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

Harvest 3

[straykitty]

As a scythe is in truth a farming implement, Renne has little difficulty helping with the harvest. When they sit for a break however, she turns the query back on Shu immediately.

"Fine, but I'm more concerned for your own health. Do your bandages need to be changed? Shall I reinforce it with healing magic?"

[singlemilletgrain]

Shu smiles gently at this show of concern.

"Do not fret, Renne. I have seen worse." ...OK so that might not actually be true, but Shu certainly isn't about to make a fuss over some injuries that will heal without any permanent damage. "That man's ether... It was impressive, in a way. The only equivalent thing I have heard of before is the idea of stoppering the flow of qi, but I had not thought it to be a genuine technique. I have been told that my healing abilities will return naturally over time.

"Were you injured in the fracas? It was a chaotic fight."

Harvest 2

[newmemorywhodis]

When Link had shown up to help Shu, he had apparently been fully prepared to harvest wheat with his sword. But perhaps fortunately for Shu's sensibilities, he was willing enough to swap for the sickle.

But at Shu's question, he pauses, thinking. A song from his world?

Suddenly, Link regrets the fact that he never bothered to memorise any of the lyrics of Kass's songs.

But he does still remember the tune. So Link pulls out a small instrument - an ocarina - from his pack, and plays for Shu jaunty little tune.

[singlemilletgrain]

Well, she didn't really expect Link to start singing, even if she had prompted him to do so. Shu listens with a pleased smile and claps her hands lightly at the end. ...She would clap more enthusiastically, but you know. The sling.

"I did not know you were musical, Link. What is that instrument?"

[straykitty]

Renne smiles a bit sadly. "The Empire's finest are able to operate on a much higher level than should be possible, although the price paid is often quite high in the end. I was fortunate to avoid most major injuries, although I am frustrated that it is in no small part due to my own lack of efficacy in the battle."

Harvest 2

[freearcadia]

[While it wasn't the biggest priority, he had remembered their previous conversation about knowing one's food. He'll never see himself as someone who grows, but there he is, his hair tied back, as he felt the heft of the sickle.]

Well, can't say I know any harvest songs... there's shanties - sea and sea of stars... maybe some children's songs.

harvest 1

[upupatomway]

[ Atom takes up her request for help harvesting. It's the least he can do after she had cooked wonderful meals for him. He didn't expect animals to be involved, and he's delighted to try working with the oxen.

Then something explodes under the thresher shortly after they get started. Atom gets tossed and the thresher lands on top of him. Not a problem for a metal robot, but he scans for the oxen immediately in case they were injured. Luckily they're fine. He looks shaken up, regardless of the lack of injuries. ]

Bomb plant? There's such a thing as a bomb plant?

[ He could have misheard her. Maybe the explosion jumbled up his sensors. ]

[singlemilletgrain]

To be honest, everything had happened quickly enough that Shu couldn't say what exactly each person's contribution had been to the battlefield. She does know that Renne was present in those last moments for a crucial action, though.

"Nonsense. If you had not revealed his location at that precise time, Natalia and I would have surely missed the mark. If your attacks did not land earlier, well... I suppose the battle would have been much shorter and we would not be speaking of this. Each person's contribution is necessary. The harvest owes its success to the farmer tilling the fields as much as the butcher who fed the farmer."

[singlemilletgrain]

[Shu beams pleasantly at Harlock's appearance in the wheatfield. If she has anything smug to say about his taking her advice, she keeps it to herself.]

A sea shanty will do perfectly well. It is simply to pass the time in a pleasant way, you know - a way that bonds our community.

[singlemilletgrain]

It's from Link.

[obviously. as all strange things are.]

I had taken some samples to try to study how they grew - how they functioned despite being naturally growing plants. I... have not made much progress.

[Her only conclusion is: this shit's wild]

But never mind that. Are you alright? Were you injured?

[straykitty]

Renne smiles wryly.

"Perhaps, but it's a bit of a disappointment for one who was once among the most feared assassins in the Empire. Even after all these years, it's hard to completely throw away your professional pride."

[singlemilletgrain]

"Hm..."

She tilts her head slightly to one side in thought.

"Perhaps the issue was that it was not a mission very amenable to assassination. There was little chance of doing it stealthily. But you are unusually fond of removing heads." She had observed this in the rescue mission at the witch's house. "Perhaps such interests may be redirected to other ends?"

will it be insulting if shu ambles a few dozen meters away and gestures with a smile at her watermelon patch

[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.

[straykitty]

Renne giggles. "I've found it's a fairly effective means of accomplishing a goal, and tends to come with a certain factor of shock and awe that ensures other victims are too stunned to escape. I was trained to be effective, but also to send a message."

Renne DOES oblige and begin harvesting the watermelons as indicated.

[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]

"...You may cut some, if you like."

Shu will magnanimously allow Renne to explode some of the watermelons in a burst of red juices if it satisfies her psychological needs. Afterwards, she hands Renne a thick slice.

"I will not presume to know better than you, but you are very young, still. I simply express my hope that you do not need to continue to play such a role - or at least, to minimize it as much as possible."

[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))

[freearcadia]

[If he's aware of any possible smugness to be had, he made no sign of it as he gently held his hand near the top of the stalk before he cuts near the base as instructed.]

Many true shanties are call and answer, or to keep rhythm when working on the rigs - as we have seen how dangerous a badly applied rig can be - shanties from the sea of stars is for morale.

[He starts to sing - Something akin to a shanty his voice is pleasant, though not one who was trained as a singer, but is familiar with musical notation]

[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."

[singlemilletgrain]

I fear I cannot respond accurately... but perhaps I can improvise? The harvest songs, too, are simply to keep pace as we work through the fields, for it is onerous work, indeed.

[Shu listens attentively to the beginning notes of the shanty, and though music is not her particular specialty, she has been around long enough that she understands the relative relationship of tones. When he gets to a section that has a pause or that seems to require a second voice, Shu will softly hum something satisfactorily harmonious.

Thus with the beat, she begins to reap the wheat.]

[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?"

[straykitty]

Renne obliges with far more elegant cuts, splitting the watermelon with quick flicks of her scythe causing it to fall into pieces all at the same time.

"I play the role I do because I am one of those who can. For an outlaw group, the Corsairs have quite a few bleeding heart heroic types. I've walked in darkness, and I know what makes it afraid."