[She'd had those a few times, so she's confident she could imagine all the ingredients that went into them. Red beans... sugar... buckwheat... white wheat... rice...]
I could get the ingredients for those... Do the same ones make bread?
I'm a little more curious about what you might be planning on making. [She confesses with a smile.] But perhaps we could experiment together some other time?
[That seemed much easier than trying to summon ingredients for a food she's not sure of exactly. Not that she isn't willing to try, but she'd hate to get it wrong and disappoint. Setting down her retrieved basket, Konoha starts sorting out the mushrooms and putting them in a small pile, chatting while she worked.]
It's nice to be back here, isn't it? I mean, it would be nicer to be back home, but compared to that Struxta place...
[She feels like she's forgetting something... what was it...]
Really? Thanks- If you could cut these into more bite size pieces...
[Konoha reaches for the knife in her tool belt, pulling it out and setting it on the counter before she gathers and lifts a bunch of leafy mountain vegetables from the basket and sets them down in front of Jing before she goes back to sorting mushrooms, investigating for and rubbing off dirty bits.]
You're the one who organized the festival before, right? Is there going to be another one? Like for the Bon festival or something?
[Very prepared. She approves. She takes up the knife to examine it for a moment, but she handles it with ease, very used to preparing vegetables for consumption.]
Ah, yes, though I had a lot of help with that. I was...considering it, but after our last journey, I don't know how much energy everyone will have to participate.
[Every country girl needs a good tool belt. Knife, hammer, hoof file, rope, flint and tinder...]
Ah...yeah. I guess you're right.
[Her cheery demeanor slips just slightly at the recollection. The Storm she still never did understand how it had happened or how they'd actually stopped it, the cuts on her rump stitched up, the way the poor metal androids had fared... How foreign it all had been.]
I guess the Bon dance would be kind of useless in a place like this anyway...
[No use trying to welcome ancestors home when you're... not home.]
Still- I really liked the last one. It helped me meet a lot of people.
[Her thoughts were trending along the same lines, but there was no point in indulging in melancholy.]
I wouldn't say that. I would hope that our ancestors would still appreciate the gesture, no matter where we - and they - are.
[She finishes cutting the vegetables and puts the knife down. Thoughtfully:] We might not be able to have a full festival, but a small gathering for everyone to meet would still be a good idea, don't you think?
[She has to believe so, because so much of her family had been deprived of their rightful resting places for years, something which had only recently been resolved...]
I do believe that our feelings and thoughtfulness in the offerings can still reach them, somehow.
[Welp.] Anything else I can do to help with the cooking, Miss Konoha?
[It was a good thought. A hopeful thought. Konoha wishes it was true, even if she doesn't know if she believes. Wishes her parents could know that she missed them, that she was alive and not dead in the mountains somewhere. Wishes her birth parents could know that even though they'd been taken by war that she was happy.
But that's a melancholy thought and Konoha smiles instead of letting herself dip down to those thoughts.]
Only if you want to! Didn't you have a package to deliver?
[That had... disappeared into the void???? Geez, magic was still so weird- but she doesn't want to keep the older woman if she had other errands to run.]
[Konoha examines her counter set up for a second, then nods to herself.]
In that case...
[It's time to cook! Konoha has a variety of tasks to assign, a few more foods to magic into existence, but in the end it seems what is happening must be some kind of stew.]
[Jing more or less follows along with Konoha's instructions, watching with fascinated bemusement as she summons extra ingredients seemingly out of nowhere. It was an interesting change to not be leading the cooking, but a nice one, mostly. She feels as though she's learning a lot about what kind of cuisine Konoha is used to.]
That smells delicious. [She notes, as they put the last of the ingredients into the stew.]
[Her food is simple at the core, nothing complex... but it's hearty and healthy, full of a variety of mountain vegetables, forest mushrooms, and boar meat, the stew thickened with rice. The food of a peasant, but at least one with access to a variety of ingredients.]
Right?
[Konoha wipes her hands in a satisfied manner, smiling as she looks down at the bubbling pot.]
Everyone seemed to like the hot pot I brought to the festival before, so I figured I'd try and do some more cooking. Homecooked meals are always better, no doubt about it.
I think so too. [In the Imperial palace in Jinling, Jing had - at least more recently - been privileged to partake in some truly impressive delicacies, courtesy of the veritable army of chefs who served Da Liang's Emperor. But her favorite thing to do was to cook in her own small space for her son and other loved ones, and it had been so long since she'd had a stew like this.]
This is a lot of stew, so hopefully you can find some more people to help eat it.
[She pets her side once more before she moves to wipe her hands one last time on a dish rag tucked into her belt wrap, not too embarrassed about her appetite since... hey. Two stomachs, that's not her fault!]
[In the same smooth motion she'd used before, she pulls out the colorfully wrapped package she had been holding earlier and offers it to Konoha with a smile.]
I was looking for you earlier to give you this. It's just a small token of appreciation for all your help with the festival last month.
[Rather than paper, the small box is wrapped in a daintily embroidered cloth with a simple flower design, knotted at the corners to hold the box, and inside are a few sweet mochi desserts stuffed with red bean paste.]
Konoha is visibly taken aback not only at the reappearing package, even though she'd just had the magic explained to her, but mostly at the fact that... it's for her?]
What- for me? You shouldn't have...
[She takes it gratefully, admiring the cloth for a bit longer than perhaps necessary (she wasn't so good at that delicate work herself), before she checks inside.]
It's really nothing big. [Of course, she's used to making do with what resources she does have, considering the environment of the palace where every gift was scrutinized for hidden meaning, some unspoken mark of status.]
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[She'd had those a few times, so she's confident she could imagine all the ingredients that went into them. Red beans... sugar... buckwheat... white wheat... rice...]
I could get the ingredients for those... Do the same ones make bread?
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[Hmmm...]
Did you want to make "bread"? I was going to make rice balls, but I could get those ingredients, too, if you want.
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[That seemed much easier than trying to summon ingredients for a food she's not sure of exactly. Not that she isn't willing to try, but she'd hate to get it wrong and disappoint. Setting down her retrieved basket, Konoha starts sorting out the mushrooms and putting them in a small pile, chatting while she worked.]
It's nice to be back here, isn't it? I mean, it would be nicer to be back home, but compared to that Struxta place...
[She feels like she's forgetting something... what was it...]
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[She watches Konoha's preparations with interest.] Anything I can help with?
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[Konoha reaches for the knife in her tool belt, pulling it out and setting it on the counter before she gathers and lifts a bunch of leafy mountain vegetables from the basket and sets them down in front of Jing before she goes back to sorting mushrooms, investigating for and rubbing off dirty bits.]
You're the one who organized the festival before, right? Is there going to be another one? Like for the Bon festival or something?
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Ah, yes, though I had a lot of help with that. I was...considering it, but after our last journey, I don't know how much energy everyone will have to participate.
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Ah...yeah. I guess you're right.
[Her cheery demeanor slips just slightly at the recollection. The Storm she still never did understand how it had happened or how they'd actually stopped it, the cuts on her rump stitched up, the way the poor metal androids had fared... How foreign it all had been.]
I guess the Bon dance would be kind of useless in a place like this anyway...
[No use trying to welcome ancestors home when you're... not home.]
Still- I really liked the last one. It helped me meet a lot of people.
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I wouldn't say that. I would hope that our ancestors would still appreciate the gesture, no matter where we - and they - are.
[She finishes cutting the vegetables and puts the knife down. Thoughtfully:] We might not be able to have a full festival, but a small gathering for everyone to meet would still be a good idea, don't you think?
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[Konoha has always associated the bon festival so tightly with home, with her family's graves, that she hadn't really considered anything else.]
I guess making offerings at least...
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I do believe that our feelings and thoughtfulness in the offerings can still reach them, somehow.
[Welp.] Anything else I can do to help with the cooking, Miss Konoha?
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[It was a good thought. A hopeful thought. Konoha wishes it was true, even if she doesn't know if she believes. Wishes her parents could know that she missed them, that she was alive and not dead in the mountains somewhere. Wishes her birth parents could know that even though they'd been taken by war that she was happy.
But that's a melancholy thought and Konoha smiles instead of letting herself dip down to those thoughts.]
Only if you want to! Didn't you have a package to deliver?
[That had... disappeared into the void???? Geez, magic was still so weird- but she doesn't want to keep the older woman if she had other errands to run.]
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[Konoha examines her counter set up for a second, then nods to herself.]
In that case...
[It's time to cook! Konoha has a variety of tasks to assign, a few more foods to magic into existence, but in the end it seems what is happening must be some kind of stew.]
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That smells delicious. [She notes, as they put the last of the ingredients into the stew.]
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Right?
[Konoha wipes her hands in a satisfied manner, smiling as she looks down at the bubbling pot.]
Everyone seemed to like the hot pot I brought to the festival before, so I figured I'd try and do some more cooking. Homecooked meals are always better, no doubt about it.
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This is a lot of stew, so hopefully you can find some more people to help eat it.
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[Konoha smiles a bit wryly, twisting a bit at the waist to pat her equine side.]
I can tuck a lot of it away by myself, so...
[Two stomachs and a near half ton body weight required a lot of calories.]
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[Actually now seems like a good time...] Are you sure you have finished cooking for now?
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[She pets her side once more before she moves to wipe her hands one last time on a dish rag tucked into her belt wrap, not too embarrassed about her appetite since... hey. Two stomachs, that's not her fault!]
Until this finishes boiling, yeah. Why?
[/oblivious]
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I was looking for you earlier to give you this. It's just a small token of appreciation for all your help with the festival last month.
[Rather than paper, the small box is wrapped in a daintily embroidered cloth with a simple flower design, knotted at the corners to hold the box, and inside are a few sweet mochi desserts stuffed with red bean paste.]
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Konoha is visibly taken aback not only at the reappearing package, even though she'd just had the magic explained to her, but mostly at the fact that... it's for her?]
What- for me? You shouldn't have...
[She takes it gratefully, admiring the cloth for a bit longer than perhaps necessary (she wasn't so good at that delicate work herself), before she checks inside.]
Mochi- ! It looks so good!
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I hope they are to your taste.
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