video;

[sanityinruins]

[ This video starts out with an image of a short sword that looks like it's made out of cut bone resting on top of a blacken skillet. The camera then focuses on a set of bone cooking chopsticks resting next to a shallow bowl filled with a pale white liquid. Then the camera swings around and focuses on a table laid out with several different Chinese dishes. For those playing at home, the one very simple bottle sitting next to the food looks suspiciously like a rice wine bottle as well.

After giving everyone a minute or two to take in the sight of the food, the video turns off. Because Ye Zun is still a brat and really he is just showing off. ]

Comments

[diamondhack]

[She gazes at the spread for a moment longer before taking a seat. It's almost as if she were listening to a fantastical story and she a child sitting at dinner with her feet swinging.

Isha drums her fingers oh so lightly on the table with her prosthetic fingers. She's gotten better with the delicate touches, at least.]

And those children? What are they called?

[sanityinruins]

[ It was a tall tale in some ways. Ye Zun was good with remembering the histories and the stories, but in his mind they always needed a bit more drama to make them sound better.

He scooped out two separate servings of rice and place a bowl in front of her before setting another across the table, hesitated, and then took a moment to fetch some western-styled utensils just to be polite. Then he sat with a flick of his sleeves. ]

Depends on where they live. Dixingren if they are in Dixing and Haixingren if they are in Haixing. [ A twitch of a smile at the corner of his lips even as he tugs his sleeve back as he reaches for some of the duck. ] Most Haixingrens think my kind are myths and legends, and often anyone born in Haixing loses the potential to gain Dixing's dark energy.

[diamondhack]

[She debates on which utensils to use for a moment before opting for the first set presented to her. Better to try, right?]

It all sounds very grand and mythical. Almost a pity my home is so incredibly boring by comparison.

[Not to say the stories don't exist, it's just that... they're just stories. She grew up loving them, but she knows very well that they stay in books.]

[sanityinruins]

[ There was no shame in trying, but still, it was better to at least have the options available to her. Ye Zun might be a snob about certain things, but he was trying to mimic his brother's more polite actions. ]

It sounds that way, but I assure you that it's just as mundane despite the origins.

[ Then again, he was use to life there. He couldn't wrap his mind around people that didn't live in a world full of mysteries. ]

Be careful when biting into the xiaolongbao; they are still rather hot.

[diamondhack]

Oh, right. Of course.

[She chooses to wait for a bit, then, upon his warning. Otherwise, she probably would've just bitten right into it.]

Your mundane, love, is someone else's adventure. It's refreshing, I suppose at times, to be around someone who has a different view than yours.

[But only sometimes. Other times it's a pain in the ass.]

[sanityinruins]

Here, have some duck instead.

[ He picks a few choice pieces of the duck and placed them in her bowl and then made a slight tsk sound at himself before he fetch a couple small bowls for the glutinous rice balls in their cool, sweet ginger-infused sauce. ]

I suppose you're right.

[diamondhack]

You sound skeptical.

[She lets out a thoughtful hum at the duck before handling one of the smaller pieces with her chopsticks.]

Where in the world did you even find duck anyway? I thought this place was... minimally involved with animals.

[Which is a mild shame because it means Q is unacceptable as well.]

[sanityinruins]

I find that people always value what is different than what they know and never realize that they often have just as good where they are at.

[ He pauses as he takes a bite of duck, eyebrows raised for a moment before finishing the bit of meat and chuckling. ]

So you haven't noticed the sudden influx of animals the Natives have been herding about?

[diamondhack]

Oh, I certainly noticed, I simply decided not to look too hard given the whole... blood sacrifice fiasco.

[That is certainly a way to put it, Isha.]

I'd rather not deal with live animals. My own pet wasn't even a live animal, it was a machine beast I built.

[sanityinruins]

Ah, I see.

[ He shrugged, not really caring in one form or another about it. It was certainly a shock for those people who never had to kill their own meat before. ]

I went hunting for some small game and caught a couple ducks for my pains. It's something I use to do as a child.

[diamondhack]

You and I were vastly different as children it seems.

[Obviously.]

Anything else you caught out there?

[sanityinruins]

I grew up on a battlefield; I'm sure you never had to face starvation or slaughtering your horse.

[ Not that they had much resources left by the time it came down to that point. It was at least a merciful death for the animals unable to find their own food, and the meat had kept them alive a few more weeks until the rains came. ]

A few fish. I plan on smoking them for later eating.

[diamondhack]

I've only seen live horses a few times in my life.

[Isha struggles with the concept of sympathy, even though it's getting decidedly easier to trip into feeling it. She winces slightly at the comment, but says nothing more.

She takes another bite of her food.]

I may have to tag along in your cooking adventures at some point. It'll be nice to have something not completely outlandish to do for once.