We were thinking of leaving Han Jian??? Is this why we're not sharing the vent with him? We're scared he'll become competition?????
Han Jian
is competition, as is everyone else. Several of them are also friends. The fact that only 8 slots are open for those without non-combat talents in the inner sect is a really big deal for anyone seriously trying to advance. Pushing all our contacts through the competition.Like, let's say we want Suyin, Meizhen, ourself, Han Jian's faction and Ling to join the inner sect. Presuming healing doesn't count for the other competition (it may) that's already monopolizing every single available slot for our allies.
This isn't realistic. Trying to help people and be a good friend doesn't mean relying on blind optimism to magically make everything work out. We can and will be competing with our friends for something everyone involved desperately wants. At minimum, I doubt we can keep either Cai or Liling from joining the inner sect. That means, at minimum, 1-2 of the people we've worked with is not joining the inner sect. This number is likely higher. The ones most likely to suffer if we start throwing everything to everyone are Suyin and Ling, particularly if we do it without building ties between them and Han Jian's faction first.
This is especially the case since A: Han Jian isn't really that close a friend compared to Suyin, Meizhen and Xuilin and B: He's already getting weird, either through pure envy or by simply being able to do math. Yes, we should stay his friend, but we should not close our eyes and pretend that the rather serious pressure to make everyone compete with everyone else is a myth. He's a nice person and a good ally, and we should continue to work with him and help him, but the vent isn't rally ours as a resource, and upsetting the balance there potentially costs the friends that helped us find it safe access and use.
Now, the reasons for not sharing the vent with Han Jian have nothing to do this with this (It's just rather awkward, and costs our other friends out from one of a relatively small number of advantages they, who are much worse off, have in the sect, while also helping several people we actively dislike who actively dislike us) and we can, and should, try to maintain relationships and not go all murderous on each other. Giving Bai the vent is good because it helped the safety of those who worked together to get it. Approaching them with the idea of pushing them into sharing one of the few resources they have with a group that's been pretty nasty to them in the past, or selling it around and taking the profits, is not being a good friend. Pushing our friends to give up an advantage for no real gain with no intent on repaying them for it, to avoid losing another relationship because we've kind of been neglecting it, is not being a good friend.
Suyin, in particular, is quite dependent on us for advancement, and is something of a pushover. She will likely accept even if she doesn't really want to. Huang Da may keep the peace of not sharing it with everyone if he notices, and he very well may, that we're passing it around. Han Jian's friends are assholes by and large.
Now, we can't feasibly sell the vent and continue to use it reliably. If we trade it away, we're going to have to tell people that we know where it is before they buy it. We will be watched, and followed, by most everyone, and I'm not sure we can hide well enough to avoid notice consistently for a longer period of time, given the relative attraction of the location. Likewise, anyone we sell it to can turn around and resell it (And Huang Da has every incentive to do the same the second we start talking about the vent to anyone, who he might run into purely by accident). This means that, especially as the vent is a great place to ambush someone, it stops being a safe training place for anyone.
