WarbyPicus posts
Finding the Tea Qi: I'm Putting Together A Team...
The crew assembles. You will notice a certain resemblance in the toad. You can't see it in the pictures, but it really does have three legs, and is why I wanted to make this post.
As I have mention...
2026-02-02 02:46:29 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 40- Sweet Reason
The Hall of Harmony was a meeting hall, generally reserved for the Elders or those holding responsible positions in the Monastery. The whole building was designed to foster a spirit of harmonious cooperation, or that’s what Tian had heard. It just looked like a building to him. Maybe the decoration had some significance for other people. For him, the other people were what was worth looking at, and they did not inspire feelings of harmonious cooperation.
Hong was the only one missing ...
2026-01-30 15:00:20 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 39- Placing the Toad in the Hole
Tian came home to a note. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but expecting Liren to wait around at home was never going to be on the table, unlike the note.
“She still has such sloppy handwriting. Tsk. I must scold her later.” He smiled as he read the note, written in Liren’s perfectly adequate handwriting.
Zihao-
It is weirdly hard to know how to write a note, now. We don’t usually leave notes. Also, how am I supposed to address you now? ...
2026-01-29 15:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 38- The Many Flavors of Fortune
Tian spent the rest of the evening chatting with Grandpa, talking about all the things that had happened, asking what exactly a money toad was (being told “You will find out,” was not very helpful, in Tian’s opinion,) and questions about cultivation. They also tackled the future of the monastery.
You always have to look at things from the human perspective in situations like this. Forget daoism for a bit. Rule number one- people want tomorrow to be more or less like today, and...
2026-01-28 15:00:18 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 37- Bad Daoists Trying to be Better
Tian decided to spend the night by the side of the stream. The toad surely didn’t need his protection, but he was curious to see what would happen with it. Nothing about it seemed malicious. It was just odd.
Tian ate one of the pre-packed dinners he and Liren cooked, then lounged by a fire. He read his medical textbooks for a while, then set them aside and just looked up. The crane settled in next to him, occasionally opening an eye and peeking at him, trying to see what he was ...
2026-01-27 15:32:44 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 36- Negotiations with a Tough Toad
Tian had a suspicion. The rock the toad clung to was mottled with blue and green. Some of that was algae from the river, but he would be beaten to death before he believed an obviously magical toad was sitting on any old rock while a predator like the adder was in the area.
“I’ve eaten toads before. Some of you are really good eating. Some of you are poisonous, which is even better for me.” Tian kept his voice conversational. The toad didn’t react much. Maybe it got a litt...
2026-01-26 15:00:19 +0000 UTC View PostFinding The Tea Qi- Snow Day Bonus
As many of you probably know, I live near Boston. There is, in a word, snow. A lot of snow. A very good day for tea. I had two, and wanted to share them, because what they are and how I drank them were such a departure from the Pu'erh I drank all last week.
First up is this absolute beauty.
It's not on their website, BTW. You have to go into their store to get it. The tea comes from T...
2026-01-26 14:30:02 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 35- Green Stone, Red Eyes
Tian and the crane soared out over the monastery, moving up towards a deep vein of malachite recorded in the guide to the mountain. It looked like it was an extension of the outcropping that Tian had found, and was somewhat common in the lower-middle parts of the east-south-east side of the mountain, where the Monastery was located. The guide mentioned it in passing, mostly as something to be avoided when digging for actually valuable minerals. Tian thought it looked pretty, and would shine u...
2026-01-23 15:00:48 +0000 UTC View PostFinding the Tea Qi- 2020 Yunnan Sourcing “Aged Bu Lang Mountain” Raw Pu’erh Tea Cake
Didn’t get to tasting until after dinner. Dim lights at the dinner table, just me and the Little Tea Venerable, digging in to the Pu'erh. I am taking a totally different tack tonight. Tea, I am told, is a vibes based hobby. But here I am with my little espresso scale and counting the seconds for the steep… is this vibes? It is not.
How much tea went in the pot? Enough, I hope. I p...
2026-01-23 13:14:06 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 34- Many Ways to Show You Care
Entering the house posed a brief dilemma, confronted and resolved in complete silence. They had their bedrooms, plural, but did their new status as dao companions change their sleeping arrangements? And on an entirely related point, both of them slept in beds just big enough to fit their bodies alone. How would they share a bed? And if they weren’t going to be getting physical, why would they share a bed?
“Though Liren is really warm. Being held by her was nice...
2026-01-22 15:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostFinding the Tea Qi- 2020 Yunnan Sourcing “Wu Liang Mountain” Wild Arbor Raw Pu’erh Tea Cake
Another tea without much going on flavor-wise, but a very useful learning experience. I think most people reading this will know this, but a Tea Cake, in this context, refers to a pressed disk of dried tea. This is done, originally, for transportation long distances. These days it is actually done as...
2026-01-22 12:38:28 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 33- We Are What We Say We Are
Brother Fu didn’t say much. He carried them home in near silence, his old face trying to find the stillness and tranquility it usually wore. Before he left, he said “Thank you.”
Their little cottage in the mountain, with the sunshine streaming through the wide hole in the roof of the cavern, and the little stream that trickled into the newly-dug shallow pond, and the vegetable patch that was doing its best, and the little herb garden around the front door. The walls were plastered...
2026-01-21 15:00:18 +0000 UTC View PostFinding The Tea Qi 2016 Yunnan Sourcing "Xiao Hu Sai Village Wild Arbor Raw Pu'erh Tea Cake
The Little Tea Venerable continues his journy through the red dust of the world, meditating on the fact that he, too, is clay holding water. And speaking of that-
Kind of an odd one today. Looking over my notes, it feels much more of a harsh evaluation than I feel about it now. With some time...
2026-01-21 13:08:30 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 32- Necessary Words
“It’s an underappreciated part of tea service, and it’s why we call it skillful tea, not tea in tiny pots that you have to keep refilling and make everyone wait while you keep brewing more and more cups.” Brother Fu explained.
“I remember the soldiers I met brewed their tea in big iron kettles. Just… lumped it all in there when the water boiled, let it steep far too long, then slopped it out into cups.” Tian didn’t sniff. He was concentrating on the pou...
2026-01-20 15:00:16 +0000 UTC View PostFinding The Tea Qi: 2020 Yunnan Sourcing "Bang Dong Impression" Old Arbor Raw Pu-erh Tea Cake
On to day two of our journey through the tea sampler. Now, I did say I was on vacation, and while naturally a Little Tea Venerable is unmoved by the distractions of the mundane world, he ought to have the opportunity to prove his detachment from worldly desires. Ideally poolside.
He was impressively unmoved. I, regretfully, could only move on to the tea.
Sky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 31- Blazing Heart Saint, Tempered Sunforged Phisique
“You smacked lighting, of course it’s going to hurt. Idiot.”
“I regret only that I couldn’t smack it harder. Also, ow.”
“I’m aching too, but you don’t hear me whining about it. Disgraceful lack of composure and reserve.”
Liren and Tian were bickering as an autonomic act. Their attention was turned inwards, examining the changes to their bodies. They were significant.
Tian’s body had an ethereal pureness to it, yet it felt dense and wei...
2026-01-19 15:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostFinding the Tea Qi: 2017 “Hong Ni Tang” Old Arbor Raw Pu-erh
Day One. Time to meet the team.
Assembled before you are a Yixing clay cup (AKA The Little Tea Venerable), and an Easy Pour gaiwan made with duan ni- a type of clay from the Yixing region, referring to the color. Selected because it holds heat well, and the porus clay picks up the flavor of the tea brewed in it over time, giving both cup and gaiwan their own unique flavor. "Raising them," ...
2026-01-19 14:47:32 +0000 UTC View PostFinding the Tea Qi - Introduction
I started reading up on tea the way I find out a lot of interesting things. Something came up in a book I was writing, and I started reading up on it.
What, exactly, would tea with Brother Fu be like? It wouldn't be Liptons in a tea bag. How would he drink it? This lead me to googling "Classic Chinese tea brewing methods" and one hell of a rabbit hole.
I swiftly concluded that I knew nothing at all. I watched a lot of videos on Youtube, read essays, articles, reviews, product webs...
2026-01-19 01:49:17 +0000 UTC View PostNew Cover and fun thing for next week announcement!
Full res picture of the cover, sorry if it just made your connection chug. Pretty cool, though! My usual artist ran a little behind this time, I have the impression business has picked up for her and she's getting slammed. A nice problem to have, but still a problem. Ah well.
Before I get to next week's fun, I want to make very clear THE USUAL POSTING SCHEDULE WILL NOT CHANGE. This...
2026-01-16 15:15:01 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 30- Joining Hands Against The Heavens
Tian’s heart felt like it was on fire, but not burning. He couldn’t make sense of it, but since it wasn’t uncomfortable, he didn’t try to change it. He just enjoyed feeling his hand in Liren’s, enjoyed the warmth of her, enjoyed his five pale fingers woven between the rich bronze of hers.
That thought lingered a moment, before his head snapped down for another look. Three fingers on his right hand, no problem there, but his left hand had suddenly grown a pinky. When had that h...
2026-01-16 15:00:18 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 29- Foundations Fit for a Heaven-Piercing Pagoda
Tian felt his bones go soft. He collapsed to the ground, barely managing to cross his legs under him. His cultivation arts roared into action, Advent of Spring rejoicing in all the water aspected qi available, and the Hell Suppressing Sutra was even happier with the presence of both yin and yang qi. He cupped the thousand layer ice in his hands and let his body slowly absorb it. The instructions provided by the hospital, the repeated instructions to bring the treasures home- all forgotten in ...
2026-01-15 15:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 28- A Yang Man
The ice was, if anything, colder than it looked. That was the bad news. The good news was that you could insulate yourself, to a degree, with vital energy. The other bad news was that the draw on your vital energy was atrocious, so you had to move quickly. Across the incredibly slick ice. And if you fell, you would be dead before you had time to scream because there was simply no way you were going to be able to protect your body with vital energy for long enough to stand up again.&n...
2026-01-14 15:00:17 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 27- Close Enough to Taste, Far Enough to Kill
“Have we entered Hell?” Tian wasn’t sure who spoke for a moment, then realized it was him.
Shimmering gems of ice condensed over a lake nearly a mile in diameter, before sublimating from the extreme cold. The ice sheet was clear to the point of near-invisibility, brilliant under the sun. The whole of it looked as though it was on fire. It wasn’t the sun’s light reflecting on the surface. It was the burning stone tree at the center.
Rising from a stone island at the...
2026-01-13 15:00:15 +0000 UTC View PostSky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter Chapter 26- Finding the True Metal Between Fire and Water
“Thank you for leading the way, Prime Servant Candidate Tian.” Wang bowed very properly, and offered him a single fried bread stick. “Please look after me in the future as well. I will be in your care.”
“Please specify who I should betray to maintain your favor, Prime Servant Candidate Tian.” Sister Su bowed and offered two bread sticks. “As you can see, I am already much more sincere than certain people scheming for your position.”
“Fools, they cannot see your g...
2026-01-12 15:00:14 +0000 UTC View PostPeriodic Behind the Scenes Peek (Attn: Writers, Current or Aspiring)
I have now written enough that I have a feel for when something I write is "wrong." "Wrong" in this context doesn't necessarily mean badly written, but it does mean it's bad storycrafting. It doesn't match the tone, doesn't serve a structural purpose, slows the pacing for no reason, or just plain takes a charicter in a wrong direction. However, my writing discipline is to get down two tho...
2026-01-11 21:42:25 +0000 UTC View Post