Another pre assignment: write a mythical character about myself.
A farmer brushes her eyes after a lazy afternoon nap. It’s the end of harvest season. Happy to have few months off before having to till the soil with her bare hands in the new year, with no help from her friends. San’s skin, no longer covered in dirt, is the color of deep ocean, a dizzying swirl of blue and green. Her eyes the shape of two half-moons illuminating the darkest of the night. Her hands and feet are long, covered with soft white quills. Atop her head is a set of curls like fuzzy white clouds rolling against the clear blue sky. She’d float away if it weren’t for the helmet she uses to hide her tamed hair. As she gets ready to leave, she puts on a grey jumpsuit, followed by sunglasses to protect her eyes. She applies white cream to her face and exposed skin as the blue and green turns pink and beige. San covers her hands with satin gloves and dons a pair of thick black boots.
Stepping out, her slow walk breaks into a gallop. As she runs through the night sky, her half-moon eyes fill with stars scattered against the horizon. Giddy with excitement, she finds herself in front of a small house tucked behind a tree. She scratches and raps against the door. When no one answers, San peers through small window to find Nan, Wan, Ban, and Fan fast asleep on the floor covered with thick blankets.
She knocks on the door once more before blowing on the small house, startling them awake. She smiles and waits patiently for them to get ready. San is grateful for the small creatures she considers her best friends.
One hour passes. Then another. Then another. It’s almost midnight, and the teenies have yet to emerge. She pleads softly, “Please hurry. We’ll be late. You will be fed and you will be wined”
To which the teenies complain, “but it’s too far, and we are too tired to walk.”
San offers to carry two on her shoulders and another two on either side of her hips. Finally, the teenies emerge, with frowns on their tired and disgruntled faces.
“Off we go!”
This time, she slows her gait. San doesn’t want to scare her tiny friends clinging to her body. While tiny, they are dense and full of demands. They pull and tug against her jumpsuit, scratching and biting. But she’s used to them, and this is all she knows. Sweat runs inside her gloves and boots. Her head feels hot, and the skin doesn’t feel like hers anymore. They complain incessantly. They ask her to slow down and stop to rest. She ignores them.
She crosses dense woods and fields covered with thistles and thorns. After some time, she crosses the ocean dividing her home and the new world. San has only heard of this place, unknown (therefore feared) and mysterious, permitted by invitation only. Once she steps onto the soft sand, a set of colorful cosmos sway left and right, as if to welcome her into a new and exciting place.
San breathes in. Her lungs fill with familiar yet strange sensation. The heaviness lifts. Wispy clouds of her hair untangles and flows out of her helmet. Wan and Ban sitting on her shoulder scream and fall to the ground. She lets go of Nan and Fan as they fall to the ground. She peels off her gloves and boots. Shaking her hands free, she lifts them above her shoulder and removes her helmet. As she does so, she starts to float across the cosmos as tall as she.
Teenies protest from being abandoned and command her to return. They try to catapult to re-attach themselves to the floating creature as she disrobes her jumpsuit, and they have nothing to latch onto. San floats away. Teenies’ cacophony of complaints fades away.
Alongside smoke and steam, the mornings sun lifts the veil of night.
San follows her ears and nose. She hears pots and pans clanking against stove tops and open fire pits. Peering inside open kitchen, San can’t believe her eyes. Bushels of potatoes and turnips try to escape sharp edges with every chopping motion. Colorful vegetables slide across chopping boards, straight into the boiling water. A variety of meat is heavily seasoned with spices, pepper, and garlic. It sizzles and smokes as the aroma of burning flesh fills the wide-open space. The kitchen readies itself for an important guest tonight, as the head chef shouts out instructions. Sweat beads down blue and green faces marching to the beat of ordered chaos.
She laughs out loud, and her stomach rumbles after a night of traveling. She thinks it must be a special guest for all the fuss to be made.
She walks into a dining room to find a tall and grand table set for five. A crystal vase of clear liquid is in the middle, surrounded by five large plates and fancy cutlery. Luxurious table cloth covers the round table. An empty seat in the middle has her name tag in front of the seat. San notices four giants smiling and inviting her to join them.
They have different color skin and hair. Red and pink hair with white skin. Black and white hair with red skin. Yellow and green hair with transparent skin. Violet and white hair with black skin.
Scared and no longer able to disobey her stomach. San takes her seat. Smiling red and pink companion pours clear liquid in front of her. As she peers into the porcelain bowl, she sees a giant staring back into her half-moon eyes with flowing white hair covered with blue and green skin.