vivala | 乙巳 005: 小暑

[video broadcast]

[Is it time for another Yanese festival? Shu bows to the video feed with her usual greeting.]

Hello, Corsairs. We are in the midst of difficult times, once more. I am glad that our aims have succeeded thus far, but it seems as if the fighting will become more pitched shortly.

Perhaps some levity is in order. In Yanese culture... [here we go again] the middle of the seventh month of the Lunar Year is called the Hungry Ghost Festival. The correct word would be preta or 餓鬼. It isn't the best translation, but there is a folk belief that the spirits of the ancestors return during this time and need to be honored, then escorted back to the afterlife. Normally, this is a very solemn affair, but of course, as ancestral veneration is not a part of your cultures, we can focus on the merriment.

Please join me this evening. We will make paper lanterns and paper boats and escort them down the river to the beyond.

If that is not to your liking... [there is a faint twinkle in her eyes] Perhaps we may share some ghost stories.

[action, by a River Somewhere That Is Definitely a Real River in this setting]

[The days are long in the summer. When the first rays of the sun begin to glimmer golden red as it descends below the horizon, Shu appears with quite a large number of candles, folding paper, and calligraphy pens.]

We guide the souls of the ancestors back to the beyond. The flowing water is the barrier between life and death. The river escorts them. We honor them with a few words and we write our hopes for them upon these lanterns.

The ancestors, of course, do not have to be your actual ancestors.

[action, for Turtles]
[It is high time that they keep their appointment and ~~hear embarrassing stories about Donnie when he was a wee turtlekin~~ share a meal together. Having some experience now with Raph's bottomless pit of an appetite and his, ah... completely undiscerning palate, Shu has thought long and hard about how best to improve his experience with food. The feast she has prepared is slightly different: instead of being set out family style, she plans to bring out one dish at a time so as to guide the direction of the meal more closely.

Of course, he is equally as likely to just inhale everything as he is to learn anything, but one can only try one's best.

She leaves the door unlocked for them. They are welcome to come in and out whenever they please, even if she has never actually said this.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She shies away from the touch like a dog used to being kicked.]

[But, at last, the candle is lit]

[And the mask]

[and her expression]

[finally]

[crack.]

[She hasn't launched the boat and is crying, absolutely inconsolable, and only through supreme effort of will does she push the boat on its way.

[Shu will step back silently and allow her to do this on her own. Symbolically and physically, it is something only Natalia can do.

The lantern drifts on the water, revolving slowly in place before the eddies and currents sweep it down the river towards the center, where it joins a small stream of boats and lanterns. Shu has chosen a body of water that moves tranquilly enough that the small armada will stay easily afloat, and one with a long arm that will allow them to follow the progress of the lanterns far into the distance.

If Natalia prefers not to be touched, after a moment, Shu will step forward and crouch beside her, passing her a handkerchief.]

Amṛtadbhave amṛtasaṃbhave amṛtavikrānte amṛtavikrānta....

[Her whispered intonations a prayer for the deceased to pass on into the Pure Land.]

[She stands. It's. A struggle. More than a struggle. It's hard to hold in anything long enough, now that enough of the ice has melted for a dam break. And yet, and yet and yet, as she leans into Shu, she blows her nose and summons what voice she can.]

[She doesn't know the transliteration, nor what the words mean, but it's the only song in her mother's language that she knows.]

[To try and put something on this, with a cracking voice and a weak breath...]

[She sings a lullaby.]

And may the one who presides over immortality guide these beloved souls on...

[Shu finishes in the language of Esthere and kneels, reverently watching the candles recede into the distance. Around them, other boats and lanterns continue to be placed into the waters, such that the procession continues on. It is not hard to see why this ritual is thought to guide the lost souls onwards - the sight of the stream of light resembles, perhaps, a parade...

Shu sits in silence as Natalia sings her soft lullaby.

She will offer her a hand.]

[Shu can FEEL the temperature sinking like a stone in the Ocean as Natalia takes her hand, tightly, the lullaby choked out by mourning too long denied.]

[If she didn't have active weather control to take hold of what would likely be an increasing Situation-- and with a lot more experience in weather-witching besides-- this might have been a problem, but--]

[It is Shu we're talking about here.]

Hm.

[Shu does not think that the somber ceremony is in particular need of a cold snap right this moment, and though she feels the power emanating from Natalia, neither does she need an exhortation to keep control of herself. Emotion ought to be released, particularly at a time like this.

She does not usually have cause to adjust the weather outside of battles nowadays, given her reluctance to create miracles, but she will use a tad bit of her power to bring in a warm wind from the west. ...Despite the chilliness of Natalia's body, she does not shy away. In fact, she will edge in closer if Natalia needs more than just a handhold.

She murmurs, softly. She suspects she could murmur anything right now and Natalia wouldn't hear the difference, but the words we are here and you will be alright are repeated a few dozen times as she rubs her hand.]

[Slowly, the sobbing ceases. Even if she wanted to continue, she's exhausted. There's nothing left to cry.]

[The fading sunlight and the slow glimmer of strange stars above, and the distant flicker of the lantern ships moving on, and in the middle... Herself. All of herself.]

[There is... A chance. A small one. Perhaps it's delusion-- a dream, or raw imagination, active and making up for lost time after so long denied. Or, perhaps, Shu can see it as well. For a moment, as Natalia slowly sinks back to seated, she could swear she feels something, sees something resembling a giant pearl fall out of her chest and into her hand.]

[As the moon rises she, without really thinking, blank-faced, tear-tracks still down her cheeks, lifts that hand up to the moonlight, so the image in her mind, and the phantom not-phantom weight in her hand, matches that distant orb.]

... Should this... have gone on that ship as well? This... Pearl...?

[Shu blinks, because she could swear that strange object hadn't been there a moment ago. She does not fully understand Natalia's powers, nor is she fully versed in the many strange metaphysical and supernatural phenomena present in this world, but as one who is fond of stories, she recognizes something of great symbolic meaning when she sees it.

So she furrows her brow and lifts her hand a tad bit away from Natalia's. Something it doesn't feel like she ought to touch this object.]

I... am not sure.

I think that is something only you can answer. Whether you keep it with you or whether you let it go.

[She stares at it for a second, and, without really thinking about it,]

[Swallows that pearl whole.]

[It's with an air of exhaustion that she continues.]

I... Likely should not have asked the question of you. Thank you, for answering anyway.

... I suppose it is too late to ask, but if you wanted to build a ship...?

[...........did natalia just eat the pearl

Even Shu's unflappable countenance is frozen momentarily in an expression of stupefaction as she observes this. ...Luckily it is dark. Also luckily, she recovers quickly. Hopefully, before Natalia can notice, she has returned to her supportive, encouraging state, though she might have to turn to the side and cough once or twice.]

Er.

[...Ok, a third time.]

Ahem. No, think nothing of it. I... pray that the choices you make tonight will relieve you of some of your burden.

As for myself... I would guide you all through this before I attend to my own needs. Do not fret. I have done this for many years.

[There's a moment where she struggles to keep it down, or maybe where it settles back where it belongs, or perhaps it simply isn't that easy to be rid of.]

[Regardless. She stands up, a bit green about the gills but otherwise little the worse for wear.]

... It is still a favor I would repay, if I can.

[Shu wordlessly offers Natalia a water flask in case she needs a bit of hydration.]

...Then I will not decline.

Would you like to fold a boat with me?

乙巳 005: 小暑

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject