Saturday morning multipup

[ostro_goth]

Among the people busy outside the back door of Milliways this morning are:

• Teja, who is on the sparring grounds going through some exercises that he has been doing for years, ever since Ryû Hayabusa taught him, and it shows; the movements are smooth and unthinking, a silent dance at sunrise;
• Dr. Hannibal Lecter, selecting some herbs and tomatoes in the kitchen garden to make breakfast with; he goes about it very slowly, considering each fruit, each leaf before selecting and picking it;
• Wen Ning, not far away at the potting shed, sitting outside going through seed packages, peering at the pictures and the writing. He has a few blank index cards from the library, and a very miraculous brush that will keep writing without an inkstone, and is copying information off the back of some of the packages.

Each of them is quite likely to welcome company or talk about what they are doing.


[[OOC: Open until it scrolls -- say in your tag whom you want.]]

Comments

[cook_the_rude]

"Good morning," says the herb picker as he walks over to where Wen Ning is sorting seed packages. "I am certain the bar would let you have seeds if you asked her for them, with packages printed in your language."

[undead_radish_seller]

Wen Ning had noticed the man, but hadn't found the resolve to wander over and ask him what the herbs were, or what he was choosing the tomatoes for. He didn't want to startle him. Wen Ning is fully aware that he is quite scary to strangers; and this morning, he isn't even hiding under the shadow of his straw hat. He looks inhuman, and he knows it.

"Good morning," he answers shyly. "I -- I did think so, but these are far too shiny and colourful to take home. My sister and granny would never stop wondering where they are from, and how I got them, and how far I went astray; and Wei-gongzi would probably know something is up and would insist on coming with me the next time."

[cook_the_rude]

"That is an excellent reason to put in all that extra work," the herb-picker says, peering at the packages that Wen Ning has selected. "If you need to deceive your friends and family for their own good, at least you can as secretly make it up to them by putting a lot of work into it."

Pause.

"It seems you're not taking any tomato seeds after all?"

[undead_radish_seller]

"Tomatoes are fun!" Wen Ning gushes. "Lady Sunshine introduced me to them the other day. But we don't have them where I'm from. That thing you say, it wouldn't work with tomatoes. So I'm just taking chilies and squash and some herbs and..."

He stops himself from overwhelming the man with his enthusiasm, and stands to bow, properly, arms in a proper semicircle with the left hand covering the right. He has no primary spiritual tool to hold in his dominant hand as he does so, so his hands are empty. "I am Wen Ning, courtesy name Wen Qionglin, and I feel honoured by your advice, master herbalist."

He sits again.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to tell them, and then maybe they can't come," he then says. "I don't want them to be frustrated. Especially not Wei-gongzi. He gets ideas when he's frustrated."

[cook_the_rude]

"I'm Dr. Hannibal Lecter," the herb-picker says. "And I'm not a herbalist; I'm a doctor, I play music, I draw, and I cook. Herbs are just part of my cooking."

He waves at Wen Ning to stay seated as he's jumping up to bow again when he says 'doctor'.

"Do I get this right: - you have chilies, but no tomatoes?"

[undead_radish_seller]

"Yes, that is right," Wen Ning says, "and I am very glad we have them, too, as Wei-gongzi likes his food very spicy. When it's his turn to cook, he uses lots of them as he wants to make the bland food we have as interesting as possible. People are slowly getting used to it."

He giggles.

"And he usually adds more chili oil to his own portion, can you imagine that?"

[cook_the_rude]

"It's not really the mark of a discerning palate to smother everything with hot sauce," Dr. Lecter says. "Not to impugn your friend, the Young Master Wei, of course. He's probably not used to such plain fare. I take it you've fallen on hard times together?"

[undead_radish_seller]

"Yes," Wen Ning says. "He saved us, and then took us to his old hiding place in the Burial Mounds, and now we try and eke out a living together out there. We all do our best, but I can't cook every day. Granny and the aunties would feel less useful, for one thing. So we take turns, all of us, so it's not Wei-gongzi's turn too often."

[cook_the_rude]

"He sounds like a menace at the cooking pots," Dr. Lecter says, smiling. "What else does he do?"

[undead_radish_seller]

"Magic, trouble, inventions and helping people," Wen Ning says. "He never stops; doesn't know how to, I'd guess. His cave is full of half-finished compasses and experimental talismans in a wild mess."

[cook_the_rude]

"Talismans?" Dr. Lecter says. "So that's the kind of ideas he gets when frustrated, as you said. What can he do with them?"

[undead_radish_seller]

"What can he not?" Wenn Ning says. "Keep away resentful spirits or invite them, keep things from decaying, set them on fire, protect people or drive them crazy -- well, he can always drive them crazy, even without talismans."

He giggles a little.

[cook_the_rude]

"There are people like that," Dr. Lecter says, with a smile. "But I suppose driving them crazy with talismans is much more effective..."

[undead_radish_seller]

"Much more," Wen Ning says earnestly. "There are stories going around about what happened when he liberated Lotus Piers from my evil relatives and their soldiers, and they are gory. He changed their own talismans and turned them against them..."

[cook_the_rude]

"So everything they were meant to protect them from actually came and attacked them?" Dr. Lecter guesses.

[undead_radish_seller]

"Yes, yes, exactly," Wen Ning agrees eagerly. "Wen Chao, that rancid bully I am ashamed was my cousin, was reduced to a gibbering wreck who'd torn out his own hair and hid under a sack when Hanguang-jun and Jiang Cheng -- Sect Leader Jiang now -- finally found him during the Sunshot Campaign."

[cook_the_rude]

"That is -- a lot of people," the doctor says. "I'm not going to ask about your story in detail; I am sure that cousin deserved it. He must have been quite rude."

[undead_radish_seller]

"Yes, he and this -- this -- that terrible woman he kept," Wen Ning says. "Whatever the talismans conjured up for her, she couldn't bear to face it."

[cook_the_rude]

"People often can't, faced with themselves beyond all illusions," the doctor says. "I am sure that you Young Master Wei's talismans must be very helpful that way."

For a given value of helpful, his tone implies.

[undead_radish_seller]

"These people had murdered his family," Wen Ning says. "They were evil and full of deceit and illusion -- I don't know how they could even have cultivated far enough to fly a sword."

He smiles, a little apologetically.

"Not that I ever cultivated a very strong core, either, before I ---"

[the_cupbearer]

Ganymede is also out by the kitchen garden, gathering blackberries into a woven basket held at his hip. His hair is up, braided tightly into a knot at the back of his neck as he works through the bush, avoiding the brambles in it as best he can. Unfortunately getting his shirt caught is something of a hassle; he has to peel out of it to get himself loose of the thorns.

Shirtless and bleeding wasn't exactly how he imagined his day starting.

[undead_radish_seller]

The pale young man with the frayed straw hat sitting by the potting shed jumps up and hurries to where Ganymede is struggling with the brambles.

"Be wary of the thorns, young master!" he calls to him. "Stop -- I'm coming to help, I'm coming to help, don't hurt yourself!"

Hannibal looks up but apparently decides against interfering at this point in time.

[the_cupbearer]

"I can strip just fine," Ganymede answered, pulling his arm free of the shirtsleeve and hissing at a long scratch from a thorn-tip.

"They're only scratches. It's not life-threatening."

[undead_radish_seller]

"But they must hurt!" the young man says. "When I was alive, being stuck in thorns definitely hurt. Let me get some balm to soothe the scratches, at least."

He looks quite worried, vibrating with the wish to help Ganymede.

[mogget_cat]

A sizable grasshopper takes wing from a tomato plant, startled into movement from Hannibal's passing.

Some rows away, a white shape leaps up and plucks it neatly out of the air.

Yrael may have no interest in gardening or vegetables, but pest-control technically counts as helping and can sometimes be enjoyable.

[cook_the_rude]

Hannibal looks up from the tomatoes and claps slowly at the white shape.

"Good catch, my friend!"

[mogget_cat]

The grasshopper is crunched and eaten with enthusiasm, and eventually the white cat-thing emerges from among the garden plants.

"Happy to be of service, I'm sure," Yrael remarks, licking his whiskers.

[cook_the_rude]

"Those can be very tasty," Hannibal says. "But I personally prefer them fried."

[mogget_cat]

"Hmmm," the not'cat consider this, taking a moment to wind softly around Hannibal's ankle in comfortable, familiar greeting. "I do not think I have tried them fried."

They are so enjoyable when they're still trying to get away.

[cook_the_rude]

"I have," Hannibal says. "They are quite popular in parts of Mexico, eaten in tacos."

[mogget_cat]

"I shall have to try them, then," he says, the crooked curl to his tailtip indicating his curiosity. "Possibly furnish my own ingredients."

If he can keep from just crunching them immediately.

[cook_the_rude]

"If you catch them, I'll fry them for you," Hannibal offers.