer to help her over some of the tough terrain of the location to which she'd directed them. He could just as well carry her, if she wished, but he knows by now how tenaciously she clings to every bit of agency she can.
"I hope you've been finding what you were looking for..?"
npnp and yeah that's a fair assumption lol
Tolerable, shall we say. As if marriage to him wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to her like she originally thought. Not the greatest, not the worst. Bearable enough to invite him on her excursions even if it meant using him to convince her father to let her do anything out of the ordinary.
That had not put her in the best mood, either.
It had not kept Zelda from filling the air with her usual chatter. Making note of a mushroom they had passed. A lizard scampered by once they got too close. She had tried to catch it for a while, distracted from her task because she was positive it was of a variety that could help combat the blistering temperatures in the more arid and dangerous regions of her kingdom. She had not caught said lizard and told herself to try a different approach if they happened upon another.
They did not.
The population of bugs increased, however. Buzzing around their heads while climbing over piles of rocks, Zelda waves a dragonfly away as she listens. His patience does have its limits, then. She was wondering when he would ask or if he would at all since he seemed fine to let her do as she pleased as he trailed along.
Once clear of the rougher terrain she takes her hand back and continues with golden hair bouncing along to her steps. "I didn't tell you the reason why I wanted to come out this way, did I? You must have made your guesses by now. What are they?"
no subject
Although he does nothing to resist her withdrawing her hand, every touch one of careful delicacy, he doesn't pull his own away until her fingers slip free of his. He casts a quizzical look after her as she continues on ahead, silently scolding himself for admiring the jaunty bounce of her hair, the energy in her every step.
The way she responds, he can't help but suspect her lack of explanation has some kind of ulterior motive brings her research. He pauses a moment, weighing his words before answering.
"...I hesitate to assume too much, knowing my familiarity with your topics of interest is... limited. I know environmental conservation and Sheikah relics are subjects of special importance to you, so I would assume one or both."
Another brief, rhetorical pause before he continues with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"Although... if you would forgive my saying so, I have wondered if you might have wished only for a day's freedom from oversight. I can't in good faith offer solitude, but you do at least have an escort who's not in your father's service."
no subject
But, yes. Environmental conservation and Sheikah relics to name a couple. They sit closer to the heart and the more immediate matters that trouble her. They are the more easy to reach like the pebbles she can fit in the palm of her hand and put under a telescope since stardust can't be plucked beneath her feet.
Not without chasing comets, anyway. And her father has done his very best to keep Zelda's feet on the ground in the castle.
Zelda's pace increases and she consciously makes her footsteps light instead of stomping like she wants to. Not in her father's service, he says. Why is it that she's the only one with a mind of her own, anyway? Why can't she be given solitude in good faith unless she has locked herself away in her chambers or her study? She feels the shackles of her titles most keenly when someone is doggedly on her heels. It only makes her want to run faster, run farther.
Duty to her kingdom keeps her coming back to the castle. Keeps her heels firmly in place like her father wants.
"I regret to inform you that even if you may not think you're in my father's service, you most certainly are. Why else do you think he allowed this? After all, has he not chosen you as my husband-to-be? To eventually take the throne?" Believing otherwise is foolhardy.
She takes a deep, bracing breath and slows once more. He's noticed her interests. Who hasn't? They are no secret what with how Zelda buries herself in ancient texts and looks for any excuse to travel away from the castle by her father's leave.
"... Have you any interest in the ecology of Hyrule and the relics of my kingdom's past or have you only been listening to my prattling out of obligation? What interests you? If not that."
sorry for the novel orz
That suspicion is strongly supported by her reply, and the accusation of being in her father's service earns a hushed, frustrated sigh and a weary grimace. Must she always be so contrary? There are times he half expects she'd argue the point if he said the sky were blue. Remaining behind her, though, he quickly composes himself and shakes his head with a wry smile.
"...Lady Zelda."
He allows just a hint of exasperation into his voice, but trails off as she resumes her earlier pace and listens attentively to her, hoping she might yet offer at least a hint of what she has on her mind that inspired her to bring him on such an excursion. As she speaks, he picks up his own pace slightly in order to catch up to her, if only to make conversation a little less awkward, and chuckles under his breath at the unexpected inquiry into his interests.
"...I'm not sure whether it will be any comfort to you, but I believe--or, it sounds as though--you may be overestimating the extent of my obligations in this matter."
His tone is faintly amused, although he's careful not to let too much of that come out. Few are the nobility tolerant of even the vaguest suggestion of being laughed at, and Zelda doesn't seem inclined to defy that pattern.
"First, to be quite clear, while I may cooperate with him as duty requires and I see fit, I must say I am emphatically not in service to your father, but rather, to mine. In other circumstances, to suggest otherwise might connote an accusation of dereliction at which I would have no choice but to take offense. I am an ally to your father, as I am to your kingdom, but I am not beholden to him beyond the respect due a monarch. He allowed this excursion because I urged him to permit it; that I accompany you and ensure your safety was the price of his acquiescence. ...and, I might add, a price not demanded by His Majesty, but accepted at your recommendation."
He pauses a moment rhetorically to let that point settle before he continues on the other track she'd raised.
"...as to my interests... well. Grandfather always insisted on the importance of a broad education for anyone of high station, and that there's something of value to be learned from all subjects and all people. To that end, I endeavor to cultivate a wide range of interests, although some are certainly nearer to my heart than others... music and fencing were two of my favorite pursuits since I was a child, but I've since acquired a fondness for political philosophy, as well, among other subjects."
He glances aside at her, smiling wryly.
"I assure you, Lady Zelda, I listen to you because you have remarkable insights into many topics of study. If I am indeed to take on the responsibility of succeeding your father one day, all matters concerning Hyrule must be of interest."
There's another brief pause and his attention turns ahead of them again, his expression pensive.
"...and... perhaps even more importantly, an appreciation and understanding for that which concerns its princess, as well. If necessary, I could rely on a trusted advisor for questions of ecology, but there is only one truly expert advisor to whom I can turn in order to better understand Princess Zelda."
wei wuxian | mdzs / the untamed.