TheInkredibleKaptainKaiju Wrote:Fireteam Echo begins their investigation.

Femdjinn Wrote:When she thought about it, Benni hadn’t been having a particularly good evening. She’d run into her ex. Her shoes had pinched. The fancy food had started to taste like cardboard as she’d watched her friend be dragged around and objectified. They’d almost been done. They’d been so close to getting the fuck out of there, all that had been left was to clear the artifacts. Make sure none of them had a curse attached. Had they just been normal fucking trinkets she’d be sitting in her hotel room with a cheap wine she enjoyed, typing up a brief memorandum before falling asleep to one of her comfort shows. But no. No.

“Fire, briar, liar, fire, spire!”

Dr. Zyn ch'Mordan Wrote:What do we do in the face of insensate evil? We endure. We will only be defeated when we allow ourselves to admit we are defeated. – T’Pau

(01-14-2025, 02:21 AM)Jinx999 Wrote: Still better than average for a Westeros wedding.

Yrsillar Wrote:"Bulk storage rings would reduce the load, but they are a frivolous expense at this point in our development," Cai Renxiang agreed. "For now, the main task is a proper propitiation of Snowblossom Lake, if you feel you have recovered enough."

Ling Qi thought of her confrontation with the Weeping Mother, and then the somewhat alien but warm curiosity she had encountered in her first contact with Snowblossom Lake's spirit.

"I see. Yes, I am. I would have thought you would want to develop the administration more first."

"It does pain me to leave it aside, but the cost savings are less valuable than the stability the populace will feel knowing that proper rites have been laid down for something so central to the settlement's future economy."

"Understandable. Although, what is the actual purpose of the central granary and taxation plans? it's not as if we have any need for their grains."

"At this stage, insurance against poor conditions. Each farm household will pay a tithe into the central storage, and this will be used to distribute aid should any one household be struck by a poor harvest. In the future, it will be used to provide a certain baseline of nutrition for the population not working in food production. Something similar can be arranged with the fishers, but more preservation efforts will be needed before then."

"That does not match my experience at all."

"It is one of Mother's innovations. It is easier to fulfill in Xiangmen, but I do not find it credible that mortals will become decadent and unmotivated without such insecurity, as many insist they will," Cai Renxiang said. "I wish to see if it is possible under less optimal circumstances."

Ling Qi did remember Xiao Fen's friend, Liu Xin, saying something about there being places to go in the rootways to receive a meal and sleep safely, even after he had been driven out of his father's house.

How luxurious.

Innytoes Wrote:And okay, (Jamie) may have pulled the tiniest little baby con on their own just once, but it was really more ‘get Sophie to make some phone calls and show up as tech support and steal back a lady’s job after her job tried to ban her mobility aid and then fire her when she didn’t fold’. You know. Basic stuff. Get in, get the evidence, get out. They thought they got away with it, even pulling Sophie up on video call so she could Enjoy The Gloat while the boss got hit with a team of OSHA inspectors.

But then when they looked up, they spotted Eliot, Parker, and Hardison across the street, Gloating as well, though more because they caught Jamie than because of the con. The drive back was half lecture (‘How could you be so reckless? No, having Sophie as backup doesn’t count, Nate and Sophie are in Australia right now!’) and half celebratory (‘You hacked what safe in ten minutes? That’s a new record for you!’). They weren’t sure if the chilli Eliot made them was celebratory or not, but it tasted damn good.

Yrsillar Wrote:Ling Qi sang her full refrain as Gan Guangli wheeled to face her, and the whiteout returned in full force, blotting out the field, the walls, and the manor in crushing emptiness. Gan Guangli staggered. The gleaming celestial light that girded his armor flickered out, and his fists crashed to the earth to hold himself up as the rime forming in the chinks of his armor rapidly drained away his qi. Above, her liege, the colorless star, was sheathed in a shell of ice as well.

Down in her belly though, Ling Qi only felt a rising dread.

Ding.

Tiny bells chimed softly, ringing in an ending as potent as any she had seen. Glittering lights. Twinkling stars. A handful, a dozen, a score, a hundred and more. They sparked. They blazed. They bloomed. With resignation in her heart, Ling Qi pulled at the curtain of reality for another skimming step.

The light scattered the echo of potential futures she left behind and struck her in the shallow liminal with a blinding flash that sent her crashing back into the material world, spine spasming as the dream qi she'd drawn on scattered and fled her suddenly leaden and painfully solid limbs.

Xia Lin crouched beside her, armor rent.

Together, they looked up at the second sun in the sky, before which Cai Renxiang was silhouetted.

Ling Qi let out a discontent sigh and met her partner's eyes.

"Yield," they said.

The blinding white sun dispersed. A field of glittering stars drifted away on the breeze.