A terrible thought has moved into my mind--

[sageprincess]

Characters: One brainwashed Princess of Hyrule and you!
Setting: Pick your poison
Format: Starting in prose since she... can't really talk, but I'll match you
Summary: Zelda's been turned into an advanced worker unit with a penchant for "mercy kills" when malfunctioning. This is certain to go over well with everyone involved.
Warnings: Character injury and death is very likely when she malfunctions! Please tell me what kind of damage you're okay with! Also minor mentions of blood and gore.


Functioning

On the surface, Zelda seems to have gotten off easy. Her tiara has been grafted to her forehead, and a bloody triangle constantly seeps through her clothes on her back, but neither appear to cause her much pain. She works dutifully - changing sheets or reorganizing books or administering the most basic of first aid in the infirmary, and on occasion disappearing into the administrator levels to process bodies and souls through that giant machine - and she does it all literally without complaint.

But still waters run deep, as they say.

Under the obedient, expressionless surface, a fierce battle wages in her mind. The fires of her pride and determination strike desperately against the cool, sedating voices that tell her everything is fine. In the background of the fight, visions of the bloody, gruesome deaths of those around her plague her mind, her powers of precognition warped into something Wisdom never intended. She screams against the voices, the visions, demanding them to stop, to let her go, but, of course, they are unrelenting. The struggle for even a few short moments of clarity is exhausting, and she was already so tired before all this...

Sometimes she loses the battle, and retreats back into the deepest recesses of her mind where a heavenly voice sings a sweet lullaby to her, assuring her everything is fine.

Malfunctioning; initially non-violent

It's terribly difficult to keep track of things when one is constantly fighting for awareness of one's own actions. Even more so when there are long stretches of time when things simply... go dark. If you're fortunate to encounter the body of the Princess while her mind is well and truly gone, she might be simply staring at a wall, or at you while you sleep. Perhaps you find her after she has finished her work down in processing, and is covered in blood and entrails after tearing apart a body or two and keeping their hearts.

Malfunctioning; violent

If you're particularly unlucky, however, you might find her when she's found some twisted form of reason in the darkness. The macabre future keeps presenting itself to her - all death and blood and screams - and what has she done if not fight to prevent such things from happening? Yes, she can stop it... she will spare those around her from their horrid destinies...

Whether they want her to or not.

Comments

Dorm Floors, Malfunctioning; violent

[sunflowerfairy]

While Yotsuba really should have been with an adult, she figured that as long as she stayed near where she might be able to grab some adults, she would be fine. However, when she saw the blond-haired girl, she couldn't help but speak.

"Hello! Are you a good person?"

[sageprincess]

The blonde woman doesn't speak when addressed, and there's something unnatural about the way she tilts her head to regard the girl with dull, non-comprehending eyes.

Then there's a magic fireball being formed in her hand, and she throws it at Yotsuba without hesitation.

Is she a good person? Well, in this moment, it depends on your definition of 'good.' Probably not, though.

[sunflowerfairy]

It was odd, but Yotsuba was a little odd herself, so she didn't mind. However, the moment she saw that fireball being formed, she ran away, yelling. She had been burned once. She didn't want to be burned again.

"You're a bad person! Go away! Diarmuid, Red, Edgeworth, Enoch!!~ Help!!"

Hopefully she would be fast enough to avoid that fireball.

malfunctioning; initally non-violent

[wegotlucky]

((I am okay with most sorts of violence so long as she doesn't start removing individual fingers or eyes. Hacking off hands and bigger are a-ok))

Unfortunately for Neal, he hadn't encountered anything unusual so far in the day. The meadow was normally a fairly peaceful place, after all. Unfortunately, as he had learned all too well in the month that he had been in the tower, peace wasn't exactly something that was going to last. Looking up from his daze, he saw a bleeding woman, a deep shape cut into the back of his neck. "Hey!" he shouted, standing up as he made an approach near her, too worried about the wound to notice anything else odd about her.

"What happened? That wound looks bad."

[sageprincess]

[Got it. o7 Most violence will be of the magical sort anyway if it comes to that.]

There is literally no response to Neal's question. The woman remains utterly still, unnaturally so, as she stares down at some insignificant point on the flower-covered ground. Obviously, she doesn't appear to notice she's bleeding, nor anything else on the floor. Neal, however, might notice that she looks quite a bit like that girl Tetra was trying to set up on the network a few days ago as he approaches.

Strange, isn't it.

[wegotlucky]

Weird. He stares at her, taking a better look at the wound as he continues his approach. Is she under some sort of spell? "Hey," he says again. "Haven't we met before? Weren't you that woman the kid was trying to get a date for?" It had been such an awkward thing, but he was pretty sure that her silence wasn't the result of embarrassment. It was like she couldn't hear him.

"Hey... it's Zelda, right? Are you okay? You seem kinda off."

malfunctioning; initially nonviolent - let's keep it away from character death but otherwise hit me

[cullscuttlefish]

It's the familiar silhouette - at least from a distance - that makes Feferi approach. She had gotten Karkat's letter, and that combined with the increasing number of disappearances had her worried. The bloody triangle at her back, though, makes the younger princess speed up. She knows all too well what a sight like that means, and while she doesn't have an ounce of magic to her name, she thinks there has to be something to at least make it better.

When she sees that painful-looking tiara grafted to Zelda's forehead, Feferi winces, bringing a hand up to her own tiara and instinctively adjusting it a bit before saying anything. "Princess Zelda? I - I don't know the details, but I know...I know that bastard Jason is up to his usual carp. I'm no healer, but I can try and find someone to kelp...?"

[sageprincess]

Sorry, Feferi, did you say something? Zelda doesn't appear to have heard a single word as she stares straight ahead, unmoving. Not even her eyes shift to acknowledge the younger princess.

That bastard Jason is up to his usual carp, indeed.

functioning

[puppy_lancer]

[Zelda isn't the only drone struggling for her consciousness while performing mundane tasks. As they work on shelving books in the library, Lancer stares at the blonde woman, as if to ask "you too?" But he doesn't know if she recognizes, or even sees him.]

[sageprincess]

[She recognizes him - she's got just enough of a foothold in her current mental battle to know that much - but she can't force her eyes to look away from her current task, nor can she speak to ask if he is in the same state as she.

To Lancer, it might seem like she's ignoring him, but internally she's screaming for help. Give me back my body, dammit!]

Malfunctioning; violent

[faithstaynight]

[Unlucky for Ruler, this is the state that she finds Zelda in.

She's seen some of the other residents, twisted with strange-colored collars, and knew instantly that something bad was going on. Like, bad even for a Jason Month. So forget searching for her companions after this whole mess is over: she's searching now.

It doesn't take her long to find the princess, of course, and she can feel her stomach turning already when she notices the blood seeping through the back of Zelda's dress.]

Zelda!

[sageprincess]

[Zelda, or her body at least, turns at the voice calling her name, her eyes dull and devoid of the spark of life that usually light them.

Ah, Ruler. The one who would burn.

She can't let that happen.

Unfortunately, one of her main offensive attacks happens to be a fire spell, which is shot towards the Maid of Orleans without much hesitation. Sorry, Ruler, the Princess is a bit out of sorts at the moment.]

malfunctioning; initially non-violent

[yougotthatwrong]

[...He was just taking a nap for the night, intending to run through the floors at night for his usual patrol, especially after seeing one of his acquaintances changed and receiving that letter in his mailbox.

So, the sight of someone staring at him while he blearily wakes up is just normal- wait a damn minute.]

...!??!??!!!?

[There's an almost scream as he just inched to the wall his bed is attached to within seconds.]

[sageprincess]

[What, you mean watching people as they sleep isn't normal?

... Oh, right, it probably isn't.

The boy's scream seems to snap the woman watching him out of her trance, and she blinks, slowly, once, twice. Almost as though she's confused as to how she came to be in this position.

One thing's for sure, though, she certainly doesn't seem embarrassed or startled by this turn of events.]

Dorm floors, functioning

[martelapproves]

[ This place was even more terrifying than anything he could have imagined. Sure, he wasn't exactly the standard bearer for sanity himself, but this place... even his worst nightmares weren't this bad. This... well... terrifying.

He had kept mainly to himself until he saw Zelda. She looked vaguely like an elf, but...

He continued staring at her in silence. He certainly hated humans, and he wasn't a fan of full-blooded elves either (never mind the fact that they're called 'Hylians' in her world), but... he can't stop himself. ]

[sageprincess]

[It certainly wouldn't be the first time she's been mistaken for an elf, nor will it probably be the last. Either way, she literally can't correct him, or even acknowledge his staring as she passes by, carrying a bundle of sheets to be washed.

There's nothing stopping him from following her, of course, unless he's unsettled by the bloody triangle that adorns her back.]

Malfunctioning, violent is fine but remember his demons!

[notagiraffe]

Blood... there was blood everywhere. Nothing new perhaps but at times like this the smell was overbearing, walking, sitting up, thinking, all hurt so much. Yet he couldn't just lie in bed, not when people were hurt, not when such bad things were happening.

He was a kirin, he couldn't just close his eyes and ignore evil. So it is a pale child who can barely walk who meets Zelda as she comes back from processing.

More blood, his eyes roll back as he fights against unconsciousness.But this is Zelda... Zelda is so brave and so nice.

Lord Gyousou had liked Zelda, he had told Taiki that she would make a great ruler one day. And these awful things shouldn't happen to her.

"Zelda..."

ohgod can I even be so mean...

[sageprincess]

Unfortunately, that brave, nice girl that might become a great queen is somewhere very, very dark at the moment, unable to even make the attempt at fighting for awareness. In her place is a body covered in drying blood, one that holds someone's heart quite literally in her hands as though it is a precious stone.

At the sound of her name, she looks up, but there's no recognition in her eyes. There's nothing there, and she simply stares at the boy blankly. In her mind's eye, however, she sees him screaming, dying, being torn to pieces, and she idly wonders...

Can I stop it?

Malfunctioning; initially non-violent - Zelda being asked to do some things >> dying, y/n?

[relinquishing]

[To round the corner and see the princess staring at the wall almost got Guy's eyes to roll. Almost. Yet another worker blindly staring at a wall as if it wouldn't move. No wonder nothing in this Tower was getting done. But that's what he was here for.

Despite the commanding train of thought, there's a twist in the back of his mind, saying that this woman was important, that there was something... something about her... But no. Right now, she was simply disobedient. She wasn't doing the task she had been assigned.

There's a firm hand against Zelda's shoulder, whipping her around, Guy's gaze icy and cold.]

A malfunctioning drone is one easily disposed. Enough delays. State your task.

YYYYYYYYY owo

[sageprincess]

[The worker (Princess, some small, faraway voice asserts) blinks as she's whirled around so suddenly, disoriented as she's pulled out of her malfunction-induced daze by her superior's voice. It takes her a few moments to respond - she has to 'restart,' so to speak, and then in turn search for the answer to what she's been asked - but when she does, her voice is quiet and hoarse with disuse.]

Processing.

functioning; I think you know more than me Link won't go down if attacked but you have permission

[ocariness]

Link stops cold in her tracks when she comes across Zelda like this. No, no no no no... no. She thought they'd be okay. She thought somehow they'd get better and be fine together and she only just got back and now Jason is already torturing her dearest loved one and it's all she can do to keep from breaking down entirely just seeing her 'improvements'. There is a silent sort of crying out, maybe a small squeak, but nothing else from her throat.

She is horrified. She is hurt. How... how could anyone DO this to another human being?! But she tries--she will honestly try to get Zelda's attention... please, be sane. Stop what you're doing. Link attempts a small tug on her friend to try and get her to stop whatever she's working on and talk to her.

can't kill waifu orz

[sageprincess]

She can't see Link; her body won't allow her eyes to deviate enough from her task to look at her. But whether it's through the gentle warmth of Wisdom and Courage resonating, or simple intuition, the Zelda buried underneath brainwashing and obedience knows she's there, and it makes her wish she could cry.

Link-- Link, I'm sorry - please, please, help me...!

However, on the outside, there is no reaction to Link's presence beyond a half-hearted tug back on her arm so she might continue her work.

Malfunctioning initially nonviolent

[warriorscribe]

((ooc: I'm pretty much okay with all damage when/if she attacks, but Enoch is going to put up one hell of a fight and might even win because there's armor Zelda will have to break her way through first, and she can't actually harm him until she's broken all that away. (and then there's Rapid-Fire Recovery meaning she'll have to do it again at least once... I wasn't kidding when I called him a tank.)))

Enoch was getting rather tired from sleeplessness. The nightmare Jason had turned the other residents into - friends he had made among them - had seen to uneasy dreams when he did sleep, and the tendency for one to enter the room at random at times only made it even worse.

He felt eyes on him, vaguely, so vaguely through the deep sleep his body so desperately needed. He dragged himself out of sleep to respond to the feeling of being watched...and then adrenaline did the rest as he recognized the figure in the room with him.

"Zelda?"

[sageprincess]

The figure doesn't respond to Enoch's stirring nor his voice, remaining absolutely still. In the darkness, her collar (pink, pink like her dress, pink like her room) glows eerily, just barely illuminating her stoic features and the bits of exposed flesh that creep around the boarders of her tiara. She doesn't appear to be malevolent - she doesn't appear to be anything but an unsettling statue watching over the almost-angel.

Ironic, isn't it.

Malfunctioning; initially non-violent (I'm not late okay? okay)

[stop_calling_me_zelda]

Tetra doesn't sleep. Not much. So Zelda doesn't find her and watch her while she's sleeping. Tetra finds her staring at the wall, sees the blood on her back and runs to her, suddenly hugging her ancestors legs. She clings to the older royal, trying not to worry at the blood on her clothes.

"Aunt Zelda??"