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 Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:07 pm
 You have stumbled upon a mysterious shop front while walking the cobble stone streets of Durem. Random items clutter the dusty front window, but nowhere can you find a name of the shop. Curious, you decide to check it out. What could the harm be? Stepping in, a tiny bell above the door chimes, and you are met with a blast of warmth.
The shop looks more like a home than anything, and you wonder it maybe you stumbled upon a hotel. Your eyes drift lazily as you take in the sights. The entryway is somewhat tiny, with a wall of shelving for shoes directly in front of you. There is a reception desk directly to your left, but it is facing the same direction you are. No one sits in the roller chair. From there it quickly opens to a large area which looks like a living room, with an attached kitchen. The walls bulge out in giant horizontal pillars of wood, giving the effect of a log cabin. The fire place on the far end of the room is decorated with soft stones that reach to the ceiling, and the floor is decorated with a soft rug, a coffee table and some seating space.
Before you have time to take the rest in, a woman appears from a set of stairs, just around the corner from the shoe rack. Her hair is silvery in colour and pulled back, letting the bangs and some chunks fall to the side. Her bright red eyes met yours as she spoke.
"Welcome! Welcome! Please, take off your shoes and your jacket, and make yourself at home."
She smiles politely at you, offering her hand to take your coat.
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:24 pm
She had been doing her bi-monthly sweep through Durem for any new objects to add to her collections, preparing to return home when she had caught sight of the store...or home, whatever it was. The young lady had passed this way many times before, but she did not recall seeing the establishment on her other visits; it was as though it had caught her eye purposefully, drawn her in to whisper of untold treasures.
Yes, Ki's imagination was running off with her again, but it was hard not to with such an esoteric front. The young woman approached the store, pressing her hands against the door gently as it opened, mossy grey eyes sweeping over the house-like front room with mild curiosity. Slipping inside, Ki put her slender hands against the door to shut it silently, hoping not to disturb whoever was in the vicinity.
Which was exactly what she felt like she was doing: treading into someone's home uninvited. The woman bit her bottom lip, absently drawing her long fingers through her immaculately straight ebon hair, twisting it in an age old habit. "Hello?" Ki called out almost timidly, torn between simply leaving and making sure this was actually a store. She meandered around the room in silence, finally releasing her hair and tossing it back over her shoulder as she reassured herself it was okay to be here. It would be okay until someone told her otherwise anyway, right? Quietly observing the shoe rack, she refrained from calling out again, deciding she'd leave in a few minutes if no one was around.
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 6:00 pm
[Sorry for the pathetically small post @ ^@]
Rose rounded the corner after a moment, drying her hands on a small towel. "Hello! Welcome to my shop. I'm Rose. Please! Come inside." She smiled gently, moving to the side to let the woman enter. "Sorry for making you wait." She bowed slightly. "Would you like anything to drink? Tea, coffee, juice? We have plenty more. Don't be afraid to ask."
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 6:10 pm
Ki actually squeaked in surprise, spinning on her heel to face the woman with wide, guilty eyes. "I...I just saw the store and was curious and...t-tea?" The woman seemed to perk a little, some of the embarrassed panic draining from her face. She tugged absently on her grey cashmere sweater, which oddly had one 'fashionable' hole over her left shoulder, but not her right. "Tea sounds delightful," she nearly gushed with happiness, pleased she wasn't stepping on anyone's toes. "Thank you very much. And, um...what type of shop is this?" Her question was posed in perfect curiosity, turning her eyes briefly over the comfy looking store.
She'd never seen anything like it, and quite frankly, it felt cozy. "I'm sorry I never saw this place before. It's so nice in here," she commented off handedly, more to herself than the woman. After a moment, it dawned on her that the kind woman had introduced herself, to which Ki jutted out her hand bashfully. "Gosh, my manners were left at home apparently," she apologized, "I'm Ki. It's nice to meet you, Miss Rose."
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 6:43 pm
"Any flavor of tea you had in mind?" Rose questioned as she made her way towards the kitchen. "It's kind of like an antiquity shop, I suppose. But not one of those stuffy ones." She waved her hand in front of her face, wrinkling her nose slightly. "Not one of those boring ones with pieces of junk that just fall apart." She giggled. "But I'm babbling." She filled a kettle with water, placing it on the stove. "Well Ki, feel free to browse around while you wait for the water to boil." Rose motioned to the small shelves that decorated the walls, and the area in the front window.
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 7:11 pm
"Hmm, camomile is my favorite," she nodded thoughtfully, "but I like all types of tea. I'm really not picky." Ki listened and nodded at Rose's description of the shop, glancing back towards the bulk of it with renewed interest. Sounded like her type of place! At the woman's invitation to take a peek about, Ki smiled gratefully, nodding once, "Thank you...I'd certainly like to take a look around."
The lithe femme moved around the area slowly and methodically, her expression switching between keen scrutiny and open wonderment. She was no stranger to such shops for her own collections, but this was different. There were a lot of things she hadn't seen before, some that she had but not a single thing that looked like an item that could easily be obtained at a store. She was intruiged, and momentarily forgot she had a host, her gaze sweeping and thorough as she moved.
Ki wasn't moving in any set pattern. She simply let her feet carry her, drawn by her will down the displays on the wall, not yet to the window. There were so many things, how could one person possibly collect it all...? That's when she remembered the shop owner, feeing a little silly for her sudden absorption into the displays. Finally, she broke the silence with an inquiry, "How long have you been here, Miss Rose?"
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 1:18 pm
"Camomile it is." She said as she made her way to a cupboard full of different coloured boxes full of tea. She pulled a small bag from a yellow box and dropped it in a mug, leaving the long string draped over the side. Once the water was boiled, she poured it carefully over the bag until the water was almost to the top.
"A while I suppose." She smiled and brought the mug to the woman, handing it to her. "It's warm, be careful." She casually warned, even though it was usually pretty obvious. "Have you found anything that interests you?"
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 1:28 pm
Ki accepted the tea with a quiet, "Thank you." Her right hand curled around the bottom of the cup, the fingers of her left trailing over the rim as she pondered the question. "Plenty," she replied after a thoughtful moment, glancing between Rose and the fascinating items lining the walls. "It's quite a bit, I'm not sure I'll be able to look it all over in one visit," she joked happily. While there were many things that held her attention, there wasn't anything she couldn't live without, not yet. Such things often jumped out at her and smacked her in the face in a demand to be noticed.
The woman took a dainty sip of tea after blowing over the surface, murmuring, "It's very good, thank you," pleased that there was someone on the face of the planet that could make tasty tea.
She gave a cursory glance towards the window, which she still hadn't made her way to, and paused. The woman blinked her near colorless eyes, making a soft humming noise in her throat, wanting to see what the splash of brilliant red was but unwilling to be rude. Instead, she inquired, "You...said the stuff by the window is up for perusing, too?" She pointed a slender finger towards the window, curious.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 1:37 pm
Rose laughed softly at the woman's soft joke. Rose appreciated the company this woman brought with her. It wasn't often she had someone so... calming in the shop. "I'm glad you like the tea." She said with a smile, watching as the woman's eyes trailed around the room. She took a moment to herself to gaze around at the various items on the shelves, while the woman searched out for something that would catch her eyes. She eventually snapped back, not wanting to drift off into her own little world while the had a guest.
She noticed as Ki's eyes landed on the window displays, and nodded slightly to her question. "Of course! Please." She held her arm out towards the window, in a gesture welcoming her over to the window area.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 1:46 pm
The woman smiled sweetly, uttering another "Thank you!" before moving towards it slowly, almost cautiously, although that could have been due to the hot liquid in her hands. Ki reached the designated area, sucking her bottom lip into her mouth, biting it in another strange habit as she peered around for the object that had caught her attention. It was bright red, you wouldn't think it'd be hard to miss, but apparently she'd seen it just so between the line of other items.
Ki let out a quiet but triumphant cry of pleasure as she saw a delicate curl of red, carefully putting the tea down so she could use both hands to retrieve the item. Imagine her surprise when her fingers brushed over something soft and velvetesque, the item in question quite pliable. Drawing it through the other items on display, she looked at the treasure in her palms, amazed. It was...a flower?
It was in full bloom, but...there hadn't been any water. Maybe it was in sunlight? Her eyes turned over the bright and lovely flower, holding it up to eye level with awe on her features. "Is this a...a flower? I mean, there's no, y'know...stem or anything. Is it alive?" The fragrance from the flower finally reached her, eliciting a soft smile from the woman. It was delightful, not too overpowering, soothing.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 2:09 pm
Rose nodded with a smile, walking over to where she stood with the flower. "Oh it's very alive. I guess you could say it has a soul to keep it from wilting. It needs no stem, like me and you." She reached out, drawing a finger along the flower. "It certainly is something special, isn't it? But... it's frail, like any flower, and I'm afraid that, if mistreated, may die." She shook her head slightly. "What a shame that would be." She looked to the woman and sunk into her own head for a moment,coming out a second later. "I think you may just be what that flower needs. Someone to take care of it, and keep it safe. Lord only knows how long it may last here."
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 2:18 pm
She caressed the flower with just her eyes, gazing over the elegant arch of the petals splashed with orange, listening to Rose speak. It was alive? "It has a soul," she repeated quietly, not really a question. Ki realized the flower did feel somewhat warm in her hands, as if it had spent days out in wild fields. As the woman mentioned that it could die, Ki snapped her gaze back to her, her expression almost one of grief. The object in her hands was one of beauty; it looked positively illuminated in color against Ki's own drab shades of clothing.
Her attention moved slowly back to the flower, trying to make sense of what was being said. Ki wasn't religious, but she believed that some things were mystical and couldn't be explained. She accepted that some things simply couldn't be categorized into nice and clean answers, because the questions were too great. She never thought she'd ever come face to face with something of that sort.
"Me?" she echoed, looking back to Rose with a tad bit of worry. "I wouldn't want it to wither away, it's so pretty and remarkable..." Again, she looked to the bright flower. "...if...if I believed I could do something...what would I have to do?" Ki wasn't entirely sure she could easily accept that there was a soul within the item, and that it needed to be nurtured. For all she knew, Rose could be pulling her leg, but there was something else - the place, the flower, the idea behind it all - that was telling her otherwise.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 2:46 pm
"All you have to do is keep it safe, and keep it warm, and it'd be alright. And you seem like someone who could feed it the positive energy it needs to survive. You're certainly the spark it needs to live." She smiled and looked to the flower. "It'd definitely be a lot more safe with you than here in this shop." She chuckled and nodded towards the cluttered window. "And I'll even let you take it at no charge." She looked to the flower again, running her eyes over its petals, and the long piston that stuck out from the center. She could almost feel how much happier the soul felt with the woman. She was sure it was the right choice.
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 3:06 pm
Ki blinked at Rose, startled. "Safe, and...wh-what? Are you sure?" She young woman nearly gaped in surprise at the others kind offer. "I can't...pay you at all? Are you sure?" she repeated, "I mean, if, if it's special, I can't just..." She hardly knew what to do with herself, torn between budding excitement at the prospect of being responsible for such a remarkable treasure, and doubt that she was capable of such a thing.
But...if Rose believed in her...the least she could do was live up to that, right?
The woman smiled optimistically, gently cradling the flower to her sweater as one may do with a small animal or child. "This is...unbelievably kind of you," she said softly, still amazed at the turn of events. "I'll do whatever I can...it will really brighten my home!"
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 3:12 pm
"Absolutely free. On one condition. You bring it back for a check up in two weeks just to see how it's going, and that's all!" She giggled slightly, used to the responses she got when people heard that she wasn't going to charge them.
"I'm sure you'll get along just fine with it. I have faith in you!" She took one more gaze at the flower before it was to leave the shop. She had to admit, she'd miss seeing it around, but it was for the best after all. "I'm glad it's going to a good home." She remarked quietly.
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