Gonna be a bit of a debbie downer and say I am not that much of a fan of shipping GG and Su Ling. Not because its not cute or I think it doesn't work, but I think I would rather they stayed friends and if romance would happen it would happen much later (like 80 years laters after they have grown into themselves)
Like these are talented cultivators we are talking about who are gonna live hundreds of years, romance before they hit even 20 feels a bit too much like pairing them up for the sake of paring them up.
Gonna be a bit of a debbie downer and say I am not that much of a fan of shipping GG and Su Ling. Not because its not cute or I think it doesn't work, but I think I would rather they stayed friends and if romance would happen it would happen much later (like 80 years laters after they have grown into themselves)
Like these are talented cultivators we are talking about who are gonna live hundreds of years, romance before they hit even 20 feels a bit too much like pairing them up for the sake of paring them up.
We are not smashing them together like dolls, there have been hints about this relationship for a while. And while you are right about these two are talented cultivators with hundreds of years to live, they are also teenagers, so shrug.
So is there any possibility that trading stories to this thing could empower it? IIRC there's a whole dream festival used to keep this thing buried deep in Dream. Given how Bone Uncle keeps framing things as thievery and what we know about the Hui's arts being somewhat bound in narrative this could be a good way for whatever he is to gain some measure of influence and power in the outside world.
So is there any possibility that trading stories to this thing could empower it? IIRC there's a whole dream festival used to keep this thing buried deep in Dream. Given how Bone Uncle keeps framing things as thievery and what we know about the Hui's arts being somewhat bound in narrative this could be a good way for whatever he is to gain some measure of influence and power in the outside world.
What ever stories a cultivator in green could give I don't would be enough. He has also been very honest about who and what he is. He is a thief. If we had the power to free him already it is likely he would have already taken it.
Edit: Also your post makes it sound like the spooky skeleton is Hui when he very much is not. He is Weilu.
What ever stories a cultivator in green could give I don't would be enough. He has also been very honest about who and what he is. He is a thief. If we had the power to free him already it is likely he would have already taken it.
Edit: Also your post makes it sound like the spooky skeleton is Hui when he very much is not. He is Weilu.
I apologize. I know he is Weilu. I was trying to get across that the Hui have taught us that Narratives have a place in cultivation. And while I agree that there is not much a third realm cultivators stories could offer that it couldn't claim by claiming her entire it could be playing the king game. Through a junior it steals little pieces of reality through stories, a splinter at time slowly building a tool or resource that will give it greater freedom in dream or the material world.
Would the guy getting free even be a bad thing? He seems pretty alright, especially by cultivator standards. I think some people are looking at the fact that he is sealed away in a cage of space-time and deciding he must have been sealed for a good reason, but do we even know that? For all we can tell he might have been sealed by a cruel tyrant. The guy is a thief, but so is the Grinning Moon. Heck, old Skelly noticed when we were cultivating Wind Thief, he might know the same art. Maybe he's an ancient freedom fighter.
Well it is possible, but I think it is possible in the same way a meteor hitting earth is possible. Uncle Bone has been in his person for thousands of years at least. And he is still there. Since he is on sect grounds I have to believe the Elders at least know of him. If our sharing of stories jeopardized the prison I am sure they would let us know.
Would the guy getting free even be a bad thing? He seems pretty alright, especially by cultivator standards. I think some people are looking at the fact that he is sealed away in a cage of space-time and deciding he must have been sealed for a good reason, but do we even know that? For all we can tell he might have been sealed by a cruel tyrant. The guy is a thief, but so is the Grinning Moon. Heck, old Skelly noticed when we were cultivating Wind Thief, he might know the same art. Maybe he's an ancient freedom fighter.
Because Nightmare of the Burning Glades doesn't sound like a super happy name, you know? I for one would be happy if Uncle Bone stayed in prison with a name like that.
We've currently got very little knowledge about the Spooky Scary Man, it might be that he's locked up for unjust reasons, it might be that he's locked up for very good ones. Until we've had a chance to both talk to him a few times and do some digging of our own into his history we shouldn't be grabbing too hard onto either of those conclusions.
So this week's a break right? Or is it after the turn so we can ponder on our votes for the week? Still an incredible arc, it is a slice of life arc, if you are Ling qi.
So this week's a break right? Or is it after the turn so we can ponder on our votes for the week? Still an incredible arc, it is a slice of life arc, if you are Ling qi.
I think yrs has said that he won't be updating on the 17th. But otherwise the turn break won't happen for a little while yet. We've still got the gala and the auction.
The spirits voice whispered in her mind, the curling caress of dried thorny branches on her thoughts.
She had failed though.
Practice. The Junior oversteps, the Senior steadies and catches. Plan better escapes, you have not the fire and spite for broken treasures to bring satisfaction.
She couldn't deny that. But she still didn't understand why.
Blood.
She didn't believe that. Half the province had his family's blood.
You know of the difference, little junior. You write it in your soul.
The only saving grace, if you wanted to look at it like that, was that Lady Cai had put herself in the medical hall as well, while they'd been out. She didn't know what the heiress had done yet, but apparently she'd had to be hauled from her meditation room with blood running from her eyes, ears and nose, and burns all over her body. Almost certainly a tribulation, or so the sect gossip mill whispered. Was it successful or not? No one yet knew.
They impacted the inky black pool with a tremendous splash, scattering droplets of water as black as obsidian. The mud and water was sucking and viscous, it clung to her hands, and stuck to her dress despite the gown's enhancements. It felt freezing cold, even to her. Not one bit of that mattered, or even reached her thoughts as she seized soaked cloth in her hands and pulled.
"Sixiang?" Ling Qi whispered hoarsely, paying the skeleton no attention regardless. Sixiang!"
"Ugh," Sixiang's voice felt small in her head, like it was echoing up from the bottom of a deep tunnel. "Please don't make me contest something like that again, Ling Qi."
"You shocked her though, I think," Ling Qi said trying to keep calm as she hauled her friend the rest of the way out of the water, with her unbroken arm.
"Wish I'd thought to look at her face. Gonna, gonna need a name for that one," Sixiang muttered, and Ling Qi could feel that their consciousness had slipped away for the moment.
Dawn Dissolution: G8
Type: Dispel, Finisher
Duration: Stunt
All the world is but a dream and stage, when curtain falls when dawn sun rises, they must vanish as the morning dew, for they are fleeting things, and all shows must end. Dispels a single effect targeting Ling Qi and her bound spirits. Usable once per scene. Disabled Sixiang for remainder of Scene.
Six: "Well, thats embarassing, after trashtalking the Dawns so much."
More seriously, that is an unconditional dispel(presumably excluding higher realm energies).
That is a technique that's a pretty solid smack against Ling Qi-type controllers.
It was fortunate that the fox had not used the more potent energies of the higher realms against them, merely the overwhelming force of an immense well of qi.
By the Moon's eyes they had been lucky, so, so lucky.
I actually wonder if the fox COULD do that - its possible the fox is a conglomerate of foxes incorporated under one common identity, in which case the local instance didn't have any Shen to use at all.
Her friend's eyes widened then and she looked down. "Shit, shit. Xisheng are you okay?"
The child held under arm, did not look okay. Soaked to the bone, covered in Su Ling's blood, the child ghosts features which had settled into an androgynous state, was pasty and pale, their eyes shut, and Ling Qi could see places on their arms where flesh and cloth has dissolved into shimmering smoke, leaving crumbling patches, as if they were a hollow china doll.
…The ghost's feet and lower legs were already gone, crumbled entirely beneath the knee.
One eye cracked open, looking up at them. It cycled between colors, green and blue and brown, settling eventually on eye not much different from Su Ling's. "You cut her."
"Yeah, yeah I did," Su Ling agreed. "See, she ain't so strong, so hang on a bit. You can see me finish the job."
Xisheng laughed. It was a happy, childish sound. "Sister is silly, I was never real in the first place. Thank you for pretending I was."
They sounded strangely peaceful for what was happening. The holes in their body yawned wider, flesh crumbling like old clay. "I like this, I don't feel hungry anymore. Nothing hurts."
"Fucking damn it," Su Ling snarled under her breath.
Ling Qi was silent, exhaustion finally setting in as she fell back on her heels. She was thankful that the old skeleton was silent. She could not deal with that as well right now.
Xisheng breathed out, and part of her cheek caved in, there was no bone or blood, just dust crumbling off to dissolve. "Sister is too nice, her heart is too big. Don't break, okay? There's lots of us, but only one you."
"There won't be," Su Ling said. "I won't let this keep happening. Not if I havta bow and scrape and beg. My pride ain't worth that. No more Xisheng."
"That's good. I think a lot of them would have liked you," the words grew softer and softer, until a final sigh of air came and what remained collapsed inward entirely, leaving no more than fragments of clay, gravedirt and drifting dust on Su Ling's lap.
"Ling Qi who's the skeleton, why are you staring at it like that?" Su Ling asked. Their voice still cracked, and she knew if she looked the other girl's face her eyes would be read and there would be tracks worn on bloody cheeks.
Ling Qi didn't answer right away, but eventually, she clapped her hands together in front of her and offered a small bow, as one would to an instructor. "Just a kind Uncle who took pity on his junior."
You owe me little thief. But not now. You know the way.
Su Ling looked hard at the horned skeleton on his throne of muck and stone, woven through with brambles and bblack petaled flowers. "...I trust you, Ling Qi," she grunted. "But I'm also pretty sure I'm gonna pass out soon."
Ling Qi blew out a breath, her eyes turning to the shadow of the cavern, where the razor thin line marked the position of the door back to her portal. She wrapped an arm under Su Ling's shoulders and helped her up. "I pay my debts. I'll be back to tell you the story soon."
"That all you got to trade? Stories?" Su Ling's voice slurred a little as she leaned into Ling Qi. "Fuck, how do you always get the best deals."
A horn crowned skull tilted towards her, and Ling Qi limped for the door.
Reading between the lines, I think Su Ling panicked slightly(well too exhausted to really emote much) at the idea that Ling Qi might have had to owe a powerful being a debt on her behalf.
At the end she nearly fainted in relief that it was not such a terrible price.
To say her friends and acquaintances were less than pleased with their condition was something of an understatement. To be under the baleful gaze of an unhappy Bai for the better part of an hour reminded her of the spiritual resistance training she had asked in her first year.
Bai Meizhen had really refined her technique.
And she didn't even know Li Suyin could yell like that.
The only saving grace, if you wanted to look at it like that, was that Lady Cai had put herself in the medical hall as well, while they'd been out. She didn't know what the heiress had done yet, but apparently she'd had to be hauled from her meditation room with blood running from her eyes, ears and nose, and burns all over her body. Almost certainly a tribulation, or so the sect gossip mill whispered. Was it successful or not? No one yet knew.
Ling Qi chuckled to herself but it died as her eyes fell on the table beside her bed. On its surface were a handful of wood and metal splinters that had been surgically removed from her upper chest and face, all that remained of her flute.
It… hurt. It hadn't simply been snapped this time. There was barely any of it left. She had taken its presence for granted. That it was fine, that the reinforced shell could survive anything. But, the durability of a third realm was hardly a guarantee anymore was it.
…She should have gotten a new one ages ago. She had the spirit stones, she had the time and peace. Instead, she'd clung to it until it shattered.
She really was a hypocrite wasn't she?
A pillow hit her in the side of the head.
"Oi, no brooding allowed in the recovery room," grumbled at her in a surly voice.
She lay in the narrow medicine hall bed, propped up on a small mountain of pillows. Her chest was wrapped in bandages, and so were her arms. Her arms were absolutely swathed in them in fact to the extend that her hands could not be seen.
"Did you throw that pillow with your tail?" Ling Qi asked incredulously.
Su Ling glared flatly, one dark furred tail curling at the side of her bed. "So what if I did. You were brooding again."
"I can brood if I want," Ling Qi sniffed.
"You should rest," Su Ling accused, jabbing the tip of the tail at her."...and M'sorry. I know that thing meant a lot."
Ling Qi shot the open air a huffy look, and Sixiang snickered. Yes, they were all alive. Even SU Ling would recover, though the scarring on her arms would be severe.
…She would never be able to use those meridians for anything else though, it was as if she had assimilated a domain weapon early.
"Hey Ling Qi you'll get that message to that Diao woman, right, or go around her if need be? I know it's a big favor but…"
"It will be done," Ling Qi said. She was not Su Ling, but she had no desire to see that monstrosity continue. If there was anything else to spend favors on, this was a start. A sweep for any children with fox blood, and a request for closer monitoring.
And if it couldn't be resolved. There was a member of the Ministry of Integrity right here, wasn't there.
Ling Qi just casually said something very scary:
1) She'd contact a Count clan member to do their duty.
2) If that doesn't work, she'd spend favors to probably get Renxiang to throw in.
3) If THAT doesn't work she goes nuclear and lets the Ministry of Integrity know.
Things Ling Qi doesn't know.
Once she does 2, Shu Yue will take note and throats will need to be sought...
There was a boom, and the earth shook, and then a crash,drawing their eyes to the door.The water set on the tables edge rippled with pounding footsteps.
"Miss Su, my deepest apologies! I was out among the wilderness and had not heard of your plight!" he announced head scraping the rafters as he thudded in, ignoring the aide in a startling display of rudeness for her fellow retainer. "Are you-"
A pillow struck him, dead center in the face.
"Up. Shut. Now, Volume down," Su Ling said, looking as if she wished to sink entirely into her mountain of pillows.
Ling Qi smiled at her friend, bright and friendly.
Su Ling using her tails as the appendages they are, rather than tying them up and tucking them under her clothes: nice. Exactly what I wanted from the excursion.
So this line reminded me that we are relatively close to getting a new spirit in the form of a somewhat jealous dress. Part of me thinks there's going to be some tension between her and Hanyi who are going to compete over the bratty younger sister role.
Happily Hanyi is maturing rapidly, and will soon be settling into her idol career running around being worshipped by the masses.
Leaving the role of bratty little sister uncontested for a few years.
