[c] Shen Juhua & Seathi (A)

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Contents

Header
Shen Juhua
Seathi
Account Book
Portraits
Wares
Credits

 

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❦ Name: Shen Juhua. She's taken to introducing herself as simply 'Juhua'.
❦ Gender: Female.
❦ Birth: 3/28, by Sunderland's calendar. 22 years old.
❦ Origin: The capital of Sunderland's equivalent of China.
❦ Occupation: Merchant. Her store, Golden Flower Imports, specializes in goods from her homeland -- mostly tea, but also fans, incense, porcelain, and small trinkets.
❦ Sexuality: Straight, but rather reserved; romance is likely to be a very formalized affair with her.

❦ Appearance: Small, slim, and almost always elegantly dressed, Juhua doesn't seem to know whether to try to fit in with Sunderlanders or not. She has olive skin, tanned from the long journey over the ocean but now starting to become pale again due to her usual indoor life, and black hair usually gathered into a neat bun so it'll stay out of the way. Though her expression is almost always neatly composed -- calm and somewhat modest -- her large, dark brown eyes almost always give her away. During business dealings, they are sharp and appraising, even if her smile is meek; during more casual conversation, they may betray her interest in or boredom with a conversation.

Inside her shop, she usually dresses in the fashions of her native land, so far away now -- most commonly a ruqun. Outside, she defers to the general population of Palisade, and wears elegant, if conservative, dresses. Corsets are new and somewhat uncomfortable for her, but she's resigned herself to breathing shallowly and not turning or bending too fast until she gets used to it. Still, despite this deference to the fashion of the area, she usually carries a folding fan with decidedly non-Sunderland patterns and the faint scent of sandalwood.

❦ Enjoys: Tea, scents (incense and perfume), stories (telling or listening), sunshine.
❦ Dislikes: Rudeness, disruptions of her privacy, loud voices, alcohol.

❦ Positive: Respectful, intelligent, resourceful.
❦ Neutral: Polite.
❦ Negative: Grudging, overly cautious, prudish.

❦ Personality:

Juhua has long resigned herself to the constraints of her position as a woman and a foreigner in Sunderland, but she has also resolved to find ways to work within those constraints. While she is quiet, she is also observant and a keen listener, careful to try and conceal her rapt interest in the conversations around her. She is almost always polite and deferential, and her speech tends to be rather formal -- largely because, as she is still learning Common, she would rather err on the side of caution than accidentally offend someone.

If she feels any strong emotion, she does her best to conceal it, and her emotions tend to show in brief, subtle ways -- her fingers might clench slightly, or her lips might press together into a thin line, or her posture might relax. Should she ever have excessive trouble mastering her emotions, she will open her fan (should she have it nearby) and hide her face behind it while she composes herself. This, coupled with her usual (quietly) horrified response to drunkenness, rudeness, loudness, roughness, vulgarity, or anything she regards as improper, leads her to be rather standoffish and prudish.

Still, despite her quiet, calm demeanor, she is strongly curious and fairly intelligent; back in her homeland, she received as fine an education as a middle-class woman could hope for, and often snuck books from her father's collection to read. She has a fairly broad knowledge of mythology and history, and is interested in the sciences. Having fought her way onto a ship to Sunderland for a chance to run her father's outpost overseas, she also has a keen business sense, and a certain shrewdness and careful way with people.

Her anger, though difficult to rouse, is slow and cold, and she does not easily forgive. Though she might entertain those who have wronged her with her usual demure smiles, in her own quiet way she will seek to exact revenge. She is also easily annoyed by excessive rudeness, loudness, or emotional displays, and sometimes has difficulty empathizing with others. Prudence has given way to excessive caution, and although she manages her store with a steady, careful hand, she often hesitates and misses opportunities, or fails to take risks that could have turned out well. She has not ventured outside Palisade since her eventful journey to the Wardwood, and does not explore much; she is at once lonely, and afraid to take the steps to ease that loneliness.

❦ History:

Born to a middle-class shopkeeper and his wife, Juhua grew up in her homeland with as much as her parents could provide her. Her mother was strict, but tempered her discipline with warmth and kindness. And, though her father was often busy, he indulged her curiosity about the finer points of running a business, took her on trips to purchase new wares, and looked the other way when she borrowed books from his library.

It would be difficult, if not impossible, for her to take over his store -- but she had the inkling that she might find more success in Sunderland, a land where reportedly great changes were beginning to rumble. She persuaded her father to allow her to take some merchandise with her on a ship over the sea, and left home with resolve in her mind.

They were almost there when disaster struck, and the ship was wrecked just off the coast of Sunderland. She survived, as did some of her wares -- the rest were much less fortunate. She took what she had to Palisade, and set up shop regardless, having written home for new stock. But she hadn't been in Sunderland for long when a sudden ache, a desire to travel, struck her. She left Palisade for the Wardwood, and emerged a day later, her hair escaping its now-disheveled bun and her clothes torn by branches and stained by mud, with a humble totem clutched in her hand.

When she returned to Palisade, she found a new shipment waiting for her, and -- once she'd cleaned up and decided to simply go with the flow -- reopened her store in earnest. Now Golden Flower Imports is properly open to the public, and may become a local point of curiosity. Its wares, much like its owner, are exotic and unusual, and almost all of it hails from far-off lands.  

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Seathi [Say-AH-thee]

Seathi is insatiably curious, sweet-tempered, and social. He is almost always nosing around Golden Flower Imports -- though, ever since he knocked over a teacup as a fawn, he has done so delicately, and Juhua has widened the aisles. Seathi is almost always the first to greet customers at the door, curiously nuzzling their fingers or gazing at them with large, eager yes. The presence of a Guardian in the shop tends to boost sales, or at least the number of curious browsers, and though he seems innocently curious, he is also smart enough to stay within the shop's confines.

He is a fairly large buck, with an impressive rack of antlers, but he isn't intimidating in the slightest, thanks to his puppyish nature. He tends to clown around, prancing and skittering about, but he is surprisingly graceful, and almost never hits anything or anyone when he plays.  

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Account Book -- RP Log

To come!  

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Portraits -- Art!  

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Wares

Delicate porcelain tea sets, folding fans decorated with calligraphy, scroll paintings, fragrant incense, jars of tea leaves...

Please don't touch, and ask Juhua for assistance or pricing.  

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Credits

Wardwood is Umbrology's, as is Seathi's design.
Juhua and Seathi's characters are mine.
Juhua's design is mine.
All art belongs to their creators.