She didn't just enjoy the process of the shower of course - she wasn't quite there yet, but she knew that cultivators cultivate, in a soul-deep way that was difficult to describe, and listening to the sound of her heart and the dribbling water splashing down across the tub was...

Profound, if just a little, the way that he breathing shifted to compensate intriguing, and just... fascinating. 

The way that it drained away was interesting too, the faint sense of dew washing away together with the slick on her skin. 

She walked down the stairs to meet Ruby once more.

She had a speaker set-up on a table, and started playing a certain snappy techno song. 

She relaxed back and bopped her head to the music.

Oh.

Listening to music like this is... 

Different.

The bass feels more real, the soundstage more open and spread out around her, the location of the speaker less masked by the airiness of the room, and everything was just sharper.

It wasn't just her senses, at least not probably, it was the sort of thing that just sank into her head, every bit of clear and precise and flowing, the sort of thing that she had only ever half-seen in domos or seen as from random youtube videos showing how relatively little that it changed things to add that extra filter to the whole process but...

Wow. 

She took a moment to sit with tears half-formed in her eyes. 

The music transitioned to another peppier piece

and she let her head bop to the faster beat, grinning a little. 

"It's really a lot when you first get it, isn't it? This is just a cheap curiosity, relatively speaking, but the sound quality is apparently at least as good as what you get from the best mortal setup money can buy, and it's a lot less cumbersome so...~"

"That's pretty amazing. I can't exactly pretend to know all that much about how the audio for these things work, but I know offhand that most music isn't mastered as well as I can tell this is, and that there's fancy things you can by for every step of the chain to make it as good as possible and it's still not perfect but..." 

She snorted a little at the feeling of her head being carreid along into the bops as the beat dropped once more. 

"And you are just doing that with your phone, somehow?" 

Incredulous laugh small bounce smile.

"Yep! Sound qi and some conceptual tricks can work miracles. Could make something like this but not worth the time when I can buy it off of someone who specializes a bit for cheap." 

She lazily grinned. 

"That's not even The Thing though." 

"Oh?"

"Yep!" 

She started humming along to the music, and it just... worked, notes sliding smoothly and quickly up and down right on the beat as the music played, staying oddly clear and crisp as she went. 

"Try it!"

She blinked. 

"Oh and sorry for the harsh music from the start when you came down to drink some tea. Here." 

The piano softly played, a gentle thrum of the bass sitting nicely alongside the pleasant fluttering chorus slowly coming in. 

She drank up, smiling faintly, and letting herself hum along and...

It was easy, not just to make the sound in her throat, but to project it, to slide it out, to mix in her breathing to stop it from interfering with the sound, easy to know the note, just from hearing it, and it didn't even leave that faint trace of a burn or sting from going hard to just... let herself drift into the song. 

"...Do cultivators have perfect pitch or something like that?"

"Yep. There's a reason why the first realm is called 'beyond mortal', you know? The reason you'll see in textbooks or that the stogy seniors 'll tell you 's cause you haven't established the 'beating core' of a cultivator, fundamentally, but to me it's just that there's so much that only really completes once you get to that point that just means that you're done with the basic mortal progression. There's... honestly too long a list of things to list properly, but generally the hearing ability of someone 'll trend back to youth optimal and get this, too. You're young and healthy, so it's easy enough for you."

Drink drink. 

"And it works for singing and talking too - my sexy voice is all natural, 'course, but it's really actually quite easy to retune stuff to fit what works best for you, throw in an accent, or somethin' like that. So...~" 

"Karaoke?"

"...Sure why not, at least after I finish this." 

"Ok." 

She puts on some quiet rain noises while they finish up. 

"Alright, let's play this lil gem." 

The opening notes plays, the trills of the background singers resounding, as she pufs out her chest to sing. 

No more excuses and no more playin' dead
There aint' no silver linings in anythin' you said
If you keep on denyin' and I could stay away
We could hold up our hands, say we don't want it, we don't need it

She sings boldly, belting out the lyrics alongside the vocal track, keeping the notes clean yet projecting out firmly, every bit clipped and clear, eyes watching her inviteingly. 

She rose, singing back just because she could, because it's fun, and because adding the little touch of a taunting lilt here is too. 

If I give more than enough ground, will you claim it?
I will take it all in one breath and hold it down
And if I try to pretend that I don't hear it
You can tell me to move and I won't go
You can tell me to try and I won't go

Her singing is lighter, more hesistant, a slight pause drawing her words back to make the instinctive click into sync fall away, but it comes out lyrical anyways. 

Her eyes twinkle with amusement, and she sings back the altered chorus, a dare in her gaze. 

If I give more than enough ground, will you leave it?
I will take it all in one breath and hold it down
And if I try to pretend that I don't see it
You can tell me to move and I won't go
You can tell me to try and I won't go

Their eyes lock, because of course they do, and they sing together as one of the hopes on the great Way. 

No more distractions and no more staying still
I am chasing the skyline much more than you ever will
You can keep to your story and I could stick to mine
We could hold up our hands, say we don't want it, we don't need it

As they finish it up into the repeating loops at the end of the song, she breaks down laughing, chukcling hard as she lets the recording play out the rest of the song on it's own. 

..."You really are quite a blunt person, aren't you?" 

Tilt head quirk eyebrows up. 

"But of course. There's no need to tip-toe, here. It's freeing, and empowering and just... good." 

Slump back onto the non-existent headrest on the chair.

"Besides, challenges are a great way for cultivators to develop - at least the ones with a talent. It's just... part of our nature. Get the words and motions and song in your heart flowing out, condense back and grow stronger - that's the basis of so much of cultivation from the very start - and you do need to hear yourself think about the mortal world and what it means to you leavin' it, at least as a card carrying member, yeah?"

"I suppose. I realize that I can probably get away with risking it, all things considered, even with the importance of these precautions but..." 

"Ain't the same thing. There's no truth to it, I bet, is the reason deep down, 'nd..." 

She thumped her chest. 

"Break your excuses. Crush them beneath the strength of your convictions. Speak your mind and reach for the heavens with everything you do.  And you will find yourself a virtuous soul, even if not in the fuckin' 'layer of soul light' way or whatever." 

Nodnod. 

Her grin starts to match hers, just a little. 

"You totally like being blunt becuase you can get that pause from people, and get control of the conversation for kicks, don't you?" 

Hands-tuck-behind-her-head. 

"Do I~?"

Press forward.

"You do." 

They sit there, staring together for a moment before breaking off to listen to a good bit more music throughout the rest of the night, cycling through there playlists - Ruby has a taste for dynamic music that's fun to project and sing loud and with passion, alongside a weirdly large selection of songs with mentions of 'gold' scattered throughout, while Moonsilver's song list has a lot of techno that tends towards lighter things, plus some pleasant ambinet music to while away the night with, after they take the time throw a couch onto the cultivation circle and rest together shoulder to shoulder.