乙巳 006: 立秋

[singlemilletgrain]

[video]
[It's time for another Yanese fes -- Hm. Wait.]

Hello, Corsairs.

[The image of Shu has some... alterations from its usual appearance. One arm is in a sling and bandages run up the length of the visible skin.]

It is time to begin the harvest. This year, I humbly request your assistance with this task. I am experiencing some physical limitations at the moment.

[Anyone more than casually familiar with Shu may find this a bit odd, given she is a highly proficient healer.]

If you are willing, please stop by the fields in Vault at your convenience. ...I will feed you, of course.

[harvest 1]
[After running through the general idea of how to operate the oxen and the thresher, Shu gently encourages you to go ahead with a pat on the back. It probably goes fairly well at first. Perhaps even for a significant length of time. ...And then, for some reason, one of the plants you run the thresher over explodes???, violently spooking the oxen until you find yourself directing two runaway beasts headed straight into the cavern wall of the Vault.]

Oh, dear. I forgot I was growing those Bomb Plants... Ah, please do aim away from the wall.

[She sounds very calm about this despite that you're headed for rocky death.]

[harvest 2]
[Both you and Shu are holding a sickle. Shu demonstrates the correct hand motion for you to mimic, after which she gives an approving nod.]

In Dahuang, we sing during the harvest times to make the work go faster. ~ Ti oh oh, bei lok ho ~ ...

Here, teach me a song from your world and we shall reap the wheat together.

[harvest 3]
[Where is the ultra fancy feast?? As Shu brings out the food, it is perhaps a little disappointing that it is a simple meal of rice gruel and vegetables. Perhaps it is her injury. But perhaps not? She explains as she doles out a bowl.]

Please, have a seat and take a break.

This is the traditional meal the farmers eat at lunchtime. It is nutritious and hearty, made from the same crops you are harvesting right this moment. Let us share this time together. Tell me, how did you fare on this last mission?

Comments

[newmemorywhodis]

Link hadn't known he was musical either, until one day he'd ended up picking up an ocarina only to find that he knew how to play it. He still didn't actually remember learning the instrument.

"An ocarina," he says, holding the instrument out so Shu can see. This one has been painted blue, like his earrings and hair-tie.

[singlemilletgrain]

“I’ve never seen an instrument like this. It’s very charming. May I?”

She tentatively holds a hand out if he’s willing to pass it over.

“It’s a sort of woodwind, of course. But the notes it produces are very… bucolic.”

Wistful, in a way.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link hands it over easily enough; this particular instrument isn't one he has any sentimental attachment to. It's one he picked up here, searching through a few market stalls to find one. Harlock's playing of one had reminded Link of his own ability, and he'd gone looking.

Though Shu does get a faint, puzzled frown at the word bucolic - one that suggests that Link isn't actually familiar with that particular Estherian word.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Hm..." It's not a word that's difficult to define, but the sense she intended it seems to escape easy description. "It brings to mind something far from here. A field of rippling grass... Sun-dappled trees. Something peaceful within nature."

Shu can play some traditional Yanese instruments, but she lacks the correct breathwork for a foreign woodwind instrument. ...Also swapping saliva might be a little gross. She turns it over in her hands a few times and pantomimes covering some of the holes.

"What was the song you played?"

((also upon googling ocarinas are apparently a chinese instrument which i had no idea about but i already went with shu not knowing what they were so
the more you know))

[newmemorywhodis]

Link hums softly; even if the word is difficult to define, Shu's description has given him a pic of a picture. He gets the general gist of it, at least.

"It's Kass's song," he says - before pausing, and reaching to grab his Purah Pad. A few taps, and then Link is turning it around to show Shu a picture of a blue-feathered Rito, accordion in his hands.

[[ooc: I had no idea as well! The More You Know /cue star and rainbow]]

[singlemilletgrain]

"Ah?" She glances at the creature displayed on the pad. "A Liberi! And one skewing closer to the Ancient races. Is this a friend of yours?" Did she know there were beastkin in Link's world? She can't recall. More importantly, this is the first time she's heard about one of Link's friends who wasn't Zelda.

"But goodness. That's a feat, indeed, to play an accordion with wings."

[newmemorywhodis]

There's another look of faint confusion - Link has no idea what a Liberi is - but Shu does get a quick nod. Yes, Kass is a friend.

"He's a Rito," Link says. Was that the same as a 'Liberi'? Link had no idea. "Don't think their feathers bother them."

After all, Rito did lots of things. Play instruments, cooking, making things. And feathers certainly never stopped Rito becoming the best archers. Although Tulin did have that funny quirk of using his talons to shoot, now that Link thought about it...

[singlemilletgrain]

"Ah - birdkin, as they call them here. In my world, they are called Liberi, though many have lost their more avian features."

The little parrot that followed Eunectes around was the only non-humanoid Liberi she knew of off-hand. But then, he was a slightly different... example.

"Do their feathers function like fingers, in some sense? They must be extraordinarily dexterous. Is Kass someone who helped you on your quest?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Birdkin were the closest thing to Rito here, Link had noticed - although like with Hylians and elves, they weren't quite the same.

As for whether Rito feathers were like fingers...Link makes a vague 'so-so' gesture with his hand. From what he'd seen, that seemed mostly correct. But Link wasn't a Rito himself; he didn't really know for sure.

Then, Link nods. Yes, Kass had helped on his quest.

"He's a bard," he says. "He knew songs about ancient Sheikah shrines." And, well...about Link himself. But that was a bit more awkward.

i only respond to tags with my full email notif in them sorry gotta end the thread here

[singlemilletgrain]

"Ancient Sheikah shrines...?"

She was under the impression the quest was to kill some sort of ancient evil demon thing that had conquered the world. Shrines sounded... well, more like something she did in her spare time.

Shu makes an attempt at extrapolation.

"Ah -- and these shrines had... old weapons or artifacts, perhaps?"

welp, guess that’s what I get then

[newmemorywhodis]

Link shakes his head. No, they didn't have weapons or artifacts.

"Spirit orbs," he says - before pausing to think about how exactly to explain what they were. "...They helped me get stronger. After I woke up."

And boy, had he needed them. Those early days had been...challenging.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Hm. A sort of... energy?"

This didn't sound like anything she was familiar with, but she thinks she can vaguely understand the process now.

"So when you first awakened, you needed to regain your strength through supernatural means before you could challenge the creature that had plunged your world into darkness. And that was the purpose of these shrines and orbs? It sounds almost as if they were made for such a contingency... in case such a terrible thing came to pass."

[newmemorywhodis]

A long, heavy pause.

"...They were."

There were lots of things like that, in Hyrule. Things that had been made for him, specifically. For the Hero. Either by ancient Sheikah monks, or...Zelda herself, in the past. He'd learned to get used to them.

Even if it was also a bit...awkward, being the focus of so much historical attention.

[singlemilletgrain]

"...Oh."

Shu does not say anything for a moment, her gaze turning out over the fields of wheat instead. Link does not appear to be particularly pleased, though her intuition cannot discern exactly why. She responds with the most natural thought that comes to mind.

"Then... they were right to trust in you. Those efforts were not in vain, in the end."