#Early riser

[sluggoonthestreet]

When asked, Paula checks again to see if it's time to stop hibernating yet.

[volumptouscherry]

Having a fun weekend?

[xx-state-of-mind-xx]

Lesso: I want to wake up with you every day for the rest of our lives

Dovey: I wake up at 5:30am

Lesso:

Lesso: I want to see you at some point every day for the rest of our lives

[lilwifeynextdoor]

[ineedfairypee]

The cycle is never ending

[three-red-horns]

Dear Early Riser, I'm willing to get up early for the right person or the right reason. Sincerely yours, Midnight Owl

[abuddyforeveryseason]

Early Riser is one of my favorite novels.

It's about a person working as a Winter Consul, an office responsible to keeping the peace during the winter months, while most of the general population is hibernating. Also, humans hibernate, that's part of the story.

Although there are other people awake during winter, like essential workers, bounty hunters, crazies and criminals, there's still a sense of camraderie between them and the Winter Consuls. So, in that sense, it's the perfect book for night people.

Because, really, all night people kind of get along, even if they're enemies. Cause we're all living in the morning people's world, aren't we? That's one of the things the novel talks about - there are no heroes during winter, only survivors.

So I know that, in spite of what 10,000 Maniacs said, the night doesn't belong to lovers, and in fact it's quite dangerous... but, still, there's a kinship there. I might not be the type of guy who goes out much at night, but, even if I was and I happened to be murdered out there, I'd be thinking "Yeah, man, it's okay, I get it. I don't like waking up early either."

[potato-lord-but-not]

You may be asking: what why? And the simple answer is this,, I binged the natm movies with my sister and finished reading Early Riser (7.5/10 pretty slay) and I draw too much so :/

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[sluggoonthestreet]

This is your annual reminder that not all the green things that pop up in the spring have flowers.

[sunshinesinwinter]

[stonesparrow]

Early Riser Ch. 4

The Ishigami-Oki-Ogawa party continues their quest!

Once they reach a farming town, they revive what looks to be a family of rice farmers, since it’s still rice planting season and they can actually try to start production. 

“We’re certainly thankful that you freed us,” the patriarch of the family says as soon as he realizes what’s going on, “but…who are you people? You don’t exactly look like the sort who’d be affiliated with the government or the military.”

Mr. Ogawa steps forward. “Apologies for the rudeness. My name is Ogawa Makoto,” he says. “This is my wife Hikari and daughter Yuzuriha, and our friends, the Okis and young Senku. We’re all just ordinary folks, really. The kids were the ones who discovered how to undo the petrification.”

The Kuratas, as they introduce themselves by, are certainly surprised that teenagers managed to figure out how to revive statues, but Mr. Ogawa manages to talk them into being on board with the plan since they’re not particularly keen on the idea of the military seizing control of their farm.

“This is all…a lot to take in,” Mrs. Kurata says. “We were just about to finish up the month’s planting, and now it looks like we’ll have to do it all over again, only with new, unforseen challenges.”

The main issue is the lack of electricity and fuel. The Kuratas have an emergency generator, and there’s the one that the Okis brought from Tokyo, but the Kuratas’ runs on gasoline, and non of them are exactly equipped for restarting the oil drilling industry. So with few other options, they start preparing for a return to more traditional living, breaking out a stash of candles and books on more old-fashioned but still effective farming practices. 

The Kuratas also prove to be quite generous, assuring them that they needn’t set up in tents outside the house but instead should sleep inside with the family. Mr. and Mrs. Oki are given the guest room, while a storage room is cleared out for Mr. and Mrs. Ogawa. Yuzuriha is invited to share the Kuratas’ daughter Ryoko’s room, and the boys set up in the living room on the couches.

It’s a bit cramped, and with the plumbing out figuring out how to deal with the toiletries situation was a hassle and a half, but it’ll be their life for the next several weeks.

Days usually pass like this: Senku wakes up, takes his turn in the “bathroom” they made outside, then goes to the rebuilt quail coop to collect eggs for breakfast. The little birds have a shockingly high egg production, good for increasing the protein in their diets. Yuzuriha will either be hanging up laundry outside or doing mending indoors, while Mrs. Kurata and Mr. Oki are cooking, Taiju is chopping wood, the Ogawas are tending to the vegetable garden, and Mrs. Oki, Mr. Kurata, and Ryoko prepare for a day of hunting and surveying.

Mr. Kurata is thoughtful and pragmatic, while Mrs. Kurata is skilled at seeing the big picture when it comes to their agricultural plans. They’re both a bit stunned by Senku’s skills with mechanics and engineering, but thankfully they seem to care more about efficiency than questioning Senku’s abilities.  

Ryoko is nineteen, a talented shot, and an extremely bright personality that Mrs. Oki, grumpy as she is, quickly takes a liking to. Taiju seems to enjoy talking to her about sporty things, and after a while Yuzuriha starts calling her Ryoko-nee. Senku isn’t sure what to make of her, honestly. She’s very chatty, and seems to hate the feeling of dead air with no conversation. Even when Senku’s tinkering away at something in the shed alone, she usually finds out where he is and tries to talk to him.

And then one evening Senku finds her sitting up against the side of the toolshed gazing out into the distance with a strangely lost look in her eyes. 

He stands there silently for an uncomfortable amount of time before she finally seems to notice him. “Oh. Hi.”

“...Hi.” 

They stare at each other for a long moment. Finally, Ryoko breaks eye contact and leans back against the tree. “You know. We had a cat.”

She smiles wistfully. “Her name was Wasabi, and she was a real spirited little thing. Scratched me more times than I can count, really. And an excellent mouser. She’d bring all sorts of dead birds into the house and leave them on the furniture, it drove my mom nuts.”

Ryoko sighs. “She was eight years old.”

Senku does the math. Cats live an average of thirteen to seventeen years. If Wasabi was still alive, she’d be eighteen. Not impossible, but…

He sticks his hands in his pockets. “...I’m going to go check on the fencing around the quail coop. You want to help?”

Ryoko is silent for a moment, then takes a deep breath. “You know what? Yeah.”

It becomes a thing for them, hanging out when Ryoko runs out of words.

-----------------

A few weeks later, they venture out to the Kuratas’ neighbors and revive them as well, and steadily begin to rebuild the local farming community. They’re still being rather careful not to revive too many people at once, especially since they’re getting all their water from local rivers and relying pretty heavily on small scale vegetable farms as well as hunting for their food. 

Summer passes, and the food stockpile continues to grow. Senku works with the one electrical engineer in the community in order to salvage the parts to rig up solar panels to provide electricity to everyone, which allows them to work in the night as well as the day. The Ishigami-Oki-Ogawas also move out of the Kuratas’ place into an unused home owned by an older granny whose children left the farm life for the city, and every day there’s something to fix, something to build, and something to talk about. 

There might not be video games anymore, but there are still books—some that are definitely a bit damaged, but in good enough condition to read. There’s still board games. There’s even an old CRT that one of the older folks has that Senku manages to revive for everyone to crowd into the town library in order to watch frankly ridiculously ancient tapes on. 

It’s a nice life, as busy and strange as it is. 

Eventually, their revival fluid supplies start to dwindle, and Senku decides it’s about time that they set out in search of some proper machinery for both the Haber and Ostwald processes in order to more consistently produce ammonia and nitric acid respectively. Their best bet is to go to the factories of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, the country’s leading chemicals company, which is conveniently located in Tokyo. 

Obviously Senku is going on the mission, though Taiju and Yuzuriha elect to stay behind in the farming community since their skills probably aren’t the most helpful for revitalizing chemicals production. Mr. Ogawa decides to go with him, along with a few of the engineers they have. They also make plans to stop by the hospital to collect some medications and other items that are in short supply in the town clinic. 

When they get there however, they’re met with a huge surprise. A blonde couple in ratty looking clothes stands before them in front of the hospital doors, people that Senku at least recognizes from a few photographs sent over text.

Mr. Ogawa breaks the stunned silence with a calm, “Hello there. Do you speak Japanese? English?”

“English is better,” the man says hesitantly. “You are survivors?”

Suddenly, the woman gasps and points directly at Senku. “You’re Byakuya’s boy!”

“Byakuya?” Mr. Ogawa blinks. “Senku-kun, do you know these people?”

Senku laughs, and there’s a lightness in his heart as he does so. 

“In a way. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Nikitin.”

[user-boxer]

This user is a morning person

[random-xpressions]

To rise way before the birds chirp at dawn, has always been my practice, since times unknown...

Random Xpressions

[benedictusantonius]

[2024|028] Early Riser (2018) written by Jasper Fforde

[brittanyjewelmiller]

“I’ve started going to sleep earlier because I absolutely need the extra energy for cheer practice.”

“And the extra drive to organize the office.”

“Anyway, my nighttime routine starts at 9:00pm now. We’ll see if this improves anything.”