D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

[Those pair better be careful, otherwise they'll be putting on a show for whoever looks in.]

*Yeah… a bit weird there's no way to hide in a private box, but I guess it makes sense they didn't bother. It's not like they have one-way glass. Probably.*

[Actually… we could ask? We just sort of assumed that there was no way to hide or obscure the room.]

Oh, well I have to ask in that case. If there is, you can chat with everyone! "Not to interrupt… whatever it is you two are doing, but Lily and I were wondering if there was a way to hide what's going on here?" asked Kat.

Bing paused in her rather careless ministrations of Sue's chest. "Oh… um… should be…" Bing said as she pealed herself off Sue and started to palm her hand over various parts of the wall. "Obscuring enchantments are rarely used… but standard… just… hmm… where did we…" Bing continued to pat down the wall. "Damn thing is all infused with qi so I can't tell… is it here?" Bing gently tapped under the railing. Nothing happened. "No… maybe by the door?"

Bing moved over to the door and this time, she got it right. Well… not the first attempt, it was actually on the opposite side of the door but she managed it. Eventually. The open window to the fighting flashed for a few moments becoming cloudy before clearing up, at least on this side of the glass. Kat and Lily sent a look to Bing who nodded in confirmation. Lily transformed on Kat's lap, and gave her a kiss. "Now, Bing, do you want to talk about your lesbian awakening?"

"Um…" Bing glanced around at three other girls. "I… I was mostly joking?" Lily kept staring, "I think?" Lily's stare narrowed, "I mean… I… boys?" it sounded more like a question then any of the others. "I mean… I'm not?" Lily shook her head, "Can we maybe go over this… later? Or never?" Lily pondered on that for a moment before nodding. "Right… thanks… I… I certainly didn't think this was how today was going to go… um… can someone change the topic please?"

"How does the inscription for the window work and what's stopping people from seeing through it?" asked Kat, Lily pouted at Bing being given such an easy out but was also curious about that little fact, so was willing to let it go.

Bing's smile light up the room, appreciative of the segway, "It's pretty simple actually. The inscription is made to be incredibly fragile. It has just enough robustness to crack first, giving the people inside a warning, but then it will shatter. The idea is that we can't make sophisticated enough blocking for higher level cultivators… so we don't try. Instead we make it so that if someone else tries… the whole thing breaks.

"That way we can shame the people who made the attempt, if we catch them, and the people inside have a chance to obscure whatever it was they didn't want the crowd seeing. It's still not perfect… but it's much better then trying to work around people of much higher cultivation rank. Plus… even if we couldn't take any action against someone who gets caught snooping… the embarrassment of 'not being able to control their qi properly' is a pretty major one so most don't want to risk it,"

"Neat," said Kat… and then the silence began. Sue and Lily really wanted to go back to the previous topic, Kat didn't know how else to distract them and Bing was of course, really hoping they'd all just move on. It didn't seem likely, but she could hope. So time passed and the fighting continued, at least down in the arena.

Eventually, the silence was broken by Lily, "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it? I know it was a big deal for me when I worked out it… but my culture made it pretty easy to find the details of… even if it wasn't exactly something you'd admit without consequences, sometimes rather nasty ones,"

"I…" Bing started to say she didn't want to talk about it again… but was that the truth. Yes, it very much was… but should she talk about it? Perhaps that was the real question. "No, I still don't think I want to talk about it. I was messing with Sue… but I'm not entirely sure if I believe that's the only reason. I don't want to let this become a heart demon… but I'd always imagined myself picking a partner as part of my duty as sect heir… and producing another heir… but I'm a twin and there is my brother… so as long as he doesn't also… I mean, doesn't like the same gender it… might be fine? Especially if I stepped back a bit… but…

"No, this is a big thing and I'm not even sure if it's something my parents will let me entertain," Bing saw a bit of horror on the rest of the girl's faces, "they'll be as supportive as they can… but it has political consequences that might be hard to deal with. Potentially, it is easier to just say that I have no interest in romance and wish to focus only on my cultivation. It would buy time certainly… and if I'm strong enough nobody will care… that would be a long time away though. So… yeah just… for now, best not to think about it too much. I barely thought about romance before now, and a little bit of a sexuality crisis isn't going to force me to change that,"

The other three weren't entirely sure if they believed that… but Bing had made her point clear and they were at the very least willing to respect her opinion on the matter. She was a grown woman… probably… and they weren't going to interfere too much with her life. Though Sue's desire to leave behind a beacon was increasing quite a bit. Of course, if she'd told herself from a year ago that the first time she ever felt someone worthy of a beacon was because they were a friend instead of a fuckbuddy, younger Sue would've called the older one an imposter.

490

"Um… hmm… do you think you're going to win the tournament?" asked Sue, as a bit of an opening.

"Not sure…" said Bing uncertain, "I mean, I'd love to win but truthfully? I don't think I'm that great at the fighting aspect of cultivation and I haven't managed to get to Rank 3 just yet. That's more my brother's department and I suspect that he'll get close to winning this whole thing if he's not eliminate by some wild dark horse. Honestly, I'm not sure why we're hosting this tournament right now… it's not going to be a great showing for the sect. Maybe we're looking for wandering cultivators to recruit?"

"You don't think your brother has what it takes?" asked Kat.

Bing shrugged at that, "I didn't say that… just that he's a bit too invested in training his fighting skill and not progressing his cultivation. He's only recently got to Rank 2 and most of that is probably due to the resources our parents shower us with. I could probably make it to Rank 3, with a shaky foundation admittedly, in another six months if our parents had waited… but nope, now we're here and I'm sure that there will be at least one mystery contender that managed to make it to Rank 3."

"That contender was nearly Kat," said Sue with a toothy grin on her face.

"What?" asked Bing confused.

"Kat here," said Sue gesturing to her friend, "was about to enter the tournament because you guys don't let anyone in the back rooms with the other contestants. Kat decided the best way to get back there? Signing up herself. I talked her out of it but it was a close thing,"

[Kat…] Lily growled mentally.

*It seemed like at the time and I didn't even go through with it!*

Bing forced a shiver, mostly for dramatic effect but part of it was real. "Yeah that… would be… well it would be kind of terrifying. A recent Rank 3 with no practice using their skills is one thing… but a demon at Rank 3? God it would've turned this whole tournament into a joke… and… and you are contracted to defend Bodeir right?" Kat nodded, "Urgh… and you would've forfeited as soon as matched against him right?" Kt nodded, "Urrggh… I'm so glad Sue managed to talk you out of it. This would've turned into such a shitshow…"

"Would it really have been that bad?" asked Kat questioningly.

Bing nodded, "Oh yeah. Not only would… well basically everyone feel horribly mocked, you also would've attracted my parents attention for disrespect, and maybe match fixing? And like… I get that you'd probably be fine but… urgh the political consequences. Just thinking about them makes me head hurt,"

Kat winced. "Well… um… sorry? I'm glad Sue talked me out of it?"

Bing nodded in affirmation, "Yes, yes you are. It would have turned into a massive mess and I doubt Bodeir Sr would've been pleased with you after the fact. Well… maybe not entirely… he's pretty protective of his son… so he might let it go… well until it became too much of a pain in the ass,"