(open) The world is cursed, but...

[xiaoxiuya]

What: Somehow, you find reasons to keep living.
Who: Shen Qingqiu
When: After the death of Eligos.
Where: Martin Blackwood's tea house
Warning(s): None

From time to time, but more often since that terrible night in March, Shen Qingqiu will provide live music for the patron's Martin's tea house. It's not something he does for payment -- he politely refuses even offered tips -- but simply for the pleasure of sharing the music with an appreciative audience. Guqin music is not intended for singing or dancing, but for quiet contemplation or a backdrop to genteel activities like reading or conversation...and it encourages a certain mindset in Shen Qingqiu, a honed focus-without-thought that provides a refuge from his own emotional turmoil. It is...extraordinarily peaceful.

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The show lasts for only half an hour, and once it is done Shen Qingqiu rises momentarily to bow to his audience before sitting down again to carefully clean his instrument. His mind is like a smooth mountain like, glassy and clear. It won't last, he knows, but for the moment at least nothing troubles him. Even the problems waiting for him at home seem very small and distant.

Comments

[for_i_have_none]

The teashop hasn't become one of Azimar's regular haunts in the time he's been here, but if there's one way to attract him into a new place, it's with a new kind of music. He overhears the delicate strings from the street, realizes at once they're from no instrument he's ever heard, and at once turns aside to step in.

Within a few minutes he's seated at a table near a window, cradling a cup of something herbal and fruit-scented between his half-gloved hands, and listening attentively to the music. When it ends, he joins the politely subdued applause, and waits for a little while before rising and making his way toward the musician.