Games with Mother Meixiang - A Simple Request

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

A gentle hum of a melody left the tall woman lips as she laid cards on the table. This lobby was immaculate she had to admit. Beautiful and simple, comforting even with the already comforting air of this solid afterlife. Why was she here? Did she had nowhere else to be? Perhaps her room. Perhaps the pool? Options abounded and yet she chose to return to the lobby and place her card down. Every single card carved of bone made a gentle click as she set them down and traced fingers along every crack and writing. Elements, ancient words that often meant so much and yet as little as she made them. She stared at the off-white surfaces of the card. It was amazing they held together with all they had been through. Were these really her cards? Or were they something else? She didn't know anymore and truthfully it hurt the silkworm to think about. Death was such a complicated subject, more complicated than the changing of nations...at least to her. How many people had she deceived with these cards? How many had she saved? Memories clung to the old bones just as she did. How sad....

She pursed her lips and picked them up again and with slender fingers began to shuffle them about one after the other and place them down again. Nothing....but of course. She was alone there. She did not need cards to read her own fortune, or more. She knew too much of herself. The truth was that...Mother's mind was racing and she desperately needed a distraction. She desperately needed to think of something different. She needed to play around. She was good at playing around, she was good at weaving, she was good at many a thing but she was never so good at not pondering. How that damn habit had led her here without those she knew....and with only thoughts.

Her melody stopped for a moment before she began a new song and sung to herself while she began to play with her card to distract herself. Small games but what she really wanted was another person. She wanted to read them....or to fool them. She might have been dead but her habits sure wouldn't die! She just didn't want to focus on things at that moment but what she wanted to focus on so she just remained there by her lonesome. A silkworm with her cards. 

Now if she could....who would want to play a game? She was sure she could think of a nice reward if they did....or get one if they were unlucky.

[LEROZERO]

Alais had just been given her key, a long metal shaft in the shape of a blade leading to the teeth of the key, each shaped like an iron spike of some sort. The bow, or handle, of the key looks like an ore that has been heated until red and smoking, though not single bit of smoke or heat emanated from it in the slightest. Alais now is just walking the halls of this...hotel, analyzing each decorative piece of furniture or potted plant, and passing by a seemongly endless amount of doors. Each one had its own number, some were single digits, but there was one that had the number 3,232,456 on it....Yeesh. Hope the hotel doesn't have shared restrooms...

Alais was still getting used to her situation, only just coming to terms with the fact that she apparently wasn't among the living anymore. Why everybody seemed to be from different time periods was still to be answered... Plus, how did she die? Hard to tell. If only that damn headache wouldn't happen each time she tried to remember...

Huh. In her time zoning out, it seems she has walked herself into a new room. A very large, new room. Comfy looking armchairs, a long couch that seemed to be like the ones most nobles had, and...that Mother lady. Her back was turned to Alais and she seemed to be humming a very beautiful faint tune, nothing like she has heard, honestly... Finally, after listening further, she walked around the couch to meet Mother's gaze.

"H-Hi, sorry for not making myself known, but...I was just listening to you hum." Alais chuckles slightly before nervously sitting down beside her. "What, uhh...What are you playing?"

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

Cutting the cards again Mother began a new game, shifting the bones along her fingers with a practiced focus and skill. She only paused slightly as she heard the sound of hooves clicking across the floors around the couch. Her golden eyes gently shifted in their sockets up towards a somewhat familiar face and settled right onto Alais. No surprise, but a warmth as her lips spread into a gentle smile. She did not stop shifting the cards in her hands as she tilted her her slightly as she spoke. Nervous? Mother did not interrupt or even shift slightly as her new guest joined her on the long couch. She chuckled "I am glad you liked my humming Miss Alais perhaps you won't mind if I sing for you another time. Do not worry about not announcing your presence I do quite enjoy surprises." nodding to her new companion "You're a very welcomed one. Have you settled into your room?" she asked as she turned to the cards in her hands.

"Tiān zhī ēnhuì or Heaven's Favor in your language. Its a social game and quite simple. We often make bets on it." and quite revealing if played well though that part she kept to herself. She finally stopped shuffling the cards and began to lay them out. The faces were marked by Chinese symbols as well as dots. Not quite the french suits most people were familiar with. She gently laid out the cards as she focused on them "One player assumes the role of an emperor while the other players take the role of those below them. They all start with 12 cards but the emperor with 24. The goal is for the players to obtain all five elements in their hands, or for the emperor to eliminate 'rebels'. The emperor lays down a mandate using an element, and the players respond with counter elements and intention but they can use cards of the same element and work together to intensify their intentions while the emperor can play elements in cycle to counter. Winning intention gets the cards though divided if they worked together." she chuckled though she realized her companion probably didn't much care about this one. She let out a small wistful laugh "Ah...my followers did love playing this game. Its more like a puzzle game by yourself."

She looked to Alais and observed her. She was cute. She hadn't encountered many Satyrs before truthfully so knew only sparse legends about them. They weren't so pleasant but she couldn't imagine this one was as Vicious as the ones the westerners told her about. Mother only smiled "How would you like to play a game with me? It doesn't have to be this of course but I think I would appreciate the company. Anything you know I can do though I don't have french suites." she said. She figured that they could both use the distraction and a little entertainment. No doubt Alais was still coming to terms with her death.