vivala | 乙巳 004: 大寒

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乙巳 004: 大寒

[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.))

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[The classic conundrum of all high school anime. One day in a more enlightened future, they will solve this problem through polyamory or something, but for now, Shu recognizes the expression of a girl frustrated in love. She had not glimpsed Aira's love life or read that particular part of her palm, as she had promised, but she wonders if Aira herself might already see a result.]

You should.

[Even so, this is the advice she would give. One had to face such things head-on. And in the brief moments she had known Aira, she had no doubts that the girl had the strength to do so.]

This kind of thing rarely has a good opportunity. There will always be a circumstance that is not the way you wish it. But those who wait for perfection rarely accomplish anything at all.

[Again she gets that baffled stare before the turtlekin shakes his head. Not thinking about it, can't think about it, too much to think about and he's not even sure what all he's trying to figure out of it all.

He gets up, trying to cap off his overthink but it's like trying to put a lid on an already boiling over pot. It's enough of a distraction that he neglects to say anything more to Shu as he makes a hasty retreat from the room.]

Oof, pushin' even me, huh?

By all means, share it with me; an entire bass is a bit overkill, even for me.

Ah, this is where the other part of the scallion went. Good economy of ingredients. ... Never can tell parsley from cilantro at first blush, but...

[She serves for herself over rice, and uses the sauce. She's familiar with communal dishes.]

[She pauses, takes the first bite.]

Ah! This... This this this-- There's something unconscionably familiar about it. They say that all dishes are Imperial dishes, but it's one thing to say that, and another to go to the capital and find nothing like what you got in Natruckt from your family, who made food for days you had never heard of in school.

It's a flavor kind of like that, you know?

[Shu blinks in mild confusion. And mollifies her disappointment by absentmindedly finishing an uneaten (cold) dumpling on Donnie's plate.]

...It is possible I should spend more time in the present. Perhaps the atmosphere of the fortunes...

But really, he is not too far from grown. I wonder that it so disturbs him.

[There's no such thing as too much food, and after grabbing a certain basket and verifying with Shu that her timing was alright, Nephenee raced over to see the goddess.

What? Food is good, and so are friends. Friend + really good food = the best thing ever.

It's not long after that the Sentinel knocks at the door, careful to not disturb the pretty ornaments too much. She's not even inside yet and she can sense Shu's warm hospitality already!]

[ Ah, that fabled and transcendent utopia. What roles might one play in the meantime to subvert these tired tropes? Hmmmm. ]

Tch.

[ Aira grinds her teeth a bit, and taps her foot. While she considers Shu's words, the taps become more like stomps, like there's a big nasty bug on the floor that really needs to die. This kind of exaggerated body language is pretty typical for her, alas.

In the end, she can recognize good advice when she hears it. Even if the criticism is indirect, though, she doesn't like to consider that her approach has been flawed. Like, obviously it has been, but still. Oh, and tack on the fact that she is kind of a perfectionist. ]

Yeah, alright. I'll do it when I get the chance.

Grr, whenever that is. I don't actually hate being here, but it sucks not being able to see him. Dammit!

Link blinks. Not the kind of response he was expecting.

And not the kind of question he's good at answering, either. Zelda would know. Zelda would have an answer. But Link isn't Zelda; he's only Link.

Still, he thinks about it. Tries to pull together some kind of response.

"...The world," he says. "People. Animals. Plants. Spirits." He couldn't tell you why or how all of those things were real. But he knew they were, anyway.

Perhaps that's why he'd been so surprised to hear Shu describe herself as an illusion. Because she was a person. She was real. How could she not be?

Edited 2025-01-31 11:01 (UTC)

[ Atom draws a stick, commenting about his past experiences going to shrines and drawing a fortune back home. He asks about his family at home, and seems to get an affirmative that everything is as he left it- or at least a vague positive answer that might suggest it.

Shu offers a better fortune, and Atom raises his head, wondering what she's doing. His magic studies provide a likely answer. ]

You have fortune telling magic?

[ He hadn't spoken to Shu about any powers she possessed, now that he thinks about it. ]

[She does not know, as someone who doesn't know heads or tails about Imperial cuisine (she assumes it is as stale and monotonous as their design principles), but she is not gauche enough to say so directly. Instead, Shu smiles at the appreciation Kanna is demonstrating for her culinary efforts.]

In Yan, we say 'may every year bring you blessings.' Because the word 'blessings' sounds like the word for 'fish,' we eat whole fish in hopes that it will bring alongside the blessings.

This is the dish I prepare for my siblings when we have the chance to gather on the New Year, which is not very often.

"Yes, of course. Those are examples of things that are 'real' to you. But what I meant... what does the word 'real' mean? It exists, you may say. But a photograph of a tiger is not a real tiger, even if it exists to your eyes. Similarly, if you were to capture the voice of a songstress and reproduce it, you would not say it was the 'real' thing, even though your ears cannot distinguish a reproduction of song versus a true song."

She pauses in her lecturing, simultaneously glancing at Link to see if he is following and considering the next portion of her explanation.

"You might then say, it must exist to all your senses at once. That is something that is real. I can see, hear, smell, touch, and er... taste you, if necessary. However, please consider: the organ responsible for these perceptions are not your eyes, ears, and nose, but rather, your brain.
And your brain is not an accurate observer of reality. Often, we hear things that are not there, we see images in the corners of our eyes that fool us, and if I bring you into my home, you might believe you smell the scent of garlic and ginger simply because you know I love to cook.

"So I must ask once again... what is real?"

Fortunately, I am pleased to say that we will go home in exactly 492 days, 6 hours, and 34 minutes.

[Shu's mild, benignant smile remains unchanged as she comes out with this pronouncement.]

......Just teasing. I am afraid my abilities do not go that far. But I shall work all the harder for the Corsairs to speed your reunion. There are few things more urgent or important in life than young love, after all.

[And she seems to be utterly serious. ...She also seems to be surreptitiously peeking at the hardwood floor of her dormitory room to see if Aira is causing any damage with her bug stomping. She certainly was an... energetic character.]

But as we are forced to wait, perhaps we may share a New Year's meal and you may tell me a bit more about him.

Well, I might not get blessings, but if I'm lucky, I might get another fish by the end of the day.

[that's probably a pun as old or older than the initial joke.]

But... Siblings, huh...? I hope you get along when you do get chances to meet, anyway.

Nephenee! Please, come in.

[The stream of visitors has somewhat ebbed in the afternoon when Nephenee appears, which means Shu has more individual attention to pay her guest. She ushers the girl inside with a smile.]

I hope you have been finding auspicious blessings in the new year thus far.

[Atom receives #89.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Trite, but perhaps interpretable in a positive fashion. As Atom raises his query, Shu shakes her head slightly.]

It is not magic. At least, not what is practiced here through ether channeling. It is a mere matter of causality.

Oh, do you enjoy it? We should go fin-catching some time. Ah -- fishing.

[but that was probably a tangent]

We have our differences, as all siblings do. But I genuinely believe we all love and care for each other, even if we disagree on many things. After all, there are twelve of us. Two people can hardly exist in harmony all the time, let alone twelve.

There's a faint frown on Link's face, a slight furrowing of the eyebrows. He follows what she says. Even agrees with some of the logic, even; many people can't see dragons or spirits, but that doesn't make them not real.

But she makes it sound like everything wasn't real. And that...felt wrong. Even if he couldn't articulate why.

"...Real is truth," he says, eventually. "Yiga make illusions. But they're still Yiga."

It's a good pastime.

[she nods about the siblings.]

I didn't have any siblings, but I kind of understand what you mean. I hope.

"Truth."

She nods, not entirely in agreement, but in contemplation.

"A true thing. It exists, regardless of whether or not it is perceived. It persists, regardless of whether or not it is extant. If you, Link, were to find yourself in a barren wasteland alone with no other conscious life, you would still be Link. In ten thousand years, every piece of you that composed you would still be there, recycled into the earth and the stars.

"If I, Shu, am not perceived by humanity, I do not exist. I am a reflection of your consciousness. When I disappear, every piece of me will vanish, because they were never real. My creations, my works, my words, my actions will all be gone. It is not that I would be erased from history, but it is simply that I never did exist.

"However, in the here and now, I would like to believe that there is nothing that separates us. You perceive that I live, breathe, plant, harvest, and create food, and thus, it is so. You and everyone else share a mass belief in a being called Shu... And so, I am as much a person as you are."

If Link does not understand this, it is because it is largely incomprehensible to humanity.

No. No, Link doesn't understand it. Shu exists. She's here. She's even arguing with him! But it sounds like...it sounds like she's saying that if she dies, she wouldn't just die. She'd never have been here at all.

Link wouldn't know her anymore.

"...I'll forget you if you die?" He whispers, almost too soft to hear. There's almost a quiet terror to the way he stares at her. As if there's something particularly frightening to him about not being able to remember Shu anymore.

It's not a look you often see on Link's face, who usually seems to fear very little at all.

[Oh good, less people means less Neph nerves. She can't help but laugh a little as Shu all but shoves her in, more so when Shu greets her with that.]

Ah, uh, ain't right sure what all ya jus' said, but Ah'm guessin' you're sayin' you're hopin' Ah'm havin' a good new year so far?

[She's a simple country girl, and that goes double for when the fancy words are in another language.]

Edited 2025-02-01 03:47 (UTC)

Causality...? [ Atom gives a curious hum. If it's not magic, some other power? Something residing inside Shu or a natural talent for seeing something others cannot? ]

It sounds like a power that should be used with care. But it must be very helpful!

[ He recalls their earlier conversations. How Shu seemed to understand the weight of being different. The mixed feelings that come with expectations, both victories and failures.

Another question comes to mind about his creator, one that had been weighing on him since their last meeting- if it can be called a meeting at all, the way Tenma had disappeared again just as Atom was starting to wake from a near death, but he hesitates to look for answers.

How much can Shu see? He wonders. Can she read others more than he realized? Had she gone through similar experiences to his? Or both? ]

Shu smiles gently and reaches over to try to pat his hand if he allows.

"Do not fret. I do not intend to die anytime soon." She will not mention that she just did so, and it was an experience she would prefer not to reenact. "The sorrow will all be mine. You will live a long, long life, and one day, I shall place a wreath upon your resting place in remembrance, as I have done for all of those whom I cherish. I am the soil of Yan.

"But as I said... now, I am just Shu, your friend. And I think that will be enough fortune telling for today. You must eat something before you go."

The members of your division -- you were close to them in a similar way?

[This is phrased as a question, though from what Shu had glimpsed, she felt that it was true.]

Indeed I am.

[It isn't anything new for Shu. Many of the peasantry with whom she worked directly spoke in rougher terms, which is why she usually preferred to use the regional dialect of Dahuang with them. The charm of the country accent was not lost on her.]

But there is nothing more important than starting off with a proper feast.

You could say that, yeah. We argued a bit sometimes--

[A slightly irritated air for a moment when she says:]

one especially--

[And then she's as calm as ever.]

but we all agreed on some things, you know?

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乙巳 004: 大寒

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