[And so, two days later, if Wei Wuxian follows the directions sent by his randomly appearing job offerer, he will find himself at Tsurugi Farmstead.
If it weren’t for the metal skyscrapers and lights from the main area of the city visible over the tree line, it would look almost like a medieval farm the likes of the 17th century Japan the proprietors hailed from, all wood and rock and nary a robot or piece of metal in sight. Well, except for the usual tools like plow and hoe.
The path leads from the main Groves road through carefully tended fields of vegetables and a few newly water-logged plots awaiting rice seedlings towards a simple, but somewhat sprawling wooden house, all the sliding doors put away to expose the interior to light and breeze.
Apparently, these farmers are very much the old school sort who kept their livestock in the house with them, because visible in the entranceway is the rump of a bay mare, tail swishing occasionally beneath a light blanket.
Or, well. That’s what it looks like from the approach, anyway. But do horses hum?]
[He found the scenery quite quaint and comfortable. It wasn't exactly like the familiar sights of his home, but it was closer than the bright noisy world that was the city. It was easy to understand. He wondered if this was what the island to the east was like, though he did not know too much about it, he had seen drawings of those who had traveled before.
On approach he did find it a bit odd that a horse would be in the entranceway, but he did not honestly know enough about proper farming to question whether that was normal or not. He had never been able to afford livestock and barely managed seeds. All of his other knowledge and fantasy was from the point of view of a member of the gentry longing for a quiet retired life.]
Excuse me?
[He didn't see anyone obviously so he called out instead]
[Focused on the very last bit of cleaning she'd hoped to get done that day before her guest arrived, Konoha was bent down between her splayed forelegs, scrubbing at a scuff on the steps up between the dirt entranceway and the wooden flooring of the home, humming happily until-]
Oh- ! Hello!
[The voice cuts through her focus and she straightens up immediately, transforming the bay mare in the doorway to... a young, dark-skinned lady centaur near seven feet tall, dressed in a simple, homespun kimono secured at her "waist" with a hide pelt wrap. At the sight of who she thinks she's expecting, a cheerful smile takes over her features, and she carefully maneuvers into turning around to face him properly, tucking away her cleaning rag before she dips into a bow.]
Are you Master Wei Wuxian? I'm Konoha! It's so nice to meet you in person!
[If he had not already seen many strange things already, and was not one that was pretty good at going with the flow of things, he probably would have cried out in shock. Instead he blinked a little processing the sight and moved on.
If this world could bring a second version of himself, why could it not bring in a horse person?
He raised his hands up in front of him to give greeting, a basic bow of the head with fist into open hand.]
A pleasure Sister Konoha.
[He had never been one for formalities, but perhaps not saying her name straight was more appropriate.]
[Though the way he bows is different from hers, a straight dip downwards with her hands demurely clasped in front of her lower equine chest, she recognizes the style from some of the people she’d met here in Lunatia, like Master Shen and Lan Wangji... People that came from a land that sounded a lot like the stories she’s heard about the land of the setting sun.
At the comment about her height she can’t help a soft giggle that seems a bit at odds with her size.]
Ehe, a lot of humans say that here, but I’m actually kind of small for a mountain jinba... You should see my husband!
[Who, by the height she indicated with gesture of her hand, had to be at least two or three heads taller than she was.]
Or- I guess you will! I have to thank you again for being willing to accept the job, even though I sprung it on you so suddenly... we don’t find many people who have actual farming experience! I think most of the Moonblessed here are, you know... adventurers and magic witches and things like that!
How can I deny someone in need? Especially when I have such experience. Though my farm was quite small, and we did not do well and it was only a couple of years. But, I am willing to improve my skill and do my best.
[Because he really had enjoyed it. In a way, those few years, though he had struggled, he had enjoyed them in a way he had not enjoyed anything else.]
And you're not wrong. Everyone I know here is a cultivator and part of the gentry, they wouldn't know how to survive on their own without bought supplies and others to handle things.
Can you imagine Hanguang Jun digging in the dirt? All in white?
[He didn't think about the fact she might not know Lan Wangji by that name, but, he felt like he shouldn't just use his courtesy name either. At the idea of the man digging through dirt he couldn't help but laugh.]
["Did not do well" isn't the best thing to hear, to be honest, but- Maybe he was just being humble? And he came recommended, and all, so! Surely Lan Wangji wouldn't recommend someone who was actually bad?]
Haha, they really wouldn't... !
[Let her laugh at the irony over the fact that in her own world she's a complete normie, and the only thing that makes her stand out in this place is... her species. But at least she knows how to make her own shelters and grow her own food? At least?]
Is Huanguang Jun one of the other um, "cultivators"! I've met a few now!
[And more than one of them wore white, but they weren't all the same... sect? Which was confusing.]
[to be fair to him he was living in a barren wasteland where nothing really grew filled with evil resentful energy, so perhaps the fact he got anything to live was a testament to natural skill.]
Yes! Lan Wangji, he's very serious and looks like someone died. He barely speaks and is hard to deal with. But, despite everything, he is a good person that always helps others. He is someone I would trust with my life.
[Who doesn't have a "master" in front of his name, because... He'd been very stern about her not using it for some reason! That must be another title? Or... His what were they called... Courtesy name? (Don't ask her which was which, she doesn't know, send help.) Her laughter is belated, but it still comes out a little at the idea he presented, of him trying to do gardening in such pristine white robes.]
He is very serious... but you're right! He helped me when I asked about people for farm work by recommending you, after all!
[And here she has him just stood outside chatting, goodness-]
Please, come inside out of the sun! I'll fetch the tea.
[If he lets her, she'll usher him inside to the lovingly kept home, always excited to play hostess and take her guests shoes before she grabs a pick hanging on a post in the doorway to quickly brush dirt from hooves. To accommodate jinba bodies there was almost no furniture except on the edges of the home, which was mostly made of a kitchen and then one large main room, sleeping futons carefully stacked in the corner and cushions placed around a sunken hearth with a teapot hanging from the hook above.]
[It was quite the sight, he had never seen a place built to accommodate a horse body before, but then he had never met a half-horse half-woman before either! Life was filled with surprises.
He wasn't particularly accustomed to taking off his shoes, but he was also good at going with the flow, there was a clear divide kept and it wasn't a completely alien concept to him.]
I think he was trying to tease, but, he is a good man none the less. And I promise to be a good choice.
[If life had a record scratch sound effect, it would be playing right now, as a clatter of hooves and clinking ceramic signals that something has happened in the kitchen...
Before Konoha pokes her head back out in alarm.]
He was teasing?
[Lan Wangji can tease??? Was she supposed to have noticed??? Did she accidentally strongarm a man into working for her over a joke???]
He raised his hands patting the air in an attempt to sooth what he can only assume was worry.]
Me, a little bit, he can be like that sometimes, but. That’s part of his charm? When you get to know him well you see those little subtleties. But, don’t worry, it backfired on him.
[Konoha's hands fly to her chest as if to settle her heart- But she has two, so the motion is... very odd, one palm pressed to her human breast and the other to the bay coat of her lower chest, still shocked at the idea of the very stoic and elegant seeming man she perceived Lan Wangji as... making jokes.]
Eh- But you really don't mind taking the job? This isn't part of the joke, is it?
[Patting both of her hearts one last time, Konoha lets out a sigh of relief, sidling back into the kitchen and talking all the while, a few clinks of ceramics audible between words.]
I'm really dumb sometimes, I would have just gone and hired you without knowing it was a joke, and then you would be been troubled because I didn't get it... and then all the cultivator people would have been laughing and laughing...
[Before she returns with a tray holding a teapot, two cups, and a plate of fresh mugwort dumplings stuffed with sweet red bean, which she sets down in front of her guest before lumbering carefully to her belly so as not to tower over him.]
Here you go... The dumplings are fresh from this morning, so help yourself!
[At least she doesn't seem too depressed about thinking she was dumb?]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[OOC: I am totally up for action!]
aaaaand action!
If it weren’t for the metal skyscrapers and lights from the main area of the city visible over the tree line, it would look almost like a medieval farm the likes of the 17th century Japan the proprietors hailed from, all wood and rock and nary a robot or piece of metal in sight. Well, except for the usual tools like plow and hoe.
The path leads from the main Groves road through carefully tended fields of vegetables and a few newly water-logged plots awaiting rice seedlings towards a simple, but somewhat sprawling wooden house, all the sliding doors put away to expose the interior to light and breeze.
Apparently, these farmers are very much the old school sort who kept their livestock in the house with them, because visible in the entranceway is the rump of a bay mare, tail swishing occasionally beneath a light blanket.
Or, well. That’s what it looks like from the approach, anyway. But do horses hum?]
no subject
On approach he did find it a bit odd that a horse would be in the entranceway, but he did not honestly know enough about proper farming to question whether that was normal or not. He had never been able to afford livestock and barely managed seeds. All of his other knowledge and fantasy was from the point of view of a member of the gentry longing for a quiet retired life.]
Excuse me?
[He didn't see anyone obviously so he called out instead]
no subject
Oh- ! Hello!
[The voice cuts through her focus and she straightens up immediately, transforming the bay mare in the doorway to... a young, dark-skinned lady centaur near seven feet tall, dressed in a simple, homespun kimono secured at her "waist" with a hide pelt wrap. At the sight of who she thinks she's expecting, a cheerful smile takes over her features, and she carefully maneuvers into turning around to face him properly, tucking away her cleaning rag before she dips into a bow.]
Are you Master Wei Wuxian? I'm Konoha! It's so nice to meet you in person!
no subject
If this world could bring a second version of himself, why could it not bring in a horse person?
He raised his hands up in front of him to give greeting, a basic bow of the head with fist into open hand.]
A pleasure Sister Konoha.
[He had never been one for formalities, but perhaps not saying her name straight was more appropriate.]
You're quite tall!
no subject
At the comment about her height she can’t help a soft giggle that seems a bit at odds with her size.]
Ehe, a lot of humans say that here, but I’m actually kind of small for a mountain jinba... You should see my husband!
[Who, by the height she indicated with gesture of her hand, had to be at least two or three heads taller than she was.]
Or- I guess you will! I have to thank you again for being willing to accept the job, even though I sprung it on you so suddenly... we don’t find many people who have actual farming experience! I think most of the Moonblessed here are, you know... adventurers and magic witches and things like that!
[If she only knew!]
no subject
[Because he really had enjoyed it. In a way, those few years, though he had struggled, he had enjoyed them in a way he had not enjoyed anything else.]
And you're not wrong. Everyone I know here is a cultivator and part of the gentry, they wouldn't know how to survive on their own without bought supplies and others to handle things.
Can you imagine Hanguang Jun digging in the dirt? All in white?
[He didn't think about the fact she might not know Lan Wangji by that name, but, he felt like he shouldn't just use his courtesy name either. At the idea of the man digging through dirt he couldn't help but laugh.]
no subject
Haha, they really wouldn't... !
[Let her laugh at the irony over the fact that in her own world she's a complete normie, and the only thing that makes her stand out in this place is... her species. But at least she knows how to make her own shelters and grow her own food? At least?]
Is Huanguang Jun one of the other um, "cultivators"! I've met a few now!
[And more than one of them wore white, but they weren't all the same... sect? Which was confusing.]
no subject
Yes! Lan Wangji, he's very serious and looks like someone died. He barely speaks and is hard to deal with. But, despite everything, he is a good person that always helps others. He is someone I would trust with my life.
no subject
[Who doesn't have a "master" in front of his name, because... He'd been very stern about her not using it for some reason! That must be another title? Or... His what were they called... Courtesy name? (Don't ask her which was which, she doesn't know, send help.) Her laughter is belated, but it still comes out a little at the idea he presented, of him trying to do gardening in such pristine white robes.]
He is very serious... but you're right! He helped me when I asked about people for farm work by recommending you, after all!
[And here she has him just stood outside chatting, goodness-]
Please, come inside out of the sun! I'll fetch the tea.
[If he lets her, she'll usher him inside to the lovingly kept home, always excited to play hostess and take her guests shoes before she grabs a pick hanging on a post in the doorway to quickly brush dirt from hooves. To accommodate jinba bodies there was almost no furniture except on the edges of the home, which was mostly made of a kitchen and then one large main room, sleeping futons carefully stacked in the corner and cushions placed around a sunken hearth with a teapot hanging from the hook above.]
I am sorry this has taken so long!
He wasn't particularly accustomed to taking off his shoes, but he was also good at going with the flow, there was a clear divide kept and it wasn't a completely alien concept to him.]
I think he was trying to tease, but, he is a good man none the less. And I promise to be a good choice.
np, things have been crazy all over <3
Before Konoha pokes her head back out in alarm.]
He was teasing?
[Lan Wangji can tease??? Was she supposed to have noticed??? Did she accidentally strongarm a man into working for her over a joke???]
no subject
Me, a little bit, he can be like that sometimes, but. That’s part of his charm? When you get to know him well you see those little subtleties. But, don’t worry, it backfired on him.
no subject
[Konoha's hands fly to her chest as if to settle her heart- But she has two, so the motion is... very odd, one palm pressed to her human breast and the other to the bay coat of her lower chest, still shocked at the idea of the very stoic and elegant seeming man she perceived Lan Wangji as... making jokes.]
Eh- But you really don't mind taking the job? This isn't part of the joke, is it?
no subject
Of course not! I do enjoy farming. And I really did have a small farm for a little while!
no subject
[Patting both of her hearts one last time, Konoha lets out a sigh of relief, sidling back into the kitchen and talking all the while, a few clinks of ceramics audible between words.]
I'm really dumb sometimes, I would have just gone and hired you without knowing it was a joke, and then you would be been troubled because I didn't get it... and then all the cultivator people would have been laughing and laughing...
[Before she returns with a tray holding a teapot, two cups, and a plate of fresh mugwort dumplings stuffed with sweet red bean, which she sets down in front of her guest before lumbering carefully to her belly so as not to tower over him.]
Here you go... The dumplings are fresh from this morning, so help yourself!
[At least she doesn't seem too depressed about thinking she was dumb?]