GUEST SERVICES - JIN LING

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Comments

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[You said that about Hiza and I don't believe anything anymore.]

Of course. I'll deliver it right away. [True to her word, she will leave behind a little saffron for him in a bitty pot.] Why is it so important that he believes you? Do others believe the things you've said?

[goldpeony]

[STOP

Yay, his saffron! Now he can be a stupid family-oriented cultivator in peace.]

Everyone here sounds insane. They keep talking about “other worlds,” but there isn’t such a thing! There is one world, and Heaven, and the Yellow Spring! He thinks I’m stupid for not just trusting everyone, and then—

—tried to turn it around in me! I’m going to prove to him I’m not lying!

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[Hmmm...she's starting to realize a lot of people straight-up don't realize there really are other worlds, so she's going to pause to think of how to explain this.]

If there's really one world, where do you think you are right now? And how do you explain the things that everyone else has experienced? [She'll get back to Ash being mean in a second.]

[goldpeony]

[NO, he's a simple Chinese cultivator with trauma. STOP.]

I don't know, but Sect Leader Nie is here! So I'm probably dead in the Underworld! We were in the temple in Yunmeng... Uncle Jiang had just come inside, but--

[He sighs heavily, almost defeated.]

I don't know. Uncle Jin had the Stygian Tiger Seal, and he probably... We're probably both dead, and everyone here is some kind of ghost or soul!

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[:)]

...wait the Sect Leader's dead? [WHAT.] That's a really huge assumption, wouldn't you know for sure if you were dead or if people were ghosts?!

[goldpeony]

Ugh. Of course he'd be dead. Sect Leader Nie can't do anything but flap a fan around. He never wants to fight. Hanguang-jun and Zewu-jun were probably too skilled not to survive. [But that means he's dead, and he hates that, but...! He's only... a disciple!] Well, I've never been a ghost before because I've never been dead!

Sometimes, ghosts don't remember how they died, or why! I don't plan on being dead, but if Uncle Jin had the Seal, and he did something stupid...! We could have all met an end like what happened with the Yiling Patriarch, Wei Wuxian!

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So I've noticed. [Huaisang strikes her as sort of pathetic but it's okay.] You don't have to be dead to be a ghost! I mean yeah, it helps, but that isn't the only option! Sometimes people can just leave their bodies behind. That's what the stories say.

[Huff!] And who the heck is Wei Wuxian?

[goldpeony]

...What?!

[He looks bewildered, and then all at once he looks somewhat--not angry, but disgruntled. Like he's hefting a chunk of old grudge on one shoulder]

Wei Wuxian, the Yiling Patriarch. He was a terrible person. He killed many people, and he walked the crooked path by practicing demonic cultivation. Resentful energy consumed him, and my uncle killed him on the Burial Mounds to stop him.

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Oh. So he's just a ghost you don't like. [To put it in simple terms and if Jin Ling is going with the idea that all dead people are ghosts, then....]

Wait when you say cultivation you mean like...growing? Like raising baby demons?

[goldpeony]

He's not a-- [Wait. He's kind of a ghost. He was like a ghost, but more like a... story...? A ghost story. (Master Blue is actually Dark Wishbone.) His mouth opens, but then his brows furrow at her question.] Spiritual cultivation.

[How many times has he said this, he laments!]

There's no demons. Cultivation is harnessing your inner energy, forming a golden core, becoming strong and also becoming an Immortal. Ascending to godhood. Demonic cultivation is using resentful energy, dark energy, instead. It can corrupt you, make you qi deviate.

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[This is still horrible and she's just whispering "homegrown ghost" under her breath.]

If you say demonic, why wouldn't I think demons were involved? But the whole idea of cultivation sounds really hard...that's not really common where you're from, right? How do you even form a golden core or anything?

[goldpeony]

The demon is you. [His face is flat.] If you're practicing that kind of thing!

It's... not unusual. There are plenty of people who become cultivators. You form your core after you've... [He sighs.] You pull energy from the world around you and refine it inside your body. Once you've practiced for a long time, you can use it to form a golden core.

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So you're a witch if you practice witchcraft and a demon if you're cultivating demonic activity? I think I get it. [...] What does that make you then? If you've practiced and stuff, what do you really do?

[goldpeony]

[He's ?? about the witch stuff.] You're basically a demon. The resentful energy will consume you, and you won't ever be yourself again. It's exactly what this Master Blue is doing, I'd bet.

I'm a Jin Sect disciple of cultivation! I go on Night Hunts and get rid of ghosts, or walking corpses, or train my dog, Fairy.

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Master Blue is not a demon! [That's rude!] How do you even know who yourself really is after a while? Doesn't that person change as they grow?

[...wait.] ...your dog's name is Fairy? [That's. That's kind of cute, hold on.]

[goldpeony]

Growing doesn't mean being someone completely differe--!

[Oh. Well, despite getting highly embarrassed and mad about most things, he doesn't at all understand any gentle teasing about his dog's name.]

Yes. She was Little Fairy, but she's big now, so I can't call her that.

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[She flicks her tail because she has an argument for that, but now they're talking about a dog and she's happier with that.]

But Little Fairy's cuter...I'm sure she wouldn't mind!

[goldpeony]

[No wonder Ayabe gets everything from Peach. They’re the same damn person.]

No. Little Fairy is a puppy name, and she isn’t a puppy anymore. Her name is just Fairy.

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You can't just change someone's name just because they're a little older now. That's taking away an important part of them.

[That's correct, Peach loves Ayabe. It's awful.]

[goldpeony]

I'm not changing it! I'm only taking "Little" away because she isn't little anymore! It's--mm, like her Courtesy Name! Fairy instead of Little Fairy.

[Hate that.]

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But what if she wants to be thought of as little though? [ANNA I HOPE YOU DIDNT HAVE A SERIOUS POINT TO THIS PC BECAUSE THIS IS NOW JUST TWO IDIOTS.]

[goldpeony]

[IT WAS JUST FOR THE SAFFRON REALLY IM CRYING]

She wouldn't! She's a fearless, strong spiritual dog! She would want to be seen as mature and powerful! Just like Missile.

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[HE HAS IT POST-THIS THREAD SO NOW ITS JUST DOG ARGUING.]

Missile's a pomeranian though. Do you think he's very powerful?

[goldpeony]

[I can't believe two cats are arguing about dogs.]

So? [He doesn't know what tf a pomeranian is.] He's powerful! He's a good dog! He said he has Tricks.

[That's like, very good training, right?]

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Have you ever seen these tricks though? [Peach has no idea that this is tricks with a capital T but like. Rolling over and playing dead isn't exactly powerful to her!!] He is a good dog though...