[03] a farmer's life?

[usarinpa]

Who: Mizuki and anyone [open]
Where: Astralin's farm in the meadowlands, and the new botanical gardens.
What: Just a day in her life, apparently.
Warnings: ~*~ vandalism ~*~ possibly, will add as anything comes up.

---

👁️ i. Astralin's Farm

[ If you asked her six months ago where she thought she'd be now, a farm would've never been it. Mizuki is a modern girl, accustomed to certain luxuries, wont to complain like a brat when she doesn't have them, but who cares about the small shit when your world's turned upside down? Day by day, she finds herself learning a little more about how they lived Back Then. Maybe she doesn't hate it all the time.

The heavy lifting continues. By now, Astralin's farm is complete, and the girl spends a lot of her time here as of late. ]

a.) [ She can be seen feeding the animals. If she's not hauling water over to their pens, then she's making rounds, making sure everyone everyone's gotten their fill to eat. In particular, she seems to favor two little piglets in the playpen. Once they've had their fill with the rest of them, she can be seen bathing them, washing off the mud they've accumulated on their coats from playtime. ]

Sure, a dog or a cat, maybe, but I never thought it'd be pigs.

[ Just talking to them. ]

Guess I should give you better names than Thing 1 and Thing 2.

- - -

b.) Baaa, baaa. [ Mizuki mimics the sheep she has in front of her, her tone mocking yet somehow affectionate. She's never done this before, but she has some shears in one hand, and the other grips onto its wool. ] Come on, hold still. I'm not trying to hurt you here.

[ Maybe she's hoping to use it at some tailor shops to finally get some new clothes made, as she seems to be collecting the wool in a large basket. The sheep seems calm after a while. ]

See? It's not so bad.

- - -

c.) [ When she's not helping Astralin tend to the animals, maybe she's stepped away to tend to her bike. Near the shed they built for it, she can be seen with a large bucket of water at her feet and a rag, wiping the face where she has her Adorabbit sticker, and the center console where Aiba belongs.

Well, the rag is kinda torn up, definitely not perfect, but it gets the job done. ]

👁️ ii. A Respite

[ During the hottest part of the day, Mizuki finds herself stepping away from the farm and back into town to find something to eat. As she thinks back on their collective trip to Rumpitur, she feels a sudden chill that travels down the back of her spine, despite the agreeable weather. An echo of the nightmares that occasionally plague her, mostly about those who went missing.

Just as she wonders whether she should spend another night at Astralin's farm, she passes through the new botanical garden, surrounded by the Chosen's statues. They've been in construction for a while, but this is the first time she's seen them all complete. ]

Heh, they work fast.

[ ...She passes by her own [statue], talking to no one in particular. ]

Even got my pipe right.

[ Then she'll walk over to the statue and mimic its pose. Silly. ]

👁️ iii. Wildcard & Notes

[ If you want to do something else, feel free to hit me with your own prompt or plot with me on plurk @ yammdere, PM, or @ me on the game discord!

One other thing I wanted to note that I couldn't seem to fit anywhere is that Mizuki's left eye is missing. She wore a "fake" eye towards the beginning of the game, but no longer does (it's a long story). If you'd like your character to take notice, feel free; if not, just be OOCly aware, since I probably won't go out of my way to mention it unless it's particularly relevant.

....Thanks! ]

Comments

ii;

[laserguy]

[A slightly amused voice speaks from behind her--]

The resemblance is uncanny.

[Her voice is somewhat familiar to him, although he can't immediately remember what sort of conversation he had with her. Look, he talked to a lot of people that day and it's a bit hard to recall everything right now!! Be easier if he could match a voice to a face, but guess he's doing that now.

The statue sure is something though.

He has his arms crossed as he looks from the statue to her, a visible eyebrow arched underneath his sunglasses.] Do I want to know why they decided to include a large pipe in your heroic statue?

[usarinpa]

[ Ah.

Fortunately (?) for Scott, his sunglasses do not look too out of place in the broad daylight. Hearing a voice that seems kind of familiar, Mizuki breaks her stance and turns to regard him casually with a shrug.

As she turns, it almost seems like the pipe materializes out of nowhere, the blue accents spiraling its length as it lengthens. ]

Essential part of my image, I'd say. [ She winks, then lowers the weapon, since he's not a threat and all. ] ...There are a lot. You find yours?

[laserguy]

Jesus!

[Scott visibly startles when the pipe just appears out of fucking nowhere in her hands. So much for trying to act somewhat cool or calm, because all of that's thrown out the window as he visibly looks from the pipe to Mizuki, and back again. He knows for a fact that no one's mentioned about forming weapons out of thin air, so a little unexpected.

But once he starts feeling calm, Scott rubs the back of his head and takes in a deep breath to settle the last of his nerves.]

I just got here, I'd be surprised if they made a statue of me. [Also he doesn't want a statue of him, especially if it has sunglasses on it.] I don't really wanna go looking for it.

[Can he blow it up-- actually, probably not a good idea, especially since he's already being charged on 'destruction of property.']

[usarinpa]

[ Scott shouldn't underestimate them. What they've managed in just a couple short weeks shouldn't even be humanly possible. They did specifically mention that it was to thank them for their efforts with Rumpitur and the threat of famine though, so it makes sense that Scott wouldn't have one.

Also, she likes it when boys are scared!!! They should be scared.

She simply shrugs, a smirk playing on her face. ]

Maybe it'll find you. Someday. [ Who's to say they won't make more? Guess they would run of space eventually, though. ]

[laserguy]

[He almost groans at the thought of it.]

Don't tell me if I do.

[Now that he's not being startled by her magically appearing pipe, Scott gets a good look at her face, mostly the fact that she has one missing eye. Huh, that's a little unusual...

...

As the gears in his mind slowly turn, the teen points at her, not bothering to hide the surprise in both his posture and voice. He's still working on the whole tact thing, really.]

You're that girl I talked to, over the charms!

ii

[sincleavers]

[He's only been gone for a week, or so, but it feels like an entire lifetime has passed. Maybe that's to be expected, with everything that happened; it's been more like a month, for him, maybe longer, and in that time...well. No wonder the time difference has been so jarring. Even here, everything is the same, but different, and he finds himself in the gardens almost unconsciously, as if seeking out the images of people who had gone missing during his absence. There, too, is his own statue, still masked, still wearing the Dahnan armor...and holding the Blazing Sword, as well. It's like looking at a completely different person, and he doesn't want to linger on it overmuch.

Mizuki's voice draws his attention, pulls him out of that moment of reflection, and he finds a smile making its way across his face as he moves in her direction.]

Now that's a victory pose. [He gestures at her statue -- and the pipe in its hand.] They really spared no details, didn't they?

[usarinpa]

[ Mizuki is just thinking about snooping on the other statues when Alphen approaches. When she looks at him, it suddenly feels like she hasn't seen him in a while, but maybe that's true for a lot of people. She lingers on him for a moment, as if trying to spot what's different about him, but then gives him a wave. ]

Hey! Did you get one too?

...Gotta admit, when they said they were doing this, I didn't think it'd happen overnight. I mean, it wasn't literally overnight, but... still pretty fast for old-timey folks.

[sincleavers]

[He mirrors the wave, giving a sort of lopsided smile at the question.]

Sure did. I kept hoping I could talk them out of it, but...no luck there, from the look of it. I'm surprised they managed to put all of this up so fast. The statues, the gardens...they really put a ton of work into all of this.

[This is exactly the sort of thing he had wanted to avoid back home, after all. Being worshipped as some kind of hero...it doesn't really suit him at all. He sighs faintly, and then turns his attention back to Mizuki.]

How have you been, Mizuki? It's been a little while.

[usarinpa]

[ From her experience, yeah, those guys were not going to be talked out of it. As Alphen speaks, Mizuki turns to look back up at her statue, hands on her hips. It is a little creepy that they got all the details right. ]

I'm good.

[ The reply comes automatically without even looking at him. It's just one of those things you're expected to say when you respond to that. No one actually wants to know. Not even if your world's falling apart. She looks at Alphen again. ]

What about you? Think you deserve your statue?

[sincleavers]

Deserve?

[Alphen sounds surprised; truth be told, he is. It's a good question, but he wasn't expecting it from her, for some reason. Quiet and thoughtful, he looks back at the corner where his statue stands tall, brandishing a sword alongside his friends...some of whom seem to have gone home. For good? It's hard to say, but he can't help a faint pang of sadness at their absence.

He sighs, looking back at her statue. He and Law had talked about exactly this sort of thing, back when their names were becoming well-known among Dahnans -- his, especially.]

... It's hard to justify using any resources for something like this, [he says finally, thoughtfully.] And as for deserving it -- I don't think I do. I didn't do anything special, and even if I had...I don't think any of these people need something else to worship.

ii

[grappler]

[Vi's just been hanging around, today. she'd probably been doing some running and exercising, but there's only so much she can do until her body just tells her to stop.

when she sees Mizuki, she stops as she looks around at the statues.]

Kinda weird. You think they're watching us while we sleep or something?

[usarinpa]

[ By the time Vi approaches, Mizuki's still staring up at her statue. She's either admiring it or trying to nitpick all the things they got wrong, but thankfully, the familiar voice interrupts before she can get lost in it.

There are plenty of other statues to snoop on, after all. ]

I'd say they're studying us quite a bit. [ Between the parchments, and now this. ] It's cute [ because it's her! ], but now that I think about it for two seconds, I... dunno.

[ This kind of attention?? She likes it, but she... doesn't. ]

[grappler]

It's kinda creepy, if you ask me.

[she looks at her own statue, who has her hands in a defensive position near her face, like a boxer.

she shakes her head.]

Though I can see how it'd appear to some of our... egos.

[usarinpa]

......Yeah.

[ Mizuki shakes her head. When she thought about being a hero, this isn't really what she had in mind, but it's what she's got at the moment. She eyes the other statues, fanning out around them almost like a maze. ]

I mean, I doubt they're gonna come to life, at least. You really think they got everyone?

[grappler]

Don't jinx us.

[there's an internal flinch at the word jinx, but she tries not to show it on her face.]

Who knows? I sure as hell don't know everyone here, so it'd be hard to compare.

ii

[aintyourdad]

It's creepy, is what it is.

[ Joel had a hard time believing it was actually a thing they were going to do, so he came to see, an almost sick sense of curiosity about it. It's just as bad as he imagined, so he's not planning to be back. ]

[usarinpa]

[ If he saw her mimicing her statue, no he didn't. She appears to freeze for a moment, lowering her arms a bit like she was caught red-handed before turning to face Joel. ]

. . . Want me to knock yours down for you?

[aintyourdad]

They'd probably just put it back up again. Not worth the effort.

[ Joel shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans, shaking his head at the sight of her statue. ]

What's the pipe for?

[usarinpa]

[ He's probably right. She can't help but feel a bit disappointed, humming with dissatisfaction, but without saying anything. She looks up at the pipe shape held behind her back in the statue, then pulls out the real one from behind her back, which was probably holstered somewhere in her waist.

The difference is that this one appears smaller.

For a few seconds at least. until it elongates within her hand, until it looks roughly like the one in the statue. Blue highlights spiral around the pipe like threads on a screw. ]

I've carried one around with me since I was like 12. Had this one modified back home, though. I was lucky enough to wake up with it, guess you could say.

[aintyourdad]

Why a pipe, though? I mean, why not a baseball bat, or a crowbar, or somethin'?

[ He's not even shocked that she carries a weapon. She probably should. ]

i; a (I'm sorry about him)

[midlifecryseas]

[ The girl's talking to her animals, obviously, but the one to answer is a man with a long, messy beard who's dressed almost entirely in black leather. You know, the friendly-looking type of guy. He's leaning his arms casually over the side of the fence between them, as if it isn't someone else's land he's stomping around on. ]

Wouldn't get too attached to those pets of yours, girl. Name them Bacon and Ham. Or Sausage and Pork. That's how they'll end up. No point pretending otherwise.

sfjkda no i was waiting for someone to bring this up

[usarinpa]

[ He's not wrong, probably. Maybe it would have been the more merciful thing to do from the beginning, once she watched... helped? as their parents were killed. Mizuki stops and turns her head, remaining neutral as she idly continues moving her hands along their fur. ]

Don't think Astralin's that kind of guy. [ The name's kind of a mouthful, isn't it? ]

in that case enjoy his assholery lol

[midlifecryseas]

[ Well it's a unique name for sure, and not one Blackbeard's familiar with. ]

Astralin, who's he?

[ The one letting this girl get attached to Dinner and Lunch, he presumes, but maybe he'll find out more than that since that's the whole point of him skulking around out here in farmersville. ]

[usarinpa]

Really tall guy who's got some sort of plant magic going on. And ice, I think.

[ Plant voodoo. Mizuki just shrugs though, saying this nonchalantly. If he sticks around long enough, she figures the man may meet him and see for himself to make his own judgements. ]

I helped him build the place.

[midlifecryseas]

[ Plant and ice magic?? Blackbeard's eyes widen in question. He's seen a bit of that now and again, but not up close. He's still betting on it being a bit of fuckery, though there's a whole lot of weird going on in this place. Devilry and witchcraft wouldn't be out of place.

Strange that the girl doesn't seem afraid of him, for how she talks. ]

So what are you to this Astralin guy, then? What's he done to earn such trust and help building this farm of his?