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Post by santaru on Mar 14, 2006 9:22:50 GMT -5
Ryozo stood in front of the counter in his shop, waiting for the customer who was supposed to pick up his sword today. The sword was just under the counter in a box waiting for its new owner to arrive. It was pure black with characters carved across the handle and sheeth, apparently the person who had requested it was a poet, because it used odd characters and read very easily.
The door opened and Ryozo was brought back to reality. He assumed that it was the boy who ordered the sword, and he began to grab the box and pull it out, but he was wrong, it was one of his father's friends from the army. "Hello there Hai, what brings you to my shop?" Ryozo asked the man.
"I come simply to talk. And, unfortunately I have only bad news to share." Hai said in a slow and ominous tone.
"Come to the back of my shop, and we can talk in private." Ryozo said as he put a hand on the man's left shoulder and led him into the back to a little bench where he could sit down and they could discuss, whaterver needed to be discussed. "Now tell me what is wrong."
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Post by liu on Mar 17, 2006 12:53:51 GMT -5
"Liu! Come back before dinner time!" a motherly woman's voice yelled as Liu walked onto the street of Lun Yang. She smiled weakly and looked over her shoulder to wave at the woman before continuing to walk down the street. She pulled a shopping list out of the sleeve of her kimono and looked at all the shops at the sides of the streets.
"I wonder who Admiral is having for dinner tonight." Liu muttered to herself, looking at the characters on the list with interest. They were the ingredients for the making of a great feast. She sighed, knowing she was one of the people who was going to have to slave over this while the Admiral bragged about how great it was going to be and how nice his house was.
After buying some groceries, the young maid wandered through the streets with time to spare. Suddenly her eyes fell on a blacksmith's shop. Liu smiled to herself, amazed by her sudden idea. Maybe if I buy Admiral a sword of some sort he will let me out of cooking. she thought, thinking so much unlike herself. She smiled to herslef and walked over to the shop. She leaned over the counter, trying to see if anyone was there. As she looked around she found that there was two men in the back talking.
"Great. I guess I should just wait." Liu muttered, and she leaned against the wall near the counter, casually.
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Post by santaru on Mar 19, 2006 13:00:25 GMT -5
Hai took a deep breath and told Ryozo what was wrong, "Both of your brothers are dead. They were killed by earth nation soldiers in a battle. They didn't stand a chance, they were in a young troop and they were fighting one of the strongest earth nation battalions." He paused for a moment to allow what he was saying to sink in.
Ryozo put his head in his hands, he was too shocked to say anything. He was even to shocked to cry.
"It gets worse," said Hai continuing his tragic message, "The firelord sent them himself, apparently they were used to weaken the battalion so that a more experienced troop could destroy them. Your brothers led the troop and when the firelord found out that they were not only brothers but also from Lun Yang, and the poor section, he decided to use them to try and recruit more soldiers. He will be making a public statement in about a week telling the people how they gave their lives for this country. Your mother will be honored and moved into a nice house in the richer district of Lun Yang. The people will be told that it will be done in honor of her children and that she is happy, but the true reason is so that she won't be able to tell anyone what really happened and they will be able to keep an eye on her." Hai stopped and looked at his friend's son. A powerful man put almost to tears in the matter of a few minutes. He looked up when he heard someone enter the shop. "Do you want me to send them away?" he asked Ryozo.
"Yes, please...no wait, I need customers. Could you go see what they want, I'll be out in a few minutes."
"Of course." Hai walked up to the girl at the counter, "How may I help you miss?"
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Post by liu on Mar 19, 2006 17:09:44 GMT -5
Liu jumped when she heard someone talking to her. She shyly looked up at the man, trying to not seem so out of place. "I......uh....." she started to say but she couldn't complete her sentence due to how shy she was.
"I...am just looking." she finished, after a long pause. In truth, she had no idea what she should be looking for due to how lacking her knowledge in swords was. All she had was a small dagger, given to her for self protection by the Admiral.
Liu sighed in annoyance at how idiotic she sounded and tried to regain her compusure. "How much do swords typically cost?" she finally asked, reaching into the sleeve of her kimono to see how much money she had at the moment. She pulled the small bag out and looked into it to find a good amount of change but not much in the way of money meant to make a big purchase. I might be able to haggle my way out of a big price or something like that. she thought, trying to look at the posistive side of things. She looked behind the man, curiously, looking for the other man who had been talking.
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