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

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[] Be polite, but no more, as he had let her feel her own way along, he could do the same, if Luo Zhong has a concern, he is free to bring it up.

I do not see a reason to treat him differently than he treated us
 
[X] Be polite, but no more, as he had let her feel her own way along, he could do the same, if Luo Zhong has a concern, he is free to bring it up.

While it is fun to style on this fool, I feel like being petty is more fun
 
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[X] Be polite, but no more, as he had let her feel her own way along, he could do the same, if Luo Zhong has a concern, he is free to bring it up.
 
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[X] You can afford to be more gracious, as a minor power move if nothing else, and you are curious what he is up to.

This is more chaotic for him, throwing him off his game will be fun.
 
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So I'd just like to draw attention to this:
"Sect brother Luo is too generous," Xuan Shi said, shrugging his broad shoulders. "And this is merely a casual meeting."

Ling Qi blinked at the hard emphasis Xuan Shi put on that word, and she knew Luo Zhong caught it too, from the way he straightened up marginally.

"Huh, Turtle-boy doesn't usually stand up for himself like that," Sixiang mused.
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While the people acting like Luo Zhong was actually Satan for making us flail around at his party were exaggerating, between that experience, Bao Qingling's problems with him, and now this; I think it's safe to say that this man, is in fact, a dick.

Seriously I think he managed to tick Xuan Shi off faster than Ji Rong did, if not to the same degree.
 
Hm.

While pettiness is fun and all, I feel like option 1 serves another purpose - testing him, the same way he tested us.

Luo Zhong has always seemed competent at the politics as practiced by normal cultivators. Force him to interact with weirdos like Ling Qi or Bao Qingling, and he struggles, engendering a mild dislike in Cai's left hand and publicly embarrassing himself with a failed courtship.

In addition, there has been some speculation the Luo is looking to get in on the whole Ice Diplomacy thing - a task that will very much require non-standard diplomacy.

So throwing him into the deep end with three decidedly odd cultivators, at least one of whom is predisposed to disliking him, could be a way to test whether or not he would be of use on the mission, if that's what he wants to ask about in the first place. Even if he's not great at dealing with those outside of his cultural norms, so long as he isn't aggressively incompetent with them he could still be of use to us as a way to interface with more traditional imperial elements, something our group is not great at covering.

And I don't care enough about the guy personally to particularly want to flex on him, so option 2 seems eh to me.
 
Ling Qi, when she arrived on White Cloud Mountain: Shit how do I talk to people what is "Dantian" why are there so many nobles AAAAAAAHHHH!

Ling Qi, now: Behold, I am Baroness Ling, Left Hand of the Cai Heiress, foremost diplomat to the Nation of Polar Gates. It is my solemn duty to prevent two massive nations from murdering the shit out of each other. I recently finished a deal with one of the most high-ranking members of a committal clan, to help revitalize their lands and traditions. And you, Luo scion, have managed to offend me, so now I will run rings around you in social combat.
 
[] You can afford to be more gracious, as a minor power move if nothing else, and you are curious what he is up to.

The best revenge is being better than those who slight you.
 
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[] You can afford to be more gracious, as a minor power move if nothing else, and you are curious what he is up to.

I wonder if this is maybe a flag for the Bring Luo Moderates Into the Fold route? Show dog-boy we're the dominant one so he falls in line? Not really sure, but I think there's narrative merit like what Neshuakadal said.

I really, really wanna vote for petty just for the sake of it being petty though.
 
Leaning towards this one
[X] You can afford to be more gracious, as a minor power move if nothing else, and you are curious what he is up to.
Mostly because I thinks this isn't what he'd expect so it'd throw him off
 
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TBF I think one of the reasons XS hated JR so much is because he had typecast him as a cultivator!onepiece villain of the week.

The one who will betray and sabotage the Girl with a Dream until the Big Damn Hero comes in and sorts the situation out.

He really matured a lot our XS! Really proud of him. Sealed the ideals portrayed in the story in his heart while stopping to awkwardly larp all the time. Even learned that other people are not sidecharacters in his story! hard lesson to learn that one.
 
[] Be polite, but no more, as he had let her feel her own way along, he could do the same, if Luo Zhong has a concern, he is free to bring it up.
[X] You can afford to be more gracious, as a minor power move if nothing else, and you are curious what he is up to.

I feel like the first one is more into his comfort zone? I wanna do the unexpected thing. Could change tho
 
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BeepSmile said:
Ehhh. I don't feel like being a dick.
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Neither of the options look like they involve being a dick. The first just obliges him to take the initiative with whatever purpose he came here for, which doesn't seem that unreasonable since he went out of his way to inject himself into this situation.

I'm curious enough about what exactly he has planned that I'm leaning towards voting baseline civility just to see what his play is.
 
yrsillar said:
If she were to be honest with herself, Ling Qi was dreading this. Even if Luo Zhong had invited her in good faith, which she was not completely sure of, she was still going out to spend the afternoon with a bunch of people who were contemptuous of her at best. Frankly she got enough of that at Cai Renxiang's regular gatherings.

"You're going in with a bad attitude again," Sixiang warned. "I know I didn't exactly help with that last year, but I got better. Have you?"
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First threadmark for a LZ hunting party for people that want to re-read.
 
[] Be polite, but no more, as he had let her feel her own way along, he could do the same, if Luo Zhong has a concern, he is free to bring it up.

This seems like it'd be awkward - we can't actually BE casual while this guy none of the others like is standing around and everyone is trading polite nothings while they wait for him to go away.

[] You can afford to be more gracious, as a minor power move if nothing else, and you are curious what he is up to.

This one is a bit riskier, we allow a bit of vulnerability by letting him work, but well, we already know nobody else here likes him much. In exchange, the conversation moves. Possibly to even more awkward places.

Kind of amusing Xuan Shi is better at the Mean Girls thing than we are...
 
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I have the feeling the Luo boy sees we're making nice with someone he doesn't get along and is looking to see if he can put a wedge between us and Chao Wang. Or maybe, it's just a matter of sabotaging the attempts of a self-perceived rival to network with other nobles. Maybe in his mind, he sees it as a "An alliance is forming there, and at this rate, I'll be excluded from it. I either must be part of it, or ensure it doesn't consolidate."

Regardless, him wanting to insert himself in our little fun event is making it less fun. I am concerned Xuan Shi will be hesitant to take us up on more social gathering if we butter up the person who apparently already slighted him enough to make him talk to him like he did.

Luo is in an advantageous situation in which we're forced to try to tolerate him, or even be nice to him, or face social/political consequences. And the price we pay for trying to indulge him is risking the comfort of our other guests, who just came to have a good time and chill, and definitely did not sign up to political mind-games with Luo.

Maybe he's just trying his best to ingratiate himself to us, and by extension to the cai, but he has the unfortunate bad timing to make his 'friendly' approach appear to be made in bad faith. He won't gain any friends like this, that's for sure.

[] You can afford to be more gracious, as a minor power move if nothing else, and you are curious what he is up to.
 
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