ミスカブ

Ivan’s morning walk from the shrine down to the water usually happened around the late morning. Well, not that it really mattered. It wasn’t as though he really needed to take a walk anywhere. He just liked to. It kept him busy while he waited out the morning. In this particular moment, he felt very grounded– which was rare, but not impossible. He found himself concentrating on what was actually visible instead of the unseen. His eyes stared at the sky, not bothered by the occasional obstruction of trees. His walking stick made repetitive tapping motions on the ground– in it’s wake, leaving behind small weeds and flowers. This was nothing unusual, though.

For what it was worth, he felt quite good on today’s walk. In fact, he even considered taking his walk up into the forest– Although that thought fell through as his eyes spotted something much more interesting. White hair… tending to… turnips? He wasn’t certain that this was what they were, because they seemed as though they had been recently planted, but Ivan was certain that wasn’t what Raguna had been growing last time he had stopped by.

In the middle of her harmonious tune, the sound of footsteps gracing the dewy grass nearby intrigued her. Mist continued to water the turnip seedling buried beneath the moist soil, listening for further movement from the unknown presence. Curious azure eyes followed the invisible path connecting the unknown presence and the vegetable, trailing upwards to the face of an unfamiliar man -- his chocolate brown eyes faintly reminding her of someone in particular. With her attention completely digressed towards the individual, she failed to acknowledge that her watering can became empty. "Hello. ♪“ She waved, offering an authentic smile to the conspicuously entranced gentleman.

@emeryradish

[✿] —- Several minutes had gone by at this point, and there was still no sign of Mist. The old farm owner had still been in his home, and knew nothing about the monster turnips until Raguna told him about them. After making sure the doors and entrances to the farmhouse were sufficiently boarded and locked, the brunette headed back out to find Mist, who – just like he thought – had gotten to the farm earlier than him today.

Just as that thought crosses his mind, he catches sight of a familiar mop of platinum blonde hair exiting through the doors of the horse stables, and Raguna smiles at having finally found her.

“Hey, Mi–” He starts to call, only to be cut off by one of the monster turnips jumping on his back and knocking him over on his face. “Agh…!” He yelps, wincing in pain as his cheek hits the hard ground. Damn was this thing strong to be so little…!

Before he could even swat the thing off of him, another monster follows suit and jumps on his back, as well another one and another one… soon, enough had piled up on Raguna to effectively pin him to the ground, and he couldn’t move at all. If only he had brought his sword… but, maybe….

The farmer closes his eyes, and attempts to concentrate in spite of the annoying monsters piled up on his back. He breathes in and out as he tries to connect with the wind in the air around him, and as soon as as he is synced with the wind’s rune–

–Storm.

That simple word is uttered from his lips, carrying a weight with it that none of the monstrous plants would have ever expected it to. As soon as Raguna says the word, he snaps his fingers, causing wind to gather and swirl around his body in high and increasing speeds. The gathered winds create a vortex around him, forcefully ejecting the turnips from his back and blowing (even slicing) them every which way. Once the mini cyclone dies down, Raguna sees nothing but sliced and diced turnips lying around him, the faces and appendages they had before seemingly gone now, leaving them to look like the simple, harmless vegetables they should have been.

He then sits up into a kneeling position, his breathing labored and uneven. Storm was his strongest wind spell, so it had understandably took a great amount of rune energy to cast. The aftereffect left his mind feeling slower and unfocused, and Raguna glances up slowly at the girl he had been looking for. 

Soon, the farm emerged into view upon traipsing up the hill; nonetheless, everything appeared to be in order. She pondered the reasoning of the spirits urgency in her presence on the land, but it seemed that not even them were exactly apparent of the impending event. On the bright side, she could care for the livestock -- replenishing their fodder, bringing them fresh water, offering affection, and so on -- for these tasks were out of the ordinary for her. Normally, the familiar brunet she held in such high respects tended to the animals, whereas she would tend to the first plot of crops. Besides, there was not an adequate amount of sunshine available to start watering the crops; thus, with a stride in her step, the enthusiastic blonde walked to the barn and pushed open its grand doors -- welcomed by the noises of creatures acknowledging the young woman, prepared for simply another day.

Eventually, time passed, and this portion of the workload was almost completed. Mist hummed a song of the spirits to the horse while she brushed its mane, relishing the tranquil silence until a gusting sound rattled the barn walls. Her melody cut short by drifting eyes observing all around -- ‘what in the world was that?’  Further investigation led her to the conclusion that this violent wind was not natural, but it was caused by a magical spell. -- ... ‘Raguna?’ She placed her brush aside on a ledge and quickly ran to the barn doors, hearing yet another obscure resonance ring in the air. ‘Was this what the spirits were...?’

“It is indeed~” Shara watched carefully over her friend as she shifted through the movies, a little terrified to be watching something like ‘the hills have eyes’ this evening.  Her heart rose and sank as Mist placed movies aside, but it soared when she chose one of their favourites. 

“Of course, I should’ve known.” Shara giggled, plopping down on the couch. She snagged her passion fruit slushie and snuggled in the blankets beside Mist. “I’m all for making some cookies, but do they really have to be turnip cookies? You always eat them all!” And they weren’t exactly Shara’s favorite… wayyy to crunchy.

Taking a large slurp of her drink, Shara’s eyes skimmed over the title screen, “Make sure you press play, I am not gonna let you skip to the part with turnip head this time, I wanna see the whole thing!” Like Howl helping Sophie to walk on air, that had always impressed the redhead and even though it seemed silly she wanted to have someone that made her feel like that. A rosy hue grew on her face just thinking about it.

Placing the slushie back on the table and reaching for a pillow to hug in her lap, Shara was ready. The pillow had become a habit after being made fun of for blushing every time a couple on screen kissed. This way she could hide her face, well most of it, she still needed to be able to see!

[ღ] — Sighing a breath of defeat, Mist ceded to Shara’s demand and pressed play once the opening menu appeared. Turnip-Head made its debut not terribly far into the film, but the point was made in that a considerable piece of the movie passed prior to seeing the scarecrow. Still, she found the details preceding the arrival of the character to be mostly insignificant; yet, the ginger had tolerated her impulse to skip this part, so the blonde decided to allow her to win this evening. Emphasis on this evening, for the next time they watch, they are starting from where she liked; however, before too long, the thought slipped her mind as the beginning credits concluded.

“I always eat them all because turnip cookies are so delicious!” She attempted to reason, giggling towards her innate admiration for the unconventional dessert. If this were an experimental recipe, then she should proceed to dabble in the culinary arts more often -- simply add a hint of turnip. To be fair, the blonde hummed to the beautiful studio ghibli music introducing the scene and offered a resolution, “How about we bake other cookies and turnip cookies? That way, you can have the best of both worlds!♫”

@emeryradish

The living room table was covered in food, Big bowls of yogurt covered pretzels, popcorn and M&Ms. As well as two extra large slushies that Shara herself could never quite finish before it completely melted. She had chosen the items quite carefully, they were all food that could be easily eaten while watching a movie, or movies in this case, and they were delicious! Next to all the food, Shara had 3 small stacks of movies cases.

Despite it being so long since the girls had done a movie marathon like this, the redhead still remembered that it was Mist’s turn to choose the marathon. Shara was hoping for something romantic herself but she could never tell what mist was going to pick, sometimes she would pick a ghibli favourite, a horror movie and some crazy thing that Shara didn’t even know how it had gotten in their library. Mist was strange like that, but it just made her funnier in Shara’s eyes.

For a minute Shara debated turning on the television, it did have a 1 in 10 chance to internally combust if she tried however and that is what turned her off the idea. A broken television would ruin everything! She didn’t know why electronics disliked her so much, but she didn’t have time to ponder it now, The slushies were melting!!!

Upon hearing her beloved friend beckon for her, she swiftly leaped to her feet.

“Is it my turn to pick the movie?” She asked, approaching the coffee table layered with stacks of discs. Without a glance towards the redhead still gathering various items for their enthralling evening, the young woman hummed a brief tune as she sorted through what she did and did not feel like watching -- until she found it. Of course, the spirits had expressed to her the overall romantic sensation that her friend was experiencing; which meant, in turn, that her decision should appease to her greatly. Besides, one of her ultimately favorite characters was present in this special animation close to her heart and caused her to swoon in reminiscence. 

@emeryradish

[✿] —- Having been pulled from the darkness of sleep by a sweet voice urging him to wake up, the first sight Raguna woke up to was blinding light and the smiling face of a very familiar platinum blonde peering over him. After blinking a few times to get the grogginess out of his eyes, Raguna slowly sits up in bed and stares at the girl blankly with half-lidded eyes, as if he wasn’t entirely of who she was or what was happening. “Mwuh…” He mumbles unintelligibly, staring at her as his mind begins to catch up, and realization gradually begins to dawn on his face. Wait a minute–

“Wha… Mist!? What are you doing here, how’d you get in–” Well, that was a stupid question. He knew how she got in. She used the extra key he always kept under his mat. The real question was… “–no, why did you get in? What’d I tell you about coming into my apartment unannounced like that?” With a sigh, he cuts himself off. There was no use in complaining, it wasn’t like she was gonna stop, and it wasn’t like he would really make any attempts to stop her, either. As weird as it was, there was something… comforting, about the way she always came every morning.

Plus, her little visits saved him the trouble of having to buy an alarm clock, so that was a plus.

“…So, did you make anything today?” If she did, it was probably turnip themed, so he was praying to the Goddess she would say no. “Or are you just here to get me up for work?”

[ღ] — Pressing her palms on her thighs, she bent forward over his resting figure and spoke softly in an attempt to awaken him from his slumber. She had hoped that the delectable aroma of breakfast sweeping the room would cause his eyes to drift open, and yet, he continued to sleep as cozily as he fell asleep the night prior. Then, almost as if a switch was flicked, his stationary position suddenly moved upwards to a sitting formation with his hands brushing against his groggy eyes. Listening to his indiscernible grumbling caused her to giggle sweetly, finding his sleepy condition first thing in the morning to be amusing -- she stepped backward as his chocolate brown eyes gradually fixated on her. “Good morning. ♫“

Clockwork ensued with his normal questions regarding how she managed to access his apartment, why she was her, and the reminder of what he told her previously during these encounters. She allowed him to express his piece, humming brightly in tune with his speech as she left the vicinity of his bed towards the kitchen. By this time she helped herself inside with no hesitation, she remembered where everything was -- the plates, the utensils, the condiments -- and everything else one would regularly keep stock of inside the cabinets. Once she prepared his meal, she held the plate with one hand and held a glass of milk in the other, and strode in his direction maintaining a blissful smirk across her face.

“Both!” She answered his question divided into two statements, lowering the plate onto his lap and the glass on the bedside table.