Hello, this is samedi and co-staff! We're happy to be back working on Shambala after a year hiatus!
With the turn-over, we've put in play many new features to make the game more accessible, and we intend to be staying around beyond the previous seven month benchmark. With that said, game-events are now scheduled, so keep your eyes peeled and enjoy your stay.
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FIRST LAST
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- played by ALIAS
THREAD
EVENT
PLAYER
CREDITS
The plot of Shambala is our property and draws from a collection of favorites of the staff. To name a few: Majora's Mask of the Legend of Zelda franchise, Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, Pandora's Tower, Gankutsou: the Count of Monte Cristo, mythology and folklore, Fruits Basket, and Odin Sphere. Those being a few, mind you. All and all, the concept is our's at the core, and belongs to our staff and members. The design and coding is SAMEDI'S. The background patterns and banner images are not our property, and credit goes to their original owners. Last, but certainly not least, all characters and content came from the minds of their ROLEPLAYERS, and deserve props.
So it was finally time. Lihua had always known that from the moment she was born, her parents would eventually pick out the most suitable husband for her. Choice in the matter was never an option, and that was simply how it went. Stories were only stories for a reason: they were what people loved to envision, because they could never become a reality. Unlike most others, however, the astrologer was not entirely against the idea. Rather, she was neutral. The fact her parents would decide her life partner was merely natural, and nothing to be happy or sad about. She supposed she was fortunate; how awful is must be to be miserable about a situation out of your control.
In fact, Lihua was even relieved that her husband had been picked already. Ever since she discovered her item, and it detailed her fated betrayal, she'd been wary of all the commoners she met. She didn't allow it to control her life - in other words, she didn't cut herself off from the world in fear of a simple relationship problem - but she couldn't help trying to avoid people that caught her eye. She wouldn't be surprised if the origami people weren't entirely accurate, and wasn't willing to take the chance either, so merely looking for a matching profile wasn't an option.
Those worries would be no more though! Now that her husband was selected, Lihua saw the chances of the future happening being even more unlikely. Never, not in one hundred years, would she ever think to betray her betrothed. If anything she wished to be faithful, the mere thought of betraying one who had her hand was much too awful to imagine. So how could she ever inflict it on herself? Literature may speak otherwise, but the reality was that no amount of love could possibly make the guilt worth it.
Unfortunately, even as she sat in her husband-to-be's own house, the man in question wasn't even present. Her parents accompanied her, and they were in the company of the mother and aunt of "Jinhai", her fiance. They were sitting in a pleasant room, and the conversation was entirely focused on the marriage, of course. Her and this Jinhai had already been deemed compatible by the stars, and Lihua only found herself hoping dearly that that was true.
The discussion started despite the groom's absence, and Lihua honestly wasn't surprised. At this point, the two families were simply learning more about the other. That didn't even require her attendance, as it was her mother and father doing most of the talking. But they'd suggested she come along anyways, to meet her fiance and future in-laws early. Establish stronger bonds, or something along those lines. "You're an astrologer, correct?" Their talking had shifted to her, and the pink haired woman politely smiled at Lady Li-fen.
"Yes, I started a few years ago." "How wonderful~ Jin's bound to rise in the rank of the Bai-shi, so he'd benefit greatly from having you as a wife." Jinhai's aunt cut in, and Lihua turned her attention to her.
"He has a very impressive standing; I'd be delighted to meet him." What else was she supposed to say? She wanted to make a good impression, but up until now her formal talks hadn't exactly had her future riding on them. It was more nerve wracking than she'd imagined.
And then all heads turned as her fiance, "Jinhai", finally arrived.
[so going along with this, I'd say we can start at the information gathering stage. Against the norm the bride and groom are present and I guess either they can sit through the meeting or maybe they leave early to ~familiarize~ themselves while they're families talk more business?? I feel like engagement discussions are long and detailed, so maybe they sit through some of it and get shooed off in the middle? whatever seems best to you I can roll with, Also this ending sucks. I'm sorry OTL]
I have to find my Eden now, the gates I left behind. But the pain will remain, no power to gain. Now I have time to dwell on: self awareness, dreadful crime.
[cs=2]
Jin returned to the courtyards of the Bai-shi temple in Shangdi at morning, wearing his past night in the woods as heavily as his own coat, and a messenger and a Bai-shi master waited for him among the clatter of quarterstaffs meeting in practicing strikes throughout the grounds. Jin paused on the stairs, the messenger's tightly rolled scroll bearing his mother's tiny but urgent letters and her seal.
He exchanged a brief, verbal report for a horse, and after the master's nod, he was gone.
--
The courtyards of Yongliang Li-Fen’s house spread like wings from his main hall as spring seeped in its slated windows. Birds flitted in the trees, their wings a flurry of shadows on the surface of a garden pool and over riots of irises and hibiscus planted among the twisting path and stones in the north yard.
Lady Da-Xia Tsang leaned in her chair, her kimono trailing long, red, and shining sleeves on the marble floor of her sister’s main hall, and she grinned, her green eyes sharp and her red lips pointed. She opened and closed her fan restlessly, the ruby dragon in its paper pleats cowering and raging in each motion. Her elegant and silent ceremony of oolong tea perfectly poured into delicate cups trimmed in silver clouds and etched with indigo birds had bequeathed nothing of this—twitching element of her personality, and like a displeased cat, she watched Lihua with lightning, trapped and cross, in her eyes.
“Yes, Jinhai flies, ” Da-Xia said, stilling her fan and sitting back from her future sister-in-law. “He is only twenty and already, the Bai-shi consider him more than fit to lead a battalion, but he wished to experience completely the journeyman’s lonely life before he would command them—”
“Indeed, ” Lady Cuifen, sister of Da-Xia, wife of Yongliang Li-Fen, and mother of his only son, interrupted coolly. Unlike her much younger sister, Cuifen ruled her seat beside the teapoy like a throne, tall and regal, her hands gathered in her lap along the ebony handle of a closed fan dripping a tangle of pearls over the royal blue skirts of her gown, green and purple birds with splashes of gold and silver plumage darting through the folds while silver dragons, their backs studded in pearls, gleamed in chignon rolls of her night-blue hair. She dipped her head smoothly and added: “But please, pardon my son’s absence. He sends his regards and tells me he was delayed on mission in the mountains. The Bai-shi are demanding taskmasters, but do understand,” and her lips quirked in a pale, lady’s smile for Lihua’s parents, “if we wait on Jinhai to set the pace of this engagement, we shall not live to see the grandchildren.”
“Sister—” Da-Xia started, and Lady Cuifen stopped her with a gesture, as a manservant from the house gate appeared in the southern door of the main hall. Da-Xia shot up, her dress a red and rustling silken gale. “He is late,” she snapped to Lady Cuifen before she dismissed the servant and rushed for the south courtyard to greet her nephew.
“No, it seems he arrives right on time,” Lady Cuifen announced, rising slowly and surely behind Da-Xia. She met her son with a leisured slowness at the top of the stairs stepping down in the courtyard bricked in warm stone with a towering, granite lion to watch the gate. Dust tattered Jin’s boots and the bright black of his coat, his face shined with sweat and stuck with blood from a knick above his eyebrow. Da-Xia hovered, with the clear and present intent to fuss at him, but she balked at Lady Cuifen’s presence, Lihua and her family standing in the cool shadow of the hall behind the lady of the manor.
“Mother,” Jin announced.
“Jinhai!” Lady Cuifen returned. “The ride from the temple was rough, I see. What has done that to you?”
“A fox,” he said bluntly of his bleeding, and Lady Cuifen smiled.
“My!” She laughed, small and polite. “The morning you have had then, my son. Please go and collect yourself, but before that, if I may impose, please greet your bride, Lihua Wu.” Lady Cuifen stepped aside, unveiling the young woman waiting in the hall, and with a tightening of his lips and a deep breath, Jin’s hard, militant expression melted into something softer, more open, if only as an attempt, but he bowed effortlessly anyhow.
“Lord and Lady Wu, Lady Lihua,” he said, his voice dipped in the watery coolness of his mother’s. “I am Jinhai Li-Fen, journeyman of the Bai-shi, and son of Lady Cuifen and Lord Yongliang. I come from the roads, so please overlook my state, but it is my utmost honor to meet you and welcome you to my family and my home.”
She didn't like the way Lady Da-xia found it fit to stare at her. Lihua's hands were folded neatly in her lap, however if not for the strict etiquette lessons she'd undergone her entire life, she would have been nervously fiddling with them beyond control. She was taught to always respect her elders, and thus of course adults would be superior, but the sheer disdain and general... perhaps disapproval that the pink haired woman could feel was quite clear and different from a mere difference of age.
As Jinhai's tardiness was brought up, Lihua's mother merely gestured dismissively. "It cannot be helped; we must allow for a flexible schedule if we expect to hold a meeting so suddenly." She took a small, elegant sip of her tea before setting it back down on the table, neatly and without a clack, before returning the slight smile. "It appears tradition is well aware of our youth's tendencies, as we are the ones who dictate the arrangement." While her mother was completely calm and accommodating, Lihua snuck a glance over to her father, and saw the tiniest hints of irritation on his face. The absence of their son was not received well in his eyes, no matter what the excuse.
Lihua simply hoped he'd arrive soon.
And as if to answer her prayers, both of the ladies opposite of them rose from their sitting positions and towards the direction of the grand courtyard she and her family had the pleasure of facing, no doubt to greet the younger Li-fen. As the lady moved aside for her son to greet their guests, Lihua felt her composure slip completely.
"This is my fiance?" He was absolutely filthy! And bloodied as well- why she could very well have mistaken him for a commoner! This man was to be her husband? She looked over at her parents once again, and unlike their daughter, their faces betrayed nothing of their first impression of Jinhai Li-fen. She'd known he'd come from the mountains, but... she would be absolutely devastated if she showed herself to her fiance looking like it.
Lihua wasn't sure if she felt more disgusted or surprised. Yet despite his appearance, he bowed and properly greeted her family, contrasting with his look entirely as he did so. But by this time the astrologer had regained herself, and rising to her feet along with her parents, returned the bow as well.
"It is a pleasure to meet you likewise. Despite your appearance, it satisfies me to know you can maintain proper etiquette." Lihua's lip twitched, and her eyes flicked over to her father. He was a rigid man, strict in tradition and proper manners, but Jinhai had already requested they excuse his state of dress! There was no need to mention it once more.
"And it is a fine home you have, we're delighted to have been invited," her mother cut in, not sparing her husband even a glance. But he surely must have gathered from her tone that he had spoken out of line. Not stalling too long, she added a simple, "It's an honor to finally meet you as well, Lord Jinhai." Although she wished she could have said so more honestly. "But please, do not allow me to deter you any longer." At least that was the complete truth. If he tidied up, perhaps he'd seen more suitable than he appeared now. She simply couldn't imagine marrying what looked like an animal in human form.
I have to find my Eden now, the gates I left behind. But the pain will remain, no power to gain. Now I have time to dwell on: self awareness, dreadful crime.
[cs=2]
“You will have to make good on this. Promptly,” Da-Xia snapped as Jin rinsed blood from his face with handfuls of water from a basin, washing the sting of sweat from his eyes. Da-Xia had stalked him to his room on the south courtyard, the rearing gate lion clawing in the air beyond his door.
“I wasn’t told this would be this soon,” Jin said in an distant excuse as he examined the cut in a round mirror on the table—it was small, of course; the inconsequential often bled madly.
“Prenuptial arrangements don't concern your wishes,” Da-Xia said, leaving his battered Journeyman’s coat folded and set aside for cleaning. She stormed away to the wardrobe and passed briefly through the jackets and shirts hanging there. Da-Xia frowned: the bride, tight-faced, ‘and sniveling,’ her skin washed out with limp, dry, rose-colored hair, was so difficult to dress a groom for. She sighed.
“Well, what do you make of her?” Da-Xia sifted through dark coats, collared and cuffed in gold and silver, finding nothing to satisfy her.
Jin snipped off his black cuffs and slid out of his vest, a bend of waxy, scarred skin following the curve of his shoulder blade.
“She is pretty,” he said blankly, lifting a rough medallion hanging on a leather cord over his head, as Da-Xia dropped a velvet sleeve, her lips suddenly sneering—cruel. “You can go,” Jin added before she could speak, not looking at her. “I will make good.”
The two gathered families rose quietly and seated again with the same orderly silence as Da-Xia announced Jin to his father’s main hall, his mother, his future in-laws, and their daughter, and to her, he paid a special bow. Customs and etiquette, as old as the blood in their veins, moved him unconsciously, like his own bones didn't belong to him anymore. His freedom of flesh, voice, and even of using the authority he commanded, the freedom he rode with that very morning already slipping away, deferring to a more ancient gravity.
He wore a suit, an olive jacket, its cuffed sleeves long and confining, with bronze, crouching dragons flanking the line of leather frog-buttons and a medallion embroidered over his heart. His boots lifted over his knees, the black leather polished, dustless, and stamped with climbing serpents. He sat still, even as the close collar seemed to choke him, his body restless, tempted to fidget, without the familiar burden of weapons.
Before in the courtyard, he had said nothing to his future father-in-law. He only bowed, thanked the man and his wife for accepting his family’s hospitality, and excused himself, his aunt taking herself along in tow, and just as he had then, he said nothing now—even as the old man’s eyes weighed on him, exacting and heavy in their judgment.
But Lady Cuifen was an effortless hostess, shifting from tea to fine wine she poured herself for Lord Wu into a golden cup to break his attentions from her son.
“We are most fortunate,” she said, “to allow our children the chance to meet so soon; a sweet love may blossom, if cultivated by tender hands. Perhaps, they might go out to the gardens to meet one another in quiet? And we parents shall speak of—prosaic matters.” She looked to Lihua as she set the bottle aside. “Would that please you, my dear?”
Thankfully, as her fiance returned to the hall, there wasn't any doubt he was capable of cleaning himself up and looking presentable. There was always the fear of one not meeting your own standards, and thankfully such a worry was not necessary this time. Lord Jinhai looked like a proper groom, and that was enough to satisfy Lihua.
Unfortunately, it appeared to do nothing in the eyes of her father. She'd looked over in his direction once more, hoping to see a different light, but he was unchanged when viewing her fiance. It begged the question of why he'd even consider to marry her off to him, considering how harshly he saw the boy. But such things were not her place to question in any place but her head, and the astrologer was well aware of that.
It seemed so was Lady Cuifen. Lihua couldn't help being a bit embarrassed for her father's sake. Whether he held a negative opinion or not, it simply couldn't be proper to be so openly judgmental. Although she'd yet to be hardened by the political and outside world. Perhaps if she "grew up" more, she'd understand him someday.
The Lady then suggested she and Lord Jinhai leave to the gardens, and the woman couldn't help feel relief settle in. Certainly dealing with her future husband would be much easier than bearing the eyes of her future in-laws, and her parents' presence. Smiling politely at the lady of the house, and then casting her gaze towards the white haired male in question, she replied, "It would please me greatly."
Rising, she smoothed her kimono briefly before exiting the room with Lord Jinhai, following his lead to wherever the gardens of the estate were located. She hoped that she'd have an easier time interacting with him than the rest of his family.
Lady Cuifen spoke so temperately—like the room and its occupants simply occurred around her. Every subtle glance, idle gesture, and word spoken, in compliance or in anger, passed between the families of Wu and Li like it were all according to her own design—the players planets she swept across the board of the heavens without so much as a sigh for her exertions.
And so Lady Cuifen smiled.
“Nature has been very kind in our gardens,” She assured her future daughter-in-law. “Please enjoy them.” Her eyes lingered on the young woman as her voice softened. “They will be yours one day.” She broke the quiet contact as easily as she had made it—with a glance at her son. “Jinhai, if you please?”
When the children had left the hall for the garden, Lady Cuifen returned fully to the matter of the parents. Perhaps the more daunting hurtle in her parlor was not that Jinhai had come late to this meeting, such was the way of Baishi agents called back from on mission, but that his father, Lord Li had not come at all.
Eyes followed Jin from the hall—Da-Xia’s, her gaze hard, bitter, boring past him—to Lihua. He stepped between them, just to irk his aunt, and said: “Let’s walk further.”
He led her comfortably over a trail of smooth stones. He only knew the path for those stones. His mother’s gardens had grown strange to him, and Jinhai hardly recognized them in full spring, beyond the rhythmic clatter of her bamboo fountain—the even clack! that followed him from the Li House to the Baishi Temple grounds, and persisted through the seasons. It had been autumn when he’d been in these gardens last: the first rough winds and rains scattering Lady Cuifen’s pools with red maple leaves.
And he’d been alone.
Now, he kept a polite pace through the trees and flowers with the woman who would be his wife within another autumn—a winter, perhaps another spring, if her family was exceedingly patient. He had months, maybe, until she became—
‘My wife,’ he thought—the bamboo fount falling again, its strike ringing throughout the garden—so did the concept ring through Jin. He had trained for battle, for the Baishi—not for marriage. ‘But my wife. Who will live here,’ he pieced this out—feeling the empty corridors walling off the garden, as they seemed to wait for him. For as long as he could remember, this part of the house was distinctly unused—though it was always swept clean and kept in perfect preparation—preparation for the first son—for him—and his family. So, his future lay vaguely drawn for him—'Us,' he reminded himself—in the dustless shadows of its empty halls hanging over the garden. The images of expectation coming together—sharper, clearer—fast.
It was her future too. She would live here, even while he was away, for the rest of their lives. If anything, her future lay even deeper in the walls than his—the Baishi would send him where Heaven mandated, as they always had, but Heaven had no mandates for a wife.
They stopped under a willow trailing the pool with its branches, green leaves curling over a couple of koi fish.
“Do you like it?” Jin asked suddenly—out of curiosity genuine enough to surprise him.
(My goodness—what a thinky Jin today! Let me know if something doesn't make sense, and I can edit!)
Lihua is politely attentive in the few moments that stretch between her affirmative and her departure. But what truly strikes her is the reality that the gardens she's about to visit will be hers one day. And this woman, whom she has never met until today, will soon be one she calls Mother. (Or is it Mother-in-law? What exactly is customary, polite even, for when the time comes? In such haste, Lihua can't recall the formalities. But she supposes she'll have at least a year's time to sort her thoughts, of such matters and many more.)
This is the first step into her future. If all goes well, then she must consult her book right away--surely if Lord Jinhai is not too terrible, then her future must have changed.
She departs with a bow, and eye-contact so subtle the meaning is relayed clearly and quickly. She's held the future in her hands, stored it in a drawer, kept it bound in worn out leather, but for now, it lies in others.
The walk to the gardens seemingly stretches a year. Aside from the brief instruction to walk further, the silence appears to extend time itself. Perhaps it's nerves, or perhaps it's a unspoken courtesy as she is not on her own property, but Lihua doesn't see it fit to break the silence herself. So the still air persists.
As Lady Cuifen had promised, the gardens are exquisite. At least the lack of conversation allows more time for observation. The brightly colored blossoms, the sheer quantity of them, and the size of the gardens themselves all outdo those of the Wu estate. But the tint of unfamiliarity may be influencing her opinion just slightly. Something new always looks better than what one's accustomed too, doesn't it?
Though... one day, she will also become accustomed to these as well. What a heavy thought for a light stroll.
Lihua must confess: she had almost forgotten she was with company, very important company. The halt of footsteps registers well enough, but so enamored by the greenery and her thoughts she was that the moment she spots the koi fish's air bubbles rippling the surface of the water she kneels down at the edge to watch. Xing treasures the ones kept in his pond, more so than he treats most others, and how she'd love to show him these. Even if he might insist that his own are superior.
The rudeness of such an action, though, and the improperness only strikes her once Lord Jinhai speaks.
Straightening up right away (and almost falling over quite honestly, although she luckily regains her balance in time), the pink-haired woman swallows. Oh dear, hopefully he does not think rudely of her. "Y-Yes! I do." She steadies her voice and levels out any embarrassment within a few words. "It's beautiful, just as Lady Cuifen had said." She neglects to say the word "mother" on purpose.
A stray glance back to the finned creatures swimming. "...I have a friend who especially enjoys koi, in fact." It's a flimsy explanation, but the only one that leaves her throat.