Welcome to Charles(Kaldeagirl)'s journal for Lian Hua. Please do not post with Kaldeagirl's permission, thank you.


Lian Hua comes from Tales of the Middle Country, a breedable/changing pet shop. To visit the main shop go here.

Post 01 -------- Journal Intro
Post 02 -------- Directory
Post 03 -------- Rules
Post 04 -------- Profiles
Post 05 -------- Stages
Post 06 -------- Relationships
Post 07 -------- Event Log
Post 08 -------- Scrapbook
Post 09 -------- Point Count
Post 10 -------- ???
Post 11 -------- ???
Post 12 -------- ???
Post 13 -------- ???
Post 14 -------- ???
Post 15 -------- ???

01. Please do not post in this journal unless you have explicit permission from me.
02. If you would like to post, please PM me.
03. Please do not steal any of the images used in this journal. All of the TotMC artwork and graphics were created by tooaya.
04. Please do not steal/borrow my item and/or journal entry concepts.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation!

Charles Walker

Gender: Male
Age: 18
Biography: Charles is a senior in high school. He lives in a small, two-story house with his mother. Due to his family's low income, he does odd jobs around his neigborhood to pay for his college tuition.
Charles' charisma, childlike smile, and seemingly unassailable resilience attract many friends and admirers, namely Jane, a wealthy and beautiful girl from his school. Charles had long pined for Jane from afar, and when he discovered that she returned his feelings, they began a shaky and uncertain relationship.
Charles has a tendency to judge people based on their appearance, and can be a bit arrogant when it comes to matters of intelligence. Although he is gifted with creativity and an active imagination, he forced himself to stifle these talents in attempt to win the affection of his estranged father.
Habits: Aside from making often inaccurate judgements of those he encounters, Charles has a habit of tipping back in his chair when thinking. The risky, imbalanced position heightens his awareness, and thus facilitates his cognitive activity. However, his girlfriend once likened his habit to a circus act, and since then, Charles has refrained from performing the act in front of her, for fear that she will think him a freak.

(( more information will be added/revised later ))



Lian Hua

Gender: Female
Age: Unknown. Her soul is over 2000 years old, but she appears to be in her late teens.
Name: "Lian Hua" is Mandarin for "lotus".
Past Life: Lian Hua was born during the Warring States period in ancient China to a desperately poor peasant family. Her parents named her after the lotus flower in hopes that she would one day rise from her humble beginnings and blossom into a prosperous woman. Unfortunately, the fulfillment of this wish was never to be witnessed by her parents. Not long after her 15th birthday, soldiers from a neighboring kingdom invaded her village. After raping Lian Hua and killing her parents, they left the town in a state of utter destruction. Tortured by the memories of the soldiers' atrocities unto her body and her family, Lian Hua put an end to her misery by drowning herself in a lake. The Gods took pity upon her sorrowful plight, and transformed her dead body into an immortal lotus seed. However, they decreed that the seed remain dormant and Lian Hua's soul unawakened until the proper caretaker was to be found...
Present Life: Reincarnated as the spirit of the lotus, Lian Hua takes on many of the characteristics of her namesake...

(( more information will be added/revised later ))



The Artifact

General Information: The sacred lotus (nelumbo nucifera) is an aquatic plant originating from Asia. Its leaves are green and fully circular while its petals can range in color from white to yellow to pink. They typically sprout and blossom nine inches or so above the water's surface, depending on the total length of the plant. The exact location of its origins remains unknown, though it is commonly believed to have come from India. The lotus has since spread throughout the Orient and the Middle East, becoming a highly valued and culturally significant species in countries such as China, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand.
Lotuses are not to be confused with waterlilies (nymphaeaceae) or Egyptian lotuses (nymphaea), which are of a different order, family, and genus.
Cultivation: Lotuses are most frequently cultivated in ponds and aquatic gardens, but can also be seen in pots. Dating from ancient China, they have historically been grown in rice bowls and other small decorative bowls.
Symbolism: In Buddhist texts and Chinese culture, the lotus is seen as a symbol of rebirth, purity, and enlightenment. It begins its growth underwater in mud, but it eventually blossoms up to 50 cm above water level. This natural occurrence is akin to the human spirit's progression from ignorance and suffering to enlightenment and peace. Due to its religious significance, the lotus is frequently placed before altars and images of the Buddha as an offering.
Cultural Significance: The lotus often appears in Chinese art and mythology. For example, He Xiangu of the Eight Immortals is often seen in paintings holding a lotus. Also, the goddess of compassion, Kwan Yin, is frequently drawn as being seated atop a large lotus blossom. In both cases the lotus is an indicator of their ability to remain pure despite the corruption surrounding them.
Practical Uses: All parts of the lotus are edible, but the roots and seeds are most commonly eaten. Lotus roots have long been used in Chinese medicine to cool down the body, and contemporary research has shown them to be rich in vitamins and other nutrients.
The lotus seeds can be boiled into a soup for desserts, or mashed into a paste. The paste then can be used to make a variety of pastries, including mooncakes and rice pudding. Seeds crystallized by syrup are a popular Chinese dessert served around the new year.
2,000 Year Lotus Seed? Although the idea of cultivating a 2000-year-old lotus seed sounds like something out of a myth or folk tale, such cases have been chronicled in the records of taxonomy. The most well-known case is that of the Japanese gentleman, Dr. Ohga. Following World War II, he discovered an ancient lotus seed buried deep in the bed of the Kemigawa River. It was estimated to be over 2000 years old and thus thought inviable, but when Ohga planted the seed, it successfully sprouted and grew into a beautiful blossom. Today, the Ohga lotus is widely cultivated across Japan.
Another case was recorded in 1951 involving three 2000-3000 year lotus seeds found in a Manchurian lake bed in China. Once planted, the lotus seeds germinated and blossomed into what is now known as the Manchurian lotus.

Online Resources: [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] [x]
Text Resources: Encyclopedia of Water Garden Plants, by Greg Speichert and Sue Speichert. Portland, Oregon: 2004

Stage 1 - Artifact



The magical experience begins by obtaining an artifact from the shop. Some will look very old and outdated, while the others might look more modern. Whichever is the case, the artifacts are dormant at this stage. You have the choice to either sell it to an antique dealer or keep it...

Stage 2 - Enhanced



For whatever reason you have kept the artifact with you, and one day you find that smoke is coming out of the artifact! No, no water...it's not on fire, don't worry. But at this point, surely you'd want to take this thing back to Kirin and return it because it creeps you out, right? No?

Stage 3 - Sprite

So somehow you managed to not throw this haunted artifact away... Well what about now? Waking up today you find a little creature sitting next to/on top of/around/within your artifact! And WTF it talks! Although really...all it can say is Chinese...you might want a translator for it, or choose to throw the thing away.
Oh but wait! Why is this thing still here?? You were sure that you had buried it somewhere far away! Looks like this litte thing is stuck on you...Maybe it would be helpful to ask Kirin what to do.

Stage 4 - Spirit

At this stage your little artifact creature has grown to the point that it is able to go around without carrying the artifact. Depending on your decision, it might speak a little English...but that's not for sure. Oh well, at least you have a companion in your life? You still can't touch them though...XD;

Stage 5 - ???

If you really are attached to your spirit, then perhaps you should consult Kirin to preform a mortalization on your artifact. Who knows what happens afterwards...

(( text is taken from the TotMC shop ))

Charles & Besnik Rosenford

Charles met Besnik Rosenford by chance at school. Accidentally crashing into him in the hallway, they got to talking, and Charles volunteered to help Besnik with the poetry unit in his English class.
Charles thinks of Besnik as a self-conscious but agreeable guy, and considers him a good friend in the making. Charles is excited by the fact that Besnik also knows of the bizarre antique shop. He hopes to discuss the topic more with Besnik after final exams, as well as continue to acquaint himself with the boy.

Charles & Beth Stanton

Charles lives with Beth Stanton, who is his mother. For the most part, their relationship is typical of normal mother-son relationships, although they tend to argue less than the norm. Beth has single-handedly raised Charles since the age of 8, when his father left, and consequently they have come to rely on one other. Another factor contributing to their good relations is Beth's easy-going personality. She sees little point in nagging her son, and the relative lack of tension between them results in open communication.


Charles & Dewei Yu


Charles & Jane Ringfield


Charles & Mindy


Charles & Ran Pierce


Charles & Richard Walker


Charles & Zander Kipford

Charles befriended Zander Kipford in the first year of high school. At the time, Charles had not yet established himself in the social sphere, and Zander was branded as something of an outcast due to his unusual personality, which can be summed up in the term "hippie". Since then, they have become very close friends. Zander is usually the first person Charles talks to when dealing with a problem or when he simply feels like shooting the breeze.

Shop Events

05/03/08 --------- Lotus seed obtained from shop!
05/04/08 --------- Charles' journal is created.
06/07/08 --------- Lotus seed reaches enhanced stage.


RP Log

[x] - Charles stumbles upon Kirin's antique shop while attempting to find his way into the city. He finds a "2000 year lotus seed" in the shop, and decides to purchase it as a birthday gift for his girlfriend, Jane.
[x] - Charles returns home and decides to keep the lotus seed for himself. His mother gives him a shawl to give to Jane instead.
[x] - Charles goes to the Menewsha Botanical Gardens to find out more about the lotus seed. He encounters Dewei and Ran. An employee at the Gardens tells Charles that the seed is fake, but Ran isn't so sure...
[x] - Charles has a disturbing dream, and wakes up to find that his lotus seed is now giving off bubbles! The artifact has reached its enhanced stage.
[x] - Charles runs into Besnik at school and decides to help tutor him in poetry. He discovers that Besnik has also visited the strange antique shop, and Charles gives him his cell phone number so that they can get together over the summer.
[x] - Following his session with Besnik, Charles goes to English class and finds that the sophomore and senior classes have been mixed. He pairs up with Mindy for a class assigment. (( in progress ))
[x] - Charles stays up late the night before his final exams to cram, and has a brief conversation with the lotus seed.


Planned RPs

- Charles meets up with Besnik and tries to convince him into attending Prom.
- Charles goes to Prom with Jane and encounters Besnik and Mindy.

(( click on the thumbnails for a larger view ))

Photographs of Lian Hua

In order for your artifact to grow, you must save up a certain amount of points. Points are reset everytime your artifact grows.

Artifact --> Enhanced: 20 points
Enhanced --> Sprite: 50 points
Sprite ---> Spirit: 200 points*
Spirit --> ???: a lot of points....**

* Must include a journal, a journal entry about meeting the sprite, and a PRP appointment with kirin.

** Must be active in the main thread, must include a journal entry about meeting the spirit, and another PRP appointment with Kirin. Stage progression depends on overall activity.

Points can be gained by...

Posting in the shop (1 point per post)
Setting up journal (10 points)
Journal entry (5 points)
ORP post (2 points per post)
Completion of private RP (10 points)
Participation in RP event (10 points)

(( text is taken from the TotMC shop ))


Shop Posts ------- 1 point (x44) = 44 points
Journal Entry ------- 5 points (x2) = 10 points
ORP Post ------- 2 points (x???) = ??? points
Private RP ------- 10 points (x2) = 20 points
RP Event ------- 10 points (x???) = ??? points

Point Total as of 06/26/08: 74 points

Last Point Reset: 6/07/08 (seed reaches enhanced stage)

A Fateful Encounter


Charles was lost. Horribly lost. He had been riding around on his bike for two hours trying to find the road that let into the city, but it was to no avail. Suddenly, the task of finding the perfect birthday gift for his hard-to-please girlfriend seemed even more daunting than it already was. Armed only with the 800 gold that remained after paying for his college textbooks, Charles stopped on the side of the street and let his bike fall to the ground with a satisfying clunk.

"I didn't even know it was possible to get lost in the suburbs," he laughed to himself as he sat down on the sidewalk.
Wiping the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his T-shirt, he pulled a wallet out of his pocket. Nestled in one of the credit card slots was a tiny picture he had taken at a photo booth. Charles pulled it out and smiled as Jane's azure eyes met his. He had wanted to hire a professional photographer to take their picture at Christmas as a surprise for Jane, but all his money was tied up in paying for school.

Just as he was about to slide the photo back into its place, a sudden gust of wind pried it from his slender fingers and sent it into the air. Charles leaned as far as he could in attempt to catch his prized possession, but the photo danced away, almost provokingly. Quickly, he regained his balance and gave chase. He nearly caught the picture twice, but each time, it slipped only centimeters beyond his grasp. Suddenly, the wind died down, and Charles caught it just as it was about to hit the wooden floor.

"Wooden floor?!" Charles intoned.
He looked around in wonder and realized that he had chased the photo all the way into a shop. He couldn't help but laugh. His mother was always complaining about how oblivious he was to his surroundings, and now he realized that she was absolutely right. Brushing the dirt off of the photo, he began to walk around the spacious room. Everywhere he looked he was faced with a variety of antiques and treasures, textiles and tapestries. The goods had a distinctly Oriental flair; Chinese, Charles guessed. It then occurred to him that he might not have to go shopping in the city, after all. Jane had very expensive tastes, to be sure, but she was also a great appreciator of the exotic. Wiping his hands on the front of his pants, Charles examined a few jade hairpins that were displayed on an oakwood table. They were extremely beautiful and smooth to the touch, but Jane had an entire trunk filled with jewelry and accessories. It would mean very little to her, even coming from Charles.

He then proceeded to look at a porcelain teapot and a mini Fu dog, but decided against them for fear that he might break them on his way back home. Charles backed up to get a better view of the shop, and in doing so, bumped into a small pedestal. A small glass bowl filled with water went hurling into the air. He whisked around just in time to catch it, wetting his hands in the process. Sighing in relief, he moved to put the bowl back on the pedestal. An enticing gleam of gold caught his eye. Floating in the shallow water of the bowl was a ball roughly the size of a grape. Under the warm lighting of the shop, the ball seemed to glow with life. On the pedestal stood a cardboard sign that read, "2000 Year Lotus Seed".

Charles blinked. "Wouldn't a seed have decomposed after so many years?" he thought. His more logical side insisted that the whole thing was a hoax, and that the jade hairpins he had been admiring earlier must have been made of plastic. However, he couldn't help but hope, in a childish sort of way, that the seed truly was alive and as old as the sign claimed. After all, it would certainly impress Jane, who was obsessed with mythology and folklore. He peered at the sign again. The price was exactly 800 gold. Maybe, just maybe...

"The photo of me and Jane led me to this place," Charles mused, "so maybe it's...fate?"
He paused for a moment to consider the thought, and then laughed.
"Since when have I been a dreamer, hmm?"

Dejectedly, he placed the bowl back onto the pedestal and dipped his fingertips into the water. Almost instantly, he felt a tiny pulse coming from inside the seed. Had it just been his imagination? Both intrigued and slightly frightened, Charles closed his thumb and forefinger around the seed. B-dump.

"There it is!" he whispered fiercely. He swung his head around, looking to see if there was anyone with whom he could share his overflowing excitement. All the way in the back of the room, a girl with caramel colored skin sat slouched in a chair, appearing not to have taken notice of Charles. Light brown hair hung over her sleepy midnight eyes as she moved ever so slightly to the music that issued from her headphones. Charles was somewhat taken aback. He had assumed that such an upscale establishment as this would be monitored by an equally attentive salesperson.

Nevertheless, the seed pulsed again, almost insistently this time.
Charles made up his mind. He gingerly picked up the bowl and walked to the back of the shop.

Switchback


The sky faded into a mysterious shade of deep blue as Charles pulled into the driveway of his sagging, two-story house. It almost appeared to sigh as it turned its twin windows, which bore a remarkable resemblance to a set of eyes, to gaze lazily upon the boy’s nearing silhouette. Charles was accustomed to the human-like face of his house; ever since childhood he had been blessed (or cursed) with the ability to see every inanimate object as a living creature. His mother, a freelance writer who drank coffee and chai by the gallon to stimulate her “muses”, had welcomed Charles’ unique perspective as creativity.
“From my side of the family, of course.”

His late father, however, had regarded it as a sign of psychosis, and rushed his son off to see a psychologist, only to be sent home with the reassurance that Charles was completely normal, in addition to a bill that took a notable swing at his chances of attending college.

Charles shook his head. Just one glance at his own home reminded him of all his past anxieties.
“It’s done with,” he murmured to himself. “I got into college, paid for it, and now I even have a girlfriend.”

Jane’s soft face entered his thoughts. Charles imagined her lips opening up into a smile as he presented her with the golden lotus seed.
“How beautiful!” her image crooned. “This is the best present anyone has ever given me!”

Charles held back a satisfied chuckle as he inspected the bowl he had bought from the strange antique shop. Most of the water had sloshed out during the ride home, but the seed remained safely inside the bowl. Under the white light of the waxing moon, it took on an enchanting glow that hinted at its glorious potential for life. He couldn’t help but feel a small sadness at the thought of giving away such a beautiful object. Charles’ thoughts were interrupted by the raucous creaking of the front door.

The pale, tired face of a middle-aged woman appeared in the doorway like a ghostly apparition.
“You missed dinner,” she drawled.
“I hope you saved some for me,” Charles laughed, breaking his lips into a boyish smile that no woman could resist. His mother stood firm for a moment, but then gave in to his playful expression.
“You’re lucky you’re still so cute. God knows you’d be sunk without it.”
Charles puffed out his slender chest as he walked up the pavement and into the house.
“You’re forgetting my wonderful personality!”
“Right. What did you end up getting for Jane?” She closed the front door with her bulk and clicked the lock into place.
Charles held up the fragile glass bowl, which had miraculously survived the journey.
“It’s a lotus seed.”

His mother peered inside the bowl and sniffed its contents.
“You took five hours to buy a lotus seed? Does Jane even like that kind of thing?” The way in which she spoke his girlfriend’s name showed no attempt in concealing her obvious distaste for Charles’ choice in women. She immediately regretted it, however, when she saw the vaguely hurt expression on her son’s face.

“Jane likes exotic things like this. Plus, the sign at the store said that the seed is 2000 years old!”
“2000 years? There’s no way this could be that old. And if it were true, it wouldn’t be able to grow anyway.” Secretly, she was surprised that Charles would fall for such a blatant scam. Although he was naïve, Charles was intelligent enough to know that no plant could last for such a long time.
“Well, no matter. Just…if you’re going to take so long to pick something out, at least tell me.”
“I would, if I had a cell phone!”

His mother grinned and walked into the kitchen. A moment later she returned with a smooth, metallic object in her hand. She placed it in her son’s empty palm and said, “it’s about time we got you one. With you going to college next year, you’re going to need this.”
Charles looked both elated and panicked at once. “But…I don’t have enough money to pay you back! I spent the last of my money to buy this.” He hefted the bowl.
“Don’t worry about it. Think of it as an early graduation gift from me and your father.”
He could only gawk at the slick packaging. It was a simple phone – their family could afford no more – but it was a phone nonetheless.

“Now, about that lotus seed…” Charles’ mother scratched the back of her ear. “I don’t think you should give that to Jane. If it ends up not growing, she might dump you or something.” She laughed at the absurdity of the statement. Although it sounded absolutely ridiculous, she could easily picture such a thing happening.

Charles felt an almost reflexive protest forming in the back of his throat, but he halted it before it could leave his mouth. In all honesty, he had developed an indescribable attachment to the seed ever since he thought he had felt it giving off a pulse. He didn’t like the idea of keeping something that he had picked out for someone else, particularly Jane, but he suddenly wanted it more than he had ever wanted anything.

“But…what would I give her? Her birthday is the day after tomorrow, and I don’t have any money left.”

Charles’ mother was caught off guard by his response, and even more by his expression. She never would have expected him to take such an interest in flowers. Wrinkling her brow in vexation, she retreated from the room. Charles heard the scattered sounds of boxes being moved next door. He shifted the bowl between his hands and walked to the sink to refill it. When he turned back around, his mother stood before him, holding a delicate, pink shawl.

“It belonged to grandma,” she mumbled, refusing to make eye contact with her son. “Jane would like this kind of thing, I think. It’s ‘vintage’. Just don’t tell her that it’s from me.”

Charles grasped the fine silk between his fingers and rubbed it gently. It was unbelievably soft. Jane would love it. He tried to convince himself that she would love it more than she could ever love the lotus seed.
“Are you sure?”

She nodded stiffly and seated herself at the kitchen table to pour herself a mug of coffee. After taking a long sip, she smacked her lips together.
“You know, if you want that seed to even have a chance at growing, you’ll need to fill that bowl with dirt.”

Her eyes vacant, she took another sip. The steam from the coffee blurred her vision, and when she was able to see again, Charles was gone. The front door was unlocked and open, letting in a gentle breeze from the front yard.

Waking From Her Slumber

Note: This entry takes place after the RP at the Menewsha Botanical Gardens.

That evening, Charles arrived home completely exhausted. Brushing past his mother without so much as a greeting, he trudged his way up the stairs and into his bedroom.
He couldn't bear to tell anyone that he just found out that he had been cheated out of his money, particularly his mother. She would throttle him for sure if she knew that he had been naive enough to buy a piece of glass for 800 gold just because a cardboard sign told him that it was a magical lotus seed.
Charles recalled a fairy tale that he had read as a child in which a poor farmer boy traded his last cow for a bag of "magical beans".

"Jack and the Beanstalk," he said aloud as he undressed. Carefully removing the lotus seed from the plastic baggie inside his pocket, he dropped it into the mud-filled bowl sitting on a nightstand beside his bed. Although the botanist at the Menewsha Gardens had told him it was a fake, Charles couldn't bring himself to treat the seed any differently.
Climbing into bed he remembered that he hadn't eaten dinner yet, or brushed his teeth. But the alluring shores of sleep called him insistently, and Charles was happy to let himself be seduced. He was desperately attempting to fend off the great disappointment that he knew was waiting for him around the corner, and good night's rest would provide an eight-hour delay before he had to face the hungry monster that wished to lay claim to his happiness.

Before the dark of unconsciousness claimed him, however, a line from a tune he had heard years ago popped into his drowsy mind. Pulling the covers tightly to himself, he sang it aloud.
"And maybe they're even magic, who knows..." *

---

Charles awoke to the steady fall of rain. Or, at first he thought he was awake. As he opened his heavy eyelids and observed his gray surroundings, it registered faintly in the depths of his mind that he was dreaming.
In front of him lay the charred remains of small, miserable houses that appeared to be crying, leaking their blood-flecked tears onto the muddy ground that glistened with small streams and puddles. The faint scent of burning flesh hung in the air like soiled laundry. Charles resisted the urge to vomit from the unpleasant smell. He began to walk, examining the utterly destroyed settlement.

'This must have been a village, once," he thought. But there were no bodies to be found amidst the cracked stone walls and the piles of blackened ash.
'Suddenly, I feel so alone.'

Sighing, he sat atop a boulder and huddled in to escape the chill of the rain. It was then that Charles heard a strange sound behind the veil of the rain. It was frail and high, and it pierced Charles' ears like the mournful cry of a dying animal. He stood up and slowly made his way around the perimeter of the village, following the sound.

"That's definitely human!"

His heart quickened with anxiety as he moved closer to the source. Thrusting himself through the thick forest of trees that bordered the village, the sound became clearer, but suddenly scattered into a staccato of sobs. The leafy green trees caressed him as he passed, almost as if they were wishing him luck, preparing him for what lay ahead.

The forest broke away into a clearing at last, causing Charles' lanky form to stumble onto the wet grass. He quickly steadied himself, afraid that he might have disturbed the person who was wailing so pitifully. But Charles had no reason to fret, for the girl that stood before him with her back turned, weeping and wiping her face with the sleeves of her shirt, continued to go about her business undisturbed.

Peering at the girl from a distance, Charles could see that her robes, although covered in mud and dark patches of dried blood, were most definitely Oriental in origin.
In front of her rested a large, green pond, rippling in waves from the heavy drops of rain that melted into the surface. Delicate pink lotuses craned their necks just above the shaking water, holding still in an almost dignified way. It was if they were off in their own world, completely unfettered by the chaos that surrounded them.
Other waterlilies floated on the surface of the pond, riding the small waves like dinghys in shallow water.

Charles realized that the lotuses had a special significance, but he couldn't figure out what. After watching the girl cry to herself for several minutes, he began to feel comfortable enough around her that he thought it might be appropriate to try and console her. He took a step forward, letting the squelch of his shoes against the wet grass echo away into the humid air. At once, the girl let out a great, fierce cry and hurled herself into the pond. The water splashed far out onto the grass, effectively drenching Charles down to his already cold skin.

Stunned, Charles stood in his place for a moment, merely blinking. It was not until she failed to surface that Charles realized what she had done. Panic numbed his senses; he could no longer feel the drops of rain on his skin or the chilly cling of his clothes against his body. Adrenaline raced through his veins like hungry flames and propelled his body into the pond.
Before he was even aware of what he was doing, Charles felt the thick water close around him, trapping him beneath the surface. He opened his eyes and saw tendrils of silky black hair floating lazily beneath him. The girl's body was spread out like a star, and she tumbled further and further down, her eyes closed and her face pale and serene like death.

Charles reached out his hands in attempt to grasp her, but he only succeeded in sinking himself closer to the heart of the pond, where the lotuses sprouted up from the mud.
Together they plunged until Charles felt a frantic pull in his chest. It traveled up to his pulsating brain, where he suddenly realized that he needed air. A crowd of bubbles escaped from his mouth. Charles opened his lips and gasped, fearing his doom.

---

He bolted upright in his bed. Deep, greedy breaths of air passed easily through his throat and into his lungs. Through the window the sun was beginning to rise, stretching its arms out into the pink sky.

'Just a dream?' Charles thought unsteadily. His head spun from the prolonged lack of air, and he reached for his nightstand for some much-needed support. As he grasped the smooth wood, he caught sight of the bowl holding the lotus seed. Charles almost lost his breath again.

Shaking his head in disbelief, he reached out his free hand and passed it through the air above the bowl. Charles gasped. A muddle of confusion and excitement overtook his drowsy body when his sense of touch failed to confirm what he saw. Bright, fluorescent bubbles bigger than the seed itself drifted gently out of the bowl from the lotus seed and into the still air, but he felt nothing as his fingers passed through them.

Unbeknown to Charles, he was not the only one who had just awoken.



*from the musical Into the Woods

Late Night Speculations/Early Morning Dreams


A few weeks after his highly educational session with Besnik, Charles was found sleeping on his desk by his mother. The contents of the past semester laid out around him in the form of dog-eared textbooks and tea-stained notebook sheets, he dreamed uneasily of the final exams that awaited him the following day.
Although he was a college-bound senior, his school still upheld the bothersome requirement that all students sit for the exams of their core classes. Fortunately enough, Mrs. Tuttle, Charles' English teacher, had granted him a special exemption from the English final. Only the subjects of Calculus and Spanish remained.

The bright, digital clock read 1:24 AM as his mother shook him awake. With a large jerk of his head, Charles came back into consciousness and wearily rubbed his tired eyes.

"You should move to your bed, Charles."
She laughed and patted him on the back. "I think you've studied enough."

"Mmm, not yet. Just a little longer."

Shaking her head, she picked her way through the mess of books and walked to the door.
"Suit yourself. I'm going to bed now, and you should, too. G'night."

The thin wooden door closed with a click, and Charles automatically pulled out his cell phone. Still groggy, he dialed Jane's number and waited as the line rang in the flat, impatient tone that he despised. After six rings he heard the contrastingly high voice of his girlfriend prompt him to leave a message.

"Uh...hi, Jane. I'm really sorry that I'm calling you so late, but I just wanted to hear your voice. Er...I'll see you tomorrow. Love you."

He hung up and grimaced.
'Crap,' Charles thought. 'I hope I didn't sound too curt. Or even worse, pathetic.'

Groaning aloud, he stood up and walked to his bed, where he plopped down with a heavy thud.
Charles had spent the past few weeks researching Chinese myths and lotuses, but he had found nothing that even remotely pertained to the glowing lotus seed that was presently sitting atop his nightstand, giving off beautiful, ethereal bubbles the color of sea foam. When he had shown the spectacle to his mother, she suddenly became suspicious and accused Charles of doing drugs. Since then he hadn't bothered to show it to anyone else, including Besnik, for fear of being written off as crazy. He was sure that if his father was still around, he would have used the bubbling lotus seed as evidence that Charles was not a creative genius, but a Class A lunatic.

Charles cringed at the thought and took the water-filled bowl from his nightstand. Holding it in his arms protectively, he began to talk to it in a low, soft voice as he had seen his mother do with the tulips growing in their window sill.

"Hey there. Thanks for keeping me company all this time. I guess putting off studying wasn't such a good idea, yeah?"
Pausing, Charles momentarily considered the foolishness of attempting to communicate with an inanimate object. He quickly lost hold of the thought, however, easily distracted by the glistening bubbles in his drowsy state.
"I guess...I want to know what you are! The old man at the gardens told me you were fake, but that woman Ran doesn't think so..."

He let out a long, sleepy yawn and curled up in his bed, still holding the bowl.

"I wonder if she has anything to do with you. But I thought she was psychic or something. Those butterflies...Besnik said...symbol of...reincarnation...rein...car..."

As the spell of sleep rendered his thoughts increasingly disjointed, Charles released his grip on both the bowl and his awareness.

The glowing lotus seed suddenly trembled, sending large ripples to the edges of the bowl and into the bedsheets.
But Charles did not notice, for as the floating bubbles gravitated in circles toward the steadily brightening seed, he was already dreaming away.