[Video; UN: DemonsandSugar] [CW: Skeleton/Decomposition/Death Magic.]

[cultivatingsin]

[Someone is working on his skills! Just off-screen there is a skeleton - no, don't question where the skeleton came from, you don't wanna know - and Xue Yang is exuding a sickly green aura. Grinning like he just heard a fantastic joke, he suddenly goes limp, falling gracelessly to the ground. Good thing he had been seated! Though his head made quite a thunk, didn't it?

The bones rattle - only he would think this is a great idea - and then a hand, barely containing enough tissue to be called a hand raises and...

Well. A certain finger is shown to the camera because he is mature.

Then the spell breaks and he returns to his body with a gasp.]

Gross!

[No, really, Xue Yang, that was disgusting.]

Comments

video; un: coffeefiend

[ichoosefight]

Everything about necromancy is gross.

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[cultivatingsin]

But it's useful!

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[ichoosefight]

If you can get it to work faster and longer.

[ Necromancy is gross, but getting killed is grosser. ]

Do those skeletons have any durability? It's not worth much if you fall apart with one good whack. I bet that would feel creepy as all get out, too.

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[cultivatingsin]

Details, details. I'll work it out.

[The skeleton had been more for the creep factor anyway.]

I wouldn't pick a skeleton to possess in battle anyway. I think being beaten into literal pieces would suck.

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[ichoosefight]

Yeah, being beaten to figurative pieces is bad enough.

You know, the whole concept of using necromancy in close combat depends on there being corpses handy. Specific kinds of corpses, even. It's not really a great direction to take things.

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[cultivatingsin]

I don't wanna see my head rolling away from the rest of me. I've lost an arm before, but that's not so bad. [Except for the agonizing pain.]

I can possess other things, you know. I just picked a corpse because I could. And it doesn't belong to anyone anymore.

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[ichoosefight]

[ Steph frowns, squinting at the screen. There are so many things wrong with what he just said that she's going to have to take them one by one. She counts the points off on her fingers as she goes. ]

You can't see your head rolling away from you unless you've got another set of eyes somewhere; I don't think that's how body ownership works; I've been in enough kinds of pain to know you're full of crap; and of all the things you could choose to possess, you picked the one that is, by definition, already falling apart? You have problems. At least go for something without nerve endings.

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[cultivatingsin]

[He laughs as his "fears" are picked apart. Xue Yang will always be a delinquent at heart.]

What? Souls don't have eyes? Then how do spirits find their way around? I bet they haunt the wrong person all the time!

[Saying he has problems is putting it lightly.]

You weren't amused?

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[ichoosefight]

They don't have any organs. Isn't that the idea?

[ That they're without the body, get it? Okay, look, her humor struggles a little in the face of desecration of human remains. ]

Uh, no, I don't find corpses amusing. I tend to spend my time punching the people who do.

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[cultivatingsin]

Maybe the organs just mimic what souls can do without organs?

[Weird thought, what.]

Are you gonna punch me? [He might allow it.] My head is already pretty sore, you know.

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[ichoosefight]

[ She needs to think about that for a second. ...Nope, not worth it. Just gonna move on. ]

I haven't decided yet. You do have pretty strong 'supervillain' vibes. But you also have kinda... 'stray dog eating literal garbage' vibes.

[ That's probably not a compliment. Hard to say. Steph has questionable friends. ]

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[cultivatingsin]

[He might be onto something or he might be ridiculous. It's hard to tell with Xue Yang.]

You know... [Laughing, he sighs.] You're not wrong. I can't help it since I grew up on the streets.

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[ichoosefight]

I grew up in Gotham. We know villains. I could give you a shopping list of mass murderers, bank robbers and gang leaders.

Not to brag, but most of them have tried to kill me at one point or another.

[ It's not something to brag about, but she's going to anyway. ]

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[cultivatingsin]

I don't see a reason to kill you. [Does that make him complicated?] Unless you attack me or - [Xiao Xingchen.]

Don't.

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[ichoosefight]

If I punch you it'll be because you deserve it.

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[cultivatingsin]

So you're perfect? You never make mistakes?

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[ichoosefight]

Yes. I am completely flawless.

[ She manages to keep a straight face mostly because she's getting annoyed. ]

I'm a mostly-retired crime-fighter. Unclench, dude.

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[cultivatingsin]

If you're a "crime-fighter" that means you see yourself as a judge! Who gave you that right?

[This...is a sore point. He's huffy.]

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[ichoosefight]

What are you talking about? It makes me like a cop, except I can't arrest. I even used to work with the cops a lot.

At worst it makes me a bully.

[ She's heard all of this rhetoric as long as she can remember. Batman's kinda old. ]

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[cultivatingsin]

So you work with more people who are deluded into thinking they have the power to tell me when I'm bad?

It does! You might be worse than me.

[Unlikely, but in his mind, maybe not.]

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[ichoosefight]

I might be, but I doubt it. I'm not gonna sit here and argue with you about the ethics of beating up murderers. I started when I was 15, I know the pros and cons way better than you do.

Besides, I quit. I haven't gone on a patrol in 2 years, and I don't plan on starting again. Gotham is gone. There's no need for Batgirl.

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[cultivatingsin]

I started hurting people way younger. [Because his life was awful and that was the only way he could get a leg up.] What if I don't care about the pros and cons? What if all I wanna do is survive?

Avalon might need her.

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[ichoosefight]

[ She rolls her eyes. Nobody wins the Suffering Olympics. ]

So did I. It's not a competition.

If you just want to survive then you shouldn't be nitpicking other people's ethics. Especially not when you're this confused about the context. Batgirl is me, as a crimefighter, in a mask, because vigilantism is illegal. You know, the thing you're arguing about completely one-sided?

[ She raises her eyebrows at him. What are you trying to prove, dude? ]

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[cultivatingsin]

[She's right. There are no victories. But he has found temporary relief from his own pain when he watches others suffer. Is that healthy? No. And he knows better now.]

If your ethics mean I'm thrown in a cage, yes, I will nitpick them.

[He snorts. Since when?]

It's only illegal if you're bad at escaping. Are you slow?

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[ichoosefight]

That's not remotely how the law works.

And how does arguing with me keep you out of the cage?