Yeteta (Electronic Ink) Gulbodat (Luneth) Raucous laughter could be heard echoing through the marketplace of Nabooru, along with the adoring squeals of small children. One might have thought that a clown or jester had been performing; or perhaps a firebreather, or even a cheeky acrobat performing daring feats of adrenalin-fuelled madness. The truth was less glamourous by a far cry, although it did bring similar amounts of tear-jerking laughter and ridiculing. A small, dumpy Yeti balanced less-than gracefully on her head while a small pink-and-blue doll with a rather ghastly visage danced across her toes. The Yeti herself was laughing fit to burst, toes wiggling furiously as she failed to realise that the tickling she was forced to endure was in fact being caused by her own doll, controlled by her own head. A few rupees piled up in the pointed hat resting on the ground in front of the Yeti; a token of appreciation for the humour. Yeteta finally made the connection between the doll and the unbearable tickling, and the doll leaped off her head to land on an outstretched hand. Yeteta made the doll leap skywards, aiding the jump by thrusting her hand up with it, then rolled to her wide feet. The doll landed on her head, and both the doll and Yeti bowed, to applause from the gathered people. Parents slowly began to pull children away, and Yeteta waved them off, her doll mimicking her, as she toddled over to her hat.
"Yes, thank you for your generous order. I hope your lady friend likes the flowers." A deep voice rumbled slowly from the Goron manning the counter of Gulbodat's Flowers. The young Hylian purchasing the bouquet stepped out of the store as Gulbodat waved at the exiting body. As the door swung open, the loud laughter of the marketplace seeped inside. Attention stirred from the raucous laughter, he swung open the door to the counter and pushed his way outside, big footsteps shaking the door as he pulled it open and looked around the market place. Tapping the young customer that had stopped outside his door and asking him to step aside, Gulbodat stepped into the bright sunlight of Nabooru's marketplace. He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the light from the controlled brightness of his shop. His eyes focused on a creature performing some kind of act with a doll on the street corner. He tried to determine what kind of race the creature was, but he didn't have any luck. He shrugged and watched the performance, and as it finished he added his thunderous clapping to the applause. The doll and creature bowed, and he fished around in his bag for a rupee or two to throw in the creature's hat. Tossing a spare green into the hat, he waved slowly at the creature. "Hello there." The deep, slow rumbling greeted the performer and its doll. "My name is Gulbodat. I run the flower shop across the street. I do not mean to be rude, but what kind of creature are you? I've never seen one of your kind before." He inquired slowly, hoping he wasn't overstepping his boundaries.
Yeteta toddled over and squinted at him, pulling her rupees out and stashing them in her wallet. She plopped her hat back on her head. "Gully-boo-dat?" she said uncertainly. "Nice to meet you. I's Yeteta, and I is a Yeti! We's live in the snow, on Snowpeak," She beamed at the huge stranger, stuffing Scoop back under her hat. She looked about, checking to see if she could see any other 'Gully-boo-dats' in the rapidly dispersing crowd. She had never encountered the large, rocky creatures before, and the earthern scent of his stone-like skin was strangely comforting. She sniffed deeply, quite enjoying the scent. She picked up her cloak from where she had folded it on the ground; she was hopeless at folding, so it probably looked more like she had just tossed it on the ground. Yeteta threw the cloak over her sloping shoulders and buttoned together the snowman-shaped clasp. She scanned the floor quickly, ensuring she hadn't forgotten anything. "What's you being, Mister Gully-boo-dat? You's not Hilyan, is you?"
The massive giant chuckled, shaking his head. "No, Yeteta, I am not Hylian. I am a Goron. We used to live in the mountains that divide South and North Hyrule." He looked northward, seeing the peaks of Snowpeak in the far distance. He whistled, a high sound opposed to his normal booming, slow voice. "I have always wanted to see the peaks of Snowhead." he said wistfully, a melancholy tone in the timbre of his voice. "Alas, snow kills flowers, and without them, I grow sad." He looked down at the Yeti. A playful, happy being, it was nice to have such an abundant source of energy around.
Yeteta gave a bright smile. "You has flowers?" she said happily. "I's love flowers! So colourful!" She looked north with him, wondering if she squinted hard enough, could she see her den? A huff marked her realisation that her vision was not nearly good enough. She looked back at her Goron partner. "So nows I has met Hilyan, Zora, Spotty Hilyan and Goron. Oh, also that talking birdy crow. So that's..." she counted on her fingers, "five new types of peoples I has met! Now I has to make it to...to...ten! Yes!" She opened her mouth to continue yammering when someone let out a sharp squeal. Yeteta spun in surprise; a Yook was looking straight at her across the plaza. "I KNEW IT WAS YOU!" the massive Yook snarled. "YOU STOLE THAT DOLL FROM ME!" Yeteta blinked. "No I's didn'ts!" she screamed back. "You's too stupid to sells for right numbers of rupees!" The Yook looked furious, and Yeteta stared him down for a moment before starting to wilt. "Ohs no,"
He nodded. "Lots of flowers. Lots and lots." He listened to her talk about the amount of people she had met, and smiled. He'd only met Hylians and Gorons in his time, plus the Skull Kid that makes his Leaf Puppets. He was only a bit behind Yeteta, but he quite honestly had little motivation to increase his number by any significant means. A sharp squeal echoed through the plaza, and he slowly turned his head to the direction it came from, the trademark Goron "Aroo?" coming out of his mouth. A massive creature, looking similar to Yeteta but slightly different came barreling through the plaza, angrily stepping towards the girl. Incorrectly assuming it was another Yeti, perhaps related to Yeteta in some way, he listened until he realized that Yeteta had stolen the little doll that she lived off of. He held out his hands in a symbol of peace, approaching the Yook slowly. "If you would please calm down sir, you're upsetting the people of the town. We can peacefully resolve this." Gulbodat rumbled out. And it was true, the townspeople were uneasy, but not only because of the Yook. Nearby town guards nervously gripped their shields, and Gorons stood warily. They knew that if even the wrong sound was made, or Gulbodat was hurt, they would have to step in and neutralize both of them. Some of them had previously had to calm the florist before, and were already beginning to approach the scene. Gulbodat ignored them, continuing to attempt to placate the Yook.
Yeteta hid behind Gulbodat. "You's better runs!" she yelled at the Yook. "Gully-boo-dat has...has...FLOWERS!" Yeteta assumed her most threatening face- which was nowhere near the realms of what normal people might call threatening. She looked like a constipated calf. Yeteta's fists were clenched, ready for a swift yeti-punch to the face if she had to cut and run. She wasn't a particularly fast runner, though, so she hoped to avoid that. Man, she needed to learn how to run faster, because situations involving running were becoming alarmingly frequent. Seriously. The Yeti looked around Gulbodat's stomach to see the Yook staring at him, eyes blazing. "You do not know what you are involved in," the Yook said to him angrily. "This Yeti stole a treasure from me. Nobody steals a treasure from me." "It nots a very important treasures," Yeteta said. "It nots do much. Just dance," "Those dolls are rare!" "You solds it. Nots yours."
Gulbodat sighed. It wasn't often that he lent his voice to the side of what seemed to be a tiny criminal, but what she had done didn't seem like too much of a crime to him. She let out cries that the Yook had overpriced the doll, and he remembered what it was like to be young and want something that was just out of reach due to circumstances beyond one's control. "I understand you are very upset, and that you have both a business and a reputation to uphold. How much was the doll in question? Perhaps she could reimburse you now." He offered, and he wasn't above helping her pay it back. But he didn't know just how much it would cost.
Yeteta looked at him with something like offence in her eyes. "It was five rupees. I gaves him his five rupees. Then he realiseds that Scoop is being magic and he wants more rupees, but too lates, he solds it and now Scoop is being mine!" The Yook glared at her. "You ripped me off and you know it!" he said angrily. "That doll is worth far more than what you gave me!" "Doesn't matters!" Yeteta sang. "You 's solds it! You's solds it!"
Gulbodat rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of the situation in his head. So the Yook had sold the doll to the Yeti before he realized that the doll had magical properties, and demanded the doll back. As expected, Yeteta had refused. Now the Yook had a vengeance. "Alright, sir, I think I understand what happened." He said, taking his hands down from his eyes. "The doll was worth far more than initially priced, but you did not know it at the time. Perhaps the young lady could provide you with some sort of compensation? Another payment?" As hopeful he was that it wouldn't resort to violence, he had a dreadful feeling that the Yook's muscles would soon be taut with rage and violence.
The Yook actually seemed to be considering it for a few moments before he apparently got jumbled and reverted to DEFCON 1- get the Yeti. With a roar the Yook started charging forwards, and Yeteta squealed in horror, looking frantically around for an escape route. She wasn't familiar with this town at all, and had no idea where to run. "Mister! Misterrrrrr help me!" she shrieked in terror, wheeling around and running- very slowly, because she was a tubby little Yeti who never had been able to run particularly fast. Her large feet smacked loudly against the cobblestones.
Gulbodat panicked, the roar of the Yook threatening to take him back to the battlefield of Death Mountain and spiral him back downward into another psychosis. Instead, he withdrew the Skull Kid's leaf from his bag, focusing his energy into it before throwing it at the Yook. With a puff of white smoke, a hulking marionette affixed with a creepy rendition of Gulbodat's face stuttered into sight. Its arms and legs jerked, held up by invisible strings. The face tilted from side to side, stopping the Yook in its tracks on its path to Yeteta. With a trembling finger, Gulbodat pointed forward, toward the Yook, and the puppet flung itself up and forward, tackling the slightly larger than itself Yook. With that, Gulbodat turned to the Yeti, yelling "Run!" and running as fast as he could, thudding footsteps echoing off into the trees as they ran.
Yeteta bounced after the Goron, repeatedly glancing back over her shoulder to look at the Yook struggling with the marionette. "Thanking yous!" she shrieked at it, not realising that it wasn't alive. She charged after Gulbodat bouncing from one foot to another, the charms on her hat jangling together in a cacophonous expression of her current terror. She didn't catch up, really, but continued to trail behind him wildly. She would have lost her precious hat, containing Scoop, had the ribbon not caught around her thick neck and yanked the hat back. "Gully-boo-dat! Where you going?"
Gulbodat panted as he ran, as he wasn't used to using his stubby legs so suddenly, being that he usually traveled by rolling. He called back to the Yeti floundering behind him, the raucous jingling of her hat almost acting like a collar telling the Yook where they were. "I'm going...puff, huff...to a place where...huff!...he will not find us!" After a few minutes, he broke into the clearing of one of the forest meadows, collapsing onto his knees and panting wildly. "I don't think...he will find us here."
Yeteta immediately plopped on the grass, landing on her backside. Her tail sprawled behind her, and her hat hung around her neck. She panted like an animal, flopping onto her side and curling up. "I's....not liking running," she whined, flicking her furry tail around. "Not fun," After a few minutes, it occurred to her that she should probably thank Gulbodat for saving her butt. "Hey, Gully-boo-dat," she said. "Thanking you for savings me," She slowly sat up, straightening her hat and making sure she still had Scoop. "You's is not needing to do that,"
