idolpro | Amaranth: A Dream

Entry tags:

!ideal world

Amaranth: A Dream

Once, there was a maiden...

...whose battles called her far from home.
She slew the thing she feared most, and conquered the land that feared her.
As she fought, far away, she knew her children needed guidance.
She knew they faced tyrants.
She knew they faced fear.
In her homeland, things were broken.
So, she held up her hand before the sun, and cast a shadow on the world, and drowned the troubles of her home in darkness.

"Survival's a long reach," she said.

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Okay.

[ reaching for her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze - eyeing her cautiously ]

I'll take care of cooking tonight, so you can focus on resting, okay?

Ah— alright.

[ She leads you (or is half-led, really, the wave of dizziness apparently not quite past) into the house.

The interior is again a blend of Sengoku-era and what is probably recognizable as LiliS aesthetics. There are sliding panels for doors between rooms, but drying herbs and flowers hang along the wall, and there are low tables of gently weathered wood, set with a a metal water pitcher serving as a flower vase.

Shiho wavers on her feet again. ]

Oh, I'd— I'd really better sit down.

M-Mother-in-Law -

[ reaching for her to guide her to - a chair, at the very least, at least for now ]

Your bedroom ... which one is it...?

[ In your hands, her skin has gone clammy, and what had been a mild fever is now severe. ]

It's— it's just a past that first door.
I'm sorry... I think I... do need your help this time.

[ that's ALARMING

guiding her on into the room, laying her down as gently as possible once they're in there ]

Rest, okay...? I'll get you some water ...

[ She nods weakly.

The kitchen isn't hard to find, just off the main room. It has empty pottery jugs, and bottles of sake, but no water. There's always the irrigation stream just outside, though. ]

[ ok, ok

is there anything she can boil with? ]

[ There is definitely some sort of old tyme-y wood-burning stove. It looks simple enough.

Hanae comes in from another room, basket of fresh chives over one arm. ]

...Lady Aradia? Can I help with something?

Oh, um ...

If you don't want to, then you don't need to call me "Lady," do you, Hanae...? We're sisters, aren't we...?

Mother-in-Law - um, your mother has a cold, so I'm going to prepare some water for her, and something light for her to eat...

[ Her eyes briefly light up at the very special thrill of being treated like a peer by a Grown Up, but her expression quickly changes to worry. ]

Ah... um... Is she going to be alright? I could make something besides dumplings if that's better...

Mm, she's resting in bed now ...

[ she makes an attempt of keeping a disarming smile on her face, but some of her own worry shines through despite her best efforts, not much less concerned or uncertain than hanae herself. ]

Is there rice? I'll go and get the water, so we can make porridge for her together, can't we?

Mm. [ an earnest nod ]
Lots, because the harvest is so good, every year and always...

I'll go get Miwa to help—!

[ and she rushes off.
From the bedroom, you can hear the muffled sound of a cough. ]

Mother-in-Law ...

[ murmured, softly -

but she's heading outside with one of the empty jugs to fetch water from the stream. she knows it probably isn't potable just like that, but if it's boiled to cook with they can set some aside for drinking, she thinks. ]

[ The stream runs clear with cool, crisp water: a promising source, especially in these times predating any invention of industrial fertilizer.

As you lower the jugs to it, though, it begins to run dry, as if the dream itself cannot believe in the possibility of making this situation better. You can fill your two jugs, but when you're done, the irrigation stream is little more than a sad muddy trickle.

Sorcery could call a water elemental to serve you, if you want to address the issue, but you have enough water for the immediate task of getting some for Shiho. ]

[ It's good to have enough here for just that, but she thinks - if the stream dries that will affect the harvest, and the way that she visualizes that trickling down is ...

So, setting the pots down, she kneels, and focuses - in the context of casting, certainly an easy task for her, but she needs to take a moment to reflect on the method and source, here. She can't be lost ruminating over theory as she'd like - this is a real time circumstance, isn't it?

Well. There's no reason to think about it at all, she thinks. If it is a trifle at home, wouldn't it be even more so here, with her mother's blessing?

She extends a hand to reach out to the water, implores it grant her audience with all the blithe earnestness of a child tugging at a sleeve. ]

Um - excuse me... If it's okay, do you think that we could talk?

[ All sorcery is, really, is shifting how you look at the world. Seeing its underpinnings, the things that shape Creation's laws—and then reshaping them. It's really quite simple.

As you expend the essence, you know, intuitively, that a silver circle glows upon your brow.

The elemental spirit materializes before you, looking like a little child made of water. Its voice sounds like a burbling creek. ]

What do you need, Child of the Hidden Moon, to call me here and yet not bind me?

Good morning. I don't really want to do anything like that if I don't have to - you'll feel better if you're free too, won't you...? But, um -

Well, I'm worried about this stream... It looks like it might dry up really soon. Is it okay for me to ask you and your friends to come here again...? Is there anything that you need?

[ The Water Child's expression turns briefly bitter and distrusting, but then its shoulders droop, and it sighs sadly. ]

You are kinder than most sorcerers.
I could torment you, you know, since you haven't forced me to your will.

But we want the same things, and I cannot bring myself to do it. This place is a broken homeland, and I am weak because the stream is weak.

You are kind, so I will tell you: when you fear those same things as the dreamer, even she can no longer keep that fear at bay.

[ With that, the elemental dematerializes. ]

Ah...

[ then it's something to be investigated further up, she thinks. but first -

she'll get these jugs as full as she can and take them back to the house, murmuring a word of thanks under her breath. ]

[ Before you return, in the distance you see it: the way all the fields of rice die.

Back to the house.
Inside it is quiet—no sign of Hanae or the other children. Just the quiet wheezing of someone's weak breath. ]

[ . . .

WALKING FASTER, hurriedly setting the jugs up to begin boiling

Voice raised, ]

H-Hanae? Miwa? Fujiko - ?

Mother-in-Law...?

[ The floorboards creak beneath your feet. ]

.....A- Aradia?

[ Shiho's voice, answering from the bedroom, is quiet and strained. ]

Mother-in-Law -

[ a pause before she adds, cautious, ]

I'm boiling some water for you to drink, okay...? Did Hanae go out - ?

I... sent her away. I don't want the fever spirits... to take any of them...

[ You are free to keep tagging, but: eventually... ]

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Amaranth: A Dream

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