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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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[X] Sixiang was her muse and her friend. Ling Qi was tired of being ignored. She would get Sixiang's attention and help.
 
[X] She could use a more human perspective. Even if her friends and family were not musically talented, they could give her feedback and advice.
 
Seems like Yu Nuan's from a clan that got incidentally crushed because their liege lord got crushed by Cai Shenhua during her rather pointed retribution and power consolidation. Probably was a baronial clan or common servant clan like the one Ling Qi's mom was from. Although the fall wasn't as great and she's not as outwardly demonstrative about the injustice, she's pretty "rage against the machine" (albeit practical on keeping her head down relatively) and her music will tend toward what her blurb description describes, "loud and vulgar."

If Chu Song were to be compared to her, Chu Song thinks the world is unfair and it owes her. Yu Nuan thinks the first, is more sanguine about the second (it just is re unfairness), and yet, she's still idealistic enough to be defiant against what she perceives to be unfair. Not quite nihilistic but in an adjacent space?

I think given the pointed link between Cai Shenhua and the cycle of revenge she may have inspired and what Ling Qi brings up in regard to the Bloody Moon dream, this choice may help Ling Qi gain an understanding of a response to this cycle of revenge.

I am inclined to disregard Zeqing in this matter; sure, the end of all things will solve a cycle of revenge (can't have a cycle if everyone's dead! -big brain-) and the end is beautiful in its own way, but it's not quite a lesson I'm interested in learning.

Given Ling Qi's thoughts on her mom (that she could continue the cycle of revenge), Meizhen, Xiulan, and Li Suyin's reactions toward revenge (yep), I'm not that interested in a perpetuation of the status quo. The persons I'd be most interested in, Cai Renxiang and Shen Hu, Ling Qi doesn't yet really consider friends. CRX doesn't even know about the dream yet and its impact on Ling Qi!

So, maybe it's a bit of a mystery box given Sixiang's distraction, but we've seen that Sixiang has had strong reactions toward Cai Shenhua's order and now, the Bloody Moon dream, which they rejected quite strongly. I find myself curious as to what Ling Qi and Sixiang would come up with as an answer toward this budding cycle of revenge. At the very least, I imagine that Sixiang would be best suited to invoking the raw terror and horror of a true massacre that Ling Qi was forced to participate in and its contrast to CRX's vision, which seems quite striking as a composition piece at the very least.

[X] Sixiang was her muse and her friend. Ling Qi was tired of being ignored. She would get Sixiang's attention and help.

(But I'm sorta worried about what happens when we distract Sixiang, who is in turn distracted...)
 
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[X] She could use a more human perspective. Even if her friends and family were not musically talented, they could give her feedback and advice.
 
Sundancer said:
Aww, interesting. I like punk rock cultivator gal. I wonder how her raging against the machine and getting crushed led to a animosity towards the Cai, though. She's clanless and on her own, so it's pretty unlikely that Shenhua personally crushed her. Guess she ran into some Cai loyalist in the Sect and came out the worse for it? But why hitch that defeat to the Cai? Who knows, maybe she is just literally sore about The System and is leery about anyone working with The Man (well, woman in this case).
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I'm thinking Ya Nuan might simply be from a city that lost the demographic wars of Shenhua's take over.

For example, say she lives in a city that used to belong to a power family 200 years ago that was found disloyal by ShenHua. Even if Yu Nuan's family itself are commoners, the city itself is going to suffer from the regime change if the rulers are found disloyal.

Think cities IRL that were demoted to quasi-village status after a century of loss on the economical warfare level.
 
"Obviously," the girl replied, warm wind stirring around her. Ling Qi heard, or rather felt, the faint stirring of notes, discordant and heavy. She was sure that the girl across from her could here the faint sound of Ling Qi's own soul.
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"My turn," Ling Qi replied irritably, giving the girl a mild glare, a cool breeze blew, and the sound of a distant flute was audible, even to Ling Qi's ears.
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"Nah, the Big Cai crushed that lot on purpose," her opponent replied, squaring her own shoulders as a ripple of heat rose from her skin, warding off the chill.
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Rereading and this part where they are soul musicing and each effecting the breeze was pretty cool. It's always neat seeing the small effects Ling Qi and other cultivators have on the environment around them.
 
[X] Sixiang was her muse and her friend. Ling Qi was tired of being ignored. She would get Sixiang's attention and help.
 
[X] Sixiang was her muse and her friend. Ling Qi was tired of being ignored. She would get Sixiang's attention and help.
 
[X] Sixiang was her muse and her friend. Ling Qi was tired of being ignored. She would get Sixiang's attention and help.

All 3 options have things going for them for the challenge, picking the one I think will help LQ and Six most, especially if the melody thus composed ends up having the dream events as context for its message.
 
I liked getting the brief glimpse of the Inner Sect disciples' views re: our year.

[X] Sixiang was her muse and her friend. Ling Qi was tired of being ignored. She would get Sixiang's attention and help.

Time to get moon buddy out of their rut.
 
We want someone who is both capable of understanding Ya Nuan, which would require them to have met her in some capacity, and is willing to assist in a bout between inner disciples. We know that Ling Qi's mom is unlikely to know her and Zeqing might not want to interfere too much in a inner disciple competition. Sixiang can potentially tell us more about Ya Nuan due to her better social skills and is our literal muse so we'll go with her.

[X] Sixiang was her muse and her friend. Ling Qi was tired of being ignored. She would get Sixiang's attention and help.
 
Well, I suppose I should also put my two cents in.

The goal here is to win the challenge, and thus we need to understand what the challenge is. Here is what we know of the challenge:
yrsillar said:
Later that day, she found a neatly printed page slipped under her door when she emerged from the meditation room to quench her thirst. The challenge had been decided. It would be a contest of composition. They would each compose a new piece over the next three days, and then present it to the Elder overseeing the challenge. After presenting in turn, they would then vie directly against one another, to see whose message was the stronger.
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So, the question then becomes which message is stronger. That could mean a lot of things, but given that music is about expressing oneself, it is probably a combination of the strength of our message as well as our ability to communicate it.

Zeqing probably has the strongest insight to give, but it is incredibly inflexible. Also, I feel that we would be using her insight for this piece would be communicating something that we don't personally have, and thus the message created from the insight would be diluted. So while I feel that this is a powerful message, I also feel that our ability to communicate the message won't be top notch and thus not the best use of our time. (Additionally, using our super powerful teacher's insight to craft a message we want to give for our challenge just seems... weird for me. Let's craft our own message.)

Sixiang is closer to our level and is also heavily aligned with music and creativity. Being a muse and inspiration, as well as our bound spirit and thus more understanding of our quirks and nature, is just an additional benefit. However, Sixiang is distracted by something, and thus the help that they might give could be limited as it may take some time to push her out of whatever she is doing right now. They probably have some good insights to give on composition work and have a more diverse message that they could convey. Additionally, I feel that this might be a good opportunity to compose and express what we felt during the Bloody Moon dream, and Sixiang would be perfect for that.

Friends and family would probably be the most helpful in being able to hone our message and strengthen our ability to express it. If people who are not musically inclined are able to feel and understand the meaning of the message through our song, then it is likely that those who are will be able to understand and appreciate it even better. The insight that they could give, however, in composing such a piece would be limited though. So I feel that this choice would be purely for strengthening our ability to express our message, and not very helpful when it comes to composing the said message.

With all of that, I believe I am going to choose
[X] Sixiang was her muse and her friend. Ling Qi was tired of being ignored. She would get Sixiang's attention and help.

I feel that this is probably the most balanced option between composing a strong message while also getting help in being able to express it. Also, I do want to get Sixiang out of her funk and this is probably the best way to do that. While it may take a bit longer than a day to get her attention, I'm sure that in the time that we'll have to both be working on this we can create something spectacular. Also, I feel that this is the best opportunity to compose the feelings we experienced during the Bloody Moon dream into song, and start working on resolving the issues we are having with it. Although... it is probably too private for Ling Qi to actually publically express in a competition format. So, we'll see.
 
[X] Sixiang was her muse and her friend. Ling Qi was tired of being ignored. She would get Sixiang's attention and help.
 
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Bai Meizhen on Whiteboard
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    • Now, I'm having too much fun. On a whiteboard. Bai Meizhen.



    Ok. Maybe I should stop with my whiteboard x).
    Adhoc vote count started by Arthelys on Jan 18, 2019 at 7:37 PM, finished with 165 posts and 127 votes.
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    • [X] Sixiang was her muse and her friend. Ling Qi was tired of being ignored. She would get Sixiang's attention and help.
     
    [X] Sixiang was her muse and her friend. Ling Qi was tired of being ignored. She would get Sixiang's attention and help.
     
    [X] She could use a more human perspective. Even if her friends and family were not musically talented, they could give her feedback and advice.

    Mom should have some choice ideas on how to deal with a feud you can't answer because someone beyond you stepped on you.
     
    [X] She could use a more human perspective. Even if her friends and family were not musically talented, they could give her feedback and advice.
     
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