Remove ads

Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Reader mode
[] Approach Alingge first with a friendly greeting. You did say you would introduce her to Zhengui after all. Make a point to discuss what you're trying to work on within hearing of Wang Chao, and then greet him...
It was fine till that point and then it wasn't anymore.
going with
[] Stick to the original plan, you can chat with Alingge when she inevitably comes to see Zhengui, but there's really no need to complicate things. Approach Wang Chao, greet and chat politely, ask for his help.
 
Interesting, we moved directly on to this without a vote:
yrsillar said:
[] Base Cultivation, Meridians (Wang Chao, Liang He, Alingge, Sect Training Ground)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So possibly the order of the rest of the training arc won't be voted on either, we just voted on what came first.
Candesce said:
I'm entirely fine with indirect approaches to this, but I'd prefer to avoid insincere ones. "As if you weren't expecting him" leaves me a bit concerned.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Took the words out of my mouth.

[X] Stick to the original plan, you can chat with Alingge when she inevitably comes to see Zhengui, but there's really no need to complicate things. Approach Wang Chao, greet and chat politely, ask for his help.

Honestly, I think it's fine to just ask him straight-up. People like having their knowledge and skills appreciated.
 
Last edited:
picklepikkl said:
Honestly, I think it's fine to just ask him straight-up.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm somewhat concerned that Ling Qi's entire motivation for the first option is to avoid asking straight up, rather than anything else. She's got her pride, and I recall previous lines hinting she wanted to avoid that step.

... Do we have an Insight conflict that makes it hard for Ling Qi to accept help from others?
SCDarkSoul said:
I'd expect Ling Qi to botch any attempts at something like that honestly.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
If we were doing it sincerely, I think our most recent insight might help pull it off.

I'm concerned Ling Qi isn't doing it sincerely.
 
Im curious as to how our argent mirror insight would react to feigning ignorance. While not explicitly lying, i do believe i thay the former option is not sincere.
Imma go with the straightforeard approach myself
 
I approve of prioritizing our target over our acquaintance. W e want to make friends with Alingge, but before that, we are here to talk with architecture boi (and swordboi). If Alingge is focused on hunting, we might even distract her and make her miss her shot if we approach her out of the blue.

Plus, showing that we are cool with sword boi might make architecture boi less wary of us.

On another note: Wang Chao's pride is likely easily prickled going "Oh, sorry I didn't notice you" before casually asking for a favor might cause a bad impression on him. Coming all the way here because we need his help does feel like something he'd feel validated for.

My vote will be:
[] Stick to the original plan, you can chat with Alingge when she inevitably comes to see Zhengui, but there's really no need to complicate things. Approach Wang Chao, greet and chat politely, ask for his help.
 
Last edited:
yrsillar said:
She had long decided that she would not stop walking the path forward, even when obstacles presented themselves, even when things grew difficult. She had decided that on some matters there could be no compromise or retreat, that small endings were both acceptable and inevitable. But she did not want to be alone again.

The words and emotions of her family stung, and the pain in her dantian, the grinding feeling of something broken was real.

She needed to race forward without slowing.
She did not want to be alone.

Her melody faltered as her breath hitched, a sharp pain traveling up her spine. The pain arose from her, but's source was elsewhere, in the faint invisible strands that stretched back into the house, away over the hills, where Zhengui rested and Hanyi composed, and up into the mountains, where her friends resided.

In moving forward blindly, she hurt others. Through others, she hurt herself. By hurting herself, she had slowed down. This thought circled in her mind, chasing its own tail. She half expected Sixiang to comment, but the moon spirit was silent, respecting her need for introspection.

There was something to that thought, Ling Qi mused, even if it did not soothe the pain in her spirit. It wasn't an answer, just an observation. It was a good one though, she thought. Yes, it might not solve her current problem, but if she wished to avoid further wounds in the future, she could not afford to let her vision be so narrow.

Insight Slotted: Even walking alone, footfalls echo beyond your hearing
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

So we pinged(?) our heart demon with this insight. We need some insight along the lines of "the best way not to leave people behind is to bring them with you." Some sort of darkness (hunger, selfishness, want) aspected teaching art*.

*An idea I have fixated on despite despite my best efforts. Go away idea! Shoo! Shoo!
 
Candesce said:
... Do we have an Insight conflict that makes it hard for Ling Qi to accept help from others?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
... Shit.

"Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end."

It's not a direct consequence of this insight, I don't think, but does Ling Qi currently have any other path towards creating something of beauty than loneliness?
 
Candesce said:
I'm somewhat concerned that Ling Qi's entire motivation for the first option is to avoid asking straight up, rather than anything else. She's got her pride, and I recall previous lines hinting she wanted to avoid that step.

... Do we have an Insight conflict that makes it hard for Ling Qi to accept help from others?

If we were doing it sincerely, I think our most recent insight might help pull it off.

I'm concerned Ling Qi isn't doing it sincerely.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
While she does have some trouble relying on others to share the burden I think this is more a case of Ling Qi's tendency to approach social interaction like a competition again
She's contemplating acting like she isn't actually here for Wang specifically and that his being here is more a fortunate circumstance because she has reservations about admitting to seeking him out, maybe it's because it's a more vulnerable position for her to approach the situation as someone asking a favor from someone who she isn't exactly friends with.

Approaching Alingge first to talk about Zhengui and using that as a starting point to ask Wang about advice for strategies and tactics would be fine if not for the fact that the motivation for doing so is to try and trick him into thinking we aren't here to look for him. Trying to "act natural" about this is probably going to make him more suspicious of what we're doing rather than put him at ease.
So yeah, probably best to just be upfront and approach him first

[X] Stick to the original plan, you can chat with Alingge when she inevitably comes to see Zhengui, but there's really no need to complicate things. Approach Wang Chao, greet and chat politely, ask for his help.
 
Last edited:
CrimsonOddball said:
Approaching Alingge first to talk about Zhengui and using that as a starting point to ask Wang about advice for strategies and tactics would be fine if not for the fact that the motivation for doing so is to try and trick him into thinking we aren't here to look for him. Trying to "act natural" about this is probably going to make him more suspicious of what we're doing rather than put him at ease.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Nevermind how Wang might perceive it; trying to trick him here pings one of Ling Qi's insights. "Sincerity is the measure by which the worthiness of the self and ones guests should be measured."

I don't think the end results of that will be pretty.
 
Candesce said:
Nevermind how Wang might perceive it; trying to trick him here pings one of Ling Qi's insights. "Sincerity is the measure by which the worthiness of the self and ones guests should be measured."

I don't think the end results of that will be pretty.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It seems to be a common misconception that Ling Qi can't lie or deceive because of that insight, she can she just can't lie to herself

Which is why certain Social Arts themed around deception are insight incompatible; said incompatible Arts work by adopting a false identity to mask oneself and their insights aren't compatible because they're based around self deception, acting out a false persona so well because you yourself live it as if it were true

But Ling Qi can lie just fine, she can be dishonest to other people, conceal her own intentions, misdirect, trick, deceive
Just not to herself

Trying to conduct shenanigans in our social interaction here with Wang is still probably a bad idea, but it's entirely something Ling Qi can do if she wants
 
Last edited:
[] Stick to the original plan, you can chat with Alingge when she inevitably comes to see Zhengui, but there's really no need to complicate things. Approach Wang Chao, greet and chat politely, ask for his help.
I can understand if Ling is nervous but this should be proper friendly overtures, the sort of thing that's acceptable, assuming Wang's not one of those disciples that's peeved by Ling Qi's earlier social stance snafu.
 
Last edited:
I'm thinking if it's related to an insight she'd be getting fidgety and trying to think of an alternative because of SCS insight but yea looks pretty obvious we should just talk to em
[X] Stick to the original plan, you can chat with Alingge when she inevitably comes to see Zhengui, but there's really no need to complicate things. Approach Wang Chao, greet and chat politely, ask for his help.
 
Last edited:
Zaealix said:
[X] Stick to the original plan, you can chat with Alingge when she inevitably comes to see Zhengui, but there's really no need to complicate things. Approach Wang Chao, greet and chat politely, ask for his help.
I can understand if Ling is nervous but this should be proper friendly overtures, the sort of thing that's acceptable, assuming Wang's not one of those disciples that's peeved by Ling Qi's earlier social stance snafu.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Moratorium is still up for another hour and fifteen minutes.
 
Candesce said:
It's not that she can't lie.

It's that being insincere is going to make her feel like shit. Unworthy.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

She can do 'rote speech' without being tripped up by the insight. The whole social performativity thing where you have specific greetings and responses to those greetings and so forth. So she can say 'I'm delighted to meet you' to someone she couldn't care less about if saying that is part of the social script.

The whole 'I didn't see you there! What a coincidence to meet you' can easily fit into that where both parties understand that they're saying it for the form of the thing.

I'd argue that making a point of speaking up within his hearing is a situation like that.
 
Yeah, the combination of a) AM insight, b) we're training PMR right now, and c) composure/poise is one of our lower attributes does not make the first option a good one I don't think.
 
Also, like... as @CrimsonOddball pointed out, if you set aside the sincerity thing for a second, the fundamental distinction is "who has the high ground in the social interaction?" If we go up and approach him, he has it. If he has to approach us, LQ has it.

Given that our mission is to make friends with him, and that we know he's kind of insecure and touchy about his position, what's gonna make him more kindly-disposed to us? Us treating him like a peer who has expertise we think is valuable, or us giving our attention to someone else at first and only acknowledging him when we're good and ready?

Purposely taking the vulnerable position in a social interaction is a hugely underrated tactic.
 
Last edited:
yrsillar said:
"Quite right," Wang Chao said, shaking his head. "I cannot speak against your musical talents, but that part at the end of the duel was a bit vicious to use on a countrymen, wasn't it?"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Wang Chao seems to really respect the sword dude and he is acting blunt. In that case I will vote for the direct interaction to reciprocate the intention. This also makes sure we communicate the gravitas we hold in further good relations with him.
 
yrsillar said:
He was laughing about something in one of the training rings, reaching down to help up his opponent who lay on the ground. She glanced at the other boy, only to furrow her brow, did she recognize him from somewhere…?

"It's sword boy. You know the one I peeked at under the hood for you?" Sixiang reminded her.

Ling Qi's eyebrow twitched. "You did that on your own."

She shook her head as Sixiang chuckled, deliberately ignoring the flash of well exercised pectoral muscles that the spirit flashed in her thoughts. Liang He, that was the name.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

...

Ling Qi you actually duelled him. He parried your song and then you bodied him with your ridiculous FSS Call to Ending tech.

You got into a bit of an argument with other people about whether it was appropriate to finish the duel like that.

...

Meme LQ is best LQ.
 
[X] Stick to the original plan, you can chat with Alingge when she inevitably comes to see Zhengui, but there's really no need to complicate things. Approach Wang Chao, greet and chat politely, ask for his help.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top