Who: Ariel and Zelda When: Early December Where: Coffee Shop What: Random Encounter! Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Zelda was in a coffee shop. She had her big, dark, round sunglasses on, and a scarf over her hair. Other than that she looked exactly like one might expect a up-and-coming starlet from a billion-dollar family to look. The perfect clothes, the perfect shoes, the perfect make-up… the only thing she was missing was a little dog in a purse. (She didn’t actually own any animals.)
She had a hot tea on the table in front of her, and was staring out the window into the street, apparently lost in thought. Her phone was on the table in front of her, covered in bling. It started to vibrate, but she paid it no mind.
Ariel was also in a coffee shop. Her swim team had just had a meet, where they had secured many medals and good standings, so she figured she deserved a deliciously frilly beverage in celebration. And maybe something glazed and chocolately.
As she nibbled at her pastry and waited for her drink, she kept glancing at the perfectly made up girl sitting by the window. Ariel looked a mess in comparison - her team sweatpants on, a hooded zip-up sweater, her still damp hair in a pony tail. It was sort of embarrassing, she thought, because she knew just who that girl was.
Zelda was unfortunately oblivious to the world around her. She was thinking about the dreams she’d been having, about Link and about the people of Hyrule. It was strange to her (though, should it be?) that her last name in this world was the same as the name of the people in her dreams.
Someone opened the door and sent a little bit of a draft in. It was chilly for this time of year, and the scarf flew off of Zelda’s hair and onto the floor behind her. The blonde climbed up out of her chair to chase after it.
The scarf landed near Ariel’s feet, and, with a bit of a blink, the red-head bent over to pick it up before it could collect any dirt that might be on the floor. When she stood up, she gave the blonde a quick - and maybe even a bit of a shy - grin before holding it out.
“Here. It looks like it didn’t get dirty.”
Zelda pulled up straight, and broke into a smile under her big, dark sunglasses. She lifted them up and rested them against her head like a headband, reaching her free hand out to accept the scarf from the other girl. “Thanks! I didn’t think it was that windy, you know?”
Ohmygod, Ariel thought, and she somehow magically stopped herself from squeeing too hard. Celebrity sightings were pretty much the best, though Ariel told herself to play it cool. So she just laughed and shrugged. “Well, this is place is so weird anyway. I don’t think you can ever tell what the day’s gonna be like.”
Zelda’s eyes nearly bugged out of her skull at that. She nodded emphatically. “Oh my god, Totally. This place is so weird! I mean, I’ve lived here, like, my whole life, so it’s not that new to me, but like… the people who don’t live around here? They don’t have to deal with freak snow or giant mushrooms or killer robots, right?”
“Right? Me too. I’m so used to it by now. Well, mostly.” Because sometimes, even though Ariel’s never really left the OC, it still got weird even to her. “I couldn’t even imagine coming here without any warning.”
“I don’t know if we’ll ever be really used to it,” Zelda teased a little, as if she was reading the other girl’s mind. “But you’re absolutely right. It’s like this county needs a warning label! Warning:” she said, holding both hands up as if reading a marquee, “may cause insanity.”
“They should print it in the brochures!” Ariel agreed, laughing. “The fine print on the back that no one ever reads, but it’s there so you really can’t be blamed for not giving out the information.”
“The kind that you’re worried they might use against you in court if someone ever sues someone else over it.” Zelda agreed, grinning. “Honestly, I don’t think anyone ever reads that stuff. I certainly don’t. I bet my lawyers do, though.”
Ariel snorts. “My dad does. He’s meticulous with every contract that comes through Triton and Atlantica. He and his assistant Sebastian are pretty anal retentive about those sort of things. I’d probably just be like, ‘Yep, sounds good, let me sign my life away, la la la.’”
Zelda laughed, too. “I know, right? That’s totally how I roll. Only, I pay people to read those things for me and translate it into dumb. Because that’s what I speak lately. Dumb.” She grinned. “Hey, you wanna sit for a few minutes?”
“Yeah, I definitely should not ever be allowed to sign things myself.” Then Ariel grinned, too. How cool was that. Oh my god, she’d have to flip out later. “Yeah, that sounds great!”
“Great!” Zelda beamed. She loved making new friends! “Come on over! I’m not allowed to eat anything sweet or delicious right now on my diet, blargh, but I can order you some cookies or something, if you want. I mean, it’d be almost as much for me as for you--since I’d get to live vicariously through you eating them.” “Ugh. Diets.” Ariel made a face and followed Zelda to the table. “I’m sort of on one, for swimming. But it’s more of a eat lots of carbs and stuff to give energy for distance swimming. And I eat a lot of sugar, but I burn it off, so I feel pretty justified!”
Zelda laughed. “Right? Ugh. Diets.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Ah! So you know. Well, I’m on one that’s like… all meat and vegetables. I’ve almost forgotten what fruit tastes like.” She kidded. “I’ve always wanted to swim! Do you love it??”
“Ew, just meat and vegetables? I mean, I love meat and vegetables, but I couldn’t imagine not eating fruit. I could literally just eat bowls of the stuff all the day.” Ariel laughed, too, then took a sip of her drink. “I do love it! I’ve been around the water my whole life so it just comes easy to me, I guess. I’m on the swim team at school and everything.”
Zelda sighed, nodding. “I could, too. I miss fruit. I’ll be back on it, soon. As soon as I’ve finished this next project I’m working on.” She said, then broke into a mischievous smile. “In the springtime I’m going to plant strawberries in my garden. So many of them I’ll be able to fill my hot tub with strawberries!” ...not that she would.
“Oh, that’s wonderful! I’m okay in the water. I’ve got a pool in my yard.” Of course she did. How could Zelda be a celebrity and not have a pool in her yard?
“Strawberries are the best of all the fruit,” Ariel offered, nodding. “A hot tub full of strawberries sounds like the most amazing thing, um, ever.” She laughed. “Have you ever gone swimming in the ocean? It’s the best. Way better than a pool.”
“I’ve been to the ocean. I don’t really… swim in it, though.” Zelda said, crinkling her nose up. It wasn’t that she found it distasteful or didn’t want to, she was just trying to remember if she ever had. “Though, I hear surfing is fun. Maybe I should try surfing. I imagine I’d have to do a lot of swimming to learn to surf.”
“It takes the skin a bit of getting used to,” and, you know, sometimes it was a bit terrifying to think there might be a shark lurking nearby (but also sort of exciting), “but you should do it at least once! I’d love to try surfing. But, yeah, I think maybe swimming and surfing go hand-in-hand,” Ariel added, giggling a bit.
“I’ve heard a lot of my coworkers talking about surfing, and yet I’ve never tried. I bet I could find someone to teach me. I think I’d like to wear a wetsuit and get out in the waves.” Zelda responded, grinning. “Hey, it’d mean more swimming in the ocean, and that’s the best, right?” She was about to say something else when her phone went off. She jumped a little at the sound, then dug it out of her purse and glanced at the number on the display. “Ooh, I have to take this. But it was really nice talking with you.” She said, quickly collecting her things.
“Oh!” Ariel blinked, then smiled and shrugged. “I totally understand. I should be heading out soon, anyway.” She got up and gathered her own things, when waved at Zelda and mouthed bye! at her while she got the call.