prismatica | video | un: konoha

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video | un: konoha

[Lunatia's resident centaur lady is back on screen, starting out her post with her customary bow and smile.]

Hello, everyone! It's been a while since my last "post", I feel like there's probably so many new people here now...

My name is Konoha... If you don't know me yet, I'm a jinba... Or a "centaur" if you want! ... I'm from Tateyama in Japan, but lots of people say I'm from the past or that jinba don't exist, so I guess that's not very helpful? Anyway-

[She twirls the camera around, giving a panoramic view of the bucolic Tsurugi Farmstead and a large palomino centaur working in one of the fields before coming back to her face after she accidentally focuses on her front hooves.]

My husband and I run Tsurugi Farmstead in the Greatmoon Groves, and we're hoping to hire a few more extra hands to help out during harvests and planting! Which, um... Happens way more than I'm used to in my world, so...

[No one point out why that might be...]

You don't have to have experience farming, but you do need to be willing to work hard. It's not easy to work the earth, you know! It wouldn't be an every day sort of job, just a few days here and there throughout the month, but we pay in chroma money at the end of each day. And on days you work, you can take home a small basket of the harvest for yourself, and I'll provide lunch for free!

I guess I should use this chance to say that we also deliver, if you're looking for fresh vegetables and rice for yourself or your own business! Or you can find us on weekends at the green market... Wait, I feel like I'm forgetting something... Oh!

[As if remembering, she pulls out a piece of paper from the bear pelt tied around her "waist", checking it with a squint. Right-]

Also, my neighbors said I should mention that everything we grow here is... "organic". Apparently that's popular!

Thank you for your time, everyone! If you want to sign up for work or you have any questions, I'll answer you here, okay? And if you know where I can find a priest or priestess to bless the rice fields before planting, let me know, please!

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No, not at all. He incidentally became my master to keep me alive, you see. We met when I was bleeding on his doorstep.

[At least this time he decides to be honest, sighing wistfully at the memory.]

Though I had been involved in a Holy Grail war back home, to an extent. I did not have a master though.

[A wistful sigh is not really the sort of sound she expects to go with "bleeding on a doorstep", but...]

It's "mana", right? Or something like that? The thing Servants need?

[Did that make it kind of like chroma... ?]

I didn't know Sandalphon was a magic person... But I guess he... is magic?

[She's seen some of those wings!]

You're right! Yes, that is what we need. It's excellent that you know of it.

[He's not sure Sandalphon being a primarch is a secret or not, but she seems to get it.]

Ordinarily, yes, he would be considered as such. He's a higher being than you and I, and if this were within the confines of a normal Grail War, I would like to think that being his Servant would make me the strongest contender on the account of how much mana he produces simply by existing. Here though, it's not so simple as that.

[Konoha hadn't ever necessarily thought that meeting lots of different Servants would pay off, but it's certainly helping her now... And sparing Richard the sorts of questions about terminology poor Merlin, Mordred, and others had been forced to suffer through.]

Ah, yeah... an archangel... "Primarch"!

[She may not quite get the full implications of the title or the species. But she knows it means Sandalphon is strong! And big! Seeing as he'd carried her once through the sky...

She much preferred it on the ground, though.]

It's not the same here?

[Even as she asks, she's already puttering around the kitchen, moving automatically to gather ingredients and cooking ware.]

Not at all. Even at normal levels, I'm far weaker than I had been before arriving.

[Yet he doesn't sound bothered, probably because he already has decided he didn't need to be ridiculously strong here.]

If I were to compare it... With Sandalphon's aid, perhaps I could wipe a whole city easily? It is not even a fraction of that here.

You're weaker... ?

[Though Konoha knew a lot of people with powers, she didn't actually talk to them about magic or powers that much, in order to... well, avoid confusing herself, mostly.]

Is it something that happened when we got here? Like how everyone is barren now?

[She's managed to say it aloud enough times now she's able to do it without looking too upset, but. There's no denying it's not something she views as positively as most of the women glad to be moonlacing consequence free across the city.]

You'd be correct.

[He notices that, at least, the shift in her expression. He hadn't known that about this place, but he's never needed to consider it before.]

Is everyone barren? I didn't realize.

Mmm. All the Moonblessed are. No one at the Lunar Scientia knows why.

[Something she can say with confidence because... She's definitely volunteered to be tested by them in an effort to find a cure after bothering them for months, upset and confused as to why she hadn't fallen pregnant despite... well, everything her mother told her was required for a new wife.]

Maybe it's something like that? I don't have any powers, so... I just don't know for myself, but. It must feel weird, huh?

... I see.

[He thinks about it for a moment, trying to decipher the reasoning.]

Perhaps it's the way our bodies were restructured, especially given that we also have a heavy reliance on Chroma to function. In that case, perhaps being able to conceive would take a greater toll on one's ability to produce or consume it...?

In any case, it seems unfortunate. It would be difficult to settle down here completely.

I suppose. I don't even know how you "restructure" a body, so, it could be anything... The Lunar Scientia people I talked to ad all sorts of theories, like us being made in a way that would encourage everyone to moonlace as much as possible without distractions... I heard one like you said just now, too.

[Things that were more above her head, confusing and daunting and just... Not the answer she wanted.]

I'm not smart enough to figure out ways to fix those things, so. I'll just wait.

[She doesn't say it like she looks down on herself or anything- She's just very self-aware.]

Here- Can you start peeling these for me?

[He'd wanted to learn how to cook something of hers... So here's the vegetables, King Richard.]

[He shall take those, nodding in understanding.]

Ah, neither am I. It's too much out of my field of expertise, so I leave it to those who know better.

[He lifts the vegetable up, pausing for a moment.]

How do I peel this one?

[If Konoha had a response to follow up on her assessment of her or his abilities to get them home... She definitely doesn't anymore, looking down as if to doubletake and check to see if she hadn't accidentally given him a vegetable that... couldn't be peeled.

But no, that's. A burdock root.]

A- Ah, right. King...

[It occurs to her a beat later that... Okay, so he might not know how to peel a vegetable, so she picks up another piece of burdock root and starts peeling it to show him before offering up the knife.]

Like that?

[He peers in curiously as she does it, and for all his flippant nature seems to be, he actually does seem to be paying proper attention to her actions. Once she is done, he takes the root in his hand, carefully observing for a moment before nodding.

With the knife and the root in hand, he manages to mimic her perfectly, and perhaps a little too quickly, as he starts to peel the burdock root at a much faster pace after a few seconds.]

I had never needed to do this even in my journeys.

[He admits sheepishly, even if he does seem pleased at being able to do it.]

Perhaps I should've learned, but my men are overzealous.

[At least he seems to be paying attention! That's all she asks of people learning from her- She sometimes forgets what is and isn't basic knowledge, but, she doesn't expect them to have to know it.]

Just be careful with the knife...

[He looks confident, but. That is a bit faster than she liked a beginning vegetable chopper to go.]

It must be nice to have people who care about you that much, though? I'm going to miss the crew on my lumber yard- they're good men.

[He peels with the speed of someone who is already too used to this, confidence giving way to experience-- despite having none before now. In fact, he's already speaking up as he works.]

I have good men, but make no mistake. I was their king, and a good knight will be loyal to a king regardless of how they feel about them. Their loyalty is why I admire them so.

[He does not deny that perhaps some, or many, do care about him-- but he is very much aware that part of it will always be due to their hierarchy.]

What was your crew like?

[Oh, what does... that mean? Konoha forgets to warn him about speeding up his knife work in a moment of confusion, cocking her head. So there were good men... and loyal men... who weren't actually good?]

Well, if knights are like samurai... I guess I get it.

[They followed their lords no matter what, right? So. Turning her attention to her own chopping duties, she can't help but laugh a bit when she answers the question.]

Oh, my crew was real rough... lots of drunks, and thugs with tempers who couldn't hold down jobs in town... but our boss gave them a chance, and they worked real hard. Got better, too. Even if I did have to peel some of them off the bunk floors after pay day.

Oh? Your work is that demanding?

[He can imagine it. After a long day of battles, it's always difficult to move. He doesn't have anything else to add to the earlier statement, and despite Konoha's concerns, he's actually gotten to a point where he's already able to peel without looking and still not make a mistake. He was always talented, but as a Servant, that skill was amplified.]

To have such a colorful group-- Your boss must be quite something!

We have to prep and fell the trees, chop the trunks, peel the bark, and haul the timber up and down the mountains... It’s tough work, not everyone can handle it.

[Hence... the men who often couldn’t find anything else. But still, there were fundamentally good men among them, and she’d miss them. The person she’d miss even more, though-]

Sha Gozen is the most amazing jinba I know! She helped me get a good job when no one else would, and even after her husband passed when all the village humans were getting sick a few years ago she kept the business going strong... Plus, she’s allowed to carry swords! She belonged to a princess before, so she knows a lot about history and writing and all sorts of things, too!

[Chopping away, she almost doesn’t really notice that... there might be some interesting word choices in there to someone who didn’t know her world’s politics.]

[There is a lot going on in that statement, even as he works on a few more roots.

Hm.]

Why is a princess's jinba in such a position? Is that common?

Oh, well...

[The question reminds her, like they always did, that even now she sometimes had the bad habit of just rambling on as if the particular politics and race relationships in her world didn’t require an explanation.

She stops chopping a moment, thinking how to word it.]

Sha Gozen was born stunted in the lord’s breeding stable, but the lords daughter thought she was cute, and since she was so small... I guess she was like a pet. When the lord’s daughter got older she didn’t need her anymore, so- Sha said she was assigned to teach the yearlings in the stables after that! When the wars ended, she was able to start her business with her husband!

... I see. In that case, it is fortunate that the princess has good taste, though I am surprised nonetheless. I had an inkling, but the situation was a lot more dire for jinba than I initially thought.

[It was... not unexpected, even in his tone of voice, but an observation.]

... Mmm. The wars ended when I was really young, so I don't remember it much at all. But Sha Gozen said... it was really bad. The breeding stables, and the jinba hunts, and the armless...

[Slowly, Konoha resumes chopping, her expression a bit drawn but still trying for positive, her voice tinged with hope despite everything.]

But Sha Gozen is doing good work now! She finds jinba like me work, and connects us with humans... I'm sure things will get better.

The armless...?

[He starts, then pauses, and follows it with a shake of his head.]

Oh, forgive me. It seems to be a dire topic.

No, it's fine. If you ask me.

[Unspoken, but implied... She didn't mind if he asked her, but she'd rather him not bring the subject up with her husband, who'd been old enough to remember those days very well, when she'd been fortunate enough to have been born at the tail end of the war period.]

When humans used to catch wild jinba... they'd sometimes cut the arms off at the shoulders. To make them easier to break for riding, or battle, or the breeding stable.

[Not many had survived that time. She'd only seen one with her own eyes, an old, sway-backed nag of a woman... But it had been terrifying to see. Horrifying to imagine an existence in which you couldn't feed yourself with any dignity, couldn't bathe properly, couldn't dress yourself. Couldn't survive without the care of the humans that had enslaved you.]

I never met her, but. My parents told me my birth mother was an Armless. I can't imagine what her life was like.

[...

He falls quiet for a moment, considering this. If he were to be honest... In his era, it would be no surprise if his men did the same thing if the jinba were considered as livestock. He would've probably done it too, out of ignorance-- or arrogance? He's learned better, but Richard was pragmatic if nothing else.]

I assume your husband must have witnessed these, if you wish me not to speak to him about it.

[The implication of her words made him wonder. Was he much older than her that he would witness it, or were they simply leading too different lives?]

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lumberlady - 2020-06-11 13:47 (UTC) - Expand

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