Shu (
singlemilletgrain) wrote in
vivala2024-09-01 08:50 pm
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甲辰 002: 處暑 [Throughout September]
♪ Ti o o beh lok ho
Ah gung nag gia di tau beh gut o ♪
1: Seeds [Early September]
In a conical hat and durable overalls, she checks her setup, knots the ropes attaching the plow one last time, and gives her docile oxen an affectionate pat between the horns.
"He Sheng. Xiao Man. Let's do a good job today."
As she guides her oxen through the underground fields of Vault, she gazes upwards at the jagged, rocky ceiling of the Vault settlement and briefly contemplates with a faint frown. There was no way that the plants in these fields were getting all the sunlight they needed to grow properly. But she had ideas. For now, she could just be thankful she wouldn't get too sweaty.
Supremely self-unconscious, it isn't long in the day before she is comfortable enough to start idly singing, her clear and vibrant voice ringing out through the vast fields even as she works.
♪ Gut ah gut gut ah gut
gut diu ji bui suan liu go ♪
♪ yi ya he to jin jia cu bi
2: Light [Mid September]
Some weirdos are on 50 foot tall scaffolding doing something to the ceiling of the Vault. Below, two oxen meander around in circles, occasionally lowing in faint concern. The plowed and sown fields are growing miraculously quickly. September was the wrong month to sow wheat altogether, and yet an acre of rapidly growing buds are sprouting up as far as the eye can see.
Currently, Shu is clinging to the roof of the cavern in an enormously precarious situation, her tail wrapped around the scaffolding to keep her secure as she drills something into the rock. A young man near her is holding some blueprints and a whole heap of strange looking materials.
"The real problem is the unpredictability. Our efforts will go to waste if the equipment is damaged by a stray blast. If only we could find a way to protect the above-ground harvesting system... Ah! Tch, I dropped it. Well, let's take a break. Thank you for your time today."
The man gives a curt nod before descending the ladder while Shu sits cross-legged on her giant scaffold in the middle of a field and muses.
3: Harvest [Late September]
There is no possible way this field could already be yielding dividends. And yet it is, and Shu is patiently, single-handedly cutting down her crops that reach higher than her head, still hum-singing her song. The oxen now are familiar sights around Vault as Shu takes a ride on one whenever she needs to get anywhere particularly distant with groceries or other deliveries. They don't help, but they are cute, which is emotional help. This matters significantly more.
Anyone who approaches will be met with a beckoning hand or a distant call, depending on how far away they are.
"Hello! You are the help I advertised for?"
Regardless of the answer, a burlap sack and a sickle are thrust into their hands, because it is clear Shu is not listening. "Start here with me, and I'll show you what to do."
Ti o o, o o... ♪
Ah gung nag gia di tau beh gut o ♪
1: Seeds [Early September]
In a conical hat and durable overalls, she checks her setup, knots the ropes attaching the plow one last time, and gives her docile oxen an affectionate pat between the horns.
"He Sheng. Xiao Man. Let's do a good job today."
As she guides her oxen through the underground fields of Vault, she gazes upwards at the jagged, rocky ceiling of the Vault settlement and briefly contemplates with a faint frown. There was no way that the plants in these fields were getting all the sunlight they needed to grow properly. But she had ideas. For now, she could just be thankful she wouldn't get too sweaty.
Supremely self-unconscious, it isn't long in the day before she is comfortable enough to start idly singing, her clear and vibrant voice ringing out through the vast fields even as she works.
♪ Gut ah gut gut ah gut
gut diu ji bui suan liu go ♪
♪ yi ya he to jin jia cu bi
2: Light [Mid September]
Some weirdos are on 50 foot tall scaffolding doing something to the ceiling of the Vault. Below, two oxen meander around in circles, occasionally lowing in faint concern. The plowed and sown fields are growing miraculously quickly. September was the wrong month to sow wheat altogether, and yet an acre of rapidly growing buds are sprouting up as far as the eye can see.
Currently, Shu is clinging to the roof of the cavern in an enormously precarious situation, her tail wrapped around the scaffolding to keep her secure as she drills something into the rock. A young man near her is holding some blueprints and a whole heap of strange looking materials.
"The real problem is the unpredictability. Our efforts will go to waste if the equipment is damaged by a stray blast. If only we could find a way to protect the above-ground harvesting system... Ah! Tch, I dropped it. Well, let's take a break. Thank you for your time today."
The man gives a curt nod before descending the ladder while Shu sits cross-legged on her giant scaffold in the middle of a field and muses.
3: Harvest [Late September]
There is no possible way this field could already be yielding dividends. And yet it is, and Shu is patiently, single-handedly cutting down her crops that reach higher than her head, still hum-singing her song. The oxen now are familiar sights around Vault as Shu takes a ride on one whenever she needs to get anywhere particularly distant with groceries or other deliveries. They don't help, but they are cute, which is emotional help. This matters significantly more.
Anyone who approaches will be met with a beckoning hand or a distant call, depending on how far away they are.
"Hello! You are the help I advertised for?"
Regardless of the answer, a burlap sack and a sickle are thrust into their hands, because it is clear Shu is not listening. "Start here with me, and I'll show you what to do."
Ti o o, o o... ♪
1
She misses the fields and working under the sun, running her fingers along the leaves and sheaves. But until she can figure out how to marry that and being in Flotsam, she feels a bit conflicted. At the very least, though, here she can sit and take in the smell and the feeling of the dirt in her hands and try to relax a little. So that's what she's doing, hidden among the corn stalks, in her own little world...when she hears a voice, clear and lovely, dance on the air. It sounds familiar, though the language and song certainly aren't. A straw hat pokes up amongst the maize as she peers around for the source, when she sees someone plowing in a field not too terribly far away. Is that...
"Miss Shu?" Curious, she wanders over, her long legs eating up the distance quickly even at a lope, before stopping at the edge of the field. Yep, that's a singing Shu and some oxen. Well, it'd be impolite to interrupt...so for now, she rocks on the balls of her feet to the beat of the song, long green hair swaying, not knowing the meaning but appreciating it all the same.
no subject
At times the melody wanders towards some variation or trill that Shu places on the notes, her song sweeping through the fields with the wind. Her steps and the movements of her oxen have begun to match the rhythm of the song subconsciously as well.
Shu finishes one row, then guides her oxen to round the corner and begin heading in the opposite direction.
" -- Oh! Hello, Nephenee. I like your hat."
This is clearly meant to be a joke as she is wearing something very similar. There is not a huge variety in conical straw hats.
no subject
But Shu's noticing her and the joke catch her off-guard, and a rare, warm laugh escapes the Sentinel, before she touches her own hat. "Ah like yours, too. Ah've never seen one that shape." There may not be a huge variety, but this is new and therefore neat. As are the oxen! She comes over to meet Shu and her bovine friends, and smiles brightly at them all, the farm girl in her coming out. "How are ya, an' who are these fine fellas?"
no subject
She will not mention that she named them after pupils of hers. It probably does not seem very flattering, even if Shu thinks it is.
"Say hello, little ones."
The oxen say hello by lumbering up to Nephenee and sticking their noses into the general region of her hands.
"And what are you doing in the fields today?"
no subject
There's a note of wistfulness in her features for a moment, before she answers Shu, still petting the beautiful creatures. "Oh, jus'...missin' the fields. Ah can't do a lot o'growin' on the ships...so sometimes Ah come here to do a lil' tendin' an' spendin' time in the crops. Sometimes, Ah kinda wish Ah'd been put with The Vault, but..." The last sentence is a little softer as she trails off. It's a tug of war between two sides, admittedly. But even then, she's quite happy loving on the big loveable critters in front of her.
no subject
"Oh -- of course. There are no farms in Flotsam, certainly."
It would be hard to imagine a farm floating in the middle of the ocean.
"But why don't you try to find housing here? I am sure there is room. We can search for something together if you like. And I know the fields would be much improved with more people tending to their needs."