clowning is serious fucking tom-foolery and performing it without a license is no joke
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Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I think whether a Zheng is a viable romantic possibility depends on a lot of things we currently don't know. Like, whether we're talking children, whether he's amenable to sticking around long-term, and whether Ling Qi cares about monogamy.
I agree that having kids and then him taking off would be bad (though a fling not involving children might be fine if it's on her terms), and that expecting any Zheng to be faithful is crazy talk, but we need to start by asking what Ling Qi actually wants out of her relationships...which is where her doing some soul searching before any real talk about this becomes necessary, because I'm pretty sure neither Ling Qi herself nor we the readers actually know what she actually wants out of a romantic or sexual relationship.
I agree that having kids and then him taking off would be bad (though a fling not involving children might be fine if it's on her terms), and that expecting any Zheng to be faithful is crazy talk, but we need to start by asking what Ling Qi actually wants out of her relationships...which is where her doing some soul searching before any real talk about this becomes necessary, because I'm pretty sure neither Ling Qi herself nor we the readers actually know what she actually wants out of a romantic or sexual relationship.
- Location
- Washington
Being perfectly honest I think you're ignoring the text of the story which has given no indication it works the way you think and a decent amount of indication it doesn't work that way. Yes from first principles a cultivation society COULD work the way you're proposing, but apart from the Zheng the story as written mostly indicates that this particular cultivation society doesn't.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Is it? I dunno, most monogamous relationships she's seen are problematic at best, and she's mostly come to terms with her mother's former profession in terms of other people (ie: its no worse than many other unpleasant things, in the abstract, when talking about other people).
She remains personally terrified of sex and of power imbalances in relationships surrounding it, and I highly doubt she's gonna play the field personally for that reason even after doing some soul searching but I can also see her just not caring that much about her partner being monogamous if they were honest about it (she cares about betrayal and dishonestly for obvious reasons). I could also see her caring a great deal, of course, but my whole point is that we don't actually know because she refuses to even think about sexual relationships in any way she can possibly avoid.
Like, yeah, she probably cares about sexual fidelity just based on the law of averages (most people do, after all, certainly most do in the Empire), but I'm not sure her particular history makes her more likely to than anyone else, and her mental avoidance of anything remotely to do with sex makes it impossible to make a really good analysis of her personal opinions on the issue.
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- Location
- USA
I also strongly doubt that Ling Qi would want to be a single mother with an absentee dad or dads for her children. I mean she traumatized mostly by the power imbalances, so I suppose having no power over someone who has no power of you because they're never there and might as well not exist is not a power imbalance. But Ling Qingee would be upset that her daughter made the same mistake she did. And that would probably upset Ling Qi.
Or have casual sexual relations. Because if Ling Qi was down for Zheng style society and romance, which is by nature very casual in its sexual relations, this quest would be on QQ.
Or have casual sexual relations. Because if Ling Qi was down for Zheng style society and romance, which is by nature very casual in its sexual relations, this quest would be on QQ.
Apropos of nothing, I think it's been clearly established that standing on thin reeds is practically effortless for Ling Qi now.
I have bolded the relevant parts. Yes, the original Wolf God buffs War Calling, but it explicitly says in the update that Ling Qi already completed it's next stage, the dirge.
The problem isn't that Yrsillar keeps adding more "Husbando options", the problem is that the thread seems utterly unable to not instantly turn any new male character into a husbando.
We have exchanged a grand total of 2 sentences with this guy, and yet people are doing lengthy in-depth analysis about why he is a good or bad romance option for Ling Qi.
Then we have the problem of people forcing their real life believes/preferences into Ling Qi: polyamorous, open relationship, bicurious, casual sex without compromise and so on. No matter how ill-suited they are for Ling Qi based in her history and internal musings on the theme.
People need to calm down in the shipping. With Ling Qi's talent and the diplomatic project, it wouldn't be weird for her to marry at 200 years old or when she had reached 5th or 6th realm.
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TimEd
Meteor maker
Well, although I agree with how overwhelming the husbando talk is, this line is just false.
Ling Qi herself is still in not much of a hurry because of personal preference, but she is very much not part of the cultural norm in this regard.
It actually is culturally more normal for Ling Qi to marry early and pop off a few progeny before she rises in power further because children and high level cultivation doesn't (normally) mix. Not only will the lower level of cultivation mean it would be easier to secure the line of succession (more chance of a birth), it also allows the parent to actually interact with their child (to an extent, based on their specific level of cultivation) before they rise too high (if they even do).
Ling Qi herself is still in not much of a hurry because of personal preference, but she is very much not part of the cultural norm in this regard.
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Oliver_Twister
Idea-Man, He Who Shits Ideas
- Location
- West Africa
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That's why I said if she and Zheng Fu get married in 100+ years. In all seriousness, I'm playing the long game and just want my husbando character (XS) to get more screentime and interactions with LQ because I know we'll need a few decades/centuries before it actually happens and they BOTH have issues they have to go through to have something sembling a healthy relationship
If you want to get Batman'd that's how you get Batman'd
Well, one thing is for certain.
Up until now there were still a lot of people, nobles and ministries alike, that didn't take the threat of the Ith-ai seriously at all.
After this:
That is going to change.
Up until now there were still a lot of people, nobles and ministries alike, that didn't take the threat of the Ith-ai seriously at all.
After this:
That is going to change.
glyph
completely and utterly fine
But this is not on Yrs. This thread is entirely incapable of seeing any male character our age that's not overtly hostile and not immediately consider him a potential "husbando" (and it's immensely frustrating to me that this seems to be the only mode this thread seems to be able to engage with male characters)
Now this I entirely disagree with. LQ is what, 16, 17 years old? She has literal centuries ahead of her, and on the other hand it has been barely 2 years since she got out of an extremely shitty, traumatizing situation and she definitely hasn't processed all of this yet. Her suddenly making dating or courtship a focus would be super out of character. Rather, the thread needs to relax on the whole courtship thing and realize this is probably a couple of years off, and just let male characters be friends and acquaintances.
What I do agree with is that it would be nice if our social contacts (in general) were a bit more proactive and not every "hanging out" activity was an optional option to be scheduled 3 turns down the line, if we manage to fit it into our schedule.
- Location
- Staring into the void
If LQ gets married before 30, I'll be shocked. Even before 60 would be marrying young.
- Location
- somewhere over there.
- Pronouns
- They/It
The thread says and speculates on a lot of things that will never show up in the quest, and often aren't even meant all that seriously by the people who say them, but I think that in this case the discussion is actually pretty pertinent to the story. Responding to characters this way hasn't been the way the thread has been all along; while I'm at sure soon people shipped her with Han Jian or Han Fang way back when they were relevant, the heavy discussion about how viable someone might or might not be as a partner or husband only really got to the point we are now after we started getting requests for betrothals and noticed turtle boy's crush.
From the first thread, but relevant to current discussions. And for Ling Qi I'd assume more leeway on that timeline, given her meteoric rise, time consuming responsibilities, and her marriage negotiations being handled by someone who is lukewarm on the subject at best.
Ling Qi received an official clown egg, but it hatched into our lovely tortoise son
I agree with your sentiment on courtship.
Just look at the last vote to choose which snake boy comes to the fief.
Many people voted for the soldier due to valid and legitim reasons. But many others just voted for "muscle snek for Ling Qi". Yes, Ling Qi likes buff guys, but constantly meme voting for it gets annoying.
And people on boths sides took the vote as "which husbando candidate do you want in the fief", which is hardly better.
It's just so frustrating that we can't decide to spend time with a male character to know them better without it turning into shipping or husbando discussions.
The thread just has a habit of jumping the gun when it comes to character analysis, from what I've seen.
I remember when we met Musician Snek—Xia Anxi, I think?—and despite him having only said, like, two completely reasonable things in the conversation we were having, he was quickly construed to be an utterly pretentious asshole.
The instant deep dives can work for cultivation shit, because there's genuinely quite a bit we know about cultivation and Ling Qi, so there's actually something to dive deep into. That doesn't really work for other people, though, and seems bound to put us in an uncomfortable spot eventually.
- Location
- Chicago
- Pronouns
- She/They
Hey guess what?
Ling Qi is interested in men. So she notices them, and the thread speculates about them, all the time. "Husbando" is a bad frame for this, since it assumes we'll pick one and be done with the whole subject, but it doesn't work like that.
We'll be having these discussions for the rest of the quest, because even after marriage quiet sex on the side is, as we were told, basically expected.
It's odd, I agree, to have this on a thread where it's men and not women as the target, but that's what Ling Qi being het means: the hot men get treated like the women do in most threads.
Plus, tbh, every boy that has partisans only has a few. Personally, I'm not interested in turtle boy or Bao. So people look for each new option and see (discuss) if it works better. I still think we haven't found the right one- and I expect that the thread will react poorly to being woo'ed the way most girls in this setting are woo'ed- a clever excuse for thread reactions overlapping with her trauma, have to say.
So yeah, bring on the husbando fantasies. It's *how*, I think, Ling Qi heals a bit about this- by playing scenes of what could be and how nice it would be in her head before ANYTHING happens in her real life.
Abandonment she'll care about. Honesty she will care about. KINDNESS, she will care about.
When has she ever seen any of those associated with monogamy?
Personal preference, but I hate this phrasing. It really degrades the amount of effort and risk and pain that goes into having kids as a woman. Even with xianxia medicine. There's a *reason* calling in a medicine saint for a birth wasnt considered weird.
Ling Qi is interested in men. So she notices them, and the thread speculates about them, all the time. "Husbando" is a bad frame for this, since it assumes we'll pick one and be done with the whole subject, but it doesn't work like that.
We'll be having these discussions for the rest of the quest, because even after marriage quiet sex on the side is, as we were told, basically expected.
It's odd, I agree, to have this on a thread where it's men and not women as the target, but that's what Ling Qi being het means: the hot men get treated like the women do in most threads.
Plus, tbh, every boy that has partisans only has a few. Personally, I'm not interested in turtle boy or Bao. So people look for each new option and see (discuss) if it works better. I still think we haven't found the right one- and I expect that the thread will react poorly to being woo'ed the way most girls in this setting are woo'ed- a clever excuse for thread reactions overlapping with her trauma, have to say.
So yeah, bring on the husbando fantasies. It's *how*, I think, Ling Qi heals a bit about this- by playing scenes of what could be and how nice it would be in her head before ANYTHING happens in her real life.
Abandonment she'll care about. Honesty she will care about. KINDNESS, she will care about.
When has she ever seen any of those associated with monogamy?
Personal preference, but I hate this phrasing. It really degrades the amount of effort and risk and pain that goes into having kids as a woman. Even with xianxia medicine. There's a *reason* calling in a medicine saint for a birth wasnt considered weird.
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glyph
completely and utterly fine
Sure, LQ notices men and she definitely notices if they have nice abs. But it's a long way from that to fantasizing about marriage. And my complaint is not that LQ is het, or that the thread occasionally speculates about marriage prospects even if that's a long time off. My problem is that the thread focuses overwhelmingly on this lens, to the detriment of all the other ways of engaging with male characters. What I'm saying is, let male characters be characters for their own sake. Romance and marriage can come when it develops naturally in-story.
- Location
- UK
Personally I'm still hoping the Mother Moon cool aid man's herself into a Moon Quest at some point with some emergency therapy.
At the moment though it's way too early to talk about this yet in an actual immediate manner. Whether LQ gets married and has kids at 30 or 300, the story only just reached year three, the absolute earliest of those options is year bloody sixteen.
Even taking into account accelerating time progression due to changing turn mechanics that's still a long, long time away. In the meantime… people gonna ship, which I get some people dislike but I'm sorry to say it's kind of inevitable. The story is what, five years old now? The shipping has been there since near the beginning no doubt, and it isn't gonna stop now.
At the moment though it's way too early to talk about this yet in an actual immediate manner. Whether LQ gets married and has kids at 30 or 300, the story only just reached year three, the absolute earliest of those options is year bloody sixteen.
Even taking into account accelerating time progression due to changing turn mechanics that's still a long, long time away. In the meantime… people gonna ship, which I get some people dislike but I'm sorry to say it's kind of inevitable. The story is what, five years old now? The shipping has been there since near the beginning no doubt, and it isn't gonna stop now.
I don't really know if this part was in response to what I said, but I'mma treat it like it is because it gives me a good excuse to clarify my point.
For the record, I don't dislike shipping talk the vast majority of the time. Honestly, I think it's a worthwhile topic that can result in a lot of good points. For example, someone earlier mentioned that Ling Qi should marry for more than just legitimacy and power and whatnot because of her way regarding family, which is something I hadn't thought of but wholeheartedly agree with (I'm too lazy to go back and check who said exactly what, so sorry for probably mangling the point. It was a really good one!). And since this is a topic that may very well become incredibly important and relevant later on down the line, it's not a bad idea to discuss a lot of this now.
My problem is with people taking the first dozen words out of a character's mouth and using them as a basis to assume their entire character—or large, important parts of it, anyway. Yes, first impressions and all that, but that's exactly what they are: first impressions. I don't exactly know how often the thread does this, but from my limited experience, it feels pretty common. I simply think we should give characters a little time to actually develope into people rather than just plot devices.
Kiddie pools aren't really for deep diving, y'know?
Oliver_Twister
Idea-Man, He Who Shits Ideas
- Location
- West Africa
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It is the nature of a shipper to look into the abyss and try and make sense of it when there is none.
This means that when two characters
1) Talk to each other
2) Look at each other
3) Are in the same room/friend group
4) Fight against each other to the death
They are automatically soulmates who can and should be shipped.
This is also why we build entire personalities off of a few scant lines and WOG. We hunger for the romance and thus will do anything to make our ships sail. Even if we have to butcher reality and the original characters' personality to make them fit our fantasies
This is why every guy is a husbando. This is why shipping wars exist.
This means that when two characters
1) Talk to each other
2) Look at each other
3) Are in the same room/friend group
4) Fight against each other to the death
They are automatically soulmates who can and should be shipped.
This is also why we build entire personalities off of a few scant lines and WOG. We hunger for the romance and thus will do anything to make our ships sail. Even if we have to butcher reality and the original characters' personality to make them fit our fantasies
This is why every guy is a husbando. This is why shipping wars exist.
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