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

[singlemilletgrain]

[Shu's hands are cool and light, like a gentle breeze fluttering against Aira's fingertips. She cups her left hand beneath Aira's and with her right, begins to trace the lines of her palm. At first, she holds a steady gaze, but soon, her eyes drop and her movements slow to a crawl, as if she is seeing the ridges and features of the palm through sensation alone.

There is a period of tense silence before she speaks, her voice distant and soft.]

The name of love assigned at birth, a guarded wall, a spacious berth. To keep the ones for whom she cares at ample length... Her jealousies and cruelties, the barbs with which she feels at ease and yet her heart pounds, throbbing, seeking strength.

The acrobatic dance with which she balances, ever-warring instincts fighting impulses, silky strands of sentiment though she distances -- herself. No more. No longer. She found her friends and to this end she wishes to amend. Without her who shall be the one on which they can depend?

[testygirl]

That's pretty creepy.

[ Enough that Aira almost pulls her hand back. She can't chalk it up to coincidence that both the words "acrobatic" and "silky" were in there. The more paranoid part of her wonders if, instead of having real powers, this lady has been snooping around and found out things about her somehow.

That's basically impossible, though. Aira has described her powers to a few people in vague terms, but since she missed out on the most recent battle, none of the Corsairs have even seen her fight.

It's not fun to be called jealous and cruel, either. But she has been—definitely in the past, and she'll probably have her moments in the future, too. Shu will almost certainly notice that it's taking a lot of effort for Aira to keep her temper in check, but she's able to, at least for the moment. She makes a fist with her off hand, then determinedly sets her face. ]

Is there more?

[singlemilletgrain]

[It doesn't appear that Shu is paying Aira any mind at the moment. Unless she truly pulls her hand away, Shu is fixated on concluding her reading. Her eyes open now as her fingers move to trace down Aira's palm vertically, passing over a barely visible fate line.]

Time relentless passes by, a fixed dimension in our minds. She grows, she learns, she changes more, for love she named and love she bore, the essence of a young girl's pride, a leader, comrade, friend, and guide.

Her friends and family... are they blind? Fie -- They are fine! For time relentless passes by, yet time's dimension has no tie, to this, a world of in-between and so it goes unseen.

Reunion with joy within her heart. Together, again, no time has passed apart.

[........................................There is a terribly long, pregnant silence marked by nothing but Shu's steady breaths before she gives a great exhale and lifts her head.]

...Does that suffice as an answer?

[testygirl]

Yeah. Sounds like they'll be alright?

... You sort of lost me with the stuff about time not passing, though.

[ Aira exhales, releasing all the built up tension along with her breath. Now she can also pretend that she wasn't on the verge of freaking out, since Shu didn't seem to notice, so it's a win-win. ]

It was stupid to worry about them, anyway. Basically all of them are idiots, but at least they're tough. And they look out for each other.

[singlemilletgrain]

What I believe I saw... was that your presence here does not necessarily mean your friends are currently in a quandary without you. It is possible that each dimension has its own unique flow of time, isolated and unique unto itself. ...I fear I cannot claim to understand such things. And again, it is only one possibility. A significant possibility, to be sure.

[She smiles, unaware that the initial portion of her reading had caused so much distress.]

And there is always the qian stick fortune, if you prefer that one.

Tell me about your friends. There was a boy with glasses? And another girl.

[testygirl]

[ Aira nods along with her explanation; put that way, it isn't that hard to follow. Back home, the aliens that appear on earth can create a kind of void space that mirrors their surroundings, but doesn't actually affect anything physically—with everything returning to normal once its gone. So like that, but with time? Sounds about right.

Anyway, speaking of somewhat overblown distress, Aira's face immediately flushes as soon as Shu mentions a boy with glasses. ]

Y-You saw them? Jeez.

[ Her face scrunches, and she makes an embarrassed little eep. ]

Takakura is... such a sweet guy. He's funny, and brave, and caring, and he's a hard worker who's always thinking of other people. I want him to be my boyfriend really bad so that we can kiss and go on a bunch of cute dates.

[ Aira sighs, then lets out a huff. ] Momo is a biiiii [ she changes words midstream, thinking better of it ] iiiiit of a meanie? Eh. We fight a lot, but she's really strong and smart and reliable. We're kind of rivals.

[singlemilletgrain]

[oh wow

Having some understanding of teenage girls, Shu mentally diagnoses Aira with 'down bad.' Gushing out her feelings to the nearest stranger is a cardinal social sin for a girl her age, and yet they did it so often when they were in the early stages of infatuation. Shu's smile is understanding, if not a bit indulgent.]

I see.

[On the flip side, Shu did not need to read fortunes to know what Aira was initially going to say about Momo.]

Have you considered telling Takakura about how you feel? I am sure he would be flattered. [a pause] Ah, but -- woman to woman, I would leave out that last part.

[testygirl]

[ The down baddest. It's pretty tragic when you also consider that it's a whole love triangle thing, and she's clearly in the losing corner. Maybe she recognizes that somewhere deep down, but she's very naive in this particular arena, and too stubborn to give up.

Her tone shifts to something more wistful—or regretful, even? ]

I have told him. It went...

[ About the worst possible way she could have gone about it, frankly. Definitely too embarrassing to describe in detail! ]

... Not great. Ugh, I totally didn't know what I was doing. I should try again, but we're always so busy fighting aliens and stuff that it never feels like I have a good opportunity.

[singlemilletgrain]

[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.

[testygirl]

[ 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!

[singlemilletgrain]

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.

[testygirl]

Wh...? Hey!

[ Oh, she's got jokes, huh? That manages to surprise Aira enough to interrupt the pouty stomping. The floor ought to be fine, though if she'd been transformed into Acrobatic Silky, they might be waving down to the neighbors one floor below—or to like a family of gophers if they're on ground level.

More importantly: she gets the chance to stuff her face and go on more about Takakura? That's the easiest sell in the universe. ]

You know, damn straight. My love is important! That's the smartest thing anybody's said since I got here.

And I'm sure whatever food you've got prepared is deee-lish, since you're obviously a gorgeous genius. What's on the menu?

[singlemilletgrain]

Oh my. And that is the kindest thing anyone has said since I got here.

[Aira isn't wrong, though. ...On both counts, even if Shu doesn't usually care to boast of her physical attributes. Rising from her seat, she ushers the girl towards the buffet table set out with food, which by this point in time, might have cooled considerably at room temperature. But what is the point in being a pseudo-goddess if you can't occasionally alter reality to keep your feast at piping hot temperatures?]

If you will excuse my nosy impertinence... I believe you are from a place called Japan? [That was the language she had seen in her visions of the future.] I only recently learned of the country from a Corsair named Oki. In my world, we have a country called Higashi that seems to be a parallel. In the same vein, your world has a place called China, I believe? My home of Yan and Higashi are neighbors, much as China and Japan are.

I say this because we might share some traditions. In Yan, we eat fish, noodles, dumplings, and soup in celebration of the coming year.

[Everything looks delectable, although a significant portion of it has already been taken by other guests.]

[testygirl]

[ Pseudo-goddess magic does sound more convenient than using chafer dishes. Aira herself doesn't have a brain cell to spare on the matter, and with some appreciative cooing, she jumps right in to fill up a plate.

Noodles are hanging out of her mouth when she turns to reply. There are also stars in her eyes, and all feels right with the world. ]

Eely? I'shatoo?

[ Oh, bad habit. She slurps up the noodles and swallows. ]

Hem. Uh, yeah, we totally have traditions like that! We eat toshi-koshi soba, which has these extra long noodles that are supposed to represent longevity? Like, in life. And there's osechi-ryori, where we put different foods into separate little boxes, kind of like a bento. Those all have their own meanings, too.

[ It would be polite at this juncture for Aira to ask a question in return, but she's back to snarfing instead. She'll get there? Maybe? ]

[singlemilletgrain]

Yes, exactly. Longevity noodles. These are a variety called yi mian, a fried noodle dish from the southeast region of Yan. And we eat plenty of fish because the word in our language is homophonous with the word for 'abundance.' We say, 'year after year, may you have abundant blessings' or 'year after year, may you have fish.'

[Speaking of, Shu deposits a plate with both hands close to Aira. With a pair of chopsticks, she expertly begins to fillet pieces of meat, avoiding the main bony structures as much as possible and depositing the tender flesh directly onto Aira's plate like an overbearing grandmother.]

Be careful of the small bones.

[She does not seem perturbed by Aira's crass behavior. ...In fact, she almost seems to be enjoying it.]

[testygirl]

You can't go wrong with abundant blessings! Or abundant fish.

[ Aira is quite deft with her own chopsticks, neatly avoiding the small bones in question while cleaning the fish off her plate about as fast as Shu can place it there. She's kind of been working her tail off over the last however many days and probably hasn't been eating as well as she should. It's a perfect opportunity to make up for that! ]

I know you said you'd listen to me [ chomp ] talk some more about Takakura [ chomp ] but are you sure? You could be standing there listening for a while.

[ At least she's self-aware? Sort of?? ]

[singlemilletgrain]

I have plenty of time to spare.

[a few millennia, give or take a decade or two]

To tell the truth, your life seems extraordinarily interesting from the few certain glimpses I saw. You must explain more to me about what exactly it is you and your friends do. I confess I am curious.

My world has many oddities and supernatural incidents, but nothing quite as...

[What's the right word here? Cartoonishly weird?]

...Whimsical.

[If Aira doesn't stop her, Shu is going to deposit the whole fish on her plate.]

[testygirl]

[ That's one way to put it! "Bizarre as fuck" might be another.

Aira has enough of an appetite to take on the whole fish, for real, though her tummy probably won't thank her later. ]

Honestly, it's a kind of recent development. My life used to be pretty normal. And lame. But it all started when...

[ she got hit in the head with magical golden testicle ]

... aaaactually that part doesn't matter! I got, uh, exposed to some spiritual power. There was this yokai that had been stalking me since I was a kid, and suddenly I could see it. And because of that exposure [ dammit, why'd she choose that word?? ] it could go after me, since we were on the same plane of existence or whatever.

Uh, but then I got the wrong kind of idea, and thought that the yokai was Momo Ayase's familiar and that she was a de...mon. Shit, I forgot how embarrassing all of this was for me. God!

[singlemilletgrain]

[And though Shu can see the past and future, she regrettably cannot see contextual information about all things, so she has no idea what embarrassing or bizarre memory Aira is sidestepping right this moment. She blinks quizzically at the girl while automatically spooning her some soup now from a tureen.]

...'Yokai.' That is not a word I'm familiar with, but you are referring to that ghastly creature I saw, aren't you?

So the plane of spirits and the plane of the physical body overlapped. And you continue to harness that power to take on other intrusions into this world?

You do not need to be embarrassed. I do not think an average child would have the wherewithal to make sense of what was going on.

[testygirl]

[ With the soup, now Aira is nearing the limit of her consumptive capability. Typically she isn't very polite or thoughtful, but when it comes to accepting food from supportive older ladies, there's an exception to the rule. Back home, Momo's grandma provides them all with many tasty meals, and she's one of the few people to whom Aira is always respectful.

Still, she does take the soup much slower than the fish and noodles. ]

Basically, yeah. They're spirits—usually, like, evil and vengeful in some way because of some horrible thing that happened to them while they were alive. Acrobatic Silky looked and acted creepy, sure, but she was a hard-working mom who was attacked by some horrible debt collectors and had her daughter taken away.

When she attacked me, I ended up kinda... dying? But in the end, she transferred her spiritual energy to me, and I got resurrected. So her power is inside me, which is why I can use it here, too. I'll show you sometime!

[ If she tried to transform now, it totally feels like she'd get stomach cramps. Or throw up, even, which is definitely the last thing she wants. ]

Before that, Takakura fought super hard to protect me, even though I was really mean to him and Momo. Right then was when I started to fall for him, hard.

[singlemilletgrain]

((Happy to do whatever works for you! We can cut to black or keep going for a bit longer or whatever -- I don't want the thread to overstay its welcome if you feel like we're good!))

[If Aira is familiar with older ladies feeding her, she will also be familiar with the thought that Shu is not stopping of her own volition until Aira expands like a balloon and floats out the window and / or bursts. This is the one activity that provides meaning for older ladies of Asiatic cultures.]

He sounds like someone worth your attention. It is not always easy to find young men of good character at your age. How many times I have urged my younger siblings to be more gracious, more polite... Alas that they do not listen.

[Her younger siblings are like 1000 years old, but. Details.]

This Acrobatic Silky... Were you able to make peace with her, in the end? I hope that she was able to pass on to a more dignified end. It does not sound as if causing you ill was her intent, even if she harmed you.

[She'll... gloss over the dying part. Aira is clearly alive and kicking, so. She got better?]

[testygirl]

[ Auntie Seiko isn't quite so persistent, but the point stands. After a certain incident, she ended up treating an entire gang that was at least thirty or forty strong.

Anyway, Aira hangs in there, stubbornly sipping the soup against all sense and better judgement. Though her pace does keep getting slower. ]

Mhm! He's amazing.

... I've wondered what it'd be like to have a younger sister or brother. But sheesh, seriously, they need to listen to you! Hmph, rude.

[ If they were sweet, she would probably spoil them. If they weren't, it would be, uh. Contentious? ]

Acro Silky—oh, we call her that for short. All of the yokai we come across get their personalities twisted in some way. She was caring, and wanted to care for me, but ended up going kind of... berserk when I called her an ugly monster. So, basically, you're right.

It did work out. She apologized, and found some peace before passing on.

[ It was A Lot at the time, but she's able to reflect on it now pretty soberly. ]

[singlemilletgrain]

I am glad that was the case.

[Conscious that Aira appears to be reaching her limits, Shu will respond by... refilling the soup. Look, warm liquids were good for the digestion. It would help soothe her stomach. At least she isn't putting more dumplings on the plate.

...Aira should really vocally ask for a hard stop, though.]

Still, it is troubling to think that such a fate can befall humans after death in your world. I hope this is not a commonplace thing. Yet it does not sound like she was an exceptional case of some sort... the life you describe seems like something that might happen to anyone.

[Well, hopefully not that many people were killed by the mafia, but a hard working single mother isn't exactly unique.]

[testygirl]

[ Aira's eyes widen at the advent of More Soup. She... she can think of a way through this without asking Shu to stop, like, outright. Give her a sec.

Or a few secs, because this topic interests her quite a lot. Speaking of Auntie Seiko—she would know a hell of a lot more about all this. Since it's not something they ever delved into much, Aira can only kind of wonder herself. ]

Mm, you've got a point, but...

The way she loved her daughter totally was exceptional. Or, I guess even beyond that, there's the way she hated herself for not being able to provide more for her. I felt everything she felt when I took on her power. It's sort of... impossible to even describe. The feelings were so intense.

Maybe that's still pretty common, I don't know. I'm sure as heck glad that there aren't more of them, considering we have to worry about a whole-ass alien invasion, too! Whew. Urk—

[ Aira makes a face, feeling an uncomfortable swirl in her stomach. This is her limit, it seems! She sucks in a breath, claps her hands together, then gives Shu a stiff bow. ]

C-Can I please...

... get the rest of that in a container? To eat later?

[singlemilletgrain]

Of course.

[Shu responds as if she were waiting for such a request. It is possible she was, because those to-go containers seem to appear out of thin air. Did Shu even rise from her seat?]

I will include a little bit of everything, in case you did not get an opportunity to sample the full array. I understand it might have been a bit overwhelming for one meal.

[That sure is a dozen takeout containers being filled to the brim.]

So it is not that one must live an extraordinary life, but one must have... extraordinary feelings for such a thing to happen. When you put it in that way, it makes sense. There is no such phenomena in my world, but it is well known that the lingering strong feelings of animosity of war can create a foul miasma - or the regret of the fallen warriors can lead to the manifestation of shades.

[a pause]

...Did you say 'alien invasion'?