武媚娘 | Wu Meiniang (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ladyemperor) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
isleofavalon2021-04-07 10:49 pm
ladyemperor) wrote in isleofavalon2021-04-07 10:49 pm
OPEN: catch-all for April
🧙 WHO: Meiniang and YOU
⚔️️ WHAT: Quests but also anything and everything!
🕒 WHEN: During the beautiful month of April
🗺️ WHERE: Anywhere and everywhere
⚠️ WARNINGS: Probably none, but subject to change if anything crops up
General April Shenanigans
i. The Survival Option
[Living as a concubine for many years didn't exactly prepare you to live life on your own, and having to learn to draw her own bath, get her own food was definitely an experience. Made much easier, of course, with the various magical conveniences like running water and electricity.
And made easier still because her first thought when seeing all of it was wondering how it worked, why it worked. That took up time in her day that would have been spent in bed with the covers pulled up and a book she'd only really be reading half-heartedly. Having to learn how to live one's life anew made it easier to try and forget the life she'd had.
The emperor's death feels simultaneously like yesterday and yet like too long ago so she stubbornly keeps the white silk flower in her hair though the pure white clothing she'd worn was impractical and for all that she had to grieve, she'd also been thoroughly spoiled by Rui An and the luxury of the Imperial Palace. So plain clothes it is.
Do you...]
A. Find her at breakfast, 8am
[Learning to wake up this early is hard for a concubine that usually woke up whenever she wanted, but it was either this or go hungry and Meiniang had never liked that feeling. Though she does find herself longing for some plain buns, or even noodles as she eats her cold fruit, chasing it with warm tea and frowning as she does so.]
...I can see how this would be refreshing in the height of summer, but to eat it like this now when it's so wet outside feels odd. [It's definitely why she's already on her third cup of tea at this point.]
B. Find her standing at the top of the stairs
[This would usually be the time when Rui An comes to bring her an umbrella. And also to tell her not to go out. But on her own, Meiniang takes one look at the water then proceeds to pull the bottom hem of her robe up a little so she can actually tie it tight and wade into the water.
She knows more than one of the emperor's other concubines would be raising their eyebrows at her, probably outright saying that was exactly what they'd expect from her of all people but none of them are here. In the end, it's once again just her.
If you're at all hesitant, she turns to you and offers a hand.] Do you need help?
⚔️️ WHAT: Quests but also anything and everything!
🕒 WHEN: During the beautiful month of April
🗺️ WHERE: Anywhere and everywhere
⚠️ WARNINGS: Probably none, but subject to change if anything crops up
General April Shenanigans
i. The Survival Option
[Living as a concubine for many years didn't exactly prepare you to live life on your own, and having to learn to draw her own bath, get her own food was definitely an experience. Made much easier, of course, with the various magical conveniences like running water and electricity.
And made easier still because her first thought when seeing all of it was wondering how it worked, why it worked. That took up time in her day that would have been spent in bed with the covers pulled up and a book she'd only really be reading half-heartedly. Having to learn how to live one's life anew made it easier to try and forget the life she'd had.
The emperor's death feels simultaneously like yesterday and yet like too long ago so she stubbornly keeps the white silk flower in her hair though the pure white clothing she'd worn was impractical and for all that she had to grieve, she'd also been thoroughly spoiled by Rui An and the luxury of the Imperial Palace. So plain clothes it is.
Do you...]
A. Find her at breakfast, 8am
[Learning to wake up this early is hard for a concubine that usually woke up whenever she wanted, but it was either this or go hungry and Meiniang had never liked that feeling. Though she does find herself longing for some plain buns, or even noodles as she eats her cold fruit, chasing it with warm tea and frowning as she does so.]
...I can see how this would be refreshing in the height of summer, but to eat it like this now when it's so wet outside feels odd. [It's definitely why she's already on her third cup of tea at this point.]
B. Find her standing at the top of the stairs
[This would usually be the time when Rui An comes to bring her an umbrella. And also to tell her not to go out. But on her own, Meiniang takes one look at the water then proceeds to pull the bottom hem of her robe up a little so she can actually tie it tight and wade into the water.
She knows more than one of the emperor's other concubines would be raising their eyebrows at her, probably outright saying that was exactly what they'd expect from her of all people but none of them are here. In the end, it's once again just her.
If you're at all hesitant, she turns to you and offers a hand.] Do you need help?
no subject
I think what they have would be classified as steam-powered.
[That's the best way he can describe it, anyhow. He may be from a future era, but his education in traditional subjects of learning is unfortunately a little behind, both due to the war and his work in it.]
no subject
[That is definitely news to her and she files it away as yet another thing for her to read about.]
That's amazing.
no subject
[He still wonders how Gu Yun manages to wear his armour without getting burned. It must have a pretty sophisticated cooling system.]
They might have books about that sort of thing in one of the libraries around here, if you're interested in the subject.
no subject
[Back home the books were all collected in one place and did not cover half so many subjects.]
no subject
[And though he is from before the days of the internet, this much is no marvel to him.]
Do they not have as many where you are from?
no subject
[Information that could be bought and sold by just about anyone, things meant to be read and then discarded afterwards.]
And we weren't normally encouraged to go to the library whenever we wanted to. They'd say it was "unseemly". [Though by the smile on her face it's clear that she has absolutely frequented that library as much as she wanted, seemliness be damned. Hey, if she was going to be punished with copying out the late Empress Wende's entire 30 volume of writings on how to be a proper lady then she'd more than earned her right to be there whenever she wanted.]
no subject
Unseemly, or unseemly for a woman? What a load of rubbish. They're just afraid women will realise they are every bit as smart as men.