isleofavalon | OPEN: catch-all for April

Entry tags:

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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[At the very least she doesn't seem to have offended him, she thinks. Meiniang lets her shoulders relax slightly, tucking the basket closer to herself while making a mental note to be more careful with her words in the future.]

I think there are enough of us here that aren't local though? [Her smile is more self-deprecating than anything. She made a mistake and she's willing to own to that.]

So you're shopping for your friends, then. They're very lucky.

I think, at least in regards to them, that I am the one who is lucky.

[He's never had friends before. Not in that sense. But he doesn't go into the whys of it. That would be an odd conversation to have with a stranger.]

As for trying new things, if you aren't much of a cook, you should ask the merchant which fruits are better for fresh eating. Some are suited to eating as they are, while others are better-suited to baking.

[And there, at the corner of his vision, is one of the two varieties he is looking for. He stops to reach over, plucking up a May Queen from a small section.]

This one, for example, is good for fresh eating. It keeps longer than most other apples, so it's probably good even now. The best seasons for enjoying a wider variety of apples are autumn and winter.

Having someone who thinks of you at every turn and tries to make sure you're fed is a kind of luck too. [But she keeps her tone gentle because surely that entire group can be considered lucky to have each other even if she doesn't know them (or so she thinks, since she did sass Chang Geng). To have met here in a world none of them were a part of was a kind of fateful, happy coincidence.

With that said though she's going to focus on the fruit being pointed out to her, a smile deepening at the corner of her mouth as she's pretty sure she knows what Rui An would say if all she ate was fruit. Probably something about it being too chilly for her constitution or whatever it is that he always fussed about.]

I see... It does look delicious and if it's the season for them, I can hardly say no to them. What kind of varieties are good for baking and cooking? [Because while yes, she's not a good cook that doesn't mean she intends to be helpless in the kitchen forever.]

Bramley's Seedling is the standard for cooking. However, the usual way of storing apples won't make it last this far into the spring, and I'm not sure if they've devised a means of using magic to extend the storage life of fruit without turning them into preserves, butters, jams, jellies, or chutneys. I haven't asked yet.

[Knowing how to make the aforementioned staples of fruit preservation, he's had no occasion to ask.]

Edward VII is supposed to be a good cooking apple, too. [It's just not as popular as Bramley's.]

May Queen and Winter King apples are good for fresh eating even this late. But I haven't spotted any signs for Winter King apples yet...

[There are some apples that look like Winter King apples, but he isn't entirely certain. They could be look-alikes of another parentage, after all.]

[Meiniang listens intently as he details all the many kinds of apples she could try and it's certainly more varieties that she'd ever seen back home. Still, the idea of apples all being different is interesting, as is the idea of using magic to extend the freshness of something. Would it be any different from using ice, she wonders?]

You are very knowledgeable on this subject. [And that effort should be acknowledged, she thinks with a soft smile before she turns to the owner of the stall.]

One of each then, please. [While the owner of the stall takes Meiniang's small bit of money, they remember to mention also that Winter King apples would come soon and that they'd let them know as soon as possible. Of course. Can't lose the possibility of a repeat customer, after all. Meiniang can appreciate that and smiles to the owner, as well, already planning on coming back. While eating too much raw fruit could be too chilly, she does think that apples are the least chilly of the bunch, right? If she wanted to eat watermelon all the time then she really wouldn't know how to face Rui An.]

[It's good to know that the Winter King are still available. He makes a mental note of it, committing the shop and its location to memory so that he can check this particular one again soon.]

Apples are common in my country. We're known to grow quite the variety of them.

[He picks out a few more choice apples, summing up the total in his head before transferring the amount over to the merchant. He's had a little practice with his phone over the matter of the new form of currency, so he has the hang of it even if it still feels odd to not be using actual coins.]

[So apples are common in his country, that would definitely explain why he's so knowledgeable on them.]

May I ask the name of your country? [Knowing that might not help her. She knows it's unlikely that his country might also exist back in her own world. But at the same time, a small part of her hopes to find something familiar.

As for how familiar he seems to be with using his phone... well, that she makes sure to watch carefully in the hopes of mimicking him for purchases in the future, even craning her neck a little to make sure she can see.]

[For Walter's part, he does not seem to mind her observing. However, once he is done, he turns to look at her properly.]

I suppose you could say my country is a country within a country. I am from England. It's part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

[At least, such is how it is called in his time.]

And yours, miss? Where are you from?

I see... thank you. [As she had expected, it's another country she's never heard of. Still, she tucks that bit of information away.]

I am from the Great Tang and born in the county of Wenshui. [Sure she hasn't been back in her hometown for years, probably would never be able to go back there but it holds a special place in her heart regardless.]

I can't say either name is familiar to me.

[He's gathered people from different countries don't always use the same name for their lands that the English use, though, so he's not entirely surprised.]

You wouldn't happen to have heard of Great Liang, have you? My friends are from there.

[She isn't surprised, there seem to be few who have.

But at least she has heard of Great Liang.]

...you are a friend of Young Master Li.

I am.

[And for a moment, he seems almost peaceful saying that.]

He and my other friend wear clothes that look a little similar to yours, so I wondered if you might be from around the same region.

We're from the same country. [She notices that peaceful look and can't help but think it's nice, that sense of companionship.]

But I think we're from different versions of it.

[Her words prompt yet another transition in the boy's demeanour, his expression shifting from one of contentment to one of distant thoughtfulness.]

......I thought something similar might be the case for me. The clothing you and my friends wear hasn't been associated with that region for a long time now. You're more likely to see it in very old art, or images depicting myths or the long past. But some of the things they have work in a similar way to things much closer to my time.

It's as though something happened back then that allowed them to discover that sort of technology much sooner.

[Hearing that someone is likely from so far in the future that everyone she knows was long dead is a more sobering thought than she'd expected.

Still, she puts the thought aside for now to focus on the conversation with a tilt of her head.]

Technology? [That was something neither Li Min nor Gu Yun had showed her.]

...Oh. I guess that's a newer word, too?

[He's not sure if it is. It's just a word he's known for so long he's been under the impression that everyone is aware of it.]

Technology is... well, the things we use in addition to ourselves to function. Like how wheels made carts and carriages possible, and those things made it easier to travel with more than what you could carry on your own. Advancements in technology make it easier to do certain things.

[Technology itself is a new word, more often than not she heard them called inventions. But even then the rest of it makes her pause a little before she smiles.]

It is a new word. But I assume this technology they have isn't simply carriages and wheels otherwise our worlds really are more different than I realized.

Edited 2021-08-03 13:13 (UTC)

[The boy inclines his head, mulling over whether or not she might be joking in her words, but eventually drops the thought.]

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.]

...Steam-powered? Like the steam from water?

[That is definitely news to her and she files it away as yet another thing for her to read about.]

That's amazing.

It is.

[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.

I am very interested. They truly do have all kinds of books about all kinds of subjects here, don't they?

[Back home the books were all collected in one place and did not cover half so many subjects.]

They do.

[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?

Not as many as here. The imperial library had an extensive collection but we never had things like magazines or newspapers.

[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.]

[That statement has him actively bristling. Unseemly. He can just picture some group of old codgers complaining amongst themselves about women reading.]

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OPEN: catch-all for April

no subject

Slow in getting to tags this week! I have much more hours than usual at work.

That's fine, no worries! Life is like that sometimes (and apologies also for being slow on my part!)

If the fruit is chilly, just warm it!

Time for her to make fruit soup!

Or stewed or baked fruit!

Or jam!

Or pies, with a few more ingredients! So many ways to have warm fruit.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Just realized some of this tag had disappeared ahhhh

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject