Dungeon: Inside Jabu Jabu's Belly - Ocarina of Time Players/Characters: Eevachu - 50 Rupee Total Belladonna 'Bell' Threshrow - ??? Sinistrari - 50 Rupee Total His Royal Majesty, King Nono - ??? Bell was getting a little tired of these jobs. They were important, she knew, and the fear the merchants held was not unfounded- after all, tales of thieves leaping out of the foliage and robbing merchants of their stock and clothes on their backs were common fare in the Lost Woods. Still, to request a small squad of guards to accompany them from Hyrule Castle Town to Moruge Swamp seemed a tad unnecessary. Perhaps it was simply the experience Bell had with these events that caused them to draw her ire, as when she was training to become a knight this seemed like the type of scenario she would have been pleased to do. She was pleased to help the merchants, but nothing ever seemed to actually happen when she was accompanying them as an escort. Perhaps that was a good, albeit boring thing, though- if no one is attacked, there does not have to be theft or the possibility of bloodshed between people. . . . Still, she could not deny that she was hoping for something more interesting to happen. The caravan had successfully reached the Moruge Swamp, and Bell was allowed free time to do whatever she wished, not that there was anything to do. The muggy, thick atmosphere of the swamp was not one she was particularly used to or enjoyed, but she found herself trailing off regardless. The merchants had warned her about the dangers that the swamp held, but Bell was not especially concerned. She would not find herself too far from her encampment, though perhaps she was underestimating how easy it was to become lost in the Moruge Swamp. Shuffling around still held little of interest. As Bell began to consider heading back, her eyes caught a glimpse of a clear object floating in the thin swampage below. Her curiosity peaked, Bell reached down and pulled out of the grimy liquid what appeared to be a sealed bottle with a sheet of parchment inside. Puzzling. Twisting it open, Bell pulled out the paper and read what was inscribed on its surface.
Truth be told, a lot of the Miniblin's glorious eloquence was lost in translation. Hylian was such a dirty, corrupt language, fit only for the tongues of commoners and as if to prove such a point he wasn't exactly adept at putting it to use. Indeed, he was far above such drivel. Yet he wasn't much worried about being unable to communicate with his minions, for an attentive subject could clearly decipher much in more than just the words themselves: To prove his intelligence, the paper was made entirely of pressed flowers, delicately arranged to form a collage of pastels infused with a faint, sweet perfume. To display his skill, the disjointed language itself was written with elaborate fluidity, cursive and elegant which only the most noble of blood could perform so flawlessly. While to demonstrate his compassion, as a well-deserved monarch, Nono - of course - dotted his i's with meticulously coloured love hearts. The note was actually a piece of art really. But one had to learn to part with such trivial things in the face of immediate danger. Nono had no doubts that his beloved subjects were already at his tail, immediately launching a search-and-rescue mission the instant his divine presence disappeared off the face of the Kingdom. However, such simple creatures needed a few hints here and there. As a compassionate creature Nono thought it only right that he gave them a hint or two. Any second now...any second now...they'd arrive...
What was this nonsense she was reading? The text itself was essentially indecipherable. The most she could gather from it was that a 'king' named Nono wanted help. From what, though? What was a meep meep? Furthermore, she had never even heard of a king named Nono. Despite the ridiculousness of the note, though, the rest of its appearance was strikingly different. Very delicately pressed flowers of various colors made up the base of the parchment, which Bell had to admit looked quite nice- it would be something she would like to employ herself if not for the fact that it was unfitting for any official transactions. The writing itself was very frilly and over the top, which did add some credence to his claim at the title of king- a mere commoner would likely not write in such an unnecessary way. The handwriting was better than even Bell's. "What am I supposed to do. . .?" Bell questioned aloud, her mind full of questions and voice full of worry. The one thing she knew for sure about this note is that it was some sort of plea for help, and she wanted to help them, but she had absolutely no idea what to do. Trying to decipher the strange phrases used only gave her a headache. Perhaps she could return to the merchants, who were more familiar with this terrain- surely they would have some insight into the meaning behind the words. As she pondered her options, Bell failed to notice the movement around her- the very, very large movements. The swamp water by her feet began to ripple and tear open, and with no chance for her to react, a monstrously large fish came crashing out of the murky depths. The girl felt her body moving, much to her lack of choice, as she was sucked inside by a strong suction and pull. Her screams barely had time to pierce the thick canopy of trees hanging above her heads as she went plunging into the colossal fish's mouth. She was gone.
A scream! A victory cry! Surely that meant the first of his rescue party had entered?! King Nono's bosom fluttered with eager anticipation and he quite literally bounced on the spot to expel it before it exploded his torso wide open: a fear he was certain held truth. Many a giddy nanameep was had but then he quickly found himself in dire need of another scream. Or anything really to pinpoint the direction of his attention. Just a hint of noise here or there that wasn't the grotesque wet squelch of the monster's innards or the crackle of some sparking Biri. So he stood. And he waited. And he listened, his giant ears flicked upwards with occasional twitches at the slightest of sounds. But nothing. Nothing at all. Had she died? Already? Pathetic! The monarch scoffed, huffed and puffed, and with as much of a pout as one could manage with buckteeth, Nono slung his Ball and Chain haphazardly at one of the wandering jellyfish. The tantrum struck gold but the satisfying cry and bubble-pop did nothing to lift his spirits. Neither did the subsequent shock. On the contrary, it only worsened them with an awful, hot-headed spite that could find no real release: he never did learn. On the brink of tears, which the mighty Nono refused to allow escape, when the Miniblin finally regained control over his little limbs again he plopped his bottom down on the neat tuck of his royal cape and folded his arms with disgruntlement. "Nana no meep, na." The creature sniffled. Just how long was his expected to wait? HE was the king, not them! They were mere subjects! What right had they to keep him waiting on them? Who knew how much time had passed since he was swallowed? To make matters worse he couldn't even escape himself! He'd long forgotten the way back. "Nono...nana nana..." The chain rattled and chimed as the Miniblin slowly dragged the metallic Morth back towards his dismayed embrace. With a heaving sigh his whole body deflated and flattened against one side, like a squashed rug that still stubbornly stuck to the cold surface. At the very least the enormous ball had found a rather solid stance on some of its lethal spikes, thus ensuring that Nono could lay/hang there in adequate self-indulgence of sorrowful spirits instead of rolling off into one of the many strange toothless mouths in the floor. Unbeknownst to him, Nono wasn't actually that far at all from the monstrous fish's mouth.
As much as Bell fought and struggled, she could not resist the current pulling her into the colossal fish beast's mouth. Her screams were quickly muffled by the water rushing into her mouth, and her vision began to blacken. Was this it for her? . . . Bell jumped awake with a startle. Immediately, she was disgusted by everything. By the slimy, fleshy texture her fingers felt on the floor below her. By the pulsing, red, bloody walls. By the grumbling of her stomach as it threatened to empty its contents- wait there they went. Just as Bell had began gaining her bearings, she violently jolted forward, the water she had swallowed- and her lunch from earlier that day- spilling out from her mouth and onto the ground beside her. Disgusting. At least she felt slightly better, now. Still, though, where was she? She could not be dead- while the thought may have crossed her mind initially, this would be quite the strange afterlife, so she could safely rule that out in her mind. Then, that left only one other option- was she. . . inside that fish? It was large, certainly, but this was something else- the room she was in, if she could even call it that, was massive in of itself, and this was surely not the only place here. From the small glance Bell got of the beast, it was definitely larger than this. Still, there was no purpose in sitting around. If she was eaten, surely it would want to digest its food somehow, and Bell fell into the 'food' category currently. She shuddered to think of what would happen if she was digested by it- being swallowed was gross enough as is. Still slightly disoriented from the sickly feeling she felt puking up the water, Bell slowly brought herself to her feet. Where would she go, though? It was not like this place exactly had doors. Glancing around, she could spy a small number of oscillating openings in the wall, closing and opening in a seemingly set rhythm, and beyond them, another path. It was so disgusting. Everything about this was disgusting. She was disgusting. With a few hesitant steps forward, Bell timed the oscillation of the fleshy door? and leaped through when it was open.
No! This wouldn't do! This wouldn't do at all! What sort of King mopes around like a grumpy child?! Who just lays there when their life is on the line! That isn't the way of a noble and admirable monarch, dear Nono. Get yourself together! Try something new at the very least! With a grumbling snarl the Miniblin slid off his Morth and flopped onto the floor, almost passing out there and then in a nap of depression. Chain wrapped around his arm, he clung a hand onto one of the giant ball's spikes and sighed, heavy and deep, as if he'd just expelled his very soul. He dragged the ball a little bit here. Pulled it a bit more other there. Even at one point nearly lost it entirely to the sudden drop of a hungry, fleshy orifice in the floor: the blasted fiend! Then, he began to cry. Or rather scream. Sometimes even just yell to see how loud his lungs could manage. Regardless like a siren announcing his distress and growing boredom of this damned place, King Nono started wailing all sorts of curses! The tears budding in the corner of his eyes and swelling with each heaving breath he took for pause. "MEEEEEEEP MEEEEEEEEP!!!! NANANANANANANANANANANANNAAAAAA MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!"
The last thing Bell had expected to hear was the wail of a child. The high-pitched cries triggered a sort of signal in Bell's mind, and the girl quickly drew her glaive- luckily, it had not been washed away when she was sucked in. Bounding around a turn to meet with the source of the cries, Bell was caught off guard by what she saw. It was a Miniblin, standing next to a spiked ball its size and creating its own flood inside of the fish. It was not being attacked by anything, despite what its cries led Bell to believe, so what was the issue? Did it accept that it was going to be eaten by the beast that swallowed it? Truthfully, Bell had never really interacted with Miniblin in a sociable sense- all of her interactions with the family typically ended with her steel tainted with their blood-, so she was not entirely sure what to say. It was not that she held any particular resentment towards them- they were just monsters causing issues, she had no choice but to exterminate them-, but could they even communicate with one-another? She had never really considered the idea. All of the Miniblin she met just yelled and cried out declarations of war, especially since her comrades were generally none too fond of their kind. Still though, he was quite loud, and who knew what else had been swallowed with them and would be drawn to the noise. Hesitantly, Bell called towards the teary Miniblin, choking out, "Um. . . Are you okay? I don't like being in here either, but. . ." She was unsure what to say. She was trying to sympathize with the creature, as they shared the same unfortunate predicament, but it was such an alien creature to her.
A servant…? Was that really-…could it truly be…at long last, a saviour?!! Took her long enough! Like a tap suddenly screwed shut, the waterworks abruptly ceased and the Miniblin hiccupped into a struggled silence. Snot was dribbling down from his tiny nostrils but that was soon taken care of with a neat dab of his royal cape, large, glowing eyes peering out over the hem at the Hylian commoner all the while. He was scrutinising her – it was obvious. She appeared capable enough of service: well-equipped at least and knew how to handle a weapon. Shame about the typical lack of lush, well-groomed fur as Hylians were so often prone to – such horribly tiny ears too – but Nono had suffered worse. She’d do. So the Miniblin sniffled his last sniffle with a wiggle of his nose and promptly straightened himself up with all the poise of a true, glorious King. He flicked his long cape out behind him in fabulous flair, crossed his arms and raised his chin high with an arrogant huff and dismissive turn of his cheek. “Nana na meep.” Nono snidely remarked, refusing to make any more eye contact with such a lowborn. “Meh meep nana, na Nono.” He continued. “Nanananananananana meep meep escape nanana now meep services, nana.”
The creature began to sober up, his sobs breaking up into whimpers before eventually reaching an end. Then, he stood upright and presented himself as though he weren't a sniveling mess mere moments before. Then, he let out a string of what could only be interpreted as unintelligible gargle. A flurry of nas, meeps, peeps, Bell could not even begin to understand what he had just said. Was this how Miniblin communicated? How? It had gone by so fast, she could not even make out the words she could understand. "Uh. . ." A confused look fell across Bell's face. She did not want to make an enemy of the Miniblin, though, not in this place. She would have to know more, however. "I'm- I'm Bell," she stuttered, feeling kind of dumb for introducing herself to a Miniblin- could it even understand her? She would have to try communicating somehow, though. She figured she should keep details about herself scarce- though her typical introduction was to announce her position as a member of the Hylian Guard, that was possibly unwise to do so towards a Miniblin, not that her armored visage or Hylian crest would prevent that guise from being unveiled. "We're inside this. . .fish, right? Were you eaten, too?" She considered asking for his name- did it have a name?-, but she was still unsure if it could even understand her. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she choked out, ". . .What's your name?" This whole conversation made her feel kind of stupid.
