expiationlogs | The stormy March is come at last

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The stormy March is come at last

Who: Ethlyn and you!
Where: The event center (or just outside it), or out and about for foraging trips
What: ~~BBC historical immersion documentary~~ Helping you soft modern people get to grips with the way it was! AKA mingle log for learning some skills. (If your character wants to learn or teach something not mentioned here, feel free!)
Warnings: None to start with!

Without any electricity to run lights and music, Ethlyn's engaged the events center to run her day of tutorials on how to live... well, like she had always lived up until she was whisked away from her own death to this strange world. Admittedly, she didn't have as much expertise as she would like to be more useful; as a noblewoman, servants carried out many of the tasks like cooking and making lights. Still, being a soldier on campaign had forced her to learn, in a rough-and-ready fashion--and soliciting every willing medieval person she could find, she was determined to share those skills with Chosen and townsfolk alike until they figured out how to make the sparks fly once more.

Throwing open the shades to let in as much light as possible and starting at sunrise--as though sun to sun wasn't a perfectly sensible way to live one's life!--she was ready to help.

Making rushlights: Rushlights are just that--rushes, soaked in fat/lard/oil to use as purely sufficient but inexpensive light source. Since Aldrip doesn't have much in the way of rushlight holders (barring a few antiques), there's also a pile of coathangers and pliers to work at some improvised fixtures.

Fires to last: Do you know how to build a fire? Congratulations, you're going to learn. And also you're going to collect wood for it! Start with little twigs and build up to bigger pieces of wood slowly.

Of course, this isn't an appropriate activity for inside the convention hall, so both this and the below will have to happen outside.

Cooking: Since most homes don't have wood-fire ovens, it's going to have to be wood-fire outside. There's a lot more to it than just hot dogs and s'mores. If you've got grain, you've got pottage. If you've got some vegetables that need using up, they can go in the grain that becomes pottage. Limitless variety!

Foraging: It's winter, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to eat. There's black walnuts, wild cranberries (lowbush and highbush), beechnuts, pine nuts, chickweed, watercress, rosehips, and more--and some skillful local artists hired by Ethlyn have put together some sketches for edibles to be found in the wild.

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I don’t suppose anyone here knows how to cook, or how to really hunt?

Rushlights

[Ethlyn is happy to explain what rushlights are, but the truth is... she has very little actual experience in making them. They aren't very portable, which means they weren't used much on campaign compared to torches or candlesticks. And at home, making them was a messy job that was relegated to servants, much more often than not.

But they're simple in design and a necessity of the moment, so she's doing her best. The tallow and lard is slippery and hard to get into the rushes.]

This is trickier than I thought it would be. I'll have to keep in practice, even after we figure out how to get the electric lights back on.

Foraging (closed to Claude)

[It's fortunate, as Ethlyn remarked to Marianne before, that they had that crisis with the refrigerators all the way back last spring. It gave them a good reason to dig new root cellars and make sure there was plenty of salted, pickled, and smoked food around just in case something like that happened again.

But man cannot live by pickles alone, and there's plenty still on the ground. Ethlyn leads Venture by the reins to search under the powdered snow and frost for anything sufficiently edible.]

...I'm used to collecting medicinal herbs. Let's hope the lessons I got years ago about what's safe to eat and what isn't still hold up.

Other!

[Ethlyn being her busybody, helpful self, you can find her doing any of these things to try and teach people or do these chores!]

[kakashi squats next to a pot balanced over an open fire. he is no longer wearing a bandage, instead letting his mostly-healed wound breathe the fresh air. although it's hard to make out his expression because of the mask that covers the lower half of his face, one could make out something resembling a pout if they were to look closely.]

I get making a stew or soup, but what if you don't have any vegetables?...

[truly a conundrum.]

[Ethlyn runs an eye over Kakashi's face to make sure that all is going well, and it looks like the wound is healing properly--no red streaks, no unusual swelling.]

There are vegetables hiding in unusual places if you look. Dandelions, watercress, wild leeks--if you know how to find them, then you can sustain yourself on them.

But in a pinch, any bones you might have left over from other cooking are a staple. That's why cooks like to hang onto them.

Dandelions? [he's definitely making a face now.] They don't exactly sound appetizing. I'm definitely going to have to stick to hunting.

You don't want to eat them raw out of the ground, but they taste all right if you cook them a bit--or boil them up. And they're good for you. [She grins, amused by Kakashi's face--not very different from the faces she saw on her brother when he was made to eat greens.] I've been reading up on the different things that plants have in them--vitamins and minerals, the things that keep us healthy. Dandelions have plenty.

Maybe...if I just added them to a rabbit stew...

[he sounds so disdainful, like the very thought of eating dandelions still disgusts him.]

I know vitamins and minerals are important, but...bleh.

[Okay, the 'bleh.' The BLEH. It gets her. Sorry Kakashi she just can't help but laugh.]

You sound like my brother when he was your age. If it was green, he didn't want anything to do with it. He only put up with it because my father told him that he couldn't be a good swordsman without eating spinach.

[how dare!! he will retaliate by...pouting further.]

I eat greens! Even the gross ones!

[oops, that might be a little telling. so much for sounding grown up.]

I'd just rather have the nice ones. Is it too much to ask for a nice zucchini here and there?

Don't worry, we'll be seeing plenty of those when the weather gets warmer. [Because one thing you can say about zucchini is that they never stop.] Think of it this way--you'll appreciate the zucchini and the other nice ones all the more after having to do the chore of eating things like dandelion and chickweed.

I guess.

[very convincing, kakashi.]

I'm getting tired of camping. What I wouldn't give for...I don't know...a simple ramen stall.

[So convincing. She's totally convinced.]

Ramen? Is that a common dish in your homeland?

[Calling it a ramen stall makes it sound like street food--which yes, she's enjoyed for herself now and again.]

Pretty common, yeah. There's this one stall that Sensei likes to go to and they always put extra veggies in mine.

[see, proof he likes his greens.]

[Okay Kakashi, she is willing to accept that.]

Oh! Well, then we should find someone here who knows how to make it. What else is in it besides vegetables?

Y-you don't know ramen?

[this place has been full of surprises, but for some reason this one really throws him off.]

Ah...it's a noodle soup. You can add all kinds of things but the most common is probably pork and vegetables.

Not until now--although I've had plenty of noodle soups. I might have had it and just not known the name.

Oddly enough, there just aren't a lot of noodle dishes where I'm from--which is strange because it's such a useful foodstuff. We usually eat dumplings in soup instead.

Don't you worry about that. That part is my specialty. I know everything about what out here might kill you, make you sick or, according to some rumours, make everyone extra amorous. [ He winks at Ethlyn. ] We'll give those ones a miss. I don't think people around here need any help on that front.

[ Still, he seems to be in a merry enough mood as they walk slowly down the expanse of land before them, eyes roving around for anything that comes to his attention. ]

I had no idea how few people here know how to deal without all this technology, [ he muses. ] You're doing them a great favour by whipping them into shape.

No, they certainly don't. [Ethlyn might have been raised a proper lady, and the other healers did their absolute best to make sure that the daughter of Chalphy had to deal as little with the seemy side of healing as possible, but... once you're a healer whose job is treating the aches and pains of soldiers, you learn just what the aches are and how they got those pains. She's less scandalized than exasperated.] We'll stick to ordinary medicines.

[Ethlyn can't help but chuckle. Throughout this, she's been doing her best to be empathetic to the citizens of Aldrip and other other Chosen, who after all haven't done anything to deserve this punishment (minus whoever it was that attacked Ketsora).

But you know what, that's been a conscientious effort. It's a relief to be alone with someone who isn't going to complain about how primitive her normal daily life was.]

You'd think that we'd all been pushed out onto an ice floe in the ocean, the way some people are behaving... I wonder how they thought their ancestors ever managed? It's not as though, I don't know, we're particularly more intelligent than they are. But we managed to scrape through our woefully deprived lives just fine.

I like to think of myself as a man of progress. Some of the things they have here, I wouldn't mind bringing home with me. But to be honest? For some things, I like our way more.

[ It's not due to stubborness or habit, Claude thinks, as much as any person could be immune to all that. But when he's up late writing, he's never thought a lightbulb could beat a candle for cozy ambience, no stovetop could retain heat quite as well as his cast iron pot bubbling over the fire, no fancy gadget replacing his mortar and pestle. ]

I daresay roughing it for a little while is good for them. A little self-sufficiency goes a long way.

[Ethlyn giggles. It's a rare sound from her these days, after all the tumult and uncertainty of the past few months--uncertainty that hasn't exactly ended with this sabotage by Ketsora, either. But she can't help but laugh at Claude, putting voice to feelings which she has very diplomatically not been expressing.]

It will help them build character.

Oh, I've spent the past week or so being so polite--so tactful when i hear people complain about not having light at the flick of a switch or needing to heat up water over a fire instead of pushing a tap to the left. I know this town isn't built for the way we're used to living, but it's still nostalgic, you know? It's like a little bit of home.

Hah! Look at us! [ Claude slings a friendly arm around Ethlyn's shoulders as they stroll, giving her a friendly squeeze, as a brother may do to a sister -- as her brothers may have done to her, once upon a time. ] Two nobles, lecturing the commoners on how suffering builds character! I never thought I'd see the day!

[ He turns to her with a grin. ]

But to hear them say it, commoners of their time live far more grandly than even the most esteemed Queen of the land. You're not wrong to be a bit annoyed by them. If they kept an open mind, they might even like it. There's something to be said for... my gods, they must call them the old ways.

You're right. It's a little taste of home. And I do wonder how sustainable the way we've been living is. If something as simple as a power outage can cause all this chaos, is that truly the better way to live? That's a real easy way to render a whole town inept.

[Ethlyn laughs as Claude's arm falls around her shoulders. It is just like walking along with Sigurd, back when they were both young and lived in Chalphy. Those were good days. And she's quite positive that Sigurd would tease them both mercilessly for acting like a couple of aged dukes.]

We'll be waving our walking sticks and chiding them for treading on the flowers next.

But our current predicament really does show how true that is. Imagine if the Rumpiturans had come upon us while we were running around trying to reconstruct the most basic daily needs and tasks... they wouldn't have bothered with that elaborate deception, they'd have just kidnapped us while we were distracted doing things like foraging in the woods.

[And speaking of...]

Ah! There's some fungus. [She points at a bright orange formation on a rotting log.] Edible or poison, Sir Herbalist?

Hmmm... only one way to find out!

[ All that talk of common sense? Out the window. Claude immediately crouches down beside it, breaks down a small piece of the orange flesh, and pops it into his mouth. He won't say this is how he's tested all the local plantlife around here... but it's certainly how he's tested a lot of it. He's built up quite the resistance to poison over the years, and he intends to keep it that way. He makes a show of chewing thoughtfully, running his tongue over his teeth. ]

Yeah... yeah, that checks out. I'm almost entirely certain that it's edible. Though if it weren't, we could just harvest it for different reasons. [ He grins. ] Kidding! I know this one. Sometimes people have funny reactions to it, but I've seen people have funny reactions to milk, so I'd say we can feed our unsuspecting victims this particular breed of fine fungi.

Claude...!

[Ethlyn reaches out too late to try and stop him from just EATING FUNGUS out of the WOODS. She's hastily trying to remember everything she knew and has newly learned about poisons and how to treat them--

--he's kidding. he knows what this is. Of course he does.]

Goodness... I should have known. [He wouldn't have eaten it unless he was sure ~~so she naively assumes~~.] I'm surprised it advertises itself with a color like that, for every mischevious herbalist to find.

[ Claude can't help but crack up, a wide grin splitting his face and straining at his cheeks. ]

Pffft---bahahahah! You should have seen the look on your face, Ethlyn! [ He plucks the mushroom, then plucks the ones growing around it, dispensing them in her pouch with a care and tact he is not showing in his expression. ] You really believed I just poisoned myself, huh?

[ He places a hand over his chest. ]

You have my promise that I will never knowingly poison myself in front of you, for fear of either incurring your wrath or being the cause of your grey hairs.

[ Not in front of her? Fair game. ]

Sometimes things that appear dangerous aren't so, you know. These guys are just one good example of that. The ones you have to really look out for are the ones that seem indistinguishable to the common fungi to the naked eye.

Good. I'd make sure to find the most unpleasant remedy possible if you did, just to make sure you didn't do it again.

[She has no idea what dastardly deception he's engaged in mentally. Obviously if it would be absurd to do it in front of the town healer, it would be even more absurd to do it not in front of her and risk a swift death.]

I've heard of a few of those--white mushrooms especially. You either have something delicious or deadly, and little in-between. [She shakes her head.] Even if we were starving, I would be loathe to take that kind of risk.

Those have other practical uses. I did tell you I have a history in poisons, didn't I? I know exactly what to use to give someone an absolutely wicked stomachache.

[ He doesn't use them often. And he doesn't use them to kill either, though he's not exactly above it. But if he needs someone to sit out of a meeting so that he can get a new rule passed... then so be it. It's only fair. He spent the bulk of his childhood getting poisoned, so the good old Count can believe he's got a vicious hangover for a day or two.

He straightens up with a groan and a stretch. ]

The good thing about that is that knowing what is poison means that you usually know what isn't poison. Though if we were in such dire straits, we'd probably wind up just eating grass first. Which isn't my first choice, but it won't kill you.

Hm, well I hope you only use such knowledge for good.

[She isn't sure she could actually put it past Claude to ruin the evening of someone who was sufficiently annoying.]

I hope it's a long time before it comes to that. [She's heard tell of it--the last resort of those desperate in famine. Sometimes, people report that it's happening in Thracia.] It would take more than losing the flick of a lightswitch or an electric spiral burner for that to happen, at least.

[ Of course Ange isn't here to teach anything about medieval life. Please, she's a girl who grew up rich, despite the terrible circumstances that surrounded those riches. She doesn't even know how ordinary people live aside from her experiences here in Aldrip so far, and she has even less of an idea of the true medieval lifestyle.

So it's likely that she's instead here to pick up some knowledge, especially if it's going to be necessary to survive. The redhead isn't optimistic enough in the slightest to assume this is a situation that will easily go away. So if she wants to live, she'll have to adapt.

Which means the girl can be found sitting next to a pot over an open fire right outside the event hall, except you might notice.. something strange going on.

Because there's no just a fire underneath the pot. Oh no. Whatever pottage Ange was making inside of the pot is also on fire, and yet the girl is just.. staring at it calmly.. with her usual pokerface...

Maybe it's a good idea to help before this situation gets worse. Or, you know, to question what the hell is even going on here, if someone managed to actually someone set pottage on fire. ]

[The food is on fire. What?]

Uh...is it supposed to do that?

[She doesn't seem very worried about it.]

[ There are a lot of answers that would be reassuring here. And a whole lot that would be worrying.

Instead of going for either, Ange opts for: ]

I have no idea.

[ .. ah, yes. The answer of chaos. And yet Ange seems so genuine about it, like she just.. really doesn't know if food is supposed to do this.. ]

I followed the recipe they told us about, but then this just happened. [ You know, Levi! The food suddenly was on fire! Isn't that a normal part of cooking? ]

Huh...

[Maybe its magic. Who knows.]

You should probably put it out, though. That'll just burn it.

[Whatever it was in there.]

I'm pretty sure it's burnt already.

[ .. not that it isn't a good idea to put the fire out all the same.. It is fire, after all..

And yet it seems like Ange didn't bother to do so just yet. ]

I was just trying to figure out what went wrong in the meantime. I figured I might discover something through watching the fire, but.. no dice, I guess. [ At least Ange doesn't sound particularly worried about it either.

But then again, with Ange's flat tone and pokerface, when she does she ever truly seem worried about anything? ]

Maybe you got it too hot?

[Fire creates heat, maybe heat creates fire???]

[ .... ]

Does anything that gets too hot immediately set itself on fire?

[ A genuine question! She's not just being dry or sarcastic like usually.. Instead it looks like Ange genuinely has no idea, and she's asking both him and herself that at the same time by asking it out loud. ]

Um.

[Does it? He doesn't deal with heat sources that much.]

Not everything, but sometimes if something is really hot it can set things on fire.

[Easily flammable things like paper or wood but he doesn't understand how it works anyway.]

I.. guess that means we should stop this fire before it starts burning more stuff then, yeah.

[ Like this is a concern that's only really come to her now..

Look, in Ange's defense, she felt like it was pretty contained! She's been watching it just burn in the pot for a while now! Even though she still doesn't sound too alarmed by the possibility. Like they're just dealing with a minor issue here, from the girl's point of view. ]

Do you have anything that could take care of the fire?

Yeah...um. Not really. I think if you cover up the pot it might go out?

[ Well, it's relatively little effort, so.. Ange does grab the pot's lid off the ground, putting it on top of the pot. At least it does cover the fire, though it's hard to tell whether or not it's still raging in there.

Ange seems to think she's made enough of an effort, though, since she just moves to sit down again right after. ]

Well, I guess this means I'll just have to starve until the city is back to normal.

[ Because she feels like she sure has no gift for making pottage. Quite the opposite, actually. ]

Or find someone else to get food from? I don't really know how to cook aside from roasting things over a fire but if I have extra I can offer you some.

Or maybe some restaurants are still open?

...

[ The girl is quiet for a moment. She really doesn't like the idea of asking someone else for food.. mostly because she wouldn't even be sure who to ask. Her first thought is Ethlyn, but Ethlyn clearly already has her hands full with this entire situation, and Ange would hate to add on to that.

So when Levi offers instead, her gaze turns towards him instead. ]

You would share with me?

[ Her tone is mostly still flat, but there's a little bit of something else in it. Something just slightly surprised. ]

[He shrugs.]

I go hunting sometimes, I can't always eat everything I bring down. If I have extra I don't mind sharing it.

[He usually tries to save it for later meals or sells it, but he doesn't really need much money so he wouldn't miss that occasional income.]

.. Sure. [ The answer still comes a little slowly.

It's always difficult for her to just believe it when help is offered so easily, even if his reasoning is mostly sound. ]

Thanks. I don't see a real reason for you to share anything with me, so.. I guess you're just being nice. [ Even if that forever remains a wild, wild concept to Ange.

People just being nice. Selfless, in ways. ]

I'd just give it away or sell it anyway. And I don't need much money so I don't really need to sell it. And I don't have any right now anyway, I'll probably just go hunting again for dinner.

[He just likes to help out. Bring a tiny nice thing to his world of horror and pain.]

So, um, yeah. I guess I am being nice.

Of course you are. You don't need to have some sort of long explanation for it. You can just say you're nice.

[ .. says the person who can never admit to doing anything nice herself.

Maybe it's the pot calling the kettle black. ]

Anyway, I guess I'll just accept your kindness then. Thanks for not letting a cute girl starve. [ Granted, that 'cute girl' is said so flatly that she probably just means it in a deadpan kind of way. ]

[He felt like he was being judged for it, though. And that she thought being nice was somehow a bad thing? He's not at all sure how to read her. Or most people, really.]

Um, you're welcome?

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The stormy March is come at last

Eve | OC | Mostly medieval era

Ethlyn | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

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writers note: yes. yes, it is the better way to live.

I PERSONALLY LIKE THE ASPIRIN AND THE SANITARY WATER

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ange ushiromiya | umineko no naku koro ni | ota

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