Do Not Test On Animals

Date: May 26, 2013
Time: 1:07 pm

To say the absolute least, the past two days had been very interesting. Between getting cursed back in the Kindle Forest and now having to adapt to the curses they currently held, the Hyruleans had had their hands full. The curses themselves were still proving not to be too bad in and of themselves, but the very fact that they could not really be controlled was really the worst of it. It was very good that hot water was able to reverse them just as instantly as they were activated in the first place, but even so… the way that water almost seemed to find a way to splash them unexpectedly was already causing some odd situations for the Hyruleans.

And that was exactly how Link and Impa had found themselves stuck as a piglet and panda right in the reception of the inn.

After Link, Zelda, Link, and Impa had had their lunch together upstairs, the Hero of Winds and Sage of Shadow had headed downstairs to check a few things at their two desks. The day's work was proceeding as normal thus far, but it was always good to run a quick check of things before jumping right back into everything at the start of the afternoon. It was just another part of their routine, and one that they sought to keep up the same as everything else at the inn despite their curses. Thus far, things had not really changed much for the four Hyruleans save their obvious having to be careful around water, and despite the few unfortunate mishaps since they had first returned to the inn, things had gone relatively smoothly.

Right as Link and Impa had started to move from the stairs towards the lobby though, they had been met with one of the younger housekeepers who was returning him whilst carrying a sizable vase full of flowers… and water. Unfortunately, luck was not on their side as the poor girl had wound up tripping forward, but although Impa's quick reflexes had enabled her to catch the vase and save it from shattering, the housekeeper's momentum had still been enough to send the flowers and water flying… landing right on Link and Impa. Even around the confusion at suddenly seeing the innkeeper and head of security transformed into a piglet and panda, they were able to gather up the flowers without incident, and a couple of apologies later, she was safely on her way. As for Link and Impa, they were still set to head to their desks, but the fairies with them were insistent on them waiting by the reception as they went to retrieve some hot water for them… something that both of them were rather grateful for and more than fine with waiting on.

Not a pair to stand idle for too long though, Impa had soon read a few cues from Link that he wanted to try and sort some mail while they waited. Figuring that this was a good way for him to get even more used to his cursed form, she soon growled softly to him before gently picking him up in her paws and placing him on top of the desk. Whilst he was set to toss the letters, Impa herself was on standby to pick up any that happened to go astray, and before too long, the two were well on their way to getting more of the day's mail properly sorted out.

These curses were still rather strange, but as this latest instance proved, they were not bad… and hopefully, they would not prove to be too confusing for anyone that happened to pass by in the meantime.

Being cursed as a pig wasn’t too bad, Link thought. Neri had fretted and them had all been worried at some point about these curses but rather than lamenting over being cursed, the Hyruleans were adapting to the situation. It could be a lot worse, they could be dying, knee deep in luminous toxic substance whilst the city was burning down and an alien invasion was happening - oh wait, that was the Phazon crisis. Thankfully, they weren’t. Instead the only bothersome thing about these curses were that they had very little control over it. Water hazards just got attracted to them so much that even Link who minded the least about getting soaked in general was wary about stepping foot outside of the inn. He had had his fair enough of sudden downpours, falling water cans and puddle splashes to last him for the next few weeks, thank you very much. And considering his own curse was that of a piglet less than knee high (and a non-speaking one at that), going about business around the city just got a lot more difficult. Even armed all three of his fairies with a bottle of water each to change him when need be couldn’t help him last longer than an hour out there!

The inn itself wasn’t exactly a safe haven either. The staff were accommodating but the housekeeping and janitorial staff had taken much flak over many an accidental spill where a Hyrulean oh so happen to be the in the water’s range. As was another case today with the flower vase, an incident Link could only sigh in resignation, shake off the water droplets and snort away the housekeeper’s apologies.

The staff member was urged to continue on her way after the spill was cleaned up and Impa and Link were left waiting at the desk as the fairies flew off to fetch hot water. The piglet innkeeper looked around, shrugged and figured rather than waiting idly, he could get some work done. A scratch at the desk’s edge and a look at his bear companion and he was soon lifted and set upon the wooden surface. Within a minute, he was facing opposite the mail sorting pigeon holes and flanked by a pile of mail.

Link would readily admit to be very adept at sorting mail. It was one skill he was particularly proud of but skilled as he was, he had never sorted mail as a creature where letters were at least half the length of his body and he had no fingers to grasp the envelopes with. It didn’t stop him thought, he nuzzled through the pile until he picked up an envelope with his teeth. A muffled snort later, Link turned on the spot and sent the letter whizzing through the air...to hit the office door’s window.

He snorted. Right, this was harder than he thought…

The piglet nodded his thanks to Impa was helping picking up the stray letter then set himself out for flinging more letters through the air, experimenting with different angles… and maybe having a fair amount of fun with this than he should and oblivious to how odd a sight Impa and himself must be making here at the reception.

[[Out of 25, how many letters went into the right slot?]]

The member 'Wind Waker Link' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

'Attack/Heal (21-25)' : 19

Chell, in her time, had seen some... shall we say, oddities. Aperture Laboratories itself hadn't exactly been the most normal place in the world, what with the bottomless pits, gel that sent you flying fifteen feet up in the air if you happened to step on it, and of course, the benevolent AIs that ran the place had been an adventure in themselves--and not a very pleasant one, either. Coming to the Breach hadn't made much of a difference. Sure, it was the closest thing to a normal life she'd ever had as far as she could recall, but in some ways, she thought the place basically topped Aperture in the 'what the hell' department, even on the best of days. The portals that brought you here, the different species and creatures that somehow managed to co-exist, the almost seasonal disasters... just... Portal Breach in general. 

It was something you had to learn to live with if you were to have any hope of surviving here, and having been a citizen for a little over a year now, Chell felt she had finally gotten the hang of it. Monsters from your friend's world appearing out of nowhere in the grasslands? An arrow to the face usually solved that. Your friend falling prey to mind control by an evil AI residing near the moon? Travel up into space and finish it off before dinner. It was never quite as easy as one could make it sound, and never fun, but being around older members of the Breach had helped her fall into a routine, of sorts. As long as you accepted your circumstances, you could live a pretty decent (if not chaotic) life, and she had long since gotten past batting on eyelash at much anything these days.

Sometimes, though, the place worked really hard to subvert that. Today was to be one of those days.

The former test subject had been eating lunch, and after a thoroughly satisfying meal, she had been set to take a walk around town to burn off the extra calories--now that she was living a life of relative luxury, she wanted to make sure she stayed in shape. Even more important than that though, she also wanted to eye the windows of nearby businesses, see if any of them happened to have a 'now hiring' sign. Now that she was settled, she figured it was as good of a time as any to start looking for a job... the last thing she wanted to become was stagnate. She didn't have much of an idea as to where she'd like to work, nor was she sure that many places would even want to hire someone like her, but she wouldn't know unless she tried. So, with her usual bullheaded determination firmly in tow, she'd set out towards the front door of the inn, passing the staircase, passing the hallway leading to her room, passing the piglet and the panda sorting mail by Link's desk...

...wait, what?

The sound of her long fall boots scraping against the floor abruptly stopped as she jerked herself to a halt, staring blankly at the spectacle. There was a piglet and a panda sorting mail by Link's desk. Not just by Link's desk, on Link's desk. This maybe wouldn't have phased her had they been engaged in any other activity--after all, they could simply be new tenants, or maybe even pets--but the fact that they were taking on duties that she was pretty sure were reserved for the inn staff, AKA her friends, was what mostly stopped her cold. Were they supposed to be doing that? Were they even allowed? What would posess someone to do such a thing? To top it all off, as she looked closer at the pair for any sort of giveaway, something else caught her attention... 

The pig who was currently chucking mail through the pigeon holes was wearing Link's hat.

There were no words. Not that Chell would even be able to vocalize them if there had been, but still. She simply stood, face blank, eyes growing wide, taking in the sight in front of her with a picture perfect look of bafflement. "..."

Admittedly, whilst it was rather unlucky that Link and Impa had been splashed so soon on their return to the first floor of the inn, things could have certainly been much worse, and that stood regardless of the fact that the fairies had insisted on darting off to get some hot water for them. As it was, the two of them still got to spend a bit of time together, they were able to take care of some of their work for the afternoon, and even better, they were able to better adapt to their cursed forms.

Once Link's first letter hit the window of the door to his office, Impa was quick to pick it up from the floor, finding that task to be relatively simple given the false thumb she had as a panda. She still planned to go by the library and learn even more about this specific type of bear, but from the information she had found and read thus far, she had wound up turning into a rather unique ursine species. The false thumbs had come in especially handy over the past few days, and whether she was holding a digiglass or picking anything else up, Impa knew that they would continue to be beneficial to her no matter how long she was to be cursed.

As for Link, whilst he was adapting rather well to his piglet form, it appeared that mail sorting was going to take him a little bit of practice to land him closer to where he stood with it as a Hylian. Out of 25 letters, he got 19 hits for this round... and with all things considered, that was actually rather good. As she moved to pick up the 6 letters that had not made it to the correct slots, Impa growled pleasantly to her charge, soon nodding to him to show that she was proud of his first attempt to sort letters whilst cursed. It had been a new challenge for him, but as ever, he had met it head on, and she had a feeling that that exercise would only prove to help him sharpen his skills both as a piglet and a boy.

Impa then began to place the 6 letters in their proper slots, but no sooner had she set the final one in its place than did her round ears perk up slightly. She knew those footsteps anywhere... and that meant... oh sweet Din...

Turning around to look just past the desk, Impa saw none other than Chell standing there, their friend simply staring at her and Link in disbelief. Her confusion was clearly evident across her features, and although her reaction was to be expected given the scene she had stumbled upon, the bear did feel a little bad that she had not yet got to tell her about their new curses yet. Despite the fact that the Hyruleans had really stuck to the inn the past two days, they had not gotten a good chance yet... and now, it seemed that Chell was going to find out about two of their curses in a less than expected way. At least it wasn't as disconcerting as having to see them get splashed into their cursed forms the way Neri had...

Chell was still standing there frozen and wide-eyed even as Impa caught her gaze, and with a resigned sigh, Impa moved to wave slowly to her, her brows shifting into a slightly sheepish expression. At least their friend wasn't leaving before she could try to help bring some sense to the situation... and hopefully, they could help lessen her confusion even before the fairies returned.

Exchanging a glance and nod with Link, Impa moved to pick up his digiglass, starting to carefully claw out a message on it. Once she had written it, she turned the digiglass around and held it in front of herself so that Chell could see it. Making sure to keep the message right underneath the armored collar that she kept even in this form, Impa growled softly, showing the message, "Hi Chell."

After twenty five letters, the piglet paused, puffing a little and flexed his upon his limbs from side to side. The whole twisting and turning to get enough speed to send envelopes flying was tiring! Never had he appreciated his Hylian body in letter sorting so much. Doing it as a piglet was a workout and had he not been so adept with spin attacks and rolling dodges in general, he imagined he wouldn’t last to letter twenty five without getting dizzy.

Link snuffled and blinked his thanks to Impa before his ears twitched. The even better hearing (only by a slight margin) and great sense of smell was certainly a welcome advantage to being a pig. Footsteps and familiar ones too. He twisted around, grumbling as he did so. It was another thing he wasn’t used to yet, his shorter body just don’t turn the same way and in order to look behind him, the Hero of Winds found that instead of just turning his head, he actually had to shuffle around and turn his entire body at least a bit.

Familiar footsteps indeed! It was Chell! Well, wasn’t this an awkward way to tell their tenant and friend about their curses. He can imagine what a sight they must look right now and whilst a pig was common sight around the inn courtesy of his pet piglet, Ganon, a piglet sorting mail accompanied by a bear was another story entirely.

They had planned to inform her a little later once they were more use to it and had fully determined that they were safe despite being turned into animals and boy. He wasn’t too sure how secure people would feel living in a place where the innkeeper and other staff had been cursed into animal forms with questionable fighting ability - that being said, they could all take care of themselves if past events were any proof. He also didn’t want tenants to all be up in arms trying to find a cure en masse either. What would happen if somebody less than friendly overheard the news and came storming over?! All they had to do is splash Link and Link with a bit of water and they’ll be reduce to rather defenseless knee-high creatures. Though with how often they were getting splashed in the inn, it was unlikely the secret will remain a secret for long…

Link shared a glance with Impa and nodded in perfect time with her before turning back to Chell. As Impa displayed her message, Link sat his tail down on the desk and lifted a hoof to wave.Where were the fairies when they need them?

Well, she'd done it now. Whoever these two were had definitely taken notice of her staring, thus eliminating any chance of her figuring out what was going on in a more... casual manner. Not that 'casual' was really applicable here anyway. Chell remained stock still as the panda made its way towards her, her posture unafraid, though at the same time mentally taking note of the tiny voice in her head that was telling her this animal could really hurt her if it wanted too. She didn't know much about pandas, and this one didn't seem to be displaying any aggression thus far, but still, best to remain on her guard. 

The former test subject watched with a puzzled look as the creature moved to pick up a digiglass--looking for all intents and purposes to be Link's--feeling more and more unsure as her confusion mounted. Should she try to find the inn staff? Admittedly, she hadn't seen any of her Hyrulean friends for a few days, due to being distracted herself and what she had assumed to be conflicting schedules, but she couldn't help but wonder if they'd prefer it if she didn't take this on herself. She wasn't official staff after all, even if she liked to help here and there. There didn't seem to be any way to get out of this now, though.

Besides, the piglet had Link's hat. Considering Chell couldn't remember a time she'd even seen him without it, something had to be very wrong.

Deciding to stand her ground, the woman waited for the panda to finish writing, only for her eyebrows to somehow hitch even higher once she read what it said. It knew her name? To top it all off, the piglet proceeded to wave at her, as friendly as could be, leaving the normally sharp woman irrefutably stumped. How did they know her? She had never seen them before in her life, and she'd seen a lot seen arriving here. Returning her gaze back to the digiglass, her eyes traveled up slowly, before bulging for the umpteenth time as they settled on the familiar symbol that sat around the panda's chest.

No... it couldn't be...

Dumbfounded, and now more than a little worried for her sanity, the only reaction Chell could manage was to continue to stare dazedly, briefly moving to raise her hand up in a loose wave as she returned the pair's greeting.

Whilst Impa displayed her written greeting to Chell, Link gave their friend a wave of his own, an action which would hopefully work to their advantage overall even if it confused her further at first. The former test subject's surprise at the waves and presented text was clearly evident as her eyebrows were raised just about as high as they could possibly go, but even though the use of her name had baffled her, at the very least, it had ensured that she wasn't just going to continue on her way without an explanation.

Granted, Impa was not in the best position to give her one at the moment, and that stood regardless of the fact that she could not presently talk... but bear or not, she had to do her best until the fairies could return.

Chell's eyes widened yet again as she seemed to notice the familiar armored collar around Impa's neck, and even though the Eye of the Sheikah that it bore could not outright show her the truth, at the very least, it might just help lead her to it.

Impa nodded slowly as Chell continued to stare rather dazedly at both of them, although her muzzle did quirk into a slight smile at catching the wave that she gave Link and herself. Confused or not, it was something of a relief that she was able to respond... she was still sorting through the clues before her of course, but the bear would have much rather her been stunned than panicked.

Now that she was certain that Chell was not going anywhere just yet, Impa moved to clear the written text before carefully clawing out a second message. As soon as she had it set, she turned the digiglass back around to show, "I know that this is strange, but I promise it's all right. We are just who you might think we are."

As Chell's eyebrows went even higher up her forehead at Impa's greeting, the piglet on the desk had press his lips firmly together to stop himself from snorting out piggish giggles. Despite the unusual, awkward and very serious situation, he can't help but think this was rather funny! He probably shouldn't think it was funny. Instead he should be a bit more nervous over Chell's reaction but when the test subject waved back to him, he couldn't possibly imagine the situation getting worse. It wasn't like their friend would suddenly bolt now, would she?

What would happen if she really did bolt? Would they stop her? Should they stop her? Actually could they stop her? Impa definitely could. Just because she was in a different form didn't mean her Sheikah reflexes weren't there anymore. She could catch Chell in a literal bear hug before his fellow mute could run out the door. What about himself? Er... um... well he suppose he could get in the way of Chell's feet and trip her up. Link almost wanted to sigh as he realised once more that his cursed form really wasn't threatening at all...

When Impa showed her the new message, Link tilted his head to read it as well, snorting once in agreement to what was written. They were who she thought they were? Had she figured it out already? The hat and the collar were pretty big clues but with neither animal having the actual ability to talk, it might make believing it that tiny bit harder. Where were his fairies when they needed them?

Maybe if he did something that was more Link-like it would help confirm Impa's words and Chell's suspicions more. Link flicked a glance to Impa then approached the edge of the desk - the staff side, shuffling his hooves a little as he laid on his belly. He hooked a hoof on a drawer handle and with a bit of work, he got the drawer to open a bit. In this gap, the piglet shoved his snout and wriggled, widening the gap until he spotted what he wanted. Aha! With a grunt of satisfaction, he bit at the corner of the wrapper and pulled, dragging the packet out of the drawer and onto the desk. The cursed innkeeper then started to nudge the packet to the edge of the desk closest to Chell, sat and snuffled a question.

Do you want a cookie?

Yes, despite how improbable this all seemed, Chell was definitely starting to put two and two together. Slowly. With just the slightest hint of denial. She read Impa's note, carefully, and then again one more time for good measure, just to make sure she wasn't misinterpreting something--though truthfully, if what was happening was what she was beginning to suspect was happening, then the answer was pretty straight forward. The reassurance that everything was okay helped her relax a slight bit at the very least, despite the more logical parts of her brain, still holding on after all this time, insisting that something was still very, very wrong. Still, she hadn't been mauled yet, and no one seemed to be in any great pain or distress--if anything, they seemed to be looking at her with the slightest trace of amusement. If these two were who she suspected, then she supposed they had every reason to.

Staring dumbly at the pair of them, she almost felt like laughing herself, had she not still been so confused. There would be enough time for that later, once she was recovered enough to get to the bottom of all of this. Snapping out of her inner struggle, she watched almost warily as the piglet skittered across Link's desk--possibly his desk?--appearing to search around for something in one of the drawers. His target found, Chell reached out to accept the cookie that was now being ever so kindly offered to her, presented in the most Link-way she could possibly imagine.

If this didn't confirm things, she wasn't sure what would. 

Sucking in a breath, the women nodded to show that she understood, enough not to run away, in any case. Most of the time, her inability to talk was something that she dealt with easily as she went about her life. Using her notebook for communication was second nature to her now, even if it did take up sometimes precious time, and overall, she managed. She would never accept pity or help when it came to that. And yet, there were days... she bit her lip, glancing between the two of them. She had so many questions, and no way to voice them all. Why were they like this? Had something happened? Chell knew her friends were proficient in the ways of magic, a skill she still had a hard time comprehending even now, but... had something gone wrong? Some kind of training exercise, maybe? And if so, why hadn't they changed back?

Or, was this simply something natural to them that they hadn't wanted to tell her about?

She wasn't about to get upset either way. People had reasons for keeping things to themselves, and neither of them seemed at all upset about their current conditions. Even so, with so many questions and so little time to write them down, the former test subject settled for simply scribbling one down in her notebook, holding it up to the pair knowing that they would get exactly what she meant. "But... how?"

Chell might not have figured out just who Impa and Link really were immediately, but between the cursed duo's own careful actions, Impa's written statements, and Link's offering of a cookie, it seemed that their friend was in fact piecing things together. The clawed out confirmation that they were just who she was starting to realize they were seemed to help just as much as the reassurance that everything was okay did, and soon enough, Chell was nodding to them.

It was very strange indeed, but the former test subject understood just what they were trying to tell her.

The panda knew that she would not have been able to get quite the same level of acceptance had she flat out wrote that they were Link and Impa, but thankfully, their well-calculated responses to the former test subject had left her curious and understanding, if not a bit confused. It made perfect sense for her to be baffled… after all, this was quite unexpected, just as it had been to the four Hyruleans two days prior. Impa could effectively see the gears turning though as Chell seemed to be pondering just what to ask them… and she couldn't imagine that much of what she wanted to ask was easy to write. Some of the potential questions were tough enough to voice, but to pose them without even being able to vocalize them? That was an entirely new challenge.

The Sage of Shadow did not have to be mute to understand that, as even before she had gained this cursed form, she had been well-versed in nonverbal communication. Her keen perception helped out a lot with that… and thankfully, here it seemed to be helping just as much as the former test subject's similarly quick wit was.

As soon as Chell presented her simple question, Impa exchanged a glance with Link before nodding, clearing the digiglass, and moving to write her first answer. Once it was set, she turned it around to her friend, showing, "We were out training in the forest two days ago. Everything was fine there, but on the way back, we stumbled upon the newest area pulled to the Breach… a clearing full of cursed springs. They appeared right beneath us, and we fell in, taking these forms. Thankfully though, they are not permanent."

The piglet ejected out a small puff of air, relieved as Chell nodded. So relieved that he was almost tempted to nuzzle into the cookie packet and get himself a treat.

How... there was a word which spoke volumes if there were any. But how indeed. Had Link been in the former test subject's boots, he would had probably written, erased, rewritten, erased and redo how many different questions before he settled on one that would be undoubtedly longer than what Chell had written.

He turned his head, nodded to Impa and watched as she clawed out a reply before nodding again in agreement with her words. Even after almost forty-eight hours, it still amazed him to think that new land, in particular this kind of new land, would appear right beneath their feet with such incredible timing. What were the odds? Like his fairy, Neri, even Link couldn't help but wonder if this was linked to some giant event that's yet to unfold despite Impa's confirming otherwise. It was just too coincidental.

"Sorry we took a while. Rosa made us bring cupcakes too!"

Speaking of the fairies...

"Oh hello Che...oh....er..."

The three fairies screeched to a halt in the air, one balancing a plate of cupcakes whilst two were supporting a jug of warm water. They turned one way then the other, immediately figuring out what had happened and soon a lot of muttering and whispering could be heard as the three spirits quickly conversed amongst themselves.

"She's not running away, she must know." "Or she's in shock and has YET to run away. I say we tackle her. I'll take the left and you the right. Neri can throw the water on Link and Impa." "Tackle her?!" "Wouldn't throwing the water make it more confusing?" "If she wanted to run, she would had done so by now." "I'm sure Impa would be a lot faster in stopping her if she did run." "Can I tackle her on the right and you on the left then?" "There will be NO tackling!"

Link grunted. Loudly. There will be no tackling at all. He pointed a hoof at the notepad in Chell's hand. Look! She wrote something. It's fine! Can we please have the water now?

It was true that had that confirmation been worded any differently, Chell most likely would have not accepted who they were so easily. The former test subject was a naturally suspicious person by nature, and living on the Breach for so long had only enforced that, as you could probably land yourself in some really big trouble if you didn't have a healthy dose of skepticism for everything you were told. Luckily, Impa had known her long enough now to know just how to approach the situation, and a possible crisis, however minor, had been largely averted.

That still didn't mean that what she was seeing in front of her wasn't a little hard to swallow, though. Newest area of the Breach? Cursed springs? That... certainly sounded ominous. Frowning, the woman couldn't help but subtly eye the floor of the lobby, almost halfway expecting a few to appear underneath her own feet--you never could tell with this place. Letting out a tiny breath when a pocket of cursed springs failed to blink into existence, she forced herself to nod, albeit slowly, allowing herself to finally relax a little. Her friends were okay, that was all that mattered. They weren't in pain, or mindless, or mind controlled for that matter, and Impa had said there was even a way to reverse the situation, which was probably the best news she'd heard in the past ten minutes. What exactly was the antidote to this, though? How long had they even been stuck like this? Still practically buzzing with questions, Chell once again reached for her notepad...

...and was promptly interrupted by three very enthusiastic fairies. Staring blankly, the former test subject cocked her head at Ciela's hesitant greeting, only for her eyebrows to fly up once more when talk of tackling her reached her ears, although there was definite amusement in her eyes this time around. Even if she hadn't already been talked down, she wasn't sure if anyone tackling her would have done much to diffuse things, but it was an ambitious thought, at any rate. Shaking her head, she penned another note, this time aiming it specifically at the fairies. "Hate to disappoint, but I don't think tackling me will be necessary. I'm fine. Impa just told me what happened."

Speaking of the Sheikah-turned-panda, Chell turned her attention back to her and Link, relief and confusion written all over her features. "I'm just glad you two are okay. How do you reverse this, though? How is that even possible?"

Impa held the digiglass steady as Chell read her message, inwardly thinking back to the time last year when she had explained to the former test subject that not only could people be pulled to this world, so could objects and even entire areas. They had both encountered instances of such, but only well after the fact of the arrivals of the items or places in question. To her knowledge, this was the first time anyone had been present for the appearance of a whole new place that did not accompany their own arrival here. The panda was glad that it was not worse of course, but the odds that not only had they stumbled upon a new area as it arrived, that it had appeared directly underfoot, and that it was a CURSED one at that had been incredible.

It was more than strange, to say the least… but even though they were still early in the curses, they were not proving to be too bad. They were a bit of a challenge to get used to at first, but Impa was confident that they would all be able to use this experience as a positive one, both for boosting their own skills as well as strengthening the unbreakable bond they already shared.

Impa was able to pick up on the fact that Chell had finally relaxed a little, and she couldn't help but smile softly to her, or at least as best she could as a panda. She gave her friend a knowing nod in return to the former test subject's understanding one, right before her own round ears perked up at catching the sounds of the three fairies returning.

Letting out a soft growl of relief, Impa's slight smile return as she caught Neri's reason for part of why it had taken them so long. Before she could really greet them though, Neri, Ciela, and Leaf each stopped midair the instant they spotted Chell… right before promptly jumping into their own little huddle as they tried to decide how best to go about the situation.

"Growf…" Impa flattened her ears before shaking her head twice, just before Link let out a sharp grunt and Chell held up her own response to the three fairies. She certainly appreciated their enthusiasm, but this was Chell… and the panda knew very well that she could more than handle this, even with as strange as it seemed. Once Ciela, Leaf, and Neri had read the former test subject's note, Impa cocked a brow at them as though to echo Link's silent request for the hot water.

Until they could calm down from their own surprise though, Impa glanced back to Chell, her own ears perking back up as she was glad to see some relief peppered in around the confusion that was still evident across her features. Once she had written and presented a new message, the panda nodded gratefully to her before clearing the digiglass and clawing out another message of her own. Once she had finished it, she turned it around to show, "Thank you. We don't know what the permanent cure is, but these forms can be temporarily reversed with hot water. Cold water will change us into them, but hot water will just as quickly turn us back."

There would be no tackling to be done that day indeed. Leaf deflated a little in disappointment, Neri gave a sigh of relief that nobody was going to be hurt and Ciela was a tiny bit huffy that tackling could even be suggested in the first place. With a tug on the water she and Leaf were holding, Neri led the way first to Impa, figuring the faster one of them could further explain things to Chell the better and writing just wasn't as fast as speaking - sorry, Link.

The fairies flew above the panda, carefully tipping the jug to control the amount of water they're about to spill on Impa's head. It wouldn't do to make the lobby's floor too wet, though Leaf wouldn't mind too much in drying it up with a puff of fire in the air above. Pouring just enough of the hot water on the bear's head until it was no longer a bear's head they were looking at but that of a Sheikah's, Neri could not help but gave out another sigh of relief. No matter how many times she had seen the transformation so far (and she's seen a lot with the experimenting they had been doing) it still made worry endlessly when they were in their cursed forms.

Link approached the edge of the desk and looked over the edge. It was better for him to be splash with the water on the ground instead of on the desk. Plus, it was more sensible for him to be on the ground when he turned back into a boy than sitting on the desk... Wow, he never realised his desk was that tall. With a deep breath, the piglet shuffled his hoves a little as he prepared to jump then a grunt he leapt.

"You could had just asked Impa or Chell to set you down, you know," noted Ciela as she set down the plate of cupcakes.

Link landed in a roll on the floor, much like he would do when he was a boy and leaping from a height that was barely safe for him to jump off in the first place. Except, unlike a boy's body, this one was a lot more.... rounder so with a surprised squeal, the cursed innkeeper found himself not just doing one roll forward but several. He found his hooves on the the third roll and righted himself before he got too far.

Ciela nudged the plate of cupcakes towards Chell. "We did a lot of experimenting and managed to find out the temperatures that work as 'hot' and 'cold' water but it seems that these curses not only transform you but also made you ridiculously unlucky when it came to water hazards."

"Ha..." Link said in agreement, appearing as a boy as Neri and Leaf moved out of the way so that if he did get up, he wouldn't smash his head on the water jug. And got up Link did, sheepishly getting out from sitting like an animal on the floor and back o standing upright. He took off his hat, shook the water droplets from his hair before putting the green headwear back on. "Aa" and he waved at Chell again, this time as a boy and with a grin on his face.