Frozen Poultry on Aisle 2 [Nameless and Genzo]

Before the gift-giving season was the season of gift buying. And that season brought with it the best deals in Hyrule.

Or that was what Ruairi had noticed. The craftsmen and merchants all had stocked full of various goods to peddle to potential customers, and their hearts were filled with the dreams of raking in copious amounts of rupees. Such gifts might have been meant for others, perhaps, but in this Rito's case… Well, he had been traveling along for quite some time now. Long had the times when spent time with the troupe passed, and now there was no one to give gifts to – and no one to give gifts to him. That wasn't to say that he was friendless, goodness no! Hyrule just was a large place, and he traveled so much. If no one had joined him on his travels, then it was just him and Daffodil.

Such was the case now. A relatively normal and boring day had ended up turning into extra travel after a piece of information Ruairi had managed to overhear at the market square. Apparently, there was some kind of other market that was selling goods at extremely good prices – but the catch seemed to be that it had been built in the middle of nowhere, practically! At first he had wondered if he even should have headed over there, considering the time of the day… But after asking around a bit more, he heard something that just forced him to take action.

The dirt cheap new make-up products.

Of course he couldn't resist. He had immediately asked just about anyone for directions until he struck gold, and rushed off with his wagon. By the time he had gotten there, it had already gotten darker – and much colder. And what a sight it was. Ruairi couldn't even understand why they hadn't built it next to a larger town instead of somewhere so… Rural, but he was pulled in by what he saw. The lights, the sounds. It had to be the strangest market he had ever seen – instead of stalls set up outside, it was like a whole building! Now that was smart! Had to be expensive to build something so large, but in this cold? Well, that would make shopping so much better! The cold air had already started to bite at his cheeks in an unbearable manner!

There was, of course, one problem. The crowds. How had so many been able to gather so far from large settlements? The Rito didn't know – they must have known about this thing way before he did. It left him on the outskirts of a giant mass of people, and it didn't even look like it was moving anywhere! That didn't do. With a huff, Ruairi pulled up the sleeve of his thick winter coat and removed his fur-lined mittens, revealing the shiny metal of his hookshot. All it took was one well-aimed shot above to attach himself to the rafters and pull himself over the biggest crowd so he could get inside!

Not that it was any calmer inside. It was chaos. The waves of people crashing against shelves and baskets, picking them clean like locusts. Ruairi landed with style, holding onto his fur hat. He had to be swift if he wanted to get what he came here for, his eyes scanning his surroundings like a hunter searching of their prey. He had to keep moving so he wouldn't be squished by the masses, and the only way he could really change direction was by using his hookshot to hop over the rest. He had never seen a market like this, not even during the busiest of days. It was loud, and… The smell was getting quite musty, perhaps from all the bodies stuffed in overly thick clothes.

And then, just like that, he noticed something in the corner of his eye. A different scent wafted up his nose. Something more flowery – perfume? He had to be close! The Rito made one last mad leap, his eyes noticing the advertisement for the new blush he wanted to try out. He still had to push his way through more people, his hand reaching to try to grab whatever was placed on the table!

Ruairi's hand tried to reach as far as it could, clawing at air while his whole body tried to squeeze through the wall of flesh that was the other customers. He was at a clear disadvantage, lighter than a Hylian his size, so he couldn't really displace anyone with his body alone. But slowly, he was able to get closer, his hand feeling along the surface of the table that felt… Awfully empty. Once he was able to squeeze his head through, the Rito took in a gasp of, well, not fresh, but fresher air. Most importantly, he was able to see the display well. It was close to empty, only a few products remaining. But as a gloved hand went and snatched a bottle from in front of him, Ruairi quickly understood this wasn't the blush he was looking for. These were bottle of perfume–

That was as far as his thoughts got before a dangerous cloud of perfume was sprayed right at his face! The Rito took a step back, coughing and spluttering, as the crowds started to disperse now that the table had been picked clean. He fought back tears – no way was he going to ruin his mascara already – as he gasped for air. His eyes stung and he was practically blinded as the scent assaulted his senses.
"What's the big deal?!" He spluttered, angry at the unwelcome perfume sample,
"Don't you und– oh hey that is actually quite nice," Ruairi's anger was quick-lived once the strongest smells started to dissipate, leaving behind something much more pleasant. The frustration melted off his body, the tenseness leaving his posture. His nose was still practically stuffed with the scent, but honestly? With the must smell of this building and the sweat of the customers, he preferred the floral smell.

But a familiar shrill voice caught his attention now that he could think once more. His eyes, no longer burning, saw the familiar gloved hand that had spritzed him. And her. The Kokiri. That one. It indeed was a surprise, the Rito's eyes growing wide. He didn't even react to the perfume bottle being tossed aside, shattering as it his the floor.
"Wait. What are you doing here?"

Blush. Ruairi was surprised by this new information once more. That was what he wanted as well, after all! He eyed the Kokiri with a more discerning eye this time around. Her face may have been shoddily painted in a way that showed clear lack of skill, but if she could understand that this blush was special, perhaps… Perhaps she wasn't that weird, after all? Weird, but not that weird? Or perhaps the Rito just didn't want to think that he shared interests and wants with someone who was too strange.
"That is what I'm looking for, as well," Ruairi admitted. Perhaps they were rivals fighting over the same stock, but as he glanced around at the masses undulating all around, perhaps two pairs of eyes and hands was a good idea. A better chance for them to get somewhere – and snatch their prize before anyone else.

"I was looking for the make-up section. I at least assumed everything would be sectioned into nice groups that made sense, right? The scent brought me here, but perfume is pretty close to the kind of products we're looking for," he mused, as he turned around properly to look around and try to find some clues. Nothing screamed blush at him.
"I'm pretty sure I saw some kind of advertisement around here for something like it, but," the Rito's voice trailed off, and he frowned. The higher shelves nearby seemed to be forming some kind of tunnels the crowds were funneled into. The open space around the perfume table was practically vast compared to that tight mess. But it didn't look like where were any make-up products where he could see – and he couldn't see what was between all those shelves.
"Don't tell me… Somewhere in there…?"

Ruairi watched as Eve brought out her… Strange weapon, and started trying to herd the other customers with pokes and prods. It didn't seem to be going so well – in fact, it looked like she had only managed to anger the masses that started to push back, basically forcing the Kokiri to retreat onto the display table. Ruairi did his best to stay out of the way of the masses, not wanting to risk standing up to a stampede – and right now, keeping his distance from Eve seemed like the safest bet!

It was almost impressive, the way the crazy kid just jumped onto the crowd and tried to crawl over them. But was it really her who was deciding where to go, or was the wave of the customers directing where she was being moved…? Ruairi just watched in silence as Eve disappeared off somewhere, hopefully not trampled by the people. But maybe a Kokiri could survive that? Like some sort of a cockroach? The Rito just shook his head. He didn't want to try that method himself, so he had to come up with something else. There wasn't anything that he could really attach his hook to over the shelves, but he didn't think he needed that much height anyway. He just had to get on top of the shelves for now! Ruairi glanced at the display table, and then at the first row of shelves, and the crowd of customers walking between him and them…

Ruairi took in a deep breath after he climbed onto the table, before he took a running start and leaped off it, onto the people ahead. He only used the shoulder of one unlucky customer as a temporary stepping stone – a real blessing that the Rito were so light – and bounce off, reaching to grab the edge of the top of the shelf before he was able to pull himself up. It had worked! A past life of such acrobatic movements had come in handy – even if he was now forced to catch his breath, no longer quite in the shape he had been. The shelf felt sturdy enough for him to stand on, so Ruairi slowly got onto his feet. The aisle below looked just awful. A tight squeeze, filled with people fighting for the remaining products on the shelves – the Rito was even forced to steady himself as the grabby hands shook the entire shelf! It was even hard to see what was on the lower shelves like this, but he had to try. He moved along his personal highway, trying to catch the right moment to see what kind of products they were dealing with. Some nondescript containers there, brushed over yonder… Wait, those weren't brushes for painting. For make-up, then? Ruairi's interest was piqued as he bobbed his head up and down to try to see more glimpses.

"I think I see lipstick!" He saw some massive tubs of what surely must have been a great deal when it came to volume and price, and called out to Eve to let her know. Er, where was she, again?

There was a blinding flash from the middle of the crowd. Ruairi was barely able to shield his eyes in time so he could actually take a look at what had happened. The flash had caused the people to disperse as they tried to get out of the way of what had caused it, most likely temporarily blinded by it. That was where Eve was, in the middle of it all! Using that moment to her advantage, she was able to climb back on top of everyone. That small opening she had created gave Ruairi a chance to take a better look from above now that more gaps had formed. He was sure they were headed in the right direction, though! This was clearly where they had gathered all kinds of make-up products on the shelves and in the bins – even if the many empty spots started to make him nervous.

Especially as he couldn't notice any blush. Well, maybe that just meant they weren't on these shelves – maybe they needed much more room for all the copious amounts of it they surely had stocked up? But the bin where the people were fighting didn't look like it, either. The Rito certainly was glad to have such a high vantage point in relative safety out of that mess, for sure. The earlier blinding seemed to be wearing off, however, and the masses once more started to gather back into a more unified mob. That wasn't good. Ruairi's eyes flicked around, trying to look for any clues…

On the floor, he could see the flash of a trampled sign. Something about it jogged his memory, the faded paint reminding him of something he had seen just a while ago when he had made his first great leap with the aid of his hookshot. He had been so certain about seeing an advertisement for blush, could that have been it?!
"Up ahead!" He called down to Eve, motioning with his hands to keep pushing forward even deeper down the crowded aisle,
"I think I saw something!"

Ruairi also begun his mad dash towards the direction where he had seen the remains of the sign flash between the gaps of the many, many feet. Using the top of the shelf was much safer than trying to walk on the same floor as the rest of the crowd – even if the occasional bump or shake forced him to slow down or risk tripping and falling into the mass. If he was engulfed by that, there was no guarantee that he would ever be able to get out, seeing how Eve was struggling and constantly being pulled back into the mob! The Rito did give the occasional worried glance behind him, sometimes seeing the Kokiri, sometimes not. Was she going to be able to make it…?

He frowned as he looked at the scene up ahead. It was like the crowd had turned into this one massive creature devouring everything on its path, its many heads – er, hands – lashing out and grabbing everything they could, leaving nothing behind. How could he beat something like that? …No, thinking like that wasn't like him at all! Ruairi puffed his chest and took in a deep breath. For someone so small, he did have a deceptively loud voice, and he put it to use as he started to sing. A cheerful and lighthearted tune, one that might not have fit the scene all that well. But somehow, it did fill the hearts of those he wanted with the necessary courage and strength to push through – which wasn't many, seeing that only Eve's grabby hands were what he wanted to make use of. The rest, however, were not blessed with such inner strength. No, if anything, theirs diminished, caused them to second guess themselves, have that moment of weakness.

And that moment of weakness was their time to strike. Ruairi was going to have to get down to where those products were, whether he liked it or not. He had to jump down, use the moment as the crowd was shaken to hop over them, towards their prize. His eyes scanned the shelves nearby – no blush there. Then, perhaps the display table the people had been swarming around? The Rito had the momentum for one last bounce, one last dive as he jumped for the one free space available in the middle of the crowd.

But that was a problem. If the table still had products, it wouldn't have been an empty spot for him to land on, but empty it was, with just a small, knocked over sign remaining on top of it. The advertisement about the blush had been unceremoniously trampled by the many feet nearby. Not a single container of blush was left.
"No," Ruairi gasped, on all fours on top of the table as his hands combed through the emptiness, as if they could still somehow find something that wasn't there,
"Nooooo!"

Ruairi was in despair. He couldn't believe it. They had missed it all, the blush was all gone, taken by the terrible, horrible claw that was the mob. The world outside disappeared, the constant cacophony filtered out into nothingness and the undulating masses around them ignored like he was the only one remaining in this cruel, cold world. There he was, still knelt on the table that parted the crowds like water, and the occasional bump the table suffered was not enough to snap him out of it. Now that everything around them was picked clean, the shoppers were slowly but surely being directed elsewhere, the crowd around them slowly dissipating.

Perhaps Eve's words reached him. Perhaps they reminded him of something that had just barely made it into his unconscious mind, some choice words he had just recently read. The Rito slowly pushed himself upright, still seated on his knees, and looked at the little sign that had been placed on the table. The little stand that had been holding it upright had been knocked over as the table had been emptied of the products, but Ruairi reached out to it to read the words.

"We apologize… Unforeseen circumstances… Stocking issues…"

He held the sign for a moment longer before he allowed his hand to be lowered. The stock… Maybe Eve was right? It had to be held in the back somewhere, right?
"They just… Didn't have time to put it all out, right?" He spoke his thoughts out loud. That idea filled him with hope. It was very possible that the two were in great denial, but that denial was what got the Rito back up on his feet.
"So we have to go get it, right?!"

Ruairi's face was practically beaming with this realization he had come to.

Ruairi wasn't going to let Eve's strangeness get to him. He held onto this small glimmer of hope with all of his might – seemingly physically as well as the note was crumpled in his hand – and stood up. Perhaps he would have looked almost impressing standing on a table in the middle of a mob of people, if someone else was paying any attention to him. At least the Kokiri was prepared as well – and as she removed her heavy coat, the Rito decided to do the same. Unfortunately for him, he had no such handy pouch to stuff something so large and cumbersome in, so he could only wish to get one later and keep holding onto this thick winter coat himself. It looked like Eve was going to be making them a path anyway, so he could have his hands busy until he found a suitable place where he could put it down.

It felt good to have been able to peel back such a heavy layer. Ruairi had started to feel a tad too warm inside, especially with all these people around. Of course, Eve's tactic was… Questionable at best, but for the sake of his sanity, Ruairi wasn't going to question it as long as the Kokiri managed to start making a path for them. He followed closely behind as the masses were pushed aside or… Shot to the ceiling…

"We must find where they keep any stock they haven't put on the shelves!" The Rito reminded Eve of their most important task. In many stores, that would probably be what, behind the counter? No, that would only be the small shops, this one was huge. A backroom? Yes, that sounded more like it, there would be more storage space. That must have been it.
"Some kind of restricted area the shoppers aren't meant to get into?"

The path Eve was carving them did not last long, so Ruairi had to stay close. Each customer that was pushed aside would eventually join back into the mass behind them, so if he wasn't fast, he could easily be stuck inside it – and no idea how he would be able to pull himself out of that. His gaze was wandered, but the Kokiri's comment about the toilet hand made him focus and sneer towards the blocked off bathroom.
"Perverts," he huffed, as if he had some personal experiences with the topic at… Hand. Surely a bathroom wasn't going to be where they had to go, so the Rito was just as willing to ignore that lead for now. It seemed like they had managed to leave the section that dealt with random junk behind, now coming to a section dedicated to… Fish. For now, the ice was still holding and managing to keep everything cool, but for how long? Hopefully they would be done way before that.

"Of course!" Ruairi replied as he was asked if he was still following. Getting separated again was a foolish idea, so he wasn't going to get distracted now that they had such an important goal. The storage and the blush that was surely held within would be waiting for them, he just knew it!
"It would make sense to make our way towards the walls and check them all. That sounds like the most likely place to find a storage room," he continued, nodding sagely to himself. What amazing deduction skills he had! At least, if they had that storage above ground. Surely there wasn't some kind of a cellar attached to this thing? The Rito glanced down at his feet. No no no, they wouldn't put such an opening here, even if they had one, right?

Ruairi gave a glance at Eve once she talked about fish ghosts, making him take a look towards the dead fish. No ghosts he could see – and she soon corrected herself, mentioning that it was probably the smell of the fish. He tried to sniff the air, but all he could smell was the perfume he had been sprayed with before, nothing fishy or something that would have implied there to be ghosts or anything else that was… Dead and rotting. Like fish and meat going bad. The idea of blowing up the bathroom, however, made the Rito's face basically scrunch up.
"Please, nothing with so much splatter," he huffed, denying the idea of bombs.

One of the walls did indeed have a door on it, making Ruairi perk up – that might have been exactly what they were looking for! However, before they even tried to open it, Eve pushed through and pulled out yet another hammer that looked much too heavy for someone her size to swing, but she did it with ease. Well, aside from the small moment when it looked like she might have lost her balance, and even Ruairi had to jump to the side to make sure the hammer wasn't going to hit him when it came down! The door was instantly reduced into bits and pieces once it was struck, revealing behind it… Darkness.

The Rito took a quick look around them to see if anyone noticed – the shoppers probably did, but they didn't seem to care, now that they no longer were about to get hit themselves. No one was rushing over to them, either, so he stepped through the hole. Only the light that was shining through from the store proper lit up their immediate surroundings, but that light was quickly swallowed by the darkness up ahead. Ruairi eyed the walls – there probably were lines of torches on the walls, judging by the one he could see, but none of them were lit. Maybe this part wasn't used that often? He pursed his lips as he considered it all, but if they wanted to keep going, they were going to have to see. The Rito walked over to the first unlit torch, pulling it off the holder and instead hanging his coat on it to free up his hands. Then, with a few snaps of his fingers, the generated sparks lit up the torch. Hopefully it still had enough time left in it. The hallway seemed quite musty and dark, after all, and they could quickly be left without a way to see…