- Location
- Staring into the void
[X] Let him play his game, make up for lost time and try to forge a few more lines of personal acquaintance among his group.
Ling Qi prepared herself to wait as conversation began around her to suss out who else would be going along. She allowed her gaze to roam over the group as they spoke, she hoped it wouldn't be too hard to keep whoever got picked safe.
"...Ling Qi stop it," Sixiang sighed in exasperation
'Stop what?' Ling Qi thought not letting her frown show on her face.
"The whole detached aloof act. I don't want to boss you around, but c'mon girl. I get that it helped when you didn't know what you were doing, but you're past that. You know your manners, you know the expectations, you've even got a fancier dress than anyone else. So just engage with the people your supposed to be chatting up already! Stop treating them like an obstacle or challenge and just treat them like people."
Ling Qi glanced around at the others present, with Sixiang's words still echoing in her thoughts, she really looked at them. Not at their cultivation, or the patterns of elements and meridians thrumming under their skin, or even the larger pattern of their group dynamic. It may have seemed a simple and obvious statement but…
These people were friends. The cliques she had seen existed, for sure, but as she watched one of the young men in fur cloaks boasted his prowess to a girl in an elaborate green gown, and she tittered in amusement. Wu Jing argued with a young man in simple and utilitarian garb, but both of them were in good humor. Everyone was polite and formal, and she did sense some animosities, but… had she been looking for masks where there were none? She had come here so wound up and worried about looking for plots and schemes, had that come across in her demeanor?
"...No, I do not know anyone well enough to have a useful opinion," Ling Qi found herself saying in a quiet voice.
" Thank you sir Luo. I shall try to be the one targeted! It will be a unique experience I am sure!" The young man was tall and lanky, with a sort of roguish look to his features. He had the feeling of an eager spring breeze, and looking close, Ling Qi could feel the faint imprint of a grinning crescent on his spirit.
As they set off through the trees, Ling Qi glanced back at her two temporary followers. They walked a half step behind her and did not shy from her gaze. They were probably from baronial clans then, and main line at that. She turned her attention to Du Feng "You follow the path of the Grinning Moon then?"
Sha Feng paused for a moment, almost missing a step. "Yes, is it that obvious?" He asked curiously.
She could feel the currents of wind and ripples of the moon in his aura, so to her it was. "Only if you have the right eyes," she replied impishly
"Ah of course, I had heard some rumors in that regard," Sha Feng said, giving her an assessing look. "It is good to see that they are not just that."
"Moon spirits can be dangerous and unreliable things," Lin Fei added carefully. "It is unusual for a new cultivator to walk that path."
"Hmph, I resent that," Sixiang grumbled, and both of Ling Qi's companions nearly jumped.
"I believe the revel I met you at could have left me catatonic if I had not impressed your grandmother," Ling Qi said dryly, addressing the empty air. "So her words are not wrong."
"Details," Sixiang huffed.
"...So that is the nature of your hidden spirit," Sha Feng mused. "It seems you must be quite the spirit speaker Miss Ling."
"I am at least, very lucky," Ling Qi acknowledged. "But enough of me. I am afraid I am not very familiar with your group. When did the two of you reach the Inner Sect?"
These two at least weren't unpleasant to talk to Ling Qi mused as they continued toward the beasts territory, hashing out their plan. Ling Qi felt like she was was beginning to realize something. Meizhen used her mannerisms as a nigh invulnerable armor to deflect unwanted social advances, and for a time emulating her had been helpful but… it was not really her, and continuing to cling to that false face was only doing her harm.
She would have to figure out her own approach in the future, something that was more honest to herself.
[] Let him play his game, make up for lost time and try to forge a few more lines of personal acquaintance among his group.
yes, that's also why I was doing it honey, I just didn't realize it had been two hours...You need to put an X in the brackets for it to count as a vote. People put un-Xed stuff in early posts because there's a thread rule "no voting until 2 hours after update," but want to indicate what they think we should do.
Not sure if this is intentional, but IIRC "fong" is not a valid syllable in Mandarin (in standard hanyu pinyin spelling). In fact it's not uncommonly the equivalent of "feng" in other Chinese languages, as seen here.Sha Feng hung his head and the other cloaked young man… his twin brother Sha Fong, clapped him on the back.
Li? Any chance they were Suyin's ancestors? 🤔
I mean, Qi is the Spooky Stealth Mini Boss w/ Tragic Backstory of our local Council of Evil, makes sense that love and friendship is foreign to her gloomy mind.
[x] Get answers, proactively seek out Luo Zhong during the victory celebration and press him, politely, on what exactly he wants.
I think i'd rather have Ling Qi go towards a simple and proactive (even blunt) method rather than try to "play the game". She is a commoner born noble, she should take advantage of the expectations that puts on her rather than try to out-noble the noble-born nobles.