prismatica | video

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Too strong like... spicy? Or just too strong anything?

[Though “too strong” itself is a little ambiguous... there’s far more pressing philosophical issues. Like two Shen Qingqiu!]

No, um... I’m the one who should apologize. I probably offended you, when we met... but before that there was the time when Fox people disguised themselves as people we know and tried to take us from the city so I thought that might be happening again...

Strongly spiced.

[The double Shen issue is the more pressing matter here though, it's true.]

Fox people? [Is being Shen Qingqiu a fad or something-] Well I can assure you this Shen is as real as they come, and I don't plan to kidnap anyone anytime soon. [A beat.] There's no need to worry about offending me, either. I'm...sure it was very confusing for you to be faced with two of the same person. I'm certainly confused about that matter, myself.

[Its hard for her to imagine, having a doppelgänger like that. Somehow it seems easier to imagine that someone strong and smart might have a double, because... well she doesn’t know how. It just is! But-]

Do you think it’s... like Master Shen said? Parallel worlds, or whatever?

Maybe its easier to think you’re like... cousins? Or... twins separated at birth?

It's easy enough to believe the idea of parallel worlds, considering where we are right now. [He's already stuck in one strange new world, why not acknowledge parallel realities too?

Though he looks rather unsure at the "pretend we're relatives" suggestion.]

I suppose that would be a simpler way to look at it...though I'd rather not treat a stranger as family, even if we are apparently the same person.

Is it? Master Shen tried to teach me about them, but... a whole world out there exactly like mine just... slightly different? And another Konoha? I mean... maybe, but. Why have doubles of something like that?

[Two heroes or two Master Shens Maybe, but... hnngh, she shakes her head in confusion.]

Do you not... think alike? Or... did different things happen to you? Sorry, I should have paid way more attention to the lecture...

I don't see why there would be doubles of me, either, but here we are... [A sigh.]

We haven't interacted enough for me to be able to describe every way in which our personalities may differ, but....he does act differently in some ways. [Nicer, for one thing.] It might be better to assume that we've had different experiences, at least.

[Sigh... is right... This is so confusing still.]

... Oh.

Is it weird to see someone with the same face?

As strange as it would be for the face in your dressing room mirror to wave hello to you.

[It's weird!!!]

But the other one is a friend of yours, I suppose? It's good to see he's kept his manners on that front.

[Hmmmmmmm what would that be like.............. !?]

Ah- Yes, he is... Master Shen has taken care of me a lot since I arrived... and he saved me once, too...

[Was that... reassuring? She's not sure.]

[That gets a nod...and a slight frown, which he isn't going to elaborate on.]

Saved you? You weren't in serious danger, I hope.

[The human half of her doesn't exactly look like a fighter.]

It was kind of serious...

[At least, she'd been terrified... but a lot of the adventuring types seemed fine with it...

But she doesn't really want to remember that, so-]

Can you fly on a sword, too?

[Well that question throws him off a bit.]

I--could, yes. Though I don't...currently have my sword with me.

[He hasn't seen it in a long time, really.]

[She might have some traumatic experiences flying on things thanks to Master Shen... Sorry, Mister Shen...]

So you have the same, um- "powers"? Or is it "magic"?

[Honestly he's not sure how you could get an entire horse onto a sword anyway, did Other Shen try that at some point???]

We should have the same abilities, yes. You can call it powers or magic if you like. And while I don't know what powers he may have shown you, I can at least assure you that we learned from the same sources.

[He may have used a very large shovel... and she may have been wobbling and terrified out of her gd mind]

It's... not powers or magics?

["Abilities" just seems... really not enough for that kind of stuff!?]

...It is. Our cultivation gives us the ability to use a variety of magics.

There's no need to be quite so specific with vocabulary.

Oh, alright... "magics", then!

No cooking magic?

No, no cooking magic. I'm afraid that isn't a subject most people have considered using magic for.

That's a shame... magic would be really useful around the house...

[no housewives in the cultivators???]

Cultivation is called as such because it is focused on cultivating body, mind, and soul through means of rigorous training. Cultivators of a high enough level may even achieve immortality, among other things.

In light of that, wouldn't housework be considered something a little too mundane to be using one's spiritual powers for? If anything, the physical exertion required for daily tasks could serve as an added bit of training for young disciples.

[He says all this but a resourceful/lazy cultivator could probably find a way to cheat with their powers if they wanted...]

I... guess? I think junior monks have to do all the housework at the temples, so... that makes sense...

Can you do the dishes for the food I bring you, though? I'd appreciate it.

I--

...Yes. Of course. They'll be as clean as I can make them, I promise.

Great.

Then I'll bring you some nice, plain things soon!

Thank you. I'll look forward to your cooking, then.

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