when the sun sets — @blue-eyedbeast
Honestly, she had felt less out of place as an imp riding around on a wolf's back.
Luckily, they were the only other ones in the bar: Castle Town had been mostly cleared out by the threat of Ganondorf, but in case any straggling drunks wanted in, Telma had put up a 'closed' sign and locked the door. The rest of the world of light didn't need to be introduced to a Twili, not yet, and especially not when said Twili was their beleaguered princess who wasn't feeling up to combating the fear and questions of the common citizen, right then.
…Not that such a thing had stopped Shad. Her gaze slid over to the scholar situated in the corner, who was currently pouting over his drink thanks to Telma telling him to give her some space. Spirits, the number of questions he had tried to ask about the potential relationship of her people to those freaky bird-things he was obsessed with…! “You should find Ooccoo again and give her to him,” she muttered to the hero sitting beside her with a smirk, nudging him with her elbow. “Y'never know, it might get him to shut up.”
By all rights, things hadn't changed between them—beyond her sort-of death in blowing up Hyrule Castle and then revival by the Light Spirits, and, oh yeah, his defeat of pure evil and all that—but… it still felt different. Not in a bad way, necessarily, just… there was something there that she couldn't quite put her finger on.
The look on his face when he turned to see her, the way he had come running… To be sure, she had grown terribly fond of and maybe a little too attached to him, but for some reason the possibility that he felt similarly hadn't occurred to her, until then. Even now, she couldn't help turning it over in her mind, idly watching him. As far as she could tell, he had no idea of what she planned to do when she would return to her realm the following day; she guessed Zelda might've had an inkling, but the princess was unfortunately absent from their little celebration, off ensuring her citizens were safe and inspecting the damage of her castle.
Tomorrow, this would all be gone. She would never see the world of light again, much less sit in a bar with some of its inhabitants celebrating victory over evil… and some months prior, she might've been overjoyed at the prospect of never having to be here again.
Now, though… 'Spirits, I'm going to miss him.' A rueful giggle escaped her at that thought, and she shook her head, bitterly amused at herself. When had she become such a sentimental fool?
“You know what?” she asked him and didn't wait for an answer, clapping him affectionately on the back. “I'm going back to the princess thing tomorrow, and you're going to go back to the country bumpkin thing. Let's use tonight to really celebrate, okay?” She waved to Telma, a fanged grin curving her lips. “Telma! We're gonna need two of whatever your strongest drink is, okay? Tonight we're getting hero boy here good and drunk!”