DC 54

Working third shift this week, send your pity prayers to me!

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“Do you think that taking a nice little walk across the country entitles you to the colors? That because your mommy told you that you were special little girls, we’d just welcome you into the sect with open arms? Or, let me guess, were your mommies ex-members and decided to pass down their robes to you?” Feng Jiao was both amazed and horrified by the several different shades of red that the baldy shifted through. Tomato, apple, cherry, blood, on and on. Before this moment, Feng Jiao had never really realized how many different shades of red there were.

“Elder Nufang gave-” 

“There is no Elder Nufang! You’re lucky I don’t strip those robes off you right now. I’m being polite by allowing little girls like you to retain your dignity.” Baldy cut off Bai Fu as soon as she started talking and continued his ranting and raving. Jiao could tell that she was preparing to retaliate but, before Bai Fu could make it any worse, Jiao grabbed her shoulder and gave her a slight shake of the head. 

The man kept ranting and raving for minutes, spitting everywhere. He worked his way from robes being worn, to pledges showing up late, dinner being meager, the summer being sticky, and back. Honestly, after a few minutes, Jiao just toned him out and concentrated on his own problems.

When he was a child, he didn’t really care about people mistaking his gender for another. He’d been blessed with clear skin, a thin frame, and lusterfull hair. At the start, he didn’t really care for the mix ups. He still had the mindset of a tree and trees don’t have genders. He didn’t get the importance of the gender thing, but as he grew older he got tired of being demeaned for being a female. He wasn’t even a female! 

Jiao accidently tuned back into the rant and realized that the baldy was going on about the same old spiel again, this time laying into another disciple for the way their eyebrows looked and the fact that his hair was styled strangely.

“Not everyone who has hair is a female, though I guess a baldy would have trouble with that subject.” While the tomato face was yelling at someone else, Feng Jiao leaned over and whispered into Bai Fu’s ear. The two of them started giggling quieting, doing their best not to make noise in the silence. 

Wait, silence?

Looking back, Feng Jiao realized that the man was staring deep into his eyes and fuming. ‘He’s even more intimidating when he’s silent, I wonder if he ever realized that’, Feng Jiao thought to himself. He wasn’t too worried about getting kicked out over his comment, there was a large gap between a Step Nine awakened making a joke and a Step Five arguing and yelling with the man. Still, the malicious gleam in the man’s eyes sent chills down the eyes of everyone he looked at.

“Stay here. Don’t move until told to.” With that, the balding man turned around and walked away. Only after he was gone did the children start whispering amongst themselves once again. Jiao let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding and looked around at the smallish crowd that had gathered. 

Several disciples, outer and nominal, had come to see the new group of people. It wasn’t everyday that they received large numbers of fresh blood, actually it was usually twice a year, and they seemed to have a lapse in their schedule. They’d gathered slowly, drinking in the sight of the baldy yelling and spitting at the children but none of them really seemed surprised at his behavior. Either he was always crazy, or giving the new guys shit was some sort of initiation. Jiao was leading toward the latter. 

Observing the observers, Jiao realized something else. This time, he had truly been the one at fault, not just for his joke either. The nominal disciples stood around wearing robes that were either bright green, or a green so dark it may as well have been black. The Outer sect disciples, or at least that is what he presumed them to be, wore the same robes but embroidered with thread of the opposite color. The fabrics varied from silks to cotton-like substances, and even the shades were slightly different. One thing that was uniform, however, was the gender. Men wore robes that were dark green as a base, and women wore light green.

Looking down, Jiao grimaced when he saw that his robe was, in fact, light green. It made sense, considering that Nufang Mudan was a woman and the two robes that he and Bai Fu had been given were hand-me-downs, but it still pained him. Although he’d noted that it seemed a bit feminine when he woke up wearing the robe, he thought that it was that way because the sect was known for being primarily female. Elder, no, Nufang Mudan hadn’t warned him that the sect had separate colored robes based on gender. 

That being said, over the last few months, Feng Jiao came to realize that the quality of the robe was one of the highest he’d ever owned, second only to the under-robe that he’d acquired from the blind man. It didn’t seem to stain, didn’t tear, was extremely comfortable, cooling, and fit him perfectly. He was reluctant to get rid of it and started wondering if there was a particularly manly-looking woman somewhere with a high-quality men’s robe he could trade for. ‘Nah, that’d be way too much of a coincidence.’ 

“Sorry about that, I needed to clear my head and make sure some openings were still available. I brought back a few guides to help everyone get acclimated as well.” Baldy returned, back to his original skin tone and with a tranquil look on his face. 

“Let’s try this again. Name, Age, and Affinity please.” During his travels, Feng Jiao had slowly picked up on some more of the mannerisms of cultivators. Although he already knew that nobody could see his martial spirit manifest while he cultivated, outside of the awakening ceremony, he discovered it was also considered rude to ask somebody what species their spirit was. It was akin to asking a female cultivator how many centuries old they were. That being said, affinity was a frequent question instead and many wore a sigil of their spirit on their robes. 

“Jiao, surnamed Feng. I’ll be eleven years old next month and my affinity is wood.” He decided that he would announce his affinity as wood in order to get access to a cultivation technique for his second dantian. He felt that, with a little more of Aideen’s guidance, he would be able to condense his fire Qi and he was only missing the ability to refine the wood Qi he absorbed. Only a few of the children in his group had seen or recognized his fire Qi during his fight and, with a sect this large, he didn’t think he’d run into any issues with them anytime soon either. Only 20 to 30 of them were even at the fights, the others were brought along due to family connections or favors.

At hearing that Jiao was only eleven, the man was taken aback. The tranquil look on his face traded with a grimace, even if only for a moment, before switching back. He turned to Bai Fu and repeated his question. This time, both he and Jiao were both taken aback. 

“Bai Fu. Thirteen in a few months. My affinity is ice.” The young girl spoke with a brilliant smile on her face. The entire time, Jiao had thought she was fifteen years old based on how developed her body was, at least when it wasn’t wrapped to disguise her, and the fact that she’d smuggled herself into the male bracket at the competition. It was a move that the older girls usually made in order to stand out. 

The baldy mumbled something under his breath about everybody being a genius these days, and something about a robe. He was also taken aback by her self-proclaimed affinity with ice. Although secondary affinities weren’t common, they were not rare either and it wasn’t unheard of for a disciple to lie about their affinity to obtain a desired cultivation technique. Theoretically, it was possible for a cultivator to cultivate whatever flavor of Qi they wished, though the best results would always be the ones aligned with one’s martial spirit. In his mind, if Bai Fu was lying then she would be working twice as hard for half the results and her cultivation wouldn’t go far. He moved on and collected names.

Feng Lou proclaimed wood, which Jiao knew to be the most common allignment in his branch of the Feng family.  Xin Lee, the wealthy beast tamer’s son, proclaimed that he was of the earth alignment and had already received an inheritance, “Though I wouldn’t mind perusing the sect’s earth techniques to see if my family could be refined further.” A few of the disciples who’d gotten to know him over the past months rolled their eyes, not surprised at his bragging at all. He wasn’t a bad person, but he never missed the chance to mention his status and they already knew he had his own cultivation technique from his family, much like Nufang Mudan thought Feng Jiao did.

After tallying up ages and affinities, he split the groups up and sent them with various disciples he’d brought back. The disciples would act as guides and mentors in the next month or so until the children were acclimated to sect life. The teams he separated earlier each received a single mentor and were told they’d be dorming together, which explained why he’d also assigned the teams based on gender, and each of the ‘peak disciples’ were given a personal mentor. Finally it came time for Bai Fu and Feng Jiao to be sent out but only baldy and a strange looking girl were left standing there.

“You’re planning on guiding one of us yourself?” Bai Fu couldn’t help but speak up after exchanging glances with Feng Jiao. They were on good terms with each other, but both wished that the baldie would guide the other. He seemed annoyed, unhinged, aggressive, and the glare off his head was causing Feng Jiao to develop a headache. 

“Oh, no. Not at all, my time is much too valuable. Actually, considering that the two of you were such good seedlings, I went and talked to an elder when I left earlier. I got permission for the two of you to share a mountain dwelling together, something that only official outer sect disciples would be allowed to do normally. Normally, a nominal disciple would have to stay in the valley until condensing their Qi, but I figured the two geniuses like you would benefit from working in an area with a richer Qi concentration.” 

His benevolent smile sent chills up Feng Jiao’s spine. The large, white teeth superimposed with the image of a red face and reminding Jiao of a pitahaya, the baldy must be a dragon amongst men. Jiao also quickly remembered that the man walked away before asking them what their affinities or ages were. Although he looked young, Bai Fu seemed to be fifteen or sixteen, just like the rest of the disciples who’d been standing with them. There was no reason for him to have classified her as a genius. 

“Anyways, this is a fellow outer sect disciple who will be both rooming with you and guiding you through your transition. Indoc is in a month, I’ll see you there should you choose to attend!” The baldy turned and left, ready to enjoy the rest of his evening while the peculiar looking girl started at Bai Fu and Feng Jiao.