CEO of DioSthen and Herakles

(Copy pasting this from my secondary Instagram story) —

Alright so I probably should explain Chiyo?? A little bit?? For those who are interested?? I’ve actually been holding on to her for two years, since I started playing TOTK (yes I’m insane I know, I’ve been hunting koroks to relax for months)

Chronologically, she’s the same age as Mineru — biologically she’s behind her twenty years. When she was put into accidental, near-permanent stasis she and Mineru were roughly the same age. Anyway, she grew up an orphan on the Great Sky Island, and had to take on odd-jobs just so that she could eat (since technology was what brought about the end of the Zonai, it’s fair to assume that there were a lot of high-value Zonai devices on the market), this included trafficking AND stealing priceless ancient Zonai artifacts for shady, underground dealers. While raiding a ruin, she stumbled across a device she hadn’t encountered before that permanently halted the effect of time on her body, which ultimately froze her in place for the following ten millennia. She eventually became so caked in earth and dirt and moss that she appeared like a statue rather than a living Zonai. That’s what the Sheikah archeologists and Zonai research team assumed at first, anyway. Flash forward to present day Hyrule, post the events of TOTK, Zelda is poking around the Great Sky Island and stumbles across Chiyo. The proximity of the Secret Stone of Time to the “spell” reverses the effect of the Zonai artifact and restores Chiyo to her original state.

Meaning, she has no idea what took place after Rauru became King of Hyrule.

She doesn’t know where her people went or why, she doesn’t know about the Imprisoning War or the Seven Sages, or Sonia, or Ganondorf or even the other races. She wakes up in a world that is fundamentally different from her own in every way — and what’s more, she’s basically useless. She’s a commoner, she has no “ancient Zonai wisdom” to share, no real, working knowledge of Zonai politics or the history of her people. On top of it, she was a criminal. So she’s the last of her kind, and she has nothing to offer to preserve the memory of her species.

Basically, all she has is her innate magical ability as a Zonai (I’m workshopping this, but as it stands her ability is similar to Mineru’s, but not exactly — she can put little bits of her spirit into things to animate them. Sort of like how Mineru uses her soul to animate the construct, only Chiyo’s puppets are more like Golems and naturally, that’s very taxing on her body so her puppets are generally quite small) and a rudimentary understanding of Zonai society. Regardless, Zelda views her as an excellent research opportunity and everyone on the surface (none of whom have ever seen a Zonai in the flesh before) think she’s a god. Needless to say, Chiyo has a lot of maturing to do very, very fast to make up for her checkered past. She’s also bitterly resentful of the pressure the Zonai’s false image puts on her to be a “model citizen”, as a result she harbors a mild internalized racism toward her own kind.

She ends up spending a lot of time around the new Sages, and develops a deep fondness for them. Growing up without a family made her an isolationist, but she likes having people to care for — it gives her a sense of purpose.

Personality wise, she’s very much a traditional tomboy. Chiyo’s rough around the edges, socially awkward, deft with her hands, clever and very high energy. She has no issue getting her hands dirty and zero idea how to make friends. She’s avoidant when it comes to responsibility, and covets her freedom, which can make her appear unreliable at times. Also, manners? Forget em. She is like, the Zonai’s worst candidate for upholding their sophisticated, regal image. And Zelda’s worst nightmare when it comes to etiquette. However, coming from a spiritual society means she does carry some innate spirituality, which is beneficial to her and her companions. Also — she can be very practical and does well with very little, which makes her quite adaptable.