When Sun entered his dorm room later that day, having been a.s.sisted by a Senior when Teacher Corvus was called away, he was quick to notice that his room-mate"s frozen face had melted slightly into a furrowed frown. He was sitting upon his bed, legs stretched along its length and leaning against the wall whilst staring somewhat strangely at a small book in his hands. His eyes flickered once to see Sun entering, but quickly fell once more upon the book."You are back," he did acknowledge, politely.
"En," Sun replied in breezy agreement. "Technique or skill?" He was referring to the book. From his knowledge of Jin Li"s obsessive personality, there was no way that bamboo book was anything else! Imagining Jin Li flicking through a girly romance novel could have been amusing, if it weren"t impossible!
"Technique," Jin Li replied. "But it seems to this Lord that this book might contain fake content." It suggested that it would be possible to create a connection between two men in order to dual cultivate using an opening meant for an entirely different purpose. But... Jin Li did not elaborate, so Sun did not query. It was not unusual for Cultivators to keep techniques and skills to themselves and not share with others. As the scholars would say; knowledge is power.
So Sun hobbled over to his own bed and lay down upon it; not that his wounds hurt much anymore. Well his face felt a bit sore and the skin on his leg felt taut and a bit itchy, but Corvus had reminded him over and over to keep his weight off of his leg and not aggravated the wounds. Sun rolled his eyes, thinking Corvus sounded more like his weepy mother than his Teacher. He curled his legs into a comfortable position, thinking of cultivating seeing as there wasn"t anything better to do, when a thought occurred to him.
It was the sort of thought that spun around one"s head once it was implanted and refused to be removed and no matter how one tried to distract oneself from thinking about it, the mind would surely circle back to it, no matter the leaps and bounds it took to get there. Like an excitable puppy whose just scented its owner from afar, despite the owner trying to abandon it, cruelly. It was definitely not the sort of thought that would sit quietly while one cultivated, needing to be acknowledged and dealt with. He opened his eyes when realising this fact and turned his face slightly to glance at Jin Li, who was still attempting to decipher whatever he read within that book.
"Jin Li...?" Sun"s tone was a long, slightly ingratiating one, inferring the fact he was about to ask something and the person subject to the query might not like what he hears. "Jin Li, there"s these rumours going around recently... rumours about you."
Jin Li made no attempt to respond nor did his facial expression change in anyway, not even a flicker, basically indicating his stance on the matter aka he didn"t give a flying...
"Of course, I didn"t believe them," Sun said, righteously, "but I thought I should maybe warn you."
Again, that half of the room remained silent and unmoved.
"I"d even forgotten about them," Sun continued. "But you know, yesterday Miss Vela called me out of cla.s.s... to ask me to clarify them with you." This last part was said upon a sigh of melancholy.
"...Who?"
Sun almost slapped his own forehead. As usual, Jin Li never recalled the names of those he did not wish to, be it that he had no interest on knowing the person or that they simply hadn"t imprinted their being on his memory, despite appearing before him. Sun would have thought he would have recalled Miss Vela though; "Miss Vela, long indigo hair, legs that seem impossibly long?" Sun began to speak of what he considered as her good points and there were many of them. "Favours high kick techniques and roundhouse kicks the most?"
"Oh that one," Jin Li said with obvious disdain.
Sun frowned over his tone. "What do you mean? Miss Vela is probably the best female Martial Artist of the First Years!"
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"Places appearance over viability," Jin Li began his criticism, no bars held back. "And should her aim be true, slouches her shoulders in the follow up. Such an opening is ridiculous, will only lead to defeat."
"R-really?" Sun tried to recall what he witnessed of her fights, but admittedly, he could only remember those long legs within the floating lengths of white silk as they attacked their target.
"En," Jin Li replied. "Were I to create a prediction based on ability, then if you and she were to face in the arena, you would defeat her in around thirty seconds. While her reach with those kicks is longer, she is not as fast as you and you would easily slip beneath her guard. She only uses her arms in defence, thus would be useless in her attempts to defeat you at the close range you require. She also does not have the necessary speed nor agility in comparison in order to create distance from you. Hence, you would win."
Sun was a bit smug and proud when Jin Li a.n.a.lysed this theoretical fight. Didn"t that mean that Jin Li placed him in his sight? His swelling emotions were crushed in the next instant; "Of course, you would defeat her in less time were you to seriously fight her, but you are really weak against girls."
"Am not," Sun pouted. "It"s just that I"ve been taught that it is wrong to hit girls, especially in the face. A girl"s face is their life."
Jin Li sneered as he replied; "A female can just as easily stab you should she enter beneath your guard as a Male." His Uncle"s harem was clear proof of that as aunt after aunt fought for his fickle affections. That and he"d witnessed how his mother "taught" an ex-acquaintance what it meant for another woman to attempt to lay hands on her husband. "Also recall that girl Luna who continuously places high in the Standings, but only partially due to her own fighting ability. The rest is due to the foolish men she steps upon."
Sun was not completely convinced, but did not try to convince Jin Li that Miss Vela was not like that, she was strong in her own right, which is why Sun appreciated her... well he did until he realised that in her heart he was just Jin Li"s roommate. Roughly shoving all of that out of his mind, he blurted out the thing she would have him clarify; "Is it true that you don"t like girls and that you are dating a boy? I"ve heard people suggest that the person you like is Leon, your alchemist!"
"Yes," came the reply.
Sun was stunned to silence for a moment before pressing for a more clear answer. "Yes, what?"
Jin Li placed the book down onto his lap, finally making eye contact with the other. "This liking girls or boys thing, this Lord does not need to mention that this Lord has never placed another in my eyes as worthy of being by my side. Don"t waste my time with such a fickle thing as "liking" another person." Sun thought over his words and nodded to himself. Jin Li was obsessed with Martial Arts, not interested in the concept of dating and romance. While the girls that had been pestering him would not be happy with such a result, he suspected that the girls would not be deterred at all. He frowned, not sure whether this was a good or bad thing.
"However..." Jin Li continued, breaking into Sun"s musings.
"What?" Sun couldn"t help but ask.
"This Lord has reasons to feel," Jin Li lifted the book to his line of sight once more as he said these words, "that Leon is worthy of the position. Thus this Lord has allowed it." Sun did not notice the slight reddening of Jin Li"s ears as he declared in this roundabout way that he was dating his small alchemist, too shocked to respond.
The door burst open at that moment. "I"ve come to take you to dinner!" Corvus declared and took long strides to Sun"s bed before scooping him into his arms.
"Wah! Teacher, this isn"t necessary! I can walk!"
"What are you saying? I told you that the Healer said to keep the weight off of your leg! How could I make you walk and hurt yourself again?"
Jin Li watched as the door shut after one man and one boy left through it, before returning his attention to the book and frowning. Impossible!