awashlogs | [ open ] Body Swap Quest!!!

Entry tags:

[ open ] Body Swap Quest!!!

WHO: Pyra and Shen Qingqiu and YOU
WHERE: Around town
WHEN: This week
WHAT: Body switching! Pyra and Shen Qingqiu will have separate prompts for whoever wants to tag them when bodyswapped during this quest!
WARNINGS: Nothing

[ Prompts in the Comments! ]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Closed to Shen Qingqiu
[ Wouldn't it be nice to be tall? Yes, that's the start of this all. A single innocuous thought. A single innocuous thought that's coupled to the thought that, wow, Shen Qingqiu is pretty tall.

Wouldn't it be nice to be tall like him for once?

Which somehow ends with her thinking of the quest about switching bodies, but-- no, no, obviously she shouldn't do that, she shouldn't be thinking that she'd like to switch bodies if only to be tall for once, that would be silly and stupid and--

Oops, they've switched bodies. ....It's just her luck that the body she's in is apparently violently ill. Why, she has no idea, but she's going to assume that the real Shen Qingqiu has the reason, so she's going to muster what strength and focus she has to attempt to find him! Er, him-in-her-body, yeah. That.

Only, she going to get two steps before collapsing. Gritting her teeth and digging her nails into the ground, she somehow manages to push herself back up to her feet. If she can just find him... ]

A: Probably... Sometime Later
[ The safest thing to do right now is to stay put until the rest of the poison-effects subside, which she will do in the comfort of her own home. Or... his own home. Should you need Shen Qingqiu, she'll be answering the door while still swapped with his body. ]

Can I... help you?

[ Even if she's in someone else's body and feeling ill, she'll always lend a hand along with a kind smile! ]

B: Reaching New Heights
[ And now she can finally enjoy being tall.

It's great. It's really great.

She's decided to take a stroll, but as she passes one of the windows of the church she happens to catch her (new body's) reflection. It really hits her just how tall she is now! It's incredible! Look how long his arms are! (Because she's waving them around.) Or how lanky his legs are! (Because she's seeing exactly how wide her strides are now.)

She's on cloud nine because clearly she physically reaches up to those heights. Congrats, you've caught her making Shen Qingqiu look like a fool.

Pyra brings her (his) hands up to either side of her face, smiling something silly and giggling. ]

I'm... tall.

[ Oh, hey. My poisoning isn't kicking my ass. He had to stop circulating his energy to concentrate the poison in his body so he could spit it out -- super gross, super wrong -- but it had allowed him to pick up five purple scales and keep them on his person. Shen Qingqiu didn't stop removing the poison because he wanted to, but because his energy had drained down and he was attempting to wait for it to build up so he could keep doing what he was doing.

Until then, it was enduring a feeling of "OH FUCK, THIS IS THE END!" due to stacked poison status. But now he is feeling pretty good. He lifts his head up, smiling to himself. Fuck you, scales! His expression remains neutral as he feels rather good about his decisions. He was able to get rid of scales that people could have picked up, and endured the time the poisoned was and -- ]

Why am I red? [ He turns his hands over a few times as he looks at himself. His eyes drift down then snap back up. Oh fuck! Fuck! He is on his feet -- or rather her feet. FUCK! His arms are out like somehow that'll help him find his body faster! ]

Pyra! [ His hand slaps over his mouth as he hears his voice as her voice yet his thoughts are his thoughts. That's ... that's a situation I will fucking deal with in a second. He is off running, looking for his body. Don't be dead in a ditch! Don't be dead in a ditch! Don't be dead in a ditch!!! ]

[ She doesn't know what she probably looks like as Shen Qingqiu at the moment, but she has to imagine she's making some sort of pained expression that he's probably never worn in his entire immortal life. ] Wh--...where... [ Where is he? She has to find him. She needs some help with-- whatever this is.

Panic sets in as her vision begins to blur, and she hurriedly blinks, shaking her head as she feels... cold. And clammy, her (his?) brow dotting with beads of sweat as she tries to push herself through this.

Is this something that he's been enduring this entire time? And if he has, why hasn't he told anyone? It must be like the time he believed himself to be cursed, how he didn't ask for help with that either. Only this is much graver...

Meanwhile.

She's not going to lie-- it had been quite amusing to be within Choubee's body even as Pyra was on her own. But as soon as she hears that don't be dead from him--

Well, why would he think that? Mythra won't make conversation with him and bother with asking questions. She only demands results.

Focus.

The command is biting.

You know the signature of your energy. She had felt it, when she had asked for him to share his power with her in his heart. Follow it. ]

a. GAINED 1 SWORD

[ After the mishap involving the sudden switch in bodies, he decides that he should not just keep up the task of picking up purple scales. Til we meet again, motherfuckers! Which is to say that he absolutely plans to keep picking them up as soon as his body is returned to him, but right now -- he has Pyra's body on loan and going to take good care of it.

Unfortunately, he has somewhat perfected the resting bitch-face while he's chilling out thinking of what he is going to need to do and what needs to be done. Well, at least, I didn't have Xiu Ya with me. The one time I'm glad I don't have my sword.

It's an idle thought of his but suddenly a a huge fuck-off sword manifests in his grip. WHAT THE FUCK?!

He lifts the sword up to stare at it in mild horror. What?! Yet while he's screaming to himself, his (or rather her?) expression remains impassive and calm. He lightly swings the blade to leave a deep cut in the ground and immediately pulls the sword back. AHHHHH!! ]

b. The Pyrafect Lady

[ So, he's in her body now. He could just tell people that he's now in her body, but it feels a bit rude? Invasive?!

There is panic in the disco of his heart as he decides to find a tablecloth to make a hole in so that he makes himself a makeshift moo-moo dress. Not that there is anything wrong with how Pyra dresses, but he doesn't want anyone to get the wrong idea!! He's not ogling or being inappropriate! He's not! Okay?!

He should just say that this is for the mission, and yet instead, when he meets someone -- his brain panics. ]

Yes? Do you perhaps need my help? My help ... being Pyra's help? [ This probably would work better if he had not spent the better half of six years practicing controlling his facial expressions and so "Pyra's" face appears relatively calm, aloof, and elegant, despite the wording of "her" questions. ]

Edited 2019-03-13 06:00 (UTC)

[ Shen Qingqiu skids to a halt as he hears another voice in his head. It's not his own. It's female. It doesn't sound like a Google-translate voice. But panic immediately strikes him as he starts running around in a circle. No, no, no, no, no! His hands are pressed against his ears as he takes off in a sprint.

How! How did the System get turned back on?! How?! He's more than a little fearful that he's going to have to listen to someone give him orders or else his existence is null-and-void!! No! He feels like his body can't do half as much as he wants to do with it, actually. It feels like it's sealed. He knows this feeling due to having been poisoned so many times in the past.

What a shitty reason to know that a body's not at it's top. He stops running around in a circle abruptly. Wait, she's hindered? Why? His hand gently touches his own chest. Hey, why? That... hey, are you okay? He's talking, of course, to an imaginary Pyra. ]

Edited 2019-03-13 06:22 (UTC)

[ I touched her chest.

Shen Qingqiu is back to running about in a circle but this time with his hands up. That was an accident! Just as he wants to keep running about in this manner -- he remembers what that voice told him. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it!

But he keeps running, just letting his thoughts clear out so that he can focus on his own energy. Right. Yeah. I know it. As he rounds for yet another lap, his head snaps up. Found it! He takes off in a run towards where he thinks that his body might be -- ARMS STILL UP, THOUGH! ]

[

How has this man managed to stay so stoic-faced with... a pain like this? If he's truly been hiding this sort of illness, curse, whatever this is from those who care about him here she...

A part of her feels betrayed; hadn't they already talked to each other to let each other worry for the other, to look after one another? In his heart, even! Oh but she knows old habits are still hard to break, and so she wouldn't put it past him if he would hide this, but even still...

How could she be so blind to his suffering?

And with her within his body, she can hardly feel anything but... cold. ]

[ ...She's not going to stop him from running around in circles like an idiot, but he will feel a spark of annoyance like a ripple of lightening at the back of his neck. There are more questions she has within her mind from what she can gleam from his thoughts, but there's nothing to make sense of them now. System turned back on? Like the "system" thing in his heart? And then... he's asking if she's alright. He's discovered a seal...

....No time for that now.

He's immortal. Mythra knows that much, so there... shouldn't be any way in which Pyra would actually die while stuck in his body, right? Right?

Focus.

The command is repeated, firmer this time.

And lower your arms, that's just making it worse.

...The bouncing, that is.

The voice continues to speak, managing to take on a tone more akin to Pyra's: reassuring and softer. We're almost there. ]

[He's used to Shen Qingqiu being very elegant and wise-seeming (except when he takes an interest in Jim's love life and future prospect with girls anyway).

So seeing him like this is....definitely different.]

Uh...Shifu? ['What are you doing?' goes unasked but it's there in his tone.

...is this an effect related to a scale?]

Mm....?

[ Still wearing that dopey smile, Pyra will turn to look at him and....

And then realize that she's totally doing something she shouldn't be doing as Shen Qingqiu. Because she's guessed by now that as ~Peak Lord~ or whatever he is, he probably goes to great lengths to keep up appearances! Like a bureaucratic type, only immortal!

So. Um....

Clearing her throat. ]

Y-yes.... It is me.... your shifu....

[ Well waddaya know, the man has taken on some people as students here!!

....How come he's never asked her to be a student.... :C ]

Forgive me. I was only.... [ Admiring how amazing it is to be tall!! ] Stretching. [ His face muscles. ]

[...that smile is downright bizarre to see on that face.

Though he's not actually Shen Qingqiu's student. He just wasn't very confident with pronouncing his name properly.

So it's weird to hear him calling himself 'your shifu'...though less weird than that smile had been. So his look of confusion gets worse even before she tells him that was supposed to be stretching.]

...stretching.

[He sounds a bit disbelieving...is it bad that his first thought is 'possession'?]

Are you okay?

[ AAaaa what a smart kid, he's onto her already! How can she mess up being Shen Qingqiu so badly???

(More like, she's terrible at this.) ]

No, no. This teacher is fine. [ Okay, back on the right track! That's something he would say: claiming to be fine when he's not! ]

Stretching is... an important part of a daily routine for those of all ages.

[ Shen Qingqiu wants to make a fuss -- a bigger fuss -- and tell the voice not to tell him what to do. He has a lot of bad memories that come from listening to a voice suddenly instruct him on what he should be doing, but none of what has been said has been bad.

Especially the part of lowering his arms.

He crosses his (her) arms over his chest, pressing everything down. This only makes his face grow much more red, but at least, nothing is bouncing! Jiggle physics are the worst! He never thought he would say such a thing, but he's saying it now! Sprinting around the corner, he nearly eats pavement as he is cuts the corner a little too close, but he's still on his feet!

How the fuck is this fair! Pyra's a good person! She doesn't deserve to be in my body! His screaming gets a little worse until he actually sees her. He gasps at how she looks and idly wonders. ... ah fuck, did I look that bad?

It's very straight to look at his own body through someone else's eyes. But to be fair, that isn't his body, either. But it has been the one he's been occupying for the past years so he's saying finder's keepers. Stop, stop, stop! None of that matters! He's cracking jokes, making light, because he's scared. He knows he's scared and that is just what he does.

He skids to a halt in front of Pyra before reaching out to place his hands on either side of, well, his own face. Same idea. Same idea. The idea of transferring energy into his own body. ]

It'll be all right. It'll be all right. You just need a little energy and you can remove the poison yourself.

[ Within his mind he'll hear a sharp intake of breath as he actually does find-- himself, er. Pyra. Does a voice within his head need air to breathe? No, of course not, but the sound is there all the same, shocked and soft and in disbelief.

It's not so much seeing Shen Qingqiu's body collapsed upon the ground that disturbs her so much, but knowing who resides within it: Pyra. And Pyra is--...... her construct. A derivative of herself, another self, a part of her, a sister, a daughter, all of that at once. So to see her hurt— To see her hurt and collapsed not be able to do anything about it....

Because Mythra can heal. If Mythra were unsealed, she could help Pyra-as-Shen Qingqiu. But she's not, she must remain here, within this body and the real Shen Qingqiu occupies it.

What... what is this? The words come out slowly, low.... and with just a hint of frustration as Shen Qingqiu kneels and takes his face into Pyra's hands worriedly. Did you not tell anyone?

"It will be alright, it will be alright," he says.

Because if he didn't tell anyone about this... condition he has, or whatever is going on— sure it hurts not being told that he’s clearly suffering from something because she liked to believe that they were close, but another emotion joins that one: anger. Look at what's happened, this consequence of him taking on some sort of pain alone. Look at what he's done—

What have you done to yourself?! To— to Pyra?!

(Alright it's not actually his fault, but Mythra's anger is just starting to simmer and is looking for something to blame.) ]

[ Fortunately, Pyra will be still conscious. She's just... exhausted and pale. Unable to know exactly how his body works or how to use any of his abilities, she's at a disadvantage. Being immortal-- that's what she knows he is. So it'll be alright, won't it? ] O-oh... It's you.

[ Her eyes drift from the crystal upon her body's chest-- Mythra must still be there. That's... good. If she's still there, then everything is as it should be. ] I'm glad. [ Her fingers twitch, hand lifting up as if she might place it upon the side of his cheek in tandem to his own gesture. Ah, but it doesn't matter because he doesn't even need to be in his own body to recognize the concern and kindness within his eyes there. It's him.

...It also doesn't matter in the sense that her hand drops before her fingers can even brush along the skin, too weak to do much else. ]

Ah... this.... hurts. [ But... she's relieved to see him, so a genuine smile is there. ]

[ Mythra, within the confines of her realm, grasps at the solution that Shen Qinqiu offers: energy. Specifically, energy transfer-- just like how he had shared his energy with her within his heart. It is time for him to do the same thing again... only, using Pyra's source.

Do it....

The voice sounds forceful, as if spoken through a clenched jaw. You have my authorization.

And then, he-- in Pyra's body-- will feel that source of her energy flare-- as if there had only been a trickle let through a facuet, now pours a deluge. It's open for only an instant, but it is enough to have her entire body be set aglow with a golden light that quiets the air and arrests the sound around her.

Give it to her-- you! Him. Whatever, you know what I mean! And tell her what to do with it! How she can use that new energy as her own to... expel the poison or whatever. Mythra has no idea if it's some magic spell or some natural thing on his part, which means that Pyra doesn't either. ]

[She is terrible at this and also working without all the information.]

...I see.

[But...what kind of stretches were those even? Then again, maybe the stretches a cultivator needed to do were different from the ones he did in his highschool gym class.]

I guess...you'd know best. [Pause.] You...haven't been picking up any of the scales, have you?

[Because he hasn't quite written of the idea that something might be affecting him.]

[ Listen!

Inwardly, he twists his head around to look toward the voice that is scolding him right now. He is holding up his index finger and pointing it in warning.

Physically, he is doing none of these things. He continues to hold Pyra's -- his own -- face and give reassuring words as he tries to heal her.

I saw those poison scales around. I couldn't just let them lie there where anyone could pick them up. I'm not some trembling masochist that wanted to keep poisoning myself, but--!!

It kind of ended up the way that it did. He wasn't going to let someone accidentally pick one of those scales up. If he could take it, he could take it. And up to a certain point, he could take it. His energy just was getting a little zapped from dealing with five different poison states.

Why did you want this body? It's no good. You hear? The owner of it... he does stupid things with it. Look, he is willing to admit picking up as many scales as he could is beyond ridiculous, but what other choice was there?! ]

I know ... I know, it hurts...

[ My ability to tolerate pain has gone up considerably. But really, don't be like me. The reason why he could deal with so much pain is that he's been in so much pain. He developed a tolerance due to situations that he couldn't avoid getting into. (He could, he absolutely could have avoided getting into them, but he got into them anyway!!)

Great. Authorization. He's happy and he's not happy.

At least, he's able to give her energy instead of feeling like he's trying to force cement through the worst sieve in the history of fucking ever! His eyes widen as his body is actually glowing as he shares his energy properly with her. Okay, okay, okay. Pyra should be used to energy if he understands vaguely how her body works. ]

There's ... there's a lot wrong with your body right now. But you need only circulate your energy through what is hurting most. It'll drag the poison out. From there, you concentrate inside of you ... into like a ball... and spit it up.

[ This is what he's been doing. No one roast him for how the dumbest idea has been working so well, okay?! ]

Edited 2019-03-15 04:46 (UTC)

[Xie Lian occasionally likes to visit Shen Qingqiu, just to chat. Share poetry! Drink some tea! Consider the weather! Old people talk. And honestly after switching bodies with Wuxian the other day he could do with an easygoing meetup like that.

Which is why he's here right now! Smiling up at his tall cultivator friend.]

Hello! I hope you don't mind the visit. I've brought homemade bread today, would you like to share?

[Pulling a loaf out of his sleeve as he says this. He has a roommate that can cook now!! Important update.]

[ When he "turns around" in his mind's eye, there's nothing he's talking to. No one save for a teal, four-pointed star shining in the distance. But his words seem to have some sort of effect on the voice within his head, because it suddenly quiets and the tension he might have felt, the pressure within his mind lifts as if it's taken a step back.

You... He picked up the scales because--....

You really are a fool. The voice is more distant now, subdued; bitter in some way, but not angry any longer.

Of course he would go around picking up those scales trying to protect others... Hadn't she made the same decision to do something similar when speaking with Berkut about the town's latest incident? ]

[ Pyra closes her eyes as Shen Qingqiu instructs her on what to do with the energy that's been given to her, now that she has it-- and it's a very surreal experience to feel her power through another person's own natural ability. The way the energy is foreign to her but somehow adapts, washing over her body and turning into something she can actually use.

He mentions circulating the energy through that pain, the area those scales and poison affect his body most-- and she wonders if the technique is anything like flooding and diluting a potent dye with water to the point it becomes clear. It gives a nice visualization, if nothing else, and so she sets about the task to focus on the energy...

It's not like how she visualized at all. Instead, it's like.... forcing an emission to separate after it refuses to settle. There's Shen Qingqiu's energy, bolstered by the power that Mythra has granted, and then there is this foul energy tied with it, attached to muscles and organs and bones--- structure that she's never had before in her own body, which only adds to the strangeness. ] Nnghh...

[ Her expression shifts as she concentrates, brow furrowing and a soft moan escaping her as she directs that energy of his to attach to the foul substance that should not belong within his body.

His energy takes to the poison, attracting it like soap to dirt and pulling it inward, concentrating it and trapping it within... a membrane, because somehow it's become solid now-- she's made it solid? Or, perhaps, attached this intangible this to whatever is there already? She doesn't know, but now it's actually within her stomach, this terrible thing that makes it churn and...

It's not the most pretty of things, suddenly reaching up to grab Shen Qinqiu (her?) by the arm to help herself sit up to suddenly spit it out.

But! Wow does she feel better. ] I... ah.... is that all there is to it? Th-that [ She closes her eyes, still feeling a bit weak. ] wasn't so bad.... [ She laughs lightly, trying to dispell the mood. ]

[ Mythra is watching through Shen Qingqiu's eyes as this whole process unfolds...

....And at the end of it all, he'll hear a soft huff from the voice that's a stand-in for a laugh just as Pyra chuckles. They really are the same person, after all.

It's absurd how he's managed to find a way to undo that poison through... something so inelegant as spitting.

Heh... He will hear the smile in her voice, softly surprised, quietly impressed in some way. The anger that had been there before is replaced with amusement. Well what do you know... ]

[Jim isn't actually a huge sword nerd...even if he's still a bit of a nerd. But, regardless, that's still a pretty cool sword! Especially since it can apparently cut into the ground just like that.

So excuse his staring. ALSO HEY. SOMEONE ELSE HAS A SWORD THAT CAN APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE.]

Whoa. That's really cool!

[ Bread! Baked by Xie Lian! Oooh, Shen Qingqiu is a lucky man....

...But hmmm, why is he bringing bread to Shen Qingqiq, specifically? Was Wei Wuxian actually onto something...

This also brings up another dilemma. If Xie Lian brought this bread over for Shen Qingqiu and not Pyra-- she can't have some! This isn't her bread to eat! ] Of... of course I do not mind.

You are always welcome in this humble teacher's home.... [ ....That's the best she can act like said teacher, opening the door for him. Luckily, she has a good excuse: she'll just tell him that she's feeling ill because Shen Qingqiu was a dumbass and picked up a bunch of scales. It is the truth. ]

I... have.

[ She can't lie, even as another person!

But wait, isn't this technically lying as well, for not telling this young man who she really is??

Uuuugh she can't do this. ] Er, I should say... Shen Qingqiu has..... picked up a few scales....

I'm not actually Shen Qingqiu... I'm sorry....

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 5

[ open ] Body Swap Quest!!!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/2

no subject

1/2

no subject

B

Re: B

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/3

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

a

1/3

no subject

no subject

a

no subject

no subject