Living with lizalfos

A lot of the people of Hyrule believe monsters to simply be mindless killing machines that need to be avoided or slain, but I plan to prove that to be a misconception. Well, for the most part; it's certainly true about chuchus. I'll be spending my upcoming time studying the lizalfos, the amphibious bipedal chameleons. My name is Trell, and I am a rito soon to prove to hyrule that there's more to monsters than people believe.
Day 1
First, of course, to even begin my studies, I need to actually find lizalfos. Thankfully, with it already being known they often live near rivers, I had a fairly easy time finding one of their structures, just east of Mercay Island. I'll admit, they're somewhat intimidating, as I'm fully aware they'd attack me without a second thought if they saw me, so I've kept my distance. For now, anyway.
Already, I feel it's obvious they're not just brutes; if they truly only care for survival and killing, why would they make such structures? Clearly, they're intelligent enough to not only build them, but to form the groups that live in them! I've counted 15 individuals who live in this tiny settlement; 9 green, and 6 blue. While I haven't figured out what roles each may have - or, indeed, a way to tell them apart - I'm sure I'll get it at some point.
After I discovered them, I spent the remainder of the day watching them. Fish are clearly their primary food source, though I saw one bring back a deer they'd hunted at one point. Sometimes they stick out their tongues at what seems to be nothing, but there is a rumor they sometimes eat bugs as snacks, so that's likely what they're doing. They even seem to have preferences: One of the blue ones seemed excited to eat a hearty bass, but a green one picked a stealthfin trout despite there being another hearty bass available. Another blue one even seemed displeased about having that hearty bass, and I imagine they only ate it because there was nothing else at that point.
In terms of leisure activities, there's more than I expected. There's the typical sunning you'd expect of something so reptilian, with there also being preferred spots for that - although I'm not sure if that's between the whole tribe or just individuals - but I believe I saw one playing at one point! They don't seem to have proper toys, but one was sitting on an edge above the water, tossing a wood boomerang around at nothing with alternating hands. They may have just been practicing though, since they missed one of the catches and got smacked in the face. It was honestly pretty funny, I could hear it from my hiding spot, and I've never heard of a lizalfos messing up catching a boomerang.
There wasn't really anything else that notable today. I stayed up later than normal so I could get an idea of their sleeping habits, and it's about what I expected. All but two of them would sleep at a time, with those two keeping watch for roughly an hour before waking another two and going to sleep themselves. It's about time I got to sleep myself, it's just about midnight while I'm writing this. Those towers make for good safe places to rest, I'm lucky there happens to be one so close by!
Day 2
I've noticed at this point, these lizalfos don't seem to have any kind of food storage. They catch fish with the intent to eat them at the next meal time, which roughly line up with breakfast, lunch and dinner. With seemingly their only method of fishing being actively doing so - generally with spears, though a few can grab fish with their tongues - they sometimes don't get enough for everyone. Generally the fish are eaten without being prepared, but when there isn't enough, they're cut up into portions so everyone still gets the same amount. None of them seem too fond of doing that, but it's interesting that they know that helps!
Relations between each of the lizalfos are starting to become clear as well. While I still can't tell the difference between individuals, there appears to be some couples among them, either friends or mates. That's to be expected, of course, but I've never seen it until now! They hunt or fish together, often relax together as well, sometimes they even share their catches together!
The biggest discovery today, though: The lizalfos have a language! I'm definitely far from understanding it, and I can barely even hear them from my hiding spot, but it's obvious. A few hylians passed by the tribe on the road north, and when one of the lizalfos saw that group, they made some sounds I hadn't heard from any of them yet, and several more looked over to watch.
I've been convinced, at this point: While I'm not going to learn much more from this far away, there's definitely far more to find out... So, tomorrow, I'm going to try to make contact with the tribe. I'll do everything I can to make it clear I don't mean any harm, I'll even leave my bow behind on the tower so I won't have a weapon on me. And I won't just be walking straight in, I'll just get close. In case it doesn't go well, I've gotten myself a healing potion, so I should at least survive. If I don't, and this is my last entry... Let it be known that I simply made a mistake in how I approached them, and it isn't that they just wanted to kill me.
Day 3
THAT WENT AWFUL. Really glad I got that potion, I'm not sure I would've survived otherwise! As I should have seen coming, when I got close to the bridge on the north side, one lizalfos sounded an alarm before they and several others charged me, not hesitating to attack me. No matter what I did, I couldn't get it through to them that I didn't have any hostile intent, even after what I believe was about 5 minutes of trying to dodge! I got hurt pretty bad and eventually had no choice but to fly away, which, obviously, I did manage. They got one last shot off during that, an arrow in my back, and man was that a pain to get out on my own. Even the potion didn't fully heal me after all that, I'm still pretty sore...
Well, now that I've experienced it firsthand, I suppose I can comment on how a lizalfos fights. They typically use weapons, but their tongues are heavy enough to do some damage, especially with how fast those can go, and they can spit water as well. I know that water doesn't sound very threatening, and I thought so too, but being hit by that hurts quite a bit more than I expected.
Now, their actual weapons. They had three types that I saw: Spears, bladed boomerangs, and bows. The bows weren't anything special, and they were actually using surprisingly typical arrows! I mean, pretty much everything uses that kind, but I really didn't expect that when everything else was clearly made by them. Although, them making their own things raises a question: How are they making metal things without some kind of forge?
I'm getting off topic. So, the spears; the heads of them were clearly designed to cause a lot of bleeding, and they rip skin instead of just piercing it. The wounds were extremely unpleasant to look at, so I won't be describing them here. There seemed to be two different kinds of spears, one that looked rather basic and primitive, and another that looked - and was - quite a bit more threatening, reminiscent of a barbed harpoon. Interestingly, the harpoon-like ones were only wielded by blue lizalfos...
Lastly, the boomerangs. They're so strange, I really want to try one out someday; they're like if someone bent a shortsword, in just the right way that somehow made it like a boomerang. Except, a blue lizalfos had one with two blades, and it somehow still worked! It speaks to a surprising amount of skill at both creating and handling them, as throwing those definitely comes with the risk of not being able to catch them and being cut up some. They can of course still be used as melee weapons, which the lizalfos that attacked me preferred.
It's been about half the day now, I've been trying to figure out some way I can get the tribe to not attack me, and I think I might have something. Today, they had a pretty major lack of food at dinner time, only 4 fish in total. So, maybe before their breakfast tomorrow, if I bring them some fish, that might start getting them to like me? It's worth a try, even though I don't have another potion. I'm a lot more confident this'll work!
Day 4
Well, this attempt went a lot better! I brought an armful of fish, and while the lizalfos did try to fight me again, I dropped the fish and flew off before they could get close. As soon as possible after that, I got back to my usual spot to watch them. They seemed pretty unsure about all those fish at first, poking at them with their spears before just leaving it all alone for about half an hour. I was honestly starting to lose hope, but one lizalfos did eventually return to the pile of fish, and after a bit of hesitation, grabbed one of the hyrule bass I'd brought and ate it! They picked up the rest of the fish and went back to the tribe after that, and I can only hope they told the others to give me a chance next time, since I'll be trying this again tomorrow.
Day 5
I was right! This time, when I brought more fish, the tribe didn't attack me! They did have their weapons ready, of course, but I didn't have to escape this time. I'm so excited, if this keeps up, I might actually be the first to peacefully interact with a monster!
Day 6
There wasn't a whole lot of progress today, but the lizalfos that came out to meet me didn't look as tense as the ones that did yesterday. One of the green ones actually went just a few feet away from me! They did do that to nudge me away from the fish I'd set down with the butt of their spear, but still.
Day 7
They didn't ready their weapons this time! They had them out, but no more than that. It's slow going, but they're starting to feel better about me being around. I hope they let me approach sometime... I'll try tomorrow.
Day 8
Well, I got a little closer, but as soon as I stepped on the bridge they got their weapons ready again. Still, good progress! I'll give it a few more days before I try again, and I'll give an update if something interesting happens before that.
Day 10
I had the idea to try giving the lizalfos different fish today, types that aren't found in the region they live in. Mighty porgy, chillfin trout, and hearty salmon, as well as the usual ones in case they didn't like those. They were cautious at first, but they did eventually try the new ones, and they seemed to like them! I thought about bringing glowing cave fish too, but I'm not sure they'd appreciate suddenly starting to glow after eating those... I'll be trying to approach again tomorrow, I think I'm getting close to them trusting me.
Day 11
They let me on the bridge today! I even got about halfway across before they started getting nervous again, so I've been making great progress! I'm really looking forward to the day they're okay with me wandering around the tribe...
Day 13
It happened! They're okay with me being around! Right now, I'm sitting in the southwest building writing this, and I've been around the lizalfos for a few hours. I'm already learning quite a bit more about them just from this! I'm finally learning to tell the difference between each of them, which also means I can tell who likes who, and I'm working on figuring out their language as well. Lunch passed, and they didn't give me any fish, but I don't mind, I brought my own food. Plus, I don't imagine raw fish is going to sit well with me.
Being here actually led me to notice something pretty interesting that I hadn't before: One of the lizalfos was relaxing in water for a while, fully submerged, and every now and then they'd rise up some, taking a breath! They're not truly amphibious! It sure seems like they can hold their breath a long time though. I wish I could do that, I can only manage just over a minute, but that one that was relaxing was under for about 10 minutes at a time.
They haven't let me touch any of their gear yet, which makes sense. They don't yet trust me enough to let me have weapons near them. I thought about sneaking one of the boomerangs at night, but I decided not do. Besides, they're not okay with me staying the night yet, likely worried I intend to kill them in their sleep. The poor things... They're so paranoid of everyone, and I honestly don't blame them.
Day 14
I decided to try out fitting in better today, and gave their language a shot, since I think I've figured out a few words, but they didn't seem to understand. Their voices are quite different from mine, it might just not be possible for me to comprehensibly speak their language. It doesn't seem to have a written form either... Maybe I could eventually teach them my language? I doubt they'd even know that was what I was doing, though.
I'm at least making much better progress toward being trusted now, to the point one offered me that wooden practice boomerang I saw early on. Let me tell you, it's harder to get those things to come back than it looks! Out of a couple dozen tries, I only managed it once, and then I messed up the catch and got hit by it. Turns out I'm not the only one that finds that funny - watching it, not receiving it - as I heard a few lizalfos laugh when it happened. I think they were laughing, at least, I hadn't heard it before.
I tried out swimming with them, as well. As I mentioned before, not good at holding my breath, but I did my best. I think they enjoyed my attempts, even though I didn't do well. They seem to have some kind of gesture system they use underwater, which I'm having an easier time figuring out, but I couldn't really join in any submerged hunting they did, especially since they wouldn't give me a spear. Their speed in water is just as incredible as on land, and they can actually just grab fish barehanded because of that! Still, I'm certain now, they don't have any sort of passive fishing method... Well, they've taught me a lot, so tomorrow I'll try teaching them something.
Day 15
I brought a fishing trap today, and the lizalfos could tell it wasn't a weapon, so they were okay with it. They were certainly curious about it, and I wish I could tell them what its purpose is, but they'll figure it out. I set up the trap in the water early today, and I'll be checking it just before dinner.
Did some more practice with that boomerang, and I can finally consistently get it to come back, but catching it is still an issue. Did manage it a couple times, at least! Certainly not ready for a bladed one yet, even if they'd let me try one.
Dinner came, and I pulled up that trap. It only had a couple fish in it, but the whole tribe was impressed, especially since there wouldn't have been enough for everyone this time. I gave them the fish I got, still not keen on eating anything raw. I wonder if they'd like my rations? Forgot to offer them some, I should at some point.
Now, I'm writing this at night... Still in the tribe! They're letting me stay overnight now! It's certainly odd, thinking about sleeping near people that used to want me dead, but I trust them at this point. I think they're starting to consider me a full member of the tribe... I wish I could ask them, but I still hardly know their language, and I doubt they know much of mine. Tomorrow, I'll see if one will let me study their body. I could do it now, but that'd be weird.
Day 16
Well, it was tough to get them to figure out what I wanted, but I managed to convince a green lizalfos to let me get a better look at them. It's about what I expected: Pretty muscular all over, especially in the legs and tail, and with some seemingly tough skin as well. It also led to me finally figuring out how to tell their gender! The one I examined was a male, and the amount of males and females in the tribe is roughly equal, with one extra female. Definitely means there's no more than 7 mated pairs, but I'm not sure how many there actually are.
Once that was done, I headed out to get more fishing traps, which the tribe was certainly excited about. I did my best to teach them how to use the traps, and they seem to have it figured out, but we'll be seeing later. They're hunting anyway just in case, of course, and, well... One handed me a spear!
I'd never thought about hunting the way the lizalfos do, I only ever use my bow, but I gave it a shot. Not being able to stay underwater long is definitely more of an issue now, I can't use the ambush strategy they do, especially since I can't change color like them. Still, tried it out, and after a few dives I did actually manage to spear my first fish! I decided that'd be my next meal for today, so I set up a campfire on the shore to cook it, where I'm at right now.
Some of the tribe's pretty interested in what I'm doing, probably wondering why I'm doing it instead of just chowing down like they do. Next time, I'll see about cooking more than one so someone else can try it out. They're actually letting me keep the spear, so I've taken some time to get a better look at it now that I'm on the other end of one. I've realized it's partly bone in addition to wood and metal, which makes sense, the lizalfos seem to make quite a lot out of bone.
Day 17
Got some more practice with the boomerang, which I've pretty much got down at this point, and I'm finally allowed to bring my bow. Getting a better idea of the tribe's language as well, I know about 3 dozen words, and they're even starting to understand me better! All the traps we've set up mean we don't have to do much hunting to have enough food, and honestly, living here is pretty nice!
It just occurred to me, I was referring to me and the tribe as "We" there. I really do feel like I'm part of the tribe now, and I think they might say the same about me. I still stick out quite a bit, of course, but none of us really mind. Pretty sure I know just about everything there is to know about them now, so from here I'll just document their language unless something notable happens. After that... Not sure what I'll do.
Day 24
Definitely been a while since I last updated this, but not much has happened until now. One of the females laid eggs! They're being pretty much constantly guarded, and I don't seem allowed to see them so I haven't gotten a good look at them yet, but I'm excited to eventually see what lizalfos hatchlings look like!
Here's an update on my understanding of the language, and theirs of mine: I've got seemingly about a third of theirs figured out, and they've got about a quarter of mine, so we can actually have fairly simple conversations now! They don't seem to have any concept of giving people names; I tried finally introducing myself, and they kept asking what Trell meant. Maybe they'll figure it out eventually, when we understand each other better.
Also, finally had the courage to try out a blade boomerang, and while I had a couple close calls from its different weight, I'm now able to throw those around just like a lizalfos can! Soon enough, once we've both gotten our languages figured out, I may as well just be a lizalfos! Just need a lot of practice holding my breath, I've been slacking on that.
Day 30
A full month, I've known this tribe. Making good progress on the language, we're both about halfway there now. They understand what names are now, and sure enough, they don't have names of their own, nor do they want any. Certainly an odd part of their culture, but not a big deal.
There was a storm today, and for the first time, I actually kind of enjoyed it! The lizalfos are always pretty happy when it rains, and it's rubbed off on me after spending this much time with them. I have trouble flying in rain, but I don't really do that a whole lot any more, since I'm the only one here who can. Did a lot of swimming today, the surface of water looks so strange from underneath while it's raining...
Also, it occurred to me that I should learn to use the boomerangs with my talons, so I can throw them while flying. I can already use my bow like that, so learning is going pretty quick. I wonder what others would think of me, throwing a blade boomerang - a laka, in their language, I've found - with my talons, as if I were a hybrid of a rito and a lizalfos...
Day 40
I'll admit, there was a while where I forgot the purpose of me coming here. My research is definitely long done by now, and we all now fully understand each other, so... Why am I staying? I've never really thought about it, but I have more of a family here than back at my previous home. Both my parents are gone - old age, at least - and I was never one for romance. Even though I'm a rito in a tribe of lizalfos, I feel at home here. We don't need to hunt as much any more, thanks to the traps, but I'm getting better at it; I can stay under for about 3 minutes at a time, and catch about half as many fish as a single lizalfos can, which I consider to be an achievement.
There really isn't much more to add, now... So, I suppose I'll be stopping here. Maybe I'll finally be able to change people's perspectives on Hyrule's monsters now? What a dream that would be, my research eventually leading people to make peace with monsters!