乙巳 004: 大寒

[singlemilletgrain]

[video broadcast]
Greetings again, Corsairs.

[As usual, following a bow, Shu addresses the video feed with perfect poise and elegance.]

After the... challenging events of the New Year's mission, I wish to call for some levity. In Yan, as the year changes, we visit the temples to have our fortunes told for the coming year. It is just for fun, of course. In Dahuang, I keep a place of worship to... [a faint pause] a Xian of agriculture, Shennong, and occasionally run the festivities.

Please come by. There will be traditional New Year's food, of course.

[If anyone has learned anything about Yan at this point, it is that they have Too Many Holiday Traditions and Too Much Food.]

[option 1: just for fun]
[Shu's doorway is vibrantly decorated in red and gold, and when she ushers you in, the most immediate sight is the table filled with plates and plates of food. Mostly dumplings, for dumplings are easiest for visitors, but also whole fish, noodle dishes, and sticky rice.

To the side, there is a little chest with two sets of burning incense at either side. Fortune seekers are invited to kneel, burn incense if they wish, pray for luck from whatever deity or the general karmic wheel of the universe, and then reach out for a container of what look like sticks. There is a little sign explaining this is the tradition of 'qiu qian,' beseeching insight from the gods.

One must ask a clear question, shake the container a few times, and pull out a stick.]

[option 2: the real thing]
[Shu sits at her 'priest's seat' and laughs lightly at the interpretation of the fortune received. Perhaps she sees something more ponderous in your eyes, for after a moment or two, she clasps her hands together and exhales lightly, bowing her head.

Her red pupils have constricted to tiny dots when she raises her head once more.]

...I could give you a better fortune, if you wish.

((If you pick option 2, Shu will either tell you in very vague prophetic terms something that may or may not happen in the future of your canon, something that happened in the past of your canon, or give you a random item that might be useful to you this year. If you pick option 1, it will be total nonsense.))

Comments

[newmemorywhodis]

Link just continues to stare, wordless.

Does this look like a convinced face?

[singlemilletgrain]

"It is inspiring, really."

...

"I did say it was just for fun."

If Link continues to look dissatisfied with his -ahem- totally family-friendly joyous new year's celebration free of charge!!! -ahem- Shu will take on a slightly more somber expression.

"...You deeply desired an answer to your question?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link pauses. Looks back at the little bundle of sticks. And then nods.

Yes. Yes, he truly wanted an answer.

[singlemilletgrain]

There is a slight pause before she continues, and a flicker of indecision passes across her face. It was one thing to do this for someone she didn't know, and another to peer into the future of a friend. She didn't mind so much when it was something minor. When she foresaw small accidents and could provide the necessary tools to avoid them.

But she has a feeling she knows what Link wants to see.

"You are sure?"

Link is one accustomed to reticence. She thinks he will probably understand what she is trying to convey in those three words.

Wordlessly, she holds out her hands and beckons for him to give her his palm.

[newmemorywhodis]

He does understand. He's been the subject of prophecy before, and he knows just how much fate can be a weight upon you.

But he still feels that need to know. And he's not one to back down, not even from, the things that scare him.

He steps forward, and holds out his hand.

[singlemilletgrain]

She nods and accepts it. With a deep intake of breath, she takes his hand into her own and allows the air around them to settle for a long, few seconds.

Her red pupils have dilated to mere dots when she opens her eyes once more. Her ochre green fingers, cool and light, trace the lines of his hands slowly, as if she is seeing through sensation alone. Her voice, when she speaks, echoes gently, though the room is too small to sustain such a phenomenon.

"A severed line of life, a hero's time extended. Upheaval and calamity walk ever by his side. For trifold power manifests and calls upon his spirit. Again, again, he walks this path, his head held high, his heart laid low.

Of wind and wild, sky and time, of twilight pale beyond his ken. He wonders, seeks, and dwells. When shall the journey end?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Tingles creep down his spine as she speaks; and Link cannot help but be reminded of the feeling of praying before Hylia. Shu is not a statue, and she is not Hylia. But she rings with truth and divine power, in a way that is deeply familiar to Link.

He shouldn't interrupt her; should let her continue to speak. And normally, staying in silence is what comes easily to Link. But right now, he can't help but whisper:

"Are you a goddess?"

[singlemilletgrain]

" -- Oh!"

Her eyes snap back to their normal state as she blinks, coming out of a trance.

"Er." She looks more like someone who has just been woken up from a nap, but when she processes his question, she shakes her head lightly. "No. I am... an illusion. Now shh. Don't interrupt."

This is likely to make less sense to Link than her cryptic mutterings.

"Where was I... Ah, yes. I had read your head line."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link blinks. No, that does not make any sense at all.

But she asks him not to interrupt, so he stays quiet. Maybe later, he'll ask.

For now, he just gives her a questioning look. What is a head line? He thought she was looking at his hand, not his head.

[singlemilletgrain]

"This one."

She gestures to the middle of the three long lines that cross the palm. Without further explanation, she exhales deeply once more and resumes her reading.

"...Hie! Look to the marble'd sky. The dance of dragons that resolves fate's bifid paths. Hand-in-hand, the shooting stars, to earth they fall, before them shall lay bare the endless cycle of torment. The wheel of time shall grind -- merciless its pestle. Yet Hero of the Now be not disturbed.

The call has quelled. The wilds tamed. For all paths lead... to home again."

[newmemorywhodis]

"...I'll go home?" He whispers softly. "Will it...will it be very long?"

Because if anything, that was his biggest fear; that even if he got home again someday, that it would simply be too late. That it would be another hundred years, another thousands of years.

[testygirl]

Hopefully. What, am I supposed to give up on making myself stronger and cuter? I think I'd rather just die.

[ One might assume that's a joke, but she sounds pretty serious. It's not the kind of philosophy that rings true when you're overly stubborn, spiteful, and—worst of all—a teenager. ]

... Can you tell how a certain relationship is gonna turn out?

[ Aira still looks and sounds skeptical, but there's some nervousness mixed in now. She wants to know, but she also sort of doesn't? ]

[singlemilletgrain]

Shu, after an annoyingly long period of silence, looks up and exhales lightly. "No. Not long. You will be together once more." Her smile is faintly rueful. "I am much afraid... your sun line is extraordinarily faint after the early indentation. It means your life will be quite calm and placid in its later years."

She frowns slightly.

"I must be mistaken, but for some reason, there is a fair amount of... cheese?"

This is Link's own fault for reintroducing cheese into the world.

[singlemilletgrain]

...Mm. I believe the meaning of the fortune is that you are already wonderfully strong and cute.

[Having many years of experience with teenagers, Shu is not particularly surprised that Aira is dissatisfied. Still, she seems to be perfectly sincere.]

I could.

...But I will not.

That is not the kind of thing one should ask for a fortune about. You see, if you were to receive a positive reading, you would be slack in maintaining the relationship. If you were to receive a negative reading, you would give up without trying. Either way, it is self-defeating.

A fortune is not rigid. It only tells the eddies and whorls through which the current of time is leading you. Even a misplaced pebble can take you around a different bend. At times, of course, the river is smooth and all paths converge. At other times, it is turbulent and filled with white rapids.

[newmemorywhodis]

Not long. He just had to hold on, for however long that was.

And his life will be...calm and placid? Huh. That was almost strange to imagine. Although if a life that involved rather a lot of things like shield surfing, sky diving, and excessive use of bomb flowers could ever be called calm...

...Well, maybe it was all relative. Compared to the Calamity and the Upheaval, even Link's general chaos could be called calm.

As for the cheese...

"I helped Koyin find her great grandfather's cheese recipe?" He says, head titled to one side.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Ahhh."

She murmurs oracularly, as if she has any idea who Koyin or her great grandfather is.

"That must be it. There are many paths in which that village becomes famous for its cheese products -- Hateno, correct?" That wasn't fortune-telling; he had just mentioned the village he lived in a few weeks ago. There was another path she had seen briefly in which Link was wearing what she could only describe as a tremendously ugly hat resembling a dead bird with artists surrounding him drawing portraits, but that one she doesn't even bother to mention. Sometimes the fortune-telling went a little weird.

Her eyes drift towards Link's head.

"...Do you have a helmet?"

[bearsperminute]

I'm gonna tell it like my grandpa told it to me, best I can remember, but I don't remember everything and I'm not an expert by any means.

[she takes a breath and starts--]

So. When a person dies, they're judged and eventually returned to the Currents, right? And the stuff that made them up returns to the cycle of life. An Undead goes the other way-- they escape the underworld to live again. This is bad, partly because living in the Underworld is supposed to... stagnate you, rot you, and partly because you separate yourself from the main cycle, you see? You lose the... The things.

Ugh. I was never much of a preacher...

[testygirl]

I mean, that's obvious.

[ Aira doesn't exactly like what she hears next, but fortunately har har the fact that Shu is so pretty, serene, and elegant goes a long way to softening her reaction. Is that shallow? Sure. Blah blah, she's a teenager. ]

It's fine. Whatever. Like...

If it was negative? I probably wouldn't believe you, but it still might stick in my head. And that would be super annoying.

So what's something you can tell me? Since you were nice enough to dump that whole metaphor on me, I guess I'm ready to eddy.

[singlemilletgrain]

Ah.

[She nods in understanding.]

A hungry ghost. A spirit who returns from Diyu absent its yang. Reduced to an animalistic state, it thinks only of satiating its needs and preys upon the essence of the living to satisfy its hunger. Sometimes, the flesh, too.

Is that accurate? We have similar folk stories in Yan, though it seems you are saying this is more than a story.

[singlemilletgrain]

That is precisely it. No matter what you hear, it will impact you in some way that would color your thoughts and decisions from then on. That is not something I wish to be a part of.

[There is a reason Shu took on this physical form, and it isn't because she thought it was unappealing, let's just say.]

I don't do relationships or times of death. I am happy to provide insight on anything else that may be troubling you.

[A pause.]

No lottery tickets, either. I hope that goes without saying.

[bearsperminute]

Yep. That's about right.

... And I should. We fought them, me and my division. One of a few measures the Empire's taken to keep it from burning the entire place down.

[purplexing]

[That's something he supposes he can't deny. There's been some great opportunity that he knows he would have probably never had if he never left home. He's just not so sure he would have willingly paid such a price had he known it.

...then again, he knows he'd never be satisfied with just the scraps of whatever they could pick from what fell off the Empire's table.

He picks up the tea with a soft "thank you" before trying a few sips to test the temperature. A cautious smile touches his lips as he thinks of how a homecoming would be. Would his father be proud of him? Or upset that he'd gotten caught? Both, maybe, but Donnie really hoped for the first.]

I hope you're right.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link nods. Yes, Hateno. He could see it becoming famous for cheese; it kind of already was when Link was last there.

As for whether he has a helmet...

"...Which one?" Link had lots of helmets. Lots. And various other kinds of headgear as well.

Really, Link just had a lot of things, period.

[singlemilletgrain]

"...You might want to keep one on hand."

Her words come out a little bit hesitantly.

"For some reason... there are a few futures where you... come out of floors. Head-first. And quite a few people kick you in the head or hit you with something heavy."

She sounds confused as to why he was coming out of a floor in the first place. To be honest, it looked like a video glitch, except that was complete nonsense in the context of a fortune. Still, it was hard to imagine under what circumstances he would be clipping through the bottom of somebody's house.

[singlemilletgrain]

How awful.

And this is in... another part of the Empire?

[She hasn't heard anything about this, but she supposes the Corsairs can't be expected to keep track of what is happening across all of Esthere.]

To such an extent that they threaten the general populace?