- Location
- Lost!
[X] Decline, a little hardship is good for the soul Wang Chao. (Xuan Shi dialogue and isolation insight speculation.)
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Going forward, links to content from Twitter (now X) will no longer be embedded. Pre-existing links should not be affected.
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
Ling Qi tries her best, but I don't think she has yet mastered the Ojou-sama laugh.
Where's Xiulan when we need her...
- Location
- yorkshire
- Location
- yorkshire
thank you
Future Days: Dreams
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
Future Days: Dreams
Dreams are paintings of the mind, the best one, as with the best paintings, are the ones that draw you in, that make you feel. Dreams of distant futures, of different yesterdays, or even of disturbing nightmares, all bleed emotions. Bleed feelings. It was this facet of dreams that drew Jun Fa to studying them. All her life she studied, practiced, and reiterated on her paintings, yet each and every time her work was criticized as lifeless and soulless. She worked harder, studied the great masters, and listened to how colors and shapes interacted with each other. It was never enough. Her work lacked the spark, the emotion, that would make them great, so Jun Fa turned to dreams. She never looked back.
Currently Jun Fa was studying her latest piece. A small cabin in the Weilu style overlooked a gentle creek. Around the cabin were old growth trees, their knots and branches forming wizened faces. Among the leaves of the trees candles glowed, their light as jewels in the green hair of the trees. Mountains framed the background, their white peaks contrasting with the warm glow of the sky during a summer evening. Just visible through the windows of the cabin was an elderly woman, smiling as she looked out at a young child fishing in the creek. Peace and contentment radiated from the piece.
It was a lovely piece, Jun Fa thought as she tapped her chin. She wasn't truly content with it, but one thing she had learned during her stay at the Argent Sect was that sometimes you just needed to move on to the next challenge. She was still struggling to learn that not everything could be planned out, not everything could be completed to satisfaction, but it was just a fact of life. Time kept moving.
Jun Fa shook her head, letting the morose thoughts out with her breath. Enough of that, her planned painting time was finished which meant that it was on to the next thing. Stretching her arms above her head, Jun Fa walked out of her home in the inner sect, picked up her weapon of choice, a brush the size of a spear, and jogged off to where Hudie had agreed to set things up. It was time to dive into dreams.
"About time you got here." Hudie said, fluttering down from the shaded canopy. "Thought you forgot about today."
"Forget about today?" Jun Fa said with a laugh. "You've badgered me about this for ages, I would never forget. Is everything all set?"
"Yep!" Hudie said, popping the last syllable. "I got everything all squared away, I even triple checked to make sure I didn't forget anything!"
Jun Fa smiled at Hudie as they spun around in excitement. The mere fact that Hudie was able to set this up showed the moth's growth. Last year Hudie would have forgotten completely, the day's ideas having no room for yesterday's thoughts.
"Alright, so what do I have to do?" Jun Fa asked as she followed her spirit beast deeper into the grove.
"Not much." Hudie said. "I've set up a small campfire and some incense. Just allow those to lull you into a half slumber, and I'll pull you the rest of the way."
"Sounds good." Jun Fa said.
In the middle of the grove was a small campfire, just like Hudie promised. Cushions littered the ground, and sticks of sweet incense burned in small bowls. Jun Fa arranged the cushions so she could comfortably rest on a tree trunk while Hudie flew impatiently above. Then as the afternoon turned over to evening and the shadows lengthened, Jun Fa nodded off.
There was a stretching sensation, followed by a pop, like a bubble being poked. Jun Fa opened her eyes to see a new world. Gone were the old growth trees with all the finery of summer. In their place were young cherry trees, blossoms on full display. Pink petals drifted down in sheets, almost as if it were raining, even from above the cherry trees themselves. This place was a place of spring, and as Jun Fa breathed deeply savoring the emotions around her, a place of joy. She liked this place.
"We made it!" Hudie said, their soft grey fur taking on a pinkish hue even as their wings beat petals away from them. "Sorry about dragging you here, it's a bit annoying with all these petals about, but it is a nice safe place in the dream."
"I do like it here." Jun Fa said, standing up. "A lot of good emotions."
"There are," Hudie said as flew behind Jun Fa, trying to shield themselves from more petals, to no avail, "but these stupid petals…just get… everywhere!"
Jun Fa laughed, the noise rolling through the trees. "Sorry, sorry, we'll move on. Where to next?"
"There is a great…" Hudie didn't get a chance to finish their sentence.
Around them the air shifted, and the trees groaned, their branches no longer filled with blossoms, but bending under snow. Winds of winter swept through and past the grove, transforming the cherry petals to snowflakes. Hudie gasped and looked up.
Above them two great clouds boiled into existence. One was a chilling mist. Where once was a warm spring sky was now a roiling bank of mist, but Jun Fa could see what was happening inside it. Beasts, of all shapes and sizes, danced in the mist. Many wore the clothes of imperial courtiers, their outfits fit for the Imperial palace. A few beasts were covered only by their fur. Some beasts were figments of mist and wind, others danced on legs of ice and darkness. Yet for all their differences each beast was connected by the festival, each beast danced. There was something in the middle of the mist, something that connected each beast, something that crafted the music of the festival, yet Jun Fa could not see it through the mist. But it could see her.
Next to the chilling mist was another cloud. This one made from emotions and light, a thousand rainbows reflected by a thousand drops of water suspended by wind. It was less a cloud and more an ocean, an ocean of color and chaos. From its formless body change dripped into the dream. Trees became blue and purple, rivers orange, and the ground red. Then the colors shifted again, then again. Faster and faster the colors of the world switched until it became painful to look at.
Yet Jun Fa barely noticed the changing colors of the world, for a mote of interest had fallen on her. It was like her soul had been strummed, and just how a note can be heard and known, so too was her soul. She felt, more than saw, a slight tilt of the head, before the feeling, the pressure, turned away; not out of disappointment, or apathy, but kindness. As the two clouds receded into the distance and the world resumed its cheery spring day a mote descended from the chilling mist. An emissary approached.
It approached quickly, a star falling from the sky, and soon it stood before Jun Fa and Hudie. The beast had the features of a bear, but stood upright on its hindlegs. An almost comically small minister cap was balanced on its head and eyes black as war peered out from a monocle. Its minister's robes rippled in an unfelt wind and Jun Fa could see ice slowly spreading from beneath its feet.
"Hello child." The beast said, its voice a deep rumbling sound, the sound of ice grinding and cracking against each other.
"We offer our respects." Jun Fa and Hudie said, both bowing at the bear.
"No need for that, I am but a figment of a figment, but I do bring a gift."
"A gift?" Hudie said inching forward, now between the bear and Jun Fa. "For what?"
The bear shrugged. "I do not know, I was not created knowing. Perhaps the young one here brought some small amusement to the Lady. Perhaps the Lady wants to encourage more children to walk this realm. I do not know, I will vanish without knowing."
"May we know what the gift is?" Jun Fa said, even as she gently pulled Hudie back, though their wings flapped with irritation.
"A trial and a reward." The bear said, holding out one of his paws. In it was a compass crafted from ice and wind. "Follow this compass and you will be tested and rewarded."
"We thank you for the Lady's kindness." Jun Fa said, though Hudie seemed to be making it very clear that was not the truth. "May I have the compass?"
"Of course, child." The bear said. The bear didn't move, but Jun Fa found the compass resting in her hand, sized like it was always meant to fit in her palm. "Now I must take my leave."
With that the bear twisted on itself, melting away into a breeze which raced off into the sky.
"What was that about?" Jun Fa asked as she turned towards her friend. "I've never seen you so aggressive towards something."
"There was death in that phantom." Hudie said as they fluttered about the grove. "Death and war. That beast wasn't created to give gifts, but take them."
"Hudie…"
"I'm alright." Hudie said, their wings slowing down, calming. "It was just unnerving being so close to something so dangerous. You know I don't like to fight."
"I know." Jun Fa said, reaching up to stroke Hudie's grey fur. The moth let out a sigh and Jun Fa guided to rest on her shoulder. "So what is the plan now? Do we go with your plan, or follow the compass?"
"We should follow the compass." Hudie said after a moment's pause.
"Oh?"
"Yep. It's melting right now." Hudie said, her wings tilting towards the compass. "We will have another shot at my plan, but it seems as though we only get one shot with this compass."
Jun Fa looked at the compass and sure enough small wisps of wind were leaking out of it in small puffs.
"The compass it is then." She said, spinning around until everything lined up. "Onward to adventure!"
"Onward!" Hudie said, her wings fluttering as she lifted off of Jun Fa's shoulder and spun around her head. They shared a laugh and started walking.
"Still excited for this adventure?" Hudie said as Jun Fa looked at where the compass had led them.
"Not so much, if I am being honest." Jun Fa said. Before her was a scene she knew well, afterall she had spent two weeks painting it. Yet the emotions she had distilled into the canvas were gone. Candles lay scattered at the roots of trees, cold and dark, abandoned like a child's toy. Branches sagged, their leafless branches bearing the impossible weight of age and rot. There was no child fishing in the murky stream, only a fishing rod snapped in twain. The cottage was in worse shape, entire sections of the roof torn off allowing the elements in, the windows were boarded, and where they weren't broken glass let the wind howl through. It was a sad lonely scene, with no joy or contentment.
"Well, the compass points onward." Hudie said. "Should we keep going?"
"Yes." Jun Fa said. "I don't see a reason to turn back now."
"If my painting got turned into a trial, I would turn around." Hudie said, sticking close to Jun Fa as they moved closer to the ruined cottage.
"You don't paint." Jun Fa said, the door creaking open with the slightest of touches.
"But if I did," Hudie said, stressing the words, "I would turn around. This cottage screams ghosts."
Jun Fa stopped. "Hudie," she said holding back a grin, "are you scared of ghosts?"
"N..no." Hudie said. "Ghosts are just annoying, and troublemakers. Best to stay away, yah?"
"Of course, of course." Jun Fa said. "I'm glad, that means you won't freak out about the ghost behind you."
Hudie spun around, wings a flutter, and shrieked. A vase fell to the floor and shattered.
Jun Fa tried to hold in her laughter as Hudie spun back to her with dignified grace. "I'm sorry." She said "It must have been a trick of the light."
"I'm sure that is what it was." Hudie said, voice dripping with wounded pride. "But there was no need to break that vase for a trick of the light."
"I didn't break the vase." Jun Fa said. "Didn't you break it when you turned around?"
"I didn't touch anything." Hudie said. They both turned to the table where the vase had fallen from. That's when they saw it.
Barely visible on the table was a rat, big enough to be a wolf. Blood dribbled down the rat's jaw, pooling on the table slowly rotting it. It was firmly in the green realm. It stared at them.
"We should run." Hudie said as they drifted backwards.
"I think we can take it, we're green too now." Jun Fa said as she brought her paintbrush to a guard position.
"Maybe one, but all of them?"
That's when Jun Fa noticed the other six pairs of eyes moving about the room. Each one a rat's eye. Each one in the green realm. A slow hissing noise filled the room, the sound of bog gas.
"We run." Jun Fa said, turning and dashing away, deeper into the house.
Doors and hallways rushed past as the pair fled deeper into the house, the soft pittering of feet behind them and a creeping rot.
Right and left, Jun Fa and Hudie turned without thought down hallways that stretched on and on, far farther than the inside of the house should have been able to hold. In Jun Fa's hands the compass spun wildly, twisting about as if trying to find something. Eventually, after what felt like an hour, the pair opened a door at random, hurled themselves into the dark room, and slammed it closed behind them. Then they took a breath.
"What were those?" Jun Fa said as she slid down the door to the floor.
"I'm not sure." Hudie said. "They felt like nightmares, but changed in some way. They didn't act like nightmares at all. Nightmares often try to lure people in, but these things just chased us. Didn't even try to attack us."
Jun Fa rubbed her eyes. That was strange. Her studies had made clear the dangers of nightmares, and these ones didn't seem to align with any of the warnings. Dreams were mutable though, so nightmares would be too, but what changed, and why?
"Hudie," Jun Fa said, "were humans here before us?"
Hudie tilted their head, and a soft pulse of qi erupted from the moth. "No." They finally said. "The structure is only about an hour old. Likely created just as that bear gave us the medallion. There was not enough time for humans to move in."
"So what was the point then?" Jun Fa frowning towards the ceiling. "What are we supposed to learn here?"
At her words a lamp flickered to life, casting a soft glow into the room, and on the other side of the room was a canvas, it was her painting, the one she had finished only hours ago, but dilapidated, just as the house they had found. Rows of paints, in all their colors and shades, filled the wall next to the painting. This was a painter's workshop.
Jun Fa stood up and approached the painting. "What are we supposed to do with you?" She whispered, words dropping unbidden from her mouth. It hurt to look at her painting in such a state. Hurt more than it should have. Work had been put into this painting, and to see it all twisted hurt. It shouldn't be this way. Not at all.
She dipped the tip of her brush into one of the paints, a light green, and touched the painting. Painting always helped her straighten out her thoughts, maybe it would help her focus on this puzzle of a trial. Besides, this was as good a chance as any to fix up her painting.
There was groan, a shift in the qi of the room and the house, as light green leaves bloomed under her paintbrush.
"Oh!" Hudie said as the room became just a touch brighter. "That's what you need to do."
"Hmm…?" Jun Fa said, turning away from the painting, the colors disappeared, the room darkened, and the house groaned again.
"You need to fix the painting." Hudie said. "The compass was going crazy in the house, like it couldn't find the way. I bet if this picture was cleaned up the way through would open."
"You think so?"
"Well," Hudie said, "something changed in the house when you started painting, and what else are we going to do? Fight six green realm nightmares?"
"We can try it at least." Jun Fa said. Again she dipped her brush into the paints, and again she brushed. Once more the house groaned, and once more the room brightened. Then the paint started receding and she felt more than saw the six rats scatter, gnawing at her changes.
She worked faster. Paint spraying across the room as bottles tipped over in her rush. Bristles pulled apart from each and twinned together creating new smaller brushes out of her larger one. Faster and faster she went, colors and shapes swirling about as she tried to fix the damage to her painting, but her work vanished just as fast. The rats gnawed it away.
It was then that Jun Fa realized her mistake. What was missing from the painting wasn't colors and shapes, but emotions, the joy, the contentment. She had fallen back on old habits in her rush, fallen back onto the ideas that the physical was all that mattered in a piece. Sadness and isolation had replaced her emotions and it wasn't enough to patch those over with banal physicality. She needed to change the heart of the piece as well.
Again paint flew, but this time emotion flowed with it. Joys in the vibrant reds of the candle flames, contentment in the blues of water and sky, peace in the browns of the wizened bark of the trees. Her heart beat in her chest and sweat dripped into her eyes. This was the hardest she had ever worked on something. Every step fought her, every time her eyes darted to a different part of the picture sadness and isolation would eat at what she left behind, but she was so close. It was almost done.
"Jun Fa!" Hudie yelled into her ear. Jun Fa jumped, startled, but she didn't let up in her painting.
"What?"
"The compass! It's settled, we have a way out now!"
"Not yet." Jun Fa said. There was still more to do, and she was so close.
"We have to go now! The compass is almost gone!"
Jun Fa paused and looked at the painting. Already her work was disappearing, being gnawed at by those rats. Even now her hands itched, her mind screamed, she just wanted to finish the picture, to push out the last of the sadness and isolation, but how long would that take? How long would she have to remain in front of this picture to do that? Forever?
"Alright." Jun Fa gasped, tearing her eyes away from the picture, but still seeing the ruin growing on it like mold. "Let's go."
Together they ran through the halls following the compass. No rats stopped them, but they could hear the gnawing, see the darkness spreading. Then they reached a door of ice and wind at the end of a hallway. It opened.
On the other side was a training field, an outer sect training field if Jun Fa remembered correctly.
"Another test?" Hudie said their wings drooped with exhaustion.
"I don't think so." Jun Fa said. "This is something else."
"Your endurance is pretty good."
The words echoed around the training ground, grainy and soft, a half remembered thing. A figure sat on a log at the edge of the training ground, their hair was as black as the night sky, their skin was dark like so many others that lived near the Wall, but most of all the figure flickered, a flame about to go out.
"What are your names?"
"Jun Fa with my spirit beast, Hudie." She said, doubt creeping into her mind. Why did it feel like this figure wasn't even talking to them?
"You look like you're having an adventure."
"We... are." Jun Fa said. What was going on?
The figure smiled, their blue eyes twinkling, then they vanished, replaced by a crystal of ice.
"What was that?" Jun Fa said.
"It was a memory." Hudie said, dropping down to rest on Jun Fa's shoulders. "An old one. That crystal feels powerful though, 10 stones it's your prize."
Jun Fa rubbed Hudie's fur, fingers zig-zagging through just as Hudie liked. "No bet." She walked over to the crystal and touched it, there was a feeling of winter's wind, of darkness, of stretching and snapping, then they were back at the grove of cherry trees. The crystal bobbed up and down, already coated in petals.
"I think that's enough for one trip." Jun Fa said and Hudie yawned back a reply. "Will this crystal stay here, or do we need to try and drag it out of the liminal?" She asked.
"It'll stay here." Hudie said through their yawns. "We can come back anytime."
"Sounds good, let's get you a nice apple then."
The two left the realm of dreams and behind them the crystal of ice bobbed serenely, its mysteries left for another day.
A.N
@yrsillar Omake
I really enjoyed writing these piece so please enjoy it!
Dreams are paintings of the mind, the best one, as with the best paintings, are the ones that draw you in, that make you feel. Dreams of distant futures, of different yesterdays, or even of disturbing nightmares, all bleed emotions. Bleed feelings. It was this facet of dreams that drew Jun Fa to studying them. All her life she studied, practiced, and reiterated on her paintings, yet each and every time her work was criticized as lifeless and soulless. She worked harder, studied the great masters, and listened to how colors and shapes interacted with each other. It was never enough. Her work lacked the spark, the emotion, that would make them great, so Jun Fa turned to dreams. She never looked back.
Currently Jun Fa was studying her latest piece. A small cabin in the Weilu style overlooked a gentle creek. Around the cabin were old growth trees, their knots and branches forming wizened faces. Among the leaves of the trees candles glowed, their light as jewels in the green hair of the trees. Mountains framed the background, their white peaks contrasting with the warm glow of the sky during a summer evening. Just visible through the windows of the cabin was an elderly woman, smiling as she looked out at a young child fishing in the creek. Peace and contentment radiated from the piece.
It was a lovely piece, Jun Fa thought as she tapped her chin. She wasn't truly content with it, but one thing she had learned during her stay at the Argent Sect was that sometimes you just needed to move on to the next challenge. She was still struggling to learn that not everything could be planned out, not everything could be completed to satisfaction, but it was just a fact of life. Time kept moving.
Jun Fa shook her head, letting the morose thoughts out with her breath. Enough of that, her planned painting time was finished which meant that it was on to the next thing. Stretching her arms above her head, Jun Fa walked out of her home in the inner sect, picked up her weapon of choice, a brush the size of a spear, and jogged off to where Hudie had agreed to set things up. It was time to dive into dreams.
"About time you got here." Hudie said, fluttering down from the shaded canopy. "Thought you forgot about today."
"Forget about today?" Jun Fa said with a laugh. "You've badgered me about this for ages, I would never forget. Is everything all set?"
"Yep!" Hudie said, popping the last syllable. "I got everything all squared away, I even triple checked to make sure I didn't forget anything!"
Jun Fa smiled at Hudie as they spun around in excitement. The mere fact that Hudie was able to set this up showed the moth's growth. Last year Hudie would have forgotten completely, the day's ideas having no room for yesterday's thoughts.
"Alright, so what do I have to do?" Jun Fa asked as she followed her spirit beast deeper into the grove.
"Not much." Hudie said. "I've set up a small campfire and some incense. Just allow those to lull you into a half slumber, and I'll pull you the rest of the way."
"Sounds good." Jun Fa said.
In the middle of the grove was a small campfire, just like Hudie promised. Cushions littered the ground, and sticks of sweet incense burned in small bowls. Jun Fa arranged the cushions so she could comfortably rest on a tree trunk while Hudie flew impatiently above. Then as the afternoon turned over to evening and the shadows lengthened, Jun Fa nodded off.
There was a stretching sensation, followed by a pop, like a bubble being poked. Jun Fa opened her eyes to see a new world. Gone were the old growth trees with all the finery of summer. In their place were young cherry trees, blossoms on full display. Pink petals drifted down in sheets, almost as if it were raining, even from above the cherry trees themselves. This place was a place of spring, and as Jun Fa breathed deeply savoring the emotions around her, a place of joy. She liked this place.
"We made it!" Hudie said, their soft grey fur taking on a pinkish hue even as their wings beat petals away from them. "Sorry about dragging you here, it's a bit annoying with all these petals about, but it is a nice safe place in the dream."
"I do like it here." Jun Fa said, standing up. "A lot of good emotions."
"There are," Hudie said as flew behind Jun Fa, trying to shield themselves from more petals, to no avail, "but these stupid petals…just get… everywhere!"
Jun Fa laughed, the noise rolling through the trees. "Sorry, sorry, we'll move on. Where to next?"
"There is a great…" Hudie didn't get a chance to finish their sentence.
Around them the air shifted, and the trees groaned, their branches no longer filled with blossoms, but bending under snow. Winds of winter swept through and past the grove, transforming the cherry petals to snowflakes. Hudie gasped and looked up.
Above them two great clouds boiled into existence. One was a chilling mist. Where once was a warm spring sky was now a roiling bank of mist, but Jun Fa could see what was happening inside it. Beasts, of all shapes and sizes, danced in the mist. Many wore the clothes of imperial courtiers, their outfits fit for the Imperial palace. A few beasts were covered only by their fur. Some beasts were figments of mist and wind, others danced on legs of ice and darkness. Yet for all their differences each beast was connected by the festival, each beast danced. There was something in the middle of the mist, something that connected each beast, something that crafted the music of the festival, yet Jun Fa could not see it through the mist. But it could see her.
Next to the chilling mist was another cloud. This one made from emotions and light, a thousand rainbows reflected by a thousand drops of water suspended by wind. It was less a cloud and more an ocean, an ocean of color and chaos. From its formless body change dripped into the dream. Trees became blue and purple, rivers orange, and the ground red. Then the colors shifted again, then again. Faster and faster the colors of the world switched until it became painful to look at.
Yet Jun Fa barely noticed the changing colors of the world, for a mote of interest had fallen on her. It was like her soul had been strummed, and just how a note can be heard and known, so too was her soul. She felt, more than saw, a slight tilt of the head, before the feeling, the pressure, turned away; not out of disappointment, or apathy, but kindness. As the two clouds receded into the distance and the world resumed its cheery spring day a mote descended from the chilling mist. An emissary approached.
It approached quickly, a star falling from the sky, and soon it stood before Jun Fa and Hudie. The beast had the features of a bear, but stood upright on its hindlegs. An almost comically small minister cap was balanced on its head and eyes black as war peered out from a monocle. Its minister's robes rippled in an unfelt wind and Jun Fa could see ice slowly spreading from beneath its feet.
"Hello child." The beast said, its voice a deep rumbling sound, the sound of ice grinding and cracking against each other.
"We offer our respects." Jun Fa and Hudie said, both bowing at the bear.
"No need for that, I am but a figment of a figment, but I do bring a gift."
"A gift?" Hudie said inching forward, now between the bear and Jun Fa. "For what?"
The bear shrugged. "I do not know, I was not created knowing. Perhaps the young one here brought some small amusement to the Lady. Perhaps the Lady wants to encourage more children to walk this realm. I do not know, I will vanish without knowing."
"May we know what the gift is?" Jun Fa said, even as she gently pulled Hudie back, though their wings flapped with irritation.
"A trial and a reward." The bear said, holding out one of his paws. In it was a compass crafted from ice and wind. "Follow this compass and you will be tested and rewarded."
"We thank you for the Lady's kindness." Jun Fa said, though Hudie seemed to be making it very clear that was not the truth. "May I have the compass?"
"Of course, child." The bear said. The bear didn't move, but Jun Fa found the compass resting in her hand, sized like it was always meant to fit in her palm. "Now I must take my leave."
With that the bear twisted on itself, melting away into a breeze which raced off into the sky.
"What was that about?" Jun Fa asked as she turned towards her friend. "I've never seen you so aggressive towards something."
"There was death in that phantom." Hudie said as they fluttered about the grove. "Death and war. That beast wasn't created to give gifts, but take them."
"Hudie…"
"I'm alright." Hudie said, their wings slowing down, calming. "It was just unnerving being so close to something so dangerous. You know I don't like to fight."
"I know." Jun Fa said, reaching up to stroke Hudie's grey fur. The moth let out a sigh and Jun Fa guided to rest on her shoulder. "So what is the plan now? Do we go with your plan, or follow the compass?"
"We should follow the compass." Hudie said after a moment's pause.
"Oh?"
"Yep. It's melting right now." Hudie said, her wings tilting towards the compass. "We will have another shot at my plan, but it seems as though we only get one shot with this compass."
Jun Fa looked at the compass and sure enough small wisps of wind were leaking out of it in small puffs.
"The compass it is then." She said, spinning around until everything lined up. "Onward to adventure!"
"Onward!" Hudie said, her wings fluttering as she lifted off of Jun Fa's shoulder and spun around her head. They shared a laugh and started walking.
"Still excited for this adventure?" Hudie said as Jun Fa looked at where the compass had led them.
"Not so much, if I am being honest." Jun Fa said. Before her was a scene she knew well, afterall she had spent two weeks painting it. Yet the emotions she had distilled into the canvas were gone. Candles lay scattered at the roots of trees, cold and dark, abandoned like a child's toy. Branches sagged, their leafless branches bearing the impossible weight of age and rot. There was no child fishing in the murky stream, only a fishing rod snapped in twain. The cottage was in worse shape, entire sections of the roof torn off allowing the elements in, the windows were boarded, and where they weren't broken glass let the wind howl through. It was a sad lonely scene, with no joy or contentment.
"Well, the compass points onward." Hudie said. "Should we keep going?"
"Yes." Jun Fa said. "I don't see a reason to turn back now."
"If my painting got turned into a trial, I would turn around." Hudie said, sticking close to Jun Fa as they moved closer to the ruined cottage.
"You don't paint." Jun Fa said, the door creaking open with the slightest of touches.
"But if I did," Hudie said, stressing the words, "I would turn around. This cottage screams ghosts."
Jun Fa stopped. "Hudie," she said holding back a grin, "are you scared of ghosts?"
"N..no." Hudie said. "Ghosts are just annoying, and troublemakers. Best to stay away, yah?"
"Of course, of course." Jun Fa said. "I'm glad, that means you won't freak out about the ghost behind you."
Hudie spun around, wings a flutter, and shrieked. A vase fell to the floor and shattered.
Jun Fa tried to hold in her laughter as Hudie spun back to her with dignified grace. "I'm sorry." She said "It must have been a trick of the light."
"I'm sure that is what it was." Hudie said, voice dripping with wounded pride. "But there was no need to break that vase for a trick of the light."
"I didn't break the vase." Jun Fa said. "Didn't you break it when you turned around?"
"I didn't touch anything." Hudie said. They both turned to the table where the vase had fallen from. That's when they saw it.
Barely visible on the table was a rat, big enough to be a wolf. Blood dribbled down the rat's jaw, pooling on the table slowly rotting it. It was firmly in the green realm. It stared at them.
"We should run." Hudie said as they drifted backwards.
"I think we can take it, we're green too now." Jun Fa said as she brought her paintbrush to a guard position.
"Maybe one, but all of them?"
That's when Jun Fa noticed the other six pairs of eyes moving about the room. Each one a rat's eye. Each one in the green realm. A slow hissing noise filled the room, the sound of bog gas.
"We run." Jun Fa said, turning and dashing away, deeper into the house.
Doors and hallways rushed past as the pair fled deeper into the house, the soft pittering of feet behind them and a creeping rot.
Right and left, Jun Fa and Hudie turned without thought down hallways that stretched on and on, far farther than the inside of the house should have been able to hold. In Jun Fa's hands the compass spun wildly, twisting about as if trying to find something. Eventually, after what felt like an hour, the pair opened a door at random, hurled themselves into the dark room, and slammed it closed behind them. Then they took a breath.
"What were those?" Jun Fa said as she slid down the door to the floor.
"I'm not sure." Hudie said. "They felt like nightmares, but changed in some way. They didn't act like nightmares at all. Nightmares often try to lure people in, but these things just chased us. Didn't even try to attack us."
Jun Fa rubbed her eyes. That was strange. Her studies had made clear the dangers of nightmares, and these ones didn't seem to align with any of the warnings. Dreams were mutable though, so nightmares would be too, but what changed, and why?
"Hudie," Jun Fa said, "were humans here before us?"
Hudie tilted their head, and a soft pulse of qi erupted from the moth. "No." They finally said. "The structure is only about an hour old. Likely created just as that bear gave us the medallion. There was not enough time for humans to move in."
"So what was the point then?" Jun Fa frowning towards the ceiling. "What are we supposed to learn here?"
At her words a lamp flickered to life, casting a soft glow into the room, and on the other side of the room was a canvas, it was her painting, the one she had finished only hours ago, but dilapidated, just as the house they had found. Rows of paints, in all their colors and shades, filled the wall next to the painting. This was a painter's workshop.
Jun Fa stood up and approached the painting. "What are we supposed to do with you?" She whispered, words dropping unbidden from her mouth. It hurt to look at her painting in such a state. Hurt more than it should have. Work had been put into this painting, and to see it all twisted hurt. It shouldn't be this way. Not at all.
She dipped the tip of her brush into one of the paints, a light green, and touched the painting. Painting always helped her straighten out her thoughts, maybe it would help her focus on this puzzle of a trial. Besides, this was as good a chance as any to fix up her painting.
There was groan, a shift in the qi of the room and the house, as light green leaves bloomed under her paintbrush.
"Oh!" Hudie said as the room became just a touch brighter. "That's what you need to do."
"Hmm…?" Jun Fa said, turning away from the painting, the colors disappeared, the room darkened, and the house groaned again.
"You need to fix the painting." Hudie said. "The compass was going crazy in the house, like it couldn't find the way. I bet if this picture was cleaned up the way through would open."
"You think so?"
"Well," Hudie said, "something changed in the house when you started painting, and what else are we going to do? Fight six green realm nightmares?"
"We can try it at least." Jun Fa said. Again she dipped her brush into the paints, and again she brushed. Once more the house groaned, and once more the room brightened. Then the paint started receding and she felt more than saw the six rats scatter, gnawing at her changes.
She worked faster. Paint spraying across the room as bottles tipped over in her rush. Bristles pulled apart from each and twinned together creating new smaller brushes out of her larger one. Faster and faster she went, colors and shapes swirling about as she tried to fix the damage to her painting, but her work vanished just as fast. The rats gnawed it away.
It was then that Jun Fa realized her mistake. What was missing from the painting wasn't colors and shapes, but emotions, the joy, the contentment. She had fallen back on old habits in her rush, fallen back onto the ideas that the physical was all that mattered in a piece. Sadness and isolation had replaced her emotions and it wasn't enough to patch those over with banal physicality. She needed to change the heart of the piece as well.
Again paint flew, but this time emotion flowed with it. Joys in the vibrant reds of the candle flames, contentment in the blues of water and sky, peace in the browns of the wizened bark of the trees. Her heart beat in her chest and sweat dripped into her eyes. This was the hardest she had ever worked on something. Every step fought her, every time her eyes darted to a different part of the picture sadness and isolation would eat at what she left behind, but she was so close. It was almost done.
"Jun Fa!" Hudie yelled into her ear. Jun Fa jumped, startled, but she didn't let up in her painting.
"What?"
"The compass! It's settled, we have a way out now!"
"Not yet." Jun Fa said. There was still more to do, and she was so close.
"We have to go now! The compass is almost gone!"
Jun Fa paused and looked at the painting. Already her work was disappearing, being gnawed at by those rats. Even now her hands itched, her mind screamed, she just wanted to finish the picture, to push out the last of the sadness and isolation, but how long would that take? How long would she have to remain in front of this picture to do that? Forever?
"Alright." Jun Fa gasped, tearing her eyes away from the picture, but still seeing the ruin growing on it like mold. "Let's go."
Together they ran through the halls following the compass. No rats stopped them, but they could hear the gnawing, see the darkness spreading. Then they reached a door of ice and wind at the end of a hallway. It opened.
On the other side was a training field, an outer sect training field if Jun Fa remembered correctly.
"Another test?" Hudie said their wings drooped with exhaustion.
"I don't think so." Jun Fa said. "This is something else."
"Your endurance is pretty good."
The words echoed around the training ground, grainy and soft, a half remembered thing. A figure sat on a log at the edge of the training ground, their hair was as black as the night sky, their skin was dark like so many others that lived near the Wall, but most of all the figure flickered, a flame about to go out.
"What are your names?"
"Jun Fa with my spirit beast, Hudie." She said, doubt creeping into her mind. Why did it feel like this figure wasn't even talking to them?
"You look like you're having an adventure."
"We... are." Jun Fa said. What was going on?
The figure smiled, their blue eyes twinkling, then they vanished, replaced by a crystal of ice.
"What was that?" Jun Fa said.
"It was a memory." Hudie said, dropping down to rest on Jun Fa's shoulders. "An old one. That crystal feels powerful though, 10 stones it's your prize."
Jun Fa rubbed Hudie's fur, fingers zig-zagging through just as Hudie liked. "No bet." She walked over to the crystal and touched it, there was a feeling of winter's wind, of darkness, of stretching and snapping, then they were back at the grove of cherry trees. The crystal bobbed up and down, already coated in petals.
"I think that's enough for one trip." Jun Fa said and Hudie yawned back a reply. "Will this crystal stay here, or do we need to try and drag it out of the liminal?" She asked.
"It'll stay here." Hudie said through their yawns. "We can come back anytime."
"Sounds good, let's get you a nice apple then."
The two left the realm of dreams and behind them the crystal of ice bobbed serenely, its mysteries left for another day.
A.N
@yrsillar Omake
I really enjoyed writing these piece so please enjoy it!
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Badgered is what you meant I think.
Turn 13: Arc 7-7
"That seems fair," Ling Qi said. "One senior and one junior disciple for each side. Although I'm afraid I don't stack up to a scion of the great Xuan clan."
"Sister Ling should be less humble," Xuan Shi said, surprising her. It had been a rote bit of etiquette, not the sort of thing that would earn a response.
"Brother Xuan is too kind," she said reflexively. "Anyway, I doubt we want something as simple as a head to head duel…"
"Oh! Zhen and Gui can make a thing for capturing! Those games are fun!" her little brother announced.
"A flag capture sort of game," Wang Chao said thoughtfully. "I have no objections."
"Nor I," Luo Zhong agreed pleasantly
They spoke a little longer, deciding the rules. The victory objective would be of middling size and movable, and the defenders would have five minutes to prepare, the offensive team would win if they could take and hold the objective for two minutes, while the defensive team would win if they held for the time limit of ten minutes or took the objective back after losing it and then held it for two minutes themselves. Sixiang and Kongyou would be valid participants, but there would be no other bound beasts involved.
Luo Zhong and she descended the hill to give the other's time to prepare.
"You see the benefit the rules give us,yes Lady Ling," Luo Zhong said.
"Yes, it doesn't require Brother Xuan's defenses to be broken, merely bypassed. Quite gracious," Ling Qi said. It made things more fun after all, she appreciated that.
"Gracious, yes," Luo Zhong said thoughtfully. "You have been quite gracious yourself."
She gave him a sidelong look, not turning her head as they reached the bottom of the hill. "It is uncomfortable for a guest to be left on their own to grasp a group's dynamics."
"True," Luo Zhong agreed, looking up at the stars. "One who does manage earns more respect I think. Though it is a shame if they never return."
"Hah, like he ever sent an invite. Were you supposed to ask I wonder? Or maybe he figured you'd poke Alingge for an invite," Sixiang mused.
Personally, Ling Qi wasn't certain she bought his words, but she acknowledged that they seemed to think of things differently.
"Time is a cruel master. One never has enough of it," Ling Qi said thoughtfully. "When weighing which engagements to attend, is it wrong to place weight on those which are enjoyable as well as profitable."
Luo Zhong smiled thinly. "We all weight our priorities differently. Such is life. But, all the same a wider network has better utility than a smaller one, I think."
"On that we must disagree," Ling Qi said. "I find that a smaller, more trusted circle is superior. But I can at least understand your argument. The thought is much the same as what goes into those contracts of yours, isn't it?"
"The Luo lands are wide, and we have ever been a bit more mobile than our erstwhile peers, new resources and agreements must be pursued aggressively," Luo Zhong said, giving a slight dip of his head. "Our familial arts are a reflection of our lives, that is all. One must be both persistent on the hunt and flexible in action."
"Aggressiveness can be a negative trait too," Ling Qi said blandly.
He frowned. "I admit, I am at a loss for when aggressiveness has been my sin against you, Lady Ling."
Ling Qi frowned. In the end his conflict with Bao QIngling wasn't her business.
"Ah you do have a connection through that Li Suyin, who leaped over us all," Luo Zhong said thoughtfully. "And I suppose you would have seen that embarrassing incident. "I apologize if it made you think poorly of me. I allowed frustration to make me hasty and unwise. That pursuit should have been left in private."
"Why continue pursuing a deal that is clearly unwanted?" Ling Qi asked.
"Because I believe it really is the best arrangement possible, for both of us, and she will not even list what objections she has, that I might address them," Luo Zhong said with a frown. "But… we are veering into personal matters."
"You don't see it as… unworthy for a man to pursue a woman that way?" Ling Qi said warily.
He blinked, and for just a second she saw genuine confusion on his face before comprehension dawned. "I see. From your point of view, it must seem much more predatory. I assure you I have no capability to do a single thing to that woman she does not allow, nor would I if I could. It is merely a contract dispute which has grown heated… and realistically one likely to be abandoned. That I gave you such an ugly impression is something I sincerely apologize for."
Ling Qi took in a deep breath of the cool afternoon air. So much like Renxiang in a way, he seemed wholly sincere, as if those implications had never even occurred to him. Indeed, she felt that he was quite sincere in apologizing for 'giving her an ugly impression'. At the same time though she was certain that he wholly believed those words. She simply couldn't accept them.
"I'm not sure you should. It might break something," Sixiang murmured. "Still, I guess its good to know he stands there I guess."
"I accept your apology," Ling Qi said politely. "So, what are your thoughts on our strategy?"
Luo Zhong's arts felt disconcerting. There was a resemblance there, to the wild qi that coursed through Alingge's meridians. She could see the places where they diverged. Where the ancient, nameless people became hill and forest and mountain, and then Weilu and Hill tribe. His qi was paper and ink, leather and metal, bindings and tethers and words.
Her foot fell upon a narrow branch for an instant, barely bending the pale green wood. Sound erupted around her, the noise of a dozen snarling and howling hounds returning in force, as Ling Qi dipped back into the physical world. She felt the wind shift before she saw the man sized bullet shoot toward her, Wang Chao catapulting himself at such speed that she could not even perceive him as more than a blur.
She dispersed, no more than a cold winter breeze, a shower of snowflakes and chilled air, and in spirit, she grasped a tether of fire and metal, letting it pull her along to her destination.
Yet for all that his aura was a net of bindings, it still resonated with her own qi. Connection, community. Luo Zhong was not, Ling Qi thought as wise and savvy as he liked to portray, but he was only one knot in a wider net. His contracted spirits were manifestations of the spirit of his families city. She felt that strength touching on him, mother and father and siblings and relatives, all bound to a great place spirit that had seen them all grow from diapers, an immense support, an immense pressure. Just one dog in the pack, full of pride and desire to give back what he had given, overriding all concerns for those outside the pack.
S[irit contracts aside, this was family as most in the Empire saw it, Ling Qi thought. Binding and obligation, duty and responsibility. Blood above all other concerns. It bothered her,like a fly buzzing in her ear. Family was an obligation true, but… that was incomplete. But, there was only so much time for navel gazing.
She doubted Luo Zhong would have been pleased to know just how much she could read through the rivers of qi flowing into the liminal, which he had left for her navigation. Even now, he underestimated her. Then again, that was a little unfair, so few knew of her growing study of dreams yet.
"Hey now, you're forgetting something," Sixiang whispered.
Of course, it was Sixiang's new talent for possessing qi constructs which allowed this to work at all. Sixiang possessed a summon, and then Luo Zhong's contract and her bond allowed her to swiftly pull herself to Sixiang's location.
Ling Qi reemerged back into the material In the the face of a tremendous bang that shook the hill. A slender hound made of crimson fire stood upon a crackling plane of joined ceramic panels, shrouded in glittering mist, its canine face gave the impression of grinning, and its eyes sparkled black like Sixiang's.
Behind the panels Xuan Shi stood with his hands raised, feet set wide. On his back was strapped a long stick of green wood with a single bright orange leaf sprouting from its top, Zhengui's flag. Ling Qi grinned, the silly thing really took the seriousness out of the air.
She met Xuan Shi's eyes through the gaps in the panels, and saw them widen as her gaze flicked over his shoulder to where a tiny gossamer winged butterfly rested on the flag, shrouded in glittering rainbow mist.
The panels moved quickly. Like the door of a vault, snapping shut to isolate forever the priceless treasure within. But she was the wind, and no vault could keep her out.
An instant later, the flag was in her hands
Then, the panels snapped shut around her a featureless prison without hinges, doors or cracks, split only by the wide grin of nightmare. Ling Qi laughed.
Of course it wouldn't be so easy.
Twenty minutes it took, before the game finally ended. The flag had ultimately ended up in her hands, but she didn't think either she or Xuan Shi cared that much. It had been fun, and that was enough.
But all diversions had their end and soon, Ling Qi was on her way back to meet with Cai Renxiang.
AN: Alrighty that little arc got away from me a bit and ended up in more parts than I intended, but that is the end
"Sister Ling should be less humble," Xuan Shi said, surprising her. It had been a rote bit of etiquette, not the sort of thing that would earn a response.
"Brother Xuan is too kind," she said reflexively. "Anyway, I doubt we want something as simple as a head to head duel…"
"Oh! Zhen and Gui can make a thing for capturing! Those games are fun!" her little brother announced.
"A flag capture sort of game," Wang Chao said thoughtfully. "I have no objections."
"Nor I," Luo Zhong agreed pleasantly
They spoke a little longer, deciding the rules. The victory objective would be of middling size and movable, and the defenders would have five minutes to prepare, the offensive team would win if they could take and hold the objective for two minutes, while the defensive team would win if they held for the time limit of ten minutes or took the objective back after losing it and then held it for two minutes themselves. Sixiang and Kongyou would be valid participants, but there would be no other bound beasts involved.
Luo Zhong and she descended the hill to give the other's time to prepare.
"You see the benefit the rules give us,yes Lady Ling," Luo Zhong said.
"Yes, it doesn't require Brother Xuan's defenses to be broken, merely bypassed. Quite gracious," Ling Qi said. It made things more fun after all, she appreciated that.
"Gracious, yes," Luo Zhong said thoughtfully. "You have been quite gracious yourself."
She gave him a sidelong look, not turning her head as they reached the bottom of the hill. "It is uncomfortable for a guest to be left on their own to grasp a group's dynamics."
"True," Luo Zhong agreed, looking up at the stars. "One who does manage earns more respect I think. Though it is a shame if they never return."
"Hah, like he ever sent an invite. Were you supposed to ask I wonder? Or maybe he figured you'd poke Alingge for an invite," Sixiang mused.
Personally, Ling Qi wasn't certain she bought his words, but she acknowledged that they seemed to think of things differently.
"Time is a cruel master. One never has enough of it," Ling Qi said thoughtfully. "When weighing which engagements to attend, is it wrong to place weight on those which are enjoyable as well as profitable."
Luo Zhong smiled thinly. "We all weight our priorities differently. Such is life. But, all the same a wider network has better utility than a smaller one, I think."
"On that we must disagree," Ling Qi said. "I find that a smaller, more trusted circle is superior. But I can at least understand your argument. The thought is much the same as what goes into those contracts of yours, isn't it?"
"The Luo lands are wide, and we have ever been a bit more mobile than our erstwhile peers, new resources and agreements must be pursued aggressively," Luo Zhong said, giving a slight dip of his head. "Our familial arts are a reflection of our lives, that is all. One must be both persistent on the hunt and flexible in action."
"Aggressiveness can be a negative trait too," Ling Qi said blandly.
He frowned. "I admit, I am at a loss for when aggressiveness has been my sin against you, Lady Ling."
Ling Qi frowned. In the end his conflict with Bao QIngling wasn't her business.
"Ah you do have a connection through that Li Suyin, who leaped over us all," Luo Zhong said thoughtfully. "And I suppose you would have seen that embarrassing incident. "I apologize if it made you think poorly of me. I allowed frustration to make me hasty and unwise. That pursuit should have been left in private."
"Why continue pursuing a deal that is clearly unwanted?" Ling Qi asked.
"Because I believe it really is the best arrangement possible, for both of us, and she will not even list what objections she has, that I might address them," Luo Zhong said with a frown. "But… we are veering into personal matters."
"You don't see it as… unworthy for a man to pursue a woman that way?" Ling Qi said warily.
He blinked, and for just a second she saw genuine confusion on his face before comprehension dawned. "I see. From your point of view, it must seem much more predatory. I assure you I have no capability to do a single thing to that woman she does not allow, nor would I if I could. It is merely a contract dispute which has grown heated… and realistically one likely to be abandoned. That I gave you such an ugly impression is something I sincerely apologize for."
Ling Qi took in a deep breath of the cool afternoon air. So much like Renxiang in a way, he seemed wholly sincere, as if those implications had never even occurred to him. Indeed, she felt that he was quite sincere in apologizing for 'giving her an ugly impression'. At the same time though she was certain that he wholly believed those words. She simply couldn't accept them.
"I'm not sure you should. It might break something," Sixiang murmured. "Still, I guess its good to know he stands there I guess."
"I accept your apology," Ling Qi said politely. "So, what are your thoughts on our strategy?"
***
Ling Qi danced through the newly grown woods atop the hill, a wraith of dream and wind and mist. Flickering in the shadow of blossoming green and verdant qi. She ran, leaped and played along the web of qi that ran through the local dream, following them to their anchors.Luo Zhong's arts felt disconcerting. There was a resemblance there, to the wild qi that coursed through Alingge's meridians. She could see the places where they diverged. Where the ancient, nameless people became hill and forest and mountain, and then Weilu and Hill tribe. His qi was paper and ink, leather and metal, bindings and tethers and words.
Her foot fell upon a narrow branch for an instant, barely bending the pale green wood. Sound erupted around her, the noise of a dozen snarling and howling hounds returning in force, as Ling Qi dipped back into the physical world. She felt the wind shift before she saw the man sized bullet shoot toward her, Wang Chao catapulting himself at such speed that she could not even perceive him as more than a blur.
She dispersed, no more than a cold winter breeze, a shower of snowflakes and chilled air, and in spirit, she grasped a tether of fire and metal, letting it pull her along to her destination.
Yet for all that his aura was a net of bindings, it still resonated with her own qi. Connection, community. Luo Zhong was not, Ling Qi thought as wise and savvy as he liked to portray, but he was only one knot in a wider net. His contracted spirits were manifestations of the spirit of his families city. She felt that strength touching on him, mother and father and siblings and relatives, all bound to a great place spirit that had seen them all grow from diapers, an immense support, an immense pressure. Just one dog in the pack, full of pride and desire to give back what he had given, overriding all concerns for those outside the pack.
S[irit contracts aside, this was family as most in the Empire saw it, Ling Qi thought. Binding and obligation, duty and responsibility. Blood above all other concerns. It bothered her,like a fly buzzing in her ear. Family was an obligation true, but… that was incomplete. But, there was only so much time for navel gazing.
She doubted Luo Zhong would have been pleased to know just how much she could read through the rivers of qi flowing into the liminal, which he had left for her navigation. Even now, he underestimated her. Then again, that was a little unfair, so few knew of her growing study of dreams yet.
"Hey now, you're forgetting something," Sixiang whispered.
Of course, it was Sixiang's new talent for possessing qi constructs which allowed this to work at all. Sixiang possessed a summon, and then Luo Zhong's contract and her bond allowed her to swiftly pull herself to Sixiang's location.
Ling Qi reemerged back into the material In the the face of a tremendous bang that shook the hill. A slender hound made of crimson fire stood upon a crackling plane of joined ceramic panels, shrouded in glittering mist, its canine face gave the impression of grinning, and its eyes sparkled black like Sixiang's.
Behind the panels Xuan Shi stood with his hands raised, feet set wide. On his back was strapped a long stick of green wood with a single bright orange leaf sprouting from its top, Zhengui's flag. Ling Qi grinned, the silly thing really took the seriousness out of the air.
She met Xuan Shi's eyes through the gaps in the panels, and saw them widen as her gaze flicked over his shoulder to where a tiny gossamer winged butterfly rested on the flag, shrouded in glittering rainbow mist.
The panels moved quickly. Like the door of a vault, snapping shut to isolate forever the priceless treasure within. But she was the wind, and no vault could keep her out.
An instant later, the flag was in her hands
Then, the panels snapped shut around her a featureless prison without hinges, doors or cracks, split only by the wide grin of nightmare. Ling Qi laughed.
Of course it wouldn't be so easy.
Twenty minutes it took, before the game finally ended. The flag had ultimately ended up in her hands, but she didn't think either she or Xuan Shi cared that much. It had been fun, and that was enough.
But all diversions had their end and soon, Ling Qi was on her way back to meet with Cai Renxiang.
AN: Alrighty that little arc got away from me a bit and ended up in more parts than I intended, but that is the end
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I'm having trouble reading this
- Location
- Finland
"How dare she not explain refusing my advances."
I really want Xuan Shi and Ling Qi to have more adventures together. I don't know if their relationship will blossom into anything more, I just really enjoy their awkward chemistry.
Varder
Tired Cultist
- Location
- Hell
This was an incredible description and having Ling Qi blindside her opposition with her Liminal prowess gives a glimpse of how even at higher levels cultivator combat is more than My Self Agains Their Self.
- Location
- United States of America
She's crazy! Like the Wind!
I'm really happy that Ling Qi is using Laughing Flight of the Wind Thief. No vault can hold us, no defense can prevent us from weaving through. We go where we wish, like the four winds released from the Beast God's vault!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"Well now we know the answer to who wins between the immovable vault and the unstoppable thief."
Sounds like flirting tbh
Ling Qi steals a lotta hearts it's true
Okay, Luo Zhong assessment time.
He works. Politically capable and competent to act as a go-between for broader Luo clan interests while invested in getting results is suitable to our needs. Particularly the last point, since it's the main lever we have to use with him. It also helps he's not really that sensitive and can roll with the punches, as it were. We don't need to worry about trivially giving offence, which is useful.
That said, I'm a bit disappointed with the Qingling subplot. Luo Zhong preemptively abandoning his suit like he's suggesting here, before real engagement, makes the introduction of the topic in the first place feel like a waste of time and in-character it decreases our leverage over him. Not that it was a conflict it's our place to leverage, but him ceding the conflict before it's started changes the context of how the characters engage with one another and start their association/dealing in a way that leaves him significantly less vulnerable. (And arguably less interesting.) Given how few assets Ling Qi has to leverage, and how many he passively benefits from, that's a pretty big blow.
I understand why @yrsillar went this route, with the strong blowback Luo Zhong was receiving because of the subplot, but it's still disappointing to see advantages slip through our fingers needlessly.
We're down 15-25% of our leverage, by my arbitrary calculation! And these things just snowball. Starting things off on the right foot is the disadvantageous foot for us to start things given the leading setup that was in play.
He works. Politically capable and competent to act as a go-between for broader Luo clan interests while invested in getting results is suitable to our needs. Particularly the last point, since it's the main lever we have to use with him. It also helps he's not really that sensitive and can roll with the punches, as it were. We don't need to worry about trivially giving offence, which is useful.
That said, I'm a bit disappointed with the Qingling subplot. Luo Zhong preemptively abandoning his suit like he's suggesting here, before real engagement, makes the introduction of the topic in the first place feel like a waste of time and in-character it decreases our leverage over him. Not that it was a conflict it's our place to leverage, but him ceding the conflict before it's started changes the context of how the characters engage with one another and start their association/dealing in a way that leaves him significantly less vulnerable. (And arguably less interesting.) Given how few assets Ling Qi has to leverage, and how many he passively benefits from, that's a pretty big blow.
I understand why @yrsillar went this route, with the strong blowback Luo Zhong was receiving because of the subplot, but it's still disappointing to see advantages slip through our fingers needlessly.
We're down 15-25% of our leverage, by my arbitrary calculation! And these things just snowball. Starting things off on the right foot is the disadvantageous foot for us to start things given the leading setup that was in play.
BagFullOfLizards
Some bag, mostly lizards
- Location
- A bag
If I'm being charitable to him, it might be that he sees this as a transaction while she sees it as a relationship. If you're trying to make a deal with someone and they won't buy what you're selling, it's reasonable to ask them what would make the deal work. But in this case the only solution would be for him to be someone else, which can't happen and therefore isn't really worth explaining."How dare she not explain refusing my advances."