The Lords Cup (Open)

Kudarei Mortis

The Lords Cup, a fairly well known and famous tea shop that was very high quality yet kept a very homey and friendly air about it. The Lords Cup was a shop where you could buy tea, tea supplies, herbs and spices and ingredients to make your own tea. Yet it was also a walk in diner where you could come in, order some food and sit down at a table.
The Lords Cup was in every Nation other then the Air Temples. Although expansion to that area would be happening soon enough. The Vermillion Empire was where the first Lords Cup was built and business over there was always fantastic. The entire Vermillion Empire in fact loved it's tea, and there became a demand for it all over the empire. So several were built there as a result. Since then The Lords Cup has reigned supreme as a the number one tea shop in the Verimillion Empire, The Water tribes and the Earth Kingdom. The Dark and Light nations also had shops and the shops would soon become just as popular over there as well.

The particular Lords Cup in Omashu however, was actually misplaced. Odd? Well the place is just as popular as any other Lords Cup, always with a great amount of activity. Yet this particular Lords cup had an interior design that looked something like this:



Look familiar? Well the founder of The Lords Cup wanted to give a throwback to a former tea shop known as "Jasmine Dragon" which the founder felt would bring a sense of nostalgia and also have historical value as a tribute to the Jasmine Dragon tea shop.

So what was the problem? Well simple, the Jasmine Dragon began in Ba Sing Sae, not Omashu. So now they had a Jasmine Dragon version of The Lords Cup in the wrong location. At first there was going to be a recall to move the shop. Yet the founder thought it would give business a little more...Color. It was also rather humorous so the founder decided to keep it here in Omashu.

Yet who the founder of The Lords Cup? It was an enigma of a man named Kudarei Mortis. Seemingly coming from nowhere he had the money to start his own business and he erected the first Lords Cup in the Vermillion Empire, a simple tea shop that could be compared to a Hot Dog stand. It wasn't anything special, yet the tea it sold, the ingredients and the tea itself was simply divine. It didn't take for Kudarei to earn the money to expand and erect the very first Lords Cup that doubled as a walk in diner for those that wanted a little food to go with their tea. Since those humble beginnings, Kudarei Mortis is now the founder was rather big yet humble business that has shops in several places in the Vermillion Empire, a few in the Water tribes, the Earth Kingdom, and just one here in Omashu.

__________________________________________

Kudarei Mortis was taking a break from all of the activity and intensity at the Vermillion Empire, where still to this day he mostly stayed at the first Lords Cup he ever built. Yet today he was in the Omashu's Lords Cup because from time to time he liked personally travel the nations and visit his shops. He usually made it a habit to visit all of the shops at least once a year.
Today he sat at the front desk, taking orders from customers and making the tea when he could. His technique was common training for all Lords Cup employees, yet no one made the tea like he did.
He stood at the front counter, his long white hair tied into a pony tail and with a white hat on his head followed by loose fit cotton shirt and an white apron over it. They didn't wear any logo's since Kudarei felt that no matter how big or popular you become that you always stay humble, and a logo could take away that feeling that comes with visiting a very " Ma and Pa's" sorta place. He liked to keeps things simple.

Kudarei's uniform also helped make him look more...Normal. His appearance was something that most people that on there first meeting of him could find rather...Creepy.  His skin was pale white, and his lips were black and around his eye's was not makeup, but a natural darkness around like eye shadow, yet if you rubbed your finger across the shadow, you would not have make up on your finger.
The most creepy of all however, were his eye's.
A fan of the shop even wrote him a poem based solely on his eyes. The sclera, or the "whites" of his eye's were not white, but black like a pupil should be. The color of his eye's was like a darker shade of golden brown, like a golden amber sort of glow to them. It was also just that, they had an odd light behind them that caused his eye's to glow with a very faint luminescence. They were very strange and could send chills down some people's spines. Yet the people that knew him as Kudarei The Lords Cup founder, found his eye's to be warm and inviting. Yet anyone who first met him would usually feel uneasy about his eye's.

Now a days however, everyone in the shop was used to his odd appearance, and he stood behind the counter with a inviting smile on his face as he would take unafraid customer's orders.

Omashu wasn't exactly Orami's favourite city. It was big, mostly made of stone and you always had to watch your step when inside. Violence and crime were a pretty big thing here. She much preferred the smooth, classical architecture and soothing white and green tones of Ba Sing Se, or even the brash extravagance of the Fire Nation mainland cities. Still it wasn't all bad, the package delivery slides were always fun to watch, and she had a good friend here. Said friend was the reason she'd taken some time out of her increasingly busy schedule to take a detour to the troubled city of stone. Orami's fame had been spreading fast, too fast maybe. She was stretching herself too thin, touring the Vermilion Empire colonies had taken a lot out of her. But that was over now, ended just a few days ago, and she had made it clear that the couple of months to come were to be dedicated to nothing but rest and relaxation. And what better way to rest than to visit royal friends? Relaxation, pampering and sleep were all on the menu.

She couldn't come empty handed though. She could have had someone go fetch something pricey and flashy as gift, but people doing everything for her was one of the things fame brought that Orami wasn't all that fond of. She liked to do things herself, and selecting a gift for a friend certainly fell within the 'do yourself' category. She'd thought long and hard about it and had considered having a blade made, but there was neither enough time for that, nor did Luna require any more encouragement to embrace her role as chief military leader of Omashu. Something more womanly might be a refreshing touch for the Queen of Omashu. But what to get her that was feminine and would still actually be useful? Orami had thought long and hard about that, and had eventually settled on tea. Tea was nice, everybody loved tea right? She'd heard of this nice little place, conveniently located in Omashu, that sold high quality ingredients and leaves. It sounded like the perfect place. The Lord's Cup. Judging by the name alone it was the perfect place to shop for a Queen.

As she approached, the establishment's heavy wooden double doors swung open, pulled by two women in traditional garb that made her feel quite under dressed. She wasn't exactly wearing her Sunday best, far from it. When travelling on her own nowadays she favoured longer, deeper clothes that maintained some semblance of much needed anonymity. To combat the crisp freshness of the early winter days she'd donned a simple cap and scarf, hiding much of her face and hair very well. The rest of her was covered in one of the long, furry water tribe coats she'd taken a fancy to during a short stay at the North Pole, and all that came off as she stepped into the inviting warmth of the tea shop. She wasn't planning to stay long after all and the clothes which had been a welcome comfort in the cold were a sweltering nuisance inside, it was unlikely she'd get recognised anyway. She hadn't performed that much in Omashu after all, in Ba Sing Se she might have been more careful. How hard could it be to pick out some tea anyway?

"Excuse me where is the display section for what's on sale?" she asked to a passing server, who kindly pointed her in the right direction in a single fluid motion, without even breaking his stride. The shop was relatively well set up and easy to navigate, but she was unwilling to take chances, not with her sense of direction. The man's simplistic directions took her to an entire wall dedicated to various tools and products all related to tea making. Now Orami liked a cup of tea  every once in a while, it was relaxing and usually was a moment on her own she could savour. She often did her own shopping and brewing. Despite that the dizzying array of choices, varieties, colours and smells that were displayed in front of her were profoundly confusing. She didn't even know there were that many varieties of anything. Even if she were shopping for herself she'd have been completely lost, and she was shopping for someone else.

She stood there for a while, staring at the products, with not a clue as to what in the spirits it was she was even looking at.  Eventually she decided herself and picked the priciest box near the bottom, assuming with her neophyte mind that such a pricey brew could only be the of the highest quality, and taking in account that the box looked cool and mentioned something about having beneficial effects on the spirit and the mind. Plus mushroom tea sounded like something earth benders would like, mushrooms were earthy right? Unbeknownst to her what she'd picked up was just about the mos bitter of teas, a drink that few people bought and even fewer people could actually stomach. The price of the box was solely owed to the rarity of the mushroom at the origin of the drink.

Feeling confident in her choice, and proud of having successfully navigated a very confusing sea of products, she made her way the the till, putting the greenish box down on the wooden counter, and looking up into a pair of the most singularly striking eyes she'd ever seen. Two black pits with ochre irises, like dark lights at the end of a darker, longer tunnel, set in a face as pale as virgin snow, and what looked like black makeup. She'd seen some of the more extreme musicians she knew use similar black and white makeup to attract attention, was this man a fan of such a group? More importantly how'd he gotten his eyes to look like that?

"That's quite a look," she remarked, trying to remain as polite as possible while still hoping to indulge her gnawing curiosity. "It must take quite some time to get ready in the morning," she added in her ever pleasantly gentle tone.

The day was like any other really, customer's coming in and out, some ordering food, most people buying tea or tea supplies. The air was stuffed full of different scents that all combined just smashed the nose with a barrage of wonderful scents that each one alone would grab the attention of. At least being behind the counter it was what he smelled. Kudarei simply had his arms rested on the counter, his eye's looking over the customers and his store overall. He enjoyed it, the cornucopia of conversation from all the tables bringing in a white noise of human voices, the metal clicking and clanging together and utensils met pots and pans and voices behind him called out orders or conversation of their own. Through it all he just liked to take whatever moments he could to just take in the environment. He wasn't here out of obligation, nor responsibility, he was just making a run around his shops to see how they were. Previously it was a yearly thing but he found himself performing this travel routine on a less predictable schedule. Running a chain of tea shops could take up a lot of time, yet somehow the founder was able to make these trips and appear as though he didn't have a care in the world.
One could say that it was borderline unbelievable that he was able to be out for so long and still do his job with such a carefree attitude. The man just knew how to manage his time, his experience with hours, days, months, and years, was beyond anyone other human being.

Looking upon the customer's he saw many familiar faces, he remembered everyone that was a regular in every single shop, so what the doors opened for a young lady that wore a water tribe jacket and had very surprisingly bright blue eye's.

What looked like a husband and his wife approaching him at the counter caught his attention and he put on a genuine smile to attend to them.

"Good afternoon!" He greeted them politely.
The husband nodded his head to Kudarei and looked up at the menu that was above the founders head.
"Yeah hi could we get the uuuhhh" He said before thinking for a moment, displaying what Kudarei saw often.
The man hadn't decided what to order before coming to the counter and was being put on the spot. He had to take a moment to think, yet from the looks of it he didn't think about it before hand.
This was something that would typically bother most cashier's or waiters as they would have to wait for an extended period of time for the customer to make their mind up.
Yet Kudarei wasn't the least bit annoyed, in fact, he was just as happy as he was before he saw the man.

"May I suggest for the both of you our Darjeeling silver tipped tea?" He said the oddly specific order to him politely.
"What's in that?" The man replied
"Darjeeling tea is mix of herbs that come from the air temple mountains that is delicately woven with silver streaks. It's know for it's distinctive flavor and is famous for stress relieving effects and euphoric after effects." He explained the man knowing that it's just what he needed to hear.
The man, and his wife both liked the sound of that, Kudarei could tell just by the looks on there faces.
"Yeah that sounds great, thank you! With that could we get your special for today?" He said with a slight smile followed by pointing his finger at the menu's "Special" that had a small list of what it included.
""Certainly" He replied before giving him the price and taking the money and placing it in the till.

From there on the man and wife would much later drink that tea and enjoy there meal, and feel a much deserved sensation of relaxation and forget about there troubles.
The man was unsure about what to get not because he was incompetent, but because he had actually been in a serious accident with his brother that while he survived, his brother was sent to the hospital in serious condition. The man's brother didn't have long and it was all the man could think about. He had heard about The Lords Cup from his wife who suggested it, saying that it could help him out rather then resorting to alcohol which the man had finally gone 2 years without having a single sip of alcohol. This tea was just what the man needed to alleviate his concerns a little and share a nice and calming moment with his wife.

This was in fact the mans story for this particular situation, and Kudarei knew every single detail...

Following the couple, that girl he saw earlier, the fresh face in the store. She walked up to him and placed down a green box on the counter. He was going to greet her, yet she commented on his appearance.
Understandable, very much so actually, it was what most people did the first time they met him, either remark, or take a little bit longer of a look at him.
He smiled at her remark however and found it amusing.

"It can at times" He replied as he lifted up his hand and ran finger nail his cheek just below his eye with just a slight amount of pressure to give her the subtle hint that it wasn't makeup.
"But like all the tea in here, I'm an all natural kinda guy" He remarked with a smile towards her, he loved some of the reactions he'd get when people would see that really was his regular skin.

His eye's however turned down to the tea box on the counter. His eye's narrowed at the sight of them and he had to take a moment to pick up the box and look at them.
"Hmm...You have very interesting tastes my lady" He said with a slightly surprised tone as he hadn't seen this box on the counter with the intention for it to be purchased in quite some time.

"Oh," was all she said at first in reaction to the man's subtle hint that it wasn't make up at all that made his skin the colour it was. The word was blank, a simple exclamation of surprise with neither tone nor timber to colour its meaning, spoken before she had time to analyse the situation. "Oh!" she repeated as she caught herself, covering her mouth with a single hand in an attempt to stem her lack of decorum from continuing any further. This time it wasn't just an exclamation of surprise, but one of shame as well.

She was unsure whether her implication that he, a man, would wear make up at all, or her dismissal of his natural tones as being only achievable through man-made means was what she was most embarrassed about, but she knew that her cheeks were reddening visibly, and that the flushing had nothing to do with the warmth of the store.

"I am so sorry. I though- I mean, I assumed- I mean it seemed weird that-" every time she attempted to start a sentence she rejected the attempt midway as being even more offensive, or as being inadequate. Her mind was abuzz, scrambling to fall back on something decent to say and in its speed it was unable to latch on to any single formula that sounded anything close to appropriate. In the end though she abandoned the struggle, falling back on her usual response when unsure, looking for the upside. Only too late did she realise that the only person making a big deal out of this was her, the man behind the till was looking perfectly calm and unoffended. Thankfully she was also the only person currently at the counter, the previous customers having moved away after their order had been handled, and so she hadn't attracted unwanted attention to herself.

"Sorry about that. That wasn't very bright of me at all," she replied, letting out a short and quiet laugh as the magnitude of the silliness of the situation reached her. Her stare was still fixed determinedly on the box she'd placed on the counter though, in a show of bashfulness she hoped would convey that she still felt quite embarrassed despite her laughter.

With the realisation that she'd blown the situation out of proportion came the feeling of being very foolish. She cleared her throat as her mind rushed to find a conversation topic to move away from the moment of panic, and she found one quite quickly. Her embarrassed blush had subsided, the only indication of its presence was a faint rosy tint of her cheekbones, and when she spoke it was with a degree of assurance and comfort that had been entirely absent but a few seconds ago.

"Interesting taste?" she asked, still looking at the box. Interesting could mean any number of things. She'd heard and used that word in many different situations. Interesting could be a good thing, or a very bad thing. She had a nagging feeling that in this case it wasn't the former but the latter. "I'm going to risk looking like an idiot for the second time in the past couple of minutes, but if I'm entirely honest I have absolutely no clue what that means," she replied after a short moment of silence. "I'm shopping around to find a nice present for a friend and I assumed the higher the price the better the drink," she admitted with a genuinely apologetic smile. "For all I know this," she pointed at the box, "could be the deadliest of poisons known to man."

Kudarei enjoyed her reaction and how she wasn't sure how to take that she just did what most other men would assume was a low blow to there masculinity. Yet he had met so many people through out his life that have all had there own reactions to his appearance. It was strange though how he still found it amusing after all this time. The human reaction always was and always will be priceless.
He overall though changed the subject to the box though upon looking at it because he wasn't affected negatively by her remark.

"Well don't worry about it" He told her in reply to her saying she didn't know what she was doing when it came to tea.
"I've worked in tea for over 10 years now and I still discover new recipes" He said with a smile back at her as he looked at the box for a moment before going back to making eye contact with her.
"It's not quite poison, but trust me you wouldn't be convinced if you tasted it. It's known as the Psilocybin Mushroom tea. It's very good if you're suffering from a fatal disease or on your death bed. It's effects give one the feeling of nearly perfect health regardless of what they are suffering. It's a very rare, complicated and expensive blend that can make you feel wonderful regardless of what physical problems you might be having" He explained to her as he held the box up for her to see.

"However it's effects are not mirrored with it's taste. I won't go into detail on it but lets just say we've had more then a couple complaints about it being rotten." Kudarei finished off with. He wasn't afraid that his tea shop might come off as unprofessional by saying one of his blends of tea tasted rotten. The world of tea was a vast land of all kinds of possibilities, this tea was just another one of those and he wasn't going to lie about his products, not when it came to tea unlike most businessmen men.

"If you like we could go over to the isle and I could help you make a decision in what your friend might like" He suggested to her.
Sure he could just tell her what her friend might like as he could just choose one of the popular teas that everyone loved. Yet The Lords Cup was not known for that, it was known for it's wide assortment of tea's, and it's ability to choose the tea that is exactly right for you. Also there was nothing like a good tea hunt.

She laughed quietly and sincerely at his mild quip about the mushroom tea's taste being not far removed form that of a poison (to Orami who had never seen, touched or smelled any poison a concoction that could kill another human had to stink) and she nodded politely at his explanation of just how terrible a choice she'd made. As far as she knew Luna was not in desperate enough need of a stiff drink to warrant the atrocious taste of the brew she'd selected.

She could perfectly understand why such a product was in such a shop, this was a tea store after all, meant to cater to all tastes, preferences, desires and necessities. Much like there was a myriad of music styles meant for a myriad of different people there was myriad of teas all meant to cater to different people.

Still she was feeling a little bit lost. And by a little bit she meant a lot. If what she'd picked wasn't right then she had no idea how to find what product would be right.

The black and white man's offer to assist her was welcomed with a warm smile of gratitude from her. That's what she got for thinking she didn't need help. Even for her who did her best not to allow her growing fame get to her head, a lesson in humility every once in a while was welcomed. Plus this was an opportunity to learn something new and exciting, next time she shopped for tea she's be better. It was time to master the art of tea shopping!

"It would be my honour if you would be willing to teach me master," she declared in an overly formal tone, giving the man at the till a deep bow of respect. It was a joke, but not one meant to mock him, certainly not. It was only a way for her to display her enthusiasm without seeming too foolish for being overly excited to learn about shopping.

Kudarei smiled in reply to her approval and further more to calling him master in a light hearted tone. She was respectful which was nice, so many youth nowadays couldn't appreciate the value of respect in the little things. Respect even in something as simple as ordering tea could go a long way for one's character.
"Very well, just wait by the isle where you got the mushroom tea and I'll be right with you" He told her as he motioned his hand to the isle she was in previously in.

He walked up to the manager of the building and informed him that someone else would need to be at the cashier. While normally employee's couldn't just up and leave the counter whenever they wanted, Kudarei was the guy that put the counter there in the first place, and made the rules themselves. So while he didn't make it a habit to be a bad example and break his own rules, he just didn't tie himself down. He was visiting ultimately and performing a days work, just with a little more lenience then a regular employee.

Kudarei walked to the back before stepping out of the exit and making his way towards Orami. In front of him was a very wide and to the untrained eye, complex assortment of colorful boxes and packages with different flavors and brand names of tea. This of course just being a single isle that covered most of the general tea's out there. Yet this was a good place to start.

"So my dear could you tell me a little but about your friend and the kind of things she likes? Anything to her liking can help the selection" He asked her politely, maintaining his very kind and formal attitude.

She mirrored his smile and gave him another bow of compliance, this time a much shallower one than the first, before walking back to her nemesis. The unreadable aisle.

'Your secrets shall soon be mine, wall of confusion and misinformation,' she thought, staring at the box covered wall as she waited for the man from the till to make his way over. She stood there for only a few seconds before his voice brought her out of her semi-comical, semi-serious thoughts of rivalry with the wall.

"Oh, that was quick," she remarked, brushing a rogue bang from her face, tucking it behind her ear, a slight note of relief creeping into her tone. She hated standing around without anything to do in public places. She always felt foolish and she had feared that it would take longer for her pale guide to the world of teas to clear things with whoever he worked with. With that last thought came another, was she actually getting him in trouble? She'd had to work in shops before and she knew you didn't usually leave your station without good reason. Then again she was a customer and a potential client, what better reason could there be?

"So my dear could you tell me a little but about your friend and the kind of things she likes? Anything to her liking can help the selection," Orami opened her mouth to start replying to his question, but shut it almost immediately. She'd been about to say her 'friend' was the Queen of Omashu, but that felt like a rather stupid bit of information to divulge, for various reasons. Most importantly was that the fact she was a Queen certainly didn't define Luna. She was anything but a pampered, soft thing. Now her being a Queen wasn't a very smart thing to say.

"She's a fighter," Orami started again. That was a good start. "I originally considered offering her a weapon, or some military garb or armour, but I realised she's got plenty of that, so I decided to get her something to help her relax and wind down after training or something. She's an earth bender, which is part of why I assumed mushrooms might be a thing she'd go for," she added that last bit a lot more quietly, her gaze trailing down and her cheeks gaining a light flush in mild embarrassment. In hindsight that thought process probably hadn't been all that bright. "Something that doesn't take too much time to prepare might also be preferable," her voice had regained its former confidence after a silence of a couple of seconds. "I'd like to teach her how to brew her own tea, should be a good thing for her to learn. And that's about all the info I can think of that would help. I think."

Kudarei listened to her with a more serious, thoughtful look on his face he took her information and considered what he might pick.
As he listened, she seemed so innocent, her embarrassment of picking the tea she did, standing and waiting by isle in hopes it wasn't an action she would have to take for very long. No doubt a very nice and kind young girl with a bright future. Her voice was always lovely, like that of a songstress or the singer in a band. No matter what time he might be in, what he might be doing, or what mischief the world was getting itself in, he always appreciated the sight of a girl that was seemingly unaffected by it all, and was living her own life, not the life others wanted her to live. It was a delight to witness.

"Well we also sell instructional books in how to prepare all kinds of tea's if you would like your friend to partake in such things." He recommended to her in reply her saying she'd like her friend to make her own tea.
His eye's turned back to the shelves of tea though.

"Now lets see here, tea for a fighter..." He said to himself as his eye's scanned the recipes.
Kudarei of course, with just a little...Mental effort, he could instantly figure out what to get her. However, he didn't want to always relay on his ability to do things. He found it lazy, and time always flew by faster when things were done conveniently, he enjoyed the effort of using nothing but his intuition and playing the guessing game.

Yet despite this, he was very good at what he did, and thus it only took five seconds for him to say:
"Ah"
And reach for an orange box with golden engravings on it.
"Here we are, this is a blend I made myself. "
He said as he took the box and held it out for Orami to take and examine herself.
"I call this one "Quies in turbine" Which means "Calm in the storm" Before The Lords Cup was built I served this to soldiers returning from hard battles. They would always tell my how rejuvenated they felt, and how tasty it was. If you like I can make you a sample to see for yourself" He offered to her.

Books huh? For some reason Orami wasn't entirely sure that was the best of ideas. Luna wasn't dumb or illiterate, but she was busy, the idea of teaching her to make her own tea was more a pretext to spend time together than anything else really, getting her books to teach her would be pretty counter-productive to that objective. Then again she wasn't going to reject a man's product right in front of him. That'd be pretty damn rude, and a poor way to thank this man for his time.

It took him a surprisingly short amount of time to navigate the sea of boxes, and when he drew back from the wall he was holding a fairly unadorned box, marked out from the others by the fine golden name engraved in, presumably fake, gold against its orange tint. She took it as he presented it to her, the whole thing felt surprisingly light for its size, then again it did essentially just contain leaves.

She looked at it a little closer, but in truth she was't entirely certain what else to do with the box itself, after all it was its contents that she was interested in. She cracked the box open and was greeted by a waft of the sachets' aroma. Aside from the astringent smell of the tea leaves themselves there was a variety of other fragrances, among which jasmine and cloves were the most prominent. Someone with more experience a better knowledge of herbs and spices and a more delicate nose would probably have been able to formulate a much more comprehensive list, but that was all Orami could smell. For some reason the smells mixed together took her back to the lazy days of her childhood when she didn't have a care in the world. It wasn't any one smell in particular, but the fragrance as a whole that seemed to bring those days to mind, and she had a feeling that others would be taken back to memories they associated with tranquillity rather than memories of any specific event.

As the pale man suggested a degustation she perked up a little, dragged out of her thoughts of the past by his voice. She blinked a couple of times rapidly, clearing away the thoughts from her mind completely and turning to the man with her usual smile.

"That would be a pleasure and an honour," she replied, bowing slightly as she proffered the box back to him.