Who: Link and Hermione When: Early September Where: Link’s Farm What: A Hot Chocolate delivery! Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Hermione showed up to Link’s farm with a package of the super yummy hot chocolate drink mix. She also had some biscuits--store bought, thanks. Hermione didn’t bake. The air felt like it was getting a little cooler, but maybe that’s just because it was September. She had fond memories of boarding the Hogwarts Express on the first of September, and that made her think of school jumpers and Gryffindor Robes. Crazy how different her worlds were.
She knocked on the front door and waited. A wind picked up and she could smell the cows in the barn nearby.
Link didn't get many visitors, so it always genuinely surprised him whenever someone wanted to hang out. He was always happy to see Hermione, who was pleasant and pretty, and he could enjoy her company guilt-free because she was already married. "Hey," he said with a smile as he opened the door. Fall was already on its way and the wind was cooling.
"Hey," Hermione responded, grinning. She stepped through into his house, familiar with the surroundings. Link was kind and gentle. Something about him reminded her of Harry sometimes. "How are you?" She offered the tin of cocoa mix and gave him a smile.
"Good," he replied. "Really good." Things were pretty awesome lately. Everything with Zelda was great, he was about to become an uncle of sorts, too. "How are you?" he asked with a smile in his voice as he walked with her toward the kitchen.
“Good. Started up school, so I’ve been a bit busy.” She smiled as she turned to follow him into the kitchen. His place was so cozy. She kinda loved it. It was nice to be in a house. She and Jim lived in an apartment, and it was nice to look out windows and see plants and trees at eye level. “How’s the farm?”
Link couldn’t imagine juggling school and work and marriage, but he also knew he’d probably never have a reason to go back to class in his line of work. A wife, though… “The farm is doing really well. I started selling a lot of the sparkly milk.”
“That’s good! Yeah, I saw they’re selling it at Baxter Bakery. Sparkling lattes. They’re actually delicious.” Totally different from regular lattes, Hermione thought. Sweeter, maybe. “It’s a good thing. Were you selling the sparkly milk before?”
"I had no idea what to do with it before," said Link, as he pulled out a pot to heat the milk. He laughed a little, too. "Glad you like the coffee drink."
“It’s good! Then again, I think that they started with good materials, so they only had great places to go with them.” She sat down at the table in his kitchen, and opened up the little container of hot chocolate to have it ready when the milk was hot.
Link only had Audrey Baxter’s fancy coffee when he dropped out his shipment at the bakery. He liked it, but it wasn’t the sort of thing he would seek out like city folk who seemed to desperately need lattes like water. Of course, he was dating one of those city girls.
“So… how’s your husband?” he asked, as he poured milk into the pot. He was totally blanking on the guy’s name.
Hermione enjoyed the special treat of a sparkling latte every once in a while, but really, she was more apt to make herself a hot tea at home. Or order one at the shop, but it was so much cheaper to have at home. She brightened at the mention of Jim, even if it wasn’t by name. “He’s good. We’re good. He’s teaching wilderness survival classes, and planning his trip to Mars.”
Turning back to face her, Link began to pour much more milk into the pot than was necessary. “Wait, are you serious?”
Hermione nodded. Then she realized he was about to spill the milk, and reached a hand forward, add if to stem the pour with her palm. "Yes, but Link the milk..."
What? Yikes! He pulled the bottle away. Well, it looked like they’d have a lot of chocolate milk, but that was okay. “Mars like the planet?” He’d gone through enough schooling to know that, at least.
"Yes." Hermione responded. She was dead serious. "He's already been to the moon, next time he has his eyes set on the red planet."
“He’s an astronaut?” Link asked. It was the only reasonable explanation he could come up with. Were people flying to Mars already? It was totally possible he missed that news event.
“Well, sort of. He doesn’t work for NASA. His work is all independently funded.” And aided by the things he’s learned in the Dreams, she thought. Though, she didn’t say that part out loud. She simply nodded. “That’s how we met, you know. He was offering up moon rocks on Valarnet, and I accepted. We met in a cafe, and he gave me a rock from the moon. I was smitten right away.”
Talk about the moon made Link shudder a bit. He’d dreamed one too many times about a white orb with an evil glare falling to Earth. It was probably a different moon, though… “Privately funded flight to Mars. Wow.”
“Right?” Hermione agreed with a grin. “I mean, I didn’t believe him. I had no idea that he was telling the truth when he first told me about the Moon trip. And now… I have no doubt that he’s going to make it to Mars and back. Him and Scotty and Spock.” ...would Link catch on to whom she was referring? Would he think it was a joke?
It went right over his head. Most pop culture references did. “I guess his dreams must have something to do with this.”
"It's possible, yes." Hermione responded. "Very likely, I'd imagine," she added, wondering for a moment what she could or should be doing with her talents from the dreams.
That was how this worked, wasn’t it? Dreams caused things to happen in real life, some of them good, some of them bad, most of them weird. Link was still hoping he’d get pointed ears, soon, just like Zelda’s.
Meanwhile, the milk was hot enough for the chocolate, now. Link poured in the mix and filled up two mugs, and he and Hermione moved to the kitchen table to continue talking about mars, privately funded space travel, and other things the farm-boy had never dreamed were possible...