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“Finally!” Warriors collapsed to the ground, letting his sack hit the ground with a resounding thud. He was quick to throw off his chainmail, cracking his knuckles as he did so. The others were also tossing their belongings in a pile, stripping off their heavy garments with such speed one would think they were competing.
The sun just started dipping below the distant mountain range, giving the boys a nice excuse for an evening break. They were all ecstatic to do so, plopping onto the ground without a second’s hesitation.
Once the heavy chainmail, packs, and other items were thrown into a neat pile in a corner of the camp, everyone went into various degrees of ‘settled’. Four immediately plopped on the floor and started checking his equipment, a habit he only does when he’s decided they were done for the night. Legend usually likes to stretch at the end of the evening, audible pops from his bones that sound a little bit too painful. Sky is already moments away from falling asleep, having already been drowsy for hours.
On the other hand, Wild still had a lot of energy to expend.
He thinks it’s understandable that the others would become tired this early considering the loads of armor and chainmail they have on... But that’s their choice, isn’t it?
Wild shook his head. It wasn’t his place to judge.
Ever since he was tossed into this group a few days ago, he has never had so many internalized conflicts swell in his head. Eight other different men from eight other different eras. All with such different ideas of heroism, different beliefs in religion, and different adventures that can rival the severity of his. While he does look up to them (in which he actually, surprisingly found solace in following their leadership without a second thought) things haven’t been exactly smooth.
Although the others have been around each other longer than they have with him, there still is an unbreached tension that wrings around the group constantly. It is especially evident with the older Links. They could butt their heads over things Wild finds mundane, and they’d do it quite often too.
Wild finds his eyes drifting towards Warriors and Legend. He shakes his head again, a hand coming up to slap his own cheek softly. No, no, don’t antagonize anyone! Also, staring is rude!
For eight of the same souls, they sure have different ideas of ... well ... everything. Wild himself hasn’t contributed much to their traveling conversations. But the things he’s found himself eavesdropping to have not much correlation to his own experiences. The only thing he’s found similar is some of their journeys ending with fighting Ganon. But even then, his version of Ganon was an amalgamation of darkness and malice and not a Gerudo man. Which is another thing that has been puzzling Wild’s mind! Gerudo can be men? He thought it was just a myth! Is that another thing lost to time?
“So whose turn is it this time?” Legend’s voice brought Wild out of his little stupor. Wild glanced around the camp, trying to clue in on what Legend was talking about. But by the perplexed expressions some of the others had, it seemed that Wild wasn’t alone in his confusion.
“Dinner,” Legend added, noticing the puzzled looks.
“Ah, well it was Sky’s turn yesterday wasn’t it? Shouldn’t it be Wild’s today?” Wind nodded towards the newcomer.
Ah. Wild had forgotten.
“Cool. We’ll get the fire started. There are some ingredients in that sack over there if that will give you any ideas,” Warriors pointed towards a sad little bag at the other side of camp. The bag was turned over, its contents spilling out of itself. Right by the opening of the bag was a definitely molded onion followed by half-browned dried lettuce.
Wild grimaced a little. Those ingredients would likely leave the others needing extra bathroom breaks in the morning. Has the group really been eating such stale material this whole time? Things might need a bit of a change around here. Instead, he pulled his slate out and turned to the materials page, scrolling through his various items for an idea of what to make tonight.
Wild hasn’t cooked anything since their excursion started, which has probably been the longest Wild has gone without making a meal. Not that he minded really! The food the others made wasn’t exactly the most delicious things he’s ever eaten, but they weren’t bad either! In fact, it reminded him of the things he would make back when he was on the Great Plateau. They weren’t presentable in the slightest, but they had their tang!
The crunch and bitter taste of meat left burning for too long that Four had the other day had a zesty feel to it! It brought memories of when Wild had his first successful hunt but had no idea how to butcher the meat. The watery broth Sky made yesterday was incredibly bland and had no seasoning in it, but that had its charms too! It reminds Wild of the first time he experimented with making pumpkin soup in Kakariko village before he got personalized lessons from Koko. He didn’t think his original soup was that bad at the time. But Koko’s additions definitely helped give it more flavor! Even the inedible substance that Hyrule made the other day had its charms! Its burnt, raw, yet cold and slimy taste had a unique zing that Wild had never tried before! It was unfortunate it had to be dumped due to it being ‘hazardous’.
As Wild mindlessly scrolled through his endless pages of items, he came across his stock of Goron spice. He had forgotten that he had bought the entire stock of spice during their annual summer festival! There was enough of the spice to feed nine mouths for sure!
He then scrolled a few pages back to confirm that he had enough Hylian rice, and behold, he had an abundance of that too! He could finally get rid of some of the ingredients he has been hoarding.
“You had food in that too?” Legend loudly inquired after Wild summoned a few batches of the grain. Wild gave Legend a blank stare and a glance at the slate before looking back up and shrugging.
“I said I had everything stored in here,” Wild quietly responded, going back to pulling other ingredients out of the slate.
“Why didn’t you tell us? We could have been using some fresher ingredients instead of,” Hyrule gestures to the overturned bag, long forgotten in the corner of the campsite.
Wild deflated a little, his ears drooping. They definitely could be using his slate for fresher ingredients if he’d noticed. He really fucked up again, didn’t he? He has been doing that quite often since he joined the chain. Much more than when he even started his journey he might add. The others have been nice to him about it, but he’s starting to believe that there is mild annoyance under that sugary tone.
“You guys seemed like you already knew what you were doing... I didn’t think you’d need it...” Wild truthfully spoke, avoiding eye contact with the others. By the endless stock of battle equipment the group seems to have, Wild could only assume food items had a similar abundance. If he had known the ingredients they were using have been so out-of-date, he would have shared without hesitance! Maybe he should start paying more attention to the group’s stocks. That’s what everyone else is doing right? Oh no, is he being selfish again? Being around other people is difficult...
Wild’s shoulders shrank a little, an obvious sign for the others enough to know to back up.
“Whatever, Does your thing preserve the food well?” Legend grumbled. Wild nodded, choosing not to give a verbal response.
“Then that’s all that matters,” Legend turned away, probably to roll his eyes so Wild couldn’t see.
“Can we store food stuff in your slate? For better safekeeping?” Wind asked, trying to amend the ongoing conflict. Wild didn’t even notice his presence and gave a little startled jump. He nodded again, which caused the younger to give a wide smile at the recognition. He then turned away to pick up the forgotten food bag. He eagerly picked through the ingredients, but by the look of his diminishing speed, it seems nothing in there was that salvageable.
After Wind’s exit, Wild was finally allowed a little more of his own space. Taking a second to remember what he was doing, he went back to summon a few bottles of Goron spice, some endura carrots, hateno potatoes, and hearty radishes.
“Need me to fill the pot with water?” Twilight offered, hauling the huge wok as if it weighed nothing. Wild nodded appreciatively. But before Twilight could turn to leave, Wild summoned another pot, holding it out with a glint in his eye.
“Another pot? We gettin fancy tonight are we?” Twilight huffed amusedly. When Wild didn’t return the amused look, but a confused one instead, Twilight muttered a soft ‘nevermind’ before balancing the other pot in his arm with equally little effort.
As he waits, Wild figures he can cut off the little black spots from the potatoes. So summoning his trusty little traveler’s sword, he-
“WOAH, you are NOT using that to cut the vegetables are you?” Four’s shout made Wild startle again. When Wild looked around the camp, hoping for at least some kind of look of understanding, he was only met with expressions of terror and concern.
Wild nodded subtly again. How much more different do these guys cook food? Four gave a defeated sigh before going back and digging in his pack. When he returned, he handed Wild a much smaller and less deadly knife handle first.
‘Oh yeah, this looks familiar,’ Wild thinks. He remembers everyone else using this on a small board when they were making food. He gives a small thank to Four, whose eyes refused to leave Wild for a minute, cautiously watching. When he was convinced Wild wasn’t going to stab himself, he turned away.
As he cuts out the little black eyes of the potatoes, Wild wonders why he hasn’t gotten one of these before. They’re much smaller, accurate, and easier to handle than a sword! He won’t have to waste more of the nice parts of the potato-like this!
In his giddy, Wild couldn’t suppress a small grin and a small hum of satisfaction. After the black spots of the potatoes have been cut off, Wild sets a pan he fished from his slate onto the fire. As he starts laying some thinly sliced buffalo meat on the pan, Twilight has returned with two pots full of water. This time he seems to be struggling a bit with the weight.
“Here we go,” Twilight carefully set both pots down on the ground.
“You have meat on you!?” Hyrule exclaims from behind Wild. Wild turns around to blink owlishly at the other. Even though he hasn’t even started frying the meat yet, he can see Hyrule slightly drooling. He then notices it isn’t just Hyrule and that a small crowd has formed around the fire. Most of the other boys (asides Time and Sky because he somehow actually fell asleep standing up) is coming to see the commotion. At the notion that they would be having some form of protein tonight, they also started wearing some of the happiest expressions Wild has ever seen them have.
“What are you making for tonight?” Warriors asks, eyes not suppressing the excitement he has.
“Curry, is that alright?” Wild softly asks, growing a little uncomfortable by the enclosing crowd. Twilight, noticing his discomfort, signals for everyone to back off, which they gratefully do. Everyone voiced that they had no problem with the dish, leaving the cook to his own thing. After regaining his personal space back and his heart rate settles, Wild starts pondering to himself.
‘We haven’t had meat the whole time since I came here, right?’ Wild thinks to himself. It makes sense, he further thinks. It would go bad if they were just holding onto it in a bag like that. Wild further thinks about how fortunate he is to have the slate at his disposal.
“Hopefully he actually knows what he’s doing,” Wild hears Legend mutter under his breath. Before Wild could react, Hyrule gave him a rough elbow jab, enough for Legend to shut up.
“We need another fire going?” Twilight asks kindly. At Wild’s approving nod, he did not hesitate to start on some kindling.
When the meat is deemed finished and the fragrance delightfully fills the camp, Wild takes the pan and puts it off to the side. With Twilight’s help, he puts the large pot of water on the fire. Wild had underestimated the weight of the thing. How can Twilight carry this thing with such ease?
As the water starts to boil, Wild supposes he should start cutting up the carrots. They need extra time boiling since they take longer to soften. Taking one of the endura carrots, he holds the vegetable inches over the water. Wild has figured out an effective way of slicing vegetables by holding the knife in one hand and carrot in the other, fingers directly in the line of where the knife will slice.
“WILD DON’T DO THAT!”
‘Again?’ Wild thinks, leaning away from the fire. Twilight takes the knife and carrot out of his hand in a very gentle manner. His eye scans over Wild’s palm, making sure there weren’t any cuts. At the small litter of slit scars on his palm, Twi gives Wild a small concerned look. He looks around, eye-catching Four minding his own business in a corner, and shouting for his attention.
“You gave him your knife but you didn’t give him a cutting board?”
“He doesn’t already have one?” Four asks, rushing over to the fire where Wild and Twilight were seated.
“Nope,” Twilight stands. Four fishes out his cutting board from his bag, handing it to Wild with a look of bewilderment. Wild takes the board cautiously, unsure of what to do with the slab. At his apparent confusion, Twilight sets the carrot on the board and gives a demonstration, beginning to slice the vegetable with slow and careful ease. Wild cannot but help but think his slices are too uneven and big. Upon being offered the knife back, Wild takes the knife out of his hand and starts to dice the vegetable. It was slow at first, uncertain, while he was getting used to cutting on the board, but he gradually picked up the pace.
Unlike the prospect of the kitchen knife, Wild thinks the cutting slab is a waste of time. Sure, there have been plenty of times where cutting vegetables straight from his hand has caused a lot of unintended injuries on his palm, but it’s been a while since he had any cooking accidents! It is way more efficient to cut over a pot than to cut on a board, then transfer the stuff on the board to the pot!
After the carrot has been cut to its desired length, he slides the veggies into the boiling wok.
At this point, Twilight finished setting up the second fire, so he softly nudges Wild for his attention.
“Looks like you need a hand, anything I can do?” He offers. with a warm grin, Wild takes a second to consider before vigorously nodding. He then hands Twilight multiple strains of Hylian rice, giving him a hand demo as to how to pick the rice pellets from the grain. Twilight gives an understanding nod before following closely to Wild’s demo. Wild notices that his hand motions are slow, so he notes that the rice might take a while before being ready.
Next, he grabs the potatoes and starts skinning them using his new knife. Wild sat patiently, waiting for another admonishing callout, but it never came. Instead, he notices in the corner of his vision Wind uncomfortably staring at him.
“That’s so cool!” He exclaims, sitting a distance a little close to Wild as he skillfully takes the skin off. “I’ve only ever seen my grandma be able to do that, but you do it so much faster!”
“Thanks?” Wild scoots away a little, hoping the sailor would stop staring at him. He likes the kid a lot, in fact, he has been one of the first to be comfortable enough to talk to. But he does not like being stared at so intently with such glaring blue eyes. He doesn’t think he can think of any other people in his own Hyrule with eyes so big and bright. Oh Hylia, he’s leaning even closer now. Wild’s hands are now fumbling a little as he skins the last bit of the peel off.
“Lean back a little,” Twilight calls from behind Wild, still dutifully picking the rice pellets.
“Oops! Sorry,” Wind leans away again, scratching the back of his head in a little bit of shame. That’s much better, Wild thinks. He gives Wind a small appreciative smile and goes back to his work. If Wild had delayed his work a second longer, he would have seen the small blush that crawled on Wind’s cheek.
The rest of the potato peeling and dicing went much smoother. Although Wild would have much preferred still chopping it up in his hand, the slab wasn’t all that bad. After the potatoes were tossed in, the process of cutting the radish went smoothly as well. Although Warriors inappropriately joked about the radish looking like a butt after Hyrule made a cooing comment about the radishes being heart-shaped, which caused Legend to snap at the captain.
The rice also has started boiling away. Twilight was able to pick up the pace after a while, hand getting used to the motion. He looked very proud of his craft as well, beaming as he watches the pot boil for a few moments.
Wild worries for a second that the curry would finish before the rice, but due to the size of the thing, he doubts it would cool off any time soon.
Wild summons a ladle from his slate to swirl around the curry pot a few times. Once the carrots and potatoes seem softened enough, he grabbed his six bottles of Goron spice and dumped it all in. A stick of goat butter for creamier results, some more spices he personally likes, and....
Wild stops for a second. The last time he made Goron curry at one of the stables, he offered a bit to some of the stablehands. One of the stablehands started coughing violently, claiming the food to be way too spicy for their limit. Perhaps some of these guys don’t have a good spice tolerance?
He looks around the camp for a moment. Perhaps he could just ask? But to be honest, some of the guys (Time mostly) still intimidate him, and he finds himself being a little shy in their presence. Plus, he doesn’t wanna wake up Sky. Even if he does, he doubts the efforts would be fruitful...
Shaking his head, he decides he could just make the curry a bit mild. He grabs a few cool safflinas and started shaking a bit of the petals into the mix. Realizing that this pot is about nine times the size he is used to, he ends up having to use up three whole safflina flowers.
Finally, he adds the buffalo meat back into the mix, making sure to drizzle the leftover fat in the pot. He then gives the soup a good stir, and stands back to let it do its thing. He gives the camp a look around. At this point the sun has completely set, so only the two fires are giving the camp a nice glow.
The smell has wafted all around camp and wow does it have effects on the others, Wild thinks. Some of them are staring at the pot, foot tapping impatiently, drool practically dribbling from their mouths. Others are trying to be more subtle, engaging themselves in other activities, but their occasional eyeglances back at the fire tell Wild just as much as he suspected.
Before long, the giant tub of curry finishes and Wild has to once again, call for Twilight’s help to take it off the fire. On the other hand, the rice needs probably a little longer.
When Wild confirms that the rice seems to need only ten more minutes before being finished, loud cheers came from the others, which threw the amnesiac off guard.
Were they really this excited over the curry? They never showed this much enthusiasm over the things the others made? Maybe they just really enjoyed curry? Maybe curry is actually considered a luxury meal in the other eras? I mean, a lot of things that are considered luxurious in other eras seem to come and go in his. Hehe, the huge stock of goron spice he bought might have just come in handy after all!
“You never told us you could cook!” Hyrule licked his lips hungrily,
“O-oh?” Well, that certainly wasn’t what Wild thought the issue was.
“We haven’t even tried it yet,” Legend poked at the other.
“Are you kidding me? With a smell like that it’s way better than anything we’ve had so far,” Warriors butted in. The three continued their small little argument.
‘What do they mean better than anything they’ve had before?’ Wild thinks to himself. Did they not like what the others have been having in the past few days? Well, Wild surely has...
A new worry started to come over Wild. Have taste buds changed over the past few eras? The thought totally slipped through his mind! Perhaps curry has changed over the centuries? That would explain why they are getting so worked up over a more or less common dish. Maybe he should have clarified before starting...
“Well, if you want, I can offer you a taste test?” Wild holds up a ladle full of the stuff, which definitely caught the attention of the three.
“Let me! Let me!” Wind calls from behind Wild.
“Hey, he was offering to us!” Legend interjected. Wild shot Legend an apologetic look (no one can just say no to Wind’s puppy face!) and gave the ladle to Wind after blowing on it. Intently, he watches Wind take a bite out of one of the potato bites.
There was a tight tension in the air as Wind chewed a little. Wild hopes it wasn’t too bad. He sure had to make a lot of guesses on size proportions. Especially with the safflinas, he hopes it didn’t mellow it too much or too little! He also hopes that he didn’t put too little goron spice, but it looks like it thickened just- oh Hylia is he crying!?
“Oh, Wind, I’m so sorry!” Wild starts, hands raised in panic. He knew he should have asked! He was so excited to cook for the first time in a week that he-
“This is the best thing I’ve eaten in over six months,” There were fat crocodile tears rolling down Wind’s chubby cheeks.
“No way! Let me try!” Legend shot out of his seat. Hyrule and Warriors followed shortly with equally determined expressions.
“I- um- uh-,” Wild stuttered, unsure of what to say.
“Why don’t we just wait for the full thing, shall we?” Time’s voice boomed for the first time that evening. It successfully got everyone to sit down, asides Wind, who was still wiping his eyes. Wild looked toward their leader in appreciation. As he did though, he noticed something heartwarming. Although his whole demeanor screamed calm and relaxed, the little jitter in Time’s foot told his equal eagerness to try the dish. Wild smiled softly, his cheeks feeling a little warm.
___________
“Rice is done,” Wild announces a few minutes later. When he turned around, he wasn’t sure what he was expecting. But it sure wasn’t a line of boys ready with bowls and utensils in hand. Even Sky was up, a look of determination in his gaze as he stared at the pots on the fire. Guess the fragrance was very effective!
“I GOT HERE FIRST!” Wind yelled at the front, pushing back a feisty veteran.
“You already got taste test you gremlin!” Legend shot back, trying to shove Wind behind himself. Wild found himself speechless. He’s never had to crowd control other people, much less eight other versions of his past selves.
“I have enough for leftovers...” Wild quietly offered in hopes of deescalating the situation. When Wind won over his spot in the line, Wild took his bowl and scooped a big amount of rice into the bowl before layering a good amount of the curry on top, full of the softly cooked veggies and perfectly cooked meat glistening with fats. Wind practically started devouring the bowl as soon as he got it. After Wild was done scooping everyone’s bowl and his own, he went back to his own seat to intently watch everyone’s expressions.
They all shared very similar expressions of joy, satisfaction, and... tears? Well, at least Hyrule looked like he was about to cry. One thing is for sure, for the first time since the adventure started, the tension in the air was practically gone.
“This is so good,” Hyrule muttered under his breath, his eyes still suspiciously watery.
“Dude, I could have this forever,” Warriors added.
“It’s like perfectly not spicy but also spicy,” Sky spoke in a corner, blowing on his bowl a little before taking a huge bite. He visibly deflated after each bite, his eyes closed in bliss.
“I would pay you to make meals for us everyday,” Four added.
“Oh dude, me too!” Hyrule spoke over a mouthful of rice.
“I’d be happy to make the meals everyday if you’d let me,” Wild nervously responded, eyes avoidant of contact with the others.
“YOU WOULD!?!” A chorus of the others boys rang out, so loud that their voices echoed through the forest they were in. It startled Wild so bad he visibly jumped in his seat, causing Time to loudly laugh in surprise.
“I- yes?” Wild nervously smiled.
“Hylia has finally blessed us after two months of pure hell,” Legend praised. Other noises of agreement spewed the group’s gratefulness.
“I- don’t really understand?” Wild whispered under his breath as he took a bite of the curry. He’s definitely made better when he had a better idea of proportions. It feels a little too mild, and the curry has definitely cooled off a bit since he took it down. In comparison, he thinks the broth Sky made yesterday might have had a more unique taste to it.
“What don’t you understand?” Twi asks, next to Wild. Wild tends to forget he has really good hearing.
“I just-” Wild starts, “Is it really that good?”
“Dude, this is the best curry I’ve had in my life,” Four supplied from the other side of the camp.
“I’ve never had curry before but I know I want more!” Sky shouts over a mouthful, before choking on his rice and having to cough some of it back up.
“Oh,” Wild blushed, “I just, don’t really understand I guess. I thought the soup Sky made yesterday was better, so I was a little disappointed at first I guess,” Wild nervously laughed. Suddenly the soft banter and noise of the campsite went dead quiet. All eyes were on him.
“D- Did I say something wrong?”
“Wait, you’re telling me you liked MY soup yesterday... better than this?” Sky suddenly stopped coughing.
“Well! It was... pretty unique,” Wild tried to force a grin, but everyone was staring at him like he was insane.
“You’re kidding right?”
“Um... uhh”
In Wild’s distraction, Wind shot up for thirds, quickly scooping the rice into his bowl.
“He said he had enough for seconds! not thirds!” Hyrule butted.
“Fuck you!”
“Language-”
“First come first serve!” Wind stuck his tongue out before running back to his seat, digging back in.
“W-” Hyrule also shot up, running to the fire to grab the ladle in the pot. Four other boys soon followed.
___________
“Dude I’m soooo full,” Warriors groaned out, he was sprawled across the ground on his unmade bedroll.
“I don’t think I can even move,” Legend added, on the verge of entering a food coma.
On the other side of the camp, Wild and Time sat quietly next to one another.
“Are you sure you’re willing to make food everyday for us? You don’t have to if you don’t want. I know it’s a big responsibility,” Time asked. Wild only shook his head in turn.
“It’s fine! Really! I enjoy cooking anyway,” Time hummed in response. He wasn’t gonna fight it if losing meant he would get to eat good food all the time.
“You know,” Time started, he was entering dad mode, lecture mode... whatever you call it.
“I know being humble is a very common trait in... our kind, but you don’t have to put yourself down to bring others up,”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m sure you meant well when you told us that you think Sky’s soup was good, but sometimes humbling yourself can seem... counterproductive, even. Now, I’m not saying y-”
“But I wasn’t trying to put myself down, I really did like his soup,” Wild muttered, “I think it had a nice, watery flavor to it! It’s not common in cuisine these days so I enjoyed it!” There was a moment of silence.
“R- Really?” Time asked, this time he was speechless. Wild nodded in response.
“Ah, then... Forget what I said,” Time coughed awkwardly. The two continued to sit in a bit of silence.
“I did wanna talk about, however, that if I remember correctly, you guys ‘offered’ to pay me to cook every day..?”