"How dare you! Not only do you stand here implying that it was my family that was the result of some petty dispute between some drunks and the rabbit. You also claim that we furnished the drink that instigated this whole thing?! And from my husband's private stores?! I don't care what disgusting relationship you have with that man but I will not have my privacy invaded like that! Nor will I have your class act as some kind of vigilante group to intimidate my son or my family!" She turns around to face the mayor. "Mayor I want this man arrested! He has clearly stepped way out of bounds of the law and further more has stolen private information regarding my husband's buisness! I don't care what law it is but I will not have our hard work and reputation undermined like this! Nor will I have a family secret simply stolen like this!"

Renshu seems genuinely surprised at this. "She's not lying. She legitimately didn't know Pema had one of their drinks in hand. Before she was clearly trying to obfuscate the truth but now she speaks it clearly. That includes the part about her son. She does think your students threatened him or at least tried to instigate a fight."

The mayor bangs her gavel once more and gives you a hard look. "Sir, while I applaud you dedication to your partner and to discovering the truth. This is indeed a city and we do have laws. Lady Dronma is correct in saying you have overstepped your bounds here. Rich or not, citizen or not, everyone has the right to privacy regardless of what harm they have caused you. Asking questions regarding the incident is fine but it is not reasonable for you to conduct your own investigation like this. This is why we have the guard. Perhaps you do not agree with how they handled the situation but that is what these meetings are for or why you may write complaints to them. I'm afraid this is no longer a public matter and I will have to have you taken into custody to resolve this situation. Furthermore, the city will order you to relinquish the name every person you worked with to uncover this information so that we can finally end this matter once and for all. No more banter, no more double talk. This is clearly no longer a civilized conversation or meditation and is stepping into espionage on your part sir. We will reconvene this matter on a later date. Guards, please escort those two to a private cell." The guards, rather enraptured by the arguement stand at attention and make their way towards the crowd towards you and Renshu. You're not sure if it's a good thing but Dronma does not bear the smug look of someone who got their way. Instead, they glare at you with the anger only someone who is protecting their family can muster.

>What do you do?
>Evade the guards. You don't have time to go to jail and it would be an easy matter to leave without harming anyone.
>Claim that you're here under the Exarch's permission. Perhaps his name will grant some levity. Say that you have the same gift he has which technically makes you the second highest ranking member in the city or so you recall being told.
>Lie and say that this investigation was done with the Exarch's permission. It's rather obvious that you couldn't simply come out and say it or risk tainting the investigation.
>Allow the guards to take you in. Jail is not stranger to you. Although you're sure Ming and Xin Lan will not be happy about this.
>Write in.

>>5128727
Well shit. Overplayed our hand there, but we can recover from it.
I'm interested in which part about this threat is the truth, but we can learn later.

>Follow the guards to a cell

>>5128727
>Argue that the means by which this information was gathered was legal. Testimonies were freely given, the bottle was freely traded, and the information learned from said bottle is still being kept secret with no intent to release or copy any recipes. Point out that this very city values knowledge and truth as one of its foundations, and that the obfuscation of that truth is clearly the means of one or more parties of poor intention in this chain of events. Not necessarily Lady Dronma or her family, but certainly someone that would stand to gain from a great amount of negative attention being unjustly and unfairly centered on a new business. What's important is that this information was gathered but not acted upon in any way indicative of vigilantism, rather we presented these findings in full directly here even though obscuring some of the facts may have proved more beneficial to our case.
Don't let it slide. The mayor has been biased towards Lady Dronma in this, even if they're trying to be impartial. It's only natural when Dronma is probably a regular at these meetings and we have relatively few people here able to vouch for our side of things.
That being said i hope the karen arc concludes soon because i can't stand these petty bitches in this town, can't wait to blow this joint at the end of the year

>>5128944
Hmm. . That is a point.
Let see. . Stolen private information regarding the buissnes, does come under our knowledge of the brew's composition but this is a matter of privacy.

To counter the arguments, we'd have to try and say none of it is private information and we didn't obtain it during espionage. Which we did.

>>5128992
>>5128944
AH! The only part she had issue with, was "it is fine to ask questions, but your own investigation like that is not reasonable".

As we can tell her, and as we have told her, the only part which doesn't come under questions as far as they are aware, was the chemcial testing for the drug.

So while I will support you contesting it, our important note must be that everything else was gained through speaking with staff, with friends of the instigators and all of it has direct connection to the assault committed.
The only thing they have as overstepping bounds is chemical analysis, which as you mentioned is being presented to the council while also being ignorant of the methods used to make the drink.

We can dig ourselves out of this hole yet, provided the mayor doesn't need to save face and keep the command.

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>>5128992
Does Tai Lung even know that parts of it were obtained via espionage? I could be misremembering but I thought that xin kept the details clear of the big guy's conscience

>>5128944
>>5128992
>>5128998
Support, we broke no laws in this

>>5129031
Xin did, but unless the other side has a way to prove that she broke in instead of just asking around
Also I support releasing the secret recipe when we finally fucking leave, we were kind enough to not share or even use any of it, and if they are going to be angry we even know it, they deserve to have it broken.

>>5129053
Fucking hell part of my post fot eaten up.
Unless they have a way to prove that it was illegal, we are in the right.
And if she is mad that we know about the bussiness meetings, although that is private, it also can be considered information of the public interest, and so sharing it is protected by law. Otherwise journalism would be illegal.
Also such regular occourance with notorious figures would be know by a few people. If even knowing and sharing such simple information, that are of the public interest, all the while protecting the sensitive parts that are of their livelyhood is illegal, than the town has no desire to uphold knowledge, free speech or cares about the population, instead being interested in the well being of an oligarchy. Those who desire to control information are those who desire to control freedom.

>>5129031
>>5129046
We did break no laws, and as far as our excuses go, nor did Xin.

Our ability to question is just really damn good.

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The lads are angry. I must conceal. More importantly, is the archive acting up again for people? I can't even access it right now.

>>5129522
Suptg is working for me, but maybe they are fixing things again so archiving is broken or something.

And hey, I know my rights and due process, I can get angry about abuse of power.

>>5129522
Not angry. Simply not going to accept unjust ruling.

>>5129817
Yeah, the mayor is ordering someone arrested for asking questions and sharing public information, claiming that it was a breach of privacy. After all, what is she claiming is a breach of privacy? That a product comes from a stabilishment? That the bottle is a private stash sold or given to VIP, an information that is offered freely to the patrons? That the owner has regular meetings with other wealthy families of the city? Events like that are legally considered of public knowledge since they are gathering of public figures.
Not only that but investigation by itself is not illegal (atleast the one we know of, what Xin did definatly was). The only possible claim could be corporate sabotage, but since we haven't actually stole the recipe, but did an alchemical research on the contents of the bottle, which is a product meant to be handed over, and neither used or shared it with intent to hurting their livelyhood or gain an advantage.
Or was it the mere fact that we launched an investigation of our own at all, and found way more than the guard ever did, shaming the competency of the city? Because information that is both public and willingly given is legal, hence the existance of private inveatigators, and even then, by being figures of public interest, deeper investigations are also allowed, so even if we did steal the recipe and found out the drink was drugged, we could reveal it and get away with it.
Of course, that is assuming they don't have their own byzantine version of laws, but simply contenting how absurd this ruling is and showing our points calmly will get the listeners on our side.
I would argue that she is sending asking for our arrest instead of sending an invoice and starting a case, and for a non-dangerous crime as well, and doing it as a mayor instead of judge or guard. However this town probably puts all the power in her hands.

By the way, this stunt together with what we did in Taishi officially makes Tai Lung a political reformer.

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>>5129854
Also, look at this old meme I found on the archive

>>5129854
Lets be honest man, We are a political rabblerouser wherever we go and probably a psudo-anarchist anti-authoritarian's dream given how often we are imprisoned for standing against crime and violence against the little men by circumventing the established law.

You also forgot when we suggested a political reform to Taishi

>>5129875
Well, I did say together with what we did in Taishi, since it becomes official once it starts repeating. What I did forget was our stint at the port town, Zhengi I think? while we were trying to take down the mafia, and us protecting Xiqi even though the guards were mad at us. And standing up against the ruling of the fucking judge of hell itself. And trying to appeal to the king of the dragons too.

>>5129884
So by that metric, we are clinically insane and overconfident yet completely capable of reversing the will of the heavens since we did it twice?

>>5129891
We are an ascended contrarian, we will swin against the current if it means svaing others, and we will somehow pull it off, all the while having massive chad energy. And than we become a mewling kitten the moment a friend teases us.

Also, I find the fact we are all trying to solve a problem we got into by talking too much by talking even more absolutly hilarious. It will be even funnier if it actually works, either by convincing the mayor, part of the concil and/or other the public.

>>5129900
You know what they say.
When you dig yourself into a hole that you can't get out of, you just keep on digging.

>Ascended contratian
My first instinct was to deny this, so it seems like we are in the right track.
But being a prude and folding as our friends push is about right

Spent the last two days in bed and in the bathroom emptying my stomach. Staying hydrated. Pet the buns for me. I'll keep you posted.

>>5132523
Oh shit boss take care of yourself, did you test for the rona yet?
Even it isn't, stay sharp, the flu I got christmas was also like that and it was horrible before I went to the hospital.

Archived thread 17.

>>5132523
Get well, we shall put the buns in a toasty oven

Feel a bit better. Think I got food poisoning. Might try and get this back up.

Muddled through into the spiderverse. My new favourite spiderman film and thus I'm leaning to oc spiderman quest now. Everything is going into my book of notes though and nothing is concrete.

More importantly where were we?

Xin Lan was furiously kissing brown bun as a plot to get revenge for TL picking Renshu over them. The big guy and Renshu had their break lines cut and the ensuing accident has them injured and halfway off a cliff. Ming is dealing with her thought to be KIA fiancé returning from overseas alive but with amnesia and dating a fellow soldier...no wait that's just the series of soap opera ads I kept hearing over and over. Man they're better at the plot lines than I am. Maybe I should apply to be a screen writer.

>>5134493
>Better at plot than you
>Soap Opera
Maybe if I wanted to commit die, I would pick them over you.

That being said, TL and Renshu being stuck halfway down a cliff sounds about par the course for them

>>5134493
No they are not boss, and trust me, as a brazilian, I know soap operas very well.

>>5134854
>>5134864
Lads, as I lay in bed probably dying of food poisoning. I have come to a conclusion...I think I may have depression.

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>>5137214
Depression is a spook.
Food poisoning isn't though. You should probably go to a hospital if it's been going this many days.

"Ma'am I've broken no laws." You argue. "Everything I learned was done legally. The people I asked gave the information willingly, the bottle was traded to me willingly, and the information based on the recipie I have no intention give away or reproducing. The city values knowledge and truth as one of it's foundations and it's clear that some parties are attempting to obfuscate that true for their own gain. Though I don't know who, someone stands to gain a great amount by drawing a lot of negative attention unfairly to a new buisness."

"Don't you lecture me on what our city stands for." The mayor says pointing her gavel at you. "Especially when it seems that you only pick the parts that are convienient for you. Let me reiterate here. You are not the guard. You are not above the guard or the law. You may have not broken the law as written but there is a thing we call the spirit of the law that the rest of us follow. At no point does it seem that you stopped to think about reporting any of this to the guard. Talking to those who were supposed to join in on that assualt while not something I would reccomend is at least something I understand. Perhaps you were upset or simply wanted answers as to why this happened. Luckily you seem to know how to defend yourself and as you mentioned it ended somewhat amicably. But tell me, when you were told that there was a ring leader why did you not go to the guards? When you were told that someone might be drugging the citizens of the city, why did you not approach the guards? When you were told that there was someone in possesion of the drugged drink and that it might have been aquired illegally, why did you not tell the guards? At any one of these points, any other citizen would have done the reponsible thing and told those with the power and authority to investigate about this. Instead, you choose to taken on the responsibility of the guard and continue on your own unsanctioned investigation. Asking questions is not illegal, but it's clear that your intent was to go merely beyond asking them. You weren't simply looking for answers, you were forming a case. Perhaps you're used to traveling and handling problems on your own but here in this city we have procedures for such things."

The mayor leans back to collected herself, "Case in point, you claim that you traded for the drink freely. However, you have also admitted that this person was intoxicated and thus was not in the right state of mind to be capable of making a fair trade. If this man was sober, would he have just as freely offered this drink for trade? One could argue that he would not, and if so then you have now obtained something illegally and any information that resulted from that trade is now inadmissable. In effect, you have taken advantage of someone's dimished mental state to your own benefit regardless of how soceity views him. Furthermore, on the topic of intent, irregardless of what you meant to do with the information, it's clear that Lady Dronma had no intention of sharing the recipie for her drink. We may value knowledge here but not at the cost of someone's privacy. If the mere promise of not sharing information or using was enough, we'd all be walking around in the Exarch's private collection of books and among the deeper parts of the library." The takes a deep breath and exhales. "From my standpoint, it seems that you simply pick and choose which parts of the law suit you best. Regardless of how noble your intentions are or how much you mistrust the guard, we have procedures to protect both parties of a conflict. I'm sorry that your husband was attacked but the people who did so were arrested and have served their time in jail. In the eyes of the law, justice has been served. If you do not agree with it, you are free to petition for a new judgement. It seems that perhaps that might have wanted to do that from the start and were only gathering information to substantiate your claims. However, you have far passed the point where someone would consider a reasonable amount of questioning to do this. Now I have to detain you so I can sort out this mess. We have to bring in the people you talked to, the people you worked with to ascertain the recipie for the wine, and frankly I don't feel comfortable letting you run around freely lest you continue your investigation regardless of my wishes and delve into other people's private matters under the loose promise of not using it for harm."

On that we agree. Renshu says with grim amusement. You would definitely go back to interrogating people if let free given our stellar history with local guards. You open your mouth to argue but Renshu places a hand on your bicep. "Let it go. She does make some good points. We won't shackle ourselves to the rules and constraints of lesser commoners. Not when we can solve problems our own way." He whispers. "Best we play along for now."

"That being said...I do wish you had decided to join the guard rather than starting up a school. We are at quite a loss without someone as determined and capable as you in the ranks. Especially if you had experience in training others in combat." The judge says with a glint in her eye. "Back to the issue at hand," She now points her gavel at Dronma. "You are not off the hook either. The public gathering is not your personal jury. You are allowed to voice your complaints because it is your right and frankly, many of them are petty and of little consequence that they are part of the rest of the city's complaints. However, it seems that the current circumstances now warrant further investigation thanks to the focus of your rants."

"You can't seriously be taking that...disgusting man seriously?!" Dronma argues.

"Yes. Yes, I am. Much like him, the city also orders you cease production and sales of your private wines until this matter is settled. Some of the guard will be over to keep watch of your stores until this is all over. We'll like a full list of your employees, and as it seems to be the center of your 'concerns', you will also bring your son to the private session and let me make this perfectly clear as I have for this man. Your son better have hell of lot better explanation of events than a simple statement two unknown students goading him into a fight. Otherwise, I will be charging you with libel and harrassment of these two because it's quite clear that you are either deliberately attempting to ignore facts and not be informed so you can plead ignorance or are too dumb to simply ask for more details from whatever gossip circles you frequent. One of which I'm sure you do not wish to be." The mayor says, her eyes narrowing. Dronma simply makes a gagging sound as she tries to find the words through her rage. You did feel a small pang of guilt. It was pretty clear that most of her anger, at least at the moment, seemed to be coming from wanting to protect her family. Something you could easily sympathize with. "It's clear that there is more going on that simple rumor mongering and bad publicity going around here and frankly I'm tired of this double talk and hidden meanings. One side nearly takes the law into their own hands and the other tries to hide their intentions in false ignorance. This will end. Now. I will not have the city's law undermined and I will not have it be used as a toy to futher one's goals. Come next meeting, this will be put to rest. No more games, no more word play. Do I make myself clear? Yes? Good." The mayor motions to the guards to get to work.

Two of them lead Dronma out of the building as she spluttered and tried to make words through her rage while another two approach you and Renshu. Rather than cause more trouble, you simply follow along with them as they lead you out as well and towards the other end where the city jails where. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen that woman that mad. Like actually that mad." One of the guards says. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."

"Part of me wishes I actually have a shift during the next meeting. I want to see if she gets madder." The other says as they lead you to a cell in the far back of the jail. "Well...not much we can do for now. We can't really do much for you. Mayor's orders and all but we'll see if we can get you something to eat or drink. I'm sure you'll be questioned soon enough. After that...I'm afraid all there is to do is simply wait for the next meeting. Shouldn't be too long. Mayor doesn't like keeping things on the back burner."

>What do you say?
>Ask the guards to go get Ming and Xin. At the very least you'd like to talk to them.
>Ask how long you think you'll be here. Can't be too long like they said right?
>Ask something else. (What do you ask)
>Write in.

>>5137255
I feel better now. Just drained from work so I just get home and blackout only to wake up and go to work again. It's a pretty shitty cycle.

Luckily I managed to post something now. It's not nearly as clever as I would like but right now, I just want to push the quest forward. Hope it's not too bad.

>>5137214
I'd heavily recommend getting it checked before saying that. Mind games have an effect on the body.

>>5137346
>Try and get in contact with Xin and Ming
Just want to keep them updated.

>>5137348
And it was clever enough. She called our bullshit picked apart the holes we left and recognised that somebody was doing something shady as shit.

Damn, I very very slightly regret the lack of confidence in approaching the guard for training them.

>>5137346
>Go on an astral date with Renshu to pass the time, so that you can obey the ruling physically but not in spirit
Is it petty? Sure. But it'll also be fun.

>>5137346
>Ask the guards to go get Ming and Xin. At the very least you'd like to talk to them.
Well, they need to be informed.
Also the city clearly has no laws protecting jornalistic integrity and private investigation, I think it's quite obvious how they ended with a business cabal on their hands.

>>5137214
It's ok boss, it was a good update.
Also you eventually learn how to live with the depression, never get used to it, but atleast understand it.

>>5137391
>Damn, I very very slightly regret the lack of confidence in approaching the guard for training them.
I think it was back when there was just 2 anons playing the quest, I wantes to train the guard, and the other didn't.
So the informal school ended up being a middle ground. Even if we took it too far by dedicating so much time to it, removing the very reason we went for it.

>>5137597
Meh, I don't think we removed the reason for its existence, though one was establishing credibility as a reliable training source. And we did more than that, which is good.

>>5137504
Astrally projecting, we can even talk to ming.

>>5137592
We arent journalists, so this sort of thing wouldnt come under that either by spirit of law. They are completely right in that we are making active vigilante investigations with intent of doing the guards job for them but on the same score, this is ancient china where cutting the heads off peasants for bad mouthing their rulers isnt an unknown concept.

The important takeaway is that the mayor has a stern sense of proper play and isnt a fool by any means nor measures of the term. Which means she won't get bought off.
The most important thing however is [Spoiler/]We can add another Prison to our collection of stays at. We are up to 3 by now.[Spoiler]

>>5138125
It was removing the reason for a middle ground, not the existance, since we are suposed to not be a job and we turned it into a job.
But I also agree that it's better this way, it allowed TL to grow more independently.

>>5138136
We are a silly goose.

Though I think it would be the height of cheek to say "well since the trial is over, would you like me to extend a training regimen to the guards?"
add insult to injury and use the bullshit they pulled to catapult ourselves to an unofficial aid to the law.

Can you just imagine?

>>5138150
It would be funny, and now that we don't have to teach Bao anymore we got some more time.
But we nearly at the end of the year and would have to apend some weeks to create ghostpunch. Unfortunaly, the pig that the crocs mocked will never be able to prove them wrong.

>>5138243
Yeah. time is running out, so it's best we spend this time to develop our super peace technique.

Probably the last thing we do before meeting the exarch. Man is he going to be annoyed with our becoming a rabble rouser. That or amused.

>>5138263
We haven't lived enough to become bored of personally interacting with the world, he will understand.
What he will be impressed with is our new style. Dude is a super pacifist that takes inner peace very serioustly, creating a way to fight and defend oneself with hurting your oppenent, specially one that takes their turmoils, understands it, purify it and return it should be something right up his alley.

>>5138390
it is HIS city though.
It's the difference between a guy who enjoys trashing cars in a derby and someone doing that shit with HIS car that his friends help him make. He could be very protective of it.

and. . ehhh. . I dunno. Fighting without fighting is great but it may be tainted by the very fact it still is a form of combat. Depends on his level of disgust with the notion vs his much of it is disgust for harm.

>>5137504
That sounds cute as hell. Can't remember if Ren ever mentioned if he could project himself. I know he is able to hear you while you're projected at the very least.

>>5137391
>>5137592
So the winning vote seems to be ask for the guards to get your friends but I think there was also a mention of simply doing it astrally. What's the plan lads?

>>5139034
Ren has never demonstrated the capacity. But no better time to practice.

And we can do it physically, the astral idea was just a thought.

>>5139444
Sounds like you're going to try and master forcing people out of their bodies ala Dr. Strange. But that means you'll have to touch the bun's chest! Anon that's lewd! You can't do that before marriage!

>>5137391
>>5137592
Asking for our friends. Astral dates can wait. Writing.

"Could you at least let our friends know that we're here? They spend their nights at The Warren. Their names are Ming and Xin. We'd like to at least let them know what's going on." You say.

"We'll make sure to send someone to let them know." One of the guards says. "But we'll have to keep visits short."

"That's understandable." You say. "As long as they get the news."

The guards lock the cell door behind them as they leave and you take a seat on the wooden bench. The cell itself was quite sparse as you are painfully becoming an expert at the interior designs of holding structures. There is only a single bed beyond your bench to keep the room decorated, though Renshu opts to sit next to you instead. He maintains a rather smug look as he looks at your face but rather than explain himself he says, "You know. This is the second time I've spent in a cell with you. I'm starting to fear that you're ruining my reputation of being able to get away from crimes without being caught, real or otherwise."

"Funny, you never seemed like the time to care who knew about your crimes. I don't think I've ever heard you deny when you broke the law even when we were trying to capture you. That seems to be more your sister's deal." You smirk. Renshu shrugs.

"Well I need to set a good example for her. If she's going to be bad at the very least she needs to know how to get away with it." He says. You snort at that and the two of you go quiet for a while though Renshu doesn't stop looking at you with the same expression.

"What?" You ask, perplexed. There was something playful about the way he was looking at you and despite his expression he seemed quite pleased rather than arrogant. He looks at you a bit longer before smiling and looking away. "What?" You ask again, this time feeling your face grow warm as you see him blush slightly.

"You called me your beloved in public." He says simply. You cough at that as your face burns.

"Did I? I mean...yeah, I guess I did but you know...It's not that big of a deal." You stammer. Things aren't helped when he places his hand on yours and turns your palm up to rub his thumb against it.

"No...I guess it wasn't." He says quietly as you hear a quiet rumble come from him. "But it doesn't make me any less happy to hear it." You don't really know what to say other than a plain,

"I'm...glad I can make you happy."

"You know..." He continues as he looks up at you and into your eyes. "You know a lot about me. I think you're the one man in the world I've ever been open with in my life...I've told you everything I can think of. My fears, my hopes...the small pathetic ideas that could barely be considered dreams by anyone else...but there's not much I know about you." He says. "You tend to keep a lot of that to yourself."

"There isn't much to say about me." You admit as you fold your fingers over Renshu's hand. "My life's been pretty simple up until this point. I trained, got sent to prison, broke out and met you guys."

"Right. That's one of the things that I find rather endearing about you. Despite the large speeches and talks, when it comes to your personal life or you, you always somehow manage to oversimplfy it." He chuckles.

"I guess it comes with experience? I always figured it was humble...or maybe I've always been straight to the point about what I want." You say. "Then again, it's rather hard to make up speeches when your a raging monster trying to get revenge and steal priceless scrolls."

Renshu shrugs and rather uncharacteristically lays down on your lap, arms behind his head. Looking up at you he says, nonchalantly as he cups your cheek with one hand, "You're the only person I've ever fallen in love with you know. Have you ever had someone before me?"

"W-what?" You ask.

"Come now beloved. You don't think I'm not curious about something like that?" He teases.

"Renshu...you already know how I am about this. You really think I've ever been with anyone before?"

"When it comes to you, I truly belive that anything is possible."

"Alright. You caught me. Before I met you, I was quite the ladies man. Just like you. Women would line up in front of the Jade Palace to simply audition to be my date for the evening." You joke as you try to ignore the gentle scratching under your chin. You weren't sure why but there was something about it that you found enjoyable and you were doing your very hardest to now purr. Maybe this was what it was like for the bunnies to have their ears scratched.

"I'm serious." Renshu laughs. "Someone as handsome as you had to have some admirers right?"

>What do you say?
>Continue the act. Make up some wild story about a date you never had. You're not sure you want to talk about something like this but doesn't mean you can't have fun with it.
>Say you never did. Unfortuantely, the boring answer is the real one. You spent so much time training that you never gave yourself time to see other people.
>Say that there was one person who did catch your eye, though you never approached them. Training or your father never allowed it but sometimes you can't help but wonder what might had happened if you had decided to take that leap.
>Say that you'll awnser it if you can ask a question of your own. It's only fair. (What do you ask?)
>Write in.

>>5140672
>There was a point where I was admired, but I never cared in the least bit about any of them. The only person I ever wanted to impress was my Father, and to do that I convinced myself I had to be the best. Everyone else was a stepping stone for that goal at best, or obstacles to be destroyed at worst. I am a simple man, Renshu, and I always have been. I dedicate my entire world to what I do, what I set my mind to. It is in my nature to never know when to quit, for good or ill. So yes, there were admirers...but to me, they were nothing more than weak fools at the time, not even worth a second thought.

>>5140797
Sounds about right.
TL probably never had a "pull a girls hair" moment, given his exclusion.

>>5140543
But CHIN SCRATCHES ARE OKAY?! HOW HORRIFYING!

>>5140797
Yeah, TL was a friendless training autist.

Day off tomorrow. Hopefully I can get multiple updates going. Man I'm tired.

>>5140797
>>5140812
>>5140927
Back to our C-Drama. Ming has found out her fiance is actually his twin brother trying to steal his valor from his deeds out in the war but she can't help but admit she's fallen in love with him though rumors about that her real fiance might have survived... Xin Lan similiarly has started to develop feelings for brown bun and can't decide which man she wishes to persue. Meanwhile Tai Lung and Renshu have fallen off the cliff and through a series of events are now embrioled in a civil war. That's the plot right?

>>5141681
My gym came back yesterday, I feel like I was crushed.

You look away as you continue to try to hold the rumbles in your throat in but that only gives Renshu a larger area to scratch. Blushing, you respond, "While I grew up there was indeed a point where I was admired but as you probably guessed I never cared in the slightest about them. The only person I wished to impress was my Father, and to acomplish that I convinced myself I had to be the best. Everyone and everything was simply a stepping stone for that goal at best, or obstacles to be destroyed at worst. I'm a simple man Renshu, and I always have been. I dedicate everything I have to what I set my mind to and it's not in my nature to quit for good or ill. So yes, I had admirers...but to me they were nothing more than fools not worth my time."

"Sometimes, simplicity is a small bastion of peace in this chaotic world." Renshu says pulling his hand away leaving you with a mixture of relief and disappointment. "With you I don't need to worry about hidden meanings or covert plots. When you say something, it's what it is. Although..." He adds with a smirk. "You do have quite the talent for speaking in riddles if you wanted to."

"Well...maybe you and Xin are starting to be a bad influence." You counter. Renshu simply smiles at that.

"Perhaps, more importantly, I'm honored to be the one who broke through that stoic exterior and maybe...I can your first as well." He teases.

"W-what...I don't know what you mean." You stammer as you turn your head away so far that you feel like you might end up snapping it.

"Well I'm sure my little brother has told you already, but you know what they say about bunnies. Especially ones with large ears and feet and I have the biggest ones by far." He says gently as he traces your jawline with a finger causing your to shiver. With a chuckle, he sits up and goes to the bed. You feel a bit torn. On one hand there was something to be said about how flustered you got. You know the bunnies enjoyed teasing you but you felt it was a bit of an asset. It meant that you weren't easily distracted by such things and you could focus your mind on more important matters. On the other, you do admit you wish you could keep up with them and banter rather than being a stick in the mud. It was a strange sensation, being worried about other people's views on you. Renshu doesn't seem to mind as he says in a slightly more serious tone. "There's something going on out there."

"You hear something?" You ask as you turn to face the rabbit, years of training burning away any shame to get on task.

"No but didn't you find it odd? The fine lady accusing us of harassing her felt she was speaking the truth." Renshu says.

"Not in particular. Fools tend to end up believing their own lies." You say with a shrug. "No surprises she found a small slight and exaggerated."

"Exagerrated, yes but...she was convinced one of your students threatened her son. While I agree with your assessment...she doesn't seem the kind of woman to do so. Not when she has a motive or goal. Her words were too well crafted to simply be talking about some kind of small slight. Especially if she's behind all the merchants attacking me. That seems like too much effort just to target you." He explains as he crosses his legs.

"Doesn't seem like it." You disagree. "It's not hard to find out that we're, at the very least, friends and that I spend a lot of time at your place. Even my students frequent The Warren. Targeting you could be a way to targeting me and them."

Renshu crosses his arms in thought. "Hmm...no, her reaction to our relationship seemed to genuine. As you said, anyone doing the slightest amount of invesitagation would find out about that. Especially if they wanted to find a way to hurt you."

"Right, but we did prove that she didn't investigate this properly. She didn't even recognize you as the owner." You say. "Unless you keep that a secret?"

"No. Otherwise the rumors wouldn't exist and the men wouldn't know who to attack. As far as anyone can tell at first glance, I'm simply the cook there." Renshu explains. "Though when I stepped forward to adress the men who were causing a scene, they immediately recognized me as the owner." He wiggles his nose slightly and taps his cheek as he thinks. "So following that chain of logic..."

"Someone must have told them." You complete that thought. "That person must have been Pema at least and someone must have told him."

"His unknown benefactor." Renshu nods. "But everything at the moment seems to point to Dronma. Yet she didn't recognize me. So she would be incapable of telling him about me."

"What about her husband?" You ask.

"I've never met the man in person until recently when I approached him about the cooking event." Renshu replies. He shakes his head. "There are gaps to this story. My main point being is if we belive in your class and none of them would break your teachings, and we believe in Dronma's conviction...someone threatened her son. Some third party we're unaware of." You and Renshu get lost in thought, contemplating this mystery when a voice breaks the silence.

"You know, I heard it was this kind of investigating that got you here in the first place. Guess old habits die hard, huh?"

You and Renshu turn to face the door to find Tenzin, still in uniform, walking in with two cups in hand. He offers them to each of you which you both take. "If I can be slightly serious, a miracle I know, but from what I heard, perhaps you could have come to me at the very least? Frankly, I'm disgusted you didn't after I fed you." He says with a grin as he kneels and pulls two small boxes out of his pack and once again offers them. Curious, you take one and open it. Inside was a basic meal, rice with a bit of sauce and meat, in a small wooden bowl. Nothing extraordinary but far better than what you expect in a cell.

"Sorry, but like you said. It's a bit of a habit to do things on our own." You say with a chuckle.

>What do you do?
>Write in.

>>5142418
>I didn't want to force my problems in your hands Tenzin, and most places we been through, our investigations save lives and were eventually pardoned.
>Of course they were initially met with the same pushback, and this is not the first time I've been throw in jail for it. Those on power always dislike losing face, but enduring tends ro prove them wrong. Also I would be lying if seeing the look on their faces isn't satisfying
>Anyway, how's life? Is everything ok with the family? I Hope they aren't too worried their boss and teacher are in jail.

>>5142525
Yay, range unmanned!

Anyway, I think that your suggestion is a bit arrogent with the "the reason people dont like it is because the powerful are embarrassed." Since its blatently untrue in every case so far.

Ignoring that half paragraph, we are used to solving our own issues. So we can tell him that, and maybe give him a lead now.
That we believe the woman when she said her kid was threatened but we are certain it isnt our class.
Maybe slip that in before asking about his family life

>>5143533
It kind of is though, face is more than just embaremment, it's also duty or helping other.
Like the imprisoment of the five, if they didn't imprison us, they would lose face for not doing their duty. In Taishi, so would the tiger, even if he did it being our friend. Also the whole thing with the guard at Xiqi and the mother.
And I don't think we need to give him the lead, he already heard it. But if he wants us to elaborate more, we can

>>5143694
He did hear the case, spoken from her mouth. A woman we just told everyone was lying and very likely involved in this SNAFU.

But if we support the notion she presented as real, her son being threatened, it would have a more solid foundation than hearsay from a woman we just discredited.

>>5143698
No, not that, he heard our theory

"I've never met the man in person until recently when I approached him about the cooking event." Renshu replies. He shakes his head. "There are gaps to this story. My main point being is if we belive in your class and none of them would break your teachings, and we believe in Dronma's conviction...someone threatened her son. Some third party we're unaware of." You and Renshu get lost in thought, contemplating this mystery when a voice breaks the silence.
"You know, I heard it was this kind of investigating that got you here in the first place. Guess old habits die hard, huh?"

Ao if he wants to investigate more on our behalf, we can share our idea that someone threatened her son while faking being one of our students.

>>5143711
I'm not sure how much he heard, but yeah. We can bounce stuff off him.

I'm unsure if he is an investigator though. which may be troubling, may be not.

>>5143717
I just assumed that he heard it because he broke the silence, and knew enough to know we were taliig of possibilities.
It's possible that the city does not have actual dedicated investigators, but even if he isn't, having a guard contact to back us up can help. Specially if he can get more of the guards on our side.

If it helps in deciding, you also never prestened the whole reason you were at the meeting to begin with. Whether or not you want to keep that in reserve is up to you though.

>>5143814
>>5143803
Knowing this, then lets give him the rundown.

>>5143814
In that case, we can explain it to him.
Wait, what was the whole reason? Did we not mention that he Renshu was blacklisted? Or was he not at the meeting?

>>5143839
He was, you just never got to your point before the judge decided that this had gone beyond the scope of the public hearings. Went from complaining to what might ammount to an actual trial.

"I didn't really want to force my problems in your hands, to be honest. Most places I've been through our investigations saved lives and we were eventually pardoned." You say. Tenzin gives you a grin.

"I hadn't realized that Lady Dronma was a threat to our city. I'll have to report this to the captain and have her arrested." He says. You chuckle at that. "I'm my job to solve your problems. That's what the guard is for. Otherwise we're all just here twiddling our thumbs and training. Plus we have all these nice things called procedures and regulations so that things are solved as fairly as possible. Or at the very least to try and prevent people from complaining about us and saying we botched the result."

"What I'm saying, is that I'm just used to solving my own problems." You say.

"Well no offense, but from what I heard, the last problem you solved involved an entire army. Not really the same level as some lady spinning lies about you." Tenzin replies.

"Well that's really just another thing on the pile." You admit. "We weren't expecting to defend ourselves from another thing all together."

"What do you mean?" Tenzin asks. You give the wolf a rundown of the entire situation. From the harrassment of rumors to being blacklisted from every single vendor in the city. Tenzin seems lost in thought for a moment.

"Every single merchant?" He asks.

"Every single one. We've had to rely on others to buy food for us to get by simply because they're not suspected." You explain. "We meant to bring this up at the meeting but...well you know what happened."

"I've heard of some of the buisnesses not favoring some citizens, enough that they'd rather got to someone else to buy things but never outright banning anyone let alone every single one agreeing on such a thing." Tenzin says as he crosses his arms. "As far as the guard is aware of, you have a clean record. No complaints have been lodged nor have any crimes been reported. Denying service is one thing but this is on a whole other level."

"This is illegal right?" You ask. "They're not just denying someone their livelyhood they're actively starving us."

"No it's not. Not in the strict sense at least." Tenzin says. "A merchant has the right to deny service and most would assume they have a good reason. Otherwise they'll either go to someone else or bring it up to the council. However, I think you know from first hand that the good mayor don't just follow the laws blindly. Written or no. She'll have some very stern words with all the merchants involved once she hears about this." He says though you get the feeling he's putting things lightly. "Given the circumstances, if push comes to shove, she might very well mandate that they trade with you. Like I said, the shop keepers have the right to deny service but when it's starting to infinge the livelyhood and health of other citizens then strict definition of the law has to give way to the spirit of intent. This is certainly a first and I'm not sure who to feel more sorry for. The council for having to actually deal with this kind of situation or the merchants for the hell that is about to rain upon their heads." Tenzin dusts themselves off a bit. "Well I guess things are going to get interesting. No twiddling thumbs here it seems."

>What do you do?
>Ask Tenzin something else. (What do you ask)
>Let Tenzin go and wait to see if your friends arrive.
>Write in.

>>5146019
>tell Tenzin to keep an eye on the class goers. It's just an instinct.

He should keep his ears out for people who may cause trouble for the class while we are 'indisposed'.

Other than that, I think we can wait for Xin and Ming to turn up.

>>5146019
>Well, now that's out of the way, the mayor will understand why we did the investigation and why we thought there was a connection.
>Ask him if everything is alright on his end.

>>5146201
Sure, check on the little scamps. Trouble makers in youth, public defenders in adulthood

Browser just crashed. That's 30 minutes of solid good writing gone. Son of a bitch. I'm getting lunch to cool my head. So upset.

"Just keep an eye on my class if you can." You say. "Call it a hunch. At the very least the mayor will understand why we did the investigation and why we thought there was a connection."

Save for the fact that you did your investigation long before people stopped selling to me. Perhaps we are a bad influence if you're lying about something like that. Renshu thinks with amusement.

"Understand? Perhaps." Tenzin says absentmindedly, still thinking of something. "In either case, simply present the facts to her and you should be fine. While you're towing the line on a moral level, you haven't broken any laws. Keep your temper in check and the worst you'll get is probabaly a scolding before being released. Asuming nothing incriminating has come up."

"Despite our disagreement on how investigations should be handled, we've done nothing wrong." Renshu says. "In fact, I believe this is the first time someone has come after me for no reason rather than the other way around. It's rather refreshing in an enraging sort of way." He adds with fond reminiscence. "What will happen to Dronma? It was her wine that started all this if we look at the facts."

"You can't prove that it was her or her family that sold it. Yes, it was found on the man but it could have been stolen especially since the bottle comes from the family's private stores and never meant to be sold. Even more of an issue is how you aquired it. The man was intoxicated. One could argue he made the trade simply because he was drunk and because you offered alcohol to him in exchange. It could be his addiction that compelled him to do the trade even his he was sober. Even worse, that means that any information that came from that trade could be dismissed as it was not acquired fairly or ethically. Sorry to say, but no reasonable person would look at what you did and say you didn't play his love of drink against the man. So that means if Lady Dronma was using drugs in her drinks and was somehow resonsible because of that, the council can no longer use that information when deciding a verdict."

"So they're just going to ignore the fact they maybe druging the city? What about the guards she sent?" You ask.

"Ironically it's because you actually did what you were supposed to do and reported a possible crime." Tenzin says. "You said someone might be tainting the food supply in the city and given how isolated we are, that's not something the Mayor can ignore. Of course, this is something we take quite seriously and if it turns out that you said this falsely then the penalties can be quite harsh."

"But we have proof." You say.

"Proof we can no longer use." Renshu corrects. "Because we obtained it without going through proper protocol. I assume the guards would have had a way to acquire the bottle without violating these rules?" He asks.

"We'd have simply taken it." Tenzin says. "We're guards investigating a possible crime which would be theft or possible poisoning. You did say that Pema's drink seemed off and that he would not reasonably have access to it right? That's enough for us to investigate the bottle and it's contents. Not to mention you had several witnesses attesting to that so that is cause enough for us to look into it." He sighs.

"I don't think I did anything wrong." You insist.

"The rules here certainly seem more strict than in the rest of China." Renshu agrees.

"In all fairness it's much easier to enforce and patrol a single city than an entire country." Tenzin says. "Here, the limited population makes it easier to keep track of and rules can be enforeced more easily. On the other hand, the insulated nature of living here makes it easier for citizens and families to hold grudges. The Exarch must have seen this, hence why we try to make everything as thorough and fair as possible. It's not like in other parts of China where people can simply leave or migrate somewhere else. Fueds can stay here and last for however long the person and family decide to keep them. That in itself can cause a downward spiral that can destroy the city. Involve the city's food supply in an capacity and now...well you can see why the mayor gave you a hard time. Despite your good intentions, you've made quite a mess with how the city has to handle this."

"People shouldn't have this much power. If a single family can threaten an entire city like this..." You start.

"And what would you have the city do? Tear all the hard work away from those who spent their lives building their legacy? Banish them and have them risk revealing the city's location in revenge?"

"Couldn't an visitor do the same thing?" Renshu points out.

"True, but it's one visitor compared to an entire family. Before finding the location of this place, would you have believed someone if they simply went up to you and claimed to have come from here or would you trust an entire family instead? What I'm saying is that there's a delicate balance built up over the course of this city's history and your accusations may have caused ripples that have consequences." He explains. You open your mouth to speak but luckily Renshu speaks up first.

"That is worrysome, and perhaps there might have been ways to prevent such a thing from happening or at least building up to this point, but we agree that we perhaps should have taken the time to at least check with the authorities to see if we were doing things the correct way. However, I think Tai Lung and I are in agreement that we still took the correct course of action at least from our previous experiences. Luckily for all parties involved, we won't be here for long and we won't have to change our ways once we return to mainland China." He says with a smile. "For now, we should both work in cooperation to get to the bottom of this. It would be better for our brand of meddling to be tempered by the experience and knowledge of the local guard would it not?"

"That's probably why you're in jail right now. So you can learn to work with us." Tenzin laughs but his face remains pensive. "Still...if this is true. This bodes ill. A well known family poisoning the city? Even if it is for profit, this can't stand."

"What will happen if it's true?" You ask. "Will they be banished?"

"I don't know. Personally I would say yes, but...we've never had a situation like this that I can remember." Tenzin admits. "This might be one of the rare times we'd have to ask the Exarch himself for a ruling."

"Was the recipie for the drink never tested?" Renshu asks. "Surely a city who favors knowledge would ask what was in it. My dishes were never tested and for the length of time
I've been open, I could have caused considerable damage should I had decided to poison the city."

"That might be a hole in the laws that could be exploited. There have been some laws set to routinely check to see if an establishment meets safety and health standards but to check each individual dish? None that I can think of..." The wolf's eyes slowly drift away as he goes deeper in thought. The room grows silent as none one really continues the conversation. Used to silence, you don't mind it and neither does Renshu it seems but rather than simply wait, you decide to speak up.

"How is your family?" You ask, awkwardly.

Tenzin pulls away from whatever line of thinking he was doing and adopts his usual aloofness. "Oh the pups? As much as a handful as always. Really, I would say it's your fault to be fair. Every since you started your classes, all they ever want to do is learn to fight things. Especially the little guy. Now all he wants to do is learn to weild a sword and punch people." He jokes. "Then of course, you stole Amala from us. Now she spends her time trying to balance making money and keeping us all fed. I don't think the house has ever been noisier since you two have come along. Of course, from what she brings home from work we've never been fed better either." He laughs. Renshu gives a small bow.

"She is always welcome to take what she wants from the diner. By the time she leaves, there are plent of food left for her to share. I'd rather it go to a family that needs it than hoard it all." He says. "Plus, she's still my best employee and I only require enough money to keep the buisness going. As vain as it is to say, the buisness is more of a hobby than anything else."

From a distance, you can hear the sounds of footsteps running towards your cell and not moments later you see Ming panting and heaving at the door with a very disgruntled rabbit in her arm. "I came as soon as I could." She pants. Tenzin gets off the wall he was leaning against and opens the door.

"Seems like this is my queue to leave." He says. "I should be getting back to my patrol anyways. I'll have someone else come and be stationed at the door to let you out." He allows Ming and Xin Lan to enter the cell before closing the door and locking it behind him.

"He quite intellegent for someone who claims to be an average guard." Renshu says thoughtfully.

"Huh?" Ming asks as she places Xin Lan next to him. The small immediately latches onto their brother's arm and glares daggers at you. Ming sits down next to you and proceeds to try and catch her breath.

>What do you say?
>Write in.

Still getting privacy connection errors on the archives. Anyone else getting this or is it just me? Makes it hard when I can't go back to check old threads.

>>5147129
>Everything went well? ***Shiteating grin***
We must bulli. It is rightful retribution.

>So here's what happened guys. . .
Give Ming and Xin a rundown of the situation, but bullet points are that our usual manner of investigation screwed the pooch by going against the procedures of the guard, then the events of the courtroom. Add in our suspicions and new leads about the ladies son.

>>5147135
I can do it fine my dude. But the security setificate doesn't line up, so you have to say "I accept the risk"

>>5147129
>Turned out the wife of the Dragon's den owner was here, and trying to shit down my school, while degending ourselves I revealed part of the inveatigation, and the mayor got angry at it because the city has different laws than we are used to, and threw us in jail before we could explain the very reason we came here.
>At least she is being fair and making it an actual trial tomorrow. Dronma seem to fully believe her son and not know about the details, ao either him and her husband has kept her in the dark, or there is no collusion between the rich owners, and someone impersonated my students and actully threatened him, and we are delaing with some powerful person with an actual grudge.
>Anyway, I will need both of you to be present. Xin, be ready to explain how you inveatigated the restaurant and Pema, and Ming, just say we asked you to do it, and that you weren't involved, it's the truth but it's important. The exact fiding of the drug is probably going to be thrown out as invalid evidence, and while simply sharing the knowledge should predispose the jury, it would anger the mayor again, and telling the soeficis might make them fell we got too close Also warn Chen and the students in the fight that they may need to testify.
>From now on, we are involving Tenzyn in our suspicions. For example, we are sharing the details of the drug, the factvone bottle was stolen, and that there may be no conspiracy, but a mover with him.
There is a possibility that it's high in the library doing it, and that the owner's stash isn't even drugged. They could have payed the bottle to be stolen, and then drugged it with alchemical supplies. Given how they keep manipulating conflict between local and us, trying to after the dragon's peak is just playing into their hands. So we shall only ove to protect ourselves instead if attacking now.
>>5147135
The owner fucked up when transfering the server, it's technically safe, but the links gors through one that isn't.
Younhave to open advanced options and accept

>>5147200
Support bullying

>>5147200
>>5147424
Ah gotcha. Well that makes stuff easier then.

>Step 1: Bulli the bun
>Step 2: Make bun angry
>Step 3: ???
>Step 4: Married Angry Bun

"So...Did the date go well?" You ask Xin Lan. The small rabbit clings to their brother's arm tigher and makes a noise that's somewhere between a scream and a squeak. Ming seemed to have caught her breath long enough to smack your arm.

"Stop hassling the bunny." She says. "And instead tell us why you're in jail!"

You quickly explain the events of the day though it seems your explanation only serves to sour the mood some more. "You told them about the recipe?! Are you mad or just stupid?!" Xin Lan hisses. "We all agreed to keep that a secret!"

"We're going to go to jail." Ming moans as she digs her fingers into her face. "I've never been to jail before! What if they fine us? What if they kick us out of the city? We'll never learn anything again!" Slightly taken aback by your friends reactions you raise your hands to try and keep the peace.

"It's evidence." You say placatingly. "I couldn't just keep that a secret when we're trying to get to the bottom of this. Especially if we're trying to prove who is behind all of this."

"Yes you could! How did it not cross your mind that there would be problems in revealing we have secret information that no one does?! Esepcially when we all agreed that using this information for the diner would have caused problems if anyone ever found out it was a secret recipe!" Xin Lan shouts.

"Well it would be a problem if we tried to use it for our own gain but not if we were using it to root out people harassing us and probably breaking the law." You argue.

"My parents are going to disown me if they find out! I'll never see them again!"

"You are the worst spy ever!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Renshu bellows and the room goes quiet. He clears his throat before speaking again. "Clearly we need to gather our thoughts before we speak again. So in lieu of screaming at each other again, let us finish hearing what Tai Lung has to say."

You all sit around awkwardly for a moment before you speak up again. "Like I was saying, the Dragon's Den owner's wife was there trying to shut down our classes. In order to defend myself I had to reveal the bottle and it's contents. Turns out the rules are a bit different here than they are outside and the mayor got quite upset over our investigation so she sent us here before I could actually explain why I was there to begin with." You say sheepishly. "Luckily it seems like she wants to give us an actual chance to explain ourselves and we're only here so we can't muck it up anymore than we already have. The thing is the wife doesn't seem to be lying about her son being threatened. She really does seem to belive that it happened. So we're not sure what her connection to all this is. She can be in the dark about what her husband is doing if he's the one behind everything going on, someone really did threaten her son in our school's name, or there's a third party with enough influence to be pulling the strings. As part of the trial, I'm going to need both you and Ming to testify how you got the information. It was under the city's orders I give the names of everyone I worked with up to this point. As for the recipie...that might just get thrown out at this point. So at best, Ming you'll just only be able to say that we told you to do it and weren't involved in this at all. Furthermore, we'll be working with Tenzin from now own. Better to have the guard on our side so we don't go tripping over laws again."

"Oh that'll go swell. Let's just tell the authorities everything." Xin Lan says.

"Xin does have a point." Ming says. "We did do...well less than legal things to get some information." You simply stare at the two blankly. "Tai Lung..." Ming says helplessly. "You didn't think Xin...They had more information than you could reasonably get by simply asking questions. Like the fact that some bottles of the personal stash were missing or replaced by regular ones, the staff shifts...even some stuff right out of the owner's office." She whispers. "We told this to you. We can't just go telling the mayor we broke into the resteraunt."

>What do you say?
>Write in.

>>5147886
I think. We did a stupid.
Honesty is only the best policy when not used in Espionage. And I forgot they told us this, but saying that outloud sound stupid for the guy who LITERALLY SPENT MONTHS PERFECTING HIS MEMORY.

>Well, if that's the case when the truth would get the truth ignored, it is best to take liberties with it. The answer then is to refine our arguments here, when we can think clearly without pressure and ignore any 'hard' evidence we cannot have known legally. 'Bottles being replaced' for example, we can tell that Pema can't buy the bottle and he isn't wily enough to steal it, logically it is that he is given the bottle. Something the man confirms. If we follow that through and the dragon inn didn't support this miscrient, someone else had to have stolen the bottle, and when the staff were asked by Xin said that they don't go down frequently meaning the bottles were replaced with others or the staff simply weren't paying attention.
>It's a lot less Ironclad and our offensive may go a lot less further, but using implication and deduction together with the pieces we could find can get us off the hook while still pushing light on the issue. Our cards played right, a cease and desist on investigations is our best move. That being said, the sources of information we have already used needs to be compiled, then what we can attribute to it without being easily contradicted. Asking if a specific person was in off the work shifts could have been gotten by the staff, who we didn't spend much time learning the names or faces of.
>. . . And sorry.

>>5147886
>You jumping way ahead right know Ming, cooperation doesn't need to be complete, nor does it need to implicate us, we just need to protect ourselves. Xin doesn't have to give all the sensitive information we have, like the schedule or the replaced bottles. The break-ins, some suspicions of other employees, that the type of bottle was from the VIP, all of then were acquired by only asking questions. Even the regular meeting between the owners can be said to be a mixture between rumors and confirmed knowledge.
>I just said that there is a chance it's a third party, we shouldn't focus too much on the offensive right now, as long as we can defend ourselves and bring an actual investigation to what's happening and cooperating with Tenzyn, we should move this along. Since it doesn't really seem to be an insane triad, we don't need to be the ones deling the finishing blow.
>For whatever it's worth it, I really did believe we would catch them on the move and finally be done with it, so we could finish up our tasks on the city and finally move on to what actually matters.

>>5148084
Fuck, I meant the stolen bottles.
Also mention that in no point did Xin say they were involved with the guards. They said they were investigating things, but never claimed to be official.
Since we already showed that we didn't even know that private investigatiors don't esist in the city, we can't be called by saying that Xin did try to impersonate one.

>>5148097
Stolen bottles instead of the break-ins, sorry.
I guess I'm too tired.

>>5148084
Yeah, walk back our truthfulness if it means getting to a deeper root and evading losing our chance at the pools.

We are dedicated to the truth, but one thing that sets us aside from the 5 is our capacity and willingness to bend or break rules (even our own) as the situation requires us to.
I think only our staunch resolve to not kill anyone again is involite, but when you maim people to the point of a crippling what's the real difference.

If the staff testify to believing that Xin was an officer of the law, they will use the spirit of the law to trap us.
We are going to have to play our cards carefully.

>>5147928
>>5148084
We're becoming more like the buns and becoming evil! First it was premarital hand holding, now it's lying, what's next? Adopting a kid who isn't of our species and loving them like our own child? Scandelous! Writing.

>>5148212
Thing is, since we didn't know that there aren't private investigators, Xin would be technically faking being a guard, but never intended for it, so the apirit of the law also protects them.
Basically, it's a gray area in both the written and the spirit, in writen one Xin did tell that they were investigating, but never told they weree epart of the guard, and in the spirit, because they didn't know there was no private investigators and was lying by omission, but never intended to do it.

"Fair enough, but we can still cooperate without giving everything away." You say quietly as you glance at the door. "We can only talk about what is relevent to the topic at hand. We can speak about everything Xin was told through word of mouth. Even with that we can deduce things that help our case. We can't talk about what's in the bottle but we know Pema had the bottle, that was backed up by the others. We also know or can ask the owners of the Dragon's Peak if he was allowed to have the bottle or if he can even buy it. If not, then we can only assume he stole it or it was given to him. The man doesn't seem clever enough to steal a bottle especially when the place is always packed so we can only assume someone had to give it to him. Like I said, we aren't the main investigation team right now and there could be a third party at work so our best bet will be to stay on the defensive. We just need to weather the storm and show them that we're the ones who are being harassed which is our first and foremost priority. All we need to do is weather the storm and perhaps something will turn up, if not then at the very least we will be done with this place and we can head out on our way."

"But who would want to harass us?" Ming asks. "We haven't really done any wrong."

"That is a good question. Who would have to gain from our misfortune?" Renshu asks. "I suppose it would depend who is the real target here." You think for a moment.

"Well...it would have to be you. You did open a new eatery." You say.

"Not if they're trying to get to you." Ming points out. "You opened a school and...well you're a criminal too."

"If that was the case, I feel like people would be more open about their hate." Xin Lan says, still not letting go. "Lot more yelling. Targeting Stripes just seems much more hassle. Especially if it requires gathering up the rest of the resteraunts. If it was rumors only, then I guess I could see it but this seems too indirect."

"What about Ming? Have you had any issues at the library? Any jealous students or the like?" You ask. "Maybe some experiement you were working on that's getting too much attention?" Ming shakes her head.

"Not that I can see. Everyone seems more interested in having me help them than trying to outdo me." She says.

"Any critics of your books then?" You ask Xin.

"No." They say simply. "All praises here."

"Then it has to be one of us." Renshu concludes. "As for the means and reasoning, that remains to be seen. Perhaps they simply don't like strangers making major changes to the city. We are a well known group after all. For all we know we are the first to be targeted and they'll soon move on to the others as soon as word gets out that they're making a name for themselves."

"So basically we can't assume anything for now." You say. "It's best if we wait then and see what else we can learn from the guards or maybe our students. They also might be another target. We'll have to keep them apraised as well."

"How much more do you think they'll try to do to us?" Ming asks. "What do they want from us?"

>What do you say?
>Say you don't know. For now all you can do is wait and see.
>Say that's what you're going to try and find out. Someone needs to pay for this.
>Say that it doesn't matter. It's just distraction from your real goal.
>Write in.

>>5148616
>If they havent spoken to us, then they want to hurt us. But it doesnt matter what more they will do, physically we are untouchable with our skills and legally we are the victims in this situation, we will get through it.
>Though maybe through this experience, we can suggest some updates to the law.

>>5148616
>They haven't made any demands, and did it out of the blue, so they must only want to hurt us somehow, either from a grudge or simple hatred.
>They tried direct attacks on Renshu, but it seems it was more intended to hurt the Warren than him, so I think we can rule physical punishment. As long as they don't hurt our friends, or convince Sangpo that we can't see the pools, we will endure.
>I would say that this could be a good expirience to trust the local authorities more, but we already learned that back in Taishi, whoever is doing this has more knowledge of the laws and power than us, and ironically, the guard wouldn't investigate before we did our own, even with Tenzin's help.
>So I guess the lesson is to not show our cards too early, because it could be trap? Or that we need to change the laws in every city we pass through. Either works.

>>5149137
Let's not go on about lessons. The biggest one here is to keep our mouth shut.

>>5149145
But that one is way too hard

>>5149202
Lets get an elastic band on our wrist, pull it back far and let go every time we feel the need to comment of an active investigation

Should also probably start considering our arguments.

>>5149208
Behold, autism!

Well, our arguments should be what we done:
We asked our students, went to the mahjong place and talked to the other ones that didn't do it. We found put about it because our own students heard them talk about them. It was during this talk that we learned about the weird effects of the drink, and decided to vheck if it was drugged.
Xin talked around bars and found about Pema, the stablishment the bottle came from and (part that is lie) rumours about the owners meetings.
Xin went to the Dragon's peak and asked employees. They overheard something about a bottle missing during count. One of them confirmed that Pema's bottle was from the private stash give only to VIP when they visit.
If the claim that theybonly collaborated because they thought that Xin was part of the guard, we counter claim that Xin never directly claimed to be with the gaurd, obly that they were following leads. The misunderstanding was obviosly because we never knew that private investigations were illegal within the city, otherwise we wouldn't done it.

To explain why we did it, some half and full lies:
What spurned our investigations were a series of events that happened in quick succesion: the rumours about Renshu, the attack on the Warren, and a visit from a representative of (bunny family) offering to buy the restaurant, claiming that all the new ones close or pushed out, and that joining as a subsidiary was the only option.
I have worked as a guard, and am part of the brotherhood. I know that causality does not imply correlation, but it does not mean it should be throw away. I do not blame the guard of incopetence, either they would have dismissed the incident as a simple event, or ran a hidden investigation.
In now other town where we been, have private investigations illegal or discouraged, so it did not even pass by our minds that it could be like so here. None of the evidence was meant to presented to a judge and jury, but to convince the proper authorities that this isn't a paranoid conspiracy.

>>5149282
Post was too long

We should aslo hammer the point that:
None of the information was intended to hurt those that were moving against us, and to prove that, we have two facts: that even while acusing Donma's family, we did not reveal the actual drug. That is because it's effect is to merely heighten the feeling of thrist of the drinker, something that is relatvely benevolent, and could be a secret ingredient, added by happenstance or a herbal medicine.
Secondly, that we did not come to the city hall to accuse or to present evidence, but to petition to solve a weird problem: Every single merchant in the city has refused to supply the Warren, with no explanation given. My acusation came in a moment of fervor during my defense of the school, because we had asked my students to be intermediaries as a temporary solution explaining my case.
I had connected all the circunstancial evidence: The rumours, the attack, the vip meetings, the offer, the ban and now trying to close the school, that both stopped the attack, belonged to the owner's partner and kept the Warren afloat, in that moment of realization, I attacked after a defense, using evidence in the way we did ot mean to.

We did not get to explain this before the mayor closed the meeting and sent us to jail, but I would have asked not to punish Donma's family, merely for the Warren to be allowed to provided for, and for an actual investigation to be launched. Afterall, there is still a possibility that they are being manipulated, or as much a victim as we are, and we so not want to hurt the innocent.

I think it has enough explainations, both logical and emotional.

>>5149285
Fell free to cut anything you think is revealing too much.
Hope that the poor workers don't get fucked for cooperating with us. If the city is smart, they will make them be anonymous.
But there us always the chance one will rat out the others to their boss.

>>5149282
Mentioning that we are part of the brotherhood is not worth doing. People can tell by our clothing and our dedication to getting to the bottom of this is already on public record.

Ignorance of local law is a weak defence, but accounting for our unique backgrounds and trainings old habits sort of thing, it gives us a point.

Our justification for it, to try and prove that we arent crazy and have a more cohesive case than happenstance. Would they really believe there was more to this beyond some lovers drunken jealousy.
It all fit together far too neatly for anyone without a vested interest in Renshu's welfare to see beyond that.

>>5149332
Fair enough.
I think the part that we simply acussed and presented our fidings due to heightened emotions of defending our school, students and family covers why we jumped the gun. Maybe we could even they to empathize with Donma, saying tgat if someone is truly using them as a scapegoat, and even threating her family, we fully understand, are willing to apologize and will even support to help them. (Try to get back goodwill.)
Unless the mayor is arbitary and jumps between the letter and the spirit of the law as she wants, we should be covered.

>>5149341
The apologies have a place, but they must be cleared completely.

And I think she sticks to the spirit of the law, which does bend but not break the letter

I've seen a lot of snow leopard pictures. They are very fluffy. Truly Tai Lung is best husband protag. Writing

"They haven't made any demands, and it was out of the blue, so thye must only want to hurt us. It could be a grudge or simple hatred." You say.

"And you have no small group of people who do that." Xin Lan points out with a small glare. You simply roll your eyes in amusement.

"It doesn't matter what more they will do. They can't hurt us physically. We're too well trained and legally we're the victims. We'll get through this like we always do. As long as the don't target our friends, or somehow convince Sangpo that we can't see the pools, we'll endure. However, this might be a good experience to trust the local authorities more, but we already learned that back in Taishi." You continue. "For now, let's keep our eyes open. Just because we have the law and our strength behind us, that doesn't mean this over or that we're invincible. It's best we stay vigilant."

"Hey, uh...we gotta ask you to head out. It's getting late." You hear the guard say through the door. "We can have someone walk you home but visiting hours are over." Ming and Xin Lan get up and head towards the door.

"We'll see you for the trial." You asy as they head on out. "Just let the others know they might be called up as well. Better that they're not taken by surprise."

"Yeah...we'll see you there." Ming says. "Just try not to cause anymore trouble, ok?"

"When do we ever do that?" You joke as the door closes behind them and leaving you and Renshu alone. You lay across the bench and simply wait for sleep to take you when you feel the air of mischeivousness next to you or when it usauall came to the bunnies, danger for your sensibilities.

"You know Tai Lung...the nights do get cold." Renshu starts and you quickly turn your back to him so that he could not see your face. "And there is only one be with no blankets. Perhaps now you'd like to share a bed?" He asks teasingly. You do your best to try and stay as still as possible somehow managing to supress a shiver.

"No thank you. I'll manage." You say quietly.

"Well...I was just thinking strategically. You are very fluffy you know and Xin Lan never seems to complain about the cold when they sleep with you. Or was it that you wanted to share that tiny bench?" Renshu chuckles. "I really am considering your health after all." He lies.

"No...I'll be fine." You mumble.

"Well, you know you're welcome to change your mind." He says before you hear him shuffle a bit and go quiet. You let out a sigh and try to get comfortable on the wooden bench.

---

Surprisingly, the trial wasn't the next day or the one after that. You spend 3 days in that cell, talking to Renshu and your friends as they came by to visit. It wasn't that surprising that word got out of you and Renshu's aresst but it certainly was for the guards as nearly immediately on the next day, a small crowd of your students had gathered at the entrance of the guard house asking to see you. It took a while before only a certain few were allowed in for the day while the others waited patiently outside for news. Luckily for everyone involved, the crowd was patient and seemed to at least heed some of your lessons. Things went smoothly and fortunately, it made the days go by quicker. On the third day, your door was unlocked and you were escorted to a small courtroom in the same building as the public meeting hall. It wasn't as extravangant as you thought it would. Just a simple long table for the council and two more for you and who you assume to be Dronma and her son. You sit down and the council eye you as you move giving you the feeling that they were measuring you up in some way though you don't pay it much attention.

What did catch your attention was the empty table next to you. You had assumed, you'd be the late one here given that you needed an escort but soon the minutes go on by for an uncomfortable period of time. No one seems to speak or want to break the silence but the rather irritated and bored expressions on the council members suggest this was not something planned.

>What do you do?
>Ask if you can at least say your part. No point in waiting if the other side is refusing to join.
>Ask if you can be let go. It's clear that your opposition has given up and since you were only held so you can have this trial, it's only fair that you can go seeing as there won't be one.
>Try and strike up small talk with someone. The silence is getting rather uncomfortable.
>Say nothing and wait. It's something you and Renshu are rather good at. The more stressed everyone else is, the better for you.
>Write in.

>>5150801
But is it a natural floof? With big puffy huggable strands?

>>5150845
>Raise our eyebrow and look from the empty seats to the jury.

We dont want to say anything to break the tension, just ask where they are.

>>5150845
>Tap rythimically on the desk, maybe have Renshu join in a bit. They are going to have a dramatic entrance, claim more of our students attacked them on the way, or somother problem.

>>5151164
Suspect that they are up to no good ay?

>>5151327
Either they or the third party.
So wheter they enter claiming our students or someone related to us attacked/threatened them as vengeance, that they bullied their own employees so they would do a false testimony or exagerated, or any other big surprise, we should be ready.

>>5151164
Brown bun will arrive and solve the mystery. All for his sweet snow princess.

>>5151331
Just wait until they call us masterminds when some vigilante assaults them on the way to here.

Would be a great time to use our Kamg Fah to whip some asses.

>>5151108
Of course, save for the scar on his chest of course. Why do you think small bun sneaks in to sleep on top of him? Other than the fact they are very fond of him of course.

>>5151533
Use the spirits, astral prjection and meditation, track them down and beat them up? I would be up to it, if it wouldn't make the claims of being a vigilante.
Maybe do ask the mayor first for permission to kick ass for the Lord?

You quietly drum your fingers on the table, not really saying anything to break the awkward silence. It wasn't your place to do so nor did you feel the need to. You do, however, cast a glance to one of the council members to catch their eye then quickly look at the empty table next to you as if to ask where everyone was. The council member looks away sheepishly to avoid having to answer and you smile to yourself, happy that you hadn't lost your touch. You turn to face Renshu. He was sitting up right and not saying anything but his eyes were distant, hollow, as if he was not paying attention to anything around him and simply spacing out. Perhaps he was simply bored of waiting, or perhaps he was dozing off with his eyes open. You were pretty sure you thought you've seen Xin Lan do that often before. The one thing you did know is then when either of the bunnies seemed to be uninterested with what was going on around them then that means they were thinking up of some kind of mischief for later. Perhaps there was a proverb to be made of this but your attention is drawn away from the way the light was playing with the stripes on his cheeks when you see a guard enter the room and hurry on towards the council members' table.

Despite their best attempt to keep things under warps and quiet, you had trained your senses all your life and only recently had managed to pushed them to even higher levels making it very easy to not only read their lips but hear exactly what was being said. Several council members huddle around the mayor in hopes of hearing what was going on.

"Ma'am...we have a bit of an issue." The mayor casts an annoying glance at the guard.

"The good lady better have a reason for her tardiness. A very good one." She says as she shuffles her papers for what might have been the 20th time.

"Well...you see...we had arranged to come here on time but it seems like...well the young boy...well he's run away." The guard manages to say. "He and his mother had a bit of an arguement last night about the hearing and we think he may have snuck out during the night." The mayor pauses trying to look busy to hide her irritation and simply looks irritated at the guard. "I'm afraid it is true. Other guards corroborate this and we're currently trying to find the young man." The mayor simply sighs. "He did seem rather distraught the night before according to the reports."

You turn to get a read of the room, and you notice that Renshu is now paying attention to what is going on. The mayor shakes her hand and replies, "Get more of the guard on this. If you need to, mobilize the volunteer search parties. The boy might be upset but running to hide on a mountain is rife with the possibliity of something going wrong. Best we scold him about civic duty after we make sure he's ok and unharmed. The hearing can wait until then." The mayor stands up and begins to adjust some of her clothes to losen them up. "I'll go meet the volunteers after I change into something that's easier to search in."

It seems that with this development, you and Renshu have been forgotten.

>What do you do?
>Ask if you can help. You do kind of want to get to the bottom of this and finding lost family members happens to be an unfortunate speciality of yours.
>Ask if you can leave. You were only held in custody for the hearing and seeing as there won't be one and you've comitted no crimes...well it seems a bit unfair to remain in jail.
>Offer to get your students to help. The more people the better and like the mayor said, mountains are dangerous places to go running around in.
>Simply leave. This isn't your problem to deal with and they have no reason to hold you anymore.
>Write in.

>>5151673
>Ask if there's any way you or your students can help. The last thing you'd want is for anyone, especially a child, to get hurt over something like this. Even if they don't want you involved in it directly, surely there's some way you can help in the search.

>>5151673
>Ask if you can help. You do kind of want to get to the bottom of this and finding lost family members happens to be an unfortunate speciality of yours.
>Let's just say I can see far, and hear the winds.
Finally, we get to use our spying powers for good!

>>5151673
>How can we help.

We can mobilise our students and ourselves but it is best to leave the option to the mayor.
And also if questioned on our motives, this is the one time that the mayor will know our stubbornness.

>>5151673
>>5151673
>How can we help.
Howdy boss, how have you been? The cough getting to you too?

>>5154036
A bit, yeah. Think I caught a cold or something but I'm getting tested. Doesn't help that this part time job has me interacting with tons of people. But gotta make ends meet, if only for the rest of the year. Leaves me kind of mentally drained too but I try to push out an update at least. Actually writting one now. I try to give a bit one at least to make up for the lack of them.

You pat Renshu on the back and stand up. "Let's go." You say quietly. "How do we help?" You ask out loud. Everyone turns to look at the two of you and you motion for Renshu to continue onwards. "I'll go and gather my students. They know the city better than I and as you said, you need as many people as you can. I'd rather the child not get hurt than anything else."

"I'm not sure..." One of the council members says hesitantly. "His school is being accused of threatening the boy."

"Then we'll assign a guard to each group of students." You say. "That way there's someone to hold them accountable. Even if they find the child, it'll be the guard to approach him that way there's no risk of the boy running away from them because they're part of my classes. I'll have them gather at the guard house and that way we don't have so much running around for organizing them. We can cover a wider area that way as well."

"But..."

The mayor raises her hand as she finally pulls off the rather ornate coat she was wearing. Folding it over her arm, she looks at you and says, "How fast can you gather them?"

"I'll have them there within the hour." You say as you and Renshu quickly make your way out.

---

As you said, you managed to gather most of your adult and older students infront of the guard station. While the others were eager to join and help, you didn't want more children getting lost while you searched for missing boy. Their time to prove themselves would come later. "Boss what do we do?" One of your older students ask. "Where do you want us to look?"

>What do you say?
>Have them look in the busier parts of the city. Being the ones he'd probably be more familiar with, it's more likely he'd hide there.
>Have them look at the edges of the city. It's possible he went to hide in a place where his parent's wouldn't really look.
>Have them look outside the city. It's the most dangerous place for a child and probably the best place you should search first.
>Write in.

>>5154070
>Have them look in the busier parts of the city. Being the ones he'd probably be more familiar with, it's more likely he'd hide there.
But where should we go to search for the child, in case our elder students cannot find him, hmmm? Perhaps we should check outside the city just in case, or perhaps we could converse with some kindly spirits before offering them a token of gratitude.

>>5154070
>busier parts of the city.

We should talk to the elements see if anyone has seen his flight.

Then we can search the outside of the city

>>5154131
>>5154072
As a point, circulate the kid's description amongst the people you meet. Ask them if they have seen him, try and rope more people in passively.

"Have you seen a boy who has [descriptive feature] he's gone missing"
that sort of thing. The more eyes looking the more quicker we can find.

>>5154070
>Have them look at the edges of the city. It's possible he went to hide in a place where his parent's wouldn't really look.
I think we ourselves should look at the outside, using the spirits and astral sense to scout ahead.

>>5154072
>>5154131
>>5154201
>>5154205
So is TL going to search outside the city while the group searches the inside?

>>5154739
sure

>>5154739
That's the plan

Got it. I'll get to writing.

"We'll split up into groups of 3. Each on of you will be working with one of the guard to make sure everything is in the clear. You'll be looking within the main district of the city. Seeing as his family runs a buisness there, that might be the area he's most familiar with. There's also the most people there so it's easy to get lost in the crowd. Someone must have seen him if he's still around there and it's the best place to get clues." You say. "If you see the boy, don't approach him. As you know, our school has been hit by rumors of us being violent and instigating fights. I trust you guys and believe that this is not the case but the boy might just believe them and could be frightened even more if he recognizes you as part of the school. I don't want him running away into more trouble. Let the guard with you go and talk to him. Remember, we're not doing this to be heroes or to clear our name in the eyes of the public. We're doing this because it's the right thing to do and all that matters is that this child get's back to his worried parents safe."

Your students all nod and begin to split up into groups based on areas they were more familiar with in the main district of the city. "We'll see if anyone has seen him around the restaraunts. We hang out there a lot and we're on good terms with some of the owners."

"We go to the bars and taverns then. If he ran away at night, they might have seen something then. They're ussually the only places open late."

"Then we'll go hit the markets. He might have gone to buy something to eat if he's been out all night."

"Alright, while you're searching the city, I'll head on out to search the outside of the city. There's not much to hide in there but I'm more comfortable looking in the wilds than I am in the city." You say. "We'll meet back here in the afternoon to go over our findings if we haven't found the boy yet. The guard should be here soon to join you. Stay together, stay safe." Your students give you various forms of acknowledgement and you quickly make your way out of the city. The outside was as wild as always, with tall grass as far as the eye can see before reaching the natural rocky walls that surrounded the crater in which the city resided in. You wander around the grasses while keeping an eye and ear out for any signs of the child. The only signs you can see however, is the trampled area that you had spent the better part of a year teaching your classes. Searching this area doesn't reveal anything new. Your tools and gear are undisturbed. You're not sure if you should feel relieved or frustrated at your lack of clues. It could be possible that the boy hadn't come here but it was also just as likely that he had been here but hadn't done enough to leave any clues which was worrysome.

>What do you do?
>Continue searching farther out. The boy could have climed up onto the rocks and gotten stuck.
>Head back and search other areas of the city. Better you focus your time on another area.
>Continue to search here. Try and see if some of your other "friends" saw anything.
>Write in.

>>5154903
>Continue to search here. Try and see if some of your other "friends" saw anything.

>>5154903
>See if the "friends" did
If they haven't, we can go further out

>>5154907
>>5154923
Talking to our secret friends. Writing.

You settle yourself and sit down next to the tree. Your students weren't the only people you could rely on. The spirits of the mountain could see far more than any mortal could see. You hope that despite the sprites aloof natures they had seen something that could help you if not seen the child themselves. You step out of yourself and look around for a moment. You see no sprites but you do see a wind spirit hanging around in the sky.

"My friend! Child of the wind! I must ask a favor of you!" You call out. The wind spirit floats down, his wind kicking around leaves and grass as he "lands". "My friend, the city is in need. A child has gone missing and we wish to find him before he comes to harm. Have you or your siblings seen him recently? He had run away from his home last night." You give the wind spirit a description of the child that was given to you by the guards. The wind spirit listens to you patiently, something you find rather unnerving given the sprite's demenor. It quietly points towards the rock walls.

"One of your younglings went towards that way though I believe it is forbidden by the others to allow them to leave their duties to explore there." It says. You turn to look towards the rock walls. It was possible that the boy could have climbed them...if so then it was more than likely that he had fallen as well. You did not wish to dwell in those thoughts. Alternatively he could also be in the caves, in which case he could be lost given how lost you got as well and the child didn't have a pair of assassin rabbits to guide him.

"Did he go into the caves? Or did he climb the walls." You ask.

"He simply went." The spirit says. "Into the heart of the land."

"Caves then." You surmise. "Thank you." You scan the walls looking at the cave entrance you and your friends entered from. That was the only way to go into the caves but even from that entrace the tunnels could branch out. If the child had gone there last night, one could only wonder how far the boy went in.

>What do you do?
>Head on into the caves yourself. There's no time to waste.
>Go and gather more volunteers. Trying to scour caves alone is dangerous and even with more people it's still risky.
>Get your friends. They're the only ones you trust with exploring unknown places.
>Write in.

>>5155197
>Send a message to Renshu to gather Ming, Xin and maybe a guard, preferably Tenzin and go to the cave. We will be exploring ahead.

>>5155197
Do we have a guard assigned to us as well? I can't imagine they wouldn't, given the scenario and all. And it was agreed that each group would have a guard to them.
>Ask a guard to call out for the boy to try to guide him back with a hopefully trustworthy voice.
>See if you can pick up recent tracks, personally.

>>5155215
I support

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26 KB JPG

>>5155215
>>5155284
>>5155390
Have a sleeping best bun. I'll get to writing. We're getting our friends.

You pull yourself back to the material world and get up. Exploring the caves is dangerous enough, even you and your friends only managed to pull through becuase of your unique talents. For a child, even one from the city, to be able to replicate that was impossible. Only a miracle of the highest proportions would have to happen for him to return on his own, leaving you as the only one who could bring them back. You pace a bit before contacting Renshu.

Renshu, I have some more information about the where abouts of the child. Bring Ming and Xin to the gates of the city. A spirit says he saw him run into the caves. We can't risk anyone else getting lost in looking for him and we can't wait for a search party to be formed or we risk him getting further lost down there. You say.

Then what Dronma says must be true. Given her reaction to her family's safety, she would be mad to send her child into the caves merely as a ploy to attack us. Something must have upset him enough that he felt the need to try to flee even the city itself. I'll gather the others, stay on your toes. He replies. You pace around as you wait, the first thing on your mind is to simply head in and let the others catch up to you but you know that would only compound the issue. You almost laugh out loud at the thought of a child alone and scared in a cave making your heart ache and sending shivers down your spine. If this situation had happened 2 years ago, you would have left the child to die. The ludicrous contrast your personalities was so abusrd that you didn't know what to think. You're not sure why in situations like these you seemed to reflect on the man you once were. Perhaps it was your doubt making you look to see at the progress you made. Perhaps it was to help build yourself up so that you can appear to be the hero you wanted to be in the eyes of others. Or perhaps, it was your old self trying to claw it's way back by showing you how weak you've become.

"We're here!" Ming says as she carries a larger bag on her back and followed by two guards. She digs out something and despite her best attempts has a very proud look on her face. "Here!" She says handing you a glass bottle full of some clear looking liquid. For a moment you thought it was water before you notice that it's too thick, too viscous. It was almost like honey. As you take it, you feel a slight distant, tingling feeling like a memory of your hand going to sleep.

"What is it?" You ask. Ming beams with pride.

"It's liquid light!" She says excitedly and the guards look at each other, with a look of bemusement and doubt. "Something I've been working on for a while. I found this ritual a while ago and Ren has been helping me with it. Had some weird ingredients, like the trapped moon light and glint of morning dew..." She takes the bottle away from you and shakes it up a bit before placing her hand over it to try and add some shade. You can only just faintly make out a subtle glow of light. "These things are pretty hard to make and it seems that the more they're exposed to light, the faster they deteriorate. I had to store these in Ren's place because there's no other dark areas that people won't mess with. I'm not sure how long they last but I know the liquid holding the light hardens and becomes opaque over time. That's how you can tell it's useless...I mean beyond it not glowing anymore. Hopefully the chill of the mountains keeps it fresh longer...or it could be heat that helps. I haven't tested it much."

You take the bottle again and stuff it in your shirt. "This is amazing Ming. How bright are they?" You ask, awestruck, questions pouring from your mouth. "What is this liquid? How long did it take?"

"Its like holding the sun's light in your hand, tempered by the moon's gentle shadow." Ming quotes. "It's increadibly bright but no matter what, it never seemed to burn my eyes. I could stare into it all day and be fine. It really is like holding moonlight. I call it Tu'er Ye's light."

"The rabbit on the moon?" You ask with a raised brow. Ming sticks out her tongue.

"It's a rabbit who helped me make this. I think it's appropriate." She says.

"It was nothing." Renshu says politely. "Even with my experience, I'm more comfortable with the more vile rituals. I merely helped intrepret the vaguer ingredients."

"What happens if you drink this?" Xin Lan asks as they pat something in their shirt, no doubt another of the bottles.

"You'd probably die." Ming says. "Even I'm not sure how well your body will take this stuff but it'll more than likely harden inside your organs and rupture them or simply block them. Both not the nicest way to go." Xin Lan seems to be a bit disappointed in that but says nothing.

"Let's go then. We can't afford to wait any longer." You say as your group head over to the entrance of the cave. You take a few steps in and without having to pull out the bottle from your shirt, you see the glow peirce your clothing. Digging it out, it shines brilliantly as Ming described. In your hand was a light stronger than any flame you've seen. It leaves no shadows and despite the movement of the liquid in the bottle, does not flicker nor change. It really was as if you were holding a peice of daylight in your hand. You turn back to see your friends as they each pull out their own glass containers. Their light joins yours brilliantly illuminating the guard's flabbergasted faces.

"How are we handling this?" Xin Lan asks as they draw a knife from thin air and slash at the wall to mark it.

>What do you say?
>Split up. You can cover the most ground like that and each of your friends has their own way to make it back to the surface.
>Stick together. It's dangerous to go off alone in a cave system, even ones you're slightly aware of.
>Send the guards back to get others, perhaps some more knowledge in the cave system. Maybe even a higher up.
>Write in.

>>5156685
>Ask if the guards informed their superiors. If not, send Renshu to find them, since we have psychic links that we can use to guide him to us.
>Stick together.
We have a perfected memory, we just need to keep our eyes on where we go.
And Xin is a great tracker, they should be able to follow sounds easily enough.

>>5156790
Support, Ming will also be able to help the child if he is injured in any way, and is probably a friendlier face.

>>5156685
>Split up. You can cover the most ground like that and each of your friends has their own way to make it back to the surface.

>>5156818
>>5156790
Sending away one of the buns. Staying together after that. Writing.

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You turn to face the guard, "Have you guys informed the higher ups about this?" You ask. They shake their head no.

"We came here right after your friends gathered their equipment." One admits. "Didn't want to waste time if it meant finding the boy."

"Renshu can you go inform the others of what's going on. I don't want another rescue group coming here but they should know we've found a lead. The rest of us will go in deeper and hopefully we can find him." You say. Renshu nods and hands over his jar of liquid light to a guard who takes it very gingerly. He turns and heads back into the light of the outside before leaping down the ledge to the grassy field bellow. You turn back to face the darkness and begin your journey into the cave. The path slowly begins to incline below you, forcing you to place your weight on your toes as you descend, the sounds of armor clinking and the contents of Ming's back jiggling being the only sounds that keep you company. The light is surprisingly effective and despite Ming's description of the magic, you still expect it to burn your eyes or feel warmth. You hold it out and it seems to direct itself further out into the cave though you're not sure if it's the ritual's magic being compelled by your will or your mind playing tricks on you.

You once again find yourself contemplating on how alien your surroundings and how your mind struggles to comprehend just how dark, absolute darkness is. Even with your light's powerful illumination, you can see it end and come to a stop against a wall of pure black. No matter how much you strain your senses, they simply cannot peirce that veil. Soon enough, you stop yourself from trying as you feel yourself go deaf from the oppressive nature of it tricking your mind. "How far could have he gone?" Ming asks, almost afraid of breaking the silence.

"Who knows." You say as you look around fuitily. "Hopefully not far but it's hard to tell distance with how dark it is here. There's no real way to see how far you've gone here."

"The deeper we go the harder it'll be to find him if he doesn't have anything to track him with." Xin Lan says looking around. "It's not very dusty here and we can't even be sure he followed the more worn paths. If he was running in the dark, he could have turned off the main roads."

"Can you hear anything?" Ming asks.

"Not at the moment. Things are still mixing with the sounds of the city but that's assuming the kid's still alive to even make a sound." They respond.

"Don't say that. He still might be ok." Ming says.

"Maybe..." Xin Lan replies as they mark another wall. "We're coming to a split here." They say and sure enough, you come to a wider tunnel that branched off into 4 other tunnels. "That one leads to onward to the more used tunnels. The others lead to who knows where."

"With these caves, I wonder how people are even allowed to leave..." Ming wonders outloud as you all look around the room.

"Escorted." One of the guards says as they stay close by. "The captain and several of the sergents know the path of the caves back to the bottom. They're the ones who help people back out but none of the families have ever left in generations. Only people who they lead out are visitors."

>What do you do?
>Ask Xin Lan to look around. Maybe he can pick something up.
>Split up. Each one of you can take a different tunnel.
>Choose a tunnel at random and go together as a group. Stick close to each other.
>Write in.

>>5158841
Wasn't there a cross orad that woyld elad to a fake destroyed library? It was the one that had air going through, if the child got lost, he would search follow it, not pick up the sounds of the city.
Ask Xin if they can find that clue, and remember to mark the walls like we did last time.

>>5158904
I say split.

Half of us go all the way do- actually no. We cant afford to split up.
>Ask Xin to search for a trail

About 100 meters down either tunnel should tell us something

>>5158931
Yeah, splitting up the gang right now will just mean we are going to have to search for them again, even though it would cover more ground.
Damned caves and their echoey enviroment.

>>5158841
>Split up. Each one of you can take a different tunnel.
>Maybe now would be a good time to pull out that 'flawed' version of chaotic meditation, where you took in ALL things around you and processed far too much information at once - in such a place where the senses are FAR more limited, it could very well become a manageable way to pick up all of the possible details that could form coherent clues that you would otherwise miss.

>>5159198
That is just us doing the technique but not ignoring the stimulus.

>>5158904
>>5158931
Asking Xin to find a trail. Writing.

"Xin, can you find any trace of the child?" You as as you crouch down to look for tracks. You do find marks on the ground but they were too numerous and old to be the child. Not surprising given that this is the main road the few who come and go to collect new books, and major things that the city itself cannot manufacture or craft. Xin Lan puts away their knife and squats down to feel around the floor for a bit before making their way around the cavern. You follow them closely as you try to discern whatever lead they have and keeping your ears out for something. Perhaps their ears picked up something you hadn't.

"Did they find anything?" Ming asks as she follows as well.

"Not sure. I can't see anything." You reply. "Did you?" You ask.

"Yeah...I smell wax." Xin Lan says. "Think the kid might have brought a candle thinking it'd illuminate the caves. No drops though. He might have carried a candle holder." They stand up and continue downwards one of the many offshoot tunnels. You and the rest of the group follow as you strain to see ahead in hopes of finding anything that would indicate the child was ok. You were even willing to settle for seeing him curled up, hungry and scared if it meant you could simply carry them back outside to their parent. At best, you hoped to see them sitting somewhere, scared or angry but willing to talk. Unfortuantely, those hopes were dashed as your trail comes to an end on a wall of rock from the tunnel collapsing in on itself.

"Oh no. No please." Ming says hurrying over to try and begin to remove rock. Xin Lan pats Ming's leg.

"It's ok. This tunnel collapsed long ago. Look." They say pointing to a melted candle perfectly undisturbed next to the pile of rocks. "If the tunnel did collapse after the boy came here, that wouldn't be here." They walk around examining the rubble and moving a rock here and there. "Here." They announce and point to a small hole. You have to kneel to see it but exactly where Xin Lan was pointing, was a tunnel slightly bigger than your arm and impossible for you or Ming to cross but you can imagine seeing a small child crawling through there.

"You think he crawled through there?" Ming asks. "That's...crazy. What would make him do that? Do you think he was being chased?"

"He had to." Xin Lan says. "I can't see him here and there's no signs that the rocks were disturbed again that it would bury the kid. He had to have crawled through."

"We should get some more people down here." A guard behind you says. "We'll need to clear this out."

>What do you say?
>Turn back and get more people to clear the tunnel.
>Send Xin Lan through the tunnel. They're small enough to fit there you think. Certainly slender enough.
>Use your strength to blow the blockage apart. You think you can do it safely.
>Write in.

>>5160031
>Send Xin through
>Try and warn Renshu through our psychic connection.
>Test the cave in, see if it will continue to collapse if we pull it apart.

It will be slow going. but if we test the boulders before moving them, we can see if it's safe to move them. Besides, the other side is still fine, so it's just the roof above us we have to worry about.
And it's not like we can't break rocks, Chi pokes do that.

>>5160044
Support, Renshu can bring the people.
I would suggest trying to see if there are any earth spirits around, but they are sworn to not interfere, are the more.no-nonsense ones, and we aren't fluent enough in earth emotion to convince them.
Would it be worth a try anyway, to just ask if the tunnel is stable?

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>>5160044
>>5160057
What? I can post more than once today? Weird. Have this picture of someone proposing to a bun. Writing.

>>5160107
Sounds like black magic

>>5160108
>black magic
Sounds like something Ming should learn and be corrupted by.

>>5160107
This time I was arrived on time it seems.

>>5160111
Ming is too pure for your garden variety evil magic.

>She goes straight to manipulating hell itself. Judge Ming, the angry doctor.

>>5160111
The difference between poison and medicine is just the dose, I trust Ming to be responsable with dark powers.

"Xin go scout ahead and see if you can find the kid. We'll try and clear this rubble." You say as you begin to move some rocks to test the integrity of the tunnel. Xin Lan gives you a look.

"You want me to go through the super scary tunnel that might collapse on me?" They ask.

"You're not afraid are you?" You reply cheekily.

"No. I'm sure letting you know that you're quickly racking up the favors you owe me." They reply.

"Very funny. We can banter after we save the kid." You say. "Now go."

"True enough." Xin Lan says as they strip off their clothes to reveal their black stealth suit. Their clothing falls heavily to the ground with a myriad of clatters and clinks making you wonder how many knives does the rabbit have and how they managed to pack so many without them making noise. Xin Lan bites down on the bottled light and goes prone to crawl through the tunnel. In a few moments their feet vanish into the darkness, leaving you and Ming with the guards.

"Ming, do you know anything about tunnels? Like how to tell if they're at risk of collapsing again?" You ask as you move the heavier surface rocks aside. Ming studies the pile of rocks and rubble before you.

"Not really." She admits before pointing to the top of the rocks. "But check the top of the pile. That'd be the safest way to check. If it feels like the stones are still holding up more then we risk causing another cave in." You climb to the top of the pick, making sure you stand on the more stable stones. You gingerly prod and push at the top rocks only to find yourself pelted by pebbles and dust. A bit more of testing and you see that the tunnel collapsed from an angle on the roof, not just straight down.

You cough and leap down. "No use. There still seems to be more rubble beyond sight. Not to mention that the roof didn't collapse cleanly. It came down from an angle. Could be that more of it could come down if we continue to pull rocks aside."

"Then we can't clear it on our own." Ming says as she begins to pace. "We'll need to call in the other townsfolk to help. We can probably make a makeshift tunnel or something but we don't have the supplies on us right now." Ming says.

"Alright. We'll wait for Xin to come back. Maybe they found the kid and are leading them back. " You say but as you do you contact Renshu.

Ren, we have more problems. We think we found out where the child went but it's behind a collapsed tunnel. Xin's gone ahead but we can't cross. We're going to need help from the citizens if we want to clear it enough to proceed safely.

I see. I will try and gather some help. Given my reputation I do not know how well I'll fare but I'll begin with the guards. Perhaps they can convince the rest of the city to come and help.

You step back from the rubble and sit down. "There's not much we can do but wait." You say. "Hopefully Xin Lan has some news for us." Ming gives you a worried look but relents and opts to simply pace around the tunnel. Time seems to flow slower when you have no way to tell how fast it's going but after what seems like forever, you hear the sounds of shuffling and turn to see light coming from the small tunnel in the rocks. A pair of large dusty bunny ears pop up from the tunnle before the rest of them appears.

"That's it...I'm staining my fur." They say as they dust themselves off. "Grey with stripes. Ren never has trouble with looking dirty from every little thing." The grumble. "We have bigger problems."

"What now?" Ming moans in dismay.

"The tunnel isn't that long but the issue is at the end. There's only a small ledge at the end and it's damaged. The only thing that we can guess is that the ledge collapsed and the kid fell along with it. I can't tell how far the fall is and I can't if the kid is ok. I can barely hear him at the bottom so that's a plus I guess but I don't know how much pressure we're under." They say. "We can try blow our way past the rocks but they'd definitely be sent off the ledge and from there...well it's a gamble if they'll hit the kid down there."

>What do you do?
>Write in.

>>5160174
Try to quickly communing with some spirits. We really should carry a sack of gifts for our elemental friends.
The tunnel shouldn't be an issue for Tai Lung to maneuver through, even if it's a +100m deep hole. If he can scale the walls of his old prison, then this should be a piece of....cake? Can't say pie, I don't know if pies have been introduced to China yet.

>>5160547
He scaled the wall of the prison through using balista bolts powered through the wall. But we wont get any help from the spirits on this mountain.

Since we cant go ahead, the next move is trying to communicate with the kid.
Ask if he is still alive/hurt.

>>5160624
We could also try astral projection, to see how far ahead we can go.

>>5160626
I can support astral projecting. We can ask the spirits while we are doing it, since it would cost nothing, even though I thibk they won't help. But who knows? Maybe the maternal instintic of their great dragon will kick in or something.
Once we check how far the tunnel goes, we can give Xin some rope and a grapple.
Does Xin see if the tunnel is a dead end? Perhaps there is a way to reach the other side through another passage.

>>5160626
>>5160726
I'm afraid that's not possible lads. You can only astrally project to places you're familiar with and can only see people who you can sense. Namely Ming, Xin, Ren, and Bao/Shenlong as well as elemental and spirits of the dead. It's pretty limited. You can't even phase through walls or fly.

You can speak to the elementals though. As for the tunnel. Xin says it ends on a ledge and falls down. Far enough they can't see the bottom. You can certainly ask them to try and climb down with supplies to check on the child. Other than that you'll have to get past the rubble to have the other two party members have access to the other side.

>>5161740
Dang. But yeah, I think we should try and get Xin to talk to the kid, if he can get a reply he can guess how far down it is, then we will see about getting some food, Blankets and medicine for if he's broken his foot.

The best we can do now is just wait.

>>5161835
We should ask the sprites if the tunnel continues and/or there is another fork.
Even if they don't answer and we just wasted time, we would have been just waiting anyway.

So we sending Xin in? And talking to the spirits?

>>5163968
Yes.


Sorry about not being very clear on our consensus.

>>5163968
Yes, we can't do anything other than wait for Xin to talk with the child or for Renshu's party to arrive, so might as well.

>>5163981
>>5163996
Sounds good. Time to write.

"We need to make sure the child is down there and ok." You say. "If we needs help, then we can't just sit around waiting for everyone to get here."

"I have some rope." Ming says as she begins to dig around in her bags. "If we can find something to tie it down to, then maybe Xin can climb down there and make sure the boy is alright."

"I'll just hold on to the rope." You say as you search around. There wasn't anything you could really use as an anchor point for the rope and you didn't want to risk things falling down around you if you tried to tie it down on the rubble or strike a piton into the rock. You grab one end of the rope and warp it around you arm then hand a bit. Xin Lan bregudingly takes the other end of the rope and ties it around their waist.

"Here, take this. It'll help alleviate some pain if they're hurt and take some water and food. Hopefully we're just dealing with a few bruises and scrapes." Ming says while handing Xin Lan a few more things. After making sure everything was packed away, Xin Lan crawls into the tunnel once more and a few moments later you see their cotton tail vanish into the dark. You see the rope slither along the ground and it uncoils itself and you make sure that it doesn't end up tangling in upon itself. You're not sure how far the tunnel goes so the best you can do is pull away at the slack and slowly ease it out as you feel it pull rather than risk Xin Lan dropping straight down becuase of the extra rope. The most you can do is sit back down as you monitor the rope as you once again wait for Renshu to arrive.

"How long do you think Renshu is gonna take?" Ming asks, shifting unconfortably on the stone floor.

"I don't know." You say. "Hopefully not long."

"I just realized that he doesn't know where we are." Ming says. "How is he going to find us?"

>What do you say?
>Say that you can go and get him yourself. You know the way back.
>Send Ming to go and lead Renshu and the villagers to this location.
>Send one of the guards to get everyone. They should be able to find their way back.
>Write in.

>>5164251
>Tell him directions using our mental communication.

Literally the easiest and most painless option.
"Tai lung, first opening."
>Take the first left
"Second branch with 3 openings"
>Take the centre

Plus we left markings as we went.Renshu is a perfect guide.

>>5164254
Yep, and chaotic meditation was really good for our memory.
We could also astral project a bit to help guide him on the way, so we can do it while we meditate and search for an earth spirit to ask about the tunnel.

>>5164259
Nah. We need to be aware if Xin needs us to pull them up.

>>5164274
Hmmmmm, fine we can stay awake since asking the earth spirit is a hamble anyway.

>>5164288
Earth spirit chat shouldnt take more than a few minutes.

We can also stay nearby and keep an eye on the rope.

>>5164254
>>5164259
Brain communication it is. Writing.

You continue to ease more and more rope out until you finally feel it snap tight. Xin Lan must be descending off the cliff and so you begin to ease it in more slowly, now keeping an eye on how much slack you give and the tension of the rope. You're not sure of how the other end of the tunnel is and now you realize that the possiblity of sharp rocks slicing through the ropes is quite real. There wasn't much to be done now and you trust that Xin Lan would keep an eye out for such things. Rather than let those thoughts worry you, you keep your mind on the current task and contact Renshu.

We've sent Xin Lan down the tunnel once more. They're descending via rope in hopes of reaching the bottom of the drop and finding the boy. Where are you?

We've finally reached the cave entrance. There is a surprising lack of mining equipment available. Renshu replies. Hopefully we have the tools to clear the cave in.

You're about to reply when you feel the rope suddenly go slack in your hands. You quickly give it a tug and feel no weight behind it causing you to quickly crawl to the small opening. "Xin? Xin!" You shout. Your voice echoes throughout the tunnel but not matter how much you strain your ears, you hear no response. Ming rushes to your side and tries to poke her head into the opening in the vain hope of looking through to see anything. She reaches in desperatly but the result is the same as she comes up with nothing. She hops to her feet and stamps them a bit in worry before pacing around.

"They just untied their rope is all." She rationalizes. "They probably reached the bottom and needed to go beyond what the rope would allow. Right?"

"Right." You say with a nod. "No doubt the bun will be back to make fun of us for worrying." You assure her. Ming returns the gesture and continues to pace as she twirls some of her hair in worry only making it more curly. She paces back and forth before going to get bag and grabbing something to drink. You merely wait as you resist the urge to pull back the rope to check that it was undamaged. Doing so would only result in taking away the only way back Xin Lan had. Instead, you can only sit and wait. Mintues seem to pass by and the idea of guiding Renshu seemed to have slipped your mind as when you remember to contact him, you see a bright light of a torch, rather pale and dim compared to the radiance of your liquid light, appear as the large rabbit arrives followed by half a dozen people behind him and judging by the sounds with a several more people following behind. Renshu makes a half hearted motion to the villagers, or perhaps someone who is not there, to get to work as he briskly walks past you to check the tunnel.

"Have you heard from them?" He asks. You shake your head no and before you can ask how he found his way to you, he interrupts and says, "I heard you shout so I read your mind and searched you memories...I'm sorry." He adds as an after thought, his own mind clearly filled with worry for their younger sibling. The citizens begin to move forward with shovels and picks to clear the way but Ming stands.

"Wait, we should wait for Xin to come back." She says. "If we start clearing up the way now, we'll end up cutting off their only way back until we're done or worse, we could cut it off completely if things go wrong."

"We're here to save the child. We have to clear the path one way or another. We can't just stay here and worry about what might or might not happen." One of the villagers.

"At least let us wait for our friend to return. Then we can know if the boy needs more help. We can send them back if medical attention is required and then they can wait until the tunnel if fully cleared." Ming argues.

>What do you do?
>Tell Ming let the villagers clear the path. You have to trust that Xin is ok and that they'll know what to do.
>Tell the miners to wait. Give Xin a few more minutes to come back.
>Take your friends and try to find an alternate route while the villagers begin to clear the blockage.
>Write in.

>>5164811
>Inform them about the break in the roof.
>Ask how long it will take to clear it.

>Ask Renshu to send his ghosts to check

>>5165118
>>5164811
>Oh and if the clearage will take more than an hour, let's wait for about 5 minutes.

>>5164811
>We will wait a bit more, around fifteen minutes. If Xin doesn't come back you can start clearing, we sent her with medicine and supplies, so she may be applying first aid.
>Meanwhile, take a look at the pile, we found a few holes but were worried it might cause a collapse. Maybe you will know more.
>Ask renshu to send the ghosts, and try to find an earth spirte or spirit to see if they will tell if the tunnel has an alternate crossing.

So it seems like waiting is the go to right now? Among other things.

>>5165446
Correct. Xin is busy currently.

Furthermore, this is interesting, being able to read our memories. We should experiment with this later.

>>5165465
Is it time to ascend to as the Mortal Dragon?

>>5165470
To my shame, I don't get the reference.
Sounds fun tho.

>>5165476
There is no reference, it's just that the dragons have mind links link us, and can read the memories of the spirits.
So it's a joke saying that we would tap into the collective conciouness and become a Dragon whose elements is the mortal chi.

>>5165538
Like us, sorry.

I got some free time. SO time to write.

>>5165470
We'll be the first mortal to ascend to godhood? Err second?

>>5165775
Being that it's feburary and marketing is shoving valentine's down my face, I come to think. If you give a bun flowers as a gift and they eat them, is that an insult or should you be glad? Is it given with the intent to be eaten?

You hold out your hand infront of the miners. "She's right. Our friend has yet to give us a signal that everything is alright. Give them fifteen minutes. If we don't hear anything from them by then, you can start. I understand that you wish to rescue the child, as we do as well, so to not waste your time please take a look at the roof of this tunnel. It's where the cave in happened and I think there is still debris being held up. We can spend our time waiting by figuring out how to proceed in terms of clearing the blockage. If we charge too recklessly, my end up endangering the lives of everyone here, including those we wish to save." The miners give you a bregrudging nod and lower their tools for the time being. A few of them shuffle around and head back to allow others to enter and take a look.

You make your way over to Renshu and Ming as you go to wait. "Can you send some of your ghosts to check up on them?" You ask.

"Already have." Renshu says quietly as they put out the air of patience while being anything but. Ming continues to play with her hair nervously. You idly watch the city folk going around and studying the rubble before you as some of them leave and come back with more tools, wooden boards and things you assume to be used to be beams. After a few minutes you can bear it no longer and turn to Renshu.

"Anything?" You ask. "Please don't tell me that they couldn't find him or that they can't see in the dark."

"They're not back." Renshu says tensely. "They're looking for another way around."

You go and check up on the villagers to try and keep yourself busy. "How's it looking?" You ask. The man leading the crew, a bird with rather shabby looking feathers, wipes his brow.

"Well...It's been a long while since we've ever had to do something like this." He says. "This could take a few days."

"Days?" You croak. "I thought...maybe a few hours at best."

The old bird shakes his head. "I'm afraid that's not how this works son. We have to move these rocks carefully, we gotta take the time to move them all outside, people need breaks, food, water. Not to mention we need to watch out that the place doesn't come crashing down on us. Even once we're done, we have to explore never before seen parts of the cave. Seems like the hole is a pretty bad shape as well. Could erode as we work on it." He sighs and strokes his chin. "This will be delicate."

"Right..." You say as you head back. "Renshu, anything?"

"Xin Lan seems to be fine. They are with the child. However, they are still looking for alternative routes but they can only go so far away from me and it would involve them going in deeper into the caves." He explains. "It seems fortunte is with us and they simply let go of the rope to continue on their path."

"We have to go get them." Ming says. "If it takes days to clear up the path then we don't know if the boy will survive. He could be starving and dehydrated for all we know. The people are doing their best but they might not make it in time."

"Ming has a point. The little one has survived harsher conditions but if our goal is to save the child then we must make haste." Renshu agrees. "We will have to either blow our way past the blockage and risk the stability of the tunnel or we must go deeper."

>What do you chose?
>Force your way through the debris. It's the most direct route regardless of the risks.
>Head out and find an alternative route. You can leave the people to their task as a fall back option if nothing else can be found.
>Write in.

>Head out and find an alternative route. You can leave the people to their task as a fall back option if nothing else can be found.
>Once again I'm shilling to talking to earth spirits or sprites.
>Get Xin to dleuver a few supplies to the child like food or water just in case

>>5165868
This...would be easier if we were a bat. Unfortunately, He Ling quest is not going to be run yet.
>Head out and find an alternative route. You can leave the people to their task as a fall back option if nothing else can be found.

>>5165868
>Find an alternative way around.

Fuck.
>>5165822
Glad I think. Renshu and Xin would probably only eat them if we presented it as a meal.

>>5166016
Or would it be like a fancy box of chocolates/candy? Something thats nice too look at but can also be eaten?

Mote importantly, has TL found his match? Brown bun could definitely handle Xin flowers with no problem but TL? He might lose in this battle. Unless he somehow manages to view courtship in the same state of mind as Kung Fu. After that...well all people in China will have to hide their partners.

>>5166047
You just know they would feel too guilty to eat them, until TL wakes up in the middle of the ngiht, goes downstairs and finds two figures hunched over a vase, petals everywhere as the pair of buns munch and nibble on them.

>>5166132
Both adorable and slightly haunting given the bunnies thrive in the dark given their professions. Still wouldn't stop TL from watching from a distance.

Ming would probably keep the flowers before turning them into something via alchemy. Probably perfume to make the idea of them last longer.

>>5166340
Given cats propensity for rubbing all over shit, perfume makes a surprising amount of sense in this context.

And once more drives home how utterly batshit this group is. Nobody can appreciate good flowers.

>>5166356
speaking of rubbing against shit. Rabbits tend to rub their chins against things that they claim. Something about scent glands being there or some such. Something Xin's been doing to you everytime they're on your shoulders and resting their head on yours. You really are married to the buns now.

Slightly more seriously, I found it hilarious when I heard about that. Like many things, it's an unintentionally coincidence that is also in character. Xin just likes relaxing on your shoulders and your head is the perfect place to rest one's face for a nap. Doesn't help that they are very aware how easy it is to blind you with their large ears.

The group is crazy but you can't say that their results aren't top tier.

>>5166414
They are a quintessential "loose cannons get results" archetype.

Which is cool. The fearsome four as a group are highly unorthodox and if they had less good results they would be hounded and hunted at every turn.
I sympathise with Xins concerns about becoming the 5, but it's never going to go that way. We can become less violent but never less unorthodox.

Another thing, your surprisingly accurate accidental animal behaviors are becoming quite concerning. . . I hope you didnt join a tribe of beastmen in that library

>>5166546
N-no...nothing like that but someone had to translate a few of these damn books. Point of note, don't...don't join the bird people for dinner. Don't ask how I know.

Got a bit of a break right now. We're searching for an alternative route. Do you want to try and ask the earth sprites and hope to understand them or do you have other ideas?

>>5166660
Yes, I have been suggesting this idea for some updates now, and I'm stubborn.
There are Renshu's ghost scouting ahead, we can have markings, and the chaotic meditation helped our memory.
For the earth sprites, maybe appeal to our duty to help one another, and the motherly feeling to help a child. Horfully we can appeal to their nature and to their great dragon's.
Also to touch on their promise to not share information or interfere, we have already climbed the mountain, f9r indirect help, and are asking for something unrelated to the test.

>>5166660
>>5166744
If we keep to basic questions we should be fine.

But we cant ask for help from them, to do anything. To find people, that's different.

>>5166744
>>5166898
Sounds fair. Remember you can only get general notions of what they're feeling and no actual words so the question is. How do you want to word your questions? Asking for directions or if there's an alternate path isn't against the rules as it doesn't involve direct intervention by them nor does it go against the rules of your test or reveal a way to the city of which spirits are not allowed to help. Helping you save someone would indeed appeal to the earth elemental's sense of duty. You just have a language barrier to cross. Luckily you have two other people who can hear and sense them...both equally as good as you in talking to them.

>>5166906
To clarify, I'm currently thinking of how to word things. Not that you needed to post a write in to continue. TL is smart enought to try and use his current understanding to his advantage.

>>5166906
>>5166949
I was thinking of trying to pass the feeling of duty and worry for another, and to think of the collapsed tunnel.
And just ask them if there is a free path, and if they can show us. Maybe think very hard about an alternate way, of the image of a line with a cross, and them another one skipping the cross.
Maybe say something like
>Earth friends, I need help. A child is stuck in a tunnel. The way is blocked. I must save them. Can you show me another way?
This simple words together with emotions and visualization might help, since they work on chi.

>>5166962
I can work with that. Once I get some time, I'll do a write up.

Sorry about the ghosting yesterday. Two people were let go after they got into a shouting match infront of some important people at work. Let go...man the corp speak is getting to me. The got fucking reamed and fired is more accurate. Now someone needs to cover their shifts which fell to me. Anyways, lets get to writing.

>>5168426
Corpo slavers fucking suck man, hope everything is alright with you now.
This shit is always stressfull, even when it's not directly related to you.

>>5168426
Let go is a lovely euphamism. Like Ptsd instead of Shell shock.

"Then let's find a guide." You say as you motion to leave the larger tunnel to go to an alternate one and give the workers more room to get to their buisness. "The earth spirits should be able to help us find the child. If anyone knows the mountain it will be them. Might be the fastest way too." You sit down as you always to do to contact the realm between realms and step out of your body. You never attempted to meditate in a mountain or underground nevermind one that is heavy with spirits. The feeling is unlike anything you're felt before.

Where as the wind feels free and carefree, once you step out of yourself you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. As if the mountain itself is upon your shoulders, you can feel the strength and unyeilding will of the earth press upon you from all sides. It's ironclad, resilient, and unmoving almost borderline oppressive. You can feel the age of the world seep into your being and for a moment you can almost feel the time that it has endured, the history it had seen. Truly, you were in the domain of the Dragon of Earth. You do your best to reinforce your sense of self as you search for an earth spirit and the task proves unnervingly easy. It was like a city unto itself, a hive mind living in the mountain as whereever you look, you can see earth elementals working nonstop. Sprites, small spirits and even elder ones moving around and feeding the earth to keep it fertile. Their work thorough, and meticulous but not at all frantic you're surprised hear that they are not silent, they are singing.

Like their wind cousins, they sing as they work. Their songs are not at all light and air but strong and rhythmic like the beat of a drum or the steady beat of a heart. It's full of purpose and duty. Though the spirits are not allowed to interfere with the affairs of the mountain, part of you understands why the dragons no longer reside in the mortal realm. Not when they have an army of these kinds of proportions living within the earth. You stand up and call out to them. Boldness would avail you more here than playfullness. "Children of the earth, I beseech you! We have lost one of our own. A small child has fallen victim to the maze of the mountain and we are searching for a route to get to him." You call out as you point towards the direction that you saw Xin go. "Our friend is with them but time is not on our side, please guide us through your home."

You soon find yourself surrounded in various elementals as they come to study you and your friends. A cocophany emotions crashes over you as they speak to you in their incomprhensable language. You raise your hands for silence and soon the voices die down as the elementals wait for you to speak.

>what do you say?
>Write in.

>>5168544
>Children of earth, I understand only the air and my friend Shenlong. I am sorry to make this hard, but I can hear your song. Please lead me by your song.

So if the mountain is quiet, and the earth spirits further along the way we need to go start singing, we can play follow the dots when we get to junctions. They are industrious fellows, they can do it.

I'm not sure about asking them to guide us physically, but that is a second option.

>>5168544
> I'm sorry friends, but I can't understand your words, because I'm still a novice at it. Could one of you guide me? If you can't stop your duties, than perhaps you could use the voice and song, together?

>>5168549
>>5169020
Time to get writing.

>>5168544
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPTCq3LiZSE

>>5169443
That song was in my head during the update, and I even thought of linking it.
Fuck it, have the extended version https://youtube.com/watch?v=GUsu1R3bOvY

"I'm sorry but I cannot understand you. " You say. "I'm still a novice in the ways of speaking with spirits. But I must ask you to guide me. Somehow, you must help me find this child before it's too late." The spirits around you chatter up once more and scurry about before digging into the earth and disappearing. You stand there alone for a while before a small sprite pops up from the ground, chitters something at you and hurries away. Rather than let an opporunity go to waste, you quickly head back and follow after it. "I think we have a guide. Hurry and follow the sprite." You say as you begin to spirtually feel around the cave for the small sprite given that you can't see it.

"Are you sure it'll lead us to Xin?" Ming asks as she hurries long with you and Renshu.

"It has no reason to lie to us...I'm not even sure they can lie. Most spirits simply tell me no and leave." You admit as you stumble slightly over a rock and your group continues downwards into the heart of the mountain. "Even so, they're our best chance to find another passage to them." You continue onwards, almost blindly as you feel around the cave for the sprite. You're not sure how deep you've gone but it begins to make you wonder how far the fall was. Not only that but you feel as if you're trapped in some kind of maze as the tunnels twist and turn in on themselves.

"How deep do you think we're in?" Ming asks outloud as she looks around the tunnel no fully bereft of any smoothness that would have resulted from constant travel. You find the ground beneathe your feet to be rocky and uneven sometimes even slippery with loose stones. Othertimes, the tunnels seem to shrink and you're forced to follow in single file or even duck down to walk through a low ceiling. All in all reminding you of the grim fate of anyone who would get lost in such caverns without any kind of guide. Even with your memory, you're hard pressed to know where you are with the only thing you fear you'll have to rely on is simply reversing the turns and tunnels you took as your mind cannot find anything to use in place of landmarks.

"I don't know. We've gone up and down these tunnels for a while now. I've lost my sense of height and I can't tell if we've gone lower or higher than we started. Wherever we are, we've certainly traveled quite a bit." You say as you run your hand over the rough wall. "I can only hope that we're getting closer."

"I hear something." Renshu says as he brushes past you and hurries. "It's right around the corner." You and Ming pick up the pace as you follow the large rabbit down another corridor and into another tunnel. In the distance, you can see the bright light that Ming had provided Xin Lan and as you approach you can make out the figure with in it better. You see Xin Lan sitting on their knees. In their lap is the head of a small kitten, its legs swollen and bent horribly in wrong angles as it mewls weakly, delirious from pain. "I...want to see my mommy..." The child sobs quietly with great effort, it's eyes blindly looking around at nothing at all. "I wanna go home..."

Xin Lan gently strokes their forhead, their own eyes empty and dull. "Don't worry. You'll see her soon enough." They say softly. "Just stay with me. It'll be alright."

"Everything is cold...I don't like it here. Take me home please..." The kitten begs.

"Oh gods." Ming breaths as she shoves you aside and begings to pull her pack off her back to dig in into it. She falls to her knees and rummages faster as she looks to pull her tools out.

"Momma?" The child says weakly as they struggle to lift their arm up. Xin Lan gently pushes it back down.

"He can't take your medicine. He has trouble keeping anything down." Xin Lan says quietly. Ming nods.

"No surpises there." She says pressing her fingers to the child's chest. She grabs Xin Lan's and places that on their throat. "Stick with me, snap out of it. Keep an eye on their pulse. Make sure it's still steady. Oh gods...I hope I have enough..."

"I can move the child." You offer. "We can get him back to the surface where he'll be in a better enviroment."

"No. You'll kill him." Ming says as she pulls out several vials. "He could have more broken bones than we can see. Moving him might just end up doing more damage. I'll have to operate here. He's broken both femurs and his muscles are tearing themselves apart from the pain. God, I thought the fall would have been bad but not this bad. If he had landed any other way...I'll be giving Bao my deserts for the rest of the year for the chance she's given us." She says as she pulls out a box full of needles. "Ren, come here. I'll need your help. You'll be pulling the bones back in place while I pull out any fragments."

"Hollow needles?" Renshu asks as he moves into place.

"Full of medicine. Why use a weapon when it can be a tool? We can deliver medicine this way if they can't swallow." Ming says as she holds up a bottle and jams a needle into it bleed some of it's contents into the hollow portion. "I can't measure it properly." She says. "Xin, tell me the moment his pusle drops too low. We're going to have to wing this. This is some terribly strong pain killer and we're sending it right into his bloodstream. It far more purer than anything you can get if you eat it. Two drops...Not to mention he's in shock, how his body will react to this is up in the air but if we don't do anything...Just make sure he doesn't die." Ming flicks the needle twice before flicking it straight into the boy's side. If he had the strength the child would have cried out in pain but all he could offer is a weak whine and a half hearted wince. The child's eyes flutter as he struggles to stay away and Ming takes the boy's hand. "It's ok...just go to sleep. It's all a bad dream. You'll wake up soon enough." She whispers. The child struggles weakly but inevitably succumbs to the medicine introduced to his body and he goes limp.

Ming presses the bottle into Xin Lan's hands. "You're in charge of this. Make sure he doesn't wake up or he might not live through the pain." She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes to steady herself. "Alright...Ren, pull the boy's leg towards me. We need to straighten it out." She says as she grabs a knife. Renshu gives Ming a slight nod and begins to pull...

---

There was something wrong about all this. Seeing a child mangled like that. You didn't want to look away, you wanted to watch but something about this wouldn't allow you. It wasn't the blood or gore as Ming sliced open the child's leg to a pool of blood despite her cutting off the flow of blood as best she could nor was it her slowly pulling out shards of bone that were embeded in the boy's muscles that were piling up next to her knee. It wasn't the start contrast of slowly reddening hands of your friends compared to the pale body of the boy. Deep down, you didn't want to watch simply because you had caused this. Not to this child in particular but to an unknown ammount of children back in the Valley of Peace. How many bodies did you leave mangled in burning houses and along the streets? How many of those were children just like this boy who had done nothing wrong other than being in the wrong place?

Your friends work quietly behind you, only stopping to speak for directions and instruction. "That's the first leg..." Ming says quietly. "Now onto the other one. After that we'll have to check on the rest of him. Hopefully that's the worst of it."

You shut your eyes and decide that perhaps you did not belong here.

>What do you do?
>Write in.

>>5169592
>Tell Ming that once she sets everything into the right places, you'll take on the Boy's injuries - at least some of them - with that healing technique of yours. Your constitution can handle it better than theirs.

>>5169598
That's smart, but we should probably try to get some kind of harness so they can carry us, and do it closer to an exit, since we are heavier than the child.

>>5169627
We may be heavier, but Renshu can break stone and, as far as rabbits go, 'built like a brick shithouse'. At worst, someone like Tai Lung would just need to walk with an arm around Renshu, I imagine.
Remember, Tai Lung is quite literally Built Different. He withstood injuries and fights that would outright kill lesser men, and what he had to show for it was maybe some unseen bruising and being out of breath. His constitution and capacity for pain and injury is quite insane.

>>5169654
Thing is, no matter what the kind of injuries we take, we always enter a coma by using our power, we are not walking back. I remember Luo said that, I will archive hunt and bring back the bit.
If we do it right now, we have to set up for when we get knocked out cold, like asking the sprites the way back, get Ming and Renshu can follow them, have some of them carry us, keep the child calm, and tell the citizen they can return.
So what I was thinking is to just carry the child closer to the other side of the fallen rocks, then take the injuries, so no-one gets lost and the volunteers can help carry us and the child back.

>>5169670
Isn't the coma specifically for accelerating self-healing? I thought it wasn't like that for taking on the injuries of others.

>>5169670
Thread 9 post No.4668553

Going over the archive, because I'm a big nerd, I will point out that doing Chi healing in any capacity also leaves you completely drained and doing the regen thing leaves you completely immobile and defenseless. Just pointing that out incase it messes with any plans you had in the works. Don't want to just spring that on you after the votes. wouldn't be fair.

>>5169676
We get exhausted just using the chi healing, and given how it meant instantly going to sleep everytime, yes.
The regen is just the meditation that takes days to heal, we are aware but in zen mode.

>>5169682
Some more
Thread 4 post No.4463161
We're learning dragon style kung fu. Also people have been voting to learn Chi stuff form Oogway so in order no to drag this out suggest a technique you think Oogway would know to teach you. Personally, I imagine he'd teach you Chi healing. Channel your inner Chi to heal the wounds of others at the cost of redirecting the damage to you. You can choose to heal someone partially so as to not simply trade wounds with a person. If you have more people who can manipulate Ki you can evenly distribute the damage across everyone. Also leaves you exhausted when you do it.

An anon e tips on how to use our chi better in general. The mystical side of Kung Fu was always Tai Lungs weakness.

Anonymous No.4463184
>Chi Healing- Enter a trance [coma] to supercharge your healing rate from weeks to days or heal others by taking on their wounds.
Possible side benefit, is just giving chi to others as seen in the third film, but eh.

Luo No.4463194
Yeah this is good. Being able to internalize your Chi to heal yourself makes sense as something you'd learn before learning to channel it into others.

The idea is having like an emergency healing option without making Ming completely obsolete. Hence why it leaves you completely drained and you take on other's wounds. It can buy you and someone else time to receive healing but it's not just a cure all. Even healing yourself like you suggested has issues to balance it out. You're completely defenseless and you have an increased healing rate not regeneration. So if the injury is particularly bad, even speeding up the healing rate won't save you from dying but it still might be enough for aid to come.


So maybe we could take on the injuries and just be absolutely exhausted and with both legs broken? Not very sure right now. I will need Luo to clarify.
Still, I think bringing the child closer to the villagers first might be for the best, since once Ming gives him the look over and immediate treatment he can be moved safely.

I can't remember if I changed it to an all or nothing situation where you take all of the person's injuries or none at all to be honest. But assuming no, here's my answer.

If you take the kid's broken legs (assuming that's all you take) that a single broken femur is like 6 months of healing in modern day. If you use your coma/trance that will speed it up but I'd say it's about 4 months and maybe a week or so to heal both your legs. I won't add up all the time for every injury. I'll just take the worst one and use that one's time to figure it out. Everything heals at the same time after all. So the question is, are you willing to clock out of a 3rd of a year to do this?


But yeah, you take on the injuries of the kid. Kid will be fine. He'll be good as new and you'll be in horrifying pain with two broken femurs as well as whatever damage the kid's muscles had from that result. Then if you go into a trance...well I haven't decided if Ming will now need to do surgery on you to set your bones right before you heal up. Partly because I only assumed you'd use it on gashes and like fractures. I'll probably lean to no because magic chi BS.

If you need more info, let me know.

>>5169724
Well shit, 4 months is a lot of time, we are nearly on our time limit and the kid is on the place where he has the best chances for treatment.
On the other hand, Sangpo will most likely understand and sacrifincing ourself to help others is somethign we have done.

Can we still spend the 10 weeks learning from our friends to make the new style even after the 4 month healing coma? It was the last thing on our to do list, other than one final shot at the gators.

>>5169750
Sure. That'll just be on the list of tasks now along with finding snow leopards, going to ming's home, and finding the pools. Subject to whatever else comes up to take away your attention. However, 4 months is a big decision so I'll let you guys talk it out.

>>5169771
I'm for it, personally, and not just because I suggested it. Right now, Tai Lung is feeling the weight of his past sins. Even if it's not the optimal decision, it would be a decision motivated by that guilt. He still has penance to pay, and he definitely has that martyr complex these days. Besides that, it's simply a virtuous deed. It's the right thing to do to help someone else.

>>5169598
Sure .

So long as we can get out or direct others out, I am willing to take the 4 months.
The point though, is that we need to get the child to the surface and cant do that if we are unconsious.
And we will need to say sorry to the others for this.

>>5169820
>>5169928
I see... Alright, your choice is made. We're doing a time skip but first I need a bit of a write in for you because you know your friends are going to protest. Unless you're not going to tell them what you're going to do.

Points of protest.

1. Current shenanigans with being harassed and being denied service by merchants. The whole pema thing.

2. Your trial by Sangpo. Going out cold for 4 months certainly won't help you in completing it at least from what your friends will see.

3. Your classes. You'll be out and your students will be with out one of their teachers. Although sacrificing your own health for the son of a woman who hates you is a hell of an example for being a good person and your teachings.

4. The two buns and two cats will miss you very much and will be worried.


Feel free to write how you'll refute these worries or don't and surprise your friends. It's up to you.

>>5169928
So ming sets the kids legs and we use our Chi ability to forge them together.

>>5169942
Refutations.
1. You three are capable of a lot, beyond just what we can do. Besides, it will help be resolved with the help of this trial, which the mayor will also fix the service issue. Just keep an eye out for the mastermind.

2. He will understand.

3.they will also understand. A man has to stand by his principles, and these principles are worth standing for.

4. We love them, and we have done far worse. When we wake up, they can shout at us but until we do they can know that we wont go any place we cant come back from. Give em all a hug and biggest bun a kiss

And I hope that Renshu can read our memories of the way back.

>>5169950
>And I hope that Renshu can read our memories of the way back.
He will be able to but I thought you were going to take the kid out or do it at the base of the cliff where the debris is so you can extract easier. Your method is up to you but you dont' need to worry about how your friends will leave. Renshu and TL simply respect each other's privacy and never really delved further beyond surface thoughts.

>>5169956
Yeah taking the kid as far out as possible.

Though, one wonders if it is better to have some privacy. . Nah. Privacy doesnt really matter in life and death.
I just trust the buns to deal with the shadow master, this is their "prove they can do good without their moral anchor"

>>5169942
Just woke up, so here we go
1 - We trust Renshu. Just give him the arguments we were going to present, and I believe he will make a case even better than we would. Also we were gping to put our trust on the guard and the mayor for now, so they will only need to be on the defense.

2 - Sangpo will understand if they explain our power. Actually, I think it will even help, since the trial was to show that we were a good person that would be able to resist the pool, showing that we are as stubborn was we said, and is willing to sacrifice ourself for others is a positive, not a negative. Not only that, but the trial was mainly for our friends not us, since we already had the inner peace

3 - Ask Xin to start the whole trial instructors earlier. Tell her who were the ones we chose. Also tell her to share the story with Chen when he ask, and accept help if he offers.

4 - It will be fine, we have done crazier things, like actually dying. They have progressed much more ever since we started, and we are justvgoing to be meditating. Just consider this our obligatory coma for this adventure, we didn't have one yet.

Just got to hope that while we are out the citizen don't start treating us as some sort of saint, you know, visiting our meditation place and praying to be healed. Completly fixing a child form the family that hates us and then entering a zen meditation trance like a super monk could pass that impression, and doing the miracle near them even more.
Although it would be funny to wake up in the middle of a shrine instead of the Warren. But Sangpo, others from the library and our friends would easily put a stop to that.

>>5170140
Xin lan would never turn down donations for her husband's shrine! What's the Chinese title for Saint or like super holy miracle man?

>>5170284
There are a bunch, since China had around 3 or 5 official state religions, ideologies and philosophies.
For example, in taoism there are the eight inmortals, in folklore great people straight up get revered as gods, confusianism has the four sages, ancestor worship has honoured ancestors, budhism has bodhisattvas, legalism the state is divine so it's whoever the emperor gives authority too, meaning the goverment officials (that one only survived for a single generation, fell together with the Qin dynasty, but was canibalized by the others, specialy han confucionism).
And they all work together, for example, the monkey kind is a bodhisattvas, a god, and met the immortals.

>>5170321
Also here's an example of a practice in China
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_mummies
They tended to be encased inside golden statues and treated as relics, a bit like pieces of christian saints.
Being one that is actually alive and not rotting would actually fit, given how the city is kind of more tibetan in culture, and they are budhist/bon

Big time skip...err time. Writing.

Y'all dun goofed. Now brown bun will steal your heart while you sleep and when you awake you'll get married.

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>>5170623
It just wouldn't be Tai Lung quest if we didn't enter a coma during an important part of an arc.