Well...its in the finest traditions to sneak everywhere?"I'll give ya a swat if you drift off your course this time," Sixiang teased. "So here's the first one, you're not quite restrained."
Ling Qi frowned in consternation, wondering what Sixiang was talking about. Then it struck her. The mortal woman's footsteps made faint sounds on the polished floor, and her gown rustled with her movements, her breath disturbed the air. Ling Qi was silent, utterly so. The only noise was a distant eerie piping. Ling Qi frowned and a twitch of her qi normalized things.
Still reflexively evading contact huh?"Ling Qi," I did not expect you so early. Is everything well?" Her Mother asked, lowering her arms.
"Everything is fine, my cultivation just took less time than expected," Ling Qi deflected. "I thought I would come a little early. Sorry for interrupting you."
Her mother looked at her with a frown. Was she really that obvious?
"S almost like you're practicing an art of honesty. Do you really want to fool your Mom?" Sixiang whispered.
"Well, that's not wholly right, I did want to talk," Ling Qi added before her Mother could voice her question. Sixiang was right of course, there was no value in deflections here.
Here you can see Qingge getting hugged by the domain."Of course," her Mother replied, seeming hesitant. "Did your… exercise proceed properly?"
"Yeah," Ling Qi replied with a half smile, moving to take a seat on one of the stone benches in the garden. "Integration went fine, see?" Her weapon shimmered into view across her lap, and a pale transparent mist rolled out around them, cloaking the garden. She had spent some time practicing so there were no more… embarrassing manifestations.
The mist still settled about her Mother's shoulders like a warm winter mantle, and the older woman blinked in surprise. She reached up tentatively to touch it, but the mist parted before her fingers. "I see. I admit I do not quite understand what has changed, but I am glad you succeeded."
Nobody does, only way you learn to deal with such a relationship is practice and neither of them have had any."I was always pretty bad at being a girl. Sorry Mom," Ling Qi said with a chuckle.
"You weren't," Ling Qingge said quietly, looking down at her lap. "You were no more rambunctious and restless than any other child."
"No need to spare my feelings," Ling Qi sighed. "I understand…"
"Ling Qi, I was never prepared to be a mother, at an age barely older than you are now. My conditions may have left me in a poor state, but that only explains my mistakes. It does not excuse them," Ling Qingge retorted sharply. "So do not spare my feelings."
Ling Qi was silent, and so was her Mother. Finally, Ling Qi blew out a breath sending eddies through the mist. "I guess neither of us know much about what we're doing, huh?"
Man they're going to be rather surprised when the guardians show up and they're undead."How is the household handling the new security?" Ling Qi asked, turning her eyes back to the garden.
"As well as can be expected. I have not explained to them the precise nature of the guardians in the basement," Ling Qingge replied. Probably for the best.
A little something she's improved on, from casually making people feel useless while trying to help to letting them do their thing."Miss Li explained the upkeep necessary very well."
"Will you be alright taking care of it?" Ling Qi asked.
Mother looked down at her hands, flexing her fingers thoughtfully. A single pale and guttering spark of qi leaked from her fingertips. "Yes. It is simple enough, if tiring."
Ling Qi could manage it with no more effort than coming to the house took, but she wasn't going to take that away from her Mother.
Discussion usually means that later votes tend to be fairly clear cut, you either agree or disagree with made arguments.Why is it that it always looks like it's close, then when the tally hits, one option stomps?