Chapter Text
August 27
(Revali)
This was going to be interesting... Either that or it would be a nightmare, but Saki's voice in the back of his head was a constant reminder to be positive.
Revali already knew that fitting in with the rest of the picture perfect college students milling about around him would be impossible. There were just too many things stacked against him, from the difference in locational approach to... Whatever the hell he was stuck thinking about.
It was strange that, going into his freshman year of college, fifth grade was the thing on his mind, but right now it seemed oddly fitting... Well, a little bit did. Not the sweaty hallway smell, or everyone struggling to fit in, but...
Murphy's law was one of the only things Revali remembered his fifth grade teacher teaching him about. It seemed unnecessary and pessimistic at the time, but now that he was eighteen, halfway across the country, and entirely alone? He could certainly find some truth in it.
That is, that everything that can go wrong, will.
Positivity, Saki reminded.
Screw that.
First thing was the college itself. Namely, the dorms. The way that he had specified things should have put him in a shared dorm, with at least two roommates, more likely three. Hell, he had even talked to one of them; a fellow archery buff named Harth. Revali had grown quite used to the idea of living with him - that was, until he got the email right before boarding his flight.
"Mr. Gale,
We at University of Wyoming at Hyrule are sorry to inform you that there has been an issue in the south wing of our dormitories. Due to this minor problem, room arrangements have been accordingly adjusted since you enrolled in our University. We apologize for any inconvenience to your person.
— Mr. R. C. Owlan, Chief Administrator, UWH."
Revali thought it was a prank at first, or at least in some kind of joke. How, only a week before classes started, had there been such a 'problem' in the south wing? He blamed Teba for the email and thought nothing of it. If he had service, he would have received some strong words, most likely. But as it was, there was nothing he could do about it.
Just ignoring it for the time being, trying to get some sleep, and anxiously chipping at his nail polish on the flight.
As it turned out, the email was legitimate. The lady who gave him his key informed him of that, and after searching a list for much longer than seemed necessary, found what dorm he had been transferred to. He would be sharing 302N with one other person; another freshman named Link Wilde.
"South Wing burned down, you see." The lady said, shaking her head and clicking her tongue. "Such a shame. They're still looking into it, seeing if someone's to blame. I think it was a few of the kids, personally, but don't quote me on that."
"Thank you, ma'am." Revali smiled, taking his key and turning to go-
"Please," She said. "Call me Impa."
That was strange. When would he be back here again? Maybe sometime, but certainly not often enough to need to know her name, necessarily. Still...
"Thank you, Impa."
And with that, he turned and left.
Half in shock and half plain angry, Revali made his way to the north dorms. The campus itself was nice, but an overwhelming feeling of damp pervaded the air. Struggling not to slip amid all of the mud had proven quite difficult, though other than that the weather was nice. It was warmer here than it had been at home, something he was grateful for. The cold always had a way of sinking into his bones. It would get cold eventually, sure, but much later in the season.
Revali was so focused on the weather, clear sky, and colorful trees that he almost walked right past his dorm building. And, to be honest, he wished he had.
To start, the north wing looked ancient- easily older than any of the other buildings Revali had passed on his way here. The gutter surrounding the bleak four story was caked full of dead leaf mulch and mud. The building itself was a dull grey with hints of what may have been green in the past, but was now closer to the color of moldy wheat bread.
"Celebrating our one hundred year anniversary," Revali muttered to himself, quoting the over-enthusiastic website. "Well, it shows. Oops, sorry. Positivity."
Still grumbling about the whole thing, he lugged his suitcases to the door and pushed his way inside.
The first thing that hit him was the smell. It wasn't unpleasant, per se, but it seemed as though seventy different citrus scented cleaners had been used to thoroughly scrub out in the entryway alone. Gagging, he wondered how bad it smelled before to justify this level of cleaning.
Second was the look of the interior. Beige walls with cracked white trim, and sticky carpet of the same moldy color the trim had been outside, but slightly more vibrant, if at all possible (that might have just been wishful thinking. Positivity?). A coupe of other students whizzed by, but none of them paid any attention to him. The hallway echoed with the sounds of people's rolling suitcases and bags scraping against the walls.
Containing a scream about how this explained his low housing costs, Revali turned to look at a sign hung on the wall next to the elevator, detailing that the first number of each room corresponded to the floor. 302N would be on the third floor then, so Revali pressed the button to go up.
Nothing happened.
He pressed the button two more times before noticing the piece of paper taped beneath the floor sign.
"As of now, the elevator is down for maintenance. Please be patient as we all wait for it to become operational."
Revali rolled his eyes and searched for the stairs. It would be a nightmare to get up all two flights with his things, but he could most certainly manage. He packed light... Not that he ever had many things to pack. Still, he was irritated that he had not only been moved dorms, but he had also been put in what had to be the shittiest building on campus.
Well, other than the one that was burned to the ground. If it was anything like this one, it may have deserved it. Maybe it was students angrier than him at the conditions.
But by the time he got up the stairs, Revali was exhausted. Thankfully, being number 302, his door was one of the first near the door. His key went in with a hitch, but it wasn't too hard to push open. He held his breath before pushing open the door.
So that's the smell they were trying to cover up. The moment the door creaked open a mix of dust and rotten food hit Revali's nose, making him gag.
That seemed to be the worset part, though. The interior didn't look so bad: white walls, short grey carpet, and a window straight across from where Revali had entered. The beds were against the walls, with desks behind them and the window between. Shelves lined the walls above the beds, and little closets sat at the feet of them.
Nothing seemed overly dirty, just... Slightly disgusting. Dingy, at worst. A few unfortunate flies had been trapped inside, now dead on the windowsill. The bathroom, which was adjoined to the main room to the left, was very small, but manageable. One sink with little to no countertop space, a toilet, and a standing shower. There was even a plunger next to the toilet.
How convenient. Positivity.
Revali sighed. This was really not what he was expecting - but he was going to have to deal with it. Hd had dealt with far, far worse... And he probably wasn't going to be in the same dorm next semester, after all. Maybe the other buildings were nicer, and they just stuck freshmen in here.
Something about the whole situation made him doubt how true that was, but he decided to not dwell on it too much. He would only be here a semester... Right?
Revali lugged his suitcases to the bed on the left, and sat down on the bed. A small but present puff of dust rose up when he say down.
"This has got to be violating some code or other," He grumbled to himself. "It seems like this is the out-of-order wing so far - maybe they made a mistake and I'm supposed to be somewhere else."
No matter how much Revali said it, the words still didn't seem true.
He rolled his eyes. "Might as well."
Shoving his suitcases into the cleanest looking corner of the room, Revali got to work. First was the bed - that had to get fixed. He stripped the whole thing of it's thin sheets, and shook them out as well as he could in the hallway. Then, deciding to be nice, he did the same for the other bed.
His roommate had better love him.
When that was done he started on the hard surfaces. Wetting a bit of toilet paper from the bathroom, he started dusting off everything horizontal surface. Once that was done he put all his bags on the bed, made sure he had his key, and left the room.
That was one of the things he had heard from Teba and Saki - there's often a vacuum somewhere in the building if you know where to look for it. The trick was knowing where to look for it, and Revali had no idea.
Thankfully, he could hear the sound of a vacuum running from somewhere, hopefully on his floor. Turning his ear to the noise, he began to follow, through the gross, damp feeling halls, around the dusty corners...
How did it smell so much like cleaner while being so dirty?
In no time at all Revali found himself in front of room 324N, where two girls inside were vigorously cleaning the interior. One was tall with her dyed red hair pulled up in a high ponytail, wearing a simple yellow sundress. The other was a short blonde wearing a blue cable-knit sweater.
Revali cleared his throat.
"Excuse me?" He asked, once the redhead turned off the vacuum.
"Yes?" She barely looked up, only glancing at the door.
Revali swallowed, and tried his best not to stutter. "May I borrow your vacuum, once you're done?"
"Sure." She replied, leaning the vacuum against the wall. "I'll be done in a moment - but it's not just ours, so you know. There's a closet, just around the corner-" She pointed out the door to the right. "That has some cleaning supplies for our floor."
"Thank you." Revali replied with a forced smile.
He wondered what cleaning supplies he could have been using when he was 'cleaning' the dorm out earlier, especially the bathroom.
"Oh, I'm Urbosa, Urbosa Naboris." The redhead said, sticking out her hand to shake. "And that's Zelda Hyrule."
Revali took the hand. "Revali Gale."
"Pleased to meet you." She smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me-"
With that, Urbosa turned away and went back to vacuuming the floor, and Revali went back to awkwardly standing outside their door.
Absently he thought about different things he should have done before he left the dorm room; open the window was certainly one... The floor in the bathroom definitely needed to be washed before Revali was going into it barefoot, but if he could vacuum it first that would be a plus. The last person who stayed there had long, dark hair that they had graciously left all over the floor for Revali to deal with. He had picked up most of it earlier, but it still didn't feel clean.
If his roommate also had long hair, that would royally suck. His own - well past collar bone length now, he was proud to say, almost to his armpit - was a mess enough when it came to bathrooms. He had clogged his fair share of drains.
But that whole shower needed to be thoroughly scrubbed before he was going on there. Disgusting.
Sitting down on the floor, Revali leaned against the wall. Next week classes started - and for a whole semester, if not year, this building may be his home.
"Welcome to Hyrule." He muttered to himself, and scoffed. "For our one hundredth anniversary. Murphy's law, anyone? Or would you rather some ill-advised positivity?"
This whole thing was off to a bad start. First the dorm change for a... How did the email word it? Revali pulled out his phone.
"Minor problem."
They called it a minor problem. Then Impa, who looked like she could be celebrating her one hundredth along with the school, said that it was a fire? And she thought it was an arson?
That was a bad start if Revali ever saw one. He didn't trust this one but. And if he didn't have such good scholarships to be here...
"Your degree is more important that your superstition." Revali reminded himself, rolling his eyes. "Grow up a little."
But something didn't seem right about the whole thing, still. It was probably fine, but...
"Here, we're done with the vacuum." Urbosa handed it over to him with a nod. "If someone doesn't come to get it from you, just put it back in the closet."
"Sounds perfect."