No Poultry, Guaranteed [Doc Genzo]

The childlike party pooper slinked through the lamplight. She rubbed the extra water off the corner of her lips, wanting to answer the Rito's question. She looked kind of mysterious in the dim light, the details of her eccentric outfit gleaming softly but blurry almost.

"Sounds like we both slept through a borin' bunch of goods tradin' at th' docks." she reiterated. "That or a couple more sea monster attacks but I dunnae blame either of us for sleepin' through somethin' like that."

Eve rubbed her neck with a free hand, and with a gentle tilt there was an audible crack. Sleeping in a whole day on a boat was a disaster for her joints. She wanted to go top deck to take a look at the sea but she knew they had just hauled on some barrels, so they were probably at the last dock. There was a commotion as the crew rushed to haul rope and push off.

"It's getting dull down here. I wanna go up and feel the wind, maybe catch a look at that port town on the way out." she mentioned, getting ready to put back her cup and head to the upper deck.

She didn't expect another giant monster but maybe that was for the best. There were a lot of clouds covering the sky at the hour. The only thing visible over the ship was the twinkling lights of the town. Even that was about to disappear as the crew started bringing up all of the ropes. Without much else to look at, Eve was reminded of the town back home and that quirky show she had watched Ruairi in. She remembered circling the island to find the portal, and their adventure gathering bunnies. Now that she had slept, it was all so distant, but so familiar and fun feeling. She was definitely going to draw a picture of this with her crayons. She envisioned a portal spewing out bunnies. It was going to be her masterpiece.

Eve swiveled her head back toward her new friend. Something was relaxing about the cool air and low light outside.

"Considerin' we didn't rip anyone off." she paused, personally thinking it was odd how she had normalized boosting people's money with the Rito. "Considerin' neither of us care where the treasure comes from we did end up with a lot. Didja look at our haul? 'S magnificent."

Eve pinched her face to make sure she wasn't having a nightmare where she was talking about awkward things all the time. Nope, she was wide awake. She liked to hike people's wallets when they weren't grateful, but the heartwarming thing was that the islanders had truly appreciated what they had done for them. If it wasn't for what they did, they would have left a miserable island where nobody wanted to do anything. The friction of the wholesome moment against Eve's criminal heart was generating some sort of cosmic energy.

"We really did a good thing didn't we chicky?" she mentioned, allowing the starry sky of town lights to sprinkle in her eyes.

Eve quickly found herself near Ruairi again. He was examining an unassuming magical spell scroll, featuring a considerably common beginner spell. Although Eve wasn't too familiar, as the scholarly practice of magic was something she hadn't fully grasped yet. She got a much better view of the scroll though, and noticed something intriguing.

"There's a little character on there!" Eve reached out her hand and tugged the corner, pointing at it with the other hand. "There's a little fella with glasses on there did you see this?!"

It was rare to see her this excited. There truly was some sort of mascot on there but it was nothing to write home about. The drawing was charming to her in a way, as well as much better than what she typically drew. She went back to wandering the ship soon after, checking the treasure and the Pols Voice now and then and making her way back around.

"Did you see this little character?!" she conjectured. Eve had appeared out of nowhere and started pointing at the scroll.

They still had a few hours left of sailing. Was she going to appear from the shadows and point at the character every time? It seemed likely she wasn't into company mascot culture very deeply or this would be something for her to ignore. These kinds of drawings were becoming very popular in certain circles in the Castle Town shopping district. It was likely this wasn't the end of her fascination, as she would find more characters to point at if she visited Castle Town herself.

The night continued very uneventfully. However, that made it seem serene as the sun slowly crawled its way into the inky darkness. It colored the sky in a wide variety of hues and shades. Eve herself made her way back to the deck. . . she was enamored by the Hyrule sun. It was far from the first time she saw dawn in Hyrule, or the sea for that matter. The sight made her feel like everything was worth it. She had hang-ups about her own behavior, and how she could have put their entire adventure in jeopardy many times. It was worth it to relax and take some time to consider that. It made her anxious and nervous. Feeling like you screwed up is always a surefire way to get a mild headache.

Eventually, she made her way back to Ruairi.

"I'm serious chicky." she admitted to the beautiful Rito. "I'm sorry for almost messin' everything up. It's only our first adventure together and I don't want you to think. . ."

She swiped her pale powdery face with a quivering hand.

"I didn't want ye' to think I wasn't worth seein' again. So please. . . "

The gold-clad gremlin offered a hand of solidarity to the Rito. She knew shaking the hand of someone you're not meeting for the first time was kind of cheesy but it was all she could come up with.

Eve thought deeply about how weird she made things just by talking about that stuff. Her chin wrinkled and she considered that, in the long run given everything she had ever done on adventures, her missteps this time were overall forgettable. They didn't even burn down a building this time!

She didn't ignore Ruairi, she knew he was talking about something actually important. That figure who swooped down and ripped a hole in their ship. He was undoubtedly one of those people trying to stop her. But why? The gears in her head turned, she tried to remember her other various outings. She had accomplished a lot with Julius, but her shaky memory was suddenly able to fixate on a few moments that stood out. The two had discovered some sort of plot to take Jabun off the map and to oppress tribes of Zora. More specifically to keep them away from the truth. There was a group of pseudo-powerful figures, including that odd looking Zora elder and the stoic Rito magician who attacked their boat.

"It's gonnae sound like madness but. . . that Hylian captain of mine stumbled upon some sorta weird conspiracy." she admitted suddenly. "It's some odd group of people bent on stopping us from doing something. All of it is utter nonsense unless we can figure out what their goal is though! I gotta honor mister Julius by figuring out what they want and stop them before they can beat me to the punch. Guess I'm some big dumb hero now, huh?"

Eve knew she wasn't capable of "figuring out" anything. She'd have to move up from grade-school mystery books to real mystery novels for adults. Even with her best efforts she would be a far-cry from a real detective. That wasn't going to stop her though. With rivals that dangerous floating around her every time she left her house? That required her to take real action, to take serious measures to protect herself. Most of all, she had to stop them so that she could have revenge on Jabun. That was undeniably the most important thing she could do with this knowledge.

"Yeah you've got a point." Eve admitted, shrugging her shoulder and then awkwardly turning it into an arm stretch.

"It's just that eehhh. This kind of thing happens a lot. Some kind of village elder think's he's hot shit and tries to execute a sinister plan." Eve commented, thinking about various past adventures.

"-Exac'ckly. Like a, uh, big evil guy, like a general of Ganon im'selff. 'Showed up one day. Now THAT guy, that guy could be a real problem, a real threat. Just 'cuz these weirdoes think they can kill a GOD doesn't make them any'finn to me." she snorted, stuttering her words several times.

"Problem bein'. See. We gotta strike them first, see. They broke our poor boat because I had the uh, respon'siblty to um, to tell you that guy was probably comin'. Like around and waennae. This also happened, because, uh'course. Those guys remembered Julius. They know I can figure them out an' expose them to the authorities or somethin' like that." she stammered, saying a lot but not really anything.

"Figures. Prolly. No time for that! No the guards aren't gonna give a damn in time. Let's say, you join me, or someone else I don't know who yet. Prolly you 'cuz yer gettin' good at this." Eve was explaining, her arms moving all over the place gesticulating. "Next time one of them sees us or tries to attack us, we take out a boat an' chase 'em. See where they go, right? We can nip this entire problem in the bud! We can get them first! C'mon whattdeyae say!" she offered, ready to shake on it.

"Well then." Eve scoffed. "I'll keep watch for these. . . people. You can get your whole show over with, but I wannae see yOU! Ready. At. That. Dock!"

Eve flailed her arms around, stomping her foot. She let her hands rest on her hips, in that not-gonna-let-you-off-easy pose. Her face gleamed in the increasing sunlight with whatever was dripping out of her nostrils.

"That guy with the Spire attack can't be anymore difficult than that other Kokiri guy I see all the time. I'm gonnae tie 'em uppan ask him for directions. . . Interrogate. I'm gonna interrogate him." she insisted. Something was off, kind of, sad almost. Maybe she really didn't have anyone else to go with her right now.

Eve pouted, and then sort of whimpered. Things always went a lot better for her when she wasn't stuck on her own. So many sleepless nights sitting around in dirty clothes and killing monsters to cook before they could turn her into a meal first. Now that she had a house in town, she couldn't really afford to have these hitmen buzzing around her. She'd lose everything all over again.

"That's right! I'll find that strange Zora and make him eat his own words. He'll pay for doing that to mister Jabun. . ." Eve grumbled and mumbled. She was caught in something way weirder and bigger than herself.

Eve listened to Ruairi's doubtful tone. She turned herself to face the water, dawn's shadows covering her face. Julius. She held her arms downward, holding them straight. She couldn't rightly explain what was wrong to her new friend. Those bastards were coming, and she didn't have much time to deal with them. After that last attack, there was no doubt they were actively trying to do *something.* It was not clear, but she knew two things. There were more of those shady characters than she knew of, and she had a small window to fight back.

"It's okay chicky. I just wannae letcha know you can help. Do whateverye want but think about what I told you. That flying warlock character is comin' back. I'm gettin' to the bottom of this." she explained.

The boat was approaching the shoreline as they discussed the matter. The Kokiri could see it plainly, that villain's last chance to cut her off was the docks. She knew he could also follow her home but there was more than a large manner of things wrong with that. Was he picking her off to get to Julius, or did that group deal with him already? It was impossible, that man was old but nigh-invincible. She had to avenge Jabun for his sake.

"Here we are. The pier. . . get ready to depart." Light returned to her face. She was smiling, even. "But don't wait up for me, I'll seeya again."

The pier was coming into clear view, sailors rushed around preparing to dock. Eve's face was quivering, her arms still straightened out. The waves crashed on the bow of the ship. A black, bat-like outline appeared behind the ship. It wasn't a seagull. Eve's quivering arm reached into her pouch. Sailors hauled many cases and barrels around, their hands full with unfinished busywork. Why was that group after her? Did she know too much?

"The raw power of mortality! It will be ours!" the Rito growled to himself as he approached the unassuming ship from the sky. It was undeniable now- he was back. The horrifying reality is that he had come alone once again. The ship was being roped and knotted to the dock as the tension in the air grew. The shadowy group at the end of the pier was in view. Those odd Deku Scrubs could probably help with what was about to begin.

Watching closely, Eve made sure Ruairi had moved all of their loot off the ship. As soon as she cringed, seeing the flying wizard swoop down, Ruairi screamed for the guards.

The pair of Deku Scrubs had flowing, leafy mullets. These hairdos flapped in the wind as they pair sprinted to the end of the pier. They weaved in and out, presumably aware of each other's abilities. The pier shot to pieces as the wizard multicast Spire from the sky. Eve covered her face with her arms as they clashed. The first deku, a taller one, launched a volley of lightning from his katana. The second Deku went to intercept the wizard's careening flight path with his growing Ice Shots.

The dark Rito swerved the lightning, quickly being caught by the ice shot. He quickly flapped his wing and used magic to repair the ice flush with his own feathers. He was a magical genius and would be difficult to outmaneuver. The taller Deku crouched down and performed Shuttle Loop, soaring into the air and flipping back before gliding on a pair of leafy wings. His katana threatened the wizard from the very air. Eve looked up at the battle, keeping her special dagger ready in case he got close enough to attack.

The wizard twisted with the blade, he didn't have any way to react to a direct strike like this. He wretched, the blade entering his skin. The Rito used Wizzwarp from the air to place himself somewhere else on the pier. The shorter Deku turned and shot a few more Ice Shots at the dastard. With a turn of his cloak, the wizard began to retreat. He was now outnumbered.

"Get these things down the road chicky!" Eve cried. She side-eyed the Pols Voice. "Let's get going before he makes his next move!"

Eve hurried along.

"Now that the weirdo can't follow us home, we should gettouttahere!" she relayed to the Rito.

Familiar with Darunia, Eve tried to lead Ruairi up the sidestreets where they couldn't be easily seen. She was wary about whatever allies that flying wizard probably had. If he was involved with the same Zora that she encountered so long ago, he was dangerous for sure. But to be specific, he probably was involved with a larger group. That's what worried her.

"Yasee, it's about principles. On principle we can't let that guy ruin our vacation. Yeah, it wasn't perfect. But I will be gloomy about this whole trip if we let that guy get his way." Eve explained sternly.

She looked at the Pols Voice up and down. Perhaps it was the little victories that counted, on top of the fact that the guards chased their enemy away. This big bunny was proof of that. They had a lot to be proud of today.

"Although we did accomplish a lot. Chances are I'll have to go after that guy one day, but we can be happy about what we did these past days."