higginbottom | love set you going like a fat gold watch (open)

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love set you going like a fat gold watch (open)

Esther is being entrepreneurial. In fact, she has set up a small booth in the Mansion foyer with a sign that reads:

Let Me Write You a Poem (Or Equivalent Prose)

Of course, she hasn't had any takers yet, so she's feeling a little discouraged. But no matter! The point is, she's there, sitting and looking very prim and proper.

Looks can be deceiving, though she herself may not realize that yet.

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Esther pouts. She wasn't expecting this woman to be so good at poetry!

Still, she continues:

"Yes, you have beauty,
but is it truth? Retreat
before it's too late;
your own envy clouds
your lack of real hate."

She's noting how, in fact, pretty Gu Xiang is. Hmm.

Tilting her chin up, Gu Xiang meets Esther's blue eyes--but although the fierce challenge in her gaze hasn't dimmed, there's a playfulness now in her expression that was missing before. This is no longer a duel to the death; it's a sparring match between two equally matched opponents.

"Why should I envy
the willow's long arms?
The scholar tree blooms,
and bees flock in swarms
to that fragrant tree."

She pauses, dangling the comparison in that unfinished verse long enough to insult--then relents.

"But my hard heart warms.
Maybe there is room
For the willow's charms."

Esther actually blushes. This is...strange. There's a sort of thrill in this, this game between them.

"You're very talented," Esther says, after a moment, her mouth suddenly dry, and her face still hot.

"So are you," Gu Xiang admits, backing up a step and folding her arms. "So you'd better not break Gaheris's heart, or I'll pull your entrails out through your nose."

"I won't, I promise," she says. "He's so sweet; I could never hurt him."

A pause.

"You and he would be a good match, too, I think."

And if that hurts like a broken rib, Gu Xiang is ignoring it. "He doesn't think of me that way," she says, confidently wrong. "So you'd better not make him regret his choice!"

"Well, I won't," she replies. "I'll be kind to him, don't worry."

Esther is looking at Gu Xiang's lips. They're very nice lips. Hm.

"But you also have to be strict!" She begins circling Esther now, studying her like an aunt sizing up a niece for the marriage market. She's very slender, but also very pretty. She'd have great reach if she studied the sword--but she has a scholar's muscles, not a swordswoman's. She'd get eaten alive in the jianghu unless she was very, very tricky. No, she's probably better suited to be a fine lady, the kind who writes beautiful calligraphy and dresses in beautiful gowns and gets waited on by demure handmaidens all day. She probably knows all of the polite ways to eat and never just puts her face next to the bowl and shovels rice in. "He needs firm, clear guidance. He's got a deficiency--he's the unluckiest man I've ever met. So you have to make sure he knows exactly what to do, every step, or he's going to mess it up somehow, and it's not his fault! He's just cursed or something."

Esther watches Gu Xiang observe her. She thinks she's very pretty, and smart--not in the way that she expected, but still, very, very smart. Esther has a deep respect for anyone with intellect; Gu Xiang is no exception.

"I'm unlucky too, in some regards, but I've learned from my past," she admits, hoping that doesn't disqualify her. "I think he's a smart man, and that he could learn, too."

She shifts her weight in her chair, and feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she continues to blush.

"I have faith in him. He's a good person."

"What happened to you?" Gu Xiang asks immediately. "Was it before you came here? Or did it start when you got here?" If there's a bad-luck epidemic, she doesn't want to catch it!

"It was from before," Esther explains softly, looking down briefly before meeting Gu Xiang's gaze. "I struggled with depression, and had a nervous breakdown - among other misfortunes. Since coming here, I've felt a lot better. I'm much more stable."

For a moment, she looks as if she might cry.

"I want to be a better person. Gaheris helps me in that regard. He makes me feel...well, like I could aspire to something greater."

Gu Xiang reaches for Esther's wrist, feeling her pulse. She isn't sure what she's supposed to be feeling there--maybe a texture, like silk or like pearls moving under skin?--but all she feels is the steady thump of Esther's heartbeat against her fingers, and the radiant warmth of her petal-soft skin. Her own heart beats a little faster; she swallows. "If you've been feeling depressed, you might be deficient in yang energy, too," she says, letting Esther's wrist drop. "What are you eating?"

"Eating?" Esther hadn't considered her diet to be a problem. "I eat well enough, I think. Perhaps I could eat more warm things; I tend to run a touch cold." She shrugs, and almost feels disappointed when Gu Xiang lets go of her wrist.

"So it is a yang deficiency," says Gu Xiang triumphantly. "Just like Gaheris! I've been trying to fix it by changing what I fed him, but that was before I knew he was cursed."

"You were feeding him?" she asks, amused by the mental image. "What did you cook?"

"Lots of meat! Lamb and kidneys especially--and onion and radish, and mussels, and walnuts. And plenty of garlic, ginger, and peppers, obviously. But it's like he's a sieve for yang energy. It just goes right through him." She sighs. "Something's probably wrong with his meridians, but I don't know how to fix that."

"Maybe he's not used to your style of cooking," she suggests, trying to sound as gentle and non-threatening as is possible for her.

Which is to say, completely bitchily.

"He isn't," Gu Xiang agrees readily. "He goes all red and starts leaking from his whole face when he eats anything spicier than garlic. It's very pathetic."

Esther can't help but laugh a little.

"Well, I can't really blame him - I can't eat much spicy food either," she replies, amused.

"Well, no wonder you're so feminine!" says Gu Xiang. "But you have to keep in balance! Even a pretty feminine girl like you needs to have some yang energy, or you'll waste away!"

"So I should eat spicier foods?" Esther asks.

"Or at least onions, garlic, and kidneys," says Gu Xiang. "And vinegar, too! I can stir-fry some mustard greens and kidneys in vinegar for you!"

That doesn't sound particularly appetizing to Esther.

"What about cake? Can I eat cake and get better?"

Gu Xiang considers. A cake is cooked, so that's good, and it's sweet, which will help; however, a bean cake would be no good at all. But Esther probably means the kind of cakes that Gu Xiang's seen in the cafe, not the kind that Gu Xiang is used to. Gu Xiang's on weaker territory there. "Maybe a spiced nut cake," she allows grudgingly. "But not very much unless it has a lot of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger."

"Hm." Esther considers this. "I like cinnamon and nutmeg, so I think I could do that."

She pauses a moment.

"Do you think fresh air could help, too? I'm asking because I tend to stay indoors writing."

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thepurpledanger - 2026-02-08 20:14 (UTC) - Expand

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higginbottom - 2026-02-08 20:15 (UTC) - Expand

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