From a larger piece on @hollypies Totk Sheik/Bargainer AU, partially merged with my own totk Draconic Roomies (that I have never posted abt rip) but Draconic Roomies isn’t relevant to the snippet at all so dw abt that (though I will absolutely ramble abt it if asked)
For AU context: to see more go check out hollypies but basically: totk Puppet Zelda gets revived in the Depths by the Bargainer Statues and has to cope with being properly sentient now, along with all the crises that come with that. She’s ‘Sheik’ bc she panicked when running into Link & Zelda while wearing a Sheikah set from the Bargainers. For my part, I added a heavy dose of ‘if I mess this up they’ll kill me’ paranoia and also some method acting fumbles so hard that they work out
Enjoy what I’ve been calling in my head “Committing To The Bit A Little Too Hard (This Is A Good Thing)”
She shakes her head to collect herself. She must make a clear impression of solitude while maintaining anonymity; she cannot possibly let them know who and what she is. They will kill her in a heartbeat. She opens her mouth to tell them to leave her alone.
“I—“ she starts, then coughs on her words, since she so rarely speaks, even to the Bargainer Statues.
She coughs so much that she falls over.
Fuck.
She rests on her knees for a few seconds, breathing deeply to clear her throat. Then she sighs. “Goddammit.”
As she tries to recover from the embarrassment, the Princess speaks up again.
“Are, are you alright…?” The voice is laced with concern. That makes this whole thing so much worse.
“…’m fine,” she grumbles. “Only fell because you startled me, after all.” She suppresses her cringe once the words come out of her mouth. That was way too aggressive, they’re going to find out so fast—no. She can’t panic in front of them, or they’ll know that something's wrong. “What do you want?” Again, she winces. That was also too aggressive. She prays they don’t read into it too much.
The Hero frowns, as does Zelda. The pair glance at each other unsubtly, before looking back at her. It’s Zelda who speaks up. “We’re looking for…information. From prior knowledge we’ve gathered, it was suggested what we sought could be found down here. But helping anyone stuck in the Depths takes priority. That is, presuming you are stuck?” asks the Princess, after explaining. Both Zelda and the Hero look at her with indescribable emotion in their eyes. After a pause, Zelda adds, “And presuming you are not a Yiga member.” She feels a bead of sweat forming on her forehead as the two narrow their eyes at her.
“Erm. No. To both, uh, presumptions. I, um. Live? Here?” she says hesitantly, stumbling over her words. Her voice picks up at the end out of nerves. “ I—I mean, not here specifically, but, like, I live…here. In, in the Depths. Generally, I mean,” she finishes lamely. Holy shit, she’s fumbling this so badly. There's no way they aren’t suspicious of her now. Might as well look away, close her eyes, and wait for the Master Sword to strike her down.
No blade connects with her when she does, though.
Slowly, she opens her eyes. The Princess and Hero are staring at her. The Hero isn’t even slightly reaching for his weapon.
“Seriously, is everything alright?” the Princess asks again.
She nods her head enthusiastically. “Yeah, I’m fine! Don’t worry!” She can’t let them worry about her, of all people. Even ignoring the irony, it’s a reason for them to want to interact with her further, and she wants to escape this conversation now. “I like it down here, anyways!”
The Princess and the Hero exchange another glance. “Well, if that’s what you prefer?” Zelda questions.
“Yup!” She tries to smile positively. It feels (and probably looks) more like a maniac’s grin. Time to leave.
“Well I’d better be off so goodbye now!” she exclaims in a rush, lifting a leg to leave.
But then the Hero finally speaks. “Hey, who are you, anyway?”
She stops in her tracks. “Eh?”
“You’re wearing a Sheikah set, so you can’t be Yiga, and we’ve never seen anyone else down here. Who are you?” he asks with clear doubt in his voice.
In the face of the slightest amount of genuine suspicion, every ounce of wisdom and common sense flees her head, and all she can think to say is: “Wait, how do you know my name?”
Like some kind of idiot.
Well, guess she’s gotta run with this, now.
She did like the idea of this name when she was trying to come up with a new one, anyways.
The Hero’s face scrunches up in confusion. “What do you mean?” Beside him, Zelda’s face looks equally confused.
She takes a breath. She can’t risk not being believed. So there’s no choice, really. She has to say it with full confidence. She’s been an actor since she was first created. She can do this.
“My name. It’s Sheik. How did you know that?”
Thankfully, her (frankly moronic) response results in momentary silence, which she’s more than grateful for. She has to take a moment to herself to process what she just did.
Something about declaring her own name, declaring herself as something separate from Zelda, feels so wrong and yet so right. Like she’s finally made the jump to full personhood. Something she was never intended to have. Never intended to be.
And yet she is.
She is Sheik now. She has to stick with it.
While she (Sheik) deals with her newfound crisis of identity, Zelda sputters at her, “W-What?! How—you’re wearing Sheikah clothing! I’ve never heard such an obvious fake name—”
“What’s this ‘Sheik-ah’ you’re talking about?” she interrupts, separating the -ah suffix in the race’s name to sell her unfamiliarity with the term. Confusion. Be confused, Sheik. “I’ve never heard of it. I just sorta found these clothes lying around down here.” Also a little disgruntled. She just called your name fake, after all. “And, hey, what do you mean, fake?! That’s just my name, what do you want me to say?!”
Sheik thinks she’s doing a decent job of selling this story. The Princess and Hero seem sufficiently mollified, at the least.
Silksong is about to come out but I wanted to share these even if they're not done cuz I was TRING to do that before silksong cuz as soon as that's out im gonna be doing no art for a while and just skonging SO
Here are some outfit wips im making for Sheik
I dont think I need to explain the first two (other then she covers her face with the scarf when with ppl) but the last one im thinking of calling "Guardian/Shepard of the Depths" ? Idk title pending.
Anyway i love your writing! Thanks for sharing it with me <3
Omg these are so good??? Thank you for sharing!! And also thank you for the compliments on my writing! I have more cooking but the cooking is slow going so it’ll be a while lol (plus as you mentioned silksong is incoming so that might distract me a bit. Excited to see what happens there)
