No Poultry, Guaranteed [Doc Genzo]

Ruairi gave a nod that the Kokiri was probably unable to see, what with her being preoccupied with a giant monster and all. The rope she had been using had seemed to be exceptionally strong, so it might very well work in this case! He tried to keep an eye out for some boils Eve mentioned, but honestly… He didn't really know if he wanted to hit them…

However, as the giant crab monster had its attention grabbed by Eve, it wasn't the only dangerous thing in the room. Some smaller crabs had crawled out of whatever holes they had hidden in and would be bothersome if allowed to roam free in the midst of the battle. All Ruairi really had was his boomerang, which he threw at one of the crabs. It certainly seemed to do something with the way it winced and was pushed back, but he couldn't say if that did the trick, his attention suddenly grabbed by the biggest monster. Its heavy footsteps started to grow louder as it approached and re-entered the room that the Rito was now in, leaking some sort of mist from underneath its shell that… Ruairi couldn't even believe his eyes when something so large suddenly seemed to just disappear into thin air.

"Y-You can't be serious!" He called out in frustration. Did it just magic itself out somehow? No… It was still around. Ruairi could still hear it, its size giving out the fact that it was moving. It could turn invisible? Why could this stupid crab use magic like this when he couldn't!

It was difficult to say where it was exactly, but based on the sounds, the Rito at least could hear that it seemed to be still aiming for Eve and wasn't interested in him at all. A good thing for him, as that allowed Ruairi to just give the two a wide berth and circle around. If Eve wanted to use the rope, she would actually need rope – some of which now handily awaited someone to just pick it up from the floor where a bunny used to be…

Ruairi did just that, grabbing the rope as he glanced back at Eve and where he assumed the crab was. Now he just had to get it to the Kokiri while she still had the monster's attention! The best thing he could think of was tying it around his boomerang.
"Catch!" He called out as he threw it in the air. The rope's weight was affecting his boomerang in a way that didn't even really make it soar like it should be, but it was much easier to throw than just trying to throw the rope alone! Ruairi whistled to try to keep the damn thing in the air for as long as he could, with a nice arc that hopefully wouldn't hit the crab he couldn't see and come down as close to Eve as possible.

Ruairi cocked a grin once Eve managed to grab the rope. That was one step closer to figuring out how they could handle this mess – probably! Now they just had to tie up those claws somehow, and hope the rope was strong enough to actually work. He didn't have to be told twice to keep his distance and avoid a giant monster crab – that was the reason he wanted the Kokiri to have the rope instead of going in himself, after all! The Rito dashed off, hoping to not run into something that was invisible while also avoiding the numerous smaller crabs that were still in the room. Without his boomerang, there wasn't much more he could do to them than just dodge or jump over them… And he wasn't going to go try and retrieve it from the middle of the battle!

He hid behind one of the statues, hoping that the monsters would forget about him when they couldn't see him. The largest one definitely seemed to be busy with Eve, something he could tell by the sound of its heavy footsteps. He was quite worried when the Kokiri seemed to take shelter under the other one, but luckily, he was not in the path of the rampaging crab as it started to trash and smash anything around it, forming large cracks and holes in the floor tiles. Perhaps its strange invisibility magic ran out, as it suddenly appeared as it charged towards Eve!

The perfect opportunity for her as she started to wrap the rope around its claws. It was quite the sight, something so small that could easily be crushed by the monster's grip fearlessly twisting over and under to get those killer claws tangled up.
"Just like that!" Ruairi yelled some words of encouragement, even if that had the risk of him attracting unwanted attention. But it was always important to cheer! The rope seemed to hold strong, keeping the crab from using its most dangerous weapons! Eve had the perfect opportunity to poke it full of holes – or, well, puncture those strange boils that were all over its shell. What even were those?

An answer they never got, but it seemed like with enough of them gone, the shell suddenly started to crack, one line cutting through it after the other, until… The whole thing just burst right open, revealing something much softer inside!

Now that was a weak spot, even the Rito understood that! That was what some crabs did anyway, right? Hide their softest parts inside hard shells. If only striking it would have been easy – how that the monster had lost its shell, it clearly was panicking and rushing about as fast as it could! Eve probably wouldn't be able to get close and strike the killing blow like that. Anything caught under that monster's legs would not be having a good time.

The statue. Ruairi still was hiding behind it, and he now eyed it. He gave it a small test push – it was heavy. Good thing if they wanted to use it as a weapon, but a bad thing for him. He didn't have the needed strength to push it even one inch, much less try to topple it! But it was tall. Maybe it would tip with a bit more weight up there?

All he could do was try, as he hopped and grabbed onto any grooves and outcrops his fingers could latch onto, and pulled himself up. It took a moment for him to climb high enough, but Ruairi did quickly realize that… He was nowhere heavy enough to really affect the way the statue stood. He gritted his teeth. The crab was coming closer, making such a perfect turn that would give him such a great opportunity to just hit it, but he couldn't do it like this!

The Rito took a deep breath as he wrapped his legs and arms around the statue, trying to anchor himself as well as he could. He glanced at his hookshot – this was the time to find out if it would either latch onto the soft flesh of that crab or the edges of its carapace, and if he was able to hold on for as long as he needed while doing that.
"Out of the way!" Ruairi yelled out a warning as he quickly took aim as the crab started to run past him, shooting the hookshot towards its back and bracing for the consequences. The chain shot out at extreme speeds and latched onto something, and he could immediately feel the yank on his forearm where the device was attached to him. He gripped the statue as hard as he could, his eyes squeezed shut as the chain retracted and tried to pry him away from what he was holding, but he could feel the combined pull of both it and the crab running away making the statue move and tip over!

Ruairi was squeezing his eyes shut as he felt the statue start tipping over, his grip tightening and his jaw clenching as he bit his teeth together as hard as he could. He hookshot was doing its best to try to dislocate his arm as it pulled hard on what it was attached to, but that wasn't going to happen before the statue would fall. It was agonizingly slow at first, but once it reached its tipping point… It came crashing down with force, eliciting a horrible screech from whatever had been hit by it. Ruairi too experienced quite the impact once the statue finally came to a stop, and it took a moment for him to be able to open his eyes to survey the damage he had caused – potentially to himself, as well. He seemed to be in one piece, and the statue was mostly in one piece… Currently pinning the crab monster's legs against the floor with its weight.

That was good enough for the Rito! He stood up, hos legs shaking, as he inched closer to dislodge the hookshot from the crevice it had attached itself to, allowing the chain to retreat back into the device. He hopped off the statue, not exactly landing perfectly, but he wanted to get away from the monster in case it could still find a way to harm him despite its condition. Ruairi was more than happy to let Eve deal with it as he started to scan the arena for his boomerang…

He only offered the scene some customary disgusted looks as the Kokiri happily stomped, stabbed and froze the crab to death, looking a bit too gleeful about the whole thing. He just went and picked up the old piece of wood from the floor where it had been pushed to in the midst of all the action. Ruairi inspected his boomerang, finding it a bit scratched but still in one piece. It should be working just fine, but could probably do with a new coat of paint eventually. He put it in his back and started to roll his shoulder as he walked back to the crab, feeling a bit sore from what it had to go through with the hookshot.

By now the crab was… Looking quite dead and pulped. Ruairi scrunched his face, but another even more horrific discovery made him come to a terrible realization: there was no treasure!
"A-After all this? There's, there's even no treasure? Don't tell me this stupid thing ate it, or something!" He lamented, but no matter how much he did that… It didn't change the truth. There was no treasure for them to scoop. All he got was some weird crab dust from Eve, which certainly looked sparkly and nice, but… But it was crab dust.
"Is this even worth anything…?" He sighed, finally forced to accept that they weren't going to walk out of the temple rich…

Ruairi sighed.

"Maybe we can shake the villagers down for some rupees," he hummed, already coming up with other ways to try to make this trip worth something as he started to walk towards the doorway,
"…And now we just have to make it back to the entrance, huh…"

"Exit… Beam?" Ruairi stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. They had indeed gotten into the temple in a strange way, so perhaps leaving it would also be another strange way – though Eve made it sound like it was a common thing that happened with temples. He turned around to look at the room, not really seeing any beams or places where a beam of magical transportation energy should go… Though the more time passed, the stranger the monster's corpse became. The crab had basically been turned into a frozen ice sculpture at this point, as some icy dust floating in the air seemed normal to the Rito, but it was starting to seem like more and more of it was now appearing in the air, the little glittering specks gathering together and floating towards the center, forming a vertical line…

That certainly seemed to grow into a beam! The force of it was enough to send some dust and debris away from the circle it had formed, and the column of light that had appeared was doing wonders in making the room seem much brighter than it had been a moment ago. Alas, even with this added light, it didn't seem like there was any treasure in the room.

Ruairi approached, carrying the bag of crab dust with him. He did stop before the beam to look at it, his head tilted.
"Do these things get powered up by some ground up monster particles or what?" He hummed, both curious and skeptical about this whole phenomenon. It was the first time he had seen it, after all. There had been no signs of anything like this before the monster had been killed, and now it just poof! Magically appeared! It was strange.

Not the strangest thing he had experienced, though. Probably. Seeing that Eve was ready, the Rito sighed and stepped into the beam himself…

Ruairi stopped when Eve did, giving her yet another questioning stop. He wasn't going to step in if she so dramatically stopped right before entering one herself – was there something wrong, maybe? He couldn't tell, this was the first time he had ever seen one of these strange beams. It had a strange smell to it that he could pick up even from the other musty and earthy scents lingering in the air, but maybe it was supposed to smell like that?

…In the end, it seemed that she was just confused about what powered these beams, being just as clueless as the Rito about such things. He just shook his head.
"Maybe you should have asked these questions earlier, you know…"

Finally stepping in, Ruairi closed his eyes. The light wasn't actually as harsh on his eyes as it should have been, almost seeming like it should be blinding in the dim temple, but even once he was enveloped by it… It didn't hurt. Still, the feeling of being tugged was odd, perhaps a bit uncomfortable when he hadn't been prepared for it, as he felt himself start to float. It was an odd feeling of almost being lifted while also not moving anywhere, but once his feet once again met the ground and he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the temple.

He shielded his eyes from the sun, somehow feeling brighter than the pillar of light that had no dissipated into thin air. The air of the sea and the sounds of the waves and seagulls greeted them. They were at the beach, in one piece it seemed – Ruairi checked, patting himself with his free hand. The bag of crab dust had also survived the teleportation without getting spilled on the way.
"Forget the boat!" The Rito exclaimed, taking his first steps on the sand in the direction of where he was pretty sure the village had been. The two of them only really had one thing on their mind. He called out to the distance.
"Ooooooiii! We killed that crab thing for you! There better be a party being prepared for our return right about now! I'm starving!"

Ruairi seemed to instantly be pleased about getting some recognition for their deeds from the first person they met, his posture seeming to grow taller as he puffed out his chest and raised his chin. He was glad that it seemed like there indeed was going to be a party of some kind – and that they didn't actually have to prove that they had found the temple or killed some monster inside it. They had done all of those, but it would be quite easy to disbelieve such claims! How would they even prove it, unless they took everyone to see it with their own eyes? Not something he would have wanted to do, when he wanted his party now!

Eve was kind of raining on the parade, but Ruairi was definitely smelling the delicious scent of grilled fish in the distance, so something was happening! He eagerly rushed ahead to climb over the landscape to meet with… Well, a rather pitiful-looking group and a very unique decorating style. The Rito stopped to look at it, almost seeming to consider if he would dare to actually walk any closer. But he could see the food, and there was even some live music that wasn't horrible, so he supposed he had to… He was the hero, after all.

Ruairi collected himself and strutted forth with his head held high like he owned the place. He placed the bag of crab dust down and immediately went to test the food offerings, his throat parched after a romp in the dungeon and requiring something sweet and juicy, like the fruits on display. He did also make some requests for something alcoholic, if none was present already.

But he couldn't help but feel like the party was missing something! Well, everything, honestly. Could it even be called a party? No one seemed like they were in a partying mood. That just wouldn't do! This was Ruairi's first big dungeon and his moment in the spotlight as an actual hero! The Rito jumped on a table.
"Come on, you can do better than this! I'm not seeing any smiles! No one's even dancing! We uncovered an ancient secret and killed some kind of vile beast that was plaguing this village! It is a joyous occasion!" He called out to the crowd, before he turned to those who actually were carrying instruments with them.

"So, it's up to us to lift some spirits. Follow my lead," Ruairi addressed the musicians, and hoped that they had enough skill to quickly pick up on the melodies he hummed to them to put together some sort of a hack of a performance. They had no time to practice, so they were going to have to get creative and play it slowly
and simply at first, before they got the hang of it. Once the Rito seemed to be satisfied that they could do a proper practice run that also doubled as the start of the performance, he straightened his back, turned towards his audience, and took a deep breath to steady his voice.

He started to sing the perfect song for this opportunity: Farore's Courage. He was leading the instruments along with his voice, slowly, calmly, until their fingers could find the right notes to play consistently. Once he could feel the musicians feeling better about the tune, Ruairi could pick up the speed and challenge them. He could get pulled into the performance and the melody, and was expecting skilled musicians to do the same and improvise.

Ruairi didn't want to brag, but he certainly had a way with breathing some life into such dull parties! The moment he took it upon himself to elevate the minds of the townsfolk, it seemed like the shroud of misery was pulled away from them in an instant! Perhaps the fact that the monster that had been causing it all had now disappeared was what was actually the true reason for that, but Ruairi was going to take at least some of the glory himself!

Especially when the performance he put on was actually magic. He was not very capable when it came to spells, but some of his songs did hold such powers, including the one he sung. It was all about bestowing courage – or something like that, it wasn't like Ruairi himself usually needed courage, but it seemed to help others nonetheless. But all he wanted to see were some smiles and some dancing, and to feel how the musicians were putting their all into their music to accompany him.

Once the song ended, the Rito had to catch his breath. The music still continued as a jam session between the musicians, but he was already ready to step off the table before some man approached him with odd concerns. Though Ruairi certainly had been hogging much more credit than he could take for killing the monster, it wasn't like he had been putting on the show that he was the only one behind that! It made him raise an eyebrow as he stepped down and found a seat to crash onto, fanning himself with his hand after the exhausting show.

"Why, I know that I look positively dashing and like the much more capable and heroic half of us, it wasn't like I– huh?" He had already started, his hand reaching out for a cup of some more of that nice drink he had earlier and expecting one to be handed to him without even having to ask, but his sentence was cut short. The realization of what the man was saying was starting to creep in. Girl lounging at the beach? Did he mean… The clone…?

Ruairi blinked and looked at Eve. She already seemed even more strange than she was. Had she managed to get drunk already? The Rito took a sip of the drink that had materialized in his hand to moisten his throat. How would he even explain this without looking weird? Oh, it is just a clone? Magic? A long lost twin sister? They all sounded like such… Excuses! Why did the Kokiri always have to put him in strange situations like these? She should be the one explaining!
"It's… A complicated story. You should probably ask her…"

Perhaps it was no surprise to anyone that even when the truth had come out about Eve's involvement, everyone just seemed to… Ignore it, just like they ignored the strange girl. Perhaps it was one way to make the situation simple and remove the headache of having to deal with the Kokiri. Ruairi certainly was happy to bask in the glory and hog all the attention thrown at him. It was a party for them, which meant it was a party for him also, and he was there to make the most of it.

Perhaps it was hunger that made everything taste so good once he got to eating the various offerings. The fish seemed fresh and the fruits were juicy and sweet, enough to quench the thirst he developed while mingling and dancing about. But of course the Rito found himself partaking in the drinks as well – what party was complete without some, after all! The burn of alcohol soothed any parched throat from singing. The party just got better with time!

Or perhaps it was Ruairi who was just starting to feel that way. Perhaps he had had a few too many drinks as he laughed with the islanders. They had seemed like such a dull group, but his presence must have rubbed on them, or something, because he was having a lot of fun!

"Ooohh. Already time? To go baaaack?" Ruairi craned his neck to look at Eve after flopping onto a lounge chair, enjoying the fanning and massaging of his bird-like toes. Though there was a drink in his hand, it seemed like the faint smell of alcohol wasn't really coming from the direction of his hand…
"But I was having funnn. So much fun. Sooo much," he sighed wistfully as after a long time of squirming to buy himself some extra lounging time, he finally forced himself to sit up properly. Before the Rito could stand, he did slide his feet back into his boots that had been kicked off to the side.
"One of them's gonna put the rarest spell scroll of all time into the loot pile. For me. Cuz I'm a wizarrrd."

"Ask them I did! Aaall kinds of nice trinkets," Ruairi sipped on his drink before deciding to down it all – and was quite happy to get another in his free hand. From Eve, for some reason. What service!
"Y'know an artist like myself needs a lotta– heeeey," he continued, with some wild hand gestures before his drink was pulled away from him, causing the Rito to frown. He hadn't even managed to take even a little sip out of it, and now lamented as he watched the dry ground suck up all the delicious drink that had been poured into it. His drink…

Ruairi let out some whines as he watched the sorry sight, until something else occupied his mind.
"Pssssh. I'm not sick! I don't need no help," came a boastful declaration as he hopped onto his feet, and… Well, to his credit, he was able to stand. He was even able to walk, even if his steps clearly were as graceful and calculated as they had been before. All a moot point, as the Rito started to beg the muscular sailor to carry him after some steps, when he came to the conclusion that the distance between the party and the ship was much too great, and someone like him shouldn't have to walk all that way. He was tired!

And so there he was, flopped over a poor man's arms as he continued his lounging in this strangest of chairs. Luckily, a Rito like him at least was light…
"Eeeey. Where's the bunny?"

"Soooounndds good!" Ruairi waved his arm in the air to signify something important, surely, as he was being carried away in the arms of a poor, yet strong, soldier. He got onto the pier first, long before Eve, and it seemed like he had not gotten all the partying out of his system yet. There he was, trying to bother all the crew members trying to get the ship ready to sail with his tales or songs or amazing dance moves – though luckily, many of the sailors had actually been a part of that party and were still in a good mood. As long as the captain wasn't watching, of course…

Eve arrived after a while, with the bunny in tow, which was loaded into the ship along with their treasure haul. The Rito was a bit too preoccupied with keeping up the spirit of the party among the crew, something he would do until the moment he'd draw his last breath! …Or something like that, much to the chagrin of the sailors who actually were busy and had to concentrate. Luckily for everyone, Ruairi did run out of steam at some point and hobbled over to the sleeping quarters, passing out in a rather uncomfortable-looking position where he seemed to be on the verge of falling off, but somehow, he seemed to have found it cozy.

The gentle rocking of the sea was quite similar to that of being on the road, in a wagon. It was rare for the Rito to sleep while actually being on the road, traveling, especially these days when he was alone. But still, it felt like home. The creaks and groans, those too. The sounds of people talking as they worked… A ship didn't sound or feel very different from the life he was used to. Perhaps that helped him sleep. Or perhaps it was the alcohol. One of the two.

At some point, Ruairi did regain consciousness, his eyes opening and breaking open the crust that had formed onto them. The insides of a ship were very dark, and it took a moment for his eyes to register what was happening and where he was. Somehow he managed to pull himself properly up onto the hammock he had been snoozing on – he had no recollection of ever getting there, but here he was. Even in the dim light of a lantern near him, it was quite difficult to see anything. How long had he slept? It was impossible to see the sky from where he was – and he was feeling a bit lazy about getting up…