Vikram
!!FUN!! Containment Officer
- Location
- New Delhi
Poking an angry, dementia ridden spirit husk on the subject it's angry about doesn't seem like a good idea, yes.
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.
- Location
- CA
It would be possible for their master to be entirely ruin-focused but not a living blight. After all, Shenhua and Shu Yue both consider themselves temporary cleansers of rot who will be replaced by those who can build something better afterward, and Ling Qi's understanding of Winter is similar, with her accepting that her cold is not part of Spring and doesn't have to be. Something has to end the old and rotten so that new growth won't be strangled by dying remnants of the past, and that is a right and proper part of the natural cycle.
And it's appropriate for a good person who is also a ruin-based cultivator to look at a sword saint and say that they've reduced themselves to an instrument of violence. That revelation is entirely destructive, and it does nothing to build them back up again. But it's also true, and from a perspective of harm reduction, it's generally going to be for the best for everyone involved. After all, if the Horizon Blade had accepted that about himself, then that couldn't have ruined him.
PowerLeca
Rapidly aging
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I am loving the bits of reference to music when kohatu talks about their old master. Ling Qi is more appropriate for Zhengui's family than she knew.
Getting any kind of echo of Swordsong's melody would be a Songseeker secret indeed!
Fan Yu's and Han Jian's dads:
As for his dad, it'll probably be something like him laughing in an older shonen protagonist kind of way, happy that his son finally has a proper rival who inspires him to push onwards (Yrs: I did think I set things up to show Fan Yu had moved into being able to accept loss. He'll take it fine and grumble about it and probably try to deck rix one in a sect challenge later with some new arts)
Yrs said that Fan Yu might get shit from some siblings and cousins from losing to Rixiong, but he's made Inner Sect so he'll get more support.Yrsillar said:Fan Yu's Dad was a loud, boisterous gregarious kid who got along with everyoneHandad was his more soft spoken nerd friend who nonetheless enjoyed getting swept up in his antics. He is not currently the Fan's heir but he is their top general. The Sect was much more orderly when they went which would probably have been sometime a bit after Shenhua's rebellion settled down. Handad is penpals with Zhuge Ke but Fandad was somewhat close to Elder Zhou, they both cracked the top of five hundred and served with distinction for several decades before going home.
As for his dad, it'll probably be something like him laughing in an older shonen protagonist kind of way, happy that his son finally has a proper rival who inspires him to push onwards (Yrs: I did think I set things up to show Fan Yu had moved into being able to accept loss. He'll take it fine and grumble about it and probably try to deck rix one in a sect challenge later with some new arts)
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Completely overlooked this. I would love to see a music-sword cultivator of the Ling clan in the future.
Xuan Shi would be reading very different books if that were the case
Weren't the books originally really smutty but they had to tone it way down for publication?
He did, but sadly it didn't work out with Ji Rong. Just terrible miscommunications there.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
Fan Yu's dad: "Excellent! The glorious rivalry is doing exactly what it's supposed to do."
...and now I'm imagining Fan Yu's dad hitting himself for not having thought of it earlier. He should have set up a Glorious Rival for his son years ago. Ah well. It's working now... and these things do work better when they arise naturally. Having the educational techniques of his alma mater vindicated like this is also gratifying.
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- Location
- scrabbling
I mean he probably intended for his son's Glorious Rival to be Han Jian. But it ended up being a mismatch for various reasons and it didn't work out.
- Location
- Washington
"I even made sure to engage him to the Han boy's childhood sweetheart, how on earth could I ever suspect it to fail?!?"
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny) Original - Users' Choice!
First Quest, Forge of Destiny, here Ling Qi stood at the edge of the grass grown cliff and...
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
I suspect Fan Dad isn't displeased that his son's Rival is of the Zenith. Very proper, culturally speaking.
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Year 45 Month 11 Arc 3-5
The land of twisted dreams, where all eyes were fogged. She supposed that was a good summation of the Emerald Seas under the rule of the Hui. Even the old dukes were not hiding you, she understood that their many projects twisted divination in obscuring ways within the bounds of their land, just as a byproduct of their arts and formations.
Piecing together Kohatu's rambling story with the bits she had learned from the blade… The man who would become Elder Lang was a sword saint of the Jin Treasure Fleets. He had met and clashed with their Master, and… somehow their cultivation had resonated. They had come to an understanding, something that broke or bent their Ways?
She was curious to dig into that, but there was no time for it here. But then their Master… one of the sea folk had been taken back to the empire. She could…. Almost see a justification there, with the Elder to be claiming them as a war prize, but that seemed dubious even to her understanding of imperial law. No wonder they had to go through other means…
Especially as she was sure the Jin would not be pleased to see a Sovereign military asset just wander off.
"Kohatu does not have to go on with she does not wish," Gui said gently.
"I, Zhen do not wish to open wounds, to speak of green and flame is enough."
"No. No. I mUst say this. I remember now, can hold on now. YoU should kNow," the great beast replied, dragging herself forward over fossilized ground, looming even closer. " LiSten. ListeN."
Zhengui was silent for a long moment before answering. "Okay. Zhengui Listens."
"We Liiiived long, so long Horizon Blade learned to wield a sword as a writing stick, and elders cudgel, no matter how it made his hands bleed. Master learned denied things, weaving, carving, kin, learned present. Not only talons, ruin, futures. Soothed, wrapped his wounds. Day by day. Good days. Cold and sick with biting wind and wan sun. But. Good. Good. Good enOugH."
The repetition was clearly as much for her as them by this point, Ling Qi realized. It was a balm and a talisman against the black rage and hopeless spite which welled up from the beast's verdant core like an ill suppressed blight surging through her veins.
"But war comes, conflict comes, ruin comes. Master put out their own eyes and so did not see. Horizon Blade had grown dull crusted with ink. He fought. Master. We fled. So many children students disciples. So. So. So MAny. Should have left them to storm wind and bOLt, and gone, gone back to sea and sUN."
"But Master, Atamai, would not think such think such things," Kohatu said lowly. "...No. Kohatu-who-was would not think this thing. Cloud men came, war tribe gathered. Dream men ignored, gathered no host.
Disciples Argent, did instead. Joined. Fought. With spear and claw and fire and blade. Fought Fought. When Horizon Blade's student stood we fOUght. When his curseblooded bride dug the cruel ritual from her ruined mountain mASter carved out half their heart with the others. Forged their geas in blood and soul, an oath unbreaking to the young storm to the cause of one hundred and eight. Broken bodies, broken souls no StrENGth would be lost while one yet fought. Companions, oathsworn."
Ling Qi swallowed. The things just said… those were dangerous secrets. It was known that, under the decadent rule of the Hui it was Yuan He and his companions who had rallied the broken lands of the south against Ogodei, who had taken in the remnants of the cities hurled into the sky, scoured from the earth or dashed against the uncaring mountainsides.
She had seen the memory of a vast funnel of wind, ripping a city full of people out of the earth. Against the backdrop… she understood why the Elder's of the Argent Sect had no patience for mercy. When that terror had still been hanging overhead, she could see how one might turn to even more forbidden means. And what was being alluded to here, rambled on in Kohatu's broken tones was certainly that.
"No…. No, later later. When the hopeful sky was crushed, when the reprisals ended, when the clouds came again. When Master had groWn feeble. They came, descendants. MaSters students, companIOns, oathbearers. Without word, without warning, my Master was betrayed and bUTCHerED! I was broken, Atamai chained!"
Zhengui had already rocketed upward this time, feeling the tremors as she did as Kohatu's limbs thrashed, broken talons digging furrows in the dusty firmament, lashing tail bringing down the entire vast cliffside of the canyon she had made in the ruined city.
She couldn't comprehend a reason for the Elders to do this. She… maybe she had misjudged Yuan He, Elder Ying and all the rest, but even if Kohatu's Master had their ruse discovered…. Would those people really betray a someone they had fought beside like that? Be utterly merciless to the Cloud Tribes, casually cruel even, but no, that didn't feel right.
But that was not a thought she dared voice here, before the enraged Kohatu.
"Butchers and oathbreakers, ARRRRRGENT!!!!"
Ling Qi grimaced, a few months ago, that bellow might have blown out her ears or worse, but she had grown more resilient in many ways. The raging arguments of Sovereigns had their way of strengthening a survivor's resilience.
"Kohatu!" Zhengui bellowed himself, voice rising over the whim. "Green Caller. Remember Zhengui, of your roots and Atamai's fires. There is still much to say!"
Kohatu's thrashing limbs slowed, her scaly chest pumping like a bellows as smoke and dust rose kept at bay only by the whirling wind Ling Qi summoned with her own will, preventing the groaning crumbling layered city from drowning them in choking ignorance and apathy
"I do not knoW why. I do not understANd," Kohatu's immense, rumbling voice was a whisper. "I do nOt understand, but I feEl it. TheY want to fORget. I wiLL not be forgoTTen, Master SwoRdsOng wiLl not be forgottEn!. Never forgoTTen, will gnaw at the rooTs of their drEams until the eNd of tImE!"
And Ling Qi at last found Kohatu's eyes back on her, despite their huge scale, she could feel that black gaze boring into her now.
"And. You. You who the scent of Argent clings too, who claims kin. Who my chiLd trusTs so. Who. says what treachery will grow. When you will. Need. reagents. When he becomes. Obstacle to PoWer. Green child, flame child, son of ruin and renewal. Do not. Do nOT never trust blood of dRaGoN. Watch. WaTch. WATCH!"
Ling Qi's hair felt like it might tear from her scalp in the wash of that last bellow, but her scowl didn't waver and nor did her seating here. Those words made the core of frozen cold and lightless dark in her dantian churn, outraged despite the difference in power on display. "I would never use or harvest him like that," she spat. "I am sorry for your betrayal, but you overstep. Who do you think brought him here in the first place?
"Kohatu" Gui said uncertainly.
"ArgGGGenNt say pretty words, only Horizon Blade true, the rest. Student. Brother. Sister. Disciple. Friend. MeaninGless lies," Kohatu hissed. "My mind does not folloW such ploYs. Child. Zhengui. You should leave this."
Ling Qi's fingers cracked the rest of her train with her grip, and she was on her feet a moment later, standing before the wind of the titan lizards breath. "You so easily call him your child, and your core may have made him. But I am the one who brought him here, who kept and cared. Do you not think I could have had wealth a thousand times over if I wanted, if I was so low a person?!"
Sometimes in her darker dreams she wondered how she could afforded her little brothers appetite without the patronage of the Cai, but never not once had such a thought even broached his mind. "I brought him here to speak and learn, but I will not take such insults. My brother is mine."
"Big Sister," Zhen protested. "Please wait…"
"You protest too much. ArgGent. But I. See. You hOlD back. There is a lIE in your voice."
"STOP!!" Her little brother bellowed in both of his voices, an earthy rumble that erupted as if from something far larger than his current frame.
The both of them fell silent.
"Gui understands how deep Kohatu feels betrayed, but Gui will not distance himself from Big Sister."
"I, Zhen will not live with such suspicion corrupting my heart," Zhen hissed. "But Big Sister should not be angry so quick either. It is strange of you, why?"
Ling Qi grimaced. Kohatu glared. "...Her accusations and choice of words frayed my temper. I have no excuse."
Kohatu let out a low, rattling breath, half growl, looking up at them where they soared now above her head.
"Say it ArgeNt say it in clear voice. What is my child to you." Cold and clear more grounded than her voice had been at any point in this conversation so far.
Ling Qi felt her eyebrow twitch, and her hand curl into a fist. That word again.
[ ] He is my precious kin, my brother, my family, in every way that matters.
[ ] He is MY child, whatever his origins or secrets, and whatever his choices.
Piecing together Kohatu's rambling story with the bits she had learned from the blade… The man who would become Elder Lang was a sword saint of the Jin Treasure Fleets. He had met and clashed with their Master, and… somehow their cultivation had resonated. They had come to an understanding, something that broke or bent their Ways?
She was curious to dig into that, but there was no time for it here. But then their Master… one of the sea folk had been taken back to the empire. She could…. Almost see a justification there, with the Elder to be claiming them as a war prize, but that seemed dubious even to her understanding of imperial law. No wonder they had to go through other means…
Especially as she was sure the Jin would not be pleased to see a Sovereign military asset just wander off.
"Kohatu does not have to go on with she does not wish," Gui said gently.
"I, Zhen do not wish to open wounds, to speak of green and flame is enough."
"No. No. I mUst say this. I remember now, can hold on now. YoU should kNow," the great beast replied, dragging herself forward over fossilized ground, looming even closer. " LiSten. ListeN."
Zhengui was silent for a long moment before answering. "Okay. Zhengui Listens."
"We Liiiived long, so long Horizon Blade learned to wield a sword as a writing stick, and elders cudgel, no matter how it made his hands bleed. Master learned denied things, weaving, carving, kin, learned present. Not only talons, ruin, futures. Soothed, wrapped his wounds. Day by day. Good days. Cold and sick with biting wind and wan sun. But. Good. Good. Good enOugH."
The repetition was clearly as much for her as them by this point, Ling Qi realized. It was a balm and a talisman against the black rage and hopeless spite which welled up from the beast's verdant core like an ill suppressed blight surging through her veins.
"But war comes, conflict comes, ruin comes. Master put out their own eyes and so did not see. Horizon Blade had grown dull crusted with ink. He fought. Master. We fled. So many children students disciples. So. So. So MAny. Should have left them to storm wind and bOLt, and gone, gone back to sea and sUN."
"But Master, Atamai, would not think such think such things," Kohatu said lowly. "...No. Kohatu-who-was would not think this thing. Cloud men came, war tribe gathered. Dream men ignored, gathered no host.
Disciples Argent, did instead. Joined. Fought. With spear and claw and fire and blade. Fought Fought. When Horizon Blade's student stood we fOUght. When his curseblooded bride dug the cruel ritual from her ruined mountain mASter carved out half their heart with the others. Forged their geas in blood and soul, an oath unbreaking to the young storm to the cause of one hundred and eight. Broken bodies, broken souls no StrENGth would be lost while one yet fought. Companions, oathsworn."
Ling Qi swallowed. The things just said… those were dangerous secrets. It was known that, under the decadent rule of the Hui it was Yuan He and his companions who had rallied the broken lands of the south against Ogodei, who had taken in the remnants of the cities hurled into the sky, scoured from the earth or dashed against the uncaring mountainsides.
She had seen the memory of a vast funnel of wind, ripping a city full of people out of the earth. Against the backdrop… she understood why the Elder's of the Argent Sect had no patience for mercy. When that terror had still been hanging overhead, she could see how one might turn to even more forbidden means. And what was being alluded to here, rambled on in Kohatu's broken tones was certainly that.
"No…. No, later later. When the hopeful sky was crushed, when the reprisals ended, when the clouds came again. When Master had groWn feeble. They came, descendants. MaSters students, companIOns, oathbearers. Without word, without warning, my Master was betrayed and bUTCHerED! I was broken, Atamai chained!"
Zhengui had already rocketed upward this time, feeling the tremors as she did as Kohatu's limbs thrashed, broken talons digging furrows in the dusty firmament, lashing tail bringing down the entire vast cliffside of the canyon she had made in the ruined city.
She couldn't comprehend a reason for the Elders to do this. She… maybe she had misjudged Yuan He, Elder Ying and all the rest, but even if Kohatu's Master had their ruse discovered…. Would those people really betray a someone they had fought beside like that? Be utterly merciless to the Cloud Tribes, casually cruel even, but no, that didn't feel right.
But that was not a thought she dared voice here, before the enraged Kohatu.
"Butchers and oathbreakers, ARRRRRGENT!!!!"
Ling Qi grimaced, a few months ago, that bellow might have blown out her ears or worse, but she had grown more resilient in many ways. The raging arguments of Sovereigns had their way of strengthening a survivor's resilience.
"Kohatu!" Zhengui bellowed himself, voice rising over the whim. "Green Caller. Remember Zhengui, of your roots and Atamai's fires. There is still much to say!"
Kohatu's thrashing limbs slowed, her scaly chest pumping like a bellows as smoke and dust rose kept at bay only by the whirling wind Ling Qi summoned with her own will, preventing the groaning crumbling layered city from drowning them in choking ignorance and apathy
"I do not knoW why. I do not understANd," Kohatu's immense, rumbling voice was a whisper. "I do nOt understand, but I feEl it. TheY want to fORget. I wiLL not be forgoTTen, Master SwoRdsOng wiLl not be forgottEn!. Never forgoTTen, will gnaw at the rooTs of their drEams until the eNd of tImE!"
And Ling Qi at last found Kohatu's eyes back on her, despite their huge scale, she could feel that black gaze boring into her now.
"And. You. You who the scent of Argent clings too, who claims kin. Who my chiLd trusTs so. Who. says what treachery will grow. When you will. Need. reagents. When he becomes. Obstacle to PoWer. Green child, flame child, son of ruin and renewal. Do not. Do nOT never trust blood of dRaGoN. Watch. WaTch. WATCH!"
Ling Qi's hair felt like it might tear from her scalp in the wash of that last bellow, but her scowl didn't waver and nor did her seating here. Those words made the core of frozen cold and lightless dark in her dantian churn, outraged despite the difference in power on display. "I would never use or harvest him like that," she spat. "I am sorry for your betrayal, but you overstep. Who do you think brought him here in the first place?
"Kohatu" Gui said uncertainly.
"ArgGGGenNt say pretty words, only Horizon Blade true, the rest. Student. Brother. Sister. Disciple. Friend. MeaninGless lies," Kohatu hissed. "My mind does not folloW such ploYs. Child. Zhengui. You should leave this."
Ling Qi's fingers cracked the rest of her train with her grip, and she was on her feet a moment later, standing before the wind of the titan lizards breath. "You so easily call him your child, and your core may have made him. But I am the one who brought him here, who kept and cared. Do you not think I could have had wealth a thousand times over if I wanted, if I was so low a person?!"
Sometimes in her darker dreams she wondered how she could afforded her little brothers appetite without the patronage of the Cai, but never not once had such a thought even broached his mind. "I brought him here to speak and learn, but I will not take such insults. My brother is mine."
"Big Sister," Zhen protested. "Please wait…"
"You protest too much. ArgGent. But I. See. You hOlD back. There is a lIE in your voice."
"STOP!!" Her little brother bellowed in both of his voices, an earthy rumble that erupted as if from something far larger than his current frame.
The both of them fell silent.
"Gui understands how deep Kohatu feels betrayed, but Gui will not distance himself from Big Sister."
"I, Zhen will not live with such suspicion corrupting my heart," Zhen hissed. "But Big Sister should not be angry so quick either. It is strange of you, why?"
Ling Qi grimaced. Kohatu glared. "...Her accusations and choice of words frayed my temper. I have no excuse."
Kohatu let out a low, rattling breath, half growl, looking up at them where they soared now above her head.
"Say it ArgeNt say it in clear voice. What is my child to you." Cold and clear more grounded than her voice had been at any point in this conversation so far.
Ling Qi felt her eyebrow twitch, and her hand curl into a fist. That word again.
[ ] He is my precious kin, my brother, my family, in every way that matters.
[ ] He is MY child, whatever his origins or secrets, and whatever his choices.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
[ ] He is MY child, whatever his origins or secrets, and whatever his choices.
Well, now we gotta. Ling Qi can't lie any more, even to herself. Not here and now.
Well, now we gotta. Ling Qi can't lie any more, even to herself. Not here and now.
Lord_Nib-Knob
Destroyer Of Worlds
- Location
- Linix Galaxy
- Pronouns
- He/Him/Me/You
[ ] He is MY child, whatever his origins or secrets, and whatever his choices.
Its time, I feel, to say it straight.
Its time, I feel, to say it straight.
- Location
- United States
[ ] He is MY child, whatever his origins or secrets, and whatever his choices.
Fire all cannons! Continuous Fire!!
Fire all cannons! Continuous Fire!!
LETS. FUCKING. GOOOOOOO.
Jikes Argent sect. Killed one of the heroes that fought with them and made him be forgotten. That is low even for an Imperial.
NegativeJ
LOVE
- Location
- Est
Yeeeeeees, finally, finally!
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[ ] He is MY child, whatever his origins or secrets, and whatever his choices.
Yes, fucking yes!
Yes, fucking yes!
Cecylene
Eternal Idea Engine
- Location
- Massachusetts
- Pronouns
- He/They
Zhengui is our boy.
Son of our thoughts and ambition, son of our dreams and greed, son of our hope and Want.
Zhengui is the vessel of the generation that Ling Qi dreams of creating, he is her child is every way that one could imagine from birth to the present. He has been given everything that Ling Qi ever wanted in her youth and in her hope for the future being a better place than the past.
If anything happened to Zhengui the "insight" gained would either break Ling Qi's Way or it would created something driven by the power of the dark side of a community's ability to Other those who harm it.
There is no doubt in my mind at least, for what the decision should be.
[ ] He is MY child, whatever his origins or secrets, and whatever his choices.
Son of our thoughts and ambition, son of our dreams and greed, son of our hope and Want.
Zhengui is the vessel of the generation that Ling Qi dreams of creating, he is her child is every way that one could imagine from birth to the present. He has been given everything that Ling Qi ever wanted in her youth and in her hope for the future being a better place than the past.
If anything happened to Zhengui the "insight" gained would either break Ling Qi's Way or it would created something driven by the power of the dark side of a community's ability to Other those who harm it.
There is no doubt in my mind at least, for what the decision should be.
[ ] He is MY child, whatever his origins or secrets, and whatever his choices.