The streets of Daidao is packed full people, either hurrying from or to somewhere. The few that are not hurrying in some way or another are either shopping, eating or watching the street performers try to earn a living by showing what they can do, like have a partner place a large, heavy flat rock on top of his chest and shatter it with a strong sledgehammer blow or showing off their skills with their chosen weapons.
At where they figure is a safe distance from the weapon-users, carts are set up with various merchandise, mostly cosmetics and other fashion accessories.
"Young man," a fortune teller called out to a young man walking by. "I see a perilous future in store for you. Why don't you stay a while and listen?"
"Oh?"
The young man in question, one Feng Tai-Sun, wanders over to the fortune teller with an amused look. "It is only proper that for a perilous future, indeed I should listen."
Plopping down onto a stool by the fortune teller, and slipping a few coins for the fortune teller, asks, "So... what might my future bring?"
"Hold out your hand," the fortune-teller instructed. "So I may see what your future brings."
Tai-Sun raises an eyebrow at that.
"How might you know the future is so perilous, if there is need for my hand to tell what it might bring in the first place?" he asks amusedly, but complies nonetheless as he sticks out his right hand, revealing an oddly discolored arm in doing so.
"Ah, you see," the fortune teller explained. "I can only tell that you have a perilous future by looking at your features, I cannot tell precisely what will happen."
Ignoring the oddly discoloured arm, he then takes Tai-Sun's hand and looks at the palm lines, as well as squeezing his hand in various places to get a feel of the bone structures.
"Hmm, this year will be an eventful year for you", he nodded. "You will meet people you've never met and go places you've never been, and get into very dangerous situations. If you're not careful, your blood may empty."
"Here," he takes out a charm from his pockets. "You can purchase a charm for a lowly price. It will keep you safe."
OOC: The "blood may empty" thing basically means he'll come to bodily harm and maybe even death ^_^
"Of course," Tai-Sun replies with a grin at the man's quick explanation as he allows his hand to be squeezed.
Following the prediction, Tai-Sun grins once more. "I am always careful, but you have my thanks for the warning. I must regretfully pass on the charm, as I would prefer to entrust my safety to my own abilities than my faith."
Bowing, the young man turns to leave.
"You should never discount faith, you know," the fortune teller calls out as Tai-Sun leaves. "There is a higher force governing us. If you refuse to believe, it may eventually lead to your end."
Tai-Sun shrugs as he leaves the area, choosing not to heed the fortune-teller's suggestion. The man got enough of his coins today, thank you very much. In fact, he should probably check how much he has left...
Digging into his bag, he checks exactly how much he has before he decides where to head to next.
Tai-Sun discovers that he has 30 pieces of bronze coins, as well as two 5-tael silver sycee. Enough for a nice meal at a restaurant and two or three nights of accomodations.
OOC: Silver sycee is a form of currency. tael is a measurement of weight, and the sycee is pure silver, so it's worth a bit. A tael isn't that heavy though, so it's not that much ^_^
Hmm...well, Tai-Sun -was- feeling a bit peckish, so he looks around for what looks to be decent restaurants and inns in town to get a bite to eat.
Several restaurants and inns lined the streets, but only one stood out with its reputation of being a five-star restaurant chain: Tian Yi Lou, or literally, "Heaven One House".
There are other decent restaurants, namely Yun Zhong Lou, or literally "House in the Clouds", Wu Ming Lou, or literally "Nameless House".
There are inns as well, for those who desire accomodations as well as food. Kao Sheng Ke Zhan, or "Rise Fast Tavern", Long Men Ke Zhan, or "Dragon Door Inn".
Long Men Ke Zhan sounded decent enough a place before he moves on in his travels, so that's where Tai-Sun heads towards, hoping they have a nice selection of food and comfortable rooms, both at decent prices. If not... well, he could always continue to look around.
"Hello," a waiter, carrying a teapot and a cloth, walks to the door and greeted Tai-Sun as he steps into the inn. "How many people?"
"Just one," Tai-Sun replies politely. "Might I inquire as to the cost of one night's stay and a good meal?"
"That depends on your definition of good," the waiter replied. "For a night in the Ren rooms it's one tael of silver per night, food can be anywhere from two bronze coints to one tael of silver."
"Hmm...I'll think on the stay after some food then. What is available today?" Tai-Sun asks politely.
The waiter sighed.
"Why don't you name something and we'll see if we have it? There's no way for me to list everything we have."
"Well...I am partial to sweet pork buns as well as roast duck," Tai-Sun replies after some thought about what would really hit the spot. "If you don't have either, if you can also recommend a decently priced dish, that might do it."
"We've got both of those," the waiter replied. "Do you want anything else?"
"Just some water, thank you."
The waiter turned and walked away, and moments later returned with a cup of water, a plate of four steaming hot sweet pork buns and a plate of roast duck.
"Enjoy," he said simply, and walked away.
Elsewhere in the restaurant, the people chatter as they do everywhere: current events, affairs with other men/women, bitches everywhere, etc.
Tai-Sun eats his dinner in silence, though he does keep an ear out for any news of interest to an aspiring martial artist like himself.
The occupants of the restaurant talk mostly of mindless chatter, but one subject seems to be talked of more than others. Apparently, the daughter of the rich landlord of the city is marrying a martial artist.
'Surprising, most lords wouldn't care all that much for a martial artist marrying their daughters... at least not unless they had more to offer than just fighting prowess anyway,' Tai-Sun thinks regarding the matter, as he starts paying attention more to that matter as he enjoys his meal out of idle curiosity.
From what Tai-Sun can gather from the broken pieces of conversation, the wedding about to take place is a shotgun wedding, the would-be groom having already impregnated the future bride. The groom is also something of a wannabe-hero, his average skill making him suitable for small help but nothing that can tip the scale on anything.
Tai-Sun snorts at hearing the description of said martial artist's prowess. Well, he could understand the marriage now, with the pretext of keeping the girl's honor. Finishing his meal, he motions for the waiter so as to pay for his meal, the waiter having never mentioned the price.
"The meal will be four bronze coins," a different waiter said with a smile.
With a nod, and handing out his payment for his meal, Tai-Sun heads towards the entrance, where he wishes to request a room for the night.
"A room for one night will be one tael of silver for our cheap rooms, and five tael for our luxury rooms," the clerk at the counter tells Tai-Sun. "Which one do you want?"
"A cheap room will do," the martial artist replies politely as he hands the one silver tael. Looking outside, he checks on the sun's position to decide whether it'd be worth his time to continue walking around outside.
The sun is a bit off from being dead center in the sky, making it the equivalent of 1-2pm.
Well, definitely too early to stick around his room and wait for the sun to go down, so after taking his key, Tai-Sun heads back outside, wandering around while looking for something to do, hopefully something involving a fight.
As Tai-Sun stepped out into the streets, a legion of people make their way towards the north end of the street, wearing traditional ceremonial clothing and carrying the bridge on a wooden carriage, supported on both sides by a total of eight people. Evidently the previously mentioned wedding is about to take.
To the east, a local pawn shop, and the west lies more taverns and inns and restaurants.
As he didn't have an invitation to the wedding (nor did he particularly want to go there anyway), Tai-Sun heads elsewhere, randomly selecting the eastern direction.
"Hold it right there!" a tiny voice seems to come out of nowhere.
Whipping around, Tai-Sun searches for the source of the voice. "Who said that?"
Tai-Sun feels a kick in the shins, in an effort to bring his eye level down about two or three feet.
"I'm here!"
'What the hell?' he thinks to himself in a grimace as he looks downward.
Tai-Sun finds the cause of his pain to be a small boy, no more than ten or twelve years old.
"Kid... want to tell me why you just hit my shins?" he asks with forced restraint, as he barely resists the urge to knock the kid down until he's drilled into his head that hitting strangers was a -bad- idea.
"Why aren't you going to my sister's wedding?" the kid demanded in the most hostile tone a ten-year-old kid can muster. "She's not happy! She needs more people!"
"Well, for one, I don't know your sister. Second, even if I didn't need to, I don't have an invitation. Third, don't kick people in the shins. It's rude," Tai-Sun comments to the youth. 'I got kicked for this?'
"Doesn't matter!" the kid whined. "You don't need to know her, and you don't need an invitation!"
"You haven't covered the third reason, kid," Tai-Sun mutters as he crosses his arms, waiting for an apology. He could be convinced to go if the kid did that.
"How am I supposed to get your attention otherwise?" the kid huffed. "You're like three feet taller than me!"
"I'm not deaf, for one," is the calm reply. Raising an eyebrow, he stands firmly, still waiting on his apology.
"Says you!" the kid retorted. "I yelled and you couldn't even see me!"
"I wasn't expecting anyone so short," Tai-Sun replies wrily. Looks like he's not going to be getting an apology.
"I'm ten!" the kid cried. "What do you expect?"
"Who could have easily asked for someone to look down rather than shouting at them and then kicking them. Is there a point to all this, kid?" Tai-Sun asks.
"I said the point five minutes ago!" the boy glared. Or as much of a glare as a ten-year-old can manage. "Go to my sister's wedding!"
"Why would I go to the wedding of someone who can't teach her brother some manners?" Tai-Sun asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Because she wants more people!" the boy insisted. "Are you going to go or not?!"
"Are you apologizing or not?" Tai-Sun replies, mimicking the boy's tone of voice.
"I have nothing to apologize for!" the boy whined. "It's your fault you couldn't see me! Are you going to go or not?!"
"Sorry, no. Like I said, not interested in the wedding of someone who can't teach her family some manners," Tai-Sun replies as he whips around and starts to walk away. He does keep his senses prepared for another 'attack' from the brat though.
The young boy kicks Tai-Sun in the shins again.
"You big jerk!"
Tai-Sun twists back as he feels himself struck in the shin and frowns at the brat. "Alright brat," he says in an annoyed voice before picking him up. "Where do you live? I want to talk to this sister of yours about what a brat you are."
A hint of fear flashed across the child's features as the threat of telling an elder figure is mentioned, but he quickly brightens as the idea of Tai Sun going to pay a visit to his sister sinks in.
"Okay!" he tries childishly to hide his cheer. "Just follow the crowd!"