I have no problem with what the voting options are. While i prefer the brawl option, going for the date is not unreasonable.
My problems are with arguments people are making in favor of the date.
Like the previously made argument "he has been nice to us so we should go on a date" (paraphrasing), which while almost certainly not meant as such, can easily come of like some pretty fucking horrible attitudes of a girl owing a date to a guy because they have been "nice" to them.
And the current "let's resolve this thing", which is not how mental trauma works.
I apologize I did not mean to downplay her trauma, rather I meant we need to learn how to talk to people without having a goku moment of beating the everliving daylight out of people.
And we are doing so. Not going on a date with a guy who has made it quite clear he is trying to marry her is not necessary for that.
Like i've said, i can see reasons for both. It's just this specific argument for it comes out sounding like some pretty horrible attitudes people have about mental issues.
Communications is hard, it's perfectly possible (even likely) that i am misreading your intent.
But language does matter and even unintentional statements like this should be pushed back against.
Well yes.
SV usually favors ripping the scab off on the basis of a clean healing.
The effectiveness of it depends on whether the QM believes the same, since scabs have a reason to exist.
Sometimes its still raw under the scab and the scab is working to keep infection out.
...Bruh he literally said he doesn't care about marriage, this is him trying to get to know us just by hanging out with him.
Like I've said before she needs to resolve her trauma by knowing that even when a person approaches her asks to get to know her and have a jolly ol good time with friends in unexpected ways rather than suspecting they plan to murder her her friends and family and loot the corpse.
I apologize I did not mean to downplay her trauma, rather I meant we need to learn how to talk to people without having a goku moment of beating the everliving daylight out of people.
Not everyone will be as powerful as she is and that will be a what they see, like if Zeqing and a moon spirit decided to fuse and had a pinch of dragon thrown in the mix.
She needs to learn how to just have a casual conversation without being all paranoid about the motive, he has been a gracious host and an almost 0 Percent chance of ulterior motive.
So unless he's a master actor which Six would have commented on that she hasn't and a real sleaze ball that wants to steal us away like a fairy princess yes this is the ideal way to resolve her issues odds of success be damned.
To be fair, it's not really his ulterior motives she's worried about. It's the anterior ones
While he's after more than just marriage and failing to secure one isn't a game-ender to his aspirations in the south of the province, that doesn't mean he isn't still pursuing it. He's explicitly a suitor, just not exclusively a suitor. He wants a partnership even if he doesn't secure his preferred one which definitely is the marriage thingamabob. At the moment, anyway.
I have no problem with what the voting options are. While i prefer the brawl option, going for the date is not unreasonable.
My problems are with arguments people are making in favor of the date.
Like the previously made argument "he has been nice to us so we should go on a date" (paraphrasing), which while almost certainly not meant as such, can easily come of like some pretty fucking horrible attitudes of a girl owing a date to a guy because they have been "nice" to them.
And the current "let's resolve this thing", which is not how mental trauma works.
The first more likely was meant along the lines of "He's been nice to us so far, so we can expect him to continue being decent to us even at dinner," yeah.
The second one is more interesting. There's Ling Qi's traumas, and then there's the shadows they cast on the walls. The former isn't something that can be erased now, or arguably ever. But those shadows, the things she jumps and cringes at, aren't so certain. Kind of like viewing the brothel from her childhood dispelled the more fantastical edge to her memories and revealed a merely depressing mundanity, shedding light on the mechanisms of noble courtship first-hand has the potential to dispel some of her worries.
To be immediately replaced with borderline disgust at the clinical passionless bean counter-y of lives, family, traded back and forth for petty advantage, probably but hey. Progress.
Slightly more seriously, I think Ling Qi being repelled by both the dry bureaucratic cogs of noble marriage and her distrust and the vulnerability inherit to more passionate romance is interesting. But currently, the dichotomy between the two is buried by Ling Qi's prioritization of the latter; further exposure of the former issue should unlock a more nuanced internal conflict moving forward and contextualizing other options as they appear. The struggle between the two poles of marriage/relationships should also provide more texture to the differences between those different betrothal options. Which is a plus!
"Hm, yes. I think I like this you considerably more," Bao Qian offered a brief, low bow. "Miss Ling, I am an ambitious man. I will be honest, matters of marriage are a distant concern, there are far too many things that I need do yet before settling is an option, cultivation not the least of them."
"I could say the same," Ling Qi replied carefully. "Why then did you come here?"
"For the reasons I have stated. There is opportunity in the south, opportunity in you," he replied without a hint of shame. "We Bao have a nose for investments. I think you are a good ally and contact to make. You in turn, need to expand your connections among the Emerald Seas, and there are few better than the Bao for that. Even those crotchety swamp hermits out west grudgingly deal with us."
"You're not wrong," Ling Qi admitted, giving him an assessing look. "So the marriage pursuit is just a cover?"
"Not at all. You are lovely, talented and ambitious. You are a musician of unmatched skill for your age as well as a fierce and canny duelist. Let the old birds at court cluck their tongues about your origins, I am pleased by what I see."
Ling Qi stared, her thoughts briefly grinding too a halt, only a sharp prod from Sixiang got her mind moving again. "...And if I cannot say the same of you?"
He laughed. "Then I would hope that you will look into my history as I have yours in the future, and pay a mind to my accomplishments in the coming years."
"You are awfully confident," Ling Qi replied dryly.
"I am a Bao, it is in the blood," he replied. "But all this aside. I do hope we can work together for our mutual prosperity in the future. Even with the support of the Cai, raising a new house is difficult."
"And that is what I do not understand," Ling Qi replied in frustration. "Many sons or no, you are the scion of a count clan, why put yourself in such a difficult position?"
"Bah, what good is inheritance alone?" He dismissed. "Let my brothers and sisters squabble over my father and mothers great works. I have the blood in my veins and the arts of our archives, my advantages are already vast, I neither want or need anything else. I will make my own fortune and my own great works."
Ling Qi met and held his gaze, searching for sincerity in his eyes. It was such a weird mindset that she had trouble grasping it. "...Alright, I'll believe that," Ling Qi said after a moment. "If you just want to work together, that is fine." She could think about the rest at a later date.
"That is all I ask for now," he said graciously. "But we should not hold up our companions any longer."
I parse that as "years from now I'll need to marry someone and you're a pretty great prospect, so I would like you to think about it seriously, but in the meantime I just think we can do business together well."
I parse that as "years from now I'll need to marry someone and you're a pretty great prospect, so I would like you to think about it seriously, but in the meantime I just think we can do business together well."
Ah thank you misremembered that, but yea he's a cool dude and she knows this, its not like the dinner will be a nuclear bomb waiting to go off for them both.
Ah thank you misremembered that, but yea he's a cool dude and she knows this, its not like the dinner will be a nuclear bomb waiting to go off for them both.
Not a nuke, no single vote is going to lead to a nuke.
And i would not expect the story to be fully realistic about trauma (though i think it has been pretty good at showing Ling Qi's issues).
But the option states that there is a potential for bad outcome.
Ah thank you misremembered that, but yea he's a cool dude and she knows this, its not like the dinner will be a nuclear bomb waiting to go off for them both.
Ah well, really hoping all the people thinking this vote is about excising from Ling Qi her tastes in activities because they aren't optimal for a quest setting are wrong. 🧂
To be clear: if it goes badly, I do want it to in fact go meaningfully badly. Not just "no result," but introduce some sort of relevant complicating factor. Otherwise it's just yawn, why even bother.
This isn't to say I am voting how I'm voting with the goal of it tanking. I want it to go well, or at least neutrally, for reasons I've been very clear about. But failure ought to carry weight, especially in a case where we explicitly chose "option with element of risk" over "safe option."
Ah well, really hoping all the people thinking this vote is about excising from Ling Qi her tastes in activities because they aren't optimal for a quest setting are wrong. 🧂
[X] Blurted out a request to spar instead, that helped cultivators understand each other, right?! [Lesser information and improved relationship with Bao Qian, Ling Qi spared a bad time]
[X] Carefully accepted. She had to begin dialing down her discomfort somewhere. [Potentially, Information and improved relationship with Bao Qian, Ling Qi uncomfortable, potentially negative outcome.]
I don't actually think it would go badly. I just don't want it to be about fixing Ling Qi, because I actually like what other people call "hangs up" of her, here.
[X] Blurted out a request to spar instead, that helped cultivators understand each other, right?! [Lesser information and improved relationship with Bao Qian, Ling Qi spared a bad time]
Well yes.
SV usually favors ripping the scab off on the basis of a clean healing.
The effectiveness of it depends on whether the QM believes the same, since scabs have a reason to exist.
Sometimes its still raw under the scab and the scab is working to keep infection out.
Based on the parentheses, I'd fathom a guess that the QM thinks is a dice roll whether such a thing works or not, although I cannot really know unless he comments on it.
On that note, I, too, would want a bad roll to have consequences. Not necessarily destructive ones, or even significant ones, just meaningful ones. Which is not to say I hope for a bad roll, quite the opposite, I am not the kind of person that wants a quest to be torpedoed because his choice didn't win, again, quite the opposite.
But if it was my vote, I'd think that if there was nothing to risk, well, how could I be happy if a gamble resulted on gainz? So I think likewise on any gamble choice, agreed or disagreed.
Slightly more seriously, I think Ling Qi being repelled by both the dry bureaucratic cogs of noble marriage and her distrust and the vulnerability inherit to more passionate romance is interesting. But currently, the dichotomy between the two is buried by Ling Qi's prioritization of the latter; further exposure of the former issue should unlock a more nuanced internal conflict moving forward and contextualizing other options as they appear. The struggle between the two poles of marriage/relationships should also provide more texture to the differences between those different betrothal options. Which is a plus!
On my part I think the dichotomy is mostly false perception. She's seeing two equally terrible poles when they're a gradient on a field.
Like, as Meizhen said: a spar is pretty damned intimate for a cultivator, and as a trust exercise its REALLY hard to beat "I will allow you to project dangerous forces at me because I trust you not to hurt me seriously, and you will do the same, whoever wins or loses, there are no stakes but what you learn trying".
Kind of like a trust fall, but much more badass.
Just remembered though we saved the child about to be sacrificed in the ritual we didn't even bother to check how he was fairing, same with the ghost kid didnt ask just got the job done and left no questions asked.
Adhoc vote count started by picklepikkl on Feb 12, 2020 at 12:25 PM, finished with 302 posts and 140 votes.
[X] Carefully accepted. She had to begin dialing down her discomfort somewhere. [Potentially, Information and improved relationship with Bao Qian, Ling Qi uncomfortable, potentially negative outcome.]
[X] Blurted out a request to spar instead, that helped cultivators understand each other, right?! [Lesser information and improved relationship with Bao Qian, Ling Qi spared a bad time]
Just remembered though we saved the child about to be sacrificed in the ritual we didn't even bother to check how he was fairing, same with the ghost kid didnt ask just got the job done and left no questions asked.
We took a sect job to appease a rowdy house spirit that didn't let anyone inside once the previous owners past away, thing is we were told to just get in there and place some incense by the shrine and it should have been only that.
It was not, see when he was having his tantrum he was also recreating what happened before they died and though I don't remember where to find the page,
If I remember right the previous tenants may have been murdered and the guy that was inheriting the house but didn't bother visiting at all was somehow connected.
We rushed in and snuck past him all the way to the shrine and basically brainwashed him into a more docile state when we put the incense candles there and lit them and walked out without questioning anyone what the deal was.
"So, this is the place," Ling Qi mused, looking up at the peaked roof visible of the wooden barrier that surrounded the grounds. "Do you mind if I ask why the home got into this state?"
"Of course, honored Miss," the elderly woman, who was the head housekeeper and the only member of the staff still around, said as she lead her toward the gates. "The house staff was called away by the Lord Seung, for other duties, and the Young Master has been too occupied with his Sect duties to approve new hiring, and so we have fallen behind."
Ling Qi considered those words for a moment, and the short woman who had spoken them. There was pretty obviously some details being left out there, but it would be rude to press. "Ah, what unfortunate timing," Ling Qi mused. "And what has caused the house spirit to grow so unruly? While I have little practical experience with such matters, my studies have indicated that such spirits are usually rather tame."
They reached the gates then, and Ling Qi glanced over them, taking in the security arrays visible to her eyes, woven into the carvings on the wooden doors. It didn't seem like anything she couldn't bypass with focused effort. She made sure to keep some attention on her companion though. "You are correct of course, Miss," the housekeeper agreed. "House spirits are friendly things… but this property only recently came under the ownership of the Clan Seung. The house spirit does not yet recognize it's new owners," she explained, fishing a flat grey disc from her sleeve. She pressed it to the indent in the center of the gates, and it shimmered, causing them to swing open.
"I see," Ling Qi said with a frown. "How was anyone living here at all then?"
"The staff had been performing the proper rites to suppress and suborne the spirit, after the Young Master enacted a sealing," The old woman sighed. "When they were called away, those rascals failed to do their final duties, and so the spirit broke free. These old bones were not up to the task of suppressing it at that point I am afraid."
Ling QI nodded, looking past the gates and across the garden inside. The flowerbeds and grass had an unkempt look to them, and the windows seemed dark, she could feel a fairly potent presence from the place, though it was riddled with weakness pulling it down into the second realm. "I see," she had only briefly encountered the concept of house spirits, as a subset of object spirits, things like this must really make property transfers among immortals a pain. "What need I do then?"
"The Spirit Tablet lies in the second basement," the elderly woman explained, even as she pressed the disc that had opened the gates into Ling Qi's hand. "And this will disable the locks," she continued pragmatically. "You need but reach the Tablet, and sprinkle this across its face," she continued, adding a vial of red powder and a few sticks of rather expensive looking incense to the kit. "Then perform a pacification rite."
Ling Qi nodded, she was familiar enough with basic spiritual rites at this point, though she didn't recognize the powder, studying it for a moment, she frowned… dried blood? It was the blood of a potent cultivator too, by the aura. She… supposed that made sense, if this was meant to bind the spirit to a new master and he wasn't present. "Consider it done then," Ling Qi said, putting on a smile. "I will be back shortly."
"Spirits bless you honored disciple," The old woman said, bowing deeply. "You have my thanks."
Ling Qi nodded absently as she stepped inside, putting the woman from her mind as she focused on the task ahead. She could feel the spirits qi, threaded all through the structure. Avoiding it's attention wouldn't be easy.
Rerolling
4 4 7 1 9 6 6 6 7 3 6 4 1 5 7 10 7 10 2 8 4 6 2. 8 successes. 17 total
First roll bare pass
Second Roll
7 10 8 3 7 9 3 4 9 8 7 3 3 9 10 3 3 9 1 9 9 2 6. 13 successes. 22 total
Ling Qi let the edges of her being fray into the shadows as she crept across the grounds, melting into the shadows cast by the wall under the late afternoon sun, maintaining a slow pace as she eyed the vast, complex web of spiritual awareness that engulfed the house. It might have been a beautiful thing once, but now it was laced through with lines of wrath and disgust, and ragged holes, where something new was growing.
It felt like studying a tapestry, which was being replaced thread by thread with a whole other weaving, the holes were places where new and old had torn apart, and the dark lines… well that was where the metaphor broke apart a little. Still, she supposed she should be glad for it, as she very nearly allowed her qi to trip the web at her first step, so dense it was. If it had been whole… well, it seemed like she wouldn't simply be able to rest on her laurels in the future, when it came to sneaking.
Her near failure only made her more determined though, and soon Ling Qi made it onto the porch, taking one careful step at a time. There were no eyes to hide from here, only the spiritual senses of the house itself, and so she had to adjust her method of skulking, leaving aside her focus on the physical aspects. While she did have the key, Ling Qi did not want to alert the spirit, and so instead of the door, she crept around the perimeter until she found an open window, leading into the kitchen. Such things could usually be relied upon, it seemed, even in a cultivator house.
That wasn't to say that there weren't alarm formations layered around the window, but she managed to bypass them slipping between the figurative 'bars'. Inside though, things changed. As Ling Qi slipped down the dimly lit halls, she could feel a pressure on her back, the weight of the house spirit, an incoherent mass of negative emotion that raised the hairs on her neck.
Decorative vases rattled, and floorboards creaked without rhyme or reason, and out of the corner of her eyes, she would often catch movement. Shadows crawling unnaturally on the walls and faintly human silhouettes passing from room to room. The sounds were the worst though.
From the moment that she entered the building, the faint sound of sobbing had reached her ears, unending and uninterrupted, save by an occasional snippet of feeling-that-became-words.
Where have you gone…
Ling Qi simply grit her teeth though, doing her best to ignore the grief pressing down on her like the cold pressure of a lake in winter.
Come back, please!
It was hard though, as the visions in the corner of her eye grew more numerous, the indistinct figures of people going through the motions of daily life, happy and sad. It made it difficult to not jump when one of the sightless wraiths would pass right by or through her. A child chasing a ball, a proud woman sweeping down the hall, trailed by the images of handmaidens, men deep in arguments, their words garbled beyond recognition.
Please do not leave me…
She soon found the door leading to the basement, and here she finally made use of the key, for there were no other entrances to be found.
Usurper… Thief…
She grimaced as she felt the attention redouble, and the house grow darker still. She darted her way down the stairs as the volume of the sobbing grew greater, and took on a furious edge. Still, she slipped undetected through the web of the spirits attention, for all that she could hear the furniture rattling even as the door behind her swept shut with a loud bang. It new someone was here, but it had not 'seen' her yet.
Ling Qi slipped between wine racks and storage shelves as she made her way down to the second level of the basement, ignoring the crashing sounds of things falling behind her as the shelves rocked and the ground quaked. The second floor was thankfully bare, most of it's contents apparently removed, leaving only empty alcoves. Only one remained full, an ornate little shrine holding a stone tablet as wide as her hands placed together and only a few centimeters thick. Characters were carved in it's surface, but they were unreadable, as if the stone had melted like wax, leaving the characters warped and broken.
The sobs rose into a shriek as Ling Qi darted forward and popped the stopper off the blood vial with her thumb, and a quick flick of her wrist sprinkled the coppery scented dust over the warped tablet. It gleamed as it landed upon the stone and the foundations of the house shook violently for a moment.
...And then all was still and silent. Ling Qi grimaced as she felt something like pain shoot through the web of spirit all around her, and the feeling of grief and fury rose. For the moment though, the spirit was impotent, and so she did not waste any time lighting the incense and beginning the pacification rites.
By the time she was done, the the web around her was reduced to a fuzzy cloud, barely coherent, and the last feelings of struggle had faded.
Ling Qi grimaced, that had been far more unpleasant than she had expected, even if she had avoided real conflict with the spirit. If she ever purchased a house old enough to have a spirit, she would definitely have to make sure the thing wasn't hostile first.
