With Jin successfully revived (not that it took much on her part), Raika’s turned back to her surroundings. There’s still a sense of hunger to her, though minimized after gorging herself in the fortress city and the ruins of the battle on her way out, but she can no longer indulge it as she once would have. The temptation is there, but it’s minimized by the presence of the golden band.

Which brings up a very interesting question, in light of the fact that it seems her hunger may be an ongoing issue; why is she hungry?

She can literally transmute Qi into biology. Her Truths, her Heart and her forced adaptation to Qi poisoning, so long ago now, all work together so that the Qi in her body is just as transmutable as blood, bone, and everything in between, and unlike those other materials, she can generate more of it from nothing. That’s the beauty and danger of how Qi works- put it in the right pattern, and it uses itself as a sort of catalyst, creating more Qi. It’s how a Qi font works in the wild, how the largest formations sustain themselves for millenia- unless it is left idle or spent to create an effect, Qi is always adding more Qi to the world, only for that excess to turn into more beings and properties that require it, and eventually drain it away.

She can replicate that in her body. Has been for years now. By all rights, the Qi she can generate with her force-adapted cultivation, nevermind her biological formations, should provide her with enough that she can just replace whatever part of her needs fresh supplies from food.

So- why the hunger?

As far as she’s been able to tell, tracking especially with the datapoint of when it got so much worse, there are two likely reasons. Firstly; her inner world seems to crave new flavors, new contexts, new mechanics. While she could bite into immaterial things before using Blacksteel teeth, it’s only with the acquisition of her Heart that she gained the ability to consume Dao and other concepts more directly, and it seems that the godflesh-thing inside her craves those more esoteric properties to add to itself. As a part of her body, it translates to, well, hunger, but in a way that feels less biological and more a psychological desire. After all, it’s at least in part contained by the golden band around her world, minimized by the threat of pain.

The other is that, in spite of her inbuilt natural-formations of Qi generation, the stuff she makes has no flavor. Shameful as it is for a cook to admit such a thing, Qi generated in her body possesses only surface-level impressions of the elements inside her body, but doesn’t contain the richness of Qi that has absorbed properties naturally over a long period or been forcefully transformed by conscious thought, i.e. meridians, cultivation, or array-formation. If she let it ‘ferment’ inside her body for longer, absorb her body’s qualities, she’s pretty sure it might become “biology Qi” or “blood Qi”, but without Qi-organs or a Soul that can touch the outside world, that could take… well, she’s not sure. Days? Weeks? Months? She burns through Qi so fast that even with her biological generator-arrays, she’s usually only just breaking even- no chance for that.

In effect, while she’s making enough Qi to meet her needs, she’s doing the metaphysical equivalent of living off of rice and water. The Qi she’s learned to cycle without meridians is more than enough to cause Qi poisoning in a mortal, and through grit and talent she forced her body to evolve to feed off that, but as it stands, there’s no depth or complexity to the Qi inside her compared to even what’s in the air around her. Her body, adapted and CHANGEd through both Truth, arcane Reactor, and Heart, craves nutrients, proteins, minerals, not just metaphorical calories.

All this to say that Raika is working very hard to justify taking just a nibble from some of these rocks.

At a glance, they don’t exude Dao. That’s not to say one could not form a comprehension of Dao or manifest it in this place- it surely could grant tremendous insight into the patterns of existence relating to natural growth, environments, stone, and a million other possible interpretations. It’s just that it’s not exuding it naturally. There are places where that is the case, but they’re rarer than Qi fonts, and usually happen because of a specific event, an inheritance or ritual site of an old cultivator, or the corpses of greater beasts. Dao is a conscious comprehension of the laws of the world, after all, a reflection of Heaven’s Will, and that doesn’t usually happen without people, even if some areas are rich in inspiration for it.

So it definitely won’t hurt her tummy if she eats some of the rock flowers.

If it’s not Dao or a literal concept, it shouldn’t be absorbed into her inner world, which means the band won’t have any reason to constrict and constrain more absorptions. Because this flower does not have Dao. It’s just a flower… with a lot of Qi. Tasty, delicious, chalky, stone-flavored Qi, which has transmuted plants into rock plants who-knows-how-long-ago.

Raika takes a deep breath. Steels her will. Opens her mouth just a little wider than humanly possible, getting ready to take a bite out of the beautiful jasper-stone tiger lily she’s holding, and-

Honored One.

On instinct, Raika’s brains pilot the dozen muscle groups required to turn an incredibly startled fumble into something approaching a gracious turn.

Many-Grasping stands a little ways away, and while they don’t have Ko-es’ habit of bowing, they do keep their head a bit low. Raika’s more biological and instinct-minded brains take note of the fact that they always tilt said head a little to the side, keeping their neck exposed in a show of submission. The intent is translated instantly through the all-language of… well, Intent, but either to aid in translation or as habit, Many-Grasping still performs the more primal show of subservience.

Acknowledge, Raika sends back. Everything Alright?

Many-Grasping nods, using body language where Intent is not needed. With her so consistently close by, it makes for interesting training- Many-Grasping’s control of her Intent allows Raika to notice it more often in others, and while she’s not entirely sure what the use or implications of that might be, she’s yet to say no to a new style of sensory perception.

This, in turn, ensures that Raika keeps a closer eye on Many-Grasping than her friends, adding to the fact that, as a newer member of their little traveling group, she’s still under review, so to speak. Her biology is distinct in a way Raika hasn’t seen outside herself, with systems that don’t seem like they’d evolve naturally blended together seamlessly. Her four legs work to make for nimble movement, but the four joints, one more than a human, along her front limbs make them versatile manipulators. Her face, hair carefully braided into a sort of mane around her neck to accentuate it, is both human and not, bright blue eyes sitting just above a mouth and jaw that is more reminiscent of a snout than a human shape. Perhaps if Raika had met her as a cultivator, her reaction might have been shock or distaste, though never in a way as to hurt a stranger, but with her ability to perceive biology and relatively new lack of social compunctions about it… well. It’s weirdly intriguing.

Pausing, Raika notices that Many-Grasping has noticed her noticing her. She blinks, refocusing, but Many-Grasping does not seem to mind- if anything, it seems almost expected. It’s quiet, but alongside just the slightest hints of Intent, Raika detects a slight change in her hormonal structure.

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Not one that she expected. Not one that she’s particularly happy about, either. The chemicals for arousal are faint, the Intent a fair bit louder, but there’s a small note of adrenal prey reaction that adds a a drop of bitterness to Many-Grasping’s scent.

Raika takes a deep breath, seating her avatar-body on the ground. They’re still atop the patio-garden she’s formed out of her body, and the tiles of bone are warm and accommodating. Moving slowly and carefully, Raika does her best to transmit her Intent towards Many-Grasping in its completion.

Non-aggression. Interest. Conversation. Question?

Many-Grasping relaxes, ever so slightly. Agreement. Submission. Clarification = What Do You Wish Of Me?

Raika… shrugs. Uncertain. Passive. Study And Communication. Information.

Many Grasping seems… well, Intent speaks clearly, if bluntly.

Confusion. Submission. Clarification = Only As Stated?

Now that is interesting.

Not the implications. That, she’s happy to talk through- the other part. The part where clarification is required. So things can be hidden or misinterpreted through Intent, whereas Truespeak tends to come across… “clearer”, for lack of a better term. She’s still not sure if one’s Intent can lie, though it seems impossible, but that information is useful.

Only As Stated. You = No Harm / Conditional On Alliance. Alliance = Communication, Information, + Don’t Be An Idiot.

Huh. Turns out that while ‘common sense’ isn’t a concept in Intent, ‘don’t be an idiot’ very much is. Refreshing.

Many-Grasping nods her head, sitting close but not too close to Raika. What she sends next isn’t as focused as her prior Intent, broader and more complex. It can’t be translated into words as directly, even in the broad and artificial ways that Intent needs to be translated into to be comprehended with an alphabet.

She transmits acquiescence, hope for cooperation, admiration… and an invitation. Not an outright offer, but an implied and Intentionally sent understanding that she would be open for more.

Hmm. And not just that.

Mixed into the message is a bit of… expectation? Like it’s a foregone conclusion, or something obvious. Is it particularly common amongst beastkin? Amongst master-student relationships?

Raika’s experienced something like that dynamic before, back in the Hungering Roots sect, but it was always rare. Centralized governance meant centralized laws, and while sects got a lot of leeway in their internal affairs and politicking against each other, laws on sexual exploitation are strict, and the honor-code of a master-student dynamic, set into tradition, minimized much chance of intimacy. It still happened on occasion, sometimes even well, but it was frowned upon.

Raika does not get that impression from Many-Grasping’s Intent. There is some hesitation, that note of prey-fear still lingering, but it feels more like the sort of fear one gets when approaching a superior or an unknown, which Raika very much is. She’s experienced some form of it before- back in her younger years at the sect, she was a particular fan of enlightening shy young things about all new experiences, should they prove receptive. But it’s weirder to have it from someone approaching her, and what’s more, with what smells like a genuine awareness of danger, approaching someone so much more powerful.

She’s… not sure she likes it. It feels unequal, to say the least, and a bit uncomfortable.

And that doesn’t even get into her thoughts of Maen. Yeah, they’re on a break, yes, they’re theoretically immortal, but… well. Raika misses her.

Honesty once again is easier in the language of Intent, she manages to send back most of her thoughts on the matter fairly succinctly;

‘I appreciate the thought, and I’ll think about it.”

Many-Grasping nods, both anxiety and arousal magnifying with the polite refusal. Rather than let the conversation sit idle, though, Raika elects to kill two birds with one metaphorical stone.

Taking the flower out from behind her back, she goes ahead and takes a bite out of it, prompting a trill of surprise out of Many-Grasping. It’s the first audible vocal sound Raika’s heard from her, and she can’t help but smile at that.

She encounters partial success! The flower indeed does not get digested into concepts and sucked into her inner world, falling instead into the cavernous, spatially-altered nightmare that is her stomach. On the other hand, it also turns some of her molars and part of her throat into stone, which is quite fixable, but quite annoying.

It does, in fact, taste deliciously crunchy. Not nearly as tastily chalky as she thought, either, more of a crumbly taste and texture.

Many-Grasping stares at her with worry, and Raika assuages that worry by shoving the entire rest of the flower into her mouth at once, and turning to pluck a few more.

Delicious. Not For You, But Delicious.

Many-Grasping sends back a wave of relief and amusement, shaking her head. Rising up, she bows, telling Raika that she is always at her disposal for any questions, and that hopefully soon they will encounter a landmark beyond “this place turns you into rocks, avoid the whole area”. Apparently east, the direction that Raika feels pulling her, should lead them directly into a section of overgrowth that is traveled semi-frequently, and Many-Grasping is hopeful that they’ll be able to find a trail or something to lead them to a village of the Many and All alliance.

Raika shoots her the metacognitive equivalent of a thumb’s up, and she gives a short bow and heads back over to the ‘observation deck’, a section of the patio-area that Raika’s elevated to look out over the stone flora.

She herself, meanwhile, enjoys another dozen flowers.

More data, then- It takes some of her own generated Qi to transform back any body parts that turn to stone, but the transformations are minor and more than worth it. Secondly, the hunger gets better and worse at the same time; as if she’s broken a fast, her body reminds her of how empty she is of things she could really use, even as the sensation of being not quite as hungry as before comes clear.

And thirdly, perhaps most importantly- she feels the band stir.

It doesn’t contract, doesn’t activate in truth, but the more of the stone flora she eats, the more it feels… tense. Anticipatory. Maybe in large enough quantities, her Heart starts to make some Dao for itself, or absorb Qi to grow the inner world by osmosis?

It allows for a decent amount of eating, but not enough to satisfy.

Sighing, Raika takes out her pipe. She grew the bone herself, obviously, but this time she carved it by hand rather than simply forming it into shape. She’s still not great at transmuting her body into non-fauna biology, but the Heart helps, Dink shivering and sending a clearer message between them. A few moments later, her fingertips on her free hand have formed into something similar to the moss and leaves she prefers, and it’s easy enough to pluck them and put them in the bowl to be smoked.

Not true flora. Not yet.

But always progress. It might not give her much, but it’s another avenue still open to her using her strongest tool, her biology, and with the band in place, she could use some more time exploring new avenues.

Tastes fucking terrible though. The True Flame works to ignite it, obviously, Qi sparked into writhing, hungry energy and then allowed to dissipate into regular fire- but it tastes like bad barbecue with hints of herbs at best.

Raika sighs. A good conversation, a halfway-decent snack, and some more thoughts. Not too terrible. About time to get moving again.

She gets up, brushing herself of imaginary crumbs, and bioshifts the patio onto the back of her stridermorph Body. This way, everyone can enjoy the outdoors some more (though she does add some breathing vents around the place to shape air flow and keep away at least a few potential contaminants) as they travel, and she takes a chunk of ground with a hill of stonemoss and stone flowers as a souvenir, adding it to the edge of the patio. Separate from the whole, the Qi properties of density so high it transmutes things diminishes the further it gets from the rest of the stone all around, but she still sets up a perimeter around it. No need for anyone to get accidentally petrified just for an added garden-piece (and, potentially, a patch of ingredients? Who knows if they’re even smokable, but she’s willing to try).

For a while, as her strider-form carries them over the world below, flaking off bits of transmuted chalk every now and again, it’s just… peaceful. Beautiful, even, the natural landscape more a background risk than a threat, and listening to the sound of Jin laughing and her passengers enjoying the views makes the rest of the day’s travel feel memorable.

And then, like a sour cherry atop a stunning dessert, right as the sun is getting close to setting, Raika hears some of the last words she ever expected to hear in the 4th ring.

“In the name of the honorable Crashing Rainfall sect, halt!”