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Post by liechtenstein on Mar 31, 2011 18:16:13 GMT
It was another cleaning day at the Chens. Lilli's mother had a few houses to go through today and Lilli had volunteered to help. There'd been a short line at the city gates and the guards hadn't more than glanced at Lilli's ID, showing that she was a Lowlander who had work papers to travel into Highland city. It was disconcerting, traveling into a city so different from her own. The tall skyscrapers were imposing and beautiful and seemed to lift up the sky. Although Lilli liked the bustle of the metropolis, she also liked the quiet of the edges of the city.
Perhaps the Chens agreed, because their house was in the Suburbs. Stately elms lined the block, foliage lush and thick. The house itself had many rooms, many knickknacks from far away places. In the main living room, Lilli picked up a statuette and carefully began to dust it while her mother began the heavier chore of gathering sheets from the bedrooms for laundering.
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Post by taiwan on Mar 31, 2011 19:21:35 GMT
Mingxia sat, typing at her slim-profile, sleek little laptop. She was supposed to be working on a paper for school, but... the cleaning girl had her distracted to say the least. That ribbon she was wearing in her hair was so pretty...
"What's your name, miss?" she asked, shutting her laptop. So much for having it done a week early. It seemed wrong that she didn't know the name of the girl who'd probably be cleaning her room in an hour.
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Post by liechtenstein on Apr 1, 2011 0:20:48 GMT
Lilli startled at the voice from the sofa, nearly dropping what she was certain was the priceless statuette of a lion. Her mother had explained that there was a girl her age in the Chen household, but she had yet to meet her when she had helped with house cleaning before.
Lilli stepped closer to the back of the couch and peered down. There was a girl there with a lovely flower in her hair and bright eyes. She was typing on a laptop, lying belly down and it seemed certain that she had seen Lilli over the sofa's back, although Lilli had not seen her.
"Ah, my name is Lilli. " Lilli fumbled around nervously and her fingers went up into her own short hair. Where the Chens' daughter had arranged a flower, she herself had arranged a ribbon, hemmed from a scrap of fabric at her family's tailor shop. Lilli smiled shyly, "May I ask what yours is?"
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Post by taiwan on Apr 1, 2011 12:26:59 GMT
"A-ah, I'm sorry I startled you," Mingxia stammered. "I almost made you drop Muqin's Lao Hu statue too, oh no..." She sat up, leaning on the back of the sofa. "That's one of our only possessions from the old world," she said, looking at it appreciatively.
"Mingxia. It means 'strong of will', or 'bright halo', something like that... I've never been able to memorize it..." She fidgeted with her flower, a nervous habit of hers. She looked up at Lilli, smiling apologetically. "It's nice to meet you, Lilli. By the way, I like your ribbon... where did you get it? Did you make it?"
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Post by liechtenstein on Apr 1, 2011 23:16:41 GMT
"It was a leftover piece of fabric from a dress my father was tailoring," Lilli said shyly. "We actually have a lot of odds and ends at the shop. I'd be happy to make you some if you'd like."
Lilli paused briefly, carefully set down the lion with a new reverence. Her own family had an heirloom from a great grandmother, but nothing from the Old World.
"I can't imagine having something like this at home," Lilli said. "I think I'd be tiptoeing around all the time."
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Post by taiwan on Apr 2, 2011 3:49:51 GMT
Mingxia nodded. "Please do! I can tie my flowers in my hair with them. What colors do you have?" she asked, looking at the one in her hair. "O-or maybe I should come see myself...?" Did her parents own the shop? Or did they merely work at one?
She watched Lilli gingerly place the lion back down. "You know, it's called Lao Hu, but it's of a lion. 'Lao hu' was supposed to mean 'tiger'... O-oh, I'm sorry, I must sound really snobbish, don't I?" she asked nervously. Her hand went back up to her flower.
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Post by liechtenstein on Apr 2, 2011 4:30:01 GMT
Lilli took the ribbon off her own hair and handed it over to Mingxia.
"Here," Lilli offered. "I can see your flower's becoming loose so you can borrow this. If...if you'd like I can make some more for you in different colors. We don't normally make ribbons, but I use whatever scrap we have after father's done trimming in our tailor's shop. Um...so we don't have them on hand, normally."
She noticed Mingxia was having a little trouble and and came over to help her tie her flower.
"I'm sorry about not knowing about Lao Hu," Lilli said as she helped thread the ribbon through Mingxia's hair and around the blossom. Her hair was very soft. "You're not being snobbish at all! I-I just didn't learn much about the Old Culture in school."
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Post by taiwan on Apr 11, 2011 13:48:17 GMT
Mingxia blinked as the girl helped her with the ribbon. "A-Ah... thank you..." she mumbled. "I would like that very much," she said with a small smile. "You know, maybe I could sell them... You see, I run a store at the Highlands School, and I'm always looking for new things to sell."
She shook her head a little when Lilli apologised. "N-no! It's okay. I don't blame you... They don't have very many teaching materials for the Old Culture in the Lowlands, do they...?"
[[ ACK SHORT POST, SORRY. ]]
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Post by liechtenstein on Apr 11, 2011 23:33:22 GMT
Lilli smiled and finished tidying Mingxia's hair. "Well, the good part of not having too many books was learning how to share. There."
She stepped back. The pale yellow of the ribbon matched nicely with Mingxia's flower.
"If you'd like to sell the ribbons, that'd be wonderful! But, I do them by hand so I can't make as many as the garment factories do..."
Lilli furrowed her brow and started thinking like her father.
"Maybe the selling point could be them being one of a kind or custom-made? I can embroider patterns onto each one! I can bring some more next time and show you some designs!" Lilli said all in a rush and then blinked, realizing she was getting a bit ahead of herself. But, the shop wasn't doing well and the bank had yet to approve their application for a loan.
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