Esquilax said:
Look, if you don't like bending the rules, why did you vote unorthodox to begin with? I'm not saying that unorthodox = asshole, but you have to be willing to use an orthodox character's general naivete against them. They have the contacts and the big sect behind them, but we've got the "art of skulduggery" as Mike Tyson put it in his documentary. I don't understand, what is your goal here? Do you even want to complete Zhang's challenge? Or Shun's mission? Because if you don't, well, you have a completely different idea of the character than I do and a vastly different perception of things, so we'll have to agree to disagree.
Okay. *Takes a deep breath*
It should have been painfully obvious by now that we do not have the same idea of what Jing's character is and how it should develop.
Let's remember some of your last choices and arguments:
* murder Song Lingshu in her sleep to dispose of one of your marks faster
* expose Cao'er's story to the public and bring the shame upon Abbess Miecao so that you could use the ensuing outrage to your own advantage
* screw over the boy who already has it tough to draw away attention from yourself
You are not
saying that unorthodox = asshole, you are embracing it.
I went with unorthodox to be able to break the rules I don't like, not to make a habit of breaking whatever rules I come across whenever an opportunity presents itself. There are such things as principles. I said time and time again that I do not place much importance on Zhang's mission if it will transform me into his likeness along the way.
I understand that we were bestowed a rare chance to have one of the Great Pugilists as our master, but I do not think that seeing the apprenticeship to it's logical conclusion would be best for us. Zhang's idea of a perfect warrior is of a man that knows no fear because he has no attachments. No one fights more furiously than the one who has nothing to lose and everything to gain. Zhang does not seem to have any emotions left in him except for his ever-present amusement at what others consider important in life. I have not seen him holding any other values safe for personal power, and he does not seem to care about anybody.
But I do. I care for the people that have been kind to me and that I consider to be my family (Shun, Yao and Cao'er), I care for the people I kind of started to befriend but was forced to separate from for a long time (Qilin), I care for the people that I only met briefly (Lihua, Yifang, Xiahou and the poor farmer couple, some of them I literally knew for no longer than a day), and I care for the ones I didn't get to meet in person at all (Song Lingshu). It doesn't mean I care for all people equally, or that somewhere down the road I'll start hugging strangers and stepping over ladybugs. I don't believe in love and peace, and neither am I a fan of honor before reason approach. I have no mercy for my enemies - should I chance upon Rong Jr. the Second, I will be the first to drop the sword and unsheathe my dagger. But I will not betray friends, turn down allies or involve bystanders, not unless my life would depend on it, and some things I won't do even then. This is how I differentiate myself from Zhang. This is how I maintain my individuality. This is how I perceive the practical side of his teachings while rejecting the greater idea behind them, which I find detestable -
I make a conscious choice to care.
Some time back you were worried that Zhang would be a bad influence on Jing, and promoted a choice that many considered silly - writing poetry over the corpses of your animal friends - to withstand the taint his tutelage might bring. I did find that method admirable in its subtlety. Yet now that the training is over and we are out of his reach for the moment, you seem to think that the danger have already passed, and there is no need to exercise caution. You seem to think of these 'unorthodox' ideas as a sign of Jing growing up, while I view them as a herald of corruption that will slowly corrode our soul if we do not resist it. Zhang still has us in his grasp. He did task us with a mission so difficult that it is almost impossible to complete without resorting to a dirty trick or two. Or a hundred. It will gnaw at your integrity bit by bit, like water wears away the stone, until you find yourself perfectly fine with anything to achieve your ends. This is how Zhang goes around his business - walking over corpses like other people do over grass, and taking what he wants. If we do not want to become this, we should not make such decisions lightly, and we certainly should avoid them if there are alternatives. It does not have anything to do with honor, orthodoxy and the like - it is preserving the basic human decency we are talking about here.
Telling me that not wanting to break what I consider the backbone of the character makes me into a pussy who does not have it in him to accomplish Shun's mission and probably does not even care about it is a fallacy and a straw man argument of the worst kind.
[End of rant]
Right. Now that it is out of the way, about the update.
The choice between A, B and C is whether we go under our own identity, our existing false identity, or making a second false identity just to mess with people.
I do not fancy A because at most it accomplishes the same as C1, only it links our face to our actions and blows our merchant story to pieces. I can't understand how the outburst it will inevitably cause might be used to further our goals, unless we go for the win, or resume Tigranes plan from the previous update.
Esquilax's C1 lets us get up close and personal with our marks, while shutting off any chances of communicating with other participants. Who would want to talk to a masked figure who may or may not be Zhang's apprentice? Unless we succeed in making the whole thing into a farce, I do not see us chatting happily like we just did with Shaolin monks and their ilk. C1 makes it easier for us to last against the best among the best, as no one knows if we are a real thing or not - it would be hard for them to make anything out of our mish-mash style if we do not resort to the outright outlawed techniques (so you can use your Mad Wolf Step - it won't be linked back to Xu Jing), and our merchant persona is somewhat safe from suspicion.
I say somewhat because you still have to take the mask off once the matches are over. You aren't exactly inconspicuous walking the streets in that thing. It leaves a chance of exposure if someone sees you taking the mask off. I guess this is why you have taken lessons from Qilin on losing tails in a city, but double identity always carries an extra risk.
Strangely, C2 accomplishes most of the same, though with less confusion your opponents will pay more attention to your slip ups. It still allows you to fight back without being asked questions later, and it carries the same drawbacks. It is certainly less effective, but more humane, should anyone dislike stepping over peoples heads. Like I do.
You can't fight as freely in B2, since, well, a merchant boy out of the woods with no school affiliation beating up their champions is bound to raise eyebrows and focus the attention on you. And you don't want your fighting style to be associated with your face. So the most you would be able to afford is to observe your marks from afar while beating the mooks with regular skills. It leaves far more options to talk with the other participants, however.
B1 I don't find particularly attractive. Combatants will just swarm Guo Fu as their only target, and then they might realize he isn't the real deal. At least in C1, it serves
some purpose, splitting their attention.
The choice between C1 and B2 comes down to where you want to look for information - either you learn of your opponents' moves in combat, or you learn of their personalities and habits behind the scenes. Since I was content to be an observer anyway, and we went in anonymously to socialize in the "locker room", B2 is the choice I am naturally inclined to make.
As for the farmer we've just met, I may not exactly want to 'make friends' with a person I've known for 5 minutes and I might never see again in my life. However, I do not wish to antagonize them either, for personal reasons. So it cements my vote.
B2.
Edit: Flopped to
C2 due to the clarification from treave.
