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 Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:18 am
Bai-Shén looked at her newest reproduction, nibbling her lower lip. So much had gone wrong in its painting. First, the power had gone out. Then the green pain had suddenly found itself red. Reading the story of the painting once again, she wondered if she ever should have made the damnable thing. She sighed. Oh well. The little spirit peeping at her from the store begged to be put in. With a sigh, the Kirin girl placed her hands on the painting and began to murmur in Chinese. Certainly no one would come in this early...right?!
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 10:19 am
Lex ducked into the shop, scarf pulled tightly around his face and knit hat pulled down over his ears. The weather channel had reported clear skies and sun this morning, but it seemed as soon as he had stepped out of the office building where he worked the clouds had started rolling in. Roxanna had asked him to pick up some office decorations, and despite his recent experiences with one painting in particular, a store full of them seemed to be a good place to start.
He nodded at the girl whispering at the painting. Certainly she could do what she liked. Lex couldn't quite see the work that held her attention, or he might have turned and left without another word, odd compulsion to enter the shop be damned.
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 10:38 am
Bai-Shén looked up suddenly, startled. Phew! Well, at least she'd finished!
"Hi! Can I interest you in a painting?" Her body language blocked others from view, clearly displaying the new, "haunted" painting proudly. After all, the original was the haunted one, not the reproduction! ...right?
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 10:55 am
"Um... I," Lex swallowed his initial response, which was something along the lines of where did you get that and why the hell do you think i want it am i being punk'd and said, "Do you have anything else?" Sure, he hadn't immediately fallen ill upon seeing the thing, but it wasn't exactly appropriate decor for Roxanna's office either.
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:03 am
Bai-Shén's face fell slightly. Oh, the poor ugly paintings...
"Well, yes. Of course. But it's Halloween time! Don't you want something a little...frightening?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:42 am
Hmm. Well, now that he looked more closely, Lex could see the brushstrokes, the painstaking detail this girl (or whoever) had put into the painting in front of him. She should at least get some compensation for the work she had don... no! What the hell was he thinking? He closed his eyes for a second and rubbed his fingers across the bridge of his nose. Fine. Frankly he just wanted to get out of here.
"All right," Lex said, lowering his hand from his face and flashing his best Business Smile. "I'll take that one if you'll kindly recommend somewhere around here I can get decorations slightly more suited to an office. Conference rooms and such." He stole a look at the painting again. Nope. No barfing sensations, no fever. He could always burn the thing once he left the building.
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:47 am
"Well, here," Bai-Shén said as she scampered to a bin in the corner. From it she pulled various floral and country-scene prints. No souls in these. No love to make them. Plain old factory prints.
"I could throw in these and some frames for free, if you'd like!"
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:55 am
Well, how about that! Lex almost smiled genuinely, but then he remembered that he had only finished his errand in record time because he had agreed to be saddled with the creepiest thing ever put to canvas. "That's very kind of you," he said, "but I couldn't take them without paying something extra."
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 12:15 pm
"Alright," Bai-Shén said softly, moving quickly as she did before this man could change his mind, "Ten gold each. One-hundred and forty gold, please!" My, my, what a bargain! The painting went into a box with the prints, and he was handed a stack of wooden frames still wrapped in plastic.
"Is there anything else I can do for you?"
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Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 1:19 pm
"No, I believe that's all for now," Lex said, handing over the sum the girl had quoted and taking his new frames. He hesitated a moment before picking up the painting as well. "Thanks." He hoped his expression of gratitude hadn't sounded too hesitant.
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Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:05 am
"You're welcome!" Bai-Shén chimed, grinning and waving as she sunk back into her studio to paint some more, "Byeee~!"
(( fin! ))
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