TheNexusProject/LadyOfDancingTigerReeds
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The Lady of Dancing Tiger Reeds
- "She seems so... happy, dancing like that."
- "I can dance like that for you, if you’d like..."
- - a customer and worker at the Red Cat
- "The Lady of Dancing Tiger Reeds is single-most perfect expression in marble of the female form, of its delights and its pitfalls. That the men of the art savant community are not permitted to view it is a crime against art itself! The... madame of that place must give us access to her."
- - Towering Opal, rising art critic & savant
Of unknown provenance the nude sculpture commonly known as the Lady of Dancing Tiger Reeds (there is no name of any kind on its base) has alternately baffled and aroused those who have viewed it for centuries. Cut and shaped from smooth, flawless white marble and done with such an eye for detail that many who see the Lady for the first time think she is an erotic dancer, holding still for a moment before continuing with her routine.
In appearance the Lady is a nude human in her mid-twenties in appearance, with long hair that cascades down her back in riotous curls. She holds bunches of tiger reeds, one hand high in the air, caught forever in the middle of a twirl, while the other shields her sex from view (although persistent teenagers discovered that a good look can be had if one squats beneath her upraised arm). Balancing on the toes of one leg, the other thrown out behind her as the Lady dances, the statue defies many of principles regarding what is possible with sculpture, leading some critics to believe that she must be hollow in order to balance as she does.
With an expression of joy on her unmoving face savants have suggested that she is supposed to represent everything from the joy of being a woman to the delight of dancing. Some have noted that the accuracy of the sculpture is such that signs of arousal can be seen on her, but these observations are mostly ignored by their colleagues – usually with an accompaniment of scorn and derision.
The purchase of the Lady by Mitake of the Red Cat and the barring of men from that establishment has led to many calls from certain savants for it to be made available for further viewing.
Rumours
- Beshra, leader of the Forsaken’s Bastards mercenary company has been seen slowly stroking the face of the Lady with a wistful expression on her face, usually while she waits for her chosen girls to arrive.
- A woman who wishes for her pregnancy to be a girl must kiss the Lady at the stroke of midnight to have this desire granted. Exactly where this kiss has to be placed varies by the teller.
Secret
- The statue is actually the petrified and yet still-living body of the model for the statue, transformed into marble by sorcery many centuries ago. The unfortunate woman, still aware of everything around her, has long since gone insane and spends every hour of her life screaming obscenities that never leave her soul.
