Lotus (Tier 3)

[SteelEagle]

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria Roleplay

Name: Lotus Blossom

Sex: Female

Age: Young Mare

Species: Earth Pony.

Eye colour: Moderate Azure

Coat: Light cerulean and smooth, extremely well-groomed and fetching.

Mane/Tail: Lotus' mane and tail are both immaculately groomed. They are both combed back and left to hang freely along her shoulders, and will shimmer and shine in any light that happens to be in the sky. It reflects a pale rose color. In the front of her mane, Lotus will have a white bandana wrapped around her forehead at least while she’s working in the spa.

Physique: Small and lithe, not a physical specimen by any means. Well-groomed and perfectly healthy, just not somepony to run to if physical activity is a requirement.

Residence: Lotus was born in Trottingham, but currently lives in Ponyville where she now owns and run the Ponyville Day Spa with her sister, Aloe.

Occupation: Lotus and her sister both own the Ponyville Day Spa, Ponyville's premiere beauty salon and spa.

Cutie Mark: Lotus' cutie mark is a wonderful little Lotus Blossom flower to signify her ability to create Balms, Salves and Lotions for the spa. That’s not to be confused with her sister, Aloe, who has the same cutie mark.

History:

Lotus Blossom was lucky to be born as one half of a set of twins with her sister Aloe in the city of Trottingham to loving parents. Successful business owners in their own right, the parents were able to provide a good early life for the twins. Lotus was thus afforded the time she needed to learn how to make the salves, balms, and oils that made up the family business. Lotus found she had a natural aptitude for the work even though her sister showed more enthusiasm with it, as she did with all things.

That enthusiasm was just one reason why Lotus loved her sister dearly.. Like all sisters, they had their disagreements growing up, but Lotus would do anything for her sister and knew the feeling was mutual. With that in mind though, whenever she wasn't in working on her balms or salves, she was often having to avoid the so-called playful pranks of Aloe. Most of them were harmless, although some of them did cause unintended chain reactions, and one intended chain that temporarily turned Lotus' coat green. Lotus was upset but after it washed out, she was quick to forgive.

Over time, as she continued making lotions, salves, and balms, things started to get a bit wasteful. Her parents were experts in their field but were no longer very creative. So to mix things up a bit, she started changing the exact quality and source of the mixtures of the products and trying them on herself to see how they worked. The first few times ended up with her getting a bit ill and her parents upset at her poor form, but slowly she tweaked the mixes and the materials until she made a batch that only used half as much of the mixtures to make even more of the product her family made. When she had managed to slash the costs of the family business in half while increasing stock leading to the family enjoying its greatest and most successful line of salves, balms, lotions, and oils, she found that her cutie mark had appeared.

When her cutie mark appeared though, it seemed to be a sign of sort. Her cutie mark was a lotus blossom. That was her name and more importantly, her sister seemed troubled. Aloe jokingly asked- a common way she used to mask some trouble- about her cutie mark, and Lotus found out that her sister turned to her and showed that she as well had received her cutie mark and it was also a lotus blossom. In Lotus' mind, that pretty much confirmed that whatever the two of them would end up doing in the future, they would end up doing it together.

After they got their cutie marks, Aloe and Lotus both began to produce more of their own creations and began to sell them alongside the family named products that their parents sold. Lotus was pleased as her methods allowed the family to become rich, truly rich, for the first time in it's history. Her sister was not as pleased however, and Lotus could not bare it any longer. Aloe was a mare of action and Lotus would be there with her. Lotus thought of something that Aloe might like and went to propose it to her,

Apparently, great minds think alike, and they both proposed the same idea of using their products to open up a day spa. She went over some of the things that they would need to do, and it wasn’t much different than what they did now, but would allow ponies a chance to get a look at how their products worked before they decided to buy them. Lotus then suggested massages, seeing as such hoof service naturally led to a higher return rate. Aloe seemed hesitant but when Lotus gave Aloe her first massage, she was hooked on the idea.

When they pitched the idea to their parents, they seemed rather interested in the idea of the spa but noted that there were so many around in Trottingham that it would be difficult to get their name out there against the already well-established entities. After looking around and doing a small bit of research, Aloe found, what was at the time, a small town named Ponyville. It seemed like the perfect place to set up a little spa as it had just a bit of everything and had all types of ponies there.

Within weeks of opening, the say spa already had a regular customer. It was a white unicorn mare with a deep purple mane and tail with three diamonds for a cutie mark. They had apparently done something to impress the unicorn as she alone became an important staple in their business. She had a set routine when she would come in, and she could be a tad bit excessive at times, but Lots didn’t really mind. As long as she kept coming back it was a success, and with as many bits as the mare spent there, she hoped that the mare would keep coming for a very long time. Lotus got to know the mare, Rarity, rather well- massages had a habit of doing that!

The spa is now located in the Ponyville Market district, and thankfully was able to survive the onslaught of many different events in Ponyville since Lotus and her sister moved there. Lotus had to admit, Ponyville was a lot more than met the eye. That being said, just like any other place of business they’ve had their fair share of highs and lows, including a point where they had to take two loans out from their parents just to keep the spa open because for a while Rarity and her friends where their only customers. While it was always nice to have repeat customers like that, six ponies alone weren't enough to sustain any of business. Of course, there were there annual sales, the Spring and Summer Spectacular and Whistling Winter Wonders. They were the two times of year that their business excelled greatly. Now se looks to the future, excited to see who or what will happen next.

Character Summary:

Lotus has a somewhat off-kilter personality for a pony of her position. While she is very friendly and genial at work with her customers, She tends to keep quiet and is demure unless she is spoken to outside of the small talk she begins while massaging, unless of course the pony wishes to speak. Once engaged she is a prodigious listener, capable pf provoking a continuing conversation without interruption. Unless spoken to and once the small talk is over, she is often pleasantly quiet as she allows her customers to gab amongst themselves.

Her sister Aloe tends to be the stricter one when it came to regiments, pricing, and finances. Lotus on the other hoof is generous with them in the name of good relations and PR. It greatly annoys her when some ponies attempt to lie to get discounts, but better to give it rather than start a fight in the store. None of this matters much to Lotus however, as she is very easily able to detach from the more unpleasant aspects of her work. Aloe is quiet punctual; Lotus, not so much. She would rather show up too late or too early at an event but be ready and prepared for it. Unlike her sister, who is an early riser, Lotus is a night owl and it annoys Aloe to no end to hear her sister rattling off on something late at night.

Lotus' best business skill is behind the scenes, however. Most importantly: While she lacks the creativity of her sister in the creation of all the various oils and saves they use and sell, she has no peer in refinement. She can fine-tune her sister's creations to use far less materials and be ready in far less time and make a bit more of it as well, and her thriftiness extends to her behind the scenes role as the on in charge of finances and regulations for the store. She leaves the pony to pony work to her more gabby sister.

When she’s out and about, and not working at the spa, Lotus is still a quieter than usual mare and is always looking to get back home to her spa. Oddly enough, her desire to be quiet while also being a great listener and the most hooves on of the two sisters means she holds inside of her the heaviest of gossip. Luckily for most it tends to die more often than not inside rather than continue on. There are exceptions to this rule, but the damage caused by Gabby Gums is proof that loose lips can sink friendships.

Still though, being a spa pony a heart Lotus is always one to help ponies relax in difficult situations, even to the extent of give them a free massage at their time and place. This has led to more than a few awkward incidents as ponies thought her friendliness meant much more than it did, but in all honesty rather she make some ponies happy even if the wrong signals are sent than not. She has never been the most socially astute of mares in any case and more than one failed relationship left in her wake.

Her sister has quite the sweet tooth but Lotus can't stand them. It is mostly because it goes right to her flank- her metabolism is so weak that it seems that her sister can eat fifty times as much and lose the weight that Lotus would gain just by looking at it! On the flip side, she loves anything bitter, like pickles. She can’t live without them.

[RarityDash]