#F37389

[rosehorn]

[ colour ]

Hello everyone! I'm not quite sure how this whole thing works but apparently writing something on here will allow me to post a message for everyone to see?

Anyway, I just want to make a PSA of sorts, since I have a feeling it might become relevant at some point...

If you happen to find an (unattached) arm anywhere, please:
1) DO NOT APPROACH IT!!!!
2) Come find me, Kasen Ibaraki, and alert me of where it is ASAP. I am currently residing in Ruga.

This is for your own safety!

That said, it's nice to meet everyone!

Comments

#9BC5EF

[alittlespicy]

[ Color. ]

If the arm is cursed, do you have anything to contain it in?

[ Because he has options he can offer. That are actually meant for cursed items. ]

[rosehorn]

It was kept in a box but the seal on it has weakened significantly... And well, I didn't even have the box with me when I arrived in this place.

[ So basically, the answer is nope... ]

[alittlespicy]

I can help if it is found.

My name is Lan Wangji.

[ At least he remembers to do this, this time... ]

[rosehorn]

It is an honour to meet you and to have your assistance, Lan Wangji. Are you familiar with sealing things away?

[ She hadn't expected to meet so many people who could actually help with the situation... But it's reassuring. ]

[alittlespicy]

One of the things we do is protect people from creatures and items most are defenseless against. Cursed, as well. We have found ways to suppress them, as necessary.

Sometimes, liberating the curse, too.

[ And destroying, but he's assuming she doesn't want that. ]

[rosehorn]

I'm not sure if the curse can necessarily be liberated but I would certainly like to have it suppressed... Is there anything you want me to prepare on my end? Assuming the arm is even in the area, of course.

[ She's starting to feel cautiously hopeful. Perhaps she doesn't need to employ any drastic measures to get this arm sealed once and for all. ]

[alittlespicy]

[ He would be curious to find out what her drastic measures are. But for now. ]

Liberation is tried first. It is the best solution, but rarely works. Suppression next. If you can discuss the nature of the curse and the source and cause, can try liberation all the same. Otherwise, if the arm is found, I will help.

[rosehorn]

[ It makes perfect sense that he will need to know this information, but she is reluctant to give it anyway - she doesn't know the full details of it herself either. But he's offering his help, it would be unfair if she didn't share as much as she knew. ]

After my arm was severed, it took on a will of its own. More specifically, it became the embodiment of the negative aspects of myself. I don't know what could have caused that to happen, though. The act of severance itself?

[alittlespicy]

[ He understands not wanting to share. Sometimes, circumstances are too personal, or too sensitive. If it's possible, it leads to the best outcome - the best closure - but that does not make it easier. ]

Did you have a lot of resentment?

Where I know, dead bodies reanimate with their resentment in life. Perhaps when it became separate, and thus dead, it took on all of yours.

[rosehorn]

Oh yes. I was furious. Not just at the loss of my arm, but of the loss of my brethren, of everything I had ever known. Of being defeated and humiliated.

[ She can't help but smile at how he probably hit the nail on the end with this one. ]

You know, I had the same theory at some point. It was hard for me to admit it to myself at the time but you may be right.

[alittlespicy]

[ A small pause. ]

I am sorry for your loss.

[ Even if she doesn't feel the resentment, a loss like that is horrific. It was Wei Ying who showed him that, taking in Wen Qing's branch of the family, but wandering the now-empty Burial Mound has driven the point home. And so has carrying the innocent, completely orphaned, unconscious child back home. ]

Different worlds have different principles about some things. There may be something else to your arm, as well. Will not be able to tell unless it is found - and it is ultimately your choice what to attempt to do with it.

If it is similar, someone else from my world might be able to give more information.

[rosehorn]

It's quite alright now. I've had a lot of time to reflect and mourn. Sometimes, the best option is just to look forward and do one's best, I think.

[ It really was so very long ago since her group was slaughtered and her kind went into hiding. Sometimes, she still comes across a couple of them, but she considers that chapter of her life officially closed. She's spent enough time dwelling on it. ]

Thank you for offering this choice to me all the same. Everyone has been most helpful. I think a colleague of yours also commented here? Wei Wuxian? I didn't know there were shrine maidens in this place!

1/2

[alittlespicy]

Shrine maidens?

[ ... and he goes to read the other comments. ]

[alittlespicy]

[ Oh.

... 'loveliest'?

Give him a moment. ]

Sometimes, Wei Wuxian takes freedoms in representing things. He may have led you to believe things are somewhat different than reality.

For one thing, I am not associated with any shrine.

[ Where does he even start with the 'maiden' part... ]

[rosehorn]

[ Oh... so... no shrine maidens? Actually, there's just no shrine so maybe there are still maidens? ]

Oh! Oh. I see. [ She's not even sure where to go from here. ] Actually, that does make sense when I think about it. Neither of you seem greedy at all, unlike most shrine maidens I know. [ Re: all two of them ] And you haven't tried to advertise your gods to me yet either.

[alittlespicy]

[ He said-- er, typed! that that is one thing! Not that it's all wrong with the statement!

... on the other hand. ]

Not greedy. Disciplines are inner, not directed at or ruled by gods.

Most cultivators should not be greedy.

[ Not the same as saying they are not, or at least some or not. Not the same as saying, he has seen, that there are no situation in which it is not understandable. But the working on the inner self doe tend to encourage trying to distance oneself from some things - at least in the ways he has been taught. ]

[rosehorn]

Exactly! That's how it should be!

Some of the gods of my world are trying to bring about an industrial revolution of sorts... coming up with new technologies and such. [ Like the artificial hotsprings. ] So they kind of need the funding. Still, you'd think that they could do their jobs without constantly asking for donations!

[ Now she's kind of venting. Sorry. ]

[alittlespicy]

Gods... want revolution?

[ ... does not compute. ]

[rosehorn]

[ Gensokyo gods are weird. 'Nuff said. ]

They think that our world is too stagnant, too feudal. In order to gather faith from the masses, they are trying to find ways to make everyone's lives easier. Hence, introducing electricity into households or setting up hydropower stations.

Do your gods... not do things like this?

[alittlespicy]

No.

I do not know what those things are.

[ It's not like Chroma has electricity, either... ]

What I know of the gods, they try to maintain order, not overturn it.

[ So this is utterly baffling. Even the trickster god is generally dated after his fictional time... ]

[rosehorn]

I'm probably not the best person to ask about them either. I know electricity allows you to have light even in the middle of the night without having to start a fire. And hydropower is using the power of moving water to generate energy.

Though I feel like the gods of my land are quite different than most.

[alittlespicy]

I see.

Do you think they are good things?

[rosehorn]

I'd like to be optimistic. If it makes lives easier, then I can see good in them... but there's always a catch.

[alittlespicy]

The need for donations? Or something else?

[rosehorn]

The end goal of all these inventions is to gather something even more valuable to them - faith. They cannot exist with people's faith.

There's a troubling sense of desperation behind it, I suppose.