Sixiang was, for all her flightiness superb at prodding her toward creativity without unduly influencing the result. When she wasn't in a teasing mood anyway.
Well...a teasing mood is just how you pry a suppressed natural reaction out?
"...Sorry," Sixiang repeated, sounding dispirited. "I just… It'll be easier to show you. Why don't you go to sleep."
Ling Qi almost shot back an irritated quip, but caught the meaning before the words could leave her lips. "Alright, I suppose I'll see you soon," she replied. Speaking to Sixiang in her dreams was something she had suspected that she could do, but it had never come up.
Thats because you never sleep, Ling Qi
Heading to her bedroom, Ling Qi was struck by the odd thought that it would be the first time she had slept in the bed provided. The handful of hours of sleep she had taken in the last two months had been snatched in the meditation room. It felt odd to lie down in an actual bed after so long. The pillow was soft, and the bedding perfect in balance between firmness and give. Yet, ultimately, Ling Qi barely noticed as she laid down after changing into nightclothes that she had not worn in months. For her there was no lying awake trying to fall asleep. It was merely an effort of will, cutting off the flow of qi that maintained her more mortal functions, and she felt her consciousness fade. She only hoped that Sixiang could guide her dreams.
When you do sleep its not even in the bloody bed xD
A moment of blackness passed, and then Ling Qi opened her eyes to be assaulted by a riot of color. She sat up immediately, looking around in confusion at the thick sea of pillows, blankets and mats that she rested atop. Her hands sank deep into the soft fabric, and for a moment she floundered, almost sinking into the mountain of fluff and fabric. Her limbs felt heavy and clumsy, but she still managed to regain her balance after a moment.
"It's still kind of a mess isn't it?" Sixiang asked wryly, drawing her attention away from her resting place. Looking up, she had to squint to see through the glittering rainbow mist that seemed to shroud everything, but she could make out a few things. A meter or two in front of her the mass of pillows and cushions ended, and a sea of opaque blue-green 'water' began. It was a bit disturbing to look at, though it lapped and rippled realistically, the color was wrong, more like an illustration than reality. Sixiang sat on the shore, with their androgynous back to Ling Qi, their legs were bare and dangled lazily into the 'water'.
"What is this?" Ling Qi asked, managing to stand up after a few moments and begin picking her way across the treacherously soft 'ground'.
"Um, I guess you could say this kinda like my Domain?" Sixiang replied, not looking back at her. "Not bad for a first try, huh? I haven't gotten all the physical bits finished though. I wanted to wait a bit before I invited you in."
I guess that lit a fire under their ass to actually get serious with cultivation.
"Sorry for pushing you. I need my muse though," Ling Qi replied lightly.
"Do you really?" Sixiang replied, finally looking her way. "I'm kinda thoughtless aren't I? All the good stuff comes from you."
Ling Qi: "Oh no my muse had gone emo too"
"Maybe not, but I could have warned you that it was gonna be trouble. I guess I still didn't really get it."
"Get what exactly?" Ling Qi asked, giving the 'water' another dubious look. It looked vaguely like paint.
"Do you remember when we talked about death?" Sixiang asked absently.
Ling Qi nodded slowly. "That was a weird conversation."
"I didn't really understand how it was scary," Sixiang replied. "I guess its because of how I am, fairies, muses die and are born all the time, the way you humans figure things."
Ling Qi did not reply at first, trailing a finger through the water, it felt normal at least. "How old are you Sixiang?"
"How long ago was you're debut party?" Sixiang asked lightly, answering her question obliquely. "Or...it's hard to put it in way you'll get. I have memories way older than that, but 'Sixiang' isn't even a year old. I didn't understand how losing yourself would be scary, after all, all the bits that were you would end up part of something else, and that's fine."
"...You're right. I don't get it," Ling Qi replied slowly. "Why did that change though? ...Did the Bloody Moon threaten you or something?"
Sixiang grimaced. "No, I could… feel you hurting though, and that made me hurt. And if something happened to you, this dream would end, and I wouldn't get to tease you anymore, or listen to your songs or watch everyone fumble around trying to express themselves and…" Sixiang reached up, toying with a strand of their drifting misty hair as they babbled. "...I didn't want that. I'm not ready to wake up and rejoin grandmother yet," frustration and confusion bled into Sixiang's voice.
Hmm...considering this a muse is 'just' an assemblage of ideas and inspiration. Sixiang is specifically Ling Qi's muse, comprised of old ideas and new ideas blended together into a mix that's just what she needed. She was formed at the moment that Ling Qi got
absolutely smashed for the first time.
So Sixiang's basically
potentially Green, but not really, because they don't have a self-identity beyond "Ling Qi's muse". When someone hits writer's block their muse literally keels over because the whole of their existence is their partner's creative juices.
And when they give up the art entirely or pass on, so do the muse.
And under Shenhua's ideal of a world of perfection, where everyone fits into predefined roles. Thats where the muses die and never return.
"No, no, no, not gonna fail at the thing that's actually my job you know? Sixiang chided. "...There's some stuff I want to share, but I gotta stress test it first. Don't want to do damage by mistake, you know," she added more quietly.
Ling Qi gave the spirit a sidelong look, but shrugged, recognizing that it was the most she was going to get. "Alright then. Right now I need to compose a piece for my Sect challenge. We're going to compete over which composition has the stronger message, and I want something that will resonate well with my opponent and myself…"
Sixiang held up a hand to forestall her. "Hang on a sec, let me catch up, I haven't been paying attention," Ling Qi blinked as the spirit reached out and brushed her fingers across the opaque water. She saw the surface ripple, and glimpsed flashing images; the mountain path, her conversation with Cai renxiang, Yu Nuan's face and others as well.
"You can just do that?" Ling Qi asked, bewildered.
"Once I'm done you'll be able to as well, one more sec," Sixiang muttered distractedly. "Alright, I think I got a handle on her. Where are you stuck?"
Oh a pensieve!
Sixiang idly kicked their bare legs, sending up splashes of paint-like water. "Is it really so bad to be uncertain? You're not a construct or an elemental you know. It's okay to have some give to your beliefs."
"That feels like an excuse," Ling Qi sighed.
"Hm, hm, I see where I imprinted those issues from," Sixiang said, her voice a little brittle. "But… you're gonna fail, and your gonna disappoint yourself. Nobody walks a path without stumbling."
Ooo, right, thats one element, because Ling Qi is afraid of the slippery slope.
[] Compose a piece about the shadows of disorder and uncertainty, and how those ills might be vanquished
A song of the future.
I don't think Ling Qi actually FEELS like this.
This is Cai Renxiang's ideal, but Ling Qi doesn't buy it yet.
And for someone whose theme is Rage Against The Machine, a song about The Perfect Machine is just plain asking for it.
[] Compose a piece about loneliness and cold, and how they came to fade away
A song of the past.
This is heartfelt. Ling Qi KNOWS how cold and lonely it was, and how her new friends, and old family took the cold away.
Its going to play right past our opponent from what we know. It'd be a contest of pure skill at expression and we know we're better there.
If we want to win, then this would probably do it.
[] Compose a piece about fear and disquiet, and how they might be defeated
A song of the present.
This is a gamble, Ling Qi isn't sure how she can defeat this unease. Theres a lot of whatifs and whatabouts.
Its going to challenge our opponent directly in a contest of ideals. Her theme is raging against the cruel machine of society. What answer do we give to the cruel reality of nature?
If we want to break through our current barrier OR get kicked down harder if we fail...this is it.
[X] Compose a piece about loneliness and cold, and how they came to fade away
Personal preference here. Vote as you wish because I really AM not sure what answer we'd give.
