Jade Slip Recordings
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You hold this artifact in your palm, staring at the blindfolded man with a frown on your face. The sun shines down with malicious heat, but you are long accustomed to both aspects. Your discomfort is mild, as your heavy metal armour traps the heat against you where your loose clothing would have let you breathe, but that is minor compared to the brew of emotions inside you.
"...the hell do you mean it's a trash recording? You said just put it to my head and think at it!" you say.
"Well, that's how I've always done it," the man replies. "I don't know what to tell you."
You sit atop a Bloody Lattice-Shell Tortoise, its back the height of a table, all four limbs and neck splayed out in death. Half an aurochs hangs from its mouth, the creature interrupted from devouring its stolen prey. A giant redheaded woman works to dislodge its jagged fangs, aided by a blonde archer with a good degree of distaste for the process.
"Why do I have to do it anyway?" you mutter, annoyed.
"It's your first mission," the man smiles, walking towards you. "It's tradition to do the mission report yourself, so you know how much it sucks and never want to be a squad captain."
"That-" You step to the side, avoiding his arm reaching out for your shoulders, but he is too swift. His arm lands on your shoulder, the movement invisible as if he simply manifested the limb in place. "That's not true. My first mission was the last one."
"Yeah, but you didn't do anything that time," the redhead says. "Me and Jieyue found the area and investigated it, so she did that report."
"Still, I didn't think you'd be this bad at it," the blindfolded man frowns, giving you a gentle shake. "Don't worry, you just need some practice."
You clench your teeth, annoyed by the affectionate gesture but even more so at the unfortunately accurate assessment of your skills at using this artifact.
A black-haired man with a thick braid of hair pokes his head up from the other side of the creature's shell, splatters of turtle gore on his face. "Captain," he says wearily. "You're on a permanent report sanction because your jade slips give everybody a headache."
"That's the other reason you need to do it," the blindfolded man says, leaning closer and whispering loud enough for all to hear. "I'm not allowed to, so everybody takes turns."
"I'll keep trying," you respond, glaring at this artifact.
"Shame we can't just get you a bunch more of them so you could practice," he continues with a shake of his head.
"Actually-" a short girl says, popping up suddenly beside the head of the creature. She flinches when all turn to look at her, in unison. "Actually, um, you could?"
"What, do you think these things grow on trees? They cost contribution points," the blindfolded man frowns. "If they weren't less work than writing physical reports, I wouldn't do
this either."
"Please at least try to hide how much you hate working, captain," the redhead says, disapprovingly.
"I
like work, I don't like
reporting work," he pouts in response. "Wait, Jieyue, what were you saying?"
"Ah, well, there are actually a number of varieties of Jade based on the base material - nephrite or jadeite - and the quality of the jade, especially if it has impurities. Some impurities can even be
more receptive to qi, which can influence the types of sealing methods it can support, and because of the different areas you find different types of Jade, there are a few dozen different arrays to produce jade slips. I mean, really, there's a few hundred but only a few dozen are
meaningfully different, and if you wanted to count each generation as its own slip, then we're talking about-"
"What?" you ask, interrupting her.
"Oh," she says, stopping and looking at you then the other equally blank faces of the group. She flushes, face going full red and drawing laughter. "Sorry, I read it in a book when I was younger."
"Yeah, rub it in," you reply, dryly. She inhales, but your hand is already up, cutting off whatever she was about to respond with. "The...slips?"
"Right. The...ones that should be expensive are the ones that can be used many times, and will hold whatever you store in them the longest. There should be common ones for cheap, that can be used a handful of times and degrade much sooner."
"Oh, like wine," you say, sitting up straighter with a snap of your fingers. "There's a million types, but even if the top dogs only drink the
best wine, there's still all the other wines for everybody else to get trashed on."
"...I feel like that metaphor indicates we should watch you when we go for drinks," the braided man says, earning nods of agreement.
"An idea worth thinking about, at least. Maybe we can get some for Janus," the redhead says, turning her head. "Captain?"
The blindfolded man just
hmm's in thought.
You raise your hand up, staring at this artifact, then put it to your forehead again. "Might as well try this stupid-"
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Remus grins, as he drops a wooden crate the size of a bar stool on the table. The plates of tortoise steak, eggs, and bread all jump and the mealhouse owner casts a dirty look in your direction.
You hiss your teeth at the crate, pushing at the edge to lift it off your steak, then go back to pulling strips of the rubbery meat off with your teeth.
"Uh, captain?" Junius starts. "You're kind of ruining breakfast."
"Breakfast, shmekfast." Remus waves his hand. "Look what I got for cheap."
The rest of the squad rises with interested expressions, glancing at you as you keep eating. "What? It's not going anywhere. I'm hungry."
"Jade...slips?" Chun Bo squints at a finger-long piece of milky jade, pulling it from the crate, the glyphs on its surface miscoloured and splotchy.
"Yep!" Remus says, grinning. "For practice!"
"Oh, great," Aelia looks at you. "Now you can-"
"For everybody!" Remus adds, grinning wider.
"Oh great," Aelia's shoulders slump.
You shrug, reaching for another hunk of tortoise steak from the platter.
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"You sure you want me to be your first?" Aelia grins, stance broad and hands on her hips. She is loose and relaxed, but not unaware, her eyes watching you sharply despite how unguarded she first seems.
"You're the one that suggested sparring," you say, shrugging. "Don't tell me you're scared now."
"Well, it's just," Aelia pauses, putting one hand to her mouth as she closes her eyes. "I don't want to demoralize you at the start, or anything."
"Generous," you say dryly. "I hope you keep talking that hot, after I beat you in five moves. Are we ready or what?"
Aelia looks to the side, where Junius stands with folded arms, his armour doffed in respect to the heat. "Whenever you two wish to begin." The rest of the squad sits behind him, watching with varying amounts of interest and excitement.
You tense, expecting Aelia to move first, but her grin just grows as she watches you. You give it a moment, then two but she stays in place. Fortunately, you aren't one to shy away from a free opportunity to get solid punches.
You take a single step forward, then explode into a dash-
"The direct approach? Pretty fast, at least," Chun Bo mused loudly.
"Yeah, but against Aelia?" Hua replied.
-tuning out your squadmates as you close to 10 yards, 5 yards then 3 arm lengths. Aelia's stance remains unchanged.
You push it for the last stretch, dropping low as the distance shrinks, turning your run into a sudden crouch. You kick off the ground like an arrow from a bow, launching forward with intent to make her regret giving you this opportunity. You draw your arm back, watching Aelia's grin falter-
"Jieyue," Remus said. "Have you ever heard the fable of the iron board?"
-as you
slam your fist forward.
Her arms come up at the last second, catching your fist on her crossed guard, dark spots blooming along her forearms from the force. You draw back your other fist as your jump becomes a fall, throwing a second punch into her guard, then touched down on the ground with a quick glance up-
Aelia grins down at you from behind her guard, dark bruises spreading up her arms.
"Isn't...that about doing something rash, and having it go really badly for you?" Jieyue asked.
Hah, this woman. You chuckle once to yourself, deciding to get serious. You were roughly shoulder height to her, giving you few good opportunities to get shots at her head, but you recall fighting enough people shorter than you that you had an idea of where to attack.
You spread your stance and throw a punch at her liver, her elbow quickly dropping down to block it. Your other arm darts forward to her solar plexus, but her other forearm swipes down to brush it aside. You pull back with a half-step, throwing a quick jab at her stomach, but her arms clamp together to catch it on her forearms. Your fist unfolds into a palm, grabbing one forearm and yanking hard to the side, throwing her off-balance as a right hook comes around at her stomach-!
Her knee shoots up, catching the fist on her shin with a brief wince.
You grin. "Fifth move."
"Yep," Remus said. "Now...we have two good candidates here. The real question is…"
Your leg snaps forward behind her standing one, catching the back of her knee and
dragging it forward. She buckles, barely getting her other leg back to the ground in time to stop her fall, turning it into a surprised kneel - but your arms are already raised, hips twisted and back tensed for a full power blow.
"Which board do you think is tougher?"
You start punching.
Straight, hook, hook, straight, sidestep straight, hook, sidestep, hook, sidestep, hook, straight, sway back, step in
straight. You pour it on, forcing Aelia to turn on her knee just to keep you in front of her, throwing full power punch one after the other until her arms were just a bruised mess of red flesh with blotchy patterns all over them.
You had to give her credit: her ability to just
block this long was better than you expected, especially hobbled on one knee like this, but she wasn't a Legionnaire for nothing. You had only just cracked open her shell, but the nut inside was no tender delicacy. You'd need to get
really serious to make any progress. You affirm your decision, and-
You take a step back, as Aelia smoothly pushes herself back to standing, her one bent knee just
straightening until she was back to full height and could extend her other leg to the ground. That was...concerning. "Sorry, Janus," she said, looking genuinely apologetic. Her face is red and flushed, dark markings just peeking out the edge of her tunic and threatening to climb onto her neck. Strange, as your fists never hit that high. "I wanted to make a show out of it, and impress you. But…" She chuckles. "You went a bit harder than I expected."
You tense, and force your limbs to loosen up. Her limbs are longer than yours; there is no way to escape her reach in time for whatever is coming. You need flexibility and agility to avoid it, and tensing up would only run counter to that.
Aelia takes a basic striking stance, pulling one arm back like she was preparing a javelin toss. "Don't black out, okay?"
...that sounds ominous-
A
surge of pressure and force overwhelms you, rattling your thoughts and throwing the world into a chaotic mix of light and dark, sky and earth, up and down.
You blink in surprise, staring at the sheepish looking woman who'd for some reason chosen to back up about 40 feet and somehow invert the world around you. You aren't sure how she was standing upside down like that, but...no. You quickly realize your mistake.
"Sorry," she yells, jogging towards you as feeling returns, bringing a wave of full body pain. You hiss reflexively. "Sorry, sorry, I really did mess up."
Your body uncurls from the upside-down C-shape you were bent into, pressing your arms and shoulders against the dirt heaped around your shoulders until you pop out of the shallow trench Aelia's blow had dug with your body. "What the hell was that?" you groan, holding your head.
Aelia gives you a rueful grin, kneeling down and poking at you in ways you are a little too dazed to be annoyed about. "My technique," she says, briefly holding up her forearm to reveal what you had thought were bruises. The dark marks have shifted into complex overlapping lines and shapes, layered up against each other, over boiled-red skin that was very quickly returning to its normal olive colour. "I store up force when I get attacked, and can reuse it make my attacks stronger. Any hit that doesn't kill me is one I get to give back, but I didn't think you'd...er…"
"Get to land more than one hit?" you ask, closing your eyes against the painful light in the sky.
"Hehe," she laughs, her fingers pressing lightly against your chest for support as you push to your feet. Your knees wobble slightly and you reject the idea of admitting it, but the support is appreciated.
...now, how do you beat her next time? Maybe-
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"You fight to win," Chun Bo says, staring at you from 30 paces away. He stands beside a lengthy weapon, a long
spear-like pole with a curved, weighty blade at the end. He nods. "It's a good habit. Too many people posture and lose to weaker opponents because of it."
"Mm," you say noncommittally.
"I don't mean to imply that you're weak," he adds, "Simply that there are instances where it is enough to be the difference between winning and losing. Life and death."
"Yeah," you say, resting your hands on your hips with a sigh. "Hey, are we fighting or what? It's been like two minutes and you haven't done anything but stare at me. Is this just...a thing with you guys?"
"Ah, my apologies," he says, shaking his head. "Your spar with Aelia left an impression on me. I did not wish to disrespect you by not being appropriately serious."
You feel a moment of disbelief at the comment, as you face down the man with a giant knife attached to an equally giant stick, with only your fists and attitude.
He inhales, then leaps into the air, illusory black-tipped wings sprouting into the air behind him. Someone gasps, and you realize it came from you. No, dimly you recognize Jiyue's as well; comforting, you can blame her. "Janus," Chun Bo says, spinning his weapon in a brief flourish. "I'm starting."
His wings flare, and then he
falls like a star from the heavens.
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"Hey kiddo," Remus grins. "Rough day, huh?" He stands apart from you, bereft his armour in exchange for simple silky white robes, and a weapon that looks like...
a flat rectangle of brass attached attached to a sword handle.
You don't respond but your jaw clenches reflexively, still feeling the full-bodied soreness from Aelia's punch and the myriad nicks from Chun Bo's rapid swooping strikes.
Your squadmates are strong, you admit to yourself.
You already know Remus is strong, ever since his display in that first meeting, but the rest had escaped your consideration. An oversight, especially since you'd seen half of them in a fight of some description by now, but they didn't seem...remarkable at the time.
Maybe they were just so much stronger than their opponents that there was no need to do anything special.
"I'll do you a favour," he says. "I'll go fast, and only leave you a
little beat up."
You frown. "Try it," Your hands raise, as you rapidly plan your approach.
"Well, I was going to let you get closer first but," Remus raises an eyebrow over the edge of the cloth, raising his weapon. "If you insist?"
"Start," Junius nods.
What? No, if he's ready from there, that means his range advantage- you spin on your heel, turning to break away before he can swing. A sound like a distant bell rings out at the bottom of your hearing, and you immediately know something is wrong. The ground seems to turn to liquid under your feet, swimming and wavering as your stomach threatens to empty itself all over the desert. He already struck you. How?
And...what was...that-
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You sit on the sidelines, one arm resting on a raised knee as you watch Jieyue in full banded Legionnaire armour stare down Junius. After getting physically blown off your feet by Aelia and a number of cuts from Chun Bo and his guandao, whatever Remus did to you was apparently serious enough that he saved you from further sparring.
As he'd put it, "Your turn as the training post is over now!"
Instead, Jieyue stands with a determined expression, wielding
a strange blade that is narrowest at the hilt and widens out into a square-shape with no tip to it. It looks heavy, with only one straight edge and a curve on the backside, like an axe that had some confusion about its heritage.
Across from her, Junius smiles, his head gleaming in the sun as he cheerily spins a white rope in his right hand.
A flying dagger whirls on the end, slicing the air with a quiet
whoop, the knife on the other end hanging from the rope coiled in his opposite hand.
"Ready," he calls.
"Ready, senior!" Jieyue yells as well, earning a nod from Chun Bo, as he adjudicates the match.
"Then, begin!"
Jieyue takes a step forward- and immediately takes a step back, bringing her sword up to parry the dart flying directly at her neck.
"Oh
ho, not bad!" Junius laughs. "That was just a reflex test, but you're very sharp!"
Jieyue doesn't respond, forced to parry another dart, then another, then another until her arms are a constant blur of motion just dealing with the onslaught of attacks. You glance at Junius, the man looking for all the world like he was out for a stroll, while his blurring rope dart keeps Jiyue on the defensive without considering the second blade.
"You seem learned, Little Yue," Junius calls. "You know about magnets, I'm sure."
"Yes," she grunts, parrying a dart - then lashes out at the rope, narrowly missing as Junius whisks it out of reach. "Yes, senior!"
"Then I'm sure you'll understand this very quickly," he pauses his assault, twirling the rope in a big circle. "My darts can be Yin-magnetic. With enough control, I can make other metals Yin-magnetic as well."
He tosses the dart, the point flying at Jieyue quickly- too quickly, much faster than before, and she barely gets her weapon up in time to block it. Her eyes widen as the dart and blade suddenly veer apart, her arms bouncing back like she'd struck a stone wall and been rebuffed.
The second dart comes in like a sparrow through her open guard, flying gently over her shoulder to land in the dirt. "You're dead, Little Yue!" Junius laughs. "Unfortunate!"
Jieyue looks at him, panting, arms shaking from the strain. She looks tired and frustrated, but schools her expression into something neutral. She bows. "Thank you, Senior."
"Ah, Little Yue," he said, walking closer. "Be upset! Losing is terrible! Every time you're upset after losing in sparring is a time you might survive by winning in a fight."
Junius says something else more quietly, but you've already tuned them out, digesting the fight and wondering how you would handle such a weapon yourself. You cast a glance at the attentive Jieyue, listening seriously to Junius. For whatever reason, her upset expression is hard to get out of your mind.
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"Jieyue," Hue says, holding a smaller bow than her usual.
"Yes, Senior Hua," Jieyue replies, holding her sword in a relaxed guard - it's called a dao, according to Junius, and he was the one who'd helped her select a weapon.
Hua pauses. "Just Hua," she says. "No Senior."
"Oh, yes, Seni...yes, Hua."
Hua wrinkles her nose a little, visibly in thought. "Junius' technique," she says. "Yin-magnetism. You understand the concept?"
"I do," Jieyue nods, eyes narrowing.
"Then...I'll let you know," Hua said, pulling out an arrow and rapidly pulling the bow back to full draw. "I have Yang-magnetism."
You don't see the arrow leave the bow, but the
sound it makes is unmistakable. Like a whip hitting a metal sheet, a loud and sudden
crack followed by a reverberating
ting. You look across at Jieyue-
Her eyes are wide and watery, in a broken stance as she clutches an absent weapon. You can't even see the dao anywhere nearby, the mysterious attack disappearing into the void with it.
"You let go," Hua nods, unstringing her bow. "Quick thinking. I broke Chun Bo's fingers the first time we sparred."
"Th-thank you," Jieyue says, shakily.
Hua gives her a blank look, then wrinkles her nose again for a moment, before walking away.
"Alriiiight," Remus calls, already striding over from out in the desert. The dao hangs between two fingers, swinging like a child's toy. "Now, let's talk about those spars and what we can all do to improve, okay?"
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"Hmm," Remus makes a thoughtful sound, biting off a chunk of grilled meat. For whatever reason, he had ordered
a torques sandwich and decided to unpack it, pulling out the onions, then the tomato, then the meat. From the looks of it, you assume he's saving the bread for last. "You have a point. Maybe we should get you some kind of weapon."
You pull a face, taking a bite of your food. You had merely been noting the difference in styles aloud, rather than making any sort of request, but Remus hadn't let the issue go. You had outright asked him to but, in his words, "my job as your captain is to make you a better cultivator, especially when you don't want me to."
"-figure out what
kind of cultivator he is, before we think about a weapon," Aelia says, polishing off the last of a leg of lamb and a few pounds of roasted potatoes. "What're you thinking, Janus? Sword? Beast? Somethin' weird, like Soul Attacks?"
You rub your temples, closing your eyes in frustration. "No. Like I told Remus, I'm alright just hitting things," you say.
"You can hit things,
and their soul," Aelia points out.
"You're thinking of that guy with the mandolin made out of ribs, aren't you?" Junius asks.
"I was actually thinking about the Reminiscent Nine-Colour Ibex," she replies. "Remember? The horns-"
"Right, the horns that made you relieve childhood trauma," Junius mutters, darkly. "If I never see one of those things again, it's still one time too many."
You open your eyes and stare at them, trying to figure out if they're serious.
"What's your technique right now?" Chun Bo asks. "Some sort of weakpoint-seeking fist technique?"
"Felt like it," Aelia adds, rubbing her forearm absently. "I haven't been pressured like that by someone with a lower cultivation base, before. Might've actually hurt me...eventually." She gives you a smug grin.
You scoff and roll your eyes at Aelia, turning to Chun Bo. "I don't have one. I told you, I'm fine just punching."
Junius looks at you with a raised eyebrow. "You don't? Then how do you fight so effectively? You are remarkably proficient, aside from your flaw of standing apart to observe."
"As opposed to what, running in and getting decked by something I don't know about?" You look at him, as if he'd said something patently stupid. "If I can't win in one hit, I might as well give the other guy the opportunity to be stupid first."
"You can't win fights by just watching," Hua says tonelessly.
You give her a brief annoyed glance. "Obviously. If I can win by beating the shit out of somebody immediately, I'll do that. If I can't, then I need a new plan and a second to think."
"As somebody who got beat on, it's not
actually a bad plan," Aelia interjects. "Although I think Bo and I showed why you might want a new one anyway."
You inhale-
"Okay, bully Janus later," Remus says, drawing looks towards him. "We're helping right now." He turns his head towards me. "So, you don't have any techniques right now? And nothing in mind for the future?"
You nod. "That's right."
"Purities, you think?" Aelia looks at him.
"Purities," Remus nods. "And you can grab a scutum and gladius from the stores, for now. Either you'll like them or hate them, but you can always change from there."
"Mm," I grunt.
"Now now," Remus chides me, as Jieyue returns to her seat, looking around the table.
"What did I miss?"
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"You're no fairy," the man in front of you says with a doubtful tone, one hand on his chin as he inspects you from head to toe.
You cross your arms, armour clinking quietly in the silence of the desert night. "Wouldn't say so," you growl. "You're not exactly in my strike zone either."
You assess him without leaving the building you're leaning against, taking in his calloused hands, burly and defined arms, and delicately sculpted features. An unusual combination, one particular to certain types of artisans and indoor labourers. The man looks up at you, a mocking smirk plastered on his face. "Ah, the captain's already gotten to you, has he?" He shakes his head. "Damned height advantage."
The man stares you in the face. His hair is a styled brown coif, trimmed at the sides, and completely absent on his chin to reveal a broad, chiseled jaw. His eyes are quick and flighty, not staying on any point for more than a few seconds, and his voice a throaty rumble. He also stands a bit more than a foot shorter than you, the same height as Jieyue, craning his neck back to meet your gaze.
You narrow your eyes at him. "Lucius?"
"The very same," the man says, dipping his head dramatically. "You must be Janus, then."
"Uh huh. If you're looking for Jieyue, she's over there," you say, gesturing over your shoulder with a thumb, where Aelia helps the smaller girl work on her footwork with the dao.
"No, no, that's- oh, she is rather pretty," he says thoughtfully, staring into the distance. "But no, I came to see you first. Captain Remus said you were in need of a sword, yes? Forged this one myself, tailor made for you."
You start to refuse, but he's already swept open his travelling cloak to extend an arm bearing a sheathed gladius. You take it cautiously, unlatching the sheath and revealing- "This is a normal sword."
"It is, isn't it?" he grins. "Apologies for the bit of theatre, I can't help myself." He strode past, patting you on the arm. "Come, my newest friend. I must make amends for my lateness, so we may start our mission."
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Second omake done. Threadmark, please?
@Alectai @TehChron
