[ oh, man... he's still very obviously excited, both inside and out - who wouldn't be, in a situation like this? but the very audible hope in the second half of her words sends a nasty twist through his gut all the same, because he knows for sure that one isn't true. and it feels bad having to be the one to puncture that hope after accidentally putting it in her head. ]

Oh-- uh, I'm pretty sure that's not the case. Sorry. [ better to rip that bandaid off quickly so they can focus more on the first half, right? ] The truth's gonna sound even more far out than that. See, back on Earth, or at least the Earth I came from, we got-- there's stories about Hyrule? Video games, actually, a whole ton of 'em. [ games with her name in the freaking title, but he's not sure how to drop that bombshell just yet. ] So when I heard you say "Hyrule" my brain just kinda froze for a hot minute, 'cause I mean, back home they're stories, but you're definitely real right here and now and if you start thinking about all the implications of that--

[ please Zelda, stop him before we end up with a giant rambling snowball ]