prismatica | video

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[Lunatia's resident centaur lady is back on screen, and this time she's sharing the spotlight with... a table full of fresh vegetables? Still a bit dirty, fresh from the soil, good ol' vegetables... That Konoha bows over to start out.]

Hello, everyone! My name is Konoha... I'm a jinba, or a "centaur" if you want... I'm from Echigo in Japan, but lots of people say I'm from the past...

[She's just going to do the same introduction every time, counting off details on her fingers to make sure she gets all the good points... there's too many people on this thing and she doesn't check it enough to keep track... oops. Anyway-]

I wanted to ask people some questions about food! My husband and I have set up a little farmstead, but the crops are growing, um, way faster than they really ought to be... [we're just going to speed past the blush] and it's not like we actually have to work for money here, so I was thinking of not just taking the crops to market but... serving meals at the house? Or sending them to people elsewhere in the city? I don't know, but I've met a lot of people here who said they just eat food from the stores, and I know those are really convenient, but it can't be better than a home cooked meal, can it?

[Look at this big turnip! Isn't it healthy looking?! Don't you just want to eat it?? Konoha smiles, making the root vegetable dance around the screen.]

So... can I ask you some questions about what sort of food you like? Or what kind of things you miss from your home? Maybe what they make in your country with vegetables? If you give me some of your time, I'll send you some fresh ones as a "thank you"-

Promise!

[One last bow... and she and the turnip sign off.]

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[ To be truthful, it was a fair assumption - and one that Giyuu couldn't fault her for with how he spoke of Shinobu. Perhaps now he ought to provide more details than how she was his only friend here, and that they shared an apartment. Giving it some thought now, that would give the wrong impression. Especially when he didn't provide her name in full, or ever.

Giyuu realizes quite quickly that Shinobu means to silence him. Though he allows himself to be denied his part at first, it's with a frown on his face that he counters her grin and steps forward again - this time, all that's visible of his body is...his body. He stands there only a third into the frame with only the crimson side of his haori visible, his arms held tightly at his side. ]

Kochou. Tell her I will be visiting her shortly. [ A pause. His expression softens and the tension in his shoulders slackens. ] And that I appreciate her kind words.

Did you manage to catch all of that?

[ Chances are Konoha hasn’t. The camera has been deliberately angled such that Giyuu is very much not in her line of sight, and he’s too far from the device’s microphone for it to register much beyond his incomprehensible mumbling. This gives Shinobu free reign to twist things in her favor. ]

I believe we’ll be imposing on you again. Please excuse us. [ She makes to reach for the device’s power button, but stops just shy of pressing it. ] Oh—and that he’d like to apologize for his general unpleasantness.

[ Leaving no room for Konoha to object, Shinobu cuts the feed with a curt little click and trots off after Giyuu. Hopefully the farmstead has room for two more! ]

O- oh! Alright-

[And anything she might have had to say just splutters pointlessly into the blank screen of her video device thing. Phone? Watch? Whatever people called it. Wow, Miss Kocho would make a very powerful wife...

But they were both coming over? That would... solve miscommunication problems, surely, it’s much easier to just talk in person, so! Thinking positively, and having already planned to invite Giyuu back now that her husband had returned from the land of spirits- oh, but Gonta was out at the market... well, no matter, she’d just invite them again.

For now, she breaks out the good ingredients and hurriedly starts prepping a hot pot. Everyone loved hot pot- and apparently Giyuu (or Shinobu?) liked salmon, so. Ishikari nabe was a good choice... and the scent of it cooking will be emanating deliciously from the farmhouse by the time the two demon slayers arrive.]

[ Giyuu takes a deep breath. The smell sends his head spinning.

When earlier they had entered, it was wordlessly on his end. There was no introduction on his part of what Kochou was to him - he believed it entirely unnecessary given their matching uniforms and the sword at her side. Finding his place among the many comfortable spots on the floor, Giyuu has remained silent up until a certain point, where he feels he may no longer be able to bear it.

Settling beside the hotpot, he takes a bowl and platter for himself and with a deadpan stare towards his gracious host, points at their meal. ]

Can we begin?

[ Aware that he'll be too absorbed in the food to talk, Giyuu tries his hardest to be a non-presence at the dinner table, sticking mostly to himself as he listens in on whatever conversation the two might have. ]

Hello there, Konoha-san!

[ Shinobu makes up for what Giyuu doesn’t say, announcing their arrival as they line their sandals up in the entranceway. The moment they make it to the table, they separate. With him at one end of the table and her at the other, the message they’re trying to send is clear: if there is a Miss Tomioka, it’s certainly not Shinobu.

Now that any further misunderstandings have been successfully nipped in the bud, she’s free to settle into her seat. The spread laid out before them is certainly impressive. The vegetables arranged in a dish beside the clay pot at the heart of the table strike her as especially fresh, as do the others crammed in with whatever else is in the broth. ]

Wow… You and your husband have been working hard, haven’t you? [ She fishes a morsel of tofu from the pot and marvels at the way it feels between her chopsticks. ] Did you make this yourself, too?

[Their uniforms matched. At least, the base of it did, and though she was a woman, Kochou carried a blade, so... They must both be demon slayers, then. If she had to guess... Perhaps she was his superior, with the way they sat and he deferred? Still a bit confused but a little afraid to ask, Konoha makes herself comfortable hearth side, absently reaching over to twist a few skewers of mashed rice cakes to make sure they cooked evenly beside the hot pot flames.]

Ah, yes, go ahead... and thank you...

[It had been months since Gonta had declared to her that he would see it done, that he would make them something to call home even in a place like this, and though it's been nothing but hard work since... She's proud of it, and to have those efforts complimented makes her smile in the simplest way.]

Everything but the fish... But since Tomioka-san was such a help to me before I wanted to at least prepare something nice...

[So she broke out the good salmon from the market. Unsure who to address but... Considering Giyuu's previous reticence and his current full mouth... Konoha leaves him be to eat for now, focusing on the other woman (who was... so petite to be supposedly killing demons?)]

I'm from a village called Tateyama, but my husband is from the deep mountains, so... I think it's easier on him to be out here, around at least a little bit of familiarity...

[Even if it was just food and nature. Still-]

Tomioka-san said you were from... "Taisho"? Someone else told me I must be from "Edo", but...

[But that meant... She understood right? The confusion and dizzying sensation of Lunatia's crowds and lights and sounds.]

Edited 2019-11-21 11:32 (UTC)

[ Konoha’s lucky she makes no mention of Shinobu’s size aloud. As many a demon—and Giyuu too—can attest, that hasn’t stopped her any. She might not have the arms to swing a sword like he can, and she might not have the legs to jump as high or leap as far, but she can kill them all the same.

Or most of them, at least. She tries not to let the thought sour her mood in Konoha’s otherwise pleasant company. Instead, she focuses on the bite-sized tofu cube she’s holding. She eats it whole, but not before thanking their gracious host for their meal. It tastes like home. ]

Mm… Well, that certainly explains why you know Niigata Prefecture the way you do, doesn’t it?

You know, though, we’re not all that different! What you and your husband have here is much closer to what we know at home than… [ Than all the bright buildings that reach high into the sky and the sleek vehicles that speed low through the streets. ] So while Tomioka-san might not say so himself, I think I can speak for the both of us when I say we appreciate your hospitality.

Now, I know we’re already intruding, but I’m curious—what did you two talk about when he last visited?

[ Giyuu, as he always is, was so frustratingly vague about it. What better way to find out, then, than to pry it straight from the horse’s mouth? ]

["Niigata"... It's still such a weird word. Well, when you've only ever known it as Echigo Province, anyway. Still, Konoha smiles, pleased in the simplest way to meet other people who identified with the sort of world she came from, even if they didn't have jinba and had... demons instead?

(Gosh, she hopes her world didn't...)

Picking out bites of the hot pot for her own bowl, heavy on the meat and balls of rice mash... and the vegetables... and the tofu... on everything basically, she's got two stomachs to fill, she listens to the question... and her smile turns a bit sheepish, laughing a bit behind her chopsticks.

So he was that silent with Miss Koucho as well? Well...]

Ah... he said your world had demons... and that he- you were demon slayers... but mostly we were talking about the disappearances and how we were supposed to find the people who became spirits, like you and my husband...

[Oh, that's right!]

Ah, my husband is out now, but he looks like this-

[She's really excited to have learned how to take photos recently, so she reaches for her phone to show off, pulling up the first palamino hide-havin' picture and moving to show it to the other woman-]

[Before she realizes that wasn't the one she wanted to show to other people!!! Oh no?!?!?!

Hands flailing she nearly drops the phone in her attempt to flip quickly to the next photo, but thaaaaaaaat isn't right either?????

fewnkwleng when she did take this many photos of Gonta'a thick rump??]

[Okay, okay, okay, no, this one! She thrusts it at Shinobu as quick as she can, shaking her head to try and physically flick the red off her cheeks.]

He looks like this! In case you see him outside, please don't think he's a demon!

[Photography was a mistake.]

[ Inch by tiny inch, Shinobu turns to face Giyuu, who is content with his mouthful of fish and broth. He knows he shouldn’t be so flippant about who he tells, and he knows that telling the wrong person could mean jeopardizing their already precarious standing with Lunatian officials. Does that not bother him any?

They look at each other as though they might be able to communicate through gaze alone. It plays out as any other verbal exchange would; when they’re done, he resumes eating without a care in the world, and she’s left with a clenched jaw and balled too-tight fists. ]

… We are demon slayers, yes. Rest assured that you and your husband are safe, though. You may not be human in the traditional sense, but we can tell humans and demons apart!

[ She can also tell a horse from a demon, because that… is indeed a horse’s backside. Three different shots, in fact, all of the same backside. Shinobu pulls a face, very obviously Not Okay with what she’s been shown, but she at least has the manners enough to disguise the fact with a terse smile. ]

How… lovely.

[ But it doesn’t sound very lovely. Not at first. The stiffness in her expression melts, making way for an emotion much more earnest. ]

I’m glad you and your husband have found happiness with one another. You should hold onto that, Konoha-san. Because the demons we know—they exist only to take that from us. That’s why Tomioka-san and I fight.

We fight to protect that happiness.

[She'll have to worry later if she got Giyuu in trouble... because she's too busy dying a little of shame at having shown photos she'd never intended to really share with anyone. In fact, let her just... delete those... right now...]

He's not, um, lovely-

[She'd definitely say "manly" or "handsome", but. Delete, delete, delete...

Fortunately or unfortunately, it distracts her from some of the tenseness in the other woman for a moment until she's got all the rump photos deleted, only then putting her phone back away and refocusing. She doesn't need to be told to hold on to her happiness, not after everything that's happened...

But there'd been something she'd wanted to say to Giyuu before that had been cut off by sleep, so now that she has the chance...]

I know demons can be scary... in my world all the stories say they're evil, but- You know there are some here that don't need to be slayed, right?

[And though she's not so concerned for those demons, particularly the one she's closest to... she's a little concerned at the idea of what might happen to someone who tried to attack them.

Like... demon slayers might.]

Edited 2019-11-27 14:59 (UTC)

Is that so?

[ Though Shinobu’s only ever resented demons, the urgency in Konoha’s voice gets her to reconsider for a moment. She and Giyuu both have seen people beg them to spare a demon’s life—that they’re not really bad, that they have as much a right to living as any human does. Very rarely are those people right. For Konoha’s sake, Shinobu sincerely hopes she’s an exception. ]

Well, so long as they’ve never eaten anyone before, I’d love to get to know them better. Maybe we’ll even end up friends!

But if they have…

[ Shinobu’s armed with a nichirin sword, and she’s definitely not afraid to use it. ]

[For some reason... Konoha's coat stands on end a little bit when Shinobu says the part about friends. She doesn't want to doubt her, they just met, after all, and she was Giyuu's companion...

But a little shiver still makes its way from the top of her head all the way from human to equine portion of her long spine, ending with a little twitch of tail beneath her "skirt".]

L- Lord Sesshomaru and Kagura definitely haven't- well, they definitely haven't eaten any humans! Promise!

[She almost said they'd never killed any humans, but... she's pretty sure they had. And that... it definitely wasn't great, but she also had faith that they'd never killed any... nice people. She's sure. She's mostly sure.

Though looking between her two guests... maybe she'd let the demons know to be on guard just in case. And speaking of (thinking of) "just in case"...]

Besides... there's Moon Knights here, and they keep the peace here pretty well. I'm not even sure anyone could do demon slaying without getting in trouble... Have you met them? They're sort of like... like the shogunate police!

[These two were sort of new still, so maybe she should just remind them. (If only she knew.) At least, she thinks their worlds are similar enough that they might get her references.]

[ One ‘Lord Sesshomaru’ and ‘Kagura,’ was it? Shinobu files both names away for future reference. Human-eating or not, they’re still demons, and she wants to get to them before the one demon they know eats humans for certain does. ]

Then we have nothing to worry about, do we?

[ She beams, then joins Giyuu in helping herself to another mouthful of food. It almost catches in her throat at the mention of ‘Moon Knights,’ though, because oh, have they met them. ]

We are… acquainted with them, yes. [ Her tone of voice suggests that there’s a little more to their relationship than that, though. ] The Moon Knights are also currently in possession of Tomioka-san’s nichirin blade. Did he not tell you?

[Konoha... really hopes they don't have anything to worry about.

But the tone of Shinobu's voice makes her brow furrow a bit in concern, looking between the two demon slayers as she absently... keeps shoveling food into her mouth. She's worried, but she's not... not-eat worried. Yet.]

Nichirin... blades? Do they glow... or something?

[Like the sun??? Now that she's looking it's obvious that... Shinobu is wearing one and Giyuu isn't, but.]

We didn't talk about swords... Did- Did something happen?

[Did he get arrested?!]

[ Apropos of nothing, Shinobu pulls her weapon free from a strange clicking mechanism, then removes it clean out of its sheath. It looks less like the sword she supposedly says it is and more like a barb or a pointed rod. Strange though it might be, they are still at the dinner table and it is dangerous, so she’s mindful not to brandish it about. ]

They do! But that’s not why they’re called nichirin blades. [ She laments that she can’t make a show of putting hers back where it belongs. ] I’ll leave it to him to bore you with the specifics.

[ She’s more than happy to regale Konoha with the story of how he lost his sword, though. Hers snug at her side again, she goes back to eating with everybody else.

… or, rather, poking at what food remains in her bowl instead. Something’s keeping her from enjoying her meal. ]

He found a demon who has eaten humans. [ The word ‘demon’ oozes from her mouth like a vile sort of tar. ] They fought, of course, but because that goes against city law, the Moon Knights saw fit to intervene. Tomioka-san was arrested and his sword was confiscated as a result.

So, yes: we have met the Moon Knights! I’d say we know them very well, in fact.

[Konoha almost asks what it is Shinobu means by that... but something in the tone makes her think maybe she should just... have Giyuu over again another time and ask then. Swords weren't necessarily the best dinner conversation anyway... but then again, neither was human-eating demons.

Which... makes her avoid the meat in her dish of hot pot in favor of the vegetables for a little while.

Though she kind of forgets to chew when looking at the sword Shinobu draws from the sheath. Was that... a sword? It was barbed, like a stinger on a hornet or something...]

A- Ah...

[If it had been a public brawl then she can understand how the Moon Knights would have gotten involved, but-]

Did... the demon get arrested, too? Are they going to give the sword back?

[Surely they wouldn't just keep it???]

No, it wasn’t.

[ Said demon is an ‘it,’ because he’s more monster than man and hardly deserves her respect. He doesn’t even have to be in the room to infuriate her. Her nose wrinkles, as if the vegetable she’s chosen to eat has suddenly taken on a flavor and texture she can no longer stomach. However tempting the urge is to spit it out, Shinobu swallows her mouthful with the high hope her mounting frustration will disappear, too. ]

The Moon Knights were more upset with Tomioka-san than they were the demon. I have a feeling they don’t like him, so I don’t think they’re looking to give it back to him anytime soon. But that’s okay! I can take care of things on my own in the meantime.

[ She prefers it that way, too. Giyuu is more trouble than he is help, especially when he’s swinging his sword willy-nilly and attracting the wrong attention. ]

If you have any trouble—with demons or whatever else goes bump in the night around these parts—you just give us a call, alright? We’ve got it covered.

That's horrible...

[Poor Giyuu? Maybe they were more mad at him because it looked like he started the fight? Surely he needed his sword back... but Shinobu doesn't seem that worried, and she would know best, right? So maybe it was alright?

Maybe?]

Thank you, Miss Kochou... My husband is really strong, so I'm not too worried, but... if anything stronger than him is out there, I'm so glad I can call you...

[Because they're talking about demons, and obviously those sound scary... but she's seen Gonta fight off an entire pack of wolves. And there was the bear, too, so it... is a little hard to imagine something stronger than him unless she's trying much harder. Plus, there was the matter of Sesshomaru, but she probably shouldn't mention the dog demon in the woods again...

And if she tries harder, this dinner is going to get... even more morbid, even though she'd taken out some of her best ingredients for this hot pot. Would it be weird to change the subject?]

Will you... do anything else in the meantime? Between demons, I mean? There's so much in this place that didn't exist in our worlds... and it would be awful if you felt like you had to just keep fighting, even here... the Moon Knights can usually manage things...

[Usually.

Did that work??]

I’m not quite sure yet.

[ Shinobu’s never given it much thought because she’s never been afforded the opportunity to. She was barely as tall as Konoha’s legs are long when she decided she had to fight. Fighting is all she’s known. She thought it’d be all she’d ever need to know, too. Having long since surrendered herself to her inevitable fate, she didn’t think there’d be anything else for her. It’s not that way anymore, though; Lunatia’s changed that, and whether it’s for better or for worse, she can’t yet say.

What she can say is that she now has the opportunity to consider all of it: what to do if she doesn’t need to fight, what world awaits her now that she doesn’t have to condemn herself to death and, perhaps most importantly, what it might be like to finally live beyond surviving. It’s a lot to digest. She’ll have to chew on that once she’s done chewing her food. ]

I think I’ll have my hands full with him. [ Giyuu gets a pointed glare. ] I doubt I’ll have any time to myself at all—not if him showing up to my apartment with two lungs full of blood is any indication. Taking care of that was several days’ worth of work!

Edited 2019-12-08 13:58 (UTC)

[Oh.

Konoha hadn't known many soldiers in her own world- not proper career ones, anyway. She was low by birth, the daughter of an armless broodmare and the adopted child of rural farmers, and the only people she'd known who had fought in the wars that raged when she was too young to remember were drafted commoners- at least, the few that had come home with scars both physical and mental. Her adopted parents' sons had never come back.

But since leaving that village for worlds beyond she's met lots of people who claimed to know only violence and fighting... and her capacity to feel pity for that lot in life hasn't waned. It seemed so sad... even if she'd learned not to say so out loud too easily for risk of offense.

So... she just looks for some other way to help. Finds it. She thinks Giyuu could take care of himself, but if Shinobu would feel better knowing someone was looking out for him...]

Then... When you need time to yourself you can just send Tomioka-san to me! We have a small room above the storehouse, and my husband and I could always use an extra hand, especially during harvests!

[Which came... way more frequently than was natural for their crops thanks to the rather potent fertilizer that was moonlacing, so-

She looks over to Giyuu to make sure he was alright with that... which. Maybe she'd been super wrong about thinking they were married, this was slightly more verbal abuse than she's used to seeing between coworkers-]

Right, Tomioka-san?

[ Though at many times the talking point of their conversation, Giyuu himself hardly said a word throughout. For the bulk of it, his mouth was full of food - not words. That only comes about when he's pressed for an answer by their host, to which he first responds by finishing off a cup of hot tea.

Then he lets out a breath. A long one. So long, in fact, that it seems it might never end; until abruptly, it does. Out from his mouth spills the first sound he's made in quite some time - ]

Koff.

[ Along with blood that he catches on the inside of his hand. Rather than pay it any mind however, Giyuu believes that the cause had already been explained in enough detail, and retreading that ground would only make him the target for further harassment from Shinobu. So he simply lowers his hand and nods. ]

If there is ever a need. [ Here, he gives his fellow demon slayer a look, one perhaps more self-assured than she's ever seen before, but it's short-lived; his eyes make contact with Konoha's right after. ] Perhaps even when there isn't.

Great! You can keep him for as long as you’d like.

[ Had she not cared for what it might to do them in the long-term, she’d have them keep Giyuu forever. Foisting him off on such a wonderful couple seems a bit mean, though—even for her.

That aside, he’s in no position to be working for them regardless. Shinobu can tell as much from a simple little cough. Anybody else might reason it as Giyuu clearing his throat or choking on a wad of food he didn’t chew properly, but she knows better. His breathing’s been off for a while now. Him struggling to deaden the noise of each in- and exhale only serves to further confirm her suspicions; he’s still not well and he’s gone too long without bed rest. He’s likely only holding on through sheer force of will, the stubborn idiot that he is.

If he won’t do what’s best for him, Shinobu will get him to do it herself. She rises from her seat at the table, but not without first dipping her head towards their gracious host. ]

Thank you for the food, Konoha-san. I’ll have to make sure he’s fit to work before he comes by to trouble you again.

[ Giyuu gets a look in return that tells him not to challenge her. ]

Shall we head back?

[Konoha doesn't know much about healing. Sure, she knows that you should get the poison out of viper bites, splint broken bones, and try to keep cuts clean... But she certainly doesn't know the difference between blood-in-the-lungs coughing and I've-been-stuffing-my-face-this-whole-time coughs. What she does have is a keen nose, and there's a moment when her brows turn down in confusion, the scent of iron she associates with blood spiking in the corner of her senses, but-]

Oh-

[But then Shinobu is standing, and Konoha bows back automatically, her mind more than sufficiently distracted and a few seconds behind her body. Already? But then again, she'd probably invited them so suddenly they likely had other things to be doing, so-]

Of course! Here, at least let me pack some things for you-

[With a scrape of hooves on the floor she gets back to her feet, using the apron hanging in front of her equine lower chest to protect her hands as she takes the hot pot off the hearth hook and trots into the kitchen for a few minutes...

Before she's back and ready to see them out, a few plastic containers (plastic was so amazing?) bundled up in a furoshiki that she hands to Giyuu with a smile. He's bigger, okay, and she might have put more than just the hot pot leftovers in there. There might also be some rice balls, pickles, and boiled meat and potatoes stuffed in there, too.

She likes it when people can appreciate home cooking, okay?]

Come back any time, alright? Even just to talk.

[And alright, maybe that was a strange thing to say in front of Giyuu more than Shinobu, but. She couldn't help but be curious about this Japan that they knew.

Next time.]

Edited 2019-12-14 13:11 (UTC)

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video

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video → action (???)

action!!

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since giyuu’s busy stuffing his stupid face shinobu’ll be his mouthpiece for now 😔

om nom nom 1/3

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