- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
[X] {Harmonious Society} Gift Of Gab: Commiserate with her. You have ample experience with getting humiliated. And then angle that for an in with Si Fei.
Polluted Jianghu: 新年少鹏
- Thread starter Laplace
- Start date
- Original
Xilentxium
Existential Crisis Management
- Location
- Temperate Regions
[X] {Harmonious Society} Gift Of Gab: Commiserate with her. You have ample experience with getting humiliated. And then angle that for an in with Si Fei.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
[X] {Harmonious Society} Gift Of Gab: Commiserate with her. You have ample experience with getting humiliated. And then angle that for an in with Si Fei.
I like her. She's small, adorable, can kick our ass, and most importantly hasn't been a pile of screaming chuuni pipe dreams that calls us an old man.
I like her. She's small, adorable, can kick our ass, and most importantly hasn't been a pile of screaming chuuni pipe dreams that calls us an old man.
[X] {Harmonious Society} Gift Of Gab: Commiserate with her. You have ample experience with getting humiliated. And then angle that for an in with Si Fei.
- Location
- boundless optimism
Aaand update during the weekend, give or take a couple of days.
- Location
- Singapore
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] {Harmonious Society} Gift Of Gab: Commiserate with her. You have ample experience with getting humiliated. And then angle that for an in with Si Fei.
49 Day Long Process
- Location
- boundless optimism
You think. Been doing this more and more. Iron Tower Hua Li, she could be your in. All you have to do is not trip over a conversational land mine. At least she's not Korean. You have a bad track record with trying to talk your way out in front of Koreans. You stand up, cracking your neck. Hurts a little, but you're built different. And the voltage on the taser wasn't shit. You feel unsteady again. That feeling like your bones and muscles are holding together with cheapo glue and would fall into a thousand pieces in a stiff breeze.
She hears you and turns around. "A-aren't you-"
"Beat to shit?" you take an uneasy step. Oof, yeah. Shin splints like the African Rift. Side stitches like the state of California. "Hell yeah. So I'm not gonna fight you."
You wish you had a handle on your mouth.
"O-oh."
"You need some help?" Before she can state the obvious catch of this- "don't worry, I'm not gonna steal it. You can search me afterwards and I'm obviously in no condition to pull a runner."
She thinks this over. You bite your cheek. Man, wouldn't it just be easy to strike her hard as you can? Shit, you beat Metalhead. You have a demonstrated type advantage against metal. Then again, can you take out Mr. Se? And there's two more. Four freaks of the Pagoda, all in all. Probably not. "Fine." she fumbles around her pocket and pulls out a torch.
"Fuck." The light is stabbing. Clear, bright, white-blue LED. "Ow."
"Sorry."
The light dims.
"No problem. Uh. Sorry for trying to break in?"
She shrugs. Not that much she can say about it you guess. "How's the Pagoda?" You bend down and borrow the reflected light to look at the floor. No sheen of plastic, even under the dust.
You wipe away some. Didn't Lie… oh. Oh. Oooh. "Fine," Iron Tower Hua Li says. "It's fine. I can't complain."
"Sure you can't."
"What does that mean?"
Still nothing. You retrace your steps and poke around corners, in shattered tables (when did that happen) and exposed rebar dripping chunks of wall. "Asked you a question?" It echoes behind you.
"Doesn't mean anything," you say. "Just sayin'. Kid like you, in this place, that's nothing good. Woah." A section of floor falls beneath your feet. For a second one foot dangles over empty air. "Seriously, you fucked it up pretty bad."
A single, solitary 'oh' resounds.
"I respect that." It's hard to see. Half in the bright light of Hua Li's torch and the other half in darkness. But what you can see is not that good. Ruins, ruins, ruins. You couldn't have fucked it up better if you brought a wrecking ball through here. You stand there with Hua Li, who probes the empty holes and the spilled rubble with a flickering spotlight.
Eventually she turns to you. "F-fuck," she breathes out.
"I sympathize. Your poor paycheck."
"Y-yeah."
You have a plan fermenting in your brain. "Tell you what, kid-"
"Don't call me kid."
"-okay, okay," you raised your hands. "You can capture me. I just helped you bust down the Pagoda. Bring me to Si Fei, say, here's the guy, I'm working on the compatriots. Shit, you can give me a shiner if you need to."
"I would like to." Nyeh, fuck. She's thinking it over, that part's good. "Okay, holk. I mean, hold still." Since you suggested this course of action there's nothing much you can do to protest it. You breath in and out. And then-
One hammer blow to the gut and the other across the jaw. You feel skin rip and the familiar indistinct red-hotness of a wound at an extremity. You hope it'll at least make a dashing scar. "Fuck," you moan, one hand clasping your cheek before it was wrenched behind you. "What the-"
"Stop talking," Iron Tower Hua Li orders. It's like she flicked a switch somewhere. "You're my prisoner now."
"Wait, you're enjoying this, are you?" She marched you through the dark pagoda. You're getting used to this.
"Shut up."
She definitely is. You can't blame her. You'd be as much as a sadistic little shit, probably more so if some fuck decked you one and proceeded to ruin your house. After a while- god this place is a maze- you're in a service elevator. Straight up, in awkward silence. You try whistling something and it ties. Hua Li tries whistling something and it dies.
Tough break.
Your stomach is a-flutter again. The doors open, and a light stabs you. It's a hallway covered in festival red. Marble statues of humans in various stages of dissection stand in place of tasteful decoration. Fei Dao, a part of you remembers. This is Fei Dao's work. She marches you through the forest of white marble gods with their entrails piled around their feet, skin hanging off in strips.
The tower master is really a sick fuck, you conclude. Not only does he live in the middle of all this waste he also has really shitty taste in statues. Well, is it that bad? It'd make all the rich people that come here really uncomfortable. That's a win in and of itself.
The tall double doors open. You take a deep breath and ignore the blood dripping down your cheek. The trajectory of your life spins to no where in particular but violence.
"Li Peng, you little brat!"
You blink. An old man, with liver spots all over his face, is standing in front of you. He's like a bent and twisted… toad. Yeah, toad. Squat motherfucker, waving around a gold headed cane as he chatters on like he's familiar with you. "Have you eaten? Hua Li, you've lost the other guest! Please, come sit, come sit." He grabs your arm and sits you down one one end of the table. Your arm twinges. He's frightfully strong. "Go find our communist friend, child," he throws over his shoulder at Hua Li as he sits down opposite you, pouring out a cup of tea. Jasmine. "I have some catching up to do with our friend here."
"What?" you ask.
"Oh, of course. Memories!" he smiles. "You're a lot more tolerable now. You haven't called me a bitch and tried to fight me yet. I like you better this way."
"I don't know who that is." Of course you do. You're just too stunned to do that routine.
"Well, then ask. Please."
Ask:
[]- Who Am I?
[]- Who Are You To Me?
[]- What Did I Do?
She hears you and turns around. "A-aren't you-"
"Beat to shit?" you take an uneasy step. Oof, yeah. Shin splints like the African Rift. Side stitches like the state of California. "Hell yeah. So I'm not gonna fight you."
You wish you had a handle on your mouth.
"O-oh."
"You need some help?" Before she can state the obvious catch of this- "don't worry, I'm not gonna steal it. You can search me afterwards and I'm obviously in no condition to pull a runner."
She thinks this over. You bite your cheek. Man, wouldn't it just be easy to strike her hard as you can? Shit, you beat Metalhead. You have a demonstrated type advantage against metal. Then again, can you take out Mr. Se? And there's two more. Four freaks of the Pagoda, all in all. Probably not. "Fine." she fumbles around her pocket and pulls out a torch.
"Fuck." The light is stabbing. Clear, bright, white-blue LED. "Ow."
"Sorry."
The light dims.
"No problem. Uh. Sorry for trying to break in?"
She shrugs. Not that much she can say about it you guess. "How's the Pagoda?" You bend down and borrow the reflected light to look at the floor. No sheen of plastic, even under the dust.
You wipe away some. Didn't Lie… oh. Oh. Oooh. "Fine," Iron Tower Hua Li says. "It's fine. I can't complain."
"Sure you can't."
"What does that mean?"
Still nothing. You retrace your steps and poke around corners, in shattered tables (when did that happen) and exposed rebar dripping chunks of wall. "Asked you a question?" It echoes behind you.
"Doesn't mean anything," you say. "Just sayin'. Kid like you, in this place, that's nothing good. Woah." A section of floor falls beneath your feet. For a second one foot dangles over empty air. "Seriously, you fucked it up pretty bad."
A single, solitary 'oh' resounds.
"I respect that." It's hard to see. Half in the bright light of Hua Li's torch and the other half in darkness. But what you can see is not that good. Ruins, ruins, ruins. You couldn't have fucked it up better if you brought a wrecking ball through here. You stand there with Hua Li, who probes the empty holes and the spilled rubble with a flickering spotlight.
Eventually she turns to you. "F-fuck," she breathes out.
"I sympathize. Your poor paycheck."
"Y-yeah."
You have a plan fermenting in your brain. "Tell you what, kid-"
"Don't call me kid."
"-okay, okay," you raised your hands. "You can capture me. I just helped you bust down the Pagoda. Bring me to Si Fei, say, here's the guy, I'm working on the compatriots. Shit, you can give me a shiner if you need to."
"I would like to." Nyeh, fuck. She's thinking it over, that part's good. "Okay, holk. I mean, hold still." Since you suggested this course of action there's nothing much you can do to protest it. You breath in and out. And then-
One hammer blow to the gut and the other across the jaw. You feel skin rip and the familiar indistinct red-hotness of a wound at an extremity. You hope it'll at least make a dashing scar. "Fuck," you moan, one hand clasping your cheek before it was wrenched behind you. "What the-"
"Stop talking," Iron Tower Hua Li orders. It's like she flicked a switch somewhere. "You're my prisoner now."
"Wait, you're enjoying this, are you?" She marched you through the dark pagoda. You're getting used to this.
"Shut up."
She definitely is. You can't blame her. You'd be as much as a sadistic little shit, probably more so if some fuck decked you one and proceeded to ruin your house. After a while- god this place is a maze- you're in a service elevator. Straight up, in awkward silence. You try whistling something and it ties. Hua Li tries whistling something and it dies.
Tough break.
Your stomach is a-flutter again. The doors open, and a light stabs you. It's a hallway covered in festival red. Marble statues of humans in various stages of dissection stand in place of tasteful decoration. Fei Dao, a part of you remembers. This is Fei Dao's work. She marches you through the forest of white marble gods with their entrails piled around their feet, skin hanging off in strips.
The tower master is really a sick fuck, you conclude. Not only does he live in the middle of all this waste he also has really shitty taste in statues. Well, is it that bad? It'd make all the rich people that come here really uncomfortable. That's a win in and of itself.
The tall double doors open. You take a deep breath and ignore the blood dripping down your cheek. The trajectory of your life spins to no where in particular but violence.
"Li Peng, you little brat!"
You blink. An old man, with liver spots all over his face, is standing in front of you. He's like a bent and twisted… toad. Yeah, toad. Squat motherfucker, waving around a gold headed cane as he chatters on like he's familiar with you. "Have you eaten? Hua Li, you've lost the other guest! Please, come sit, come sit." He grabs your arm and sits you down one one end of the table. Your arm twinges. He's frightfully strong. "Go find our communist friend, child," he throws over his shoulder at Hua Li as he sits down opposite you, pouring out a cup of tea. Jasmine. "I have some catching up to do with our friend here."
"What?" you ask.
"Oh, of course. Memories!" he smiles. "You're a lot more tolerable now. You haven't called me a bitch and tried to fight me yet. I like you better this way."
"I don't know who that is." Of course you do. You're just too stunned to do that routine.
"Well, then ask. Please."
Ask:
[]- Who Am I?
[]- Who Are You To Me?
[]- What Did I Do?
- Location
- Auckland
[x]- Who Am I?
- Location
- USA
THatWhichWillBe
The Squiddly One
- Location
- In The Darkened Deep
Well that definitely sounds like us.
StarSerpent
Upjumped Peasant
- Location
- Cowtown, AB
[x] Who Are You To Me?
Just to be contrarian, y'know?
Just to be contrarian, y'know?
- Location
- In my Lair, on my Hoard
[X]- Who Am I?
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
[x] Who Are You To Me?
[X]- Who Am I?
- Location
- Singapore
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X]- Who Am I?
UrsaTempest
Don't Panic!
[x]- What Did I Do?
Finished binging. It's a blast.
Finished binging. It's a blast.
Hello, Mr. Li
- Location
- boundless optimism
You breathe in. "Okay." You look down into the marble tiles, lick your lips, and then back up. "Let's uh, start with the basics. Who am I?"
Si Fei leans back and sips from the cup. "Why don't you tell me? Sorry, I'm habitually addicted to this. You couldn't get a straight answer out of me even if you tried."
"What if I tried to beat it out of you?"
"Good old Li Peng!" Si Fei laughs, croaking to the sky. "That's just like you! Nothing could change you, kid!"
You nod, gathering your memories. "I'm… some kind of top gun. There's no fucking way that I was born with all of this-" your hands curl into the peng claw- "out of the womb. So someone trained me. My uncle.
Like this, like this, and this and this, a voice chanted in your mind. You ignored it and pressed on. "I think- no, I don't think. I tried to forget something, didn't I? Fire. An apartment block. How warm am I?"
"As hot as the fire you set."
Bile surges. You flip him the bird, which just makes him laugh. "Seriously," you complain, guts pressing against the skin, wanting to fly away from your body, "just give it to me straight. Who am I? I'll fuckin… I'll wait a twenty years and keep asking this stupid fucking question. You'll grow old and slow someday."
"Don't bet on it," Si Fei advises.
"Choke on your own dick and die."
He takes his time, the fuck. He has nothing but, but you are living fast forward. In the film of your life you have a hand on the skip forward five second button. He enjoys the tea. It tastes like bilgewater in your mouth. Slowly, with all the care in the world, ceremony out the ass while you stew in impotent, directionless anger.
"Li Peng, Li Peng," the old toad mused to himself. The words stick to his mouth like flies. "You're right. You're a top gun. The Bright Lord Snakehead's psycho muscle."
Is that relief you feel, crawling down your spine?
"I don't suppose I'm a poor boy that fell into some bad company."
He slaps a hand on the sumptuous table. The lights reflected a hundred hundred times dizzy you so. The room might as well not be real. "Where'd you find a wit, Li Peng?" Si Fei roars. "I don't remember your tongue being that sharp. No, you were not. Li E'kun raised you, boy, even though you called him uncle. From orphanage to the road. Oh, you tried to leave, you even managed to test into a university, except you always came back. Always. Because you were too clever for your own good. Did you know why you got kicked out of your university?"
"Why?"
"Because," Si Fei continued, full of glee, like he was remembering just the funniest joke, the funniest goddamn shit to grace the earth, "they caught you selling Adderall and over the counter neurostims by the bucketful and fighting all the other- in your words- shitbrain dog bastards cutting in on your turf. And you even turned a tidy profit! After you got expelled you spent a week drinking your grief out with three semesters of drug money."
You let your head fall to the table. Wood thuds against your forehead. "How did I lose my memory?" you hear your voice say.
"After the thing in Gansu you came to J3 with a load of product for Kirisaki," Si Fei replied. "And you came to me, asking for something that would make you forget. And I did, one of my finer elixirs. Except… you must have overdosed. I could taste the compounds in your sweat. How much did you pump?"
You squeeze your eyes shut. "I don't remember. But I snorted a shitload of my own stuff. You're giving me antecedotes, you old fuck. I still don't have an… identity. A history."
"Do you need one? You're already Ming Jian! Metalhead's equaller! Any moment, you can just walk out of Jing-Jin-Ji, empty and clear!"
"But I stayed."
"But you stayed," Si Fei nodded. "And it's a shame your history will dog you, because you're on the spotlight now. After that stunt with the Yakuza, people will talk and everyone with a grudge will come and try to settle it. It's amazing how Ma Yuyue hasn't twigged it. And she came so close. So, so close. I-"
Iron Tower Hua Li hurried back in the room and whispered something. "What? He set more?"
"Y-yes, and a lot of them are rigged to explode if we try to deactivate them and fail. We should call in a sp. Specialty team."
The tower shook slightly. Si Fei looked annoyed. You're not sure if you should curse Lei Beihong for having cut off the line of discussion, or thank him for getting you out of the same. "Well, you should leave. I'll have to declare an evacuation, damn that Lei Beihong." There's a sour note that you're pleased to hear in his voice.
You stand up in haste. The floor shudders again. "What do you mean? Yuexia, I mean."
"Why, you killed her kinsfolk."
It was so casual the way he said it. Like it didn't even mean a thing. He could have said you skipped repaying them a hundred or something. Chump change instead of their lives. Then he waved you away. "We must meet again, sometime," he suggests. You take the elevator down, out into the street. They were panicking, all the rich folk, nervously wondering what was going on.
Yuexia was nowhere. You walk out into the spill of bodies and you couldn't find her in the press. Whatever. It's whatever. As you leave you snatch a carton of cigarettes from someone's hand- some rich fuck, you're not sure, and light one up with his lighter. You swear it's whatever.
The air is cold against your hot skin.
You're standing on the steps of the Pagoda, thinking, inhaling the carcinogenic smoke. Still don't feel any different. What did you expect? All you know now is that you're definitely the guy that killed her cousins or aunts or uncles or whatever. Might not have been you. Could have been Li E'kun, your supposed uncle.
Hot smoke fills your lungs.
[1.2] {Wrathful Manifestation} Face Up: Yuexia's Yuexia. There's no way she'll just let this go, when she finds out. Might as well cut out the middleman and meet her straight.
[1.4] {Harmonious Society} Double Check: You still have a tie to the Iron Guanyin, and you can't trust Si Fei all the way. Maybe they'll contradict him. You hope they'll contradict him.
[]- Get Out of the City: There's nothing here anymore. Get your money and bounce. You will find Li E'kun and the Snakeheads and you will get everything straight, and leave it all behind.
Si Fei leans back and sips from the cup. "Why don't you tell me? Sorry, I'm habitually addicted to this. You couldn't get a straight answer out of me even if you tried."
"What if I tried to beat it out of you?"
"Good old Li Peng!" Si Fei laughs, croaking to the sky. "That's just like you! Nothing could change you, kid!"
You nod, gathering your memories. "I'm… some kind of top gun. There's no fucking way that I was born with all of this-" your hands curl into the peng claw- "out of the womb. So someone trained me. My uncle.
Like this, like this, and this and this, a voice chanted in your mind. You ignored it and pressed on. "I think- no, I don't think. I tried to forget something, didn't I? Fire. An apartment block. How warm am I?"
"As hot as the fire you set."
Bile surges. You flip him the bird, which just makes him laugh. "Seriously," you complain, guts pressing against the skin, wanting to fly away from your body, "just give it to me straight. Who am I? I'll fuckin… I'll wait a twenty years and keep asking this stupid fucking question. You'll grow old and slow someday."
"Don't bet on it," Si Fei advises.
"Choke on your own dick and die."
He takes his time, the fuck. He has nothing but, but you are living fast forward. In the film of your life you have a hand on the skip forward five second button. He enjoys the tea. It tastes like bilgewater in your mouth. Slowly, with all the care in the world, ceremony out the ass while you stew in impotent, directionless anger.
"Li Peng, Li Peng," the old toad mused to himself. The words stick to his mouth like flies. "You're right. You're a top gun. The Bright Lord Snakehead's psycho muscle."
Is that relief you feel, crawling down your spine?
"I don't suppose I'm a poor boy that fell into some bad company."
He slaps a hand on the sumptuous table. The lights reflected a hundred hundred times dizzy you so. The room might as well not be real. "Where'd you find a wit, Li Peng?" Si Fei roars. "I don't remember your tongue being that sharp. No, you were not. Li E'kun raised you, boy, even though you called him uncle. From orphanage to the road. Oh, you tried to leave, you even managed to test into a university, except you always came back. Always. Because you were too clever for your own good. Did you know why you got kicked out of your university?"
"Why?"
"Because," Si Fei continued, full of glee, like he was remembering just the funniest joke, the funniest goddamn shit to grace the earth, "they caught you selling Adderall and over the counter neurostims by the bucketful and fighting all the other- in your words- shitbrain dog bastards cutting in on your turf. And you even turned a tidy profit! After you got expelled you spent a week drinking your grief out with three semesters of drug money."
You let your head fall to the table. Wood thuds against your forehead. "How did I lose my memory?" you hear your voice say.
"After the thing in Gansu you came to J3 with a load of product for Kirisaki," Si Fei replied. "And you came to me, asking for something that would make you forget. And I did, one of my finer elixirs. Except… you must have overdosed. I could taste the compounds in your sweat. How much did you pump?"
You squeeze your eyes shut. "I don't remember. But I snorted a shitload of my own stuff. You're giving me antecedotes, you old fuck. I still don't have an… identity. A history."
"Do you need one? You're already Ming Jian! Metalhead's equaller! Any moment, you can just walk out of Jing-Jin-Ji, empty and clear!"
"But I stayed."
"But you stayed," Si Fei nodded. "And it's a shame your history will dog you, because you're on the spotlight now. After that stunt with the Yakuza, people will talk and everyone with a grudge will come and try to settle it. It's amazing how Ma Yuyue hasn't twigged it. And she came so close. So, so close. I-"
Iron Tower Hua Li hurried back in the room and whispered something. "What? He set more?"
"Y-yes, and a lot of them are rigged to explode if we try to deactivate them and fail. We should call in a sp. Specialty team."
The tower shook slightly. Si Fei looked annoyed. You're not sure if you should curse Lei Beihong for having cut off the line of discussion, or thank him for getting you out of the same. "Well, you should leave. I'll have to declare an evacuation, damn that Lei Beihong." There's a sour note that you're pleased to hear in his voice.
You stand up in haste. The floor shudders again. "What do you mean? Yuexia, I mean."
"Why, you killed her kinsfolk."
It was so casual the way he said it. Like it didn't even mean a thing. He could have said you skipped repaying them a hundred or something. Chump change instead of their lives. Then he waved you away. "We must meet again, sometime," he suggests. You take the elevator down, out into the street. They were panicking, all the rich folk, nervously wondering what was going on.
Yuexia was nowhere. You walk out into the spill of bodies and you couldn't find her in the press. Whatever. It's whatever. As you leave you snatch a carton of cigarettes from someone's hand- some rich fuck, you're not sure, and light one up with his lighter. You swear it's whatever.
The air is cold against your hot skin.
You're standing on the steps of the Pagoda, thinking, inhaling the carcinogenic smoke. Still don't feel any different. What did you expect? All you know now is that you're definitely the guy that killed her cousins or aunts or uncles or whatever. Might not have been you. Could have been Li E'kun, your supposed uncle.
Hot smoke fills your lungs.
[1.2] {Wrathful Manifestation} Face Up: Yuexia's Yuexia. There's no way she'll just let this go, when she finds out. Might as well cut out the middleman and meet her straight.
[1.4] {Harmonious Society} Double Check: You still have a tie to the Iron Guanyin, and you can't trust Si Fei all the way. Maybe they'll contradict him. You hope they'll contradict him.
[]- Get Out of the City: There's nothing here anymore. Get your money and bounce. You will find Li E'kun and the Snakeheads and you will get everything straight, and leave it all behind.
- Location
- USA
[x] {Wrathful Manifestation} Face Up
- Location
- England
[X]- Get Out of the City: There's nothing here anymore. Get your money and bounce. You will find Li E'kun and the Snakeheads and you will get everything straight, and leave it all behind.
Controversial pick: It sounds like the weakness that has hounded us our whole life is an inability to let shit go. That's why we always come crawling back to the Snakeheads, who'll take us no matter how we fuck up.
It's time to leave... and go to the Snakeheads again but temporarily this time.
A broken cycle starts with a single changed decision.
Controversial pick: It sounds like the weakness that has hounded us our whole life is an inability to let shit go. That's why we always come crawling back to the Snakeheads, who'll take us no matter how we fuck up.
It's time to leave... and go to the Snakeheads again but temporarily this time.
A broken cycle starts with a single changed decision.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
[X] [1.4] {Harmonious Society} Double Check: You still have a tie to the Iron Guanyin, and you can't trust Si Fei all the way. Maybe they'll contradict him. You hope they'll contradict him.
Old fucker is telling us what he wants us to know; can't trust it.
Old fucker is telling us what he wants us to know; can't trust it.