甲辰 003: 冬至

[singlemilletgrain]

[video transmission]

Greetings, Crimson Corsairs.

[As usual, the elegant woman appears with a beaming smile amidst the warm steam rising from bowls of... something or other in her kitchen.]

I understand you come from many winter traditions, both in this land and in your homes. If you would allow me a brief intrusion... In Yan, it is customary to celebrate the Winter Solstice, the 'dong zhi.' As it is the longest night of the year, we give thanks that the light will return and the days will soon grow long once more. In the depths of midwinter, it is a reminder that balance and yang will be restored, no matter how dark the nights may seem. For those of us in agrarian communities, we give thanks also to the animals who have brought us through the hard times.

[A mischievous glimmer shines in her eyes.]

Of course, it is also the day that the venerable master of the stove, Zao Jun, reports to Tian on whether or not your house hold has been 'naughty' or 'nice,' which I understand is a part of some other traditions as well.

Please allow me to offer prayers to Tian on your behalf. What is it that you hope for when the sun returns in its full splendor?

[in person, all around]

[Shu appears at your door on this cold, long winter evening, knocking politely and awaiting an answer. Whether she sought you out specifically or whether she's never met you at all, she stands and waits in her warm coat holding an extraordinarily large soup bowl in her hands. Somehow, it does not seem to trouble her.]

Comments

[video]

[straykitty]

[ The young woman on the other end looks thoroughly amused by these whole proceedings. She's likely just come of age, but her expression is rather poised and elegant for one of her few years. ]

So what are our options if we end up on the "naughty" list?

1/2

[singlemilletgrain]

Death.

NOT HERE

[relentless_sentinel]

[SHU
SHU CALM DOWN
DEATH IS NOT THE ANSWER

We'll take Terrifying Images for 500, Alex.]

[singlemilletgrain]

[death is the answer to so many problems though]

[singlemilletgrain]

[This being their first interaction, one might take her seriously as she clasps her hands together solemnly. ...But the smile returns to her face moments later.]

I jest!

It is complicated. The severity of punishment depends on the conduct of your whole household. As we are separated from our people here, I pray the master of the stove will understand if we seek to conduct our individual lives with humility and honor.

But if you mean options for repentance... it is too late by this date. Your year's activities are reported in full.

[straykitty]

Then I suppose I shall just have to trust that my siblings were good enough for the three of us~

[singlemilletgrain]

Are you saying your conduct was not laudable this year?

[Her teasing smile fades somewhat as she continues.]

But I am sorry you are far from your family. I rarely see my siblings, but I think of them often on these nights. Are you close?

[A psychologist might consider that this is why she keeps trying to feed everyone in sight.]

[audio]

[nyammy]

[ also, like, this is coming from somebody else's account, since Yuki still isn't an official Corsair - ]

What does being naughty or nice have to do with anything? I thought the winter holiday was just about getting gifts and having dates.

[ Pause. ] Maybe it's a difference of our "worlds" then.


I'd like a cake.

[singlemilletgrain]

Cake?

That wasn't entirely what I meant, but... I believe that prayer can be fulfilled without the intervention of Tian.

[...]

Out of curiosity, do you have a preferred flavor?

The winter solstice is about family and sharing food, I would say. I have heard that countries like Laterano and Victoria do celebrate a gift-giving holiday called Christmas, although I have never heard of a tradition about dating.

[nyammy]

I enjoy the flavor of milk. [ That's not a cake flavor, Yuki... ] I've also quite taken to strawberries.

But yes, Christmas, that is it. That's the name of the holiday.

[singlemilletgrain]

Milk...

[Well. Actually, that's not entirely unfounded. 'Milk flavor' in reference to milk powder or cream is an occasional delicacy in Yan. She hasn't ever seen anything like that here, though.]

What is your name, by the way?

And would Christmas be the holiday you celebrate? I would be curious to know more. This would have been the first winter I spent with foreigners, you see, but I am here instead.

[freearcadia]

I'm not much one to call upon another to fulfill my requests, but I'd like to get my ship back.

[Harlock slightly raised a mug of something steaming hot and most likely alcoholic]

The winter traditions I'm familiar with started as rituals to revive a dying sun, to let it be reborn - now it's mostly sitting under a dead tree while eating candy out of a sock, or eating chicken with a lover.

[singlemilletgrain]

Er.

[She squints for a moment before assuming a doubtful laugh.]

I presume you are framing it in an unflattering manner. But surely socks are not hygienic to eat out of.

[She does not question the 'eating chicken with a lover' part because she can think of nothing more romantic than sharing food, obviously.]

[freearcadia]

[A soft laugh escapes, his expression softens]

Well it's a special sock only made for putting treats in. Christmas... has gotten a lot of frankly, extremely strange traditions over the last three thousand years.

[He takes a long sip of his drink]

[purplexing]

[Considering how busy Donnie tends to be, it's a quite lucky for Shu to come upon him when he's actually in his quarters. He doesn't have his jacket on but he has on his turtleneck (hah!) and pants, suggesting he's in the process of getting ready to step out.

He blinks at Shu before his attention drifts down to the bowl she carries, unable to help but lick his lips. Oh that smells good. ...did he skip lunch? Breakfast? Wait, what time is it.]

[singlemilletgrain]

Good evening, Donnie.

[Shu sizes him up with a glance and in true maternal fashion, immediately comes out with:]

You are not eating enough.

[It is possible, likely probable, she would have said this even if he were eating six meals a day. On the flip side, it is possible, likely probable, that this statement would be true for Donnie on any given day of the week. So it is that their various idiosyncrasies are perfectly aligned.]

Are you going out at this hour?

[The judgment in her tone is wholly hypocritical, given what she is doing at this hour.]

[purplexing]

[He doesn't know what to do with this observation (whether or not it be true), so he defaults to mild offense, mouth opening in preparation to protest, until he's hit with that question.

The turtlekin blinks, pausing. What hour is it exactly anyway? He glances at the chronometer he'd installed on his ENC bracer.]

Uhh... Yes?

[newmemorywhodis]

When Shu arrives at Link's little dorm room, she'll find that it's been decorated. On the walls and stuck to the small window are pressed flowers - a pretty blue and white variety, with five petals. On the windowsill are also several pot with the same plant, although they aren't currently flowering.

But standing in the doorway is Link himself, who lights up when he sees who it is - and what she's holding.

"Shu!" He says. She's brought soup! And it's Shu's soup, so it must be good. He opens the door wider to let her in - as a speckled black and white chicken hangs by near his feet.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Hello, Link."

She smiles in greeting upon seeing him, briefly thankful that there would be no exhibitions to risotto dimensions today.

"May I -- Oh! Is this a new friend?"

As a farm animal, the chicken wholly seizes her interest as she gingerly steps around it.

[newmemorywhodis]

Really, she needed worry. People can't go into Link's bag. The magic just didn't work. No, it was only very small creatures that could get put inside.

(So really it's just lizards and insects living in the risotto dimension. Best not to think too much about that though, really.)

Meanwhile, Link nods his head as the speckled chicken stares up at Shu. "She's Pepper," he says.

Pepper clucks. And then tries to peck Shu's foot.

[theriflespiral]

Natalia closed the video, and smiled, faintly, to herself.

She was making Solstice deliveries herself, having narrowly avoided a certain captain's wrath, and making her way to all the members of her time aboard the Mad Archer, both on Flotsam still, in the big public celebrations, and in smaller ships, with loved ones gained and lost.

It was no surprise, then, that these two should meet outside her flop, just as she was about to return.

She wore a loose, brightly colored coat, with a black, oiled, hooded bolero over it, an attempt to at least sort of keep out the damp.

At first she stopped, and assessed the situation, and her hand moved away from her holdout weapons. "... Hail."

She speaks with an Ursus accent you could cut with a knife. "One moment, I locked up."

[singlemilletgrain]

"Good evening. My apologies for the intrusion."

If this meeting had occurred some six months in the past, she would have found the accent to be an interesting novelty. Few citizens of Ursus ventured to Dahuang, devoid as the mobile city was of anything besides farmland. But since joining the landship of Rhodes Island, she had met all sorts of operators, Gummy and her schoolmates among them.

Shu herself has a very faint accent, of the sort one might associate with a Chinese national educated by Brits. Likely more intriguing are the horns and tail protruding beyond her coat.

"I wanted to offer something to ward off the chill."

[theriflespiral]

"By all means, come in, then," Natalia said, opening the door and setting her bolero to drip dry in the entry. She blinks at the horns, but says nothing about them-- some sort of animal-kin, perhaps? She'd seen enough of them already, between Donnie, Deedee, and that one rabbit-kin captain everyone told her to let sleep. "I have been relying on others' hospitality all night-- only fair to offer my own, such as it is."

There's by all accounts not much here-- a hung up comforter on a line, well-made, a mattress leaned up to dry, a low table with some stools for it. Several weapons sit ready, but have no racks. Conditions are slightly cramped for one, never mind two, but it's unscrupulously clean, as if someone was making a diorama of a life instead of living it. A small Ether stove sits on a counter-- this, Natalia ignites, then sets a kettle on it and starts pulling down objects from cupboards. "Do you enjoy tea?"

[lightnovelexperiences]

My wish is for all of my friends who want a way home to find it.

Thanking the cows for their milk and the sheep for their wool is a good tradition and I'm in favor of it.

[singlemilletgrain]

That is very magnanimous of you. Indeed, I, too, wish to find a way home.

Do you think it will be possible to defeat the Empire this year?