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 Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 4:56 pm
Wu Yao Tzong sat in his usual corner in the market place. It was less of a corner and more like a wall. His stall consisted of two stools, a tall bench covered with a piece of tattered red cloth, standing in as a makeshift table, and the banner all fortune tellers had: that they were very accurate.
He was also mumbling to himself as usual, though his "grandfather" the snake was no where to be seen on this winter day. Perhaps it had gone into hibernation from the cold. Over his usual yellow taoist garbs was a cloak made of gleaming black feathers, warding off the cold. Even so, the taoist shivered, and then eyed the scriptures covered bowl that sat on his "table." A reddish-purple lotus floated in the bowl, Yao Tzong couldn't help but wonder what strange powers it were that kept the waters from freezing over.
"mm. Even though I managed to contain the lotus with the scriptures, I don't know if it's still usable as a vessel... Maybe I can somehow evict the soul that's in it right now..."
The lotus seemed to glow in protest.
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 6:55 pm
Today had been a good day for shopping! Last night, the revenue from Madame Hu-Tieh's 'shoppe' Had been rather well! Spring was comming soon, and the men seemed to know so, for their bound up lusts herded them to the place where their needs could be taken care of. So today, she believed it would be nice to decorate the worker's areas with a mound of lovely flowers, giving each room a new theme.
Orchids for the room where men went to meet the more exotic women of her shop, Peonys for the room where the upper class went to meet with their hosts, Narcissus for the young artisans and those who needed relief and good fortune for their blossoming careers, and Hydrangeas in the most popular of rooms, where everyone would go to lie among the plush indigo cushions, letting all of the worry be washed away...
Now, there was just one more room that needed flowers, and that was the room in which her young daughter slept. She was not a worker of the shop, no, she instead was a vocalist, who opted to entertain the guests with the music from her Guqin, plucking the strings with a deep embedded fondness that she inherited from a father whom stopped by once every few years.
Her daughter was the most precious thing in the world to her, and was the embodiment of innocence, the only innocent thing in her line of work. Of course, the only flower that suited her was the lotus. A flower of that sprung from the depths of filth to emerge beautiful.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a table of fortunes. How quaint! She needn't know her fortune, for it already ran so wonderfully. But.. It never hurt to have someone else tell you how well life was going. She approached him, putting her large bouquet of flowers on her hip, tucked under her arm.
"Fortune teller, Care to tell me of my good fortune? The days since the winter Solstice have been a real blessing. Tell me, though I know the answer, how blessed am I?"
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:40 pm
The Taoist nearly jumped in his stool when the woman had spoke. He had been so absorbed in his own thoughts and mutterings that he hadn't noticed her approach.
"W-Wuh?!" He stuttered, nearly biting on his own tongue. "Oh! um, you want your fortune told, okay uh... S-sit down please, ma'am." He nodded nervously and gestured toward the empty stool across from him. Nervously.
In an attempt to calm his nerves he tried to perform his usual routine, but failed miserably when he got the words wrong. "I-I am a very accurate Taoist, and a master fortune teller as well-- Wait, I got it the other way around..." His voice trailed off and he looked even more flustered than before.
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 9:12 pm
"Well, You certianly aren't professional, are you?" The words came out a bit colder than most, but Madame Hu-Tieh didn't seem to falter with her words. She sat across from the so-called Taoist, and rested her flowers in her lap.
While waiting for the man to become situated, her gaze rested on the lotus floating in water.. It was just so lovely.. "Such a beautiful flower..." She murmured to herself.
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Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:02 pm
Madam Hu-Tieh's contempt obviously did no favors for Yao Tzhong's embarrassment, luckily he was already too flustered to actually hear her last criticism. Her comment on the lotus, however, managed to pull his attention back to reality, if only for a little while. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the pure scent of the lotus clear his mind of all thought. When he opened them again, it was almost as if he was a different person. His eyes were clear and he looked straight at Madam Hu-Tieh, though they did not seem to actually see.
"Ma'am, your face radiates with positive energy and your eyes are bright. It appears that your luck has been really good as of late." He went on to explain that judging by something or another the Madam would encounter a chance for some extra income in the near future, but if she is too greedy she may lose more than she could gain. The Taoist also warned her watch out for a person with a mole at the corner of his or her mouth, because that person may eat her out of house and home. After checking the locations of the stars (somehow) and comparing it to the Madam's birthdate, he determined that her current lucky color would be a red shade of purple.
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 7:35 pm
Now, the Madame Wasn't Always the most caring of fortunes, in fact, half the time she called it nothing more but a cheap way of making money. But not today. She did believe the Taoist. All of his information made sense, and wasn't as vague as the "fortunes" She had been told of before.
"Is that so..? Hmm..." She reached up into her sleeves and pulled out a pouch of gold coins. "So, tell me, Taoist, how much do I owe you? And... Would it be possible to buy that lotus from you? It's much more radiant than the lotus' from the ponds around here, and would make a lovely gift for my daughter."
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Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 8:25 pm
((eep, I should mention currency in the World Setting thread, but basically: Copper coins (round with square holes in the center so you can string them up and pay things by the string), silver pieces (whole pieces or crumbled/broken pieces, and then gold (bars, smaller pieces, broken pieces) Oh hey, a wikipidea article! Convenient site that is. Anyway...)) The Taoist blinked, and his pupils seemed to refocus, causing him to squint slightly before Madam Hu-Tieh's words were fully processed by his brain. Did he--is she-- uh... Well, it looked as if she was satisfied. Very satisfied, in fact.
Yao Tzong cleared his throat, hoping it would keep his voice from wavering.
"My services will be three coins, as for the lotus--" He nearly bit his tongue again and tried to cover up his clumsiness by glancing at the lotus with what he hoped looked like a long, deep, meaningful look. Did he want to try and sell it? In it's current state it seemed quite useless to him really, but still it was not your common flower and who knows what powers it may have been infused with already.
"This lotus is... as you may have suspected, very special..." He began slowly, still thinking over the pros and cons of keeping the lotus.
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Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 12:00 pm
(Eh... Fine, copper coins. Either way, money. XD)
Opening her pouch, Madame Hu-Tieh pulled out the three coins for the man. She was beginning to become annoyed by the more than unprofessional mannerism the so called "Taoist" Was displaying.
"Excuse me, Sir, but I did not ask for an explanation. All I wanted to know was whether or not you would sell it to me. That is all I asked." Her tone was laced with impatiences, but still carried the air of pseudo kindness. "If you do not wish to sell it, then I'll be on my way. I'm sure there are others like you who claim their lotus' are special, I could always purchase one from them."
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Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2010 10:11 pm
If Yao Tzong had been paying any attention to the woman's tone, it surely would have sent his nerves in a tangle again as was usually the case for him. He simply was not used to human contact and it was nothing short of a miracle that he could actually survive to his age doing the work he did. But as it were, his brain was too occupied trying to figure out if he wanted to keep the lotus or just get it off his hands right now. Distractedly he answered, "It's not that I do not wish to part with it, which I do, eventually, but that I do not know if it is more profitable for me to part with it now instead of later. There are opportunity costs at hand you see..."
If he sold it now, he would probably just get the price of a flower. Though, a lotus that blooms in winter does not exist in nature, so that may possibly drive up the price--or it could cause the price to plummet because this thing is obviously not natural. People may fear that it's cursed, and perhaps the soul that had taken up residence in it now was an evil spirit, what should he do then? Of course, what happens to the blossom after it leaves his hands should be of no concern to him, so let's just ignore that thought.
Now, if he instead brought it back to the temple and preformed an exorcism tonight he may be able to render the lotus usable again, but since he has no idea of what the power that sustains the lotus and the soul is, he may also end up damaging the lotus beyond usability. And then he'll be back to square one. Should he take the risk? Or should he not?
While these confused thoughts raced through the Taoist's mind, firing off thousands of neurons every second, outwardly Yao Tzong looked collected and contemplative, his brow furrowed in such a way that seemed to say, "How much do you want the flower? And how much money are you willing to part with?"
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Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2010 3:41 pm
"A Silver piece." She stated it very simply. Madame Hu-Tieh Didn't think that flowers, unless rare, should be sold for anything more than a few copper pieces. A lotus, she would pay more for, since they WERE, after all, sacred flowers. And this lotus was rather exotic. If offered, she's probably go up to maybe even more, but this Taoist still didn't seem to know how to conduct good business. However, her daughter just loved exotic things, as did her father, who was an exotic one as well.
At any rate, she could afford it today. The soldiers that passed by through the town during the night stopped by her shop, and payed well. Her coin purse was heavy with the wages the girls made that night.
Her eyes gazed over to the lotus once more. Something seemed almost suspicious about it. Was it worth it at all? Well.. Anything to make her daughter happy.
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Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:53 am
Yao Tzong's eye twitched.
A-a silver piece? Did she just say a silver piece? Did she mean a whole silver piece? Though even if were broken pieces it would still be worth quite a sum. It could feed him and his grandfather for a good few weeks! Though the old dear is usually hibernating around this time of year and there are always the ravens. A silver piece! For a mere flower! The Madame--
"--must be joking! A silver piece? For a lotus that blooms out of season, without any care of the cold--only plum blossoms can blossom in this weather. And see how this lotus glows? Though I admit it makes a nice night light, could save on lantern oil--who knows what powers this lotus has been bestowed to be able to defy nature like this."
Yao Tzong simply could not understand how anyone would be willing to pay for flowers, no matter how rare they are (Yao Tzong obviously doesn't know any fanatical flower lovers). She must be trying to make a fool out of him. Everyone does, but he won't fall for it this time. Indeed not.
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Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:48 pm
What was this man trying to do? At first he didn't want to sell the flower, and NOW he was trying to raise the price?! The Madame was flabbergasted, but then shook her head, thinking it over.
Well, he did have a good point. It was FREEZING out here, and yet his lotus did not whither. Not like the one's she held in her arms.
"Okay, fine! Three Silver pieces, and that's all! Now make up your mind! My flowers are dying! Do you know how hard it was to find these? Sitting here is making them wilt!"
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Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:07 pm
T-three?! The lady really must be mad! Though... the Taoist looked at the flowers she was holding, perhaps fanatical flower lovers do exist. Feeling somewhat guilty for keeping the lady (crazy though she may be) out in the cold for so long with her fragile commodities, he quickly pulled a slip of yellow paper from one sleeve, dabbed a brush in red ink, and skillfully finished a scripture. Without giving the Madame a chance to protest, he stuck the slip on her bundle (even though there was no adhesive).
"There, that should ward off the cold and keep the flowers fresh for a while longer." Glancing at the glowing blossom and it's bowl covered in scriptures, the Taoist contemplated for a moment before picking up the bowl and it's sloshing waters, pushing it toward the Madame. "As I said, this lotus is quite special. Don't try to remove it from the bowl if you can't, but if you were to burn incense to it everyday it should make it easier to handle and keep it fresh."
He didn't actually know if that was true, but somehow instinct told him it was the correct thing. Three silver pieces. If this woman wanted it so badly, then it would only make sense to follow the flow of the Tao.
((Only Lien Si the lotus' fated person--who I'm assuming is the daughter--can actually physically touch the lotus.))
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Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:55 pm
FINALLY!! The Taoist had made up his mind! The Madame let out an exasperated sigh. She was glad it was over. Any longer, and she might have ended up strangling the rather confused man.
Reaching into her coin purse, she pulled out three broken pieces of silver, along with a few copper coins as well. "As payment for the scripture." she simply stated.
The Madame stood, taking her flowers and tying them satchel-style to her back, so that her hands were free to carry the bowl. "The flower is for my daughter, not myself, so I'll be sure NOT to touch it."
Incense, huh? She had been meaning to go by some more Shi Hu (dendrobium) to make her popular honeymoon tea, but by itself, when burned, it smelled very pleasant, and her daughter loved the scent in it's most natural state. The Madame would stop by the Herbalist, to pick some up to burn as well.
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