Thinking back on it, wasn't the Jade Slip given to us by the New Moon spirit? I wonder if the hidden parts of Eight Phase Ceremony have something to do with that. Maybe the choice could be between the New Moon and Grinning Moon rather than a choice between all Eight Phases. Just a bit of speculation.
Thinking back on it, wasn't the Dark Jade Slip given to us by the New Moon spirit? I wonder if the hidden parts of Eight Phase Ceremony have something to do with that. Maybe the choice could be between the New Moon and Grinning Moon rather than a choice between all Eight Phases. Just a bit of speculation.
The Jade Slip was given to us by the Blood Drenched Moon, on behalf of her sister, the Grinning Moon. It was the Blood Drenched Moon that gave it to us because Xin is a smaller fragment of her, and she was available.
While it might mean the Blood Drenched Moon has a 'closer' tie to us than other aspects beside the Grinning Moon, I wouldn't count on that.
@yrsillar what's the average number of bound spirits per cultivation level? Is the 'pokemon squad master' a viable build?
Also do bound spirits use their own Qi for techniques and regenerate it independently, or do they draw from the cultivator's reserves, in addition to their upkeep (such as with F/SN's Servants).
Said number is how many people have in average, not how many they can have. It takes effort from a cultivator to balance all the bound spirits/etc, but it's not like it's impossible.
Said number is how many people have in average, not how many they can have. It takes effort from a cultivator to balance all the bound spirits/etc, but it's not like it's impossible.
If we do get a new spirit buddy, I'm hoping we can snag the Phantasmal Moth, or one of the Dreamspinner Spiders. Or even one of those wolves we found near the Starlit Meadows. The Moth and the Spider both seem to posses some kind of illusory ability, and the Moth in particular has a Qi drain, plus flight. As for the wolves, I'm hoping we can find a Moon-aligned wolf among them, but that's just gravy, as many of the wolves are already pretty formidable.
Zhou Yu was widely considered one of the hotties of China, yes. He was part famous for being so handsome. I mean, they're all male, what does this even mean?
And in the West, we have Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Bieber, and Harry Styles.
In China, I also noticed bigger muscles and more athletic=>more masculine. There are cultural differences, of course. There's less fetishism for beards and more masculine doesn't mean more attractive. But that's true in the West as well, just to a lesser extent.
Said number is how many people have in average, not how many they can have. It takes effort from a cultivator to balance all the bound spirits/etc, but it's not like it's impossible.
Well, Hanyi is a young 2nd grade spirit beast who can go all the way up to 4th grade without the help of a cultivator. She's very fast, somewhat stealthy and has great agility and slow down arts. Her elements of wind and water match us pretty Well, and most importantly she likes us. Her mother also has a connection to FVM or an aspect of It, so she would synergise pretty well with our fighting style.
Like, overall, Hanyi is a perfect fit for a spirit beast to Ling Qi, the only reason I'm hesitant to get her is that we already have a tortoise on our hand. Otherwise I'd love to have her on our team.
Said number is how many people have in average, not how many they can have. It takes effort from a cultivator to balance all the bound spirits/etc, but it's not like it's impossible.
Though since the main challenge seems to be balancing your social commitments across them, Hanyi is relatively easy to work with as she already likes Ling Qi.
Just because a kid likes you, does not mean they'll be perfect little angels or easy to work with. She can cause plenty of trouble just by being bored. Or by being rude and insensitive to our friends. Or by just not wanting to do what Ling Qi says. Or by being homesick for her mom. Or being tired and cranky. Just... All the different ways kids can be troublesome even when you're their parent, let alone their baby sitter.
Just because a kid likes you, does not mean they'll be perfect little angels or easy to work with. She can cause plenty of trouble just by being bored. Or by being rude and insensitive to our friends. Or by just not wanting to do what Ling Qi says. Or by being homesick for her mom. Or being tired and cranky. Just... All the different ways kids can be troublesome even when you're their parent, let alone their baby sitter.
So? What's wrong with that? The kid'll grow up. By that logic we should never have children because children are extremely annoying, rude and insensitive. If we can't put in the effort to instill manners in a child, what right do we have raising a child, even if the child just so happens to be a tortoise.
So? What's wrong with that? The kid'll grow up. By that logic we should never have children because children are extremely annoying, rude and insensitive. If we can't put in the effort to instill manners in a child, what right do we have raising a child, even if the child just so happens to be a tortoise.
Uh, nothing? Dude, chill. I was responding to the guy who said Hanyi would be relatively easy to work with because she liked Ling Qi. I was just pointing out all the different ways kids could be troublesome, even if they liked you.
But since you brought up the point, let me just say here, that I do think the tortoise will be easier to manage as our spirit beast compared to Hanyi. At least we will be the primary caretaker of the tortoise from the beginning, so Ling Ko will be used to listening to us. Hanyi though? I have the impression she's kinda spoiled, and doesn't think too highly of mortals. We're not her mom, we're just the mortal that happened to be slightly better than her at tag. Slightly. Why should she listen to us? Because she agreed to be our spirit beast? What if she did that mainly because she thought it'd be fun, or because she wanted to grow stronger, but then she finds out it's way more hard work and not nearly as fun as she wants? Not nearly as interesting? I dunno, Hanyi is cute, and I don't mind interacting with her more, but I'd want our friendship to be a lot more solid, and have her not scream "cheating!" or "unfair!" whenever we do something she doesn't like, before I considered her as a prospective partner.
Uh, nothing? Dude, chill. I was responding to the guy who said Hanyi would be relatively easy to work with because she liked Ling Qi. I was just pointing out all the different ways kids could be troublesome, even if they liked you.
But since you brought up the point, let me just say here, that I do think the tortoise will be easier to manage as our spirit beast compared to Hanyi. At least we will be the primary caretaker of the tortoise from the beginning, so Ling Ko will be used to listening to us. Hanyi though? I have the impression she's kinda spoiled, and doesn't think too highly of mortals. We're not her mom, we're just the mortal that happened to be slightly better than her at tag. Slightly. Why should she listen to us? Because she agreed to be our spirit beast? What if she did that mainly because she thought it'd be fun, or because she wanted to grow stronger, but then she finds out it's way more hard work and not nearly as fun as she wants? Not nearly as interesting? I dunno, Hanyi is cute, and I don't mind interacting with her more, but I'd want our friendship to be a lot more solid, and have her not scream "cheating!" or "unfair!" whenever we do something she doesn't like, before I considered her as a prospective partner.
Tone doesn't translate well over the internet, but I don't think anything I said indicated I was irritated or angry? It surely wasn't my intent anyway.
So? What's wrong with that? The kid'll grow up. By that logic we should never have children because children are extremely annoying, rude and insensitive. If we can't put in the effort to instill manners in a child, what right do we have raising a child, even if the child just so happens to be a tortoise.
Huh... it just means 'having had fun with her once' doesn't mean anything when it comes to how easy it would be to get her to be with us. We don't even know she likes us, and we know Ling Qi doesn't do well with spoiled brats. Not to say we couldn't make it work, but it wouldn't be easy.
Anyway, there is three main ways I can see our relationships with spirit beasts going:
*The Elite spirits beasts. Our crow and Hanyi would belong to those. Not to say I believe the theory that our Shark is innately 5th rank or Hanyi is innately 4th rank, as we know the tortoise had a cultivator master, and it's very possible Hanyi's mom did too. Anyway, those are very high maintenance and would be the ones that have the highest chance of going up in levels with us with regularity. Each such ones should be chosen with great care and is an enormous investment.
*The Low maintenance type. Those can be elite from time to time, but they would be with us for clear goals (business?) or because they simply aren't the type to demand much. Less driven, less investment, probably shorter term, but much easier to deal with. If we want to go the 'summoner route', we could with some work try to get 5-10 of those.
*The forcibly bound type. This is Asshole, Evil Ling Qi. Those would be either canon fodder, there to be in great number, or there to fill a particular niche we need and have chosen to be a monster for.
Honestly, my issue with Hanyi isn't that she is high maintenance, though I do dislike her personality a bit, and I am balking at the effort needed if we want to have her as a bound spirit. No, my issue is simply that I don't think we want a bound spirit that is too close in style to us. Maybe I'll be proven wrong in the incoming update, but I get the feeling that we will want spirit beasts that have very different combat style from us.
Tone doesn't translate well over the internet, but I don't think anything I said indicated I was irritated or angry? It surely wasn't my intent anyway.
I think mainly it was the putting words in my mouth suggesting I thought we should never ever have children. And the suggestion that we had no right to raise our tortoise kid because I was pointing out all the ways kids could be troublesome.
I don't think forcibly binding a spirit means you're automatically an evil ass. Not every single creature is going to be sentient or willing to negotiate, or willing to be bound without you showing your stuff, or whatever. That's not to say that forcibly binding willy-nilly couldn't easily go into being an evil ass, but it's definitely not 'how could you do that Ling Qi you slaver' immediately because of forceful binding.
Ling Qi needed time to think, and for now, with her feelings troubled she thought it best to do something unrelated to the issues she was having. She fully intended to continue training with Meizhen, alongside all her other work this week… but she needed to get her own thoughts straightened out first. Her need to visit the medicine hall for treatment near the start of the week proved a solid excuse to do so.
She couldn't afford to miss her treatment after all, the curse, while fairly mild in it's current form, could rapidly worsen if left unattended for more than a week or two. It was, according to the words of the medicine disciple treating her, meant to inflict a sort of wasting sickness on its victims. She wondered if it's relatively mild first stage was meant to cloak its spread.
That was a matter for Elders though, she had more than enough concerns of her own without getting involved in something so far above her head. She wished Su Ling luck in looking into medicines though.
Shaking off such thoughts, she continued down the hallway of the medicine building, she had asked around, and been told Li Suyin was doing chores down this way, and should be finishing soon. Since it wasn't one of the areas barred to regular disciples, she figured she would wait at the entrance. It seemed like some kind of storage area.
Upon reaching the doorway with a sign indicating the end of the 'free' part of the hall, she leaned against the wall to wait, entertaining herself by idling studying the tiny formation characters etched into wood around her. There was the usual stuff she had grown used to seeing on sect buildings, simple repeating patterns to ward against basic wear and tear, as well as increase durability and fire resistance, but there were some interesting ones around the barred entryway. The somehow orderly tangle of characters etched into webs at each of the four corners were beyond her skill level, she was pretty sure she would regret tampering with them or trying to bypass the door.
Which made sense, considering this was sect property.
She continued to muse on it, studying the top right inscription circle for potential weaknesses as she waited. It was about a quarter hour later that she heard footsteps approaching from the other side of the doors.
A moment later, the door opened and Li Suyin emerged. She had a distracted look on her face, and wore a long grey smock over the front of her gown, likewise, her short hair was tied back and hidden under a cloth. She had smudges of dust on her cheeks and ink on her fingers. Ling Qi supposed they must have had her cleaning and organizing things back there.
"Li Suyin, how have you been?" Ling Qi greeted, pushing herself to stand up straight.
Her friend blinked, pausing with her hand on the door as she glanced up, noticing Ling Qi. "Oh, Ling Qi, hello," she said smiling slightly as she let the door drift shut. Ling Qi couldn;t help but note the faint throb of the qi running through the wood as the door closed and the formation sealed itself again. "I've been doing well. I'm sorry for not visiting you when you came in," she apologized, looking chagrined. "I've just been kept so busy, and I was assured Su Ling and you didn't have any serious injuries…"
"Don't worry about it," Ling Qi replied, following her friend as the girl moved to start walking down the hall toward the main section of the hall. She didn't know how much she could say on the matter, so she elected to just change the subject. "They must be working you hard though. I hardly see you at our place anymore."
Li Suyin caught her eye, clearly understanding her meaning. "Ah, yes. The mornings are a very busy time, so I have to be available," she apologized. "Well, for a few more weeks at least," she corrected. "If I can pass the exam to officially become an assistant, I will receive a little more latitude in the matter."
Ling Qi hummed to herself, looking her friend over out of the corner of her eye. "I guess they make you do a month or two worth of grunt work before they actually show you anything important?"
Li Suyin flushed a little, fidgeting with her sleeves. "W-well, I wouldn't call it that. It's important not to waste actual medicine disciples time with insufficiently dedicated assistants. Besides, I have been receiving instruction," she replied a bit defensively. "Even if it's not exactly orthodox…" She added under her breath.
Ling Qi blinked and gave Suyin a concerned look as they rounded a corner, the sounds of the entrance hall starting to reach their ears. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, you see…" Li Suyin begun, looking a bit anxious, as they entered the main hall.
"Assistant Li," a flat female voice cut off her words before she could continue, and brought Ling Qi's gaze around to find the speaker. What she saw was… strange. The girl who had spoken was almost as tall as her, and had been leaning against the wall herself before stepping out in front of the them. She was pale, with slightly gaunt features and dark circles under her eyes, with black haired tied back in a loose and careless tail. Some kind of facemask hung loosely around her neck, and in addition to her height, she was even more lanky and thin than Ling Qi herself.
She could tell because the girl wore a bizarre and almost skintight dark green silk shirt under a black leather vest, with similarly form hugging pants tucked into heavy knee high leather boots, her arms were likewise covered to the elbow by gloves of some kind of scaly animal hide. Her qi hung about her like the thick mist of a bog, ominous and opaque. Ling Qi could tell that she was fully in the third realm though.
Suyin seemed to recognize her though given the way she hurriedly bowed her head. "Ah, Senior Sister Bao, my apologies, I did not know you would be waiting," Li Suyin glanced at Ling Qi, who raised her eyebrows, glancing between the blue haired girl and the newcomer. "Ling Qi, this is Senior Sister Bao Qingling. She has been gracious enough to allow me to assist her."
"I thought inner sect disciples weren't allowed on the outer mountain," Ling Qi said a little dubiously, not quite liking the way the older girl had simply glanced over and dismissed her, during that little introduction.
"The rule does not apply to medicine hall disciples assigned to this hall," the older disciple replied disinterestedly, crossing her gloved arms. "Outer Sect riff raff can hardly be trusted with complex procedures," she added, words that should have sounded malicious or arrogant simply seeming matter of fact.
Li Suyin laughed a little awkwardly, glancing nervously at Ling Qi. Ling Qi simply gave her a reassuring look, even if this Bao Qingling's attitude was a little grating she wasn't going to say something dumb. Besides, it had taken a second for it to occur to her... but she was probably partially at fault for the girls presence. After all, the curse and Sun Liling's little rampage were probably what had pulled inner disciples down to the outer mountains hall. "I see, well, in anyway, I guess I should be thanking you for taking care of my good friend Li Suyin, Elder Sister Bao."
The girl looked at her a little longer this time, though her gaze remained apathetic. "Mm. You are welcome, Assistant Li has a good hand for delicate matters, it seems this year's outer disciples are less useless than usual," she responded bluntly, and Ling Qi had a feeling that was as close to an acknowledgement as she would get from the girl. The inner disciples gaze turned back to Li Suyin. "Assistant Li, I require another set of hands for the preparation of today's experiments, come along."
She turned away from them, already walking away toward the exit of the hall, without even waiting for a response. Li Suyin shot Ling Qi an apologetic look. "...I am sorry Ling Qi," she said quietly. "I will have to talk to you later. Thank you for coming to visit me, we can catch up tomorrow I'm sure."
"Don't worry about it," Ling Qi replied easily. Maybe she would be bristling if she was the same person she had been when she came to the mountain, but she had come far enough to recognize the difference between a generally abrasive attitude and targeted contempt. She couldn't say she liked the older girl though. "Just… don't get caught up in anything weird, alright?"
Li Suyin laughed quietly, apparently taking her words as a joke and nodded before hurrying after the retreating figure of the older girl. Ling Qi shook her head, she supposed since Li Suyin was busy, she would simply start preparing to meet the tutor she had hired.
The note she had received had said to meet an hour after noon at the gate that marked the entrance to the main road of the outer mountain. Her tutor would be a boy named Ruan Shen. She had intended to spend a little time chatting with Suyin, but she supposed she could use the time to practice a little.
Still, it wasn't far from noon by that time, so soon enough she was on the path down the mountain, she stuck to the road instead of using the more direct path of hopping down the cliffside, sore and fatigued as she still felt, but even then, it wasn't a long walk, not anymore.
The gate was a tall arched structure, a dozen meters high or more, stretching over a road wide enough for several horses to pass side by side. She wasn't the only disciple on the path, but neither was there exactly a crowd or heavy foot traffic, so very quickly her gaze caught on a figure that seemed likely to be her tutor. He looked a few years older than her, though she was aware how little that could mean. He looked fairly tall, enough to match her at least, and had a head of shaggy and untamed black hair that faded to light blue at the tips, his bangs hung down over his eyes, concealing his face somewhat as he plucked at the strings of a lute of some kind.
She always had trouble remembering the exact names of the different types, though now that she thought of it, his name on the note had been written with the same character as the instrument, the ruan, so that seemed a likely guess. He glanced upward as she approached, idly scanning the light traffic with a lazy gaze. He was pretty handsome she could admit, he also very clearly kept up on his physical cultivation, given what she could see due to the loose blue and white robe he wore. It hung pretty far open in the front, she had no idea how he kept it from falling off his shoulders.
She averted her eyes from that quickly enough, any admiration she might have felt quashed under awkward memories of Meizhen's lips and the resurgence of her own insecurities. Shaking her head, she dismissed such thoughts and picked up her pace. It didn't take long before the older boy's eyes alit on her, his gaze assessing despite the seemingly permanently amused expression on his face.
"Hey there, I suppose you're probably Ling Qi?" He asked, raising a hand in greeting, a few of the other disciples glanced their way, but only momentarily.
Ling Qi crossed her arms, a bit of awkwardness surfacing despite her efforts to keep her thoughts in order. "Yeah, thats me," she said, before wincing a bit and correcting herself, and pulling the note with the sect seal out to show him. "I mean… Yes, I am Ling Qi. Thank you for taking the time to teach me, Senior Brother Ruan," she corrected, coughing into her hand. "I… suppose they must have given you a description?"
He chuckled slightly, pushing himself up from the pillar he leaned against and lowering his instrument to his side as he fished a matching seal marked note from his pocket to confirm his identity. "Yeah, they did. No reason to be so stiff though. You can call me Shen though, if you'd like, it won't bother me any."
"Senior Brother Shen," Ling Qi responded after a moment as she stopped in front of him, dipping her head. If he said it was fine she could relax a little. "I… haven't done this before, so what exactly are we going to do?"
He hummed thoughtfully, looking her over, and Ling Qi shifted uncomfortably. It wasn't that he was being a perv or anything… his eyes were just disturbingly piercing, it almost felt like he was looking through her. On the other hand, she was having trouble feeling his qi at all. "Well, as much as I like the idea of having a cute little junior sis," he began, before pausing and giving her another look over. "Or not so little as the case may be," he corrected, making her frown, there was no call for that.
...Some errant part of her mind felt the need to point out that he hadn't retracted the cute descriptor though. "Is there a problem?" she asked politely.
"Nah, nothing like that," he said, waving his free hand dismissively. "I'm just gonna need to test you a bit. Gotta see what kind of melodies you have in your repertoire before I can teach you a thing?" He said casually. "Not too many disciples follow the musicians path, so I'm hoping this isn't just a whim on your part. That'd just be real sad."
Ling Qi drew herself up a bit, summoning her flute to her hand. "I'm not an amateur," she replied. "And I'm not just dabbling… my music is one of my best skills," she replied with a bit of fierceness.
Ruan Shen studied her expression for a moment, then laughed. "Well, I'm glad. Why don't we find a better spot though? As much as this bunch would enjoy the free concert," he said, waving to the disciples on the road. "I think we'd do better to go without distractions today. Follow me."
She wasn't entirely certain what to make of the other disciple, and for all that her instincts cried out at the idea of following a stranger to an out of the way place… he had the sect seal, and tutors doing something untoward with their authority was suppose to be punished pretty heavily.
In the end, she followed him out a short distance into the foothills, and they stopped in a small clearing at the top of a steep hill, studded with several large boulders. From there, well, for the first day at least, she simply played for him, first with her flute, and then with other instruments as he tested the limits of her musical knowledge and ability.
Manipulation+Expression+Equipment/arts. 11 dice +5 auto for spiritual
10 2 5 3 10 9 10 1 10 7 2. 6 successes. 11 total
He was mostly unreadable for the first day, offering little except simple instruction and the occasional pointer on improving her technical skill, or correction for errors, but… she thought he seemed impressed enough, or at least not disappointed when he cheerfully instructed her to meet him back here tomorrow a few hours later.
With that, and her continued training with Meizhen in the evenings, things settled into a routine. She would work on cleansing a meridian at the argent vent in the morning, and then swing by the medicine hall to chat with Li Suyin, sometimes over lunch when the girl had time. Despite the less than stellar introduction, she was apparently enjoying playing assitant to that Qingling girl. She was mostly tasked with preparing ingredients and helping with time sensitive tasks, but the odd girl apparently thought aloud enough that Li Suyin was picking up a fair bit of knowledge just from listening in, along with the occasional borrowed scroll.
In the afternoons she would go to her tutoring sessions, which for now seemed to largely consist of improvised duets and musical tests, accompanied by talks about music theory and it's relation to qi and cultivation. In the evenings she alternated between hunting with Han Jian's group and training with Meizhen.
Her efforts to continue helping Su Ling on the other hand, took place after sun down. She met the fox eared at the vent, and they went from there, taking the narrow natural paths that lead higher on the mountain.
It was still quite a way to the more dangerous parts of the peak though, which left them some time to talk. "So, tell me I'm not the only one who thinks there's something weird with that girl Li Suyin is training with," Ling Qi said quietly as the two of them climbed a short cliff face with mostly effortless ease.
Su Ling simply grunted in response, carefully moving up the rockface herself, easily finding foot and hand holds. "Not really my business… Suyin's actually pretty secretive in her way you know?"
"I guess so, Ling Qi replied grudgingly, eyeing the top of the cliff, after a moment's thought, she tensed her muscles and pushed, leaping up the remaining five meters or so to catch the edge and pull herself up to the top, her recent push through to Late Silver was a nice increase in ability. "It still bugs me that she won't talk about any of the details of what that girl has her doing, you know?"
"Might be because you can get pretty nosy about the shit you do care about," Su Ling called up, giving her an annoyed look. Ling Qi simply grinned cheekily down at the silent accusation of 'showoff'. "You're not her mother you know. Let her do her own thing."
Ling Qi made a disatisfied sound and crossed her arms as she stood on the cliff edge, giving Su Ling a few moments to catch up. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid," she admitted grudgingly.
"Yeah, you don't see me prodding you about whatever you're getting up too with that guy you've been hanging around with," Su Ling said as she pulled herself up over the top and stood, dusting herself off.
Ling Qi rolled her eyes at the implication, but she got the point. "You know it's just music practice."
"Course I do," Su Ling replied, unruffled. "Which the point," she replied flatly. Ling Qi lowered her head a bit, acknowledging the point as they started out through the scraggly trees clinging to the still steep mountainside. "Not that I'd blame ya, from what I saw, that is a pretty fine hunk of meat," she added blithely.
Ling Qi shot her a withering look. "You too? I get enough of that from Gu Xiulan," she replied dryly.
"Eh, nothing wrong with lookin," Su Ling said with a shrug. "Anyway, still not sure why you're doing this, but…"
"Because I want to help my friend, since I know she's taking on extra work," Ling Qi cut in, with a bit of irritation.
"...Yeah, alright," Su Ling answered after a moment. "That's fair… I need to collect a lot this week, since I'm gonna be trying to break through the next."
"Good for you," Ling Qi replied encouragingly, as they wove through the rough terrain. "So… how is the kid from the town doing," she didn't want to get too involved, but it was important to Su Ling.
"He's, not great, but he's stable," Su Ling replied after moment. "I can't produce the quality the medicine hall can, but I guess he didn't get the full whammy either," she said with a shrug. "Makes sense I guess, since the asshole was planning to use the kid, wouldn;t do much good if he kicked it from being near."
Ling could only nod at that. She was glad the other girl was doing well at her self assigned task.Conversation lapsed soon enough after that, as they instead focused on gathering what Su Ling needed.
Between her nights out with Su Ling, and more sporadic hunts with Han Jian, she managed to pull in a decent amount of spirit stones thankfully, which was a good thing, as she had been spending them like water for the past few weeks.
+40 Red Spirit Stones
She didn't have much time to think about financial woes though, because every waking moment not dedicated to one of her other tasks was being spent keeping the kiln burning on full blast as the egg inside wobbled and twitched on occasion. According to the research she had done, the most likely time for hatching was the hours leading to dawn or just after, so the last segment of her time vanished just like that. Ling Qi was extremely glad that could go a week or two without sleeping at this point.
So, the days went by quickly as she scrambled to keep up with everything, and on the third day of her tutoring they finally moved past mundane practice and qi theory to working on their techniques, she was a bit reluctant to simply show off Forgotten Vale Melody, but well, that cat was firmly out of the bag she supposed.
So she didn't hold back, filling the sunny hilltop with mist and stalking shadows, while she played out the haunting melody of the forgotten vales. Sitting still like she was, without worrying about combat, she could almost see the misty mountain valleys and frightening vistas the song was meant to depict. It was beautiful in a dark way, or so she liked to think.
Ruan Shen, for his part, hadn't moved from atop the flat topped boulder he used as a seat during their lessons, his normally smiling expression thoughtful instead as she allowed the notes to fade and the mist began to disperse, floating away on the breeze.
"That's not a bad tune you have there," he said, idly scratching his chin as his eyes followed a wisp of dissolving mist. "Not really my style, but no, it's not a bad one at all," he mused. "It seems a little sad for a beauty to be pouring her heart into something so melancholy though," he added thoughtfully, idly strumming a chord on his instrument.
"Please stop that, Senior Brother Shen," she replied, giving him an unamused look. He did that, teasing her and getting sidetracked on pointless things. The first few times she had blushed, but by now, she didn't react. "I didn't come here to get teased."
He just grinned at her, which simply made her eyebrow twitch in further irritation. "Heh, I've said it before right? Every lady that cultivates is a beauty in their own way," he replied easily. "And man, that title just doesn't get old," he mused, before shaking his head. "I'll say it again, you've got a real good tune there. I won't ask where you got the work of a master, it's none of my business, but I gotta ask… have you played anything else at all before you started these lessons with me?"
Ling Qi frowned, rubbing her thumb thoughtfully along the cool wood of her flute. "...Not recently. I haven't had time really. I just have so much to do."
"Kinda figured," Shen replied, his normal expression of amusement returning. "Your songs are stiff, aside from that one. You've got the technical stuff down, you don't miss any notes, and you know all the little details of how to play… least when it comes to your flute anyway, but today's the first time I really felt any soul in your music, you know? You were alone for a long time, weren't you?" He spoke casually, even as Ling Qi stiffened at his assertion. "Yeah… lonely, afraid, hurting and hungry," he continued blithely. "Whoever gave you that song matched it to you well."
Ling Qi's grip on her flute tightened, and she scowled at the older boy. "Don't just assume you know things," she snapped, her politeness had been worn down over the past few days with the irreverent boy, and his assertion got under her skin more than it really should have
"Ha, what a scary look," he chuckled. "Sorry, don't be mad, my little junior sis. I won't pry into things. You know though, music is one of the purest expressions of the spiritual arts," he said musingly, strumming a cheerful little ditty on his ruan. "At least, so I've been taught," he admitted. "It's the closest you can come to a pure expression of emotion and feeling without the weirder stuff, and that makes it great for channeling your qi. You've noticed right, that song of yours is pretty versatile, isn't it?"
Ling Qi forced herself to relax a little. "So why doesn't everyone do it?"
He shrugged without concern. "Not everyone's got the right attitude for it, and not everyone agrees. Plus, well, it needs a fair bit of set up to really get going, doesn't it? It takes time to reach your crescendo. Takes a lot of stamina and concentration to pour out your heart all through a fight too," he added with a careless grin.
Ling Qi nodded after a moment, it made sense, musical arts were versatile, but time consuming and qi intensive. It wasn't just Forgotten Vale Melody. "So, what's your advice, Senior Brother Shen? How can I improve?" She asked, the weird delight he seemed to get out of her calling him that was kind of annoying, but it was useful for getting straight answers.
Even if she could tell that he was playing things up a little, the sharp eyed boy was a lot more perceptive than he let on.
He grinned down at her. "Well, I can show you a few things, how to really get the feel for the qi going into every note, and the way it flows from your fingers and breath. What you need the most, if you're gonna focus on this though… is some time on other songs. You gotta cheer up a little, you know? Write something yourself, something that you can really put your all into."
She frowned suspiciously up at him. "What, I'm supposed to develop a new art myself?"
"Nah, nothing like that. Even I'm not ready to do that yet," he replied easily. "I guess I should ask. Is that all your music is to you? A tool for fights?" He asked, an out of place serious note in his voice.
Ling Qi fell silent. It was true that she had played almost nothing but Forgotten Vale Melody since she had arrived on the mountain, she was simply so busy, she didn't have time for frivolous things.
Yet she had made time to take Meizhen out swimming. She had let Gu Xiulan drag her along shopping or trying out sweets. So that wasn't exactly true. She felt a pang of sadness, playing her flute had been one of her few pleasures before she came here. Something she could only do when she was sure she was safe. Yet now that she could sleep soundly and walk openly and unafraid, she had stopped doing it, except to fight or train. "...I don't want it to be," she said quietly, breaking the silence that had fallen.
"Well, there you go then," Ruan Shen replied brightly. "Let's get started on a couple little exercises…"
From there, her tutoring took on a more active turn, and she found herself fixing a number of little errors and bad habits in her more qi dependant musical skills. More than that though… she found herself relaxing a little, and having some fun with her music again as she was encouraged to try new things, and play new pieces.
It helped quite a bit, she thought, in letting her reflect on the difficult situation she was in with Meizhen. She was still a little angry at the breach of her personal space, but more than that, she was worried about her friend. Although Meizhen remained as harsh and unflinching as always during their training together, outside of it, she found the other girl avoiding her eyes and keeping a distance that she hadn't before. Someone who didn't know her as well, might not have picked up the difference, but Ling Qi did.
She couldn't say that her own attitude had not changed either. Despite her conscious effort to act normally, she felt awkward around the other girl. Despite the occasional teasing word, she really hadn't seen it coming. At all. She had been vaguely aware that this sort of thing existed, but it was outside her experience really. Something old wives gossiped about. Now she wasn't sure if she should feel awkward going to the springs with Xiulan, or meditating with Suyin or any number of things.
She was more careful to avoid wandering out of the bathroom in her underclothes or a towel now though, that was for certain.
In the end though, despite the fact that things were beginning to settle, or perhaps because of it, she felt the need to talk to the other girl about it, to make things clear, if nothing else. Which was difficult, because Meizhen had taken to avoiding her outside of training. It kind of meant she needed to be blunt about things.
So, after a few days of trying to work things out, she finally worked up the confidence to stop Meizhen before she left the training room in their home.
Her friend looked back at her, with the same blank expression she always wore when they were doing combat training as Ling Qi lowered her hand, already feeling the awkwardness increasing. "Thanks for stopping Meizhen," Ling Qi said, nervously toying with a few loose strands of hair as she considered what to say. "Look, I think we really need to talk."
Her friend stilled slightly, but nodded, folding her arms in front of her stomach as she turned back to face Ling Qi. "I see, did you have a question about the mental exercises? You are nearing the completion of the beginners set," she replied coolly, but Ling Qi could detect the note of worry in her voice, probably because she was pumping qi into all her senses via Argent Mirror, she really didn't want to screw this up.
"You know that's not what I'm talking about," Ling Qi replied with a bit more heat than she meant. "I mean this whole… thing. You liking me, I guess," she said, holding her composure thanks to art thrumming through her channels. "I just… I don't really know what to think here."
If Meizhen had been still before, she was a statue now. It took her several seconds to respond at all. "I apologized for my misconduct, did I not?" She replied quietly, and Ling Qi saw her long sleeves shift, hiding her clenched hands. "It was extremely inappropriate and foolish of me to do such a thing."
"Yeah, it was," LIng Qi admitted, looking away. She didn't like it, no longer feeling quite as safe around even other girls as she had before. When she looked back, her friend's expression was just as blank as before. "You are my friend, but please, don't ever do something like that again. I'll be more careful not to be… insensitive myself, alright?" She added, making an effort to be reassuring
"I already promised that I would not," Bai Meizhen replied, and even with Discerning Gaze running Ling Qi couldn't detect a change in her tone. "It was a mistake, and nothing more," she added softly. "Excuse me, I have a task I need to attend too."
"Meizhen," Ling Qi called after her, a sinking feeling in her gut telling her that she hadn't helped matters. "I… I did have fun that night, and I hope you did too. I still appreciate everything you've done for me."
The pale girl paused for a moment at the door, glancing back over her shoulder, a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes. "I appreciated your effort as well," she said simply. "It is for the best that we avoid such overt familiarity in the future though, for both of us. I am sorry Ling Qi."
Then she was gone, disappearing through the doorway, leaving Ling Qi with the cold feeling that she hadn't helped anyone at all with this.
She threw herself back into her other tasks after that, focusing her efforts between caring her the increasingly active spirit egg and putting time into her music.
If Ruan Shen noted her slide back into less upbeat choices of melody, he didn't comment on it.
It was nearly the end of the week, with Ling Qi slowly coming to terms with it's ups and downs, that her constant care and effort of the egg finally bore fruit. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon while Ling Qi fed more of the fragrant wood Su Ling had surprised her into the Kiln, carefully arranging things to get the most heat out, when she heard a sharp crack, like a firework going off.
She looked up, startled as colorful sparks erupted in another series of tiny blasts, like a chain of firecrackers, and the egg wobbled violently. She felt the qi in the kiln shift, and a sudden cold as the blazing heat radiating from inside the kiln dropped precipitously, the flames briefly flaring and consuming the wood she had just fed in at a monstrous pace before guttering low, reduced to mere embers in an instant.
She felt a flare of excitement as she saw the veins of green on the egg go dark and a spiderweb of cracks appeared on it's surface. Without thinking, she reached in, gently pulling the egg off of the shelf she had built for it, ignoring the brief stinging of the still hot shell on her hands, something like that wasn't enough to do her any real harm anymore.
She cradled the egg in her lap as it shook and cracked, bits of shell flaking off and crumbling to ash as they landed on her gown. She soon found herself looking down at the tiny, blunt face of black scaled tortoise, with eyes that were a bright, solid green. It blinked up at her in confusion, and let out a plaintive little sound, a high pitched mix between a chirp and a squeak.
It's stubby forelegs followed it out of the crumbling shell as it stumbled forward, revealing a dark green shell, formed of dull triangular spikes. Suddenly remembering that she should be doing something, Ling Qi rubbed her thumb along the little creature's head, brushing away some leftover ash. "Look at you, you're wonderful," she breathed, unable to contain her grin, she had done it, she had a spirit beast. It was warm to the touch, hot really, and rubbed his little head back against her hand, blinking up at her with a adorably guileless gaze as his stubby little foreclaws scrabbled at her dress, slipping on the sleek fabric. She could feel its… no, his qi, if she was feeling it right, bright and hot as a newborn flame. Her spirit had been born right into the first realm.
She quickly remembered that spirits were often born quite hungry, and, while continuing to pet the little fellow with one hand and make reassuring sounds, she summoned a small grade one core she had acquired from hunting out of her ring. She smiled and lowered her hand, amused by the way his little eyes immediately fixed on the sphere in her hand.
Then she blinked as she heard a hiss, and something snapped the core right out of her hand. There, protruding from the back of her spirits shell, where his tail should be, was what looked like the front half of a black scaled serpent, with bright red eyes, a puff of smoke and ash escaped its mouth as it swallowed down the core and nuzzled against her hand, even as the the tortoises other head let out a distressed squeak.
That… that hadn't been in any of the books she had read.
She rallied herself quickly enough, quickly pulling out another small core for his first… primary, main, she wasn't what to call it. She made sure to feed the turtle half of her little spirit too, and of course, belatedly remembered to begin bonding him. Unsurprisingly, the little snake turtle didn't resist at all, his newborn qi easily yielding to hers even as he nudged at her hand expectantly, clearly still hungry.
Within a few moments, she felt the connection form, and shivered as she felt the rush of heat and vitality flood through her channels, even as the qi in her dantian dropped precipitously.
37/47 Qi
+5 dice to cultivation of Fire Arts
+5 dice to the cultivation of Wood arts
+1 Armor vs Fire damage
What little discomfort had come from the hot ash piling on her dress vanished in an instant, and she shook her head, before looking down to find both of her new spirits heads peering up at her inquisitively. She could feel his qi more clearly now, fire and wood in aspect, and could tell that he was still very hungry.
Even as she began to draw out the remaining low grade cores she had collected this week, she had to wonder, just what was he though? And more importantly, just how much qi was she going to need to tether to the little fellow, if he needed that much at birth?
What little remained of her week, was largely devoted to caring for her as yet unnamed spirit, taking care of his constant hunger, and keeping the kiln lit, as he seemed to enjoy sleeping in it. She could feel that she could dissolve his physical form and draw the spirit into her dantian, but she didn't want to do that just yet. Perhaps because her best example of a good relationship between cultivator and spirit was Meizhen and Cui
The longest she spent away from him was her last lesson with Ruan Shen, which ended with the older boy passing her a dog eared, and battered looking book on songwriting, composition, and philosophy at their parting, along with a casual encouragement to keep working hard. She wouldn't necessarily say she liked the older boy yet, but… he seemed nice at least
Musician's Manual: A thin tome detailing tips for songwriting and composing, interspersed with minor qi exercises and other handwritten notes. +6 dice to cultivation of musical arts of second realm and below.
While she couldn't say she was entirely happy with how the week had gone, given the way Meizhen was avoiding her still, she could still be happy for the positives that had come of it.
Dexterity 25/35 Training, Hunting
Intelligence 3/25 Suyin
Wits 10/20 Su Ling
Presence 7/15 Mentor
Manipulation 15/25 Menor
Composure 18/20 Mentor, Meizhen
Medicine 3/3 New dot gained! Suyin, Su Ling
Occult 5/9 Su Ling
Survival 6/12 Su Ling
Animal Ken 3/6 Su Ling, Turtle
Empathy 10/12, Mentor, Meizhen
Expression 8/12
Persuasion 7/12 Mentor, Meizhen
Dodge 5/21 General
Throwing Knives 8/11 general
Archery 7/11 general
Swords 2/ 3
Bai Meizhen: ooo
-Good Friend(?)
Hong Lin: o
-Dislike
Ruan Shen: o
-Friendly Acquaintance
Bao Qingling: o
-Wary
[] Train by hunting with Han Jian and his group
-[] Physical or art
[] Spend time researching and rearing your new spirit.
[] Continue ruining the days of those associated with Kang
[] Take your lessons with Elder Ying
-[] Select two subjects
[] Train at the vent with Suyin and Su Ling
-[] Any
[] Take a job
-[] Specify
[] Visit the Archive
-[] Search for a technique
-[] Study formations
-[] Research the moon element and the phase spirits(counts as cultivation of EPC)
[] Train with Bai Meizhen
-[] Any
[] Cultivate on your own
-[] Physical
-[] Spiritual
-[] Qi
-[] Meridian (which one?)
-[] Art(Which one?)
You have THREE minor actions. TWO minor actions may be traded for one additional major one. In addition, up to one additional minor action may be attached to a Major action as a subvote, provided both involve the same character.
[] Gu Xiulan seems awfully smug about something, and has dropped hints that she wants to go out together, indulge her.
[] Han Jian seems to be planning something, perhaps you can see if you can help?
[] Continue getting to know Xuan Shi, he was a helpful and reasonable sort
[] Speak with Gan Guangli, it can't hurt to get to know him better, and you can see how things are going for Cai's group
[] Head to the market.
[] Try to figure out the locking formations on the bags you looted from the shaman
[] Continue swinging by the medicine hall to have lunch with Li Suyin, you'd like to make sure she's still doing well
[] Cai Renxiang has put out notice for a proper second meeting to discuss the future
And of course Name your Tortoise
[][name]
Two Hour moratorium, as usual guys.
We got a very rare tortoise in the meantime, fire and wood is an odd combination, eternally renewing flame? Xuanwu is about as high as you can go for tortoise.
Never said it was a pass (Okay, maybe I did, poor choice of words), but a failed roll is better than a botch any day of the week, and one success means it wasn't a botch, which isn't a total failure in my book!
A failed roll rarely torpedoes anything forever. A botch can
