[So Very Open] Tasks Abound.

[crimsonlight]

Who: Yenh and you!
What: Working, living, and Cow Quest (you are especially invited to Cow Quest)
When: Early to mid August, it's wobbly as you want!
Where: The village and the forest, mostly!
Warnings: idk yet

I. First Days on the Job
[ Resolving to be able to better support herself better than hand-to-mouth (and elf-to-cat) living, Yenh managed to 1) find the town potionmaker, 2) convince her, somehow, to take on an apprentice of the not-yucky castle type, and 3) jump into the grueling work with cheerful abandon. ]

[ She loves this. It's good and honest labor, and it lets her use her energy to be productive when there's no readily available adventure-y way to use it all up. While the potionmaker brews in the evening and peddles in the daylight hours, Yenh does the cleaning, fetching, and errand-running. She walks or jogs through town, carrying armful after armful of various items—sometimes it's a crated delivery, and sometimes it's a sack of purchases for the potionmaker, and sometimes it's a comically large armful of fresh river reeds. ]

[ And golly does she look happy. ]


II. Home???
[ ... but as the day's work winds down, she heads toward her newly upgraded little cottage. Stretching her sore muscles, she stops just at the corner before turning onto the path to her place. There's the sound of a small crowd. ]

[ Yenh peeks around the corner and sees about a half dozen folks standing outside her cottage's little garden. She strains to hear what they're talking about—ah. The contest. Gossip about who won, who lost, and giggling over the whole thing. She hadn't really expected her new house to become a landmark for the contest, but it makes sense. Yenh thinks about what the Mistress said during the feast—that she could have ordered anyone to visit the Snow Queen—and sighs. All that ado, the cold and suffering, the humiliation... was made for nothing except entertainment. It soured once the pieces put themselves together for her: it was more like a hazing than an actual need for a champion. No wonder there weren't any locals in the contest. ]

[ She realizes she's been spacing out for a few seconds. Yenh ponders instead whether she should march in and embrace being associated with the house, or if she goes on another nice little forest walk until they get bored and leave. ]


III. Questing
[ A sound of yodeling splits the silence in the air far and wide. Yenh winces, ears flattened against her head as she draws her hand back from the cow's teat. That sure was... a thing. ]

[ Yenh lead the cow a little further out to pasture—away from the buildings and closer to the road—so that she could troubleshoot helping this animal without causing too much ruckus. Gods, but the noise is loud. Giving the beast a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she moves to the fence where she has tied the cow up. Yenh lets her weight sink back against it, her arms crossed as she assesses the cow very seriously. The cow responds by regurgitating cud to chew on. ]

... pardon me, I failed to ask him if you've a name. I presume you do... but allow me a nickname? Henceforth, I shall call you... "Marble."

[The newly christened Marble has no comment.]
-
((OOC: Whether you're drawn toward the ruckus, were coming to look at the cow anyway, or your character had already come up with a possible solution and you're coming back to try it, please join in!))


IV. Wildcard!
[ improvise an opener at me you cowards, i'm not afraid!!! ]

Comments

3- Questing

[hauntpadour]

[Egon has come to preform the exact quest Yenh is now. But the sound of yodeling leads the scientist to believe that he may be a bit late. And he is, because Yenh has the cow.]

[Oh boy.]

[He'll still try to help, hopping the fence and walking up to the woman and the cow.]

Ah, Yenh. Going to try and solve this yodeling bovine problem?

[crimsonlight]

[Fortunately for Egon, Yenh is no closer to solving it than anyone else at present. When she sees the scientist, she waves to him—then regrets it because the cow flinches at her big exaggerated movement and tries to bolt. The cow reaches the end of her lead and moos/yodels in distress. She sets about trying to soothe the poor beast.]

Aye, emphasis on "try"!

Have you any ideas?

[hauntpadour]

I have no idea.

[Honestly in this situation, he felt like thinking the way Ray did might be the answer.]

Maybe expose it to a quieter form of music.

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh stares at him, mouth agape, as the weight of that solution sets in between her ears.]

That... is just mad enough to work! Do you have anything in mind? Must it be vocal, or do you think she could imitate an instrument?

[hauntpadour]

I was going to try humming.

[He shrugs, reaching over and patting the cow on his nose.]

Any genre might work, if he takes to it.

[crimsonlight]

Ah, hm. [Yenh ponders the cow, scratching at a bug bite at the side of her neck in an almost idle way as she contemplates what to hum.]

[Most of the songs she knows are pretty bawdy, but they need a tune and not lyrics. So she starts humming a sweet lullaby to the cow. This is where we learn that Yenh does not have a voice for carrying a tune. It's not comically bad to the point where she's going to risk breaking glass, but... well.]

[The cow seems unmoved.]

[hauntpadour]

[Egon glances down, staring the cow directly in it's big, dumb eyes.]

I wonder if it would like "Down By the Old Mill Stream"

[crimsonlight]

A fine question! I've no idea how it goes, so I do hope you aren't waiting for my lead.

[Not that Egon was implying she would know it, but she can't miss out on a chance to be a little bit of a goober.]

[hauntpadour]

No, but it's usually done with at least two people. I suppose it might be hard for a cow to sing more than one part themselves.

[The doctor stands, clearing his throat and beginning to hum.]

Down by the old mill streaaam

[That's quite a baritone he's got.]

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh smiles, and then looks to the cow as if to prompt her to copy Egon. The cow seems entirely unmoved, other than the fact that she takes two tiny sidesteps away.]

[Yenh decides to hold out and see if Egon's song just needs a little time to sink in.]

[hauntpadour]

[He will happily continue singing, wishing he had a partner to cover the other parts of the song. But, there was only a girl who didn't know the song, and a cow who could only yodel.]

[He just hopes that after the second verse, the cow gets it.]

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh seems to be thinking the same thing, as she creeps slowly over to the cow, kneels down beside her, and reaches out toward her udder. With the grip of someone who has done this at least once, Yenh tugs the teat as though she were going to milk the cow.]

[And the cow explodes into the sound of a man yodeling.]

[Yenh throws her hand back, and then herself back, her ears folded flat against her head.]

[hauntpadour]

[Egon flinches, closing his eyes and clapping hands over his ears.]

I think this animal just needs to be dinner.

[crimsonlight]

[This is one of those situations where enhanced hearing is, really not great. She got every deep note of that yodel, and thus mis-heard Egon.]

Oh, dinner sounds wonderful. I feel that I need my hearing back proper before I can do anything else with this beast, anyroad.

[hauntpadour]

[He scowled, bending down and slapping her hand away from the cow's teets, hoping it will silence the animal.]

This animal needs to be dinner.

[crimsonlight]

[Yenh frowns at the slap, but takes no offense. Or much damage, really.]

[The cow falls silent like a switch was flipped.]

Oh. That's not our decision to make, I'm afraid.